Hey everybody! This is my first Star Wars fic, and I could use all the help I can get. I loved Kotor, and Kotor II: Sith Lords, but I'm not a fanatic (as in completing every side quest and finding every dialogue option), so I may be a little off in some areas. Forgive me if I stray somewhat, this is just my little two cents on the relationship between Revan and Bastila.
Sadly, I've found that there is an abysmally small amount of Revan/Bastila stories where Revan is an actual MAN. Not that I don't like some of the stories out there with Revan as a girl, but I prefer the good old fashioned boy/girl pair ups. So, on to the details of the story.
Vincent (who is actually Revan, he just doesn't know it yet) is a light side Jedi. This story starts off on Dantooine, when the characters are searching the ruins that Revan and Malak entered.
Note: This chapter has been revised. For all who have already read this chapter, it has new content. For all who haven't read it, ignore this note. You get to see the better version of this chapter! (It was just so bad...I had to fix it)Vincent stepped up to the massive door that blocked the entrance to the ruins. A small flashback of the vision he had came to his mind, and he gripped his lightsaber tightly in his hand. He didn't like this. Something was out of place here, something...dark. It was faint, but recognized the imprint that the Sith Lord had made.
"You feel it?" he asked, directing the question to the woman on his right.
She nodded. "Yes. Revan and Malak left a strong mark on this place."
"Not to intrude, but what are you talking about?" the other man asked.
Vincent felt a small smile form on his face. "Revan and Malak left a Force imprint of this place. Bastila and I can feel it, almost like a dark presence."
"Oh," the man said. "Well I guess that makes sense..."
"No problem, Carth. I know that we haven't been able to tell you what's going on around here."
"It's just that I feel so...helpless. You've got a lightsaber and Force powers, and here I am, sitting on my ass, doing absolutely nothing of value," Carth admitted.
"That's not true. You saved my life once already, and I have no doubt you'll do it again soon. Besides, you don't have to be a Jedi to be useful Carth. You can hold your own in a fight, no problem! Who said you need Force powers to kick ass?" Vincent countered.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. But I'm wasting your time; we should get back to what we were doing."
Turning back to the stone door, he stood in thought for a moment. "Hmm...Bastila?" The female Jedi stepped closer to him, and he turned. "What do you think is inside? Besides the Star Map, I mean."
"I can't help you with that Vincent, I'm sorry. I know as little about these ruins as you do. Anything could be in there."
"That's what I'm afraid of," he muttered, moving to open the door. The immense structure slid open with a loud scraping noise, stirring up a cloud of dust. He waited for the dust to settle before moving inside and inspecting the area. It was dry and cool inside; There was a lone droid before him, and it seemed to be shut off. The body of a Jedi lay freshly slain on the ground to the droid's right, and three other doors were present in the room. The two doors that were to the left and right of the droid seemed to have been disturbed recently, but the door behind it looked untouched. As Vincent stepped up to the droid, it spoke in an alien dialect that he couldn't understand.
"I didn't understand any of that."
The droid spoke again, this time in an equally unfamiliar tongue.
"Sorry, I still don't understand you."
This time when the droid spoke, it made sense. Though it was still speaking in an alien language, all three of the people in the room understood it.
"It seems to be speaking an archaic variant of the Selkath language," Bastila said somewhat surprised.
"How would it know that?" Vincent asked perplexed. Bastila shook her head. Directing his attention to the droid, he asked it a few questions. It was quite uneventful until he discovered something about having to pass the tests of the two doors to his left and right.
"Ok, so I just go in there, pass these tests and that door behind him opens. Simple. C'mon, let's get this over with."
The door on the right revealed an ancient battle droid that seemed to be guarding the terminal behind it. At the moment, it seemed to be inactive, but Vincent remembered that the other droid had been 'sleeping' as well. Readying his lightsaber, he walked ahead of the group, all senses on alert. Without warning, the battle droid suddenly fired a single plasma bolt. Vincent's mind registered that it was going to miss him, which he thought was odd, but he quickly realized that the droid wasn't aiming for him - it meant to hit his friends. His saber ignited with a snap hiss and he thrust his weapon out to the side, easily deflecting the bolt back at the droid.
