Chapter six: Mirages

Alarms blare as Darryl and I are trying to get the ship’s shields back. Our hands keep reaching over each other to hit buttons that keep flashing at us.

“Come on girl, stay together.” Darryl pleads with the ship, Daughtless. I look at the scanners and the bounty hunter ship is still coming after us.

“We have to land.” Haste lines my tone. Darryl tries the scanners but puts his hands up as sparks fly out, getting hit again.

“It’s gonna have to be a blind land then because I have no idea where we are!” Darryl yells, going back to the console. He starts to move the ship towards the nearest planet and we descend quickly. The ship starts to heat up fast and I look around, seeing flames engulfing the viewport. “Hold on! It’s about to get bumpy!” Sand dunes start rising up above the flames and we hit one with the bottom of the ship, sending me flying into the viewport window. I hit back on the ground, Darryl landing next to me and everything goes black as I feel another large bump.

***

Ringing goes through my ears, and I push up slowly, spitting out sand. I look around, feeling the heat of the desert already hitting me. My lips feel dry and cracked, sand lining my tongue. Coughing, I feel the pain go through my body and I groan, balling up around myself. Oh no. Please don’t be a broken rib. I slowly uncurl myself and lift up my tunic, seeing massive purple marks all over my body, seeing some on my arms and I stand up slowly to check the rest of my body out. That’s when I notice that my tunic is badly ripped and the pants are no longer pants but instead... short. I press my hand on my ribs, pain shooting through my body again but I feel no broken bones. Thanks goodness. I cough again and I push down the pain. I look around and see nothing but dunes of sand in every direction. The sky is bleak, only showing two suns. Great, the heat is going to be very unbearable. I sigh and then realize, I'm not on the ship. I quickly look around again, searching for the ship, or Darryl; preferably both.

“Darryl!” My voice is hoarse and I clear it. “Darryl!” I yell again. My voice echoes in the sky and no response comes from it. I start walking forward, pain coming from each step. I tighten my jaw and push on through. The wind shifts the sands as I walk, blowing bits of sand everywhere. Damn, I must have gotten really got blown out of the ship to not be able to see it yet. As I say that, I see the ship finally, half buried in a sand dune. The view port windows are blown open and sand fills the inside of the cockpit. Darryl! I start running towards the ship, ignoring the pain the spikes up as I do. Getting to the ship, I start to climb inside.

“Darryl? Darryl! Please tell me you are alive. Give me a sign.” I cast out my sight to look through the sand that is in the cockpit but do not come across a body. “Oh, thank the stars.” I keep looking around with my sight and see the damage which we will have to repair but that doesn’t concern me as much as not seeing Darryl on the ship. Where could he be? Did he get blown out like I did? Oh no. Would he have survived that? How did I even survive? I start to think about what happened but it only comes back in a blur. I groan in annoyance and tap the screen of the scanners, the only thing not really damaged it would seem. The scanners try to crackle to life the screen only comes up as a dull light. “Blast...” mumbling to myself. How am I going to find Darryl now? A thought comes across my mind then. I have been training with him on how to read minds... but can I link our minds like that? It would be really difficult... I have no idea where he is... I fold my arms across my chest and slump up against the sand. But I can search for him using the force. Pursing my lips together, I slide down to sit on my butt and start to concentrate on Darryl.

Letting out a steady breath, I feel the force swirl around me. I reach out with the force and I stretch across the world. There is so much life here, and so much destruction. The world also seems... sad. As if it used to be different but now it’s this wasteland of desert. It guides me now, knowing what I am looking for. Then, I am looking around, a weird sensation. I don’t recognize the area I am in; having metal scraps, droid parts, and other items I don’t recognize. My head feels woozy, my arm and ribs broken with the possibility of other bones being broken. I feel sticky liquid against my head. Then I see a cloaked figure walk in front of me, holding a rifle. Wait... is that mandalorian armor?

“What the...” Darryl says quietly.

Can he hear me?

