Last time: Sasha and Viran reunite.

Now: Oppie checks on Sasha.

Chapter 13- Mentors Advice

Sasha sat on the bed in the medbay, trying to meditate. It had been several hours since she first woke up from the mindspace. Viran had left an hour ago to go rest in his quarters while Kelce performed the brain scans he had mentioned earlier. Before the doctor left several minutes ago, he had told her that she could view the scans in about an hour once he finished studying them and added them to the file with the others. He told her, in the meantime, to take it easy and that if she was feeling up to it, he would allow visitors to see her. She liked the idea of seeing the others, especially after everything that happened in the mindspace. So she told Kelce to go ahead and let them in.

Now, while she waited, she tried to meditate to see if that would help clear her head. But everytime she closed her eyes, she kept seeing the events that transpired in the mindspace. The events and moments that still remained at the forefront of her mind that bothered her, while everything else faded away into a big blur.

Viran and Oppie dying on Vestora.

Becoming Dracul's acolyte.

Her bleeding Master Redika's saber crystal red.

The thousands she killed as Sinya.

Killing Kopesh.

The look of horror on her sister's face seeing Sasha towering before her as a threat.

All of that circled through her mind in quick flashes that caused her chest to tighten as she grimaced at each one. It really was a nightmare of an experience.

Shaking her head, that was now just a dull throb compared to the massive migraine she had awoken with, Sasha opened her eyes and gave up on her attempt at meditation. She rested back against the inclined bed and stared up at the ceiling as she heard the door to the recovery ward open.

A moment later the curtain parted and Oppie walked in alone carrying a bundle wrapped in cloth. "Hi Sasha."

Sasha looked at him and smiled. "Hi Op, how are you?" She asked, happy to see her brother.

"Good. Better now." He said coming to sit at the chair beside her bed. "The last few weeks we've been sitting here trying to reach you. It's good to actually be able to talk with you."

"Yeah, it's good to see you too," Sasha agreed. "And talk to you. Viran mentioned that you guys tried to reach me in the mindspace." Her smile slipped away and was replaced with a frown. "I'm sorry I didn't respond back."

"You would have if you could have, I'm sure." Oppie replied. "I'm just glad you're back, that's all that matters." He said. He brought the cloth wrapped bundle up to hand to Sasha. "This is for you." He said, holding it out to her.

"What's this?" Sasha asked, curiously as she took the bundle. Immediately, she recognized the feel of a saber hilt within the cloth. She pulled the wrapping away and looked at Master Redika's lightsaber, her lightsaber, in her hand. She frowned at seeing it as the memory of bleeding the crystal flashed through her mind. Picking it up from the cloth, she held the saber hilt up and thumbed the lightsaber to life. A green blade shined in the room just like it always had before. Switching it off, she tightened her grip around the hilt and glanced at Oppie. "Thank you. Where did you get this?" She asked quietly. "I noticed it wasn't with my things." She gestured loosely to the stack on the bedside table.

"Viran had it," Oppie answered, "he asked me to give it to you since Kelce told him he couldn't come back to the sickbay for another six hours. Also he said something about liking the symmetry of me giving it back to you."

Sasha couldn't help but smirk at that. "Yeah, it does feel fitting to get my saber back from the person who owned it before me," she said as she looked over the hilt. "I'm guessing Kelce ordered Viran to go rest? He did look exhausted earlier."

"Yeah, he's been by your side quite a bit over the last two weeks." Oppie commented. "We all need to stop getting sent here." He said, gesturing at the all to familiar sickbay around them.

"We really do," Sasha nodded vehemently in agreement. She looked at him. "So how have you been? You look better. Do your nerves still bother you?" She asked as she rested back.

"No, that's pretty much gone now." Oppie replied, leaning back in his seat. "How are you feeling?" Oppie asked.

"I'm… alright," Sasha answered with a bit of hesitancy. "I admit I am glad to be back. But it still feels like I haven't been gone for two weeks."

"Viran mentioned it was a bit longer for you." Oppie said, with a look of concern. "I understand if you don't want to talk about it."

"No, it's fine," Sasha said, dismissively. "I was hoping to talk to you about it." She paused for a moment as she looked back down at her lap. "It was quite a… an experience." She said, solemnly.

"Where did it start?" Oppie asked quietly.

