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Everything felt fuzzy, his head throbbed. His mouth felt weird and dry.
He had been hit with a sedative of some sort, most likely.
Why?
Memories hit Yord and he sat up, wincing at the increase in pain in his head.
He was supposed to be dead... right?
It had started with arresting Osha, then she escaped, and he got dragged along with Sol and eJcki for some reason to retrieve her, then they ended up on Olega, and a Jedi was killed there...
In the initial investigation, Yord had found himself at the apothecary and met Qimir, who was charismatic but clearly hiding something.
But they had a good conversation about nerdy facts most people would have rolled their eyes at Yord for.
When he met up with everyone again, he learned that Qimir was not the usual apothecary guy, and barely managed to convince Sol to let him go talk to Qimir again since he had already talked to Qimir.
Osha seemed upset that her chance to prove herself had been taken, and Jecki was annoyed that he had stolen her thunder.
Like her idea to have Osha pretend to be the sister she last saw sixteen years ago when they were eight and had believed dead until that day was any better.
And yet Sol still almost went for it.
Yord had returned to talk to Qimir, got some information, enough to know that he was working with Mae under whoever was training her. Enough that they were able to set a trap but failed to capture her.
They ended up going to Khofar to hopefully get to Kelnacca before Mae did.
That was when they were attacked by some Dark sider who was quite good at fighting.
At some point, Yord had fought him one on one, and he was on the ground, the stranger looming over him, something in his hand that was not a lightsaber... then... Oh.
After killing so many Jedi, why was Yord still alive? Why him? Did any of the others survive, or was it just Yord?
He rubbed his neck where the needle had gone in and looked around the room.
It almost looked like a normal room.
He was on a bed, there was a coffee table and comfy chair, a bathroom, and... that was about it.
Window looked to be barred, and the door looked like it had some fancy locks on it.
Knowing the Stranger could use the Dark side, Yord doubted that he would be able to get himself out with use of the Force.
He still pulled himself out of bed anyway, ignoring the pounding in his head.
As he walked he remembered that he had a wound on his thigh. He looked down. ...it was gone.
Okay then...
Yord let out a breath and made his way to the door, examining it visually and with the Force.
Yeah, he wasn't going to be able to get through that.
He found a mini-fridge and there was water and snacks in there.
This was getting weirder and weirder.
He grabbed a bottle of water and cracked it open to drink. He was thirsty.
He resumed exploring.
There wasn't really anything out of place.
He checked out the window. He didn't recognize the kinds of plants outside.
He noted the vents and checked them, but yeah, not escapable.
It was like he was in isolation... everything he needed right there.
There was even space for exercise.
Yord finished his water and sat down on the chair, rubbing his face.
Why was he here? What did the Stranger want with him?
After a bit he got up and started pacing, eventually transitioning into doing his favorite exercises and then he settled on the bed for meditation.
Right after he finished meditation, food arrived.
Yord sighed. He had missed the fact that there was a slot for a tray of food for him.
He picked up the tray and retreated to the chair.
He studied the food. At least it wasn't rations. The soup seemed to be appetizing at least.
After he ate his food, he returned his tray to the door.
He stayed awake, bored and alternating between trying to figure out if there was a way to escape, and exercising.
He ate dinner, took a shower, and then he meditated before sleeping.
When he woke up, there were books on the coffee table.
After he finished his breakfast, he picked up the first book, ready for anything to take him out of boredom.
He tilted his head at the intriguing opening about the Force and Force theory, continuing on.
He was several pages in before he dropped the book when he realized it was about the Dark side.
Worse, it was a Sith book with Sith teachings.
Yord shook his head, shaking as he went to meditate to get it out of his head.
Why?
When he checked the other books in the stack, they were all Sith books as well.
He decided not to touch them. He would never Fall. He had no interest in it.
It took him three sleeps to open the first book again.
He read it all in a day.
He spent some time meditating afterwards, feeling uncomfortable that he had been so intrigued by it, uncomfortable that he had.
But spending time with the Force, reassuring himself that he was still handling his emotions and on the right path helped.
He still didn't know why he was there though, and the few times he tried to speak to whoever was dropping off food, he got no response.
It was maddening.
It took him another few sleeps to get up the courage to read another one of the books.
It only took him two sleeps to read the third, and no breaks before he finished the remaining two.
He meditated on them, picked out the interesting parts and poked at why he liked them, why he wanted to keep reading them, and what he didn't like, what parts were wrong according to the Jedi way, and the morals he held.
He went back to exercising a lot and finding other ways to occupy himself.
It took him two sleeps to try to talk to the person dropping off his food again.
"I finished the books."
No response.
But the next time he fell asleep, he woke up to a new stack of books, with the ones that had been there on a new bookshelf.
Yord ate his breakfast and then started reading again.
It took him two days to get through the books and one day to request more.
