PAN!
My thumb stroked the ignition switch.
At the same moment, Pan turned slightly, beginning to look over her shoulder. I could see a puzzled look on her face. The turn was just enough so that when the blade sprung forward, it pierced through her left shoulder, instead of directly through her heart.
She gasped and jerked forward, pushing herself off the ground and leaping 20 feet forward, far out of my reach. She stared at me, then past. I heard a voice come from somewhere behind me.
"How unfortunate. Now you'll have to die a slower, more painful death, after the two of us have a little fun." Pan backed away, holding her shoulder. The man who called himself Sith strolled slowly up on my right. As he came up beside me, I saw the look of joy and lust on his face, and I felt myself explode. My vision clouded for a split second.
When I could see again, my hand was gripping the mans arm just above the elbow. He looked down at my hand, then at my face. I snarled at him, then fisted my left hand around the hilt of my lightsaber. I pulled him closer, using the leverage to help swing my arm around as fast and hard as I could, pivoting on the ball of my foot as I spun. My fist connected with the center of his chest. He flew backward, aided by an uncontrolled burst of Force energy I'd added to my strike, skidding to a halt a few dozen feet away, falling onto one knee and bracing himself on the ground with a hand.
"Gabe?" Pans soft, weak voice came from behind me. My head snapped around to look at her. She was pale, but still standing, which was better than most people would be doing in that situation.
"Can you fly?" She nodded weakly. "Good. Go home. Get your father, get Goten, get Vegeta if you can't get them. And get healed. Don't come back, send them." She stood there, staring at me. "Go!" I shouted. She flinched back, but took off. She started off wobbly, but steadied herself quickly and flew straight for home. I watched her for a few seconds, then turned.
The man was standing, watching Pan fly. I waved toward him, shifting him back slightly. He moved his gaze from her to me. His eyes narrowed, and he took a menacing step toward me.
"You've made a deadly mistake, little Jedi." Another step. "You've angered Darth Revenant, Dark Lord of the Sith. Now you will know true pain."
I smiled darkly. "You're no Sith Lord. You're just a psycho with more power than he deserves." I lifted the blade that still hung in my hand. "And now it's my job to make you pay for all the pain you've caused."
He snarled and reached up to grip the neck of his cloak. He flung it off to catch in the trees, revealing a black body suit underneath. He summoned a lightsaber to his hand, igniting it, turning the trees on either side red. I shifted my left leg back and held the hilt of my sword at my waist, angled up and away. I glanced around, taking in the surroundings; trees on either side, about 20 to 30 feet separating them, dirt ground, not much else. The wind blew through the trees, birds chirped in the distance. I blinked and he struck.
Revenant shot his hand out, blue lightning arcing from his fingers toward me. I swept my saber in front of me, catching all of the lightning on the blade. Coming up quickly behind his initial assault, Revenant swung his blade in a broad arc, coming down on my head. I ducked to the side, sidestepping his charge, tripping him as he passed. He turned his fall into a roll, coming up and spinning around lightning fast. He charged again, darting in behind a flurry of strikes.
I narrowed my focus, seeing the shadow images of my opponent, blade swinging in 8 different directions. One image darkened, and I put my blade in front of that swing. I felt his blow connect, pushing me back with the force of it. I grunted and swung my blade down to block a low swipe aimed at my legs. I continued to block his strikes until I saw an opening.
I swung my lightsaber hard to the left, intercepting his blade and knocking it off course so it missed me by a hair. I lashed out with my leg, kicking him in the stomach, knocking him back. I pressed my advantage, closing with him and swinging viciously. He brought his ruby blade up to block every time, taking my attacks and batting them back. He slowly straightened despite my attack.
He's stronger than I am. Maybe not by a hell of a lot, but it's enough. I'm not sure I can win a straight up fight. I fell back, falling backward under a horizontal swing and coming up out of range. I jumped back, taking three giant leaps to get far away. I settled into a crouch, breathing heavily. He eyed me from a distance. He suddenly straightened and reached out a hand. I heard creaking from all around me, then snapping. I looked up and saw tree branches breaking off in droves and then hovering where they had broken. I gulped. Revenant grinned. His hand dropped.
