[ForceStar]

Knightmare
A Star Wars Fanfiction

Like a gem shining the blackness of space, the planet of Coruscant hung motionless in a sea of a million stars. Half of it was turned away from the star it orbited, but although on most planets that would have meant darkness on that side of the world, the lights of the planetary city that was Coruscant gleamed unabated, and life went on apace. The species of a thousand worlds hurried about the avenues of the city, droids buzzed about on mechanical missions, and airspeeders and starships alike hurtled through the air at speeds exceeding that of sound. Everywhere that one might have looked was filled with teeming and busy life-- except for one place. It was at this place that passersby turned to stare, that droids seemed to avoid lest they contaminate its peace, and around which airspeeders and starships deviated from their courses lest they overfly its precincts.

The Jedi temple rose above the surface of Coruscant like a man-made mountain, the four towers at each corner of the square-shaped ziggurat dwarfed by the single center pillar that stabbed upwards into the heavens like a lightsaber's blade. Unlike the buildings that surrounded it, the Temple's exterior lighting was dimmed in deference to the night. Only a few scattered Jedi Knights or Masters walked its halls; save for Gatekeeper Jurokk, who stood watch in the Temple Gateway, the Temple was filled only with peacefully sleeping Jedi.

Some, however did not sleep so peacefully, like the inhabitant of a single cubical in the Jedi dormitories far below the temple spires. The cubical was spartan; only a table and two chairs, a workbench, and a single bed filled the space. Walls, floor, and ceiling alike were gray and bare of ornamentation, except for a single window that turned opaque in deference to the sleep cycle. In the bed, wrapped in sheet and blanket, a small figure tossed and turned, writhing as though held in an invisible wrestling hold. The figure was that of a Jedi Initiate, a human girl of barely six years old. Her hair was thick red gold, her skin white like parchment, her wide-open, blank and staring eyes sapphires. But her face was red and filled with terror, and tears streaked down her face like a waterfall.

It was the face of someone caught in a dream.

Or a nightmare.

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She pounded through the Jedi temple, her feet skidding on the stone floor. Her heart pounded until she could hear its beat slamming in her ears like a hammer striking rock, and fear, fear of the unknown tearing at her heart. The Temple corridors around her were cloaked in shadow, and while she screamed in terror as she ran, no wise, old Master Yoda appeared to comfort her, nor did the frightening yet strong Master Windu appear with his purple lightsaber to protect her. Behind her, booted feet pounded, yet she would not look back. Could not-- not at Them!

Then she made a turn, flailing around a corner-- and came to a halt with a shock. A wall rose directly before her, one that cut off all paths of escape-- and They were behind her!

She turned, dreading what came, but all she saw was a figure covered in a cloak dark as night, and figures white as snow yet with intent darker than ebony racing behind the first. Then a brand blazed in the first one's hand, and she cowered back, waiting for the strike-

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Her eyes blinked twice as she slammed into the floor of the cubical, a scream rising in her throat as the bedclothes entangled her. She scrabbled at them unseeing, yanking and twisting and tugging in a frenzy of desperation. As they gave way to her frantic tugs, she hurled herself to her small feet and sped from the room in terror, the door barely opening before she was through it.

Without regard for the rules of the Temple, the ones that forbade Younglings from running through the temple at such a late hour, she raced through the dark halls that so echoed the ones from her dream. Her screams became sobs and small whimpers as she ran, not caring where she went so long as she kept going so that They couldn't catch her. She stole a glimpse over her shoulder, looking for any sign of Them. No sign-- but that meant she had just thrown them off. She had to keep running, had to keep--

Her thoughts were interrupted as her head whipped back to face forward once more and she saw a tall, dark figure looming before her. With a squeal she tried to change direction, to go around the figure, but she was too close. With a thump she piled into him head-on, her small shoulder driving directly into his midsection and sending both of them onto the floor.

The moment her fingers touched the cloth of his robe, she realized that she had just tackled one of the Jedi Knights or Masters that walked the Temple late at night. Normally she would have been scared out of her wits by how she had just breached the stern rules that the Jedi Temple laid on its Initiates, but the terror at what she had Seen overrode that and she clung to the Knight fiercely, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed into the comforting bulk.

She heard a word. It was an interesting word-- at least, it sounded interesting; she'd never heard a word like that. She heard it again, accompanied by another, even more-interesting sounding word followed by a groan of pain. The voice sounded familiar; it comforted her, and slowly her sobs diminished, even as she hugged the Jedi tighter. He wouldn't let any of Them hurt her, that she was sure.

The familiar voice returned, and she pulled away slightly, letting her arms go slack as she stood and prepared to explain herself. But her explanations shattered as she saw the face of the Jedi she had tackled. The face that was instantly recognizable from the HoloNetNews; while Master Nu did not encourage the Younglings to watch the News, she had seen enough to recognize this face. The Hero With No Fear!

He didn't look so heroic, now, sitting on the floor rubbing his rear end and looking annoyed, and she hastily jumped to her feat and tried to babble an apology. But the apology met unshed tears and a lump in her throat with predictable results. “Kn-Knight S-Sky-walk-ker,” she managed to get out before her lips sealed themselves shut.

His voice was annoyed too. “Why are you out this late, Initiate? Master Nu would have told you to go to sleep.”

“I s-saw a dark m-man!” She forced herself to say, before she started sobbing again. The look on the Knight's face turned from annoyance to confusion as he got up and-- very hesitantly-- put an arm around her, his hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

“A dark man?” He asked her. “Where was he?”

She didn't want to tell him-- she knew it would sound so foolish, to the Hero With No Fear-- but the lightsaber dangling from his belt reassured her; he had seen a thousand terrors and faced them all, certainly he could conquer Them. “I s-saw them in my d-dream,” she said, trying to sniffle away her tears.

“Did you eat too much nerfmeat last night?” He asked, the confusion turning more into annoyance again.

“No!” She surprised herself with the vehemence of that remark. “M-master Yoda tau-taught us about Force v-visions,” she said, her voice growing more steady as she stared up at him. “I Saw Them, Knight Skywalker! I Saw Them!”

His hand tightened on her arm, and his voice dropped a register, resonating sharply as his other hand twitched in a strange movement. “Are you sure?”

She blinked; it was as if she wanted to tell him the absolute truth, and she looked down at the ground for a moment. But she had Seen Them! She had! “Y-yes, sir! I Saw a dark man,” she shivered, “And men with w-white clothes and blasters! They were chasing me through the Temple!”

But to her dismay, the Knight's face settled into annoyance and another emotion that an adult might have called "condescension." "You just ate too much last night and had a bad dream. Go back to bed, and when you wake up in the morning, it will all be better."

She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, smearing tears across her face, and looked up at him again, her lip quivering. She wanted him to listen, to understand, and to tell the Masters. They would listen to him-- they wouldn't listen to her even though she was right! But he wasn't going to listen, and she felt another sob start. "Y-yes K-Knight Skywalker," she said hastily.

The Hero With No Fear nodded. “Can you find your way back to your dormitory?”

“Yes, Knight Skywalker.” She told him sadly.

“Good.” He released his grip and began to walk away. Then a thought struck him, and he stopped in his tracks. “Initiate, what is your name?”

She had been turning away to go back to the dormitories. Now she blinked. The Hero wanted to know her name?

“Cas-- I mean, Cassandra, Knight Skywalker.” She squared her small shoulders and looked him straight in the eye, willing him to remember her name. “Cassandra Troyus.”