Since the names Sirisa and Nirisa were tied, I just chose Nirisa. The nickname would be Niri instead of Siri…And now for the flashback. The flash back itself won't be italicized, and just remember that this is about three years before, so the clones have phase one armor, and Anakin is the short-haired dress-wearing guy. Oh, and I have a new poll up again. This time, it's for the next fan fiction to be released. Enjoy…
Kiki looked out over the water and land under her. It was late afternoon, and the sun cast a nice yellowish glow on everything. She inhaled deeply, the cool wind whipping her hair around her head.
"Ah…" she breathed. "Home. Just like I remember it from when we were little!"
"Too bad we're fighting for it," Nirisa, Kiki's twin sister said.
"Thanks for the positive insight, Nirisa," Kiki deadpanned.
"You ready to go, Generals?" The pilot's voice sounded in their ear pieces. They were supposed to rendezvous in the middle of a thick jungle and coordinate their attack with the second half of their team. If there was a landing pad in the ocean, they would have landed there, but there wasn't one at the moment.
If the canopy of the forest weren't so thick, the LAAT/I's would have been able to land in a cleared zone, but there were no zones for landing.
They had to skydive.
"Competition time!" Kiki said, always the energetic one. "First one to the bottom wins!"
"Whoever catches the most bugs in their mouth loses," Anakin added. "You hear that, Rex?"
"C-copy that…sir!" Rex said around the insect in his mouth. "Ack!"
Anakin chuckled and looked over the ledge of the platform at the deep blue ocean before them. "I'm assuming we have to swim to shore?"
"Yep!" Nirisa said.
"You gonna be okay, Bliz?" Kiki asked, turning to her second-in-command.
"I'll be fine, General," Bliz said stiffly. He gripped the straps of his pack tightly in his hands. If there was one thing he did not like, it was falling.
"Don't worry Bliz, you'll be fine," Kiki said, giving him a comforting smile. Bliz only nodded stiffly.
"Three two one go!" Nirisa said, shooting off of the platform, performing multiple flips and jumps before finally disappearing from sight.
"Hey! No fair!" Kiki yelled, running and flipping off of the ship, Anakin close behind.
"Show offs…" Bliz muttered.
Kiki turned over to keep the wind out of her eyes as she fell. "You okay up there?" she asked the pilot.
"Sir, we have unidentified ships entering the area. We need all personnel to take off now! General there's—!"
Kiki watched in horror as a small, sleek ship ran past their transport. The entire ship blew up in smoke and flames, debris hitting the men falling beside her.
"Pilot! Pilot, are you alright?!" Kiki yelled. Her eyes went to Anakin and Nirisa, bit of whom were trying to catch their soldiers that had been knocked unconscious from the debris.
The small ship that had bombed the transport flew back around and started firing at them.
Kiki searched frantically for anyone who wasn't already dead.
"Anakin! Anakin, can you hear me?" Kiki activated her lightsabers and deflected the bolts that flew at the unconscious clones. She spotted Bliz falling, his head pointing straight down and cutting through the air like an arrow. "Bliz!" Kiki bounded off of the marred and twisted ship parts and moved as quickly as she could to Bliz.
The others were making short work of the twisted metal parts and lasers falling between them. Anakin bounced off of a hunk of debris and flew past a burned parachute case.
Wait, parachute? Anakin thought with alarm. He looked around him, seeing that the only clones with parachutes were being quickly targeted and shot down. He looked under him to see not only water coming up towards him at an alarming rate, but also flaming wreckage and flotsam, sharp edges like daggers shining in the late afternoon sun.
And they were headed straight for it.
Bounding of another hunk of scrap metal, Anakin pushed and unconscious trooper out of the way of bent, sparking wires and jagged hot metal.
Flaming hulls, metal, and even limbs raced by his vision. He concentrated on deflecting blaster bolts away from himself and the vulnerable. Somewhere out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kiki, also without a parachute, protecting as many men as she could while still holding Bliz in her arms.
