Characters: Allana Djo Solo, Darth Festus (OC), Ben Skywalker, Darth Ferrus (OC), other OCs, and a few EC cameos
Timeframe: 61 ABY, ten years after Enter the Foreign
Genre: AU, drama, dark romance, angst, action
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Endless thanks to Gabri Jade and Mira-Jade for their unwavering support and many insightful comments and suggestions, and for keeping me motivated as I've worked on this story. Thanks also to Gabri for her excellent beta work, and to Mira for convincing me to finally post this thing!
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Welcome! All These Broken Pieces is the sequel to Enter the Foreign, an AU epic in which Anakin Skywalker traveled across time (and the multiverse) to help Ben Skywalker, Allana Djo Solo, and a cast of ECs and OCs in their struggle against a new Sith Empire. After sacrificing himself in the final battle, Anakin returned to his own universe, and Ben, Allana, and the others were left to rebuild their broken world. Unlike EtF, which featured an ensemble cast and a climactic showdown between the forces of darkness and light, ATBP is much more limited in scope, focusing mainly on two characters and their relationship to one another.
I owe a lot to this story. Without it, the second half of Enter the Foreign wouldn't have been nearly as good, and the Enter!verse itself probably wouldn't exist. I started writing it three years ago as a one-shot follow-up to EtF(which was only half-finished at the time). Even though EtF was Ben and Anakin's story, I felt I had shortchanged Allana a little in the finale, so I decided to skip forward ten years and let her have a "win" of her own… and what better way to make that win meaningful than for it to be against someone she'd lost to in EtF? Enter Darth Festus.
Well, that one-shot quickly spiraled out of control, and I found myself drafting a novel-length fic centered around the messed-up pairing that is Allana/Festus. It's not a story that I would have thought to tell until it barged into my brain and demanded to be told, but I hope you'll give it a try and maybe even end up loving it the way I love it. It might not be a gleaming fairy tale romance, but there are knights and monsters and a (former) princess, and I can promise danger and excitement and moral quandaries and a little humor and some Force shenanigans… and maybe even something that amounts to love. What I won't promise is a happy ending, because where would be the fun in telling you how this all ends?
tl;dr: This is a fairly simple story, about a brave girl who was once a princess, and a strange boy who will never be a knight.
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It's been ten years since the decisive Battle of Bakura. The once mighty Sith Empire is no more, and lawlessness is rampant across many of its former territories. As the fledgling Republic government works to bring unity to the galaxy, the resurgent Jedi Order offers what help it can, sending its few Knights out across the stars in an attempt to bring peace and justice. It is during one such mission that Jedi Knight Allana Djo encounters her old nemesis, Darth Festus, a Sith Lord who was once apprenticed to her father, and who has long harbored a personal grudge against her. When they find themselves trapped together, Allana discovers the secret Festus has kept from her all this time, and sets in motion events that will change both their lives forever…
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All These Broken Pieces
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PART ONE: THE CAVE
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I. The Storm
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Allana Djo arrived on the planet Argeneen hoping to stay only a day or two. She would meet with the king and his barons to discuss the disputed border territories, and she would put on a serene smile as they argued their positions with sharp-edged civility; and when they finally came to an agreement without wanting to strangle each other, she would return home to the Jedi enclave on Meraine, another small crisis averted, another job well done.
That all went out the window with the arrival of the bounty hunter.
"What the hell does he think he's doing?" Baron Valdos had flattened himself as far down in the passenger seat of the speeder as he could, and the wind whipping past the vehicle nearly carried away his panicked shout. Allana spared him only a moment's glance as she maneuvered through the capital city's narrow streets – just long enough to see him staring in horror at the destruction raining down around them. "Doesn't the Bounty Hunters' Guild have rules about this sort of violence?"
