((Disclaimer: I do not own The Exorcist, by the way...))
6: Window
She had stopped weeping now and was further discussing arrangements with Kenobi. The Jedi asked her when her parents would leave for work and she responded that they usually left at eight. He glanced at the electric clock behind them and hoped that he was reading the earth-clock incorrectly. For if he were doing it right, that would mean they only had fifteen more minutes to get ready! Surely the Dark Ones would not try anything until there were no interferences. He told Arden this and she went more pale than Obi-Wan thought healthy.
"Are you ready to do this, Arden?" He asked, internally asking himself the same question. The girl nodded and stood up.
"So we just wait for them to try something, is that how it works?" her voice seemed heated.
His brow furrowed; hadn't they already gone over this?
"But I don't want to be a sitting duck, Obi-Wan! I don't want to just sit here waiting for those..." she spat, "those people to try and kill us!"
Kenobi told her that if the others tried an all-out assault like that it would be very unlike Anakin. There would most certainly be a trap involved that they could only avoid by staying here. She could not believe what she was hearing; wasn't this the great Obi-Wan Kenobi? Who defeated the Sith apprentice and who helped win the Clone Wars? Not today, she thought, today he is just some middle-aged man sitting on her bed with a headache.
He could sense her doubt, like a foul stench radiating out of her. Kenobi told her that in order to make it out of this alive, they had to believe in themselves with every fiber of their being. The Force was with them, he said, and the Force always helped those who are true of heart.
Suddenly, they both heard a pounding set of footsteps out in the hallway. Arden said almost to herself that they were coming from Lilly's room. She sat back down. They were quick and soon, her door was being opened and there was Lilly, panting and crying. Arden adopted a worried expression but when she looked to Kenobi, his face was vacant. Lilly crawled to her sister's bed and touched her knee.
She was sobbing heavily, feverishly looking back over her shoulder crying out hoarsely, "Please! Please don't let him come in here!" Arden wanted to touch her, to embrace her and assure her everything was alright—but she remembered then that nothing was right at all.
Lilly looked up into Arden's face and the older one almost gasped. What had happened to Lilly's eyes? Behind those round glasses, the previously baby-blue colored eyes were now black, pupil-less pools with a pink outline. Arden could not bear to continue to stare into those eyes and instead looked at Lilly's forehead, not wanting to break all visual contact in case she tried something.
"What is your business here, young one?" Obi-Wan asked her with all the compassion of a rock.
She glanced at him with a darting, ugly look but erased it quickly. "I know you don't trust me, I know, I know," she lowered her head to her chest, still cupping Arden's knee in her left hand. "But you need to believe me now! Last night he pretended to strangle me and then he kissed me, I thought it was just a game," she swallowed hard. "But this morning he was looking at me with this strange... this fire in his eyes. He told me not to move and he started to...to..." she tried to look back at Arden only to find her sister's eyes would not be met. "He began to touch me and told me if I didn't cooperate he would kill me right there! Finally, I—I just couldn't take it and pushed him away. He told me I'd regret it and began chasing me! I don't know where he is now... Oh, General Kenobi, you have to help me!" Lilly was panting now and looking back out into the hall so fast and so many times both of the people on the bed thought her head was soon to twist off.
Arden's face was a Picasso of pain and wanting to believe. Obi-Wan's was, however, just as empty as before. It was clear to Arden that he did not believe the young blonde. The question now was, did she? She took one final glance into her sister's deformed eyes and saw with confusion that they were looking up behind Arden. Obi-Wan and the brunette turned to see what Lilly was looking at and in the split second before the fighting began, they saw Vader clinging to the second-story window-pane. His eyes met Kenobi's and with a gentle enough push of his right hand, he sent the older Jedi crashing into the closet at the other end of the room. Using his boot, he crashed open the window and hopped down, paying no mind to Arden as he stepped onto her bed and made his way over to the Jedi who had gotten up now but was swaying slightly.
