Twelve
(A.N. THANKS EVERYONE FOR THE GREAT REVIEWS!!! HOPE YOU ENJOY!!)
Anakin glanced around. When had the party arrived? He had to admit he preferred this to taking on at least one hundred guards with only Padme and the Jedi to help, but it was getting a little crowded.
He jumped out of the hole in the crating floor, and barely missed a gaffi- stick to the head. Anakin turned the lightsaber to half power and sliced the guard's legs out from under him. Anakin stood up, and fought through the crowed and switched off the lightsaber. If there was a little more room in the audience chamber he'd fight with it, but if he used the energy blade now he might accidentally cut someone in two who was on their side.
Anakin spotted the Jedi in the crowed, and headed over to him. Anakin saw that the Jedi had obviously been trained in hand to hand combat, and as Anakin watched, Obi-Wan flattened a burly guard without blinking. It wasn't worth denying it, Anakin was impressed.
Obi-Wan dealt a heavy blow to a guard's nose, or what he thought was the guard's nose. Then he broke the alien's collar-bones with a well planted spear. One down, fifty or so to go. He glanced over and saw Anakin deck another guard with a perfect fist to the face technique. "Where did you learn how to fight?" He asked as Anakin walked over the guard's unconscious body and took a fighting stance next to Obi-Wan.
"In all the dark alleys." Anakin laughed.
Obi-Wan nodded. He understood what Anakin was saying, on a tough planet like Tattoine, and the even tougher life of being a slave; one had to learn how to defend one's self. Street fighting, and Anakin was good at it.
Anakin bent another guard down, twisting the blaster out of his hand, and smashing his own knee into the guard's face. Anakin bashed the guard's face in again with his knee, then let the unfortunate guard fall crumpled to the floor unconscious. He looked around; this reminded him of a cantina-fight instead of a rebellion. Which was okay, sometimes he liked cantina fights.
Suddenly, Anakin heard someone scream, and a cold feeling snaked up his back as he recognized the high shrill scream as Padme's. He looked around desperately, and cursed, it was too damn crowded in this place.
Padme screamed again. The disgusting tongue wrapped itself around her stomach. It was not that she was totally unable to defend herself, but it was just so vile and disgusting that it terrified her. She looked at what seemed to want to devour her, and saw the huge yellow eyes of Jabba the Hutt. Her heart stopped for a mili-second, and the fear finally made her fight, pure fear, pure determination to live. Padme kicked and screamed, thrashed and beat her fists against the Hutt's slimy body. "Anakin!"
Anakin was past being polite. He didn't care if the person in front of him was on his side or not, they'd better get themselves out of his way or else he'd move them. "Padme!" Where in the force was she? But something whispered to him, a quiet little voice inside of him. *The throne.* It whispered. *The throne. Hurry. Hurry.* Anakin shoved a guard and another ex-slave out of the way, and jumped over a dead thermodian. He was almost there; the throne was about twelve feet away.
For a moment, Padme felt the Hutt loose it's grip on her, and she dropped to the floor again. And she grappled to get the Hutt's slimy tongue away from her. She grasped for anything on the throne to pull herself out of Jabba's grip, and felt cold mettle at her fingertips.
Anakin shoved past two dozen other people in the midst of the life and death clash. Finally he saw the throne, and his heart was suddenly was in his mouth. The Hutt had Padme lifted up into the air and held her there above his enormous open maws.
Padme gasped as Jabba's hold tightened, making it hard to breath. She was inches from the Hutt's open jaws, and she brought up the blaster. Jabba's eye's widened, but it was too late. Padme jabbed the blaster into the Hutt's mouth- and fired.
Anakin jumped onto the throne, and Padme looked up at him with her wide brown eyes. He grabbed her away from Jabba, and pulled her to him in a tight embrace.
Padme wasn't aware of very much. She was still too terrified, but her mind did register Anakin's strong arms around her, holding her up. It was Anakin, Anakin was there. She closed her eyes, burying her face in his chest.
Anakin felt Padme tremble in his arms. He glared at the dead Hutt, smoke was drifting out of Jabba's mouth, and his eyes were wide and open. The blaster had shot the slug's brains to charcoal, and it smelled horrible. Still, the Hutt had gotten off easy. If he had been a minute earlier he would have sliced the Hutt into so many pieces it would be impossible to count them all, and he would have done it with a smile on his face. Anakin held Padme tighter, rocking her slightly. "I'm here, Padme. I'm here."
However, neither Padme or Anakin saw the reaction to Jabba's death on the brawling crowed. The many bodyguards and attendants gazed at their dead employer. All was silent; the servants stared in awed silence, while the ex-slaves couldn't believe what had happened. Jabba the Hutt- was dead.