‘Cilla?’ Darryl? ‘You’re alive? Mother of moons! You’re alive! I saw you fling out the view port and I thought for sure you’d be hurt really bad but when this...’ He looks towards the figure. ‘thing, said you were dead. I believed them. You shot out pretty fast. I didn’t think anyone could survive that.’

Honestly, I don’t remember what happened. It's all a blur.

‘wait, how are we doing this? Is this because of the training we have been doing for the past couple weeks?’

Yes and no. We can discuss it later. Where are you? I don’t know how much time I have left before I wear out from the connection.

‘I don’t know. I was unconscious for most of the journey here.’ Just as he says that, a dull ring comes from the cloaked figure and they pull their wrist.

“Yes?” The voice sounds synthesized so I can’t tell what creature they are or their gender. An image pops up on their wrist comm link and it is cloaked as well.

“Do you have the target?” The voice from the comm link is also synthesized.

“No. I have her companion.” the figure starts to walk off. I strain to listen but they are using a hushed voice and hid behind some junk. Damn, it has to be Aydgage or Revan on the other end of that. Who else would be looking for me and knows about you?

‘I mean...’ His voice sounds sheepish. ‘There is Rosco... The two Twi’leks...’

But they don’t know I’m a... I let out an annoyed sigh. You’re right. Damn it Darryl.

‘What? I protected you with little lies.’

Yeah and now a sex trader wants me for himself or those Twi’leks probably want to kill me. Kriff...

‘Well, maybe next time I will just tell the truth and we both can get killed. Sound better?’ He sounds annoyed now.

Don’t you dare get snippy with me. We will talk about this later. I calm down, feeling the link slipping away. I don’t have much time. Look around more, see if you can find anything distinguishing to allow me to get there. He starts to look around, nothing really showing as remarkable. Then, I see the tip of a ship. Can I... I can feel the force slipping from this link but I try to cast my sight out. I focus all my power to use my sight and cast it from Darryl’s eyes. I hear him groan a little in pain but finally I see through the pile of debris a ship. the ship looks familiar. Darryl moans a little.

‘can you warn me next time... whoa... is this how you see?’

No. Not all the time. Just when I focus a lot of my energy. That ship. Have we seen it before?

‘Hmm... Mother of moons yes. That’s the ship that attacked us when we first left Nar Shadda. With the help of that other bounty hunter ship. How did they-’ I am pulled from this link and back into my own mind. I gasp loudly and quickly look around. I am back in the Daughtless and I no longer feel the pain Darryl felt, only my own pain.

I get up quickly. I have to get to Darryl quickly. He may have more injuries then I could feel. I search my belt but don’t feel my lightsaber. Uh oh. Did I leave that in my room? I hope so. I start to maneuver my way through the ship, taking note of how damaged it is on the inside and finally get to my room. I try to open the door with my own strength but my aching body won’t allow it. So, instead I use the force to pry it open. The metal screeches against something on the inside of the door pockets and I jerk my head a little to the noise. After the doors get open, I walk inside. Everything is either turned on its side, upside down or broken out of shape. Where is it? Rummaging through the debris, I manage to find my bag; putting my hand through the opening to search for my lightsaber. The cool sensation of metal barely brushes against my finger tips and I smile, relieved. Thank goodness.

I clip my lightsaber to my belt and stand up. Maybe my old ship can be used? Walking out of the ship, I go to the side where my old ship is docked and it, too, is damaged. Blast. Guess I am walking. I look towards the horizon and try to sense for Darryl. It’s no use. I have no idea where he is. A memory pops into my mind; Master Dauula standing in a clearing near the temple and I am sitting on a rock, trying to master how to find force signatures. ‘Focus on thing you remember about someone and then you can feel their force signature.’ Master Dauula’s voice echoes in my head. Letting out a sigh, I focus on the one thing I remember about Darryl. His smile, the way he looked look at me after our first day of training, and his musty, sweet smell. I shake my head and focus again. His smile pops up again in my mind and I focus on that. A tendril of the force appears and starts to lead in the direction of where the suns are setting. I’m coming Darryl, hold on.

