Curious. He walks through walls.

Well, if he can pass through my wall, he's not my phantom.

"Xylon... is dead?"

I lower my head. Things begin to turn a murky blue...

"Perhaps, you should continue this story in the real world. Assuming there is a way to bring me back to that world.

"There is. There always is." Gash said, sitting down beside Andrew. "I've entered your mind. In the real world, I'm standing right in front of you. But I've been inside this fantasy for almost a half an hour. In the real world, it's only been ten minutes."

Andrew cast a puzzled look Gash's way, and the Jedi Master clarified. "Your brain cells can't move. They're frozen into place. They're communicating with each other through the Force, because you are Force sensitive. The Force is a much more efficient way to communicate."

Gash gestured around. "This is all moving three times faster than it should. You've only been in cryogenic stasus for a year. If we pull you out of it, your brain won't be able to adjust to the decreased synaptic rate. You'll die, or go brain dead, or go insane.

"You're not the first Force-sensitive person to be put in cryogenic freezing." Gash continued. "But you're the only one to have done something like this. You have created this world for a reason. If you don't let it go, we can never free you."

"You should never have done that. The risk to you is far too emense."

I reach out... fell the craquelesqe patern on the wall. I spin my shoulders and drive my head into the wall. The blood... it tastes real.. it feels real...

"How?"

Gash glanced quizzically at Andrew. "It hurts because you make it hurt. Because you are intent on hurting yourself." Gash sighed. "You are here because you are bound by your own anger. Your hate for those who betray you. That is why the doctors ask you if you can resist the Dark Side.

"Everything here is your own creation. If you can let your hate for the world in general go, you can leave."

"Before I try to vanquish the darkness, let me ask you..."

"Have you ever done this before?"

A small grin, however minute and humorless, flashed across Gash's face. For just a second. "Well... no." He said, biting his bottom lip mock-nervously. "But I'm pretty sure I'm right."

"The blind leading the blind then? Well... if it works, it works. And if it doesn't... I'll have you to keep me company in my eternal madness."

I smile up at him. I then close my eyes, and focus. My mind is empty... and the room begins to wash away. No... the illusion begins to wash away. The black reality begins to return.

Silence. Darkness.

The world was gone; that much was clear. The illusion was dispelled by Andrew. He'd let go of his guilt, his anger, his desire for revenge. Had he? Gash was sure... almost sure...

...sure enough to bet his life on it? "Andrew!" Gash called into the darkness, knowing that the two real beings from the nightmarish apparitional dimension were still there, in the darkness. "Andrew, you can't lie to me, now. That dream world was your own... you could have dispelled it with force of will, as well. Unless you've really let go, when I try to pull out of your mind, I'll die."

He paused. "Can I trust you?"

Silence answered back.

But a hand laid itself on Gash's shoulder.

"I live by a motto. Never trust anyone."

I look around one last time at the inside of my brain... devoid of illusion, devoid of fantasy... empty.

"I could kill you out there. Why bother wasting my life to do it here?"

I said, joking.

"It's gone. Let's go before it tries to come back."

Gash hesitated, then nodded. Linking himself back into the Force, he slowly pulled his presence from Andrew's mind, returning his concentration to his own. Slowly, his avatar in the fantasy faded from view, leaving Andrew alone.

Gash's eyes snapped open in the real world, and he blinked a few times. The glow from the cryogenic freezing chamber hurt his eyes... "How long was I?" He asked.

'Only fifteen minutes,' The doctor replied. 'His neural synaptic rate has slowed down to just above normal... we should be able to pull him out, without doing any lasting harm. He'll have a headache, at the worst. I don't know what you did in there, but it worked.'

Gash nodded, gesturing for the doctor to begin the process. Slowly, but surely, the supercold ice crystals in the specialized bacta melted, and the healing properties of the liquid form were reactivated five-fold of normal, ensuring that Andrew's cells wouldn't burst. The last of the ice fragments melted away...