Kiki tried to concentrate on the Force, but she couldn't—everything was happening to quickly. She could feel the fears and despair of her men as they fell and crashed head first into the water—however unconscious they were. Such was what her special Force ability allowed. The water was closing in on them—and fast. At the last second, she wrapped her arms around Bliz, ducking her head against the impact of the water. At first, she felt nothing, but then coldness of the ocean snapped her out of her momentary daze. Water began flooding her eyes, ears, and mouth. Her lungs were burning, and her vision was going hazy around the edges.
As quickly as she could she swam to the surface of the water, pulling an unconscious Bliz beside her. Kiki's head broke the surface, and she looked around for any sign of her men. A few were already on the beach, as was Anakin.
The small ship was directly overhead as parts of their transport crashed into the water beside them. A piece of metal caught Kiki's sleeve, dragging her under the water again. A sharp pain singed up and down her arm, almost knocking her unconscious.
"Nirisa!" Kiki yelled, just before the cold water swallowed her. She felt Bliz being pulled out of her arms, and she fought to hang onto him.
A hand clasped hers tightly, making her open her eyes, startled. Nirisa hooked her arms around Bliz's waist and pulled him up.
Kiki was about to move with her, but a sinking form from the corner of her eye caught her attention. Rex was drowning, sinking quickly through the deep water to the darkness below.
Kiki used the Force to propel herself toward him. She grabbed his arm and heaved him upward. Coughing, she broke the surface of the water.
She looked frantically at the water all around her. "Nirisa!" Kiki yelled, searching for her sister. A pillar of water crashed and exploded by her.
The bomber swung around again and fired at Kiki and Rex, dropping bombs and killing whatever men were still in the water. Kiki ducked back under the water and pulled Rex swum to shore, brining him with her.
"What is that thing?! We were never told that there could be enemies in this area. It was supposed to be secured!" Kiki rolled over onto her knees and coughed up the salt water that had filled her stomach.
"I don't know, Kiki. But whatever it was knew where exactly we were going to land," Nirisa said, scanning the horizon for their assailant.
"How many men do we have?" Kiki asked after a moment.
"Less than half," Anakin answered, scanning the pale yellow skies for the attack ship.
Kiki sighed. Slowly, she got up and walked to Bliz. "Are you okay?" she asked, placing a hand gently on his shoulder.
"I'm…I'm alright General. Just a bit shaken, is all," Bliz answered haltingly, rubbing a hand over his face.
Nirisa looked into the forest, ominously dark albeit the bright late afternoon sun. "We have to keep moving," she said, checking to see if her comm. was still working. "Waterlogged," she said, throwing it on the sandy beach.
Kiki flinched when she saw the state of her arm. Blood ran from a wound as long as her hand, almost a centimeter deep. She swore. "Great. Just another thing to slow us down." She ripped off the rest of her sleeve and wrapped it gingerly around the cut.
"General, you should let me look at that," Cord, the team medic, said.
Glad to know at least one man in my squad is still alive, Kiki thought with some happiness. "I think I'm fine. We can bandage it when we get to the rendezvous point." Kiki stood up with some effort and headed off into the jungle. "Come on!" she called behind her.
The rest of their squadron followed behind her. Nirisa looked back one last time to the sky and the sun that was beginning to set. She didn't see the attacker anywhere.
A few hours later, they came upon the rendezvous point/camp of the second half of the team. They were soaking wet from their fall in the ocean and the recent showers that happened to befall them after Marik said "what could possibly go wrong?".
"I can see the tents from here, come on!" Kiki called to the men behind her. She broke through the bushes only to stop dead in her tracks.
"Kiki, what happened?" Nirisa asked, running up beside her twin. The sight she saw made her feel nauseous.
The clones were laying on the ground, leaned up against boulders, and hung from trees, broken limbs and twisted necks all hanging loosely from their bodies.
Even thought she couldn't see it, Kiki could smell the blood that clung to the misty air. There were no laser marks on the soldiers' armor. They had all been brutally beaten, snapped and ripped apart until they died of blood loss or suffocation.
"We were too late," Anakin said quietly.
The entire second half of their team had been killed, along with the Jedi that had accompanied them.
