Hey, everybody! Yes, yes I know. I haven't posted a new chapter for this story in like decades! First it was school and next it was my computer. Then the Wi-Fi decided to die. Anyways, I promise to post the last chapter soon. Yes, we are on the last chapter. I'm not sure how to end this story so please leave a review if you have any ideas. Also, I had a suggestion from my friend to do a mini series with small stories of adventures of Kalo and Aayla. What do you guys think? Please leave a comment in the review section. If you have any ideas for the adventures, please share! Thank you and enjoy!
~Zoe Maddox
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Chapter 4: The Hate Trap
As I follow my sister's attack on the incoming droids, a squad of B1s ambushes us from a quiet side-street. I signal to my own squad to follow me to crush this squad of droids and take out any other droids planning to sneak up on us. I slash and block with my purple double edged lightsaber. A feeling of pure adrenaline and elation fills me. It has been way too long!
Suddenly my com beeps relentlessly on my wrist. Pressing the flashing button and blocking a few lasers, I hear my sister.
"Where are you?"
"I took those B1's out of the alleyway. My squad and I are destroying their forces."
"We are almost through the main forces. We will start our capture of the dark lord without you." She tells me. Of course, she can never wait for me. And she doesn't want me to get hurt…. All that fodder.
Blocking a few more lasers, I tell her, "Okay. Kick this bantha fodder di'kut into dar'yaim!"
We crush the droids in a matter of minutes. I lead my troops out of the streets and back to the main force. Aayla's squad is fighting a large amount of B2s, but Aayla isn't helping them. She is at the end of the street. Standing on a large flat slab looking rock, there is a huge man with glowing red eyes and a black cape. Aayla goes to flip up onto the rock when the Sith waves his hand over her head. I watch her collapse. And as her lightsaber rolls out of her hand, I know she is gone.
A strangled scream escapes my throat. I run like an acklay towards bloody meat. I flip onto the rock and instead of slashing the Sith, my lightsaber is met with a double red blade. In temporary confusion, I fail to stop the guy, who knees me in the gut. I grunt painfully and flip over the Sith's head. And suddenly, one side of my blade is sticking out of the front of him. I pull my lightsaber out of his torso and prepare to help my sister. Except the Sith decided not to die or fall over, he decided to Force slam me into a marble wall. The world goes all hazy, but I force myself up.
Not only is the scary monster gone, so is my sister.
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I hear a slight crackling that sounds like a fire that we used to cook on. I tug my impossibly heavy eyelids off my eyes only to meet darkness and red light. As my eyes adapt, I make out a small circular room lit with small red lights and a door straight in front of me. I'm being held up by force cuffs. Of course. I can't move and I'm probably connected to some electro- torture system. Wait a second… My dream! And if what happened in my dream comes true… I'm going to die.
The door swishes open quietly. The glowing red eyes that I saw right before the blackout linger on my own eyes. He walks around me, inspecting me.
"What do you want?" I ask too quickly.
He makes a full circle around me before he speaks, "Nothing."
"Nothing at all? Then why are you holding me here?" I demand.
"I ask the questions here. I'm holding you for reasons that you are not allowed to know."
"Not allowed to know? I'm the one being held. Now please explain, release me, and surrender yourself to Republic authorities."
He sighs loudly. Then he brings his hand up before our faces. A spark of Sith lightning grows in his hand until it becomes a cracking ball, spitting and hissing. My eyes widen in fear. I know that the pain caused Force lightning can cause death. Suddenly a web of lightning attacks my body. I scream. The pain heaves my body into unnatural poses and turns. Wave after wave sends my body into a state of pure agony. Though my throat is hoarse, the screams keep coming.
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The darkness of my room rips the breath from my throat and without the calming sound of my sister's breathing or her arms to comfort me, I feel lost and alone. I dress quickly and slip out into the brightly lit hallway. After a while of wandering, I find my way to the gym. It's cold and quiet and empty. Perfect. I go to the glass cube at the end of the gym and press a few buttons. Usually Aayla manages the controls. Aayla…
It's my fault she's gone. If only I would have helped her instead of provoking the enemy like she taught me. Why didn't I listen when I had the chance? And why was that or'dinii taking Aayla anyways? I hate him. I wish for him to go to the deepest part of dar'yaim and burn.
The cube brings me to a parched desert much like Ryloth. A heat storm is coming; I can feel the exhausting heat sucking out every bit of moisture from my body. Suddenly a strong tentacle wraps around my torso. A lylek! Now I really can't breathe. I scream as I struggle and kick. Suddenly a gun blast rings through the air and I'm dropped. I use the force to stop my fall. A'den fires a few more shots before I ignite my lightsabers and lash out at one of the lylek's legs. I flip out of the way and let A'den distract him a few more times. We continue like this until we kill the lylek.
The task seems too easy. Then I realize that the heat storm is still coming. I search the landscape for the large portcullis that would signify an underground city that we could take refuge in. There they are, out in the distance. Without telling A'den where we are going, I begin running with everything I have. A'den follows and we make it to the doors right before the storm hits. The wind is picking up and the heat is burning my skin. We plead to be let in, and the red Twi'lek who is watching the doors lets us in and directs us down a small tunnel. The heat is unbearable and the heat storm sirens are stealing all sense of sound. Then we make it to the end of the tunnel, where a sealed door meets us with a stern dead end.
"We're going to die." I say, plopping down next to the door and holding my face in my hands.
Sitting down next to me, A'den sighs, "What's happening?"
I explain in hurried words everything I know about heat storms.
"I remember one of the older girls teaching us the lessons that our mothers should have taught us. She told us the story of two young lovers, Ko'lek and Oo'rha, whose meeting place was near the surface tunnels. They were distracted and a heat storm happened and killed them as they lay in each other's arms. The story was meant to discourage us from wandering in unknown tunnels beneath Ryloth's surface." I explain.
