A little Anakin moment to start us off, since we haven't heard from him since forever. Also, a little bit more about Old Man, some crush/fluff with Jax and Kiki (which will probably last about three seconds) and then some major action with character deaths—and they're all grouped within the same time span. We have a lot of stuff going on here. Also, I will jump to the present for a few seconds, just for the reactions of the story tellers. The day I post the winners of the poll are varying, but I definitely know that it will be soon, in fan fiction author's time.


Anakin pressed his head into the cold stone of his separate interrogation room. They held him here because he was the "Chosen One"—as if that made him so much different from his comrades. The fact that he wasn't able to save his team mates made Anakin burn with anger, but under that was a sense of pain that they might not make it out of their predicament. He'd tried to escape before, but every time he was caught and thrown back in his cell. Anakin tightened his fist into hard balls. Right then, he could feel the pain that the others were going through, even worse than his own.

"Aw, what's wrong? Miss yer friends?" the lizard said, sounding slightly drunk. "Well, too bad! None of you will make it out of this!" The harsh electro whip cracked against Anakin's back again.

Anakin gritted his teeth and suppressed the scream that threatened to come out. The only sounds to be heard in the rock interrogation room were the harsh cracks of the electro whip and Anakin's heavy and uneven breathing.

"Well, you're a tough nut to crack, aint ya?" the Lizard hissed, holding the whip by his side.

"You…will pay for what you're doing to—" the whip silenced the rest of Anakin's threat.

"You must know by now that you have no hope of escaping," the Lizard's voice said, suddenly quiet. "You're friends are all dying, you feel it, don't you? They're not going to—"

Anakin had been subjected to physical, emotional, and mental torture. Every word the Lizard said grated on him, making him feel more hopeless and enraged at the same time. "SHUT UP!" Anakin yelled, unleashing the Force around him. A slightly satisfying, and slightly sickening thud was heard behind Anakin.

The lizard was dead.

Anakin knew it was only a matter of time before the guards outside of his cell would realize something had happened. A slight whining noise, like metal tearing, and then a tiny snap was all Anakin heard as he slowed his breathing.

Subconsciously, he realized that he had broken his chains.

Anakin rose to his full height, having been mostly standing when he was chained. Anakin stood stock still for a moment, listening to see if any other guards were arriving. Tentatively, after hearing nothing, he took one step forward, then another. He silently made his way to the door, laying his hand on the rusty handle. He turned it, wincing at the creaking noise it made.

He pushed open the large metal door.

Before stepping outside, he peeked his head around the corner, every fiber in his body on high alert. The dim hallway was illuminated by cheap ceiling lights every few feet, a few flickering as if threatening to go out.

He didn't see any guards.

Anakin stepped out onto the dirt floor of the hallway, keeping aware through the Force. The empty corridors seemed to echo his every move. Anakin made it to the first corner before he completely froze, and it wasn't because of the voices he heard on the other side.

He had no clue where he was going.

He'd literally just gotten out of his cell, this being only the second time he'd ever left, the first…he chose not to remember. And, before he could rush to save his comrades effectively, he had to locate where his lightsaber was.

Damn it, Anakin thought angrily, peering again around the corner.

"Hey!" a voice behind him shouted. "Who are—oh no, the prisoner's escaped!"

Anakin whipped around to see two armored Kirzmin Lizard guards racing towards him, spears in their hands and electro whips at their sides. "How'd you get out of your cell?!"

Without even thinking, Anakin let the Force flow through him and out of his hands, sending the guards flying toward the opposite wall of the hallway.

"You there!" the Lizard guarding the door yelled, his partner close behind.

Anakin raised his arms in the air, his fists closing into tight balls. The Lizard guards rose into the air, grabbing at the invisible force around their necks. In no time at all, they were still and lifeless on the dirt floor. Anakin stepped over the bodies and stood in front of the rusty metal door. Inside, he could feel the pain coming off of the people. Taking a deep breath, he twisted the handle on the door, steeling himself for what he would find inside.