"You think we don't already know that?" Kiki snapped. She was agitated, anyone could tell that much. The emotions of the clones were still lingering in the Force, and it often reflected in her behavior. Right now, she was just as upset as the men before they had died.
Anakin slowly walked to the dead Jedi in the middle of the spread of bodies, picking up her lightsaber. "I guess we should tell—" Anakin was cut off by a loud crash in the bushes, followed by a hiss. All three Jedi ignited their lightsabers.
The small clearing fell deathly silent, then one of their men screamed, having been tackled to the ground by a large animal—no, it wasn't an animal. It was a lizard.
These were the monsters they were trying to fight against.
The Kirzmin Lizards easily stood at seven to nine feet tall, with dark scaly skin and flashing teeth. Their long tails could be used as weapons, their teeth would grow to be as long as human fingers. They were violent by nature, and enjoyed to torture their victims to almost-death, rather than immediately kill them. They could easily crush bones between their teeth, and were considered a nuisance to the native Verocians and the moons.
The Kirzmin Lizards claimed that they had been on the planet first, and they were not afraid to tear down innocent people to get it back.
They were fighting to take the planet back.
Before Kiki could jump to the clone trooper's help, a loud snap came from his body, dwarfed in size to the Kirzmin Lizard. He screamed, his voice beginning to gurgle from the blood that pooled in his throat.
The Lizard twisted his head sharply to the side, quickly and effectively killing their trooper. Blood began to pool around his gaping neck wound, and he lay motionless of the leafy jungle floor.
Kiki Force-jumped to the Lizard, pushing her lightsaber directly through his head. The lizard hissed and writhed under the pressure, before finally falling silent.
Even more Kirzmin Lizards burst through the surrounding bushes, attacking the troops with their sharp teeth and long tails. All around her, Kiki could hear the snap and crunch of bones being twisted and ripped. The Kirzmin preferred to fight with pure brawn, favoring claws and talons over weapons.
The rising smell of blood, along with the constant stream of her men's screams, was beginning to wear down on Kiki senses. She could feel her grip on the Force slowly start to weaken. She struck down as many Lizards as she could, protecting the dying soldiers lying prone on the dead leaves and twigs that littered the jungle floor.
Anakin watched in horror as Rex's arm was caught in a Kirzmin Lizard's mouth. He'd seen what would happen when something like that occurred: the Kirzmin Lizard would sharply twist its head to the side and rip off whatever it had in its mouth from the rest of the body.
Rex yelled as the Lizard's teeth began to crack through his armor. He tried to fire his pistol at it, but it was pressed down by the Lizard's heavy tail.
Anakin launched his lightsaber at the Lizard's long torso. It hissed and fell back off of Rex. Anakin ran and finished the job, quickly pulling out his lightsaber to help Rex up.
"Are you okay?" Anakin asked, examining badly Rex bitten arm.
"I'm fine sir," Rex answered, firing at the next Lizard to attack them.
"Form a circle!" Nirisa yelled to the men. She deflected the blow from a Lizard, swiping up to cut off its arm, and pushing her lightsaber through its chest. "Don't let them get behind you!"
Kiki was having trouble deflecting the monsters away from her men. The Lizard's tough, leathery skin was mostly resistant to laser fire, and the most sensitive place for the clones to shoot were their eyes, which was nearly impossible. The mixed emotions of the dead and dying troops—fear, anger, agony, pain, and despair—were starting to fray on her senses. She was losing concentration, and she was losing men.
She sprinted to the next Kirzmin Lizard who had his jaw in a death grip around a trooper she couldn't identify. The clones arm was stretched out to her in a silent plea for help. Kiki could hear him begin to choke on the blood in his wind pipe.
Before Kiki could reach him, the Lizard sharply twisted his head. Kiki almost stopped at the loud snap that came from his neck, along with the scream that accompanied it. The Lizard reared his head upward in a sharp, arching move, pulling the clones head with it.
The loud ripping noises grated on Kiki's ears. A sharp pain flooded her chest, constricting her breathing. The raw agony and sorrow from the trooper completely fogged her senses. Kiki swayed on her feet for a fraction of a second, nausea rising up and burning her throat.
