Chapter Text
Sabine sat in her tower on Lothal. She was staring at the map, the map she'd taken off the ship - without Ahsokas knowledge. She was still angry at Ahsoka, for abandoning her just like that, even if that happened almost ten years ago. Sabine didn't forgive that easily.
She sighed, looking down at her cat Murley. He was curled up in her lap, purring quietly, eyes closed. She gave him a little headpat before brushing a purple-orange strand of hair back behind her ear and staring at the map again. She had to figure this out somehow.
Unwillingly Sabine got distracted again, by the soft glow of the red string that was wrapped around her pinky finger. Only she could see it - she and her Soulmate. She wondered about her Soulmate quite a lot. The red string, as the artist called it, often flickered, sometimes even threatened to rip.
It meant her Soulmate was hurt, dying, even. But the red string always returned to its strong, soft red glow. Sabine was always relieved when it did that, because she knew it meant her Soulmate was alright.
She had always been interested in her Soulmate, wanted to find them and bring them home. Find her Soulmate like Hera and Kanan had found each other. Hera had told her about how their red thread had severed when Kanan died. That was how Sabine knew that her Soulmate was alive - her red thread was strong, glowing softly.
But even Hera's thread had eventually reconnected, when her son, Jacen, was born. She'd explained to Sabine how her thread glowed in a soft yellow now. Yellow was platonic Soulmates, that much Sabine knew. It was common in families, blood or chosen. Ezra and her had been connected by one of these, until he went missing. The thread had just ripped as if he was dead. Logically it meant he was dead. But Sabine had always held out hope.
Spectre 5 sighed softly as she stretched, staring outside the opened door for a moment. This evening it felt as if the connection was stronger, as if her Soulmate was close, wandering Lothal with her. It was silly, really, but sometimes the artist couldn't help but hope.
Shaking her head, Sabine refocused on the map. Slowly she began seeing a pattern in it, her schooled artists eye connecting lines, until she finally reached out, grabbing the map and beginning to twist it.
Seconds later lines aligned and a small star map appeared and Sabine leaned back, smiling softly as she followed a line with her finger. Yes, this map would lead her back to Ezra. Ezra, who hopefully was stuck in another galaxy for the past ten years and not dead. She was convinced he was alive. He had to be, despite their severed yellow thread that told her the truth.
Taking a breath, Sabine leaned back for a few seconds, before carefully moving Murley off her lap and getting up. The purring stopped almost immediately, the loth cat following her outside, bonking his head against her leg softly. She leaned against the railing, staring up into the starry sky. For the millionth time in her life Sabine wished her Soulmate was here with her, seeing what she saw right now.
Suddenly Murley hissed and Sabine spotted an assassin Droid out of the corner of her eye. She whirled around, right as she was attacked. Sabine was ambushed, she couldn't do much more than fight back as good as she could.
"Huyang, I need backup!", Sabine spoke into her comm, her voice panicked. She managed to take out one of the droids alone, dropping to the floor, shoulders heaving as she breathed heavily. Silently, she cursed her long hair. It got in the way, constantly. The second Droid had smashed her records and taken the map, disappearing downstairs.
Cursing, Sabine ran back inside, taking a second to check on Murley, who luckily seemed to be alright, before she pulled out a box from under her desk. She opened it, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment, her eyes skimming over the contents. She swallowed heavily at the sight of a familiar hair clip, before staring at the saber. Hesitantly, she grabbed Ezra's lightsaber out of the box, before shutting it and stuffing it back under the desk.
Hastily, Sabine made her way down the tower. The red thread followed. It would always follow, it was tied to her, and to her Soulmate. As she stepped out of the tower, she spotted a girl standing next to the Droid. She slowly turned around and Sabine's mouth dropped open for a moment.
She was gorgeous. Her bone white hair fell into her face in a fringe trimmed over her eyes, framing her sharp facial features beautifully. She handed the map to the Droid, opening her mouth to speak.
"We've been looking for this.", she spoke clearly. Even her voice was gorgeous. Sabine could make out an accent. But she had the map, and Sabine needed the map to get to Ezra.
"That's too bad.", she finally replied, igniting Ezra’s green lightsaber. Her hair fell into her face again and for the second time this evening she cursed the purple-orange ombre hair. It would just hinder her in this fight. The bone-white haired girl stepped forwards, also igniting her saber. It was a deep, almost bloody orange, and she twirled the blade dramatically.
Sabine stepped forwards, raising her saber and clashing it against the orange one of her opponent. Immediately the two began a dangerous dance of blades, clashing and pushing forwards, pulling back and again.
The artist ended up being pushed back to her knees, only holding herself up with one hand as she pushed the girl’s orange saber away. Only for a flickering moment her brain registered the softly glowing red thread that was wrapped around the other girls pinky finger, then she focused back on the sabers.
Sabine managed to get back to her feet, barely, but she did. The other girl had whirled around and in the moment that Sabine realized who was in front of her, a searing pain buried itself in her abdomen.
The soft red glow that had glowed strong until now began to flicker and thin as Sabine realized what was happening. She looked down on the orange saber that was buried in her abdomen, then weakly up at her Soulmate.
The white haired girl looked frightened as she deactivated her saber, stumbling back when Sabine weakly swung out at her. She looked to be in pain, as if Sabine's pain had infected her through the bond of Soulmates that they shared. The girl whirled her head around when she heard a ship coming. Ahsoka was coming. Providing backup.
Sabine's sight was decreasing rapidly, the red thread connecting her and the other girl flickering, the soft red glow that was strong before now getting weaker, threatening to sever as Sabine's life force ran out. The white haired woman spared her one last, terrified glance, before taking off running.
Sabine fell back, weakly, not able to keep herself up any longer. Ezra's lightsaber fell out of her hand, clattering on the floor uselessly as Sabine passed out, Ahsoka’s faint call for her the last thing she heard as her consciousness dwindled.