A'den gives me a funny look. Then he pulls me into his arms. I am first in surprise but then I hug back as the heat begins to rise. I'm not sure if it's the storm or this situation that is creating that heated swirl in my chest and twisting my thoughts into a pool of churning blubber. He pulls me tight to his chest. His gloved hands are on my side and the other is on my leg. Then I look into his eyes. They are like honey and like the sweets that Aayla sometimes stashes in her underwear drawer. I could get lost in A'den's eyes.
Now it's the countdown to see which one of us are going to back out or start to explain why it would never work. Both A'den and I are ambitious and fast to a fight. We are perfect for each other because we are so alike. We are afraid of nothing and risk like a madman. And this could be one of the biggest risks we have ever taken.
A'den apparently is the riskier of us two. He presses his perfect lips to mine, first light and soft. But we both know that this is not who we are. I push deeper, my tongue pressing into his mouth. As the heat rises and the seconds tick away, the more passionate the kiss grows. Until the stimulation ends and we are back in reality.
The reality where my sister is gone and A'den and I cannot be together. Where duties call and the life of a Jedi demands my every moment. A'den has his arms around me and he somehow keeps me from going insane. Suddenly sobs wrack my body and my whimpers seem to echo across the empty gym. I sit in A'den's comforting embrace and cry for the first time since Aayla has disappeared. I press myself into A'den's chest, resting my head right under his chin. He strokes my lekku softly until I drift away into a place of no pain.
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Pain is all I can feel. Even though the Sith is gone and his unexplained tortures are finished for the moment, my body shakes and my body pleads for it to be over. Forever.
The part of my brain that isn't pleading for the end is asking an amazing amount of questions. Why? Why did he only take me and not Kalo? Is Kalo alright? Is anyone searching for me? Will I make it out alive?
Kalo is all I can think about. The council probably won't let her search for me because the Sith is unknown and the matter of the Jedi code. We knew when we were taken to the Council that one of us was going to have to be eliminated. The bond between us would make us hard to train and would cause a problem on Jedi codes. But surprisingly we were both accepted. Many Jedi were angry and opposed. We made it through, though. Hopefully Kalo doesn't decide to do something rash and launch a suicidal mission.
I close my eyes. Maybe I can 'send' her a dream message. The pain sinks away as I drift into sleep.
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Aayla. I see her beautiful blue skin in an odd crackling white light. As she comes into focus, I see she is in a dark circular room with small red lights. She is being held up by force cuffs and her strong body is limp in despair. Suddenly a door swishes open and the man I stabbed through the middle before my sister was kidnapped walks in. My sister's chocolate eyes are suddenly alert. He walks up to her and he ignites an orb of Sith lightning in his hand. Then he begins to torture her with wave after wave of lightning. She looks like she's dancing except instead her usual graceful moves there are sharp, jerky spasms. Her face is twisted in agony. Her screams shake my soul.
I wake up in cold sweat and on the ground of Aayla and my quarters, wrapped in a blanket. It strangles me like a rope. I struggle to breathe. The last thing I remember… A'den must have carried me to bed. And we kissed…
I free myself from the constricting blanket and sit down on my bed. My boots are laid carefully next to my bed, where A'den put them. Rubbing my eyes, I start to change into night clothes and wipe off my blurred make- up.
Aayla is suffering. She is in pain. Her screams and horror turned face flashes in my mind. I'm sure that if I don't hurry and find her, she is going to die. But where is that monster hiding her? When I find this di'kut, he is going to feel the wrath of Kalo Secura. He is going to die a very slow and painful death. I'll make sure of that.
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The torture comes in sessions. And the pain seems to increase with every time. In between the living deaths, I am given time to sleep. Always to sleep. My body refuses to do anything else. Sometimes I muster enough strength to think and make sense of this madness. The torture lasts for a nightmarish eternity in which my body jolts and my mind shuts down. All I do is screaming.
No words are exchanged during the sessions. I have no idea what I did to deserve this suffering. No questions are asked about Jedi Holocron codes or military tactics. Or anything for that matter. Will I die for an empty cause?
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When I finally wake up the next morning, it is late. Much too late for what I should be waking up to. Why didn't Aayla wake me up? She usually…
The pain comes back cold and unforgiving. I can barely stand. In a struggle, I grab my clothing and head for the 'fresher. It's fast and hot. I tie my lekku tight and strap my lightsabers to my belt. The mess hall is now empty except a few stragglers. I run through the line and look for a familiar face. And I find the usually stately commander almost falling asleep in glop.
"Bly!" I say.
He jumps, clearly surprised.
"Good morning, General." He answers in a voice that barely contains his pain.
"Did you find anything?" I ask eagerly.
Bly and I have been searching for Aayla. Anything from a sighting or a com. He has darker circles than usual under his eyes and his solemn brown eyes are hurt.
"No." his voice shakes barely. It is so subtle that I almost didn't catch it. He's struggling almost as much as I am.
We both finish in silence and return our trays to the washer droid. Bly wanders off and I hurry to the Bridge. Duty calls in the reality.
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The dream tonight is the worst of them all. I can feel Aayla dying. Every groan of pain makes the man in the cape smile or laugh. He enjoys every minute of her screams.
But tonight was different. Tonight, at the end of the dream, I could hear Aayla's voice:
"Mustafar. Come to Mustafar. I am here."
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Okay, we are on the last chapter of this story. I have no clue what to do. I'll give you guys until Monday to leave your ideas just so I can post the next chapter fairly soon. Please help me out! Thank you for all of your continued support. Also, what do you think of the series with the adventures of Kalo and Aayla? Please review, follow me, and make the story a favorite! Thank you all for your support!
~Zoe Maddox