CHAPTER EIGHT
THE CAVE

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After everything she'd been through, Aliss was starting to wonder if she'd gone her whole life misunderstanding the definition of the world miracle. She'd thought meeting Ivan was a miracle because he'd saved her from her awful home life, he'd been the one to take her away from it and bring her somewhere safe. But as she coughed through the cloud of dust kicked up by all the falling boulders, somehow miraculously alive and without further injuries, she wondered if it was just good luck which had brought her to Ivan. Because how could that be a miracle when she'd survived a meteor shower which was supposed to kill her, a Sith breaking into the Jedi Temple to try and kill her, a ship crashing and now a landslide or cave-in of some kind. On top of everything she'd been through before being dumped into a fictional universe.

Once everything had stopped falling, the rocks had all settled down enough they didn't fall in on them when Aliss' barrier dissipated. She continued coughing as she tried to catch her breath, batting at the dust to try and get it away from her so she wasn't breathing it in. She stood up, taking a few steps away and looking back at the still unconscious body of Atlas.

It truly was uncanny how much he looked like Ivan. They could've been twins if they weren't from different universes. Laying there, he looked more like Ivan than she'd ever seen since arriving here. She could almost make herself believe she was at home, watching her boyfriend as he slept and wondering how she got so lucky. It was only the lingering pain from the bruises he'd given her and the Sith robes he wore that kept her from being able to totally believe it.

"That's what's so tragic about it," she heard Ivan's voice in her head. "Palpatine had been manipulating Anakin for practically his whole life. He never had a chance, not really..."

"But how could he have never had a chance?" her own voice echoed back to her. "He had Padmé and Obi-Wan and even Ahsoka right there who showed him time and time again they cared about him and could protect themselves! They saved him enough that he had to know that! How could Palpatine have convinced him they couldn't?"

"Because Palpatine was in his head. No one just becomes a Sith, Aliss. No normal person just looks at what they are and do and decides that's the path for them. They're manipulated into it. And unlike the Jedi, the Sith aren't above using the Force to their advantage to plant doubt."

She'd believed he could be saved not that long ago. Hours maybe. She'd believed not just that, but she could be the one to save him, that she was the one. Ivan had saved her once and she'd never been able to repay the favour. Perhaps this was how she could do it. Perhaps saving Atlas, a man who looked just like the man she loved, was how she repaid that debt to the universe.

Aliss turned away, looking further into the cave they'd crashed into. There was only one way to go from here, the opposite to the place the ship had crashed into. They would have to hope the crash hadn't sealed off the only way out. Aliss took a deep breath in and closed her eyes. The Force will guide me, she told herself. It would guide them on their way out, their way to safety.

Behind her, she heard the sound of a lightsaber igniting and turned quickly. Atlas was now on his feet, holding his lightsaber out towards her. His stance was unsteady, he still wasn't strong enough to hold himself up. If it came down to it, which Aliss really hoped it wouldn't, she knew there would be no contest between them in a fight. He wasn't strong enough to fight.

"Where have you taken me?" he demanded.

"Easy, Atlas," she said, holding her hands up. "The ship crashed. I carried you out. Then the ship exploded and I protected us both from the force of the explosion and the rock slide that followed."

"You... why would you do that?" Atlas asked.

"Because you would have died otherwise."

Atlas shook his head, trying to process what she was telling him. Aliss understood what was going through his head at this moment, it was the same thing going through hers when Ivan had told her she was worthy of being saved, of being loved. It had taken her a long time to believe him and she wished she had the time to help Atlas through this the way she should, the way he deserved, but if they were going to make it out of this cave alive... well, she would have to fast track this.

"I know you've been told I'm the enemy, that all Jedi are the enemy, but right now, I am not your enemy. We can figure out what the future holds for us later but right now we have to work together to make our way out of this cave. We can only do this if we work together or we'll both die here and I don't know about you, but after all the work I just did to save us both, I don't really wanna die."

He paused, considering this. She kept her hands up, barely moved as she watched him consider her words. She didn't want to give him any reason to think she was lying.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of silence between them, Atlas lowered his lightsaber and Aliss was able to breathe a little easier. He didn't power it off and she was oddly okay with that. Not only did she want him to feel as comfortable as possible but more importantly, it was a source of light in the dark cave. She could only hope he wouldn't freak out too much if she used hers for an additional source of light.

