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“You truly are a stubborn one. Won’t be satisfied until you’ve completely inconvenienced me, will you?”
“Come out from the shadows and face justice.”
“My master is transmitting the most amusing holomessage right now. You really should watch it with me…”
The holotable’s glow revealed a scene that made Sorrel’s blood run cold as it turned on. Master Orgus, the man who taught him, who trained him, who helped him learn all he could about the force, and the jedi, and what he could in the world. He was kneeling on the ground in front of Darth Angrel. Bent forward as if badly injured while the sith walked up behind him. Gloating and mocking all the while. .
“Assaulting my cruiser alone. Very careless of you, Orgus Din.”
Sorrel wanted to scream as his master spoke. Still trying to convince the sith. Still holding to principles. To negotiations. “It’s not too late, Angrel. Do the right thing, for once. Surrender.”
The sith continued to pace around the jedi. Speaking with a venom in his voice as Sorrel could only watch the events unfold. “Pity you didn’t bring your student. I could kill you both.”
Orgus stood, Angrel activated his saber, fear grew greater and greater in Sorrel’s mind. Desperately wishing he was there. That he could help. Stop the event that he was sure was going to come next. “Tell me, Jedi. Are you afraid to die?”
“There is no death. Only the force.” Words Sorrel had heard from the code many times. Words he’d recited. Words he knew well.
Words he could hardly believe in now.
“If there is no death...” Angrel began. Then he swiftly turned, the blade of his lightsaber stabbing through Orgus’ chest with a single, powerful thrust. “Where is my son?”
The sith used the force to push the man off the blade and Sorrel fell to his knees. He couldn’t stop staring at the image. Couldn’t bring himself to pull the cowl of his veil back over his eyes. He could only stare. Stare as the man who had taken him and Zalea in. Protected them. Taught them. Guided them. Stare as that man now lay dead at the sith’s feet. Tears falling from dim eyes as his blood ran cold as ice. Fear, despair, emotions he wasn’t supposed to give into flooded through his mind. His small frame trembled. For once in his life, Sorrel didn’t know what to do. What to say. His exile, a terrible event in his life, not even that had shattered his will. But this?
He barely heard Kira. He barely heard anything but the pounding of his heart and the sobs that wouldn’t come as the sith in the room spoke. “And now I’ll finish you. After all, you can’t fight what you can’t see.”
The glow returned to Sorrel’s eyes. Though not with the normal warmth and calm air it usually had. No. Now only fury radiated from him. Pure, concentrated anger. Like none the Chiss had ever felt before in his life. Slowly he rose to his feet, both of his sabers ignited with their trademark snap-hiss as Sorrel assumed an attacker’s stance. All but hissing out the words he spoke.
“You will both pay dearly for what you’ve done!”
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The small Chiss’ eyes flew open with a gasp as he quickly sat up from where he’d been laying. The other body next to him stirring slightly. Sorrel looked around. He was on Coruscant. Not there. Not in that hellish place again. Safe. He felt a hand gently grasp his. The man beside him having fully sat up, staring at him with soft, gentle eyes. A glow in the dark room. A comfort he’d known since they were both young. Brothers in arms.
“Same nightmare?” Xalea asked in that clipped but kind voice of his, and Sorrel tightened his hand in the other’s. His only response to the question was a nod as he took a few deep breaths. Reciting the Jedi Code in his head to calm his nerves back to a steady enough level.
‘There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death…’
“Y-yes… the very same…” Sorrel replied with a shaky breath.
“Well, come ‘ere then,” Xalea added as he opened his arms up to Sorrel. “Pretty sure there’s nothin’ in your code that says ya can’t get a hug when ya need it. Right? A hug and maybe a good cry if you're needin’ it?”
Sorrel hesitated for only a moment. Then he gladly leaned into his brother’s arms. Softly resting his head on the other Chiss’ shoulder as he let the tears fall from his eyes. Quietly. No sobs. Just like that day. “I’ve… never felt like that. So full of rage. Full of hate… It’s… it is a terrible feeling, Naaz’ale’alise… I never want to feel it again, so long as I draw breath…”
Oh. Oh stars… Full name. Sorrel only did that when he was serious, and Zalea knew that all too well. He held the smaller man closer. Hoping it would be enough to make him feel safe. Comforted. He still hadn’t heard the full story of all Sorrel had been through the last few months. There was some kind of nasty mission. Some kinds of horrors. Orgus dying. But that was the extent of what he knew. Well, that and the fact that his low opinion of the Empire grew more and more with each time he saw Sorrel like this. That they could break a man with such calm conviction as him. The man who saved him with only a look in his eyes that he knew what he was doing, knew the consequences, and did it because he cared. Because it was right.
Zalea just couldn’t tolerate that. Couldn’t condone those people in the slightest bit.
“Hey, hey. You're safe 'ere. Ya know that, right? Long I’m around no one’s gonna hurt ya like this again. And if ya ever need to ease hatred, ease that feelin’ ya hate so much, just remember this 'ere, okay? Remember that ya aren’t alone. That your allies aren’t gonna abandon ya. Ever. Never. Your crew’s 'ere for ya, I’m 'ere for ya, the jedi are 'ere for ya. The people that caused those feelin’s? They’re gone now. We’re both gonna mourn him, not gonna pretend we won’t, but… I want ya to never forget you aren’t alone. And even if everyone else leaves ya, your world crumbles, everythin’s fallen. I’m still gonna be standing there in the rubble. Lookin’ out for ya no matter how far away it is from point a to b. That’s how its always been with us. You bein’ some big shot jedi isn’t gonna change that, got it, Ramos’orr’elis?”
Sorrel nodded a little, curling even closer. “You have… always been the stubborn type. Bright, and brilliant, like flames to my ice.”
That comment got a chuckle out of Xalea. A chuckle that turned to an actual laugh. “You’re the only guy I know that gets all poetic and fancy-like when you’re sad, ya know that? Still though, damn right I am. Flame that melts the ice and let’s ya be a little vulnerable every now and again. Whenever ya end up needin’ it. We come runnin’ for each other. That’s how we work. Always have, always will.”
“Always have, yes,” came the smaller’s reply before he went silent for a little bit again. His voice was getting more and more distant as they spoke. As if Sorrel was slowly drifting back into sleep. “How long… before your squad ships back out…?”
“Still on leave for a few more days before I gotta go back. Did ya want me to stay till then?”
“Only… if you have no where else you need or want to be. No need… to be around on my account when… well… it happens to be your rare personal time.”
“I’ll be 'ere long as I can be for ya, don’t worry about inconveniences and all that. For now, though, I’m thinkin’ you should try and get some more sleep. Cause the scary sith aren’t gonna be hauntin’ ya long as I’m 'ere. I’ll scare them off, no problem.”
“I don’t think… you could challenge a sith and still live,” Sorrel said with a light scoff. “The Force hardly makes sense to you, that you’ve admitted. But… sentiment is… appreciated… Thank you.”
“It’s never anythin’ ya need to thank me for. If you’re ever in the dark, I’ll guide ya back out. That’s my job, and I take it seriously. Now sleep well, brother. I’ll see you come morning.”
I won’t leave…