Story Title: One Month In

Series Title: Unlikely Brothers

Author: Obi the Kid

POV: Dashen (Tanner is 9, Dash is 15)

Chapter Summary: One month post Jedi Purge and Tanner has trouble dealing with what he lost.

Series Summary: A series of non-chronological stories taking place in the world of my OC's Dashen and Tannerlin.

Rating: PG

Characters: Dashen Lesedi, Tannerlin Vai (Jedi)


I felt it fade. I felt it break. A bond. The only one I've ever known. Now it was gone. Along with the breath of life that was Jedi Master Ayden Yen. Slowly…painfully, the life was pulled from him by those imperial guards, until his body could take no more. He died without dignity. Without the honor he deserved. He died to protect me. And now, I was as broken as our bond.

I couldn't move from the hole I was in, even hours after my master had died and the guards had long since gone. There was nothing I had left. Half-starved, dehydrated and cramped in an unmoving position in a tiny restricted space, in my own filth, I wanted to die. So very badly, I wanted to die. I was ready now.

I was ready.

How many days I'd been cramped here, I lost count after six. It didn't matter now. Nothing did. Not anymore. Not now. Not after I'd lost everything I ever knew.

New tears came, even after I thought myself completely dehydrated. I cried until…then. Until there was a sound. Boots. But not the coordinated boot -step of those guards. No, these feet scraped the floor, they didn't march it. Lazy feet. And a voice came with those feet. It…he saw the tortured Jedi lying bloodied and dead on the cold, hard floor.

"Oh no…that's not…damn it!"

I sniffled to keep my nose dry. Too much noise. He heard me and the wall board that Master Ayden had secured in place to keep me hidden, moved. I saw a face. Dark hair. Green eyes. A boy. Older than me, but still young.

He spoke to me. "Ah, okay, this is unexpected. And pretty damned strange. Hey, kid. Well, yeah, kid, but more like a smelly little mouse, aren't you? You're hiding from the people that did this, huh?." He motioned towards the dead Jedi team, including Master Ayden. "They were your friends, I guess."

No, they were my family. My Jedi family. One more so than the others. This older boy, he didn't know that. He didn't care. He was nothing to me. Just some dark haired stranger. That's all he was. He was nothing to me, because now…I had nothing. And I still wanted to die.

That had been a month ago. Now, I was here, in our new home. The dark haired, green eyed boy - Dashen - was my friend. More like my brother. He hadn't wanted to be when this all started, but now he was. A nightmare had woken me from sleep tonight. I'd wandered from my bedroom to the couch in our shared upstairs apartment. Part of me looked around for Master Ayden, knowing, just knowing that he would be there to tell me everything would be okay after such a terrible dream. But he wasn't there and he never would be again. That empty feeling inside of me, it ached. Always, it ached. Maybe it would never stop.

My nightmare, it had been the same as always. Of him. Dying. It always woke me and left me shaking and scared and worst of all, unsure. With the Jedi, I knew my future, or at least the main path of that future.

Now…

Dashen had heard me. My troubled nights were happening enough that he almost anticipated me waking in the middle of them. At first, he didn't know what to do.

I didn't know what to do. I would stay in my room and cry. My body wouldn't allow anything different. In the last few days though, I'd gotten up and walked to the couch hoping that distraction would make me feel better faster. Two nights ago, Dashen had come out to sit with me for the first time. Tonight he did so again.

"I won't even ask what this dream was about. I'm sure it's more of the same and that'll get better eventually. But, I do know it makes you feel like crap, so, come on. Scoot over here, kid."

I'd been lying on the cushions, wiping wetness from my face and trying very hard to gain control of my rolling emotions. At his urging, I moved closer and set my head on the pillow he'd placed on his lap. Absently, he flipped on the holo monitor and found something diverting to watch. Right hand reaching across my shoulder, he set it on the side of my face and stroked his thumb back and forth between my cheek and my ear. He'd discovered the other night that it worked to settle me the quickest.