The Lizard smiled what could only be called a malicious smile and tossed the head aside.
Something in Kiki snapped, and before the Lizard could take a step forward, she had impaled its chest with her lightsaber. The Force was flowing through, strong and loud in her ears, but it felt strange. She had never encountered something like this. Her new-felt power rushed through her. Without thinking, she swiftly swiped her lightsaber upwards, pulling it through the Lizard's head.
She turned to the rest of the chaos behind her. The Force was telling her to do things that no normal Jedi would have done. She raised her arms and watched in amazement and fright as more than half of the Kirzmin Lizards rose into the air, rendering them helpless and powerless. As the clones began shooting them down, Kiki felt her hands begin to close into tight fists.
Nirisa and Anakin could only watch what happened next.
They knew that Kiki could draw her power from the emotions of others (if they were positive enough) through the Force. But there was no way she could have used pain, suffering, agony, and despair to her advantage. It should be breaking her, not making her stronger.
The sound of snapping necks and spines flooded Kiki's eardrums, but she didn't stop.
She ignited her lightsaber again, and went into full on attack mode, cutting and slicing down the Kirzmin. More were still coming through the bushes, but in less steady numbers now.
Her men fought as hard as they could, but it was clear that they were losing strength. They were seriously outnumbered and surrounded on all sides.
This new Force was completely different from what Kiki was used to feeling at the Temple. It was wilder, bigger— more violent. Kiki was moving with speed and power that she had never felt before, and she felt almost pleased that her enemies were falling before her—at her hand.
Nirisa and Anakin kept up as best they could with Kiki's pace, but while she was gaining energy, they were losing it. They could both sense what Kiki was feeling, and it didn't feel right inside them. It was darker than normal, more erratic and unpredictable. It felt dark.
Kiki struck down another Lizard with relative ease, starting to get used to the feel of the New Force. The more she used it, the more she enjoyed it, but the more it scared her. Ignoring the feeling of rising trouble, she struck down one of the last Kirzmin, using the New Force to choke and break the remaining few.
The entire clearing fell deathly silent.
Kiki fell back on the ground, bracing her hands on the dirt and leaves and half crossing her legs in front of her. She was panting heavily, trying to understand what exactly had just happened. Kiki placed a hand gingerly on her forehead, feeling how warm it was. Other than her slight headache, she felt just fine.
"Kiki! Are you alright?" Nirisa was instantly by her sister's side, kneeling in front of Kiki to face her properly.
"…Yeah, I guess. I…I think I'm okay," Kiki said, still panting lightly.
"What…was that?" Anakin asked carefully. He didn't know if any of the lingering Force was still inside her. She could be unpredictable, even without it. Anakin saw her mouth turn down slightly at his question, but she didn't verbally assault him.
"I don't know," Kiki answered a little tersely. She got up and looked around her.
Dead bodies littered the jungle floor, the clone armor stained with mud and dirt, and the Kirzmin Lizards with lightsaber burns in their bodies. During the firefight, the animals in the surrounding area had all fled, probably to escape the danger. Now the jungle was eerily silent, the only noise being that of water dripping off of leaves and branches swaying in the wind.
Anakin was the first to break the silence. "How many do we have left?" He scanned the area quietly.
"Some of your men are still here, along with Crusade Squad and a few of Kiki's. Mine are all gone," said Nirisa. She was right, while those in blue and black-and-silver armor stood, still on guard for a possible assault, none of Nirisa's black-and-gold clad men stood.
"I think we should contact the troops in the main city, tell them that we'll need reinforcements, and that the Lizards know of our attacks." Kiki stepped towards one of her injured men. "Are you okay? Will you be able to complete the mission?"
"I'm alright, sir," he answered, his voice a little strained. "What about your arm?" He motioned to the bandage Kiki had long forgotten about.
"Oh…" She pulled off the bandage to see that her wound had almost completely healed, the sign being a shallow cut. There was no scar to be seen from the parts that had healed.
"How is that possible?" Anakin asked, taking Kiki's arm in his hand. She almost pulled away.
