Saga Shadows in the Weave | Family of Scoundrels | Angst Challenge #3

Title: Shadows in the Weave
Author: Kit'
Timeframe: 20BBY
Characters: Zallie D'ladame (Jinn), Nicco D'ladame, Kei D'ladame, Taro D'ladame
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Action
Challenge: Angst Challenge #3

Spoiler

(Siblings & Field Medicine)

Author's note: This take place about 6 months after this series of drabbles/ficlets

Summary: It was supposed to be a simple mission - slog through the long-deserted ruins of an ancient Jedi Temple, find the holocron, and get out - but now the D'ladame siblings are facing down a horde of gigantic, hungry insects, the Force isn't co-operating, and one of them is, apparently, losing their mind.

 

There was something about this Temple that was giving Zallie the creeps. They’d snuck through long vacant corridors, and edged their way along crevices where the floor of the ancient structure had fallen victim to the damp darkness of the caves that stretched below. It had taken them longer to find what had been marked on the map as the Archives, and even longer to find the right plinth that Kei’s contact had seen the holocron on.

Zallie wondered why the twi’lek hadn’t collected the holocron himself. She’d pressed her younger brother about it, but Kei had just given one of his annoying chip-toothed smiles and said something about the twi’lek not liking the darkness.

Zallie was beginning to understand why that might be the case.

The shadows flickered on the cavern walls, the figures growing larger and smaller with each movement of the torch. Niches had been carved into the rockface, most empty, some filled with the dusty, tattered remnants of treasures they’d once held. Others held statues; gripped tightly by deposited minerals that collected around their bases, from the tiny rivulets of water that ran between ancient cracks.

She glanced across at Taro who was staring owlishly at the walls of the cavern. She could see the long, thin, branching scar that now ran the length of his arm; a physical reminder of the terror he’d endured while possessed by an ancient entity. The scar had faded into a silvery trail of lightning, but now in the cavern it almost seemed to be glowing.

Zallie shook her head, trying to convince herself that it was nothing but a trick of the light, and concentrated on loosening the deposits that held the ancient holocron in place. Beside her Kei and Nicco were also chipping slowly away at what had probably once been some sort of console before the water and minerals had claimed it.

“Something is out there,” Taro whispered. Making a face, he ran a grubby hand through his fine, blonde hair. “We should get out of here.”

“Taro!” Kei said, glancing across at his twin brother. “Now is not the time for theatrics. We’re almost there just-”

Somewhere, far beyond the flickering edges of the torchlight there was a soft scraping noise. Taro’s light twisted wildly, showing a brief glint of metal from where the foursome had scraped away the detritus.

“Taro, hold the light steady,” Nicco hissed. “I almost took my finger off.”

“Estra said this was a bad idea,” Taro continued. “She was right. Something bad is going to happen. I can feel it.”

Nicco paused, his chisel raised in the air. “What do you think, sprout?” he asked quietly. “Can you feel anything?”

Zallie hesitated, the tip of her own tool scraping against the chalky surface. The weave around them showed nothing except a dull, leadlined black threaded with the more familiar colours of herself and her siblings. She shook her head. “This whole place is giving me the creeps. I figure it's because it’s an old Jedi Temple, not because there is something in here we should be concerned about.”

Nicco nodded and put his hand comfortingly on his younger brother’s shoulder. “See, there’s really nothing to worry about Taro. We grab this old holocron and then we get out of here. In, out, done. Nobody will be any wiser.”

The group lapsed back into silence. Kei managed to wedge the tip of a chisel under the edge of the box. “Almost there,” he grunted.

The light wobbled alarmingly. “Did you hear that,” Taro asked, fear etching his words. “Something just whispered in my ear.”

“No-one was whispering,” Nicco said, opening his bag and pulling out another tool. “No-one has lived here for thousands of years.”

“They said that they’re coming,” Taro said, his voice shaking.

Something scraped on stone in the darkness. Zallie froze.

“They say we need to leave.” Taro looked at his siblings, his eyes wide. “Can’t you hear them talking? They’re taking in my head and I can’t get them out. Can’t you hear?”

Zallie swallowed hard. The weave still showed nothing, and she forced herself to relax and breathe.

“It’s just the darkness,” Zallie said, although she wasn’t sure for whose benefit. “Nothing is here, Taro.”

There was a thump. A trickle of dust danced through the torch light.

Nicco glanced at Zallie. Her normally safe and solid brother suddenly seemed nervous. Taro’s eyes were flicking between the shadows in the corners of the room as

”Maybe it would be best if we leave while we still can.”

