I don't own anything.
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Orson's P.O.V.

This place is a wreck. Between the destroyed cottage and Bodhi's wails, I don't know how much more I can take from this realm. I wish I hadn't spent so much of my life in the physical world whining and claiming my life sucked. Currently, my life in the Realm of Marstoes or whatever this place was called makes the Realm of Vivid look peaceful. Perhaps our "merry" little band was cursed from the beginning.

Lyra and I are scavenging through the destruction, looking for some sort of clue to who did this. Gumdrop is helping by yipping at the small flames that surround the area. Bodhi and Cassian are off aways. From what I can see, it looks like Cassian is trying to calm Bodhi down... and failing.

Why did things have to happen to us like this? Why couldn't we just enjoy our lives as living dead people? At this point, I would trade my ghost life for some harmony for the four of us.

My mind begins to wander and I think of Jyn. I've been thinking about her a lot since Cassian came up with his Kyber crystal necklace theory. Lyra let me keep the necklace after I told her what Cassian thought. I know she wasn't too keen on the theory but if it meant finding her family, she was willing to go with the flow. I reach up to cradle the crystal in my hand and close me eyes. If the Force is real, maybe I'll hear a little voice from the pendant telling me where Jyn and Galen are. Unfortunately, nothing happens so I give up.

Gumdrop is still yipping at a dying flame. The yips are starting to get to me so I stamp out the flame for her. Gumdrop looks content until she notices another little flame not far off. She runs over and starts yipping again. This is why I never got a dog.

Night time comes and the four of us do some camping. Lyra asks us about night watch to try and distract Bodhi, who is beyond depressed. "It's possible the Empire could appear again," she says. "We need someone to stay awake to watch over the others. We'll switch every few hours."

"I'll go first," Cassian offers.

"No," I objected. "You should go second to last. I'll go first and then Lyra."

Cassian frowns. "And why is that? Who told you to dictate the night watches?"

I sigh. Leave it to Cassian to make things rougher. "Bodhi needs you for the first half of the night and you'll be able to help him more than Lyra or I can. Can you please just follow along with this plan?"

Cassian nods. The three lay down and I walk to a higher area so I can see farther. Gumdrop follows me and whines when I sit down. "What is it?" I ask her. She paws at my leg. What is that supposed to mean? I talk Geonosian to her, even though I know she doesn't understand me. The dog stares at me intensely.

I think I might have fallen asleep at some point because when I woke up, it's morning. For some reason, my hair is all slobbered. Had Gumdrop tried to comb my hair with her tongue? Gross! I sat up. "Stupid dog," I moaned and turned around to see if the dog was behind me. Nope, it was that Markavipe. Behind the baby were two giant Markavipes, which I could only assume we're the parents.

Lyra's P.O.V.

Well, I found out what kind of a watchman Orson was last night. When I woke for my shift, I didn't even know where he was. Cassian and Bodhi were snoring atrociously so I set out to find Orson. I find him a few hundred meters away, sleeping. Great watch job, Orson.

I spend my watch time searching through the ruins of the cottage, which is hard to do in the dark. There's not much to look at, though I did find some sort of scrap metal with scribbles on it on the outskirts of the wreckage. Sadly, I don't have enough light to read what it says. I pocket it just in case it's important it. As I search mechanically, my mind wanders back to when Galen was kidnapped.

Galen and I had been enjoying dinner when we heard rapping at the door. Assuming it was Orson or Jyn, Galen went to answer it while I stayed behind. I heard Galen scream and before I knew what was happening, my husband was abducted. I ran after the captors, shooting at them with my pistol even though I knew I couldn't kill them. The recognizable shape of stormtroopers surrounding Galen made me realize that the Empire was upon us again. I immediately blamed Orson. He probably won our trust so he could separate our family again.

Galen begged me to stay back and run from the fight and after some protesting from me and a shot that sliced the skin above my left eye, I obeyed. I ran into rocky terrain where only I knew how to navigate my way through the area. The stormtroopers eventually abandoned their chase and I remain in the rocky area overnight as protection, just in case the Empire returned.