Nirisa examined it with him. "Maybe it was during—"
Twigs snapped in the bushes, and what sounded like a curse was uttered.
All three Jedi ignited their lightsabers at once and jumped into the bushes.
The remaining Lizard fell back on his legs, dropping his cane. "Ahh! Please don't hurt me! I didn't want to come along in the first place! They dragged me here! I swear I won't do anything to harm you—" He went down on his knees and held up his hands in a sign of surrender.
"Unbelievable," Kiki muttered under her breath. What they thought would be another attack from the Kirzmin was just an old Lizard that had been left behind.
His scraggly beard had small leaves stuck in it, and his pale yellow eyes were obviously half-blind. He was less than half the size of the full grown Kirzmin Lizards, just reaching Kiki's bottom rib. His once dark green skin was now lighter, and the scales hung loosely to parts of his body. He looked under weight.
"Who are you?" Anakin spoke suddenly, pressing his lightsaber to the defenseless old Lizard.
"I'm one of those Lizards you were killing earlier. They didn't want me stinking up the cave back home, so they brought me along. I didn't think they would come to hurt your men or try to attack you—!"
The look Kiki gave him silenced the old Lizard immediately. "You are now our prisoner. You do what I tell you to without question, or you answer to the end of my lightsaber, understood? If I tell you to get lost, you get lost. If I tell you to fight, you fight, no questions asked."
"I don't like fighting much," the old man said, picking up his cane and finally balancing himself. "I never wanted to be anything like the Kirzmin are now."
Kiki was surprised, as were Anakin and Nirisa. They never thought that they could possibly meet a pacifistic Kirzmin Lizard, especially in the middle of war time. They were notorious for starting fights over the smallest of things, and they would attack each other for fun.
The Kirzmin Lizards were a very destructive people.
"Well, I don't suppose we'll get to the main city by standing here, now will we?" the old Lizard asked, hobbling forward through the brush.
Blasters and rifles were immediately locked and trained on the old Lizard.
"Oh my!" he exclaimed jumping back. "Are these your men?"
"Yes," Kiki said curtly. "Annoy me, and I'll order them to kill you immediately." She walked through the bush and headed back toward the center of the small clearing. Whatever lingering emotions in the Force were clearly evident in her behavior, and starting to fray on Kiki's nerves.
"Well, good afternoon. How do you do?" he greeted no one in particular.
The clones lowered their weapons slightly, stunned for a moment. A small twitch from the old man made them raise their weapons again.
Captain Rex and Commander Bliz stepped forward and aimed their DC-17 blasters directly at his head.
"Don't worry, he's with us now," Anakin said as he walked by them.
Rex started. "Sir, wouldn't it be wiser to execute him immediately? He is one of the Lizards, and they are the ones we're fighting against."
The old man stiffened—as best his arthritis would allow—at the word "execute". "Why would you execute me? I haven't done anything wrong!"
"Don't worry Captain. He's on our side now," Nirisa explained to him.
"Yes, I am officially a prisoner of war." The old Lizard smiled, his thin cracked lips stretching across shockingly white, sharp teeth. If it wasn't supposed to be a humorous smile, Rex didn't know what it would be.
Slowly, he put his blasters in their holsters, before following the Generals. Bliz followed.
"Come on men. We have to hurry to get to our rendezvous point!" Anakin yelled behind him.
"Yes, yes. At this pace, you'll never make it to the main capital. It will take you days!" the old man supplied, hobbling forward to catch up with the main group.
Nirisa's senses were put on high alert. "How do you know we're going to the main capital?" She narrowed her eyes at him.
Amazingly, he didn't flinch. "I did tell you that I was dragged here against my will by my family, right? I didn't just happen to be around when they were discussing plans with each other." The old Lizard looked down sorrowfully at a Kirzmin lying prone on the ground. "I always did tell my niece not to jump into everything her brothers did."
Kiki started as she looked down at the body. Yes, it did look female, with a slightly smaller build, and barely noticeable curves. It was one of the few wearing a top.
Kiki didn't know why she was feeling so…guilty. Yes, it was one of the Lizards she had killed during her force tirade, but she was defending her people—all of those that couldn't help themselves because of the war. She crossed her arms against the sudden chill that overtook her body, trying to rub the goose bumps away.
