Chapter 13 For that is the Truth
LUKE POV
Right now he was currently running with Zoë, the little 9 year old zabrak girl, to the hideout of the Scavengers to stop some blood harvest and save some children.
It's like something out of a horror film. Well, that's my life.
How it came to that you may ask? Well, it all started when that damn cursed stupid repulsive hideous appalling abominable dc0052 intergalactic speeder that I stole from that man woman started to run out of fuel, and not just 5-10 minutes when I got it all to myself…
EARLIER LUKE POV
BEEP, BEEP!
BEEP, BEEP!
Huh, what's that noise?
BEEP, BEEP!
BEEP, BEEP!
He looked up, down, and all around until his eyes settled on the fuel gauge which was nearly to almost completely empty.
Eyes widening slightly he felt the speeder cough, splutter, and then come to a complete stop.
Then it fell.
Why does this always happen to me? It's absolutely no fair at all! He screamed in his mind.
Wind whistled around the speeder as it plummeted to the ground, or wherever the ground was on Coruscant.
Luckily there was an eject button.
He quickly slammed the palm of his hand on the red button.
Cause I'm not ready to die just yet!
This just seemed to make it worse as red lights blared and lit up the interior of the speeder a female voice said exceedingly cheerfully:
OPERATION FAIL!
OPERATION FAIL!
OPERATION FAIL!
CONGRATULATIONS, OPERATION FAIL!
Oh, I guess this means I'm in deep shit now.
He tried yanking off his seatbelt but he more he yanked the tighter it got.
His hands clawed frantically at the straps constriction g his chest.
It was getting harder and harder to breath.
"Ack!" he gasped.
One of the straps had sneakily slipped around his neck somehow, someway though he had absolutely no idea how.
Black spots danced before his eyes.
If I don't do something I'm going to choke and if not burn to death when this thing crashes.
Oh what the hell. He thought.
Reaching into the folds of his cloak he clumsily withdrew his lightsaber and…
It slipped from his grasp as a speeder on the outside collided with his falling, flailing one.
"Nooooo!" he wheezed.
He tried to grasp it but couldn't as it fell too far away from his out stretched hand.
Growling he decided on another course of action
Reaching once again into the folds of his cloak he gripped Sidious's lightsaber so hard he couldn't tell if his palm and fingers were bleeding or not from the pressure.
Taking it out he ignited the crimson red blade and swiftly slashed the restraining seatbelt holding him hostage like the grip of death.
He immediately flew up and hit the celling, the breath knocked out of his lungs even as he tried to breath in a deep breath.
He struggle to get away but the pressure of the speeder falling pushed him up and seemed to compact his chest.
It scared him.
The whole experience was shit scary.
I can hardly breathe and hardly move. Am I going to die!
"I have to," he grunted, "get outta here."
His leg muscles rippled with pain as he pushed himself with all his strength, defying the very gravity and pressure that kept him grounded, off the celling of the vehicle and slammed his hand down on the black button that opened the hood of the speeder.
Before he knew it fresh cool Coruscant evening air assaulted his lungs and even as he became airborne he greedily took in deep breaths.
Then he fell.
Limbs flailing and eyes wide, absolutely terrified.
He fell after the dc0052 speeder and watched as it impacted on a nearby building and promptly exploded. Ashes flew up in the air. He covered his eyes and frantically looked to all sides for something, anything to grab onto!
But alas there was none.
If he didn't die from the fall he would surely burn alive from the inferno raging underneath him.
I won't close my eyes. I won't accept this unfair fate. I've got so much to live for. And for it just to be taken away from me so suddenly like this. I just don't understand why…
His rejection of thought was interrupted by something colliding hard with the back of his head.
Stars danced before his eyes briefly.
Wincing he glanced as it hurtled down along with other possession that belonged to the speeder that had been swept out in the wild gale.
It was…
No it couldn't be…
A parachute…!
I can't believe my good fortune!
Well, good enough in such circumstances as this.
But it was falling fast.
Well, I can go faster.
Determined he positioned his body as much as he could in the air to be as aerodynamically as possible and shot down after the brown backpack containing the parachute.
The tips of his fingers skimmed it.
He was nearing the fire fast.
Black smoke began to block his vision.