Carth fired a couple of shots at the machine, but with little effect; the droid's shields, though ancient, were quite powerful and immune to most forms of attack, including the Jedi's lightsabers. Its blaster was relatively easy to deflect, and Vincent was beginning to believe that the droid posed little threat with such meager weapons when it suddenly shot out a silver beam that hit him squarely in the chest. He felt all of his limbs slowly growing heavy, and all he could do was watch helplessly as Bastila and Carth attempted to tackle the droid on their own.
"This isn't working!" the female Jedi exclaimed.
"Try ion grenades," Vincent said from the spot to which he was now frozen.
"I don't have any!" she yelled back.
"Move!" Carth yelled and hurled two grenades at the battle droid. The weapons had their desired effect, as the droid sparked with a surge of electricity and slumped to the ground. A few minutes later, Vincent was finally free, and he walked over to the still smoking droid. His blade hummed through the air as he swung at the machine's head, removing it easily without the droid's shields in place. Wiping the sweat from his eyes, he walked over to the now unguarded terminal and studied it for a long moment before decinding on a button to push.
Once again the language barrier reared its ugly head, as he was unable to read the writing which the terminal displayed. Feeling decidedly stupid, but out of options, he chose to talk to the computer. It was silent for a moment, and then let out a lone beep that his data pad mimicked. Inserting his data pad into a receptacle in the terminal, he waited. Within a few seconds, words appeared on the screen in the form of a question.
"WHAT ARE THE THREE PRIMARY DEATH BRINGING SEEDS?"
"Death bringing seeds – huh?" More words appeared on his data pad. They read: ARBOREAL, VOLCANIC, GRASSLAND, DESERT, OCEANIC, BARREN.
"I get it," he said to himself. Bastila and Carth were watching intently, and he turned to them. "Which of these will not support life?"
"Volcanic won't," Carth said.
"Nor will the desert or a barren wasteland," Bastila finished.
He smiled. "Exactly. Those are the three death bringing seeds."
The next room proved just as difficult with another battle droid. They followed the battle in the same manner, chipping away at the droid's shield's while damaging it with ion grenades and anything else they could come up with. Unfortunately, the machine proved to be quite resiliant. The droid also had the power to immobilize its enemies, and it did so with a vigor. Carth was frozen twice in succession, while Vincent narrowly missed being hit again by rolling quickly out of the way. Almost too late, he realized the droid was charging up for another attack, this time, aimed directly at Bastila, who was too preoccupied with trying to free Carth to notice.
Using a burst of Force speed, he sprinted at her as fast as he could, shoving his lightsaber out in front of him in the hopes that it would at least dampen the attack. The silver beam slammed forcefully into his right arm, numbing it immediately and rendering it completely useless. The beam knifed across his torso and paralyzed his left leg, sending him crashing to the ground with a loud "thump."
Vincent felt something in his right shoulder give way and he grunted in as a fiery wave of agony washed over him. Apparently, the beam hadn't numbed all of his right arm. Twisting around, he managed to work himself into a sitting position just in time to see the droid's shields go down. Balancing shakily on one knee, Vincent called his lightsaber to his left hand and took aim, letting his blue blade sail toward his now defenseless enemy. His saber tore through the droid's metal plating and kept going, slicing the machine in two at the exact same time that Bastila let loose with a good sized barrage of lightning. The battle droid sparked for a minute before a electricity surrounded it in a brilliant display of blue and white, causing the machine to explode into a burning heap of scrap metal.
All three friends were motionless for a moment, each in a state of shock. Bastila was the first to break out of it, jogging quickly over to Vincent to help him up.
"Are you alright?"
"AH! NOT that shoulder!" he cried out when she attempted to pull him up by his right arm. She quickly muttered "sorry" and moved around to his left, extending her hand and waiting. He reached up and gripped it firmly, his larger hand practically engulfing hers as she tried to get him to his feet.
Carth, meanwhile, was watching the scene with a knowing smile on his face.
"Could you please try to support some of your own weight?" Bastila asked in exasperation.
"I have one leg at the moment, thank you!" Vincent growled back. "It's not my fault you're so damn tiny...OW! You did that on purpose!"
"I did not!"
"She hit me!"
