episode six — THE HOSTAGE
attack of the clones
warnings: blood, violence, magic, hostage situation, assault, death

              Anakin, Kier, and Soteria sat in the drawing room. They surrounded the holo table in agony, Soteria stared at the table, tears brimming against her eyes, threatening to be pushed from her eyes. Obi-Wan barged in, "I came as fast as I could from Courscant, what have you found?" He asked, looking to the distraught parents and his confused Padawan. Anakin switched on the Holo-table to a message — a most freighting one.

Lillia Val'eaon sat in front of it, her lip bruised and bloody. She had a cut on her forehead, which trickled dry blood. "Please, send the gold and a dragon, or I will be killed in a days time." She whispered, not making eye contact with the camera. The Queen looked broken, defeated, and horrified. Anakin did not want to watch the video again, but Obi-Wan needed to see it. "I beg you." she finally looked up, and as if she was speaking directly to her parents, she spoke Valéri, "Denes e Yvaine, rilloti." (Get Yvaine, she will help.)

"What does that mean?" Obi-Wan asked, looking to Soteria and Kier. "She's wanting us to get help, from an old friend of ours, on the neighboring planet, Menka'lain." Soteria hugged her shawl closer to her as Kier rested a hand over hers. "She could help, she has a great power." Kier responded. Anakin looked to Obi-Wan, he looked almost conflicted.

"We will find her, we should send this message to the council, they may be able to track its location." Obi-Wan gestured for Anakin to hand it over to the temple. "You say this woman lives on the twin planet, correct?" Anakin asked, looking between the parents. "Yes, her name is Yvaine Tlalteoyoa, she has harnessed the planets powers for years." Soteria confirmed. "We must head to Menka'lian, Anakin." Obi-Wan waved the boy over. "We will be back soon." The Jedi reassured the former King and Queen.
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Menka'lain reminded Anakin of Tattooine, there was nothing but sand, nothing at all. They landed in the capitol, with the only building to stand, as the others have been swollen by the beasts below the surface. Menka'lian was completely abandoned, only certain creatures harbored the 'land' but left the rest to its ruler, Yvaine Tlateoyoa. Yvaine was no royalty, but she was powerful, and a powerful woman on an abandoned planet was the exact solace that she needed.

The pair treaded through the sand, Anakin grunting as he did so. He always hated sand, he was raised on it, and grew to hate the nightmares it caused. "Are you alright?" Obi-Wan asked, looking at the sour expression on his Padawan's face. "Sand." He responded blankly. "Ah." Obi-Wan hummed, a slight humor in his tone.

The palace was close, but the beating sun did not help their cause. They were severely dehydrated, and tired. Anakin Skywalker only hoped that this would not lead to a dead end, he wanted to find Lillia Dione Val'eaon, no matter what work he had to put himself through.

Obi-Wan and Anakin walked up the palace steps, meeting the guards that stood in front of them. "We were sent by Kier and Soteria Val'eaon." Obi-Wan spoke, unaware if that's the kind of clearance they needed, but nonetheless, the guards moved, making passage for them to walk in. The palace was huge, with a dome ceiling that had historic paintings drawn all over it.

The walls were sandy marble, which shimmered in the dim lighting. Several planets found themselves hidden in corners, and a fountain sat in the foyer of the castle, with glistening waters, holding little fish. It was a gift from the Val'eaon family, peace between two planets.

"You may follow me, Jedi." A handmaiden bowed, then led them to the throne room. The room was vast, the vaulted ceiling looked like an ancient temple, with a goblet of fire at every post. A woman sat on the throne, a gold dress, with long black hair. A gold headband on her forehead. "Your grace." The pair bowed. "What may I assist of you today, Jedi?" She asked, hands resting carefully on the thrones sides. "We were sent by the former King and Queen of Valérian, their daughter, The Queen, has been kidnapped." Obi-Wan spoke.

"And you need my help why? You are two perfectly capable Jedi." She breathed out, resting her head on her palm. "We do not know where she is located, The Republic is trying to figure it out, but we believe with your help, we can get her out safely." Anakin pleaded, almost begging for her help. "Hm." She hummed, looking at the desperate Jedi.

