#zazabelle

Luckily that hadn’t occurred much to Nek’s relief and Vis’.

Also in the cockpit stood Soron, Cenden, and Lerti. Nek had gone off once they left the atmosphere to make whatever food they had stored up and BX was probably off in his room re-organizing anything that had moved during takeoff.

“There’s… Just so many stars. I remember them now, I missed them.” Vis breathed.

“They are pretty beautiful.” Chol agreed with a little smile.

“I have to warn you all… And I’m not sure how to explain it, but a lot of new paths have opened up and branched out in between all these stars. My guide’s trying to warn me of a lot of things but there’s just… so much.” Vis explained as she leaned closer to the window.

“That’s what meditating is for.” Cenden remarked.

“I know I just...” She stopped and turned her head towards the right, looking off in another direction of the infinite ink. Her freckles were shifting between a hue a minute. “I like feeling all the paths, the branches and where they connect. Seeing other people through them and how they connect to me and what my guide thinks of them. I have so much to write down.”

Soron smiled, “Well we’ll get a room set up for you so you can unpack.” He said as the three turned to leave Vis with Chol before adding, “You’ll be rooming with Lerti.”

“She’ll be what!?” Lerti burst out as Soron finished, the captain leading her and Cenden out of the room, obviously expecting the reaction.

“We don’t have anymore rooms that aren’t closets or BX’s room which isn’t much of a difference.” Soron pointed out.

“Why can’t she can’t just lay on the floor in one of your rooms!?”

“Lerti, we’re all guys.”

“So what, we have morals now!?”

“We have enough morals to know that she’s bunking with you and that’s an order.” Soron finished. Cenden stood behind him, looking somewhat amused.

Lerti rolled her eyes, “Great. You decide to adopt a kid and now I have to take care of it.”

The Mandalorian warrior turned to walk to her room, probably to stash anything she didn’t want her soon to be roommate to find and or mess with.

Soron turned to Cenden who he noticed was still looking very pleased with himself before the captain added, “So when does training begin?”

Cenden, caught off guard, opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, obviously wanting to argue but not sure how anymore after going toe to toe with him only a few days earlier.

“No answer? Well I’ll answer that for you. Training starts tomorrow as soon as we get back from our little detour in Tiss’sharl. We’re running low on fuel so we’ll be taking a slow pace through hyperspace and will arrive on the planet in at least 24 hours, that should give you plenty of time to come up with a lesson plan.” With that, the captain returned to the cockpit, the door closing once again behind him, leaving Cenden to his thoughts.

The man ran his hands over his face as he leaned up against the wall.

“Truly and honestly I’m asking you, what have I gotten myself into?” Cenden whispered in his mind and into the space around him.

From within the cockpit, the girl turned in her seat as she felt the tug of his thought, though she couldn’t hear what he said, she knew what he felt. Her brow crinkled as she tried to decipher in between all the crossing paths now before them, where his thoughts would lead him.

“I don’t know Cenden. I don’t know where we are either.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Bang!

“Ughhh.” Lerti groaned from her bunk.

Whatever kind of sleep she’d been having up until that point was interrupted at the sound of something hitting against the walls.

Bang! Thump!

“What the heck?” Lerti finally forced her eyes open, rubbing her hands against her temples. “Vis? Is that you making that noise?” She said irritably as she turned to face the makeshift bedroll.

Only Vis wasn't there.

“What?” Lerti muttered, groggily standing up. “Vis?” Lerti called.

“Find the straggler and secure the area. On the double.” A garbled and muffled voice echoed through the hallway.

Lerti shook her head in disbelief, she had to be imagining this. “There she is! Get her!” The voice yelled again as heavy boots resounded faintly.

“...no. NO!” Lerti hissed as she grabbed one of her blaster pistols.

Rushing through the door, still in her sleepwear, Lerti had managed to pull her pants on over and throw her helmet on to face whoever had boarded the ship. Running across the hall she checked both directions for the boarders as she banged on the door.

“Soron get up now! We’ve been boarded and Vis is out there!”

Seconds later the door flew open as Soron, shirtless and clutching his blaster rifle in his hands, emerged. “Where?”

“I heard them coming from that way, I heard two but there’s probably more.”

“I’ll get Vis, you go get Cenden and BX and meet me there.” Soron barked as he took off down the hall.

“We found her boss, she’s in there.” Soron heard a garbled but surprisingly light voice.

“No! They cut me off, I’m surrounded!” Vis’ telltale voice sent a spike of fear through Soron as he pushed himself faster down the hall.

‘How had anyone managed to board without us knowing? What did they want?’ Soron thought as he turned the corner and almost ran right into Cenden and Lerti.

“I already heard the noise,” Cenden explained as he cocked his gun. “Lets get zem.”

The three moved stealthily down the corridor and prepared to attack. Whoever they were, they were gathered in one of the ship’s open spaces where the crew kept extra supplies, including weapons. The perfect place for intruders to culminate.

Heavy footsteps began at a run towards their hiding place from around the corner.

The three nodded.

With a yell they jumped out and formed a wall of bodies and blasters.

Vis yelled too as she ran with thump into the solid form of Lerti and fell to the ground. The girl was wearing Soron’s helmet that he’d left lying around, which muffled her normally high pitched and fast paced voice. Despite that, she sounded as if she had managed to make her voice surprisingly deep for her person.

“VIS!?” Lerti yelled. “We could have SHOT you!”

The three looked around the room and realized it was empty…

Vis got up off the ground and slowly lifted up the helmet, a smirk could be seen before the covering was even fully removed,

The girl looked Soron, Cenden, and Lerti up and down, “Hhheeeyyy guys? Nice… Pajamas?”

Cenden snarled. It was true, the crew members (just like Lerti), had all thrown on whatever pieces of armor or clothing items they could could manage before grabbing a gun.

“What in the galaxy are you doing!?”Lerti demanded.

“I’m playing a game with my guide! It’s pretty fun!”

“We thought someone had boarded the ship!” Lerti exasperated.

“Wow… Was my acting that good?” Vis replied.

Cenden and Lerti gave a simultaneous eye roll and turned to leave the room, Cenden adding, “Play quieter next time!”

Soron, who was now simply amused by the whole situation, called out to the two, “MIGHT AS WELL STAY UP! WE’RE LANDING ON TISS’SHARL IN AN HOUR!”

When no reply was met, Soron and Vis looked at each other and shrugged. With that, Vis gave Soron his helmet back with a laugh and she turned to run after Cenden.

From a ways down the hallway Cenden and Lerti rounded a corner to find Nek weilding a wrench. He was still in his work clothes but it was obvious by his demeanor that he’d just woken up.

“Whas goin’ on? Are we under attack?” Nek slurred from beneath his goggles.

Cenden shoved past him, “No. The ‘attack’ is over. It was a false alarm and your timing is terrible.”

Nek removed his goggles just as Vis rounded the corner.

“Hi Nek! I scared everyone this morning! Is there morning in space…?” Vis followed after Cenden, the last part spoken seeming to be more to herself but at the same volume as if she was still talking to Nek.

Lerti was just ahead of the the Jedi and the girl when BX now rounded the corner carrying his blade. “Is it time to fight?”

“NO.” Lerti and Cenden let out at the same time, both of them shoving past the complacent machine.

“Oh. Maybe next time then.” BX continued walking with his blade down the hall, nodding at Vis as she sped walked to keep up with Cenden.

“Hey! Cenden!” She reached forward to poke him.

“What do you want?” He says with anger tinted in his voice as he turns to face his follower.

Vis stopped in her tracks, blinking a bit in confusion at the man’s outburst. Cenden turned and began his walk again, moving briskly towards his room. Vis moved and trotted alongside him.

“Next time we get the chance, do you want to play with me?”

“No.”

“Is it ‘cause I scared you? Because I’m sorry I didn’t know I was being loud and sometimes all the little threads and paths get tangled up in my head and it’s just easier to work them out…”

The two reach Cenden’s room. He opens the door and makes it halfway into the still darkened quarters before turning to answer.

“Stop talking, and no.”

With that he stepped into his room, door sliding to a close. Vis stands on the other side of the door, frustration and confusion again rising to the surface of her gut.

“What are you even saying no to!?” She gave her final word before turning to walk back to Lerti’s room.

Afterall, there were a lot of paths to go through today.

Vis walked through the long halls, staring at her hands as she watched the Force weave in and out of them like fog in the trees.

‘We’re going to another planet. I’m on a ship. There’ll be other people! Other places like I’ve read about! I’ll need to bring all of my journals in case I need to write something down… Maybe I’ll wear three shirts, just in case.’ Vis thought as she organized the enormous list forming in her mind.

Walking into Lerti’s room she caught the Mandalorian warrior slipping on her last piece of red and gray armor over her form fitting clothes.

The warrior somewhat ignored the kid as she watched her start rifling through her sack of a million seemingly useless trinkets and objects. Lerti raised an eyebrow as she saw Vis pull out holocrons, scrolls, but also bits of rocks, flowers, gear parts, even a single shoe.

“It’s probably none of my business,” Lerti began, “But what did your family do for a living again?”

“They were scavengers! They even let me help them find stuff sometimes! Why do you ask?” Vis asked as she threw another pebble aside from her bag.

“No reason.” Lerti said as she watched Vis begin to shove random items into her large coat pockets. She also noticed now that the girl was wearing gun holsters that looked ancient. Inside the holsters, there was nothing but more random parts, screwdrivers, ancient credits from the days of the Republic, and what looked to be a heart-shaped leaf tinted with purple.

She wanted to question what in the galaxy Vis was planning on doing with all of that stuff besides get weighed to the ground and jingle as she walked, but the thought of her getting pickpocketed of the items was enough to make her feel better after the incident Vis caused this morning. She imagined the disappointed face of grubby pickpockets nabbing nothing but worthless credits off her, and with that last thought, Lerti smiled and headed out the door to prepare for landing on Tiss’sharl.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The ship landed on one of dozens of landing pads, numerous workers milling around it. Though the port city was small by the standards of Tiss’sharl, it still bustled with the almost maniac energy of a trade world. The crew descended down the ladder, Chol immediately breaking off to talk with a tan colored Tiss’shar about necessary landing fees and regulations.

“Alright everyone,” Soron began, addressing the crew assembled behind him, “this planet is Mid Rim, which means its safer than the usual dives we visit. But under no circumstances will you let your guard down, run into the wrong Tiss’shar and this place will quickly become as bad as Nar Shadda. Understood?” The crew nodded.

“Good. Now, Nek and myself will try to find any jobs around here and see if we can start assembling supplies from the data table. BX, you help Chol with refueling and guarding the ship.” Soron paused as Chol’s voice rose in anger at the saurian attendant, allowing a string of choice words to slip past his lips. Luckily Lerti slapped her hands over Vis’ ears, who for her part just looked confused. “And try to make sure he doesn’t get into trouble.” Soron finished.

“Roger roger.” BX said before loping off towards the pilot.

Cenden’s whole body seemed to tense up as he watch the droid make his leave.

Still watching BX’s back Cenden spoke, “I’m hoping I’m not going on anymore odd jobs again? Last time you sent me on my own I got shot at. Multiple times.” He deadpanned.

