The path of a Jedi
The sun peeked out over the horizon, spreading Courascant with its light and drowning out all darkness. Sleeping residents on the planet woke slowly to begin a new day and some residents had been awake for hours now, beating the sun at their waking. Jedi students in the Jedi Temple woke after their Masters or had beaten their tired Masters to waking up. The Jedi Council had beaten everyone in the Temple in waking up.
There had been a threat on the life of Master Yoda this morning. The Temple guard was the first one to get the message, for it had been delivered in package form with a note tied to the top. There had been a lightsaber inside the package and who it belonged to was still being looked at. The note had read: I want nothing, but to see the life of Master Yoda is taken and I shall make sure it is done.
The little green Master was as calm as ever, showing no emotions at all. He had meditated for some time period and only recently broke the trance. "Send Jedi teams to Chad 3 we must. Delay any longer we cannot. Send you and your apprentice Master Windu, I will and send also Master Jinn and Obi-wan." Master Yoda said.
The dark skinned Master nodded and stood. "I will inform Master Jinn and get my apprentice." He said and walked from the room, his cape swishing with his movements. He walked the long corridors of the home of many Jedi and took the 'lift to floor number 86. The 'lift ride took only two or three minutes to take the Jedi Master up the many levels of the Temple. Master Windu walked down the hall to his left and stopped before his shared apartment with his apprentice, Ahn Kenobi. He quickly entered the code and the double-doors opened, letting him enter.
Ahn was already dressed and getting ready for classes. She seemed surprised to see her Master, but bowed anyways. "Is something wrong?" She asked, stopping what she had been doing to walk to her Master.
The dark-skinned Master shook his head. "No, but you aren't going to classes today...and for a while after. We've been assigned a double mission and we leave soon."
Ahn nodded. "Alright, I'll pack quickly then." She said and rushed into her room. Mace heard her opening drawers and her closet. He smiled. She was such a good apprentice. So sweet and giving, loving and kindhearted. You'd never know that she was the same fierce and protective fighter in battle. How could they be the same person? They couldn't be, but they were.
Minutes later, Ahn came out, one small sack draped across her shoulder. It was in this moment that Mace really recognized how much she looked like her brother. Same color hair and eyes and the same expressions for situations. They even sounded the same when they talked sometimes.
"Master, you said it was double-teamed? Who is the other team?" She asked, looking up at him with her wide, curious green-blue eyes.
"Yes, Master Jinn and Obi-wan." He replied, letting her walk out the door before himself. The girl just nodded.
The transport landed on Chad 3 smoothly, blowing dust in big puffy clouds around the transport. The Jedi walked down the off-ramp, wind blowing at their cloaks. They were met by a short, chubby man with a red face. "Thank you for responding to our urgent messages. I am Doun L'tou. We have news that they haven't killed the hostages and we have told everyone to remain in their homes." He said.
"It's our job to protect. I am Master Mace Windu and this is my apprentice, Ahn Kenobi." Mace introduced, placing his hand on Ahn's shoulder.
"I am Master Qui-gon Jinn and this is my apprentice Obi-wan Kenobi. If you would, show us where they are holding the hostages." Master Jinn said.
Doun nodded and led them away from the transport. "So, your apprentices are related are they?"
Obi-wan and Ahn looked at each other, but said nothing.
"Fraternal twins." Mace explained.
"Ah," Doun said, stopping in front of a large gate. "Now, there are no security forces here, so I don't have to clear you. That is the building over there, but we don't know exactly where the hostages are being kept."
The Jedi nodded and strode forward, cautiously heading for the building with their lightsabers drawn, but not ignited, so they did not draw attention. They split up, Obi-wan with Ahn and Qui-gon with Mace, and entered the building. From their spot at the end of a long hall, Qui-gon and Mace could see the hostages sitting with their heads covered. They were all on the floor and in a big, massive circle with many gunmen surrounding them.
Mace saw the twins on an overhead balcony, unseen by the captors, and pointed them out to Qui-gon, who nodded with a small grin. Suddenly, the twins dropped from their hiding spot and went for a kill. The two Masters were quick to come in and help. Blaster fire erupted all around the four Jedi adding to the sounds of humming lightsabers. Ahn and Mace stood back- to-back fighting the captors while Obi-wan and Qui-gon kept the hostages from being shot.
Then one of the captors grabbed a woman, holding a knife dangerously close to her jugular and shouted, "Hold your fire!" to his men and then turned to look at the Jedi and said, "Don't try anything or she dies."
