“We’re going to land on Kamar.”

“But why?” Jongdae, the young bright eyed Padawan, whines in his seat in the cockpit of the ship. The eight-year-old kicks, scuffing the floor of the pit. He whines in his seat, ignoring all the bells and whistles of warning from the ship as they plummet through the atmosphere of the desert planet.

“But why…?”

Jongdae huffs, puffing out his adorable little cheeks, and draws out a noisy wail – unaware of the imminent danger, “But why, Master? Kamar is too hot in the day and too cold in the night!”

Jongdae’s Master Jonghyun, a young Jedi Knight, holds desperately onto the controls. Jongdae wants to take a peek out the nose of the ship, but he’s strapped in by the overhanging straps. Even if he cranes his neck, he can only see the sky whipping past.

Jongdae cries out, and suddenly his Master uses his Force to restrain his vocal chords. It doesn’t hurt, because Jongdae is still straining to scream.

“Jongdae, please,” Master Jonghyun’s voice is tough, and Jongdae decides it’s better to just listen to his Master. He closes his eyes and focuses on his Master’s energy. His heartrate is accelerated and there is tension throughout his body. Jongdae tries his best to use his own Force to calm his Master down, but to no avail.

By some miracle, they land on Kamar alive. Their ship, however, is a crumbled mess, along with most of their supplies. When Jongdae wakes from his unconsciousness, his Master washes a hand over his face.

“Am I dead?” Jongdae croaks, his throat dry from the air. His Master laughs and smile spreads across his face.

“No, my little Padawan. You’re not dead,” Master Jonghyun helps his Padawan up from the desert sand and helps wipe the sand crumbs from his face. After a little period, Jongdae regains his balance on the sand dune and looks at his surroundings. He can see the crumpled ship in the distance, along with the track it made across the sand as it landed. Beyond the ship lays a skyline of a Kamar village with vast desert in between. Jongdae’s eyes light up.

“Master! Do you see the village?” Jongdae cries, pulling Jonghyun’s arm toward the opposite direction.

Jonghyun sighs, “Yes, Jongdae. I believe it is a scrap metal village. It’s no place to stay for the night. It could be dangerous.”

Jongdae looks up incredulously at his Master, “But how do you know? You always tell me to have faith, Master. Maybe I should be the Master, and you the Padawan.”

His Master laughs, and Jongdae huffs, finally sliding down the dune towards the skyline of the village. The sun is still up and beating down on them, but Jongdae supposes they would arrive before sundown. He treks through the sand as fast as he can without sinking too fast. His combat boots are full of sand by this point because he always forgets to tighten the laces. The sand is itchy against his skin, just another reason why he didn’t like Kamar.

His Master finally catches up, trudging along some supplies from the ship, including cloaks. His shadow looms over the young Padawan who is determined to reach the village before sundown and he wraps a turban around the Padawan. Jonghyun wants to reach it too, Jongdae hopes, because Kamar’s nights are ice cold and they only managed to salvage his brown robes from the wreckage.

Jongdae pulls the turban more over his eyes as the suns beams on the planet manage to glow brighter. The sands reflection shows twinkles of glass and remains of battles. Jongdae swears he sees a skull cackling back at him. His Master pulls Jongdae out of his fears, tugging at his robe sleeve. Jongdae automatically hands closer to his Master, the fear subsiding as they pass old war battles.

After hours of treacherous sand crossings, they make it to the outskirts of the Kamar village. A look around and they realize it’s a scrap metal village full of passersby collectors and old sand dwellers. Even with his 8-year-old sense, Jongdae can feel little comfort. But he must have faith.

Held tightly to Jonghyun, Jongdae peers around with his own eyes. There are many shops through the center. There is a huge line coming from the metal collectors’ hut where a junkyard lays out back. Next door is a mechanics shop for all parts to a ship, droid, and weapons manufacturer. Even the tavern in the center is covered in scrap metal.

Most of the lifeforms are of different races, as this village is known for travelers. Kamar, Jongdae’s read, is a stopping point for bounty hunters, raiders, and scavengers. This is mostly because of its location on the Outer Rim, and low life collectors can sustain some living without encountering the Government or the Jedi Order. Until today.

