I wrote this a few months ago, but just now thought about sending it in. :) My first posted Star Wars fic. Sort of an AU, I guess. Hope you like it. :)
Disclaimer: No one belongs to me except none famous characters (Viclyn, Sabin, Langston, and so on). The rest belong to God, AKA George Lucas.
CKWan
The Tale of the Glass Dishes
-_-_-_-_-
"Viclyn! Hurry!"
She glanced up from the papers she had been studying in the library at the Jedi Temple. She sensed the urgency and importance of no questions asked through the Force radiating from the source of the voice. When she spotted fellow Jedi Healer, Sabin, she stood hurriedly, leaving the papers as they were. Her long golden hair cascaded around her shoulders. Leaving her shoes where they were under the table, she ran after Sabin to see what the emergency was, her cloak flowing behind her.
Minutes later, they arrived in one of the rooms in the hospital on the Jedi grounds.
"What have we got here?" Viclyn asked the moment she arrived.
"We were just climbing on the conditioning rocks," a young Padawan boy said hurriedly, and worriedly. "Cas fell off and hit her head. I brought her as quickly as I could, trying not to jar her too much. I didn't make it any worse did I?"
Viclyn quickly reassured the boy that he'd done the right thing, and looked at the young Padawan. Her face was covered in blood and her hair was matted, as well. Viclyn quickly grabbed the young girl's hand, and closed her eyes. She reached out through the Force and could "see" that the girl was fighting a losing battle with death.
My name is Viclyn, she said through the Force. I'm a Jedi Healer, I'm here to help you. Let me help you. I'll help you. I promise. Just trust me.
"Vic," Sabin said worriedly. "She's too far gone. You can't save her."
"Watch me, Sab," Viclyn said through gritted teeth. She heard his grunt as she centered herself in the Force, and opened her mind even more to the girl. She could tell the minute Cas let go of her hold onto the Force, and her fight for life, and heard the machines around her beep their warnings, then go silent. Viclyn immediately "grabbed" Cas's "hand" and tried to heal as many injuries as she could with her own life force. She could tell that she was losing the little window of time she had had.
Determined to keep the girl alive, Viclyn focused her life force entirely on Cas and her shrinking link to the Force. By doing this, Viclyn ran the risk of dying with Cas if she couldn't save the girl.
Finally, tentatively, the first machine beeped. Then was soon followed by a second, hesitantly following the first one's lead. Soon, all the machines were beeping at their own regular paces, though slower than normal. Viclyn finally opened her eyes. She looked down Cas and noticed more color was returning to her previously pale face.
"One of these days, Vic," Sabin said with a shake of his head. "One of these days, you're going to be wrong, and I'm gonna be here to see it."
"I hope not!" she said tiredly. She wiped the sweat off her face. "Excuse me." She walked out to the waiting room to find, not only the Padawan's Master, but all of her friends, and even a few members of the Jedi Council.
They looked up expectantly when she entered the room.
"She's alive," she said. A cheer erupted from the room, but soon quieted when Viclyn held up her hands. "But, she's not out of the woods yet. There's still the possibility of infection, and brain damage, but I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that she's back at 100 percent and the same as before." She left to go finish healing Cas.
-_-_-_-_-
"Long day?" Jedi Knight Obi-Wan asked to his lover when she walked into their shared apartment.
Viclyn looked up at him tiredly. "You could say that."
"I heard about how you saved Master Je'Maik's Padawan, Cas, this morning," he said as he watched her change into her pajamas.
"Is that who her Master is?" she asked.
"Mm-hmm," Obi-Wan replied.
"Oh," she said. "I didn't ask. I just saved her life."
"I also heard from Sabin that you risked everything again," he said.
She cast him a sideways glance. She shrugged. "I know you don't approve, but I'm a Healer. It's my job to do anything and everything necessary to save my patients."
"Even at the expense of your own life?" he asked softly.
She walked over to him and straddled his lap. "I'm okay, aren't I?" she whispered.
"This time," he whispered back.
"Trust me, okay? Besides, it's no worse then some of your 'diplomatic' missions," she whispered with a small smile on her full lips as she leaned into kiss him. "Let's go to bed."
Without a second's thought, she was in his arms and on their way to the bedroom.
-_-_-_-_-
"See you when I get home, honey," Obi-wan said to Viclyn as he dropped a kiss on her rose-coloured lips.
When he pulled back, she smiled at him and reached up to stroke his cheek delicately. He returned her smile. He bent down for one last kiss before he turned and left the room. She watched after him silently.
Stop staring, he said in her mind.
But, I like what I see…a lot, she responded in his mind. She could sense his smile.
Go back to sleep, he said softly as he walked out the main door.
She smiled sleepily and rolled over to go back to sleep when she heard the door close and lock. She sighed happily and was asleep in seconds.
-_-_-_-_-
She awoke with a start when she heard banging on the door, and the bell ringing insistently. She swung her legs over the bed and quickly dressed in the traditional Jedi Healer attire which consisted of a tunic, cloak, knee high boots, and, in her case, a sports bra. She quickly brushed her long blonde hair, and pulled it back with a hair holder.
"I'm coming," she called as she walked to the door. As soon as she opened it, she was thrown onto the ground. Someone quickly covered her mouth with a rag. She tried to scream, but was forced to breathe through the cloth. Whatever the cloth had been covered with disabled her connection to the Force. It also caused her to loose consciousness.
The men began to search the suite and soon the bedroom was trashed.
"Don't make it look like there was a struggle," one said to the others. Even as he said that he heard a crash. "Let's get out of here quickly!"
They quickly carried her out to a ship they had waiting to take her to their boss's given coordinates. No one saw them come and no one saw them leave.
-_-_-_-_-
"Vic," Obi-Wan called as he walked through the door of the suite he and Vic shared on Coruscant. "Vic, I'm home."
He removed his traditional Jedi cloak and glanced around for Viclyn.
"Vic," he called out again. He walked into the bedroom they shared and wasn't really shocked at not finding her there. He noticed that her clothes were thrown all over the floor, but it wasn't that unusual. He was used to finding their suite a mess because of her frantic searches for things she had misplaced.
What he noticed that was unusual, was that all of her glass dishes were knocked on the floor. One or two had remained in one piece, but a majority of the dishes were broken, some shattered.
He began to worry only when he didn't find her anywhere in the suite provided to them by the Queen of Naboo, Queen Amidala. He knew that she could be out, but she would have left a note. He searched the Force for her presence, and was shocked not to find it. She wasn't a Jedi Knight, but a Jedi Healer. He should have been able to sense her presence at any time anywhere no matter what.
He tried to use his comlink to contact her, but to no avail. He tried to tell himself that he wasn't worried, but knew he was lying to himself. Before doing anything rash, he decided to wait to see if she came home. He sat down on the chaise and after a few moments, he found himself staring at the door waiting for her to walk through. After an hour, his patience was non-existent. It was 8 o'clock at night standard time and she would have either come home by now or contacted him if she was late. It was at or around this time that he finally let himself admit that something was wrong and he was very worried.
-_-_-_-_-
She walked the walls of the dimly lit room again, looking for a way out of the room she had been shoved into a few hours ago. At least she thought it was a few hours ago. She had lost track of time for awhile while they had been searching through her stuff in the suite she shared with Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan. He had to be worrying about her. She tried to reach him through the Force, but again felt nothing. It was as if, while they had been injecting her with fluid after fluid, they had somehow disabled her ability to use the Force.
