Aeris kept her attention focused on the Sith, even when she heard An-Lok’s voice in her head.<span style="font-style: italic">‘Well, yes, it likely is a manifestation of the Force, but there’s something unnatural about it and the way it moves, as if it is being controlled somehow,’</span>she replied to the other woman, explaining her concern, at least about the fog itself. It wasn’t like the natural occurrences or phenomenon that she’d seen manifest due to the Force in the past. It was different, and it felt off, at least to her.<br/><br/>She struggled somewhat to hold back the strong emotions coming from An, to remain as calm as possible as she assessed the situation. Whoever was controlling this fog, and the illusions, it wasn’t the Sith before them. Killing him would solve nothing, and it might serve to hinder them, as he was presently the only one who knew who was behind all of this, and where they were located. She had her suspicions about the former, but something was interfering with her senses, so she had not been able to locate that person, even if they were here.<br/><br/>Aeris had her doubts that the Sith would answer An-Lok’s questions with any more useful an answer than the one he’d given her before, and she could still feel the girl beyond the boundaries of this place, so she had no need to know where she was or if she was safe. Nevertheless, she reached out with the Force, reading the Sith’s emotions for any indication of deception, and his surface thoughts for anything that might be useful. She sensed no deception in him when he answered, either when speaking of the girl, or the two men.<br/><br/>When he mentioned<span style="font-style: italic">her</span>, Aeris knew who he meant, even without the brief thoughts that flit through his mind. She had been certain that the Sith woman was behind this, so it came as no surprise. She was, however, a bit surprised by the way An-Lok reacted, although she could gather the reason why. Glancing at An, her gaze lingered only a moment, the gesture done for effect more than for any practical reason, as she gathered that the goal was to lead the Sith to believe that they were using silent cues to speak, rather than telepathy.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">‘To be honest, I don’t particularly care about the girl. I won’t risk their lives for hers. Not like this,’</span>she replied to the other woman telepathically.<span style="font-style: italic">‘That said, I think we will end up going, as he said. But not yet,’</span>she added as her green eyes focused on the Sith once again, narrowing slightly. “What reason do we have to believe you?” she asked the Sith incredulously.<br/><br/>A cold, dark laugh could be heard in response to her question. “You can sense deception, can you not?” he asked with an almost smug smile, giving away that he at least knew about this ability if nothing else. “Sure, I can. But just because you weren’t lying, that doesn’t mean that they will be safe. Nothing is ever so simple,” she retorted. “You said that they will live, and she will survive. Why did you choose that wording?” she wondered, narrowing her eyes a bit more. “How do we know that you won’t let them live only to be killed by someone else, such as your mistress?”<br/><br/>“My, you’re certainly a cautious one. What did life do to you to make you so cynical?” the Sith asked with a slightly twisted smile. “A lot, but I have no intention of sharing those things with you. Now, answer my question,” she said simply, trying to get him back on topic. The Sith seemed a bit irritated by her response, but he kept his composure for the moment. “My mistress has plans for all of you, so as you surmised before, we have no intention of killing any of you now. So long as you cooperate, I can assure you that no harm will come to them for the time being,” he assured her. “Of course, we have no problem with killing any or all of you, should the need arise,” he added with a dark smile.<br/><br/>Seeing a portion of the fog form a tendril and begin to move towards Jek’s throat, Aeris clicked her tongue. “Oh no you don’t,” she said, using the Force to try to push the fog back away from him. To her surprise, it worked. “Fine,” she said as she looked back to the Sith, noting that he had an indiscernible expression for a brief moment. “We’ll go with you, so long as they will be safe for now,” she stipulated. After getting an agreement from him, she looked to An and gave a not to indicate that she would agree to it as well.<br/><br/>Putting one of her lightsabers away, she knelt next to Jek before leaning down to kiss him gently. “I’m sorry, Jek,” she apologized for having to walk away again, even if it was to keep him safe. “I love you,” she whispered in his ear, kissing it gently. “I trust you, so I know that we will find a way back to each other. Always,” she added in the same whispered voice before she slowly rose, turning to face the Sith.<br/><br/>“Very well,” the Sith replied once both of the women were ready, and then he began to lead them off towards the north. After a few minutes, their journey took them down a pair of well-worn and well-hidden steps, into some dark tunnels. Aeris got the feeling that this place had either once been a temple, or that it was a tomb. The Dark Side was so dense here that it was almost palpable in the air around them. It might have been overwhelming, perhaps bordering on suffocating if one was not accustomed to the Dark Side. To the two Sith women, however, it was probably more like the warm embrace of an order friend welcoming them back into its arms.<br/><br/>As they walked through the dark tunnels, there was little that could be seen with the faint light provided by the veins of some substance that ran along the walls of the tunnel. It was probably some sort of ore or mineral that reacted to the Dark Side of the Force, which was why it had a faint red glow. The light was only enough to guide them along and keep them from tripping or running into the walls, not enough to even illuminate the faces of those around them. It was enough, however, to allow them the reminder that even here, the fog remained, moving and writhing about as if it were some sort of unnatural, living thing.