Task 3 the team task: for my character, Adaara, I was teamed up with ariel_paiement1 and her character Yuurei. We wrote this together, so I'm dedicating this to her. Enjoy :)

Adaara stared at the chain on her wrist connecting her to the Sith, half of her feeling terrified and the other half feeling angry. Just as he stirred, she flinched.

He opened his eyes, slowly adjusting to the low light. Beams of light shot sporadically all around him, and his heart rate sped up at first as he wondered if they were under attack. His eyes flew to the Jedi woman beside him.

"They're ray shields," Adaara said, watching his gaze. She glared at the other chain connecting both of her wrists together with disdain.

He swallowed the lump in his throat, his mouth feeling dry. "Yeah... Sure..."

Adaara shifted her weight uncomfortably, unsure whether he would kill her, or not. Kanan, she thought, wishing more than anything that he was here. But he isn't. Standing up, she stared at the Sith, wondering what to do next.

Yuurei stared back at her, feeling empty. Zillah... Zillah is gone... I... I killed her. I'm the reason she didn't make it... I couldn't control myself. I went full-blown Sith, and she died because of me. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he stared blankly through the woman who was chained to him in this restrictive shield.

"There was an announcement," Adaara said, picking up a blaster rifle from the ground. "We have to shoot it through the slit here to free the people across from us. I don't know how to convince them to free us."

"Just shoot the thing already... Who cares if they free us? Why play this idiot's game anyway? We're not going to win," Yuurei said dispassionately.

Adaara huffed, glaring at him. "You may not care what happens, but I do. I have a husband who loves me and I have to live for him. I'm going to live through this, somehow... Someway. I can't give up. I just can't." Adaara bit her lip and closed her eyes to keep from crying.

"Okay... Sounds fantastic. How about if you do that and when you're done, you put a laser through my head? You're a Jedi... Surely you'd have no problem killing one more Sith."

"No, I wouldn't. Unfortunately, we're chained together and I can't carry your body weight." She didn't want to say that she couldn't do it with the Force either. She grabbed his collar and shook him. "After this is all over, if you still want to die, I'll kill you. Happily. But until then, I need you. So man up and help me figure this out!"

"What if I decide not to?" he asked sulkily, attempting to cross his arms and failing as the chain tugged her off balance. Zillah... I'm so sorry... The tears threatened to spill over, and he felt like a petulant child instead of a grown man. It threw him back to his past in far too many ways for his liking.

Adaara clenched her teeth. She had to think of something herself, some way to get herself out of this, without using the Sith for help. Since he's useless... What would Kanan do? Deep inside, she hated that she thought of him in this instance like her Master... rather than her husband. Shaking her head, she turned around, keeping her chained wrist behind her, and peered through the slit to the other ray shield.

Yuurei wrinkled his nose, her distasteful glare rousing him from the stupor just a bit. But as soon as he attempted to care, his mind went back to the terrible nightmares he'd woken from not five minutes ago. She... She looked so crumpled. His body still hurt from the pounding it had taken fighting the Zabrakian and from the beating it took when he hit Obstilia's surface. It reminded him of what he'd dragged Zillah through. He had promised to take care of her, but he had failed. You failed... You failed, Missu's voice taunted him in his mind just as it had in his nightmarish visions of Zillah's death, which had played over and over again without cessation until he'd woken up here. "You have a plan, then?" he asked glumly, trying to pull himself out of his own head for a moment.

Wincing from the pain in her arm caused from the blaster shot earlier, she shook her head. "Not much of one. I was just going to ask them. I think it's the human slave and his slaver. I'm not sure about the bounty hunter, though." Adaara found herself babbling to keep distracted from her deep-rooted mistrust. Mistrust in the strangers across from her and especially mistrust in the Sith. It's the Sith that murdered everyone we knew and loved...

"Do shut up. Let me talk to them... You'll only make things worse for yourself if you talk in your current state of mind," Yuurei remarked, grudgingly deciding to help.

