CHAPTER THREE
AN EMPTY ECHO

─────────

A day quickly turned into days, which turned into a week and then weeks and before Aliss knew it, it had been a whole month since she'd woken up in another universe. Aliss spent her time with Obi-Wan and Anakin relearning — or, truly, just learning — about the Jedi Order and how to be a Jedi.

She spent time practicing with her lightsaber, a blue one she learned her first time igniting it, and learning the different fighting forms the Jedi used. She learned the history of the Jedi, and of the galaxy that she was now in. The different planets, the important ones, the one she was on, the planets aligned with the Republic or the Separatists or who had refused to take a side.

It got hard to remember sometimes, that this wasn't her life, that there was a place she was trying to get back to. Everything around her was so real that there were times, more and more frequently as the days passed when she felt like her other life was a dream, the one that wasn't real.

But then she'd close her eyes and she'd see Ivan again. She'd remember his face smiling at her when they moved into their house or him standing at the stove, cooking her breakfast after she stumbled down from the bedroom. She'd feel that sense of longing once again and her determination to get home, to not forget who was waiting for her would return with vigour.

Though it was Anakin and Obi-Wan that mostly took care of her training, occasionally the other Masters would step in for something specific or just to see how she was doing. 

She didn't think Master Windu liked her very much. She got the impression that he didn't think she was disciplined enough, that she wasn't as disciplined as she'd been before. They didn't spend much time together and Aliss was pretty positive that both of them were okay with that.

Master Plo Koon she liked. He wasn't as uptight as Master Windu. He didn't make her feel bad for cracking jokes during their sessions and was quite patient in explaining things to her when she didn't know something.

Master Yoda was... an enigma. It was taking her some time to get used to the way he talked, to be able to subconsciously unscramble his words so she could understand him easier. Aside from that, though, things were, well, weird. Sometimes he would be just a regular Jedi Master, checking in on her progress, how she was, if she recalled anything and then the next moment he would look at her and she would swear that he knew. That he could see in her head or in her eyes or her body language or something, that she was hiding something from everyone. That she was hiding not just the truth of her accident but that she was from another world. And then the moment would pass and it would be like nothing ever happened.

She was nearing the end of her second month when something happened that no one had seen coming.

Grand Chancellor Palpatine — the leader of the Republic — wanted to see her. No, he wanted to meet her to specifically see how she was doing. A chill ran down Aliss' spine as soon as Obi-Wan told her. She knew who he was, she knew what he was doing, everything he had done, everything he would do. The horrible, horrible things that would happen to the people she cared about because of the things he would set in motion. A hand clutched her heart and squeezed it with all its strength as she looked over at Anakin at hearing those words. What would happen to him because of Palpatine broke her heart.

"Hey, you don't have to be worried," Anakin said, mistaking her expression. "The Chancellor isn't that bad. You aren't in trouble or anything."

"Yes, as Anakin said," Obi-Wan agreed. "You were an exemplary Jedi before the incident, you'd met him a couple of times. He just wants to know how your recovery is coming along."

"I– I don't know," she said, thinking of any possible excuse. "I don't think it's a good idea. My memory is still— And I don't know how I should— With everything going on..."

"Aliss," Anakin said, grabbing her hand. "It'll be okay. I'll go with you if you like, he likes me."

That would be worse, she thought. Seeing you in the same room as the man who would destroy you. No. The man who would convince you to destroy yourself.

But no one seemed to take her excuses. Part of her didn't blame them, they weren't the best excuses and she didn't know how to phrase "I don't want to go near him because he is an evil Sith Lord," without sounding crazy since she didn't have any evidence. Well, any evidence aside from the fact that they were all from a movie and she'd watched those movies before. And that definitely wouldn't help her sound less crazy.

So, on the eighth week since she'd woken up there, Aliss finally departed the Jedi Temple with Anakin and Obi-Wan by her side to make the journey to the Senate where Palpatine had requested the meeting.

