Featured song:

1. "Alone Part 2" by Alan Walker and Ava Max
Warning: Gets a bit intense later in this chapter. Nothing graphic, but it may scare some more sensitive readers
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The curtains went up, the crowd cheering as the lights began to shine.

"Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for the galaxy's favorite couple... former solo singer Count Crescendo and his new partner Countess Cadenza!"

Purple lights lit the stage. And onto the stage appeared Count Crescendo, his outfit in many shades of purple, his hair colored violet and lavender to match.

Crescendo:

We were young, posters on the wall

Praying we're the ones that the teacher wouldn't call

We would stare at each other

'Cause we were always in trouble

And all the cool kids did their own thing

I was on the outside, always looking in

Yeah, I was there but I wasn't

They never really cared if I was in

And onto the stage appeared a woman dressed in an outfit the same color as Crescendo's, except hers was in the form of a dress with an illusion neckline, leggings, and jeweled boots, and her hair covering her face was topped with a big white sparkle rose. And she wore sparkly purple lipstick.

Underneath the mask she was known as Caroline Mitchell-Jinn, but on stage, she was now known as Countess Cadenza.

Cadenza:

We all need that someone

Who gets you like no one else

Right when you need it the most

We all need a soul to rely on

A shoulder to cry on

A friend through the highs and the lows

Cadenza was a great dancer like Count Crescendo. As they performed, each took turns showing off his or her own moves, and then dancing together as a pair.

I'm not gonna make it alone

La-la-la-la-la la

La-la-la-la-la 'lone

I'm not gonna make it alone

La-la-la-la-la la

La-la-la-la-la 'lone

Crescendo dipped Cadenza and smiled at her.

Crescendo:

Then I saw your face, your forgiving eyes

Looking back at me from the other side

Like you understood me

And I'm never letting you go, oh

We all need that someone

Who gets you like no one else

Right when you need it the most

We all need a soul to rely on

A shoulder to cry on

A friend through the highs and the lows

I'm not gonna make it alone

La-la-la-la-la la

La-la-la-la-la 'lone

I'm not gonna make it alone

La-la-la-la-la la

La-la-la-la-la 'lone

Both:

I'm not gonna make it alone

La-la-la-la-la la

La-la-la-la-la 'lone

I'm not gonna make it alone

La-la-la-la-la la

La-la-la-la-la 'lone

I'm not gonna make it alone

La-la-la-la-la-la 'lone

I'm not gonna make it alone

La-la-la-la-la la

La-la-la-la-la 'lone

This new song, it was fitting for this time the couple. Being separated from the rest of their family, all they had was each other, their babies, and Carmine's adoptive mother. They needed each other now more than ever.

'Cause you are that someone

That gets me like no one else

Right when I need it the most

And I'll be the one you rely on

A shoulder to cry on

A friend through the highs and the lows

And for a big finish, Crescendo and Cadenza held hands and ended the performance with a passionate kiss.

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Lamenta watched from the V.I.P. seats with Ms. Susy and Baby Charlotte while her parents were performing. It felt a lot like old times, except this time she was with someone besides her parents' staff.

Charlotte chewed on her favorite lion rattle while her grandma was holding her.

"Your mommy and daddy are singing and dancing tonight, Lottie." Susy cooed.

Charlotte cooed and babbled in response.

The youngest of this branch of the Jinn family was too young to fully comprehend why they were on the road.

Back when it was just her and her parents, Lamenta always wished she had a baby brother or sister on tour to play with, sing songs with, and sit with her in the V.I.P. seats so she wouldn't be lonely. And she got her wish, but what she had to go through for that to happen, she didn't like it one bit. Now it also meant she had to be away from her cousins, the first friends she ever had. She had Ms. Susy to help her continue her ballet practice, but she had to leave behind her best friend... Lee Ali, and she didn't even get to say goodbye. She could sometimes see Lee Ali when she entered her dreams, but it just wasn't the same.

But, sometime during the show, Lamenta did get an idea.

Lamenta told her granny she needed to go to the bathroom, but she really went out to find a call station. She took out a couple of credits and put in the right frequency.

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Back on Naboo, Lee Ali was feeling depressed, and not because her sister Naya was away for school. A while back, she heard that the royal family vanished without a trace, and so far the only time anyone saw them was on the news report regarding Omega as well as several others' disappearances.

School just wasn't the same without Goldie, Gabby, Mona, or Lamenta. Lamenta especially. Not even Yappy could comfort Lee Ali in this time of need. First, her grandma died, and now her best friend was God knows where. She started to wonder if Lamenta forgot all about her by now. She was about to go and just lay in bed by herself, when she heard the phone ringing, and then her mom answered it.

"Lee Ali, could you come here, please?" Mrs. Hartem called.

Lee Ali reluctantly left the room and approached her mother, who passed her the phone, saying it was for her.

