More than a standard week later, Jaina
Solo stepped out onto the balcony that housed the Jedi Praxeum. Evening was settling on the jungle moon, and
a warm breeze brushed against her face as she joined the only other person
presently occupying the area.
"I figured you'd be up here," Jaina
said to the dark haired person with his back to her.
He did not acknowledge her, but Jaina
knew Zekk had heard her. By the set of
his shoulders and the rest of his posture, she could tell that something was
deeply troubling him.
"You missed evening meal,"
"I need to leave, Jaina," he said
without turning around.
Puzzled, Jaina said, "what do you mean
'leave'?"
He turned to face her. "This place," he said, gesturing with his
arms out wide.
"Zekk, what are you talking
about?" She was even more confused now.
"I don't belong here,"
Jaina sighed. Not this again.
"It's different this time," he said,
picking up on her thoughts. "I don't
even know who I am anymore. I don't
even want to know who I am anymore,"
Jaina just stood there, listening to
Zekk explain why he had to go. Her head
was spinning. The only thing she was
able to comprehend was that he was leaving her. Again. The rest of the
details were unimportant.
"I can't pretend these dark feelings
inside of me don't exist. And now more
then ever, I'm not even sure if I can control them."
"Then let us help," Jaina pleaded,
"Uncle Luke knows better than anyone – "
"It's not that simple, Jaina," he said
shaking his head, trying to make her understand his decision, "I don't know
what I'd be capable of if I stayed here."
"I could help you,"
Sadly, Zekk shook his head. "Not even you can help me. This is something that I have to work out on
my own. I would've left days ago but I
wanted to make sure you were okay first,"
"Well,
I'm sorry to have inconvenienced you like that," Jaina said bitterly.
Zekk
repressed a sigh. She was not making
this easy for him. "I didn't mean it
like that and you know it. Jaina, this
was a difficult enough decision for me to make. Please don't make it any harder."
"So,
that's it then? You're just gonna
runaway again,"
Zekk
cringed inwardly at her words, just as Jaina had hoped he would. "I'll be back," he promised.
Jaina
let out a bitter laugh. "Yeah,
when? A couple of months? A couple of years? This isn't the first time you've decided to take off," Jaina
accused him, remembering when Zekk had left that first time after he had turned
back from the dark side. Then there had
been the time after graduation when he had left for awhile because he had said
he wanted to see some more of the galaxy before settling down and becoming a
respectable Jedi Knight. "You can't
keep running away from your problems, Zekk. They'll eventually catch up to you no matter how far you run.
"And
you know what makes me mad the most?" She said, her anger full blown now, "the fact that you think you can
just take off whenever you want and that I'll still be here waiting for you to
come home,"
"Jaina,
I don't want things to end like this,"
"Then
don't go," she said simply.
"I
have to,"
"I
guess we all have to do things that we don't want to do, don't we?"
Zekk
frowned, sensing a double meaning in her words. "What are you saying?"
Jaina
turned her back to him. "I'm saying,"
she began, tears welling up in her eyes, "that if you leave…this time don't
come back."
"You
don' mean that,"
The
tears started spilling down her cheeks. "Yes, I do,"
"Jaina
– " he grabbed her arm, he had to make her see reason. She needed to understand that she making a
huge mistake, one that she would regret later on. But Jaina pulled away from him.
Not
wanting to let Zekk see her tears, she took off back into the temple, blindly
pushing past anyone and everyone who got in her way. She did not stop running until she reached her room. Slamming the door behind her, she dropped to
the ground, shoulders bobbing and crying like she had never cried before in her
sixteen years.
In
the early hours of the morning before dawn, a cloaked figure slipped into
Jaina's room. With quiet footsteps, he
crept towards the bed where the sleeping form of Jaina Solo lay.
Shrouded
in darkness, with only the moonlight from the open window to guide him, he
removed two objects from his cloak and placed them on the nightstand by the
bed.
Looking
longingly at the sleeping figure, he backed out of the room as quietly as he
had entered it, gently closing the door behind him.
Zekk
ran a routine pre-flight check on the Lightning Rod, just to be sure
that the old ship didn't have any little surprises in store for him once he was
air born. When he was satisfied that
she was in her usual 'optimum' condition, he started up the engines.
For
a good couple of minutes he just sat there contemplating his situation. In his head he knew what he had to do, but
in his heart… well, that was another story.
If
you leave… don't come back.
Taking
a deep breath he made his decision.
Lifting
his ship off the ground, he maneuvered it through the open hanger bay doors and
into the air. As he gained altitude,
the Jedi Academy became smaller and smaller until it was nothing more than a
tiny speck against the green landscape.
Pulling away from Yavin Four's
atmosphere, Zekk punched in a set of coordinates into the nav computer.
He knew he was doing the right thing,
and he knew that some day Jaina would understand his decision.
Once
the nav computer came up with a hyperspace route, Zekk pulled down on the
throttle in front of him. Without
looking back, he plunged into hyperspace.
So did you like
it??? Let me know what you think.
I'm already working on a sequel and should post the first chapter of it in the next few weeks, so be on the lookout for it (I still haven't thought of a title for it yet).