Chapter Text
The rainforest greeted the teenage boy named Nyxis, they watched him with love, protecting him. He always had a connection with forests. As he walked he hid his presence from predators, the forest knew he meant no harm. He entered a massive clearing, his eyes widening at the tree. It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, the force wafted off the tree in waves. A slight push by the force, he moved into the clearing, walking carefully over the roots.
Nyxis stood in the tendrils of the tree, he grabbed one of them wincing at the slight sting in his skin. How do other force-sensitives of this planet speak? The force whipped his padawan necklace affectionately. He closed his eyes and dropped into his mind. He never called it meditation because it didn’t feel right.
When he opened his eyes he was on a beach sand crushing under boots. He looked toward a pod-type house, a troubled mind screamed for help. Nyxis walked into the pod fully aware he was invisible. The troubled mind was a human boy the same age as himself. Those thoughts were persistent enough that it made Nyxis sad.
‘Help him’, a whisper spoke in his ear, he flinched in surprise looking for the person of the voice. He was thrust back into his body and he released the tendril. Nyxis sighed nudging his bond with his master, and a wave of affection washed over him. He smiled and began to head to their ‘camp’.
His master was meditating, her body was off the ground when he entered their makeshift camp in the tree. He shook his head huffing quietly, he sneakily looked into the pot of stew made from the flora and a type of meat from a herbivore creature.
“Nyxis,” his master warned, not even opening an inch. “Don’t touch the stew you will mess it up.”
Nyxis groaned in defeat, crossing his arms. “I found a force sensitive on the planet, he’s a baseline human.”
His master levitated herself back onto the ground. “As I suspected, the force wants to help him but can’t access him.”
“What do you mean?”
“This planet has a specific type of energy field only accessed by the planet's natives,” the woman explained stirring the soup. Nyxis brushed against the mask on his face, it covered his nose and mouth. That was only the breather, the rest was an extremely light fabric to cover the neck and the chest. It was beneficial for him and his master to wear and not so claustrophobic. The mouth part retracts for eating or drinking water.
Nyxis rolled his eyes. “That’s dumb, can the natives even talk to the force?” he rhetorically asked. “There are no force-sensitive people on this planet except for the boy and a native girl who bathed in it.”
His master huffed a breath smacking him on the shoulder playfully. “Don’t be so snippy, I knew the force was guiding us here in the outer reaches of the galaxy.”
Nyxis sighed as his master held out a bowl of stew. He pressed a button on the side of his mask, retracting the mouth part. Tilting the bowl prepared to eat the stew.
“Nyxis,” his master warned.
“Revana,” Nyxis cheekily replied.
Revana huffed. “Why did I accept you as an apprentice? I do wonder. Use the force to feed you, your stew I mean.” She held her bowl of soup and began drinking from it without touching it.
Nyxis groaned in annoyance before accepting spilling over himself. He closed his eyes, holding his hand up to keep it stable. Opening himself to the force, it washed over him. It felt like his home before he entered the Jedi Order. It was a forest-based planet, his parents were two different species, his father a Dathomir Zabrak and his mother a human. He took after his mom without the spikes but has his dad’s coloured eyes and a mixed colouring from both.
The force purred in greeting giving its powers slightly to hold the bowl and hold it at perfect place with the mouth. Nyxis opened his eyes smiling at his success, he drank the stew slowly so as not to break his concentration. Once he finished, he set his bowl next to Master Revana. He padded over to where she was settling down onto makeshift bedding. Laying down on his sleep roll he turned to his master.
“Will we make it back to the ship?” he whispered quietly
Revana turned onto her side and brought her hand to his cheek. “We will surely try love, now rest. Tomorrow. we will find the humans that will take us to where this boy is.” He crawled closer, and she smiled, opening her robes for him to snuggle into.
Nyxis panted as they climbed the mountain. “Why are we climbing Master?”
Revana huffed a breath. “To get a signal, to contact The Wren,” she replied, her arms slightly shaking. Nyxis grunted following his Master up, the force wrapped around him comfortably providing him the strength to climb.
They made it to the top, Nyxis placed his hands on his knees panting. His master took a deep breath beside him. She took out her comm and punched in the call to the Wren.
A face popped up when it finally went through. “Master Jedi! Crim! They’re alive!”
An identical face pushed the person to the side. “General. Glad you made it to the planetside, do you need us to come down?”
“No Commander not yet. This was just to tell you we are alright, we will contact you. How are you guys with food and fuel reserves?”
“We are doing just fine, amazing. Freeze-dried food has helped a lot. The fuel has been good, we’ve been floating around not using the ship, only keeping it a quarter on to use everything and not freeze to death.”
“Good… good, please tell me Ajax didn’t try to fly the ship down here,” Nyxis asked. He had become friends with the soft kind-hearted trooper. And knowing him, he was probably worried sick.
Crim huffed a laugh. “No, he was pacing back and forth though Karwen had to calm him down by pulling him into his lap. It’s pretty cheesy but it works.”
Nyxis huffed a laugh at the imagery, the small clone was easy to pick up with both strength and force not that much of a challenge. Revana began talking about what they were going to do. In the meantime, he gazed at the wonders of the world. Islands were floating with vines connecting some to others. A shadow fell over him and his master. Nyxis looked up with eyes wide in fear. “Uh Master, we’re being hunted!”
Revana bid Crim goodbye and they took off down the mountain, by taking off it meant leaping off. A loud screech followed them. “Welp nice knowing you Master,” Nyxis joked as they ran down the vines.
“No need for your snippy remarks Nyxis, we don’t need them.”