Old Man sat cross legged in his dingy little cell. The size and smell of the conditions didn't really bother him—he barely noticed half the time. A harsh knock sounded at the metal door keeping him barred inside.

"Hey Old Man! What're you doing in there? You're being awfully quiet; not planning on doing anything, are you?" a nephew of his said loudly through the door.

"Like he could do anything against us…" a second said.

It's a little rude to refer to an elder as "Old Man", don't you think? Old Man thought without a hint of annoyance. "I'm breathing, sonny. Just…breathing…" he said, his old voice croaking slightly.

"Crazy old man…" his nephew muttered.

Old Man ignored him, albeit he was smiling. From what he could gather, Anakin was making his way toward his friends. Oh no, don't go left, go right—yep, that's it, Old Man thought encouragingly. "Ah…almost there…" he said, opening his eyes and looking to the rusty metal door directly across from him. He stood, gathering his cane in his hands, preparing himself for what he knew would come next. "It's just a matter of time now…"


Obi-wan looked to the cave in front of him, Tryz the medic by his side. He knew that it was going to be pure hell down there, and that their reinforcements were far below par. He was trusting that the reinforcements he had called for almost an hour ago would appear before they'd made it too far into the dungeon. "All right men, let's move," Obi-wan ordered, swinging his arm forward.

It wasn't normally like him to take battles into his own hands like this.

The small band of men behind him switched on their head lamps, lighting up the dark passage way ahead of them. Before Obi-wan stepped into the cave, however, he looked up to the tall palace that lay to the west, not far from where he was standing—he could count windows if he wanted to.

Why haven't they attacked the palace? He wondered, eyeing the dark sky warily for any space craft, Separatist or Republic. He then realized that the Queen of Verocia must have been already evacuated to an underground bunker.

Or at least he hoped so. He knew Verocians—females in particular—could be stubborn.

I just hope she isn't trying to defend the palace. She'd better be somewhere safe. If there was one thing Obi-wan knew from when Kiki was first brought to the Temple, it was that he mother was persistent. Following the last of the clones into the cave, he turned his back on the palace and entered the dark maw of the opening.


Anakin fully pushed open the door, the heavy metal structure making a creaking noise as it opened.

No amount of training could have prepared him for what he saw.

The first thing to hit him was the smell, the over powering scent of old and new blood barely covering the other odors. Just beyond the light, he could see the emaciated bodies of two Jedi and a few clones. Carefully, Anakin stepped inside the interrogation room, and like a punch in the gut he realized that his team mates had had it worse off than him. They were considered "expendable" because he was the Chosen One.

This revelation only filled Anakin with a new burning fury.

"Rex, can you hear me? Rex?" Anakin knelt in front if his second in command.

"G-general Skywalker?" Rex asked shakily, cracking his eyes open.

Anakin almost started at the completely vacant, hollow look in them. Beyond broken, and almost beyond repair.

"Yeah buddy, it's me," he said quietly, using the Force to break the rusty metal shackles on Rex's wrists. His arms instantly dropped to his sides, and Anakin heard a small crack as Rex's arms were forced out of a position he'd been in for days.

"How…how did you—" Rex tried to say around the pain.

"Just take it easy, buddy," Anakin said, hauling Rex up and slinging his arm over his shoulder.

"The...the others…they…" Rex squeezed his eyes shut.

Wow, stubborn man, Anakin thought. Slowly, he made his way to the opposite wall, and settled Rex down there. "Don't worry, I'm going to get them. Just rest Rex," Anakin said, making it an order without directly stating it.

Rex mumbled something along the lines of "yessir" and let his head fall back against the stone wall.

Next, Anakin went up to Kiki. "Kiki, get up," he whispered, also breaking her shackles with the Force.

"Hmm…what?" Kiki asked groggily. Suddenly, her eyes flew open. "Anakin?!" she said too loudly. "How did you—mmph!"