She stopped short when the door opened. A human man, at least 6' 5" and 200 pounds walked in and eyed her. He knew that he was taking in the sight of her body. She wasn't wearing half of what she had when she had answered the door. They had stripped her down to her sports bra and Jedi pants. She was bare foot and her Jedi pants only went down to just below the knees. She refused to be intimidated by the man, and stood to her full height of 5' 4" and stared at him; his blue-eyed gaze bore into her dark brown eyes. She lifted her chin and stared back at him.
She could tell by his silk shirt with a fancy logo stitched into it that he was an important person. She could tell by his build that he was in shape and his muscles promised lightening-quick reflexes.
"I hear you've been trying to find a way out," he said. His voice was deep and echoed in the bare room.
"What did you expect?" she challenged. "Did you honestly expect me to sit and wait to see what you would do to me?"
He strode purposely over to her and backhanded her. She was only barely able to keep from falling. She quickly recovered her footing and regained her balance. She whipped her head around to face him. He had hit her so hard there was a handprint on her cheek.
"What am I here for?" she demanded.
"Demanding aren't we?" he asked with an evil laugh.
She said nothing and waited for an answer.
He stared at her for a long moment before motioning to someone behind him. Two men came in towards her. She noticed that one of them had a syringe. She backed up to the wall. She glanced at the man in the silk shirt and noticed that he was watching in amusement.
Without a second's thought, she kicked the syringe out of the hand of one of the men with her right foot, twisted with it, and brought the left leg up to hit him in the head. She landed hard on her right side, but soon recovered enough to roll away from the other man that came hurling her way. She then took off towards the door, but the man in the silk shirt stuck out his arm. His arm struck her right above her breasts, and knocked her down.
All of her breath was knocked from her lungs. She stared up at him and tried to get her breath back so that she could try to escape again. She tried to overcome her body's need for oxygen, tried to get up, and function through the use of the Force. She knew she could do it; she'd done it before. Only problem was, she had no connection to the Force.
The last thing she saw was his fist coming towards her face. After that, everything went black.
-_-_-_-_-
"Wake up, Jedi," someone said scornfully. "Wake up!"
Viclyn groaned. She opened her eyes slowly and looked around. She was hanging from chains around her wrists in the middle of a dark room. The only light was directly above her and was giving off enough heat to cause her to sweat. She finally focused on the man in the silk shirt. She tried to glare at him, but it hurt her right eye to narrow it.
"Look who finally decided to grace us with her presence," he said mockingly.
She said nothing.
"Now, we need some information that you are well equipped to tell us," he said. "We need to know how the Jedi Healers are trained and how to perform basic healing exercises."
She continued to stare at him.
"Now, shall we discuss either subjects?" he asked.
"No," she said firmly.
He shook his head. "You only get one 'free' denial," he explained. "If you say no again, you will be punished. Do you understand?"
She said nothing and continued to stare at him.
"So, I ask again, shall we discuss how Jedi Healers are trained?"
"No," she said. She lifted her chin defiantly.
"Suit yourself," he said as he nodded at someone behind her. She screamed, partly in shock and partly in pain when she felt the lash of a whip on her now bare back. She jerked against the chains. He waited for her to get her breath back. He stared into her eyes and saw the shock and hints of fear. He was disappointed when he didn't see much pain.
"That was just a taste of what we can do," he said.
She was finally able to glare at him.
"So, I ask again, shall we discuss how Jedi teach healing exercises?"
"No," she said.
He nodded again to someone behind her. This time the person came around in front of her. She tried to examine their face until she realized he held a knife. After moving some of her hair, he cut her stomach with the knife. She gasped, and drew her breath sharply. He slowly cut a few centimeters, never going more than millimeters deep.
"How are Jedi Healers trained?"
She shook her head. This refusal resulted in a bolt of electric shock sent through her body from her toes. She couldn't stop from screaming.
-_-_-_-_-
"Master, we'll find her," Anakin Skywalker said to Obi-Wan.
"I'm sure we will, Anakin, but I can't help but worry about her," Obi-Wan said as he looked out the window of his suite. It had been twelve hours since he had come home to find the place empty. He had contacted the Jedi Council, and no one had talked with Viclyn all day. When they had tried to contact her through the Force, no one had been able to reach her; not even Master Yoda and he was the strongest in Force than any Jedi Master or Knight. They hadn't even been able to feel her presence.
"I'm sure she's okay where ever she is," Anakin said to comfort his Master.
-_-_-_-_-
Anakin couldn't have been farther from the truth. Bleeding and exhausted, Viclyn hung by her wrists that were chained to a wall in the dark room with one light. The light was directly above her, and the heat that was generated from it had her sweating profusely.
Her right eye was swollen shut, her back covered in cuts from a whip, stomach covered in cuts, none more few millimeters deep and a few centimeters long, and her covered in small burns from where they had sent the electric shocks through her. Her sweat dripped into her open wounds, and stung. The last few hours, at least she thought they were hours - it could have been days - had been a routine: same questions followed by rotated punishments when she had refused to answer.
They had asked her over and over how the Jedi were trained and how they taught healing exercises. She knew that if she told them what they wanted, the information would be told to the wrong people. If they needed the information to save people, they would have approached the Jedi Council through the Senate.
The door opened. She raised her head wearily to see the man in silk shirt walk up to her.
"You can't take much more of this," he said. "You've lost a lot of blood. If you keep up your silence, you'll be dead soon."
"Then ready yourself for disappointment," she croaked through fat lips. Her voice was hoarse from screaming.
His anger was evident on his face. He seemed to fight with himself, and ended up backhanding her again. She was thrown as far as the chains would allow, and yelped as the chains cut her wrists. Her hair stuck in the cuts in her stomach, causing some to reopen and start bleeding again.
He reached out, steadied her, and pulled her hair from her face. When he pulled back his hand, it was covered in her blood. The ends of her hair no longer looked golden and shiny, but rusty coloured from the dried blood. He wiped his hand in her hair, and studied her for a moment.
He could tell that she was exhausted and couldn't take much more. She had to break soon, or she would die. If she died, he would be in a lot of trouble with…
He stopped the thought there and turned to leave.
"Could you finish that thought?" she asked wearily.
He spun to face her. "What?"
"Who will you be in a lot of trouble with if I die?" she asked. She looked into his eyes with her one good eye.
"What's it to you?" he asked as he crossed his arms on his chest.
"I want to know who's ordering you to kill me," she said.
"I haven't been ordered to kill you, just to get some information," he said. He scowled when he realized that he had just told her that he had someone above him giving him orders. He turned to leave before he revealed anything else to her.
"Please," she pleaded. "Please tell me."
He ignored her and left the room.
She hung her head just before she realized that she had to be regaining her use of the Force.
Obi-Wan? she called out wearily through the Force. Obi-Wan, can you hear me…Please…Can you hear me, sweetie… Ben…
-_-_-_-_-
Obi-Wan leapt from his chair when he heard her voice through the Force. It was faint, but it was her.
Vic?! he called out. Vic, are you okay? Where are you?
Ben...
Are you okay? he asked worriedly. She sounded exhausted and in pain.
They've tortured me for...for…I don't even know how long…
Who's 'they'? Where are you?