"Thank you," she said. "Now, I would propose a truce and a pact that we both won't attack or do anything to intentionally harm the other until we're out of here. Just to give us both some peace of mind about it since neither of us really trust each other. I mean, no offense, but Sith are kinda known for betraying people."

It was a risky move, but to her surprise, Atlas actually laughed. Hearing him laugh, hearing anything beyond the serious and menacing voice he'd been speaking to her with thus far only further reminded her of Ivan.

"A truce, then," he said. "Until we get out of here, we are no longer enemies."

Aliss held out a hand for him to shake. It took him a moment longer than expected, but he did reach out and take her hand.

"I'm gonna turn on my lightsaber for some more light," she informed him. "But from what I could see before, I think the cave goes in this direction. It was too dark to see for how far, though."

"Onwards we go, then."

She watched him take the lead as she ignited her lightsaber and blue light clashed with the red from his lightsaber. She wondered how long they could truly survive in the purple light where the colours mixed.

The cave did go on in the direction she'd thought, through a smaller tunnel only a little larger than Aliss and Atlas. He continued to lead, obscuring his face from her and leaving her wondering what he was thinking. Of course, she could just try and read his mind but a breach of trust like that wouldn't get them very far. It certainly wouldn't get them out of here. All Aliss could do was hope he was thinking on her words carefully, realizing how genuine she was being. She wanted to save him, to prove to herself she was put here for a reason and prove to the universe even a Sith could be saved. Luke had saved his father in the end, hadn't he? Why couldn't she do it before they were too far gone?

After minutes of silence as they traversed the narrow passage, it finally opened up in front of them into a larger cavern and Aliss stepped up to the right of Atlas to look at the space in front of them. It was hard to say how large it was, given the light from their lightsabers only extended so far, which meant they'd have to find out by going into the darkness. The idea wasn't one Aliss was fond of, not knowing what they could be walking directly into. She felt some solace, though, in not feeling anything dangerous on their path ahead. Though it was also hard to say if she wasn't being thrown off by the presence of a Sith. And one who'd tried to kill her, to boot.

"What do you think?" she asked Atlas. "I don't sense anything dangerous, but we were just in a crash, maybe I have a concussion."

She was giving him choices, letting him choose their way forward. While it might have been the easiest way to be led into a trap, Aliss also knew being a Sith — especially apprentice to Palpatine — was remarkably like slavery. It was one of the things she remembered Ivan telling her while they watched the movies which hurt her heart the most. Anakin had been a slave his entire life even if they didn't call it slavery. Giving Atlas choices, letting him know she wouldn't simply tell him what to do, was important.

"I cannot see a way through," he said after some consideration. "We might have to take a closer look."

"Solid plan. Do you want to take the left or the right?"

There was another pause as he thought it over. "I will take the left."

"You got it, I'll take the right," she said, giving him a smile and turning to the right of the cavern.

She made a slow examination of the walls of the cavern, looking for an exit or even another passageway which would hopefully lead them out of here. The further she went, the more she once again hoped the ship hadn't crashed into the one entrance of this cave. Having to blast their way out was not an ideal option, it was just likely to end with them buried alive. Again.

Finally, after nearly making it across the entire cavern, the wall broke and revealed a passage leading out. She smiled and took a few steps inside, holding her lightsaber out in front of her to further shine the light in front of her. Satisfied it went somewhere, Aliss immediately backtracked to tell Atlas of what she found and was surprised to find him at the entrance to the passageway she'd found.

"Found a passage," she told him, gesturing to it behind her.

"I thought you were leaving me behind," he said.

"Oh!" she said, realizing what it must have looked like, her ducking into the passage without telling him. "No, no, sorry. I wanted to be sure it went somewhere and wasn't a, uh, what's the word, uh, alcove or anything. Sorry, head's still a little scrambled. But it seems like it actually goes somewhere. That or it's a really deep alcove."

Atlas stared at her for a moment, his brow furrowed. She gave him a smile and then laughed and shook her head.

"I rambled at you, you're not used to it. I do that," she told him, then gestured to the passage once again. "Lead the way."