He could literally taste the smoke and ash hovering in the air. It made him want to gag.
But then he finally closed the tips of his fingers around the bag and grasped it tightly like his life depended on it, which it did, and abruptly, violently slung the backpack over his shoulders and released the parachute.
His body was abruptly jerked up violently as the parachute exploded out of the backpack taking him flying up with it into the air still holding the black lightsaber tightly, hand bleeding ever so slightly.
The wind blew the sweat off his face and the air caressed his form that started to glide down away from the blaze as the sun slowly sunk down in the sky.
I'm safe he wheezed panting harshly.
I'm safe.
Breathing out a sigh of relief he allowed a tired smile to grace his face.
The sunset sure looked pretty from up here.
But his smile quickly faded and dread filled his being.
My lightsaber.
He scanned around.
Blue eyes were drawn back to the debris and the explosion currently being put out by the officials.
"My lightsaber," he whispered forlornly.
It was gone.
I've lost it.
His lightsaber had fallen along with the air speeder and it probably was destroyed in the blazing inferno that was now no more than a small little fire and ashes leaking grey smoke into the sky.
Polluting the wonderful evening sky.
A sky that sprouted with colors of reds, oranges, yellows, purples, and deep blue. Stars shining anew.
Dammit I really liked that lightsaber his mind susurrated quietly.
Swallowing thickly he bit his lip to keep crying out in frustration.
But nether less he did indeed.
Unable to contain himself. Not able at the moment to release his turbulent emotions into force he just screamed out in frustration.
But mostly in sorrow.
"DAAAMMMMITTTT ! SITTHH HELL!"
I kinda like that lightsaber. He whimpered. "And I don't care if anyone who hears that thinks I'm some crazy psycho!
It's always said that a Jedi is very close to his/ her lightsaber.
It's the weapon of their heart.
A tool used to preserve good and vanquish evil.
It's said that the lightsaber reflect the Jedi user in many ways.
For that is the truth.
He drifted for a while, eventually letting the parachute to take him near the ground. He landed on an apartment building of sorts deep down in Coruscant a bit, as that's where the wind took him.
And the wind is never wrong. So that's what they say. I think.
Abandoning the parachute crumpled on the floor he stuffed Sidious's lightsaber in his pocket with disgust and tied up the cut he got on his hand with a piece of his cloak. Then he took off trying to find a way up to the above levels of Coruscant.
He trudged up yet another stairs case clearly avoiding dark alleys or suspicious looking creatures that seemed to commonly hang around the area.
Especially since night has fallen he'd been on alert the whole time.
Refusing to let his thoughts wander back to his lost lightsaber he just listened to soles of his shoes scrape the pavement and the sound of the city up above as well as the random bursts of commotion down below in its unyielding darkness of depth.
But mostly it was just quiet, too quiet.
This is depressing.
But all of the sudden the air was cut with the cry of a little girl.
A little girl screaming for help.
It wasn't anything he hadn't heard before down here. He'd heard quite a few people screaming for help in this area or fighting.
They were mostly adults and mostly male so he just ignored it.
Like I always say. I don't have time for that crap.
Usual business he presumed it was.
But this was a little girl.
I haven't heard that one before he pondered.
Then he dashed off running at full speed using the force to enhance his tired and aching legs toward the sound of the wailing cry for help.
"Help, someone help me, please!" the voiced screamed sounding desperate.
He flew down into the darkness. That scream seemed imprinted on his memory, resounding in his mind.
I can't just leave a little helpless girl out here. I have to save her, obviously.
Ducking into an alley way and turning the corner fast he came upon a scene. A little zabrak girl who appeared to be around 8 to 9 years old was trying and failing miserably to get out of the grip of a grown but lean man who, based on his appearance, could be classified as some sort of bounty hunter dressed as a ninja due to the too weird costume he wore. The little zabrak wore no shoes and only had on a knee length pink and purple dress. Her head was bald but crowned with horns. She had clear blue eyes. And strangely enough her skin was a light gray bluish color rather than the natural red that most zabrak sported.
"Please, let me go!" she screamed.
The man only tightened his grip. He heard the man whisper harshly, "Shut up. No one's coming for you so stop complaining."
Then the bounty hunter started to drag her along still kicking and screaming.