Jonghyun leads Jongdae into the lit tavern with shiny metal sheen walls. In the tavern, most folk turn toward the two cloaked persons and try to work out their identity. When Jongdae’s heart stops racing, he can sense something powerful in the room. It hits him like a wall, and he’s disarmed for a moment. With so many species crawling around, Jongdae can’t quite pin the source. All he knows is that there is a powerful source of the Force pile driving into his gut.

“Master,” Jongdae whispers when they slide in a booth. “I feel something powerful here.”

Jonghyun smiles, his focus on the carved signatures in the metal scrap tables. “If you are curious, why don’t you investigate, my young Padawan?”

Jongdae eyes go wide for a split second, only to grumble in retaliation, “You said Kamar could be potentially dangerous.”

“If you’re in imminent danger, I’m sure you can sense it. I have faith in you,” Jonghyun smiles brightly, shooing off Jongdae as he obeys begrudgingly. At this point, Jongdae feels like he’s doing all the hard work. From what he’s heard, young Padawans never do this much work. After all, they crash landed on this planet on the way to a mission. Therefore, there wasn’t even information to recover about the mission. This wasn’t even an investigation, just pure curiosity. They should be figuring out how to get off this planet and complete their next task.

Jongdae wades his way through the crowd at the bar. His short stature as a child gives him the advantage of the low ground. He tumbles through to the back doors to the entryway of the staff. In back is a restaurant filled with six-armed insectoids, flipping metal pans of mystery meat. The Force is getting stronger as he enters the kitchen, but it is hard to focus with the insectoids shouting in their language.

Jongdae rounds a corner to the back innards of the tavern. It is quieter and cooler, especially with the metal walls. Now easier to concentrate, Jongdae can sense the Force. The being projecting is moving, Jongdae can feel.

Jongdae eases his way to the back where there is a lot of machinery equipment. Jongdae stays against the wall, eyes closed in concentration as he navigates the hallway. On the right wall, Jongdae can sense the Force spilling out from a room. Jongdae nervously creeps up to the edge of the room that spills out with light. His heart is pounding in his chest in excitement of what he would find.

With a steady breath, and a rush of his training flooding his brain, Jongdae rounds the corner. To his surprise, he can only find a boy about his height, scrubbing away at dish plates. The Force that Jongdae felt wasn’t nearly as strong, and his brain tries to find the answer.

“Um, excuse me?”

The boy perks up at the sound, and suddenly, the Force shoots out at full force against Jongdae. He can feel the great power surging within the boys terrified eyes. His mouth turns into a frown, his face swirls in confusion at Jongdae’s entrance.

“Who are you?” The boy asks with disdain in his voice and red in the face. He is young, Jongdae figures about his age, with blonde hair and freckled skin from the sun. He is very dirty, spending time with the dishes and dirty water.

“I’m a Padawan, Jedi in training, from the Jedi Order,” Jongdae introduces formally, his training set automatically. “My name is Jongdae, what’s yours?”

The boy flickers his eyes at Jongdae’s appearance, and turns away with a grumble, “None of your business.”

“Well, that was rude!” Jongdae huffs, and storms away back to the tavern. He is fully satisfied with finding the source of the Force, and grumpy that he turned out to be mean. Jongdae was just asking for a name!

Jongdae returns back to his Masters table with a sulky face. Even when the waiter asks for his order, Jongdae did not grumble a thing. Jonghyun instead apologizes to the insectoid and orders something for the youngling. Jonghyun can only laugh at Jongdae’s pout, “What’s wrong Jongdae?”

Jongdae slams his tiny fist against the table, barely rumbling the silverware. “He was very mean!”

“Now, now. You must not let your emotions control you,” His Master slowly waves his hand over his Padawan, the Force relaxing his body of the anger. Once Jongdae breathes slowly without anger in his throat, Jonghyun questions, “Who is ‘he’?”

Jongdae juts his bottom lip cutely, “The dishwasher boy. He was mean. He asked for my name, and I said it. But when I asked for his, he didn’t give it. That’s not nice.”

“Perhaps. But, you cannot come to that conclusion so drastically, young Jongdae,” Jonghyun smiles at the waiter as their food arrives. “Most do not take kindly to strangers.”

