Uhhh, yeah...

We're back to the old unpredictable updates.

Chapter 2: Wounds and Questions

The girl strode through the town, ignoring looks and Imperial soldiers. She needed somewhere to hide. Somewhere she could actually get real covering. She shuddered, clutching the rags around her for warmth, wondering what the gazes of the more...questionable figures of the bustling market were about. She fought against the current of people, trying to get anywhere but where she was. She pushed against people, ignoring their irritable responses and made her way to a part of the community which was more empty. She looked out at the waves of grain rustling in the wind. Her eyes narrowed at the tall tower sticking out like a sore thumb from in the fields.

Perfect.

She made her way out of the city and into the tall grasses of Lothal. She now ran toward the place, stopping frequently for regaining breath. As the suns rose in the sky, she got closer and closer to the tower, finally reaching it. She moved toward the door, which automatically opened, triggered by the movement of the girl. She jumped at the unfamiliar technology moving, but regained herself, and walked into the old, empty building. She looked around, her eyes catching on a stairway curling to the top of the building. She mentally groaned, but made her way to the top of the building, lifting her legs methodically as she climbed the steps. She reached the top, regaining oxygen through breathing heavily.

Maybe she shouldn't have run the last flight of stairs.

She huffed for a few more seconds, hands on her knees. Then, she stood up fully. She warily looked around, relaxing as she saw that her feet were the only disturbance of the dust that had settled over time. She walked into the room closest to the stairs, still cautious. The golden-eyed girl peered around the darkened room, finding it empty, save for a thin mattress. She moved out of the room, going to the one next to it. This time, her curiosity was rewarded with rows of Imperial gear. It wasn't the armor the Stormtroopers used, but this lightweight suits were probably better for the girl's frail form anyway. Project Zodiac frowned as she made her way through the lines of equipment, dismissing ones that were easily too big for her, and taking note of ones that might fit. The female eventually settled on the smallest size she could find, slipping it on. A groan escaped her lips when she found that the cloth that covered her arms still hung far over her hands, and that the legs of the suit dragged on the floor still. The girl rolled up the sleeves a bit, as well as the pants legs, before mentally declaring it a temporary fix. The clothing still hung on the girl's frame loosely, but fashion was the least of her discomforts.

She looked around the room, looking at the various pieces of equipment before deciding she would leave them alone, as she had no clue what they were, and didn't want to take the time to find out. She stepped down the stairs more easily than she had gone up them, somehow managing not to trip over the cuffs of the pants that were unrolling as she thumped down the stairs. The young female strode out of the door, shivering a bit as the wind chilled her to the bone, even with the new clothing. Zodiac made her way through the long grass that she was barely as tall as, pushing her way back to the city. Her bare feet padded on the dirt floors and surfaces of the city, her face twisting into a scowl whenever something on the ground pushed into her foot uncomfortably, shaking her foot to get rid of it. She avoided patrols by ducking into alleys, hearing the chattering idiots from a while away. She wandered the city, trying to find whoever the hell ...Ezza Badger? Her mind searched for the name as she peeked around a corner, that thought coming to screeching halt as she saw the alleyway's contents.

The boy from earlier was slumped against a wall, head hung low, and seemingly unconscious. She winced as she looked him over, hesitantly padding over to him. She looked warily around, carefully examining the boy's injuries scattered across his body. She cringed as she looked at his leg, bent at an awkward enough angle for her to taste vomit rising up in the back of her throat. She swallowed back the contents of her stomach, carefully moving to slip her hands under the boy's arms, so as to drag him from the alley. She froze in the middle of lifting his back from the wall as she heard voices. Not a patrol. As quickly and carefully as she dared, she laid the raven-haired boy back against the wall, scrambling to a dark corner of the alley, trying to press herself farther into the wall more than physically possible. She slowed her breathing, attempting to take deep, quiet breaths.

"He isn't awake yet," a bored male voice grumbled. The sound traveled farther into the alley as it was made, footsteps growing louder as well.