Following the force tendril, the air around me gets cold and the sky grows dark. I didn’t bring anything with me to camp out. Shoot... I trudge forward, ignoring the creeping cold coming towards me. I will have to just push forward; I can sleep later. And anyway, I had enough sleep this afternoon. As the sky grows darker, I pull out my lightsaber and ignite one side to light up my way.

Walking for what feels like hours, strange noises start to come audible. There are whispers, low hisses, and I think bantha noises. I start to pick up my pace, using the force to run faster. Nope, this is nope town. Just keep calm and press forward and it will be dawn. Feeling something watch me, I turn to look at it but nothing is there. I turn back to the force tendril and something touches my leg. I look down and see a strange reptile looking up at me, blinking indolently. It has three horns on its head with blue hued skin, a small face with a fat body and tail. The skin is smooth all over and as I bend down, I can see its six legs with webbed toes.

“Hi there. I'm sorry, am I in your way?” I ask the reptile. It opens its mouth and yawns. I put out my hand. “would you like to tag along?” It blinks again but does slowly walk up my hand. I stand back up and put it on my shoulder. “Okay, hold on tight.” I start to run again and feel its claws dig into my shoulder. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a creature quite like you. Maybe Darryl, that’s my friend, will let me keep you.” I can sense from it just contempt so I assume it's alright with that. As I continue to run, I hear a distant roar, sounding almost human like. I want to investigate but something tells me to keep on running; that I shouldn’t stop. So I keep running, as if my life depended on it.

Just as I see one of the suns crest over the horizon, I see robed, masked figures sitting on top of banthas, aiming some type of rifles in my general direction. Slowing down, I dodge a bullet by diving behind a large boulder, hearing an echo of the shoot. That’s no blaster rifle. I look from behind the boulder. What the hell is that then? I hear another shot ring out and I duck down to avoid the bullet, it pings against the boulder. Igniting my lightsaber, I jump from behind the boulder. I feel the reptile crawl on my shoulders to hide underneath my rugged hood of the jacket I wear. Blast, I forgot to change. I hear another shot and try to deflect it, only hearing a sizzle against my saber. Huh, that’s interesting. The robed figures make odd noises, sounding like battle cries and they start to charge at me.

“Oh, come on!” I yell. I jump out of the way of the banthas as they run by and I see the figures jump off and come at me with staffs. I ignite the other side of my lightsaber and start to block their blows and jabs. After blocking a few, I noticed my lightsaber is cutting through the metal. Hmm... I go on the offensive now and start to deliver light blows to their staffs. The staffs on two of the creatures split in half and they roar again, waving their arms in the air. I stop to wait for what they do, the humming of my lightsaber now the only noise. The creatures move out of the way and another similarly dressed figure gets off a bantha. This figure, though, has a different mask. It looks bigger, more tribal looking. It walks up to me and starts speaking in an odd language. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand you.’ The figure stops speaking and starts to use their arms and hands to motion what they are trying to convey. I extinguish both ends of my lightsaber, keeping hold of it just in case. The figure points to me and then themselves; showing some other signs that I don’t quite understand. I purse my lips together. Maybe I can use the force to understand his language... Focusing on the creature as he keeps signing, I raise my hand; trying to search through their mind. Words forming in my head in the language I heard earlier and the creature stops signing, holding still. The others start mumbling amongst themselves, poking the creature a little to make sure they are okay. I pull my hand away, and the creature shakes its head.

“What happened?” It questions, and I can understand. It worked? I can’t believe it actually worked.

“I’m sorry, I... searched for your language to understand you.” I stumble at first over the new language. They all look stunned as I speak to them in their language, getting to a guarded stance. I put my hands up. “I meant no harm. I just didn’t want there to be a misunderstanding between us.” They still point their staffs at me but the other holds out their hand.