Jongdae is hesitant to the food at first, but gently he eats the mysterious ground pile. “But I introduced myself as a Jedi in training. Aren’t we to be trusted?”

Jonghyun chuckles generously, and even more when Jongdae tilts his head curiously. He hums, “You have much to learn.”

They eat in some silence, minding themselves with the well spiced food. Jongdae is not picky with the food, knowing that they may have to be here for some while. His Master is unusually quiet. Usually he would make a joke to cheer the young one up, but he’s been curiously watching other patrons.

“Jongdae,” Jonghyun hums, getting the younger ones attention. “Did you find the source of the power?”

“Master,” Jongdae breathes with annoyance. “It was the mean dishwasher boy.”

“Ah, I see,” he says, distracted. His eyes search again curiously. He spreads an instant smile when he locks eyes with something familiar. Jongdae notices immediately, picking up his head to see an insectoid coming straight away.

Master Jonghyun strikes up a conversation, greeting the insectoid in its native tongue. Jonghyun gives a gracious laugh as the insectoid cracks a joke in the foreign tongue. Jongdae just quietly observes, eyes darting back and forth between unknown words. Jonghyun gestures toward him, and Jongdae returns a cute, chubby cheeked smile. The insectoid says a few words towards him, but Jongdae stares back at Jonghyun with helplessness stuck on his face.

Jonghyun smiles lightly, “He says that you’ll grow up fine, he can sense it.”

“Thank you?”

They continue talking in the foreign tongue when Jongdae notices a familiar face in the crowd of patrons. He sees the mean dishwasher boy come from the other side of the counter with a sadder face. His face is blotchy red still, with grime smudged against his jawline. His body looks defeated and crumpled as he walks into the open restaurant with ripped overalls and a dirty shirt. He slowly takes dirty plates and cups from the empty table and places them into a small cart.

When the insectoid leaves the table, Jongdae immediately catches the attention of his Master.

“Master, that’s him,” Jongdae whispers, making Jonghyun turn around to get a glimpse of the boy in tattered clothing.

Jonghyun furrows his brow, “I sense some residual sparks, but nothing worthwhile.”

“Just wait,” Jongdae whispers, eyes glued to the scene. The insectoid that was speaking to them previously bee-lined to the dishwasher boy’s spot. The insectoid hovers his body above the boy’s in a predator stance, his language tone seeming harsh. And suddenly the insectoid smacks the boy on the head hard, making him crash against the metal table.

A powerful wave of the Force hits Jongdae like an oncoming train. He is sure that Jonghyun feels it too when he stands suddenly and faces the situation before him. Jongdae feels frozen in place when he searches the boys face and finds terrified eyes with eyelashes catching tears.

Jonghyun approaches quickly to the heated standoff, spitting out words in the insectoid language. Jongdae scrambles behind his Master, holding his own stance next to him.

“What’s going on here?” Jonghyun demands louder than the first time. Jongdae has never heard his Master raise anger toward someone like this before, and he can definitely sense it in his Masters elevated blood pressure.

“No problem,” the insectoid turns defensively, waving his four arms.

Jonghyun takes a glance between the insectoid and the red faced boy. His face is tear stained and embarrassed.

“Let’s talk about this in back,” Jonghyun suggests. The insectoid immediately agrees leading Jonghyun and the boys to the back. Jonghyun looks into an office space, cramped with metal, and halts. Jonghyun raises a hand toward the room, “The boys stay here.”

The insectoid grumbles, and hastily agrees. Master Jonghyun hardens his stare at the insectoid, but then he crouches down to Jongdae’s height. His eyes are sharp, and Jonghyun speaks sternly, “Stay here, Jongdae. Keep the other boy company. I’m going to talk to the owner. I should be back shortly.”

The other boy obeys, entering the room and sitting quietly. Jongdae is a little apprehensive. He whispers, “But what if it’s a trap?”

“Stay,” Master Jonghyun commands with fatherly eyes. Jongdae whimpers in defiance, but enters the room without another objection. Jonghyun rises, and immediately leaves out of sight. That leaves Jongdae and the mean, sad boy alone.

