Vaylin couldn't see.
A blindfold covered her eyes, thick and tight enough to press against her temples. Her arms were pinned above her head, strapped tightly at the wrists, and her legs were bound just as firmly. Cold metal pressed against her back. The table she was tied to stood upright, keeping her suspended in place like a doll hung on display. She tried to move, but the restraints didn't give. They hadn't loosened in hours. Or maybe days. She didn't know anymore.
The air in the room was bitter and dry. Each breath felt thin, like she was breathing in through cloth. Her skin burned with cold. Her feet were bare, and the floor below her felt like solid ice. She had started shivering hours ago and hadn't stopped since.
She couldn't remember how she had gotten here.
She had been with Jaden. That part she was sure of. She remembered his voice, the reassurance that everything would be okay. She believed him. He always made her feel safe. She asked him for... something, she didn't know what it was though, she couldn't remember.
But after that, everything blurred.
She remembered alarms. Running. Voices screaming. Then flashes of color—blue, red. A sharp ringing noise in her ears. Then pain. She couldn't remember what had happened next. It all felt like something that had happened in a dream. Now, she was here. Alone. In the dark. With no idea why.
Her heart jumped when the door opened.
She heard it first, a mechanical hiss as it slid aside. Then the footsteps. Heavy. Slow. One at a time. Each one echoed through the room.
She whimpered. "H-Hello?" she called out. "Please... please who's there?"
There was no answer.
The footsteps continued.
"Please," she said again, her voice shaking. "I—I don't know what you want. I don't have anything. Please... I just want to go home."
She heard them get closer. Her fingers curled uselessly in the restraints. "Please don't hurt me," she whispered. "I didn't do anything..."
The strike came without warning.
It hit her across the face, she felt the pain flash and then continue to throb. Her head snapped sideways, and she let out a short, stunned cry. Her cheek burned. The blindfold remained in place, pressed tighter by the impact.
She started crying.
"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "Please stop... please, I don't know what you want, I'm not lying, I promise—"
Another hit. This one to her stomach. Her body jerked against the table, and she gasped, unable to breathe for a second. She didn't scream. She just started crying harder.
"Why?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper. "Why are you doing this?"
The footsteps stopped.
"Confess."
She blinked behind the blindfold. "W-What?" she stammered. "I—I don't... I don't understand. Confess to what?"
The hand struck her again, across the mouth this time. She tasted blood.
"Confess," the voice said again.
"I don't know what you mean," she whimpered. "Please... please tell me what I did, I just want to go home..."
"Confess."
She shook her head. "I don't know—"
Another blow. Then silence.
They stood there for what felt like minutes. She could feel their presence. She could hear them breathing. She could feel the weight of them watching her even though she couldn't see their face.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "Please... please stop..."
The figure stepped away.
The door opened. Then closed.
She was alone again.
Vaylin sobbed into the darkness. Her body trembled against the restraints. Her cheek stung. Her lip bled. Her voice was raw. She didn't know how long she stayed there, crying, but the cold never left, and neither did the fear.
No one was coming.
...
The door hissed shut behind him.
The warden stepped away from the cell, he removed the black gloves he had worn and slid them into the pocket of his long coat. There was blood on the knuckles. He didn't glance back, nor did he have any outward reaction to the sobbing behind him. He walked in silence until he reached the turbolift. It rose quickly, and when the doors opened, he went inside and was taken to another floor; he continued down the corridor before he came to a door, when it opened he stepped into his private office, an angular room shaped like a wedge, with reinforced walls and a sound-dampening field humming softly in the background. The only furniture was a desk, a chair, and a holoterminal embedded in the wall.
He approached the console and keyed in the secure frequency.
The signal pulsed once. Then again. On the third pulse, the image formed.
The holoprojection ignited in a glow of pale blue.
A hooded figure appeared, his features hidden in the shadow of the cloak. The air in the room seemed to grow colder when he appeared and the man had to stop himself from shivering.