But the thing the man did that really ticked him off and pushed him over the edge was when he slapped the zabrak across the face causing her to fall roughly to the unforgiving floor.
Swiftly and stealthily in the dark alley way he pounced literally on top of the perpetrator and delivered a round house kick that connected with the guy's face.
He smiled in satisfaction as some of the man's teeth flew out.
Ooooooh, that's ought a hurt. He felt his food throb as it reconnected with the ground. The man stumbled back and reached his hand behind his back to grab a vibro blade when he was slammed straight into the ground by the force.
Courtesy of me, Luke, of course.
He blinked a couple times at the guy spread eagle on the ground and raised an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed.
Groaning the perpetrator swiftly rose to his feet and whipped out a vibro blade, doing all sorts of fancy dancin' moves that he didn't give a shite about before crouching down and taking a loose fighting stance, stating arrogantly, "You think you can take me, well I'd sure like to see you try. I'm the best at…" He just kept going on and on. Gloating about how he was the greatest and shit.
To fix the problem he just tuned him out until he shut his flapping mouth but the guy just kept going on and on.
I'll be dead by the time he finishes.
He let out a breath. This is annoying… and whipped out Sidious's lightsaber. The red blade crackled life. Devilish shadows were cast from the crimson light.
The bounty hunter notably stopped babbling about being the greatest and all and paled considerably turning as white as a sheet, even though the only part you could see of his face was the bruised bridge of his nose and the skin around his grey eyes. The man whispered, "Do you work for count Dooku?"
He blinked at him.
Once.
Twice.
"Who?"
Who in the world is Dooku. What a stupid name. I bet he's a real cooku though.
"Uhhh, wait so you don't work for Dooku…" the guy questioned, a look of realization on his face.
"No."
"Oh." The guy laughed nervously and then started slowly backing away, "I'll just be going now."
"What?! Wait!" he lunged after the guy but as soon as he even took a single step forward the bounty hunter turned heel and fled bawling out a very girlish scream, "Sith! Oh it's a sith! Someone save me! Someone save meeeee!" and disappeared into the night.
He sweat dropped. What in the world was that and who is this count Dooku person? And how did that guy even know about sith. Unless he was hired by one but… that doesn't make any sense. Who would hire such a wussy?
Just then he heard a scared whimper and his gaze found an old pile of crates. Just behind it the silhouette of the zabrak girl that was barely visible.
Oh the girl. I completely forgot. Seriously Luke how could you he berated himself.
He quickly extinguished his lightsaber and put it away in his cloak.
Nearing her he crouched down in an attempt to look less intimidating and soothed, "Don't worry I won't hurt you."
She looked up from where she had her face hidden in her knees. Big blue eyes stared up at him silently.
Smiling slightly he introduced himself, "My name is Luke. I'm a Jedi and I won't hurt you. You have nothing to be afraid of."
She didn't say anything and still looked quite fearful.
"Now, why don't you tell me what your name is?"
"It's Zoë." Her voice was quiet and small. He had to strain to hear her.
"Okay, Zoë, where are your parents?"
"There're dead…," she sniffled looking away. Then she stared back right at him. He could tell that the little gears in her little mind were turning, "…but I do have a sister. Her name is Dyla… s-since you're a J-Jedi maybe you can help me rescue her! She was kidnapped by the S-Scavengers when we ran away from the orphanage!"
She abruptly stood up making him stand as well and began pulling his hand in the direction from whence he came. Her voice was growing more and more desperate as she continued, "I- I was the only one out of all the children able to escape them but we have to go now before the blood harvest and they eat her alive and then I'll never see my sisteragainsothat meansyouhavetohelpme getherbackorelse…!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down a bit. Eh, what's a blood harvest and who are the- these Scavengers?"
I really do hope she isn't crazy. It would be such a shame.
"the Scavengers kidnap children and they drink there blood after harvesting it in the blood harvest which is tonight so that's why we have to go right now and stop them before it's too late!" she cried frantically pulling his arm. "I have to save Dyla!"
"Uh, huh," he mumbled skeptically, a bit unconvinced.
The idea of a bunch of cannibals feeding off the blood of children right under the noses of the Jedi and the republic seemed highly unlikely.
She turned to him, eyes watering. "Please, you have to believe me. I'm telling the truth about this!" she begged.