"I suppose I can help, but we have to figure out where she is first." Yvaine smiled.
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Lillia sat helplessly on the floor, she was scared, broken and blue. She hoped that her family had seen the message, begging to the gods of Valérian to hear her. It had been so long since she had received water, her head spun and the flickering lights forced her to close her eyes. She cupped her hands together, "I beg you, Vyre, give me the strength I need to get out of here." She whispered, over and over again. With that, Lillia Val'eaon had thought of a strategy, she had been taught to fight by her brother in law, Atlas Adara.

Despite being a Duke, he learned how to defend himself, and thought it was important that Lillia did too. She was heir to the throne, and things like this were prone to happen. If anything, Lillia did not fear for her potential death, she feared how it would effect her family — her sister was to be married soon, if she had died now, it could take years for Helaena to come back to her normal self. Losing someone so dear to you is not easy.

She waited for the perfect for a guard to show up, and used her dehydration as a tool. "Sir please, I beg you, I need water." She put on a raspy voice to the new guard, he turned to look at her. "No." He didn't care.

"Please, please." She pleaded, trying to sound as helpless as possible. The guard sighed, than began to walk off to get a cup of weird colored water. Lillia looked at the cup as he handed it to her, then threw it in his face and cupped her hands behind his neck, forcefully pushing his head into the metal bars. The man grunted, then passed out on the floor.

The Queen gasped — in truth, she had little faith that it was going to work. She stuffed her hand through the bars, moving around to find the keys hitched on the guards belt. As the cell door opened, she looked down to the fallen guard, and then took his sword and his blaster. Lillia had never used a sword, not in true combat, but against her sisters when they would have tiny wooden ones and hold 'fighting matches' with young Perseus.

The Queen made her way around the dim hallways, hearing the clanking noises of nearby guards, she took shelter in the provided shadows. She had no idea where she was, she could've been three star systems away, or even more. This planet was somewhat colder than Valérian, but then again, almost every planet was colder than Valérian.

Lillia needed to figure out where she was, she could send a distress signal to the republic, let them know what happened. She neared a room with an electric door, but two guards were stationed in front of it. Lillia breathed holding the blaster up to aim. She took a deep breath, then fired, and accidentally fired again. "Oh!" She shrieked, looking past the smoke at the guards on the floor. She thought she was rather good at it.

With caution, Lillia ran to the room, lucky for her, the only guards that were around, were the two stationed outside. She spotted a holo-table, and ran over to use it. The coordinates were located in the bottom right corner of the hologram. Surprisingly, Lillia knew her way around, things confused her here and there, but she needed to figure out how to send this to the republic.

She accessed the communication panel, clicking on the different frequencies, she sent the coordinates to every possible Republic frequency, tears barely spilling out of her eyes. The blue light of the hologram flickered on her face. "Please get this, Anakin." She breathed, hoping that she would be free of this pain.

The door next to her hissed. "There she is!" A guard shouted as they ran toward her. She fumbled with the blaster, barely shooting it in the correct places as it kept going off. One had grabbed her from behind, but she hit him with the blaster. The other dragged her to the floor, she let out a breathy scream as she fell. The man had dark hair, similar to the other guy who talked to her prior. "Let me go!" She shouted, trying to fight his way off of her, tears streamed, making her face sticky.

The man held one hand on her mouth, and the other on her neck. She fought, trying to shake him off. "Please!" Her voice was muffled. She clawed at his face, but it was no use, he had a helmet on. He tightened the hold on her neck, barely letting her breath. "You're not going anywhere." He seethed. Lillia looked to the side, where a fallen dagger had laid next to her, she forced the helmet off of his face, her nails digging into the dirt ground trying to grip the dagger. The cold metal hit her hands, and she brought it up to his neck, plunging it deeply.

The man choked on his blood, gagging as she yanked it out. The man looked to her, holding his neck with both hands now. He fell over, planting a dart into his neck while he changed into a beast, Lillia shook him fully off, very confused. She took the dagger again, looking at the man in the eyes. "I will escape." She seethed, repeatedly forcing the dagger into him. The blood spattered over her face, and her once white dress. She cried, feeling overpowered and lost. The man was dead now. She had never felt this type of anger — it scared her. She had never even killed before today, and she hated the feeling it gave her. But she knew that she needed to make it back to her family, to her friends.

