Alright, so not as long of a wait this time, only about five days, so not terrible, but also not great. My computer was having some issues and then my family imploded a bit so I've been staying up super late writing this chapter after I finish my novel work, which has been so fun for my brain, but totally worth it because I love this story and where it's headed. Quick thanks to Mrs Renton, DewieDTT, kiyob, kanna-yamamoto, SakiHanajima1, and BooDude, you guys are awesome and keep me working to get this done. Also, just a quick note, I am borrowing from the EU with this story for a few plot points, if you aren't familiar with the Extended Universe, this may get a bit confusing, but just bear with me, it'll all make sense in the end. Anyway, without further ado, on with the chapter!

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It Begins

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The following morning was blissfully busy. Leia and Luke had been called away at first light to deal with some kind of emergency in the Senate chamber and Chewie had gone off to finish the work he'd begun on the Falcon the day before. This left Ori with a chance to breathe and simply exist for the first time since she'd arrived in this strange yet familiar universe. Han had given her a tiny recording device, something Luke had suggested before he left, to record her thoughts in, but as she sat in the center of her bed, her eyes staring blankly out the window, she couldn't think of a single thing to say.

"Come on girl, you're a scientist. There is so much here to remember, just push through it and go." She muttered, her hand clenching around the tiny device until her knuckles cracked. She hated feeling like this, so weak and helpless, like she just couldn't get a handle on herself, but she couldn't see a way past it. How was she supposed to cope with losing literally every single thing she'd ever known.

She remembered stories of people who were displaced from their home, their country, hell, even their continent, and she'd always wondered how they ever got back their sense of self. But now she envied them. Sure they may not be where they'd grown up, but at least they were still on Earth. At least they could still look up at the sky and recognize the stars, see the moon, know the general color and shape of the faces around them. Here, there was nothing. Everything was different, everything was strange, even the humans didn't seem quite...human to her.

She sighed, holding the small device up to her lips the way Han had shown her and holding down the tiny button that would activate it.

"Mission report Trek Two. Experiment was a success. I've made contact with the indigenous life of this universe and boy, would you guys be shocked. The tunnel suffered a fatal stability collapse, Trek One, Dr Suzanne Bishop, deceased." She drew a shaky breath as her voice failed her entirely. It dawned on her that this was the first time she'd said it out loud. She felt her throat tighten with the threat of tears at the corner of her eyes but swallowed them down, she had to at least get through this. "I'm gonna drop the formalities if it's all the same to you. You'll probably never hear this anyway. There's no way back and I'll never get home. If you do ever receive this, don't follow me. Tell my family...I'm sorry." She dropped the recorder onto the mattress, gasping in a breath as the tears overcame her again.

Gods she was tired of crying. Her mind swirled with all the things she'd never experience again, all the music she'd never get to listen to, the movies she'd never get to see. Her heart broke as she thought of her father, aging and dying without ever having known what happened to her. She saw her brother's face, pinched and worried as her colleagues tried to explain to him exactly what had happened, and why his sister would never again see his children. All the possibilities of the universe she'd been so eager to leave flashed across her mind in rapid succession.

"Hey kid!" Han's voice broke through the haze of anger and sorrow. She gasped as her body dropped a good foot or so back onto the bed, startling her more than it must've startled the captain when he'd walked in to find her both floating and sobbing in the murky twilight of evening. "What the hell was that?" He asked, moving into the room, his brows knitting together in a mixture of worry and anger.

"I don't know." She whispered, looking down at her hands as if they would explain how she'd been holding herself in mid air. "I didn't mean to." She felt a spike of sheer panic slice through the sadness and isolation, her eyes going wide as her mind struggled to find a rational explanation for what had just happened.

"Hey, whoa, don't do that." Han said, his tone switching rapidly from anger to concern as yet more tears began to spill down her face. She knew she should feel embarrassed bawling like a scared child in front of a man who didn't even particularly like her, but this was just too much. She screwed her eyes shut as her breath began to hitch in her chest, her last ditch effort to hold back the sobs she could feel pushing their way up her throat. But instead of the admonishment she was expecting, so like the many she'd received from her father, only silence met her ears, and the feeling of two strong arms wrapping around her as the wrenching sound finally forced its way from her lips.

Time seemed to stop then, each second stretching into an eternity as her heart and mind both finally gave in to every negative emotion she'd had since before she left her own world. It was like the top had been broken off the bottle she'd so carefully maintained for so many years, and now all that pain and sadness, regret and isolation, all came spilling out in one massive wave.

Han kept her grounded through it all. He never said a word, never moved a muscle, simply sat like a stone and held her as her body vented the toxic mass she'd kept carefully hidden for most of her life. By the time her sobs went quiet, night had fallen, and as her mind returned to her, she could feel Luke's presence.

"You back with us?" Han asked, slowly drawing his arms away, giving her time to object if necessary. She looked up at him, not sure what to expect, and felt her heart slowly begin to knit back together as she saw nothing but an open expression of concern. She sniffled and nodded, sitting slowly away from him as he stood up from the bed. "They've been out there for a while, want me to keep this closed?" He asked, pointing toward the door, a conspiratorial grin on his face.