"Quiet!" he said, pushing a hand over her mouth. "Help me with the others."

Laboriously, Kiki managed to get up to her feet, but immediately stumbled. She pushed away Anakin's offer of help and crawled to Jax's place. "I'm fine."

Anakin couldn't help but give Kiki a look behind her back. Stubborn as always. He moved on to Cord's bonds.

"Jax, wake up!" Kiki said, involuntarily putting a hand on Jax's face as she broke his shackles with the Force.

Jax's eyes instantly flew open. Kiki was in front of him. How was that possible? She was three people down when he'd last seen, and she was supposed to be chained to the wall the way he was. "General…?"

"It's okay Jax, Anakin came to get us out of here," she said quietly while she concentrated the Force on his bonds.

None of what she was saying was making much sense to Jax; her hand on his face was too distracting. Part of him wished she would keep it there; her hand was so soft and warm—

Get a hold of yourself! You're being ridiculous! Jax berated himself, not taking his eyes off of Kiki. Even still, his breathing was starting to get out of control, which didn't help much with his already sore chest.

He didn't realize his hands had been freed until Kiki took them in hers. "Are you okay? Is it getting harder for you to breathe?" Her concern was easily evident in her deep purple eyes.

Yes. Yes it is. Jax thought wryly. "Uh…no, General Jorani. I-I'm fine." Lie. Jax took a deep breath to calm his frenzying heart. Jax forced his hands not to start twitching nervously the way they did when Kiki was this close.

"Can you stand?" she asked, seemingly moving even closer. Her hands still grasped his fiercely, and Jax realized she was trying to rub some feeling back into them. Her blood-covered and scratched hands still remained soft and calloused at the same time.

"I think so…" Jax replied barely paying attention to his surroundings. But I can definitely feel my hands now, he thought.

Kiki stood back and pulled him up, grunting as she did.

"You're hurt, you shouldn't be doing this," Jax said, half way up the wall. Yeah, no kriff, the more logical part of his brain said. He stood up the rest of the way on his own. He looked around at the rest of the men, all freed from chains.

Except for Nirisa.

"Nirisa, I'm only trying to help," Anakin said, reaching up to pull on her shackles.

Nirisa pushed herself further back into the wall, resisting Anakin's help. Nirisa's body shook as she tried to move away from Anakin, the fear purely evident in her eyes.

"Anakin, let me," Kiki said, kneeling carefully in front of Nirisa. Kiki felt a twist in her gut when she saw the extent of the damage the Lizards had done to Nirisa. She couldn't even be near her own sister without trembling. Nirisa pulled her knees closer to her chest.

"Nirisa, it's okay," Kiki said, slowly reaching up to break the chains with the Force.

Nirisa kept a wary eye on Kiki when the chains broke, but otherwise didn't say anything. Shakily, Nirisa stood, balancing herself against the grimy wall.

"Are you okay?" Kiki asked, daring to take a step forward.

Nirisa nodded. "Yes." Her voice cracked, and she didn't move from her position.

Anakin suddenly snapped up, pulling something in his chest, but he ignored the pain and focused on what he was getting in the Force. "Someone's coming!" he hissed, diving behind the heavy metal door.

The group of injured prisoners huddled in the shadows created by the open doorway, Anakin directly parallel to the door in the shadows.

"Hey! Where are the prisoners?!" A Lizard guard said, not seeing Anakin to his immediate left, hidden in the shadows.

"What do you mean where are they? They should be right here!" A second guard pushed past the first into the room. He scanned around at the empty stations where the prisoners used to be.

Kiki's face was just visible beyond the edge of the door, but only at an angle that Anakin could see. He made a movement to tell her to move back behind the door.

The Lizard in the room immediately spun around and stared Anakin in the eye. "They're—!"

His sentence was cut off by a sharp twist of the neck, and he crumpled to the ground. Dead.

"Kal'churi? Kal'churi!" the second Lizard scrambled to his dead comrades body, sounding almost…sad.