Bastila threw an elbow into his unprotected ribcage, causing him to yelp again. "Now I hit you. Happy?"
Vincent glared and attempted to hobble over to the terminal but with little success. "Why aren't we moving?"
"Because I can't."
"I'm not that heavy!"
"I beg to differ. Your other leg better come back soon or we'll be here all day," she retorted.
"Carth, maybe you could stop grinning like an idiot over there and help us?" Vincent asked, finding humor in their situation.
"Sorry. Watching you two act like an old married couple is just too good to pass up," the Republic soldier said as he gently supported Vincent's right side.
"Bastila..." Vincent said quietly.
She knew what he was about to ask. "I can't. I used the rest of my Force powers to try and disable that droid."
"And we don't have any medipacs?"
Both Carth and Bastila shook their heads. "It's going to be a long trip back to the Enclave," he sighed. "Carth, I could use your help."
"With what?"
"My shoulder."
Carth inspected Vincent's shoulder for the first time and his eyes widened as he saw the condition it was in. "Hell...you messed that up pretty bad. How'd you pop it out?"
"Fell on it," Vincent replied.
"You may have busted your collarbone too, I can't tell in this light. Alright, can you kneel?" Vincent got down on his good knee. "This is gonna hurt..."
"I know. Just do it."
"You sure you don't want to wait till we get back to the Enclave?"
"No. Do it."
"Okay, your call." Carth grabbed Vincent's arm firmly and prepared himself to force it back into place. "On three. One...two..."
CRACK!
"ARGH!" Bastila winced as Vincent's face contorted in pain and his head snapped back, his whole body tense. "...thank you..." he forced through clenched teeth.
With the help of his friends, Vincent righted himself and made it over to the computer, glancing down at the terminal and beginning to work.
This time, the terminal wished to know the three primary life giving seeds.
"I wonder what those are..." Vincent said sarcastically.
"You don't take anything seriously do you?" Bastila asked.
"I can be as serious as I want to be. I just don't want to be right now. Is that a problem?"
"Not unless you consider being childish a problem," she retorted icily.
Slightly irked at her attitude, he returned to the question on his data pad. Answering correctly, he heard the door in the main room slide open noisily, creating a small vibration in the ground as it did so.
He had regained the use of both legs, and he now snuck up behind Bastila. Placing his mouth very close to her ear, he spoke in a low voice, "Wonderful. I can only imagine what's behind that door."
She felt a tingle as his warm breath tickled her ear and the back of her neck.
"Hopefully, what we're looking for," she said, walking quickly into the newly opened room. Grinning at Carth who had an amused look on his face, Vincent followed her. Upon reaching the Star Map, it opened and presented them with a picture of the galaxy.
"It seems to be incomplete..." Bastila trailed. Biting back a sarcastic remark he would have loved to send her way, Vincent nodded.
"Yeah, but that's Kashyyyk. And here's Dantooine, Korriban, Mannan, and Tatooine. Those are the only planets though." A thought struck him. "Those planets must have Star Maps as well, since they're the only ones this Star Map shows."
"Yeah," Carth agreed. "Why else would they be on the map?"
"I think you're right. We should tell the Council about this immediately," Bastila suggested. Carth turned and began to walk toward the exit, but Vincent noticed that Bastila stayed put.
"Is there something you want to talk to me about?" he asked, unsure if that would go over well or not.
"Yes, actually. How could you tell?"
"You were staring," he stated bluntly.
He could tell she was taken aback by that answer. "I was not staring! I was merely studying your reactions."
Vincent raised an eyebrow. "I think we both know the real reason you were staring at me."
Now she was angry. "I am a Jedi! I would not betray such feelings with an outward display. My interest in you is purely academic."
He was enjoying this immensely. "Interest?"
"Yes, "interest". I would like to know more about you, given our relationship."
"Our relationship? Is that some kind of come on?"
"What – I haven't the slightest idea of what you're talking about. I assure that if I was interested in a romantic liaison, I could come up with something much better than that. Now may I please just ask you some questions?"
Vincent was struggling to suppress the grin that was threatening to break out on his face. "Sure," he said, not the slightest bit uncomfortable with the fact that she was quizzing him.
"Just a few questions, nothing too personal. First, what is your name?"