“That’s why you won’t be alone. You and Lerti will be outfitting our newest member.” Soron replied, gesturing to the girl. Cenden’s jaw threatened to drop.

Vis’ eyes were dazzling at the glistening buildings in the distance, her freckles shifting in and out of yellow, to red, to purple, and back again. The girl’s fingernails seemed stuck to her teeth as she pulled at the skin on her nails, a nervous habit they hadn’t seen exhibited until now.

“What?!” Cenden and Lerti both shout out in unison. Sighing Soron walked close, leaning into the two of them to whisper.

“The both of you are really starting to get on my nerves. Look, we found this kid, she’s with us now, and I’m calling the shots. And the shot I’m calling is that I don’t want her to get shot. So I need the two of you to work together on this, and buy the kid some armor. That’s all I’m asking of you. I don’t care where you get it from, but our line of work is dangerous.”

“Maybe you should’ve thought of that before adopting a kid.” Lerti muttered under her breath.

Soron suddenly yanked at Lerti’s ear, “Well it feels like I’ve adopted three. We are in a delicate situation right now, and until we can fully comprehend what we’re wrapped up in, I need my crew to work together. And I mean my whole crew.”

“Fine. But the cost isn't coming out of my cut.” Lerti finished with a turn as she headed over to where Vis was still standing.

Soron turned back to the Jedi, his voice dropped so low that only Cenden could hear it. “And you, I’m sick of your attitude. Whatever it is between you and Vis you need to work it out. Immediately. Am I understood Sondron?”

“Fine.” Cenden sighed in defeat.

“Good. Now then, let's get moving.”

Cenden moved in to join his assigned group. He watched as Lerti slapped Vis’ hand out of her mouth but she moved with her other hand to continue to gnaw away at her fingernails, almost subconsciously.

“Kid quit doing that.” Lerti asserted.

“Until I get some supplies for a vaccination, if you keep doing zhat you will probably be contracting 30 different kinds of diseases and we just got here.” Cenden, their honorary physician, stated nonchalantly.

At this, Vis’ hands shot away from her teeth, “I’m sorry… I just haven’t seen so many… and there’s so many moving things. And it’s so loud. There’s so many connections and paths… they’re moving…”

“Hate to break it to you, but this is just the landing pad. And the city’s going to be a lot busier. This place is a trade city.” Lerti described.

“Oh my guide… I’m going to explode. There’s too many paths guys. I can’t hear. I need them to be quiet!” Vis took a step back towards the ship.

Cenden and Lerti gave each other a look as if to say “should we just leave her behind?” But in a glance they both sighed simultaneously also in an effortless manner of communication saying “Soron would kill us if we ditched her to buy her own armor.”

“...Alright. Vis?” Cenden’s mouth twitched, looking for the right words before he sighed, “Would you like your first Jedi lesson?” He almost mumbled.

Vis’ entire person seemed to perk up, “Really!?” Her freckles shifted to a vibrant pink.

“Yes, but keep it down.”

“Oh! Yeah! Sorry.” Vis’ voice dropped to a loud whisper.

“When you’re around this many people you have to learn to focus not on every little path, but the biggest and most present connections. Focus on the people around you, not so much what they’re saying but sense what they’re thinking and every path will be open to you based on what you’re looking for.” Cenden finished. Vis stood silent the whole time listening intently to every word as if she was trying to record her first lesson.

“Focus! I think I’d read about that in one of the holocron lessons but I didn’t pay much attention to it! Rookie mistake.” She took a breath, “Let’s go!”

She shifted from foot to foot for a second, almost testing which one she should start to walk with and decided on the left. With a shrug from the two older members to their trio. They started off.

Making it into the city with Vis became somewhat of an interesting challenge. Cenden and Lerti made it onto a transport ship packed with every sort of face and species, and Vis’ personality seemed to shift with every change of her freckles. Either quiet and overwhelmed, or excitable and jittery-curious.

As she watched Vis buzz around the transport ship, Lerti had to admit that Vis would probably make a pretty good pickpocket if they weren’t here to legally purchase things. The Mandalorian almost had a heart attack she she saw Vis take a vibrantly colored badge off of a particularly burly looking Wookie’s belt. The girl put it back no problem, but received some suspicious side glances from other passengers who noticed the feat.

“Vis. Please just sit down. Practice focusing or whatever Cenden told you to do.” Lerti hissed over to the girl.

Vis nodded and squished in between Cenden and Lerti in the transport seat suddenly jolting Cenden from a nap Lerti wasn’t aware he was taking with his eyes wide open. Vis took a breath and closed her eyes.

The rest of the trip went completely uneventful accept when they were nearing their destination and Vis’ eye suddenly shot open and she braced herself against the seat yelling, “Watch out!”

With that the transport suddenly jolted to a near stop and everyone in the transport kept moving with the ship. After righting themselves from what seemed to be a near impact, Lerti noticed Cenden had braced himself before hand as well.

“Thanks for the warning.” Lerti sneered.

Cenden shrugged and Vis smiled, “You’re welcome.”

“What was that all about?” Lerti asked as the transport doors opened and they rose to exit. The vehicle didn’t come equipped with windows, so the Mandalorian guessed the two had known because of their ‘Jedi senses.’

“I don’t know.” Vis said as they shuffled out in the crowd, “It felt like something just came speeding in front of the transport.”

“That’s exactly zhat happened.” Cenden explained as he pointed to an Imperial transport that was now stationed just in front of the transport they were on.

Cenden took Vis’ shoulders and lead them away before the transport even had a chance to open. “New deployment. Let’s avoid them as much as possible. We don’t have any identification for her.”

“Who are they?” Vis said a little too loudly.

“Quiet.” Cenden commanded, exiting the crowd. “The Empire. This planet is very much Imperial controlled but we’ll get what we need here. I know I told you to focus earlier, but please, I am begging you to remember that the Empire does not like the Force or the Jedi, so please don’t draw attention to us.”

“Ah yes, like we won’t be drawing any attention to ourselves walking around with a human mood ring.” Lerti exasperated.

“Half-human.” Vis corrected.

“Let’s just get moving and find a place to buy some decent armor already.” Cenden asserted before he took a glance around.

The city rose up in huge monuments above the jungle terrain surrounding the city. The air was abuzz with the sounds of the city coupled with the mingle of thousands of bodies all going one direction after the other. Mixing this with the humid atmosphere, Tiss’sharl wasn’t exactly the vacation destination of the galaxy, but relaxation was never this planet’s forte. Even in the days of the Republic, trade was all that mattered to this planet, and although the politic world of the Tiss’shar has a long running history of violence and assassination, one thing could and would always be agreed on, you integrate with the strongest ally, trade continues, the planet continues to prosper.

It wasn’t much of a surprise to the older Jedi that Tiss’sharl had integrated with the Empire as quickly as they did, it was just such a strange thing to see the planet he’d visited so many years ago for power cell supply runs so very changed.

As the three had walked through the bustling city, Lerti had been the only one truly paying attention to their surroundings as Cenden seemed to gaze through the buildings around him, far off. Vis, on the other hand, had her eyes darting around at a rapid pace. She had continuous stopped or absent-mindedly wandered off several times to which either adults would yell or snap. Eventually, Lerti just made her hold onto the side of her gun holster.

After an hour of wandering and shoving through the crowds, Lerti managed to spot a shop tht might serve as for the purpose they were sent out to fulfill.

“Hey, ya there old man?”  Lerti waved an armored hand in front of Cenden’s face as he snapped from his musings.

“Who are you calling old?” Cenden replied.

“Whatever. Just get in here, I think this place has what we need.” The Mandalorian jerked her thumb behind her, where a respectable looking shop stood with a neon sign reading “Yax’s Fine Armor Emporium.” He followed Lerti and a wide-eyed Vis into the shop. Several stands displayed sets of armor, ranging from heavy clothes and jackets to heavy suits that looked like they were built for Wookiees. Behind the counter sat grey colored Tiss’shar, lazily smoking a metal pipe. As an electronic chime sinks led their arrival his yellow eyes shot up.

“Ah, potential customers!” He exclaimed, taking the pipe out of his mouth and holding it between two claws. “I am the honorable Yax-Tez- Shel, but to you I am simply Yax. How may I be of service to you today?”

“We need armor for zhis one.” Cenden said, gesturing to Vis.

Vis’ hand shot up into a vibrantly colored wave. From where Cenden stood, he could sense her mind reaching out to the Tiss’shar shopkeep. He didn’t want to alert her to his own presence in the connection, but he could sense her connecting him to her own being, and then to the armor around her… It seemed she was examining her choices in the most convoluted way Cenden could imagine.

“Hmm, armor for one so young…” The saurian muttered, taking a long drag before exhaling the smoky vapor. 

“We live in the Outer Rim.” Lerti explained.

“Ah, it does not matter to me. I shall see what I have in her size.” With that he disappeared inside back door behind the counter.

“Guys! These are so awesome!” Vis could barely contain her excitement, her freckles turning bright green as she started darting from rack to rack.

“Let’s see if he’s as reputable as he claims to be first.” Lerti interrupted, tapping her foot impatiently. “I’m getting a bad vibe from him.”

“Vhat do you mean?” Cenden asked before the Tiss’shar reemerged, carrying a shiny new set of armor.

Vis whispered to Cenden as she dragged her finger along some expensive looking helmets, “Lerti right. This guy’s connections are only to the most expensive pieces… There aren’t many in here that I actually need though.”

“Don’t be picky.” Cenden snapped, “You’re lucky we’re even getting you any armor. Ve’ll haggle wit’ him until we get what we need.”

“Excuse me potential customers! May I direct your attention to these fine pieces?” Yax waved his scaled claws over small, Vis-sized, armor pieces, he’d laid out on the table.

Lerti leaned back from a moment, mumbling, “Just let me do the talking.” she finished turning with devilish confidence towards the clerk as she strode over to the counter.

“You really think we’d be interested in these cheap excuses for armor? What do you take us for…?”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

My attention quickly wandered from Lerti’s haggle.

As interesting as it was (not really), my guide was pulling me in a different direction back into the store. I could already tell we probably wouldn’t find what we were looking for here, but at least we weren’t on the streets anymore.

It was a terrifying mix of thoughts and possibility out there. I remember bigger cities from when I was younger and not stranded on jungle moon, but we had always steered clear of ginormous places like this. And now here I was, in the belly of the beast. Every turn of my feet mattered to the outcomes, and the twittering of thousands of connections… like flocks of birds back at the temple, but with free will and consciousnesses and… Ah! It was too much! It was worse than being in space!

‘I just have to focus like Cenden said… I can do this.’ Taking a breath, I closed my eyes as I took a couple of steps forward through the store. ‘Focus on the armor… We’re looking for armor my guide. What armor am I looking for?’

My mind bounced from chest plate, to helmet, to shin guards around the room, before suddenly the connection bounced off a gauntlet like lightning and shot outside.

My eyes shot open as I ran over to the window. Outside and walking past the store, two people clad in all white and black identical armor strode by.

“Whhoooaaaa… Twins.” I breathed as I watched them walk past. The Force hovered near them as I acknowledged the two, “Well… That is some nice armor… I wonder where they got it from?”

From at the window I turned and yelled back to Cenden and Lerti who were now having a heated discussion with the clerk, “Hey guys!!! What about those guys’ armor!? It’s pretty nice?” I said as I pressed my finger to the window.