“So... you can understand us now?” the voice sounds deep and rough. I nod my head. The creature reaches their hands up to their mask and takes it off. Revealing a human male face; dark skin tone, black hair, a full bread that matches his hair and bright blue eyes. “I am called Krust. I am the leader of this tribe.” He motions his hands to the rest of the tribesmen but they keep their masks on. “We call ourselves ‘The Tusken Tribe’.”

“I am called Mikacele.” putting my hands down slowly, I reach out with my free hand. Krust extends his out slowly, and stiffly shakes my hand.

“What are you doing out here? This is the hunting lands for my people.” Krust asks after pulling his away.

“I apologize, I am new here and looking for my friend. Our ship crash landed here after we got shot out of the sky. We got separated during the crash and I have just started searching for him.” I still stumble over the words but he seems to understand. He rubs his bread for a moment then motions over one of his followers, speaking in fast, hushed words. I tilt my head to the side and try to listen but the conversion is over before I could listen in.

“We did see a strange object fall from the sky at last suns rise. We sent another party to search it. I am sending one of my followers to stop them from taking anything from it, in show of good faith that you did not kill us.” He smiles at me and I nod my head.

“Thank you. I greatly appreciate that.” Krust puts his mask on his face again and they start to climb on their banthas.

“You ought to be careful here at night, especially with that weapon of yours. We are just one of many tribes out here in the desert.”

“Wait.” He turns to look at me. I walk up towards him. “I know this is asking a lot, but would you mind helping find a place?” He tilts his head to the side.

“What place?”

“An abandoned junkyard.”

“There are many of those around but in the direction you are headed, that one is controlled. They call themselves...” He takes a moment. “Bounty hunter guild.” He says out loud in basic. Kriff, that’s not good. That means there might be more than one bounty hunter to deal with.

“I would use caution. I have lost many tribesmen trying to scout the area. They have laced the area with blasting devices of some sorts. Wouldn’t be able to tell you what though. Good luck. I hope you can find your friend.” Krust tosses me a small canister. “Here, I noticed you didn’t have anything on you. The junkyard is quite a journey from here.” He leaves with the rest of his party and I watch. Such an odd man. I wait till they are gone, then I start following the force tendril again. Not many places to hide out here if I do run into another tribe. I can only hope they all speak the same language so I can try to reason with them. I clip the canister to my hip.

***

The suns beat down on my skin and I feel my stomach grumble. I’m gonna have to find food soon. I lick my lips, feeling the dryness on them. Grabbing the canister, I take a swallow from it; trying to conserve as much as I can. The reptile moves a little on my shoulders but other than that, seems to be resting under the hood still.

“You must be a nighttime creature.” Talking to it. “I should name you. Just so I don’t keep calling you ‘it’ or ‘the creature’.” I can only feel it breathing, no emotions emanate from it. “Hmm... what about ‘Colbalt’?” it doesn’t really move but I smile anyway. “Alright, Colbalt it is then.”

Night falls again and I continue to walk, pain slowly creeping its way back. Exhaustion also hits me and I want to fall down and sleep. Colbalt slowly comes out from underneath my hood and perches on my shoulder.

“Evening there. Sleep well did ya?” my words slur a little from how tired I am. I can feel its eyes look at me. “Sorry. Just a little hungry and tired.” It blinks at me slowly and then scuttles off my shoulder and down my leg. “Ah, hey. What was that for?” Colbalt turns around, looking at me then scuttles off towards a different hill. “Hey, wait up!” I follow after it, barely keeping up with Its pace. We eventually come across a small overhang of a cliff. Colbalt comes back to me, climbing up to my shoulder as I look around. “Why did you bring me here?” there are lots of rocks, boulders and... Oh. I see a small patch of fruit sprouting from underneath a rock. There isn’t much, just one, maybe two pieces of jorgan fruit. I kneel down and feel the weight of them. I’m not sure if these are ripe... I sit on my butt and start to rip some of my clothing to create a little bag for them. Even if they are, I should be able to survive a couple more days without food. And these should be good until then. I pick the fruit and tie it off on the clip with the canister. “Thanks, Colbalt.” I smile, standing up and continuing to follow the force tendril again.

