I Want to be Your Knight - Ch. 22

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I jumped forward, and slammed my saber against the vibrosword held by the droid directly in front of me. In the Force I could feel Jysella and Seha attacking their droids as well.

I pulled my saber back slightly, and then dropped down, ducking beneath the swing of the droid's stun baton.

The Force wailed at me, and I tried to drop even closer to the ground. Unfortunately, I wasn't quite quick enough. One of the lower arms, caught my shoulder and flipped me up and backwards. Tossing me towards the wall. I slammed into it hard enough to rattle my wits, and slumped to the ground.

Groaning, I stood back up, and lifted my saber. I set myself into an attack stance as the droid barreled down at me. Its smoldering red glare sent chills down my spine; reminding me of the Hunter droid that Caedus had used as a bodyguard. And like everything else around Caedus, it had other uses. Like when he was too busy to perform his special interrogations. I had been placed into that droid's care for a little while after my first attempt at killing Caedus.

Raising my blade high, I caught the first blow, and then had to roll my wrist around, and drop my blade low to catch the next one. I was starting to pant, worn out from being in the cell without food or water, this much exertion was taxing my already limited resources. Pulling the Force to me, I attacked.

The next few minutes were something of a blur, as the next thing I know I'm standing over the smoking, sparking remains of the droid. Fighting off a shiver that wanted to race through me, I looked around to see how the others were doing. Seha was on the ground, one of her sabers gone, the other held limply in front of her, barely blocking the strong attacks of one of the droids. I glanced over to see Jys having a bit more luck with her opponent, as she danced around him, slowly nicking bits of metal away from its body.

I frowned as I watched the nanites swarm the damaged bits of droid, slowly rebuilding the parts that Jysella slashed away. It was like watching liquid metal flowing back and forth over the droid, and new droid magically appearing wherever the liquid touched.

I turned back to Seha, who I could feel growing weaker. Her saber was just out of place, and the droid's vibrosword slashed into the hilt. Energy pulsed out from the saber, flashing over the droid and Seha. Her back arced and her mouth pulled open in a silent scream. I pulled the Force to me, and jumped towards her.

Landing on the shoulders of the droid that was standing over her, I shoved my blade down into its neck. It emitted a strangled, electronic squeal as I slid my blade back and forth, vaporizing its internal processors; hoping that I would manage to nick its droid brain while in there.

Then its arm snapped towards me; the one holding a stun baton. With my blade in its neck, I was unable to dodge or block, and took the brunt of the attack square on the chest.

I flew off the droid, my saber slashing out through the back of the machine. The Force cried out in warning, as I screamed Seha's name.

A bright glow began to shine from the droid's wounds as I stumbled to my feet. I ran forward, tossing a quick glance towards Jysella. I caught her eye, and screamed, "Run!"

Her eyes shifted past me towards the droid and they widened slightly. "What about you two?"

My attention snapped forwards, and I tossed my hand out, pushing the droid with the Force. It crashed over to its side, and skidded along the floor until it reached the remains of the droid I had initially fought. "I'm getting Seha. No go!"

I slid to a stop beside her still form, noticing the gash on the side of her head. I grabbed her, and hauled her up, just as Jysella appeared on her other side to help me. I frowned at her. "Didn't I tell you to get out of here."

She smirked at me. "And you expected me to listen?" Then she barked a short laugh. "Besides, this is Seha."

I shook my head as we made for the door. She was right, I had no clue why I thought she would save her hide and leave Seha behind. Especially, after I had told her to do so.

We were still a good five or six meters from the door when the droid finally exploded. The force of the explosion through us forward and we slammed hard into the transparisteel doors. Why they would use transparisteel rather than glass or plaz is beyond me. I lifted my head, as another siren went off, and the mechanized voice began a 30 second count-down.

Cursing, I pushed on the door, only to find it refused to budge. My hand snapped down to my belt, reaching for my blade, and I cursed as it wasn't there.

I looked back into the rubble strewn room, but couldn't see it anywhere. Biting back another curse, I looked down at Jys to see her saber attached to her belt. I snatched it off, and thumbed its activation switch. With a quick, smooth motion, I shove the blade into the door, where I hoped the locking mechanism was.

The acrid stench of melting transparisteel burned my nose, and I slowly moved the blade in a large circle as the voice reached the final ten seconds. Jysella began to stir, and lifted her head to look at me, a frown on her face.

I looked down at her, the burning in my nose causing my eyes to water. The image of Jysella wavered for a moment, and I sighed. Softly, I said, "I'm sorry."

She gave me a small, wistful smile. A crooked twist of one corner of her mouth.

It was a smile that I hadn't seen in over a decade. The one that she use to throw at me when we were playing together and I'd do something incredibly stupid. The one that she had used to say she was sorry or that she forgave me. The one that she would never show to any of the other trainees.

Yet above all those memories, it was a smile. The first one that she had turned my way since my return to the Jedi; not as a sign of amusement at my expense or some type of malicious glee, but rather an honest to goodness smile.

It was a smile that made the broken remnants of my heart pound hard in my chest.

It was a smile that said there was so much she wish she could do. A smile that said there was so much she wished she could take back. A smile that said she knew what I felt, and that she returned it. A smile that said she was happy.

It was a smile that said she forgave me.

Maybe I was reading too much into it. Maybe she didn't mean any of those things, or maybe she meant them all and more.

At that moment, none of it mattered. All that did, was that she had smiled at me. More importantly, it had been my smile.

I watched a tear slice down her face, washing away the dust and grime that had settled on her cheek. Her voice was soft. "I know. I've always known."

The building quivered as the computerized voice reached 0. An almost sub-audible thump reverberated through the room, coming from somewhere deep in the ground beneath us.

I dropped down beside her, and wrapped her in one of my arms. With the other, I pulled Seha's unconscious form closer to us. Jysella's arms snaked around my neck, and I breathed deeply her scent. Her cheek was next to me, her breath soft and warm on my cheek.

Exhaling, I focused on the Force, pulling in huge amounts of energy from that mystical field.

She shifted, just the barest of movements, but I felt her lips flutter against my cheek, right near the edge of my mouth.

Then the explosion hit us.

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