She kept her hands tightly clasped in front of her the entire time to hide how much they were shaking. Having Anakin and Obi-Wan by her side made her feel better, but that didn't stop the pit of dread in her stomach from twisting into a million knots. She didn't know how she would be able to stand in front of a man she knew was a Sith Lord and not let him know that she knew. She didn't know how she'd stand in front of a man she knew was a Sith Lord and not let him know that she was really from essentially a different universe. That wasn't exactly something that she wanted him to know, of all the people that could find out.

Unfortunately for Aliss, the journey from the Jedi Temple to the Senate Building didn't take long at all. She should have know it would only take a couple of minutes since she could see it quite clearly from the balconies in the temple, but she had still been holding onto hope that she would have more time to prepare before she got there.

As they were heading up to where Palpatine's office was, everyone turned to look at them. Aliss guessed, as much as it turned her stomach and made her more anxious, that it wasn't exactly commonplace for three people who were obviously Jedi to be walking through the Senate with such purpose. Finally, they reached Palpatine's office, the door flanked by two guards who nodded at them as they approached and they headed inside.

The office was exactly how she remembered it from the movies. The desk facing the doors into the office, the large windows behind it that looked over Coruscant. Even Palpatine himself was almost exactly as she remembered him. She could see the disfigured version in her head, remembering how her eyes went wide as she watched the scene where it happened but this was not that man, not yet. He looked normal now.

"Ah, Master Kenobi, Anakin. And Master Kade as well," Palpatine said, standing up to greet them.

"Chancellor, lovely to see you," Obi-Wan said.

"How are you, Master Kade?" Palpatine asked her.

"Uh, I— I'm fine," she managed.

"Your recovery is coming along well?" he asked.

"I— I think so."

"Think so?" he questioned, a light expression on his face, almost one of amusement.

"Slowly but surely," Obi-Wan explained.

"Aliss is a quick learner, she'll be back to Master Jedi before long," Anakin said.

"That's very good to hear," Palpatine said. "We can't very well be losing one of our best Jedi, now, can we?"

Aliss' stomach dropped, that dread that had abided ever so slightly coming back with a vengeance. Everything about this was unsettling. She didn't think that it could possibly get any worse than this.

"You seem nervous, Master Kade," Palpatine said.

"Oh, well, I—"

"With her memory gone, she feels like she's going to get in trouble," Anakin said.

Palpatine laughed, but it was almost hollow. "Trouble? You aren't in any trouble, my dear. You have nothing to worry about."

Yeah, Aliss thought, because that's reassuring.

The door opened behind them and Aliss turned to see a figure walking in dressed all in clothes similar to those that Palpatine and the other senators in the building had been wearing. He had his head down and focused on the tablet in his hands, clearly going through something on it. He passed by the three Jedi without looking up at them, heading straight for Palpatine.

"Chancellor, there's a memo about the upcoming vote from the Senator for—"

"Atlas, my boy," Palpatine interrupted him. "We have guests, the memo can wait."

The man, Atlas, finally looked up and turned towards them and Aliss' heart clenched as she finally saw his face. It was Ivan. He was here. She didn't care about how possible it was or even how it could have happened, she was just thankful that she could see him again. For weeks now she'd been scared that she would never see him again, but here he was. She didn't realize that he was holding himself differently than her Ivan and she didn't notice that he'd been called by a different name.

"Ivan?" she questioned, taking a half step forward.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Master Kade, this is my assistant, Atlas Voland," Palpatine told her.

"Oh," she said, taking a step back as her heart sank. "My apologies. I... I thought you were someone else."

"We should be on our way," Obi-Wan said, putting a hand on Aliss' arm. "You have business to attend to and we should get Aliss back to the Temple."

"Yes, yes, of course. I am glad you are doing well, Master Kade."