Suddenly, the guards realized that their employer was dead, and that the hundred plus slaves still wanted revenge for their lives of hardship. It was time to retreat. Bib Fortuna was the first to make a break for the door.
The ex-slaves raised a triumphant holler, and took up the chase as they ran after the fleeing occupants of Jabba's Palace.
Padme opened her eyes, feeling herself being held by Anakin, but she also heard someone else's voice. It belonged to the Jedi.
"Now can we get out of here?" Obi-Wan asked, trying hard not to gag at the horrible stench that filled the room from Jabba's burnt corpse.
Padme looked up at Anakin, who had that weird blaze in his eyes..
Anakin looked over at Jabba, then back at Obi-Wan. "Yeah. Let's get outta this hell-hole."
***OUTSIDE***
The Tattoine suns burned down as Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme walked out of the Palace. They blinked as the harsh light flooded around them, but in a way they were all glad that they had emerged from the dark pit of the palace. And that they were all alive.
The ex-slaves had left already in a cloud of sand and dust. After all, the rebellion was just starting. Slaves in Mos Eisly were soon going to taste the sweetness of freedom too, then it would spread Anakin knew, to the rest of the outskirts of the galaxy. Until all of the planets were free. A hint of a smile started to form on Anakin's lips, until- he glanced up seeing a single black-clad figure standing out against the Tattoine horizon.
Obi-Wan instantly felt a ripple go through the Force, and he glanced up at the dark clothing and red and black facial tattoos. It was a Sith.
Anakin nodded toward the approaching figure. "Looks like a fight Jedi."
Obi-Wan nodded, his face pinched. "Remember; don't fight with anger or hate. It will lead to the Dark Side."
Anakin tore his eyes off of the dark spot on the horizon, and glanced at Obi-Wan. "Whatever Jedi." He turned to Padme, who was once again in a slave cloak. He grasped her shoulders. "Get back to the Phoenix. If we don't come back in twenty minutes, leave."
Padme couldn't believe what she was hearing. "No, Anakin-"
"Trust me Padme. This guy is bad." Anakin's voice was dead serious. "I don't want you here."
Padme shook her head. "but Anakin, how can you-"
Anakin cut her off. "I can feel it." He looked into her eyes. "Just do it okay?"
Padme nodded. She stared up into Anakin's sharp blue eyes. "Alright."
Anakin brought her into a tight hug, feeling her soft hair against his cheek he wondered why in the name of the Force these things always happened to them. He knew that if this was a real Sith he might not get another chance to say what had been on his mind for longer than anything else over the past couple weeks. And it said it. "Padme, I love you."
Padme could only barley hear the whisper, and her eyes widened. "What?"
Anakin took a step back, and looked back at the dark figure that was only two dozen feet away now. "Padme go."
Padme couldn't find any words, and Anakin turned back to her.
"Padme go!"
She nodded; suddenly realizing just what the creature was that was coming towards them over the dunes. The only thing that was a formable opponent to a trained Jedi, and the only thing that would cause such uncertainty in Anakin. A Sith. They were the arch enemy, the nemesis of Jedi. Or, for Anakin's sake, Force talented.
Padme took one last glance at Anakin, before she turned on her heel and took off across the great sand dunes of the Tattoine deserts.
Anakin watched her go, his dark blue eyes sad. Then he turned back to the dark knight that was now about twelve feet away, and his eyes quickly became hard. This was going to be really interesting. This tattooed guy wanted trouble, he was gonna get it.
Obi-Wan could sense that Anakin was definitely on the offensive, and wondered if it was a good idea to fight beside someone who was so powerful, yet so unpredictable. He watched as the Sith came up, and stopped in front about three feet away.
Anakin didn't like the guy, and forced a snide smile. "Turn tail now and we won't kill you."
Obi-Wan watched as the Sith bristled. Okay, so Anakin lacked a Jedi's sense of subtly.
The dark clothed monster dropped into a fighting stance and took a lightsaber out of his robes. He thumbed the switch, and two crimson blades appeared, hissing with energy. "You are wrong." The Sith growled. "For it is you who will soon die."
Anakin took the lightsaber out of his shirt, and thumbed it on with a satisfying snap-hiss, and grinned.
Obi-Wan turned on his lightsaber, holding it in both hands. "We'll take him together. I'll go on the right-"
Anakin shook his head, starting for the horned Sith. "I'm taking him now!"
TO BE CONTINUED!!!!!
(Agh. Another cliffie. It's getting into sort of a habit. *grins in a apologetic way* Why in the world was Fanfiction.net off for so long! Oh well. DARTH MAUL HAS ENTERED THE BUILDING!! The thing was I would have updated Monday but fanficiton.net wasn't working! SORRY! By the way, have you seen Pirates of the Caribbean? THAT MOVIE ROCKS!!!!!)
