Lux
"Annina..." Lux shook his head. He could hardly believe what he was seeing. "What are you doing here? What's going on?"
Annina didn't deign to offer more in answer than a raised eyebrow, easing back into a stance that was deceptively casual. Paired with kohl-rimmed eyes and hair pulled back tightly over her scalp, the effect was fear-inspiring. She sized him up as a predator did its prey, her jade-green eyes alight with the prospect of a hunt.
If looks could kill, Lux would already have been dead.
Ahsoka, meanwhile, had gone several shades lighter than her usual healthy orange. She tilted her chin towards a symbol on Annina's right shoulder, her full lips pressed into a tight line. "You're from the Kayzani clan of assassins."
"Kayzani Myarra, at your service." Her blood-red lips curved upward into a wry smile, and she dipped into a mocking bow.
Lux's thoughts swam and unanswered questions gathered in the shallows, but try as he did, he couldn't manage to absorb any of them. Distantly, he realized his meds had to be wearing off. But what had become of the gentle girl he'd grown close to, these past few weeks? Had Annina Akassi-Janren ever existed at all?
"But... Annina..."
Annina – or Myarra – barked out a laugh, swinging one of the vibroblades back to rest over her armored shoulder. "Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't figure it out earlier – the fire that killed Annina's parents killed her, too. The Akassis were just back from a four-year program on Alderaan, and no one was gonna ask any questions if the girl they found in the wreckage looked enough like the daughter."
There's something I'm missing here, something important I had to remember, Lux thought, furrowing his brow. Myarra... I know that name.
I can't believe you snuck into the Naberrie family like that," Ahsoka spat. "They trusted you, opened their home to you, and you went and betrayed them to the Separatists!"
Lux opened his mouth with another question, but before he could say anything, he found himself staring down the barrel of a blaster set into the plating at Myarra's wrist. "Enough talk! My initial target was Senator Amidala, but things chance. Dooku still wants the Senator's head, and if I bring him back even with everything that's gone wrong... well, I think I'll be rewarded quite handsomely."
Before Lux could blink, the gun flared to life and sent two stun blasts surging towards him, too close for him to dive out of the way. But a few inches before they would have hit him, they were smashed into ions on Ahsoka's blades.
Ahsoka looked back at him, speaking quickly through gritted teeth. "Lux, run. I'll hold her off."
"But I can help!"
"No! You have to go, now. She's broadcasting a jamming signal, and I need you to get out of range of it to warn the others."
Though his heart ached to leave her behind, Lux nodded and took off running as fast as he could. Just before he hit the tree line, he risked a glance back toward Ahsoka. He faltered when he caught sight of her in all her battle-hardened glory, that proud, beautiful silhouette wielding twin lightsabers to cover his escape with every bit of skill he remembered from Onderon, so long ago... and then left her behind.
Ahsoka
As Lux disappeared into the trees, Ahsoka and Myarra stared one another down, daring each other to make the first move in defiant looks and in the way they held their weapons at the ready to strike.
"Dead or alive, it makes little difference to me, you know," Myarra drawled. "But I think he'll fetch a higher price alive, seeing as Dooku want to... draw his suffering out before he finally killed him."
"Shut up," Ahsoka hissed, biting back a surge of anger. She would not allow herself to be baited into rash action by the likes of this assassin – least of all when the life of the one she loved was on the line.
"Oh, you are so cute," Myarra said with a laugh. "I saw that little display of yours back there. It's like the start of a bad joke: a sweet little Jedi sworn to forsake all attachment in love with a Senator, who could do so much better. Guess he wanted a willing little toy to pass the time."
Ahsoka allowed no trace of emotion to cross her face, but her limbs were straining against her rigid self-control, desperate to lash out and cut Myarra to ribbons. She suspected it was inevitable at this point that she would be the one to strike first.
"Aw, so stoic all of a sudden... I guess playtime's over, huh?" Myarra grinned wolfishly. "Well, not quite. How about this – first one to the Senator wins."
Then, she turned on one heel and streaked off through the undergrowth. Ahsoka sheathed her lightsabers and followed, calling on the Force to heighten her senses and numb whatever effects remained from the lectrosterine poisoning as they tore up the path after Lux. Used to battlefield conditions as she was, rationing her breath and channeling energy to her legs to put on an extra burst of speed was nothing new. Before long, Ahsoka was gaining on her.
An idea came to her as they were coming up on Lookout Rock, and she drew one saber, scaling the ancient stone monolith in a matter of seconds. She used her momentum to vault through the air above Myarra, deflecting a few laser blasts the assassin aimed her way as she let her body arc back down to earth before her, blocking her path to Lux.
