Rebels of The Void (Book Six)

by Rebel Rue

Tragedy has struck, and the Rebellion is in shambles and in desperate need of leadership. Determined to succeed for the fate of his family, Ash sets out on a quest to locate and rescue Rebel, but the journey is perilous and takes longer than he expected. How will the time apart change his relationship with Rue, the children, Rebel, the Rebellion, and reality itself?

26. Chapter 23, Ash POV

I hoped those three words left him reeling just as his new vengeful personality had completely astounded me. I hoped they made him pause and consider what he was doing. In his quest to avenge everything he'd lost, he'd lose the one thing he still treasured: his friendship with me and any hope of enjoying a stable relationship with his kids. On top of that, he'd squander any opportunity to reconcile with Rebel, although the chances were already slim to none. I fought as hard as I could to wrangle myself free from my captor's grasp to join my wife, but I'm ashamed to admit Sawyer's associate was stronger than me. He thrust me into the cargo hold, and I spun around as soon as I'd regained my footing but came face to face with the barrel of an EE-3 carbine rifle. I gulped, and my curious gaze drifted upward to the face of its owner. As I stared at the helmeted figure, I recognized the green Mandalorian armor, chipped and faded like the ship. The red rim around his visor distinguished him as the infamous bounty hunter Boba Fett, and I instantly knew this ship belonged to him. It was the only explanation for the exceptional vessel being in Sawyer's possession. They must've been working together, but why would Sawyer get mixed in with such a crowd? The Boba Fett scoffed at my continued reverent stare, and I realized my jaw was hanging open as drool pooled around my tongue. I shook my head, closed my mouth, and bit my lip to contain my saliva. The bounty hunter placed his firm hand on my shoulder and shoved me to the ground, which was not difficult to do in my dazed state. He twirled the trigger of his rifle around his finger a few times ostentatiously before securing it diagonally across his chest. He then kicked my chest, sliding me across the slick flooring and into the nearest wall with my back resting against it. It knocked the wind out of me and made my lungs burn as I gasped for air. While I sat there paralyzed, watching him strut away pompously, I couldn't help but feel slightly honored that I'd been a worthy enough prisoner that the renowned Boba Fett had agreed to assist in capturing me. Shortly after, just as I was recuperating from my brief suffocation and regaining operation of my limbs, I heard the distant, echoing sound of boots climbing up the Durasteel ramp. I leaned over a partition jutting out from the wall behind me that was shrouding my line of sight to the entrance and saw a blue Duros entering the ship with breathing tubes attached to both of his cheeks, a largely brimmed hat on his head and Rebel with her wrists and ankles bound slung over his shoulder. "Rebel!" I called out to her, although she was likely unconscious, and the Duros turned his head to glare at me with his red eyes past the periphery of his hat. He slammed Rebel down beside me, and I whimpered, experiencing sympathy pain as the back of my head throbbed where the wall behind us had banged against Rebel's head. She had a white cloth tied around her mouth that the Duros had most likely doused in a chemical sedative, and her eyes were closed as her head hung and she slumped. The sliding door in front of us suddenly slammed shut, causing me to jump, and it left us confined and crammed into a small rectangular room with four walls surrounding us. The ceiling brushed against the top of my head even while I was sitting, and the door to our exit was not even far enough away to stretch my legs out completely in front of me. The room's dimness made it nearly impossible to maneuver, but as my eyes adjusted to the absence of light, I could again make out Rebel's form. "Don't worry, Rebel," I whispered to her reassuringly as I looked around the cramped compartment our captors had forced us into for weak points. "I'm gonna get you outta here." I began to flail my hands behind my back, wriggling and fidgeting with the shackles around my wrists to separate them, when I felt an unexpected weight land gracefully on my right shoulder. I looked over and squinted to decipher what it was, promising myself I wouldn't scream if it were something with more than two legs because who knows if Boba keeps his ship clean? I swore I wouldn't holler because I didn't want to startle Rebel or embarrass myself in front of her when she already had plenty of bases to tease me. I held my breath to follow through on my promise. Thankfully, I could immediately release the breath when the weight nuzzled deeper into my shoulder. I could tell it had only been Rebel's head falling delicately on my shoulder and using it as a pillow. I felt a small smile tug at my lips and my heart warm as that was the most compassion she's ever shown me. Deep down, I always knew she didn't hate me, but to see proof of it made my heart soar, and I instinctively kissed the top of her head tenderly. "I promise," I whispered and tried to squirm out of my handcuffs less violently so as not to disturb her until I had formulated a plan of escape, but even the softest contact of my lips against her hair had woken her. She wasn't a heavy sleeper anymore, just like Rue said. She groaned groggily and nestled her cheek against my arm to wake herself up more. I waited until she was fully conscious to speak to her. She looked over at me and blinked, allowing her pupils time to expand due to the lack of light. "You're awake," I observed gratefully, and she nodded to verify my statement as she scooted closer to me. I had wanted her to savor all the well-deserved rest time she could attain, but I hadn't been looking forward to waking her up on my own if it proved challenging. Plus, I didn't think I could develop a brilliant escape plan on my own anyway, certainly not one that Rebel would approve of and especially not since it was becoming more apparent that it was hopeless for me to free myself of my bonds without a tool to assist me in that regard, which I was convinced Rebel would have. "You don't happen to have a sharp object, preferably a knife, on you, do you?" I asked, wiggling my chains so they rattled together, and she knew why I was requesting such a gadget. She nudged my shoulder with hers so that I would lean forward and she could examine my cuffs to determine the necessary sharpness level, which intrigued me. Did that mean she had a selection to choose from? She leaned away from me once she had concluded her inspection of my bonds and rolled her eyes at my ignorance. Of course, she had a knife on her. What a ridiculous question, I realized, wanting to smack my forehead with my palm. She tapped her left heel against the ground as an indication for me to watch since speaking and pointing were irrelevant in her current state. She lifted her foot off the ground and jerked her knee back before letting her leg fly out straight in front of her as she kicked the air, and a blade stabbed through the sole of her boot. She glanced over at me, her eyes narrowed proudly, and I could tell there was a smirk behind that cloth. Seeing the pride she took in herself made me smile, pride for her swelling within me as well. We may get the old Rebel back after all. "Wow." I was certain she could hear my smile through my admiration, even if she couldn't see it because of our dark surroundings. "That's more you than you." I scooched over to her foot to take the knife. I didn't know if that statement had made any sense, but it was just such a classically Rebel trait to have a knife of this caliber hidden in her boots that that fact could identify her above any other feature. I leaned over, bit the part of the blade protruding from her boot with my teeth, and yanked it the rest of the way out before sliding back over to where I'd been seated with my back against the wall. Rebel turned her back to me, and I dropped the handle of the knife in her open hands before turning to face the opposite direction of her so that we were back to back, and she began cutting my shackles. Once I felt the resistance between my two wrists disappear and the sound of the chains rattling against the floor, my hands were free to separate, and I spun around instantly and accepted the blade from Rebel's hands, and began slicing her bonds apart. Once hers were severed, I tossed the knife aside haphazardly. I hurriedly untied the cloth around her head in case it was too tight and cutting off her circulation or the toxins slowly poisoned her. Honestly, though, I reacted quickly because I couldn't stand seeing her suffer anymore. She turned around to face me, and I cupped her face, assessing her for injury. She placed one of her hands on the back of mine and patted it as a signal to assure me she was fine. I leaned away from her and let my hands slip away from her face to allow her more room to breathe since our oxygen level had depleted greatly the longer we remained trapped. She inhaled deep but grateful breaths and smiled at me with closed eyes. "Kriff you, and thank you." There's our girl, my best friend. I was proud to call her that. She cursed me out and thanked me in the same breath, only Rebel could be so two-faced, and you wouldn't even bat an eye. She cussed me out constantly for fun, so I was used to it, but even if she was a stranger, she could insult you, and you would take it as a compliment. That was her disposition. She slowly opened her eyes to ensure I had taken it as a joke as she had meant it and had meant it in the other thousand times past. This time, however, I decided to react in a way I never have before to add a morsel of humor to this bleak situation. I faked a gasp and pretended to gag as I slapped my chest with my palm as if covering up a bleeding wound. I looked down at it, then back up at her, and fainted with my knees bent since there wasn't much room to sprawl out. "I have been burned!" I yelled fatally and craned my neck slightly to look at her from over my knees. "SHUT UP," she screamed louder than me as she smacked my leg with her hand and glanced around nervously. "THEY'RE GONNA HEAR YOU!" She shrieked ironically and held her pointer finger vertically before her lips in the universal signal for silence. I propped myself up on my elbows and rolled my eyes at her, staring at her pointedly until it dawned on her that if they were going to hear anyone, it would be her. Of course, it never did. "Idiot," she scoffed and rolled her eyes at me again as she turned her gaze to the door. I grunted as I boosted myself into an upright position using my elbows and glanced around for some way to make her pipe down. I smirked as my gaze fell on the white cloth I had recently untied from around her mouth, knowing I'd never sincerely consider doing such a cruel thing as retying it around her head, but it did flaunt my power over her. "I can put this back on you. You know that, right?" I asked her as I picked it up and dangled it before her eyes. She glanced over at it, unfazed, then back up into my eyes without a hint of amusement. "I can stab you with the knife in my other boot." She repeated the same process as earlier and kicked the space in front of her with her right foot, this time instead of her left, and an even larger knife punctured through the sole of her boot. She reached down and tugged it out of its slot, all while maintaining eye contact with me, and pointed the tip of the blade at my face. "You know that, right?" She asked me more exaggeratedly than I'd asked her the same question as she mocked me. I chuckled at her mockery and lifted my hands to either side of my face with my palms facing her in surrender as I dropped the cloth. She pumped her fist at me threateningly with the knife still in her hand. Still, I refused to flinch as I crawled over to the wall, groping and scouring for a circuit board on the wall since the temperature in this confined space was unbearable, and I needed to stretch my legs. Once I found the control panel, I ripped the door to it off its hinges and began rewiring the cables to reprogram the compartment door to open for us. When Rebel discovered what I was doing, she crawled next to me, extracted a flashlight from her pocket, and closely, quietly examined the procedure. I was grateful for the light and her silent intrigue with my work. Eventually, the door slid open, and I crept out on my hands and knees after allowing Rebel to go first, of course, ladies first. Once I was out in the more open area of the ship, I stood up and stretched, then looked to my left and headed toward the ramp to reunite with my wife since we would no doubt still be on the planet's surface because I hadn't heard Sawyer board yet and I certainly hadn't heard or felt the ship take off yet. "Where are you going?" I heard Rebel's voice ask in a light, timid tone, but I did not see her as I turned around. Confused, I placed my hands on my hips and leaned over to peer past a wall partition. That's when I saw Rebel, her fingers curled around the corner of the wall as she peeked at me with one eye past the wall she was using as her shield as if nervous our captors would discover we'd escaped from the confines of our cell and force us back into it, but I wasn't going to let that happen. I wasn't letting anything happen to her anymore, but if she wasn't going to help me make that happen by rescuing the rebellion so we could protect her and offer her a place to stay