I Choose You ( discontinued )

Chapter 13: A Different Feeling

"Al? AL! Where is she?"

Red Hawk shrugged. "Keep your voice down, we don't want the general getting suspicious."

Sighing, Blue Jay checked another room and yelled inside. "Al? You in here?" When there was no response, he swore under his breath. "Where could she be?"

"What I don't understand is why she's hiding," Red Hawk muttered in response. "She wasn't in the barracks this morning. Did we go somewhere overnight?"

"Yeah," Axe said, leaning over his shoulder. "What are you looking at?"

Both Red Hawk and Blue Jay jumped back in surprise, Blue Jay letting out a yelp. Once their shock was under control Red Hawk glared at Axe. "Why the hell would you scare us like that?"

"I didn't do it on purpose," Axe retorted. "I was sent here by the general. He wanted me to tell you that we arrived at Coruscant a few minutes ago. Also he wants to talk to you."

Red Hawk sighed. "How long ago was this?"

"A minute I think, why?"

"Thanks Axe," Red Hawk said bluntly. He grabbed Blue Jay's arm and pulled him in the direction of the bridge. "You've been very helpful."

"No problem!" Axe called after them, clearly not understanding the rhetorical statement.

"What do you think the general wants?" Blue Jay asked in an undertone once they were out of earshot.

Red Hawk shrugged. "Maybe he misplaced his padawan. If we can't find her, he's bound to be looking."

His assumption was proven correct when the bridge doors opened and he found Krell standing on the bridge alone on a call with two other people whom Red Hawk guessed were Jedi. Krell noticed them come in, narrowed his gaze and continued to talk to the men in the hologram. "Thank you Master Windu. I will send troopers when the time is ready."

The holograms disappeared and Krell focused his attention on the two clones standing in the doorway. "Troopers."

"General," Blue Jay replied stiffly. Red Hawk wanted to hit him, but restrained himself from doing so. "You called us?"

"Yes, I did," Krell said, not moving from his position. "It seems my apprentice has...fled the ship for a mysterious reason."

"Al left?" Red Hawk said without thinking.

"Yes, she has," Krell said, not seeming to care that Red Hawk knew Al's name or had any relation to her. "I would like the two of you to go find her."

"Um, yes sir," Blue Jay said cautiously. "Do you, um, know where she went?"

"I believe she went down to Coruscant. I advise starting at the Jedi Temple, she has allies there. You are dismissed."

"Sir yes sir!" The two backed out of the bridge and Blue Jay grabbed Red Hawk's arm. "Why the hell did she leave the ship?"

"I don't know," Red Hawk said, his heart racing. If Krell was sending them to go look for Al, he must have no idea where she was and was getting desperate. "Okay, let's calm down. Where did Krell say to look?"

"The Jedi Temple, weren't you listening?"

"You know I space out when I panic. Come on, let's go there and see if we can find anyone who might know where she is."

<~>

Al wasn't at the Jedi Temple.

She was far from it actually. She couldn't even see it from down where she walked in the lower levels of Coruscant. She took deep, rapid breaths, clutching her burning forearm. Every now and then she would take her hand off and look down to see how the wound was faring. It would always greet her with a charred image of what her skin would possibly look like for the rest of her life and she would cover it up, revolted. Eventually, shivering in the cold air, she reached the one place she had been aiming for. Her little room she had crafted from scraps seemed calming and warm at the moment when it felt like every single person she knew was against her. She knew Red Hawk, Blue Jay, and Aayla weren't on Krell's side, but they would want to tell someone that he hurt her, and she didn't want to get Krell anymore mad at anyone then he already was. She had sensed his remorse and shock after he had cut her, but it was brief and short-lived; Al didn't expect him to keep it very long.