Two and a half hours later, they reached the exit. "We set up camp outside." Shada said and led them outside. They began to set up camp where they had before they entered the fortress. "I'm gonna make sure nothing's gonna eat us while we break. No watch, just everyone can't go into a heavy sleep. Understood?"
"Yep." Sky said for all of them. Shada walked off into the jungle thinking, Back in the goddamn jungle again. Whoopdeedoo.
"Hey, Sky, why do you let Shada boss you around like that when you're older?" Sidney asked.
"Well, mostly because if I don't, she'd go and do what she wants anyway." Not to mention she'll just go and kick my ass all the way to Tatooine and back again. He thought.
"But you're older and should be able to exert some authority over her."
Sky laughed. "Over Shada? The only one that has authority over her is herself. You can give her orders, but you have no guarantee that she'll take them."
"Sounds a lot like Veronica." Scott said.
"Yeah, she admires Shada, though." Sky looked over at Veronica setting up her own tent. "That's not necessarily a good thing. She might get herself killed trying to be just like Shada." He looked back at Scott. "And Shada doesn't even realize Veronica looks up to her. But that's Shada for you."
"What'd I do?" Shada asked from behind Sky, making him jump.
"Nothing." Sky replied turning to face her. Yet. "Anything gonna eat us while we sleep?"
She glared at him for a moment. "No." She was now wary of Sky, but let it drop and went to help Veronica finish.
"Boy, you like taking risks, don't cha?" Scott said.
"You knew she was coming and didn't tell me why?" Sky asked. "Besides, it's not that big of a risk. She's still my little sister."
"Yeah, one who can kick your sorry ass to Tatooine and back without even the slightest trace of exertion." Scott told him, ignoring Sky's original question.
He was about to reply when Sidney tackled him. He was so taken by surprise he was lucky to keep standing. When the hell'd she leave? Sky thought. "I lit the fire, Sky." She said.
"Yeah, thanks Sid." He glanced over at Veronica and Shada who were heading toward the fire Sidney had just lit. And surprisingly enough, Veronica was talking with Shada, instead of letting the older girl talk and just listening to her. Of course, Shada didn't talk that much to anyone; she preferred to listen and brood on her mother lately. Well, since Mom attacked her anyway. "Shouldn't we help Shada and Veronica?" He asked as he led Scott and Sidney over to the fire to help with dinner before Sidney could say anything.
The dinner was easily made and just as quickly eaten. Shada hadn't eaten much or even talked much (not that she talked a lot, she just hadn't said one word to anyone since Scott, Sky, and Sidney had joined Shada and Veronica at the fire). I wonder why. Shada doesn't usually talk, but she eats a hell of a lot back on Emberlene. Sidney thought. She resisted the dull temptation to ask Sky about it when Shada abruptly got up and left.
She walked off into the jungle that she hated so much, heading as far away from the others as possible. She felt the burning desire to be alone and knew that if she went into her tent, Sky would ask her about it before they slept. She hadn't eaten much, but then again, she wasn't hungry for once. Does it have anything to do with what's happened to me? She thought. She found a tree far enough away, but not too far that it would take her too long to get back and climbed up to a branch that she could sit on with her back to the trunk and sat.
It had started after she'd killed the first t-rex. She'd been able to sense what the others were feeling. All of them. And it hadn't been just after she killed the t-rex, that had been when it started, it happened all of the time; if one of them felt a strong emotion, she could feel it too. It was annoying; she couldn't even really identify most of them. There was anger, fear, love (from Sky and Sidney almost constantly), admiration (from Veronica), and one that she could just barely identify, jealousy. Holy Sith! That's coming from Scott! He's jealous of Sky! What an interesting reaction that would get if brought up in a regular conversation. And of course when Sky was being pushed around by Shada, she could feel the most identifiable emotion ever, well second really, the first was anger, hatred. It had been burning red hot off of Sidney, mostly because the woman didn't like Shada anymore than she liked Sidney. But Shada wasn't interested in identifying her friends' emotions, she wanted them to go away. If she hadn't had to have used her mother's lightsaber, would she still be feeling their emotions? Probably not. If she hadn't used it, she wouldn't have fought the t-rex. But now she couldn't shut their Goddamned emotions up! If only you idiots would stop feeling! She thought her own anger was joining the mix of emotions now. How the hell can you feel so much?
