Mistakes - Part 2
The spike in the Force was unmistakable. He knew her power anywhere. The same display of power when she killed the Rathtar - that same power that left him breathless and burning.
He wanted to join her. To fight. Watching the battle was infuriating. Forced to let others fight. To allow the filthy Jedi to get away with their hypocrisy a moment more than they had to… To allow Kenobi to keep breathing.
He saw her be thrown across the room through the holofeed and his chest tightened. She didn't move.
"Get up…" he hissed to himself. "Move…!" He almost reached out in the Force but stopped himself, he couldn't use it here, he had to be as undetectable as possible. It reminded him of a mission long ago, when he had to hide his true nature whilst undercover. But this was different, and more aggravating. He nearly stood, willing his legs to work as they had so he could go out there! Again, he stopped himself. The patience he had silently cursed his master for forcing on him was finally becoming useful.
It was then he saw her rise, her enemy having fled the scene with something in her slender hands. He watched Zaiya stand, witnessing the green smoke beginning to stream from her eye and his own widened.
He felt the ripple. The Force invoked as she stalked down the corridor, slamming enemies aside without thought. The power he could see and feel made his mouth run dry. There she was in all her glory.
The Siren of Dathomir.
Then he saw something that made his eyes shoot wide in shock. A familiar red lightsaber.
Nothing stood in her way as she stormed through the facility. The droids crumpled, thrown back as though from an explosion as she reached the hangar. It was here where there were too many and she let out a sound of fury as she sent another group back with a wave of her hand. She had no time for this! With a snark she felt a heavy cylindrical object drop into her palm.
Maul's lightsaber, she had repaired it for the most part, and it slotted into her hand as though it belonged there. She didn't think about it or why she had it or what it meant to use it. Only that she had a weapon in which to destroy her enemies!
Slashing, sweeping arcs of her crimson blade had the droids falling and scrambling to get out of her path as the scarlet sash she wore flared behind her like a streak of blood. It seemed she had caught up to her prey. Zaiya noticed, as she reached the exterior of the city, that Ventress was running for one of the round pod-like ships, DNA canister in hand.
She must not escape!
Zaiya extended her free hand, gloved fingers curling inward. Ventress stopped in her path, skidding to a halt as she witnessed the pod before her begin to crumple and cave in on itself, the shriek of twisting durasteel was heard across the battlefield.
There were no wounds, no pain, no grief… just the Force, and Zaiya's blinding desire to burn everything to ashes. Ventress turned, witnessing the other Nightsister, clad in black, save her signature Nightsister Crimson billowing out in the wind. Even the Sith assassin was given pause. She readied her blades -only to be met with another red one.
Ventress' eyes went wide.
"How-?" But the word cut off in a choke as the slender woman was lifted from the ground by her neck, strangled by unseen fingers in the Force. More invisible hands snatched away her lightsabers, as well as the DNA canister and Zaiya caught them both in her outstretched hand, latching the canister to her belt. The look on her face was murderous.
"You will pay for the lives you took today," Zaiya snarled with a glare that could melt stone. Her nexus eye was streaming with the green smoke, her power overflowing with the fury burning in her entire body.
Ventress clutched at her throat, her icy eyes wide in shock… and fear. Good. She should be afraid. She was a fool for underestimating this Sister… and she would pay for it -with her life.
Suddenly Zaiya's gaze left Ventress gasping face to look up. She barely had the time to react, shoving the assassin away from her and leaping backward, just as a stray rocket exploded into the ground between them.
The shockwave sent both women sprawling and Zaiya's vision blurred once more. The ringing in her ears sent her off balance, but her mind screamed at her aching body to move. She could not allow this pathetic excuse for a Sister to escape!
Hauling herself up, she caught a glimpse of Ventress retrieving her lightsabers from where Zaiya had dropped them and turning to run to the end of the platform. She let out a scream in frustration, the Force rippling as she dragged herself up and after the other woman. Lightsaber in hand, she did not get a chance to swing as she too reached the platform edge.
Ventress leapt into a moving pod ship, piloted by the cyborg Grievous - Zaiya reacted before thought could catch her. A hand shot out to the pod and it stopped dead in mid-air. The strain in the Force was phenomenal. Zaiya had not called forth such power before, her rage flowed through her and into the Force like a bleeding wound. The pain and desperation to hurt the other Sister coursed through her whole body. Her teeth grit, and her fingers curled. The pod's engines boosted, but Zaiya tensed further. Veins in her face and neck bulged, every muscle was so flexed it hurt.
Standing before all of Kamino, for all the clones and Jedi to see, a backdrop of smoke ash and destruction behind her, the Nightsister let out a scream of exertion as the pod shook, fighting between escaping and being pulled back.