There is silence between them with the noise of the restaurant muffled between metal sheets. The other boy sits quietly, eyes glued to the floor space below. His body crumples close to his core, legs held tight against his chest. Jongdae can still feel quite the amount of Force flowing from the boy’s body. Jongdae figures the boy is still scared.

“Hey,” Jongdae whispers, shuffling closer to the boys’ position. The other doesn’t look at him, and Jongdae swallows. “I’m sorry for earlier. It was a little rash for me to storm out before, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” the boy mumbles, but still stares at the spot on the floor. Jongdae internally groans, as the conversation is going nowhere. He is frustrated, but he knows his training well. He wouldn’t let his emotions get the best of him.

“What’s your name?” Jongdae tries again, softer this time. It seems to have an effect when the boy’s body freezes, but his eyes focus on Jongdae. The stare is hard at first, the brown orbs seeking out information. Yet, they soften with eyelashes full of left over tears.

His mouth opens slowly, as if he is still hesitant to speak. Nevertheless, sound emits, “Baekhyun.”

His eyes divert again in solitude with his body changing positions. He sits upright, legs crossed and chest open. Jongdae takes the information with care, channeling his inner communicator.

“Baekhyun,” Jongdae hums. He asks carefully, “Are you from Kamar?”

“No,” Baekhyun answers more quickly, but leaves with a distant lingering question behind. Jongdae doesn’t want to push his luck.

“Well, I’m not from Tython, even if I live there now,” Jongdae gives a soft smile as he slips next to Baekhyun’s position. Jongdae raises his head with a pleasant memory warming his face. “I was born on Naboo. It’s a beautiful planet.”

Baekhyun is silent, turning his head away. Jongdae can’t read the expression on his face or the beating of his heart beat. Everything seems calm and collected.

“I don’t know where I’m from,” Baekhyun says with a bit of hopelessness. He raises his head and nudges it toward the door. His eyes glow with deep malice. “That parasite took me.”

Jongdae gasps, “So, you’re a slave?”

Baekhyun nods slowly to Jongdae’s words, his voice shaky, “He killed my parents so no one could look for me.”

A flush of anger rises inside of Jongdae. A child should never be subjugated to this. He feels so bad for Baekhyun. He must be scared and awfully mature for his age.

With a cooler head, Jongdae presses his hand against Baekhyun’s knee. When the other doesn’t respond violently or in disgust, Jongdae keeps his hand and speaks lowly, “Baekhyun, I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

Baekhyun’s eyes lay downcast, perhaps spotting the hand on his knee. He’s been through a lot, Jongdae can tell by his mannerisms. It’s unfortunate, and Jongdae wishes to help Baekhyun in any way that he can.

Suddenly, Master Jonghyun comes through the frame of the doorway with a stern look on his face. He demands, “We’re leaving. The both of you.”

Jongdae rises, dragging Baekhyun up with him by clutching his wrist. Jongdae stands his ground, “But Master, our ship is destroyed.”

“I know where a cruiser is,” the low mumble spills from Baekhyun’s lips. Jongdae can’t believe it as Baekhyun takes charge in their escape. He steps forward, looking up at Jongdae’s Master. “I can take you there fast.”

Jonghyun nods, shuffling the younger ones in front of him. Jongdae can hear noises of a blaster beam reverberating against the walls, and his heart begins to race. Baekhyun starts running through the back hallways, bursting outside the back door. Sunlight blinds Jongdae for a moment as they blast through the back, but a telltale tug on his robe reassures him.

“Come on!” Baekhyun runs, dragging Jongdae along with him. Jonghyun follows closely, but is also attentive for the nearby blaster shots. “This way!”

Baekhyun leads the two into what looks like a graveyard of metal tossed against sand dunes. Jongdae can’t quite see the cruiser they were looking for, mainly because the sun’s reflection causes him blindness.  Jongdae covers his forehead with the sleeve of his robe to shield from oncoming rays. He can hear his Master’s insistent calls to run in the distance, only to witness red blaster beams surrounding his Master.

“Master!” Jongdae cries, halting his trek in the sand to attempt to return to his outgunned Master. He stumbles in the deep sand, but tries his best to run full force. He tries his best to ignore Baekhyun’s shouts insistent on running away. He can’t give up on his Master, the bond between them is undeniable.

