Out of Time [Star Wars Story]

18. Visions in the Night

Lorash!

The scream of terror and horror shattered Lorash's nightmares into fragments, though it was not a clean waking. She lashed out with an fist as she thrashed in bed, striking out at the dark presences in her dreams. The difference was that this time, she connected with something hard before suddenly being unable to move. A light switched on near the head of the bed. The solid physical contact snapped her tear-flooded eyes open and she found herself looking up at Seia, the sith's expression unreadable in the low light as she cupped her hand to catch the blood falling from her freshly split lip.

The glow of the red lightsaber flashing against green was gone. The cries of the twins were absent, only her own harsh breathing filling the air with sound. Even the choking, gasping struggle of her master that had seemed so viscerally real in front of her was nowhere to be seen. She was still on the ship, shaking and crying in her own bed.

Lorash couldn't bring herself to even stammer an apology for striking Seia. Instead, the tears that were already pouring intensified at the sight. It was already starting.

You will destroy everything you love, her own voice whispered to her.

Seia used her sleeve to staunch the bleeding for a moment before rolling her lip to between her teeth, catching the blood in her own mouth. Without saying anything, she released the bind on Lorash and then pulled the crying young woman up into her arms. Lorash tried to struggle away, but Seia was strong enough to hold the jedi padawan tight against her chest with one arm, leaving a hand free to stroke Lorash's hair.

"It was a dream, Lorash," Seia rasped softly, voice so quiet it was almost lost among the sobs. She threaded her fingers through Lorash's hair when the young woman stopped struggling, tucking Lorash's head under her chin.

For a moment, even the roiling conflict in the Force that always surrounded Seia felt comforting and safe. Lorash couldn't help the selfishness of just wanting reassurance for an instant, the way she leaned into the touch and clung tightly to Seia's shirt. "I killed him!" The horror of the image replayed itself too clearly in her mind, over and over: bleeding crimson kyber burning in one hand, the crushing power of bind flowing through the other as she destroyed Vori's throat the way she had seen Seia do to others.

"You did nothing of the sort," Seia said with her customary bluntness, even though the brush of her thumb against Lorash's temple was almost jarringly soft. "You have not left this bed all night."

Lorash felt like she was going to throw up. "Then it hasn't happened yet."

"It was a dream," Seia said more softly.

You know that was more than a dream. Just like the feeling of the lightsaber through your chest. Nabeila is right about her, about all of the sith, Lorash's conscience whispered.

"I know it was real." Lorash struggled away as the dream played over again in her minds' eye. "You were there laughing!"

An unfamiliar expression flashed across Seia's face for a moment, gone so quickly that Lorash couldn't even identify what it was. "Lorash, listen to me–"

She's lying. Sith are only satisfied by destruction and chaos. She wants you to believe you're safe with her so she can corrupt you, so she can make you fall.

"No!" Lorash felt the tears building again. "I'm not some toy you can play with and break, Seia, or a pet you can lead around by the collar! I'm not going to fall!"

Seia struggled with herself for a moment, biting back whatever words were her first reply. "That is not how I think of you," she said evenly after a moment's pause. "Nor is it what I would ask of you."