"My current state of mind? You're the one who's acting strange. And you're a Sith. You'd probably threaten them and make it worse. Not me. I'm a Jedi. Good at negotiating. Not that you would know. Or care." Adaara crossed her arms, preparing to speak to the others across from them.

"Nonsense," Yuurei interrupted. "I'm going to use logic. I'm diplomatic most of the time. And you're right; I could care less if you're good at negotiating. You can negotiate when I'm done trying to get you out of an impossible situation. You said you didn't have a plan. You said you wanted help. I'm offering it now. So stop whining." In his head, help was the last thing he wanted to offer, but the young woman looked so distraught that he couldn't seem to help himself. The haze settled over things as he waited for her response.

Clenching her fists and jaw, she slowly nodded, thinking about Kanan to help swallow her pride. Her mind drifted to the choice she had made, the choice in setting off her device, knowing that it killed the baby inside her. I'm a monster. I'm no better than him, she thought. What does Kanan think? As she stepped out of the Sith's way, she bit her lip. It wasn't even his... a voice whispered in her mind. Looking at the Sith as he walked up to the slit in the ray shield, it was Kaladin that she saw there.

"Anyway... I don't like to threaten most of the time. I don't even enjoy killing when it's not necessary... If I could, I'd help everyone who's suffering out in the world. I hate your people because you promise hope to others only to leave them wallowing in despair at the end of the day. But..." He bit his lip, thinking of his mistress and the abomination that called herself Missu. "I hate the Sith and myself just as much because we do nothing to help others. If I could only have..." He stopped, glancing at her pained, confused expression, and shook his head. "Never mind. It's a stupid wish."

Shaking her head to keep Kaladin's face out of it, she tried to see the Sith, but it was only halfway working. Finally, Kaladin's image disappeared and the man before her had pained, broken eyes that seemed haunted by things she could never imagine. Placing a shaking hand on his shoulder, she met his gaze. "I know. I was Kaladin's prisoner for months... " Swallowing deeply, she shook her head. "I'm sorry that the Jedi never helped you. I want to help you."

He sucked in a deep breath, then breathed out slowly, shutting his eyes. It didn't hold the tears in, and one slipped down his cheek unbidden. He turned away to avoid looking at her, only to be stared in the face with the trio in the shield across from them. "It's too late for me... But... I guess maybe it's not too late for other people."

You failed Zillah, Missu's voice reminded him. But I have to live to do what she would've wanted: helping others like her, Yuurei shot back, annoyed. "Well... Let's get this started, shall we?" The shield was held by four pillars in each corner. On the corner to his right, was a speaker. He pressed the button to communicate with the people in the other shield.

"I'm not going to waste pleasantries, folks... Both of us are stuck in these laser shields, and unless we get out, I can almost guarantee the twisted minds behind this will kill us. So if you want to survive, then you're going to have to work with us. None of us trust each other, but we do have to work together. Otherwise, we'll all die. What do you say? Shoot your blaster rifle to free us, and we'll shoot ours at the same time. Neither shoots without the other also shooting. You can guarantee we'll both be freed. If you don't... Well, I have good reflexes, and I will be the one shooting. None of us will be leaving alive if we don't all leave alive. Capische?"

Adaara gnawed on the inside of her cheek. This has to work. This... has to work. Doubt settled inside her, but she shook it off, staring at the speaker, waiting for a reply.

The slaver woman stepped to the front of the trio and pressed the button to speak. "How do we know you'll hold up your side of the bargain, Sith? You're not exactly from a trustworthy stock..."

Yuurei gave her a sardonic smile. "Do I look like I'd lie to you?" He paused, tapping his chin.

Yes, Adaara thought, as if the empathetic moment between them before had vanished into thin air.

After a moment's consideration, he said, "Don't answer that... I probably wouldn't like the answer. After all... I probably look like a ruffian at this point. Regardless, my friend here will shoot me if I don't keep my word. Or snap my neck... Or something..." He glanced at Adaara. "So... Umm... If for no other reason, I'll keep my word. I have to ask though... Will you be keeping yours if you agree?" I hope this is helping to ease tension, not make things worse... Yuurei thought. I heard somewhere that wit and humor are supposed to do that.

