Ask A Whole New World

[Ezra Thorne]

“So I’m supposed to forget that you attacked me under her influence?” He snapped back, genuinely angry now. Dash could probably count on one hand how many times Ezra had displayed visceral anger in the years they’d known each other, and this was one, “I can’t keep my guard down around you. Today it’s Jadis, tomorrow it’s something else..because you never fucking listen, Dash.”

He wasn’t even sure what he was saying, but he knew he didn’t want this kind of a cycle to ever happen again. The destruction of the Casket made that abundantly clear and he hoped he wouldn’t have to spell it out for his man. His silver eyes narrowed as he glared at the Rhinnalian, “Is it all gone?” He said through gritted teeth, “Take a look at yourself, Dash,” He said harshly. Did Dash even realize what happened with his hair and the permanent impact Jadis left on him? Did Ezra even know this man or was he someone new? Was this a trick of Jadis?

Ezra shook his head, tossed aside the shards of the casket and turned to leave the dungeon. He was beyond furious and he was in no mood to hear Dash pouting about the holocron that almost got them both killed.

@Alhon

 

[Dash Pavan]

Dash opened his mouth to splutter about he had never even seen Ezra, only the Sith. But his partner's fury shocked him into silence. What did he mean take a look at himself?

The Rhinnalian glanced around and found a rare sheet of ice on the rock wall that had not been shattered during the fight. He saw immediately what his man was talking about. Dash's face was unchanged, if a little flushed, but his once blonde hair was now a brilliant white from root to tip. When had that happened? It looked....weird.

"I, I didn't know..." he mumbled, but Ezra was already walking off. It hurt like hell to hear he didn't trust Dash anymore. They both had barriers and each had given so much to bring them down. "You can!" he shouted after Ezra ""I'm just me!".

He felt intrinsically that it was not quite true - he still felt unusually pumped and attuned to the Force despite his exertions. But there was an energy here that could help him grow. He glanced again at the shards of the Casket. Maybe it was this place, not the holocron, that he needed after all.

"I should have listened..." he began, but he saw and sensed Ezra's anger. Dash desperately needed his man to understand, to know that his love for Ezra was the very thing that had driven here. That whatever mistakes he had made, there was no reason for Ez to doubt him, no reason to put those walls back up.

Theme​

The Rhinnalian looked down at his own hands, they that had done both great and terrible things. "Every inch of me is trembling, and not from the cold..." he sang instinctively, the words coming unbidden as he stared at Ezra's back. "I see you there, like a soul I've always known, when we're uniting, I feel like I am whole".

His tone was gentle, but building and he knew the quarter-Sephi would hear every word. "I have always been a fortress, cold secrets deep inside, but you had secrets too, we both have to confide."

"Let yourself. Give me a chance to show". Ice crept back across the cavern wall.

"Let yourself. Baby please don't go". Dash's memories played out in the icy panes. Kashyyyk, Thyferra, Rhinnal. "You are the one I've been waiting for, all of my life". The figure of Ezra blazed bright in all the images "Let yourself, trust in our love".

Dash closed the distance between them. "I have never felt so certain, all my life I've been torn. But you and I met for a reason, you're the only one that makes me whole". He tried to reach for his man. "I wanted to protect you, trust anything to be that strong" the wind circled protectively around them both "but now I see, it was never me, it was you all along".

The final note cut the air and dispersed all the wind and artistry. "Let yourself" Dash spoke softly, "let yourself trust me again. Please".

@Sreeya

 

[Ezra Thorne]

Ezra was lost in his own thoughts, ready to leave this place behind once and for all. That was when he heard singing. It was the last thing he expected, and it stopped him in his tracks. It was a lament, an emotional nocturne that Dash enhanced with his powers. Ezra’s ears visibly twitched, and he slowly turned to look at the icy images all around them. They were intricate, complex and a reflection of the deepest parts of his man's psyche.

