Headache. A stabbing headache and a dry throat were all Willow felt as she awoke. Slowly, she opened her eyes and sat up. The world around her spun, and it took a moment for her to fight off the dizziness. Then she looked around. She was lying on the ground, surrounded by nothing but metal plates. In front of her was a metal door, slightly different from those on the Mantis. This door was barred, and it reminded her of a... cell? She was in a cell?

Piece by piece, her memories returned. They had been on Zeffo, and she had been waiting for Cal in front of another tomb. When he came back, he told her about the Second Sister, Trilla. They were heading back to the Mantis through an underground part of the Imperial base. And then?

Willow stood up, and suddenly every muscle in her body felt aflame. The bounty hunter, suddenly the whole picture came to her. That explained why she was in a cell. She felt around herself. Her bag was still with her, but her wand and broom were missing. Panic rose in her, and her breath quickened. She was all alone in this cell and-

"Cal?" she called out. With any luck, he was nearby, and they could come up with an escape plan.

When there was no response, she took a deep breath and called louder, "Cal?! Are you here?"

No success. She felt the fear creeping through her veins, icy and relentless. Her palms grew sweaty, and goosebumps covered her body. Hoping for a way out, she looked around. There were no switches or cables she could try to manipulate. The door wouldn't budge either.

Would she ever get out of here? Was Cal even somewhere around? What if he had been placed somewhere entirely different?
Willow felt sick. With one last attempt, she tried the metal plates on the walls, but they were too tightly fixed. She broke several fingernails in the effort. Exhausted, she slid down the wall to the floor. She glanced at her wristwatch; 36 hours had passed since her universe-journey, and she hadn't gotten nearly enough sleep. She pulled her legs close, wrapped her arms around them, and rested her head on her knees. With unshed tears in her eyes, she sank back into unconsciousness.

When she awoke again, she didn't feel any better. Her limbs ached from the unnatural position in which she had fallen asleep. She was cold, despite her warm school robe. The hopelessness of her situation weighed her down.
Without the help of her talented companion, she knew she would never get out of here. She was simply not cut out for this universe, as she had been repeatedly shown. Maybe she should just throw in the towel at the next opportunity and return to Hogwarts. That was where she belonged, where she was better off. Here, she had already caused trouble for the crew and didn't deserve their generosity. She probably wouldn't see them again anyway.

Lifelessly, she reached into her bag and pulled out a roll of parchment and her quill. She poured her heart out on the parchment, freeing her mind from the nasty thoughts.

She stored the now-filled parchment and quill in her leather bag before pulling out the picture from her corset. She watched her friends move and smile. Watched how she smiled. But if she was honest with herself, she had to admit that here, in this universe, she had already laughed more genuinely than she had in her two years at Hogwarts. That a certain red-haired boy was responsible for this, she pushed to the back of her mind, stuffed the thought deep into a box and locked it tightly.

Shaking her head, she put the picture away before rising with new determination. She would get out of here, no matter what. And her first attempt started with the most obvious solution: noise. Lots of noise. Someone would come to complain sooner or later.

So she stepped to the door and kicked it hard. The resistance was strong, and her foot hurt, but she didn't let that stop her. The metal clanged and echoed dully.
"Hey!" she shouted. "Hello! Is anyone there?!"

There was no response, but she didn't give up. Again and again, she hammered and kicked against the metal, shouting at the top of her lungs.
"Hey! You bastards, let me out!"
Her voice grew hoarse, but she didn't stop.

And then, far in the distance, she heard something. She paused, unsure if she had just imagined it. A moment later, a shout echoed, the voice reaching her ears crystal clear: "Willow?!"
She would recognize that voice anywhere, even in a thousand years, she was sure of it.

Gripped by euphoria, she ignored her hoarse throat and called his name as loudly as she could, "Cal! I'm here!"

"Willow? Where exactly are you?"

She didn't respond, her voice had finally given out. So she kept banging on the metal, hoping he would find her that way.
She heard his footsteps coming closer and grasped the bars of the door with her hands. When he came into view, she could have cried with joy. He was actually standing in front of her; he hadn't left without her. A warm feeling spread through her chest, and her heart swelled.

She looked him over, worried he might be injured. His face bore fresh scratches, and he had deep shadows under his eyes, but apart from that, he seemed fine. She noticed his weapon had also been taken from him before she met his green eyes.

He too grasped the bars right next to her hands. They were close now, the only thing separating them was the iron cell door.
"Lills, you're here! You have no idea how good it feels to see you."

Willow had to grin, immediately discarding her plans of an early return home.
"I never thought I'd miss you, Redhead."
She had to almost whisper due to her dry throat, but he understood her.

He grinned back before looking over his shoulder.
"Hey buddy, think you can get this door open too?"

The droid beeped happily, and a few seconds later, the door was no longer a barrier.
Without further ado, the two friends embraced, and Willow welcomed the feeling of his warmth. Time seemed to stand still as he held her tightly around the waist and buried his face in her neck. Delighted, she breathed in his scent and wished this hug would never end.
After a few seconds, Willow pulled back, unsure if Cal enjoyed the closeness as much as she did.
"Thanks, BD. We really need to get out of here now."