"Warden..." the voice rasped.
The man dropped to one knee.
"Lord Sidious," he said.
There was silence for a moment. Then Sidious spoke again.
"You have done as I commanded?"
"Yes, my lord," the warden said. "The girl has been isolated and subjected to full restraint. I have begun the enhanced methods. She has yet to reveal anything."
Sidious said nothing.
The warden looked up slightly. "She appears to have no memory of her time as your apprentice. Nothing has surfaced, she has confessed to nothing."
"As it should be," Sidious replied. His voice remained calm, almost amused. "But one cannot be too careful. While I do not wish to discard a tool that could still be useful, I cannot allow her to speak of what she knows to the Jedi."
The warden bowed his head. "Shall I continue the sessions, my lord?"
"Yes," Sidious said. "Increase the severity. Give her no rest. Subject her to everything that does not kill her. Pain will strip away her resistance and if she does confess... kill her."
The warden nodded. "As you wish my lord."
Sidious didn't move. "You serve well, Warden. Continue without delay."
The projection vanished.
The warden stood slowly. He returned to his desk and sat without a word. The lights in the room remained dim, and the terminal went dark. For a long moment, he sat there in silence. Then he reached for the next report. And the schedule for the morning session.
...
The Jedi transport descended through the upper layers of Coruscant's traffic, cutting toward the towering spire of the Republic Correctional Facility. Clouds drifted past the viewport, casting shadows across the angular walls of the structure. Master Fay stood beside Master Yoda as the ship lowered into the docking bay. Neither of them spoke, but their expressions were blank. As the landing gear locked into place and the boarding ramp lowered, a chill washed over them both, like a breath of cold wind drawn through stone.
Fay stiffened slightly. "Did you feel that?"
Yoda's ears twitched. "Pain. Deep it runs," he murmured. "From below, it comes."
They stepped from the shuttle into the steel-gray corridor beyond. The air inside was filtered and dry, but there was a weight to it, as if the entire structure had been sealed off from light. Waiting near the entrance stood the facility's commander, his uniform pristine, his stance rigid. He stepped forward and offered a shallow bow. "Masters. I am Warden Kael Rook. What may I do for you?"
Fay kept her tone calmm. "We are here to see the prisoner brought in. The girl from the Eternal Horizon."
Warden Rook hesitated. "I'm afraid she's under restricted status. High-priority designation. Interrogation protocols are ongoing. If you'd like, I can provide a report—"
"We will see her," Fay interrupted.
"She's not in a state to receive visitors. The sessions have been intense, and—"
"We are not visitors," Fay replied. "We are Jedi Masters of the Templee. Under Republic law, we have unrestricted access to all detained Force-sensitives, regardless of classification. You will take us to her. Now."
Yoda stepped forward beside her. "Difficult, you make this. Why, I wonder?"
The warden held her gaze for a long moment before his jaw tightened. He turned sharply and gestured to a nearby guard. "Take them to cell D-9. Level four."
The guard nodded a little stiffly. He motioned for them to follow.
As they moved through the facility, Fay leaned closer to Yoda. Her voice was low. "He's hiding something."
"Dark emotions, he carries," Yoda replied. "Fear. Anger. Masked well... but not from us."
They continued down into the depths of the prison, level after level. The lights grew dimmer, the air colder. They passed cells that radiated raw emotion—shame, hatred, despair. The Force was thick with it here. Fay felt it like a shroud pulling tighter around her shoulders. "This is where they thought Jaden belonged," she said quietly. "Among murderers and slavers."
Yoda did not answer.
When they reached Level Four, the guard led them down a narrow hall of sealed durasteel doors. Each was numbered in red along the side. The corridor was silent except for the hum of the lights overhead and the faint thrum of machinery buried in the walls.
The guard stopped before cell D-9.
He tapped a key on the panel. The door slid open with a slow hiss.
Fay stepped inside first. Then she stopped.