"Well considering the beating you gave him, I'm not surprised," an unimpressed female voice retorted, "You didn't have to go so over the top." A blonde girl stepped into Project Zodiac's line of sight, provoking the experiment to shrink further into the wall.

"He had an Imperial blaster. Said a girl gave it to him." The owner of the male voice came into view, revealing the back of the head of a brown-haired boy.

"Uh huh," the unimpressed voice turned even more flat, "Look, we're looking for the girl. Just because this Lothrat said a girl doesn't mean it's who we're looking for. And we're supposed to be helping people, smart one. Not beating the ever-living snot out of them."

"But-"

"He's just a kid." The female voice said harshly. The blonde spun to face the boy slumped against the wall. She knelt, examining the boy's bruises. The boy hesitated before kneeling next to her, waiting for her judgement. "We're going to leave a medical kit here," the blonde finally voiced after several moments, "Hopefully a friend of his drops by this alley."

"He's a Loth-rat. Why would he have friends?"

"Someone who owes him a favor, then. Easy. Leave the blaster." The older girl commanded, dropping a box beside the boy's limp body before walking out of the alley, "We'll tell Zania we got nothing. Maybe the kid did get moved."

"She's not going to be happy about that."

"She probably hasn't been happy since the day her husband shot her in the stomach, David," the blonde said tiredly to the brunette, "We're behind enough schedule as it is. This was a detour at best. There really wasn't much hope for finding her kid anyway."

The brown-haired boy huffed, throwing the blaster onto the ground next to the boy. "This boy is probably going to die." He followed the girl out of the alley.

"Well, Zania did say, 'any measures'," the blonde said, her voice trailing away, "You'll get over it."

The boy said something else, too quiet and too far away for Project Zodiac. The girl hiding in the alleyway let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding, then scrambled over to the boy. She lifted him up again, and with considerable effort, dragged him to the mouth of the alley. Or tried to. She got ten feet before she was gasping and panting for breath.

This clearly wasn't going to work.

She stiffened again as she heard loud accelerating of something. She skittered into her nook in the alley again, keeping her breathing quiet. The sound slowed and quieted near the alley. A light melody came from the outside of the alley. Project Zodiac peered around the corner, surprised to see not a patrol of Stormtroopers, but an alien with a oddly curved neck. The alien was carrying something in his arms, seemingly whistling a light tune.

But that wasn't was she was interested in.

What she was interested in was the floating mechanism that he had just gotten off of.

She waited until the alien had gone into a building before picking up the boy slumping against the wall and dragging him over as quickly as possible to the speeder. She took no breaks, resulting in her panting for breath when she made it to the transport. She placed her hands on her knees, panting for breath before sighing, then heaving the limp boy's body up onto the automobile, getting him up in the back seat after a few seconds. She huffed air out of her lungs heavily before turning back to the alley and grabbing the blaster and the first aid kit left back there. Not bothering to regain her breath, she sprinted back to the machine, throwing the items in and jumping in the seat.

It was then in that unfortunate moment that she realized she had no idea how to drive the vehicle she was currently in.

She scrunched up her nose in confusion as she looked at the array of buttons and the simple looking mechanism to her side. She pushed a a bright green button, hoping it would work.

The machine began to hum below her. That was good...most likely. She tipped the gearshift carefully forward, jumping slightly as the vehicle lurched forward. She pulled the mechanism back in fear that she would break something.

That was the exact moment that the owner of the vehicle decided to come back. A string of foreign sounds came from one of the alien's mouth, most likely cursing at Zodiac. The girl quickly pushed the gearshift as far front as possible, yelping slightly at the sudden acceleration. She rotated the steering mechanism frantically, hoping to not crash. By some miracle, she managed to get out of the city without hitting anyone and only clipping a few buildings and other surfaces. She let out a visible sigh of relief when the automobile got out of the twisting roads made by buildings and out into the field of grass. She closed her eyes, slumping back in the chair of the-

Moving vehicle.

