Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Note: Back with another chapter. Not much else to say except: thanks for all of your support!
Rescue
She opened her eyes and lifted her hand to touch his cheek with a gentleness quite foreign to him. And – for the first time in his life – Starkiller didn't pull away from it. The relief that flooded through him at seeing her alive was an intense thing that dragged the tension from his muscles and left him feeling shaky and weak. He wasn't quite sure how to deal with it.
"You're…alive?" her voice cracked. "But Vader…he said you were dead."
The memory of pain and the cold, sucking vacuum of space flittered at the back of his mind. He'd thought he had died, too, until he'd woken in that med lab. The only thing different – as far as he could tell - were his missing scars. Their absence was…strangely disturbing. Perhaps Vader had seen to their healing in order to support his new guise as one of the rebels. It wouldn't have been done out of kindness, that was for sure.
Tentatively, he set a hand on her shoulder. "Can you stand?"
She nodded through a pained expression and dragged herself to her feet – not one to play the damsel in distress. There was something wrong with her leg, though, and she would have toppled if he hadn't intervened; putting an arm against her back to balance her. He could feel the ridges of her spine through the thin layer of her clothing.
"You're hurt?"
She nodded. "It's my ankle."
"We need to get moving."
She nodded again. "How long do we have?"
Not long enough. They would need to move fast. Much faster than the pace she was capable of setting in her current condition. The ship pitched sharply beneath their feet, throwing her against him and before he'd really considered that he should warn her first, he lifted her up into his arms.
"Hold on."
And she did; wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling herself more securely against him. It was an intimacy that he could honestly say he'd never experienced before and that could have explained why his heart had suddenly started hammering wildly.
No. No. That was just the situation they were in. Nothing to do with her.
Gritting his teeth, he launched into a sprint – aided by the Force – all too aware of the growing temperature and the horrible groans of the ship – as if it sensed its impending doom. Already the structure was warping; the ruptured floor deforming beneath his feet. Off to his right, something exploded as a direct result from the heat and he enhanced his shield of Force energy to try and keep the scorching temperature at bay.
Up ahead, another explosion tore a hole in the corridor's wall and he felt Juno turn her face against his chest, her grip tightening.
She shouldn't have worried, though. He had no intention of letting any of the flying debris reach her.
"Master?" PROXY called, his voice urgent.
"Almost there!"
The Rogue Shadow gleamed orange and red, the hatch already open for them to board. Behind them came the rumble of further explosions, urging him to hurry. He had no idea how much time they had left but it couldn't have been long.
Planting his feet firmly, he launched them both towards the ship, using the Force to carry them much further than any normal man could leap. His boots thumped against the loading ramp as he landed; slamming a hand against the door mechanism as he ducked into the ship.
"We're in. Go. Go." There was a horrendous sound of twisting metal and then the stealth ship lurched into action, pulling away from the condemned Empirical and the blazing, hungry sun.
Perhaps ten seconds later, a huge explosion ripped a wave through the reach of space, throwing the ship violently sideways. Starkiller braced himself against a wall with one hand, trusting Juno to hold on.
She did.
"Are you alright?" he asked when everything was quiet.
She nodded briefly, her head rubbing against his shoulder, reminding him of their closeness. His heart gave a strange little flop as he manoeuvred them deeper into the ship.
"Where are we going?" she asked, sounding a little dazed. "The cockpit is back that way."
He glowered down at her. "You can't be serious."
"I'm fine." She tried to insist.
"No. You're really not. Don't worry about it. PROXY has everything under control." He had meant it to be a comfort to her but it seemed to have the opposite affect. Her frown deepened momentarily and she lapsed into angry silence.
"Stop worrying," he said, firmly, edging sideways through the door that led to the room Juno had slept in before her arrest. Then, with an unexpected gentleness, he set her down on the bed, being careful not to jar her leg.
"But what are we going to do?" she asked, softer.
"Get some sleep." But as he moved to straighten, her hand reached up and grabbed him by the wrist, sending an electric jolt through him.
He froze, his skin pimpling in response to her touch and his heart gave another strange little twist. There was no 'life or death' situation to blame it on this time, though.
"Thank you," she said, relaxing her grip. "Thank you for coming back for me."
He wasn't sure what to say to that.
He couldn't tell her that he'd had his orders from Vader to leave her behind. Even if he could let her know about Vader's plan to lure the rebels into a false sense of security, telling her would bring questions that he didn't necessarily know how to answer. Why had he done it? Why risk everything he had worked and suffered for to save her life? She was a nuisance. She was replaceable.
Wasn't she?
Starkiller swallowed, feeling strangely nervous but unable to look away.
Her eyes were very blue.
And slowly, her fingers uncurled and her hand dropped away. Had she sensed her affect on him? Had he been so obvious?
Starkiller flustered, backing away from the bed the moment he was free of her.
He needed to get out.
And it was only when the door had closed between them and he was heading back to the cockpit that he felt he could breathe again.
What was happening to him? Was this some sort of side-effect of the procedures he had undergone in that medical lab?
It had to be. Right?
Right?