Ahn was the closest person to the woman and captor, so he was mainly talking to her. Ahn frowned, but noticed her Master coming up from behind the captor, unseen, for nearly all the other captors were lying on the ground wounded or dead. Mace quickly reached forward with his weapon, striking the man in the heart, but not all the way through because he wanted to do no harm to the woman.
The captor slid to the ground, releasing the lady and he died seconds later. Behind Ahn, a wounded terrorist pointed his gun to Mace and fired before the Jedi could react. Mace slid to the floor, a bullet piercing his chest near his heart. Ahn cried out in denial and rushed to her Master, taking her cloak off. She ignored the sounds of blaster fire erupting around her and kneeled next to the man she considered her father and placed her cloak under his head. She scanned him over, watching the blood spread dangerously fast through his clothing. She caught his eyes and saw pain clouded in them.
Ahn quickly placed her hands over her Master's wound and applied pressure, her heart bursting to know she was causing him pain. She sent soothing waves to him through the Force, offering him all she could give. She sent him some of her energy. Ahn realized she wasn't stopping the flow of blood and tried harder, tears spilling down her face.
"Master..." She murmured softly. The blood wasn't clotting.
Ahn's eyes looked shinier than normal with the tears and her vision was mangled. Then she tried something she knew was advanced: She tried to trade with her Master. She would take his wound and he would be okay. Ahn focused hard, asking...begging...the Force to let her take the pain and the wound.
Just as she began to feel a terrible pain enter her chest, she felt herself get blocked from her task. Her Master had stopped her.
"You're dying...let me...you..." Ahn started.
"No, Ahn...if I let you...and you...die...I will...be torn...don't..." Mace whispered, his voice filled with pain and shaking with the cold. His lungs weren't able to let him speak for too long.
Ahn pressed down harder and realized the bullet was still in the wound and that might have something to do with the wound unable to clot. She knew what she had to do and it wasn't pleasant. Quickly, she grabbed her Master's hand and gave it a quick grasp, the blood from her hands were wiped onto his also. Ahn covered the wound with her other hand and closed her eyes, focusing on the bullet. She had to do this right because if she slipped, she could hit the heart. She counted to three in her head and then pulled the bullet up with the Force as fast as she could.
Mace gripped his apprentice's hand, unimaginable pain ripping through his entire being. He felt Ahn apply pressure to the wound quickly and his consciousness slipped away from him.
Then the blaster fire stopped.
Ahn heard the shuffle of feet and voices of people, but she ignored it. Soon the blood flow slowed to a stop and Ahn brought her hands back. Her hands trembled ever so slightly as she looked at the new color of her hands- --palms mainly.
Red.
Blood...
Her Master's blood.
Ahn snapped out of her trance when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to face her brother. "H-he needs to see the Healers..." She whispered.
Qui-gon knelt by Mace and checked his vital signs, although he knew the dark-skinned Master was alive. Obi-wan helped bring Ahn to her feet and he noticed her faint look so he kept on arm around her. Qui-gon gathered Mace into his arms and led the apprentices out. "They don't have Healers here that could help him. We have to hurry back to Courascant." Qui-gon said, heading for the transport.
Ahn sat at the head of the bed, a pillow in her lap and her Master laying on the pillow---asleep. The transport was heading back to Courascant and they were only a few hours away. Ahn was humming softly as she wiped sweat away from her Master's forehead. Obi-wan sat nearby and watched Ahn. "She might need to talk to someone. She looked so...confused and worried." He told his Master, who sat across from him.
"She'll come to you." Qui-gon said.
"Really? What makes you think that?"
"You're her brother and knowing you, you're going to comfort her anyways." Qui-gon said smiling.
Obi-wan, at loss for words, just smiled.
The Healers met the Jedi at the door and rushed Mace to the Ward. Ahn and the other two Jedi sat in the Waiting Room. Ahn was staring at her blood- stained hands, which had dried. "I'm going to help her clean her hands. She looks like she's going to faint or be sick." Obi-wan whispered to Qui-gon, who nodded.
Obi-wan stood up and kneeled in front of Ahn, taking her shoulders into his hands. "Come, let's go clean your hands." He said, watching her face as she stared at her hands. He urged her to stand and she did. Obi-wan led her to the Healer's 'fresher, which was for boys and girls. Obi-wan took her to the sink and held her hands under the faucet, the water turning on automatically. Ahn jumped slightly when the water came into contact with her hands.
Obi-wan gently massaged her hands, some of the blood washing off with this motion. Ahn looked at her brother.
"He's going to be alright, Ahn." Obi-wan said, taking some soap in his hands and scrubbing the blood off of Ahn's hands.
"I hope so."