Author's Games: Star Wars

Sponsorship Task: Jedi Male Kanan

I decided to go ahead and post my entry early so that way you guys know that I handed in on time. I'll do the same with my husband's (if or when he hands in, haha). Remember, the due date to hand in is February 14th, so you guys have approximately six days to hand in. DONT BE LATE. Anyway... my word count was 1, 169 (close). I'd love feedback! Enjoy! 

Out of the darkness emerged shadows, furious and thick with rage and hatred.

Kanan's eyes snapped open. The black walls only reminded him of the nightmare that had been relentlessly tormenting him for months. The ray shielded, electro-energy buzzed as it swam around him from where he floated in air. His ankles and wrists were chained by the same energy that floated around his body, preventing him from moving. Although three of his limbs were mechanical, he could still feel the electric pulses coursing through them. The pulses shut down all the droid parts inside him, from his right mechanical eye, to the artificial neurotransmitters in his brain, making his reactions slow and lethargic.

Suddenly, the Force itself trembled as a familiar and dark presence entered the room.

Darth Vader.

"Vader," he hissed with as much venom as his weakened body could manage. "What do I owe the pleasure?" His sarcasm was lost in his hoarse voice, thick with pain.

"You have evaded me long enough, Kanan. Now... it is over."

Desperate as he was, Kanan tried to keep his mind focused on Vader. Only Vader. Instead, images of his beloved wife slipped into his thoughts. His own mind betrayed him, creating fear... fear for what was to become of her.

"I can sense your fear. It does no good to try to hide it."

Kanan clenched his teeth, but said nothing.

"Don't you want to know what has become of your precious wife? Or the child she carries?"

Kanan winced. "You know that I do." His heart tightened and his stomach twisted. He couldn't help it. The thought of his wife and unborn child in the clutches of the Empire...

He swallowed back bile.

"Very well, then."

The door lifted up and in walked Adaara. Walked... not escorted like Kanan originally expected. Her red and white skin contrasted the dimly lit room. Her lekku—the bottom part of the tails on her head—extended down her shoulders reaching her waist, white with gray stripes. The stripes lessened as the lekku grew bigger, forming two montrals on top of her head, both white except for the gray tips. Her last lekku rested against her back, though Kanan couldn't see it while she faced him, he could easily picture it in his mind.

"Adaara?" Kanan's voice was full of shock, yet somehow it remained a low murmur.

"Yes. We have her to thank for the discovery of your whereabouts." Even though Vader wore a mask and had a mechanical voice, the way he phrased each word so carefully made it seem as if he was sneering.

"No. That's not true." Kanan glared at Vader, before softening his gaze as he shifted his eyes onto his beloved wife.

Adaara stepped forward, twisting her fingers around the bottom of her front right lekku, like she always did when she was unsure what to say. "Kanan... it's true."

Even hearing it out of her mouth, he refused to believe it. Shaking his head, he met her gaze, but she looked at the floor. In shame? He wasn't sure. "They've influenced you. I... I know you would never do anything like that."

Vader stepped forward. "Search your feelings, Kanan. You already know the truth."

It was Kanan's turn to glare at the floor, as if it held all the answers he had been searching for. The Force seemed to have abandoned him as doubts pried deep into his mind, like a thousand tiny needles.

Adaara's emotions lapped toward him, like waves on a beach. Her shame swirled inside her, but not regret. Yet there was something else there...

Certainty. An unwavering conviction that she had made the right choice. It pierced Kanan's chest, burning hotter than a lightsaber, killing him slower than any disease.

"A...Adaara?" Kanan spoke her name as if he had never spoken it before. When he finally looked up, she met his eyes at last. It was like gazing into the eyes of a stranger; as if he had never seen her before.

"The Jedi must be exterminated," Adaara said. Each word she spoke wounded him more deeply, creating gash after gash on his already scarred soul. "I took my time. I had so many chances to turn you in, but I didn't. I should have turned you in years ago, but I couldn't bring myself to. I think it was... pity that kept me from it. I felt sorry for you and what you had gone through and I allowed that to hold me back. But not anymore."

Tears were imprisoned inside Kanan's eyes, but he closed them, encasing them inside where he refused to release them. Something dark stirred within him, like a cloth fluttering in the wind, or a whip snapping out against flesh. It lashed out at him and latched onto his heart, tightening so much that he gasped for breath out loud.

Wh...what?

He opened his eyes and looked at Vader and instantly he knew:

Anger.

It was his own anger that he felt, a deep-rooted fury that urged his fingers to pick up a lightsaber and cut Vader down. He glared at Adaara, wondering if he could kill her too. No. Even though she betrayed you, there's no way you could ever kill her, his mind whispered.

"What about our child?" Kanan had no idea why those were the first words he spoke to her. There were so many other things he wanted to say: Why? Was our entire marriage a lie? Did you ever really love me? Is this where we end? Where I end?

Adaara clenched her jaw. "There was no child. I only told you that to bring you some sort of happiness before I betrayed you."

He looked into her eyes and didn't see his wife's love or adoration there. No. All he saw was the truth: she had wanted him to suffer.

Before he could say anything further, Adaara looked at Vader who nodded.

Kanan swallowed deeply as she walked up and stood before him. How many times had they been this close? Each and every time, it made his head spin and drove him crazy. Her crimson skin still radiated heat that sent goosebumps skittling up Kanan's arms. Even now, he still longed to hold her close. How many times had he held her... kissed her? How passionate their love had been, burning brighter with each passing day, healing him the more they stayed together.

Now here they were.

In her hand, she held his lightsaber.

She pressed it against his chest, directly at his heart.

Kanan closed his eyes, not bothering to draw upon the Force. "Adaara..." he whispered.

The lightsaber hummed as it ignited.

Kanan's eyes snapped open. He hadn't been stabbed.

Vader's scarlet-glowing lightsaber pierced Adaara's chest.

Adaara's eyes fluttered as she ignited Kanan's.

Their eyes met and as life left hers, Kanan only had enough time to feel the sting of her betrayal overtaking the love he had for her.

Agony...

Then nothing...

Except death.