Vaylin was restrained to a vertical table in the center of the cell. Her wrists and ankles were bound. A blindfold was still wrapped around her eyes. Her face was bruised and swollen. Her lower lip was split, and dried blood stained the edge of her jaw. Her arms were marked with bruises and welts. She didn't respond to their presence.
Fay's expression hardened.
Yoda's brow lowered. His cane tapped once against the floor as he moved forward.
"What has been done to her?" Fay asked, turning sharply toward the guard.
"I don't know," the man said quickly. "I just follow orders."
"You're not a clone," Fay said. "You have the capacity to lie which I can clearly see you are doing, so I'll ask again."
He said nothing.
Fay stepped forward. She looked directly into his eyes. "Tell me the truth."
Her voice shifted slightly. The Force moved through her words like a current pulling down.
The guard hesitated. His mouth opened slightly. Then he exhaled and looked at the floor. "The warden... told us to keep her restrained. We've been ordered to beat her. Every few hours. Sometimes more. He said to keep going until she confesses."
Fay's tone went quiet. "Confesses to what? The evidence she is a sith has already been collected, the footage, even her lightsaber, what else would she need to confess to?"
"He didn't say," the guard murmured. "Only that we weren't to stop. No matter what."
"Leave us," Fay said.
The guard turned and left without a word. The door hissed closed behind him. Fay stood in front of the table, her hand resting gently on the edge. "This is barbaric."
Yoda nodded grimly. "Horrible, it is. But revealing it is, more to this that meets the eye there is."
They moved closer.
Fay placed a hand softly against Vaylin's arm. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Vaylin. Can you hear me?"
The girl stirred, barely. She mumbled something under her breath.
"Vaylin," Fay said again, brushing the back of her hand along the girl's wrist.
"Leave me alone," Vaylin whimpered, barely coherent. "Please... please stop. I didn't do anything..."
Yoda placed his hand on her other wrist. "Fear not, only questions we have," he said softly.
Yet even with the reassurances Vaylin only continued to sob and try to move away from them, despite being bound.
Fay looked to him. "We have to move her."
"Agreed, I am," Yoda said. "To the Temple, she must go. There, safer she will be. Watched, she can be... but not like this."
Fay hesitated. "Isn't that dangerous? If she were to break out."
Yoda nodded. "Dangerous, yes. But wrong, this is. No darkness do I sense. Only suffering. Only confusion. Remain here she cannot."
Fay looked back to the girl, who had begun quietly sobbing again.
"I'll make the arrangements," she said. She leaned in closer and touched Vaylin's arm again. "I'll come back for you. I promise."
The Jedi masters then turned around and left the room. The door sealed behind them. Without pausing, Master Fay turned to the guard still waiting outside and issued a clear order. "Take us to the warden. Now."
The guard hesitated briefly but nodded. He motioned for them to follow and started down the corridor. As they walked, Fay remained silent, but her thoughts churned. The image of Vaylin—chained, bruised, barely conscious—was burned into her mind. The girl had been reduced to something small and broken, and Fay could still hear her voice, pleading to be left alone, to be spared more pain. Vaylin wasn't just another Sith, in fact if there hadn't of been footage of her wielding a lightsaber she wouldn't have thought it possible. There was something deeply human in her suffering—something childlike and vulnerable. She had felt no malice from the girl, only confusion and fear. There was no darkness in her, no hatred, no deception.
They entered the upper floor of the administrative level and were led directly into a high-walled office. Warden Kael Rook stood by his desk, reviewing a datapad. He looked up as they entered, his expression neutral.
"Masters," he said. "Was your inspection satisfactory?"
"We have questions," Fay said sharply.
Rook set the datapad down. "Of course."
"She's been tortured," Fay said calmly. "Restrained to a vertical table. Beaten. Starved. Blindfolded. What justification do you have for this?"
The warden raised his eyebrows slightly. "I don't oversee every detail of detainee management."