***

Up against a rock, I hide as I sense a group of the Tusken tribe walk by. Not looking like they want to talk like the last group I came across. I watch them go by then slip past them quietly and continue walking. This would have been so much easier if we hadn’t crashed the ship.

“Well, maybe next time don’t lure bounty hunters after us.” I hear Darryl’s voice loud and clear. I look around, seeing him stand in front of me with disgust on his face. “I can’t believe you left my ship all alone in this desert. Someone is going to steal it. I am going to blame you.” he sounds angry but I can’t tell. Oh...

“You aren’t really here, are you?” I walk past the mirage of Darryl.

“If I was here, I would be even more mad at you.” The image of him pops in front of me again.

“The heat must really be getting to me to have you follow me and try to ridicule me.” I retort to the image.

“Do you prefer the more, ‘alluring’ side of me? Shall I try to flirt with you instead?” he quips at me. I let out an exhausted huff.

“I’m not in the mood to deal with any type of mood Darryl shows, honestly.”

“That’s what you get for not looking for survival equipment to you know... survive with?”

“Oh my mother of stars. Shut up. I know.” I grumble. “I can’t believe my imagination of you is so annoying.” He appears again in front of me, this time with no shirt; showing off his very sculpted body and I grit my teeth together. “I bet that’s not what he looks like without a shirt on.”

“The only way to find that out is to give into your feelings for me.” Now his voice sounds dark, low and sexy. I look away, still following the tendril towards the REAL Darryl.

“No. I am Jedi, I am going to follow my path that I have chosen.”

“Did you really choose to follow it, or did your family choose for you?” I stop in my tracks, Colbalt moving a little in his sleep but not getting up.

“I chose it...” trying to convince the image of Darryl, maybe even myself. The image laughs, a dark laugh.

“I don’t think you did. You were taught that in order to control your emotions you showed at a young age, you needed to become a Jedi. All of your family had chosen a profession that has something to do with force sensitivity, even your grandfather; who did become a Jedi.” The image pops in front of me again. “What do you really know about your grandfather anyway?” There is a dark aura coming from the image, revealing that it is indeed an image.

“I...” I don’t know much of my grandfather. He raises an eyebrow.

“Do you want to know more about him? I can show you where you can look.” he gives a dark smile.

“I do want to know more about him...” trailing off my words. No, I need to keep following the path to Darryl. His condition could get worse if I don’t hurry up and get to him.

“Don’t worry about the other me. He is still alive. And will be.” the image tempts me.

“Maybe...”

“No!” This time, I hear a different voice. Master Dauula?

“Get out of here! She doesn’t need you anymore.” the image of Darryl hisses.

“And have her fall to your dark tricks?” an image of Master Dauula appears, appearing in the robes I last saw him in. “No, she needs to get to her companion. The real version of you. The version that would never let this happen.” He’s right. Why would I follow this version of Darryl if the real version wouldn’t even do this? The image of Darryl glowers, the mist around him getting darker and swirling.

“Hmm. I underestimated you. I thought you were more exhausted.” The voice isn’t Darryl’s now. The mist of darkness lightens up around where the image of Darryl was and now reveals Aydgage. I step back.

“Aydgage?” I question myself. Is he projecting himself now or is this still a mirage?

“Yes, my little bird. It is I.” he gives me a dark smile. Then he throws something at the image of Master Dauula, the image disappearing.

“is it real, or just another mirage?” I question him.

“I guess that all really depends on you my dear.” he starts to pace in front of me. He did know about my grandfather... no one really knows about him. I don’t talk about my family often. Except to Darryl... And I only said that we have the same hair color.

“You’re still my imagination.” I challenge, starting to walk again.

