Disclaimer
George Lucas: Owner of Star Wars.
Me: Bored teenager with way too much time on my hands.
See the difference? 'Nuff said.
AN: I realize the first part with Wid & Sari is a bit confusing, just go with it. All you need to know is that he's in an awkward position and gets out of it in a complicated way.
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Wid took a deep breath and started to close his eyes. He had no chance against the snipers, especially since he was unarmed. He'd given his vibroblade to Elias.
Suddenly, he heard laughing. Confused he opened his eyes. "Wid, where've you been?" asked a happy voice.
One of the black-clothed snipers removed the cromasheath veil from their face, and Wid discovered it was Sari.
"Oh, Wid… Buddy, you should have seen your face!" she laughed.
Wid frowned at her as the other snipers took off their veils as well, revealing themselves to be fellow Atheists.
"So what brings you up here?" she asked.
Wid made a few quick gestures.
"Stuck huh? Well, we have no way to get down either. Some of the others dropped us off, and we're hoping they'll still be alive when this is over so they can pick us up," she said.
He frowned again, and began to think. He suddenly spotted a vibro-ax someone had tossed aside.
Quickly he picked it up, raised it above his head, and slammed it down into the roof of the palace. Luckily the metal wasn't that thin, and he easily sliced through it.
He hacked away, knowing he had to get inside the palace so he could find a way back outside. He had to get to Elias and make sure he was all right. Wid considered it his duty since the day Elias had gotten him out of jail to protect him.
Finally, he'd made a hole big enough for himself to fit through. He looked around, giving a questioning gaze to them all.
"Sorry, Wid, I gotta stay here. Lot's of Crixxians down there to kill," Sari said.
Wid curiously looked at her.
"You know, Elias's order. He told Danya to tell us to kill all the Crixxians," Sari said.
Wid vigorously shook his head at the false statement.
"What do you mean? Elias didn't say that?" Sari asked.
Wid nodded.
"Oh God, Danya tricked us all! And I believed her, dammit!" Sari cursed.
Wid gestured for her to follow him.
She looked at him. "Wid's right, everyone. We shouldn't be doing this. I always knew Elias wouldn't want us to do something like this, and god dammit, I was right!" she spoke to the other snipers.
They looked uncertainly at each other for a moment.
"But they did kill our friends," commented one.
"Yeah, my father died and my brother lost an arm," said another.
Sari glared at them all. "Well, you stay here if you want. But if you keep attacking them like this, they'll just keep fighting back. Let's go, Wid," she angrily said.
They both jumped into the hole Wid had made, and landed shortly after. They were in a long metal chute of some sort. It branched off in three directions, and was barely tall enough for them to crouch in.
"This must be the ventilation shaft," Sari said.
Wid began to crawl to one side, and Sari followed him.
As they made their way along, there was the sound of more peoples' feet hitting the metal of the shaft.
"So nice of you to join us," Sari said to the other four snipers.
"Yeah, well, you were right. What else can we say?" asked one of the Atheists.
"OK. Two of you go that way and the other two go another. Wid and I are going down here. Just try and find a way out. It's probably best to stay hidden," Sari instructed.
Instantly the other Atheists spread out as she'd bade them to. She followed Wid down the shaft, passing over room after room, most filled with either patrolling guards or more of the warring groups.
"Damn, it's sure spread far," Sari quietly commented as they crawled along.
Wid nodded even though he knew Sari could not see in the dim light.
They kept going, still searching for an empty room they could get out in. But each new room they peered through the grating at turned out to be full of people.
They finally came to a long drop in the shaft. Wid peered down. He could hardly see the bottom. He assumed this was where the shaft went down to another floor. There was some light peeking through the grate far below, but not enough to see anything.
"What is it, Wid? Do we have to go back?" asked Sari.
Wid turned back and shook his head. Slowly he rolled over onto his stomach and positioned himself so that his legs were facing the long drop.
With his hands he pushed himself backwards until his legs were down in the drop. Then he spread them apart and pressed his feet against two opposite sides of the shaft.
Slowly, he lowered himself down until his body was completely inside the drop. He held himself there, his legs still pressing against the side.
Then, he let his right leg come away from the side of the shaft. As his right side began to fall, he stuck out his foot and pressed it to the wall of the shaft again, stopping himself.
He quickly steadied himself with his hands before doing the same action with his left leg.