I don't know…they're following orders from someone…I have no idea where I am...They keep asking how Jedi Healers are trained and how we teach healing exercises…I can't take much more, Ben…they'll kill me…
He sat in shock. They were torturing his best friend, his lover. The rage he felt was more anger than he'd ever felt in his entire life; it was more anger than he had felt before he had killed his master's murderer. He wanted to find her more than ever now.
Ben...
Vic?
I can't take any more…I've lost a lot of blood…
Don't give up…keep fighting…please, Vic.
For you, Ben…
With that, he lost her. He reached out for her, and was relieved that she was still alive. She had succumbed to her exhaustion and passed out. He used this time to "examine" her; he was livid at what he discovered. He grimaced when he "found" the cuts on her stomach. He was surprised that she was still alive.
"Master?" Anakin said loudly.
"Yes?" he said as he shook his head.
"What's wrong?" his apprentice asked worriedly.
"They tortured her," Obi-Wan said as he lowered his head.
"How do you know?" Anakin asked with surprise and worry.
"I was able to 'talk' with her through the Force," he said. "It was only for a few minutes before she passed out. They keep asking her how Healers are trained and how we teach healing exercises." He paused for a moment to breathe deeply. "You should see what they did to her."
"Maybe I can," Anakin said.
Obi-Wan found himself sometimes forgetting just how strong his apprentice was with the Force. At the age of 15, he was showing more potential than any Padawan learner ever had before.
"Together, perhaps, we can find out where she is," Obi-Wan said. Both of them sat on the floor in meditation style. They closed their eyes, and began to concentrate.
-_-_-_-_-
"How was she able to contact anyone?!"
"The injection given to her to prevent her use of the Force lost it's effect long enough for her to contact someone," the man in the silk shirt said.
"You were supposed to be monitoring that!"
"Yes, sir. I'll give her a higher dosage."
"Keep asking her the questions too!"
"Would you still like us to punish her if she refuses to cooperate?"
"Yes."
"With all do respect, sir, she'll die before she tells us anything. She's already standing at death's door. It we keep torturing her, she'll be knocking pretty soon."
The man in the dark cloak turned to face the man in the silk shirt. It was the first time he had ever allowed the man to see his face.
What the man in the silk shirt saw scared him more than anything had ever scared him before. The man's face was covered in red and black tattoos. His teeth were stained yellow and jagged. He had horns on top of his head that were partially hidden by the hood on his black cloak.
"I will talk to her then," the creature said.
"Yes, Darth Amaous," the man in the silk shirt said with a deep bow.
"I'm glad we could talk about this, Lanston," Darth Amaous said.
-_-_-_-_-
Obi-Wan opened his eyes with a start when he lost his connection with her. Vic's link with the Force had been weak, and growing weaker, but it was suddenly cut off. He knew that she couldn't be dead. She was a better fighter than that. He wouldn't, couldn't, accept it.
Anakin opened his eyes slowly. He looked at his Master in sorrow.
"I'm sorry, Master," he whispered.
"Sorry for what?" Obi-Wan demanded.
"About Viclyn," he said.
"What about her?" he asked. "She's not dead! She's alive! I'd know it if she were dead! They must have given her something to disable her link to the Force! She's still alive!"
Anakin stared at his Master in sadness. He knew that they didn't know for certain that Viclyn was dead, but the chances were good. He knew that his Master loved Viclyn, though he had probably rarely told her. Anakin hung his head, and hoped that his Master was right about her.
-_-_-_-_-
She hung pathetically from the chains. She was covered in her own blood and was passed out from exhaustion. He had expected more.
With a wave of his hand, she awoke. She slowly raised her head to look at him. Her eye widened. She looked him up and down as best she could.
"So the Sith are behind this," she said through parched lips. "I should have known."
He silenced her with another wave of his hand.
"I'm not here to talk about the Sith," he growled. "I'm here to talk about the Jedi."
"I'm not going to tell you anything," she said determinedly.
"You'll soon change your mind," he said.
"If I was going to change my mind, I would have done it earlier," she snapped.
He laughed. "If physical torture can't break, mental torture will."
She tried to frown, but gave up because it hurt too much.
"Here's just a sample of what I can do," he said with a flick of his fingers.
She jerked against the chains, and screamed. He had gotten inside her mind and flashed all of her worst nightmares in front of her eyes. He exploited her fears and mocked her dreams and fantasies.
With another flick of his fingers, she sank down, the chains the only thing holding her up. Her breathing was heavy and the cuts on her wrists were deeper. Several cuts on her stomach reopened again.
She tried to reach out to the Force again, but only received a wave of pain for her efforts.
"You have no way of using the Force," he said. "There is no way you can perform a healing exercise on yourself or call for help. I wouldn't waste any energy on it if I were you."
She looked up at him and saw that he was enjoying this. She felt like spitting at him, but her mouth was dry.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said, reading her thoughts. "If you do, you will pay dearly."
"I'm going to die anyway," she said, "so I might as well go down fighting."
He flicked his fingers again. She strained against the chains, back arched, and screaming. She tried to stay still so that the chains wouldn't dig into her wrists, but failed. She closed her eye, but still the images came.
Finally he stopped the images from dancing in front of her eyes.
This went on for half an hour before she was too tired to throw herself against the chains. She simply hung from them and screamed.
-_-_-_-_-
An hour later, he finally left her alone. She was near death, and was beginning to welcome it. Her only sane thoughts were of Obi-Wan. She tried again and again to contact him, but was only received a sharp stab of pain for her efforts.
The door opened again and a woman walked through.
Viclyn didn't raise her head to examine the woman; she didn't care anymore.
"I would have thought they'd have broken you by now," the woman said.
"You thought wrong," Viclyn said hoarsely.
The woman laughed.
"My name is Aurora," the woman said. "I've been overseeing this 'project,' and I must say, I admire your courage."
Viclyn said nothing.
Aurora reached out and lifted Viclyn's head by the chin. Viclyn yelped and eyed Aurora for the first time. She wasn't much taller than herself. She had dark brown hair, with stunning light green eyes.
Aurora was shocked at the fire that was still left in Viclyn's eyes. She was the first Jedi Healer to survive this long. They had tried this "test" with seven other Jedi Healers and had received the same results: none of them answered any of the questions.
She really did admire Viclyn's courage, but was disgusted with her loyalty. She couldn't understand how someone could remain this loyal to something, or someone. Viclyn's thoughts had dwelled on Obi-Wan Kenobi. Aurora had seen that they had been friends since they were children, and had been lovers since their late teens. Now in their early thirties, they shared a suite, and were to be married in a short while. She had seen and felt Viclyn's loyalty, desire, and love for Obi-Wan.
"Why won't you give in?" Aurora asked.
"If I gave in and told you what you wanted, I would be betraying everything I've been taught and believe in," Viclyn said.
"But it would be so much easier to give in," Aurora prodded.
Viclyn glared at her. "I've come this far. Giving in would be worthless. All of these cuts, bruises, and welts would be worthless."
"Are your beliefs and loyalties worth dying for?!" Aurora asked in exasperation.
"My life is worth saving countless others' that would die if you had the information you want," Viclyn said with all the strength she could muster.
With that, Aurora spun on her heel and left the room as quickly as she could.
-_-_-_-_-
"Master!" Anakin yelled. "Master!"
Obi-Wan opened his eyes groggily. He didn't know how long he had been asleep, but was somewhat aggravated at being woken. This was the first time he had gotten any sleep since Vic had been taken.
"Yes, Anakin?" he asked tiredly.
"I know where Viclyn is!" he exclaimed.