Ahsoka spun to the side as one of Myarra's vibroblades came slashing down to where she had been standing a split-second before, igniting her shoto and moving her two blades in tandem to counter Myarra's attacks.
Ahsoka was on the defensive now, but thanks to Anakin's teachings, against an inferior opponent she had come to see that as merely waiting for an opportune moment to strike. Every blow and feint she made was drawing Myarra deeper in, fooling her into thinking she had a fighting chance against her. And meanwhile, Lux was slipping further and further out of her grasp.
Sooner or later, the assassin would slip up – and when that happened, Ahsoka would be ready. While she had some measure of skill, Myarra had no idea just who she was tangling with.
When Myarra struck again – a blow Ahsoka could easily have met or even used to disarm her – Ahsoka dodged to one side, making it look like she had been caught off guard. An overconfident enemy was a useful enemy, and with what she was sensing, Ahsoka would need to do very little to get Myarra to that point.
Just a little further...
Myarra sneered triumphantly as their blades crossed and locked, her green eyes wild and bright – and was that a touch of yellow Ahsoka saw around the edges of the irises? "Foolish little Jedi... you can't delay me long. It's an hour and a half back to Varykino on foot. I'll catch Senator Bonteri long before anyone can reach him."
"I'd like to see you try," Ahsoka growled through gritted teeth, allowing some of the strength in her arms to lax so the lock came closer to her face. Her heart rate was elevated but consistent, whereas outwardly, she gasped for breath.
At last, she forced Myarra weakly away and stumbled back, and Myarra dove after her with a fierce battle cry. Ahsoka held back a smile and spun around her in a complicated dance, deflecting the errant blasts from the gun at her wrist and easily maintaining the illusion that it was all she could do to keep out of range.
Then, at last, the turning point had come. Myarra lashed out in a killing blow, but Ahsoka jerked her upper body down at the last second with speed even another Jedi would have been hard pressed to match. And when Myarra's blade whizzed above her to meet empty air, Ahsoka moved.
Gone was any sign of fatigue or windedness: her lightsabers shot up with all the strength she had been masking, and their aim was true. Myarra's vibroblades fell from their hilts as the plasma beams bit into the bases of the swords, the only place not coated in lightsaber-resistant cortosis metal. A final swipe took out the little blaster at her wrist as she tried to fire it, and then the comm just behind it from which the jamming signal emanated.
Oblivious to the shocked expression on Myarra's face, Ahsoka spun on one heel and kicked her squarely in the jaw. It was a swift, brutally precise jab, not hard enough to break it or even dislocate it, but with enough force behind it that the assassin was unconscious before she hit the ground.
Ahsoka breathed a sigh of relief and rose up again, her grip on her sabers slackening as she placed them back on her belt and looked off to where Lux had gone. At last, the final remnants of Dooku's evil plot were washing away.
*low rumbling sounds fill the air, gradually growing louder*
*the ground splits and a skeletal book with a cracked spine and frayed cover emerges from the depths, pages fluttering in the magic-laden breeze open to the title page, which reads,
THE SENATOR AND THE JEDI*
*laughs evilly as I look upon my creation from atop a nearby tombstone*
FEAR ME, FOR I AM THE FABLED NECROMANCER OF FANFICS, ABLE TO RESURRECT TALES THOUGHT LONG DEAD EVEN A YEAR AND A HALF AFTER THEIR LAST UPDATES!
MWUHAHAHAHAHAHA-- *COUGH*
Okay, that's enough theatrics for today, I'd say... anyway, I AM BACK with an update, which, in the style of The Clone Wars season 7, is long overdue with far too little material to make up for it and a conclusion that will leave everyone wondering, "Is that really it? But we just got this back!", and only even happened in the first place to garner public support!
(None of that was true for SAtJ, I just wanted to roast Disney. Sorry for the salt.)
I very much enjoyed writing this chapter, partially because it was already half-done and partially because GOD I HAVE MISSED THE 3-PAGES-MAX FORMAT AND I DIDNT EVEN REALIZE IT! It brings me back to simpler times, and it's so much easier to format chapters into bite-size pieces slimmer on the dialogue with quick bursts of action that pack a punch rather than 5-8-pagers that can sometimes drag on.
The action and Ahsoka's thought process throughout was also fun to revisit, with how she baited Myarra in and reacted emotionally to everything going on. Plus, getting some info on her after that cliffhanger last chapter was certainly welcome relief.
But I won't keep you any longer, since there are THREE MORE CHAPTERS to read and then it's the end of the book! ONWARD!!!