Author's Games: Star Wars

Task Four: Yuurei

I stared at Adaara as the two of us were hauled into yet another hallway. At the end of this one, there was a door. She looked back at me, despair lurking in her eyes. I looked away, refusing to meet her gaze. Our current position was my fault. If I hadn’t collapsed when we reached the end of the maze, we might’ve stood a chance against the Stormtroopers. Then again… Who am I kidding? Sidious would’ve simply sent more.

I focused numbly on the door, dragging my feet as the Stormtroopers tightened their grip on my arms and propelled me forward. Everything hurt. Blood trickled from the injury in my side. Our captors had been considerate enough to roughly bandage it to keep me from bleeding to death. However, the bandages were soaked with blood from their manhandling, and blood dripped onto the ground, leaving a trail behind us as I was dragged along. They wrestled me through the black door and into a room. I fought weakly, terror giving me just enough strength to resist. I looked around dispassionately, wondering if this was where it would all end.

The room was composed of black marble. It was a terribly impractical design, but I suspected that had something to do with an ego issue on the part of the person who had it built. There were three wide, grand steps up to a raised platform with a throne of ebony sitting at the center. My eyes met the dark gaze of the man sitting on the throne, and my lip curled in disgust.

Sidious.

Beside the sneering Sith lord, Darth Vader stood silently observing us as Adaara and I were forced to our knees before Sidious. My side burned and protested as I fought their grip. I refused to bow. I stayed on my knees because the Stormtroopers were shoving me down, and I had no strength to rise. But I would not bow my back or head no matter how much pain I was in. Though I felt a wave of despair washing over me and my desire to live quickly fading, I refused to simply give in to Sidious. Hatred flared in me when I looked at Sidious. The hatred grew deeper as the door opened again and Missu stepped in. She glided past me, trailing her fingers teasingly over my cheek. I wish I could kill all three of you… I gritted my teeth.

I tried to rise, to lunge for Missu, but my injury and the Stormtroopers’ heavy handed grip kept me from doing so. Angered, wounded, and annoyed, I snarled at them all. Missu laughed, the sound airy and mocking. My eyes narrowed, and I could feel my temperature rising despite the chill in the room. How dare they do this? How dare they hurt so many innocent people?

Adaara glanced at me from her kneeling position beside me. She could probably sense what I was feeling through the Force.

“Missu,” Sidious rasped. “Take them back to their cells. You know what to do with them. Bring that one back when you’re finished.” A long, bony finger pointed at me.

***

I was tossed into the cell roughly. My back slammed into the bench where I’d slept while waiting for the guards to force me up and out of the cell. I moaned, clutching my injured, bruised side and gasping for breath. Adaara was dragged in after me, her eyes glued to me as I lay on the floor, struggling to breathe.

She spoke for the first time since I collapsed at the end of the maze. “Help him up. Can’t you see he’s injured? You heard what Sidious said. He wants to see him back in that throne room; you don’t want to have to tell your master you killed the Sith, do you?”

The Stormtroopers looked at each other and then at Missu, who was waltzing in with a huge smile on her face.

“No one said he needed to be in one piece,” she said, smirking. “Besides, hon… I think I know what my formerpupil can handle.”

I looked up at her through angry tears.What is she talking about? Her former… pupil? I was never… My master is dead… I killed her… Didn’t I? I couldn’t be sure now if I actually had. I’d thought she was dead, but I hadn’t killed her instantly. I’d dealt a death blow and turned tail to run. My intention had always been escape, so that’s what I’d done. She could’ve survived. Uxonwia and Missu had an uncanny resemblance. “Y-you’re lying…” I coughed, clutching my tightening chest.