"On Vestora, back when we were on the run," Sasha began after a moment then went quiet again. "Actually that's not quite true. That's when the vision, the false reality, started. When I first entered the mindspace, I found something else in there. Something I didn't understand until much, much later." She alluded to, uneasily. "Then I was pulled into the vision and I couldn't escape." She cleared her throat then continued. "Anyway, when I found myself back on Vestora, Cien was there. The version of her from that day, not our sister. She was still holding a hand to my face and then let go as if we came out of the mindspace together from that first time she pulled me in. Then the Empire showed up. I knew that wasn't how it happened before, but that's how it played out. They came and attacked us. The stormtroopers shot and killed you. TIE Fighters took out the Forerunner with Viran still on board. I was injured from the attack and I woke up aboard Cien's ship. I thought that was a dream and that you two were okay, but I learned that wasn't the case. That Cien told me that all of this," she gestured to their surroundings, "was something I made up in the mindspace. That I made up a perfect future with all of you where we lived in a beautiful house and were friends with the 19th and went on adventures together without fear of being caught by the Empire. And that my best friend actually loved me." She frowned at that statement as remembered that. "That what happened on Vestora just hours before was real. That none of this ever happened, and that you and Viran were actually killed on Vestora at the hands of the Empire." She said, getting a bit emotional as the memory flashed through her mind.

"I'm so sorry Sasha." Oppie said quietly as he moved his seat a little closer so he could offer her his hand.

Sash grabbed his hand and gave it a light squeeze. "It's okay, but that's just the beginning." She went quiet for a moment. "After a while we arrived to the Bloodstorm and I was taken to see Dracul. He tried to get me to join him, but I refused. Then I was taken to a private room and I was left there alone for months." She tightened her grip in his. "And while I was alone, I kept trying to remember our actual reality but over time the memory of it started to fade. Op, it faded to a point where I didn't even know what Lana's name meant to me. Only that I was angered by its absence in my life." She paused. "Then I fell." Her voice hiccuped with raw emotion. "I fell, Op. I lost all hope and forgot about all of this. All I could remember was everything from before Cien found us on Vestora and then everything that happened after in that reality. I gave up hope and allowed myself to fall to the darkside. I became an acolyte to Dracul. I bled Master Redika's crystal and turned the saber into a new hilt. I killed thousands of innocent people and stormtroopers. I killed Kopesh. I became the very thing we swore to never become. I lost my way and I… I…" She trailed off after rambling all of that in a disappointed, guilty, and saddened tone. She felt tears threatening to fall as she shook at the memories.

"It's okay, Sasha." Oppie said as reassuringly as he could. "I know all of that felt real to you, so I'm not going to tell you it wasn't real. Because it was to you." He said quietly. "Why did you do those things?" He asked, "did you have any choice?"

"I wanted revenge," Sasha admitted after a minute. "The Empire took you guys away. The fact I was all alone and I was led to believe that help wasn't coming for me. That Kyr, Kitsu, Illara, even Kait didn't exist. That I made them up. So I spiraled and became depressed. I allowed the darkside in. I allowed it to consume me. And I tried to fight it at first, but when you are told to believe that everyone you love is either dead or doesn't exist, it's hard to fight that feeling." She said quietly, ashamed. "So I guess you could say I did have a choice, but I chose the dark path as I thought that was my only option after everything that happened. I became one with the darkside and I thrived in the darkness. I couldn't reach the light anymore. It was gone. I know you two tried to reach out to me, to bring me back, but I couldn't hear you or sense you. I was completely immersed in that hell for two years. And for two years, that was my life and I really did those things." She said frustrated with herself as tears burned in her eyes. "I lost my way." She hung her head in shame as she tried not to cry, bringing her other hand to her face to try and keep her composure.

"You lost everything, Sasha." Oppie said. "You lost your way, after you lost everything. And if you were being held prisoner like that, that was really the only choice you had. Yes, you fell. But what matters most about falling isn't the fall, it's about what you do after. About if you pick yourself up, if you choose to keep going and arise from the fall. And you did." Oppie said, squeezing her hand. "I can sense you, and you feel like the woman that has always been my little sister. The darkness you found yourself in didn't destroy you. That is what truly matters out of this."

Sasha looked over at Oppie, tears resting on her cheeks as a few escaped. She then nodded with a sniff. "No, it didn't. But it was close. Honestly, if it hadn't been for Cien, I might've not come back from that." She admitted quietly.

"Viran mentioned something about Cien but it was a little confusing when he explained. What exactly happened?" Oppie asked carefully.

"Well, it's all confusing, but long story short, when our sister faced Selina last time, she left her with a… parting gift in the mindspace," Sasha started, quietly. "What she left behind was a darker version of herself to deal with Selina for a very long time. That is the version of Cien that greeted me in the mindspace initially and forced me to live in that hell for two years. It was only our actual sister being pulled in by accident for me to come to my senses and learn the truth of what was going on."

Oppie looked at her confused for a moment. "Our Cien made some dark copy of herself in Selina's mind?" He asked.