"We spoke to one of your guards," Fay pressed. "He admitted it. He said the orders came from you."
He offered a slight smile. "Did he now?"
Fay narrowed her eyes. "Don't play games."
The warden tilted his head. "It's difficult to rely on testimony pulled from the mind of a subordinate under, while impressive, it's not admissible as legal evidence. You know that."
Fay opened her mouth, but Yoda stepped forward before she could speak.
"Move her, we will," he said. "To the Temple she must go. There, answers we will get."
The warden's expression hardened. "No."
Fay folded her arms. "Under Republic Code 321-A, Section Four, Jedi are granted emergency authority to relocate Force-sensitive detainees to Temple custody if there is concern for their well-being."
Rook nodded slowly. "That's true. But Security Mandate 12-6B overrides that provision for any detainee classified Level Three or below. And she is currently Level Three. That means any transfer requires direct authorization from the Republic Security Council. You don't have that."
Fay held his gaze and raised a hand. "You will authorize the transfer."
The Force flowed gently through her words, pressing into his mind.
The warden didn't even flinch. He just smiled. "No... I don't think I will ."
Fay's hand dropped. She said nothing, but she was inwardly stunned. Very few non-Force users had the strength of will to resist a subtle compulsion from a Jedi Master. It required training—or conditioning.
"Have a good day," Rook said smoothly. "I'll send the forms for a formal prisoner transfer at your convenience."
They turned and left without another word. As they walked back to the docking platform. Neither Jedi spoke until they reached the edge of the landing pad and the shuttle came into view. "They're hiding something," Fay said at last. "This isn't just about procedure or protocol. That man is clearly under someone's orders."
Yoda nodded slowly. "Yes. Question is, who? And why?"
They stood together at the foot of the shuttle ramp. Fay looked toward the sky, as if hoping the answers would come from above. But none did. "We don't know," she said. "But we're not done. We're not letting her vanish, if something is amiss here and Vaylin is just a Pawn we need to protect her."
"No," Yoda said. "Fight for her, we will."
The shuttle hissed as the ramp began to lower. Fay didn't move.
"I'm not coming with you," she said.
Yoda looked up at her.
"I'm going to see Jaden," she saidd resolutely. "I've put it off long enough. Whether or not I can help him... doesn't matter anymore. He deserves to see i have not given up on him."
Yoda nodded. "Good luck I wish you, Master Fay." Without another word, he turned and boarded the shuttle. Fay remained at the edge of the platform, watching until the ship lifted into the sky and disappeared into the clouds.
___________________________
Jaden smiled as he lay in the sun-drenched clearing, the light warm on his skin. Velea rested against his chest, her lekku draped lazily across his shoulder. Her fingers traced slow circles on his arm. She tilted her head up and kissed his chin, her eyes half-lidded, glowing soft violet. She looked so beautiful, especially when she wasn't wearing any clothing and he was able to see the slight curve of her spine which led down to her backside. He kissed her forehead in return, his hand gently stroking the small of her back.
"When the ship's ready," he said, "I was thinking we could start with Zeltros. I heard it's nice there, peaceful."
Velea giggled, her voice musical. "Zeltros? You sure you can handle that much peace? You always have to be doing something, sometimes I think if you're not chasing something you might explode."
"I'm chasing this," he murmured. "You. Us. I'm done running."
She smiled and rolled on top of him, her hands resting on his chest. "So after Zeltros, what then?"
"We keep flying," he said. "Dantooine. Pantora. Anywhere we can land and not be recognized. Just long enough to breathe. Just long enough to feel like this forever."
She leaned down and kissed him again. "Forever sounds nice."
The moment lingered.
Then something shifted.
The light dimmed. A breeze swept across the clearing, it was cold, Jaden hadn't ever felt something so cold touch his skin. Velea stiffened in his arms. Her smile faded. The warmth in her eyes drained slowly, like color leaking from a painting.
He sat up. "Velea?"