Adaara nodded. "None of you have to worry about me keeping my word. I just want to get out of here and I have no quarrel with any of you, either." She hoped that sounded sincere and honest; not that she was lying, but her time alone and in hiding with Kanan had made her just as antisocial as she was mistrustful.

One glance at Adaara's face told him he had failed to ease the tension. Clearing his throat, Yuurei said, "Yes, well... Can we come to an agreement?"

The slaver woman snarled at him. "If you double cross us, you aren't going to live longer than it takes for you to regret it."

Yuurei wanted to argue with her, but he decided that he didn't care enough to do so. Besides, he'd already lived long enough to regret a lot of things. So he just shrugged and let it pass.

Adaara glanced warily at the Sith, hoping that he wouldn't say anything. When he stayed silent, she sighed in relief under her breath.

"It's up to you," he told the trio. "We can't make you anymore than you can make us. Either we all cooperate or we die."

"Enough of all this prattle," the bounty hunter said, snatching the blaster. He aimed it through the slit in their shield.

Adaara elbowed Yuurei. "You'd better hurry," she muttered.

He rolled his eyes. "Patience, woman... It's a virtue," he mumbled back, positioning the blaster rifle to aim it at the opposite shield. "On the count of three then. One... Two... Three..." He squeezed the trigger just as the bounty hunter did, and the shields suddenly seemed to shatter into billions of light shards as the lasers slowly died.

Adaara reached for the lightsaber at her hip, in case anyone attacked, but it was gone. She glanced at Yuurei, wondering if she could snatch the blaster rifle out of his hands. Shaking her head, she darted toward the ladder on the wall, but was yanked backward by the chain.

Yuurei hissed as one wrist was tugged from the blaster rifle's grip with enough force to leave bruises. "What the heck do you think you're doing?" he snapped at Adaara. "Whatever it is, cut it out. You're chained to me, and I don't want to experience a painful death through the snapping of every bone in my body."

Adaara glared at him furiously. "We have to get to the next obstacle. Let's go!" With that, she tried again toward the ladder.

"Why didn't you say that in the first place?" Yuurei griped, bounding toward the ladder to their right. He tugged Adaara along, but was more mindful of her now that he'd seen what had happened to Zillah in a similar situation. There was no point in getting another person shot full of holes, even if that person was a Jedi.

The trio before them had already managed to climb up in front of them, making Adaara feel a little more at ease about being attacked. The other rebels were all still in their ray shields. She allowed Yuurei to climb in front of her, lifting her wrist to keep it from being pulled too far, as they made their way up the ladder and out the door.

When they reached the top, the ladder ended in a plateau of steel and metal rivets with walls enclosing them on every side. Bolted to the side of the wall directly beside them was a placard with instructions. The rules were laid out in a bold, simple font.

It read:

Course Objective: Find the exit.

Rule #1: Going backward is only an option if you find the right square to block it.

Rule #2: There will be various traps laid out within this obstacle.

Rule #3: Refer to rules one and two; those are all the clues you get.

Adaara pursed her lips as she read the rules, before patiently waiting for Yurrei to finish. "Why do I have the feeling these traps are going to be death traps?" she murmured.

"Because they probably are," Yuurei quipped. "I doubt they give you chocolate if you trigger one."

Glaring at him, Adaara waved her hand, gesturing to the hallway in front of them. "Let's just get this over with." She walked beside him, but allowed him to step a little ahead of her. He seemed to know more about what he was doing than she did. Mazes and traps... were definitely not her strong suit.

Behind them, energy buzzed as a scarlet colored ray shield moved to follow their steps. Adaara's eyes widened and she swallowed, picking up her pace, which tugged Yuurei behind her. "Uh, Yuurei, there's a ray shield following us. I get the feeling if we slow down, it's going to kill us."

He glanced at it, strangely feeling empty and unconcerned. "Probably. Is that a problem?" he asked woodenly. Did I just say that out loud? he wondered. I think I did... I should stop doing that.