with us, I guess I'd do it myself. "I'm gonna walk out and save the Rebellion?" I gave her a soft smile as I tilted my head and pointed to the ramp behind me, tossing my thumb over my shoulder, wondering why the answer wasn't obvious. "We're in hyperspace," she informed me monotonously. Still, it was obvious amusement was steadily brewing behind her factual demeanor as she gradually realized I wasn't joking when I froze to feel the ship's vibrations in motion through my feet and listen to the muffled drone of the vessel's engine. I suppose the ship had just taken off with such ease and grace that I hadn't been able to pinpoint the precise moment we'd lifted off, and the engine's hum was so faint I hadn't heard until just now when I'd deliberately tuned into it. Rebel cupped her hands around her mouth to stifle her giggles as the realization became more and more apparent on my face. "Oh," I said as I stared at the ground. I zoned out, continuing to sense the ship's gentle movements through the soles of my shoes as we traveled progressively through our hyperspace lane, and I became more mindful of and sensitive to the mild rocking. Rebel must've only been more conscious of the barely perceptible shifts because of her heightened senses, and she'd been in more modern and stable ships than me, while I was used to old and rickety ships that made it clear we were in flight mode. She placed her hands over her heart and examined me with pity as her bottom lip pouted when I looked up at her. I felt my cheeks burn with embarrassment, and I tried to hide the fact by turning my face away from her and rubbing my cheek with my palm, then scratching my head as I cleared my throat. She let one last giggle escape, and I heard her sit down on the floor of the ship. Once I was sure the red in my cheeks had reduced, I turned around to face her, and she patted the ground in front of her with an approachable smile as an invitation for me to sit down in front of her. "What did you think you were gonna do?" She asked interestedly in a faint voice as she leaned toward me so I could hear her clearer once I'd taken a seat before her and folded my legs into my lap. "I don't know," I answered, shrugging. Truthfully, I had no plan if we had been able to escape. I hadn't even begun devising one. If we were still on the planet's surface, my only idea would be to run to Rue. She would've had a plan and known what to do. She always did, but I was too embarrassed to admit that was my only thought. "You don't know?" She asked incredulously, cocking one eyebrow. I decided to blame my blank mind on my current friendship crisis with Sawyer and accuse it of sapping all my brain power, although, if I'm being honest, it's pretty much hollow up there 24/7. "Yeah," I whined miserably, looking down at the ground, picking at a scuff on the floor with my finger, and letting my shoulders sag to emphasize the burden of the situation. "I'm going through a tough time, y'know?" I slowly lifted my head to look at her to see if she'd bought it and guiltily realized I shouldn't have been complaining at all, even pretending to, to the person who reserved all rights to complain until the end of time, but she, selflessly, never did. She reached out to squeeze my ankle lightly, rubbing her thumb over it and looking into my eyes sympathetically, revealing additional evidence of her unselfish attitude. Uh-oh, she was genuinely concerned for me. Aww, she's genuinely concerned for me. Wait, no, that wasn't the goal, and it was certainly not the reaction I'd expected from her. I'd anticipated another eye-roll, a smack to the head, or a scoff at the very least. I hadn't intended for her to pity me, not when I, truthfully, had no cause for complaint. I mentally cracked my knuckles and rolled up my sleeves preparedly. It was time to test her sympathy by lamenting about something so trivial even the most considerate person wouldn't indulge me. "I haven't had pizza in a week. Do you know how hard that is?" I asked her, already bracing myself, either for a rebuke or a beating, as I leaned back slightly and raised one of my shoulders as a defensive measure. Her jaw slid to one side as she glared at me, and the expression on her face transformed almost instantly from one of compassion to one of apathy. She flicked my forehead understandably and smirked at me, remorseless over her action. "Ow!" I whimpered as my hands shot up to my forehead, and I pressed them against it to soothe the dull ache. She hmphed pretentiously and rose to her feet without another word. I looked over my shoulder and watched her disappear around a corner, scoffing at her spontaneity. Now I should be asking her where she was going, but she seemed confident enough to explore the ship alone, hijack it, or confront Sawyer about where he was taking us. Regardless of her motive, I knew better than to interrupt her plan by asking questions. Whatever was going to happen would happen, and I'd hopefully be filled in on the details as the plan progressed. That's how it is under Rebel's direction. You get used to it. I like a little improvisation in the plan, though. It also helps surprise the enemy if even the one in on the plan isn't completely certain about the next step. I can't believe I'm calling Sawyer the enemy, though. I sighed and shook the thought out of my head as I stood up and brushed myself off, deciding to be ready if, suddenly, the plan sprang into action. I heard rapidly fleeing footsteps approaching me from behind and spun around as frantic panting joined in. I saw Rebel barreling down the corridor straight toward me, and I tilted my head at her, wondering what could've possibly happened within the past few minutes since I'd last spoken with her. "Why are you running?" I asked, shuffling backward in a futile attempt to counteract her swift advancement toward me as she didn't seem to be slowing down. "DO YOU NOT SEE THE SITH LORD BEHIND ME?!" She screamed, grabbing two fistfuls of my collar as she slid to a stop before me and yanked my face down to hers, meaning I had to bend over considerably. I stared at her with my eyes wide in shock for as long as she stood there, which wasn't more than a second before she released her hold on my shirt, seized my hand, and darted off in the same direction she had been running. Once she realized I'd recovered from the surprise of being yelled at and being dragged along behind her briefly and I'd matched her pace, she let go of my hand to swing both of her arms at her sides as she sprinted to increase her speed. She huffed out strenuous breaths as she ran, as if exerting every last bit of energy she had stored up while I looked down at my legs and realized I was only traveling at the rate of a light jog. As a matter of fact, I was struggling not to exceed her. At least whoever was chasing us wasn't gaining on us, right? I glanced over my shoulder at our pursuer. Oh, kriff, he is. I looked back over at Rebel to see her now panting as her arms pumped vigorously at her sides and, despite her best efforts, her pace was slowly slackening. I observed that her prosthetic impeded her ability to accelerate past a certain level as I noticed the slight limp in her left leg. I applauded her efforts, but if I didn't do something, and fast, she would get swooped up by him, and that was definitely on my list of things that I vowed to protect her from. "I'm sorry, but I have two real legs longer than yours, and I was on the track team." I justified the action I was about to take by listing all my reasons. "I do the running here," I said as I scooped her up with one arm and immediately broadened my stride. I secured her to my side under my arm horizontally as she squirmed and kicked to free herself, clawing at my arm hooked underneath her, but in her weakened state, her quest failed, and she surrendered in defeat. She puffed out an irritated sigh that ended in a raspberry as she dramatically folded her arms to display her obvious annoyance. However, her frustration was the least of my worries at the moment. I glanced over my shoulder at the Zabrak chasing us and down at the elongated lightsaber hilt swinging on his belt. I've never seen one that long before, I realized with confusion. Why would you need one that long anyway? Wouldn't it just interfere when you struck during a duel? I looked at the Sith lord's face again to see if it annoyed him as it repeatedly slapped against his thigh. His teeth were barred as he growled ferociously at the fact that the chase went on for longer than he had anticipated, and he vaulted toward us with a vicious snarl, making my feet instinctively pedal us faster. Force, he's angry. What could Rebel have possibly done to make him so mad? Or maybe it was that his lightsaber hilt was perpetually smacking against his leg. I know it would annoy me. Wait, he looks familiar, I thought. I squinted at his furious facial expression to perceive his features more clearly from this distance. Have I seen him before? My eyes widened with realization as I suddenly recognized him, and my feet picked up the pace again, flying at a speed I didn't know was possible. He was the same Zabrak that had contacted the rebellion on the first day the four of us had arrived after the girls' lengthy two-year hiatus, the day after mine and Rue's wedding. Ezra was introducing us to his so-called ally when I learned that this was the Sith lord who'd permanently maimed Rebel and the same Sith who'd given Rue the scar she loathed the most, the one that was on her right thigh. She'd almost lost her leg because of it. I felt rage boiling inside me as my free hand formed a fist, and I ground my teeth together, but I wanted to ensure this was him before harboring unjust resentment toward an innocent being. I remember the Zabrak in the hologram having two prosthetic legs. That was his most prominent feature. I looked down at the legs chasing us, noticing that the timing in which one of his feet would land just as the other was pushing off the ground was too exact for his feet to be natural. Plus, the heaviness in his footsteps could only imply that they were artificial legs. Only Wrecker's stomping could rival the marching thundering behind us. However, the degree of noise Wrecker's footsteps made was because he wore ironclad boots. If that were the case in this instance, the Zabrak wouldn't have been able to run nearly this fast. Yes, this is the one. He's the man that savagely mauled my wife and her sister and claimed he was following orders. Even if he hadn't been the one to issue the orders, it spoke volumes about his character that he would comply with them. What was his name again? Maul something? Boy, wouldn't that be fitting? I suddenly felt Rebel begin to squirm again under my arm with much more determination than before, and I looked back down at her as she dug her nails into my forearm, but she stared straight ahead. I had almost forgotten I was still carrying her. "ASH!" She screeched my name at the top of her lungs. Whoops, had she been trying to get my attention earlier? I had forgotten to be paying attention to her after blocking out her frustration from my mind. "WA-" Whatever she'd tried to say next was either cut off, or I didn't hear it because I last remember losing consciousness after face-planting into a sturdy obstruction and falling on my back. I should've been watching where I was going. Lesson learned. My eyelids fluttered open as I regained consciousness, and I leaned back into the chair I realized I was sitting in. I groaned at my dull, pulsating headache and the soreness in my neck since I'd been hunched over my lap for force knows how long. I attempted to reach up and massage the base of my neck with my hand to subside the discomfort in the tense muscles temporarily but found I had no mobility in my wrists as they seemed glued to the armrests. I looked down at them and saw both wrists chained to the arms of the chair. Wait, I didn't have a chair before in the hold. Where am I? I looked around and immediately concluded I was in the cockpit as my eyes scanned over the vast panel of switches and dials at the helm and the expanse of blue waves through the front windshield, indicating we were traveling through hyperspace as Rebel had said, although how far away our final destination was and how long we'd been traveling so far were unknown to me. Rue's whereabouts were all I cared about, though, and if I was here, on a foreign ship in the middle of space, and the last place I'd seen her was at the rebellion, she wasn't here. We weren't together. I need her. She needs me. We need to be together. I felt a bout of hyperventilation rising to my lungs as I squirmed and struggled to escape from my second set of handcuffs in only one day. A new record, woohoo, for me. Has it only been one day, though? How long have I been out? Hopefully, only a few minutes since every passing second reminded me that I was getting farther away from my wife and kids. They were my whole world. My whole world was slipping through my fingers, shrinking tinier and tinier in my imaginary rearview mirror until it would eventually be too microscopic to recover. The thought made nausea build on top of all the other ailments I was suffering, and it made me wriggle my wrists more vehemently and frantically as I tried breaking out from all angles. I tried pulling my wrists out by pushing back against the back of the chair, busting them out through the top of the shackles by lifting my wrists, and pushing against the floor with my feet as hard as I could, to no avail. After wasting all that effort on a useless endeavor, I panted and whimpered, wishing Rue were here to calm me down by