Before long he found himself directly above the grate as he did this. Wid could see that next to the grate the shaft continued on. Beyond the grate was what looked like a storeroom. Two guards were in it currently. One was asleep, a bottle of strong ale in his hands. The other was staggering about, his speech slurred as he talked mindlessly to himself. They were both incredibly drunk.
Wid pulled himself back into the shaft as quietly as he could. He then looked back up and signaled for Sari to follow him the same way.
Uncertainly she lowered herself down into the shaft and came down the same way Wid had, though with not as much skill.
While she climbed down, Wid kept an eye on her and the two guards. The guard who had been talking to himself suddenly stood up straight. In a loud, drunken voice he said, "Ah… Killll tha Atheists… Uh, an' kill tha Ca-rix-ians!" After the words left his lips, he stood there, laughing at himself, before falling over in a dead faint. Wid shook his head and turned back to Sari.
As Sari neared the grate, she began to wobble. Wid reached out to take her hand to help pull her in.
Sari gratefully tried to accept his aid, but found she couldn't reach his hand from where she stood, fixed between two walls of the shaft with her feet. She was too close to the grate to go down any more.
Suddenly, as she leaned forward, one of her feet slipped from the side of the shaft, and she fell downwards, tumbling head over heels.
Wid drew in a sharp breath and instantly shot his hand out to try and grab her.
Sari's body hit the grate, and it instantly buckled and fell away from the shaft.
Wid found his hand gripping Sari's ankle. As she fell, she suddenly pulled him down with her. Wid somehow found himself flipped on his back.
As his back hit the corner of the shaft where it dropped down to the grate, he stuck his legs out in opposite directions.
As Sari stopped falling, Wid found himself upside down, with his legs pressing against the shaft again with his hands clutching Sari's ankle. Sari had stopped falling just inches above the sleeping guard's face. She could smell the ale on his breath, and tried her hardest not to gag, knowing that any noise could wake him.
Wid froze, his mind racing as he took deep, nervous breaths.
Sari looked up at him, her eyes full of fear.
Slowly, hand over hand, he began to pull Sari up by her leg. Holding her leg with one hand, he then reached down as far as he could with the other. Sari curled her body at the waist, bringing herself closer to him. She held out her hand, and it grasped his.
Wid quickly released her leg with his other hand and seized her arm with it. Wid pulled her up, and Sari quickly reached out with he arm he was not holding and grasped the edge of the shaft.
Wid finally released her, and she pulled herself in, leaning against the side and breathing heavily.
He then looked around and considered his own situation. Upside down and held in place by only his feet in an air shaft with two drunk guards sleeping below who could wake up at any time. Things looked pretty grim.
As he looked around nervously, an idea suddenly ran through his head. Glancing about one last time, he saw no other way.
Wid stretched as far as he could, reaching out and finally grabbing the edge of the shaft Sari was waiting in.
He brought his right leg away from the shaft wall, pressing hard with the other. He placed his left foot on the wall opposite of the shaft, and quickly did the same move with his right leg. His hands were now on the shaft Sari waited in, and his legs were against the opposite side of the shaft.
Gradually, he basically walked down the side of the vertical shaft, moving his arms to pull himself into the horizontal one Sari was in.
Finally, he pushed off the wall with his legs, and was inside the shaft completely, lying on his stomach.
He sighed in relief.
"That was very… Unusual," Sari said, pausing to think of the right word.
Wid nodded, and instantly resumed crawling.
"Show off," Sari muttered.
As they crawled on, they could suddenly hear a loud voice.
"Lay down your weapons now!"
Wid's head perked up. He turned and started down the shaft the voice was coming from.
"Wid? Where you going, big guy? We're trying to stay away from people, remember?" Sari asked.
Wid did not acknowledge her.
He went down the twisting shaft, listening as the voice got louder and louder. He saw a grate up ahead, and knew the voice was coming from within the room.
Wid got as close to the grate as he dared. He could see a man with dark grey hair holding a blaster to a pretty woman's head. In front of him stood a group of five other people, a young boy, a teenage boy, a woman, and two men. He recognized one of the men as Del-Mon.
Wid leaned closer. He suddenly realized that the woman held at gunpoint looked very familiar to him. He gasped when he realized who she was. He knew this woman. He knew her very well.
Rage instantly overtook Wid.
He started to back up.
"Wid, what are you doing?" Sari asked.
Wid ignored her.
"Wid, don't do anything stupid!" she said.