She looked at him, her expression unreadable.
"I can't."
He frowned. "Can't what?"
Her gaze locked with his. "I can't go with you."
He reached for her hand. "Why?"
Her voice didn't waver. "Because I'm dead. You killed me."
His breath caught in his throat.
She was no longer in his arms. She stood on the other side of a glass wall—inside the reactor chamber. Flames licked the walls behind her. Her skin was burning, melting from her body and revealing muscle and bone. Her mouth was screaming, but he couldn't hear it.
"NO!" Jaden slammed his fists against the glass. "Velea!"
She kept screaming. Her skin blistered and blackened. Her eyes locked on his until the light behind her consumed everything.
"LET ME IN!" he roared.
Something grabbed his shoulder—an unseen force pulling him backward. He reached out, straining against it, fingers clawing toward the glass.
"I'M SORRY!"
Darkness swallowed her. Then everything.
...
He hit the ground hard.
The smell of sweat, blood, and liquor filled his nostrils as he jerked upright, gasping. His vision blurred for a second before snapping back into focus. Dim red lights bathed the room in a hellish glow. A circle of shouting bodies surrounded him, all of them watching and yelling with excitement. His body ached. His face was bleeding. Someone was yelling at him in Huttese.
He blinked, shaking the dream out of his head.
A Weequay loomed in front of him, shirtless and snarling, covered in old scars and fresh bruises. His fists were up, and his knuckles were already bloodied. The crowd pressed closer. Chains rattled in the walls. Sparks fell from a broken ceiling fixture above the pit.
Oh right...
He was in one of the bars in the Coruscant undercity. Jaden groaned and wiped blood from his lip. He signed up because he was wanted to punch something, seems that hadn't been a good idea.
The Weequay shouted and charged.
Jaden shifted his weight to his back foot and caught the first swing on his forearm. He let the impact roll past him, then darted sideways and whipped a quick jab into the Weequay's shoulder. His knuckles cracked against scar tissue. He followed with another to the temple, just fast enough to make the bigger man flinch. The Weequay lashed out again. Jaden ducked under the wild haymaker and slammed two jabs into his ribs, popping back out before a counter could land. He moved lightly, weaving in and out, tagging the Weequay's midsection with sharp, annoying strikes.
The bigger man stumbled forward, growling, eyes flashing with rage.
Jaden stepped left, rolled under another punch, then snapped his fist up into the underside of the Weequay's jaw. Spit flew from the man's mouth, but he didn't stop. He absorbed it. All of it. And kept coming. Jaden pivoted and circled, just out of reach. His arms burned. His breathing picked up. He kept moving, throwing light, scattered hits.
And then, it came.
Jaden saw it a second too late. A wide knee curved toward him, he raised his guard, but it slipped past.
The bone slammed into his ribs with a wet crunch.
Pain exploded through his side. Jaden's eyes widened as he staggered backward, teeth clenched, vision flashing white. His boots skidded across the stained mat as he slammed into the side of the ring. The metal wall shook behind him.
He dropped to one knee, gasping.
Someone above him laughed and leaned over the railing. A cold liquid sloshed into his mouth—alcohol. He coughed, wiped his lips, and opened his mouth widely swallowing the rest down. It scorched his throat and lit up the pain in his ribs.
The Weequay didn't wait.
A boot caught Jaden across the shoulder, flipping him sideways. His back hit the floor. His cheek scraped the mat. The crowd above screamed louder now, some howling for blood, others laughing.
Jaden's vision blurred.
He pushed up slowly. His shoulder ached. His side throbbed with every breath.
He looked up... and saw her.
Master Fay stood across the bar, her robes half-lit by the flickering lights. She didn't speak. She didn't move. She only watched.
Jaden blinked. The air shifted.
He turned back to the Weequay and muttered under his breath, "Alright, big man. I'm done. You win."
He turned away, arms heavy, chest tight.