He didn't say anything, just nodded and headed down the passageway. She bit her lip so she wouldn't start laughing, mostly at herself, but also a bit at his reaction to her, and followed after him. It was easy for her to forget, especially with her head scrambled from the crash, how Atlas wasn't Ivan and he wasn't used to her little quirks. It had taken him some time to get used to the way she did or said things, too. She couldn't expect Atlas to just be used to her simply because he looked like someone who was.

"I am never going to be more thankful to see sunlight again as I will when we get out of this cave or mountain or whatever it is," Aliss said. "We used to have storms which would last for days back home but even with those you'd at least have daylight when the sun was hidden behind storm clouds."

She was rambling again, but this time it was on purpose. She wanted to put Atlas more at ease and sometimes just talking about anything unimportant was the best way to do that. Make him forget about Jedi and Sith and who's the enemy and who's not. Talk about the sun and anything else which isn't important. Make him comfortable and maybe he'll open up to her in return.

"Not that I remember my home all that much," she continued. "I wasn't living there for long, but it's hard to forget those storms. Or the way the sun broke through the clouds when the storms finally ended. The smell in the air just after it stopped raining was the best thing, I swear. Nothing can compare to it."

Atlas remained silent, just as she had expected. She wasn't leaving much space for responses to what she was saying but she wasn't trying to. He wasn't supposed to answer, at least not yet. He was just supposed to listen.

"Do you have any good memories of your home? Where are you from, anyways?" she asked him.

"Naboo," he told her.

He hadn't answered the first question. That was on purpose.

"Same as the Chancellor, nice. That must be how you got your job. It's a good job, cushy. I mean you are set for life if you work for the Chancellor. He's the most important person in the Republic so it's gotta pay well. Plus Senator Amidala is from there as well and she's a badass, so they've gotta have something good in the water on that planet. Aside from the Gungans, of course."

Atlas stopped in front of her and she almost bumped into him before he turned around to face her with an almost exasperated look.

"Do you always talk this much?"

"Pretty much."

"Fantastic..."

He turned around once again and started walking but Aliss smiled as she followed him. He hadn't told her to stop and he hadn't threatened her. In fact, he'd only looked vaguely annoyed by her rambling. She would call that progress.

They walked on for a little while longer through the narrow passage, no sign of light ahead of them. Aliss realized now was as good a time as any to try a somewhat different tactic to try and get through to Atlas. He had responded well thus far to everything she'd tried. It was time to bring out the big guns.

"You know... I knew a man called Ivan once," she started, causing Atlas to stop once again and turn to face her. "He was important to me. I loved him, in fact. Which, I know, Jedi aren't supposed to love, but Ivan was different. He was... important."

"Then why do you keep calling me by his name?" Atlas asked.

"Because you look like him."

She powered off her lightsaber and clipped it to her belt once more, stepping up so she was right in front of Atlas. And when she was there she reached out a single hand for his face, both shocked and relieved when he actually let her touch him. She held his cheek gently in her hand and ran her thumb over his cheekbone.

"You could be his twin, really," she went on in a soft voice. "It's uncanny. It's why I trust you. It makes me believe there's something good in you, something beyond just being the Chancellor's little pet."

"I am nobody's pet," Atlas snapped, but there was no real anger behind his words.

"Do you truly believe that?" she asked him in the same soft voice. "Do you really believe he hasn't just been manipulating you this whole time?"

Once again, he didn't seem to have an answer but she didn't really want him to answer her. She just wanted to plant a seed of doubt in his mind about his master, if Palpatine truly had the best of intentions. To keep it to just that, when Aliss continued talking, she kept the topic away from his master.

"Ivan's still helping me to this day, you know. I haven't seen him in what feels like years and I don't think I'll ever see him again, but he's still helping me," she explained, running her thumb over his cheekbone once again. "His advice and his wisdom is the only reason I'm still alive. I wouldn't have made it to meeting you if not for him."

"What happened to him?" Atlas asked. A surprise, to be sure, but not an unwelcome one.

"It's not really something I like to talk about," she said, finally dropping her hand from his cheek. "We're separated by more than just lightyears now."

There was a beat of silence between them as Aliss kept her gaze downward. She was truly torn up about possibly never getting to see Ivan again and she hoped Atlas could sense that. While she did still have hope they'd be reunited some day, she knew the day it would happen was a long time from now, if the day ever even were to come.

