I may redo this chapter, but we'll see.
Does anyone know if the review for a chapter are deleted if you replace the chapter? PLEASE LET ME KNOW.
CHAPTER ONE
"When you returned to us, we saw what had happened. You carry all those deaths at Malachor within you, and it has left a hole, a hunger that cannot be filled."
— Vrook Lamar
All that could be heard in the room was the mechanical whirring and beeping of the Ebon Hawk, the ship that, despite all it had been through, was still running better than most brand new crafts. Kind of like us, Case thought, looking around at all of her friends. They hadn't known each other long, but they were becoming a family. And in spite of the odds, they were all still together. No, not all. Traya's gone.
The thought was a sad one, but if she had lived… perhaps things were better as they were. She died believing that she had fulfilled her mission. If she were still here, I couldn't trust her. No one could. Not after what she's done. But what has she done that others haven't twelve times over? Case wondered to herself. She glanced across the room at Atton Rand, who looked deadly grave. His face was hard and shielded, and just a passing probe at his mind told her that his mental walls were up and reinforced twofold.
The moment she had docked the ship after her return from Malachor, the others had rushed out to meet Mira, Atton and her. Case had been shocked to find out that the huntress and the scoundrel had followed her to the dead planet. But if they hadn't, Case wouldn't be around to be thankful. Rather than gather in one of their rooms on the Telos station, the entire group chose to gather on the ship that had flown them to every side of the galaxy and back. It was, perhaps, the last time they would be there together.
"So what now?" Atton asked, redirecting his gaze to include the rest of the ship members. Seven pairs of eyes looked back at him, including HK and T3, the droids. Bao-Dur, Brianna, Mira, Mical (the Disciple), Visas, and Mandalore didn't say a word. Atton stared at all of them in turn until he finally spoke again.
"I think we all know the basics of what's going to happen," he began slowly. There was little or no emotion in his voice. Slowly, he tilted his head up, looking straight at Case. Their eyes locked, neither speaking, aloud or otherwise. "Case is going to leave for the Unknown Regions. The question is if any of us are going with you," Atton said, his eyes never once leaving Case's face.
"Don't you think she's been through enough for today?" came Mical's question. Case could hear the frustration in his voice. She was surprised. He hardly ever got upset.
"I'm not sure what I think right now, Mical, but I'll tell you what I know," Atton said, his voice deadly calm, "I know that we learned things that we have to use. If we don't do something, we might as well kill the galaxy – hell, the universe – ourselves. I know that Case is going to follow Revan, whether she tells us about it or not, and I know that no matter what she says, I'm doing the same thing."
Silence answered Atton's speech. Case looked at the ground, feeling the determination coming in waves from Atton's form.
"Has she agreed to that?" Mical asked sharply, "She is our leader, and I trust her judgment. You should too, Atton."
Atton glanced from Case to Mical and back. Case simply lowered her eyes again. With a small shake of his head, Atton folded his arms and leaned back against the metal wall of the main room. "Take it away, then, leader," he said, his eyes emotionless.
"I don't know what to tell you all. I'm going. I have to. I don't know if I'm taking anyone, I just can't think right now…" Case struggled to say.
"Just rest, General," Bao-Dur interrupted, "You've got time before you have to make any decisions. I don't think the Sith are going to take over the galaxy in the next couple weeks."
Case nodded tiredly. "Thanks," she said quietly. What she did not say aloud was that she wasn't going to wait a couple weeks to leave. She was leaving the next day. After several awkward goodnights, Case found herself trudging to the comfortable apartment room that Carth Onasi had given to her to use.
Lowing herself carefully onto her bed so as to avoid hitting several deep bruises and cuts that were still healing, Case closed her eyes and replayed every moment she could from Malachor, trying to find something that would give her a direction to follow on the morrow. She couldn't remember anything of help. Only the pain she'd felt, the betrayal, and the sorrow. Kreia told Case that she could take no one she loved with her. She loved her entire crew, even the droids. Well, maybe not HK, but she was definitely attached to T3.
She briefly wondered if how she was feeling was how Revan felt after the Star Forge. Likelihood was that she would never see any of her friends again. She would die defending the galaxy, far away from all she loved. But that was the life she had chosen the moment her connection to the Force had been reopened and she had not cut it off again. Could she have done that, cut it off twice? Case didn't know.
Could Revan do that? Cut herself or others off from their Force connections? Revan. She must have felt a million times worse than Case when she realized that it was her fault the galaxy was dying. But then, Darth Revan had tried to save known space from obliteration. But from what exactly? No one but Revan, if even she, could answer that.
Suddenly the room darkened and faded away, replaced by the sight of a slightly foggy image. It's a vision, or perhaps a dream if I'm asleep, Case realized.
