𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐋𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐘

𝟎𝟎𝟐. 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤

002. AFRAID OF THE DARK

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"ARI!"

The girl's head snapped up from the table. She blinked a few times before focusing on Caleb. She frowned; however, the yawn that erupted from her mouth interrupted her irritated expression. "You scared me half to death, Dume."

"You dozed off."

"And?"

"This isn't healthy, Ari," Zeraphina hesitantly gave her opinion, "You haven't slept in over two weeks."

"Three, actually," Jacen corrected, "She hasn't slept since Devaron."

"Look, I'm," she yawned in the middle of her statement, "fine."

The three of them looked at her unconvinced.

"I'm serious!" she protested.

"Maybe you should call off your next session with Master Krell," Zeraphina suggested, "You already trained with him earlier this morning."

"Master Krell says I have potential," she provided an excuse and slowly rose from the table, "But I'll only unlock it by training... I'll catch up with you guys later."

Zeraphina looked as if she wished to console her. "Ari—"

"See ya!" Ari quickly interrupted and walked toward the training rooms before anything else could be said.

It had been three weeks since she'd gotten a decent night's sleep. Although she'd occasionally dozed off, she refrained from sleeping as much as she could to avoid the eyes that haunted her dreams. She couldn't relive that moment over even one more time.

Krell and the Shadow Squadron were waiting for her when she arrived. She wasn't quite sure what she'd missed, but the boys were more tense than she was used to seeing them. Bits wouldn't even lift his eyes from the ground. Nor did she receive her usual greeting from Burst.

"Master..."

"Padawan Delaway," Krell greeted her
formally.

Without instruction, Arimiya took her place in the center of the room. She turned her saber on and as Krell turned the lights off, its blue hue illuminated the room. Her heartbeat quickened for she knew those red eyes lurked around every dark corner. She turned slowly in a circle before facing Krell once more. He nodded and the training exercise began.

She barely had time to dodge the first laser shot in her direction. Bits offered an apologetic glance as the beam landed mere inches from her feet. However, he was quickly reprimanded.

"Trooper, didn't I say to aim toward her heart?"

"But what if—"

"Then she learns," Krell harshly interrupted Bits.

A few lazy blasts came from Ace's direction, but she blocked those with ease. Skid looked uncomfortable holding his own blaster. Although the medic knew how to skillfully use the weapon, that didn't mean he preferred it over his medpack. She blocked his shots as well. However, the next laser grazed her shoulder. She lowered her saber as she grimaced.

Seeing that he'd hurt her, Burst rushed forward in concern. He tossed his helmet to the ground and kneeled in front of her. "Are you alright?"

She nodded her head as she looked at the burn through the tear in her robes. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." She wasn't, but she also wasn't going to tell him that. He felt bad enough as it was.

Ace was up in Krell's face quicker than anyone thought possible. "This is why we don't use actual blaster fire!"

Krell leaned over and looked down at the captain with a sneer. "What was your name?"

"Captain Ace."

It was the first time that she'd ever heard him refer to himself by his rank. He remained stoic as he looked at the Jedi with pure anger on his face. It was also the most emotion anyone had seen out of him in weeks.

Krell shook his head with disgust. "No, the designated number you were given."

Ace's heated expression staggered at the look of pure contempt that he received from Krell. "CT-4031..."

"You and your men are dismissed, CT-4031."

Ace glowered but gestured toward the others to follow him from the room with a nod of his head. He glanced back at Krell one last time before walking back in the direction of the barracks. Bits quickly followed Ace out of the room, but kept his eyes trained on the ground. Burst cast a glanced look at the burn before rising to his feet and following after Bits.

"Stop by later and I'll get you a bacta patch," Skid whispered as he walked past her.

Krell straightened the moment they were gone and approached her. One set of his arms were casually folded together behind his back. He walked in a circle before standing still in front of her. He gestured for her to rise.

"Since your squad cannot follow orders, we will have to adapt this session."

Arimiya nodded her head, not daring to disagree, and weakly lifted her saber. At this point, the fatigue had finally caught up to her and she was struggling to remain awake just standing there. Krell raised an eyebrow but didn't question her actions. He pulled out a pair of lightsaber hilts; however, rather than just the usual single blades, each hilt ejected two beams of light.

He didn't hesitate to charge. He moved swiftly as he attacked her. She struggled to deflect each placed blow, and she knew he was only moving at a fourth of his speed. When he managed to knock her blade aside to the ground, she was rewarded with an additional burn to the arm that had previously been shot. She bit her lip to hide the pain from showing.

She closed her eyes, but they immediately flashed back open; however, the red eyes were still there. Her breathing quickened, and her eyes skittishly darted back and forth across the room. Krell turned off his sabers and bent down to look her in the eyes.

"You're afraid."

She froze. It was as if saw right through her and could see the very thing plaguing her mind. She tried to rise to her feet, but Krell placed a hand on her shoulder to keep her in place. She sighed and looked down at the ground. Krell cleared his throat and she looked up to meet his gaze.

"I'm sorry, Master... I know Master Yoda constantly warns the younglings of fear as a path to the darkside." She began to recite the phrase that she, along with many others, had been forced to memorize, "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to—"

"Use it."

She stopped in confusion and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Don't let it control you, but use the rage that fills your spirit to push you to be better," Krell explained, "R'avida T'arcona was many things, but she was not a coward. I never would have allowed it."

Arimiya slowly nodded her head.

"You're dismissed for the evening," Krell folded his hands behind his back, "Get some rest. We have another early morning tomorrow."

"More training?" she asked half-heartedly.

He shook his head. "No, we've been dispatched."

Arimiya looked up in interest. "Where to?"

"Umbara."