He was going a bit stir crazy, he needed to see another person. He was lonely, and he felt so isolated.
Growing up in the Jedi Temple, he had never felt isolated, there was always the presence of others around. Out in the galaxy he could always sense people too. He had never felt alone before. Not truly.
Not after he had been rescued from slavery at four, and even then he had been too young to know it as anything other than normal before the Jeid Order.
Here? He didn't even sense whoever was bringing him the food. Probably some sort of method to block sensing the Force.
Yord resigned himself to being isolated for the rest of his life. After he accepted that he was trapped, he started having a harder time getting out of bed some days, skipping the occasional meal, sometimes only getting out of bed for the necessities.
The only effort he put into anything on those days was into meditation.
He still didn't want to Fall, and he needed to take care of his emotions, make sure that he was processing and letting go. That there was no risk of reaching for the Force through such emotions.
He reread some of the Sith books, intrigued but not enough to dare test them out.
Many of the techniques in those books would set him on the path of no return. They were beyond using the Dark side. They were worse.
He wouldn't be able to come back, he was certain.
But... as a thought exercise, as a way to pass the time, it was fun to read them.
When he was able to drag himself out of bed.
Eventually, he skipped all meals in a day and when he woke up, he was not alone.
He blinked at Qimir, who was reading a book he didn't recognize.
"Uh... hi?" he ventured, voice rather rough from many days of not talking.
By his estimates he had been there for at least a month, probably closer to two.
Qimir jumped, looking startled, then he smiled at Yord. "Hello. I'm here to make sure you eat today."
"Oh." Yord sighed, pulling himself into a seated position.
"You're not going to ask questions?"
Yord shrugged. "Would I get answers?"
"Mm, more proof that you're smarter than others gave you credit for. You know, you even held out longer than others who go through this before they stop eating completely."
Yord blinked. "Are the others usually Jedi?" he asked before he could stop himself.
Qimir placed the breakfast tray on his lap.
"Usually, yeah."
"Oh. Huh." Yord started eating slowly, eyeing Qimir.
They had gotten along well before, but now... now Yord wasn't so certain.
"I'm sure you've noticed, but my master does want Jedi to Fall, because sometimes it's easier to train a Jedi than someone from scratch, since there's a lot of similarities."
Yord sighed. "And I don't intend to Fall."
Qimir patted his shoulder. "All the Jedi say that. They either die or they Fall. Depends on how they break and what my master does to them."
Yord let out a shaky breath. To some degree, he had suspected as much. He wasn't very happy to know it was true.
"You should eat."
Yord reluctantly picked up the fork and took a bite.
Qimir squeezed his shoulder and moved his hand away.
Yord glanced at him but slowly ate his breakfast.
"Don't mind me, I'm going to be here all day to make sure you eat and then we'll go from there." Qimir gave him a smile.
"Why?" Yord asked. "There's a reason I'm in isolation, why change it up now?"
"You're smart. I'm sure you'll figure it out, but for now, I'm sticking around."
"Right..." Yord eyed him warily as he continued to eat, then he stopped. "I don't think I can finish this..."
Qimir nodded and set the tray aside. Then he picked up his book and continued reading.
Yord laid back down on his side, watching Qimir read.
He didn't know what to think of Qimir. They had gotten along before, talking about what he did in the apothecary. They had still gotten along decently even after Yord learned he was working with Mae.
But here he was going along with whatever the plan was to get him to Fall.
And he was still adorable and sweet.
Qimir was there every time that Yord woke up, never leaving him.
Yord was grateful for it. He wasn't sure he could go back to being alone.
He was starting to feel better, returning to reading the books that were available. He continued to not ask Qimir questions, as he doubted Qimir would answer if he knew the answers. He could keep his mouth shut when he wanted to after all.
Qimir started engaging him in debates about what he was reading.
Yord enjoyed the debates, challenging his viewpoint and solidifying his reasoning, thinking about things from a different direction.
He did not enjoy it so much when Qimir started waking him up to discuss it, nor did he like it much when Qimir left the lights on permanently, so that he couldn't turn them off.
Even exhausted, Yord could not sleep with the lights on, especially not that bright because covering his head made it more impossible to sleep.
He started falling asleep leaning on Qimir, only to be woken up for another debate.
Qimir started reading new books to him and he'd doze off to Qimir's voice, only for Qimir to wake him up sometime later and pick up at exactly the point where Yord started falling asleep.
He was exhausted. He wanted to sleep.
When he was awake, he could not stop thinking about the Sith techniques.
It was driving him mad. He couldn't even concentrate on his meditation and he was nowhere near as stable as he used to be.
He was struggling. He was drowning, and he knew it.
He was grouchy and sometimes snapped at Qimir. He didn't get violent but it was close at times.
Then, one day, when he was sitting awake, trying to ignore the bright lights, the door opened, and instead of Qimir, it was the Stranger.