Jongdae races toward his Master, who is now combatting the blaster beams with his green lightsaber. The whizzing of the lightsaber was fast, Jonghyun is one of the best fighters Jongdae’s ever seen. He skillfully blocks all the blaster bolts without causing harm to its owners. Jongdae feels hope swell in his chest.

The young Padawan reaches for his own newly made lightsaber, the hilt feeling a little heavy in his hands. He only just recently created the weapon, but he is determined to help as a Jedi should. He releases the crystals light, now shiny and electric blue against the sandy terrain. It radiates against Jongdae, and he immediately swings his saber into battle, knocking another blaster beam.

Master Jonghyun swings closer to the insectoids, effectively slicing their blaster weapon in half. Then, with his hilt, he knocks them unconscious. The young Padawan catches his eye. Jongdae’s defensive holds and jabs are not quite perfected, but he is still young and impressionable. When a sudden rogue blaster beam heads straight for Jongdae’s head, Jonghyun immediately takes action. Jongdae’s body is thrown with the Force coming from his Master’s ability. He lands softly in the sand, light saber thrown out of arms reach, and not a blasters bolt scar to be traced.

Jongdae groans at the sudden change of space. He drags his body out of the sand, sifting through his hair and squinting in the sunlight. His Master is skilled, flipping around the insectoids and quickly knocking them unconscious.

As the last enemy goes down, Jonghyun quickly runs toward his Padawan and scoops him up. Jongdae is focused on the ship that’s slowly climbing in his vision. It’s a medium sized cruiser, certainly big enough for three members. Baekhyun is stuck in the last place that Jongdae saw him, eyes curious and shining. Jonghyun scoops the other young one in his arms, running through the deep sand as fast as he can.

Now at the ship, Jonghyun puts the younger ones down to unlock the hatch of the ship. The release is antagonizing, slowly coming down as impatient patrons climb on board. Baekhyun scrambles into the ship last, resting his body into the cabin of the ship. Jonghyun quickly flicks switches on, pressing buttons that were not all that familiar to him.

“I think it’s this one,” Jongdae scrambles, also pressing shiny buttons.

“Sit down,” Jonghyun commands, but Jongdae refuses. Hastily, Jonghyun uses the Force to pin Jongdae into the copilot seat, strapping the young Padawan in with buckles.

With only a little bit of trouble, Jonghyun finally gets the ship in the air. The controls are a little finicky, but Jonghyun holds the controls steadily as they rush out of the atmosphere, rid of the planet Kamar. Jongdae can barely turn in his chair, but out of the corner of his eyes, he can see little Baekhyun pressed against the window and staring at the planet shrinking into the black space. Jongdae smiles warmly.

“I’m glad we saved Baekhyun from that nasty place,” Jongdae looks onward toward the stars, listening as hyperspace engages. “Those bad guys took everything from him and put him in slavery. He’s suffered a great deal.”

Jonghyun is silent and stoic, face concentrated on steadying the controls. But he lets out a curious hum with a cocked eyebrow, “Is that what he told you?”

“Yes, Master. He…,” Jongdae tone drops with doubt. He grows confused at his Master’s wording. Jongdae is so confident about Baekhyun’s story. He sounded so sincere. He turns back to Baekhyun’s position, searching for a wordless answer to Jongdae’s confusion.

The freckled boy is sitting quietly, face not relieved in joy nor sadness. He is paused in thought, his exterior like a shell. His mouth forms a straight line with no emotional drawing to it. Baekhyun’s shining eyes perk up to lock onto Jongdae’s. They are brown orbs, deep and elusive, with no amount of warmth in them. Jongdae feels a cold chill run down his body.

A/N: 

Welcome! 

This is going to be such a journey! (literally, from like, when kjd is 8!!) Episode 1 is a pretty linear story, however there will be some time jumps in between upcoming chapters, just forewarning again. I'll give age clues to not confuse anyone! 

As you can probably tell, I'm really into Star Wars... ^^ , so let me know what you think about the first installment! Is Baekhyun hiding something? Is this a trap? Will Jongdae and Baekhyun become friends???

Find out next time! <3