Her eyes jolted open at the thought, the golden-brown hue catching the communications tower they were seconds from crashing into. She reached out and pulled back the gearshift very quickly, yelping slightly as the sudden stop made her hit her head, not wincing when she heard an even louder thump in the backseat. She peeked in the back, seeing the boy she saved on the floor of the speeder. He groaned unconsciously, not rising from the floor. Zodiac rolled her eyes, getting out of the speeder to go and get the boy and drag him into the tower-

Then the question drifted into her mind.

Why?

Why should she help him? Why was she helping him? Why didn't she just take the materials and leave?

Why did she care?

She paused in getting out of the speeder, asking herself. She had no idea who he was. He could just sell her out to the Voice for something.

"Ugh..."

The girl flinched at the sudden noise, then looked over to the back seat of the speeder. The boy had an arm thrown over his eyes, identifying him as awake, since he wasn't even on his back earlier. A blue eye peeked from under his arm, traveling around himself before linking with Project Zodiac's amber gaze. She stiffened when he looked at her, then got up fully, breaking eye contact immediately. She opened the back part of the speeder, lifting the boy up by his underarms again.

"Hey! What do you think you're-"

"You have a broken leg," the girl said, deadpan, "You're not getting up by yourself."

The boy opened his mouth to protest again before it closed. He remembered nothing that led to this. He was looking for a buyer, then-

Pain shot up his leg, reminding him of what happened next. He grunted in pain.

"Sorry," Zodiac muttered, putting his arm around her shoulders in supporting him being upright. Ezra looked at her.

Did she...

...save him?

He stumbled along with the girl, too pained and tired to show his surprise physically, but his mind was reveling in it.

Someone cared.

"So," he asked, in an amazingly lively tone considering his condition. The way she flinched at his voice didn't escape his notice, but he continued, "Do I get to know my guardian angel's name?"

The girl stayed silent, but the repeated question didn't grant the same guarded look he got when he first asked the question. Instead, she looked confused and fearful, as if the question caught her off guard.

"Why?" he thought, curiously, "It's just a name."

Zodiac continued to walk the boy to the empty comm tower. She set him down against a wall, and muttered, "Wait here." She headed back to the speeder, grabbing the blaster and the first aid kit from their spot next to he front seat. She walked back into the tower, setting down the blaster, then walking over to the boy against the wall with the medical kit. She opened it, and immediately took out the little bottle she knew had pills that reduced pain. The doctors used them on her too often when she had eventful sessions with the Voice. Zodiac spilled out three into her palm, lifting them to the boy's mouth. Ezra said nothing, but just raised an eyebrow.

"If I wanted you dead, I would've left you in that alley," she said harshly.

"I was actually just wondering if you were going to answer - mphh," Project Zodiac took the opportunity while the boy's mouth was open to shove the painkillers between Ezra's jaws. She forced his mouth shut and waited until he rolled his eyes and swallowed the medication. She nodded in satisfaction, before going up the stairs to see if there was anything to help with the boy's injury. "You still haven't answered my question." The female continued walking, hoping the medication would knock him out soon. "Can I get a hint?"

She paused, then continued going up the steps.

"Aw, that's no fair."

She continued walking.

"Different question then."

Still walking.

"Why did you save me?"

This time, Zodiac stopped for real, looking down from the place she had climbed to on the steps, her gaze leaping immediately to the raven haired boy. She stared at him for a moment, before walking up again. But this time, she did give an answer.

"I don't know."

Okay.

I am so, so, so, so, so sorry.

I'm a horrible person. I'm a worse writer. I've come to that realization. I'm trying, I really am. I'm sorry if it's not enough. I became really unmotivated to finish this for a while, before coming to a realization that I'm a horrible person and should probably do this. I've been really depressed lately and I'm sorry I couldn't finish this.

You deserve so much better. You really do. I'm sorry I can't handle everything right now, but I am going to try, and I really mean try to get another past chapter up by at least next Friday. Because I didn't do it this time.

Thanks for staying. It really means a lot.

Peace out peoples...

Moonlightmistborn