Wid turned to her, and made a few hand signals, telling her to go find Elias.
"But Wid, I-" Sari began to object.
Wid placed his hands on her shoulders and began to push her away.
Sari stopped at the edge of the shaft where it turned away, and Wid waved her off. She reluctantly turned and made her way down the shaft.
As soon as she was gone, Wid charged forwards, going as fast as the cramped space of the shaft would allow him.
His shoulder hit the grate and smashed it off of the wall. Wid hurtled through the opening and tumbled head over heels, landing neatly on his feet directly in front of the grey-haired man.
- - -
"Lay down your weapons now," snapped Darmick.
Aro-Ken looked at Del-Mon, and saw him calmly put his lightsaber on the ground.
Glaring at Darmick, Aro-Ken did the same. King Anjos tossed down his blaster.
"You've all come so far to rescue the queen. It almost seems a shame to kill you," Darmick said. "Any last requests?"
"Yes!" called Anjos.
Darmick looked at him. "Well, get on with it."
"Please, Darmick, don't kill Mattan. He's just a boy!" Anjos said.
"And he is obviously on your side, Atheist!" snarled the Prime Minister.
"Darmick, please, have a heart! He's eight years old, spare him at least!" Anjos said, picking up his son.
Mattan had no idea what to do in such a situation. He remained silent.
"Now, if I was to spare the boy, then I'd have to spare you all, and what fun would that be?" Darmick sarcastically said.
Anjos glared at him. "Darmick-"
"Enough talking! You've stalled long enough! Who will be the brave soul to die first?" Darmick asked.
"I will!" Leckura said from where she stood in Darmick's grasp.
"Leckura, no!" Anjos cried.
"Anjos, I know what I'm doing," Leckura said. She turned to Darmick and took a deep breath. "Kill me first."
"As you wish," said Darmick. He set his blaster appropriately.
"NO!" Anjos shouted.
Suddenly, there was a crash from above. All eyes turned from the scene to watch. The grate on the ventilation shaft fell away, and a man flew through the air, landing in front of Darmick.
- - -
Wid landed next to the grey-haired man on his feet, quickly regaining his posture. He towered over the man.
Before the awestruck Darmick could do anything, Wid had seized his hand and yanked it off the queen, quickly pulling her out of the way.
Wid glared down at Darmick. His expression was pure death. Wid was mad. All his friends knew they should never mess with him when he was mad.
Darmick was terrified. Instinctively, he pulled the trigger of his blaster.
The red bolt hit Wid in the side, but he did not seem to notice.
"Wid!" shouted Del-Mon, but the big silent man ignored him.
Wid began to stalk forward, and Darmick backed away, his expression was frightened. He pulled the trigger again and again, shooting Wid several times in the chest.
Blood poured from his open wounds, but still he continued forward, determined to stop at nothing to kill Darmick.
Darmick drew in a sharp breath. He fired again, hitting Wid in the chest once more, and he fell facedown on the ground.
Darmick took a few deep breaths, getting over the shock, and then quickly turned back to the group of astonished people.
"Where was I?" he asked. He stalked towards the others, aiming his blaster.
Suddenly, Wid's hand twitched. His arms moved, and he slowly hauled his bloody body up.
Leckura gasped, and Darmick turned around. When he saw Wid, his eyes went wide with fear. He screamed, and fired the blaster again and again.
Wid continued forward. He did not falter as more of the lasers hit him.
Finally, he got close enough to Darmick to seize him around the throat. He lifted him from the ground and slammed him against the wall. Wid squeezed tighter and tighter, strangling the Prime Minister. Darmick's hand rigidly stuck out and twitched several times, and he dropped the blaster to the ground.
Darmick gagged and just stared at Wid, the terrified expression on his face never leaving. Finally, his head rolled to one side limply. Wid knew he was dead.
He released Darmick's body and let it fall to the ground. He turned slowly to face the others in the room. Blood ran down his front, staining his clothes and dripping on the ground.
He looked directly at Leckura. He took quick, choking gasps of air as he breathed. He was nearly dead with all the shots in his chest. Anyone would tell you that he should have died long before.
He gazed at Leckura with a longing, sort of desperate look on his face. He staggered slightly, struggling to stay on his feet. His vision was blurry. All he could see was the queen. He opened his mouth slowly, and spoke for the first time in nearly six years. "M… M… Mother," he said to her.
Instantly he collapsed on the ground and moved no more.
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