"Hello?"

"Lee Ali. Hi." said a voice rather quietly.

Lee Ali's eyes went wide as she recognized the voice.

"Lamenta? Is that you?"

"Sure is."

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe it! Where are you? How are you? Are you okay? Everyone said you disappeared!"

"I'm doing okay, thanks. I can't tell you where I am now for my family's safety. I probably shouldn't even be calling you, but I just had to talk to you again. Nothing's the same since we left. I miss you. You're the best friend I could ever hope for, and I could never forget you if I tried."

"I miss you too, Lamenta. I love you too. Ever since I met you, I feel like we're long-lost sisters. And ballet class just isn't the same without you as my dancing partner."

"Yeah. My granny Susy is a great teacher, but I miss when we practiced together."

"Do you have any idea when you're gonna come back?"

"Honestly... I don't know. My parents said it could be a while, and that's why we keep moving from place to place like we did before. I don't even know where the others are, but I miss them too."

Unfortunately, Lamenta didn't have much time left to talk, or even before Susy would notice she'd been gone for a while. So, she said one last thing to Lee Ali before hanging up.

"Be safe, Lee Ali. Don't forget me, and I won't forget you. We're two little swans."

"Birds of a feather, best friends forever." Lee Ali said with Lamenta.

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Sometime after the show, Caroline tucked Lamenta into her bed in their trailer while Carmine rocked Charlotte to sleep. Caroline lifted a special bar that was equipped so Lamenta wouldn't accidentally roll out of bed.

"I still can't believe this was how you lived before," said Susy.

"Yup." Carmine said, placing Charlotte in a special crib to sleep while the trailer was moving. "Except back then, we could just enjoy ourselves after each show. Now, we're more on the run than traveling."

It saddened this branch of the family that they were separated this long. Since meeting his twin, whenever Carmine left his daughters with Anakin, he could holo-call him and video chat with anyone in the family so Lamenta wouldn't be as anxious being away from her parents. But since the family had to stay separated for safety reasons, they couldn't even do that.

Lamenta heard her parents talking about this stuff as she lay in her bed with her eyes open. As much as her parents tried to hide it, she knew they were sad. Nothing was the same since the family separated, and with Omega missing... what could they do now?

Lamenta didn't fall asleep until everyone else had, and then, Lamenta started to dream.

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Lamenta found herself walking through a forest of many different trees. One half of the forest had trees that had green leaves, as well as names and pictures of different people hanging from their trunks, and they stood under a sunny blue sky. On the other half, the trees had clouds in place of leaves; they had names and pictures on them too. Some of them were white, others were gray, and on one occasion, the cloud was black and thundering. Those trees sat under a starry night sky.

Lamenta decided to pass through the nighttime side of the forest. It had been a while since she entered her cousins' dreams; she decided to see if they were sleeping so she could enter their dreams.

As good fortune would have it, Boba and Gabby were both asleep. Lamenta took a moment to decide who she should visit first. Ultimately, she went with Boba because his cloud was grey and starting to rain, indicating he was having an emotional dream. It didn't surprise Lamenta that much because... well, his twin was missing, the first biological family member he had in the family, his other half in the family.

Unlike the daytime trees, the nighttime ones had doors on them. Lamenta placed her hand on Boba's and entered.

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Boba was dreaming he was in a maze of stone. And for some reason, he found himself dressed in a toga with a crown of leaves on his head like he was in a Greek myth or something.

"Hello?" Boba called.

Only his echo responded.

"Anyone?"

"Boba?" a female voice called.

"Omega?" Boba gasped. This time, he shouted louder. "Omega!"

Boba heard his sister calling him over and over again, and he ran through the maze until he saw a shadow approaching. He thought it was Omega, so he ran around the corner to see her, but it wasn't Omega... it was a minotaur!

The minotaur roared and Boba ran through the maze, screaming like a little girl... until he saw a flash and the minotaur disappeared. Boba fell down and looked back in shock as he saw... Lamenta!

"Boba! Are you alright?"

"Lamenta!" Boba ran over and hugged his cousin. "Wait, are you part of my dream, or is it really you?"

"It's really me, Boba." Lamenta said.

But, Boba needed to be sure. So, he concentrated and dreamed up a scoop of licorice ice cream on a cone.

"Want some ice cream?"

"Boba, you know I don't like licorice!"

"It's you alright." Boba threw the ice cream away and hugged his sister again. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you."

"I missed you too, cous."

Boba immediately told Lamenta that he was waiting for her to show up, and not because he was having a nightmare. He explained to Lamenta the issue with finding Omega and how he and Gabby hypothesized that Omega was being held in a magic-proof prison, and they recalled from one of Garrett's lessons that dreams were the one thing that could surpass them. Lamenta, however, didn't need any further explanation to know what her cousin was implying.