Allana thought about reminding the baron that it was his fault they were in this mess. Apparently he had gotten in deep with the Hutts and had a sizable price on his head, a fact he'd neglected to tell her until they were already caught in a deadly speeder chase. But she held her tongue, because the truth was that she was just as much a target as he was, if not more. As soon as she'd seen the bounty hunter's face, she'd known they were both in trouble.
She glanced over her shoulder at the man pursuing them. "He's not a Guild member," she said evenly before throwing the speeder into a tight turn. She aimed for a steep road that led out of the city and into the surrounding mountains, and began to pick up speed.
"You're insane, Jedi! We'll never lose him up there!"
"I'm not going to lose him." She steered through a series of sharp, narrow turns as fast as the speeder could handle, glancing down at the baron. "You are."
"What?" he shouted over the wind. A boulder tumbled from the cliff above, nearly striking the speeder. "You're going to get us killed!"
Allana ground her teeth together. "That wasn't me."
Valdos dared to peek over the back of his seat at the maniac chasing them. "What kind of bounty hunter is he?"
She took a sharp breath as she swung to avoid another boulder. There were Guild members, and there were non-Guild members… and then there was Darth Festus.
"The kind who won't bother with you if he has the chance to fight me." She unhooked her lightsaber with one hand and gestured toward the controls. "Take over for me. I'll lead him away so you can head back to the city."
Valdos looked like he might argue, but then he reached over and took the controls. "You're sure about this, Jedi?"
Allana breathed in deep and did her best to adopt the air of invincibility that the rest of her family had always worn with ease. "Pretty sure." She ignited her lightsaber, the cerulean blade shining bright amidst the dust as she climbed onto the back of the speeder.
"Good luck!" the baron called out.
Allana shook her head and smirked a little, imagining what Ben or Tahiri would say if they were here. She threw Valdos a hasty, two-fingered salute. "No such thing." And with that, she jumped.
She landed as gently as she could manage, her lightsaber shearing straight through the engine of Festus's speeder as it passed her. He'd already abandoned the vehicle, vaulting high overhead and landing on a rocky ledge above her. His speeder exploded against the mountain wall, sending up thick, black smoke that quickly obscured his exact position. Allana held her saber at the ready.
She heard a chuckle echo off the canyon walls, then the ominous hum of his lightsaber activating. A bar of crimson light split the smoke, and he leaped down from his perch. He stopped a few meters away from her, his form silhouetted against the fire from the speeder. Festus had filled out significantly in the ten years since their first duel on Vjun, adding both height and muscle to his once-wiry frame. He was still as pale as ever, and those eerie blue eyes of his still seemed to stare right into her; and even though she'd fought him enough times over those ten years to know she could handle him, she still found him more than a little intimidating.
"You're in rare form today, Princess," he said, passing his saber from right hand to left and back again. "Did you miss me?"
Allana kept her face composed. "Not in the slightest. I was actually having a pretty good day until you showed up."
He twirled his weapon in a slow circle and grinned. "You just love to hurt my feelings, don't you?"
Allana adjusted her grip on her saber. "Well, you're always trying to kill me, so I think it's fair."
He shrugged and dropped his gaze a moment, but she knew better than to think him chastened. He nodded his head toward the mountain pass leading back down to the valley. "Do you have any idea who you're protecting? People who crawl into bed with the Hutts aren't exactly the upstanding or innocent type."
She couldn't help scoffing at that. "Who are you to comment on anyone else's innocence?"
He shrugged again. "I'm not the virtuous and noble Jedi who's sworn to defend him." He took a step toward her, and she took a step back as they began to slowly circle one another. "Why don't you just let me take him, and I'll leave you alone?"
Allana glared at him. "You tried the same lie on Ord Mantell," she said. "Didn't work then, and it's not going to work now."
Festus smirked and rolled his eyes. "Well maybe if you'd handed the guy over like I asked, I would have left." He heaved an exaggerated sigh. "Believe it or not, I actually have a job to do, and it doesn't involve chasing after you."
"That sure isn't what it looks like from here."
The wicked smile on his lips turned predatory. "Then maybe you need to come a little closer."