"I actually want to live, remember? For now, you do too. No arguments!" They stopped at the end of the hallway, which branched into three directions - right, left and center. "Which way?" Adaara warily glanced at the ever-creeping shield behind them as anxiety filled her.

"Uh... We go dead ahead. There's people further up, and I get the feeling that we're going to need to work with others soon here..."

Without waiting, Adaara jogged forward, but fortunately Yuurei kept up with her just as they approached the people ahead of them. From what she could see, it looked like the two bounty hunters.

"I hate bounty hunters," Yuurei muttered.

"Let me handle this. We're supposed to be working with them." Adaara stepped toward them cautiously, unsure of what to say. Before she thought of what to say, the bounty hunter male walked forward and suddenly there was a loud explosion.

Adaara was thrown backward, jerking her wrist. She blinked. Blood and body parts rained down on them, making her gag.

Yuurei just stared, unimpressed. Blowing people sky high isn't very original, he thought. Too bad... I thought I might actually get a challenge to take my mind off the emptiness inside.

The bounty hunter female screamed. "Sha'ar!"

Just as Adaara was about to walk forward to console her, Yuurei stopped her.

"Wait. We don't want to trigger any more traps. Let her come to us... Or better yet..." Yuurei looked at the square where the male bounty hunter's remains were splattered. What was different about that square? How can we decide which squares hold the danger? Looking down at the squares at his feet, he tried to pick out a pattern.

Some of the squares were oddly colored. Most of them were grey, but some had swirling marble-like designs. He didn't believe in coincidence. It must mean something. But he couldn't determine if those were safe squares or not. Biting his lip, he looked at the female bounty hunter, who was still sobbing and standing riveted to her square. Can I really sacrifice another human being for this? The Jedi woman... She has a reason to live at least... But so does the bounty hunter. He couldn't decide. Finally, he chose to break the tie another way. "Hey..." He got Adaara's attention by tugging on her chain. "Pick a number between one and ten." If she gives an odd number, I'll do it. If even, I won't... That way it'll be random, and I can feel better about myself if I have to do this.

Frowning, Adaara whirled around on him. "At a time like this?" Sighing, she shook her head. "Fine. Uh... three."

Yuurei's heart dropped, but he nodded slowly, looking away from Adaara and to the female bounty hunter. "Hey, uh... You... I'm sorry you had to see that. Look, we don't want to hurt you. I've figured out the pattern to this maze... Step on the marbled squares; they're safe."

The bounty hunter looked at him through tear-filled eyes. "How do you know?"

Yuurei hung his head, ashamed of himself for this, but he knew he had to. "We saw two other people die. They both died when they stepped on the plain squares."

She looked at the square he stood on. "Then why aren't you dead?"

"Pure luck..." Yuurei deadpanned. "I guess not all the grey ones are booby trapped. Either that or when the explosion blew me onto this square, the people playing this sick game chose not to trigger the trap. Either way, the marbled squares are safe."

Adaara started to take a step forward, onto the next marbled square. "Then why didn't you say anything before? We have to go; I have to get through this!"

"Uh... Uh... It didn't occur to me," Yuurei said, laughing shakily as he pulled Adaara back onto the square.

Sighing, the bounty hunter female took a tentative step forward onto the gray marbled square. Bright crimson lasers shot out through her head and chest, instantly killing her.

Adaara stared at the body and then at Yurrei in shock. "You..."

"Guess that answers that question," he mumbled, staring at the ground. "I hoped I was wrong..."

"You lied! You lied to her! You killed her!" Adaara's hands clenched and her fingers itched for her lightsaber.

"We had to know or none of us will make it. If we see anyone else, we'll tell the truth. Not to step onto any of those squares."

"That doesn't give you the right to get someone killed!" Tears filled Adaara's eyes and images of the attack on the Jedi temple filled her mind. Since then, the Sith had done nothing but kill and slaughter all the Jedi, everyone that she had once held dear, except for Kanan. The burden he had been forced to endure, all because of the Sith. "You..." Adaara swallowed hard. "I never should have believed that you... you were trying to... to be good."