"Absolutely. BD-1 has already mapped out this place, I'll show you where we need to go."
Willow nodded and followed the boy. On their way, they passed several other cells, containing animals and prisoners of all kinds. The sight of the other inmates was terrible. Many seemed to have been trapped there for ages, and the animals kept making awful cries. The girl closed her eyes briefly, she couldn't let this distract her now.
They passed through a tunnel, at the end of which was an elevator. The little droid sent a power surge through the wiring, and the elevator began to ascend.

Once at the top, it took less than two minutes of walking before they found themselves in a foyer of a huge arena. Loud music echoed through the halls of the upper floor.
"Hey, I recognize this band," Cal remarked, a bit too cheerfully for Willow's taste.

She gasped, "Don't you have any other concerns?!"

"Don't let the arena unsettle you, Willow," he came up to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "This is our only way out, and we can only get through this together. So yes, the music is my only concern right now. Let it guide you."

He smiled encouragingly at her, and she nodded once. He was right, Willow had to swallow her emotions for the moment.
Together, they stepped into the arena. It was huge, with grandstands high above already filled with spectators. Willow followed Cal further into the arena, the music continued to play, and an unnecessarily large hologram appeared in the center, showing a man.

The man began to speak, "Ah! Finally, he arrives! We had action on how long it would take you to get here. And look, he even brought his little friend!"

"And who are you?"

The man laughed mockingly, "Who am I? I'm Sorc Tormo, baby! I'm the boss of this operation. You have Greezy-Four-Arms to thank for bringing us together."

"I will. As soon as we get outta here."
Willow heard the anger in his voice, and she couldn't blame him. Still, she gently grasped his hand and squeezed it, hoping to calm him a bit. Her eyes focused on the hologram in front of them, but she felt Cal's gaze on her. She was about to pull her hand back, but he didn't let go.
Slightly overwhelmed by the situation, a delicate blush crept onto her cheeks.

The man, Sorc, addressed his audience, "We have a special challenger for you tonight. An enforcer from a bygone era: a Jedi! Let's see what he's got! Oh, somebody get baby his toy."
He riled up the audience, who cheered him on. Then he cleared his throat, "Please be so kind and give the girl her little stick, I want to see how she handles a fight."

Not a minute later, their weapons and even Willow's broom fell from the sky. She let go of her partner's hand. The girl caught her wand and immediately cast Accio! on the broom, which zoomed into her grasp from out of reach.

"Want a show? We'll give you a show!" Cal decisively caught his lightsaber, which had been thrown to him.

The battle-hungry boss didn't need to be told twice, and soon the first opponents entered the arena. They were large fireflies and some sort of giant toad with three eyes. Or was it four eyes? Willow wasn't sure, as one of the fireflies attacked her. She quickly discovered that these flying creatures weren't just large but also exploded when attacked.

While she dealt with the explosive fireflies, Cal took on the toad. They defeated their opponents relatively quickly, and Sorc Tormo spoke again. "Tonight we celebrate those fallen challengers of the past!"

Cal was getting really annoyed by him and couldn't resist a provocative comment: "Maybe you should come down and face me yourself."

The man only laughed: "I'm too busy counting my credits!"

BD-1 beeped in a tone that Willow interpreted as annoyed.

"I agree. He talks too much," Cal responded to his droid.

With little time to catch their breath, the next wave of opponents entered the arena. This round started with many smaller creatures, which they defeated well as a team.
As the last wave of the second round, a giant spider and a creature Willow had never seen before arrived. It looked somewhat like how humans imagined a Yeti, only more hunched and less hairy.

"I'll take the spider," she told Cal. He nodded and charged at the other creature.
With adrenaline coursing through her veins, she focused on her magic, just as she had on Zeffo. Her fingertips turned the familiar shade of blue, which slowly crept to the tip of her wand. She pointed it at the giant spider, which let out a painful screech as it shrank unnaturally. Willow quickly pulled the spider towards her and stomped on it without any empathy. That was one less spider in this universe.

Sorc Tormo chimed in again as Cal landed the final blow: "Wow, what was that?! Watch out, the little one's stick packs more punch than I thought!"
Willow just rolled her eyes. She couldn't wait to leave this bothersome place.

"The best is yet to come! I believe you know our next challenger," he directed at the Jedi. "The Haxion Brood is gunning for ya!"
Willow realized this was the place Cere and Greez had discussed a few hours earlier. Greez' gambling brought them here? No wonder Cal wasn't amused.

A bounty hunter entered the ring before them. Willow guessed it was the same one who had brought them here. But he wouldn't win a second time, she was convinced, as she saw Cal's confident stance.

She wasn't sure what was different about this fight, but they quickly defeated the bounty hunter together.

On perfect timing, she saw the Mantis flying towards the arena. The ship descended, tearing down several bridges. Before it touched the ground, the ramp extended and the entrance opened.

Meanwhile, the man shouted angrily: "It's the Mantis! Blast it! There is no escape! I'll chase you across the galaxy if I have to!"

Willow fired a Bombarda! at the hologram projecting the man. His voice went silent, and Willow was highly satisfied with her decision.
The two youths exchanged a look and boarded the Mantis, which immediately flew away.
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