Her gut twisted, and she noted the way he'd begun to draw nearer with each step as he continued to circle her, herding her further into the canyon and away from the city below. A distant rumble met her ears, and she glanced up at the sky, noticing for the first time the dark storm clouds rolling in from the west. Festus noticed the approaching storm, too, and he spread his arms wide and tipped his head toward the sky.
"Perfect," he exhaled, eyes closing for a few seconds as he laughed under his breath. "Fate really does have a sick sense of humor, doesn't it?"
Before she could decide whether to ask what the hell he was talking about, a boulder broke loose above her and toppled down the side of the cliff wall, and she sidestepped quickly to avoid it. She'd barely taken that step when she sensed movement and heard the deep thrum of Festus's saber slicing through the air. She snapped her own weapon up a split-second before his blade reached her neck.
"You really haven't missed me at all?" he asked through the mingled light of their sabers, his question punctuated by another resonant rumble of thunder.
Allana strained against the press of his blade. "Not… at all…" She thrust up as hard as she could and spun away from him, putting distance between herself and his weapon. He was still blocking the way back to the capital, and a quick glance at her surroundings revealed only a narrow path carved into the cliff several meters above, leading into a cave.
The wind picked up speed around them, funneling through the canyon with impressive force. Allana hadn't been on this planet long enough to have any idea how dangerous or lasting its storms were, but the sky didn't look promising, and she knew better than to stay out in the open. And yet, was she any better off taking shelter in an unknown cave, with a murderer in close pursuit?
She could already hear Ben warning her not to do anything impulsive, and she ignored that voice as she glanced up at the mouth of the cave again.
Festus was – as always, it seemed – one step ahead of her. "You don't want to go up there, Princess."
There was almost nothing she hated more than hearing Darth Festus tell her what she did or didn't want. Setting her own impulsive nature aside, though, this probably was a better option than trying to fight him off in a storm.
Allana deactivated her lightsaber and vaulted up the side of the cliff, teetering a bit as she landed on the narrow ledge. Her eyes met Festus's down below.
"Really?" he shouted up at her, fighting to be heard above the wind. "What's to stop me from heading back down this mountain and taking that stupid baron guy right now?"
She took a step back, one hand reaching out to steady herself against the mouth of the cave. "Nothing!" she called back. "But I know you won't, because what you really want is right here!"
She couldn't quite tell from this distance, but she thought she saw genuine surprise on his face, followed swiftly by dark anticipation. Lightning flashed overhead, and he shot forward, sprinting toward the cliff wall. Allana's heart leapt in her throat as she activated her saber and retreated into the cave. She only had a few seconds before he scaled the wall and caught up with her.
Her lightsaber illuminated the interior rock as she ran, casting a vibrant blue glow that splashed against the walls, and she realized it wasn't a cave but rather a network of tunnels. She could sense them running deep into the mountain, intersecting and branching off in a myriad of directions. Even with the Force to guide her, they would likely be a nightmare to navigate.
Thunder crashed outside, rattling the air around her, and she heard the low vibrating thrum of another lightsaber igniting. She looked over her shoulder and saw Festus standing in the entrance of the cave, framed by the storm, his features bathed in blood-red light. For an instant, she remembered vividly what it felt like to be fifteen years old, facing off against him for the first time, completely and utterly helpless in the face of his rage, and how quickly he had disarmed her and overpowered her and…
She banished those thoughts and turned around to face him, holding her lightsaber in front of her. He didn't move from the mouth of the cave, just stood there watching her, his weapon angled at the ground.
"You must be feeling pretty confident today, to lure me in here." Beneath his usual flippant manner, there was an almost… giddy quality to his voice, one that warmed the pit of her stomach and twisted, one that she instinctively wanted to shy away from.
She straightened her spine and lifted her chin, summoning a mask of cool indifference. "You say that as if you aren't exactly where you want to be."