He stared at her for a few seconds. Was she serious? "Vincent," he answered slowly.
"Good. Now, what is your occupation?"
"A soldier, nothing too fancy."
"Where were you born?"
"Deralia, a planet on the Outer Rim."
"And your current age is?"
He couldn't help himself. "3, 012. Healthy living, you know."
"I can see you won't take this seriously either. We'll continue talking when you decide to quit acting like a boy, and act more like a...man."
What! Act like a – you want a man? I'll give you a man, Bastila. Damn woman and her mood swings... He thought angrily.
"Look," he said catching up with her, as she had been walking away, "I'm sorry, but I didn't see the point in those questions. You could've found all of that out from my service records."
"I know. I was checking how you responded to the questions, not the answers themselves."
"I acted immature, okay? I said I was sorry, but...I just don't like everybody being stressed out like that. It's weird, and I can't focus when I can practically feel the tension in the air," Vincent said defending himself. "If it really bothers you that much, I'll try to work on it."
For the second time in as many minutes, Bastila was taken aback by something he had done or said. "You would do that? Why?"
He gave her a puzzled look. "Why not? If it's going to bother you, then that means it's going to get in the way. Then we'll fight about it, and we'll do something stupid – okay, maybe I'll do something stupid – and things will get bad. And that isn't something that I want to happen. I want things to be good between us. I don't..." he trailed, not able to finish.
Bastila stopped walking and touched his arm lightly. "You don't what?" she asked softly, peering into his eyes. He looked very uncomfortable, and he shifted a few times before answering.
"I don't want to talk about this right now," he said, his voice barely audible. "Let's just get back to the Council, and tell them what we found, alright?"
She nodded, deciding not to press the issue.
"Did you two get married or something while I was out here? What took so long?"
Vincent shook his head stiffly, clearly not wanting to discuss it. "Later," he barked, setting off in something that resembled a brisk jog in the direction of the Jedi Enclave. Carth looked at Bastila inquisitively, but she gave him a look that told him not to ask about it. Shaking his own head in confusion, Carth jogged off in the direction Vincent had gone, and soon caught up with him.
"Hey, is everything alright?"
Vincent's jaw clenched. "I said I didn't want to talk about it."
"You don't have to, I just want to know if everything's alright."
"Nothing is "alright." If you want it to be "alright" then -" Vincent began, his voice raised. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you. The truth is no, I'm not alright. She brought up a touchy subject back there. Can we drop it now?"
"Yeah. Yeah, we can drop it," Carth replied, understanding that now would definitely not be a good time to push his friend's buttons. Not if he wanted to return to the Enclave conscious. About that time Bastila caught up with both of them.
"Is everything alright?"
"Oh just peachy," Vincent muttered under his breath.
"That's not a good question, Bas," Carth whispered to her once Vincent was out of earshot. "I think we should just leave him alone for a while, let him talk about whatever it is when he feels comfortable."
Thankfully, they had now reached the Enclave courtyard. Vincent was tired, and he could feel the beginning of a massive headache coming on. Sighing and rubbing his eyes, he felt like he wanted to cry when he heard someone address him.
"Excuse me, Master Jedi?"
He recognized the voice as belonging to a settler named Jon. "Here," he grunted, shoving ared Mandalorian helmet at the man. "They're gone."
"Thank you so much. Here, please take this as a reward."
"Keep your credits, I don't want them," Vincent said wearily as he tried to walk away.
"Please sir, it's the least I can give you for what you've done," Jon said, shoving the credits into Vincent's hand. Too tired to argue, he simply accepted the credits with a nod, and walked inside the Enclave. Once in front of the Masters, he let Bastila do all of the taking, and he found himself back inside the Ebon Hawk sooner than he expected. Walking to the crew quarters which he shared with Carth and Canderous, he stripped down to just his pants and collapsed on the bed. He needed a shower; he was dirty, and he smelled like kath hound, but he was in no mood to move. Exhausted, and finally alone, he fell into a deep sleep.
Well, that's chapter one! I would greatly appreciate any feedback. If there's anything I need to change or improve, let me know. I write for you readers out there, and I want you to have an enjoyable experience, so if something needs to be fixed (again), tell me.