Ezra almost kept walking, the logical side of that served him well for his entire life screaming at him. However, the voice was quickly drowned out by Dash’s beautiful voice echoing throughout the chamber. He slowly turned to regard Dash, still unsettled by the new hair. He was still as handsome as the first day they met, and the hair only enhanced the vivid sapphire of his eyes. But it was still not the Dash he knew. He looked…dangerous in a way, touched by darkness, a taint to his otherwise pristine bearing.

But was Ezra any different?

Raze had left a part of himself in Ezra, a darkness that had been there since he was born. His father was Raze and it was impossible to completely detach from that. Dash had loved him all the same - even when he saw the manifestation of that very darkness in the realm of the Force. Dash did not run away from him, he only came closer.

Ezra’s jaw tightened, his fingers curling into fists. It was impossible to discern what churned through his mind, but the silver gaze fixed on the blues and remained unblinking. It was a few moments after Dash finished singing that Ezra finally took slow steps towards the Rhinnalian. Logic begged with him to get away, but he trusted in the depictions around him, in the passion in Dash’s voice, in the way he looked at Ezra.

The rage wasn’t entirely gone and he had no reassuring words to share. Instead, he gave a defeated sigh. He silently reached over and pulled Dash into an embrace.

Two broken, tainted beings that perhaps could become whole with their intact halves.

@Alhon

 

[Dash Pavan]

Dash felt strangely naked as he fell silent, exposed and vulnerable without the reverberations of the song or the the flurry of his powers to protect him.

He had succeeded in stopping Ezra and his man did seem to have taken in the show. But did he see it for what Dash meant it to be? Not a show at all, but a bearing of the Rhinnalian’s heart. He worried his man would be too furious to hear him, too vindicated by Jadis’s evil to see the good intentions that had blinded Dash to it. If that happened, he would be broken. He had no other way to make Ezra understand.

They stood there, facing off, Ezra’s face impassive, his form glistening in the battered tank top. Dash could still see the frost burns on his joints from where he had encased his man in ice and his heart ached. How had he been so stupid. Maybe he deserved to be left here alone.

Then Ezra moved. Dash could still tell nothing from the unblinking silver eyes even as they closed the distance. But when those strong arms reached for him, pulling him into an embrace, his relief could have melted the whole mountain.

They held each other for a long time, squeezing each other tight in the absence of words. Eventually, Dash entwined his fingers with Ezra’s own and lifted his man’s hand to his lips, kissing it gently. “Come on. Let’s go up top and see what’s happening”. Jadis might be gone, but the power that had escaped the nexus was no doubt warping the world outside.

Dash pulled Ez gently towards the chamber wall, manipulating the ice all around into a curving slope they could run up.

@Sreeya

 

[Ezra Thorne]

His frustration hadn’t subsided entirely, but it was rapidly melting away as they held each other in silence. For once, Dash didn’t try to sputter words or make excuses. There was a quiet understanding between the two men - unspoken anger, unspoken forgiveness, and everything in between. He closed his eyes and slowly exhaled, breathing in the familiar scents, feeling the familiar touch, listening to that same heartbeat. They were all things that made Dash who he was, and a new hairstyle certainly wouldn’t change that.

They finally parted and he gazed at his man, still keeping silent for now. The part Sephi didn’t sense that same level of unease as when he first entered the chamber. Their path out of the volcano was effortless compared to the complicated way in.

Before long, they reached the summit, coming out on top to oversee the vast valleys below. Ezra’s eyes widened in surprise - ice had streaked down and cascaded out from the ‘volcano’ all the way across where there had been rivers of lava. Everything had been cooled into black rock, the air suddenly cool and the lands unrecognizable from what it was before.

“Looks like you’ve made yourself a kingdom,” Ezra muttered quietly as he gazed out over the frozen tundra that would have made his Pops giddy with joy. He hardly realized that his fingers were still loosely entwined with Dash’s. What did this all mean? Would Dash want to remain here and continue honing his powers? It didn’t take a genius to know that Dash wasn’t hitting the height of his potential living on Nubia.