"Yes," Sasha said, seriously even though it did sound a little far fetched to even herself the more she thought about it. But she knew what she saw. What she experienced. "And that copy is more than just an illusion. I mean it kept me trapped for two whole weeks, Op."

"On our end we've been talking to Selina," Oppie started, glancing downward, "and some version of Cien was in there with her. She would surface and speak with us. She tried to convince us that she was our Cien, that she had transferred into Selina's body to keep her from doing anything to Cien and the twins."

"Viran mentioned that. I believe that might be something Cien might do, but that's not the case here." She said, then looked longingly at the curtain before them. "Our Cien is out there somewhere with no memory of who she is." And absolutely terrified of me, she added to herself while trying to suppress a grimace.

"Yeah, we kind of figured that out." Oppie said. "Thankfully before she made too much progress convincing us she was Cien. We're still not quite sure what... She is. But if it's that dark copy of Cien, that explains a lot."

"Well I'm glad you guys didn't fall for her tricks too," Sasha said, gratefully. "How did you guys figure it out it wasn't her if she was so convincing to fool you guys for a moment?" She then asked after a second.

"She didn't remember Kait." Oppie replied, "and she lied to try to cover it. Her excuse for not knowing some things was that her memory was fuzzy, but she lied about it when she had no reason to. Also, what really solidified it for Kyr was that she didn't care about you. She never asked about you."

Sasha felt her eyebrows raise at that as she looked at him. Then a smile formed on her face. "After what happened to me on the Taipan, logically that would have been the first thing Cien would have asked about. That, and 'are the twins and Kyr okay?' I feel like if neither of those were asked then that's not our sister," she said, logically.

"She cared about the twins quite a bit." Oppie admitted, "and she…" Oppie paused. "She really wanted Kyr."

"What do you mean?" Sasha asked, furrowing her brows. "Like she just wanted to see him really badly because of the whole situation and she wanted her husband's company? Or wanted him like…" She trailed off, not really sure how to phrase it.

"She would only talk to Kyr at first," Oppie explained, "and then after Kyr turned his back on her she had a breakdown because he left. She wanted him to be hers. Like in a possessive way."

"Creepy," Sasha observed with a slight shudder, envisioning that.

"Yeah, it was…" Oppie started, and turned away, not sure what to say. Knowing that it was some version of Cien in there, even some dark shadow of her, he felt a profound sense of sympathy for her. "Do you think Cien purposely created a copy of herself? Can you guys do that in the mindspace?"

"I wish I knew," Sasha said with a shrug. "I'm still learning how to use the mindspace. It is possible to make a copy of oneself, but usually those are just memories or illusions that we create that disappear after a certain point. I've never seen it done quite like this before."

"Why would she do that?" Oppie asked.

"Again, I wish I knew," Sasha said, frowning. "All I knew before all of this was that Cien set a trap for Selina. That's it. I didn't realize you could do that. Or how or why she did that?"

"I have no idea." Oppie said. Then he blinked as if suddenly realizing something. "Anyway, you're awake now, we should be talking about something fun."

"I would like that," Sasha admitted, thankful for the subject change. "So how's Kait doing?"

"She's doing good." Oppie replied tentatively.

"That's good," Sasha said, amused. There was an awkward moment of silence as neither could really think of something 'fun' to talk about. Suddenly Sasha remembered a topic she had been dying with curiosity about but hadn't had a chance to talk to Oppie about. "Oh how did your trip to meet her family go?" She asked.

"Good." Oppie answered, blinking at his realization. "Jeeze, I guess we haven't really talked a lot since that trip. Her mom and dad have a really nice little cottage just off the beach." He continued carefully. "That was something Kait had talked about even before we started dating, that she wanted to see an ocean. We got to walk for a couple of kilometers along the shore, just us and her parents, it was a really nice way to get to know them. Her dad is hard to get a read of, her mom seems to really like me." He paused for a second and smirked as he remembered what Halla had said. "Her mom, Halla, was really impressed I could cook. She actually told Kait that… uh…" He trailed off, glancing away, suddenly not wanting to quite share that with Sasha.

"Told Kait what?" Sasha asked, curiously as she tried to suppress a smirk at his reaction. "That you're the best cook ever?" She then added, teasingly.

"Ah…" Oppie said, scratching the back of his neck and looking away. "Something like that."

Sasha studied Oppie for a moment. She had never seen him like this before and thought it was adorable. But she was trying to suppress her little sister urge to tease him as this would be the perfect opportunity to do it. She sat up a little bit and tried to look around at his face. "Op, what did she say?" Sasha pressed gently with a smile.

"She, uh, told Kait, she should, uh, marry me because I know how to cook, or something." He answered in a mumble under his breath.