"We should keep moving," Atlas said finally. "If we ever want to make it out of here."

"Right, of course," Aliss said, looking up at him with a forced smile. "Lead the way."

Atlas nodded and turned away from her, continuing forward down the passage. Aliss ignited her lightsaber again for the additional light and followed him, hoping soon they would see a distant light and come out into the open once again.

It was a long and silent walk. Aliss hoped Atlas was thinking about everything she'd said. She hoped he was reconsidering his place with Palpatine as a Sith. She hoped she'd done enough to save him. Truly, she didn't know if her rushed attempt was equal to the years of therapy Atlas so clearly needed, but without the option of sending him to therapy and the limited time she had with him, this was all she could do. In all reality, she didn't even know if there were therapists here, let alone one she could send a recovering Sith to.

They kept walking.

If Aliss was right and they had somehow crashed into a mountain, it would certainly explain why it was taking them so long to find their way out of it. She didn't even know where they had crashed or where she'd been when she had woken up aboard Atlas' ship. That felt like a lifetime ago but she knew it had only been a few hours. Getting her memories back had been a game changer, really. She probably would have died in the explosion or the cave-in if she hadn't. They both would have. And that wasn't something she wanted to think about at all.

Finally, a dim pinpoint of light appeared in the distance. Hope grew in Aliss' chest as they continued towards it. As the passageway widened as they got closer to the light, Aliss stepped up next to Atlas so they could walk side by side. Before long, the light was large enough they could actually see out of it. And there, in the distance, she could see clouds and mountains.

They'd finally found the way out.

Aliss grabbed Atlas' arm in excitement, looking up at him with a smile. To her surprise and delight, he actually smiled back at her. They both turned off their lightsabers and hurried forward until they passed out into open air again. Aliss didn't even immediately look around to see where they were, she simply closed her eyes and tipped her head up towards the sun, letting its warmth wash over her.

"Aliss."

Startled to hear her name coming from Atlas, she opened her eyes and looked up at him. He nodded towards something in front of him and only then did she follow his line of sight. There, only a hundred or so feet away, was Anakin and Obi-Wan, the ship just behind them.

Really, she should have known they'd be coming for her even after their fight.

Jedi rules be damned, Aliss was so excited to see them she immediately broke out into a sprint. Anakin started running towards her as soon as he saw her running and they met somewhere in the middle where Aliss threw her arms around him in a hug. He held her tightly and she felt herself relax as she rested her head in the crook of his neck. After perhaps what was too long of a hug if you asked any of the Jedi Council, Aliss stepped back and turned towards Obi-Wan, who had caught up with them at some point. They shared a smile and Obi-Wan opened his arms, allowing her to jump into his arms to give him a hug as well, though this one was much shorter.

When she parted from her friends, she turned back towards where Atlas was lingering. Anakin was a bit on the defensive and Atlas looked equally unhappy.

"Is he the Sith who caused the crash?" Anakin asked, a hand on his lightsaber.

"No, no, no," Aliss said quickly.

At the same time she made a discreet hand movement to use the Force to pull Atlas' jacket a little further forward to hide his lightsaber, Atlas moved his arms forward, clasping them in front of himself, also hiding the lightsaber. She could only hope neither of them had managed to notice it yet.

"He's the Chancellor's intern," Aliss continued. "I was wrong about him. I think the Sith died in the crash. Or maybe escaped otherwise, I don't know."

"She hit her head in the crash," Atlas explained.

"Are you okay?" Anakin immediately asked, turning towards her.

"My head's a little scrambled," she admitted. "I don't even remember calling you guys. If I did, I know I meant to but I don't remember even getting out of the cell or why the ship crashed or any of it..."

"We should get you back to the Temple," Obi-Wan said. "We'll have much to discuss."

She turned and looked back at Atlas, giving him a smile. Though his was not as big as hers, he did return her smile. As they turned and headed for the ship, she couldn't help but think her plan had succeeded and she had changed things for the better.

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an. well, this wraps up act one, everybody, thank you so much for reading thus far. I hope you enjoyed this act and I can't wait to get into attack of the clones and show you what I have in store for the rest of this book