The branches came down on me like a brown and green rain. They were alternately pointing straight down to spear me into the ground and lying flat to bludgeon me to death. I extinguished my saber and crossed my arms. I concentrated and flung my arms out to both sides, yelling, sending out a wave of Force energy in all directions. The ground buckled underneath me slightly, the loose dirt on the top of the road sinking into the gravel beneath. The branches flew up and out, many of them splintering. I looked down in time to see Revenant covering the last 5 feet in front of me, grinning maniacally and swinging his lightsaber.
I didn't think. I dropped, sweeping at his feet. I caught one ankle, sending him sprawling over my back. I felt his blade bite into my thigh, causing me to cry out. I rolled forward and rose, igniting my weapon. He recovered just as quick. We eyed each other for half a second before charging. He swung his blade down in an attack meant to split me from head to groin. I raised my blade to block him and my free hand to grab his wrist to lend strength to my block. When our blades connected, I found his hand gripping my wrist as well. We strained against each other, staring through our interlocked arms at each other, lips pulled back over our teeth in silent snarls.
I could feel him overpowering me. I stared at him, then smiled. His expression faltered just before I threw my head forward, between out arms. My forehead smashed into his nose. I heard and felt the crunch, heard him cry out, and smelled blood. I stumbled back, my head ringing a bit. He stumbled farther. I stood straight, smiling. He looked at me, holding his face. He dropped his hand; his nose had turned into a flat, twisted mess and his mouth was open in a silent roar.
The smile fell off my face as I felt the dark power gathering around him. He screamed and the light seemed to be sucked from the world. Power exploded off of him, bending the trees away from him. His head was thrown back; he was screaming at the sky. I raised my blade in defense, though I had little hope for its effectiveness. His head snapped down and I saw my death in his fiery gaze.
He shot both his arms forward, fingers hooked toward me, saber hovering between his arms, unlit. Black lightning shot from all 10 fingers, crossing the distance between us in an instant. I managed to deflect one hands assault, sending it into a tree which immediately caught a fire so hot it burned it to ash in minutes.
The other attack speared through my left shoulder. I screamed. The pain spread through my body, causing my legs to collapse under me. My left hand opened, sending my saber inert to the ground. I screamed so long I imagined my throat had ripped open. Seconds, minutes, years later, the attack ended.
I sat on the ground, one leg tucked under me, the other bent so my knee was in front of my face. My shoulder was a constant sea of pain. I didn't dare look at it, but imagined it to be a ragged, smoking hole the size of a soda can. My left arm was useless. I was done.
Revenant stood, panting, seeming to be nearly spent. He looked gaunt, like he'd shot his own life out with the lightning. For all I knew, he had. He looked at me and smiled.
"You keep impressing me, little Jedi. I never would have thought someone could stand for as long as you did against a Sith Lord. However, now you have to say goodbye." He walked closer, calling his saber back to his hand. I saw the muscles in his arms twitch with fatigue. "It's a pity. I would have liked to keep you alive long enough for you to see me use your woman."
I saw Pan in my minds eye, and the rage that had been building in me broke through, flooding my thoughts to the point where I could think of nothing else. My right arm shot up and blue bolts flew out; 5 small ones, one from each finger, and one large, straight from my palm. I caught him completely off guard. I saw the look of utter amazement on his face before the lightning obliterated it. I held my hand up, continuing to pour energy into his twitching body until there was nothing left of his head. When the bolts finally stopped flowing, his decapitated body crumpled to the ground.
I collapsed onto my side, yelling out as my shoulder was crushed between me and the ground. I rolled painfully onto my back and stared at the sky. I reached out with the last bit of my strength, feeling for her. Pan…
Just before I faded out I thought I heard her voice, calling my name.
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I was warm. I felt something soft under me, supporting my weight. I didn't open my eyes, wanting to take stock of my situation before I added any more stimuli.
My shoulder hurt, but not nearly as bad as it had before I passed out. My leg where Revenant's saber had hit me stung. Most of the muscles in my body were sore, some of them twitching every now and then. Once I had determined I was basically whole, I opened my eyes.
