RENEGADE (OBI-WAN KENOBI)

CHAPTER TEN

FOR A MOMENT he'd thought she was going to strike him.

She certainly looked ready to; her eyes, wide and manic, were taking in every inch of his face, as though sure she was going to find a sign that he was lying.

Her hands clutched at his shirt, staining the white cloth with blood. She was begging him, begging for him to say that Veneera was still alive, that she had not just been struck down by a dozen Destroyers at once.

She was panting, still recovering from the force of being knocked against the marble floors. She must have seen something in his eyes, something that reminded her that he had never lied to her, that he never would.

Her grip loosened. He looped his arm tight around her back, certain she was about to pass out from the shock.

But when she let out that scream, that terrible, heart-wrenching sound, he almost wished she had struck him. It would have been less painful.

Her scream quickly collapsed into heaving sobs that made her entire body shake as she pressed her face against his chest, her tears mixing with her blood.

Blood.

There had been no blood on Qui-Gon when he'd fallen. Only that single gaping wound, instantly cauterized by the lightsaber as it had entered his chest. How surprised he'd looked, as though he were amazed that someone could have finally bested him.

He wondered what Veneera's body would look like now. The thought made him nauseous.

Eventually, Padmé's footsteps called his attention. She'd wrapped her arms around herself, leaving the two of them alone to mourn as she'd silently cried beside them.

Now, however, she was wiping away the last traces of her tears. "We have to get out of here. Those doors will hold, but not indefinitely. I saw Panaka, he was able to get the Viceroy out and apprehend him before-"

She stopped.

She didn't have to finish. He knew exactly what she meant.

He nodded. "We'll find him."

Rousing Cass, he noticed that she had gone quiet. Pressing his face into the crown of her head, he murmured softly into her hair, "We have to go now. We have to finish this mission."

She pulled away from him, and the look on her face made his blood run cold.

Though tears were still streaming down her cheeks, it looked as though her features had been carved out of stone. Her eyes stared unblinkingly at him, and he couldn't imagine a world in which those lips had ever smiled.

After a moment, she nodded. Though she slipped away from him, she let her hand fall into his grasp.

Picking up her lightsaber, he fastened it to his belt alongside Qui-Gon's.

He gestured to Padmé. "Lead the way, Your Highness."

They worked their way slowly through the now abandoned halls, the echoes of the battles that had been fought mere hours before ringing in their ears.

He wondered just how many lives had been lost this afternoon alone. Though he'd only caught a glimpse into the throne room, he'd seen the bodies that had littered the floor.

Even if there had been any survivors, Veneera had only flung Cass and Padmé to safety. In addition to sacrificing herself, she'd sacrificed the rest of the queen's guard as well.

Forcing those thoughts away, he cleared his mind until the only thing left was the woman in front of him and the woman clutching his hand.

You have to protect them, he told himself, letting the thought build until it had blocked out all that he'd seen today. Nothing else matters now.