“Not now kid.” Lerti waved my voice away with a flick of her hand, neither of them even turned around.

And the connection was getting away.

Giving a shrug and pulling the door open, I dove back into the open system of the city and started swimming through the yarn bundles of connections as I glanced around, searching for where the people in twin’s armor went. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted them catch attention to something in an alleyway nearby and the two ducked into it.

So I followed, jumping into a sprint to catch up.

“HEY GUYS! WAIT UP!” I called out to them as I made my way through the crowd and towards the shaded alleyway where the twins in white had disappeared.

Swinging the corner, I called out again, “HEY! WAIT!”

A blaster clicked.

I fell backwards on my butt in silent shock as one of the twins in white commanded, “FREEZE!”

My eyes bounced around the alleyway in panic as I nodded. Now staring down the barrel of a blaster only meters away from my face.

‘What did I do!? I must’ve startled them. Maybe they’re just jumpy like Cenden.’ I thought as I slowly stood up off the ground.

“Sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you guys!” I put my hands up and let my trench coat sleeves fall back to my elbows.

The two frowny-faced visors of the twins’ helmet looked at each other, probably in confusion.

“I just wanted to say I like your guy’s armor a lot! I’m in the market to buy some and your’s are very nice. Are you guys twins?” I said as I took a step forward.

One of the two dropped their blaster, “What? No.”

“Oh! Sorry, I just assumed because you guys have the same exact armor.”

“We’re Imperial Stormtroopers. This is standard issue patrol armor. Just because we look the same on the outside doesn’t mean we’re the same underneath.”

I cocked my head, “Ooooooo! I like that! I read a lot and that’s a great line… Have you ever considered being a poet?”

At this, the second twin pressed her gun further forward, “Watch my six, she might be trying to distract us! She might be with the rebel scum that painted that tag!” In response, the first of the twins, again raised his blaster.

Looking over his shoulder, I saw a brightly painted orange bird painted on the wall… It was really beautiful, they seemed to think it meant something dangerous. “I didn’t draw that but… I like the color scheme?” I didn’t know what to say at this point.

“Alright freckles. That’s it. Search her.” The second twin nodded for the first to move in. My freckles shifted into the same orange as the graffiti bird.

“Turn around.”

“Ok.”

I stood somewhat stunned as the Stormtrooper, the minion of the evil Empire that I almost forgot existed, was searching through my pockets. ‘Do I run? Do I fight? Oh my guide what do I do!?’

“She’s not carrying any weapons, just a lot of junk. Might be a pickpocket.” The searcher informed his partner.

“Actually, a lot of them are mementos. My mom’s favorite trinkets before she… passed away few years ago.” I explained to the trooper as he stood.

“Sorry to hear that.” The first Stormtrooper said coldly.

By this time the second stormtrooper had walked up to flank me.

‘You know what.’ I took a breath, ‘This isn’t the first time I’ve met people at gunpoint! These are just more Soron’s and Cenden’s! They’re just people! My guide showed me over here so let’s work with this.’

I smiled a bit and wrapped my arms around my back, twisting back and forth letting my trench coat swish on the ground. At the same time, also letting the Force wash over the two. The second, more paranoid one, had something swirling at the top of her mind.

“Do… Do you have a mom?” I took a guess.

Even under her helmet, she looked a bit shocked, “What’s it to you?”

“I don’t know. Just making conversation. I thought you guys looked nice even under the helmets.”

‘Too sentimental? It’ll have to do.’

She paused for a moment, seeming to watch my face. “My mom passed away about a month ago.”

“I’m sorry to hear that also…”

Suddenly the first trooper piped up, “Wait. Your mom died and you didn’t tell me!?”

“Hey you’ve been busy with your own family, you don’t need to be worrying about my family stuff!”

“Just ‘cause I’m busy doesn’t mean that I don’t care!”

I decided to pipe in, “Communication is important, not that I’m very good at it… Oh! Almost forgot!” My hand shot out towards them, “I’m Vis! Nice to meet you both!”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

“No, that discount will not be enough!” Lerti and the shopkeeper had been arguing for some time now. “It has to be at least 60% for that trash to be considered valuable!”

“You dare?” Yax hissed.

“I do!” Lerti barked back. “This stuff is worse than what the Imps wear!”

“It seems that for someone of your culture you have poor knowledge of armor. Maybe you weren't worthy of being taught the way of the warrior.” Yax’s eyes narrowed and a triumphant smirk stretched across his face, while Cenden’s own eyes went wide at the Tiss’shar’s statement.

“How...how dare you!” Lerti yelled, stomping until her face was inches from Yax’s. Cenden turned away for a second, his eyes suddenly growing wide as he looked about the store. A quiet groan escaped his lips.

“Lerti.”

“Not now Cenden.”

“Lerti!”

“WHAT?!” Lerti yelled.

“Where’s Vis?” Cenden asked. Lerti’s anger dissipated as she hastily looked around the shop.

“I thought you were watching her!” Lerti exclaimed.

“I’m not her babysitter!”

“YOU SORT OF ARE!”

Composing herself the Mandalorian sighed. “Alright, let’s find where the kid ran off to.” Shooting one last dirty look to Yax she sped off into the busy streets, the Jedi not far behind.

“Vis! VIS!” They both yelled, trying to spot the half-human girl.

The two both spun about the busy streets in confusion. How long had she been gone? Why did she leave?

Lerti now searched her memory and realized she had heard the sound of the door chime activate about 10 minutes ago, but she hadn’t paid much attention to it then. She’d been too far into her “bargaining.”

“Soron’s gonna kill us…” Lerti muttered under her breath as she continued to search the crowds.

“He won’t have to know if we find her. Let’s just think for a moment. Why would she run off?”

“She said something about someone having nice armor?”

“I remember that. If she followed them there’s a good chance she’s either being kidnapped or mugged by now.”

“Oh shut up!” Lerti looked ready to punch him.

“I was being sarcastic. She can’t have gotten far, and if she was following something she sensed…” Cenden suddenly got an idea and sighed in frustration. “I told her not to use the Force.” Cenden started muttering to himself as he began walking out of the crowd and over back towards the armor shop. “But no. She couldn’t keep to herself for a day. Just one day. Some padawan.” Cenden continued under his breath as he leaned up against the wall.

“What are you muttering about?” Lerti said in a fed up tone.

“Just, be on the look out for me for a moment. I think I can find her.” Cenden said as he closed his eyes and began to concentrate.

His mind reached out through the Force. Skimming over the surface of the energy, like running your hand over the surface of the water, he could sense everything moving and alive in the crowd, causing ripples with every thought and decision made. Then he dove down deeper, beneath the surface, and looked beneath the surface at the people swimming about beneath it. In cities like this, you find a lot of Force-sensitives who are completely unaware of their connection. Looking through the “water”, he could sense the blurry image of someone willingly walking beneath the surface, and it wasn’t that far away from where he and Lerti were standing… Two other figures stood with her, but on the surface, her effect washing over them.

“Gotcha…” Cenden said as pulled himself out of it, safely above on the surface.

Opening his eyes, he looked over about a block away towards an alleyway not too far off, Vis’ connection still attached to his being, he pointed. “She’s down that alleyway, she’s with two other people.”

Lerti eyed where he was pointing with a confused look. “Jedi stuff?”

“Jedi stuff.” Cenden nodded and they walked off towards the alley, following her trail.

Cenden rounded the corner before quickly pushing him and Lerti back around the corner in panic.

“Stormtroopers.” Cenden said.

“What!?”

“Stormtroopers. Vis is with two troopers.”

“We have to get her out of there. She doesn’t have identification papers. I’ll go high, you go low and cause a distraction if you need to while I take them out from the rooftops.” Lerti devised the plan and Cenden nodded.

Lerti began grabbing some parts out of her pockets, connecting and fixing them into one of her pistols, quickly becoming a short range rifle.

“What where did you get those from?” Cenden asked.

“Just go get Vis away from those bucketheads, I’ll cover you. Remember, try to smooth talk.” Lerti commanded as she boosted herself up onto a window sill and began her climb to the roof.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I wasn’t exactly lying before when I said communication wasn’t my strongest skill, after all, I’d been alone so long and the only person I ever really needed to talk to could read my mind. But as the Force and I spoke with these two, I sensed the balance in our thoughts, even if the words I spoke weren’t on topic they were still something the two wanted to hear. In each thought lay another underlying meaning, another purpose for which something was being said. Every off topic represented another desire… another parallel. And from there, it seemed as if these minions and I could get along just fine.

“So all those trinkets you have in your pocket you saved from your family? Why those pieces?” The male Stormtrooper questioned as I’d taken out the pan pipes after the topic of music had come up.

“They just… felt like the right ones to take with me.” I shrugged.

‘I want to tell them… Cenden said not to though… I’ll be sneaky about it if you don’t want to be introduced?’ I thought to my guide.

The Force gave a nod and settled with us in the conversation.

The four of us stood near the center of the alley way, the female Stormtrooper leaned up against the wall and the male standing near, his blaster lazily slung in one hand. I’d asked them if they needed to get back to work, but they had told me they get 15 minute breaks on patrols as long as they’re stationed somewhere observational for crime. I had decided to stay with them.

I looked over at female trooper, “I’m sorry again about your mom.”

“It’s alright. It’s funny, I’m not sure why we’re standing here talking like a bunch of saps when we,” She motioned to her partner, “Are supposed to be doing our jobs. I just don’t see the point in it anymore. The only reason I took this job was to help pay medical bills, but now that she’s gone, it’s sort of pointless.”

‘Looking for words. Looking for words… Found some words!’

“Doing something for a cause without a purpose is pretty sad I’d say.”

The male trooper now spoke up, “Heh. If you wanna talk about doing something without a purpose, then it’s pretty fitting we’re standing in a Rebel tagged junction. I mean, what do they hope to gain by overthrowing the Empire? A new republic? Anarchy?”

“Rebellion tagged? What’s that mean? Is that what that marking is?”

“You don’t know about the Rebellion? Seriously? Have you been living under a rock?” The woman now interjected.

I laughed, “Sort of! I have a lot of reading material without a lot of updates on the data.”

“Well, let me just tell you then kid. I don’t know where you came from or where you're going, but you won’t get much farther without hearing about some of these organizations exploits against the Empire. Supply run bombings. Blockade jumping. Theft. Murder. You name it and they’ve done it. I’ve heard some of the boys saying it’s the Jedi’s revenge, especially with those two I heard about in the Outer Rim and this other guy named Luke…”

An angry accent suddenly cut across the alley way.

“Vis! Where have you been!? We’ve been looking all over for you!” I watched as Cenden suddenly loomed between me and the troopers, “Sorry, officers, my… niece, wanders off quite often. Come on, let’s go!” He began to usher me away from the two somewhat confused troopers.

“Wait! No! They were just about to tell me about a Jed-” Before the word could escape my mouth, Cenden roughly grabbed my arm and began to drag me by it, “Ouch! Stop that!”

“Sir! I’m going to have to ask you to unhand her and lets see some identification!” The female trooper commanded.

Cenden free hand clicked, revealing his blaster now aimed at the trooper.

The two troopers now aimed their weapons. Everyone’s hearts were suddenly racing.