Sasha felt her jaw almost drop open in awe and excitement that the thought of marriage was brought up like that. She struggled to keep her grin at bay. "And did you say or do anything?" She asked as calmly as she could.

"No, I just finished seasoning the ground meat." Oppie mumbled as he looked down and noticed he was absently playing with the zipper on his jacket. He immediately stopped.

"What about Kait?" Sasha asked, still suppressing a grin.

"She was in the other room talking with her dad." Oppie said with a bit of a growing smirk. "I just heard her yell 'Mom!' from around the corner." He said, trying to do his best impression of Kait and how shocked her voice had been.

Sasha laughed at that as she put a hand to her mouth. "I feel like that's an appropriate response," she said as her laughter died down after a second.

Oppie laughed with her. "Yeah, it did." He cleared his throat. "But it was a really good trip. I think her dad and Kyr would get along really well."

"Oh really?" Sasha asked, raising an eyebrow. "How do you figure?"

"Well…" Oppie started, "he took me shooting as our first official outing together."

"Ah," Sasha nodded in understanding. "Then yes, Kyr would get along great with her father." She chuckled. "Did you know your twin brother did the exact same thing with Troy Sulam after he learned Troy liked Wynnie?" She asked, amusedly.

"He did?" Oppie asked with a chuckle. "Yeah, they would get along really well." He said breaking out into a laugh.

Sasha laughed with him as she could almost picture the interaction now even though she didn't know what Kait's father looked like. After a moment, her laughter died down and she looked down at her lap then back at him. "So, I guess since it's been brought up a few times, do you think you and Kait will get married someday?" She asked, carefully as her facial expression softened.

"I, uh." Oppie started, gulping. "We've really only been dating a few months, but… I can't really picture it not happening some day." He answered very nervously.

Sasha smiled softly at that. "Well, there's no rush for that. Take your time. The right moment will come naturally," she said, her smiling growing into a grin.

"Yeah." Oppie said. He was quiet for a moment before he continued. "She seemed to really have fun with Lana when we were taking her home, during the trip and then after when we were at Haven for a day or two before heading back. And the last two weeks she really stepped into being part of the family. She was actually the first one to recognize that 'Cien' wasn't Cien down in the brig." He said softly in an admiring tone.

"Really?" Sasha asked, happy to see her brother practically gushing about his girlfriend. "Well, I guess it makes sense," she added after a second, "Kait got that promotion to Deputy Marshal for a reason. But I'm glad the trip home went well. Lana really seems like spending time with her. Especially when we all went sledding." She chuckled at the memory.

"They really seemed to have hit it off." Oppie agreed. "Have you gotten to talk to Lana yet?" He asked tentatively.

Sasha felt her smile falter for a moment. "Um, no. Not yet." She put her palms to her eyes. "Kriff… it's been two weeks since I've seen her last." She said, annoyed with herself. "I should call her." She dropped her arms and looked around as if a commlink was nearby she could use.

"Here." Oppie said, he leaned over and reached to his belt. He unclipped his comlink, holding it up. "Want me to call Reya and see if you can talk with her?"

"Would you please?" Sasha asked, almost pleadingly. She dearly missed her baby girl and it was obvious in her tone. "It would mean a lot."

"Sure." Oppie said with a smile. He pressed a few buttons on the display, getting a connection through to Zeran and Reya. There was a small beeping sound, and then the indicator light changed to show it had been picked up.

"Hey Op!" Zeran's voice answered.

"Hi Zeran." Oppie replied. "I've got Sasha here, she's awake, is Lana there?"

"Oh, Sasha's there? Yeah let me go find where the little rascal got to." Zeran said as they could hear her faintly starting to walk around on the other end of the com. "How are you doing Sasha?" She asked. Oppie held the comlink over to Sasha so she could reply.

"Better Zeran. Thanks," Sasha said, smiling. "And thank you guys so much for helping RV watch Lana. It means the universe to me that she's safe and okay with you two."

"Oh no worries, we love having her over." Zerran said. "Now where did she get to? Lana!" She called a little louder. "Reya had to give her a bath this afternoon since she used the force to dump a bowl of soup over her head."

"That sounds like Lana," Sasha laughed.

"Yeah, does it ever." Zeran said with a laugh. "There you are, you have a call short stuff."

"Lana?" Sasha said, eagerly awaiting to her respond.

"Mama?" Lana's voice came over the comm, confused at first. "Mama! I miss you!"

"I miss you, too, baby!" Sasha said, happily as tears escaped her eyes hearing her daughter's voice. She looked at Oppie. "Thank you," she whispered.

Oppie nodded with a smile.

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