“I’ve almost got it,” Kei hissed. “I just need a few more seconds.” He glanced at his twin. “Hang on Taro. We get this holocron and we can afford a new ship.”

The scrabbling noise grew louder. Somewhere in the darkness something chittered.

“We really need to get out of here,” Zallie said, frowning. The Force showed nothing. She was used to the Weave moving, undulating and changing as people and events moved through it, but here it was almost preternaturally still.

“What is it?” Nicco asked, tucking his tools away. “Zallie, what is the Force saying?”

“Nothing,” Zallie said, taking the light out of Taro’s shaking hands. “That’s the problem. It’s saying nothing.”

“What do you mean, nothing?” Nicco asked, bewildered. “There is always something.”

“Nothing,” Zallie repeated. “There is nothing in the weave.”

“Can’t you hear them?” Taro asked her quietly. “They said you as a Jedi should be able to hear them.”

“I’m not a Jedi, silly,” Zallie said. “We’ve talked about this before, just because Mum and Da were Jedi, doesn’t make us one.” She pulled him closer with one arm as if her physical presence might be enough to quell whatever was ailing him.

From one of the passageways that emptied into the chamber the sound of scrabbling grew louder.

“Is that what you can hear?” she asked Taro, releasing her own fear to the still and quiet Force. “It’s just rats or something Taro, nothing we can’t handle.”

“They are coming.” Taro’s voice quavered. “They say they are coming.”

“Who are they, Taro?” Zallie asked.

Taro’s eyes flickered to the shadows of the room. “Can’t you hear them? They’re all around us…”

The scrabbling sound grew louder. It was accompanied by a high-pitched chittering noise that grated on Zallie’s nerves. Nicco drew his blaster.

“What do we do?” Zallie asked, breathlessly. She patted her sides even though she already knew she would find nothing there. “I didn’t bring my blaster.”

“Can’t you just use the Force?” Nicco asked.

“What do you want me to do? Hand wave them away?” Zallie snapped, frowning. “I can’t even feel whatever is coming. I don’t even know who Taro is talking about!”

“You’ve got to be able to do something.”

“Like what?” Zallie asked, glancing around at the smooth walls of the chamber. “If I pull a wall down to block their path, I could bring the whole structure down on us too. Without knowing the entire layout of this place I’m useless.”

“Fine!” Nicco snapped. The sound and the darkness was obviously getting to him too. He glanced at Taro’s pale face and then at Kei who was still working to free the holocron. “Kei! You need to leave that. If we run now we might have a chance.”

“Can’t escape,” Taro said and his voice had an almost sing-song quality to it. He was swaying slightly, his unfocused eyes seemed to stare right through Nicco. “Too late to escape.”

Nicco shuddered.

“If you can hold them off for a minute I should have this free,” Kei said with a grunt.

“Not going to be much use to us if we’re dead,” Nicco said, his voice rising.

“We won’t be,” Kei said, grinning cheerfully in a way that Zallie knew irritated Nicco because it irritated her too. “I have a secret weapon.”

“You’re going to smile them to death?” Zallie asked, annoyed at her brother’s flippancy. She glanced around. “Maybe if we can climb onto one of the higher plinths we can hope they leave us alone. Or distract them somehow.”

“By doing what?” Nicco growled. “Throwing rocks?”

Kei was still smiling cheerfully as if this was nothing more than a game. Zallie wondered how much trouble she’d get in with her parents if she punched him hard enough to chip his other tooth.

“Perhaps we can throw Kei at them,” she snapped. She grabbed Taro by the shoulders and pushed his unresisting body towards one of the higher plinths.

“Here,” Kei said, pulling a long, thin metal cylinder out his pocket. Zallie gasped; whatever was coming up the corridors of the ancient ruin momentarily forgotten.

“That’s mamma’s lightsaber,” she hissed. “If whatever is coming doesn’t kill you, she will. You know the rules. Nearly all of them boil down to not touching that.”

She suddenly had a clear mental image of exactly who would get in trouble for it too; and, seeing as Kei could talk his way out of anything, it probably wouldn’t be her baby brother.

“Had a feeling we might need it,” Kei said, still grinning. He tossed it towards Nicco who caught it easily. “Besides, she won’t know it’s missing.”

“You hope she won’t know,” Nicco said sternly. He turned and threw it towards Zallie. “You use it.”

“I haven’t trained for ages.”

“You’ve got about five seconds to remember,” Nicco said sharply. The noise was no longer an indistinct scrabbling in the distance, now it was the click of hard chitin against stone.

There was a snap hiss and Zallie winced as the room was lit by the eye-searing brightness of a lightsaber. Taro reeled away from the blade. His back hit the stone pillar and he sank down into a ball, jamming his hands over his ears.

