Rise

Chapter 10

*********************

If you kick me down,

you better pray I don't get back up.

*********************

I'm left staring at the mirror, my breathing panicked as I try to banish those memories from my mind. My heart is pounding almost impossibly faster.

    There are almost tears in my eyes. But I blink fast, and swallow another sob. The urge to cry passes. I turn to face Leia and Han just as Leia is done giving him the painkillers.

    Feeling sick, I bury my emotions deep down and try to breathe normally. "W--Will those help him?" I say, my voice quavering a bit. Leia looks up at me, and I see her eyes begin to search mine.

    "Yes; they won't do anything to stop the bleeding, but they'll give him more strength," Leia steps closer to me and continues, "But are you okay?"

    I realize that I'm still holding the mirror in my sticky, bloody hand. I look down at it, and see the doll from my flashback. My heart speeds up even faster.

    Looking back up at Leia, I hand the mirror to her and nod. "I'm f--fine." I stammer, feeling like the ground was swaying beneath my feet. I had to calm down.

    Leia looked me in the eye. "You don't have to lie to me." she responds cautiously. I meet her gaze, and when Leia sees my expression she turns back to Han, who's just finished wrapping two more bandages around his leg wound.

    "I'll still be limping a little bit--but I can handle it. We just need to hurry." Han huffed, and I couldn't help but notice the slight wobbling of his legs. I wanted to tell him to go back to the Falcon and rest, but I knew that if I did, he'd resist.

    Luke suddenly appeared beside of me. I turned to face him, grabbing his shoulder without thinking. "Are you okay?" I ask him quickly, looking him over for signs of injury. Nodding, Luke looked back at me.

    "I'm okay; you?" I nod in response.

    We both look at Han, who's regaining his footing. Leia picks her gun up off of the gun and holds it in her arms. "Are we ready guys?" she looks at the rest of us, and we all say "yes".

    "Okay--there shouldn't be any troopers coming our way for the next ten minutes. We'll be at the Citadel by then...so let's go."

~ At the Citadel....

Our squad was crouching near the entrance to the tall, dark tower that towered above us. The Citadel was made of a reflective, dark material. It radiated a sense of foreboding, and I didn't want to venture inside.

But we had to. This was our mission; rebels had come here to prove as a distraction for the sole purpose of us getting into this building.

    Leia had just finished explaining to us what else we needed to do--we needed to get to the top of the Citadel, hack into the systems, and broadcast to the Rebellion's allies that Taris was in trouble.

    That was all. In all honesty, it didn't seem that difficult of a plan to execute.

    But, with my fingers coated in red and blood dripping off of my chin, I didn't want to take anymore lives.

    Leia had told us that it'd be unlikely that we'd run into anybody else as we snuck to the top of the Citadel. But I'd hardly heard her when she'd said this.