About midmorning, I heard voices. I cocked my blaster and listened. I could hear Orson's distinct voice, though I couldn't make out what he was saying. I snuck closer and saw two guys standing near my house. The door to the house was wide open and the place looked ransacked. I came out of my hiding spot and pointed the blaster at them. The two gripped their staffs and shifted into a defense mode. I could shoot them. I could cause them to bleed like I did. They wouldn't stand a chance. That's when Orson decided to appear from the house. I saw emotions of relief, surprise, fear, and confusion written on his face. What others would have thought as an innocent expression of confusion, I saw the truth. Orson hadn't taken my husband. While this was questionable later on in the day, I realized that I was probably shook from last night and just needed to accuse someone, even though I knew it was my fault for not protecting Galen.

I wake Cassian and let him watch for a few hours. It feels like I onl have a few minutes of valuable sleep before I'm woken by screaming. I groan. 'Shut up, Orson,' I think and sit up to see what he's screaming at. Oh, he's being chased by three Markavipes. It's quite comical to watch them chase him.

Orson runs by me and grabs his staff. He spins around and is immediately joined by Cassian and Bodhi, who also have their staff out. Wait a second, they're going to hurt the creatures! I jump up and rush between the Markavipes and the trio. "WAIT!" I yell. The three stare at me like I'm insane.

"Lyra, you should move," Bodhi said calmly.

"Don't hurt them!"

"They gored me!" Orson complains. The Empire officers all turn out to be whiners, don't they?

"They're not evil!" I shout and reach out towards the largest one, the mother. I pet it's nose gently. Orson and Cassian look dumbstruck. Bodhi has already dropped his staff and is approaching the animals, eager to become friends with them too.

Cassian speaks next. "H-how are you friends with... with these things!?"

"They're good for lots of things," I respond. "You'll see."

It takes a long time for Cassian and Orson to accept the idea that ths Markavipes are really just enlarged Gumdrops (at least, that's how Bodhi put it). As we eat our breakfast, I show the trio what I found last night. "Was this part of your cottage?"

"No..." Bodhi says.

Cassian frowns and takes the scrap metal. He twists and turns it, trying to find the right side up. "I can't read it."

"Lemme see," said Bodhi. The pilot plucked the scrap metal out of Cassian's hands and took one look at it before breaking into happy squeals. "Oh! Oh! I know! It's English!"

"Can you read it?" Orson asks.

"I was a kid when I was learning this. I don't know if I remember much.

"Just do do best."

Bodhi pauses before starting to try and read. "T-Th-The... Em-Empire... is cree-creating... a super wea-weapon... and... something blaster shots. Th-they... need... m-my help. V-Visit... Krysilos...B-Bal-Balwen... a-and S-S-Scarif... in th-this... ord-der... y-you will... you will... something... clues... t-towards... f-finding... Jyn a-and... me..."

We take a moment to process the note. Orson repeats the message in his own words. "So The Empire is creating a super weapons and something blaster shots and they need Galen to help them. In order to save Galen and Jyn, we need to visit Krysilos, Balwen, and Scarif in that Order. Where the heck is Krsilos and Balwen!? I've never heard of them."

"That's because they're planets in the Realm of Muertos," Cassian responds.

I stand up and clean our eating area. "Get on the Markavipes. We're going to ride them through the airstreams."

"Airstreams?" Orson asks.

Bodhi looks surprised. "I always just go through the airstreams myself. I've never used a Markavipe."

"The Markavipes are less likely to be torn apart when making the transitions from airstream to airstream."

"What are the airstreams?"

Cassian laughs nervously. "That might actually be nice. And by the way, Orson, the airstreams are your ticket to traveling to different planets since ships don't exist. It's like hyperspace." I nod and hop on the baby Markavipe, which I've named Amon. Cassian and Bodhi climb onto the mother's back. I've named her Allura. The father, who bears the name Ryuk, stares at Orson.

Orson glares back. "I am not getting on that thing!"

"Fine," I said. "Stay here if you want. Guess Jyn will never be rescued." Orson scoffs and hopes onto Ryuk's back. I lead the trio of Markavipes to the highest point on the planet. Then I let Amon do his thing. The wind changes and we're pulled into a tornado-like funnel. Soon, I'm gliding along a tube of swirling air. It almost is like hyperspace except the blinding blue is replaced with the pitch blackness of the universe.
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I named the three Markavipes after some of my favorite cartoon/anime characters. Ryuk comes from the anime Death Note, Amon comes from The Legend of Korra and Allura is from Voltron: Legendary Defender.

I pretty much have the entire plot figured out and after estimating what I might include in each chapter, I think the finished story will have 24 chapters. Which makes this chapter the middle.

Please review!