Anakin almost felt guilty for killing Kal'churi. Almost.

Kiki took out the second Lizard with relative ease and without a second thought. "Come on, let's go," she said, helping Rex get to his feet. The rest of the group followed quickly behind.

As silently as possible, they made their way through the corridors, searching through each room to find their lightsabers and gear. Their slow progress was starting to make Anakin nervous.

"We don't even know where we're going, do we?" he asked eventually.

"Nope," Kiki said from where she supported Rex as they trudged along.

"Where are all the guards?" Edger asked, his voice sounding scratchy and dry.

"Either they're dead, or they're looking for us," Kiki said, lowering her voice the slightest.

Their conversation barely registered with Nirisa; she was too busy with the message the Force had given her before they entered this horrible place. She was beginning to sorely regret not telling Kiki what she saw in her vision, but she didn't want her sister to start freaking out over something that hadn't even happened yet.

Marik walked beside Nirisa silently, his bloodied boots scuffing lightly against the ground. Nirisa liked Marik, he was always smiling and laughing about something, and he had a sort of boyish enthusiasm about him that made everybody happy—except for now. Marik's eyes had a hollowed and empty look to them, and Nirisa could see that he was still shaking, however much he tried to subconsciously control it. His eyes were solely fixed on the dirt ground under his feet, not registering anything around him. Nirisa felt sorry for him. "Marik?" she asked quietly, hoping to break him out of his silence.

No response.

"Marik?" Nirisa moved closer to him. She thought she saw his eyes briefly flick over to her, but in the dim hallways, it was hard to tell anything. Gently, she slipped her hand into his rough and cracked one. She saw his body stiffen, but slowly he returned the gesture and gripped her hand.

Nirisa was regretting more and more not telling Kiki about her vision, feeling that it would affect everyone now instead of just her.

"This is one of the last doors in this area," Anakin said quietly. He could sense a life-form on the other side of the door, although the details were fuzzy. Did they take other prisoners? Anakin wondered, feeling a stone of dread drop in his gut. He hoped not.

The door swung inward, and there Old Man stood, cane in hand and a smile on his face. "I knew you would come for me," he said simply.

"Old Man!" Anakin exclaimed, surprised that they would actually find the pacifistic Lizard.

"Well, hello there, Anakin!" he greeted. "Come along, standing won't help us find your weapons, now will it? This way, kids!" Old Man hobbled down another corridor, not looking back to see if they were following.

Anakin couldn't help but smile at Old Man's misplaced enthusiasm. He followed the old Lizard down another set of corridors until they came upon a metal door much like the one that held them captive.

"Here should be your armor and weapons," Old Man said, stepping back to let Anakin use the Force on the door.

The heavy metal structure slammed inward, almost falling off its hinges. Carefully, Anakin stepped inside the dimly lit room. Shelves lined the walls, and racks took up most of the interior. "My lightsaber!" Anakin picked up the silver tube, instantly feeling safer with the weight in his hand.

Slowly, with Kiki's help, Rex made his way over to one of the racks, where he picked up his helmet. "Glad to see this again," Rex said quietly. He looked to the neatly stacked pile of the upper half of his armor; chest plate and all.

"I'll help you," Kiki said, picking up the bottom half of his chest plate. With painstakingly slow movements, she helped Rex suit up in the rest of his armor. She couldn't help but notice how spacey his armor was on him; almost an entire four centimeters was between his undersuit and the back of his armor. Kiki picked up her own lightsaber, gripping the familiar hilt in her dirty palm. Without her belt, she would have to hold it in her hand while they made their escape.

"Are we ready?" Old Man said, having remained silent up until then. "Alrighty then. I'll show you the way out."


Obi-wan walked down the dim corridors, heading deeper and deeper the farther they went. He could sense multiple life forms ahead of him, and he had his lightsaber in hand, prepared for the worst.