Yord stood, uneasy.
The Stranger stepped closer.
Yord stepped back. "Why me? Why did you not kill me? Why not take Jecki or any others?"
"You were the one who got my attention."
Yord swallowed. "But I'm nothing special. I have no talent."
"Intelligence is hard to come by."
"And why are you here now?"
"You've read all the books."
"All the ones in my room..."
"You read all the copies of all of my books. You have read them all. You know the theories, do you not?"
"I suppose."
The Stranger proceeded to interrogate him to see how well he knew the books.
"Good. You can't have read some of them more than once, and yet you got nothing wrong."
"I have a good memory."
"Now, let's see how you can put them into practice."
Yord shook his head. "I won't use the Dark side."
"That's a choice. But you will die."
Yord took a breath in and lifted his chin. "Then I will die. Better than the hell of sleep deprivation anyway."
"So be it."
Was it Yord's imagination or did the Stranger sound oddly... sad about it?
Then he was on fire from lightning, screaming on the floor.
The lightning let up after a moment, leaving Yord panting.
He was unprepared for the assault on his mind, tearing it apart, bringing forth his memories of those he loved at the Temple, twisting them and showing them dying.
Yord couldn't really tell what was real; he couldn't even think anymore. He was in too much pain and he was too exhausted at the same time. His abilities were weaker as a result.
He clutched his head, trying to push the Dark side out, then a memory of Qimir came to the forefront, one where he had been admiring Qimir and watching him fondly.
Then the red lightsaber was there, stabbing him.
"NO!" Yord screamed, shoving the Stranger away desperately.
"Now fight." The Stranger tossed him a lightsaber.
Yord breathed heavily, staring at the lightsaber, feeling angry and done with the situation; the snappiness that almost had him getting violent with Qimir had risen to the forefront.
The Stranger was right there, waiting, smug, thinking he had won.
Yord felt a bit chilly, and he wanted to knock the smugness out of the Stranger.
He grabbed the lightsaber, barely registering the screams of a bled crystal as he turned the red blade on.
Then he lunged at the Stranger, finding that he was not as weak as he had thought after so much time in isolation and captivity.
They fought for a while, the Stranger was clearly holding back.
Yord was getting angrier and colder, using that to chase away his exhaustion.
Then the Stranger had him pinned to the floor, lightsaber at his throat.
"Fight or die."
Fight? How could Yord get out of a hold like this?
He'd wanted to die anyway... right? No, he wanted sleep. Maybe if he fought he'd get sleep?
Yord breathed heavily, then a technique came to mind. It was one of the simpler techniques in the books. Should be doable.
He focused on the lightsaber at his neck and the kyber. After a bit of concentrating he was able to turn the lightsaber off and yank it from the Stranger's hand before pushing the Stranger off and then getting on top of him with the lightsaber, feeling colder and yet amazingly powerful. Like he could do anything.
He had never felt anything like it before.
He used the Force to remove the helmet from the Stranger, feeling even colder as he did so despite the rush of power.
Then he saw Qimir smiling at him and he dropped the lightsaber, stunned.
"Surprise," Qimir whispered, sitting up and pulling him into a hug. "You did so well, Yord. That was wonderful, I didn't expect you to go for the lightsaber out of all the techniques, but that was perfect."
Yord was shaking, but he leaned on Qimir, trying to comprehend that the Stranger and Qimir were the same person.
"...after we talked at the apothecary... you came to Khofar prepared for me, didn't you?"
"Oh, yes, I did. I wanted you, and I always get what I want."
"I said that I wouldn't Fall, but you kept pushing."
"Because I get what I want." Qimir pulled him up and led him to the bathroom.
Yord froze when he stared in the mirror and saw his yellow eyes. That was when he realized he had been using the Dark side. That was why he was so cold.
...he had used a Sith technique.
He stumbled back, feeling sick and miserable but also so powerful, something he had never felt before.
"Shh, I got you, Yord. You're just exhausted, nothing like sleep deprivation to bring out the crazy needed to Fall. Let's get you to bed, and you can get some sleep, alright? I'll be with you the whole time."
Qimir had no right to be so gentle and reassuring when he was also the person who murdered so many Jedi and was frankly terrifying. He was a Sith.
Yord let Qimir get him into bed and when Qimir joined him, Yord found himself in Qimir's arms as he pulled up the blanket.
There was too much in his head, though, and despite his exhaustion and the dimming lights, he couldn't fall asleep.
Then Qimir started talking about training and Sith techniques and how the Jeid were wrong and what he would be teaching Yord.
Yord fell asleep thinking that Qimir was right about some things,and maybe he was right about all of it.
When he woke up, feeling far more rested, and the Dark side settled in his mind, he never looked back, obsessing over Qimir as much as he obsessed over Yord.