Blinded by the Dark | General Hux

XIX

Amelia entered the chaos of the now dispersed party with her weapon in hand, scanning the room for her target as the General ran in behind her unholstering his blaster. She held her arm out over him, eyes dangerously focussed.

The Rebels were being attacked by both security and the extra scouts Hux had recruited, though the young Jedi was not difficult to spot, spinning the luminous blue of her saber to deflect blaster shots and knocking a few opponents down. She yelled to her friends, giving them commands. 

"You stay here," Amelia told her companion, taking his arm. "Don't move, don't get involved. I got this." 

"You can't do this alone," He tripped the safety on his blaster. "I've been trained." 

"Not like me. Trust me. I'm here to protect you." 

It took some thinking but he eventually nodded, looking down on her with worried eyes, wishing to reiterate how deeply he cared for her, possibly in a similar way to a few minutes ago on the balcony. And she felt the same, that she didn't want to leave him but it was for his own safety. 

"I'll be back. Stay here." 

He watched her run off with the scariest feeling that he may never see her again, that there was this innate feeling that he should stay with her. But he knew better than to disobey her: this was her job, her life, her duty. He had to stay alive for the sake of the Order and that was her priority, no matter how hard it hurt him to watch her run from him, possibly to her death.

Rey saw her coming when she deflected a few shots from across the room yet met her attack a little late, stumbling back at her lightsaber crashing against hers. 

"You..." the Jedi muttered, fending off a couple of strokes while inching backwards. The kind glow that had befallen her opponent the last time they met was gone and replaced with an aggressive desire to protect her and her General. 

"I hoped I'd seen the last of you," Amelia rolled her weapon as an intimidation tactic which worked to a point, creating a nervous pang in Rey's chest. "Plotting against the Order now, are we?" 

"What else would anyone with even an ounce of morals do? You are a disgrace to the Force and so is your master!" 

That struck a defensive chord in Amelia who brought her weapon down on her with an angry cry, knocking them both back into attack mode, those traitorous Resistance friends of hers calling out for her to come with them back to their ship. 

But it wasn't so simple given the brute force and passion of the battle. Neither was going to run or back down, not until one of them had won and they both maintained that it wouldn't be her. 

"Rey! Come on!" the defector trooper, FN-2187, wasn't it? called to her, ducking a blaster shot that flew at him, striking the wall behind. "Rey!" 

"Just go! You too, Poe, run!" she replied over her shoulder, becoming locked with her weapon pushing against Amelia's in a battle of pure strength. Poe, who Amelia could see out of the corner of her eye and who definitely wasn't 'on the other side of the galaxy', nodded worriedly, taking his friend's arm to lead him away despite his reluctance. 

With a final push, Rey won their small duel, finding a scrap of encouragement in that to fight harder with a few broad strokes that caught Amelia a little off guard, forcing her to be extra careful in her movements. It was one of these close encounters however that forced her to duck clumsily; when she stood back up, Rey's return swing caught her: the hilt of her lightsaber collided with her jaw, knocking her to the ground heavily. 

Her whole face was throbbing. Indescribable pain coursed through each nerve, the shock reverberating in her teeth, chin, every sensitive bone crying out as did she in a mix of pain and rage. Her curdling scream was muffled a little by the blood collecting in her mouth, splattering against the pristine carpet when she was forced to spit it out.