"When I was younger," he drifted back, "Mom used to help me with my nightmares…just like this." The thumb continued to stroke my face. "I don't know why I had them, the nightmares. She said it was normal for a boy and she never thought ill of me for waking her up in the middle of the night either. And with Kossi, my brother that I told you about, she'd done the same when he had bad dreams. When he…" There was a pause as Dashen fought to keep his voice steady. I knew he was trying to keep it from breaking at the thought of his family. His brother especially. But he finally continued. "When it was just me and him and when Kossi was sick, there were many days when he couldn't do much of anything except rest or sleep. Towards the end. I'd let him sit like this and the touch always helped him. Made him feel better. So, maybe it's a tradition now."

The thumb kept moving. My shakiness stopped.

"See that, Mouse? I told you it worked. Now you're not trembling all over like a, well…like a mouse anymore."

I felt him smile at me and I smiled too at the nickname he'd given me that first day he'd found me. Mouse. I'd never had a nickname. Even most at the Jedi temple had called me by my full name, Tannerlin. Dashen, he called me Tanner all the time. I liked that. I liked being called Mouse too, but I don't think I'd ever let him know it. Dash made me believe that I wasn't alone like I kept feeling in my head –that empty space where my bond with Master Ayden used to be. It was just hollow space now. Our bond, it had been a strong one and to lose that and to lose everything I ever knew…and now…now something as simple as a nickname could give me joy. I wiped at my eyes.

Dashen stopped flipping channels and settled on an old monster holo. These holos were mind-numbingly silly, but they did the job.

"Tomorrow, kid, you and me, we'll venture out and about for the day. You still need a few more decent shirts and a good pair of boots. Some of what you have, looks too Jedi-ish, you know? Wear it around town too much and someone might put two and two together and that would be bad."

He meant my Jedi boots. I shouldn't wear them. With my hair slowly growing out from its short cut, which would take a while, I need to look less like a Jedi in every other way. Although I sternly refused to cut my braid off. But…if I wanted to live… Master Ayden hadn't given up his life so that I could get caught and killed a month after his passing. He knew someone would help me. He knew someone would come for me. I was sure of that now. Why else would he have shoved me in that hole and died for me, if he didn't know that I would be okay when he was gone?

I felt another round of tears coming on, thinking of my master. Dashen's thumb hit one of them and his hand stilled. Slowly, he leaned his head down to touch his temple to my face. To comfort me. "It'll be okay, little brother. It'll be okay."

Little brother.

More tears.

He didn't know the reason for them, but it didn't matter. No matter my past, no matter losing my master…Dashen would take care of me. I was certain of it. We both had pain. We both had hurt. Maybe it really would be okay.

My tears stopped again and I curled into a ball, my head not moving from under his reassuring hand. We watched a monster holo marathon until the sun peaked through the common room window in the early hours of the next morning. Then…Dashen made me breakfast.

"There you go, little brother, two giant sized slappy jacks!"

I gave him a puzzled look. "What's a slappy jack?"

"A pancake that I slap onto the plate and then slap on the toppings. In your case, since you like fruit more than sugar, which is a damn shame by the way, fresh mala berries. Well, fresh? Eh, maybe not. Perhaps 'week old' would a better description? Don't know, don't care. As long as it's not growing mold or hair, it's edible in my book. Oh wait. Sorry. Spoke too soon. There's some hair on that one there. iIt's okay though. Hasn't killed me yet, right? Eat up, Mouse."

He didn't make mention of my nightmare again that day. I was glad. Another would come. There'd be plenty of time to talk about them until they stopped happening. In the last month, my life had changed in every way imaginable. I lost everyone and everything I cared about. I even lost myself. That part was coming back though. No longer did I completely dread getting up in the morning for fear of needing to see Master Ayden only to be hammered with the realization of what was now. I wanted him back. More than anything in the galaxy, I wanted him back though I knew it was impossible. One day I'd see him again. But not now. I wasn't ready to die. Not anymore. Not like before. I had something now. I had a brother. A big brother. And even if he didn't appreciate the finer things in life such as hair-free pancakes, that was okay.

This was all Master Ayden's doing. Somehow, I don't know if it was the Force or what, but somehow, he knew that someone who needed me as much as I needed them would be there to look after me and keep me safe when he passed into the Force.

For several years, I was a Jedi initiate. For almost two years, I was a Jedi Padawan. Never will those days, lessons and memories ever be forgotten. Now, however, I was embarking on my new life; my new life as a non-Jedi, but more importantly, my new life as a little brother. It was a life I know I would grow to love with all my soul…hairy pancakes and all.

The End.