Assassin (A Star Wars Fan-Fiction) Book 2

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Two

Anakin's head was spining when he woke up the next morning. He was laying on a cold floor a few feet away from his master, who was obviously in the same state as he was. Slowly, he reached up to rub the sleep from his eyes and let out a pain-filled groan. But before his cuffed hands could touch his face, he looked down and saw that they were covered in blood.

"What happened?" he suddenly asked, now fulling alert as he sat up and looked over at his master. Obi-Wan's eyes were blood-shot and his hands were layered in a thin coating of the same crimson liquid. Obi-Wan groaned as well, his eyes still closed as he layed flat on his back. He had never had a hang-over before, and now he never wanted to have one again.

"We must've fallen asleep, or-"

"We were drunk, Anakin." Obi-Wan said over his padawan's voice. "We let those pirates trick us into drinking too much so that we'd become numb." 

"Oh, you definitely did." they heard an amused voice say from the far-off corner. The two looked over and saw that they had been moved into Dooku's cell, for he was stuck to them with a thick blue glowing rope. They were all like that, chained together from a rope around their waists. "And might I say, it was quite a show."

"What are you talking about, Dooku?" Anakin growled at him. He gave them an evil smirk, making the two very uneasy. Dooku pointed to the floor and they saw that there was a deep pool of blood in the opposite corner of the room, then a long, thick trail of it that lead to the door. 

"Master Bleway was in this cell when you were shoved in, intoxicated. I think the blood on your hands and the blood on the floor explains themself." 

Anakin and Obi-Wan looked at their hands, shock beginning to set in.

"N-no, you're lying!" Anakin shouted, even though he knew that he wasn't. Obi-Wan didn't say anything as he tried to recall what had happened the night before, hoping that he'd find something that would tell him that all of this was only a dream. He needed to find something, anything at all, that would tell him that what Dooku was telling them was fiction.

"I can assure you, young Skywalker, that I am not lying about this. I watched them drag her corpse out this morning while you two were still sleeping. Such a pity, she deserved to die with so much more honor than that. Everyone, even you and I, deserve to die in a more dignifying way. Being beaten to death by her two best friends....such a pity." Dooku told the two. They didn't say anything as they tried to control their rapid breathing. 

'Denali, can you hear me?'

Nothing.

'Denali, please answer me! Please!'

Nothing.

Was she dead? She couldn't be, he would never harm her. He couldn't have done such a cruel thing as to ambush her in her sleep like this. She must've been angry with them for what they did and was resting in a medical chamber of some sort. Maybe even a bacta tank or something along those lines. But, even as he hoped against the odds, he felt his heart sink even more as Anakin put his hand on his shoulder and handed him a small object.

It was Denali's promise ring he had given her twelve years ago on Naboo when they had been at Qui-Gon's funeral. Anakin must've not seen their inscribed names on the inside, otherwise he wouldn't have given the ring back to Obi-Wan. He would've crushed it or something like that.

"This was hers." Anakin told him. Now Obi-Wan knew that his apprentice had given him her ring as a sign of him trying to comfort his old friend in their time of grieving. Obi-Wan nodded, unable to speak, for he knew that if he did, his words would've just come out as a loud sobbing sound. Tears threatened to escape from the corners of his eyes as he looked at the ring, dented on one side, probably from when they were dragging her out.

"It was interesting, really. I for one hadn't been in here when her beat-down began, but I could still hear her screams of-"

"Put a sock in it, Dooku!" Anakin shouted in anger, silencing the amused Count.

Obi-Wan just stood there, his hands shaking....

.....as he tried to convince himself he hadn't just killed his own wife.

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

 Denali woke up to the sound of birds singing and wind-chimes dancing in the wind. Her skin was warm as sunlight shone down on her. Her eyes slowly opened as she yawned, as if she had been in a deep sleep. She sat up and looked around. Green fields stood to her left, filled with waving soft grasses. And to her right, was a large forest with trees and other plants. For some reason, she wasn't scared. She wasn't concerned. 

Denali felt at peace.

"Denali." she heard a voice say. The Jedi stood up and looked around for the source of the voice, but didn't see anyone. Where was she? Who was talking to her? Questions filled her mind, but not a single answer could be found until they revealed themselves at their own times.

"Hello?" she shouted into the field. 

There was no reply.

"Hello?" she shouted as she turned around, letting her voice echo through the forest.

Still no reply.

"Am I dead?" she asked herself as her heart began to pound against her rib-cage. She couldn't be dead, she couldn't be. She didn't even remember dying. Then she recalled the previous night, when the pirates had shoved Anakin and Obi-Wan into the same cell she was in. She had smelled the alchohol on their breathes before the cell door had even closed. It was like she was a little girl all over again, just after her mother had died and her father had found acceptence in drinking.

"Denali..." 

Denali's heart stopped. She turned around, knowing that she had truly died now. She was dead, there was no other option in this mess. As she turned around, she locked eyes with another woman. She had the same blonde hair, blue eyes, and amazing smile. The woman looked like she was the same age as Denali was. 

But her mother hadn't been very old when she had been killed.

"Mom..." Denali breathed in awe as her eyes were suddenly filled with tears of joy. The woman smiled back at her daughter, seeing her again for the first time in decades. Denali grinned and began to run. "Mom! Mother!" she screamed with joy, sobbing loudly as her boots thudded against the ground. She wrapped her arms around her mother tightly as they embraced, both of them crying tears of joy.

"My little girl, my precious little girl." her mother whispered. Denali just cried. 

"I'm dead, I have to be dead." she said to her mom.

"Well......." Master Denaro said to her, a small smirk on her lips.