Up until then, they'd met little resistance from the Kirzmin Lizards. It didn't really work for them that they traveled in pairs to guard the underground caverns. "Tryz, do you have any life forms on your scanners?"

"Yes sir. And all but three are human. I think we've found our missing team," the medic said, covering his enthusiasm with a serious tone.

"Where are they?" Obi-wan said, stopping at a fork in their path.

It was a moment before Tryz answered. "Down this way, sir," he said, pointing to the left. "Unfortunately, we're not in range to try and contact them."

Obi-wan acknowledged him with a nod, and turned down the left corridor. "Well then, let's get in range."


Anakin followed Old Man down what seemed like another random corridor. The air was definitely getting cooler, a sign that they were almost out.

"How much longer?" Kiki asked, still supporting Rex as they trudged along.

"It shouldn't be far," Old Man answered, his cane making a light tap-tap on the dirt floor.

Suddenly, Anakin froze in his place.

"What's wrong?" Kiki asked, also stopping.

"I think…Ob-wan's down here!" Anakin said, taking off at break-neck speed down a corridor.

"Anakin! Wait up!" Old Man yelled to no avail. "Oh dear…"

Anakin sprinted down another corridor, following the signal he was getting in the Force. Right when he rounded a corner, he almost slammed full-force into Obi-wan.

"Anakin!" Obi-wan exclaimed, startled by the sudden appearance of his former Padawan. "What are you doing here?"

"We managed to escape, and now we're trying to find a way out," Anakin explained, breathing heavily. After all, third time's the charm. "The rest are behind me. Somewhere…"

"I've achieved contact with Captain Rex, sir. They're not that far from us," Tryz said. "They're down the way General Skywalker just came from."

"Alright, then let's go meet them," Obi-wan said, heading in the direction Anakin just came from.

They didn't have to go far, the group was close behind.

"Please don't do that again," Kiki said, huffing slightly. "Master Kenobi?!"

"We need to get out of here, and quickly. I'm sensing that we've picked up some followers," Obi-wan said, glancing wearily down the hall. "Come, let's go."

They had been walking for a little over an hour when Anakin began getting uneasy about the tail they were picking up.

"The number keeps growing, Master," he said quietly.

"I know, but we're almost out of this place. Right?" Obi-wan turned to Old Man.

"Yep, almost out," Old Man answered. At almost the exact same time as the four Jedi, he stiffened. "Everybody get down!" And not too late, too; red blaster fire erupted from the end of the hallway they were headed toward.

Obi-wan was the first to leap into action, having been the least injured of all the Jedi. Heavily armored Kirzmin Lizards raced down the hall towards them, hissing and growling as they took out their small amount of troopers.

Kiki activated her lightsaber next, striking down the Lizard that tried to overrun her. Unfortunately, that meant she had to leave Rex balanced against a wall, which subsequently only left him with one had to shoot. The only thing keeping him up, besides the wall, was pure adrenaline.

As if they were one, the group turned down a random corridor, trying to take out the Lizards in front of them as quickly as possible. Kiki didn't let the fact that she was reaching up to one hundred kills bother her—not then, at least. The Lizards were monsters, and that was that.

"General, behind you!" Tryz called out.

Each of the Jedi spun around, but it was Kiki he was warning. The first thing she saw was a flash of dark green scales, and then she felt claws begin to dig into her shoulders, with disturbingly sharp and bright white teeth flashing in her face. Kiki didn't even think; she thrust he lightsaber into the chest of the Lizard, and she watched as it crumpled to the ground.

Their group was getting pushed farther and farther back into the unknown corridor. She watched in horror as Bliz took a shot to the shoulder. "Bliz!" she called above the din.

"I'm fine sir!" he yelled back, continuing firing with both arms.

Kiki continued slashing down the Kirzmin Lizards, keeping an eye on each member or their dwindling team.

What she didn't see was the Lizard that charged straight toward her, blaster in hand and snarl in its throat.