Obi-Wan sat up with a start. He stared at his apprentice in shock.
"Where?" he demanded.
Anakin showed him a map and explained that he had been able to trace her connection with the Force to a remote planet near Tatooine.
Without a second's thought, Obi-Wan took off towards the docking bay, searching for a ship. Luckily, Anakin had already had one prepared with seven other Jedi Healers, including Sabin, on board to take care of her wounds. Within minutes, they were on their way to the Outer Rim. Unfortunately, it would take twelve hours to get there.
Obi-Wan hoped Viclyn could hang on for another twelve hours. She had survived, he hoped, this long, she could make it awhile longer.
-_-_-_-_-
She wanted to die. She wanted to give up. She wanted to end her misery. She couldn't explain why, but she hadn't yet. Something in the corner of her mind wouldn't let her give up. She had a feeling that her love was on his way to rescue her. Though she still had no connection to the Force, she knew he was coming for her. She just knew it.
-_-_-_-_-
"Darth Amaous!" Lanston yelled. "There's a ship approaching!"
"What?!" he yelled.
"It's a Republic-style ship!" he yelled back. "I think it's from Coruscant!"
"This is impossible!"
"Grab the woman!"
Lanston took off towards the cell where they had Viclyn kept.
-_-_-_-_-
"What?" Viclyn asked in confusion.
Lanston removed the chains from her wrists and caught her as she fell. He pulled her into his arms and ran out the door. The jarring hurt so much that she screamed and tears fell from her good eye.
-_-_-_-_-
Obi-Wan was charging down one hall when he heard a scream that could only belong to Viclyn. He changed his direction and went towards her scream.
Scream again, Vic, Obi-Wan thought as he ran down a long hall. As if she heard him, she screamed again. He could tell that he was close. With another burst of speed, he took off down the hall.
-_-_-_-_-
Darth Amaous stopped his rapid pace to a ship ready to depart when he felt a presence in the Force that he had been taught to hate. He knew immediately that it was the Jedi that had killed his fellow Sith, Darth Maul. Reaching for his double bladed light saber, he took off to find the Jedi and kill him.
-_-_-_-_-
Obi-Wan came to a screeching halt at the sight of the Sith. His heart stopped, and his jaw dropped. There was another one!
"At last we meet, Jedi," Darth Amaous said as he ignited his light saber. "I am happily surprised to see that you are the one that the woman's thoughts dwelled on, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You have excellent fighting skills. It's too bad that I have to kill you."
"Not if I kill you first," Obi-Wan said as he ignited his light saber.
"We shall see about that," Darth Amaous said as he lunged at Obi-Wan.
-_-_-_-_-
Anakin sensed the battle and ran to join the fight. Just as he took off to help his Master, he saw a man come running around the corner carrying a badly wounded woman. He could tell by the long, once blonde hair, that it was Viclyn. He turned on his heel and went to get his Master's love.
-_-_-_-_-
This Jedi is strong, Darth Amaous thought as he tried to stab him again. The Jedi blocked the lunge, and returned with one of his own.
You haven't seen anything yet, the Jedi responded in his mind.
The two continued to fight at a rapid pace. Neither showed signs of tiring.
-_-_-_-_-
Anakin quickly killed the man carrying Viclyn and rushed her back to the ship. She rested her head wearily on his shoulder and sighed. She was saved.
He could feel her quick breath and could tell that they had arrived just in time. He tried to perform a simple healing exercise on her, but to no avail. He was too busy trying to get to the ship in time.
When he reached the ship, he ran down the hall to the room where the Jedi Healers were waiting. He laid her carefully on the bed, and stepped back so they could begin healing her. He could tell just by looking at her that her condition was poor. She looked awful. She was covered in her own blood and sweat. He stayed for only a short time and headed off to help his Master.
-_-_-_-_-
Their fighting slowed slightly as they both began to tire. Neither would give up, though. Obi-Wan was relieved to see Anakin come running down the hall. He could tell by the bloodstains that he had found Viclyn. He was quickly relieved, but soon threw his attention back to the fight.
Though Anakin wasn't on the same level of fighting as Obi-Wan and the Sith, he was fresh, and with two Jedi fighting him, the Sith as forced to reach down inside and call on some of his last bits of energy and strength.
Finally, after fighting the two Jedi for ten minutes, the Sith decided to play dirty. He sent Obi-Wan the sight of Viclyn hanging from the chains screaming from the mental torture he had subjected her too. Obi-Wan nearly came to a stand still, but the image only made him angrier at this creature. He found another burst of strength and energy, and began to increase the tempo. The Sith was mildly shocked at his reaction, but dug deeper into his own reserves and matched the Jedi move for move.
Finally, Anakin saw an opening and thrust his light saber into the back of the Sith. The Sith dropped its weapon, and Obi-Wan cut it in half, just like the one that had killed his own Master, Qui-Gon Jinn. He stopped and stared at the fallen Sith for a second before he took off to the ship and Viclyn.
-_-_-_-_-
The Jedi Healers were still crowded around her when Obi-Wan and Anakin arrived tired and out of breath. Five of the seven Healers had their eyes closed and were healing her many wounds. The other two were carefully wiping off the blood and sweat from her body.
Obi-Wan groaned at the sight of her, and knelt down on his knees to take her hand. Tears trekked down his cheeks as he reached up to wipe away a strand of hair from her face.
"I'm sorry, Vic," he whispered. "I'm so sorry."
-_-_-_-_-
It was hours before she finally awoke. Obi-Wan was still at her side, not having left once. Anakin was in the corner of the room watching the two of them worriedly. Obi-Wan glanced at her anxiously when she groaned and turned her head to the left. Anakin's head jerked in her direction, but knew to stay where he was.
"Vic?" Obi-Wan asked worriedly.
She opened her eyes, though her right eye was still swollen a little. She smiled a small smile at the sight of his blue-gray eyes.
"Ben," she whispered roughly. "You came for me."
"I had to," he whispered back. "I love you, Vic."
"I know," she breathed. "I love you too, Ben."
He reached out and lightly brushed her cheek. She grimaced slightly. He started to withdraw his hand, when she reached up and kept his hand to her cheek. Her eyes were slowly filling with pain, but she uttered no sound. He gently took her hand and placed it at her side to relieve the pain from her wrist.
She simply raised it again, but this time placed it on his cheek. He turned and kissed her palm lightly. It took her a minute to realize that Anakin was in the room.
"Ani," she said softly.
He rose and walked over beside Obi-Wan.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"No problem," he said lightly. "I couldn't let you and Obi-Wan down."
"You wouldn't have let me down if you hadn't found me," she said quickly. "I'm glad you did, but if you hadn't, I would have died fighting for what I believe in."
Obi-Wan turned to his apprentice, choosing to ignore her comment on her close call with death.
"You could never let me down, Anakin," he said. "You might disappoint me from time to time, but never let me down. You're too important to me to let me down."
Viclyn noticed tears began to fill the boy's eyes, and took her hand from Obi-Wan's cheek and placed it on Anakin's hand in comfort.
"Same here Anakin," she said softly.
It was a minute or two before Anakin found his voice.
"I think I'm going to let you two have some time to yourselves," he said as he turned quickly to leave.
Viclyn smiled after him, but soon turned to Obi-Wan. She noticed that his eyes too had tears. She placed her hand back on his cheek.
"Let's go home," she whispered.
"We're already a good portion of the way there," he said with a smile.
