Tw: Violence, references to cheating, kidnapping, gore, death.
Kara lifted her head, clutching her head as everything spun. She must've passed out at some point.
Kara shakily got to her feet and took in her surroundings, immediately understanding why Hondo made them dress they way they were.
She was in a pile of golds with shining jewels surrounding it. It was a treasure trove of sorts, and Kara's hatred for Hondo grew tenfold.
She started to make her way down the pile of gold before slipping and tumbling all the way to the bottom. She groaned and picked herself up, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
"Just great," she muttered, examining her torn dress with a giant slit up the side. "Just fantastic."
The giant bird seemed to have left, so Kara felt free to explore. She made her way to the edge of the... whatever it was and buried her face in her hands.
She was in a pit.
She was in a massive pit filled with treasure.
Kara gazed up at the smooth walls, knowing there was no way she could get her way out of it. She tried to experimentally climb up it before falling on her rear as she lost her grip.
"Stupid Hondo," she angrily said and kicked gold bar. Then she perked up. "I might as well find that diamond."
So she searched for the gem in all the riches that were in the pit before giving up and throwing herself into a pile of coins, giving up. Then she felt something poking her back and rooted around for whatever it was. She pulled out a diamond the size of her eye.
Kara looked up as she heard a screech, spotting the bird flying closer. She gripped the diamond tightly and ducked behind a statue, assuming it was the right one.
The bird dropped something else into the pit before flying away again. Kara investigated what it was before grinning, a plan coming to mind.
So she grabbed the coil of golden rope, wondering where it originally came from before tying a chandelier to the end of it. Kara looked around for something to throw it at before seeing a dead tree dangling over the edge of the pit.
Kara scrambled to the top of a large treasure pile before swinging it, using the momentum to loop it around one of the branches. She tugged to see if it would hold before wrapping her calves around it and slowly pulling herself up the rope, the diamond held in one hand.
It was gruelling climbing the rope with one hand and her body was aching by the time she reached the top, dropping onto the sand with a groan.
"You look terrible."
Kara looked up from where she lay with a scowl, glaring at the one who had spoken.
A woman was standing there with bright red hair that matched the shade of lipstick she wore. She was wearing a pantsuit with flares at the ankles and was holding a staff.
"I- I wish I could say you did too," Kara confessed.
She dipped her top hat with a grin. "Thank you very much. I'm Jinx, ringleader of a traveling circus. We're on Florrum for a couple rotations to entertain some pirates. What are you doing here?"
Kara stood up and dusted herself off. "I got kidnapped by a giant bird and dropped off here. I need to find my friends."
"You can stay with us until you find your friends," Jinx offered.
"'Us'?" Kara repeated.
Jinx pointed to a ship ahead with someone else sitting there on the ramp. Kara squinted when she realized they looked very familiar.
"You!" Kara grabbed her skirt in one hand and stormed over to the ship, grabbing the collar of one of them.
"Me," he said, smiling up at her.
"You," Kara said again, tightening her grip and twisting the material.
"Me." He tilted his head, amused at her anger.
Kara released him, dropping him completely. He let Jinx haul him to his feet and bowed with a flourish.
"Do you too know each other?" Jinx dryly asked.
"Blade here could tell you all about it." Kara's chin lifted as she turned away from them.
"You know my name isn't Blade." He sighed. "It's Victor."
"Do you think I care after what you did do me?" Kara huffed.
A knife suddenly embedded itself in the wall next to Kara's head, shearing the end of her braid off. He balanced another one on the tip of his finger, glaring at her. "What I did to you?"
"You were the one who cheated on me!" Kara grabbed the knife sticking out of the wall and brandished it at him.
"Because I thought you were dead! You vanished one night and I didn't hear from you for months!" Victor stabbed at her chest, but she grabbed his arm and swung him around so he missed.
"I ran away because you tried to kill me!" Kara squeezed his wrist and he dropped the knife. She caught it with her other hand and brought it down on his shoulder.