She shook her head slowly, her temples already pounding from the pressure in her skull. She would have to face them both eventually, might as well get it over with while she was still in that hazy calm that always followed one of her break downs. Han nodded and pulled the door open, slipping out between the shoulders of the twins, both of whom were all but pressed against the door.

"Ori!" Leia gasped, taking in the hagard and reddened face of her friend. She looked like she'd been through hell, and even half of what Luke had been sensing was real, then she nearly had been. "Are you alright?" She asked, rushing over to the bed and sitting down, pulling the tired woman into a tight hug.

"Not sure yet." Ori replied, grimacing at the croaky roughness in her voice. She'd really done a number on it this time. "Sorry if I worried you." She directed it at Leia, but knew that Luke would understand he was included as well.

"I'm just glad Han was here." Luke said, joining his sister on Ori's other side. He pulled Ori gently from his sister's arms and guided her head down to rest against his shoulder instead, a blissful sense of calm slowly seeping into her mind. "Do you wanna talk about it?" He asked, his fingers tracing small lines over the skin of her hand. He wanted to hold it, to hold her, but would settle for this, for now.

"Too much to talk about all at once." She said, her free hand forming the same web like gesture she always made when talking about her thoughts.

"I could help." He said, holding up his free hand as well. He didn't want to go into her mind again, didn't want to be a crutch for her to lean on, but he could almost hear the thoughts buzzing away in her brain.

"Later?" She croaked, feeling the sense of panic rising in her chest. She didn't want to live through all that again. It hurt too much to think about once let alone twice in one afternoon.

"Now would be better." Luke said, his voice even yet stern. He wasn't sure if pushing her was the right move, but she couldn't keep running from this. If he let her bottle it up again, she would just have another break down and who knows what would happen next time.

"Okay." She sounded so tired, so unlike herself. She should be jumping at this head first, but instead she was trying everything she could to back down. It was like she as eleven all over again, sitting across from the little bitch that had made her life hell for years, finally being forced by people much older than her, to confront all the pain the girl had put her through. She'd sworn to herself then that it would be the last time she let herself be helpless, and yet here she was, cowering from her own emotions.

"Leia." Luke said, the sound of fabric rustling over carpet letting Ori know that she was leaving. She felt her nerves kick up another notch as the door clicked quietly shut, and had to remind herself to breathe as Luke pulled away. She tried to draw in a deep breath, tried to remember any of the coping mechanisms that her therapist had taught her all those years ago, even tried to force herself into a visualization state, but nothing worked, her throat was closing up, her lungs struggling to pull in air, her eyes wide and staring blankly at the carpet, and then, just as suddenly as it had all come, it was gone.

She was no longer within herself. It was odd, taking a back seat in your own brain, but she wasn't about to complain, not when it got her out of a panic attack. A hand on her shoulder drew her attention to her teacher and friend, who was floating just beside her.

"What did you do?" She asked, looking around at the black void they seemed to be floating in. It should've sent her straight into a tail spin, flashbacks, panic, fear and sadness should've been rushing into her mind by the bucket load, but nothing happened. It was like only her higher mind was active right now, her emotions simply turned off.

"I've taken you away from yourself for a moment. We need to talk, and I need you to be honest, you can't do that if you're crying. I'm actually surprised it worked, this is the first time I've ever tried it on someone else before." Luke said, his face splitting into a proud smile. She felt herself returning the gesture, laughing softly as she was reminded of just what a farm boy he really was.

"Okay, well, let's talk." She said, turning to face him. It felt odd, moving without a physical body, it was like playing with one of those VR headsets that always made her feel so sick. Just point at the place you want to be, with your mind instead of one of those ridiculous controllers, and poof, there you were. It was rather convenient.

"It would be easier if I just looked into your mind for the information I need. Think of it as a short cut. Do you trust me?" He asked, reaching a hand toward her forehead. For some reason, the gesture made her feel odd. Not quite afraid, she didn't think she was capable of fear at the moment, but as close to it as she was able to register.

"I would prefer to just talk if that's alright." She said, slowly backing away from him. Now that her mind was awake to the idea of a threat, everything about this situation was beginning to feel bad. "Or maybe we could go rejoin the land of the living and I could get something to drink, lost a lot of water ya know, all those tears." She laughed, or tried to, her mind seemed to be rejoining her brain, and with it came all the emotions she'd been feeling.

"There's no time for that. I need to see what is in your mind if we are to make any progress. It'll be over before you know it." He didn't sound right, his words were wrong somehow, sending her mind reeling further backward toward her physical body until the void around them started to shrink. It was in that moment that she became aware of what was really wrong with the picture, his eyes, they weren't blue anymore.

She gasped in a breath as her body slammed forward, rocking back just as quickly as Luke forced her to look at him. She could feel fresh tears on her face and the tell tale dizziness of a panic attack hang over, but she couldn't remember going through it.