Kiki felt herself tripping over something. It could have been a stone, or a body, or her own two feet. All she did know was that she was going down, and that she probably wasn't going to make it once she hit the ground. Kiki's back slammed into the dirty ground, upsetting the injuries on her back. She saw the Lizard loom before her, a dark figure in an already dim hallway. Kiki wasn't entirely prepared to die, but if she did, she hoped it would be a quick death. She didn't want to be ripped apart they way she'd seen some of her clones die.

The Lizard aimed it's blaster at her, aiming directly for her chest. Good, a quick death then. She saw its scaly finger close over the trigger, heard the distinctive click as the trigger was pressed.

But the shot never came.

There was a second shadow in front of her, this one much shorter than the Lizard that almost killed her.

Old Man.

His small body crumpled to the ground with a groan.

"No! Old Man!" Kiki screamed. She turned him over, relieved to see he was still breathing, although she knew it wouldn't be long.

"Kiki…" Old Man said, his voice barely above a cracked whisper. "Keep fighting…"

"No, don't do this! We're going to make it out of here—" Kiki hated the way her voice was cracking. Her vision was beginning to get blurry, smudging the image of Old Man.

"Kiki…there's good inside you…you just haven't found it yet…" he said, his hazy yellow eyes unfocusing.

"Please don't go…I'm so sorry…" Kiki pleaded, tears fully blurring her sight.

But, it was too late.

He was dead.

"Kiki we have to move!" Anakin's voice cut like a knife through Kiki's thoughts.

Shakily, she stood to her feet and reactivated her lightsaber. She didn't feel right leaving Old Man's body in the middle of the hallway. Nothing then felt right. Kiki was completely numb while she tried not to let the guilt of Old Man's death get to her.

Their still dwindling group began to get pushed back into an alcove that looked much like a small nursery.

The Force was trying to tell Kiki something, the darkness weighing heavily on her chest. She struggled to focus as she cut down the Lizards that tried to attack her. In the corner, she saw Tryz get shot, his limp body slumping against the wall.

Behind Kiki, Nirisa was starting to get surrounded by Kirzmin Lizards, all of whom were armed with blasters. Kiki tried to move to help cover her sister, but she was getting surrounded, too. The only one who wasn't having a problem was Anakin.

"Anakin!" Kiki yelled above the din. He looked up and made eye contact. He'd heard her, but he didn't look like he wanted to listen at the moment. He probably hates me for letting Old Man die. "Anakin, you have to help Nirisa!" She cast a worried glance back to her sister. Nirisa was in desperate need of help; Lizards were beginning to form a circle around her. "Anakin!"

Anakin didn't move, taking down the Lizards that came toward him. Slowly, he started moving backward to Nirisa's position.

At his rate, he wasn't going to make it in time.

"Nirisa!" Kiki watched in horror as a laser shot straight through Nirisa's stomach. "Nirisa!" Kiki struck down the last Lizard without a second thought, racing toward her fallen sister. She skidded to a stop and knelt by her unmoving body.

"Kiki…? Is…is that you? I…can't see anything…" Nirisa croaked. She held a hand over the blaster mark in her stomach.

"Nirisa, hang on. We're going to make it out of this. Just hang on—"

"No…Kiki…you have to go…." Nirisa's eyes were defocusing, taking on a glazed look.

"Nirisa…" Tears threatened as Kiki held Nirisa's cooling body.

"I love you little sis…don't forget that…" Nirisa's head fell to the side, the life completely gone from her.

Kiki remembered she used to hate when Nirisa called her "little sis"—it only made more evident that she was the younger twin when they were going through their teenaged years. But now, Kiki wished she wouldn't stop, if only to hear Nirisa's voice again and know she was still alive.

Underneath the pain and the loss that Kiki was feeling, she also felt a burning anger towards everything: the Lizards, the Sith, the Jedi, the war itself. It wasn't fair; Nirisa had never done anything wrong in her life. If anything, it should be Kiki who was lying dead in her sister's arms.