I found myself staring at the ceiling in my room. I tried to shift, felt a dull pain shoot through me, and settled back. The lamp was on, but the room was mostly dark, no light coming in through the window. I turned my head and saw the clock; 11:34. I turned farther and saw Pan.
She was sitting in a chair beside my bed, folded over so that she was lying with her head on the mattress. She had her right arm folded under her head; her left was lying on top of my hand. She had a haggard look on her face, but was breathing evenly, obviously asleep. I heard the door creak open and, after another moment of looking at her face, looked up.
Videl was standing in the door, the light from the stairway spilling in past her, silhouetting her from behind. She looked at me and smiled.
"You're awake." I nodded. "We were starting to wonder if you'd come out of it." She stepped in, shutting the door quietly and moving to stand over her daughter. She gazed down at her sleeping form and smiled. Speaking quietly, she said "she's been in here almost constantly since we brought you back. I actually found her curled up next to you the first night, asleep."
I looked down at Pan, amazed. Videl stroked her daughters' hair, causing her to stir gently. She slowly raised her head, blinking, looking around. She smiled up at her mother, then her eyes turned to me. After a blank second her eyes widened, filling with surprise, and she sat up straight.
"Gabe! You're awake!" I smiled and nodded. Videl moved quietly from the room, easing the door shut. Pan moved closer to my head, her hand gripping tighter on mine. She reached up and brushed the hair off my forehead.
"I wasn't sure you'd come back," she said softly. "After everything I said…" I held up my hand. She gave me a quizzical look.
I tried to speak, couldn't, and cleared my throat. "I want to talk, I really do, but I really need a trip to the bathroom." She laughed and moved to sit on the bed and help pull me up. I groaned as my left arm shifted. She slid under my right arm and put her left hand around my waist. She pulled me up off the bed. I realized I was only wearing boxers, but dignity was low on my priority list at the moment.
I spoke as we walked. "How are you so much better? You shouldn't be any better off than I am." She grinned.
"Dad had a senzu bean stored away. He made me take it before I could go back to you." I nodded, feeling relief that her father was looking out for her.
We slowly made it to the bathroom. I went in alone, used the bathroom, and then brushed my teeth. My mouth felt dry and tasted like a garbage dump. I drank deeply from the faucet, letting water run down my chin as I straightened. After drying my face I opened the door. Pan was there to help me back to bed. She sat on the mattress next to me after I lay down.
She picked up as if we hadn't moved. "I don't know what I would have done if you had died." I looked at her.
"How can you want me to be here?" Her face took on a puzzled look. "I tried to kill you. If you hadn't turned when you did, I would've stabbed you in the heart." I realized I was crying. She smiled softly and wiped the tears off my face.
"But you saved me." I had nothing to say to that, just stared at her, not comprehending. "Don't you see? I heard your voice. You called my name, warning me. Because of you I'm alive." I thought about it. I had called her name, but I didn't think anything had actually gotten out. The smile fell off her face.
"What did you do to him?" Her voice was soft, a little fearful. I looked away.
"Nothing I'm proud of. I let my anger get the best of me. I should never have done what I did."
"Why is it so bad that you got angry?"
I shook my head slowly. "What I can do…there's an evil side to it. He used that evil. His power came from anger, from hate. If I give into that, I'm no better than he was."
She smiled. "On the contrary, none of us would be here if my father and grandfather never let their anger take control." I lay there, thinking.
Huh…she's right. And I don't think anything bad came from this anger. Maybe it's just best to let it lie, not think about it.
I closed my eyes and tilted my head back, sinking it deeper into my pillow. After a few moments I felt a brush of air on my cheek. I opened my eyes. Pans face filled my vision. She stared into my eyes for a long moment before dropping and kissing me. I closed my eyes and lifted my good arm, wrapping it tight around her. We lay that way for a long time, breaking finally only when we needed to breathe.
She was laying half on top of me, arms on either side. I had my arm still tight around her midsection. She stared into my eyes, searching my soul.
"I love you, Gabe," she whispered. My breath caught in my throat, and I struggled to speak. Finally I managed to push the words out, barely audible.
"I love you too." She smiled and bent for another kiss. The embrace deepened, and we knew no more until morning.