"Do you have a map, or something I could use to show you the route?" the old Lizard asked, holding out his hand.
Anakin begrudgingly pulled out the holo-map of their side of Verocia, turning it on and placing it on the ground. The old Lizard's eyes lit up.
"Ohh!" he exclaimed. "I've never seen one of these before!" He peered closer to the small blue images, scanning the lines of trees and mountains.
Just how old is this guy? Even Master Yoda can figure out how to work a holo-projector! Kiki thought with wonder.
"Ah! Here it is!" he said after a moment. "We'll take this path through the jungle and end up here. Quite simple actually." He nodded in self-satisfaction.
"Problem," Anakin pointed out immediately. "We were supposed to go around the giant mountain there, not through it." He pointed to the mountain that was in the direct path of the old Lizard's plans.
"I know, but we don't have time to go around it," he said simply. "Through is the only way."
"It's a mountain. How are we supposed to get through that thing?" Anakin was starting to get fed up with this old man's crazy ideas. He was starting to regret not killing him immediately.
"Ever heard of a tunnel, sonny?" The Lizard said not unkindly. "We'll go through the tunnels and cut our travel time in half."
"But that wasn't part of the—" Kiki tried, but she was unintentionally interrupted the old Lizard.
"Come on, now!" he called behind him, his voice croaking slightly. "Standing around won't get us to the main capital of Verocia!" He waved an arm to the North, hobbling to the front of the group.
Kiki groaned, but started after him. She didn't much like the idea of having to follow a Lizard around, but they had no other choice. They had less than a quarter of their original group left, they were running out of time, and not reaching the capital meant being overtaken by the Separatists.
"You're actually going to believe him?" Anakin hissed to Kiki.
"You didn't protest when I took him as prisoner," Kiki snapped back. "Now is not the time to speak up." Her tone left no room for argument.
Anakin wanted to protest, but kept his mouth shut.
That night, after heavy rainfall and slow trekking through the muddy jungle, Kiki sat on a wet log by the campfire they had built for the night. She was glad that her entire Crusade Squad had made it out the attacks, but that wasn't what was bothering her. Idly, Kiki rolled a small, dark green leaf between her fingers, watching it unfurl in her palm to its original shape, barely a crease noticeable. It was some cousin of the bacta plant, its name, though, she had forgotten long ago. Kiki sighed.
What she had done earlier—the way she manipulated the Force—was starting to scare her more and more. She couldn't understand how she had allowed it to basically control her actions the way it did. She knew that Anakin was watching her from across the bonfire, and she momentarily looked up to meet his blue gaze. There was something in his eyes she couldn't read, but it looked almost accusing.
The old Lizard—who they fondly called "Old Man"—hobbled to Kiki's side and sat on the wet log. He said, "It seems you have a lot on your mind. Care to share?"
Kiki looked up, startled that he had suddenly appeared by her side. The last time she had seen him, he was on the other side of the fire, sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, doing Force-knows what. The fact that he had approached her without her noticing unnerved her even more. "No," she said in answer to his question. "I don't have to tell you anything."
"It's about what you did with the Force earlier on, isn't?" he asked, seeing straight through her neutral mask.
"How did you—" Kiki started, shooting him a startled look.
Old Man chuckled, cutting of the end of Kiki's question. "I know more than you may think. I was watching from the bushes."
Kiki looked down at the crumpled, torn leaf in her lap. She swallowed not wanting to hear what would definitely come next. Old Man would probably say she was foolish for letting her emotions get the better of her judgment—how it wasn't like a good Jedi. He was going to tell her something about self-control, and the entire time, he would be giving her annoyed, angry, and disappointed looks.
Just like the Council.
"You have a great power inside you, do you know that?"
Kiki definitely was not expecting that.
"What?" Kiki asked, completely stunned. "Of course! I have the Force inside me, I—"
"Do you know what you are fully capable of?" Old Man interrupted her. He folded his hands over his knobby cane, sighing contentedly.