Then his thoughts unintentionally wandered back to his confrontation on Bespin with Darth Vader, his father. When Darth Vader revealed that he was his father he had said some words that he couldn't deny. Nor could he ever forget.
"Search your feelings Luke. You know it be true."
And that's just what he did.
He searched his feeling and oddly enough he felt nothing but the truth from Zoë in the force. Her intentions were pure. She was telling the truth.
For that is the truth.
Oh no, is she about to cry. He whined starting to panic. Her eyes were watering pretty bad.That's not good I don't really know how to handle tears.
Thinking fast he gripped bother her hands and reassured, "Okay, just calm down a bit. I believe you."
"You do," she sniffled.
"Yes, I do."
She blinked up at him. Beaming she said, "Okay let's go. We have ta hurry."
She pulled his hand and they sprinted off deeper into the darkness which was slightly unnerving and chilling as well.
PRESENT LUKE POV
He jogged after Zoë, her bare feet slapping the ground, for someone so small she sure could run fast.
He panted slightly.
His feet ached.
And his stomach growled hungrily.
The dead moon shone its light in the sky. Barely visible from where they traveled.
Hearing Zoë panting tiredly he swept her off her feet. She screamed in surprise but then calmed down as he settled her small weight on his shoulders.
"So, which way." He inquired glancing up at her.
The childish voice above him replied, "Well, you have to take the next right and then…"
It went on like that for a while until they came upon it.
He placed her carefully on the ground as he took it all in.
The buildings in the area were barren, empty, and devoid of life. The moonlight barely reached this area of the underworld of Coruscant. Pipes traveled above their head. Gas leaked out of others releasing pungent smells of smoke. All the pipes ran into the same building which looked like the shape of a half cylinder laid on its long side. Windows decorated the place, most were closed but there were a few open, and the only other openings were where the pipes entered the building, above and going below ground. The place was rusty as hell. The orangish red metallic glow cast red sparkles everywhere, wherever the natural and unnatural light hit it. But overall in some places the area was as black as ink. You couldn't see a thing but the outline of the main cylindrical building where there were several wide openings made up of large double iron doors but all those were closed.
Then an unearthly howl split the air. Something definitely not made by a human or a humanoid.
Three more followed after that one, each echoing thorough the depths of Coruscant and below.
No wonder this place is so abandoned.
Zoë grasped his hand tightly. She was shivering as a breeze drafted around them.
He squeezed her hand in turn. Reassuring her as best he could at the moment when he was scared shitless himself.
Audibly swallowing, eyes wide, she pulled him along toward the inky blackness in the vicinity of the area.
As they neared he could make out the outline of a marginally open trap door.
The silence was interrupted by her quiet voice, "This was where I escaped. I don't think the scavengers knew about this way. It leads into that building over there." She pointed to the half cylindrical shaped rust coated building, "You have to be pretty small to fit though this exit further down. But I believe you can make it."
She opened the rusty door further.
It squeaked and groaned loudly as she lifted it open. A metallic thud sounded off as each door hit the ground.
She was about to step down when he interrupted, "Allow me."
Pushing her away he entered first.
No way am I about to let some little girl enter fist into major peril. I'm not that heartless.
He carefully climbed down the steep cold stone hard steps covered with moss from what he could make out in the dim light.
There was only one way to go. A tunnel filled with darkness up ahead. More pipes and leaking gaskets blew out of various openings.
Zoë padded after him, her footsteps silent this time on the cold floor as she tip toed after him.
Grasping her hand he led her on through the tunnel, one hand grasping Sidious's lightsaber and the other holding tightly to Zoë for dear life.
Whatever happens. Whatever we face. I won't lose her.
Together they sunk downward into darkness as more unearthly shrieks pierced the air.
Their origin: unknown to them, for now.
(Fanfir Note: Who says I can't add a bit of horror in this story. Well, actually it's not going to be that scary so don't worry, I think. Don't worry peoples this is necessary for Luke to find out about something and it'll help move my plot along. You'll see in time when it comes, most likely. All of this that I'm writing is for a purpose and not just brain vomit that I spew all over my computer when I think up of something.)
Also lots of thank yous to my reviewer, the one and only, you know who you are. hehehehehe... : 0