One half of his mouth curved up in a smile, and he took a step toward her. "You're right. I am where I want to be." He took another step, and another, slowly at first but picking up speed. Allana backed away quickly, extending her senses to feel her way through the tunnel. Stars, why did she think this was a good idea? Now she had even less room to maneuver and nowhere to run but a pitch-dark labyrinth.
Festus crossed the remaining distance between them in the space of a heartbeat, swinging his lightsaber in a violent arc that just missed her head. She darted away, and his blade carved into the rock wall with an echoing hiss, leaving a molten scar in its wake.
"You're still not gonna fight me?" he called after her, gesturing wide with both arms. "Come on, Princess. What's it gonna take?"
He charged at her again, and she ducked and weaved her way around his blade, parrying only when she couldn't evade him outright. She caught an overhead blow with her saber and felt him lean into it with all his weight.
"If you want out of here," he said in a voice that was suddenly and jarringly grim, "you're going to have to kill me."
She swallowed hard and held firm, looking up at him through the brilliant cascade of light. "We'll see."
"No." He shook his head, leaning into the attack. "You're not hearing me, Allana. One way or another, this ends today."
She shoved back at him with all her strength, adding the weight of the Force to her movements, enough to disentangle her blade from his and send him stumbling backward against one of the walls. He laughed in disbelief and let out an exasperated growl. "You can't keep this up," he warned as she slipped away from him again.
Rather than answering, she doused her lightsaber and retreated deeper into the tunnel. The truth was that she had no idea how she was going to get out of this, but it was clear that her refusal to meet him in unrestrained combat was getting on his nerves. Maybe if she kept it up, he'd lose focus enough to leave her an opening to escape.
Or you could just kill him, a small voice whispered from deep down. The sooner the better.
She ignored that voice and shoved it back down where it belonged.
"What do you think you're doing?" He brandished his weapon, searching for her. "You think I won't find you just because you shut off your saber?"
Allana backed away from the threatening gleam of that crimson blade and tried to focus on what Ben had taught her long ago about becoming small in the Force, so small that not even another Jedi could sense her presence. The war with the Sith had ended before she'd ever come close to mastering it, though, and she'd never really needed the skill after that. Her own mental shielding would have to be enough.
She reached out in the Force, letting it guide her through the tunnel. There was an intersection up ahead, and to the left, a cavity that opened up into something resembling an actual cave. If she could make it there, she might gain a bit more breathing room. She glanced behind her; Festus was advancing quickly through the tunnel, the light from his saber highlighting the frustration on his face.
"You want me to threaten you some more, is that it?" He stopped and cocked his head to one side, listening, and she could feel his dark energy swell as he extended his senses throughout the tunnel. "You want me to tell you what'll happen if you don't fight back?"
She entered the larger cave, staying close to the wall as she probed the surrounding rock for additional pathways. Her heart sank as she realized there were none, that once again she'd trapped herself in a space with only one exit, and that the way out was through her mortal enemy.
"I bet you can imagine it," Festus was saying, his voice echoing eerily as he joined her in the small cavern. The light from his weapon barely filled the space, but it drenched what it touched in a haunting red glow. "You've seen what I'm capable of."
Allana's breath caught at his words, at the images that flashed through her brain in an instant, things he had done to others, things he had done to her…
His head snapped up as he turned in her direction, his eyes finding hers in the dark. "There you are." He advanced on her too quickly to avoid, and she threw up a barrier of energy between them.
"I don't want to fight you," she pleaded, slipping a little on the uneven rock, struggling to maintain the invisible shield.
"You don't have a choice, Princess." He swung his saber, and she vaulted backward to avoid it.
"There's always a choice," she replied. "You have a choice."
"Stop running away," he growled. "What do I have to do to get through to you?"
He had moved toward the center of the cave, and Allana realized she was positioned slightly closer to the tunnel than he was. She might be able to beat him to it if she ran now.
