Chapter Thirty: Screams and Whispers

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I'm so sick of speaking words that no one understands
Is it clear enough that you can't live your whole life all alone?
I can hear you in a whisper, but you can't even hear me screaming
- "Where Will You Go" by Evanescence

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"I thought you were going to get some rest."

Sanar looked up from the floor, where she had curled against the bed with her blanket wrapped around her shoulders. "I'll be getting plenty of that soon enough, don't you think?"

She wondered at how deeply Devnos flinched. "Don't talk like that," he ordered sternly, but she thought she saw his lip quiver as he spoke.

"Like what? Like I'm going to die? Like, in a short while, I'll be ejected into space because you don't care enough to bury or cremate me? Like your apprentice didn't poison me, for no good reason? Like what, Devnos?" she yelled, nearing hysteria. "Like what?"

He stared at her, shutting down his insides, as if that could stop the pain.

When he didn't answer, she gave a snort of disgust, only to follow it with a worn sigh. "I can't see reality in colour right now, Devnos. Thanks to your apprentice, it's black, white, grey, or the red of someone's blood splattered against the wall. Or Clayra's hair against Horaire's vest. Or…or Daddy."

To that, he had no reply that could be spoken.

"Damn. It." Sanar growled, dragging herself up so that she stood, her wobbly legs pressed against the bed for support as she glared up at her brother. "Just tell me why, Devnos. That's all I want. I just want to know why two Holy Brothers – already – have tried to kill me. Clear that up, and I'll leave you to ignore my death in peace."

Devnos heard his heart break in two. Ignore her death in peace, my eye.

"You killed a High Priest," he began awkwardly, hating how time continued on. How every second was a second wasted.

"'She doesn't have a clue, does she, Klis?' That's what Falat said when I asked why he was coming after me. You know something – some reason for why…why…"

Sanar's dark eyes pleaded with him for answers. Devnos looked away. "Horaire is the reason."

She cursed, and he had the feeling she had learned some of those words from Solo. "I am going to die," Sanar hissed, "and you won't even tell me why. Why?"

"There is also our family," he offered weakly, unable to look at her now, but even more unable to look away. "They want to crush you because you never let go of Father."

She snorted in disgust, then moved away from the bed. The wall was her new support as she shuffled to the side of the room. "I am so sick of all your secrecy and lies," she whispered fiercely. "Devnos, I deserve to know why Rafintair thinks I'm important enough to die on a Brother's blade!" Her breath came heavy and with difficulty as she glowered at him.

He kept his silence, IT surging against, and negating every response he wanted to make. Every comfort, and even every movement, remained only in his mind. I'm so very sorry, Sanar. You can't even imagine.

She raised her head proudly, even as her skin was too pale, and her lips stood against her face in an almost gothic contrast. "Fine, then. If you won't tell me, I'm leaving – and I'm taking my sister with me." She didn't stop to consider the new title she had given Jaina. "And you…you can just rot in Hell," Sanar spat.

He watched her morosely, unable to stop anything.

"I don't care," she told him, her eyes bright. "I – I don't – " Sanar faltered, her eyes becoming dazed and wandering. "I…ahh…" Her bones dissolved and she fell in a heap.

Instinctively, he moved to catch her, but then the pain struck. Lightning erupted in his brain, making him cry out. From past experience, Devnos immediately connected this pain with IT, but it was the Strings that whispered in his mind.

You promised us your eyes.

They had a point.

Devnos fainted.

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Krista had suggested that Zekk literally kick the door down – something about it being "sexy". The former Sith apprentice, however, had taken one look at the metal, well-enforced door, and dryly suggested that they try something else. Preferably a plan of action that would let him walk away without knee surgery.

Pouting her disappointment, Krista had nevertheless surrendered. Instead, she and Miko had set to hacking into the security console. Zekk could hear them murmuring softly, working with the ease of two people well-used to each other.

He had to admit, Miko's plan of 'attack' was working significantly better than that of most men Krista came in contact with. I wonder what he plans for her brothers? The dark-haired man shook his head. Miko would have to deal with more than just that, first; he probably had some time yet.

Zekk gestured for Cerasy's attention. "What do you think?" he asked, nodding to the hunched figures. "Wedding bells in a year?"

The bounty hunter scowled at him, tapping her blaster pointedly, but shook her head. "This took four years. Miko's got quite the road ahead of him."

"Well, yeah, but by now Krista – "

Cerasy rolled her eyes. "Krista is, and always will be, a flirt. Miko never reacted to her advances when they first met, so she lost interest. Right now, she couldn't admit she 'likes-likes' him if her life depended on it. Why should she give up her freedom?"

Zekk snorted incredulously. "But if she loves him – "

The red-haired woman shook her head vehemently. "She's just a flirt. A bubblehead, even. Miko turned to – and away from – the Dark side. He's looking for something a little more permanent than one of Krista's make-out encounters." Cerasy folded her arms over her chest. "Did you know her longest romantic relationship was two months?" She snorted in disgust. "Nah. It'll be a while yet."

"Oh." He frowned, but let it go. "Do you think they're almost done?"

Cerasy's forehead creased. "What?"