"Good," she said with a smile. "Now, I'll have to see about replacing my glass dishes."
End.
Disclaimer: No one belongs to me except none famous characters (Viclyn, Sabin, Langston, and so on). The rest belong to God, AKA George Lucas.
CKWan
The Tale of the Glass Dishes
-_-_-_-_-
"Viclyn! Hurry!"
She glanced up from the papers she had been studying in the library at the Jedi Temple. She sensed the urgency and importance of no questions asked through the Force radiating from the source of the voice. When she spotted fellow Jedi Healer, Sabin, she stood hurriedly, leaving the papers as they were. Her long golden hair cascaded around her shoulders. Leaving her shoes where they were under the table, she ran after Sabin to see what the emergency was, her cloak flowing behind her.
Minutes later, they arrived in one of the rooms in the hospital on the Jedi grounds.
"What have we got here?" Viclyn asked the moment she arrived.
"We were just climbing on the conditioning rocks," a young Padawan boy said hurriedly, and worriedly. "Cas fell off and hit her head. I brought her as quickly as I could, trying not to jar her too much. I didn't make it any worse did I?"
Viclyn quickly reassured the boy that he'd done the right thing, and looked at the young Padawan. Her face was covered in blood and her hair was matted, as well. Viclyn quickly grabbed the young girl's hand, and closed her eyes. She reached out through the Force and could "see" that the girl was fighting a losing battle with death.
My name is Viclyn, she said through the Force. I'm a Jedi Healer, I'm here to help you. Let me help you. I'll help you. I promise. Just trust me.
"Vic," Sabin said worriedly. "She's too far gone. You can't save her."
"Watch me, Sab," Viclyn said through gritted teeth. She heard his grunt as she centered herself in the Force, and opened her mind even more to the girl. She could tell the minute Cas let go of her hold onto the Force, and her fight for life, and heard the machines around her beep their warnings, then go silent. Viclyn immediately "grabbed" Cas's "hand" and tried to heal as many injuries as she could with her own life force. She could tell that she was losing the little window of time she had had.
Determined to keep the girl alive, Viclyn focused her life force entirely on Cas and her shrinking link to the Force. By doing this, Viclyn ran the risk of dying with Cas if she couldn't save the girl.
Finally, tentatively, the first machine beeped. Then was soon followed by a second, hesitantly following the first one's lead. Soon, all the machines were beeping at their own regular paces, though slower than normal. Viclyn finally opened her eyes. She looked down Cas and noticed more color was returning to her previously pale face.
"One of these days, Vic," Sabin said with a shake of his head. "One of these days, you're going to be wrong, and I'm gonna be here to see it."
"I hope not!" she said tiredly. She wiped the sweat off her face. "Excuse me." She walked out to the waiting room to find, not only the Padawan's Master, but all of her friends, and even a few members of the Jedi Council.
They looked up expectantly when she entered the room.
"She's alive," she said. A cheer erupted from the room, but soon quieted when Viclyn held up her hands. "But, she's not out of the woods yet. There's still the possibility of infection, and brain damage, but I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that she's back at 100 percent and the same as before." She left to go finish healing Cas.
-_-_-_-_-
"Long day?" Jedi Knight Obi-Wan asked to his lover when she walked into their shared apartment.
Viclyn looked up at him tiredly. "You could say that."
"I heard about how you saved Master Je'Maik's Padawan, Cas, this morning," he said as he watched her change into her pajamas.
"Is that who her Master is?" she asked.
"Mm-hmm," Obi-Wan replied.
"Oh," she said. "I didn't ask. I just saved her life."
"I also heard from Sabin that you risked everything again," he said.
She cast him a sideways glance. She shrugged. "I know you don't approve, but I'm a Healer. It's my job to do anything and everything necessary to save my patients."
"Even at the expense of your own life?" he asked softly.
She walked over to him and straddled his lap. "I'm okay, aren't I?" she whispered.
"This time," he whispered back.
"Trust me, okay? Besides, it's no worse then some of your 'diplomatic' missions," she whispered with a small smile on her full lips as she leaned into kiss him. "Let's go to bed."
Without a second's thought, she was in his arms and on their way to the bedroom.
-_-_-_-_-
"See you when I get home, honey," Obi-wan said to Viclyn as he dropped a kiss on her rose-coloured lips.
When he pulled back, she smiled at him and reached up to stroke his cheek delicately. He returned her smile. He bent down for one last kiss before he turned and left the room. She watched after him silently.
Stop staring, he said in her mind.
But, I like what I see…a lot, she responded in his mind. She could sense his smile.
Go back to sleep, he said softly as he walked out the main door.
She smiled sleepily and rolled over to go back to sleep when she heard the door close and lock. She sighed happily and was asleep in seconds.
-_-_-_-_-
She awoke with a start when she heard banging on the door, and the bell ringing insistently. She swung her legs over the bed and quickly dressed in the traditional Jedi Healer attire which consisted of a tunic, cloak, knee high boots, and, in her case, a sports bra. She quickly brushed her long blonde hair, and pulled it back with a hair holder.
"I'm coming," she called as she walked to the door. As soon as she opened it, she was thrown onto the ground. Someone quickly covered her mouth with a rag. She tried to scream, but was forced to breathe through the cloth. Whatever the cloth had been covered with disabled her connection to the Force. It also caused her to loose consciousness.
The men began to search the suite and soon the bedroom was trashed.
"Don't make it look like there was a struggle," one said to the others. Even as he said that he heard a crash. "Let's get out of here quickly!"
They quickly carried her out to a ship they had waiting to take her to their boss's given coordinates. No one saw them come and no one saw them leave.
-_-_-_-_-
"Vic," Obi-Wan called as he walked through the door of the suite he and Vic shared on Coruscant. "Vic, I'm home."
He removed his traditional Jedi cloak and glanced around for Viclyn.
"Vic," he called out again. He walked into the bedroom they shared and wasn't really shocked at not finding her there. He noticed that her clothes were thrown all over the floor, but it wasn't that unusual. He was used to finding their suite a mess because of her frantic searches for things she had misplaced.
What he noticed that was unusual, was that all of her glass dishes were knocked on the floor. One or two had remained in one piece, but a majority of the dishes were broken, some shattered.
He began to worry only when he didn't find her anywhere in the suite provided to them by the Queen of Naboo, Queen Amidala. He knew that she could be out, but she would have left a note. He searched the Force for her presence, and was shocked not to find it. She wasn't a Jedi Knight, but a Jedi Healer. He should have been able to sense her presence at any time anywhere no matter what.
He tried to use his comlink to contact her, but to no avail. He tried to tell himself that he wasn't worried, but knew he was lying to himself. Before doing anything rash, he decided to wait to see if she came home. He sat down on the chaise and after a few moments, he found himself staring at the door waiting for her to walk through. After an hour, his patience was non-existent. It was 8 o'clock at night standard time and she would have either come home by now or contacted him if she was late. It was at or around this time that he finally let himself admit that something was wrong and he was very worried.
-_-_-_-_-
She walked the walls of the dimly lit room again, looking for a way out of the room she had been shoved into a few hours ago. At least she thought it was a few hours ago. She had lost track of time for awhile while they had been searching through her stuff in the suite she shared with Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan. He had to be worrying about her. She tried to reach him through the Force, but again felt nothing. It was as if, while they had been injecting her with fluid after fluid, they had somehow disabled her ability to use the Force.
