Rise

Chapter 38

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

That's what happens when
you're responsible for lives
other than your own, isn't it?
You do what you have to do.

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

One minute I'm asleep, and the next, I'm awake.

My eyes open, and for a second, I wonder where I am. My vision is blurred from my lingering exhaustion, and my hearing is a bit muffled. I sit up, and see that I'm in a medical room. It's not that big, but there's a few other people in here.

I look around, and I see Cecily laying in the bed directly to my right. She's reading a book, and drinking something out of a cup. There's a twinge of relief in my chest when I see her, and I smile a bit. "Where are we?" I ask her.

She seems a bit startled by me; she looks up abruptly, and then sees that I'm awake. Cecily lays her book down and lets out a deep breath. "Finally, you're awake. We're in a medical wing on a rebel ship. The one we boarded after escaping Echo Base. We've both been asleep for two days."

I blink at her, letting the info sink in. We're safe. We've been out for a little while. Nothing too bad, really. "What about the rebels? Are they alright?"

Cecily nods, and she has a small smile on her lips. "A few are injured, but nobody died."

I let out a sigh of relief and fall back onto my back, laying my head against my pillow. Nobody had died. All of those thousands of people in that room had lived; because of mine and Cecily's efforts. We'd saved all of them, when the Empire had been just seconds from destroying all of us.

"Wow." I respond quietly, feeling a bit struck by the success of the whole thing.

"Yeah," Cecily says, and she sounds like how I feel. "Mon Mothma wants to talk to us as soon as we're able to meet with her, so I think we can go. I talked to one of the doctors here a little bit ago, and they said we were just fine...we've just been super exhausted."

"Where is Mon Mothma?" I ask.

"She's on our ship. We're on the same ship as the generals and leaders of the Rebellion. It was the last ship to leave."

I sit up again, let my legs swing off of my bed. I realize I still have all of my fighter gear on, but my weapons are gone. They must be somewhere nearby. I don't need them, but their absence makes me feel uncomfortable. "Well, I'm ready to go." I say.

Cecily nods, and she gets up. I instantly notice something different about her; she has new clothes and her hair is all different. "Whoa, your hair!" I exclaim, jumping off of my bed. I stagger a bit as a I do this, but I right myself quickly.

Smiling, Cecily takes another drink from her cup. "Yeah, I decided that I'd switch up my look. I got tired of wearing these luscious locks down all the time," she twirls a loose strand of her hair with her finger, and I laugh a bit. Her hair looks quite nice. It's in a bun at the top of her head but in the back, its braided down to the base of her neck. It's very different, but I like it. "And about the outfit; I decided that if I'm no longer a part of the Empire, then it's time to get rid of my old Sith attire. I still have all of it, but I don't think I'll wear it that much anymore."

Her outfit, too, looks good. It's an army green suit that buttons up in the front, with a lighter green collar around the neck. Her pants are the same material as mine, but they're a dark green. I'm so used to seeing her in her black Sith robes and her red cape that I can't believe I'm even looking at her. "What about your cape?" I ask.

"Oh, I'm keepin' that bad boy." Cecily says, and she reaches for coat hanger that I hadn't noticed before. Sure enough, she pulls her bright red cape off of the hanger, swinging it around and clasping it onto her shoulders. "See? I still look fresh."