(A.N. THANKS EVERYONE FOR THE GREAT REVIEWS!!! HOPE YOU ENJOY!!)
Anakin glanced around. When had the party arrived? He had to admit he preferred this to taking on at least one hundred guards with only Padme and the Jedi to help, but it was getting a little crowded.
He jumped out of the hole in the crating floor, and barely missed a gaffi- stick to the head. Anakin turned the lightsaber to half power and sliced the guard's legs out from under him. Anakin stood up, and fought through the crowed and switched off the lightsaber. If there was a little more room in the audience chamber he'd fight with it, but if he used the energy blade now he might accidentally cut someone in two who was on their side.
Anakin spotted the Jedi in the crowed, and headed over to him. Anakin saw that the Jedi had obviously been trained in hand to hand combat, and as Anakin watched, Obi-Wan flattened a burly guard without blinking. It wasn't worth denying it, Anakin was impressed.
Obi-Wan dealt a heavy blow to a guard's nose, or what he thought was the guard's nose. Then he broke the alien's collar-bones with a well planted spear. One down, fifty or so to go. He glanced over and saw Anakin deck another guard with a perfect fist to the face technique. "Where did you learn how to fight?" He asked as Anakin walked over the guard's unconscious body and took a fighting stance next to Obi-Wan.
"In all the dark alleys." Anakin laughed.
Obi-Wan nodded. He understood what Anakin was saying, on a tough planet like Tattoine, and the even tougher life of being a slave; one had to learn how to defend one's self. Street fighting, and Anakin was good at it.
Anakin bent another guard down, twisting the blaster out of his hand, and smashing his own knee into the guard's face. Anakin bashed the guard's face in again with his knee, then let the unfortunate guard fall crumpled to the floor unconscious. He looked around; this reminded him of a cantina-fight instead of a rebellion. Which was okay, sometimes he liked cantina fights.
Suddenly, Anakin heard someone scream, and a cold feeling snaked up his back as he recognized the high shrill scream as Padme's. He looked around desperately, and cursed, it was too damn crowded in this place.
Padme screamed again. The disgusting tongue wrapped itself around her stomach. It was not that she was totally unable to defend herself, but it was just so vile and disgusting that it terrified her. She looked at what seemed to want to devour her, and saw the huge yellow eyes of Jabba the Hutt. Her heart stopped for a mili-second, and the fear finally made her fight, pure fear, pure determination to live. Padme kicked and screamed, thrashed and beat her fists against the Hutt's slimy body. "Anakin!"
Anakin was past being polite. He didn't care if the person in front of him was on his side or not, they'd better get themselves out of his way or else he'd move them. "Padme!" Where in the force was she? But something whispered to him, a quiet little voice inside of him. *The throne.* It whispered. *The throne. Hurry. Hurry.* Anakin shoved a guard and another ex-slave out of the way, and jumped over a dead thermodian. He was almost there; the throne was about twelve feet away.
For a moment, Padme felt the Hutt loose it's grip on her, and she dropped to the floor again. And she grappled to get the Hutt's slimy tongue away from her. She grasped for anything on the throne to pull herself out of Jabba's grip, and felt cold mettle at her fingertips.
Anakin shoved past two dozen other people in the midst of the life and death clash. Finally he saw the throne, and his heart was suddenly was in his mouth. The Hutt had Padme lifted up into the air and held her there above his enormous open maws.
Padme gasped as Jabba's hold tightened, making it hard to breath. She was inches from the Hutt's open jaws, and she brought up the blaster. Jabba's eye's widened, but it was too late. Padme jabbed the blaster into the Hutt's mouth- and fired.
Anakin jumped onto the throne, and Padme looked up at him with her wide brown eyes. He grabbed her away from Jabba, and pulled her to him in a tight embrace.
Padme wasn't aware of very much. She was still too terrified, but her mind did register Anakin's strong arms around her, holding her up. It was Anakin, Anakin was there. She closed her eyes, burying her face in his chest.
Anakin felt Padme tremble in his arms. He glared at the dead Hutt, smoke was drifting out of Jabba's mouth, and his eyes were wide and open. The blaster had shot the slug's brains to charcoal, and it smelled horrible. Still, the Hutt had gotten off easy. If he had been a minute earlier he would have sliced the Hutt into so many pieces it would be impossible to count them all, and he would have done it with a smile on his face. Anakin held Padme tighter, rocking her slightly. "I'm here, Padme. I'm here."
However, neither Padme or Anakin saw the reaction to Jabba's death on the brawling crowed. The many bodyguards and attendants gazed at their dead employer. All was silent; the servants stared in awed silence, while the ex-slaves couldn't believe what had happened. Jabba the Hutt- was dead.