“Kei,” Nicco said sternly. “We need to go. The holocron can wait for another time.”

“Two more seconds,” Kei said. He smacked the edge of his chisel one more time and the holocron shifted in its base. “I got it!” he exclaimed triumphantly.

Just as Kei turned, the holocron held tightly in his hands, the creatures poured out of the tunnel, their black exoskeletons gleaming in the glare of the lightsaber. The nearest one reared up , showing its red and white underbelly. Each one sported a pair of horn-like protrusions and their bulbous, red, compound eyes seemed to glare at the four intruders.

“Maybe if we back away slowly we can make it out of here,” Kei said, pocketing the holocron. He edged towards his prone brother.

“Oh, now you want to go,” Nicco huffed.

The insects chittered and chirped at each other as they fanned out across the debris littered floor.

“They’re animals,” Nicco said, frowning. “Can’t you do your thing Zallie?”

“They’re insects,” Zallie snapped. “I can never talk to insects. That’s why I couldn’t feel them in the weave.” The tip of the lightsaber waved menacingly through the air as one of the insects moved to pounce.

“You made friends with a spice spider when you were a kid,” Nicco shot back. “You wanted to keep it as a pet. Why is this different?”

“Because spiders are arachnids not insects,” Zallie pointed out.

“Same, same but different,” Nicco replied, firing his blaster at one of the insects. It hissed at him, its claws slashing through the air and he dived out of the way, tumbling to come up in front of the still prone Taro.

“One has eight legs, the other six. Apparently spiders are smart enough to talk to, insects and older brothers are not.” Zallie shot back. She pivoted on one foot, bringing the lightsaber down hard on one of the insects. The room filled with the smell of burnt ichor as the insect collapsed. “Can we talk about this later? I’d rather not die discussing entomology.”

More insects poured out of the cave entrance. The ground shook and Zallie turned slightly to see Taro had climbed back to his feet. His face was pale and his eyes blank. He was whispering something as his hands twisted in the air. Around him the weave was coming alive with thin silver and red threads. Zallie shuddered; the last time she’d seen it twist in that way was when Taro had been possessed by that ancient entity.

“Taro, stop!” Zallie yelled, panic trembling through her voice. She glanced at Kei who was standing beside his brother, a blaster in his hand. “Kei! Make him stop!”

One of the bugs scuttled towards the boys, its pincers waving menacingly. Kei fired his blaster and the creature dropped writhing on the stone strewn floor.

“Bit busy,” Kei yelled back.

Zallie stabbed at an insect that had gotten too close and gritted her teeth. She wasn’t nearly as deft with it as she would have liked. It didn’t help that the weave was twisting again, the red and silver lightning creating knots and tangles over the doorway through which the insects had come.

“They say it is the only way,” Taro said. He didn’t shout, but his voice seemed to echo around the chamber.

The knots in the weave pulled tight.

Zallie gasped, realising what Taro meant to do. The floor shuddered again and she momentarily lost her balance. She spun, trying to keep an eye on the weave and the remaining insects.

An insect, taking advantage of her distraction, reared onto its hind legs and drove one of the long, sharp, predatory blades of its front legs deep into her shoulder. The momentum of the strike pushed her backwards and she toppled over, the creature still on top of her. She tried to roll, but the insect pinned her to the ground, its mandibles inches from her face. Zallie yelped, jerking away from the creature. The wound in her shoulder burned with pain. She felt warm blood seeping into the fabric of her shirt.

The sound of blaster fire split the air and the creature collapsed on top of her, its weight driving the blade further into her shoulder. She felt it grind against the inside of her shoulder blade. The world flashed white and red as pain soared through her.

The chamber shook again. Taro was humming tunelessly. Fear gripped her. Cracks were appearing over the chamber doorway. Fresh pain lanced through her shoulder, driving the breath from her lungs. She could feel sweat break out on her forehead.

Another bug scuttled towards her and Zallie groaned; she twisted the weave of the Force around herself, and pushed sending the bug tumbling backwards and into a pillar. The effort made her lightheaded, and shadows danced across the edges of her vision.

The ceiling shook again sending out clouds of dust. Cracks zigzaed across the ancient roof. Kei and Nicco were shouting at each other. There was the sound of blaster fire, but all Zallie could focus on was the strange way the weave of the Force was moving around her and the terrible, fiery pain in her shoulder.