The moments that came after were a chaotic blur. She took off at a sprint toward the tunnel, and he gave chase, his frustration and rage radiating out from him in a tangible wave of energy that violently shook the entire cave to its foundations. Ahead of her, rock and sediment tumbled from the ceiling, quickly filling the entrance to the tunnel, and as she skidded to a halt to avoid the avalanche, he caught up to her, grabbing her by the tunic and jerking her backward. She found herself trapped in his arms for one breathless, dizzying second before he flung her to the ground. His lightsaber shut off, plunging the cave into total darkness, and Allana raised her hands over her body to shield herself as debris continued to rain down around them.
When the destruction ceased and the dust finally settled, she activated her lightsaber and held it up to illuminate the cave.
The cavern had almost completely collapsed, leaving her in a space barely four meters across in either direction. She stretched out with her senses, trying to gauge the thickness of the wall of rock standing between her and her freedom, but it just kept going. Festus must have brought down nearly the whole network of tunnels. It would have been impressive if he hadn't been trying to kill her.
An angry groan startled her, and she spun around, both hands gripping her saber as she searched for him.
He was on his back, a giant slab of rock crushing his legs. His left arm was outstretched toward it, trying to move it, but when the glow from her saber fell across him, he froze. She realized, in a dazed sort of way, that his legs were likely broken. She breathed in and out slowly, lowering one hand from her weapon.
Dark laughter filled the cave. His left arm dropped to the ground. "I've been trying to kill you for ten years, and you still won't go through with it?" He closed his eyes and let out an exaggerated sigh. "Pathetic."
Allana narrowed her eyes at him. "I won't kill a defenseless—"
She cut off abruptly as he hurled the stone that had crushed his legs, sending it flying toward her. She sidestepped it, and as she did, she felt an invisible, vise-like grip on her lightsaber. The bastard was trying to rip it from her hands!
She resisted, straining to hold on to her weapon. Festus rolled onto his side, holding himself up on his elbow as he reached for her with his other arm. His grip weakened for a few seconds, and she thought he might tire himself out; but then the mental vise closed around her whole body, and he dragged her toward him.
His fingers wrapped around the hand that held her lightsaber, the blue blade centimeters from both their faces as he yanked her down. He rolled onto his back, his other hand grabbing a fistful of her shirt and pulling her against him. His eyes were as wild as she'd ever seen them. "Don't think for a second that I can't still kill you," he growled.
Allana tried to tamp down her rising panic and remind herself of the times she'd managed to get the upper hand on him in combat, but all she could think of was their most recent encounter on Kurin, when he'd held her close like this and whispered bitter hatred in her ear.
Focus, she ordered herself, calling on the Force to quiet her mind. She couldn't go tumbling down a well of painful memories; she had to remain in the present and find a way out of this. She had to think. He might seem strong, but he obviously couldn't stand or he would have done so already.
Allana reared back and slammed her left fist into his jaw as hard as she could, then pushed against him with a blast of energy. She fell backward, free from his grasp. Another instant and she was on her feet, lightsaber angled at his throat.
In the sudden stillness of the cave, the hum of her weapon was deafening. She stared down at her enemy, at his pale face and his pale eyes, at once so familiar and so foreign. He met her gaze, unflinching.
"Do it," he whispered.
She shook her head, taking a sharp, involuntary breath. It had to be a trick. Festus had always been unhinged, but never suicidal. She held firm, listening in the Force for his next attack.
"What are you waiting for?" he growled, a desperate edge to his voice. "I said do it!"
"No!" Allana snapped, saber still humming at his throat.
Festus glared at her. "Still weak as ever, Princess."
A cold fury filled her as she stared down at him. "Do you want to die?"
He didn't answer, and for the first time in years she saw a brief flicker of fear in his blue eyes.
Allana took two steps back and lowered her weapon. "Yeah," she said, "that's what I thought."
Anger rolled off of him in waves, but she ignored it, retreating to the opposite side of the frustratingly small cave. She sat down against the wall, holding her saber with both hands lest he try to snatch it from her again.