She stopped short when the door opened. A human man, at least 6' 5" and 200 pounds walked in and eyed her. He knew that he was taking in the sight of her body. She wasn't wearing half of what she had when she had answered the door. They had stripped her down to her sports bra and Jedi pants. She was bare foot and her Jedi pants only went down to just below the knees. She refused to be intimidated by the man, and stood to her full height of 5' 4" and stared at him; his blue-eyed gaze bore into her dark brown eyes. She lifted her chin and stared back at him.
She could tell by his silk shirt with a fancy logo stitched into it that he was an important person. She could tell by his build that he was in shape and his muscles promised lightening-quick reflexes.
"I hear you've been trying to find a way out," he said. His voice was deep and echoed in the bare room.
"What did you expect?" she challenged. "Did you honestly expect me to sit and wait to see what you would do to me?"
He strode purposely over to her and backhanded her. She was only barely able to keep from falling. She quickly recovered her footing and regained her balance. She whipped her head around to face him. He had hit her so hard there was a handprint on her cheek.
"What am I here for?" she demanded.
"Demanding aren't we?" he asked with an evil laugh.
She said nothing and waited for an answer.
He stared at her for a long moment before motioning to someone behind him. Two men came in towards her. She noticed that one of them had a syringe. She backed up to the wall. She glanced at the man in the silk shirt and noticed that he was watching in amusement.
Without a second's thought, she kicked the syringe out of the hand of one of the men with her right foot, twisted with it, and brought the left leg up to hit him in the head. She landed hard on her right side, but soon recovered enough to roll away from the other man that came hurling her way. She then took off towards the door, but the man in the silk shirt stuck out his arm. His arm struck her right above her breasts, and knocked her down.
All of her breath was knocked from her lungs. She stared up at him and tried to get her breath back so that she could try to escape again. She tried to overcome her body's need for oxygen, tried to get up, and function through the use of the Force. She knew she could do it; she'd done it before. Only problem was, she had no connection to the Force.
The last thing she saw was his fist coming towards her face. After that, everything went black.
-_-_-_-_-
"Wake up, Jedi," someone said scornfully. "Wake up!"
Viclyn groaned. She opened her eyes slowly and looked around. She was hanging from chains around her wrists in the middle of a dark room. The only light was directly above her and was giving off enough heat to cause her to sweat. She finally focused on the man in the silk shirt. She tried to glare at him, but it hurt her right eye to narrow it.
"Look who finally decided to grace us with her presence," he said mockingly.
She said nothing.
"Now, we need some information that you are well equipped to tell us," he said. "We need to know how the Jedi Healers are trained and how to perform basic healing exercises."
She continued to stare at him.
"Now, shall we discuss either subjects?" he asked.
"No," she said firmly.
He shook his head. "You only get one 'free' denial," he explained. "If you say no again, you will be punished. Do you understand?"
She said nothing and continued to stare at him.
"So, I ask again, shall we discuss how Jedi Healers are trained?"
"No," she said. She lifted her chin defiantly.
"Suit yourself," he said as he nodded at someone behind her. She screamed, partly in shock and partly in pain when she felt the lash of a whip on her now bare back. She jerked against the chains. He waited for her to get her breath back. He stared into her eyes and saw the shock and hints of fear. He was disappointed when he didn't see much pain.
"That was just a taste of what we can do," he said.
She was finally able to glare at him.
"So, I ask again, shall we discuss how Jedi teach healing exercises?"
"No," she said.
He nodded again to someone behind her. This time the person came around in front of her. She tried to examine their face until she realized he held a knife. After moving some of her hair, he cut her stomach with the knife. She gasped, and drew her breath sharply. He slowly cut a few centimeters, never going more than millimeters deep.
"How are Jedi Healers trained?"
She shook her head. This refusal resulted in a bolt of electric shock sent through her body from her toes. She couldn't stop from screaming.
-_-_-_-_-
"Master, we'll find her," Anakin Skywalker said to Obi-Wan.
"I'm sure we will, Anakin, but I can't help but worry about her," Obi-Wan said as he looked out the window of his suite. It had been twelve hours since he had come home to find the place empty. He had contacted the Jedi Council, and no one had talked with Viclyn all day. When they had tried to contact her through the Force, no one had been able to reach her; not even Master Yoda and he was the strongest in Force than any Jedi Master or Knight. They hadn't even been able to feel her presence.
"I'm sure she's okay where ever she is," Anakin said to comfort his Master.
-_-_-_-_-
Anakin couldn't have been farther from the truth. Bleeding and exhausted, Viclyn hung by her wrists that were chained to a wall in the dark room with one light. The light was directly above her, and the heat that was generated from it had her sweating profusely.
Her right eye was swollen shut, her back covered in cuts from a whip, stomach covered in cuts, none more few millimeters deep and a few centimeters long, and her covered in small burns from where they had sent the electric shocks through her. Her sweat dripped into her open wounds, and stung. The last few hours, at least she thought they were hours - it could have been days - had been a routine: same questions followed by rotated punishments when she had refused to answer.
They had asked her over and over how the Jedi were trained and how they taught healing exercises. She knew that if she told them what they wanted, the information would be told to the wrong people. If they needed the information to save people, they would have approached the Jedi Council through the Senate.
The door opened. She raised her head wearily to see the man in silk shirt walk up to her.
"You can't take much more of this," he said. "You've lost a lot of blood. If you keep up your silence, you'll be dead soon."
"Then ready yourself for disappointment," she croaked through fat lips. Her voice was hoarse from screaming.
His anger was evident on his face. He seemed to fight with himself, and ended up backhanding her again. She was thrown as far as the chains would allow, and yelped as the chains cut her wrists. Her hair stuck in the cuts in her stomach, causing some to reopen and start bleeding again.
He reached out, steadied her, and pulled her hair from her face. When he pulled back his hand, it was covered in her blood. The ends of her hair no longer looked golden and shiny, but rusty coloured from the dried blood. He wiped his hand in her hair, and studied her for a moment.
He could tell that she was exhausted and couldn't take much more. She had to break soon, or she would die. If she died, he would be in a lot of trouble with…
He stopped the thought there and turned to leave.
"Could you finish that thought?" she asked wearily.
He spun to face her. "What?"
"Who will you be in a lot of trouble with if I die?" she asked. She looked into his eyes with her one good eye.
"What's it to you?" he asked as he crossed his arms on his chest.
"I want to know who's ordering you to kill me," she said.
"I haven't been ordered to kill you, just to get some information," he said. He scowled when he realized that he had just told her that he had someone above him giving him orders. He turned to leave before he revealed anything else to her.
"Please," she pleaded. "Please tell me."
He ignored her and left the room.
She hung her head just before she realized that she had to be regaining her use of the Force.
Obi-Wan? she called out wearily through the Force. Obi-Wan, can you hear me…Please…Can you hear me, sweetie… Ben…
-_-_-_-_-
Obi-Wan leapt from his chair when he heard her voice through the Force. It was faint, but it was her.
Vic?! he called out. Vic, are you okay? Where are you?
Ben...
Are you okay? he asked worriedly. She sounded exhausted and in pain.
They've tortured me for...for…I don't even know how long…
Who's 'they'? Where are you?
I don't know…they're following orders from someone…I have no idea where I am...They keep asking how Jedi Healers are trained and how we teach healing exercises…I can't take much more, Ben…they'll kill me…
He sat in shock. They were torturing his best friend, his lover. The rage he felt was more anger than he'd ever felt in his entire life; it was more anger than he had felt before he had killed his master's murderer. He wanted to find her more than ever now.