From that point on, Kiki had a hazy memory of what happened next.

All she could remember was taking Nirisa's lightsaber in her hand, igniting it, and using that along with her own weapon for mass destruction. She cut down almost anything that moved, close to relishing in the pain she was causing her enemies. Kiki didn't care if they were armed or not—she was sure she heard a few Lizards beg for mercy before she decapitated them. It was too late for them; they didn't have to choose what they did for a living. They could have chosen the peaceful life like Old Man did, avoided all of this bloodshed.

At least, that was Kiki's reasoning.

She was partially aware of someone calling her name in the background, but she didn't care to hear, and she didn't bother to try and focus. One Lizard tried to attack her full-force—a mistake that cost him an eye and most of his face. He crumpled to the ground, and only then did Kiki realize that he was the General of the Kirzmin Lizards, the one who had been doing most of the torturing. Well, glad to be rid of him, Kiki thought, moving on to her next target. She was blindly slashing, letting her roiling emotions control all of her actions.

Upon her next target, Kiki froze.

It was a child.

Part of Kiki was screaming at her to finish the job, because child or not, it was a Lizard, and the Lizards caused pain. Another part was screaming to stop what she was doing, that it wasn't right to be killing life forms—people—so mercilessly.

Kiki looked into the eyes of the Lizard child; saw the pure fear and terror in its glowing yellow eyes. A hand close around Kiki's tightening fist, and she jerked, almost swinging her lightsaber into Jax.

His chest rose and fell with the effort of breathing, and his hand tightened over hers, not in confrontation. He'd been watching the entire time, looking for an entrance to try and calm her down. "General…" Jax said quietly.

One of the lightsabers fell from Kiki's hand, deactivating and clattering to the dusty ground. Her breath caught in her throat at the realization at what had just happened, and she tripped and fell on the floor, breathing heavily.

"General, we have to get moving. Republic bombers are coming, and they're going to blow this place. We need to go now." Jax pulled Kiki up, grabbing her other lightsaber before they left. The number of Kirzmin Lizards had dwindled greatly, but they still came through the single doorway. Their four remaining clones—not including Crusade Squad—blasted their way through the enemy.

Cool air was rushing in from the exit of the tunnel, and for the first time in weeks, Kiki was able to look up at the stars, and see the different moons of Verocia. Off to her left was the main palace of Verocia, small enemy bombers floating around it.

Lizards poured out of the opening behind them, hissing and growling as they clawed the ground.

Kiki turned around, but didn't activate her lightsaber. Something was bothering her. "We can't leave her," she said quietly.

"General we have to—" Jax tried to step in front of Kiki and fire at the oncoming Lizards.

"No! We can't leave her body here!" Kiki began running for the entrance, but an armored arm instantly wrapped around her waist.

"General, we have to go!" a clone's voice said near her head.

"No! We can't leave her!" Kiki struggled against the arm around her waist. Another hand came to grab her arm as she swung out at the trooper. "Let me go!"

Obi-wan's comm. beeped before he could try to restrain Kiki. "Yes?" he said, the impatience loud and clear in his voice.

"General Kenobi, enemy bombers are hovering around the palace, and the queen refuses to evacuate. She insists on staying to help with the fight," the clone on the other end said.

"Tell her to evacuate immediately. The mountain is going to be bombed, and I don't want her in the palace in case one of our fighters misses," Obi-wan said above the noise of grenades going off. Now that they were outdoors, they were able to use heavier artillery. The grenades weren't the only things causing noise. A storm was coming, and wind was whipping violently through the trees.

"The queen says no, that it's her duty to help protect her people," the clone answered a moment later, the tiniest hint of pride and amazement evident in his voice.

It was too late; the enemy bombers flew down to the palace, some suicide bombing with their ships, other firing torpedoes and missiles.

Kiki was partially aware that above her screaming, the palace—the place she had lived in for the beginning years of her life, her home—was being destroyed by the same monsters who had taken her family from her. The amount of loss was too much for Kiki to bear at that moment. She felt she was about to lose her mind as she watched her home burn to the ground.

