Assassin (A Star Wars Fan-Fiction) Book 1

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Two

Obi-Wan and Anakin reached the ship, breathing heavily. Obi-Wan looked over his shoulder, hoping to see Denali following them. But he didn't see her. She wasn't running towards them, that familiar smile wasn't on her face, the sparkle in her eyes was missing.

'Maybe something happened to her.' Obi-Wan thought to himself.

"Padawan Kenobi, what's that up there?" he heard Anakin ask him, his eyes looking up at a bluff a mile or two away from them. Obi-Wan followed his gaze and saw the familiar flashes of white, following by the unfamiliar bursts of red in the distance. It was definately a lightsaber duel.

"Anakin. go tell them to take off. Hurry!" Obi-Wan said. Anakin did what Obi-Wan told him to, running quickly towards the ship. He looked up at the flashes again, fear rushing into his heart. He prayed that she would be alright and survive the battle, then he followed Anakin.

Denali blocked the red blades, her strength beginning to drain from her the longer she battled the Sith before her. He obviously couldn't tell that she was weakening, she was trying to hard to keep going. She couldn't lose this battle. Losing a lightsaber duel meant death. Death was not an option to her. It never had been, and never will be.

"You've gotten good, Zeffan." Denali said with a smirk as their lightsabers locked. Zeffan glared at her, using as much of his physical strength as possible as he tried to push her off the edge of the sandy rock bluff. Her boots began to slip as more and more pressure built up between them. She tried to push back, but she knew that it was no use.

"I told you, it's Darth Maul now!" he shouted as he pushed her one last time, causing her to reel backwards, struggling to get her balance back. He kicked her in the stomach, but she grabbed onto his boot. She refused to lose this. Her nails dug into the leather as he tried to kick her off, her body not touching the ground as he keot his foot over the edge of the bluff. It was easily over two-hundred feet down. She refused to fall to her death.

"You'll never be Darth Maul to me, Zeffan. I know you're still the same boy I knew four years ago, and you'll never change." Denali said to him, not moving her eyes from his gaze. He growled as he tried one last attempt to kick her off, but it had only giving her the chance she needed. Instead of kicking her off, he only gave her the momentum she needed to propel herself up into the air and over his head, doing a flip in midair, and landing with a THUD on the ground behind him.

"NO!" Zeffan shouted as he shoved his blade towards her, using everything possible trick he had left in his book. But with each swing, each punch, each kick, Denali was always one step ahead of him. She was always there to return the blow, the punch, the kick, the attack. She knew exactly what he was thinking before he even did it.

"How do you do it?" he huffed, his energy obviously drained by now. Denali was tired too, she just didn't show it. She smirked down at him as he was bent over, breathing heavily.

"It's a Jedi trick." she said, her white blade pointed down at him. "Now surrender, Zeffan."

"NEVER!" his eyes had changed from yellow, to red in less than a second. Denali stood back in shock as he suddenly attacked, his red blade swinging rapidly. She tried her best to block all of his attacks, but he was just too quick for her. She felt the blade make contact with her shoulder. She screamed out in pain, but didn't put her lightsaber down. Once he was close enough, she quickly wrapped her hand around his neck, squeezing his throat till he couldn't breathe and was at her mercy.

"Surrender. Now." Denali said through clenched teeth. He glared at her, not saying anything, as the grip on his throat tightened. Denali knew he wasn't going to budge, and she didn't seem very disappointed about it.

"Denali!" she heard a voice shout. The wind began to pick up, and she realized that it wasn't wind at all. It was the draft of air that was caused by ships that were landing and taking off. She looked p and realized that her Master had come to her rescue. The ship was hovering a few meters away from the bluff.

"Come on! Hurry!" Master Fisto shouted. Denali released Zeffan's neck as he gasped for air. She began to run in the direction of the ship, making her quick escape. She knew that sooner or later Zeffan would've escaped her grasp and harmed her even worse than he had done before. She leaped into the air, aiming for the landing ramp. She reached her hand up, grabbing the edge of the ramp. She looked back and saw that Zeffan was staring up at her, watching as the ship began to take off.

"This isn't over, Denali! I'll kill him! I'll murder him right infront of you!" he shouted up at her. She ignored him though, unsure of what he was talking about. She clipped her lightsaber to her belt, then grabbed onto the ramp with her other hand. She pulled herself up as the ramp slowly was pulled into the ship, closing behind her. She lay on the ground, trying to get her heart-beat back to normal. The pain in her shoulder was starting to get worse, but she pretended as if everything was alright.

Surprisingly, R2 was the first person to come and check on her.

"Denali! Are you alright? Are you still breathing? Can you hear me?" R2 asked.

"Yes, R2. I can hear you perfectly fine." she said. Then Master Fisto was next, followed by Anakin, Master Jinn, and Obi-Wan. They all ran in, frightened looks on their faces as they checked to make sure she was alright.

"Be careful sitting up. Oh no, look at your shoulder!" Master Fisto said as he looked at the large cut on Denali's upper arm.

"Relax, everyone. I'm fine." she said as she stood up. She refused to look weak infront of all these men. She had nearly killed a Sith, she was unstoppable. Not only was it a Sith, but it had been a friend from her past. She was strong, she didn't need them nursing her wounds.

"Denali, where are you going?" Master Fisto asked as she walked over to the door. She took a deep breath, not looking back.

"I'm going to meditate. I....I've got alot on my mind." she said.

"But you were nearly killed-"

"No, I wasn't, Obi-Wan! I had everything under control! I can handle myself! For once in your life can you just trust me when it comes to these things?! I WASN'T killed! I nearly killed HIM! I had my hand around his throat, if you hadn't noticed! He was at MY mercy! I wasn't at HIS! I was the one with the upper hand, Obi-Wan! I don't care how much you think I'm just some helpless little girl, the point is that I was the one who nearly became the killer! Not him!" Denali shouted and marched out of the room. There was complete silence between the four males and the one robot as they tried to process what had just happened.

"I should go talk to her." Master Fisto said, then left the room after her. Qui-Gon sighed, then rubbed his forehead with his hand.

"Obi-Wan-"

"I know, Master. I shouldn't have said anything." Obi-Wan said, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed.

"Maybe she has TMWTTKES." Anakin said sincerely. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon looked at him, confused expressions on their faces.

"Anakin, what exactly is TMWTTKES?" Qui-Gon asked.

"Simple. It's 'Ticked at Men Who Think They Know Everything Syndrome'. My mom used to get it all the time when she started dating." Anakin said simply, as if he thought it was a real thing. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon looked at eachother, then burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Anakin asked, confused. Qui-Gon put his hand on Anakin's shoulder.

"You'll find out later." he said as they walked out of the boarding room.