telling me in her soft, reassuring voice that everything would be okay. "Where's Rue?" I finally howled to anyone who was listening and looked around to see Boba Fett in the pilot's seat, the Zabrak, and the Duros side by side, in the two seats behind Boba's with the Zabrak directly in front of me and the Duros to the left of him, and Sawyer in the seat beside me. They'd all turned their heads toward me when I wailed, but Sawyer was the only one who seemed pleased to see me, while the others sneered at me disgustedly. "Hey, buddy!" He greeted me cheerfully with a delighted giggle and patted me roughly on the shoulder. "You're awake!" He announced, shaking me side to side enthusiastically and squeezing my shoulder. "Are you alright?" He asked, regarding me with a pitiful look and pouted as if I were the epitome of helplessness. "You took a pretty big hit down there, bud." He reached up and rubbed a tender, possibly bruised, spot on the middle of my forehead with his thumb as he cringed. "I'm fine." I jerked my head out of his reach, reared back, and clenched my fingers around the armrests. I realized he had conveniently avoided the question by veering the topic of conversation to me instead. "Where is she?" I repeated my question, slowly turning my face toward him, refusing to rest until someone answered. He straightened up and squared his shoulders defensively as his facial features fell flat, devoid of all expression, as if retaliating to me being unwelcoming of his concern by suddenly shifting to showing no emotion whatsoever. "Don't worry," he ordered curtly as if the words' purpose pointed more toward scolding than soothing me. The message was the same, but the tone in which he'd said it completely altered the effect it would've had on my nerves had it come from Rue's mouth. "She's safe back at the rebellion," he informed me, turning to face forward again, but something caused me to distrust his statement. Even if that statement had been true, it still wouldn't have eased my worries because I wondered how far away she was from me. "Where am I?" I asked, glancing around at the interior of the ship. "We're almost there," he replied indifferently, staring at the horizon. I rolled my eyes at him while my face was out of his line of sight. Force, quit avoiding the question. "Where?" I asked through clenched teeth. "Naboo." It's fascinating how a single word can trigger so many memories. Memories I couldn't seem to forget, no matter how badly I yearned to discard them from my mind and never recall them again. It was easy to say and picture doing, yet impossible to accomplish. Just a brief mention of the planet's name could send a chill down my spine and dispatch a searing pain to all of the places on my body that now existed purely as reminders of my stay at the castle since they still wore the scars. The mere thought of returning to the place riddled with my screams of agony and where my blood and tears had stained and drenched the dungeon floor terrified me, skyrocketed my heart rate, and caused memories of suffering, humiliation, torment, and anguish to flood my brain as I felt quick, ragged breaths jump down my throat. Images of the unspeakable acts Palpatine performed on me flashed before my eyes, the horrendous sight of a whip cracking down on my back from the corner of my eye, the traumatic scene of my burnt flesh smoldering and blistering as he forced me to watch him press scorching, sizzling coals against my skin, the unbearable nightmarish visions he inflicted upon me of Rue, Rebel, Rex, Wrecker, and the kids in pain, the-. The things I couldn't even tell Rue about. Then there were the sounds my imagination generated, but they had once been painfully real. The distant, foreboding, synchronized march of the stormtroopers approaching my cell as they inevitably grew closer, the threat of their imminent arrival offering my mind plenty of time to theorize about their possible methods of torture for that particular day and allowing my anxiety to rise to its peak before they finally reached my cell; Palpatine's maniacal cackle when he witnessed my suffering; the crackle of the bolts of electricity that emitted from Palpatine's gnarly, arthritic fingers just before electrocuting me and making every muscle in my body tense and spasm, but worst of all, Rue's pained cries when she saw my wounds and her profuse apologies as she assumed all responsibility for my injuries. And to think, Sawyer was there all along, listening to me beg and plead for mercy from somewhere inside the castle, although unconscious, and I didn't even know it. No, I won't go back there. I refuse. I'm not strong enough. I can't do it! I began to convulse violently, flailing to release myself from my bonds. I need to get out of here now. I'm not exactly sure what my plan would've been if I had succeeded in escaping, perhaps leap up and hijack the ship and turn us back toward Kashyyyk, although that wouldn't have lasted long. I'd have immediately been tackled and overpowered, they would've instantly regained control of the ship, and they would've barely regarded me as a disruption during their pleasant flight. Maybe my idea would've been to steal Boba Fett's gun and threaten to shoot him if he didn't return me to Kashyyyk. However, that probably wouldn't have been a successful strategy either because I knew they outnumbered me, had weapons, and were far more skilled in combat than I. Even still, I might've run straight to the airlock and escaped by those means. Regardless of my method, anything would've been better than allowing them to take me back to the place I dreaded most in the universe without putting up any resistance. "Oh, who put these handcuffs back on him?" Sawyer glanced over at me as I thrashed ungracefully, and he noticed the shackles around my wrists. "He's not a prisoner. He's our guest!" He scolded his new companions as he unfastened the chains around my wrists with the force. Unperturbed by his rebuke, they giggled amongst themselves conspiratorially. For being their guest, I certainly wasn't shown much hospitality. I winced as I rubbed the circumference of my sore wrists with my fingers, looking down at the raw skin. "I'm sorry, Ash," Sawyer apologized sincerely, laying his hand on my forearm. "They just don't know how to be civil," he grumbled as he glared at them once they'd resumed facing forward. Ha, don't talk to me about civility. You're the one who kidnapped me in the first place, ripped me from my home and my wife, and managed to authorize my handcuffing in the process, at least the first time. If anything, you're the uncivil one. The fact that he was blind to the amount of irony in the situation was baffling. "Listen," he began earnestly, turning back toward me and patting my arm. "I'm sorry about first putting you in the cargo hold." He smiled at me apologetically. "I was trying to get you on board quickly, and the cockpit only has enough room for 8, so I'd lost count and thought we didn't have enough room up here," he explained hastily and shifted to face forward again with a blissful grin on his face as if he expected me to accept his excuse immediately and we were already best friends again. That wasn't even what confused me the most, though. What puzzled me the most was his inaccurate tally of the group's amount. "8?" I may be an idiot, as Rebel has said on multiple occasions, but I can at least count. To my knowledge, there were only six of us. With my present understanding, there should've been plenty of seats for all of us to fit comfortably in the cockpit, including two additional empty seats. "Yeah, the three of them, the two of us," That's funny, I thought privately, suppressing an ironic chuckle. The way I sectioned it up to calculate the sum was the four of them and the two of us, namely, Rebel and me. In my version, Sawyer and I were on opposite sides of the equation, just as he seemed to be on the opposite side of the universe, totally inaccessible to me, even though he was sitting right beside me. "And the kids," he concluded casually, gesturing loosely behind us, barely glancing over his seat. "Kids?" I gripped the armrests of my chair fiercely and leaned forward as I felt my eyes widen in shock. Hadn't he been satisfied with abducting Rebel and me alone? He had to go and extend his list of crimes to include kidnapping innocent children now? I don't even know who he is anymore. I whipped my head around and saw Kai, Kali, and Armani seated in three passenger seats against the ship's left wall. I gasped and jumped up to kneel before them and ensure they were safe, unharmed, and securely buckled in. The harnesses were much too big for their tiny bodies, and there was quite a bit of slack around their shoulders and waists. They were all sound asleep, though, and Kai and Armani rested their heads on either of Kali's shoulders. The scene was so endearing it melted my heart into a mushy puddle in my chest. I felt my bottom lip protrude and curl into a pout as I smiled at them fondly, reaching out to place my hand on Kali's knee and stroke it with my thumb. I glanced at Armani and saw her scrunch up her face in response to a strand of her glossy black hair tickling her nose. I chuckled faintly, no more than a dull rumble in my throat since I didn't want to wake them, and brushed the strand out of her face with my finger. She inhaled deeply and groaned groggily, beginning to stir. I winced, sucking in a regretful breath through clenched teeth as I jerked my hand back, away from her face, feeling guilty I'd accidentally woken her. She rubbed both of her eyes with her fists as she sat up, slowly lifting her head off of her sister's shoulder. Her movement initiated a chain reaction and consequently woke Kali up. Kali stretched the muscles in her face to accelerate waking up as she always did, beginning with her eyebrows by raising them to her hairline and working her way down the rest of her face by squeezing her eyelids shut, then pursing her lips. Finally, Kai burrowed his face deeper into his sister's shoulder before she nudged him off. He snarled in protest but complied, further progressing the domino effect. He yawned with his mouth wide open inconsiderately, not even attempting to cover his mouth with his hand as he stretched them both high above his head, extending his arms as far into the air as they could reach. I couldn't blame him for his lack of manners, though. The poor little guy was waking up, and I'm sure he was exhausted. They all were after a stressful day of being taken away from the only home they'd ever known by four unknown men, being strapped into seats aboard a foreign ship, and being left alone with these strangers for force knows how long. I despised thinking about how long it must've taken them to fall asleep in their unfamiliar surroundings, and now I'd undone all their hard work. I loathed the thought of their terrified screams for help that I hadn't heard from the cargo hold. I was supposed to be their hero. I was supposed to rescue them. I was supposed to be there for them whenever they needed me. I promised I always would be, and now I'd betrayed that promise. They probably hate me now. To my surprise, their eyes lit up as soon as they saw me, and huge smiles erupted, drilling little dimples in all 6 of their cheeks. "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" All three cheered as they lunged forward, straining against their harnesses, and wrapped their arms around my neck. At this point, I was certain my smile was immeasurable as I embraced them all at once, maneuvering my arms underneath the tangled straps in their harnesses to gather together and create a tight huddle. "My babies," I crooned affectionately, stroking Armani's hair. I kissed her temple as I finally leaned back from them. "Are you okay?" I asked as I placed my palms against her cheeks, then turned to Kali in front of me and caressed her forehead before finally shifting to face Kai on my left and squeezing his shoulder with my hand, inspecting them individually. "We're okay, Daddy," Armani replied for herself and her siblings as she nodded, being the voice for the three of them as per usual, just like her mother, her biological mother. I heard a buckle unlatch to my left and looked over to see Kai untangling his arms from the straps of his harness as he hopped off his seat and tackled me. I giggled as I toppled over and landed on my back. He was stronger than I remembered. I opened my mouth to tell him that, but the wind got knocked out of me, disabling my speaking abilities as I looked up to see Kali had also freed herself and leaped on top of me in imitation of her brother. I supported her torso with my hands as she straddled me, and I gently lifted her, allowing my lungs room to inflate as I coughed, directing my expulsion away from either of their faces. Once my coughing fit had ended, Kai stood up and loomed over me, planting his foot on my chest as if he'd conquered me. He propped his fists up on his hips proudly as he surveyed his surroundings with a stoic expression. We all giggled breathlessly, me more so than them, when Kai removed his foot from my chest, and his gleeful expression returned after his impression of a conqueror had faded, and he was back to being himself. Soon after, Armani slid off her seat, rushed to my right side, and knelt beside me. She grinned at me before draping herself across my chest as she lay on her stomach, and Kai, still on my left, dropped to his knees and flopped over my stomach. He folded his arms underneath his chin to rest his head on them and slightly tilted his face to lean his cheek on his arms so he could see me. I saw him smile at