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It was dark and Aa’dnn couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe.
This happened, sometimes. He got too caught up in his past, in the horrors he had faces before coming to the Sith Academy. Or, worse still, he’d think about the horrors he was still facing, even now, now that he was free.
The life of a Sith was a hard one, and after spending three nights stuck in an old tomb, with nothing but dead bodies and old, broken droids for company, Aa’dnn was ready to give in.
He still couldn’t breathe.
“Easy, Sparky. Calm down. Deep breaths. Breathe with me, c’mon.” Aa’dnn’s partner in crime the hell that he was stuck in spoke soothingly, kneeling in front of him and placing a red, almost clawed hand onto his shoulder. Grounding him.
“I can’t.” No use explaining what he couldn’t do: it was painfully obvious from his loud gasps in the echoey room.
“Yes, you can.” Helios sounded sure of it, and Aa’dnn wished he had that confidence in himself.
Still, he started to try matching his breathing with his friend’s, and he slowly began to calm down.
“How…” Another deep gulp of air, “…How are we going to get out?”
“… We’re working on it.” Helios looked to the side, at the two girls standing huddled together, using their lightsabers to see the map they had found earlier in their trial.
“…’We’?”
“… Fine. Tyg and Dy’anna are working on it. We are breathing, slowly and calmly.” Helios smiled, and Aa’dnn couldn’t help but smile with him. Maybe, just maybe with the four of them, they could make it out alive.
Helios stood, and reached down to pull Aa’dnn to his feet. The two slowly made their way over to the girls, Aa’dnn’s breathing beginning to return to normal.
“So,” Helios started, speaking quietly enough that only Aa’dnn would hear, “how long have you been having panic attacks, hm?”
Before he could reply, one of the girls looked up and locked eyes with him, “Aa’dnn. Your grandmother is the Wrath, she must have taught you some ancient languages.” Antygonne turned to Helios before continuing, “and you, you’re the eldest son of one of the most well-known, ruthless, powerful Sith families in the Empire. You have to know something useful.”
The two boys shared a knowing look, before looking down at the map of the tomb, and the so-called ‘ancient language’ Anytgonne was referring to.
“I can read… some of it.” Aa’dnn was hesitant – his knowledge of any languages other than basic was rusty, but this could be their one chance to get out.
“Go on.” Dy’anna smiled, but with her tattooed upper lip and the dim, red lighting, it looked more like a smirk than anything reassuring.
“… Ok. Here goes.” Aa’dnn took a deep breath (‘Centre yourself,’ his grandmother would tell him) and began to read the instructions written in front of him.