"Cere? Cere!"
Cere hears her name out of the dark. It's far away, and it sounds like...Greez?
But she's in pain. Her head is throbbing, and it's hard to open her eyes. Cere forces herself to sit up anyway, but her vision remains unfocused, so she keeps them closed. Her fingers dig into what feels like a solid steel floor, and she pushes herself to sit up.
It's not the same metal floor as the Mantis. In fact, something tells her they're very, very far away from the ship. Cere reaches up to massage a kink in her neck, her head swimming. Instead, her hand hits the hard edge of a shock collar. A collar designed for Force-sensitives, likely, meaning no using the Force for now. Spectacular.
Someone calls her name again. The voice echoes now, the sound bouncing off steel-on-steel walls.
Cere forces her eyes to open and takes in the view of a cell in the Fortress Inquisitorius.
Her first emotion is the same old desperate fear, deep in her heart. And then the vicious anger returns, but it's not the balm of comfort she had been expecting. It's not.
How could you have been so stupid? Cere shifts to sink against one of the walls and buries her face in her hands, regret threatening to boil over in her chest. Giving in to the dark side was never the answer. You know that. Look at what you've done.
"Cere! You're awake!"
Cere snaps out of her misery upon hearing Greez's voice again. It's definitely him, but she can't—
"Over here!" Comes another panicked whisper.
She turns to look somewhere on her left, peering out of the laser gate sealing the cell off. It has to be Greez. She suddenly spots him waving at her from an opposite cell just a short distance away.
"Greez?" She calls, her voice a tight whisper. "Are you okay?" She takes in his matted head of fur and the scabbed-over cuts on his eye. "Greez...you're injured."
He waves her concern away. "Ah, don't worry about me." He raises a hand to the top of his head, smoothing his fur down. "What about you? You okay?"
If she's honest, she's not okay. She's the furthest she's been from okay in weeks. "I'm...fine. Just beat up. What happened?"
Greez shakes his head, looking more grave than Cere has ever seen him. "I'm sorry, Cere. The Imps ambushed the Mantis. Didn't even see them coming." He lets out a dry chuckle. "C'mon, let's get out of here. We'll get back at them for stealing my ship."
Cere smiles, but really she just wants to scream out her frustration. She feels like she should: it would probably release the pent up pain inside. But she knows what will happen, and she's given in to the pull of the dark side enough times already.
Instead, she draws a deep breath, holding a hand out to Greez in comfort. "We'll figure it out." Then she leans back against the wall, trying to steady her breathing—but abruptly, she remembers something that makes her sit up straight again. "Do you know what happened to Merrin? Did you see them take her?"
Greez shakes his head. "No. They knocked me out, and I woke up here." He looks up at her, expression a mask of worry. He leans forward. "Cere...what happened in there?"
Her throbbing headache starts up again. She clutches her head, sinking to the ground. "The Empire, Greez," She sighs. "The Empire happened."
The hurt starts up in stronger waves now, and Cere breaks off, hissing in pain. Images start to fall into place, coming back to her. Images from the fight with the Grand Inquisitor, then with—
YOU ARE READING
Careful with that thing; it's been though hell
Fanfiction"Just give in," A cruel voice murmurs in his ear. "You were always weak. What's one more failure to you?" But he can't. He won't. He's Cal Kestis, Jedi Commander of the 13th Battalion. Jaro Tapal's Padawan. And he will keep fighting-even if it kills...
