I Want to be Your Knight: Chapter 12

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With a quiet finality, the doors slid shut behind the girls. I swallowed hard.

My eyes darted between the two, uncertain which one I wanted to look at first. I was didn't know which of the messes I was going to clean up first. Nor how. I knew which one I wanted to clean up first: Neither. I wanted to go back to the bar and drink myself into a happy state of oblivion. Maybe live there the rest of my life.

How lucky for me that the Force, Kyp and the girls had other plans for me.

Finally, I decided I would deal with Seha first. I glanced towards her, but she refused to meet my gaze. Rather she kept her eyes averted, downcast. She looked so ashamed and demure that I wanted to hug her and beg for her forgiveness.

Before I could react, Jysella poked me hard in the shoulder. I focused on her, and found her steely gaze trying its best to penetrate my skull.

"What the kriff did you do to her, Skywalker?"

I blinked hard a couple of times, and shook my head. "Why is it automatically my fault?"

"Because you're Ben Skywalker. Everything is your fault," she shot back, the sheer venom in her voice surprising me slightly.

"Kriff, Jys! I didn't do anything wrong."

She pointed towards Seha who had moved away from us and was leaning into the corner furthest from us. "Then why was she crying? She wouldn't tell me. I know you were being mean to her, it's what you do. When I left, you two were talking on the couch, when I come back, she was there crying and you were no where to be found. Who else could have done it?"

I fought against my instinctive urge to wince. Jysella had hit the issues right on the head. I had been mean to her, even though I hadn't meant to do so.

Instead I shook my head, and leaned back against the wall. "Even if I had done something, don't you think that's between me and Seha? I don't think you need to stick your nose into it!"

I felt the flickers in the Force, a moment before she threw the punch. I grabbed her fist with the Force, stopping its forward motion, and stared at her. "Do you really want to do that, Jys?"

Her gaze flickered between my eyes and her hand. I saw one of those odd softenings that her face would occasionally do, before her eyes hardened again, and she snarled. "Yes!"

"Fine," I said as I released her hand. "But not here." In a louder voice, I said, "Level 3. Section 2." The turbolift beeped in response, and I felt the slight shudder of acceleration.

Jysella dropped her hand to her side, and stared at me for a moment. I proceeded to ignore her and focused on Seha. "Seha?"

For a split second her eyes flickered up to meet mine before sliding away again. Her voice was quiet, mouse-like. "Y-yes?"

I took the four steps that separated us, and used a finger to lift her chin, until she was looking at me. "I'm sorry I ran away like that. Can we talk about it later?"

My heart broke all over again as a tear slipped down the side of her cheek. "Yes."

I smiled at her, and let go of her chin, ecstatic when she didn't drop it to hide her face again. "Are you going to spar with me and Jys as well?"

She blinked her eyes a few times, and then they flickered over to Jysella. I cast a glance over my shoulder and saw her staring at me. She noticed me looking and in a surprised voice said, "Spar?"

I laughed at her. "Of course, you didn't think I was going to let you beat on me indiscriminately again did you?"

She frowned, "Well... I was kind of hoping..."

I laughed again, and tossed her my best Solo grin. "We'll just save that for special occasions. How's that sound?"

Her face darkened, and I grinned back at her. I knew that I shouldn't tease her like that. That I would probably pay for it later, that she'd do something like place some flitnats in my underwear drawer or some other prank designed to play havoc on my personal equilibrium. Yet I couldn't help it.

The way her lips compressed and her nose would wrinkle up, she was just too cute when she was angry.

The turbolift pinged, and the doors slide open. Jysella spun around and stormed off down the hallway, and I stepped off the lift. With that grin still on my lips, I turned back to Seha, "You coming?"

She blinked in surprise, looked around and then focused on me. "Oh, we've stopped."

I smiled and she stepped off the lift. Side-by-side, we walked down the hallway towards the sparring rooms. When we arrived, we noticed that Jysella coming down from the command center. She gestured towards room 3, and I walked in, Seha and Jys close on my heels.

Hovering around the room were about four dozen floating spheres. Training remotes. I hated those things. Their stingers won't cause you any lasting damage, but they sting like the dickens for hours.

Jys grinned at the two of us. "It's us against one another, against the remotes. First to four points wins. Any questions?"

My gaze flickered between the two of them. "Are we going to use the training armor?"

Jys frowned as she considered my request. Training armor is a lighter form of the vondum crab armor which the Yuuzhan Vong wear. Resistant to lightsaber cuts, it makes training sessions just that much safer. I doubt Jys would go for it. She was probably hoping for a chance to give me a decent sized burn, or maybe even chop off a limb or three.

She looked over at Seha, and then nodded her head. "Yeah, I think that'd probably be best. Since this is the first time we've sparred together after all."

I nodded, as we all walked over to the lockers that ran along one side of the wall. I opened the first one I came to and pulled out the armor. It was a sickly grey color and had a living pulse that I could feel as I touched its interior, yet it was as absent from the Force as everything Yuuzhan Vong was.

I grimaced as I pulled the armor on, and shuddered as it tightened to fit me. One size fits all is how the Vong do things. They think it's easier to have the living creature's muscles expand or contract to fit you than to grow things in multiple sizes. I can see how they would come to that conclusion. It just makes sense from a logistics point of view, but I still hate putting this stuff on.

I snapped the cuirasses into place, and then plucked the helmet off the shelf. It was at this point that I looked towards Seha, and saw her looking with unrestrained horror at the helmet. I sympathized perfectly. I turned to Jysella, and saw her grimacing as she pulled her own helmet down over her head, her hair bunched up in a knot out of the way.

Sucking up my distaste, I did the same. The helmet contracted as it sank home, the face forming itself to mine.

I still despised these things. Suppressing another shudder, I plucked my saber off the shelf and returned to the middle of the room.

Jysella arrived a second after me. Her armor a royal blue color-a shade brighter than what the Senate Guards wore right before the Clone Wars. Seha arrived a few moments later, her armor a brilliant green.

Jysella lit her blade and a shaft of silver energy erupted from her hilt.

I thumbed my own, smiling at its comforting blue glow.

Dual snap-hisses attracted my attention, and I saw Seha standing there holding two sabers. One a brilliant orange, the other a soft yellow.

She seemed to sense my attention, and turned her head to face me. All that was visible behind the mask were the green eyes, her chin and her lips. A smile flickered across her lips for a moment.

Jysella made an infinity symbol in the air with her sword-the sign that the session had begun, and the remotes instantly burst into life. The small puffs which controlled their movement echoed in the training room, creating a distracting background noise.

I snapped my saber to my right hip just in time to deflect a stinger, and then I was rushing forward, my saber coming around to a mid-guard as I attacked Jysella.

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