"Not much…" Kiki looked into the crackling fire, trying to gain what little heat it was giving off.
"Nobody really knows what they are fully capable of. Those that do find out, often wish they hadn't. Others never discover it," said Old Man, seeing straight through Kiki's lie.
"But that doesn't mean—"
"Your special Force ability makes it harder for you to do simple things, doesn't it?" Old Man asked Kiki, unintentionally cutting her off again.
Kiki sat silently, a blank look across her features. She didn't know what he was talking about—or pretended not to.
"Your ultra-sensitive telepathy is not as bad as you might think," Old Man told her, glancing sideways and tilting his head.
"Yes, it is," Kiki said, not intending to sound so harsh. "I can't focus my thoughts when everyone else's are jumping out at me!" She placed her head in her hands, bracing her elbows in her knees. Sometimes, she could tune the Force out, and the voices of everybody else, but the Council didn't like it when she did that. They said it was unsafe for a Jedi to tune out the living Force.
"It seems you think the Council will hate you no matter what you do?" Old Man asked her, not unkindly.
"I can feel everybody's emotions, whether I want to or not. It's a curse being born Force-sensitive," Kiki insisted. She felt more than saw both Anakin's and Nirisa's heads snap up, surprise coming off of them in the Force. Kiki sighed, and muttered something incoherent under her breath.
"You can use that power to help those you care about," Old Man tried again.
"Care about?" Kiki snorted. "'Attachment is against the Jedi Code, Kiki. You need to be careful' Yeah, in case you didn't know, feelings in general aren't very appreciated by the other Jedi," she said, quoting a Master whose name she had forgotten. "'There is no emotion, there is peace.' I can't feel any peace when all I feel is pain and suffering!" Kiki hands were tightly fisted in her lap, the knuckles a pale, ghostly white.
She looked up to see that she had awoken some of the men that were sleeping on the ground. The last thing she wanted was for them to feel tired when they began their trek early in the morning. She'd had to make it an order for them to get any rest.
Carefully, the old Lizard wrapped his gnarled, bony hands around Kiki's slender ones, gently unfisting her hands. Kiki knew that Anakin and Nirisa were watching them, intently listening in on their conversation.
"Your power is great; a blessing," he said softly. "You should use it for what you believe is right—protecting those that can't protect themselves. Is that not what they taught you at the Temple?"
Kiki felt her breath catch in her throat. "I…I guess you're right," she said quietly, looking at her unfurled hands.
"Good!" Old Man said, suddenly bright and perky.
Kiki jumped at his sudden outburst. She shook her head, smiling at his mood swing.
Old Man sat down in front of the fire again, resuming his cross-legged position.
"Old Man?" Kiki spoke after a moment.
"Mmm…Yes?" he said, his eyes remaining closed.
"Um…what exactly are you doing?"
"Breathing. Just…breathing." As if to emphasize his point, Old Man took a deep breath.
Kiki chuckled to herself. Old Man had begun to seem less crazy when he was talking with her, but now she wasn't as sure. Kiki lay down on the ground beside the log she had previously been sitting on, crossing her arms below her head.
She looked around at the clone troopers all lying on the ground, sleeping as restfully as they could. Kiki easily picked out the men in Crusade Squad among the bodies. She had to admit, Old Man was kind of right.
She looked over to Anakin, and they shared a glance before she fell asleep.
Wow! Definitely much longer than I intended. (sorry for the late update) Well, this begins the long journey of Lizard War I. I don't know how many chapters exactly this flashback will be, but I'll try not to make it too long. Tell me what you think; is the violence spike a little too high? This is the first time I've written something like this. Like I have said before, I have a poll up for the next fan fiction to be released.
Behind-the-Scenes-Thingy: Originally, there was going to be a third Jedi who got into fights with Kiki and Anakin—kind of like a Hate Triangle. But, the face that came to mind looked a lot like Quin-lan Vos, and his Padawan was extremely annoying and wouldn't stop flirting with Ahsoka and Danda.
Yeah, that wouldn't have worked out very well.
But anyway, I hope I won't have to put you guys on hold for so long again. Ciao!
~AAx
