A/N: Finally! Now most of the answers to your questions will be revealed in this chapter! I had a blast writing this chapter and hope that you enjoy it! Please leave a review...don't bother reading it if you don't plan to review it. I accept anonymous ones as well...so you have no excuse!
Disclaimer: I don't own SW or KotOR 2. I also don't own a quote that I used in this chapter...the quote belongs to Mathew Stover(author of the ROTS book).
Chapter 8
"Alright, T3, bring 'em on!" Serena yelled as T3 released the practicing droids. Three small orbs appeared shortly after T3 opened a small cylinder stowed in the back of the cargo hold. The orbs fired a couple shots at Serena, but she quickly dodged them and fired a couple shots from her own gun towards them. Three shots and all droids were crumpled on the floor.
T3 whistled a couple times followed by a couple of beeps.
"Thanks, I don't know T3. I guess I never thought about it before. I've just always been able to use a blaster since I was pretty little." Serena answered as she holstered her blaster. She crossed her legs and sat on the floor adjacent to T3.
T3 quietly beeped four times.
"I know I look like her. That's what everyone has been telling me..." T3 beeped mournfully. "I'm sorry, I know you probably miss her. But I assure you that I'm not Fiona." She sighed and leaned back on her arms. The little droid looked at her quizically. For some reason, she felt that she had a connection with this non-sentient being.
T3 wheeled near her and whistled.
"Don't you think I'd remember if I was a woman who has saved the galaxy?" She said angrily.
More beeps and whistles followed as T3 made his case.
"For the last time, I am not Fiona! I'll never be!" She yelled. The droid recoiled into the shadows of the back of the cargo hold. "Wait...hey look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm just...so tired of this."
T3 remained silent and stayed back in the shadows.
"Fine...stay back there! See if I care! 'Cause I don't!" She stood up. She started to turn and noticed Mical standing in the doorway. "How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to hear your little converstaion with T3." Serena looked at the ground before regaining her posture.
She locked eyes with him and there was a fire in her eyes that Mical had never seen before. He couldn't tell if she was angry or worried or any other emotion. It was like a fire that burned but consumed nothing to keep burning. An endless fire, a mournful fire.
"Whatever...stupid droid. It isn't like it has feelings..." Mical nodded, but it wasn't a nod of understanding...it was a nod of condescension.
"Of course. It is just a creature that has no feelings or cares in the world. It cares not who it hurts or how it hurts it. It doesn't care if it even hurts, "He looked away for a moment, then he looked back at her and their eyes once again locked, "the ones that it loves or loves it."
"What are you saying?" She said quietly.
"Nothing...the only thing that I implied was what you infered from it." Mical said as he ran his fingers through his blonde hair.
She looked at him suspiciously before he quietly walked away. That man could drive a saint mad. Hell, the man was a saint. Instead of wanting to throttle him, she wanted nothing more than to just...she stopped her train of thought. She had been down that road before...she couldn't afford any attachments. Bad things happened when she formed attachments.
She walked back towards the starboard quarters. She opened the door and walked in and sat comfortably on the bed. She thought she could hear arguing from the other side of the wall but she fell asleep shortly after. Her eyelids closed and she drifted into a soft sleepless sleep.
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"Put her in the cage." A voice said from her left. She looked only to find a figure robed in white standing in the shadows.
"Let me go..." She said calmly. Her hands were being held securely by two men robed in black. Masks covered their faces, but she could sense their hateful glares. They hated her for one reason. She was good and they were evil. That was all there was to it.
"Now, why in the world would we do such a foolish thing?" The figure cackled loudly. Her laugh cut through the air like a vibroblade.
"What do you intend to do? Torture me? I'll never tell you anything..." She said stubbornly.
"Oh, what I intend to do to you will make you beg for the death that has long hounded you, Exile." Then the figures holding her wrists shoved her inside the cage roughly.
"You'll never win. The good will always win. The light will always beat the dark." She said bravely as the cage began to glow, and her vision was already becoming blurry. This could well be her last few seconds alive. Each breath could be her last...but to her dying breath; she would fight the evil.
"Oh, come now, Exile. I would have thought even you would have known better than that." She stepped into the light and she could now get a good look at her.
"It can't be..." She said softly. Her strength was beginning to wane and she was finding it more and more difficult to breath.
"Ahhh, but it is. One last thing before you die..." She leaned close to the face of the woman who she intended to kill. "The dark will always win. You want to know why? Because even the brightest light will cast the darkest shadow."
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"Shut up, Mical!" Atton said as he leaned further into his chair.
"I'm just saying that I think it would be a good idea if she went and saw one of the Masters..." The blonde Jedi said calmly.