Anakin and Obi-Wan steered her out of the room and she was quiet as they made their way back to the temple. She felt a little bit of hopelessness at seeing someone who looked like Ivan but wasn't her Ivan at all. She knew that both Anakin and Obi-Wan were watching her as they made their way back but she didn't quite care. For a while, she just needed to let herself feel everything. She'd been pushing everything away so that she could keep up her facade better around those that couldn't know where she was really from. After this blow, she decided she was allowed to just let it all out.

She said goodbye to her two friends at the door to her room, watching until they were gone to go inside and lock the door behind her. She dropped her robe on the floor and kicked off her boots, crawling onto the bed that was somehow both hers and someone else's entirely. She buried herself in the covers and let herself cry, let herself feel the hopelessness, the heartbreak, the longing, all of it. Just when she was starting to adjust she was reminded of home in the worst possible way. The person she wanted the most and they weren't really there. An empty echo of the man she loved.

As the sun passed through the sky, Aliss remained there in bed, even as she stopped crying and just laid there. She wasn't hungry so she didn't leave to go get food and she was thankful that both Anakin and Obi-Wan had given her space. She didn't know how much they understood about why she needed it and she was sure they wanted to somehow comfort her, but there was nothing they could do. She wanted Ivan and he was in a wholly different universe. Unreachable.

Finally, as darkness began to creep into her room, Aliss pushed herself up and went to the bathroom adjoined to her room. She splashed some water on her face, even filled the small cup next to the sink with some water and drank that knowing that she probably needed it after all the crying she'd done. She turned back to head into her room and the door opened with a swish, casting a small field of light out of the doorway, giving some illumination to her rapidly darkening room and caught right in the middle of it was a figure that Aliss instantly recognized.

"Ivan?"

"Why do you call me that?" he asked her, standing eerily still.

"It doesn't matter if you don't recognize the name," she answered. "So... so you're really called Atlas? You're from here?"

"I am Atlas but I was not born on Coruscant," he explained.

Aliss' heart sank. It wasn't even pretend, a created identity like her own. If he didn't feel like he could drop the act now that it was just the two of them, it was just some sick joke from the universe, always reminding her of what she'd lost.

"Wait, if you're not Ivan, what are you doing in my room? What are you doing in the Temple?" she asked him.

"The bidding of my Master, of course," he answered, a sick smile beginning to grow on his face.

"And what does Darth Sidious want?"

Surprise and confusion flashed across his face at her statement and she felt a little bit better. He didn't understand how she knew who his master truly was. And how could he? By all accounts, she should have no way of knowing.

"How do you—?" Atlas shook his head. "It doesn't matter how you know. It just proves that you truly must die."

"Die?" she questioned. "You're here to kill me?"

Red light filled the room as Atlas ignited the lightsaber in his hand. She startled away from him, heart skipping a beat. This couldn't be right, she thought to herself, she couldn't die now. She had to live if she was going to get home to her Ivan. She couldn't be killed by his hollow echo, that just wouldn't be fair.

"You shall die by my blade by my master's command," Atlas told her, lifting his lightsaber to point it at her.

He made to swing so Aliss dived out of the way, landing on her bed. She quickly rolled herself off of it and grabbed her own lightsaber from the stand next to her bed and ignited the blade, lifting it just in time for it to clash with the red blade. She was only weeks into her training with a lightsaber, she knew that she would never be able to hold her own against someone who had been training for as long as she assumed Atlas must have.

Aliss kicked out at her opponent and he reeled back as she connected with his stomach and she was given the opening that she needed. With him now a few steps away from her, she quickly turned and ran for the door, stumbling out and falling down. She quickly slid backwards, holding her lightsaber out at the door and waiting for someone to come.

But no one came out.

She was able to breathe a little easier and just then, someone came around the corner and saw her panicked expression and ignited lightsaber and their own eyes went wide as they reached for their own lightsaber on their hip.

"You have to... tell Master Yoda," she managed, panting all the while. "Someone just attacked me."

─────────

an. so, uh, that happened.