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In the dark privacy of her quarters, with no-one around but the droid standing motionless at the foot of her bed, apprentice Deskyl meditates. Remembering how to establish a telepathic link is hard, and doing it is even harder, but she thinks in this case it will be worth it.
Hello? It's more a sense of presence than a proper word, easily mistaken for just another thought by someone not expecting such a thing.
He's led off.
This time, he
he doesn't respond, at all. His body has stopped working. It's broken.
It really has been taken from him.
He doesn't even wait for her to wake up when they put him back. He just curls up in bed and sleeps.
She reaches for him, instinctively, when she wakes.
The fact that he's asleep isn't unprecedented, or cause for more than a moment's alarm - he's there, he's okay; she needs him, it's frightening how much she does, but he's there, and they're okay for now.
His dreams are less reassuring.
He sleeps fitfully. His mind needed a chance to rest and it's not getting it.
When he wakes up he's more exhausted than he was when he fell asleep. He reaches out to her with what energy he has.
She's there. Unsettled, worried, but very much present. She sends him a stream of energy through the link. It's not a choice, and if it was a choice it wouldn't be a wise one - she's in better shape than he is, but only because she's been spending so very much time resting - but it's a reflex; she'd have to choose not to, and she'd have to figure out how, and she has no inclination to do either.
Hey. Love you.
It helps, some. Helps him wake up, at least.
love you.
none of this is okay.
you've been getting better. that's good.
we won't be stuck forever.
And then he can – he can never get fixed, really, but this will stop –
She won't have to do it again. That's what'll happen. They can stay together and they can never hurt her again.
And we can try, for you. Ask. Maybe there's more to be done than you think.
maybe.
i hope so.
It feels hopeless, right now, but he knows in an abstract way that there is something that can be done, even if it's a needle every day for life. He'll take it. It's better than the alternative.
i think – i'll know when we're ready – but in case i don't you have to tell me.
Yeah.
I think - not much longer. You're getting there. I'll be able to remember a plan well enough soon.
He nods, though she can’t see it, and imagines taking her hand in his so vividly it might as well be real.
She squeezes back - it's not real, but it's a very good simulation.
They're left alone for the rest of the morning; she spends most of it asleep, after breakfast.
He alternates between practice and just lying with her, feeling her sleeping presence.
This is the easiest time, the morning after they take him. He knows it’s safe to relax for a little while.
It's really not.
She sinks into meditation, going right for her coprentice's compound, to see if there are any clues to be found.
It doesn't take her very long to notice that the droids are preparing a surgical suite.
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