"I didn't want to, okay?" Yuurei snapped. "I didn't want to... I've never wanted to kill anyone," he whispered, his voice cracking. "But... You have to make it out alive. S-so... I d-did what I had to," he said, sucking in a breath and trying to sound brave. "But then... I'm just a Sith. I never make the right choice; I'm evil, so how can I?"

Adaara punched him in the jaw, unable to contain her anger and frustration any longer. "Save me the sob story, Sith! You make your own choices; no one else does them for you. If you wanted to be good, then you could! But deep inside all you care about is power!"

She wouldn't say that if she knew the truth about my past, Yuurei thought sadly. "I only wanted it to protect everyone around me... Everyone that needs it and never got it. But I guess I can't do that," he mumbled, rubbing his jaw. "Anyway, I deserve your anger. You can kill me for killing her after we escape," he said. "I don't care. But for now, I need to survive long enough to get you out alive."

It isn't just anger, Adaara thought, surprising herself. It's something deeper. Darker. It's rage. Rage at the Sith... Rage at Kaladin for what he did. "When this is over... the instant I'm free of you... I will kill you." Adaara's voice was thick with the rage that filled her heart, rage that she had never felt before, rage that normally would have surprised her.

Tears filled Yuurei's eyes, and he walked forward to hide them from her. Her rage dug deep into his soul, reminding him that no one, not even the Jedi, was immune to hatred. He wished he could do something, take that pain and anger that made her lash out away. "I deserve your anger, I know... But please... Don't let that hatred change you," he murmured wearily. "I don't want to see you lose yourself, even if I do hate your people as a principle."

Adaara shook her head, feeling hot, ugly tears streaming down her face, unwillingly. "Rage is all I have," she whispered. "After what Kaladin did to me... What he took from me..." She nearly collapsed on the floor, feeling her knees buckle.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, sensing every emotion his companion was feeling. "I'm so sorry... But... You have to fight to keep living, okay? No matter how bad it gets. Come on... We have to move before that laser shield catches up." He took her arm gently, trying to lead her forward out of harm's way.

His words snapped her out of whatever emotional void she had been inside, and she jogged to keep up with him as they followed the plain squares down the hallway.

At the end of the hall, Yuurei found a bright red button on one of the plain squares at their feet. He looked over at Adaara. "Move back... I'll press it. At least only one of us would die."

She shook her head. "No. You already took one for the team. This one is on me. Or we both do it together." Determination filled her heart.

He couldn't let her do it alone. He couldn't. Despite what she represented, Yuurei felt his heart softening toward this pain-filled, saddened woman. He didn't want to see her die. You're a pathetic excuse for a Sith, Uxonwia's voice echoed mockingly in his head. He shut her out. For the first time in his life, he shut that voice out. "We press it together." I can't decide if I want to live or not now... I should live for Zillah's sake to atone for this. But... I should die for what I have done.

Adaara closed her eyes. Kanan... I tried to live for you. If I just made a mistake... I'm so sorry. I hope you know how much I love you, she thought. Glancing at Yuurei, she chuckled lightly. "You... You don't make a very good Sith, Yuurei," she murmured softly. "Thank you for staying."

Tears filled his eyes, and he looked away. "I never asked to be forced into this life," he whimpered. "I never wanted to be one... But I..."

"Then don't be one. If we live through this... Promise me you'll do your best to turn away from the dark side and into the light. Promise?"

"I... I... After all I've done... I don't deserve a second chance. And I don't want a power that is light or dark. I want something that is untainted by either side's flaws. Something stronger. Something able to really protect others..."

"Then be yourself. Choose the path that you want for yourself, not a path someone else has chosen for you. Not Jedi. Not Sith. Not light or dark. Just be Yuurei. Everyone deserves a second chance. Even you."

He nodded, but inside, he still questioned. Who am I? It probably isn't a question I'll get the chance to answer... With tears still in his eyes, he looked at the button and pressed one foot against it lightly, not pushing it in.

Sucking in a deep breath, Adaara reached out and grasped his hand.

He smiled a weak, watery smile and stepped down on the button.