“Wait, wait, wait!” I held up my hands and walked in between the three. I looked over at the troopers, “It’s ok! He’s ok! My uncle just has… Clone Wars, PTSD?” I smiled over at them and then at Cenden. “No one needs to shoot anyone. I just wandered off while we were armor shopping for me!”

There was a pause before Cenden quickly put his blaster down, and I saw the strangest smile go across his face. “I’m s-so sorry officers. It’s a nervous twitch at this point, I was at war f-for a long time.”

I almost gasped with delight. Cenden was playing pretend.

The two troopers looked over at each other still pointed and ready. The first trooper motioned with her blaster towards the tagging on the wall, “Have an alibi for where you and the girl where about 25 parsecs ago? This “mural” isn’t finished, come back to finish the job?”

“N-no, we didn’t make that, nor do we know anyone who did. We were at the armor shop down the street for the past half hour, who can ask the s-shopkeeper if you like?” Cenden continued to stutter, seemingly nervous.

Again, the two troopers looked at eachother, but this time they gave a nod and lowered their weapons. “Alright, we’ll let you off with a warning, we should have you arrested for pulling a gun on two officers of the law, but we have better things to be doing. Let’s see some identification.”

“O-oh ok. Of course.” Cenden pulled holo device out of his pocket and presented the image to the troopers.

“Cenden Sondron. Male. Homeworld: Ambria. Huh, never been. Is it nice where you’re from?”

“Can’t say I’ve been back in a while.” Cenden said, his voice somewhat returning for a moment to it’s gruff state.

“Right, and the girl?”

“I-I’m so sorry, her aunt would be the one to be carrying that with her. She’s back at the ship sadly, so,” Cenden glanced over at me before he waved his hand in front of their faces. “You don’t need to see her identification.”

I felt the Force suddenly pulsed and smothered their minds. It felt disgusting to me, like a hiccup in their thoughts as they went limp before regaining consciousness; only for such a brief moment it was almost unseeable.

“We… Don’t need to see her identification.” The both said in unison.

“Alright, thank you.” Cenden grumbled with a dignified turn on his heels, “Vis, let’s go.”

I waited in place for a moment, they still felt hazy inside. Reaching out my hands, I took one of each of their own hands and shook them.

“It was so nice to meet you both.” With that the clouds suddenly snapped back into place and they looked around, aware again. “What were your names again?” I asked the two as they became suddenly aware of me shaking their hands.

“Uuuhhh, um, right. I’m Lyel and this is my partner Niu. You were Vis… Right?” The female trooper named Lyel answered, coming out of the dream.

“That’s right! And it was really nice running into you guys… We have to keep looking for armor now but I still do really like the theme of yours. Even if they’re all identical on the outside.”

Lyel laughed as she bent her head a bit to remove her helmet, revealing the soft, slanted eyes and straight black hair underneath, “So you’re looking for armor? We might have a suggestion.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

“So then if I reroute the system from the ship through a cable in the original data table I should be able to sync the systems to the new one… And that’s considering if the original system is coming from the temple and if it’s not I’ll have to have a back-up…”

Soron watched Nek muttering to himself as they sat on the slowly emptying and refilling transport waiting for their next stop. The Devaronian had the goggles he normally wore for detailed repair placed over his eyes as he buried his face in the blue prints he’d drawn up for the installed data table.

From the corner of the page, Soron could also make out a long, long list of material. Half of the parts he’d never even heard of, and for a moment wondered if the engineer truly knew how to build this thing.

‘Regardless of if he knows what he’s doing, this is going to cost us a fortune… And we don’t truly know what the pay off will be. Beebs better have some decent work for us next time we see her.’ Soron thought as a pang of anxiety shot his stomach. ‘What are we doing? Why do I care? I’m just going to blindly listen to some child we found and a weird dream I had probably based on severe head injury?’

Doubt began to caress his mind and Soron ran a hand over his face and snout almost in an effort to brush it off.

“Something on your mind?” Nek said, not even looking up from his blueprint.

“Just… general panic considering our money situation and disposition.”

Nek now looked over, his slanted yellow eyes made fish bowled under his work goggles. “Is this about the crystal screening on the list? I can try and find another brand I just don’t want cracking from any outside impacts…”

“No, no. We’re getting what you need. It’s just, don’t you find any of this a little odd?”

“Captain, all of this is odd to me. But what about this is odd to you?”

Soron thought for a moment and tried to put it into words. Lowering his voice a bit, he leaned in, “I am a full grown adult whose lifelong career had been much less than legal. I run a crew of individuals willing to work outside any law there is under often the direction of a crime boss and now we’re here on a posher than average trading planet under the direction of a force we can’t see and a child. Doesn’t this feel like a wild goose chase at all to you?”

Nek was silent for a long while before shrugging, hesitantly looking now over his blueprints with an air of fear. “I don’t know… It feels like a real adventure. Although we kind of go on adventures a lot. But this was what you wanted right? Hiring Cenden into the crew, looking for that holocron, finding that temple… This was the answers you were looking for right?”

Soron folded his arms across his body, “I don’t know what I was looking for. And I still don’t know what I’m looking for. But I started this operation, I made a promise, I intend to finish this work.”

“...What promise?”

Soron looked over, a little shocked he’d let something slip. The transport rocked a little as the doors closed and the ship again took off speeding. Soron sighed.

“This isn’t exactly how I intended telling a bit of this story considering how long this crew has been together… Actually I think only Chol knows about this so maybe be a bit discrete about what I’m going to tell you?”

Nek nodded.

Soron’s leaned in again, “Now you’re all well aware this, but I’m considered an outcast of my clan on my home planet for numerous reasons. Doesn’t mean I can’t go back to that planet… A world’s a big place. But, I’m looking for someone out here.”

“Girlfriend?” Nek suddenly jumped in.

“No. But I appreciate the participation.” There was a pause, “I’m looking for my younger sister.”

“Is she banished too?”

“No, not technically. She’s just… a long time ago I went back home and… she was gone. And I know I take credit for being the ‘leader’, for wanting to find artifacts and knowledge that will give the universe some meaning. But it all started with her. She was…” Soron stopped himself and looked around, “She was like Cenden and Vis.”

Nek gasped with a hissed whisper, “Really!?”

“Yes really. When we were younger, the Jedi” Soron mouthed, “Actually came to take her into their instruction. Unfortunately for us, our clan has a strict, stupid, and closed minded policy, much like the rest of my species. Nobody comes in and nobody leaves our world. So despite her talents, she was left without a teacher. But she had this beautiful way at looking at the galaxy and I’d be lying if I said she wasn’t a realist, but one of the most hopeful realists I’d ever known. She always said… there was some bigger picture to the galaxy that most couldn’t understand. Not just the light side and the dark side. Not just good versus evil. It was a reality beyond heroics, that the galaxy just is. Together, we made journeys off world. That’s how we met Chol actually. He smuggled us out of one of the only trading ports on our planets numerous times and together we searched for artifacts, Jedi knowledge,” He mouthed again, “Anything we could find for her to keep learning. And the last time I saw her, in a conversation only important in hindsight, I promised I wouldn’t stop searching for answers. I wanted to learn as much as she did at this point, we were, unstoppable.”

“Why didn’t she just go to Coruscant?”

“What?”

“If you guys had snuck out, why didn’t she go and join the Jedi council then?” Nek also mouthing the forbidden word.

“I asked her the same thing, multiple times actually. She always said she was too old now, but I could always tell there was something she wasn’t telling me… Or maybe something she couldn’t explain. It seems it might’ve been for the best for her to be on the outside in the end.”

“Might’ve been?” Nek questioned.

“To be honest, when she disappeared, I assumed she might’ve gone and joined them finally. She had been doing a lot of research, meditating, all that stuff. I thought maybe in my temporary absence she finally just abandoned her feelings and left. But then… the Clone Wars ended how it did… If she is truly alive she’s not with them.”

“Where could she be then?”

“She could be anywhere. But I assumed continuing her work, following the trail of knowledge and artifacts, I figured if I’ve found it she probably has too. In all honesty, I’m doing this for myself as much as for her. I want to understand the Force like she did, this whole galaxy is so pointless. There has to be more.”

Nek shrugged, “Well that’s why I joined. Regardless of who came up with the idea, I like the idea of finding purpose. Whether it’s adventure, or a truth just to us, or a truth just common to life, I’d like to learn what it is. And considering what you’ve just said, and the strange path we’ve found ourselves on, I’d say this is anything but a waste of time.” He said as he motioned with his blueprints.

I started working on this in the middle of the summer and wanted to have it out before the new season but ended up watching the first episode and just AH!

Honestly Ozpin was/is one of my favorite characters so when this kid showed up I knew I would eventually end up making something like this, but it wasn’t until the bar scene at the end of Volume 4 did I have a plan.

Making the drawings/animation, turned out to be more difficult than expected. I used a ton of screenshots for reference, but attempting to make new poses and facial expression then animate it all was a “fun challenge” and I’m really proud of the crying animation ‘cause I’ve never animated anything like that before! Just WOOO I FINISHED THIS YAY!!!!!

I used Clip Studio Paint for all of this!

Read the description of the youtube video if y’all want info on how I made this and how genuinely excited I am, and OMG WAS IT FUN!!! I’ve been working on this since January hoooboy!

It was a strangely relaxing project with a lot of research on video editing but I’m super happy with how it came out! 

Big thanks again to @scarysans for helping with Oz and Qrow’s voices and @ceridium for moral support! 

I’m also super excited to get working on other animations with my green screen and writing Free Reign: A Star Wars Story with @draksisreborn some more! This has been so much fun and I can’t wait to do more stuff!

Original Comic: https://zazabelle.tumblr.com/post/166712517350/rwby-volume-5-oz-and-the-scarecrow-this-is-the

...I mean, they’re not really theories. Just some thoughts. If Home World is running out of worlds to colonize, and energy in those worlds to make new gems, then making something as large as a Diamond would’ve taken a lot of “world juice”... basically what I’m saying is that Pink is a lot like Peridot and Amethyst. Smaller and child-like. A gem designed to conquer and rule worlds, but with the mind of a 7 year old... which seriously explains the zoo. Like, imagine this woman-child being in charge of an entire world and allowed to do whatever she wanted with her new “play things”.  But nonetheless, she was a Diamond, a slightly incomplete and terrifying-in-her-own-way diamond, but still a gem to designed to take whatever she wanted. 

Hazel and Gretchen Rainart, I’m pretty sure are based on Hansel and Gretel and the Witch. 

Which basically means, Salem is totally playing/using Hazel for his abilities, but what else is new? If Salem used Grimm to kill Gretchen but set it up so as to make it look or feel as if it was Ozpin’s fault that she died, then she could use him against Oz as her newest puppet that doubles as an angry tank. 

This seems reinforced especially when the original story goes that the witch locks Hansel in a cage and feeds him to fatten up before she eats him, all the while Gretel is used as her slave/incentive for Hansel not to attempt an escape.

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“The trials for ze final tests to become a Jedi knight. In all honezty, you basically go into these really dark tunnels, and the Force messes with your mind causing you to see your greatest fears or desire, you must pass through these trials alone and survive your fear in order to prove yourself worthy of ze position of Jedi.” Cenden explained before turning to Vis. “Did you go in zhere? Did you pass the trials?”