me contentedly, and his eyelids slowly fluttered closed as he drifted back to sleep while Kali still hovered over both of her siblings. I looked up at her suspended from my hands and shook my head in mock disapproval as I rolled my eyes teasingly, making her giggle. Something possessed me to look to my left, and that's when I saw Sawyer with his arm propped up on the back of his chair as he watched us and gulped down a substantial lump in his throat that was strangling him from the inside out, his eyes misty. The sight generated a pang of sympathy for him because I knew, deep down, my best friend was still there. Underneath it all, he was just a man who wanted a relationship with his kids; I could respect that. Still, no matter how much I wanted to deny it, I couldn't trust him. Not after I'd seen what he'd allowed to happen to Rebel, who he'd allied himself with, and learned what he planned to do. It was heart-wrenching that after all these years with him as my most trusted confidant, after we'd spent so much time together that it was an instinct to confide my every thought to him, I now was forced to unlearn that impulse, and he had become the one person I couldn't trust. If I wanted out from under his subjugation, though, I couldn't sulk. I needed to formulate a plan. Suddenly one struck me as the children wriggled around on top of me to situate themselves comfortably. It was risky, but Sawyer's main goal seemed to be to reunite his family, so the children's involvement was an essential element of my plan. Suppose I pretended my intentions were harmonious with his own and introduced his kids to him, allowed them to develop a relationship, and faked reinstating our friendship enough for him to believe it. He'd gradually grant me more freedom in that case, and I could eventually plot a successful escape. I'd essentially be doing the same thing to him that he'd done to me to kidnap me. Still, I'll do anything for these kids to help Rebel and return to my wife and daughter; they're my family, and if Sawyer is my friend, he'll realize his mistake and return to the rebellion with us. That's my hope, at least. "Do y'all want to meet my best friend?" I asked the kids in a coaxing tone as I glanced at their faces for their reactions. They silently consulted each other by looking at their siblings' faces, and I smiled involuntarily, watching their non-verbal deliberation. I knew they'd reached a consensus when they all simultaneously turned toward me and nodded in unison. I sat up as Kai and Armani procrastinated in abandoning the warmth of my chest and stomach by tediously rising to their feet as they pushed against my body with their tiny, precious hands. They sophisticatedly brushed themselves off once they were upright. I sat Kali down on my lap to turn her so that she was facing Sawyer as I waited patiently for Kai and Armani to deem themselves presentable. They finally looked up at me and gave me a thumbs up of approval, permitting me to stand, so as I rose to my feet, I lifted Kali to my shoulders and allowed her to sit on them with her legs wrapped around my neck which freed my hands to take hold of both Kai's and Armani's. I bent my knees slightly to compensate for our height difference and to reach their hands as I struggled to keep my back straight to ensure Kali wouldn't slide off my shoulders. She gently wound her elegant fingers around my curls to assist me as she noticed my endeavor, and I smiled gratefully, though she could not see it. I began shuffling over to Sawyer, taking micro steps to match the fastest pace Kai and Armani's stubby legs would allow them to travel. "This is Uncle Sawyer," I introduced them to the man that was, in reality, their father, fervently yet silently begging them not to recognize him or to suspect that I was lying to them as Sawyer looked down at Kai and Armani in complete adoration. "Hey, kiddos!" He greeted them enthusiastically as he waved, and the corners of his eyes beaded with tears when he squinted from smiling. I released Kai and Armani's hands to reach up and lift Kali off my shoulders so that she could also interact with her father. Sawyer abruptly straightened up as if he'd just received a stroke of brilliance once Kali's feet had touched the ground, and I'd sat down behind the three of them with my legs folded into my lap. "Hey, wanna see a magic trick?" Sawyer asked, leaning toward the kids with his eyebrows raised questioningly. Their heads bobbed up and down simultaneously, so Sawyer held one finger up to their faces and winked as he reached into his pocket. Once his hand emerged from the pants pocket, he held his hands up to the kids' faces with his palms facing them, proving to them he held nothing in either of his hands. Then he reached behind Kai's ear and gasped dramatically, displaying a shiny, metallic imperial credit before his son's eyes. When we were in high school, Sawyer's side job was performing at children's parties. It took him weeks to perfect a new trick he planned to introduce to his act, and I always volunteered to be his test subject for new stunts. He loved his temporary profession, and when Rebel was pregnant for the first time, he fantasized about the day he'd revisit his former career and entertain them with his cheesy illusions. A pang of sadness invaded my heart as I realized an opportunity to do so had eluded him until now. I typically received the privilege of witnessing Sawyer's first attempt at a particular stunt, which usually meant I also got to see how they operated. Since I was frequently in on the act, it was never the trick itself that was magical. It was the child's reaction, which still proved true today as I watched Kai's eyes widen in wonder when he snatched the credit from his father's fingers. "Woah!" He exclaimed as he rapped against the surface of the credit with his fingernail to test its authenticity, and his siblings huddled around him to scrutinize the currency as well. "You still remember your tricks," I said observantly, looking up at Sawyer, bringing one of my knees up to my chest, and propping my elbow on it. "Of course I do," he answered as he glanced at me and smiled. For the remainder of the flight, the kids sat in our laps, and we cupped our hands over their ears as we entered Naboo's atmosphere to protect their sensitive hearing from the engine's roar. Once we had landed on the planet's surface, the triplets were squirming to leap off our laps and sprint down the ramp since, to their knowledge, this was the first planet they'd ever been on besides Kashyyyk. Even though their thinking was incorrect and they had been born here, they would've been too young to remember that. I could say good riddance to Maul, Boba Fett, and the Duros since they stayed behind aboard the ship, and I did so with pleasure while Sawyer summoned a shuttle to transport us to the castle. As soon as the palace came into view, the kids began squealing significantly more than they had been at all of the wondrous surroundings they'd seen out the window as we passed, but all I saw were memories from three years prior; Rue beside me, struggling to escape her handcuffs; the endless flight of foreboding stairs that we ascended, oblivious to all of the horrors that were about to take place; the dreadfully long sleepless nights I spent alone, lying awake, staring up at the blank ceiling, unable to rest without Rue's warmth in bed snuggled up beside me. Without her small, soft whimpers, groans, and unintentional kicks against my leg while she dreamt. At the same time, painfully aware she was in the room across the hall from me feeling the same way, but neither of us could do anything about it. The shuttle slowed to a stop beside the unpleasantly familiar steps. Sawyer opened the door, allowing the triplets to ruthlessly crawl over my lap, tumble out of the shuttle, and stampede up the stairs. "Let me show you to your room," Sawyer offered as he gestured up the stairs to the entrance with the side of his head while keeping his gaze fixed on me and holding the door open as I climbed out. I straightened my shirt as I stood up once outside of the vehicle and glanced around at the clear skies, blossoming flowers, flourishing greenery, and contented smiles of the pedestrians, taking a deep breath to prepare myself to break through this calm exterior and enter the corrupt center. My goal was to assist Sawyer in seeing past this tranquil exterior as Rue had done for me. I needed to pass her selfless act of love forward so that eventually, hopefully, we could turn enough of the empire against itself. It might give us a chance to win this war, all because my wife had generously given me the clarity I desperately needed to survive. My thoughts were interrupted when Sawyer slammed the shuttle door behind me. Thankfully, I'd already mustered all the courage necessary to resist the temptation to join Sawyer in whatever quest he begged me to help him with or believe any of the lies he told me. I followed him as he led me up the stairs. We caught up with the children impatiently waiting for us at the top. However, as soon as we reached the landing, Kai and Armani tightly clung to my hands at my sides, and Kali wrapped her arms and legs around my left leg as she sat on my foot, not wanting to be separated again as they'd already had their fill of independent adventure. They looked up at me with all the adoration in the world, and I chuckled as I looked down at them, finding their clinginess endearing since I knew it wouldn't last long since they were gaining more and more independence every day. Soon, I'd have to plead with them to hold my hand instead of them offering it willingly. For now, though, I resolved to enjoy it as long as it lasted. After treasuring the expressions on their innocent little faces, I looked up and continued following my guide, limping awkwardly since one leg was heavier than the other with Kali on top of my foot. Sawyer suddenly swerved and took a sharp turn down a corridor to his left, and I copied his footsteps in their exactness, making the kids giggle. Sawyer whipped his head around to investigate the reason for the laughter and glared at me teasingly, already deducing the answer. I shrugged innocently and glanced at the wall with a mischievous grin. He rolled his eyes and resumed facing forward, coming to an abrupt stop in the middle of the hallway between two doors which I also mimicked. "You'll be staying right across from me," he said as he reached into his pocket and unlocked the door with a key from one of the many attached to the ring in his hand. "How does that sound?" He asked me eagerly as the door creaked open slowly, and he turned toward me, setting his hands on my shoulders. I smiled back at him, satisfied since that sounded fantastic. It would be like old times when we lived side by side, except instead of living in separate houses, we'd be right across the hall from each other, or like when we lived together on Nar Shaddaa, and he was just down the hallway from my bedroom. I wanted to tell him how much I appreciated the room and the opportunity to be close again, so I opened my mouth to do so, but the kids interrupted me. "Let's jump on the bed!" Kai proposed his idea to his siblings as he disregarded my hand and darted into my room, scrambling up on the mattress with Kali and Armani chasing him. Sawyer chuckled as we watched them bounce up and down on the springy mattress adorned in freshly washed sheets and a smoothed-out duvet cover that they now dirtied and wrinkled with their shoes. I sighed, disappointed in their behavior, and face planted into my open palm embarrassedly as if they were my biological children. I felt partially responsible for them since I'd been the one who raised them, and that can contribute an even bigger role in their conduct than genetics do. Sawyer wrapped his arm around my shoulders and patted my left one as he stood on my right side. "They can stay in the nursery," he whispered to me through his laughter, and I chuckled along with him, grateful for the provision, but somehow the triplets had heard him. "We wanna stay with Daddy!" Armani shouted as she vaulted off the bed, using the momentum she'd gathered from jumping on the bed to propel herself toward me faster. She ran to stand in front of me and protectively formed a blockade between Sawyer and me as she pressed her back up against my right leg and glared up at her actual father daringly. "Yeah!" Kai joined in, agreeing with his sister, and stood in front of my left leg with his arms up at his sides, his palms facing backward toward me as he faced his father. Shy Kali voiced her opinion by sliding off the mattress and hugging the back of my right leg that her sister protected. She nodded wordlessly, looking up at Sawyer pleadingly, burying her cheek into my calf. I looked at my best friend and shrugged ignorantly because I had no idea they felt so passionately on this subject. I smiled at him apologetically. "Alright then," Soy said through a forced chuckle as he bent down to the triplet's level with his hands on his knees. Although he was smiling, I could tell his heart was splitting in two, and it was more of a passive-aggressive smile since it was more like he was baring his teeth at them than smiling. He stood again to meet my eye level, and I noticed his smile had disappeared. "I'll call you when it's time for dinner," he informed me mechanically and turned around, shuffling down the hallway with his arms wrapped around himself and hunched shoulders. I sighed, conflicted because I knew the proper course of action would be to chase after him and refuse to leave his side until I was certain he wasn't