Suddenly, the guards realized that their employer was dead, and that the hundred plus slaves still wanted revenge for their lives of hardship. It was time to retreat. Bib Fortuna was the first to make a break for the door.
The ex-slaves raised a triumphant holler, and took up the chase as they ran after the fleeing occupants of Jabba's Palace.
Padme opened her eyes, feeling herself being held by Anakin, but she also heard someone else's voice. It belonged to the Jedi.
"Now can we get out of here?" Obi-Wan asked, trying hard not to gag at the horrible stench that filled the room from Jabba's burnt corpse.
Padme looked up at Anakin, who had that weird blaze in his eyes..
Anakin looked over at Jabba, then back at Obi-Wan. "Yeah. Let's get outta this hell-hole."
***OUTSIDE***
The Tattoine suns burned down as Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme walked out of the Palace. They blinked as the harsh light flooded around them, but in a way they were all glad that they had emerged from the dark pit of the palace. And that they were all alive.
The ex-slaves had left already in a cloud of sand and dust. After all, the rebellion was just starting. Slaves in Mos Eisly were soon going to taste the sweetness of freedom too, then it would spread Anakin knew, to the rest of the outskirts of the galaxy. Until all of the planets were free. A hint of a smile started to form on Anakin's lips, until- he glanced up seeing a single black-clad figure standing out against the Tattoine horizon.
Obi-Wan instantly felt a ripple go through the Force, and he glanced up at the dark clothing and red and black facial tattoos. It was a Sith.
Anakin nodded toward the approaching figure. "Looks like a fight Jedi."
Obi-Wan nodded, his face pinched. "Remember; don't fight with anger or hate. It will lead to the Dark Side."
Anakin tore his eyes off of the dark spot on the horizon, and glanced at Obi-Wan. "Whatever Jedi." He turned to Padme, who was once again in a slave cloak. He grasped her shoulders. "Get back to the Phoenix. If we don't come back in twenty minutes, leave."
Padme couldn't believe what she was hearing. "No, Anakin-"
"Trust me Padme. This guy is bad." Anakin's voice was dead serious. "I don't want you here."
Padme shook her head. "but Anakin, how can you-"
Anakin cut her off. "I can feel it." He looked into her eyes. "Just do it okay?"
Padme nodded. She stared up into Anakin's sharp blue eyes. "Alright."
Anakin brought her into a tight hug, feeling her soft hair against his cheek he wondered why in the name of the Force these things always happened to them. He knew that if this was a real Sith he might not get another chance to say what had been on his mind for longer than anything else over the past couple weeks. And it said it. "Padme, I love you."
Padme could only barley hear the whisper, and her eyes widened. "What?"
Anakin took a step back, and looked back at the dark figure that was only two dozen feet away now. "Padme go."
Padme couldn't find any words, and Anakin turned back to her.
"Padme go!"
She nodded; suddenly realizing just what the creature was that was coming towards them over the dunes. The only thing that was a formable opponent to a trained Jedi, and the only thing that would cause such uncertainty in Anakin. A Sith. They were the arch enemy, the nemesis of Jedi. Or, for Anakin's sake, Force talented.
Padme took one last glance at Anakin, before she turned on her heel and took off across the great sand dunes of the Tattoine deserts.
Anakin watched her go, his dark blue eyes sad. Then he turned back to the dark knight that was now about twelve feet away, and his eyes quickly became hard. This was going to be really interesting. This tattooed guy wanted trouble, he was gonna get it.
Obi-Wan could sense that Anakin was definitely on the offensive, and wondered if it was a good idea to fight beside someone who was so powerful, yet so unpredictable. He watched as the Sith came up, and stopped in front about three feet away.
Anakin didn't like the guy, and forced a snide smile. "Turn tail now and we won't kill you."
Obi-Wan watched as the Sith bristled. Okay, so Anakin lacked a Jedi's sense of subtly.
The dark clothed monster dropped into a fighting stance and took a lightsaber out of his robes. He thumbed the switch, and two crimson blades appeared, hissing with energy. "You are wrong." The Sith growled. "For it is you who will soon die."
Anakin took the lightsaber out of his shirt, and thumbed it on with a satisfying snap-hiss, and grinned.
Obi-Wan turned on his lightsaber, holding it in both hands. "We'll take him together. I'll go on the right-"
Anakin shook his head, starting for the horned Sith. "I'm taking him now!"
TO BE CONTINUED!!!!!
(Agh. Another cliffie. It's getting into sort of a habit. *grins in a apologetic way* Why in the world was Fanfiction.net off for so long! Oh well. DARTH MAUL HAS ENTERED THE BUILDING!! The thing was I would have updated Monday but fanficiton.net wasn't working! SORRY! By the way, have you seen Pirates of the Caribbean? THAT MOVIE ROCKS!!!!!)