So, this fic is moving along faster than I originally thought (or intended). Very well…
Kiki sat huddled against the cold stone wall of the dark, cavernous cell, knees pulled up to her chest and struggling to conserve body heat. Even pulling my knees up is getting difficult, she thought, watching where the rest of the clones lay lined up against the wall. Another wave of guilt hit her as she watched them shiver. She had been pulled out of the cell several times and taken to a room, something like a lab. Tests were run on her and she was injected with different fluids, none of which she could identify. Her best guess was that they were supplements.
She was also given food and water. Her guilt tripled.
Nearest her was Jax, and from what she could tell, he was having difficulty breathing. Despite the cold air, small beads of sweat formed on his forehead from his last bout with the electro whip. His hands were shaking and he was pale.
Kiki could feel her throat tighten as she was forced to watch her friends suffer like this. She momentarily pressed her face into her bloody knees, letting the warm air of her breath fog up around her face. After a few seconds she looked up again to see Jax staring at her.
"Why are you crying?" he asked softly, voice so hoarse it cracked mid sentence. His face twisted into concern, pulling the scratch he had along his cheek. He hated seeing Kiki suffer.
Kiki stuck her tongue out and tasted salty tears on her cheek. She hadn't realized she'd been crying. She didn't answer Jax for fear of completely breaking down. Instead, she looked back down to her knees, flexing her fingers to force feeling into them.
"General? Why are you crying?" Jax asked again, whispering so as not to wake the others. He pulled forward slightly on his chains, scooting a few centimeters closer to Kiki. The chilled metal rattled lightly. He flexed his fingers to force feeling into them. Very soon, one of the prison masters would come in and raise the temperature again.
For a moment, Kiki didn't say anything, instead choosing to press her chin into her knees. "It…" Her voice, barely above a whisper, cracked. "It's nothing, Jax. I'm fine."
Jax hated it when she did that—when Kiki faked a brave face and shut herself off from everybody else. He could almost feel exactly what she was; he didn't need to look at her face and the streaming tears to know she felt guilty. Sometimes, he just wished that she would open up to him. And then what? a small, condescending voice said. Heal her somehow? You know that's impossible. She's a Jedi; she's not even supposed to be feeling these things—and it's not like you'd be able to do anything. Jax looked up to her with pain in his own eyes. If he hadn't been wearing his chains, if they had just been closer, Jax would have tried harder to console her. It ripped him apart when Kiki was like this.
"I'm sorry…"
Jax's head whipped up, pulling a bruise on the back of his neck. "What?" He couldn't have heard what she just said. She's sorry?
"I'm so sorry…" Kiki lips twisted, and she folded them in to prevent a sob from escaping. She squeezed her numb, bruised hands in a vain effort to control her ragged breathing and shaking.
"What for? General…" Jax paused, completely at a loss for words. "There's no need to apologize…" Jax tried in vain to shift closer to Kiki. The last thing he wanted was for her to cry.
"You're all suffering because of me…" Kiki spared a glance up to Jax, barely even shifting her head. "The baby…" A small, choked back sob broke out of Kiki's lips.
Jax didn't know what to say to that. He cast his eyes down to his knees, the same cold, clenching claw pulling at his stomach. Pregnant…Jax still couldn't bring himself to believe it was true. Then she must be married—or at least have a lover.
That possible truth was a punch to the gut.
Jax lifted his head up to see Kiki's face was pressed into her knees again. It was very well—she couldn't see the pained expression on his face. If you'd even had the confidence, you could have told her sooner, the small, cynical voice in the back of his head hissed. You're chances with her are lost. Coward. Jax didn't let that truth gnaw on his mind for long—he had to ask. "Who's the father?" Jax swallowed and curled his frozen hands in nervousness.
"Hm?" Kiki lifted her head, her eyes red-rimmed and puffy. She hadn't heard him.
Jax's heart was pounding beneath his ribs. He swallowed around the lump in his throat, knowing he wouldn't like the answer. And what will you do when you do find out, hm?
He would likely do something her regretted, but he had to know.
"Who…who's the father?" On pure ingrained habit, and despite the frigid air, Jax's right hand started twitching—something that only happened when he was fiercely nervous.
Kiki's deep purple eyes widened, her mouth dropping open a centimeter. "Jax, I…" Jax was immediately regretting asking in the first place. "I…"
He was about to tell her never mind—that she didn't have to answer the invasive question—when pale yellow light engulfed the cavernous cell.
"I thought I heard chatter in here…" the female Lizard said, striding into the room. She was noticeably slower than when the temperature had been suffocating. "Didn't we say talking wasn't allowed?" She sauntered up to Rex at the center of the line, long tail swishing against the ground. With her scaly hand, she took the Captain's bruised and bloodied face into her hand, sharp claws digging into his skin. "See, now you'll have to pay for that..."