feeling so underappreciated and how much I valued him was made clear. However, I was incapable of abandoning the children. I looked down at them as they stared up at me reverentially with faces that seemed prepared to mimic my every move. I felt my features soften when their eyes brightened as I looked down at them. I don't deserve their respect. The least I can do is keep them entertained. I took the guilt I felt for stealing Sawyer's children's respect from him and morphed it into goofiness, which I was best at. I cleared my throat and spun around, spotting the pillows piled at the bed's headboard, and smirked, receiving an idea. "Now, what shall we do first?" I asked rhetorically, striding toward the bed in the most inconspicuous manner I could manage. I pressed my purlicue against my chin, looking everywhere except the bed. "Did somebody say..." I paused for dramatic effect once I'd reached the side of the bed and slowly leaned toward a pillow as I stretched out my hands to snatch it up. "Pillow fight!?" I spun back around to face them and held the cushion up to them. They squealed in unison while either giggling and ducking for cover or sneaking past me and seizing their own weapons. The battle truly commenced when each triplet had properly armed themselves. They, unsurprisingly, ganged up on me and nearly beat me to a pulp. I let them win, of course, and I'm sure Rue wouldn't have approved of me encouraging their already violent tendencies, but I was also sure Rebel would be proud of how strong and cooperative they were with one another. Sawyer ended up not calling us personally when it was time for dinner. He instead sent one of his servants to our doorstep, along with a box of clothes for the children. He must not have known where we kept their clothing at the rebellion and left without anything for the kids to change into. It was odd to think of Sawyer owning servants when I'd known him while living on the streets of Nar Shaddaa with only each other's shoulders as our pillows. Now he was offering me to stay in a room bigger than any I'd ever stayed in before where the bed was abounding in pillows, some merely for decoration. His servant informed us that Sawyer was too busy with tasks that the servant didn't specify to join us for dinner and that he was obliged to convey Sawyer's apologies. However, I was somewhat glad he was too occupied with his mysterious duties for us because the meal prepared for dinner was pasta, and the triplets had made a royal mess of themselves. They'd spilled spaghetti sauce all over the new clothes Sawyer had purchased for them and smeared noodles all over their faces, even up to their foreheads. Their placemats had been soiled from the stains of their meatballs that they'd dropped, and the unsophisticated slurping sounds they'd made when consuming the pasta hadn't exactly been appetizing. I can't say my behavior was much better since I'd practically face-planted into my bowl of noodles once it'd been placed in front of me, mostly to earn a few belly-aching laughs from the children but also because this was the only meal I'd had all day. I'd have hated for Sawyer to witness our uncouth eating habits now that he was such a refined gentleman, too busy to share a meal with his best friend. Okay, maybe I was a little jealous he was too preoccupied to spend time with us. What could've kept him from sitting down for a few minutes to eat with us? It felt foreign and even cruel to leave the half-empty bowls of pasta and filthy placemats for someone else to wash, but when I tried to collect them and bring them to the sink and washer, I was scolded by one of the maids as she ripped them from my arms. I held up my hands in surrender as she stormed off and shook my head in confusion as I turned back toward the table and gathered the triplets together to escort them back up to the room. Since the kids had gotten so sloppy at the dining hall, I gave them each a bath when we returned to the bedroom and dressed them in the pajamas Sawyer had delivered, which only seemed to make them more hyper. They wanted to jump on the bed again, so I let them until they wore themselves out. Parenting was hard work without Rue to tag team with me, but it was rewarding to see their little smiles as I played Shipwreck or Mermaids with them in the tub, to rub their little heads dry with a towel, and to hear them murmur 'I love you's and 'Goodnight's as they snuggled against my chest to fall asleep. I told them a bedtime story with shadow puppets since the moonlight shone through the window so brilliantly it created a distinct shadow. Armani was the only one still awake when I'd finished my tale, and she asked me how to make a shadow puppet. I held her hand up to the light until she could spot the shadow on the wall. I formed her hand to reflect the shape of an anooba across the room by bending her forefinger at the knuckle and tucking it into her palm. I had her hold the rest of her fingers straight with her thumb pointed up toward the ceiling and her palm facing the source of the illumination. She stared at the projection of her hand on the wall with an awestruck expression, and I held my hand up to the light in the same shape for a much larger depiction of an anooba head to appear on the wall beside hers. I made mine howl by separating my pinkie from the rest of my fingers and tilting my hand toward the ceiling as I pressed the side of my smallest finger back up against the others and leaned toward Armani to howl softly without disturbing her siblings. She chuckled softly and repeated the same process with her hand as she made a slightly higher-pitched howling sound than mine, still quiet so as not to awaken Kali or Kai. "I love you, Daddy," she whispered as she threw herself against me and wrapped her short arms around me as well as she could since my chest was too broad for her to coil around me fully. "I love you too, Army," I whispered back to her, speaking softly into her hair and kissing the top of her head until I felt her breathing slow and I could discern she'd fallen asleep. I slid further down in bed until I lay on my back and pulled the covers to the kids' chins to tuck them in. At some point during the night, I felt something much bigger than one of the kids slide closer to me. Immediately, I began to panic, my body went cold, and my eyes snapped open as I started to feel my heart pound. I knew I couldn't freeze in terror, though. It was my responsibility to protect the kids. I propped myself up on my trembling elbow and glanced over my shoulder. Squinting at the figure through grogginess and darkness, I could make out an unkept mop of red, unruly curls. "Soy?" I asked unsurely. "Just let me stay here for the night, please," he begged, his voice barely above a whisper as his entire body shuddered, and he refused to open his eyes, instead squeezing them shut even tighter. I felt my brow furrow in concern as I rolled off my side to lay on my back, and he scooted closer to me, laying his head on my shoulder. "Alright, pal," I said hoarsely, wrapping my arm around him and patting his back gently with my hand. Since I hadn't been able to crawl out of bed to shut the curtain to the window without disrupting the children's slumber, the light of the dawning sun shone directly in my eyes, awakening me unscrupulously early. I groaned and rubbed my eyes with my fists as I rolled over to face the opposite direction of the window, realizing I'd shifted during the night since the last thing I remembered was being on my back. As I turned over, I opened my eyes and came face to face with a sleeping Sawyer. I smiled as I watched him dream peacefully. One of his locks was dangling into his face and tickling his eyelashes just as his daughter's hair had tickled her nose earlier. I waited for the unpleasantness of the sun beaming in his eyes to rouse him. He suddenly inhaled deeply, and his eyelids twitched, repeating the same process I was sure had occurred when I had woken up. "Good morning," I whispered as he reached up and rubbed his eyes. He smiled at my voice and removed one of his hands from in front of his eyes to look at me. "Morning," he answered drowsily, using his hand to shade his eyes from the sun's rays to see me clearer. "How did you sleep?" I asked casually, hoping the reason he chose to sleep here would come to light. "Not as good as I did for the past three years," he responded jokingly, propping himself up on the mattress with his hand and glancing down at me for feedback on his dark humor, to which I chuckled. "But pretty good," he replied honestly and nodded. His smile suddenly fell flat as he stared at the wall before him. "You wanna talk later?" He asked hesitantly and looked back down at me. I grinned instantly. Is he kidding? Nothing would make me happier. "I'd love that," I whispered, and he flashed me a relieved smile as he slid off the edge of the bed, turning to look at me one last time before exiting the room. "I'll stop by your room again this afternoon," he promised me as he fixed the covers on his side of the bed, smoothing them out and tucking the excess under the mattress. At least if one of the maids rebuked me this time, I could blame it on Sawyer. He waved farewell to me as he backed toward the door and turned the knob behind him without looking. I sat up once he'd departed and gazed down at the triplets in a compact row beside me, all cuddling with Kali in the middle and Armani closest to me. One side of my mouth curved upward into a smirk as I again brushed a strand of hair out of her face, inevitably waking her up and setting off another chain reaction. I winced as I leaned away from them, hoping to cease the process before it could officially start, but my efforts were in vain. I needed to remember I couldn't do that without waking them up. My hands are too rough, I suppose. Eventually, after much stretching, yawning, and eye rubbing, all three kids were alert and looked up at me expectantly as if the day only ensued at my decree. "Who's hungry?" I asked as I scratched my head and shrugged, unsure how they wished to begin the day. "I am! I am! I am!" Apparently, it was since three hands shot up into the air as high as they could reach, and the triplets wriggled excitedly. "It's unanimous then," I announced sophisticatedly, executing a half bow toward them with my arms up at my sides, my palms facing the ceiling. The kids proceeded to squeal and race each other out of the room while I scrambled to put my shoes on and follow them so they wouldn't get lost. Fortunately, they'd memorized the dining hall path, and I could catch up to them there, panting with my back arched and my hands on my knees while they were already seated at one of the long rectangular tables, urging me to join them. The staff served us pancakes which we each scarfed down gluttonously and guzzled our apple juice thirstily. As breakfast ended, I was at a loss for what to do next, so I asked the kids for their opinion. "What should we do today?" I inquired as I swirled the last bite of my pancakes in the puddle of syrup on my plate with my fork. "I want you to teach me how to fish!" Kai demanded as he banged his fists on the table, his fork in one hand, his knife in the other. "Daddy, paint my nails!" Kali whined as she extended her arms across the table toward me and wiggled her bare fingernails below my eyes, tapping her fingertips against the table's surface. "Can I color with you?" Armani asked pleadingly, interlocking her fingers below her chin and batting her eyelashes as she peered at me. "You always pick the best crayons!" She wailed as my mind reeled from the influx of suggestions overloading my brain all at once. "Alright, we'll find time to do everything everyone wants," I promised with a chuckle as I patted Kai and Armani's shoulders since they were sitting closest to me. I wanted to find a way to please everyone, but I didn't want to miss my scheduled conversation with Sawyer. Since he hadn't given me an exact time and there was a lot we needed to get done today, I deduced we needed to hurry. I quickly herded the triplets out of the dining hall and up the stairs to our bedroom, again experiencing guilt over leaving dirty plates on the table since my mother hadn't raised me to be impolite like that. I certainly hadn't wanted the kids to pick up bad habits, but I also didn't want to teach them to have bad manners by not being punctual to appointments, so I'd have to rely on the tendencies they'd learned from observing me already to be enough. I wiped their sticky faces clean with damp washcloths in the refresher and changed them and myself into our swimsuits in under ten minutes. I planned to take them down to the lake for Kai to fish since we could see the water from our balcony in the room. While on the beach, I figured I could paint Kali's nails and bring a coloring book to supervise Armani's coloring. I thought that sitting out on the sand might make us hot, though, so I decided we ought to go ahead and change into our swimming attire now to spare us the trip of going back upstairs to change. Plus, the triplets have never been swimming before, so I thought it might be an opportunity to teach them a life skill that could one day save their lives. I also wanted to dip in the lake since it looked so refreshing, and I hadn't been swimming in years. The kids were eager to put their swimsuits on. That was the easy part. It was putting sunscreen on them that was the difficult part. You'd think I was murdering them, judging how they screamed when I tried to put a dot of lotion on their nose. Once that ordeal was finally over, they jovially skipped out the door and scampered