Disclaimer: Star Wars does not belong to me, nor do any of the established characters from the Star Wars books. The song 'Leaving' was modeled (probably pretty obviously) on Annie Lexxon's song, Into The West, from the Return of the King soundtrack. Other than that, it's all mine, hehe. I couldn't think of a better name, so if you have one, post it in the reviews or something. Thanks!
Dancing With Stars
By Jaina Eowyn
Chapter One:
Runaways
"Jacen!" Jaina called as she walked down the corridor of the Jedi trainees' rooms of Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy on Yavin IV.
"Here, Jaina!" Her twin brother called out from his room. She reached down to grab the doorknob and started to turn it when she heard Jacen call out, "Don't open it, Jaina!" She jerked her hand back, and then peered at the door as if trying to see through it.
"Why not?" She asked, curious.
"Hold on a nano," Jacen called back, and then the door opened enough to let her slight body come in. Jacen motioned her to come in quickly.
She slipped in, looking around as Jacen hastily closed the door behind her. She raised an eyebrow at what she saw. A large cage lay toppled on the floor and animal bedding from the bottom of it was scattered over at least one quarter of the floor.
"What happened?" She asked, almost dreading the answer.
"They're loose again," Jacen sighed, lying down on the floor next to his bed and peering under it.
"Again?" Jaina asked incredulously. "You know, those things are going to get you kicked out of the Academy."
Jacen sighed. "I know, but I love all of them. I couldn't let them go again after all I had to go through to get them all. Besides, most of them aren't native to Yavin IV. They'd disrupt the ecology."
Jaina rolled her eyes. "Well, they're going to disrupt the Academy first, if you don't keep them under control."
Jacen made a noise that sounded like a groan coupled with a sigh. "I know, I know! Just don't tell Uncle Luke. They're too big to get out, so I know they're still in here."
Now it was Jaina's turn to sigh. "Fine, I won't tell him this time. But if they keep getting out, I'll have to tell him. This is the seventh time!" She added in her authoritative 'I'm older than you' tone. She seemed to use it a lot when she had the upper hand in a conversation with him or Anakin.
"I'll get the cage set back up," she offered, walking over to the wire contraption and setting it upright. "How'd they get out this time?"
"They managed to undo the lock. Again. The lock you made," Jacen added in a slightly smug tone.
"How?" Jaina asked, glaring at him. She had made the lock specially so that these certain animals wouldn't be able to pick it and open the cage, and with all her mechanics expertise, it should have worked.
"I dunno!" Jacen said defensively. "I didn't watch 'em do it!"
"Okay, okay," Jaina soothed. "So anyways, how are we supposed to catch them?" She asked, grabbing a hand broom and dustpan to sweep up the spilled bedding. Jacen shrugged. Jaina swept up all the particles of bedding that had previously been in the bottom of the cage and put them back in their previous place.
"I just hope no one comes in and lets them out of my room," Jacen said, coming over to help Jaina clean up.
At that moment, the door opened and their uncle, Luke Skywalker entered. Once he was inside the room and out of the way of the door, two dark streaks dashed past him. Jacen stifled a despairing groan and grinned up at Luke.
"Hi, Uncle Luke. What did you need?"
"I just wanted to give you two a letter from your parents," the older Jedi answered. He handed his niece a pad. She gave Jacen an almost imperceptible smirk that said 'hah! I'm older, so there'.
"Thanks, Uncle Luke!" She said cheerfully and smiled up at the Jedi Master. Luke nodded and smiled back, then left the room, closing the door behind him..
The second he was out of the room, the smiles vanished from the twins' faces and Jaina dropped the message pad.
They ran to the door and pulled it open, poking their heads out. Seeing Luke disappearing down the corridor, they dashed out.
"Which way did they go?" Jacen asked in a frantic, panicky voice. If the damfpai got somewhere they shouldn't be, there was no telling what havoc they could wreak.
"Uh... uh..." Jaina stuttered, glancing down the corridor both ways. "You take one way and I'll take the other!"
Jacen dashed down the left-hand passageway and Jaina took the right-hand one. Soon, Jacen was all but shouting for Jaina, dashing back up the hallway.
"Jaina, Jaina, I found them!" He called. Jaina dashed back up the hallway towards her brother and they ran down the left-hand passageway.
"Where were they?" Jaina breathed as they ran.
"They're headed towards the outside door. If they get out..." Jacen gasped, leaving the last sentence hanging.
Jaina nodded. "We've gotta catch 'em, then."
They almost ran into the door of the Academy dining room. They caught themselves just in time and slowed to a casual walk. They strode through the room to the opposite doors, but the minute they were through them, they broke into a run again.
They made it to the outside doors just in time to see two blue streaks following a younger Jedi trainee walking out. They glanced at each other and groaned softly, their blue eyes locking. They walked over to the doors as quickly as they could without attracting attention.
Once outside, they saw the blue streaks running away. The twins ran after them as fast as they could, pushing their way through bushes and tall grasses.
"Oh, blaster bolts!" Jacen groaned. "They've gone into the forest!"
"Come on," Jaina sighed, pushing her way through more plants, making her way after the blue streaks, which were slightly slowing due to the impediments in their path.
"They're slowing down!" Jaina added, thrusting the obstacles out of her way in renewed determination.
They pushed through the undergrowth for another fifteen minutes or so, catching sights of their quarry every now and again.
Suddenly Jaina stopped and Jacen almost ran here over. As she regained her balance, she pointed towards something about twenty-five feet in front of them.
"Jacen, what's that?" She asked.
Jacen peered at it. "It looks like metal, but I can't tell."
They slowed down as they approached it. As they got closer, they heard whimpering sounds. When they got close enough to see what was gleaming, they gasped and exchanged stunned glances.