The girl’s freckles snapped into a sudden shock of bright blue.

“No! I mean yes, but not like ‘officially’. They opened the door a few weeks before you guys got here… I… I thought I had already faced my greatest fear a long time ago, and I knew what the door was so I thought… I’d just stick my head inside the tunnel for a while to see what happened?” she laughed nervously as she crumpled in on herself a bit.

“...Vhat?” Cenden mumbled.

“Why would you do that?” Nek questioned, stepping in.

“I don’t know! Think of it from my position! The Force opened the door for me, but I’m all alone here in this giant temple, no one has ever known I was here, I’d have to face this ‘great danger’ down there by myself too where I could just DIE with no Jedi master to be worried or concerned for me, and my guide unable to help me! Wouldn’t you be a little hesitant to totally immerse yourself in some, not only creepy, but really broken tunnel trials where you know you’re going to possibly die?”

Nek shrugged, “Ya she’s got a point.”

“You can die in there?” the crew could hear Lerti mumble to herself.

“Well it opened for a reason.” Cenden pointed out.

“You got that right.” Vis huffed, crossing her arms in discomfort.

A few of the crew members gave her a puzzled look.

“Did you, see anything when you stuck your head in the tunnels?” Soron inquired.

Vis looked uncomfortable as her freckles faded into a dark maroon, her face twisting into what could’ve been described as sickly fear.

“I didn’t see anything.” She sighed, “It was what I felt was what scared me.”

She paced closer to the door’s opening.

“I know you haven’t known me for very long, but I didn’t expect this door to open again because this was how I got to know you guys before you even got here… When I stuck my head inside the tunnel, it was the first time in my life I couldn’t feel my guide. It was so quiet, so deathly quiet, and I had never been so alone in that one moment. I ran away from the door and later on my guide explained to me that these were the feelings and fears not only of myself, but of these people coming to the temple. The pilot, the engineer, the warrior, the strategist, the captain, and the temple guard. So it can’t be that I need to take the trials, I haven’t even gotten to have the whole ‘student-mentor-bonding-thing’ much less ready to become a Jedi. My guide wants me to go in but…”

Soron stepped up next to the girl.

“But Cenden’s right, it sounds like the Force wouldn’t just open this for no reason.”

“Nothing is without reason.” Vis mumbled almost to herself as if she was quoting something.

Lerti laughed suddenly breaking the solemn mood, “This is insane.”

“I know right!? It feels like a real adventure doesn’t it!?” Vis responded back. “I have to go in there! I have to prove myself.”

“Prove yourself to who?” Soron asked.

She thought for a moment.

“I have to prove myself to myself. That I’ll follow my guide where ever they take me. No matter what.”

“Wait! Shush!” Cenden suddenly burst out.

Everyone fell silent.

“Do you hear that?”

They listened; the twittering of birds, the hum of wind on the slick and cool rocks of the temple, the rain just barely sprinkling down. Vis’ face looked far off, as if she was straining her mind to pick up the sound Cenden could hear so clearly.

It was like a singing he couldn’t describe. A voice saying a million words at once. It was cold and alluring. It was coming deep from the throat of the from the tunnels.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” He mumbled as he walked slowly over towards the mouth of the door.

Vis shivered and looked at the captain and the Jedi standing with her, staring into the darkness, then back at the darkness and the ends of her mouth twitched.

“We’re going in there together aren’t we?” Cenden hesitated.

Vis leaned past Soron to look at Cenden and shook her head, her hand slowly raising to point at Soron.

“He’s coming too.”

“What!?” Soron took a step away from the temple door.

“Ya. The Force says you, me, and the Jedi. I mean it’s pulling the three of us anyway.”

“You have GOT to be kidding me!” Cenden repeated.

“Ok, wait let’s just all step back and talk about this for a second because everything is moving very fast.” Soron commanded turning to the rest of the whole crew, before snapping and pointing at Vis. “Ok, you. You’re going to sit down for a second and explain what’s going on, why we’re here, and why you’re here. You…” he barked now pointing at Cenden, “You are going to translate if that one starts not making sense.” he again pointed at Vis, “And the rest of you are going to pay close attention to everything they say. Got it?”

“Got it!” Everyone responded back.

“Ok good. Now, explain.” Soron urged before before backing up and leaning against the wall.

Vis gasped.

“Oh my gosh! I’ll go get my journals! Wait here I’ll be right back!” she squealed, zipping past the crew before anyone could protest.

The crew waited a few minutes for the small girl to return from where ever she had run off to. Lerti scanned about, thinking more intently on a history she never knew existed. Nek shuffled closer to the shelves of holocrons, examining the glowing boxes yet not quite daring to reach out and touch one. Cholmon, who had for the most part just been watching and observing, found a spot to sit down. BX had resumed sorting the holocrons, but keeping his eyes on the temple tunnels. All the while Cenden and Soron talked quietly.

“...The girl was right though. She wasn’t ready to go into the trials room. The Force is strong with her, but she hasn’t received any of the necessary training for the Force to believe her ready to become a Jedi.” Cenden contemplated.

“Then why open it? And if we were suppose to go in with her, why open before we got here? Why do we even need to go in there? Why do I need to go in there?”

“Soron… I honestly don’t know what’s going on. That girl acted like we were suppose to know a lot more than we do… And the way she talks about the Force. It’s like she’s talking to a person.”

“Yes, she seems quite prepared for us, so what are we expected to do?”

Just then, a voice erupted from further down the halls.

“HEY GUYS! OVER HERE!” Vis shouted from down the rows of shelves.

At the end of the shelves you could see a small figure hopping up and down excitedly waving her arms through the air.

“COME ON! WE’VE GOT STUFF TO SHOW YOU!” she yelled before turning and sprinting down one of the shelf halls.

The crew looked around, not quite knowing how to respond other than a shrug and a turn to follow. As the group walked cautiously down the hallways of holocrons they could hear childish laughter and the patter of footsteps echoing in every direction, it was hard to tell where it was all coming from.

In a galaxy full of oppression and despair, how does one act around someone so free of all that strife? Someone so free of all of that pain? Do they know how lucky they are? Or is it pure ignorance that keeps them happy?

This was the summary of the crew’s thoughts as they walked towards where they’d last seen the child disappear.

“Oh! I almost forgot this one!” Vis’ voice suddenly appeared next to them as they turned to see her swiftly grabbed one of the holocrons off the shelves.

Her arms were filled to the brim with scrolls, books, and holocrons of every shape and size. Her face was alight with pure excitement, her freckles shifting out of neons of green, and yellow, and orange.

“Come on! This way!” She elated as she powered through the group, running towards the center of the library.

As they followed, the library quickly opened up into what looked to be a large seating area. Ancient tables were almost indistinguishable from the piles of rubble and debris lying about the center of the library. Many piles looked as if they’d been pushed and shifted over, but none of them cleaned up. Over in one corner, Nek spotted a pile of blankets and makeshift pillows stacked up into what looked to be a reading nook. In the center of the reading area stood a console of some kind, it’s octagonal shape seemed to have nothing more about it than a slightly cracked old screen and a few ports running along the edges.

Vis squated near the console, carefully placing down the selection of holocrons and books she’d collected on the floor before spinning to turn towards her audience.

“Ahem.” She cleared her throat, looking to make sure her guests were in attention, “For the past five years, I, Vis Alacritas, have lived in this temple and have been working closely alongside the Force to record, decipher, and understand prophecies yet to occur in our time through the teaching of the holocrons, books, and scrolls left here.” she paused for dramatic effect, “Now that I have this information, I’ve basically been waiting for something to happen. I’ve learned a lot, I have way more to go, but I believe the Force brought you all here to help with this mission.”

“What is the mission exactly?” Nek stepped in.

Vis smiled, crossing her hands behind her back.

“To help the Force carry out its purpose of course. Ya know, warn people of impending doom, saving the galaxy, all that good stuff.”

The crew was silent for a moment.

Vis’ smile swiftly swept from confident to uncomfortable.

“I mean! We wouldn’t probably be directly responsible for the whole ‘saving the galaxy’ thing. But ever since I’ve been here, my guide’s been showing me history and prophecies given to Jedi, Sith, and just Force sensitives in general. I’m pretty sure most of the writers of these things didn’t know what they were writing about, they were just given instruction and followed it. I mean…” She picked up one of the holocrons, “This one is mostly filled to the brim with proverbs and stuff, but when applied to the context in that book,” she pointed at another one of her picks, “The meaning completely changes. The Force picked out these particular books, and not all of the info in them is from the Force I’ve noticed. But the stuff they did write that was from them seems to all sort of connect into a weird series of warnings and signs to watch out for, important events that have happened and will occur and stuff. But they all seem to be leading up to something big.”

Everyone remained silent, taking in Vis’ words.

Suddenly, Cholmon chimed in, chuckling a bit.

“Well Soron, you said you wanted answers to the meaning of life and all that crap. Looks like the Force answered you.” By the end of his sentence he was actually laughing.

“Why are you laughing?” Vis chuckled along nervously.

“Because! I never thought in my entire life that Soron’s crazy vague mission would actually amount to something! I mean, seriously! He lured that Jedi onto our crew, convinced him to help us find a holocron, followed a star map to this random moon, and now! Here we are! Soron you crazy son-of-a-nerf herder.” Chol continued laughing out of pure joy, wiping a tear from his face.

Soron smiled, the crazy realization spreading across his face before in moments he was laughing along with Chol.

Vis’ face lit up at their joy, “You did it! WOO!!!”

Vis began jumping about. Soron and Chol, still laughing, cheered her on. Nek and Lerti joined in with their shouts, like a war cry finding new vigor. Like warriors filled with a new reason to fight. To those of them who could sense it, the Force pulsed about the crew members, a strange joy could also be felt in it. It was probably one of the underlying reasons for the crew’s joy, and those who could feel it could felt it.

Finally. Someone to listen, someone to act on the Force’s behalf. No light side, no dark side, just the Force and all that was to come. They’ve taken a step, now what?

The laughter died down and Vis collapsed in a smiley pile on the floor, clutching at one of the journals she had brought in her piles of holocrons and scrolls.

“I can’t believe this is really happening.” Vis breathed from down on the ground.

The sound of a metallic cough suddenly caught the crew’s attention. They turned to see BX standing at the back of the group, pointing over his shoulder.

“I don’t mean to interrupt your joy, but it seems the Jedi has wandered off.”

Everyone leaned in a bit to catch a glimpse of Cenden disappearing behind one of the bookshelves…

They stared in silence with a shrug before Vis suddenly gasped and shot off the floor, sprinting towards where Cenden had turned the corner as she screamed, “SHOOT WHERE’D I LEAVE MY LIGHTSABER!?”

The remaining crew gave each other a look before the realization came over them as well and they all took off in the same direction.

Cenden was walking off in the direction of the trials room.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I ran at full speed, the Force had branched off while I wasn’t paying attention. Something was happening, Cenden was going into the tunnels now and there’d be no use trying to stop him. The path was clear and strong.

I reached out my hand along one of the shelves as I ran before I realized that’s where I’d left my lightsaber. Gripping the cold metal as it slid into my hand, I could hear the sound of the others not far behind.

