Jaina braced herself against the wall. Zekk had his arm around her shoulders, guiding her on. She was out of danger now, but she hadn't walked for three weeks. She had to gain her strength back.
Allana hopped along slowly behind them, wishing the adults would go faster. She wanted to talk to Auntie Jaya but Zekk had begged her to keep quiet, at least for now, but she really couldn't understand why.
Jaina was too happy to see them that she hadn't even asked why they were so far from home. Had Hal found them and brought them back? Had they been looking for her? She wasn't about to go home, if that's what they were here for.
"So, missing arm. I guess you really are a Skywalker," Zekk grinned. "Took you long enough." He brushed her bangs back from her eyes as they fell from her ponytail.
"Oh please," Jaina smirked lopsidedly, "I've always been more like my dad than my mom." She knew she was still out of it, because all she wanted was to grab Zekk's stupid, adorably stubbled face and kiss him.
Perhaps he wasn't the best person to help her walk, as the blood donation full of midi-chlorians he gave left him on less-than-average-performance, but he was the only person Jaina wanted to be with at the moment, and everyone else was deployed on a mission or helping their mentors.
Jaina stumbled, and when Zekk went to catch her they tumbled into a heap on the polished Watchtower floors, laughing at each other's pain.
Allana couldn't keep it in anymore. "Daddy was like grandma, wasn't he?" She asked.
Jaina stopped laughing.
Zekk pulled Jaina to her feet and helped her brace against the wall, mulling over the answer, "Yes, Allana, your dad was a lot like his mother." He said quietly.
Allana nodded, satisfied with the answer, then her nose scrunched up, like Jaina when she was considering a rather complicated gadget, or rather, like Jacen when he was trying to understand a rather stubborn creature, her mother's sharp hazel eyes narrowing. "Aunt Jaya?"
Zekk turned, seeing Jaina stumbling down the hall as fast as she could.
"Jaina!" He sprinted after her.
Jaina let the tears fall. It was either that or lose the last bit of support that she had. Her body shook with sobs, threatening to spill her guts all over the sterile League base. She hadn't cried like this since the day she killed him.
"Jaina!" Zekk shouted, trying to keep up. Jaina forced her legs to move faster and faster until she fell forward again, only to be caught by Kaldur.
"Jaina," He whispered, helping her down to a sitting position on the floor, where Zekk and Allana finally caught up, "Jaina, what are you doing to yourself?"
Jaina shook her head, sobbing too hard to form anything coherant. "Don't you get it? I killed him! I killed him! My own brother! He's dead because of me!"
"Jaina," Zekk started, choosing to ignore the shocked look on Kaldur's face for the present moment, "If you hadn't killed him he would have killed billions more."
"I could have stopped him," Jaina inhaled heavily, the cold wall on her cheek the only thing that kept her anchored to reality, "Uncle Luke was able to bring granpa back, why couldn't I save Jasa?"
Zekk's eyes squeezed shut. "That wasn't what the force wanted."
Jaina nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Of course. The force wanted it," She said, her voice deathly quiet. Allana took a step back.
Jaina held her fist against her forehead and screamed. Kaldur and Zekk both refused to be moved, not budging an inch as Jaina's sobs returned. As she allowed them, they both slowly embraced her.
"I'm sorry, Jaina," Zekk said quietly.
Kaldur didn't know what to say. The Watchtower's near-empty halls echoed with Jaina's fading sobs until a pair of footsteps joined them.
In a moment, Batman stood over the sad group.
"Green Lantern, report to the conference room immediately." With a sweep of his cloak, he was gone.
By the time Kaldur and Zekk had helped her down to the League's conference room- she had adamantly refused to be carried- Batman had gathered a little more of the League, plus Carol, who looked rather upset at being made to leave work, but she immediately got up to greet Jaina, guiding her to the empty seat where John always sat next to Hal at the table. Zekk, Allana, and Kaldur sat on her other side.
"Only, Green Lantern." Batman said, glaring at them.
Allana stuck her tongue out at him, and Jaina couldn't have been more proud of her niece.
"No offense, sir, but Jaina's my friend. Her parents sent me to check up on her. I'm not leaving her side for anything, or, anyone." Zekk said, slightly nervous. Kaldur simply sat back in his chair, arms folded.
Batman sighed. "Very well."
"What's this for, Batman?" Black Canary asked, "What was so important that we had to call a meeting immediately, without you telling me what it was." She may have been reluctant to take such a role, but Black Canary was assuming her full responsibilities as League chairperson to the best of her ability.
In asnwer, Batman pulled up Watchtower security feed from mere minutes ago.
"Is this you?" He asked the group of four.
Jaina nodded. Zekk, Kaldur, and Allana concurred.
He activated audio.
"-you get it? I killed him! I killed him! My own brother! He's dead because of me!" Screamed Jaina on the screen. Several Leaguers present sat up taller. Carol squeezed Jaina's hand.
Zekk stood up, "You have no idea what that means," He snarled softly, "You have no idea what she has been through."
"Green Lantern Jaina Solo," Batman ignored the orphan with no family name, "Is this true?"
Jaina inhaled, and pushed herself to stand, her arm braced against the table and supporting her body more so than her legs.
