Chapter 26 Begin Again
LUKE POV
The orb of white light vanished; instantly the harsh gale assaulted them. Out of that smog polluted sky of the Works to wherever they were right now, he got more than a breathful of fresh air; he got an unwanted lung full of it that left him choking on wind, struggling to catch his breath. The gale didn't howl. No, it screamed in his ears blocking out any other source of sounds and leaving the world around muffled. The wind ripped at his damp clothes with invisible fingers and dragged its claws through his companion's feathers. The force of it stung the exposed cuts he wore.
Lips chapped over, his brain whirled, goosebumps bloomed on his exposed torso as well as up and down his limbs, and his neck began to throb, torturously inflamed.
Talon breathed heavily behind him and wheezed.
The air was filled with the sound of the terror bird violently beating his wings, fighting with every stroke against the tempest that unfurled around them at such a height.
Through blurred vision what appeared to be the tips tall towers pierced into the sky around them, sending out glowing lights of every shade and of every color to lite up the night.
He had nothing to cling to when Talon made a steep dive down, but that was when he made the choice to glance at the cities below through botchy vision that darkened every second or so. The surface of Coruscant, made up of crevices and sparkling lights, speeders that darted away in the night and skyscrapers of every different form of architecture that stretched high from the surface was simply phenomenal of a vision to see even through his hazy eyes.
On top of the world.
His small body was wrenched back as Talon hastily pulled up and dove straight into the flat surfaced roof of a nearby skyscraper. The terror bird showed no sign of being able to stop and slammed headlong into the superstructure sending him sailing out of the creature's grip, tearing the fabric of his cloak on the terror bird's razor sharp beak, and ruthlessly impacting against the roof, lightsaber getting lost out of his grip. He landed full force right on his only hand. Snap! In that second a jarring pain shot from his only wrist causing him to gasp out. His body however kept rolling, tumbling, and slipping across the cold hard sleek surface of the roof almost to the very edge, in which he could have plummeted to his death ever so easily. When he stopped, he just lay there on his back, motionless, moaning in quiet anguish while getting ruthlessly battered by the wind that scraped the rooftops. Slowly, turning his head to the side he lightly squinted at his left wrist. It was bent at a very awkward angle. Broken.
How funny he chuckled out quietly, pain gnawing in his chest with each movement of each and every breath inhaled.
Slowly he cranked his head to look away instead up to the sky though fading vision. Up above random thin clouds sped across the sky making way for the millions of stars and fake stars alike to shimmer in the sea of eternal blackness. A sliver of darkness had come up, starting to creep over the pearly white surface of the moon, portraying it as a waning gibbous to the world that night, untouchable, lifeless, luminous in every way.
Chest heaving he attempted to cough.
It stuck in his dry throat.
His neck burned just as his wrist began to grow number, his back ached, and his ankle where Mahogany had gnawed into sent mini shocks up his whole leg. Grimacing he bit his lip, drawing pearls of blood.
It hurt.
It hurt so much.
Movement around him made his eyes refocus.
He looked up into Talon's worried gaze above him.
Then Talon began to glow and in that moment he felt nothing no more…
Asleep.
Unconscious.
In a state of not being there.
He swore he saw an image, one of beauty and colors, expanding.
But when he woke, there would be no memory of such a sight.
Not that it would have ever been seen but by those so many many years ago so far back into the past…
Beginning to regain consciousness he hummed in contentment and snuggled even further into the fuzzy soft material that was the world around him, something safe, and feeling the warmth of the sunlight warm his face while the wind whistled softly in his ear, not thinking much about the situation. He was warm and dry, not soaked to the bone anymore. He just had to feel more of this fluffy silky stuff. It was wonderful.
Then it moved.
Huh…
It moved again.
Cracking an eye open he saw the thing he had in fact been tugging at and snuggling into so wantonly was actually Talon, who was sleeping heavily. Quickly releasing the handfuls of vanilla white feathers he had been helplessly kneading like a little kitten he immediately scooted back, darting out and away as fast as he could from where the terror bird's large wing had fallen over his lower body. He jumped shakily to his feet, face burning up.
Thank the force Talon didn't see that, cause you just don't snuggle up to someone you barely know! That's so weird.
He huffed, pouted, and then stomped off across the smooth grayish blue surface of the roof to the very edge, where he plopped down, propping himself up, legs dangling over.
He sat like that for some time, but then he began to take notice that something was missing.
He looked all around but it wasn't anywhere to be seen.
Where's my cloak! It was gone.
Actually no, wait. Talon's just sleeping on it. And there it was. A piece of the black cloak was peeking out of a mountain of white as snow feathers. Using the force he called it over to him and when it arrived to his hand all that was left of it was a ripped unrecognizable piece of black fabric. Well, I guess I didn't need a cloak anyways. He dug in the pockets finding Sidious's lightsaber; Talon must've put it in there or something, and tied it to his waist. He also found some pieces of fruit he saved from that house he had broken into, and popped them into his mouth. Chewing thoughtfully he looked at the shredded piece of fabric for a moment more before shrugging and tossing it away. Mmmmmm. The fruit was juicy and citrusy, with just the right amount of tang. His stomach growled impatiently for more, but he had none. At least it sate his hunger for now.
Besides that: there was something else that he noticed was gone.
There was no pain.
With his one hand he felt himself up, lifting his small t-shirt to see that there were indeed no lesions or injuries to be seen on the surface of his body at all, well, besides his fake right hand which was gone. Did Talon do this? Did Talon heal me? Last night was a bit hazy in his memory so he wasn't that certain as all he knew at that time he felt a deep and utter pain that had rippled over the whole exterior of his body. He had been alone. The force had been unreachable. But just having Talon's light presence nearby had helped greatly. It was a relief.
Playfully kicking his legs back and forth he reached out to connect with the force again, even if the connection was so much weaker than usual, it was still there. It was the fact that he could feel the light side of the force again that brought a sense of deep comfort.
He stared out at all the tips of the skyscrapers and superstructures of all diversity down below and all around. Talon had landed them on one of the highest buildings in the area so it wasn't like anyone would see them. Hmm. How did Talon get us here anyways? One minute we were in the heart of the Works, now we're here. He had quite a few questions for the terror bird, but that could wait. At least we go away though. We're safe. And that was all that mattered for now. In a city that was always awake speeders zoomed by below constantly going and coming to and fro. Sitting there he gazed at all the wispy clouds float about across the blue sky interrupted by a happy sun in the late afternoon.
I must've been out for a long time.
Ever since he had come here from the future he had totally lost track of time.
Ever since he had come here from the future a lot of things had happened, and some of them he tried not to think about too often. Later, he told himself, later. But with nothing in particular to keep him occupied it was a wonder how soon later was going to be.
So instead he stayed there, meditating, while Talon slept for a long while more…