"Let them go!" she heard a voice saying. They needed to shut up! She had to concentrate. The power was like fire running under her skin, burning her from the inside out. A trickle of something warm seeped from her nose.
"You must let them go!" the voice called again, and suddenly there were hands on her shoulders.
Her concentration broke and the ship shot off into the atmosphere with a lurch and the pressure on Zaiya snapped. She dropped to her knees and the scream that ripped from her throat was like a beast.
She looked up to see who dared to stop her.
Kenobi.
With a roar she swung at him, the crimson lightsaber humming and crackling as though it were as furious as she.
"I had them!" she screamed, forcing herself to her feet. She slashed at the Jedi, but the fight with Ventress and the overuse of the Force had left her weak and ragged, she could barely hold the Lightsaber now, her chest heaving. Her muscles burned, and her chest felt hollow.
"You were killing yourself!" Kenobi retorted, deflecting her blows. He was on the defensive but it seemed he was in far better shape than she, so when she stumbled, he was quick to catch her.
"I am not your enemy, Siren," he said firmly. Zaiya shoved him off, snarling.
"Yet you stop me from defeating the enemy?!"
"You weren't defeating anyone, you were just straining yourself," Skywalker interjected, approaching the standoff. "Since when could you use the Force?" His blue eyes narrowed, he was ready to jump in if Kenobi needed assistance. She wanted to wipe the smug looks off their faces, drive her blades through Skywalker's skull and take off Kenobi's head. Perhaps if she returned to Maul he might-
Maul.
It were as though she were suddenly doused in icy water. Reality crashed in around her and she lowered her saber. Her expression became cold as she began to realise exactly what she had done.
She'd exposed herself, her power… and of all things she'd used the lightsaber! That was not something she could explain away easily.
Instead of answering Skywalker's question, she fixed him with an intense glare.
"I had them," she repeated, ignoring the dizzy feeling that overcame her.
"Look at you!" Kenobi scoffed, "you're barely standing! Your nose is bleeding and you're wounded!" He waved a hand at her and she frowned, which only sent pain through her head. She touched the spot below her nose and sure enough, her glove came away bloody. A grimace marred her features as she looked back to the Jedi.
"It doesn't matter, you should not have interfered."
"Where did you get that lightsaber?" Kenobi barrelled on, pointing at the now deactivated weapon in her hand. She scowled at him.
"Found it, a long time ago."
"It's red," Skywalker pressed.
"How observant." She looked at him with yet another glare. "I found it like that."
"So suddenly you know how to use the Force and you have a red lightsaber?" Kenobi tilted his head, deactivating his own blade but held onto it. "How can we be sure you aren't Sith?"
Zaiya made a low disgusted sound in her throat.
"Would I have worked so hard to train these men? Tried to kill that bald bitch and retrieved this-?" she reached for her belt and the two Jedi had their hands hovering over their weapons. She scoffed again and handed over the DNA canister. .
"If you could do these things, why not say something before now?" Skywalker frowned. She fixed him with an incredulous stare and gestured between him and his Master as if to say, you can't figure that out?
"We will need to discuss this with the council," Kenobi murmured and stroked his beard.
"Of course you do," she replied derisively. Trying to stave off the panic on the inside. She was almost ready to climb the walls to get out of there.
"You will come with us, and I want that lightsaber, it looks… familiar…" Kenobi said suspiciously and Zaiya fought the urge to ignite it again.
"So you stop me from attempting to capture the enemy because you are so very worried for my health… and now you do not wish for me to seek medical attention?" she asked with a curl of her lip and tilt of her head. She decided to bluff, though she could not allow them to take the saber. "I suppose, but if I bleed out, that's on you," she scoffed, making a bit of a show of wincing and touching the bloody mess on the back of her head.
"Master, she hasn't posed a threat at any point, and both Cody and Rex trust her. She needs to head to the med bay," Skywalker said.
It seemed that while she had behaved strangely, the General had great trust in his Captain's judgement. Possibly. Or he was laying out a trap. She couldn't be sure. Her gaze darted between the two Jedi as they looked at each other. Eventually Kenobi seemed to concede the point and nodded finally.
"Fine, but in light of this, you will be placed under guard," Kenobi warned and Zaiya rolled her eyes with a sigh.
"I want to see Ninety-Nine," she said abruptly. "Take me to him." It was too much to hide the slight waver in her voice at the mention of the clone's name. The two Jedi paused, and nodded and Zaiya pushed past, walking forward to meet with the worried faces of Rex, Cody and Rex.