Before she could watch a moment more, Lilly's knuckles came careening into her temple. Arden fell back on her bed, her sister on top of her, readying her fist for a breath-ceasing blow to the fifteen-year-old's stomach. In a flash, Lilly was on the floor as Arden had kicked her chest, sending her flying. Knowing she had to immobilize Lilly, Arden went for her legs. She kicked Lilly's shin, making her wince and cry out. The blonde's black and pink eyes turned black and red as she bore her teeth and leapt up at her opponent. The two rolled about, Lilly biting into Arden's shoulder before the latter yanked the former's hair and chopped her chin with the side of her hand.
From the corner of his eye, Obi-Wan could tell that he had trained Arden well and that she was equally matched. Now it was time to worry about his own fight. The men looked at each other, hands by their sides.
"Well my Master," Vader spoke with a smile Kenobi did not like at all. "Shall we take this outside? It would be a shame to ruin such fine architecture as this," he motioned about the room with a sarcastic chuckle. Obi-Wan agreed and watched his ex-apprentice hop back out the window. He used the Force to blow away anything that might have still been clinging to the side of the house before exiting the window himself. Both Jedi had managed the landing with ease and Vader sat on a swing while Kenobi had plopped into a sandbox.
Again came that laugh. "It suits you, Master!"
Brushing himself off, Kenobi said loudly to the younger man, "No more fun and games Anakin. We finish it now, in whatever manner you feel best... but we finish it now," he repeated softer, not knowing what he meant by it. Did he mean death? Surrender?
"Oh you will find out what manner I feel is best," Vader said, lowering his head and beginning to gather energy into his right hand. His opponent was undoubtedly doing the same but Vader could tell who would win this little battle of Force-manipulation. He could feel the dark, static energy in his palm, pulsing through his entire body... a river of hate and anger. Once the heat in his hand grew unbearable, he let it loose.
Initria's nose and lip were bleeding when she licked away the sweet drops of bodily liquid. Her sister watched in disgust but had more serious things to worry about when the blonde opened her mouth in a pink-toothed smile. The previously white, rounded teeth were now yellow and pointed. Arden could not help but think back to that movie The Exorcist. The brunette leapt out of the way and began to run for the door as Initria pounced. Her thudding footsteps were drowned out by the frantic beating of her heart and she could barely hear the girl sprinting after her. She increased her speed until she was sure she would be hearing a cosmic boom if she continued. The back door was slowly approaching—oh so slowly...
She pushed it open and saw the two Jedi standing perfectly immobile. Before she had any more time to speculate as to what they were doing, searing pain coursed through her neck as Darth Initria's gnashing teeth were sent digging into her upper back, right in between the shoulder blades. Arden flipped her sister over her head and stomped onto her stomach, sending blood from Initria's chapped lips to come spurting out as her head jerked upwards. The thirteen-year-old reached up, grabbing her sister's hand and yanking her down beside her. Neither of them had any more time to attack or defend before a loud rumble resonated from the place where the two men were standing.
From Vader's palm came a thick, electrical thread of red light; from his mentor's came an orb of brilliant blue. Initria and Arden were paralyzed with wonder and awe; they had a feeling they had never and would never again see anything like this. The Sith girl's eyes grew lighter as the Force flashed across from her. Obi-Wan's face was full of struggle and determination whereas his apprentice's was smiling and seemingly effortless. Arden doubted that was truly the case but did not curse it, for that meant some energy that could be used in strengthening the Force was being used to deceive Obi-Wan. Time seemed to slow as the two usages of the Force spiraled towards each other until finally that moment came where there was absolute silence and the world was colorless except for that red and blue. Obi-Wan and Anakin were gone but the debris of where the two Forces met came flying at the two sisters. Arden's self-awareness came back as suddenly her sister clung to her waist in fright. She shut her brown eyes and put her arms around Lilly, allowing the Force to come crashing down upon them.
The sunlight shown through that small window, fluttered through its cloud-like curtains, and finally kissed the sleeping eyelids of that young girl's face. Her brown ringlets fell on the pillow beneath her head and one drowsy hand lifted to rub her green-brown eyes. With a yawn, Arden slowly sat up in her bed and looked lovingly at the Star Wars poster across from her on her shut bedroom door. Oh if only Obi-Wan and Anakin could be real...