Jinx knocked it out of the way with her staff. "You two obviously have a history, and we have a show in three hours. I can't have you killing my bladesmaster right before a performance."
"Just let me stab him a little," Kara pleaded. "Just a tiny little stab!"
"No." Jinx kissed Victor's cheek fondly. "In fact, you can join the show!"
"I don't really want to," Kara responded with a look of disgust.
"I wasn't really asking." Jinx cocked her head with a pout. "Most of our group doesn't want to be here, in fact."
Kara opened her mouth to respond but couldn't get the words out as something hit the back of her head, and she passed out.
"What do we do now?" Fives asked, staring at the spot where Kara had just been.
"There's no way we can catch up with that thing," Echo logically said. "So we might have to go back to the pirates."
"We can get a speeder or something to catch up with," Anakin said, nodding along.
"I'm sure they'll agree when we tell them what happened," Rex said, not confident in his words at all.
So they began the long trek back to the pirates, surprised when they saw a circus set up to entertain them. Dozen of acrobats spun through the air, with others walking across tightropes above spikes.
"That seems dangerous," Anakin remarked as someone swallowed a sword.
"I'm sure it's fine. They're trained professionals," Echo assured him.
"I'd hate to be one of the people up there." Fives pointed to the acrobats leaping through the air.
"Again, they're trained professionals," Echo reminded him.
Then someone missed their landing and tumbled below, impaling themselves on a spike.
They all stared at the body before Rex asked, "How much training do you think they have?"
The ringleader stepped into the middle of the show, bowing with a grin spread across her face. She waited for the crowd of pirates to settle before she shouted, "Is everyone read for the main event? My husband will throw his knives at a spinning board!"
Someone pushed a wheel to the centre while someone wearing sheaths of knives bowed for the audience.
The wheel was turned around, revealing someone else strapped to it, who appeared to be unconscious.
"Wow, I've always wanted to see this!" Fives excitedly said.
"What happens if they miss?" Echo questioned.
"The person on the wheel probably dies." Anakin shrugged casually. "But they're skilled enough that it won't happen."
"Unless they secretly hate each other." Fives laughed. "Imagine they've hated each other for years and this is their chance to finish them off!"
"They look a lot like Kara," Rex observed, staring at the one on the wheel.
"Nah, you're just seeing things," Anakin dismissively said. "They look nothing alike."
"You're probably right. I guess I'm just so worried about her I'm seeing things." Rex sighed heavily and rested his chin against the railing.
"Don't worry, I'm sure she's fine," Echo sympathetically said, patting his back.
The person on the wheel lifted their head and seemed panicked as they struggled in the bindings holding them to the wheel. Their gaze landed on Rex and they yelled, but the crowd drowned them out as they cheered on the knife thrower, who was doing backflips.
"They're even dressed in that stupid gold dress," Rex noted. "But this one has a slit on the side, so it can't be Kara."
"You're just imagining things since you're so worried," Fives told him. "Enjoy the show then we'll find Hondo and tell him about our problem."
The knife thrower grabbed a weapon from their belt and slowly rotated it to build the crowd's suspense. Then they launched it right at the wheel.
It was buried in the wall next to the head of whoever was strapped to the wheel, and the crowd cheered.
The ringleader spun the wheel and kissed the thrower before running off to the side.
"And their hair is a bit shorter than Kara's," Rex said, mostly to himself as they others weren't paying attention to him anymore. "But only a bit."
The person on the wheel gave up trying to pull the cuffs off and instead gave the crowd the finger.
"That is Kara!" Rex realized, eyes widening. He grabbed his blaster and started to lunge forward, stopping when Anakin put a hand on his shoulder.
"There's a dude with a knife," Anakin pointed out. "And he's pretty good at aiming where he throws them. Think it through."
"I can shoot him before he even touches his stupid knives." Rex's stomach dropped as he watched another weapon embed itself between her legs.