"What? No way in hell am I letting you put her through that again! No way!" Atton said as he spun around to face Mical.
"Atton, it would be for the best..."
"The best! Do you remember what happened the last time she met with the Masters?" Atton said as he pointed his finger accusingly at the younger Jedi.
Mical lowered his voice. "Of course I do, Atton. But this is different. We no longer have a threat, such as Kreia, to put the Masters in danger..."
"Like hell we don't! We have something worse! Fiona can't remember who she is...what if she still has her powers? She could lose it and attack the Masters in anger or frusteration! Bet you didn't think of that, did you, blondie?" Atton yelled.
"Do you really think that she would do something like that..."
"I don't know, Mical! That is the problem! I don't know! I thought I knew Fiona...but then this happens..." He sighed angrily.
Mical looked at Atton dissaprovingly. "Then what do you suggest we do? We can't keep her here forever!"
Atton looked down, avoiding Mical's angry glare. "I don't know. She won't even talk to me...maybe you can persuade her to let us take a blood test to prove her identity."
Mical was slowly losing his patience with Atton. Tha man had no sense in every aspect of the word. "Fine, I'll talk to her. If she refuses then we are going to take her to one of the Masters, whether it be Master Bindo or Master Shan."
Atton was about to argue when they both heard an ear-piercing scream. They looked at each other before rapidly drawing their lightsabers and running towards the starboard quarters. When they got there they saw an amazing sight. Hundled up in a small ball on the floor in a corner was Serena. She had her head in her hands and she was crying uncontrollably. Atton put his lightsaber away and leaned down beside her but she pushed him away.
Atton looked at her once before leaving angrily. This woman was way more frusterating then Fiona had ever been. He began having doubts that this was Fiona Rykos. There was the small voice in the back of his mind that said that it wasn't the woman that he loved. He pushed the voice away and it quieted. He wasn't going to let his chance to be with the woman that he loved be ruined by the fatc that it might not be the woman that he loved. He shook his head angrily. Now even his subconcious thoughts weren't making any sense!
After Atton left, Mical sat across from the weeping woman and placed his hands quietly in his laps. She continued to cry so he spoke in a quiet and soothing tone.
"Serena?"
She continued to cry.
"What is the matter?" He asked softly.
She broke down crying and mumbling different things all at once which made it hard to understand her. "Oh, Mical."
Before he could answer she crawled up and onto his lap like a small child. He wrapped his arms around her and stroked her head softly, whispering soft words of comfort. She snuggled up against his chest and continued to cry.
"It was so horrible, Mical..." She mumbled.
"What was?" he asked.
"The dream I had. It was so real..." She said as she slowly began to stop crying. "It was more like a memory than a dream at all."
He continued to hold her. The woman that he held looked nothing like the woman that he was used to. The woman he knew was brash and fiery. This woman was tender and fragile. He nodded, unsure of what to say.
"The woman...she wanted to hurt me, bad. I could tell...I could see the anger and hate in her eyes." She grabbed his arms and brought them tighter around her. She felt safe with him. She felt like this was so right...she felt comfortable with a man she barely knew, yet seemed like she had known for years.
"It was just a dream. You're safe. I promise...I will always keep you safe." He said resuringly.
"I know." It wasn't the answer he had expected but it was a welcome one. "She said she was going to do somethign awful to me...something that would make me beg fro death."
Mical nodded and she snuggled closer.
"I don't beg for anything." Her statement made him laugh. Even though she was afraid she was still making jokes.
"Don't worry too much about the dream. Dreams pass with time."
"I suppose. But it was so real." She paused. "Thanks."
"For what?"
"For being here for me. I know I'm a pain..." she said.
"No you're not."
"You are a terrible liar, you know." she smiled.
"So I've been told. I guess I'm just not good at being bad." She laughed and looked up at him.
The next moment happened so slowly and, yet at the same time, so fast that it was like a dream. She leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips. She ran her fingers through his hair and leaned up against him. He kissed her back with the same desire. The next few words he thought that he would never have heard in his entire life. He never knew how great three words could sound until now.
"I love you." She said as she breathed heavily. She kissed him again. "I haven't known you for very long but it seems like I've known you my entire life."
Mical didn't know what to say. He just looked into the same eyes he had been looking into for many years...and he knew.
"You are Fiona Ryzos." She stood up and put space between them.
"No...I'm...I'm not. I can't be." She looked at him mournfully. "I don't want to be."
A/N: I know you're probbably still wondering if it is for certain Fiona...but I can't tell you until the next chapter! So leave your reviews...the more I get the longer and better the next chapter will be!