Ben...
Vic?
I can't take any more…I've lost a lot of blood…
Don't give up…keep fighting…please, Vic.
For you, Ben…
With that, he lost her. He reached out for her, and was relieved that she was still alive. She had succumbed to her exhaustion and passed out. He used this time to "examine" her; he was livid at what he discovered. He grimaced when he "found" the cuts on her stomach. He was surprised that she was still alive.
"Master?" Anakin said loudly.
"Yes?" he said as he shook his head.
"What's wrong?" his apprentice asked worriedly.
"They tortured her," Obi-Wan said as he lowered his head.
"How do you know?" Anakin asked with surprise and worry.
"I was able to 'talk' with her through the Force," he said. "It was only for a few minutes before she passed out. They keep asking her how Healers are trained and how we teach healing exercises." He paused for a moment to breathe deeply. "You should see what they did to her."
"Maybe I can," Anakin said.
Obi-Wan found himself sometimes forgetting just how strong his apprentice was with the Force. At the age of 15, he was showing more potential than any Padawan learner ever had before.
"Together, perhaps, we can find out where she is," Obi-Wan said. Both of them sat on the floor in meditation style. They closed their eyes, and began to concentrate.
-_-_-_-_-
"How was she able to contact anyone?!"
"The injection given to her to prevent her use of the Force lost it's effect long enough for her to contact someone," the man in the silk shirt said.
"You were supposed to be monitoring that!"
"Yes, sir. I'll give her a higher dosage."
"Keep asking her the questions too!"
"Would you still like us to punish her if she refuses to cooperate?"
"Yes."
"With all do respect, sir, she'll die before she tells us anything. She's already standing at death's door. It we keep torturing her, she'll be knocking pretty soon."
The man in the dark cloak turned to face the man in the silk shirt. It was the first time he had ever allowed the man to see his face.
What the man in the silk shirt saw scared him more than anything had ever scared him before. The man's face was covered in red and black tattoos. His teeth were stained yellow and jagged. He had horns on top of his head that were partially hidden by the hood on his black cloak.
"I will talk to her then," the creature said.
"Yes, Darth Amaous," the man in the silk shirt said with a deep bow.
"I'm glad we could talk about this, Lanston," Darth Amaous said.
-_-_-_-_-
Obi-Wan opened his eyes with a start when he lost his connection with her. Vic's link with the Force had been weak, and growing weaker, but it was suddenly cut off. He knew that she couldn't be dead. She was a better fighter than that. He wouldn't, couldn't, accept it.
Anakin opened his eyes slowly. He looked at his Master in sorrow.
"I'm sorry, Master," he whispered.
"Sorry for what?" Obi-Wan demanded.
"About Viclyn," he said.
"What about her?" he asked. "She's not dead! She's alive! I'd know it if she were dead! They must have given her something to disable her link to the Force! She's still alive!"
Anakin stared at his Master in sadness. He knew that they didn't know for certain that Viclyn was dead, but the chances were good. He knew that his Master loved Viclyn, though he had probably rarely told her. Anakin hung his head, and hoped that his Master was right about her.
-_-_-_-_-
She hung pathetically from the chains. She was covered in her own blood and was passed out from exhaustion. He had expected more.
With a wave of his hand, she awoke. She slowly raised her head to look at him. Her eye widened. She looked him up and down as best she could.
"So the Sith are behind this," she said through parched lips. "I should have known."
He silenced her with another wave of his hand.
"I'm not here to talk about the Sith," he growled. "I'm here to talk about the Jedi."
"I'm not going to tell you anything," she said determinedly.
"You'll soon change your mind," he said.
"If I was going to change my mind, I would have done it earlier," she snapped.
He laughed. "If physical torture can't break, mental torture will."
She tried to frown, but gave up because it hurt too much.
"Here's just a sample of what I can do," he said with a flick of his fingers.
She jerked against the chains, and screamed. He had gotten inside her mind and flashed all of her worst nightmares in front of her eyes. He exploited her fears and mocked her dreams and fantasies.
With another flick of his fingers, she sank down, the chains the only thing holding her up. Her breathing was heavy and the cuts on her wrists were deeper. Several cuts on her stomach reopened again.
She tried to reach out to the Force again, but only received a wave of pain for her efforts.
"You have no way of using the Force," he said. "There is no way you can perform a healing exercise on yourself or call for help. I wouldn't waste any energy on it if I were you."
She looked up at him and saw that he was enjoying this. She felt like spitting at him, but her mouth was dry.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said, reading her thoughts. "If you do, you will pay dearly."
"I'm going to die anyway," she said, "so I might as well go down fighting."
He flicked his fingers again. She strained against the chains, back arched, and screaming. She tried to stay still so that the chains wouldn't dig into her wrists, but failed. She closed her eye, but still the images came.
Finally he stopped the images from dancing in front of her eyes.
This went on for half an hour before she was too tired to throw herself against the chains. She simply hung from them and screamed.
-_-_-_-_-
An hour later, he finally left her alone. She was near death, and was beginning to welcome it. Her only sane thoughts were of Obi-Wan. She tried again and again to contact him, but was only received a sharp stab of pain for her efforts.
The door opened again and a woman walked through.
Viclyn didn't raise her head to examine the woman; she didn't care anymore.
"I would have thought they'd have broken you by now," the woman said.
"You thought wrong," Viclyn said hoarsely.
The woman laughed.
"My name is Aurora," the woman said. "I've been overseeing this 'project,' and I must say, I admire your courage."
Viclyn said nothing.
Aurora reached out and lifted Viclyn's head by the chin. Viclyn yelped and eyed Aurora for the first time. She wasn't much taller than herself. She had dark brown hair, with stunning light green eyes.
Aurora was shocked at the fire that was still left in Viclyn's eyes. She was the first Jedi Healer to survive this long. They had tried this "test" with seven other Jedi Healers and had received the same results: none of them answered any of the questions.
She really did admire Viclyn's courage, but was disgusted with her loyalty. She couldn't understand how someone could remain this loyal to something, or someone. Viclyn's thoughts had dwelled on Obi-Wan Kenobi. Aurora had seen that they had been friends since they were children, and had been lovers since their late teens. Now in their early thirties, they shared a suite, and were to be married in a short while. She had seen and felt Viclyn's loyalty, desire, and love for Obi-Wan.
"Why won't you give in?" Aurora asked.
"If I gave in and told you what you wanted, I would be betraying everything I've been taught and believe in," Viclyn said.
"But it would be so much easier to give in," Aurora prodded.
Viclyn glared at her. "I've come this far. Giving in would be worthless. All of these cuts, bruises, and welts would be worthless."
"Are your beliefs and loyalties worth dying for?!" Aurora asked in exasperation.
"My life is worth saving countless others' that would die if you had the information you want," Viclyn said with all the strength she could muster.
With that, Aurora spun on her heel and left the room as quickly as she could.
-_-_-_-_-
"Master!" Anakin yelled. "Master!"
Obi-Wan opened his eyes groggily. He didn't know how long he had been asleep, but was somewhat aggravated at being woken. This was the first time he had gotten any sleep since Vic had been taken.
"Yes, Anakin?" he asked tiredly.
"I know where Viclyn is!" he exclaimed.
Obi-Wan sat up with a start. He stared at his apprentice in shock.
"Where?" he demanded.