“What if I told you I was neither.” Aydgage says. I don’t slow down though. I do, however, scoff.

“What does that even mean?” The image appears before me again, the same dark mist swirling around it, still being Aydgage.

“It means that I am neither the real Aydgage nor am I part of your imagination. In fact, what I am is something you have been seeking.” The image changes again and this time I see me. My skin pale, black lines forming out from the edge of my mouth and my hair is pulled up into a tight bun. The robes I wear are dark in color, almost mimicking the ones I saw Aydgage wearing back on Lothal. My lips part in disbelief, the other me only smirks. “I am more powerful this way. Aydgage was right. Revan was right.” the image of me spreads out their arms. “All those powers that Master Dauula said were forbidden to use? I use them now, I use them to gain more power. And with that power, I can control anything; from happening, while it is happening, and punish those who made it happen.” That’s not what I want... I just don’t understand the new teachings Revan came to the temple with. I didn’t understand why they were forbidden... that’s why I wanted to search for the Jedi texts...

“I don’t want power though...” I mumble. She clicks her tongue.

“Of course, you do. You want to understand why these powers are forbidden? Then you need to use them. Let the power course through your veins and flow through the force into you.”

“No. That’s not how I was taught.” I look down, holding my head in my hands.

“Stop being such a weak little girl!” she hisses at me. “This is why you are ‘so confused’ and ‘lost’.” she flails her arms around. “And why everyone has been coming to your rescue. What are you? Strong and all knowing? No. You are pathetic.” she squats down so she is now in my vision. “You are nothing without someone being there to save you or to guide you.”

“Stop. I am not weak.” I tighten my jaw. She smirks at me.

“Yes, you are. The Jedi have made you weak. Master Dauula saw how powerful you were when you had the incident, using that one forbidden power. Remember that? He told how it was a forbidden power and could end up hurting others around you?” The memory doesn’t play in my head. I refuse to let this image belittle me.

“Go away.” I say through my teeth.

“Or what? There isn’t anything you can do.” she taunts now. Anger is losing control in my mind. No, calm down. It’s fine, she is just taunting me. Trying to get me to lose control.

“I am not going to lose control. Your taunts have no effect on me.” she seems to frown now.

“Oh? Is that so? Hmm, I suppose maybe it’s not but they will have an effect on Darryl. Shall I go to him as you?” my head shoots up, and she shows a dark smile.

“Leave him alone.” a growl comes from my throat.

“Oooh, so scary.” she fakes being scared, then goes back to smiling at me. “I can do whatever I please. You have no control over me.” She now has a neutral face. “I think I will do that. I’ll even give him the version that you want to be. The one that can give him passion.” She looks to the side, putting a finger to her lips. “Then I will,” she looks back at me, smiling evilly, “kill him.” I feel rage build up from my stomach and I lose control of my anger. A feeling of the force flowing through me that felt darker.

“NO!!” I scream, so loud that the sand gets blown back and the image disappears. It only lasts for a minute, collapsing to my knees as I finish. I stare at the sand, panting and shaking a little. Colbalt moves into my lap, looking up at me, twitching his head from side to side. “I’m... so... sorry.” I want to fall over, but I hear roars in the distance. Roars that sound familiar. “Dammit, not now.” I stumble as I get up, sluggishly moving to find a hiding spot, but there isn’t one close enough for me to find. Just follow the trail. Maybe they aren’t coming this way. I follow the force tendril, my movement clumsy. The roars get closer and I tighten my jaw. I’m going to have to fight like this. I pull out my lightsaber, Colbalt scampers up to his hiding spot. I sense a bolt coming towards me and I ignite my lightsaber just in time to block it, the same sizzle noise comes from it and I don’t see it go anywhere. I see multiple Tusken tribesmen surround me, raising their rifles and staffs in the air; roaring a battle cry. I get in a defensive stance, still feeling exhausted and weak. They take aim and shoot at me again. I block the shots, and dodge some others, getting nicked by some surprise ones. I suck in some air quickly as that happens, and look behind me; seeing serval others. This isn’t looking so good.