down the hallway, searching for a doorway that led to the lake. We eventually found one down a dark, ominous hallway, and the kids selected the place for me to set up camp. I'd carried all the supplies down the many flights of stairs by myself, and it was a relief to set it all down finally. A bent perlote tree shaded the spot they'd chosen, and only the triplets could stand comfortably under its low overhanging branches without its leaves brushing the tops of their heads. I puffed out a strenuous sigh and planted my hands on my hips as I calculated how to spread the towel underneath this branch without scraping my back. I looked over at where the children had assembled, wondering if they might be willing to help as I scratched my head thoughtfully, but of course, they were too busy kicking the water and squealing to help me. I smiled as I watched them enjoying themselves on their home planet as they crouched down and cupped the water in their palms, splashing it all over their faces and giggling uncontrollably. I whimpered when I looked down at the shady patch of sand before dropping to my hands and knees and crawling underneath the branch. By the time I had spread the towel out on the beach, I was certain the stabs I'd sustained from the tree branch had practically reopened all the scars on my back. I glared at it spitefully as if it could experience shame, gradually crawling out from underneath it so as not to poke any more healed wounds on my back and striving not to curse in the presence of the children as I moved painstakingly slowly. I walked over to where the kids stood on the shore and picked up a fishing rod conveniently hanging horizontally against the dock by two hooks. I handed it to Kai and taught him the basics, practicing casting with him until I had convinced myself he could be a professional fisherman. Then the girls and I went to sit in the shade, and I took precautions this time, lifting the branch enough for me to slide in underneath it comfortably. I passed the coloring book I'd been using as an anchor to prevent the towel from blowing away in the wind to Armani and a package of crayons. Once she'd laid down on her stomach, opened the book up to her desired page, and began coloring, I removed the bottle of nail polish Kali had chosen earlier from my pocket and unscrewed the lid. I put the polish container on the towel and extended my empty hand to Kali as she placed her significantly smaller one in mine. I began brushing the polish on her fingernails and looked up at Kai, checking on him. Either this was a big coincidence, or Sawyer knows his children well. First of all, the triplets' swimsuits appeared to be of a matching set. Kali's was a pink one-piece with teal flowers, and Armani's was teal with pink flowers of the same style. Kai's swim trunks were fire-engine red and had yellow flowers printed on them of the same design as well. Sawyer had also bought each of them sunglasses which they wore proudly. Kai's were yellow, the same shade as the flowers on his shorts, and the frames were shaped like stars. Armani's were turquoise, the same shade as her leotard, and her frames were shaped like flowers. Finally, Kali's were pink, the same color as her swimsuit, and her frames were hearts. Another instance of either a strange coincidence or evidence of Sawyer's love for his kids was that there just happened to be a fishing rod out on the pier, a coloring book and crayons in my nightstand drawer, and nail polish under the vanity. Armani jolted me back to the present by tapping on my arm and asking for my input on which color crayon she should use next, something she claimed I was best at when I never knew I possessed such a talent. The rest of my morning consisted mostly of praises to the kids. "Reel it in, Superstar! Reel it in!" To Kai as I mimicked the motion with my hand that wasn't holding the lid to the nail polish whenever he hollered at me that he'd caught something. "That looks wonderful, Ari! Excellent job staying inside the lines!" To Armani as I gave her a thumbs up whenever she showed me the progress she'd made on her coloring sheet. "Your nails look beautiful, Ladybug. You have fabulous taste." To Kali, as I gently blew on her fingernails to dry them once I'd painted them and the lid had securely been screwed back on. Once Kai had become bored with casting out his line, Armani had completed an entire page out of her coloring sheet, and Kali's nails had dried, I proposed the idea that we jump in the water to cool ourselves off, to which all the kids cheered and ran into the lake, stopping when they were about knee deep in water. I waded out a little further until I was in waist-deep water and turned around to face the kids as I called to Kai since he seemed the most eager to follow me while the girls were slightly more hesitant. Kai plodded through the water toward me and leaped into my arms as I stooped down and extended them toward him. I sputtered and coughed dramatically at the splash his leap had caused, pretending it had washed over my entire face when, in reality, it had only barely sloshed against my chin, but it made him laugh, and that had been my goal. I asked him if he was ready, and he nodded, so I sank into the water further, kneeling against the cold, squishy mud, and turned him on his stomach with his face out of the water. I pressed my palm against his belly and instructed him to paddle and kick with his feet, which he did very well, generating a massive eruption of water behind him which warranted me to close my eyes since his splashes reached my forehead. A shark would have no trouble finding him, but I decided not to tell him that. I gently corrected his vigor; it wasn't long before he was swimming alone. I scooped him up in my arms once he told me he was tired and giggled as I told him how proud of him I was. He grinned at me, but I noticed he didn't seem to be listening as he stared at me. Well, not at me per se, more like my arms. I looked down at them myself, wondering if I hadn't applied enough sunscreen and they were burning, but they looked the same to me. I looked back at him as he glanced between my arms and his skinny, boney ones. "What is it?" I asked, leaning closer toward him as I held him up out of the water, and he traced his finger along my bicep. "I want to be big and strong like you," he lamented, flexing his barely visible biceps. "You want to be big and strong like me?" I asked, flattered, repeating after him and holding him closer as he nodded and wrapped his legs around my torso. "Well, here's what you need to do," I said as I collapsed onto my knees again into the sludge on the lake bottom. I ducked my head down to the water's surface and stuck my mouth into the lake, making unintelligible noises under the water, which was gurgling nonsense to Kai as the bubbles from my mouth floated up to the water's surface. "Did you get all that?" I asked once I popped my mouth out of the water as Kai giggled uncontrollably. "No!" He squealed, shaking his head vehemently. "No?" I asked, feigning surprise as I glanced over at Kali and Armani. "Well, it's our secret language, so the girls don't hear us," I whispered as I leaned close to him again. "You wouldn't want your sisters to be stronger than you. Would you?" I asked rhetorically, raising one eyebrow, and he shook his head before bending down to the water and blowing bubbles in it as I had. "Good." I chuckled, pretending I'd understood. "I agree," I said, pressing my forehead against his. I carried him back to shore as I waded through the water and sat him down on the sand. I returned to the water and offered my hand to the girls, teasing them about only having two lessons left. Armani volunteered to go next and picked up the skill just as quickly as her brother. Kali went last, squeezing my hand tightly for comfort as we shuffled past the pier. I lifted her before the water rose past her waist, and she clung tightly to my neck as we waded out farther. She was tentative about releasing me as I submerged us deeper into the water, but once she finally did, she paddled around like a champ without my assistance. Once all three kiddos had mastered the art of swimming, we ran out into the lake together and splashed each other, giggling and squealing until I could tell the triplets were exhausted. I gathered the three of them up and carried them out of the water, laying them all down on the sand on their backs to dry as we gazed up at the clouds passing by, shouting out what they looked like to our imaginations. "Today was fun, Daddy," Armani murmured, snuggling beside my arm. "I'm glad you had fun, Squirt." I looked down at her and lifted my arm so that she could slide even closer to me, which she did, and rested her head on my shoulder as I placed my arm back down beside her, closing her in. I was ruminating over what she said for a few moments and realized it truly had been one of the best days I've ever had, and it was only just the morning. "I did, too," I whispered, squeezing her. The only thing that would've made it better was if Rue were here. I looked back up at the sky and wished I had a personal telescope to zoom in on wherever in the universe she was at this exact moment, to watch what she was doing, to see if she was safe. I couldn't stand the separation from her. Hopefully, my conversation with Sawyer would clear up this misunderstanding, and we could return home. Speaking of my conversation with Sawyer, I must return to my room to ensure I'm there when he arrives. I gently nudged Armani's head off my shoulder so I could sit up and smiled at her once her face was visible to show her that it wasn't because I didn't want her head on my shoulder that I nudged her off. It was just that it was time to go. I rose to my feet, brushed the sand off my back as I walked over to our shaded area, and picked up the towel I'd laid out for us. I shook it free of all the sand that clung to it and draped it over my arm as I brought it to the kids. I held one end of the towel in each hand as I stretched my arms out at my sides to their full wingspan and knelt to hug the kids, wrapping them all up in one warm, fluffy embrace. I stood back up as I chuckled at the spectacle of them all being small enough to share one towel and lifted one end off Kai's shoulder to rub his hair dry. As I scrubbed his scalp, I looked out over the horizon and spotted a field of wildflowers filled with Queen's Hearts, to be exact. I remembered Sawyer coming to me after his first date with Rebel, frantically babbling about how he'd been all awkward and messed it up and was certain she'd never want to see him again, begging me for advice. I told him I was going to the flower shop to purchase a bouquet of lilies for Rue for our second date and that I could buy some for him to give to Rebel if he wanted me to. He'd been extremely grateful, but I'd told him he should have some say in the selection process so he could truthfully tell her they'd come from him, so I asked him what Rebel's favorite flower was. I recall him gnawing on his bottom lip nervously and stumbling over his words as he paced back and forth, shaking his head ignorantly. I sighed and told him he should pick a flower from his homeworld since that would make it more special anyway. It would be as if he were sharing a part of himself with her. He'd snapped his fingers and told me that Queen's Hearts would suffice, so I'd gone to the shop and bought two dozen flowers for Rebel and a single lily for Rue since Queen's Hearts were significantly smaller. I'd given the two dozen flowers to Sawyer and headed to the diner for lunch, but mainly to watch Rue strut around in her uniform. While I was there, Sawyer showed up and sheepishly gifted her the flowers while scratching the back of his neck and standing as far away from her as possible, forcing himself to strain to hand Rebel the bouquet. I'll never forget how she gasped, blushing slightly, her smile electrifying as she gave Sawyer the biggest hug. It was one of the happiest I've ever seen her. I wanted to see her that happy again. "I have an idea," I said mischievously, staring at the flowers swaying gently in the breeze. "What do you kids say we go pick some wildflowers for Auntie Rebel?" I asked as I squatted down to their level. "I know she's having a rough day, and she could use the pick-me-up," I explained the reason behind my idea as I stroked Kali's cheek with my thumb, wiping off a water droplet. "Yeah!" The kids cheered in unison as they pumped their fists and waddled toward the open field. We picked only the best flowers for their mother and combined each of our clusters to construct a bouquet, but by the time they'd finished plucking the flowers, they nearly fainted into my arms out of exhaustion. I, too, felt like collapsing out of exhaustion as I carried the three of them in one arm with the bag of all our supplies suspended from my other arm and the flowers in my free hand. As I scoured the palace on my way back up to my room, I realized that I hadn't seen Rebel since the ship. I hoped she was safe and being treated properly. I'd investigate Sawyer's room if I couldn't find her anywhere else in the castle. Dear force, I hope he's not holding her hostage and doing things to her I'll make him regret. Thankfully, I spotted her in one of the wide corridors I passed through on my way up to my bedroom, compassionately conversing with one of the servants. Even from this distance, I could perceive her sympathetic facial expression as she spoke softly to the maid, whose face dripped with tears. I paused in the hallway, not wanting to disrupt their interaction, as Rebel reached for one of the