Festus grunted as he propped himself up on his elbow, his eyes following her every movement. The roiling anger settled, and he rubbed a hand across his jaw. "I thought you were right-handed," he said with a chuckle.
"I am," she returned curtly. "Maybe you're just losing your touch."
He looked down at his useless legs and chuckled again. "Clearly." He pulled himself upright, and she noticed he struggled for a few seconds before he turned his eerie smile on her. "Try not to enjoy this too much."
Allana lifted her chin, ready to tell him that no, she didn't enjoy watching another person suffer. But truthfully, she was enjoying it just a little.
He shot her a knowing smirk, then dragged himself to the closest wall and carefully propped himself against it. He sat directly across from her, his legs twisting in a way that made her cringe. She wondered how much it hurt.
He raised one hand just slightly off the ground, motioning at her. "You gonna keep that on the whole time?"
She glanced at her lightsaber, which was currently bathing the entire cave in a cool blue glow. "Maybe."
"Why? You don't trust me?" Even without the light from her saber, she would have felt the wicked delight on his face. "You're not afraid of the dark, are you?"
She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of an answer, or of knowing that she didn't want him out of her sight. But it did remind her that she had to find a way out of here, before she ran out of air or starved to death or fell asleep only to be gutted by the lunatic sitting across from her. She used the Force to probe the rocks around her, looking for fissures and voids, trying to find a path that could be manipulated to get her out.
A cold tendril of despair curled around her as she realized there was little chance of escape from the inside. They were buried so deep that any attempt to disturb the rock would almost certainly end up crushing them. Unless someone dug them out from the surface, they were both going to die in here.
Her earlier panic started to creep up again. How long would it take for the Argenians to realize they were in here? Would they contact Ben? Would they wait for him to arrive before sending help? By the time they did, would it be too late? Maybe she could go into some kind of stasis to stay alive, like a healing trance. Of course, to do that safely she'd have to neutralize Festus.
He smiled that smile she hated so much, the one that would have been dazzling on anyone else but just came off as terrifying on him. "Daydreaming about killing me, Princess?"
She stared right back at him, eyes narrowing as she tried to ignore how unsettled she felt. "I'm a Jedi Knight," she said. "I don't dream about killing anyone. Even you."
His gaze darkened. "I suppose I should count myself blessed that Her Royal Jediness doesn't wish me dead."
"Well I wouldn't go that far," Allana snapped.
"So, you want me to die, but you don't want to sully your own hands." There was amusement in his voice. "Maybe you should be on the Hapan throne after all."
She didn't really mean to pick up the rock and chuck it at his head, but it happened before she could even think. He leaned to the side, barely dodging the projectile. It clattered harmlessly against the wall of the cave before falling into his lap.
"I struck a nerve," he said softly, dangerously.
Allana kept her mouth shut and looked away. She refused to give him anything else to use against her.
"Or maybe," he said, as though something amazing had just occurred to him, "you really are daddy's little girl."
And there it was. She'd wondered how long it would be before he decided to use her father's memory against her. It was working, too, because now that was all she could think of: her father's face and her father's arms wrapped around her, dragging her toward the Embrace of Pain, and how much she still loved him and missed him even after what he'd done to her. She remembered how she'd wept watching his body burn on the pyre, remembered the cold sweats she used to wake up in for months and years afterward, remembered how no reassuring words from Ben could ever quite convince her that there wasn't a darkness in her, waiting to spring forth.
As Festus held her gaze, triumph written all over his smug face, she decided for once to lean into that darkness just a little.
Allana squared her shoulders and tilted her chin up, and she raised one imperious eyebrow. "If I really was my father's daughter, then you would have spent the last ten years bowing to me."
His hands curled into fists against his thighs, and a strange look crossed his face as he inhaled. Their eyes remained locked, neither one backing down.
"I hate you," he breathed out.
"I know," she whispered back.
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