Author's Games: Star Wars

Task Five: Kanan

I just finished my entry, so I'm posting it now to show I got it in on time. My word count was 2,635 (a little low, but I didn't have much time this week). Enjoy! 

Blackened silhouettes nudged the edge of Kanan's consciousness. Soon, light appeared, flickering behind the shapes, flushing them out. No longer in shadow, they morphed into objects, vibrant with color and life.

Kanan's eyes blinked open. He was chained inside a metal room, but it wasn't a prison cell. From the way the place jolted, he guessed it was some sort of transport. Across from him, Adaara was chained, bleeding and unconscious. Burns like that of a lightsaber whip littered her red and white skin. To his horror, both of her lekku were nothing but nubs and there were severe slash marks on her montrals.

"A... Adaara?" Kanan whispered. His voice was hoarse and his throat was thick, making it hard to speak or swallow.

"They... they tortured her. M—Missu tortured her," a voice said.

Kanan's eyes snapped to where the voice had come from—his left. The Sith Male, Yuurei, was chained to the wall similar to Kanan.

"I tried to stop them, but—" Yuurei swallowed deeply. "Sh....She's dying," he whispered, as if afraid to say it out loud.

Kanan furiously shook his head. "No. No. You're wrong, Sith. You shut your mouth." Fury slammed into him so abruptly, for a moment, he couldn't breathe. Memories of what had happened with Sidious and Vader returned, making him lightly gasp. I... I almost gave in to the Dark Side... I... I killed Sev... I... I died. The thought sent jolts of shock coursing through his body, much like Sidious' lightning had. It was then that he noticed how weak and feeble his body truly was.

Beside Adaara, Jenaara was chained there. Her eyes were lifeless and dead. "Y—Adaara said that you died. Y—your heart stopped."

Kanan nodded mutely, unsure what to say.

As if noticing his questions, Jenaara continued. "They—They came in here and revived you. Barely."

Clenching his teeth, Kanan closed his eyes, sensing Adaara's life force. It was delicate, as frail as a flickering flame. Oh, Adaara... My love... Tears threatened to spill out of his eyes, but he released them, uncaring. He wished he really had died. He couldn't watch her die. He just couldn't.

Suddenly, the jolting of the transport stopped and the far wall to his right slid open with a hiss. Stormtroopers piled in, unchaining what few remaining rebels were left and dragged them out.

Two of the troopers carelessly dragged Adaara by her montrals.

"Don't—be careful with her! Don't hurt her!" Kanan cried and attempted to dart over to her, but his body was just too weak. He sagged, allowing the Stormtroopers to drag him out too.

There wasn't even enough rebels be considered a handful. Only Yuurei, Jenaara, the slaver woman, Mayek and of course, Kanan and Adaara were left. The slaver woman held the hand of a tiny girl and Mayek walked with two children, bordered by his brother.

They were taken out into a massive arena, much, larger than the Geonosian one that they had fought in only hours ago. No pillars waited them, no monsters, no gunship or supplies. No. All that awaited them were electroguillotines—ten of them.

As they brought him closer to them, Kanan swallowed. He wanted to die, unable to bear watching Adaara die slowly and suffer, but this... Kanan had heard stories of how the electroguillotine worked... In fact, he had even seen it work first hand. His thoughts recalled the unwanted memory: the Life-Force of a prisoner still flickering with life even after the head rolled across the ground. The electroguillotine worked so quickly, that the nerves didn't have time to die as the head was severed. It was very different than having the head chopped off in battle with a lightsaber.