I tried to steady my breathing as I ran, fear began to consume me as I sensed futures falling steadily into place. Sensing Cenden in my mind, it felt like the Force had consumed him. He knew that he was walking and, where, and why, but he wanted to go. Whatever was calling him, he was choosing to follow this path.

‘I guess that’s a good thing?’ I told myself as the sound of a crash erupted behind me.

I winced at the shouts of anger that followed.

‘Robot. Warrior. Engineer. All just fell. Unlikely that was an accident. And Chol doesn’t look particularly fast. Soron’s not going to stop, he’ll catch up with me in a moment. No hesitation. You can do this.’

I rounded the corner as I watched Cenden cross over into the dark nothingness of the tunnels.

I heard Soron’s running steps now close behind mine.

‘Here we go.’

“CENDEN WAIT!” Soron yelled.

At the same moment Soron and I jumped in after him as the doors began to slide shut.

I squeezed my eyes shut, I whispered into the darkness, “Please don’t leave me.”

The doors shut. It was dark and I felt like the tendrils of the paths snapped in the mouth of the sealed door. I was alone.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Cenden blinked in a strange sudden realization of where he was as Soron pulled at his shoulder.

“Cenden, what in the world!?” Soron bellowed in the darkness.

Cenden shook his head, taking a step away from Soron’s grip. Fear began to steadily overtake him, his mind, his heart, every part of him, coming to conclusions of where he was and what he’d just done. When he’d been standing there listening to the girl, he could sense the Force was with her words. The more she spoke the more he could feel a thread attached to the words she spoke. It started pulling at him, he knew where he needed to go next, and why he needed to be in here, his feelings clear… But now the thread was faint in the dark, he couldn’t quite tell where it branched off to. He remembered the feeling of this sort of place though it had been so very long ago, and now here he was again.

A pit further dropped in his stomach as his surroundings became more apparent. Soron was here.

‘A non-force sensitive standing in the middle one of the most dangerous Jedi trials to be faced. If the part of the trial was to show you your greatest fear and use your feel will to overcome this without the Forces help…’

“Soron where’s Vis?”

The two went quiet, at the edge of Soron’s range of hearing he could just barely hear panicked breaths echoing at the edges of the tunnel.

Cenden’s lightsaber half blazed to life, filling the tunnel with a brilliant yellow glow. Soron and Cenden turned towards the sealed door to see Vis, back turned to the two. Her breathing looked unsteady as she was visibly trying to calm herself. The girl’s fingers twitched on her hands and her freckles had turned to a purple so dark it was nearly black, but a few spots still buzzed with a bright blue hue.

She turned around slowly to face them.

“S-see?” she stuttered her eyes wide in their sockets, “The three of us are in the tunnels now. Together. Just like the Force said.”

The captain and the Jedi looked at each.

“What do we do now?” Soron asked.

Cenden turned towards the tunnels, raising his lightsaber above his head to see further along. The ancient halls were… broken, to say the least. Whatever had caused the collapse of the building hand caused the even further collapse of everything underground it seemed. The cave-like stone walls were buried and smashed by what looked to be walls and floors from the rooms and buildings above, some of the branching hallways looked impossibly sealed off and it was even hard to tell where the original floor was lay the debris. Even the air hung musty and heavy with mildew in the shadows.

“This isn’t right.” Cenden muttering as he lowered his lightsaber, “This isn’t a trial room, these are ruins behind a sealed door,” he glanced at Soron, “We need to get out of here.”

Cenden turned and walked towards the door that had sealed behind them.

“What are you doing?” Vis’ voice on the verge of defiance.

“I’m getting us out of here, I don’t know what I was thinking but this is a mistake.” Cenden aimed the blade of his lightsaber at the door.

“Hey! Wait!” Soron commanded as Cenden’s saber shot at the metal.

SSHHOOOM.

The three lept back in surprise as sparks exploded off the door, the saber bouncing off the metal in a bright flash. The trio was left staring at a large burn mark that had cut across the metal door.

“Whhhhoooaaaa what!?” Vis rushed to the burn mark, observing its smoking figure, “The saber should’ve slid right through the metal… Whatever the material of this metal is, it must be kyber crystal resistant.”

She reached out her hand for a moment before quickly drawing it away from the heat before it made contact, instead suddenly pulling something out of her pocket. The sparking-green glow of her damaged lightsaber suddenly sprang to life as Vis prepared to take a huge swing at the door.

“Whoa whoa whoa. Nope.” Cenden commanded as the switch on Vis’ lightsaber suddenly switched off and she nearly tumbled over swinging through empty air, “Not doing zhat.”

Vis yelled in protest as Cenden pulled the lightsaber out of her hands.

“I guess that means we’ll have to find another way out of here. Let’s move.” Soron instructed with a wave. Pulling his blaster off his back he turned the light on and started down the tunnels.

Vis looked from Cenden to Soron before shrugging and running after him. Cenden watched the two walk down the tunnel for a moment, glancing back at the burn mark left on the sealed door behind them. Clutching at his lightsaber, he took a breath and started down the only path left. The only path the Force had made for them to follow, stuck without any other option…

‘Just love pushing us around down you?’ Cenden thought to himself as the clouded feeling of the tunnel began to dampen at reality.

From here, you could hardly trust yourself, let alone two other people. One of those people being heavily armed and virtually no way to disarm him, peacefully that is. And who knew what the girl was capable of.

He caught up to them in a few well placed steps. The sound of water droplets echoed around the caverns, resonating off what looked to be broken casings of the “veins” Vis had caused to glow in the temple above. Working their way down one of the piles of rubble, they came to what seemed to be the first hallway of the trials room, a good 10 feet below where the original hallway had lay. In front of them stood…

“Three doorways.” Vis’ voice suddenly reverberated down each one.

“Think we’re each suppose to go down one? Because this one,” Soron shown the light on the third doorway piled under debris, “Looks pretty blocked to me.”

“We’re not supposed to do anything. We need to get out of here and fast.” Cenden argued, walking up to one of the doorways. “We’ll just pick one and go.”

“Wait. Can you still hear that sound? The singing or whatever?” Vis asked.

“How’d you know it was sing-…?”

“Lucky guess.”

Cenden sighed, “It’s… coming from the middle door I think.”

“You think?”

“I know.”

“Perfect! Then we’ll go down that one!” Vis started down the hall before Cenden stuck his arm out to block her path.

“The deeper we go into the temple, the more this place is going to mess with our heads. Seeing what happened to the crew in the forest is enough to convince me that whatever happened to Soron and the crew before will probably happen again. And I’m not one for following what the Force tell me to do anymore if I want to live.”

Vis blinked a few times, “...Did you ever follow it before?”

“FOR THE LOVE OF-!” Cenden yelled with fury, taking a step towards Vis.

Then, he froze.

They all did.

“...Oh no.” Vis whispered.

She could hear it, a whispering of emptiness in her head leaking out of her ears. Cenden felt the panic, the fear pooling slowly into his mind, drip by drip. Soron… Couldn’t… Move.

In the fog pouring out of their minds, shapes began to take form. No matter how they blinked or squeezed their eyes shut, the images remained in front of them. Ghosts of the past bounding towards them without a care in the world.

“NO. We are NOT doing zhis now!” Cenden’s lightsaber erupted into the darkness.

“rrrrRRRRRHHHHH.”

Growling vibrated around the cavern.

Cenden and Soron tried to break from the spell, flashing their lights down the tunnels open. Vis sucked in a scream. Down the middle tunnel, shadows with fangs stood waist high on two legs, in a pack crowded and hungry ready to advance. Their eyes reflected the light off in an eerie red gleam.

“Can I have my lightsaber back now?” Vis spoke.

The creatures howled and began a frenzied run down the tunnel.

“CAN YOU GUYS SEE THESE THINGS TOO!?” Soron yelled above the firing of his blaster.

The creatures made their way out of the tunnel, one leaping without warning at Cenden. His saber burst through the side of it.

“THESE AREN’T THE NIGHTMARES.” Cenden tossed the body aside, “These are real.”

Through the cloud on his mind, Cenden pulled at the Force. Vis’ lightsaber flew from his holster straight at the girl.

A thump was heard in the cacophony of blaster fire, “OW! Sorry, was supposed to catch that right!?”

The green-sparks flew into the fog. Cenden watched in horror as Vis sliced through the air at the creatures as if she was a primitive poking at the danger with a fiery torch. And still out of the corner of every eye, the figures of fear in the fog still stood, waiting to talk. Nightmares observing the massacre.

“How are we supposed to tell what’s real and WHAT’S NOT!?” Soron’s blaster fired again.

“IF IT’S ATTACKING YOU IT’S PROBABLY REAL!” Vis called from across the cavern with a yelled, “AW MAN. I think I just blinded one of these things! I’m sorry!”

“Don’t apologize to it!” Cenden called back as he sliced through two more creatures.

“Sorry!”

“Why are you apologizing to ME now!?”

“Both of you, shut it!” Soron yelled as he shot another of the beasts with his rifle. “We need to move or we’ll be overrun!”

Amidst the fight, dust began to tumble splits in the cave walls.

“Well what would you suggest?” Cenden yelled, stabbing another creature before shoving its body back. “We don’t exactly have any options!”

No sooner had Cenden spoke than the cave floor began to crack and splinter underneath Vis. Her eyes flew to Cenden as she tensed to jump before the ground gave way.

“VIS!” Soron yelled as he dived to catch her, “NO!”

His hand missed her’s by inches and she disappeared into the black abyss.

Cenden pulled at the Force like claws attempting desperately to grip and snag any piece of her he could manage but the fog pushed him away from her.

The ground cracked away even further.

“Soron! Get away from the edge!” Cenden called as more of the floor collapsed, taking some of the creatures with it. Soron began to stand but then fell to one knee, his breathing becoming quick and panicked.

“Not again.” He spat, hands gripping his head. “Get out of my head!” He howled.

“Soron, it's just the Force messing with you. You can fight it out.” Cenden said.

A snarl caught Cenden off guard, twisting his blade through the air a second before one of the creatures nearly lunged past him as it charged towards the captain. Soron, now barely conscious gripped at his head, his eyes squeezed shut. Cenden threw his saber out, bisecting the creature before turning back to Soron. Cenden knelt by the captain, placing a hand on his back as they both stared at the endless void the young girl had disappeared into.

The cave shook. Cenden looked around them, the cave seemed to only be further destabilizing, even the creatures had fled back to wherever they came from.

They needed to get to cover now. The entrances? The hole in the ground? We don’t know if Vis survived the fall let alone each of them…

Soron let out what sounded like a choked cry.

“Hey are you-” His sentence was cut off as Soron swung his arm around, knocking Cenden off his feet and back several feet. “What the-!”

“Get away from me you monster!” Soron howled, eyes filled with fury as he lunged towards the Jedi, claws extended.

Cenden quickly ducked beneath the wild swipe before pushing the Shistavanen away. Soron tumbled through the first doorway, out of sight of the Jedi.

The Jedi nearly fell to the ground as the ground beneath him convulsed. Boulders about the first doorway tumbled as Cenden threw himself backwards only to see above the gap in the floor, the rubble making up the ceiling had began their decent as well. He rolled. The ceiling crashed.

“Sithspit!” Cenden cursed before coughing violently to clear the dust from his lungs.