"Eeesoo Yaaaba Koolo!" (We aren't done here coward!"
The Weequay spat on his back.
Jaden stopped mid-step.
His arms dropped to his sides. He didn't react. Didn't even flinch. The bar fell quiet for a moment as people leaned in, waiting.
He turned back around slowly.
His face was blank.
His eyes were dead.
And everything around him slowed.
The crowd blurred. The sounds dulled. The lights bent around the edges of his vision. Jaden's heartbeat steadied as the Force moved through him. Lines of fracture lit up across the Weequay's body, visible only to him.
Left ear.
Third rib on the right.
Old break in the shoulder.
Bad left knee.
Jaden marked each one.
Then he blinked and let the Force go.
He smiled casually.
The Weequay snarled and charged.
Jaden stepped into the punch, slapped it aside with his forearm, and twisted his hips into a brutal hook that crushed into the man's third rib. There was a dull snap. The Weequay's body jerked sideways.
The brute swung again, teeth bared in pain.
Jaden ducked clean beneath the blow, pivoted low, and slammed his fist into the inside of his left knee. The joint bent with a sickening crack. The Weequay howled and stumbled.
Jaden surged upward.
He caught the man's head with both hands and yanked it down—his knee rocketed into the Weequay's left ear with a fleshy thump. The man's cry cut short as his balance broke completely.
Jaden didn't let go.
He shifted his grip and hammered two fists into the Weequay's already injured shoulder—once, twice, three times. Each strike collapsed further into the bone. The Weequay screamed again, now staggering backward. Jaden stepped back, planted his foot, and launched a full-force front kick into the center of the man's chest.
The Weequay flew.
He hit the mat flat on his back with a heavy, rattling thud. The crowd fell silent.
Then it exploded.
Shouts erupted in every direction. Bettors cursed and slammed their fists into the rails. A Rodian tore up his betting slip. A Nikto laughed until he collapsed onto a stool. The whole bar twisted into chaos as people scrambled to adjust bets and arguments broke out across the floor.
Jaden didn't acknowledge any of it.
He stepped over the ropes, blood running from his lip, and walked straight to the side where his shirt was folded. He grabbed it and slung it over his shoulder without even looking back at the man he'd dropped.
Jaden stepped up to the bar, ignoring the stares trailing behind him from the pit. The lights here flickered low, painting the counter in red and yellow slashes. The countertop was dented and smeared with grime, and the glassware behind it hadn't been cleaned in weeks. He didn't care. The barkeep was already pouring a drink before Jaden said anything. He handed the cup over without ceremony. Jaden took it and drank it in one go, not grimacing at the burn in his throat. It didn't matter what it tasted like. The point was to feel something else.
Fay moved in beside him.
"I was surprised not to see you at Padmé's apartment," she said calmly, her hands folded in front of her. "In fact, everyone was surprised you'd left without saying anything. Aubrie nearly called the Security Council to request a search party."
Jaden didn't respond. He set the empty cup on the counter and tapped it once. The barkeep refilled it and slid it back over. Jaden stared at it, but didn't pick it up right away.
"How'd you find me?" he said without looking at her.
"It wasn't too difficult," Fay said. "I figured you wouldn't stray far from your base. And if you weren't there, I assumed you'd be in one of these—" she glanced around the bar without distaste, "—fine establishments."
Jaden raised the cup.
Before it reached his mouth, Fay reached over and gently took it from his hand.
"Perhaps you shouldn't have any more," she said softly.
Jaden let go of the drink. His hand stayed raised for a moment, fingers twitching faintly, before he lowered it to the bar. His jaw tightened slightly. "What do you want?" he asked.
"To talk," Fay said. "In private."