"We'll take care of it, General." Cody spoke up, and she noticed they looked past her, and watched the Jedi until they left the platform to head inside. Zaiya didn't even look at them as they passed, her eyes focused ahead, her jaw set in place.
"What was that?" Rex asked, she tried to ignore the raw edge in his voice.
"The Jedi and the Republic are going to call me a traitor or a spy." There was no question in her mind about the result of her own stupid temper tantrum.
"Are you?" Alpha asked roughly.
"I was never loyal to the Republic," she sneered. "I carry a Sith weapon. You don't even know my real name." It was almost a taunt. Better this way that they were clear. She was about to be marked as their enemy anyway.
"Then why do you want to see Ninety-Nine?" She paused in her step for a moment, then continued. Zaiya could not bring herself to answer. The med bay was packed and full of wounded and dying and the pain rippling in the Force hit her in the chest like a shot. She was no longer suppressing her connection to the Force and it was hard to take the sheer amount of anguish and agony she felt there. Her breathing was tagged and she tried to steel herself for what she knew she would see. Sure enough, toward the back of the room was another door, and speaking with a clone there she was taken to the bodies.
There were so many. Tables laden with them, being scanned and catalogued by droids and clones, tending to their fallen brothers.
The first one she spotted was Havoc. A shot right between his eyes. Her hearts lurched and she grit her teeth. Then Colt. A lightsaber scorch in the middle of his chest and a kiss mark on the corner of his mouth.
They kept walking to another table, this clone positioned differently. It was him. The sweetest, kindest being she had encountered in this whole galaxy. The one with the most unshakeable faith in his brothers. The one that believed anything was possible. She tried to hold it in. To be strong. To keep it in. But she sank to her knees as her gloved hand grasped his cold one. She would never hear his laugh again, or his stories, or see the way his brown eyes would light up when she invited him to 'help' her train. Never again.
"We were with him when he…" Rex trailed off.
"He acted like a true soldier," Cody added.
"He always was," she replied, and her voice was hoarse even to her ears. "He was always one of you."
"We know…" Alpha said, "but you can't stay in that thought, you can't take this on too, you didn't do this, Siren." It was sobering and her face dropped to a cold mask once more.
"No I suppose not." She rose to her feet, back straight and shoulders back but her head down. "I was not the one the commissioned millions of living breathing men as property to be thrown at an endless sea of droids…"
There was a silence for a moment and she turned away, her mind beginning to turn, back toward the med bay. But she kept walking, and headed to the door, back out to the hallway, walking fast so the other three had to jog to catch up through the throng of people.
"You need bacta, Ver'alor," Rex said with a gesture.
"I don't think I deserve that title, Rex," she replied. "Not with what I'm about to do."
"What?" he frowned, and she met his gaze.
"Despite everything that's happened, that will happen, or what you will think of me in the future… I have learned so much with you boys. You're the pride of this military." There was a pained smile on her face and Alpha's eyes widened.
"Don't-"
"I'm sorry."
With that she jumped back and used to Force to shove the three hard enough for them to be sent sprawling, and she took off down the hall. She ran, in a full sprint, she didn't have time, but she needed to make a quick stop before she went.
The corridors around her office were empty, and it was where she stored some of her most important items. The beads for her braids, the data sticks she had used to catalogue information, and the droid she had commandeered for her time on Kamino. The droid whirred to life as she entered and before it could complete its greeting she called out.
"Initiate Damage Control Protocols," she instructed and its ocular implants lit up in a crimson hue, beginning to grab any item that might have been regarded as personal, and collect it for incineration. It would do the same in her quarters, hopefully they did not notice the droid until it was too late.
She'd grabbed all her important things and turned to go, when she heard thundering footsteps down the hall. But only one set. She'd grabbed the final data stick, the recording she'd just made now finished as the door rushed open.
"What are you doing?" Alpha panted, a scowl on his face.
"We knew this day was coming, Alpha, that I would have to go eventually." She grimaced, "I thought I had more time."
"This is how you're leaving?!"
"If I don't, they will lock me up and brand me a traitor," she snapped back.
"If you run now you'll definitely be branded one! If you stay, it'll be bantha shit but there's a better chance!" He was clutching at straws and they both knew it.
"You think I could do that? Sit and wait while I'm locked in a cage?" she asked. His shoulders slumped.
"No… no you wouldn't."
"I didn't want it to be this way, but this is just how it is." He stared at her for a long while and then his mouth tightened into a firm line.
"I won't stop you. I don't care what the karking Senate or long necks will say. You taught us well and you care about us. You're no traitor." Zaiya's lips pulled into a smile, albeit a sad one. She held out the data stick she had just taken from her desk console.