"With the hacking."

She blinked, then abruptly strode toward Miko and Krista. "Coming through," she said briskly, moving Krista out of her way. A few seconds and a spark later, the door hissed open, and Cerasy shrugged. "Why were we being careful, again?" she mused to no one in particular.

Krista scowled at the bounty hunter. "I wanted to open it! Why'd you spoil my fun? We almost had it!"

Cerasy rolled her eyes and gestured for Zekk to follow her. "Krista, you and Miko would dance around it for hours, just to be around the other, and pretend your motivation was innocent. Now, while you figure that out, Zekk and I will go rescue Jaina and Sanar. Got it? Good." She disappeared into the ship before Krista could protest further.

Zekk followed at a few paces' distance, and was able to hear Krista say indignantly, "What did she meant? 'Pretend our motivations are innocent', indeed! Really! What's her problem? Miko?"

Krista and Miko faded into the background as Zekk entered the lounge, but he knew the two would follow soon. Except for the sound of the team's feet, and Krista's curiosity, the ship was eerily quiet, and Zekk's hackles rose.

This wasn't what they had expected to find, and Zekk's blood chilled. His years as Onyx within the Imperial Court had taught him that silence was worse than any scream, and almost always heralded some kind of ambush or betrayal.

But nothing happened. Devnos didn't jump out of the shadows; no bogey man tried to eat them; there was no display of Jaina's broken body. What's going on? he wondered. Not that Zekk wanted things to go wrong, of course. But…that was how life worked. Or, at least, how his life worked. Everything went wrong.

He trailed into a bedroom, and stopped dead.

Both Sanar and Devnos were lying in a heap on the ground, a few feet separating them. And neither of the siblings' rest looked natural. Sanar was pale and far too thin. Devnos looked only a little better, with clammy skin and a chronic twitch in his left eye, while he swallowed convulsively. "Cerasy!"

With Miko not far behind, the bounty hunter strode into the room, taking in the scene in a glance. "You keep looking for Jaina," she ordered crisply. "Miko and I will take care of these two."

Zekk swallowed, but left the room. Was that how he was going to find Jaina? Unconscious against a wall, appearing dea—

He couldn't think about that, or he would go insane. Shaking off the memories of Jaina's death, he moved briskly down the hall until he found a small lounge. On the other side of the room, through a viewing window, he could see Jaina chained to a wall with her head hanging.

Running the rest of the distance to her, he stopped only to activate the door. "Jaina!"

She stirred and looked up just in time to recognize who had captured her lips in a powerful, relieved kiss. Just as quickly, Zekk pulled away, his eyes flying over her, checking for injuries. "Are you alright? Did he hurt you?"

Shaking off the clouds that came with the kiss, Jaina rattled her chains, bringing them to her boyfriend's attention. "If you'd just let me out of these…" He complied, and she brought her wrists down, rubbing the circulation back into them. "Thanks." Seeing the continued worry in his eyes, she shook her head, smiling. "I'm fine, Zekk. Really. I'm a big girl now, remember?"

His gaze suggested that it had not, at any recent point, slipped from his mind. "That doesn't mean you need to make things more difficult by blanketing our – "

"I love you," she interrupted, smiling sweetly.

He tried to continue his small lecture – really, he did – but… "I love you, too." Leaning down, he kissed her again – this time properly.

A few minutes later, both pulled back reluctantly, catching their breath. Jaina was the first to recover. "If this is the kind of rescue I get, maybe I should get captured more often," she mused dreamily.

He kissed her again, softly. "I don't think so," he murmured back. "For one thing, not everyone is as fortunate as you, and – "

Jaina pulled back abruptly, remembrance making her eyes dark with worry. "Sanar! Is she alright?"

Zekk swallowed and shook his head. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he said, "Both she and Devnos were unconscious when we found them. Cerasy and Miko should be moving them into the Second Chance right now."

Jaina followed him out into the lounge. "No. They'd best take Devnos on this ship – whatever it's called – and you, Sanar and I will take the Second Chance. Sanar is going to need some fancy Force healing long before we get back to Hapes. Meanwhile, however, this ship is pretty Imperial, so…"

"Everyone else is just ahead of us," he told her, nodding to the ship's entrance.

"Thank you, dear," she teased. Jaina leaned up to quickly kiss him again, then ran ahead to tell the rest how things were going to go down.

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Kip was just beginning to wonder if he had been left behind solely to keep Princess Leia from committing murder when he felt it.

Lack – stronger than before.

Garik Klamath took over the job of calming Princess Leia almost immediately, not even considering the fact that something might be wrong. After all, Kip was a clone. His every strand of DNA was planned. There was no room for mistakes.

Except, as Kip was discovering, there was.

His mind raced over the possibilities, searching for a reasonable answer. But all he felt was the lack. The incompleteness. The detachment.

Yes, detachment – that was exactly the word for which he was looking.

Kip stood and offered an apology, then went to leave the room. Perhaps some training – or even sleep, although he needed only a few hours of it – would better his situation.

He would never find out. Kip slid into a faint even before he took three steps.

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Please R&R :)

.Tjz