"My brother-" She almost choked on the words- "Jacen, my twin brother, was turned to the dark side by a Sith named Lumiya, who wanted revenge on my parents for overthrowing the evil Empire. " Bile rose in her throat, and Carol rubbed her arm in silent support.
"After he killed our aunt, and several other people, I was called upon, and the Sword of the Jedi, to stop him."
"And so you killed him." Superman said.
Jaina shuddered at his tone. "Yes. Yes I did."
"She didn't have a choice!" Zekk stepped in.
"There is always a choice," Aquaman said slowly, eyeing his apprentice. Aqualad wouldn't look up from his hands, on the table in front of him.
Jaina looked up to try and identify the other Leaguers in the room. Zatanna and Raquel were regarding her in a new light, stepping away as if they refused to believe that this was their friend. Jaina looked back down, her eyes squeezed shut.
"Enough of this," Carol snapped, "She did it to protect other people, to protect herself and her family!"
She jabbed her finger in Batman's direction, "You've had it out for Jaina from day one, because she was an alien, because she was different, because she didn't fear you the way even the big blue boy scout does," she waved her arm in Superman's direction.
"Carol, please," Jaina begged. Carol ignored her.
"Star Sapphire, as a member of the Violet Lantern Corp and as Jaina's former guardian, we have allowed you to be here for support, but you are not a member of the League, and so we ask that you keep your input to a minimum." Batman said. He almost whispered, but it sounded like a bark.
"Oh, so it's 'We' now, huh?" Canary sat back in her chair, feet propped up on her chair.
"Jaina Solo may not have lied to the League and the team, but she also neglected to tell us of this infraction of the League's number-one rule: No Killing."
He eyed Jaina suspiciously. "You do remember the rules, correct?"
Zekk seethed, leaping to Jaina's defense. "The Jedi code also advocates the sanctity of life, and the defense of those who need it: Jacen Solo would not be stopped, and it was Jaina's job to stop him, even if he was her brother."
"Zekk," Jaina whispered, "You aren't helping." Her body was trembling.
Zekk slowly sat down again, and Carol helped Jaina back into her seat.
"As this incident apparently occured in a galaxy far, far outside our jurisdiction, we cannot enact federal punishment. However I suggest that Jaina Solo be removed from the team, for this gross infraction. All in favor?"
Silence reigned in the conference room. Jaina refused to look up.
"Well, Batman, any more brilliantly-crafted accusations?" Dinah asked dryly.
No one spoke.
"Before you decide anything-" Zekk really couldn't keep his mouth shut, "-Now might be as good a time as any to really explain why Allana and I are here."
-------
Jaina hobbled back into her med room, anger making up for the numbness in her legs.
"Brakiss is back. Brakiss is back!?" She shouted. She turned to glare at Zekk.
"Why didn't you tell me? You should have told us the moment you got here!"
"That was the plan! But you were hurt and dying and you were the only one who could understand and back me up! I didn't know if these guys would trust me! They porbably never will after I sided with you."
"Thank you for that, by the way," Jaina snapped, "So why not tell me the moment I woke up?"
"Because I knew it would tax you even more in such a state. Jaina, you can barely walk now!"
Jaina looked down at her legs, shaking like jelly. She sat down on the bed.
"I care about you, Jaina," Zekk said. "I always have and I probably always will. I know you don't care about me in that way and that's fine, but no matter what I want you to be happy."
Jaina snorted. "It's a little late for that."
She sighed and lay back on her pillows. "So. Brakiss is back."
"I know, I know, it doesn't make sense to me, but you heard your Star Sapphire in there; If he has a Black Lantern ring then he can't die. And neither can Tamith Kai." Zekk sighed.
"And if they've got an unlimited supply of Black Lantern rings that can animate all dead people..." Jaina trailed off, "The whole universe is doomed."
"That's what people said about Vader too, and the Emperor. And the Yuuzhan Vong. And every Sith insurgency ever." Zekk said, "I should know, I was part of one," He sighed, and looked around the alien med wing.
"Okay." He clapped his hands, rubbing them together. "You...you get some rest. We'll plan our attack when you've had a nap and Star Sapphire can finally reach this Hal of yours."
"Wake me up the moment you find anything," Jaina demanded.
"No promises."
"Street rat."
"Upper-level brat."
Jaina grinned.
"Sleep well, Jaina," Zekk closed the curtain and turned off the light.
Jaina went right to sleep.
-------
"Ani? Granpa?" Jaina kept walking and walking, but she felt like she couldn't move. The stars went on forever and ever. It was impossible to tell where she was going, or if she was even going the right way.
Why would Anakin be hiding from her?
"Granpa, please, I need your help."
She saw a blue light, and she ran towards it. "Granpa!" She screamed, hoping to catch his attention.
The force ghost turned in a cascading robe of shimmering silk, golden-brown eyes met Jaina's of the same color, ringlets of curls fell down their back, sprinkled with white blossoms.
"Hello, Jaina," They whispered. Their voice sounded almost like Mom, when she read Jaina and her brothers a bedtime story.
"Who are you?" Jaina asked.
"I am your grandmother. Padme Amidala."
Who thinks I can finish this in ten parts?
Yeah, not me either.
I have gotten myself on a writing hype for this book so I may upload another chapter tonight *finger guns* Love y'all!
~Lizard