"So, you want me to find Omega's dreams and make sure she's okay." Lamenta concluded.

"Exactly. If you could also try to find Comedia, Myra, Vince, Crosshair, Rory, Maybelle, Mila, and/or Remix, that would be helpful too."

"I'll see what I can find." Lamenta promised.

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So, Lamenta looked through the forest through as many trees as she could find. There were so many people sleeping. But eventually, she found Omega's dream tree. Hers was cloudy and rainy too.

Lamenta immediately went inside and she found Omega, to her great surprise, sitting in an empty space. She was crying.

"Omega?"

Omega gasped, then she looked up and saw...

"Lamenta!"

Omega ran and hugged her cousin.

"Boy, am I glad to see you. Even if I am dreaming."

"Right back at you. Are you okay? What's happened? Where are you? In the real world, I mean."

"I don't really know." Omega said. "I was knocked out when Hemlock and his men took me. And I wasn't the only victim."

Omega explained to Lamenta how she found everyone tied up and trapped, and since disappearing, Mariverde had been doing something unspeakable to all of them. Mariverde didn't appear intent on killing any of them, but Mariverde did threaten to track down and harm their families if they did not cooperate.

"What is she making you do?" Lamenta asked.

Unfortunately, before Omega could answer, white light started to appear, indicating Omega was waking up!

"Oh no! Not now!" Omega gasped.

Omega tried to grab Lamenta's hand and stay asleep, but she and her cousin were quickly pulled apart and gone in a flash.

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Omega woke up with a gasp and she lay back on her cot and started to cry.

"Quit your crying, Blondie!" said a woman's voice. "It's your turn to get in the room with your boyfriend."

Omega was grabbed and pulled away.

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Now Omega was laying in a canopy bed with Benni. The same one where Crosshair and Rory were in before. They were forced to undress and get into the bed to do... stuff. Luckily, since they were under a blanket, the two teens could at least give the illusion. There was no way Benni was going to risk Omega's parents killing him later for doing this kind of thing for real.

Nonetheless, it was still traumatizing, knowing they were being watched and their families were being threatened.

By the time they were told they could stop, Benni and Omega were relieved they could stop faking having a... special night, and just lay down.

"How long do you think she's gonna keep making us do this?" Benni whispered.

"I don't know." Omega said.

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It wasn't any better when it was Vince and Myra. Like the other couple, they stayed under the blanket the whole time, and Vince put his pants back on underneath so no one would see they were faking it too.

"I always thought we'd do this someday, but not like this." Vince said.

"Quit yapping and let's get it over with." Myra said.

Vince kissed Myra, both as part of this deed they were forced to do, but also hoping it would bring him and Myra some bits of comfort.

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The ones who probably had it the hardest were Remix and Comedia. Unlike the humans, they couldn't hide under the blankets.

Comedia and Remix could both be heard crying from outside the room whenever the last couple was escorted from the room and then separated.

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Lamenta tried to enter Omega's dreams again to find out what Mariverde was doing to her and the others. She even tried to enter the others' dreams, but their sleep patterns were pretty irregular, and because she was moving from time zone to time zone, there was no guarantee she was asleep at the same time as they were. But, she did start to take notes of when she did manage to find their dreams before they woke up. Still, she was unable to find their dreams when they would be asleep long enough to tell her where they were and what Mariverde was doing to them.

However, Lamenta did manage to get a message through the rest of the family's dreams. She let them and the others' families know they were all okay, but they were also terrified.

"I don't know what Mariverde's making them do or why," said Lamenta.

The families were at least relieved their kids were alive, and the Caballos and the rest of the Batch relieved Crosshair and Maybelle were alive.

But... Hunter, Wrecker, and Echo couldn't help feeling sad for Mila. She was finally pregnant with the baby she and Tech had tried so hard to have, and now it looked like Tech wouldn't be there to see his son or daughter be born.

For now, all they could do was hope and pray for a miracle.

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Earlier, in a river far away...

The water in the river was raging. Not a creature was in sight. Chirps of a bird could be heard, but nothing else seemed to occur... until out from the water popped a silver hoof planting itself onto the land. And attached to that hoof was the body of a white and silver pegasus filly, who pulled herself out from the water with a gasp.

The young pegasus coughed and sputtered, and then she looked around and saw another life form in the water, prompting her to jump back into the water and pull him out with her teeth, dragging him onto the dirt.

Diamond nudged the other life form with her muzzle and placed her hoof against the side of his neck.

"Don't you die on me!"

Diamond pressed her two front hooves on the human's chest and started to perform CPR... at least the best a horse could.

"Come on, breathe already! Stay with me!"

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If you didn't Mariverde was psycho before, just wait until you learn what she's planning.

Next chapter, we finally enter the third and final season of The Bad Batch. I was so sad that the show ended.

I hope you're enjoying this story. Please review