"Or will the pirates kill you for disrupting their entertainment?" Anakin, for once, brought up a good point, and Rex hated him for it.
The ringleader set off fireworks, and explosions of gold filled the sky.
The knife thrower raised the final one, making Rex's nerves skyrocket. Anakin shot him a look and discreetly moved his robes to the side, showing his lightsaber. They began to push the throngs of people to get closer to the performance.
A screech made everyone fall into silence, tensing up.
And a giant bird soared towards the golden fireworks that were above them and as they faded, began searching for the next shiniest thing it could find.
The ringleader in the bedazzled costume they wore.
It dived right at the ringleader, who screamed and clutched the knife thrower in fear. They were both scooped up and carried away.
Then the rest of the circus erupted into cheers. Someone undid Kara's restraints and she stumbled off the wheel, dazed and confused.
Rex jumped over the short barrier separating the audience and the performers to get to Kara. The pirates were running around causing chaos as they panicked, since a huge bird just dragged people away.
"You alright?" Rex asked as Kara adjusted her torn dress to be more comfortable.
"I got kidnapped by a bird, dropped into a pit, captured by a circus, then forced to be part of their show. I'm tired and can barely wrap my head around what's happened to me," Kara said as she took her hair out of the braid. She glared at the uneven cut on the end. "And some jerk messed up my hair."
Rex hummed and ran his fingers through the strands, smiling as she leaned into his touch. "I'd love to give braiding it a try some time."
"I'd be okay with that," Kara replied, putting her arms around him in a hug.
"You can do that later!" Anakin yelled as he sprinted past, evading a pirate's grasp.
"Right." Kara stepped away. "Oh! I have the diamond!"
"Where is it?" Rex looked her over, thinking he missed it dangling from her neck or something.
"Here." Kara pulled it from her bra. "Wow, that thing was pointy."
"Ah, there it is!" Hondo slung an arm over Rex's shoulder, taking it from Kara. "Thank you very much!"
"Can we get our supplies back now?" Anakin asked.
"Of course, of course!" Hondo snapped his fingers and two pirates came out each carrying a crate. "Here you are, and now you may be on your way!"
"Thanks. Pleasure doing business with you," Anakin emotionlessly said.
"So you loop it through the middle. Right between the other two," Kara instructed.
Rex's tongue stuck out between his lips as he focused, fingers working with her hair. "Which side?"
"The opposite side of the one you just did." Kara hissed through her teeth as he pulled too hard.
"Sorry!" Rex immediately apologized.
"It's okay. Just finish up quickly so I can go beat someone up."
Rex paused. "What?"
"Oh, Ahsoka wanted to spar with me. I said I'd teach her a couple things, and she said she wanted to get to know me because I was 'ti ner dear vod', whatever that means."
Rex snorted. "No. Absolutely not."
"What do you mean 'no'?" Kara put her hands on her hips.
"Whatever you do, avoid all of her questions!" Rex advised. "It's a trap! Nothing can save you now."
"Oh don't be silly, we're just going to spar," Kara rolled her eyes. "You're making it seem like she's going to interrogate me."
"That's exactly what's going to happen!" Rex exclaimed.
"I'm sure it'll be fine." Kara examined the braid in the reflection of the visor on the helmet resting on the desk.
Then she returned with her hair a mess and blood dripping down her nose.
"It was not fine," Kara declared.
"What happened?" Rex worriedly asked, pushing his datapad aside to jump up to go to her.
"She asked me if I was going to marry you, and I was so surprised I hit myself in the face." Kara sat in the chair opposite his desk and slumped over. "Then I fell over and hit my nose on the floor, missing the mat."
Rex shook his head. "Do you need to go to Kix or are you fine?"
"I'm fine." Kara waved her hand. "Just give me a couple minutes for the bleeding to stop."
Rex made a mental note to tell everyone to back off, brushing her stray stands of hair back from her face.
Mando'a translations:
Ti ner dear vod~~~~ With my dear brother