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No Emotion

During the entire trip to the city's secret passages, Kelly-Fyn was silent, trying to figure out what had happened to her twin. By the time she had officially found no conclusion other than that Elaina had been captured, they had reached the point where they were finally going to have some action. As Padme was signaling to Panaka, who was on the other side of the plaza they had stopped by, Qui-Gon bent down to speak with Anakin.

"Once we get inside, Annie, you find a safe place to hide and stay there."

"Sure," the boy replied nonchalantly.

"Stay there!"

"I think the boy's already getting the hang of this, Qui-Gon," Kelly noted.

Finally, as Captain Panaka engaged the droids, their half of the entourage was able to run, unnoticed, towards the main hangar where the pilots were being held. Casually and with a smile tugging at the corners of her lips, the young Jedi took out her lightsaber and easily destroyed ten of the machines without even breaking a sweat. Meanwhile, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were similarly attacking the robots. While the freed pilots raced towards their ships at a command from their queen, the girl frantically looked around for Elaina, but she was nowhere to be seen. Once the few remaining enemies were taken care of, Padme spoke to the older man as they starting heading for the hangar exit.

"My guess is the Viceroy is in the throne room."

"I agree," the Knight reciprocated.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Anakin yelled from the cockpit he was hiding in.

"No, Annie, you stay there. Stay right where you are."

"But, I…"

"Stay in that cockpit! Kelly, if your sister has been captured, I'm guessing that she would be in the throne room with the Viceroy."

"But why did she not use the Force to escape?" the young woman argued. The dialogue was cut short as the bay doors opened to reveal the same person who attacked them on Tatooine, standing in the doorway.

"That might be part of the reason. Your Highness, we'll handle this. Kelly, go save your sister." Unfortunately, before they were able to get very far, the queen's group was halted by six shielded battle droids. To everyone's relief, the single remaining fighter destroyed the droids prior to taking off, giving the group the chance to reach the palace hallway, where they were soon pinned down by dozens more robots. As she flipped her lightsaber around, deflecting the shots aimed at her, the Jedi growled,

"I…really…hate…droids!"

While she continued grumbling to herself, Padme stated,

"We don't have time for this, Captain!"

In quick succession, Kelly twirled her weapon around to eliminate the glass in the nearby window, using the Force to stop several blasts from hitting her.

"Padme! The window!" Getting the idea, several of the defenders stepped outside, including the queen, leaving twenty of their number to continue fending off the machines. Putting her lightsaber away, Kelly-Fyn took out her gun along with everyone else, aimed it straight up, and fired thin cables from the pistols, which embedded themselves several stories above. The girl enjoyed the thrill of her feet dangling over nothing but thin air as the gun elevated her up the wall and thought of how Elaina would hate it. Thinking of her older twin brought worry to the forefront of Kelly's thoughts. What if something had happened? After disengaging their cables, the companions shot their way into the hall and stepped onto the floor, only to be surrounded by several destroyers.

"Throw down your weapons. They win this round."

Having complied, they were led towards the throne room. As soon as they entered, Elaina, who was handcuffed and kneeling on the floor, yelled,

"Kelly, Qui-Gon's in trouble! Hurry!" Quick as lightening, the young Knight snatched her weapons from the droid close by and raced out of the room, gunshots whizzing by her head. Due to her talent of being able to run fast in long distances, contrary to her sprinting sister, the girl was able to reach the elevator and close the doors within seconds, using the Force to increase the speed of the transport. Bounding out at the main level, she sensed her companions nearby in the power generation area and raced straight to main generator. Obi-Wan was just bolting towards the center through the shifting panel shields. On the spur of the moment, Kelly ran after him. She and the padawan were cut short at the last section as the shields switched on again. They did not even regard each other as they both stared intently at the heated battle between Qui-Gon and the Sith beside the generator core. In a flash of movement, the Darth banged the Jedi in the head and stabbed him in the abdomen. Knight and padawan cried out in surprise, anger, and anguish…a deadly combination, yes, but neither cared. Their only focus was revenge for their companion's death as the enemy turned to face them. Kelly-Fyn almost shook with the emotion flooding her when the shield lowered and the warriors attacked. Both sides were equally relentless in their assault.

(Elaina)

After seeing that the Viceroy was secure and the shield generator which had been keeping her from using the Force was destroyed, Elaina raced out the doorway. A gnawing pain in her stomach told her that something had happened to one of the other Jedi. Although every fiber of her told her not to do it, she severed the links she had created. The pain would only slow her down. By the time she had done this, she had reached the elevator, which still indicated that it was at ground level. Bounding over to the spiraling stairwell ten feet away, she groaned,

"I hate heights," before leaping into the circular space and letting herself fall down the four stories between her and helping her friends, the warm air speeding past and causing her hair to toss about like a barrel of shaken snakes. After using the Force to partially slow herself before rolling five feet out into the hall, Elaina ran straight for the main power generator. By the time she reached the fiery red shields, she was panting uncontrollably. Before she hardly had time to catch her breath, the shields switched off, allowing her to race as fast as she could towards the center, since she did not know how long the separations would be off. Just as the girl reached her destination, her leather boots noiselessly padding on the metal floor, she was attacked by the Darth, who attempted to use the Force in throwing her backwards. Quick as lightening, however, the Jedi responded with the same tactic, leaving them in a temporary stalemate. As she looked around, Elaina noted Qui-Gon lying motionless on the floor nearby, while Obi-Wan and Kelly were nowhere to be seen, though she could sense their presence close by. Moving closer to the gaping generator and effectively backing the Sith nearly into the opposite wall, the young woman looked over the side and saw the padawan dangling from a nozzle on the side of the pit, while Kelly was hanging onto his ankles.