servant's hands and gently held it in her own as she patted the back of it with her other hand. The housekeeper smiled appreciatively, and you didn't need to be a lip reader to discern that she'd thanked Rebel as she wiped her cheeks dry with the backs of her hands and bowed to Rebel before hurrying off to complete her next task. Rebel stood there watching the young girl dart away with her hands cupped over her heart as she sighed heavily and shook her head disappointedly, turning to walk away. "Rebel!" I whisper-yelled before she could move out of hearing range so as not to wake the triplets. She immediately spun toward my voice and grinned as soon as she saw me. She bolted toward me, chuckling breathlessly and skidding to a stop in front of me, hopefully out of exhilaration at seeing me again, but more than likely, it was for her kids. I was delighted to see her alive and well, she's the only person I can trust here, and we must stick together. Now that she was closer and looking up at me, I noticed a bruise on the middle of her forehead, most likely from me ramming us into a wall. I winced and shifted the bouquet she'd yet to notice in my other hand, the one underneath the triplets, to reach forward and lightly stroke the injury with my thumb. She cringed and stepped back from me, out of my reach, pressing her palm against her forehead and giggling. "Yeah, let's just say you don't do the seeing here." She chuckled at her joke as she used my words against me, and I laughed nervously. "I'm sorry," I apologized as I shifted the cluster of stems back to the hand with more mobility as it felt like Kali was slipping. "It's okay." She waved off my apology with a flick of her wrist as she smiled at me forgivingly. It reminded me that I wanted to see her smile more often and not just to pardon my stupidity. "These are for you." I extended the bouquet toward her and watched her delicate fingers wrap around the group of stems before letting go on my end. She looked admiringly at the Queen's Hearts and glanced between me and the flowers. "You got me flowers?" She asked in disbelief, her voice husky as she tried to comprehend the gesture and swallowed a rising lump in her throat. "Well, the kids did." I winked at her as a secret signal that the idea to pick them for her had originated in my brain or because of pollen in my eye. I honestly don't know at this point. Winking at beautiful women is just an involuntary response by now, muscle memory. "They saw the wildflowers and thought it might be a nice idea to surprise you with them," I fibbed slightly, wanting her to believe the idea had come from the children since it would've been sweeter if it had and it was partially true since they did agree it was a good idea. "They're beautiful," she commented, looking down at the flowers and caressing the petals with her fingers. "Thank you," she whispered as she looked back at me. "Did they enjoy the water?" She asked, nodding toward her children as she sprouted up on her tiptoes to rub Kali's back with her palm. "They loved it!" I stage whispered and regretfully realized taking them swimming today meant Rebel had missed witnessing her kids' first experience with water. "You should join us sometime," I offered to make up for it as I slowly felt my smile droop into a frown, and she nodded in agreement. "Tomorrow?" I asked excitedly, not expecting her to concur, but she hesitated. "We'll see," she said unsurely but shook her head as if already giving me the answer. I felt my mouth sag into another disappointed frown as I reluctantly resumed heading to my room to tuck the kids in for their nap, hoping I'd see her again. I paused as I glanced at her over my shoulder one last time and saw her inhaling the fragrant aroma of the flowers with her eyes closed and a contented smile. At least I'd successfully secured her a temporary bout of happiness that I hoped would get her through the rest of the day. I turned around and trekked the rest of the way to my bedroom, laying the kids down on the bed as soon as we arrived and draping the covers over them. I sat down on the edge of the bed and stroked each of their cheeks with the back of my pointer finger as I smiled at the softness of their skin and round cheeks. "Sweet dreams, little ones," I whispered to them lovingly as I kissed each of their foreheads, leaving them with tranquil smiles as I stood up to stash the coloring book, crayons, nail polish, sunscreen, and towel in their rightful places. I heard a knock on the door as I was folding the towel, and my head immediately shot up as I tossed the towel aside on the rim of the bathtub and tiptoed over to the door as fast as I could. When I opened it, Sawyer stood in the doorway, dressed in a formal, white jockey uniform, a white helmet under his arm, and black riding boots. My eyes widened at the ensemble as I scanned him up and down. "Ash, is now a good time?" He asked in a friendly tone. I whipped my head back and forth to shake free all of the jokes about his appearance my mind was conjuring up. "Perfect," I answered since the kids were asleep, and I wouldn't need to entertain them as I matched his grin. However, if the kids woke up while I was gone, I'd hate for them to be alone and think I'd neglected them in this strange, foreign castle. They still needed supervision. Perhaps Rebel could assist in that regard. They are her children, after all. "What about them?" I asked as I pointed with my thumb to the triplets on the bed over my shoulder. Sawyer rose on his tiptoes to glance briefly at his children before gesturing to his right side. "Martha will watch them while we're out," he informed me as he stepped to the side and allowed the babysitter to come into view. She bowed her head to me respectfully and refused to look me in the eyes, probably in accord with her orders. However, it also seemed as if she were attempting to hide something as I bent my knees slightly to try and catch a glimpse of her face, but she strove harder to avoid eye contact. I almost thought I recognized her as the girl Rebel had been speaking to earlier. "Thank you," I said appreciatively, straightening up and relinquishing my quest to examine her facial features as I realized I was making her uncomfortable. I stepped through the doorway to follow Sawyer as I glanced over my shoulder, watching Martha dart inside the room we'd just left and shut the door. I shook off the uneasy feeling and focused on Sawyer as he slid the helmet over his head and buckled the chinstrap. "Do you remember how to ride?" Sawyer asked me mischievously as he smirked, and it dawned on me that he meant fathiers which he and I used to ride all the time when we went on summer vacation together. "Of course, better than you," I teased. "In fact, I challenge you to a race," I said, pointing at him. "I accept," he consented arrogantly, sticking his hand out for me to shake so the race could commence, but since he seemed so self-assured, I had a different idea that would catch him off guard and guarantee me at least one win today. "Race you!" I shouted as I gave myself an unfair head start by shoving his shoulder, causing him to stumble as I sprinted toward the direction I assumed the stables would be in. "Wait, I thought you meant on fathier!" He hollered at me as he regained his footing and ran after me, but the distance between us grew further. "I do!" I yelled as I spun around to face him, now running backward. "So the professional track runner is racing me to the actual race?" He asked as he cocked his head, slowly creeping up on me since I was slower jogging backward. "That doesn't exactly seem fair!" He bellowed in protest while I chuckled and rolled my eyes affectionately. "While you're getting hung up on the details, I'm getting a head start on the race!" I hollered back at him as I cupped one of my hands around my mouth so the sound could travel to his ears a significant distance away. The gap grew larger since I was speeding up now that I'd returned to facing forward as I waved at him tauntingly with my other hand. I turned around just in time, it turns out, as I found myself barreling toward a door. I yelped as I slammed into it with my shoulder to open it before crashing into another obstruction two days in a row. I found myself suddenly being hurled outside as I tried to slow to a stop to search for the stables, but the architect had unfortunately built this exit on a hill that I tripped and began tumbling down. Once I reached the bottom of the slope, I immediately stood up and brushed myself off, embarrassedly looking around to ensure no one saw that. As I glanced around, I spotted the stables and began racing toward them. I slapped my palm against the pale yellow painted wood of the fathier stall with white trim and glanced over my shoulder at Sawyer as he slid beside me, gasping for air. "Beat you," I boasted as I leaned toward him with a gloating smile, and he scowled at me teasingly, pressing his palm against my face and pushing me away. "Let's call it a tie since you didn't give me time to prepare," he amended the race outcome as he outwardly complained about my unfair advantage and nudged me in the ribs with his elbow. I rolled my eyes, thinking he should've permitted me to claim the win regardless since I didn't know where the destination was, but I kept the reasoning to myself. There was no sense in arguing about something as trivial as a footrace as long as I knew who the real winner was. We both began saddling our fathiers, turning that into a race as well and once they were saddled, we rode out into the pasture. Sawyer told me all about the history of the land our fathiers were trodding on, how Queen Amidala and Jedi General Anakin Skywalker had once picnicked in these fields, and how many acres of land he owned. He talked about it as if he were an expert, as if it was home. He seemed to be morphing into the prince his father always wanted him to be as if he would take over when his father died if that glorious day ever did come. "You've decided to embrace the prince lifestyle, huh?" I asked as we halted our mounts at the foot of a cliff nearly the size of the one I thought Sawyer had disappeared forever over as a waterfall rushed down the side of it into a small circular pond that we allowed the fathiers to drink out of. "All of this is my inheritance." He gestured at the prosperous land surrounding us. "Why wouldn't I?" He asked rhetorically, looking back over at me with an unfamiliar smile. He wasn't the Sawyer I was used to. He wasn't the same best friend I'd grown up with who'd spent months sleeping outdoors with me on the streets in the freezing rain, begging for handouts, for weeks eating soup from a can for a whole day's worth of nourishment because it was all we could afford, keeping up such good morale during those grueling months, and willingly never leaving my side even though he had a free invitation to sleep in a castle and dine with royalty at his disposal. He's changed. "You always used to be so content with living a simple life, though," I reminded him as I furrowed my brow. "It's what you had preferred," I emphasized, raising my eyebrows to my hairline. "What happened?" I asked, bewildered, and he shrugged nonchalantly. "I want what's best for my kids now," he said, suddenly resolute as he looked me in the eyes with determination. "Let's rest up here." He steered his fathier around and nodded toward a hill that had been behind him as he pointed at it. He clicked his tongue against the side of his mouth as an auditory command for the fathier to accelerate as he dug his heels into its side, and it galloped up the hill. After turning my fathier toward the same hill, I sighed and did the same. Both Sawyer and I dismounted from our quadrupeds and tied them up to the tree on top of the hill before sitting down at the base of the trunk and resting our backs against its width. As we sat side by side, reveling in each other's silent company and surveying the land, I leaned over and laid my head on Sawyer's shoulder. I was supposed to pretend to be his best friend so he'd grant me enough freedom to escape and not resume my friendship with him for real, so it wouldn't be as difficult to abandon him, but I couldn't. He knows me better than anyone, maybe even better than Rue. He's been my closest companion for so long. Losing him meant losing a part of myself, and now that part was back. I couldn't afford to lose it again. If there was one thing I knew for certain, it was that his offer of friendship was genuine since he hadn't tried to pry any information from me. I knew he wouldn't, mainly because I trusted him but also because he could've easily killed me and abducted a much bigger target who knew far more about the rebellion, like my wife, and held her for ransom until the rebellion volunteered information about themselves to get her back. He hadn't done that, though. He'd taken me because he cared about me. I see that now. I snuggled my cheek deeper against his shoulder as I realized he'd gone about it the wrong way because he wasn't thinking straight. He's just woken up from a three-year-long coma, learned some traumatic information about his wife, and his informant is Palpatine, no doubt, who's probably telling him this information in the worst way possible. I need to be someone Sawyer can trust, like he's someone I can trust and, sure, it wasn't the best idea for him to rely on his father as his only source of information, but give the guy a break, he just woke up from a three-year coma. It probably skewed his judgment. After thoroughly sweeping the landscape with his eyes, he pulled a sketchpad out of his pocket and flipped to a page