Anakin showed him a map and explained that he had been able to trace her connection with the Force to a remote planet near Tatooine.
Without a second's thought, Obi-Wan took off towards the docking bay, searching for a ship. Luckily, Anakin had already had one prepared with seven other Jedi Healers, including Sabin, on board to take care of her wounds. Within minutes, they were on their way to the Outer Rim. Unfortunately, it would take twelve hours to get there.
Obi-Wan hoped Viclyn could hang on for another twelve hours. She had survived, he hoped, this long, she could make it awhile longer.
-_-_-_-_-
She wanted to die. She wanted to give up. She wanted to end her misery. She couldn't explain why, but she hadn't yet. Something in the corner of her mind wouldn't let her give up. She had a feeling that her love was on his way to rescue her. Though she still had no connection to the Force, she knew he was coming for her. She just knew it.
-_-_-_-_-
"Darth Amaous!" Lanston yelled. "There's a ship approaching!"
"What?!" he yelled.
"It's a Republic-style ship!" he yelled back. "I think it's from Coruscant!"
"This is impossible!"
"Grab the woman!"
Lanston took off towards the cell where they had Viclyn kept.
-_-_-_-_-
"What?" Viclyn asked in confusion.
Lanston removed the chains from her wrists and caught her as she fell. He pulled her into his arms and ran out the door. The jarring hurt so much that she screamed and tears fell from her good eye.
-_-_-_-_-
Obi-Wan was charging down one hall when he heard a scream that could only belong to Viclyn. He changed his direction and went towards her scream.
Scream again, Vic, Obi-Wan thought as he ran down a long hall. As if she heard him, she screamed again. He could tell that he was close. With another burst of speed, he took off down the hall.
-_-_-_-_-
Darth Amaous stopped his rapid pace to a ship ready to depart when he felt a presence in the Force that he had been taught to hate. He knew immediately that it was the Jedi that had killed his fellow Sith, Darth Maul. Reaching for his double bladed light saber, he took off to find the Jedi and kill him.
-_-_-_-_-
Obi-Wan came to a screeching halt at the sight of the Sith. His heart stopped, and his jaw dropped. There was another one!
"At last we meet, Jedi," Darth Amaous said as he ignited his light saber. "I am happily surprised to see that you are the one that the woman's thoughts dwelled on, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You have excellent fighting skills. It's too bad that I have to kill you."
"Not if I kill you first," Obi-Wan said as he ignited his light saber.
"We shall see about that," Darth Amaous said as he lunged at Obi-Wan.
-_-_-_-_-
Anakin sensed the battle and ran to join the fight. Just as he took off to help his Master, he saw a man come running around the corner carrying a badly wounded woman. He could tell by the long, once blonde hair, that it was Viclyn. He turned on his heel and went to get his Master's love.
-_-_-_-_-
This Jedi is strong, Darth Amaous thought as he tried to stab him again. The Jedi blocked the lunge, and returned with one of his own.
You haven't seen anything yet, the Jedi responded in his mind.
The two continued to fight at a rapid pace. Neither showed signs of tiring.
-_-_-_-_-
Anakin quickly killed the man carrying Viclyn and rushed her back to the ship. She rested her head wearily on his shoulder and sighed. She was saved.
He could feel her quick breath and could tell that they had arrived just in time. He tried to perform a simple healing exercise on her, but to no avail. He was too busy trying to get to the ship in time.
When he reached the ship, he ran down the hall to the room where the Jedi Healers were waiting. He laid her carefully on the bed, and stepped back so they could begin healing her. He could tell just by looking at her that her condition was poor. She looked awful. She was covered in her own blood and sweat. He stayed for only a short time and headed off to help his Master.
-_-_-_-_-
Their fighting slowed slightly as they both began to tire. Neither would give up, though. Obi-Wan was relieved to see Anakin come running down the hall. He could tell by the bloodstains that he had found Viclyn. He was quickly relieved, but soon threw his attention back to the fight.
Though Anakin wasn't on the same level of fighting as Obi-Wan and the Sith, he was fresh, and with two Jedi fighting him, the Sith as forced to reach down inside and call on some of his last bits of energy and strength.
Finally, after fighting the two Jedi for ten minutes, the Sith decided to play dirty. He sent Obi-Wan the sight of Viclyn hanging from the chains screaming from the mental torture he had subjected her too. Obi-Wan nearly came to a stand still, but the image only made him angrier at this creature. He found another burst of strength and energy, and began to increase the tempo. The Sith was mildly shocked at his reaction, but dug deeper into his own reserves and matched the Jedi move for move.
Finally, Anakin saw an opening and thrust his light saber into the back of the Sith. The Sith dropped its weapon, and Obi-Wan cut it in half, just like the one that had killed his own Master, Qui-Gon Jinn. He stopped and stared at the fallen Sith for a second before he took off to the ship and Viclyn.
-_-_-_-_-
The Jedi Healers were still crowded around her when Obi-Wan and Anakin arrived tired and out of breath. Five of the seven Healers had their eyes closed and were healing her many wounds. The other two were carefully wiping off the blood and sweat from her body.
Obi-Wan groaned at the sight of her, and knelt down on his knees to take her hand. Tears trekked down his cheeks as he reached up to wipe away a strand of hair from her face.
"I'm sorry, Vic," he whispered. "I'm so sorry."
-_-_-_-_-
It was hours before she finally awoke. Obi-Wan was still at her side, not having left once. Anakin was in the corner of the room watching the two of them worriedly. Obi-Wan glanced at her anxiously when she groaned and turned her head to the left. Anakin's head jerked in her direction, but knew to stay where he was.
"Vic?" Obi-Wan asked worriedly.
She opened her eyes, though her right eye was still swollen a little. She smiled a small smile at the sight of his blue-gray eyes.
"Ben," she whispered roughly. "You came for me."
"I had to," he whispered back. "I love you, Vic."
"I know," she breathed. "I love you too, Ben."
He reached out and lightly brushed her cheek. She grimaced slightly. He started to withdraw his hand, when she reached up and kept his hand to her cheek. Her eyes were slowly filling with pain, but she uttered no sound. He gently took her hand and placed it at her side to relieve the pain from her wrist.
She simply raised it again, but this time placed it on his cheek. He turned and kissed her palm lightly. It took her a minute to realize that Anakin was in the room.
"Ani," she said softly.
He rose and walked over beside Obi-Wan.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"No problem," he said lightly. "I couldn't let you and Obi-Wan down."
"You wouldn't have let me down if you hadn't found me," she said quickly. "I'm glad you did, but if you hadn't, I would have died fighting for what I believe in."
Obi-Wan turned to his apprentice, choosing to ignore her comment on her close call with death.
"You could never let me down, Anakin," he said. "You might disappoint me from time to time, but never let me down. You're too important to me to let me down."
Viclyn noticed tears began to fill the boy's eyes, and took her hand from Obi-Wan's cheek and placed it on Anakin's hand in comfort.
"Same here Anakin," she said softly.
It was a minute or two before Anakin found his voice.
"I think I'm going to let you two have some time to yourselves," he said as he turned quickly to leave.
Viclyn smiled after him, but soon turned to Obi-Wan. She noticed that his eyes too had tears. She placed her hand back on his cheek.
"Let's go home," she whispered.
"We're already a good portion of the way there," he said with a smile.
"Good," she said with a smile. "Now, I'll have to see about replacing my glass dishes."
End.