Nyxis rolled his eyes, the creature was massive. Its orange markings make it blend in with the sun. It screeched, reaching to grab Nyxis or Revana. They both dodged out of the way diving into the thick underbrush. He smashed his face into the muddy soil covering himself as quickly as possible to erase the smell. Revana did the same thing except more gracefully. The creature tore through the underbrush trying to find them, its loud screeching echoing in the forest scaring the prey creatures into running away.
“Nyxis,” Revana soothed, noticing his clenched body. He was ready to bolt. “It’s alright.” She closed her eyes, and with the force, she cloaked the two of them to hide them from the creature. Go away , Revana suggested. The creature seemed to pause and tore away from getting to them. Nyxis turned his head to Revana, exhaustion evident on his face. She grabbed his head and pushed him to lay his cheek against her chest. “Shh, we’re alright, it’s okay,” Revana soothed.
Nyxis pressed roughly against her chest trying to merge with her. She huffed a breath pulling him up with her. “Get on my back, we need to get back to camp and grab our gear,” Revana stated. Nyxis nodded and got onto her back pressing his nose into the back of her neck roughly.
This was a normal occurrence when Nyxis was exhausted and overstimulated. He thrived on physical touch; his heritage explained the why. Revana adjusted to his weight and took off full speed through the bushes, she was so fast that Nyxis couldn’t keep up if he were beside her. She noticed a creature following, it was a taller creature with four legs and hooves for feet. Revana stopped and turned to acknowledge the creature. It was a magnificent beast reminding her of the hoofed beasts on Dathomir.
She held out her hand to the creature, it pressed its soft nose into her hand. The creature was strange-looking, instead of fur it had a slick type of skin. “I wonder if I could ride you,” she said curiously, reaching into the force. The creature reacted instantly and pressed against her force presence eagerly. Hello, will you let me ride you? I have a young one in my care. I can’t carry him too far. Revana thought. The creature was female and must’ve been older than the others. She kneeled for Revana and Nyxis to climb on.
Nyxis seemed to have dozed off, she smiled, removing him from her back and placing him on her front. She was glad that being a bigger species gave her the strength to haul her padawan around with ease. She climbed onto the creature holding Nyxis and the cord that came from the creature’s mind. The creature stood, and Revana nudged her slightly to get her running. She did very quickly, Revana found her gait and settled in. Nyxis buried his face into her neck, snuffling softly ignorant of what was happening.
She guided the creature to their camp, she dropped from the creature hitting the ground softly to keep Nyxis sleeping. She bowed politely to the creature, who nosed her before disappearing into the woods. The camp was the same when they left it though a bit trashed but it was to be expected. She laid Nyxis on his roll who grumbled before wrapping himself up warmly in the blankets. Ugh, what am I going to do with you, sweet boy? Jedi aren’t supposed to form attachments and yet, you kept me tied to the light side when I fell.
Revana leaned down pressing her nose to his hair and breathed him in. Nyxis has the scent of land after it rains, the forest on a summer evening, and the smell of a warm meal on a crisp morning. Nyxis whined when she pulled away to see if she could contact her ship again.
Revana pulled out her communicator and tried to reach The Wren. She held her breath and was relieved when it did go through this time. “Rul,” she greeted quietly noting Crim was not picking up this time.
“Ah! Master Revana you’re alive!” Rul cheered quietly.
Revana smiled. “I’m guessing the boys are down for the count?”
Rul nodded smiling softly. “Yes, Crim took a long time to convince to go to bed but not surprising.”
“How is Karwen? Anyone giving him trouble?”
“Karwen is fine, Ma’am we all are. But are you two alright? That creature was nothing we’ve encountered,” Rul asked sitting up where he was sitting.
Revana glanced back at Nyxis before speaking. “Physically we are fine just a bit muddy, wet and may have a few scratches and bruises…” She looked Rul in the eye. “Mentally, Nyxis’s mind took over and left him exhausted. He needs to heal from the fear of death. I am a bit troubled and scared myself but we are Jedi we will learn from the problems that chase us.”
Rul nodded. “I am going to cancel this call before Whisper comes and bothers you about the flora and fauna of the planet. Lord knows he will never stop asking.”
Revana huffed a breath. “Yeah, you have a good point. Goodnight Rul.” Rul hung up first before she shut down the comm. She entered the camp again noting Nyxis snuggled in his bedroll. Revana sighed letting a soft smile grace her face.
The afternoon had slipped by quietly and night was already upon the two Jedi. Revana hunkered down in her bedroll and released the force, allowing the exhaustion to seep through and grant her a night’s rest.
Nyxis groaned opening his eyes, what he was met with was not good. A blue face stared down at him, he shrieked in fear punching the native who got thrown off of him. Revana grabbed him before he could think putting him behind her.
Her magenta lightsabre was already out and ready to defend. “You touch him again, I will slit your throats,” she threatened baring her fangs. The people’s ears flicked back at the threat, their tails lashing behind them.
“You speak Na’vi?” one of the males asked curiously. Revana glanced at Nyxis who pointed to their translator.
“We do,” Revana replied.
“We need to take you to the humans,” the same male said. “They will know what to do with you.”
Revana flicked off her lightsabre and attached it to her belt. “I will not hesitate to attack if you move towards us aggressively.”
The natives of the planet nodded agreeing with their terms. Revana opened her bag and stuffed everything they needed into the bag. They followed the people away from their camp. Nyxis grabbed her sleeve when they formed a circle around them.
“It’s alright,” she whispered. “We’ll be alright.”