"Don't touch him!" Kiki pulled harshly on her chains, twisting her arms painfully behind her.
The Lizard ignored Kiki, continuing to examine Rex's face. "It's a shame I'll have to ruin such a handsome face…" she said, her long tongue flicking out briefly and hitting Rex's cheekbone.
A snarl formed in Rex's throat. On pure impulse, he whipped his head out of the Lizard's clawed hand and bit the scaly skin.
"Argh!" the Lizard pulled her hand back sharply and hissed, glaring at the Captain. "Why you little—" Her scaly hand whipped across Rex's cheek, splitting the skin and leaving three large red gashes on his face.
Rex's bleeding face burned as he leveled the Lizard with a heated glare. The pain was buzzing uncomfortably in his ear, and he felt he could pass out with the amount of blood he was losing.
The Lizard hissed angrily, tail flicking frantically behind her. She looked ready to strike Rex again, her clawed hand flexing and stretching.
"Lar'is? What's going on in there?" another Lizard, this one male, called into the room. His figure cast a shadow through the cell, temporarily putting them in the dark.
Lar'is was silent for a moment, her scowl deepening. Her long tongue flicked out angrily between her teeth for a moment before she answered. "I'm fine, Ri'dan," she answered, not removing her gaze from Rex.
Rex glared back defiantly, not backing down from her attack. The gashes on his face continued to leak, the blood dripping off of his jaw and onto his black undershirt. His breathing was becoming more rapid and labored than he would have liked.
Lar'is's lips twitched upward in a half smirk, her golden eyes drifting over Rex's torso, then back up to him. "I'll be back, Captain," she said, the natural gravel in her voice softening.
Her sudden switch from anger to flirtatiousness confused Rex more than he was comfortable showing. He aimed his cold glare at her back as she walked through the door, her tail swish-swishing on the bloody stone floor.
Aella cast her gaze down at Alick, not liking the feeling she was getting in the pit of her stomach. Slowly, she curled her small, bloody palm in his, entwining their fingers.
The medic didn't say anything as he packed up his med kit, pulling the pack over his shoulders and walking away.
Alick's eyes fluttered open, squinting against the harsh, spotty light of the jungle. "A-Aella…?" the swinging motion of the trees above him was making him nauseas. It was just a constant pattern of green, yellow, green, yellow.
"Alick?" Aella whispered, squeezing his hand tighter. She leaned down to hear him better, golden curled hair brushing against Alick's face and tickling his lips.
It could have been subconscious instinct, or it could have been a decision he made on purpose—but either way, Alick's hand tightened its grip with hers. "What…" His voice croaked, barely allowing him to get a word out. "What…" Alick shut his eyes, a headache beginning to make itself known on the left side of his head.
"Hold on," Aella pulled a flask of water off of her belt; momentarily removing her hand from Alick's to unscrew the lid. "Can you sit up?"
Alick nodded before he was even sure of it himself. Aella braced her hands on his back as he raised himself.
"Easy there, buddy!" a clone carrying one end of the stretcher he was on said, gripping the handles tighter.
Alick looked down to see the ground steadily crawling by, his head beginning to swim with the constant movement of brown and green. Bile rose from his stomach and burned his throat. Despite the fact that he was keeping balance with his right hand, he could feel himself tipping over toward the left.
"Alick!" Aella reached a hand over and grabbed the left side of his torso, careful to avoid the bandages that wrapped around his side. "Are you alright?" Aella asked, keeping a firm grip on his side.
Alick could feel the warmth radiating from Aella's cheeks, but he didn't notice that. "My arm…" He stared in disbelief at the empty space where his left arm used to be. "What happened…" his voice, hardly above a whisper, was completely empty of emotion.
"I'm sorry, Alick…" Aella searched Alick's eyes for any sign of alertness, or attention—anything but the blankness that dilated his pupils. "When the Lizard took you—do you remember that?" Aella forced herself not to call to mind the horrid memories. The sight of a human arm being ripped off like that made her sick.
"Kind of…" Alick muttered, still staring at the stump of his shoulder. Thick white gauze covered his shoulder and chest, wrapped around until it was secure. "Where's the rest of my armor?" Alick's voice was hoarse—he desperately needed water. He examined the black bodysuit until it reached the white belt that held his codpiece together. That same emotionless expression remained on his face.
"Some of the other men are holding it for you, as well as you helmet," Aella said. "Do you need water?" Aella didn't wait for an answer as she tilted the flask to Alick's lips.