The weave rippled like a cloth in the breeze and then snapped tight. The ceiling shuddered. There was a strange, shuddering groan. Masonry and ancient blockwork dropped haphazardly to the floor. Zallie managed to push the insect off her. The pain as its scythe-like claws ripped their way free made her gasp. A rumbling roar filled her ears. The cracks over the doors were widening at a terrifying speed. Choking on a mouthful of dust, Zallie rolled sideways, covering her face with her good hand. She grabbed tightly onto the Force and the life-signatures of her brothers as the weave spun flickering colours of crimson, magenta, and midnight blue.

The world grew darker and she lost all sense of time. People whispered on the edge of her hearing. She grasped after the noise, but they faded again into nothingness. The rumbling and shaking seemed to last for an eternity before everything finally stilled.

She heard voices nearby, and someone calling her name. Zallie tried to move, but her body screamed in protest and she bit down hard on her lower lip to keep from crying out.

“Found her,” Kei’s voice, confident as always. She struggled to open her eyes as the world swam. “Uh, Nicco?” There was something else, in Kei’s tone but Zallie couldn't figure out what it was. He almost sounded worried. Her brain latched onto that thought. The only time her younger brother ever sounded worried was if one of his siblings was hurt badly. Zallie wondered whether it was Taro or Nicco who had hurt themselves.

Her head ached and she could feel something warm sliding slowly down the side of her face. She tried to lift one arm to brush at her temple but the movement made her stomach churn violently. The world titled and slid sideways and Zallie found herself sliding into its dark and warm embrace.

“I’ve got you sis,” Nicco’s voice tugged at her consciousness. She groaned and opened her eyes, annoyed at being pulled back into a world of nothing but pain. Her older brother’s eyes were two dark hollows in a mask of white dust. He looked exhausted and worried. “Are you ok?” he asked softly, brushing away the debris from her cheek with a gentle thumb. Zallie stared at him. Her throat felt raw and her shoulder throbbed. She swallowed, tasting blood.

“What happened?” she croaked.

“Taro brought the ceiling down and blocked the entrance the bugs were using,” Nicco said, he looked up and gave a humourless grin. “He did it quite well. I mean well in the sense that none of us are dead. He’s stopped the bugs coming in at least.”

“How?” she managed. Nicco was peeling the material back from her shoulder. She bit back a scream as his fingers touched the edges of the wound. Nicco frowned, his face paling slightly. She saw Kei’s eyes widen slightly and her brother disappeared. She could hear him being noisily sick.

“Honestly?” Nicco said, ripping the bottom of his shirt off and rolling it into a ball. Zallie got the feeling he was trying to keep his voice calm and level. “I have no idea. He says the Jedi told him what to do.”

“What Jedi?” Zallie asked, weakly. She shuddered. Ice, she knew, shouldn’t feel hot, but her body seemed to be oscillating between freezing cold and burning. Liquid pain rolled from her shoulder and across her back and chest, promising nothing but agony and death.

Voices whispered on the edge of her hearing again. She coughed, the world dimming as spears of pain arced through her.

“Stay with me Sprout,” Nicco said softly, wiping the side of her face. His touch sent shockwaves of heat up her body and she gasped, biting back another cry. Tears pricked at the corner of her eyes but she didn’t have the energy to wipe them away. Nicco’s hands were ice against her skin and she wanted to pull away. Her heart hammered wildly in her chest; the sound of her pulse drowning out whatever other words he was saying.

She couldn’t think straight anymore. Her head spun in circles. Everything seemed too hard. She felt so tired. So very tired. Maybe, if she just closed her eyes…

“Sprout?” The panic laced into Nicco’s voice broke her from her reverie.

Zallie shook her head, trying to focus on her brother. He looked worried, more worried than she'd ever seen him. His brow wrinkled and he took her left hand in both of his, holding it tightly in his own. She couldn't remember when she had last gripped a person's hand so firmly.

"Taro says he wants to try something," Nicco said, softly. "He said the Jedi are going to help him."

Zallie frowned. "No Jedi here," she managed to murmur. Her mouth felt full of cotton wool.

Nicco smiled. It wasn’t his usual sunny smile, though. The corners of his lips twitched upwards for a moment but the look in his eyes remained troubled. "Apparently there are. Apparently all the dead Jedi have been talking to him since we got here. That's why he was all freaked out. According to Taro they said they'd help, but I don't know how much to trust this whole thing. I just know I can't get the bleeding in your shoulder to stop." His hand tightened on hers. "I don’t know whether I trust them, but I don’t know whether I have a choice.”

A tear slipped down his cheek. Zallie tried to speak, tried to comfort him, but all she could manage was a soft noise. Nicco pressed his forehead to hers, squeezing her hand tighter still. He spoke quietly over her head as if addressing the invisible people who surrounded them, “This is my sister. Don’t hurt her, please.”