"How did you get down there? This is no time for a rest!" Elaina sarcastically exclaimed. A second later, the Darth gave his push a bit more energy, forcing her against the wall and hardly giving her a chance to engage one of her lightsabers and block his frontal attack. "Oh, you are ugly! No wonder you're mad. If you want, I have the address of a great cosmetic surgeon on Coruscant." His only reaction was to sneer and continue his onslaught. A few moments later, her companions were able climb back over the ledge and join the fray, giving Elaina the chance to check on Qui-Gon.

-Well, he seems to only be unconscious, so…oh no…no-

Her eyes had found a stab wound in the man's abdomen.

(Obi-Wan)

Revenge was sweet as the padawan and Kelly-Fyn killed the Sith and sent his body tumbling down the shaft. For a moment, the two companions simply stood facing each other, lightsabers still on, panting from the exertion. Obi-Wan was shocked to see that the younger girl's irises were red. After he blinked, they were back to normal coffee color. Suddenly, Elaina's quiet voice dominated his senses.

"No…no, Qui-Gon, don't do this. I was not left for seven years just so you could die after a few days." She stood and walked to the edge of the precipice as Obi-Wan and Kelly-Fyn ran to the master's side. Kelly's eyes turned a pale blue as she bent down.

"It is too late," Qui-Gon was weakly saying as he regained consciousness, "It's…"

"No!" the apprentice interrupted.

"Obi-Wan, promise…promise me you'll train the boy…"

"Yes, Master."

"He is the Chosen One…he will…bring balance…train him. Kelly, tell Elaina…I'm sorry."

As silent tears slid down his cheeks, Obi-Wan looked up at the older girl. She was staring into the pit as if she wanted to jump into it…and an inch-wide segment, running all the way down the right side of her hair was a golden-blond color. Her lips moved, but no sound came. Curiosity of what she was saying slipped through his sorrow before it was once more overwhelmed by the fact that his friend, teacher, and father-figure was gone.

"Obi-Wan," Kelly-Fyn whispered, her piercing blue eyes sending chills down the man's spine, "we should get him out of here. It's unthinkable to leave him like this for long. Elaina, grab his legs…Elaina?" The quiet padding of Elaina's fast-retreating feet was fading as the girl raced away. "Listen, Obi-Wan…I'm…I'm sorry. If I had simply come with you instead of racing off after my sister, Qui-Gon would still be…"

"Kelly-Fyn, if you hadn't gone after Elaina…the queen would not have been able to reach the throne room on time and your sister might have been dead by the time they did reach it."

"I'm not really the problem. Elaina will blame herself, I guarantee you."

"Why would she do that?"

"It's what she does! You'll get used to it."

(Elaina)

Pad, pad, pad, pad, pad, pad…

On and on went the monotonous sound, the only noise evident to the ears. While the leaders of Naboo met in the throne room, the rest of the people were either in the infirmary, burying one of the casualties, or taking part in some other recovery-type effort; therefore, the halls were clear of any sign of life. A war was won, a planet saved, memories uncovered, and the congratulations of the Council, along with everyone else, was just around the corner, and yet…all Elaina could think about was the fact that she would not have the chance to apologize to Qui-Gon for her stubbornness. No chance for that now. Never would she be able to say the word "sorry" to the man whose friendship she had so abused. By the time she reached the palace waterfall, she was so tired that her legs gave out, refusing to hold her up any longer. Only then did she allow the tears to come. Several minutes later, she was interrupted by Anakin's voice.

"Are you ok?"

Jerkily, she looked at him, wiping her cheeks as the boy knelt beside her. There was no reason to hide the truth from him.

"No, Anakin, I'm not alright."

"What's with your hair? I didn't know you had blond in it."

"It's part of what I am." Another sob broke through Elaina's wall of control.

"What's wrong?"

"I see there is no hiding anything from you, Anakin. Qui-Gon…Qui-Gon is d…dead."

"What? No! He…" Though memories of her past still haunted her more than ever, the young Jedi Knight could not help but embrace the now sobbing nine-year-old child.

"I am so sorry I wasn't there to save him, Anakin. I'm…so sorry." Minutes went by before the boy settled down and began staring at her side.

"You…you're bleeding."

Sure enough, when Elaina looked down, she saw blood seeping through the tight cloth of her bodice: one of the courtesies of Darth Maul when he had been trying to force her to reveal the location of the rebels' center of planning. In the heat of battle and with Qui-Gon's death, she hadn't even noticed their presence between the time she heard her friends' footsteps nearing the throne room and that moment. If she wanted to live for more than an hour, the infirmary needed to be her first priority.

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