"Here, you can show the boys when you think it's time," she replied and he looked at it. "I didn't have time to say goodbye properly."
"How will I know?" he asked with a frown.
"It's not encrypted," she replied. He could watch it anytime. He took the stick and clenched his fist and suddenly crossed the room to her side. He swept one hand behind her head and pressed his forehead firmly to his.
"K'oyacyi, Siren, k'oyacyi…!" He spoke through grit teeth.
"You too, Alpha," she whispered. And returned the gesture.
A second later there were more footsteps and Zaiya readied herself for a fight- but it was Hunter, Wrecker, Crosshair and Tech.
"We saw the Captain…" Wrecker started, his face forlorn.
"Is it true what they said? That you're one of them?" Hunter growled angrily, the hurt clear in his eyes. They were looking for answers, not to arrest her it seemed.
"I'm not a Sith. I'm not a Jedi, nor even a fallen one… I'm not even really a Nightsister…" she sighed. "I told you before, I don't belong anywhere." She shrugged.
"You're leaving." Crosshair accused.
"Unfortunately, yes." She nodded and moved to go past them, though Wrecker stood in her way, his eyes brimming with unshed tears.
"I don't want you to go," he said in a voice that made her hearts break.
"I don't want to either, Tiny. I wanna stay right here with you boys… but it's too late… I'm an outlaw and a traitor." She shrugged and Wrecker grabbed her in a huge hug, burying his head in her shoulder. She needed to go and her sense of anxiety screamed at her to push him back and run. But she couldn't, and so hugged him back, petting the back of his head gently.
"I'll miss you," he mumbled into her jacket. She chuckled softly.
"Not as much as I'll miss you, Tiny," she said, equally quiet, and pressed her forehead to his for a moment. She could feel him trembling. After a second he put her down and Hunter, for all his bravado and maturity, he too hugged her goodbye, a tight embrace that ebbed a deep sadness.
"Look after them," she told him and all he could do was nod. He too pressed his forehead to hers in what was a very familiar gesture by now. Tech followed suit, even if his hug was a little awkward, like he didn't know what to do. She petted the back of his head gently as she parted from him, and his goggles were a little fogged.
"I finished that program," he managed, his voice shaken for a moment before he cleared his throat and handed her a small data disc. Her eyes widened, she had not expected it to be done so quickly.
"Perfect timing…" she whispered with a chuckle and grinned at him. "Are you sure giving it to me now is wise?"
"Probably not. But I trust you." He seemed much surer now and nodded. She returned the gesture and tucked the disc in her jacket. She would need it very shortly.
Finally, Crosshair stood in front of her. His eyes burned with an emotion she was not able to label.
"You're leaving," he repeated, but his voice was less angry.
"Either I go now or they lock me up, Cross."
"Because of that." He pointed at the lightsaber on her belt. She'd managed to keep hold of it.
"Yes." She could see he was angry, and he knew it was her fault. But she did not have time for this! The Jedi would be coming and she could not be seen with these boys -lest they be swept into this.
"You'd better not die," Crosshair snapped.
"You'll miss me? How touching," she teased with a smirk. It was a little flat, considering how raw she felt. The sniper let out a low growl and seemed frustrated, when suddenly he pulled her close- and kissed her.
Zaiya froze.
What in the Void was happening right now?
He stayed close for a moment, and she rested a hand very gently on his shoulder to push him back but he was already pulling away to press his forehead on hers. His eyes squeezed shut and he almost looked like he was in pain. Zaiya didn't know why he'd done that, but she didn't have the time to think about it.
"Hey," she whispered, "it's going to be alright." Her voice was gentle and she petted his neck. "It's not like I'm dying, besides, there's little more you boys can learn from me. You're ready." She stepped back as she heard shouts in the distance. She grimaced and kept walking back a few paces. "It's time," She looked at each of them, and gave the group a salute, a proper one, which they returned. "Re'turcye mhi."
With a wave of her hand, a green mist appeared around her, encircling her form, and after another moment, she was entirely enveloped… then disappeared completely.
Notes:
Hello!
How are you my friends? I hope you are liking the tasty angstiness! What about that last bit? Cross? What r u doin? Haha! As for next week, we shall see what happens to her and Maul. Let's hope they make it out alright, hm?
I have gotten a few questions for the Q&A, but I am always open for more! Please please, let me know if you have questions about the story, characters, writing process, information etc etc! Only four weeks left until the 100th chapter! I'm so excited! You have no idea!
As always, even if you don't have a question I love the comments! I would love to see what you have to say, feedback, thoughts or comments are encouraged, it really helps me keep going when things get rough.
Anyway, I hope you liked it, and I will see you all next week!