“Nothing bad will happen,” Taro said solemnly. His voice sounded different and Zallie frowned. The weave twisted around her, the Force ebbing and flowing brightly with beads of pearly, opalescent silver. Taro knelt down beside her, and cocked his head to one side in an expression of concern. “How are you doing, little Jedi?”

She frowned. Taro’s voice was definitely not his own. She opened her mouth to try and answer. Her throat felt thick and dry, even speaking causing a new wave of pain to course down her back.

“Not Jedi,” she spluttered. “Cold. Hot. Hurts.” She paused and swallowed thickly. “Pain.”

“Not Jedi, but almost one,” Taro intoned carefully. “Just like this one.” He added pointing to his chest. Her brother leaned forward and Zallie tried to shrink away. “I’m not going to hurt you sis,” he said sharply and this time it was Taro’s voice. “You need to let them help me, help you.” He frowned and then shook his head. “Just lie there. Don’t do anything except concentrate on the Force.”

He paused as if listening and then laid his fingers gently against her shoulder. There was the sensation of voices talking again, just on the edge of her hearing. Taro nodded occasionally. He caught her eye and smiled in embarrassment. Zallie felt the weave flicker and change around her, and saw the colours shift again. What she’d originally seen as empty blackness was actually slowly rippling tides of indigo, plum, sangria, and violet. Her sight dimmed again, shadows haunting the edges and Taro muttered to himself. He shifted slightly, his fingers pressing hard against the edges of the wound. Zallie yelped, but the pain faded quickly. In its place rose a strange kind of warmth. Like the sun rising after a long night of snow.

“That’s better,” he murmured. It was. As long as he kept touching her, she felt safe. Warm. It was a nice change from the sharp stabbing pain of moments ago. Her breathing slowed to a steady rhythm. Even her vision was clearing as the light returned, the shadows slowly fading to nothing. Everything hurt less now. Not completely gone – but the edges seemed fuzzy.

In her strange, semi-conscious state, Zallie could almost see the rows of Jedi that surrounded Taro. She shivered. Taro smiled at her, patted her shoulder and stood.

“They say to rest for a bit and it’ll be better. They’ll help Kei find us a way out.” The fear that had dogged him since they’d first entered the Temple seemed to have disappeared and been replaced by an almost equally unsettling calm. “Excuse me, I have to go find something,” Taro said, smiling serenely. “And then I’ll help Kei.”

Zallie and Nicco watched Taro wander into the darkness, easily picking his way through the carcasses as he headed towards a set of alcoves. He occasionally gestured as if he was talking to someone, his head tilted to one side.

“The bugs?” Zallie asked weakly, shifting slightly and holding out her good arm. Nicco eased her gently into a sitting position. Around the weave shimmered with deep teals and dark blue greens, and once again it was studded with tiny opalescent pearls that danced through the threads as if they were nothing.

“Gone,” Nicco said. “Taro’s friends say they won’t be back.”

“I hope they’re right,” Zallie said, biting her lip. Her fingers hesitantly probed the wound in her shoulder but the pain had subsided to a dull ache.

“They’ve been right so far,” Nicco said, softly. “I wouldn’t have believed what just happened if I hadn’t seen it. It was strange.”

They lapsed into silence, watching Taro as he made a beeline for a particular alcove. Nicco shifted slightly so he could pick up the fallen lightsaber and safely tuck it away in a pocket.

“Is Taro going to be alright?” Zallie asked.

Nicco shrugged. “I don’t know, Sprout. I’m trying to work out how to explain to Da and Rin that our littlest brother was taught healing by dead Jedi.”

 

Super angsty. But the kids are OK thanks to some teaching of dead Jedi

 

Definitely a good idea to learn from dead Jedi if it's going to save your sister. Glad you enjoyed the super angst.

I'm also glad you went back and read "An Old Soul" as I think it helps make this one make more sense and at least gives Taro a good outcome after all the

I mean his sister got all the beast warden abilities, so I figure some of the other siblings should probably get some funky abilities too...

Thanks Glad you enjoyed it. Never figured that horror would be a genre I'd like writing, but then Tara's Snik arc happened and here we are...

I know! Come on plot mcguffin, be more specific about the big bad

Always! Particularly when it comes to Nicco and Zallie, and Nicco and Estra, and...well...Nicco and everyone else...the 'perks' of being the big brother.

Definitely not! I mean there was that time that Zallie had to bust the younger siblings out of a Hutt controlled jail on her birthday...

Thank you for reading and for the lovely comment