he'd already been drawing this scenery on. I could recognize that it was this site by the exact match in the steep peaks on the mountain in front of us and the mountain on the page. I smiled as he pulled a stylus out of his other pocket and picked up right where he left off last as he began marking light strokes on his depiction of the waterfall to add detail. "You haven't lost your touch," I observed as I watched him glance between the existing waterfall for reference and his rendering. "You still write poems?" He asked as he pressed pause on drawing and looked down at me. "Sometimes," I shrugged, flicking a bug off my leg as I remembered how often I composed poems in the past when I was living with Sawyer, which was the last time we discussed my poetry, so to his knowledge, it was still very much an active hobby of mine. A lot has changed, though, I haven't had as much free time since I've become a father, but it's satisfying work, and I love being bold and tough in their eyes. "Not as much as I used to," I said as I looked back over at Sawyer's sketchpad, and he'd licked his fingers and flipped the previous pages over the top to get to a blank page. That had always been one of my pet peeves about Sawyer. He was always so neat and organized with everything except drawing. He never used the next blank page, just flipped to a random one that didn't have any scribbles on it, but for the moment, it was comforting to see one of his old habits resurface to assure me this was my Sawyer. "I saw you with them today," he mentioned casually, etching the finishing details on a drawing of the kids and me splashing each other from what I assumed was his balcony. He'd captured our facial expressions precisely. One glance at the drawing evoked the memory and instantly transported me back. "I always knew you'd make a great father," he said as he held the pad up to my face to allow me to examine it. "Watching you with them today just confirmed my suspicions," he said wistfully as he slowly moved the page out of my direct sight and up to his eye line. I instantly drowned in a sea of remorse as I heard the longing in his voice, and I realized I hadn't gotten an opportunity to apologize for forcing him to hear the kids call me their father since this was the first time Sawyer and I were alone, without the presence of the children nearby. I know it would crush me to hear Ria call someone else her father. I had to let Sawyer know this was not my idea. "Sawyer, I'm sorry," I apologized earnestly. "I tried to get them to call me Uncle Ash. It just didn't stick." I shrugged and began twiddling my thumbs nervously when he didn't respond. I panicked the longer the silence dragged on, thinking perhaps his indignance with me had deafened him to my excuses, so I repeated my statement, slightly rephrasing it. "I tried to tell them I wasn't their father, but they just wouldn't listen to me," I rambled on, contemplating whether or not I should lean my head off of his shoulder, not knowing if I'd be able to bear the look of betrayal on his face. "Ash, it's okay," he assured me through a melody of his chuckles as he patted my cheek with his palm. "You're a great father to them, way better than I could ever hope to be." He scoffed disparagingly and poked himself in the chest. "I just want them to have everything that's rightfully theirs. It doesn't matter to me who they think their father is." He blew a raspberry as he waved his hand through the air dismissively. "I prefer them to think you're their father than me." He gestured toward me on his right side, holding his palm flat underneath my chin. "That's how I want it," he said decisively, giving the pad a passive-aggressive pound with the side of his fist, slamming it down directly where he'd drawn my head, making me gulp in terror. "Rebel and I will just start over," he said, returning to his drawing. His statement made my face contort out of confusion, though. He hadn't laid a very compelling basis for her to want to return to him, and if she didn't want to have more kids with him, how could she after all of the trauma she's been through and after finally marrying someone who didn't seem overly possessive of her, I hoped he wouldn't force her to. "What if she doesn't want that?" I asked tentatively and felt his muscles tense as he took a deep, shuddering breath to suppress his rage. "Then she shouldn't have betrayed me by marrying another man and having his children," he said through clenched teeth as he pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his drawing pad on them as his strokes grew darker from involuntarily pressing harder against the stylus. In all my life, I don't recall him ever being so outraged. I can't stand seeing him this furious and for such an unjust reason and at the wrong person, for that matter. How selfish does a person have to be to resent the person they should love the most for being happy? My reaction to his statement was split between exasperation with him and puzzlement. Rebel hadn't had any biological children with Benji. However, Sawyer seemed to think her second set of triplets had been Benji's since he specifically assigned possession to Benji unless Sawyer was talking about Thrawn. If that were the case, his unrighteous indignation had reached an entirely different and more appalling level because that hadn't been Rebel's choice. The only people he had to blame for that so-called betrayal were his father and Thrawn himself, but it made more sense that Palpatine hadn't been completely transparent to keep Sawyer on his side. Regardless of the lies Sawyer's father was spewing, I was determined to tell him the truth, especially to take the heat off of those poor, innocent kids and sweet, blameless Rebel. "One of those children is yours, Sawyer," I declared factually. "What? How do you know?" He asked demandingly, and I felt a blast of air against my cheek due to the speed at which he'd turned his head toward me. "I can see it in her eyes when I look at her," I murmured, shifting to face him, my chin now propped up on his shoulder instead of my cheek as I looked up at him to find him staring down at me with intense, attentive green eyes that mingled with a sea of blue, blurring the lines between the two colors. They reminded me of how similar in appearance she was to her father. "All I see is you," I said with an involuntary smile as I scanned over Sawyer's familiar facial features. "She'd be your clone if she'd let her natural roots grow out." I chuckled at the irony of my mention of a clone as Sawyer muttered an utterance of astonishment and turned his face toward the horizon to stare at it blankly so he could think. My mention of clones and the memory of Rebel's youngest daughter got me thinking about my wife and youngest child. It got me meditating on how much I missed Rue and how fiercely I longed to be with her, especially now as she was carrying our baby after such a traumatic loss with the last pregnancy. It isn't the most ethical thing I've ever done, but I thought I could gain sympathy from Sawyer if I told him what happened. It might motivate him to release me, or I could reason with him that the most sensible course of action would be to reunite us using the experience as my alibi, and I could somehow sneak Rebel out of here with me. There was no better time to test my experiment than during his stupor from receiving life-changing news while he couldn't think straight. "Sawyer, the last time Rue was pregnant," I gulped as I gathered the strength to confess what had occurred. "We lost the baby," I admitted as I leaned my head off his shoulder, not wanting him to feel my tears seep through his uniform as I looked down at my lap to conceal my face from him. "I need to be there with her," I said urgently. "If she gets too stressed-" The words caught in my throat as I looked up at him, tears blurring and distorting my perception of him. I shook my head as a silent indication that I didn't dare finish that sentence since I'd already used up all my courage as he looked at me expectantly. "Soy, I can't let it happen to her twice," I whispered, shaking my head more adamantly as my voice cracked, and I closed my eyes, locking my lips together to prevent any whimpers or sobs from escaping. "I won't let her go through that pain again," I rephrased my statement as I reopened my eyes, realizing "can't" just didn't cut it. It also didn't seem to cut it, for Sawyer at least, to supply him with my reasons for wanting to leave. I needed to make it clear to him that it wasn't just that I didn't want to stay. I couldn't stay as he merely stared at me in ignorance. "So that's why, even though it would be my great privilege to raise your children in the place they deserve to grow up in," I added respectfully, placing one palm over my heart and gesturing to our surroundings with my other hand. "I can't be separated from Rue," I said with unwavering defiance as I shook my head. "Not for her sake, not for mine, not for our children's," I explained it was in the best interests of everyone involved if I returned home as I continued, shaking my head and swatting the air with my hand. "What if I promised to bring Rue here?" He asked hypothetically, bargaining with me as he raised one eyebrow. "To protect the both of you?" He incentivized. "Then would you stay?" His question made me pause and consider what he was offering. Protection, not just for me, but for Rue as well, and her safety had always been something I'd strived to secure. We'd have guaranteed lodging, meals, and all of the amenities we could imagine, not to mention the bonus of living in Sawyer's constant vicinity. "Think about it," he advised as he reached over, patted my shoulder, and extended his hand toward me to pull me up. We climbed onto our fathier's backs and rode back to the stables to stall them for the night. We walked back to the castle leisurely and silently as Sawyer probably processed the news that he had another child, and I considered his offer. As we entered the palace through the double doors, our pace eventually slowed to a complete stop as we tried to match each other's. I glanced at Sawyer awkwardly with an uncomfortable laugh, sensing he'd come to an abrupt stop to depart from me and go his separate way since he probably had important matters to attend to, but he didn't want to tell me that. He turned to me, shrugging, and I could tell his laugh shared my sentiment as he itched the back of his neck. "Good night, Sawyer," I said as I turned to him and extended my arms in the same direction. "Good night, Ash," he said, mirroring me before enveloping me warmly. We sighed into each other's shoulders wistfully since there was an air of unfamiliarity between us where there had never been one before. It was palpable for both of us. Gradually, we slid away from each other, and I forced my most convincing smile as I patted his shoulder and allowed him to turn his back to me and march down the hallway with his hands behind his back. I watched his form shrink ever smaller momentarily as he disappeared farther down the shadowy corridor before I sighed disappointedly and looked down at my foot as I pawed the ground. "Ash!" I heard Rebel whisper-yell as she seized my arm and tugged me down a separate hallway. "Aah!" I yelped as I stumbled once she'd ceased dragging me, and she clutched my shirt collar with both of her fists to steady me. "Shh!" She shushed harshly, glancing around for eavesdroppers and gesturing with her hands for me to pipe down as she flapped it up and down. "I found someone who can help us escape," she whispered as she rose on her tiptoes, bringing her face closer to mine, but I found it difficult to focus on her words. I was mainly just pleased to see her again, alive and well, after seeing how deeply hurt Sawyer truly was over actions that were not her fault and especially after learning his plot that I wondered if he'd even discussed with her. "Are you okay?" I asked her as I cupped her face in my hands. "What has he done to you?" I asked covertly, leaning down toward her, and she grasped my wrists. "Nothing so far," she shook her head. "But we need to hurry." She grabbed my hand as she turned and gestured for me to follow her with her other hand, which I did for only a few feet before she stopped. "Meet my lady-in-waiting-" She introduced me to one of the people I'd hoped to avoid. "Bella?!" My ex; one of many. There was, however, one thing special about her that I couldn't forget. She was my longest relationship until Rue. I remember that because it was such a milestone when I surpassed it while dating Rue, and I hadn't gotten tired of her yet. I still haven't, for the record. I don't think, correction; I know that day will never come. I'd only dated Bella for a week before I broke up with her. I know that doesn't sound like a long time to most, but it was a momentous occasion for me, and I only broke up with her because she wasn't exactly fun in the sense that I defined fun. She never expressed any interest in ever being "fun" with me. I suppose she was just too mature and innocent for me, which is ironic considering I'm the one who married and waited for Rue, who was older than me and who'd never had a boyfriend or even a first kiss before me. However, I was much more shallow then and hadn't met "the one" yet. Besides, what was I supposed to do? If I hadn't broken up with her, I never would've met Rue. I never would've married her, had our daughter, met Rebel, and introduced her to Sawyer. Kai, Kali, and Armani wouldn't even exist. I wouldn't have all the good things I have now. Plus, it was a long time ago. Surely she'd forgiven me by now, right?