A dark haired woman crept slowly along a black metal wall. She was hunting her predator. The woman could not have been over 5' 4", and yet the expression on her face would have sent opponents twice her size running for cover. She was on a mission, and anything in her way would be cut down.
Suddenly Case realized who the woman was.
"Revan," a whispery voice called to the woman, "Come to me. Embrace what you know is true." The sound of the voice was slimy and dead to the Exile's ears, it's very tone so oiled and greased that persuasion wasn't a strong enough word to describe its effect on one's mind.
"Get out of my head before my lightsaber is halfway down your esophagus," Revan murmured calmly.
"You don't belong to them, Revan. You're home is here, your heart belongs with us. You know this."
"I know that a Jedi's life is sacrifice, and I know yours will be too if you keep talking to me," Revan whispered, an edge creeping into her voice. "And whether or not I am a Jedi, I will be a sacrifice if such a thing is required."
"Ah. The monotonous motto of the Jedi. And what about the younger one? The broken one? She was saved because of us."
"She was saved because she was afraid."
"Fear leads to anger, anger to hate, hate leads to the dark side. She is only steps away."
"Drop dead, if you can," Revan snapped.
"You'll kill them if you get to close, Revan. You are a black hole: you use what you can of their lives and then dispose of them. You say you love them? If I was capable of it, I would laugh at that farce. And do you think they love you? What you believe is their love and loyalty for you is nothing more than a Force Bond that they could not avoid.
"They are tied to you, Revan, with figurative neural restraining collars, and the control is in your hand. They would do whatever you asked of them. 'Kill that family over there? As you wish, Revan.' 'Rob that child blind and then feed his body to a cannok? My pleasure, Revan.' You cannot deny that they would do this… Even when they know it is wrong. They will follow you wherever you lead them, whether it is into darkness or light. So tell me Revan, do your slaves love their master?"
Case's eye snapped open, pulling her out of the dream. For it had been a dream: she was waking up. For the first time in her life, Case had trouble shaking the sleepiness off of her. It took her a full ten seconds to have enough energy to sit up in bed! Suddenly she became aware of a presence close to her right. Sitting up slowly, she turned to face her visitor.
"Hey. For a while there I thought you might not wake up."
"Atton," Case said flatly.
The dark haired man grunted. "Nice to see you too," Atton said with a touch of sarcasm in his voice.
She hadn't meant to sound that way, but it seemed she was not in complete control of herself yet. If she was to follow Revan into unknown space, she had to get used to snapping into consciousness.
"Do you need something?" Case asked, finally waking up fully. She must've been more worn out from Malachor than she had first thought. And yet she wouldn't have time to rest.
"Yeah, I just came by to make sure you said goodbye," Atton said, watching her.
Case started visibly. How had he…? It seemed their master, apprentice bond was becoming stronger. And he knew her so well by now…
"When did you…?"
"Find out that you were planning on leaving this morning? The minute we got back from that fracking planet," Atton cut in.
"I didn't even know I wanted to leave so early in the day," Case teased lightly.
Atton didn't smile.
Case sighed, lowering her head onto her hands, tangling her fingers in her honey colored hair. "Atton, I can't take anyone. Not even you," she said softly.
"Look, Case, you need to take someone with you," Atton said.
She knew that. "No," was what she said aloud, trying to sound defiant, "You aren't coming."
"Did I bring my name up? I haven't said anything about going with you," Atton growled. He closed his eyes for a moment, and Case felt him trying to control his frustration and worry. He was worried about her. But what was that third feeling? Determination? He was going to fight her decision, it seemed. Could she resist him? For his sake, she had to.
"I can't let any of you die," Case whispered.
Atton was silent for a moment, struggling with something internally. "Case," he began, his voice softer than she had ever heard it before, "Even if you changed your mind, I'd tell you no. I couldn't go with you if I wanted to."
Case blinked. "Huh?" Case asked, dumbfounded. Atton looked so… what? He was changing, her scoundrel. But into what, she didn't know. "I don't understand," she said.
"Yeah, well that makes two of us," Atton grunted, running a hand through his unruly hair. "I'm leaving in twenty minutes, actually. Same as you: I can't take anyone else."
"Twenty minutes! Atton, where are you going?" Case asked, alarmed at his demeanor. He was riled up, but fighting it down. He was leaving. Case felt her chest tighten painfully.
"Where are you going?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I…I'm not sure yet. All I know is what I'm going to work for."
"So do I," he said, then when Case opened her mouth, "I won't tell you where I'm going. I have some idea, but not the whole picture," Atton said, a kind of weary resignation offset by a spark of determination emanating from him.
Case felt her throat constrict. So this was it, the parting of ways. She had to ask, even though she knew what the answer would be. "We'll see each other again, right?" she attempted to add a note of humor to her words, but failed miserably.
"Yeah. Just as soon as I handle this, I'm heading for the Unknown Regions myself," Atton replied, "I promise I'll find you, damn whether you want to be found or not."