"What the hell was that?" She asked, pulling out of his grip and backing up onto the bed. Her eyes slid from one end of the room to the other, looking for the phantom Luke that had been with her before, but only saw the same familiar blue eyes that had become so important to her.

"I don't know. I was going to look into your mind, see if I could find the root of your panic, and then you were gone. Someone reached out and took you." He joined her on the bed, his body rocking back against the head board as she threw herself into his arms. He sighed as he felt her shudder, thinking that he was in for another round of tears, but none came.

"He was trying to do the same thing, look into my head. He said he needed to see what was in there and that there was no time. Luke, he...he had your face." She looked up at him and shuddered again, forcing herself to focus on the deep blue of his eyes. This was the real Luke, not some imposter, and she was safe. Silence fell following her words, each person lost in their own thoughts.

"Come on. We're going out." Luke said, pulling her from the bed as he stood. "You've been in here for two days, you need fresh air." He started to pull her toward the door, stopping when he felt her go rigid. He released his grip on her wrist, turning to apologize, only to feel his blood run cold. She wasn't seeing him, not anymore. He didn't know what she was seeing, but it must've been terrifying judging by the look on her face.

Ori stood, barefoot and freezing, in the center of a massive chamber. It was square, that much she could tell, and tapered up to a point at the peak of the roof. Some kind of pyramid? But why was she in a pyramid? Where was Luke? Where were her clothes?

She looked down at herself, feeling the frigid wind whip through the gauzy black fabric that was wrapped around her. She supposed it could be called a dress, if you squinted hard enough at it, but it left her feeling entirely too exposed for her liking. She turned slowly on the spot, trying to find any sign of life around her, anything that would explain how she seemingly transported from her room to wherever this was, but there was nothing, simply hazy darkness and red stone. Then the screaming started.

"ORI!" The voice was so familiar it hurt, and she found herself bounding in its direction before she could think. It was Suzie, she was alive! Her heart leapt into her throat as she pushed herself to go faster, needing to see her friend with her own two eyes. But when she finally reached the source of the sound, she felt her heart shatter.

Suzie was suspended in mid air, her arms and legs shackled to the muddy red bricks that seemed to make up this insane building, and she was hurt. Blood was caked into her hair, one eye was swollen shut, and her limbs were covered in bruises, welts, and sliver thin slices that leaked blood and plasma down onto the floor below her.

"Suzie!" She shouted, rushing forward into the center of the room, only becoming aware of the light that shone on her friend when she stepped into it. She felt her feet slipping in the crimson mess on the floor, but didn't spare it a thought. She had to get her friend out of here, wherever here was, and get her some help. "Don't worry, I'm gonna get you down." She said, her eyes following the chains to where they were anchored into the walls. The bolts looked old, with enough force she could probably pull them free.

She stood for a moment, her brain cycling through complex equations as she tried to figure out a way to get the force she would need to free the bolts from the wall, when a thought dropped into her mind. Force, The Force, she could just use it to pull the chains free.

"Okay Suzie, hold on just a sec, I've got an idea." She extended a hand out toward the nearest chain, moving quickly through the steps Luke had taught her to establish a sort of imaginary chain around the bolt, and then, with a quick backward motion, she wrenched the metal from the stone and the chain fell free. She made quick work of the others, catching her friend as she fell and set about trying to get her awake enough to move.

"Ori?" Suzie's eye cracked open, the other too swollen to even move, and Ori felt her heart nearly burst with happiness. Her friend was here, she was alive.

"Yeah suze, I'm here...I'm here." She said, feeling tears prick at the edges of her vision. "Don't worry, I'm gonna get you out of here and all patched up. Can you walk?" She asked, sniffing softly as she thought of all the things she would be able to show her friend.

Laughter began to sound somewhere close by, deep, rumbling, terrifying laughter that sent every animal instinct she had into red alert. They needed to get out of here now. She looped Suzie's arm around her neck, pulling the majority of her weight over onto her own torso and stood, dragging their combined weight back up the stairs to the edge of the room, but she never made it a step further.

Pain exploded across her body, racing through every vein and every nerve until she thought she would fly apart, and that damned laughter continued to play across the walls around her. Suzie's body vanished from her side, disappearing into nothing, as if it had never been, and her body slowly turned to see the scarred and pitted face of a very old man.

"Wonderful. I never dreamed you would be this powerful." His voice was hoarse and cracked with age, but the edge of deadly intelligence remained. She knew who this was meant to be, who this had once been, and who, if she was very unlucky, this would be again. Fear, pure and primal, suffused her being, pulling her mind free from the grip of the old man and back into her body where she fell, gasping and sobbing, onto the carpet, Luke following her quickly to the ground.

"He's back...the Emperor...he's back."

Whoo! That was a bitch and a half to write! Sorry again for the delay in the update, things are crazy and will continue to be so for the next little while. I'm gonna be aiming for a chapter a week, but I make no promises. Thanks in advance for any follows/faves/reviews, I really do appreciate them, and I will see you guys in the next one!