Cenden stood cautiously from the ground as the vapor of the debris cleared. To his left, the first doorway was completely blocked under the piles of rock that had previously been so carefully stacked into the wall of the tunnels. To his right, dunes of dirt and remains of rock had buried the third doorway even further AND the gap in existence the girl had fallen into. Behind him, he might be able to climb the piles that had stacked up around him and maybe attempt to pry the seal door open again… but in front of him lay perfectly clear the middle doorway. Through which, Cenden could still hear the slight sound of singing, high and quiet in the white noises that were quickly filling his eardrums.

He felt the pull of the Force in his chest.

Of course, it would make him make the choice.

Choices, choices, choices. Pathways. Futures.

His breathing became violent and heavy, his fist clenched tightly at his side.

“SITHPIT! SPIT! SPIT! AAHHH!” Cenden bellowed into the echoes of the tunnel, “YOU JUST LOVE TELLING ME VHERE TO GO AND WHAT TO DO DON’T YOU!? GO HERE! GO ZHERE! WELL GUESS WHAT!? I’M NOT GOING ANYWHERE BECAUSE YOU LEAD US TO DEATH! WE FOLLOWED THE FORCE AND THE FUTURES AND VE’RE DEAD. ZHAT GIRL THAT SEEMED TO WORSHIP THE FORCE, LIKE EVERYONE ELSE SEEMED TO, IS PROBABLY DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU. AND ZHE CAPTAIN, WHO BELIEVED IN THE FORCE MORE THAT ANY NON-FORCE WIELDER I’VE EVER SEEN IS CRAZY! YOU SENTENCED US TO DEATH…!” His voice choked up, tears streaming down his face, “You sentenced us to death… All of us. They were all slaughtered by the hundreds… Why?”

The ringing in his ears drown out the world around him. In the blur of his tears, a shape formed in the darkness of the tunnel. A hooded figure in temple guardian attire stood before the Jedi. Cenden sucked in a breath.

“The Force didn’t sentence us to death…”

“No…” Cenden took a step back.

The figure looked up from beneath the hood.

“We did that ourselves.” The memory of a man reached out his dark hand towards Cenden, “I’m sorry, but there’s something you need to finish.”

“No… It’s not real. It’s not real.”

The man laughed, sadness of the edge of his voice, “No old friend… Cenden? Is that what you’re calling yourself now? Sadly, this is as real as it gets. But the Force didn’t sentence us to death. Please there’s something you need to see again, and something new.”

“You’re sick! Bringing him back like this! How could I follow this path any further? Look where it’s lead us, and to think I almost trusted it again. Leave me alone!” Cenden scoffed, turning towards the piles of ruin behind him to begin his struggle up the dirt.

“The Force didn’t bring you down here for no reason Cenden. Come see where this path ends, perhaps finishing it will bring peace.”

Cenden froze in his climb.

He couldn’t leave those two down here, if Vis wasn’t dead and Soron not… Whatever he is at the moment, then maybe there was a chance to save him. But to think of himself as a puppet to the Force any longer…

“You’re not a puppet Cenden, we are all made with choices to make.”

He yelled and pounded the dirt, sending up a cloud of dust around him before and turned and slid back down the pile, trudging towards the doorway to the figure standing before it.

“Choices as long as they’re the ones you want, right?” Cenden retorted before footsteps followed the ghost.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I felt as if I was falling for years.

A tumble and jumble of limbs flapping endlessly through the air along with the rocks and dirt cascading down with me.

I hit the ground.

“OOF…! Huuuurrhhh…”

My body crumpled in on itself and every bone threatened to snap under the strain of my propelled force. But more importantly at the moment, I couldn’t breathe. The air got squeezed right out of me on impact.

My body tried to squirm around to figure out where all the air went but every part of me refused to move, I could only manage to twitch. At the same time I couldn’t see anything in the darkness around me, but somehow even the pitch blackness looked to be swirling in a vortex.

I suddenly gasped for air as it felt like my head was splitting in half while I rolled over onto my back.

A sense in my legs suddenly came rushing through me.

‘Move.’ Some force whispered… Some force?

‘My guide!?’ I thought suddenly before the space around me shook and above, it looked like a storm of rocks and clouds was forming through the hole in the sky. ‘Uh oh!’

I pushed myself into a roll as piles of debris from the room above came careening in waterfalls into the space I had just been laying. Coughing the dust out of my mouth, I realized two things right away. One, if there had been any lick of light in here it was now twice as dark as it had been a moment ago, so I must’ve fallen through the floor… and now the hole I fell through was covered in landslide. Two, how had the place I had lived in for so long be so dangerous all the sudden. And three, I sensed my guide’s presence again! ...Oh wait, that’s three things… My head hurts.

I tried to roll over and stand up, but my ankle screamed in protest. I guess it didn’t matter if I could stand up anyhow. As I had searched my body over with my mind, that the one moment I had been able to sense the Force before the debris fell was all they were going to give me. I was alone.

‘I can’t do this. I’m nothing without the Force, I’m nothing without them to tell me what to do.’

“M-my guide? Please… Help me…”

No sooner had the words whispered passed my lips, did the darkness begin to come to life.

I shut my eyes and plugged my ears, ‘The trial… I’m not ready. I can’t do this without you. Not alone…’

“You’re not alone my darling.”

I gasped, my eyes fluttered open and a cry flew from my mouth.

“Mommy...?”

There she stood, a shape in the darkness, but it was her. I jumped up from the ground and ran to her. My ankle suddenly tore but before I hit the ground, warm arms were around me holding me from the fall. I looked up to see her face just barely visible in the dark.

My breathing became labored, tears fell from my eyes in droves. I wanted it to be real. I wanted her to be there. But somehow I could smell the scent of blood and smoke still emanating off of her; I didn’t care, I pulled myself into the body closer and closer, wracked with sobs.

“Mom… I’m suppose to be strong for you. I’m suppose to be strong with the Force… But I can’t. I’m afraid. I’m nothing without the Force, I can’t do anything without them. Please, stay with me. I don’t want to be alone.”

“Vis… You’re not alone.”

I choked on a laugh, “You already said that mom.”

This time, she laughed.

“Because you didn’t hear me the first time. You’re not alone now and you never will be.”

“But… But you’re not really here. Without my guide to tell me where to go… I’m really alone. I thought I didn’t need anyone or anything as long as I had the Force to guide me. I don’t need friends or family or anyone besides them… but I was wrong. I’m wrong. I still- I still need you. I want you to be here with me… I need you to hold me and tell it’s gonna be ok even if I know it won’t. I’m stuck down here and I failed the test. I’m going to d-die down here, and I never realized I wanted someone around to be here with me for that. Mommy… I still need you. Please.”  I whispered the words softly in her embrace, like a secret between confidants.

This time I heard her take a sob of a breath. I looked up in surprise. The apparition of her shaking and tears streaming down her face.

“I want to be there with you too. I want to hold you and kiss you on the nose, and listen to your laughter and see you grow… I want to be there for you too…” She took a shaky breath as she combed her fingers through my hair, “But you’re not alone. Your guide will never leave you; I haven't left you Vis. But this was something you had to see. You’re not alone, and through the Force energy is neither created or destroyed, only transformed. You have a new family now. They will not replace the ones you had and loved, they in no way can parallel them, but they can be there for you, to help to figure out how to do things on your own, to fight for the Force and for yourself. They have sorrows and secrets of their own, and I know you can teach them what they need to know, about the Force, about me. The path is clear… Go, now. Follow the paths. There’s a future to be set into place, the adventure you’ve been waiting for…”

“Wait! Don’t go!”

“I’m not going anywhere Vis, but you are. Now, go, if you choose.”

With that, she vanished and the cold floor was all that was left beneath me.

Suddenly, I felt energy rush back through me. I gasped as if the breath of life had left and returned to my body. I also felt the strings of futures, old and new weave their web back through and around my mind. But I was still crying.

Trying to calm myself I sniffled as I stood before I heard a voice not far off echoed softly throughout the dark.

“Vis.”

I looked up to see a man with a crop of blonde hair standing in the dark.

Cenden.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Soron found himself no longer in the dank cave of the ancient temple. He saw the forests ringing around him; needle-like spires of stone rising even taller than the flora. His nose smelled the familiar scent of clean air, woodland, and...blood.

His eyes snapped up at the Shistavanen before him, and to the gaping wound dripping from the man’s chest.

“No.” He gasped, taking a step back. “Not again.”

“You did this to yourself Soron.” The older Shistavanen said. “You did this to them as well.” He gestured to two nearby bodies.

Bodies lay strewn across the forest floor. The bodies of Soron’s friends.

“You…” Soron began, fighting back hot tears. “YOU MONSTER!” He howled as he ran towards him, claws ready.

His opponent merely sidestepped and kicked Soron in the stomach, sending him tumbling forward. Soron only snarled and rushed at him again. His opponent once more sidestepped his wild charge and brought his own claws on Soron’s back, cutting deep into his shoulder and back.

“You can’t beat me, you know that.” The older combatant mocked as he looked down on his adversary.

Soron spat on the ground, crouching low once again. “I don’t care.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Cenden saw four figures emerge from the darkness. Small, hooded figures clad in coarse brown robes. Cenden shook his head in confusion. The figures flipped their hoods back in unison, revealing childlike faces.

The faces of younglings.

Cenden felt a momentary feeling of relief surge through him at the comforting sight. A moment later four blue blaster bolts exploded from the darkness, tearing a hole through their chests, each crumbling to the ground.

“NOOOO!” Cenden screamed in anguish.

However, the four younglings rose to their feet, eyes glazed over yet filled with anger.

“You let us die.” The rightmost youngling, a Twi'lek, said with an echoing voice.

“You let us die. You let us die.” The rest continued to chant, eyes boring holes into Cenden’s soul.

He turned to run, but found himself rooted in place. His finger instinctively activated his lightsaber, causing the ghostly younglings to reel back in horror. They receded into the darkness as another group took their place. This time it was several colonists, clad in only dirty rags. Behind them emerged stormtroopers, forcing them to their knees and aiming their blaster rifles at their backs.

“Please,” a human woman begged, tears cascading down her face. “Save us.”

Cenden strained with everything he had against the invisible bonds, but couldn’t move. Their cries tore through the air as the red bolts tore through them. Yet like the younglings before, they rose to their feet, wounds still sizzling and stormtroopers now gone.

“You let us die!” The woman shrieked, now a banshee leading the cries of the dead. “You let us die! You let us die!”

“I’m sorry.” Cenden broke down, body slumped and tears welling in his eyes. “I-I was”

“A coward.” A booming voice called. “Couldn’t you have saved them? Couldn’t you have done more? Couldn’t you have just died instead?”

Soon Cenden heard his own voice uttering the same words.

“The risks you took. The lives that were lost. And for what!?” Cenden saw himself standing in front of his own eyes, “For this husk that roams the galaxy before you now? What will you do now? Gain riches for yourself? Gain riches for others? For what purpose did you live? What use have you done with the efforts of the lost souls you’ve gathered in your heart?”

Cenden cried out as he fell to the ground, the beating of many hearts pressing up against his own.

“19 souls and that makes you 20. They made their choices. What choice do you have?” He heard himself say the last part loud and clear.