Case started. That was not what she had expected. She bit her bottom lip, another one of her habits. "Atton… I don't want you to walk into danger because of me," Case said seriously. The thought of something happening to him was unbearable.
"I think it's my choice what kind of danger I walk into," Atton interrupted her, raising an eyebrow in an almost cocky way.
Frack. He was sensing her thoughts again. And now he knew she was concerned about him. Great, like his ego could survive getting any bigger.
"I did survive my entire life without you," he said, a trace of his trademark smirk lurking around the corners of his mouth.
"So did I, I'll have you know," Case retorted.
"And you can't fight hand-to-hand to save your life," Atton pointed out.
"Rub it in, hotshot, rub it in," Case muttered, trying to keep the numb feeling of shock around her while she could. He was leaving.
"Goodbye, Case," Atton said, standing up, turning away from her.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Case blurted out, a sense of panic clawing its way up her throat.
Atton hesitated, his back still to her, right hand resting on the doorframe as the metal door slid back into the wall.
Case scrambled for something to say to him. She hadn't known what she was going to do when she called out to him, only knew that she was afraid to lose him. Case remembered last year when she thought he might leave the crew, and she had somehow convinced him to stay. Now there was nothing she could do.
As Case remained silent, Atton spoke. "I can't wait around here for you to come back, Case. I've seen the Admiral and what that did to him when Revan left. Sure, he's kept on living, but that's because he's strong. I'm not that strong yet, Case. The only way for me to get through this is to leave."
Flinging herself off the bunk to reach Atton, Case put a hand on his shoulder and felt him tense up. "Just promise me you'll come back," she said, trying to keep her voice steady, and not failing completely at it.
"I can't."
Case felt her heart threaten to break. Gathering herself, she nodded slowly, withdrawing her hand from his shoulder. "I…understand, Atton," she said softly. No I don't understand! I don't want to understand! Just…stay here where you'll be safe! Case called out inside her head, knowing that this time Atton wouldn't hear her. He was blocking their bond. She didn't know if she was coming back either. How could she promise something she didn't think would happen?
Suddenly it dawned on her: Atton wasn't expecting to live long enough to return. The thought sent a wave of fear coursing through her body.
"I think you should take the astromech and the assassin droid," Atton said practically, out of the blue.
"Yes, I think I will," Case replied, keeping her voice level.
"I'll promise something else, though," Atton began, feeling Case's weary gaze on his back. "You'll see me again. Revan's going to need more help with that Sith spawn out there, and I'm in. Shut up, you're not going to talk me out of it."
"I wasn't going to try," Case told him, slightly annoyed, "I just wanted to give you something."
Atton finally turned around, his brown eyes meeting Case's gray ones. "What's that?" he asked her, never looking away.
"It's something I've had for longer than I'll ever remember. I've only got one, so take it, and don't forget me," Case said quietly.
As Atton began to wonder what in the galaxy she was going to give him, Case stepped closer, put both hands on his shoulders, and rose onto her toes. The next thing Atton knew, her usually stubborn, incredibly soft mouth was on his, kissing him in a way that made his knees threaten to give out beneath him. Before he could even react, Case had backed away and was putting on a smile.
"Go get 'em, hotshot," she said, her voice uneven.
She'd wanted to give him a kiss? She didn't only have one of those. Confused, but not finding enough words to ask a question. There was only room for one thought in his mind, and that was that he and Case had kissed. But she had been the one to kiss him, and eventually he would return the favor, but not right then. He had to leave before he wasn't able to go.
Without another word, Atton Rand walked away from the Jedi Exile, not to see her again for nine standard Galactic months.
"It never fails," Revan muttered darkly. She was sitting with her back against the cold stone of an abandoned temple of sorts. Her long black hair fell loosely down to her elbows, its dark masses hanging in oddly bent curls and waves. Unusually green eyes glared at the gray floor as if it was responsible for her current imprisonment. Actually, it was. The stupid stuff was made of Force resistant rock.
The walls were made of the same material, but it wouldn't have helped her to have been able to chop through them; they led in a mess of lethal traps and tricks, some including acid. And snakes. She hated snakes. However, had the floor been more cooperative, Revan could've dropped down to the first floor and escaped.
"But why should things start going my way now? Never did before," Revan asked herself reasonably. Or maybe it wasn't so reasonable. She didn't know.
Finally, she lifted herself off the ground with a Force Push and landed on her feet. "Alright, the time for wallowing is over. Now comes the part where I exhaust every option but the right one," Revan told herself, going through the familiar plan. Talking to her self had become a habit after so long without human contact. She had to do something to keep from cracking completely.
First she tied her hair into a messy knot to keep it away from her face and arms while she fought (she didn't pretend to have the option of escaping without fighting something). As soon as that very important step was accomplished, Revan surveyed her now familiar surroundings.