A bird cried out somewhere in the jungle, startling Shada out of her musings. She was dully surprised to find that she had a branch in her hands. She had snapped the branch above her off and then snapped it in two. The emotions of her friends were going to drive her insane. She sighed and jumped out of the tree, landing cat-footed on the ground and dropping the branch pieces.
As she got back to the camp, she heard Sky saying "I'm gonna go find Shada."
Hatred from Sidney. "Why? She can take care of herself."
A sigh, no doubt Sky's. "How many times to do I have to tell you? She's my little sister. It's like a job. I have to keep an eye on her." And she really is a job. Sky thought. "I shouldn't have let her go at dinner anyway."
"So I'm a job now?" Shada asked stepping up behind her older brother.
"That's not what I meant, Sha." He replied, turning to face her with an apologetic look on his face. Shada ignored him and went into their tent.
"See, she's fine." Sidney said, pulling Sky toward her own tent.
"I should really talk to her."
"It's obvious that she doesn't want to talk."
Sky sighed. "Fine." He let Sidney pull him into her tent and Veronica and Scott went into the last, Scott looked longingly at Shada's tent before following Veronica inside. He was glad that the tents were made to hold three people. He wouldn't have to get too close to Veronica. I'd get close to Shada though. He thought.
Shada sat bolt upright, disgust racing through every part of her body. Was that Scott's thought! Gross! I'd have to be dead to do that. She thought. Wonderful, now she was getting feelings and thoughts. She growled at the empty tent and dropped back onto the pillow and went into a light sleep. It was often what she called a Mistryl induced sleep.
Shada was the first one up in the morning when Scott joined her. "Hey Shada." He said. She only acknowledged him with a brief glance at him before going back to her blaster. What'd it do, break? Scott thought. He watched her as he ate and soon they were joined by Veronica. "Mornin' Veronica." He said around a mouthful of food.
"Hey Shada, aren't you gonna eat?" Veronica asked, sitting next to her.
"I had a ration bar when I got up." She replied, still not glancing up and putting the blaster away. She took the datacard and the datapad out of her bag and scrolled through the data after turning the datapad on. She clearly still doesn't feel like talking. Scott thought.
"Hey Shada, I'm sorry if I upset you last night." Sky said from behind them. Both Veronica and Scott jumped, but Shada didn't even flinch. She did however get up and walk away. "Shada!" Sky called after her. She ignored him. "Shassa." What the hell is she so mad about? Sky thought.
Ten minutes later, Shada came back and packed up her stuff unnoticed. Sidney had eaten and was silently fuming at Sky because he had insisted in waiting for Shada. Now Scott and Sky were arguing about whether to wait or go to the Sun Crusher and the Jade's Fire.
"I don't give a damn what you think! If we don't wait, she'll be . . . upset." Sky told Scott.
"She's probably already at the ship!" Scott shouted at him.
"Shada doesn't just leave teammates behind because she's mad at one of them!"
"Yeah? How do you know? She's sixteen! She could do anything! You're just afraid that she'll kick the shit out of you if she gets you alone."
Sky was about to lunge at Scott when a soft voice said "In ainente." From behind Sky. He whirled to find Shada standing behind him.
"Shada . . ." He was utterly surprised to see his younger sister telling him to stand down. He never in a million years thought she would tell him that. "Are you ready to go to the ship?" She nodded, glaring at Scott and Sky briefly before moving ahead of them.
"Well, come on, we aren't gonna make it to the Crusher by dark just standing around here."
"Well we were waiting for you." Scott said. He was still angry at Sky and right now all Shada could feel was his anger. "Because Sky here has to be the good big brother and wait."
Shada felt like ripping Scott's throat out. "That's because big brother Sky is terrified of me." She turned to the jungle, smirking at Sky on the way, and headed for the Crusher. "Come on, stop fighting." Shada said. Veronica followed Shada and Sidney grabbed onto Sky's arm and pulled him after Shada. Scott followed scowling at the back of Sky's head.