<br/><br/>Aeris, for her part, had chosen to use Force Sight, rather than the dim light, so she could perceive things beyond her own limited vision, but at least for the time being, there was little to see. She could tell that A-Lok was hiding half-behind her as they walked, which she didn’t mind, as the other woman had to worry about not only herself but the life growing inside of her.<span style="font-style: italic">‘I don’t think she is worth it. But they did. This was never about her, not for me, and probably not for you, either. It’s about Jek and Jax,’</span>she replied telepathically, knowing it might seem a little callous, but at least it was honest.<span style="font-style: italic">‘I can still feel them for now, so at least we know they are okay. I’m afraid that won’t last, though. Something in this place is interfering with my senses. If it weren’t for our bond, I don’t think I’d be able to feel them at all anymore,’</span>she admitted.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">‘At any rate, we can’t afford to dwell on regrets or worry about what-ifs. If we waste time looking back, we risk missing what’s right in front of us,’</span>she warned gently.<span style="font-style: italic">‘I don’t like this either, but all we can do now is take care of ourselves and trust them to do the same. That’s the only way we can make sure that we all survive this, that we will see them again,’</span>she offered, resisting reaching back to take her friend’s hand and try to offer some comfort. She didn’t think anyone could listen in, but just to be overly cautious, she actively avoided mentioning the baby.<br/><br/>It seemed like forever before the scenery changed at all. Thanks to the Force, she could see that somewhere up ahead, there was a junction in the tunnel, where two additional tunnels branched off from the tunnel they were in. Aeris frowned just a little when she thought she heard a familiar voice up ahead, but could sense no one. Was this an illusion? She felt no change in the other two, so she gathered that whatever it was, they hadn’t heard it. It was probably a Dark Side trick aimed at her or something to that effect.<br/><br/>Even knowing that, though, when she heard the familiar voice again, this time a little more clearly, it instinctively put her on edge. There was no way it was him, so she knew she should just ignore it, but the closer they drew to the junction, the louder and more clear the voice became, until there was no denying that she was hearing his voice, even if the others could not. Despite the voice sounding like his, though, it also sounded a bit different, perhaps a bit older?<br/><br/>She thought she saw movement in the fog up ahead, but when she looked in the direction of it, there was nothing there, as if it were simply a figment of her imagination, or it had simply vanished. Aeris clicked her tongue quietly, remaining on alert as they neared the junction. The Sith began to go left, but Aeris’s gaze was drawn to the right, where she saw a figure in the fog. There was no way. But as she thought that, she watched as one figure became two, with another figure emerging, this one appearing to be a woman. Although her facial features were unclear, she wore a dark, revealing outfit beneath the dark, hooded cloak that hid her hair and partially obscured her face with shadows.<br/><br/>Aeris watched as a scene unfolded within the fog, with the woman moving to sit on a throne of some sort before beckoning for Jek to join her. He soon did, approaching the throne, where the woman stood and kissed him, tempting him to join her in walking a path of darkness, a path where they would have the power to do whatever they pleased, including protecting whatever they held dear. She had stopped walking without realizing it as she watched the scene until the figure of the woman began to walk into pitch-black darkness, leading this illusionary Jek along with her.<br/><br/>“No, don’t!” Aeris reacted without thought as if some part of her believed for even a moment that any of this was real, that she was losing him. Instinctively, she grabbed hold of her lightsaber and leaped forward, slicing through the illusion of the woman. With that, the illusion was dispelled, and the scene vanished. Before she really had a chance to recover, however, it was replaced by a new version of Jek, one that had clear evidence of Dark Side corruption, she moved closer without thinking.<br/><br/>This illusion faced her with a dark smile. “I did this for you, Aeris. For us,” he told her, and she instinctively walked closer to him with a look of disbelief on her face. “No…” she muttered as she approached him. “I wonder, will you still love me, even if this is who I become? Will you still walk beside me, even into the darkness? You said forever… for all of eternity, right?” he asked with another smile.<br/><br/>“Accept it, accept me, accept the darkness that lives within us both,” the illusion told her with a dark grin that twisted his face into something she didn’t recognize as his foggy hand reached for her. “No!” she instinctively reacted to the invitation, or perhaps to the idea that this could ever be real, drawing on the Force and releasing a blast that dispelled the fog all around her. Beyond that, however, it seemed to shake the tunnels themselves, as if they had been hit by a small tremor.<br/><br/>As the figure faded, Aeris fell to her knees, breathing heavily, as if she’d been running for some time. She looked up to see the walls trembling slightly, loose dirt and small rocks falling from the ceiling for a moment before it seemed to pass. That wasn’t what she focused on, however, as she realized that An-Lok and the Sith were nowhere to be seen. She wasn’t even sure where she was anymore, but wherever she was, she was alone. She couldn’t even feel the presence of any of her friends anymore.<br/><br/>“Damn it,” she muttered as she looked all around her before sighing and focusing herself back up to her feet. There was nothing she could do now. Staying here would solve nothing. She had to keep moving. Glancing left and then right, she chose to go in the direction that she was pretty sure led deeper into this place, rather than back the way she’d come. The end, good or bad, lay ahead, not behind. If she was going to find her friends and get out of this place, they had to make it through… whatever this was. With that in mind, she began to walk forward in silence, continuing to reach out through the Force as she did, hoping that eventually, she would feel a familiar presence again.