He took a breath and stood to face himself. He stared into the cold eyes of the man before him and saw the reflection of a much younger self in the glass, clad in guardian’s robes.

“I was not a coward.” The lips of the reflection moved along with his words, “There was nothing more that could’ve been done besides my own death, and what would that have solved now? They made their choice. Now I make mine.”

In the reflection, Cenden threw off the old personality, bits of the fabric still clung to his own skin, but before him now stood the perfect mirror image of his own self. His new self. The eyes were still clouded, but no longer in them did he see a young temple guard, he saw Cenden Sondron.

The fog parted.

Cenden fell to his knees while the visions about him faded away. As he stared at the ground, a foot suddenly came into view. He looked up to see the smiling face of his old friend.

“It really was good to see you again.” Cenden smiled.

The figure turned with a nod and strolled further into the darkness, “I’m sure we’ll meet again soon with the path I’m taking you on, but for now you have much to learn.”

With that the figure faded quickly into the distance before it vanished, and a smaller figure stood in his place.

Cenden breathed a sigh of relief.

“Vis.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Soron stumbled back, panting as he inspected his wounds. His energy was nearly gone, and his wounds were plentiful, his opponent in a similar shape. All the while his head felt like it was going to split apart. He couldn’t let the pain distract him, he had to win, he had to avenge them. It couldn’t end like this, not again. Not ever again.

“This can’t go on forever.” The older Shistavanen taunted.

Soron’s ear twitched. He had a plan this time. “Only one of us walks away from this.” Soron looked up, lips peeling back from his fangs. “And I’ll go down fighting.” He said as he made yet another seemingly blind charge.

His opponent smirked as he prepared the same maneuver as before. But this time, Soron turned on a dime, claws smashing into his opponent's stomach as the other’s blow sailed above his head. He fell to the ground, but Soron was quickly on top of him, pinning his opponent's arms under his legs as his hands gripped around his head.

“Please don’t do this Soron! I was only doing-” He began to plead.

“I don’t care. Your words are meaningless.” Soron snarled as he began to pull.

“Please! I-” The voice was cut short as Soron twisted, a crack reverberating through the small canyon.

Soron panted as he stumbled away from the body before he fell to the ground, clutching at his head. It was too much.

He curled up into a ball on the soft forest floor, needles from the trees poking at his ears and arms. It felt almost comforting to feel those sharp objects driving into his body, like a distraction from the needles in his mind.

‘If I am to die. At least I will have avenged them. At least I killed him.’

“Yes, yes. Good job you killed me. Again.”

Soron let out a frantic yell as he tried to raise his head from the ground. It couldn’t be. It’s impossible.

“Oh but it’s quite possible as most things are.” His father came walking into view above him. His head lolling a bit to the side, but his face in a state of obviously disinterest.

Soron’s hands pushed harder against his temples as he screamed.

“Please stop that. You’re the only one making him look like this. You’re the only one creating this memory. I could’ve tried to meeting with you anywhere, but it’s easier for ones like you to be in the memory that most frequently defines one’s on character. And even then…”

The pain escalated in his head like a bottle ready to pop.

“Who… Are… You…!?” Soron yelled as he spat out as many words as he could muster.

“Why is that always the first question people ask? I guess I have the answer, but questions are so much more useful. And you, my friend have a lot of questions, so let me raise a few more. Did you really not notice that the scenario that just played out already happened? Did you not notice that you thought the same thoughts as before? Did you not notice that killing your father helped nothing but yourself? Your friends are still dead, and the death of one more changed nothing. Soron… You want answers, but you have to be willing to change some things in here, you have to be able to see things from a larger perspective than this.”

The ground fell away, he howled in agony as his whole homeworld came into view. Space engulfed his vision and his body dangled in the open air, he felt like he was being lifted by the threads of his brain.

“I need people to help me, it’s been so long since I’ve had proper help. Someone who’ll listen and follow my instruction. That’ll question me and not take advantage of the gifts I give. I’m done for now with those who are sensitive, I want those who’ll listen. Now listen. I have a plan for all of you, a destiny if you want it.” His father’s face began to melt away, Soron couldn’t see them anymore, it was like talking to an invisible star, energy pulsating from all around.

He screamed and tried to pull away, he struggled for only a moment more before he took a breath, and clenched his teeth and watched.

The planet that had been near him morphed and changed until it appeared to be a mind filled with an ocean. He looked off now into the ever expanding space, and saw more of them appearing. Some red with desert, some green with earth, some blue with rain, some yellow with sun. The minds all connected. All of them perfectly linked. 66 of them.

He screamed as his mind felt like it burst and everything went dark.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

“CENDEN!”

I have no idea how or why I could see him so clearly in the dark, but I didn’t care. My legs acted on their own, speeding across the surprisingly even floor faster than a rogue speeder bike. Tears streamed down my face as I saw him turn and start running towards me as well.

My foot suddenly stopped moving.

“AHH!”

I screamed as I flew forward barely catching myself as I hit the floor.

I stumbled up swiveling about to see what stumbled into me before I bumped into something else from behind.

I jumped. Turning, I could see Cenden’s face in the dark, plain as day.

“Cenden!” I yelled in joy as i jumped into a hug.

I don’t think I remembered the last time I hugged a person that wasn’t a really saddening Force illusion. Might as well be a potential Jedi Master. He coughed and patted me on the back a bit before wiggling his arms in a signal to shake me off.

I released the prisoner, smiling up at him and his angry face. Strangely enough, he looked different. I hadn’t known him for very long, but the lines on his face looked a lot less creased and a lot more… Calm? I guess that would have to be the word.

“Glad to see you’re ok.” He observed.

“Well I mean physically I sorta hurt everywhere, and emotionally I ALSO hurt everywhere. BUT I’m not dead and that’s great! Where’s Soron?” As the words passed my lips, a stomach chilling thought occurred as I turned around towards the lump on the ground.

Cenden watched as I reached out into the dark, blindly feeling for where the lump had been. As I did so, I could feel something building in my mind like…

My fingers met the squish of cloth and flesh.

I screamed as everything came rushing in.

The floor, the ceiling, the life, all of it connected and breathing and swarming and and…

I took a breath as I felt the pull and push I the Force’s warm smile in my mind, swimming about, looking through my head, like a bug returning to its hive.

“I missed you so much. Don’t you ever leave me again.” I whispered to myself as I felt the life force of Cenden and Soron connect with my own through my guide.

My mind flashed back to my mother sitting in the darkness of the cave… I guess the Force hadn’t left me, had it?

Cenden walked over the kneeled next to me in the dark. I noticed his face was no longer illuminated by whatever had been making it glow.

“Oh my god, Soron.” I could hear Cenden mumbling in concern as he flipped the captain over from his crumbled position on the ground.

“He’s alive. But he had a lot of energy build up inside of him… He still does actually.”

“I warned him.Who knows what it did to him.”

I looked at Cenden.

“Let’s find out?”

I placed a hand in front of his face. I let the tendrils and threads of energy flowing off his mind begin to interweave into my own. I pulled. And pushed. And pulled!

...Nothing.

“Vhat are you doing?” Cenden exasperated.

“I’m um, trying to read his mind or something? Or at least try and move some of the energy along.” I sighed as the connection sagged.

“Well, zhat’s not how you would try and do either of zhose things.” He now placed his hand in front of Soron’s face.

“Don’t you have to ask Soron to read his mind first?” I questioned as I scooted closer.

He was quiet for a moment, “Thoughts are easier to hear when people are asleep, but a lot more jumbled.”

I felt the Force draw in around him. I sort of tried to “keep tuned” to feel what he was feeling. I could feel the Force surround the thoughts in Soron’s dormant mind as well as Cenden’s own. He seemed to be, rather than pulling and pushing like most things felt, almost unwinding his mind. Or perhap drilling deeper. Then he simply waved the connection away and felt for what was underneath, it was simultaneously terrifying and beautiful. But something felt, wrong.

The thoughts came rushing out.

A geyser and we were caught in the blast.

I screamed as images and thoughts burst into my brain. Pains, scents, sounds, but most importantly, the darkness above us opened up into space itself.

I looked over at Cenden only to catch a glimpse of my mother, a dark-skinned human, and a grizzled old Shivasten standing in front of Soron’s still unmoving body.

‘I’m having a vision… My guide. This is a vision.’

The figures stepped closer together as the slowly faded into a light of seven different colors… Why did I know that?

The light all shown in every direction it could, mingling with the light of the stars above. They we saw it. Planets fluttering about through space like petals off a tree.. Or sparks off of a fire. I could see four great fires igniting from two eclipses, one from a moon one from a planet, but with two eclipses comes two suns. Twin suns. Twin lights. Twin voids. And two shadows. All of these still clung to a tree, whose branches were alight but nothing burned, Only its petals that departed burned for a short while before scattering to stars. The tree’s roots stretched so deep that no rain water could penetrate it, only water from the deepest and longest river. And finally, I realized I’d stood and walked forward. I walked steadily among the tree’s branches, yes, this was where I needed to be. Where I wanted to be. The glowing veins of the tree all so perfectly interconnected and wove in such a way that made perfect sense in that it made no sense at all. Always with second meaning, always with more to be discovered. And more to be understood. A star unfurled from a constellation. I held it in my hands for a moment before the light filled my eyes.

I walked with Cenden and Soron for a while in the light, my guide swirling in waves about us in the most serene silence.

Then there were other colors, and sounds. So many sounds.

I felt something touch me, but it felt like a shock of lightning. Blinking, the blurry form of a Mandalorian came into view.

Looking back, I saw Cenden and Soron laying near the entrance of the trials room, the door open. I also looked down to see a polished white orb shimmering in my hands.

Lerti was saying something, and Nek was reaching for something, but I was too tired. So I nodded, hoping that would look like I knew what they said as I slowly descended to the ground, curling up with the circle close to face.

Then I closed my eyes to sleep.

—————————————————————————————-

I’m not sure if this theory exists yet, but... I don’t think the relics have anything to do with the maidens or their powers. We know that there are 4 relics and 4 maidens to protect them, but if they were for the maidens, it seems like the maidens would’ve used them before to stop Salem. Ozpin created the schools to guard the relics, and the only ones that can reach them are the people he created to help him fight. This shows he didn’t want the maidens to use the relics, or for anyone to use the relics, he wants to keep the relics away from anyone and everyone because (I think),

the Relics are a source of Salem’s power.

From what we understand, she’s some kind of powerful witch who seems to be in charge of creating Grimm and destroying the world and all that jazz. But from what we’ve seen, she’s never really displayed any of the so-called “power” that everyone seems to be afraid of. We’ve seen her possibly creating and controlling Grimm, but we’ve never seen her use any kind of true power.

For this reason I believe that her power or sources of it is the one thing Oz managed to take from Salem, storing them in the Relics and locking them away to be guarded by four people according to the power held within each Relic.

The reason I though about it in the first place was because of the Vol. 5 intro. Everyone is shown fighting together in the Haven foyer (where they have been since episode 11) and at the end, Salem shows up all big and scary and team RWBY attacks. This of course is probably just the intro being extra, but it got me thinking ‘what if Salem wasn’t at full power yet which is why she relies on people like Tyrian to fight for her, and Ozpin’s own power in Cinder to act as the second in command for her plans?’