Allies and Enemies

Chapter Thirty-Four: To Fight For the Lost Ones

"Anakin!" I yelped, running over and hugging him tightly. "Oh gods, I missed you."

"Good to see you too, Kianna," Anakin smiled, returning the hug. I searched his face.

"Do you remember a single thing?" I asked.

"Bits and pieces," he replied. "Not much, honestly. Rowan gave my brain a good recalibration." I looked over at her. She shrugged.

"I just scrambled his nerves until they were back to where they used to be," she replied. "Not that big of a deal." Always the humble one.

"It is a big deal if we can cure everyone with this," I told her, now hugging Rowan. She blushed with pride.

"Is there anyone else here?" Anakin asked. "And how much time has passed?" I sighed.

"No one else here. Yet," I replied. "Did you tell him anything, Rowan?"

"I figured it'd be better if he heard it from you," she responded. I nodded with understanding, then launched into a full-blown explanation about what exactly had been happening the entire time while he was hypnotized. Anakin looked horrified by the end of it.

"So... all this time... we've been planning to essentially wipe you guys out?" he said, shocked.

"Do you remember anything from your time there?" I asked desperately. Anakin shook his head.

"Unfortunately not," he replied. "It's all a blur." I sighed.

"When do we go back to battle?" I asked Rowan. She shrugged.

"Depends on when everyone's ready," she responded. I nodded with understanding.

"I'm thinking we go back out in about a day then," I said. "Honestly, the sooner we get this done, the better."

"Fair," Rowan replied. I spent the rest of the time talking to Anakin, making sure he was the same person as before until he and I both fell asleep.

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I woke up and instantly checked the clock. About nine hours had passed, and I felt rested enough to check on everyone. As I sat up, I realized that the hospital wing was fully grown and everyone injured and dead had been moved there. I snuck out and made my way to the Portal Room, where most people were. I walked up to Rowan.

"Good, you're awake," she said. "I took control while you were resting, and scouts have already gone ahead. We were planning to leave in a bit."

"Perfect," I replied. "Well, as soon as the scouts give the go-ahead, I suppose we're good."

"Don't think you're leaving without me," someone said. I turned around, sighing.

"Anakin, you just got unhypnotized," I groaned. "You're still resting! You are not fighting."

"I feel fine," he retorted. "I'm good to fight." In reality, he looked okay, but I refused to admit that. At least for a while. We glared at each other, and after about a minute I finally backed down.

"Fine," I grumbled. "But please don't die. I seriously cannot handle that again."

"I swear that I will try not to," he replied.

"Do or do not," I argued, quoting a famous Jedi Master.

"There is no try," Anakin finished. "I know."

"Stay safe," I said, hugging him again before turning back to Rowan. "Let's go and finish this."

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A few hours later, we were still fighting. I spat out a mouthful of Everblaze ash and cut down more droids. I spotted Shahanda, but couldn't tell if it was Shahanda herself or Ashalla.

"Ashalla!" I yelled at her. She turned.

"Kianna!" she exclaimed with happiness.

"Oh thank the gods," I said relieved, making my way over to her. "So, um... how was your time there?"

"Insightful," she replied as we fought. "I learned that Fintan chose to stay behind the scenes and that all the villains are only coming out when their armies are failing."

"Great," I said. "Thank you so much for doing this."

"My pleasure. They didn't know a thing," she replied and moved off. I made my way back to Rowan and told her what Ashalla said.

"Good to know," she said, fending off rogue wizards. "Well, all we have to do is take down enough soldiers to draw them out of hiding." I started on that project immediately, slashing down hordes of droids, stunning wizards, Lost Cities elves, and Ardan Elves, and Petrified several Jedi. I could see the training shine as our soldiers fought. I could tell how hard they'd worked all these months.

Still, we were outnumbered. The soldiers we fought were like extra-powerful hydras, with five replaced every one that was cut down. I felt like we'd been fighting for hours, if not days before the crowd started to lessen. And then they appeared. Voldemort. Fintan. Palpatine. I gulped slightly and prepared to fight. I wondered if Voldemort had created Horcruxes. If he had, then we would just have to defeat him until we could destroy them. Simple. Not. We still kept fighting, and I made my way to Fintan.

"Forget it," I told him. "You've already lost."

"Not quite," he smiled, and then called down a wave of Everblaze and brought it down. I hurriedly took out my pouch of frissyn and threw it onto the flames. They barely backed down. I stared at Fintan in surprise.

"An extra strong batch," he grinned. "Perhaps too much for your little sprinkles." I glared at him. I knew that if I splashed my entire pouch of frissyn on the flames, it might make them disappear, but then I wouldn't have a single defense against another wave of the powerful fire. I threw a third of the frissyn on the Everblaze and then charged at Fintan. He didn't quite expect it and only just managed not to get speared on my lightsaber. He drew a sword covered in flames. I only smiled.

"Bring it on," I told him, and then we fought. I made sure to never let him have a big enough opening to call down more Everblaze. I slashed and cut and fought and parried like lightning, quick as a snake. Eventually, though, I started struggling. Fintan had only just started fighting, and I was going off of the energy reserves I had left after hours of battling. I knew that I wouldn't last much longer. I had to act. I channeled every bit of energy into my lightsaber and made about fifteen lightning quick strikes, one after the other, trying not to falter, because I knew that if I did... nothing good would happen. Even though Fintan had more energy and the Everblaze, I knew I had the upper hand with the sword. I'd been training far longer with my lightsaber than he has with his sword. And that's why, when I found an opening to kill him, I took it, and finally managed to defeat the hated Pyrokinetic. I slashed his throat and he collapsed. I panted and allowed myself about a second of rest before I continued fighting. Although I was exhausted, I knew I had to see it through.