“What will you do now?” He asked after a long moment of silence.

@Alhon

 

[Dash Pavan]

They found their way to the summit with surprising ease, a path visibly forming ahead of their steps. The mountain felt different and Dash could sense his favourite element suffusing every rock and ridge. Steam rose all around them as the heart of the volcano rapidly cooled, the once eternal rumbling at its heart giving way to the serenity of silence.

Dash never let go of Ezra's hand, so glad to have his man by his side as they emerged atop the peak. The change in the landscape below took the Rhinnalian's breath away. Barely a flame still burned on Kro Var's surface, the rivers of molten lava having cooled to hard channels of rock. The smoke that had filled the air was rapidly dispersing and the toxic clouds in the sky were beginning to unfurl. The nexus had done so much in a such a short time.

Dash's free hand went to his hair, fingering the now white strands anxiously. It felt the same, even if it looked different, but he was still not sure what it all meant. He only knew on some level that something important had changed.

He was glad when Ezra finally broke his silence, but the remark about a kingdom made him roll his eyes. "Pfft, I don't want a kingdom" he laughed, a little self-consciously. "Kings are old and crusty. I don't mind being a prince though?". He did a stately twirl, smiling at Ez and not letting go of his grip.

He leaned back against his man's shoulder. The truth was he had played a part in making this happen and he knew deep down it was no joke. "I, I think I need to stay here..." he answered, taking the risk of saying what he felt in his gut. "At least for a little while. I wanted to make this a safe place for the Jedi and I think I might just be able to, even without her". He turned to face Ezra, unsure how his man would take it. After everything that had happened, he probably wanted to get out of here yesterday.

@Sreeya

 

[Ezra Thorne]

Ezra knew the answer that was coming, but it didn’t sting any less. Sometimes he missed being that entitled, spoiled kid that didn’t have to budge or empathize. He couldn’t simply just tell Dash no, that Dash had to stay with him back on Nubia because that’s what Ezra wanted. Instead, he knew he had to give Dash the room to grow just as Dash had done for him. Despite Dash’s lighthearted twirling and smiling, Ezra’s face remained unchanged.

They would have distance between them again. How long until Dash finished what he wanted here? Would Ezra get lost and buried in EZTech and his school? He despised keeping up with long distance activities. However, he quelled all those thoughts - a relationship had to be a two-way street. Dash had made countless sacrifices for him.

“I’m trusting you,” He said calmly as he gazed into those blue eyes that remained the same despite the hair change. His fingers brushed those feathery white locks, “I’m trusting you not to dig her up again,” He held the gaze for a long moment, “Don’t push me away, baby. Trust in me and trust in the Jedi. And trust in yourself. You don’t need Jadis or the Holocron or anything else to get you where you want.”

@Alhon

 

[Dash Pavan]

Any fears Dash had left melted away as Ezra spoke. He understood. Dash could only half believe it. After everything he had put them through, he was going to get to keep both his man and all he had found on Kro Var. He didn’t deserve such luck.

”You‘re wrong” he said softly “there is one thing I do need, one thing I can’t do without“. He reached up to stroke that perfect Thorne jawline tenderly. “I wouldn’t have made it through all that without you Ez, I can’t get anywhere unless I have you, not anywhere good”.

They touched foreheads, standing briefly eyes closed in the mountain air. “I‘ll never push you away, just don’t forget about me while you’re busy being exceptional back home”. Dash turned them towards the path down, figuring he could get a few bits from the ship until he could formally requisition some supplies and helpers from the Order.

“I don’t know how long it will take me to get something going here, but i’ll start with a princely bedchamber, so don’t think you can’t visit“. He grabbed Ezra’s arm, feigning seriousness “and I’ll pop back to keep an eye on you as often as I can, so dont even think about touching that thermostat”.

The thought of home brought a pang to Dash’s stomach, but he weathered it. It would be hard being apart, but they each had their calling and it was not right or fair to hold each other back.

@Sreeya