She was aware that her mother was still inside.

Kiki couldn't breathe. She struggled, but the air wouldn't go in the way it was supposed to, instead choosing to get lodged in her throat.

"General, I need you to take steady breaths, you're hyperventilating. Just breathe," a clone said, kneeling by where Kiki was on the ground.

Kiki did the exact opposite.

She passed out.


At this moment, Kiki decided to leave the room, a pained look twisting her features as she practically ran from the room.

Jax instantly got up and followed her. It didn't matter anyway—the story was almost over.

Kiki closed the door before Jax could get out, but he still went through to find her. He didn't have to look far; she was sitting on the floor against the wall, her knees pulled up to her chest. Slowly, Jax clumsily sat down by her, moving as close as he dared.

It was a few minutes before either of them spoke.

"You didn't go very far," Jax said, immediately wanting to kick himself for it.

The barest of smiles flashed over Kiki's face, but it wasn't anywhere near reaching her eyes. Jax was about to try something else when she spoke. "That was just a great way to remind me of how much of a failure for a Jedi I am," Kiki said, her voice sounding barely above a whisper and close to tears. She turned her head to the left, back towards the door. She didn't want Jax to see her like this.

"You're not a failure," Jax said, sincerity in his voice. "Personally, I think you're one of the strongest Jedi I've met."

Kiki remained silent, but her hands closed tightly on her knees.

Jax scooted slightly closer, reaching up a slightly shaking hand to close it around Kiki's. Marik probably would have had her in a Wookie hug by now, he thought a little sourly, a stab of jealousy going through him.

"I miss her so much…" Kiki said, her voice cracking. Unshed tears shined in her deep purple eyes, but they didn't fall.

"I…I miss her too," Jax said, gripping her hand tighter. He was telling the truth; Nirisa was a good Jedi, and while she was generally calmer and less of a loose cannon than her younger twin, she was a fierce fighter. Jax would have been glad to fight by her side again any day. Surprisingly enough, Kiki gripped his hand back, keeping it glued between them.

"I feel like this was my fault," she said, her fingers tangling in his.

Jax jumped, a tiny gasp escaping his lips before he could control it. Right then, Kiki needed a friend, and while he couldn't exactly think of himself as being a friend to his commanding officer, he was willing to comfort her however she needed. Jax hated seeing her in pain. Incrementally, Jax moved closer until their shoulders were shy of touching. He couldn't pretend he didn't see Kiki notice his move.

Kiki took a shuddery breath, her body shaking with the effort of restraining her tears. She hiccupped.

"General…it's okay…" Jax said quietly, keeping his firm grip on her hand.

A small sob escaped her lips, and she pressed herself closer to Jax, wiping her eyes with her free hand. She pressed her body even closer to his, and now the entire left side of Jax was against Kiki's right. Jax's hand went into the nervous twitching it did whenever he and Kiki were this close. But even then, he wanted nothing more than to wrap her into a tight "Wookie hug".

He settled for pressing his body closer.

Kiki thought back to two years earlier, when she had been fighting the people she'd considered "monsters". At that moment, she'd felt like a monster herself, the way she had enjoyed causing so many people pain. Kiki shuddered and felt Jax press her closer, probably mistaking her shaking for chills.

Her thoughts didn't mean she thought any different of the Jedi. She knew there were corrupt Jedi Masters—she'd had one. She'd seen what evil could do to people.

This war was monstrous.

And sometimes, it seemed to make no difference who got caught in the middle.

It was a war of monsters.


Well, glad I'm finally done with this chapter! Next chapter is definitely the bog Rex/Kanari fluff, and it will be told in Rex's point of view, so please tell me if I screw something up. Sorry for smashing together those character deaths, but I really needed to get this flash back done. And now, for future reference, you will understand why Kiki sometimes acts the way she does. Until next time!

~AAx