From her rather cozy place on the floor, Hotaru thought about what happened. She was no longer in her sailor Saturn uniform but she felt that she could summon her Henshin wand at a moments notice. She wondered why she had transformed back into her regular self, but what really confused her was why she was alive…
At least she thought she was alive, she doubted that the afterlife would be a furnished apartment.
She thought back to her battle with Pharaoh 90. She should have died, period. The Death Reborn Revolution would have leached her life as swiftly as her enemy's, but Sailor Moon had discovered the power within herself to enter Pharaoh 90 and not only keep her alive, but heal her… for the first time in her memory she felt healthy and without pain. It was amazing.
Now how she got here was a question… she was in Pharaoh 90, then a sense of vertigo, then she woke up here. Strange…
"Oh…"
Hotaru bolted up. What the hell was that?!
Turning to the origin of the groan she saw a bald black man in brown robes laying on the floor in a heap. The man was a mess. His clothing was a mess, he looked somewhat charred, his right hand was missing, instead all she could see was a nasty looking cartelized stump, and she could feel that his life force was weak.
In a flash Hotaru abandoned her doubts. This strange man could die without help, and she could save him. She rushed over and place her hands over him, first over the missing hand. While she did not have the power to regenerate the hand, she could seal the wound, preventing infection.
Taking a deep breath, she began to heal him. While she had much greater endurance then she'd ever possessed before, it was still draining and this would take a while…
--------------
Mace Windu slowly drifted out of unconsciousness, his body wracked with slowly receding pain. He felt that he was being healed and slowly looked over to see his caregiver.
He smiled slightly when he saw a young girl, maybe 12-13 standing over him, a dull glow in-between her hands. In his distracted state his memory was not 100%, and he thought to himself that this young Padawan must already possess great mastery over the force to be able to heal at her age.
Then, reality struck. First, this young one was not dressed in the robes of a Jedi learner. Second, he could recognize the vast majority of the Padawans in the temple and he'd never seen her before… and he remembered how he had been wounded. The betrayal of the Order and the Republic by Anakin Skywalker.
While he was not quite at 100% this child had restored his strength to the point that through the force he could heal himself.
Mace bolted up causing the girl to cry out in surprise and fall back onto her bottom.
Looking over he asked her. "Where am I? How long have I been unconscious?"
"I don't know." She replied. "I don't know where we are and you were just laying there when I woke up…"
Mace stood up and glanced around the place. It seemed to be a simply furnished apartment and nothing more, though looks could be deceiving.
Mace looked towards the force for guidance, but when he did, he got the scare of his life. He felt a great disturbance in the force, but it was less a single shockwave and more a dark storm that overshadowed all. He could feel something dark and predatory lurking in the darkness. For beings of great power who were both malevolence and hungry. He could also feel, for lack of a better word, a light being projected though through hyperspace as if it were a beacon. This was not anything like what he was used to. There was something very wrong here.
"What the hell is going on?" he wondered to himself.
"I don't know," Hotaru replied.
He smiled at her. "What is your name, child?"
"Hotaru… Hotaru Tomoe.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Hotaru. I am Jedi Master Mace Windu."
She blinked. "What is a Jedi?"
Oh yeah, if the fucked up nature of the force hadn't said it, the fact that she didn't know what a Jedi was make it clear: he sure as hell wasn't on Coruscant.
"For over a thousand generations the Jedi Knights have been the guardians of peace and justice in the Galactic Republic. We use our powers to safeguard the Republic and its people from both threats from without and within."
"Powers?"
"A Jedi's power comes from the force."
"The force?" Hotaru wondered.
"It's the life force of all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together."
She nodded. "I see…"
Mace paused for a moment, wondering how she had healed him if she had no idea what the force even was.
"I would like you to try healing me again. I need to see something…"
She nodded and placed her hand over him. He felt a wave of warmth overtake him as she began to heal his weakened body once more. Sensing deeply into her, he felt that she was indeed strong in the force, and that her spirit shown brightly with the purity of the Light Side, but that this power was an innate ability and not conscious force mastery. Sensing even deeper he felt a dark presence sealed within her struggling to escape. He felt a uncomfortable feeling well up from the pit of his stomach when he realized that she could access its terrible power but had no idea how to control it. A girl with this horrible strength could destroy worlds.
Yoda would say she was too old, and most of the time he would agree with her, but this was no normal girl…
She had to be trained, if not for her own sake, than for the sake of others. While he knew this girl would likely never be a Jedi Knight, by teaching her the ways of the Force, he would teach her to contain the and control the frightening power within: She may not master the force, but she would learn to master herself.
"Hotaru," he asked, "Would you like to learn to use the force, to learn the ways of the Jedi."
She blinked. "Ah... I guess so..."
Mace felt no fear in her, but he did sense apprehension. It was understandable.
"Very well, Padawan… now let your first lesson be the Jedi Code…"
"There is no emotion, there is peace."
"There is no ignorance, there is knowledge."
"There is no passion, there is serenity."
"There is no chaos, there is harmony."
"There is no death, there is the Force."
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(Posted Sat, 18 Jun 2005 22:03)
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