He didn't answer immediately. His gaze lingered on the counter, then the empty seat beside him, then back to her. He gave a single nod. They left the bar together, stepping out into the noise and rust of the Coruscant undercity. The air outside was damp, filled with the smell of leaking coolant and mold. They took a service lift up two levels, then walked through a half-lit maintenance corridor lined with rusted pipes and peeling wall panels. When they arrived at the door to Jaden's old base, he hesitated. He looked at the keypad, as if expecting it to have changed. It hadn't. He keyed in the code and the door slid open.
The lights inside had burned out in places. The ceiling fixture in the main room buzzed faintly as it flickered. The familiar tools, broken droid parts, and stacked crates were still where he'd left them. But it felt different now. Smaller. Staler. There was no sound except for the hum of the power core in the next room.
Fay stepped in after him. She took in the space quietly.
Jaden didn't move far from the door. He stood near the wall with his back to it, his arms crossed loosely.
"This place hurts you," Fay said. "If it's easier, we can go somewhere else."
He shook his head once. "Just talk," he said. "Then you can leave."
Fay nodded. She moved to one of the metal benches against the wall and sat down. The light above her buzzed again before stabilizing. "You need to come back up to the surface," she said. "Staying down here, living like this... drinking, throwing yourself into brawls... it's not helping you. And it's not what Velea would've wanted."
He didn't speak.
Fay continued, gently, "You loved her. That doesn't vanish just because shees gone, I understand. But she wouldn't want to see you tear yourself apart."
The shift in Jaden was instant. He turned his head slightly, and for the first time since she'd arrived, he looked directly at her. His stare was steady but hard to read. He uncrossed his arms, stepped away from the wall, and took a breath as though he were about to say something.
Then his voice cut through the quiet.
"She's dead."
He said it flatly. Not with anger, not with grief, just as a fact that had been repeated too many times.
"I know," Fay said, nodding. "And I know you blame yourself. But what happened wasn't your fault. She made a choice. Velea died saving people. She died trying to protect everyone aboard that ship."
Jaden laughed, short and breathless. "And what good did that do her?"
He took another step forward, the motion almost restless.
"She's gone. And the only thing people want to talk about is how brave she was. How noble her sacrifice was. You know what I remember?"
He looked down at the floor for a second before he spoke again.
"I remember seeing her behind the door in the reactor chamber. I remember screaming for someone to override the lock while I pounded on the glass. I remember the look she gave me when she... when she..."
"Died..."
He ran a hand through his hair and kept pacing. "She died in that reactor room while I stood behind two feet of transparisteel. And then when I got back—do you know what they said to me? 'Good work, Jaden . You saved the senators. You saved the Horizon.'"
He stopped pacing and turned to her again.
"But I didn't save her. She's the only one I wanted to save, and I couldn't do it. Everyone keeps calling me a hero. How the hell am I a hero when I couldn't save one person? When I couldn't save her?"
Fay didn't respond immediately. She just sat still, watching him.
When she finally moved, it was only to shift forward and rest her elbows on her knees.
"I'm sorry you lost someone, Jaden," she said quietly. "You have every right to be angry. Take your time. Grieve her. Mourn her. No one's asking you not to. But don't let that grief close the door on everyone else who still needs you."
Jaden didn't reply.
His breathing slowed, but he didn't look at her. She felt it through the Force—how his thoughts had spiraled inward, how tightly he held onto them.
And then, just like that, he let it all go.
The pressure vanished. Whatever emotion he'd been carrying; he buried it again, behind the same walls he always used.
"Leave me alone now," he said.
Fay looked at him for a long moment.
She stood and walked over, then sat beside him on the edge of the workbench. The motion was quiet. She placed a hand gently on his knee.
"When you're ready," she said, "I'll be there."
Jaden didn't look at her.
She stayed a moment longer, then stood and walked out the door.
He didn't move.
(AN: So we have Jaden and Vaylin two broken souls and two people who both suffered at the hands of Palpatine I wonder if something may happen between the two of them. Who knows, maybe Jaden will realise there's a connection between them. Anyway this is the last chapter of Jaden being long he's gonna get a lot angrier the next chapter and actually do something. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.)
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