Water ran down the side of Alick's face, but he didn't care. Clumsily, he grabbed the flask out of Aella's hand and tried to tip the rest of the cool water into his mouth. Almost instantaneously, Alick began tipping over to his left, and because Aella had removed her hand to help him drink, he almost fell off the stretcher. He choked on the water as the world tipped around him, the stretcher jerking to a halt.
"Alick! You need to be careful!" Aella rushed to pull Alick back towards her.
Aella's scolding barely reached his ears as he could feel his stomach turn with the sudden weight of water. Crap, probably shouldn't have done that! The water came rushing back up and spilled all over his lap, leaving Alick's throat burning and chest heaving.
"Oh, great…" one of the clones carrying the stretcher muttered, disgusted.
Aella shot him a look and quickly rushed to settle Alick back down. "You have to be careful Alick!"
Alick coughed as he settled back down on the stretcher. He hadn't noticed they'd been moving until he was back down on his back.
"How's your shoulder?" Aella rubbed the side of his head, briefly running her fingertips through his hair.
It was tingling, but it otherwise didn't hurt. "It's fine," he answered, staring up at the trees. A cool, wet cloth was pressed to his jaw, slowly moving up the side of his face to his forehead. "What are you…" He almost jerked upright again at the sudden sensation.
"I'm just cleaning you up. Your face is still a bit messy from earlier." Aella smiled softly at him as she moved the cloth to the other side of his face. There wasn't much dried vomit to clean up, but he wasn't going to like the looks of the inside of his helmet. Without a word, she began wiping down the inner cuisses on his thighs.
Alick shifted uncomfortably as the pressure of her hand moved around his legs. Here you are, getting wiped down by a princess, a small voice said. Alick's cheeks tinged a light pink as Aella's hand went over his inner thigh. Without moving his head, he focused his eyes on Aella as she did quick work of his armor.
"I think I got most of it," she said, wringing out the damp cloth. She reapplied it to his leg, his hand climbing a bit higher than he was entirely comfortable with. He tried to squirm away from her and was about to say something when she spoke.
"There, done! Feel better?" Aella smiled brightly at Alick, wringing out the cloth.
Alick could feel himself sag slightly with relief as Aella turned to put the cloth in a pouch. He squeezed his hand into a fist and then released it, feeling surprisingly better despite having just vomited on himself.
"You feeling alright?" Aella asked, beaming at him again.
"I'm fine, thank you, uh…" Images from Alick's rejection flashed rapidly through his mind. Alick's mouth twisted sourly. All of the bitter feelings he'd been suppressing up until that moment came rushing back. He remembered how painful it was to have his feelings so callously tossed aside, as if they didn't matter. "Thank you…Princess."
Aella's eyes widened, before they narrowed almost accusingly at him. Her pink lips formed a thin, hard line. She stood up straight, staring ahead. "If you need anything else, you can just call me," she almost snarled, her voice low and cold. Aella walked ahead, pulling her hand out of Alick's grasp. Her face was stone cold and bitter.
Alick rested back on the stretcher, ignoring the twisting feeling in his gut. He shouldn't have been feeling all of these qualms about the way he's acted toward her. He'd said what he did for a reason.
"Probably not the smartest decision you've made so far," the clone at the back of the stretcher said, leveling a cool gaze at Alick through his visor. "You've pushed her away even more now."
"Shut up," was all Alick could muster before he fell back again on the stretcher.
Obi-wan's starfighter sped past a burning Separatist dreadnaught as B1 droids and other debris were sucked into the vacuum of space through the unshielded hangar.
"Master, I think we're getting through to Courascant!" Sunlaou's excited voice said into his comm. "Master Mundi says that the connection is shaky, but that they're—"
R4 spun his dome-head to tweet to Obi-wan about the massive ships that were about to come out of hyperspace. Three Republic cruisers loomed into vision, canons aimed and ready to fire at the Separatists. He was currently staring at their bellies.
"You called, Master?" General Secura said, her accent lilting her words. "We've brought a bit of help, in case you needed it."
"Ah, Aayla, so good to hear a familiar voice! It's been a while," Sunlaou chirped before Obi-wan could even get a word in.
Always the flirtatious one, Obi-wan thought, smirking to himself. Four red blips flashed on Obi-wan's sensor screens.
"I'm assuming that isn't good…" Sunlaou said, worry lightly tingeing his voice.
At that moment, three more heavily armed Separatist dreadnaughts pulled in from behind the downed ones. The Republic star destroyers were faster and more numerous, but the dreadnaughts had more firepower and were more armored.
It was going to be a long battle.
So, here's how our gang has been getting along so far. About that moment when Rex was scratched in the face: the Lizards have five fingers, but Lar'is only used three—just so that no one think they've only got the three fingers.
~AAx
Edit: I only just now realized that I'd romanticized someone being touched against their will. I have changed that (it was when Aella was cleaning Alick's armor).