“Wait!” I yell in their language. They still point their weapons at me. I extinguish my lightsaber, putting my hands up. “I don’t want to fight. I am just traveling to find my friend.” some tilt their heads, while others still aim at me.

“Why do you trespass on sacred ground?” one finally says, lowering his weapon. Good, maybe I can talk my way out of this.

“I crash landed here a couple of sun rises ago. I had no idea this land was claimed or sacred for that matter.” I try to sound calm but at this point, who knows if that passes. Calm to them might mean a challenge.

“Why are you walking this way? Only trouble is behind that sand dune.” He motions to where I am headed and I sigh.

“I am searching for my friend. He got... taken by someone and I am trying to rescue him.” I can sense from him he wants to believe me, but the others still show hostile intentions. Alright, this isn’t working. “Listen, we can do this the hard way, which is me killing all of you or we can do this the easy way, which is just letting me go past into where I need to go and you guys just continue on your way. Your choice.” They all look at each other, not one though seems intimidated.

“If you want to continue walking on this land, you have to go through us.” he points his weapon back at me and I sigh. I guess this is going to be the hard way. I put my hands down and then defensive stance again, igniting both ends of my lightsabers. Two of them rush at me with their staffs and I side step around them, whipping my lightsaber to go under my arm and into one of them. I hear him scream in pain and thud to the ground. The other roars and charges me again, coming at me with a jab. I jump back and sense another coming from behind. Ducking, the one from behind hits the other one top of the head, while the one that was in front of jabs the other.

I hear a shot ring out from a gun and dive away from it coming at me, hitting into one that was about to leg sweep me. Standing back up, I side kick the one with the gun in the ribs and send him to the ground with a thud. I look around me, seeing the ones that are still standing drop their weapons and cower to the ground.

“I told you about the hard way. You didn't listen.” I pant out. They only cower more. “Don’t cross me again.” hissing the words at them so they understand I am not to be trifled with. I extinguish my lightsaber and walk away, following the force tendril.

***

Night falls and I see lights up ahead of me. Darryl’s presence feels strong coming from where the lights are and I let out sigh of relief. Finally, I am here. I want to collapse and fall asleep but I can’t yet. I feel depleted of energy, dehydration had finally hit me after I swallowed my last bit of water hours ago and hungry has been a dull ache in my stomach for two days now. I can make it. I just have to navigate this explosive field. I lick my dry lips, and take in a deep breath, casting out my sight to look for the devices. Devices do lace the whole area, barely leaving any room to walk through. They have to have a path they normally walk if they need to patrol, right? I keep looking around, finally seeing a small path that leads into the junkyard. I sigh, letting my sight go back to normal and start walking towards it. I take a quiet look around again, seeing a ship that I saw when I linked with Darryl. He must be towards that area. Sneaking along the path, I reach the archway that leads in; looking around the corner to see if it is clear. I really hope it was only that one bounty hunter. The place does look a little abandoned but who knows. Maybe they just don’t like taking care of stuff like this place. Walking towards where I saw the ship, I see someone chained to the wall, head hanging down and not moving much.

“Darryl?” I whisper. I see it move a little but not much. Sneaking again, I come up the body and see Darryl’s blue skin appear from underneath his clothes. He has multiple gushes and bruises all over his body; his clothing being nothing but shredded fabric. “Oh Darryl... I am so sorry...” I place my hand on his cheek and he leans into it, feeling very hot. Dammit, he did get an infection.

“I know you’re not real but it’s nice that you show up every once and a while before I die.” His voice sounds broken and hoarse. He also sounds delusional.

“Darryl, it’s really me. I finally came like I promised.” I try to whisper still. He looks up slowly, seeing my battered body. He lets out a sigh of relief and gives me his classic smirk.

“Took you long enough.” he teases to me. I smile back, rubbing my thumb on his cheek.