Three walls, one floor, one ceiling, all made of Force resistant rock. One trap door that had melted into the stupid floor, one creepy mirror thing, and one disgruntled Jedi with a lightsaber and a fork. The fork she had found on her way in. Revan hated to admit it to herself, but the reason she took it was because it reflected marvelously, almost like water. She could just hear what Jolee would've said to her, "You kids and your damn fascination with anything shiny. That reminds me of a story…"
Revan smiled at the thought of her friend. She missed him and the other so much it hurt. But that would have to wait. Taking a quick breath, Revan marched over to the mirror imbedded in the wall. It was the strangest thing. She wasn't even sure it was a mirror. It looked like a window that showed another room just like the one she was in.
The only difference was that sometimes it showed someone else in the room other than her. How did she know it was the same room? It had the exact same scratches on the walls as hers did, in the exact same places. She looked into the glass-like matter and saw her own pale face and green eyes in the reflection. Then she blinked and the other figure was there again.
Looked like it was a man, with the way the figure stood. He was tall, probably around 6' 2", with dark hair that looked like it hadn't been brushed in a while. Revan could relate.
"Hello?" she said tentatively. The figure didn't move. Revan made sure not to blink as she repeated the word louder.
"Who's there?" the man asked sharply, whirling around to face his own window/mirror. He strolled over, glaring at the thing suspiciously. He had some facial hair, probably because he hadn't had time to shave, and his eyes were a dark brown color. He wasn't all that handsome, but he wasn't homely, either.
"Who are you?" Revan asked loudly.
"What? What trick is this?" the man demanded, staring incredulously at his mirror.
"I haven't got the faintest idea what the frack this thing is, but I'm trapped and I need help," Revan responded, still keeping her voice raised. She fought off the urge to blink, fearing the window would return to a mirror.
The man regarded her suspiciously. "And what is your name?" he asked, surprisingly calm for seeing a strange woman in his cell mirror.
"Shayla," Revan said, choosing to give the false name the Council had given her.
"So, Shayla," he started slowly, "Is there a reason you're in that mirror?"
"I… was pursuing a threat here, and I was… captured, I suppose," Revan said with a shrug. It wasn't like it was a new story for her.
"You suppose? As in, you're not completely sure that's what happened?"
Revan glared daggers at him. She wasn't in the mood.
"Sorry, just thought… never mind."
"So who are you, then?"
"Thayne Korr," he replied.
"Tell me how you ended up in your cell, Thayne," Revan said conversationally.
"I ran in the building looking for cover from the legrins…"
"The what?"
"The huge, spiny, slithering creatures that are even now waiting for us to emerge from this temple," Thayne illuminated. He blinked. "You mean you didn't encounter any?"
"Well, I might have. You see I usually forget when I'm in danger of being eaten, so I may not remember," Revan said sweetly.
"If you can put your sarcasm aside for a moment, let's try to escape, shall we?" Thayne replied just as nicely.
"Fine. We're on the second floor, so…"
"First."
"What?"
"We're on the first floor," Thayne said.
"No, I climbed a very long set of stairs. We're on the second," Revan countered.
"And I'm telling you that all I did was leap through the door and I was caught."
"…Okay. Fine. That just makes it easier for you, then. We're both in triangular rooms with strange windows that look into each other's cells on different floors. Now that that's all cleared up, I think you should know that I don't have any means of escape. This mirror thing won't break, and the walls and floor are made out of…" Revan paused. She wasn't sure if she wanted Thayne to know about her profession just yet. "They're made of really, uh, hard stuff, rock, things," she eventually finished, earning another look from Thayne.
"Right… Do you have a plan for getting past the hard rock?"
Revan shrugged, ignoring his sarcasm. "I was hoping you did, Korr."
"Ah. So we're on a last name basis," Thayne said.
"Well, if that bothers you, prove you're useful and maybe I'll consider using your first name," Revan shot back, "but at the moment, I'm not getting any incentive."
"Claws are out, huh, Shay?"
"Don't call me that," Revan said sharply. That was what Carth had called her before…Revan. She had asked him to accept her real name, as she was resigned to doing.
"Sorry," Thayne said, putting his hands up in surrender. The edge on her voice had been sharper than the edge of a vibroblade. He wondered at her reaction, but didn't have long to dwell on it.
"So, escape plan. Any thoughts?" Revan refocused.
Thayne actually grinned. "Yeah, I've got a couple."
This story is a bit of an experiment for me, so we'll see how it goes. I think I'm going to make Atton a bit more mature than he is in the beginning of the game, especially after his ordeal on Duxn (that's what happened in my game).
As usual, I'm not entirely sure where I'm going to go with this, but I have the basic idea. If you have any suggestions, corrections, or comments, don't hesitate to let me know. And if you want to flame, keep it professional.
Thanks!