Lillia sobbed, getting off of the man while blood dripped down her face onto her neck, and her dress now drenched. She got up, grabbing her dress and running out of the room. Her tears had cleaned some of the blood off of her face, but not all of it. Her hair was extremely messy, and probably full of blood as well — although not noticeable.

She kept turning corners, for what felt like forever. She gripped the blaster, ready to fight once again. But as she turned a corner, she bumped into somebody. With a gasp, she held up her blaster, aiming it at the figure. "Lillia?" Anakin sounded scared. Lillia did not even realize who it was until he said her name. "Your Majesty, are you alright? You're bleeding." Obi-Wan placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's not mine." She confessed. A woman was with them as well, she had black hair, black eyes, and was dressed in dark brown trousers, with a long top — which almost looked like a dress. She had no weapon, only her hands.

Lillia was shaken up, confused and numb. Anakin looked to her, and for the first time in his life — he was scared of Lillia Val'eaon. "Come on we must get you to safety." Obi-Wan held off blaster fire with his lightsaber. Yvaine's eyes were black and her hands shot out dark energy, she was a witch. It was very rare, but Yvaine was not born with it, she was experimented on after rouge pirates took over her planet and killed her family. She feared herself. The woman had drawings on her face, something that only happened when this side of her came out.

"Go! I will meet with you soon, I can handle the rest." She shouted, pushing the three of them away. Obi-Wan nodded, then looked toward his padawan. "Take the Queen to the ship, safely." Anakin nodded. Yvaine hummed something in Valéri, then held the ground as the black energy consumed the guards, pushing them into the wall and deflecting their blaster shots. "Come on, your majesty." He tugged on her hand as she watched in awe.

They ran to the ship, Lillia picked up her gown as she reached the stairs. As the Queen made it onto the ship, she suddenly realized that they had found her so quickly. Anakin stood in front of her, leading her to the bench where the med pack was. He set her down, taking a wet towel and rubbing some of the blood off her face. "Anakin?" She asked, peering down at him. "Mhm?" He responded, being very careful to not hurt her. "How did you find me so fast? I had just sent out the transmission before I ran into you guys." Lillia whispered. Anakin continued wiping the blood off, he then rubbed her cut. The woman hissed, closing her eyes. "I'm sorry." Anakin brushed over it more carefully.

"Obi-Wan had the videos location tracked way before you sent the transmission, you can thank the Republic for finding you as quick as we did." He smiled, looking up at her from the seat he sat on in front of the bench. Lillia hummed in response, but she was truly grateful that they found her — she could've been left for dead.

Obi-Wan and Yvaine rushed onto the ship, running into the cockpit to flee this dreadful planet. Lillia closed her eyes as Anakin continued to wipe the blood off of her neck. "What happened here?" He gestured to her neck. "Hm?" She sounded tired, and she was very confused. "Here." He pointed. "There's marks on your neck." He whispered. Lillia looked into Anakin's eyes — they were ocean blue, with little specks of green, she also noticed his freckles.

But she snapped back to reality, trying to answer the question he had for her. "It was a man, he was... trying to kill me." She rasped, holding back sobs that could entrap her at any moment. Anakin looked saddened for her, he couldn't imagine the things she had to endure for the past two days, he felt extremely lucky to find her. "I'm sorry." He apologized, even though it wasn't his fault — he felt the need to apologize to her. Lillia pulled him into a hug, which Anakin felt surprised with. They had never hugged eachother, not in their nine years of being friends. Not once.

Anakin was hesitant, but as she held him a little longer, he rested his arms behind her back, letting the woman sob softly into his robes. Lillia Val'eaon was finally safe, she was going home, and she was free of this madness. She pulled away from the hug, looking at the boy with tears, which he wiped with his finger, and smiled up at her. "Your family is waiting for you, they've missed you, especially Utena." Anakin kept smiling, trying to get her to laugh, and it worked. He then pulled out the old bouquet he made for her when they were children.

"This fell off of you when you were taken, I didn't even know you still had this," It was not old or shriveled up, it was perfectly intact "and It hasn't died yet." He let her hold it. Lillia looked at the flowers, she had admired them every day. If held a special place in her heart. "Valérian flowers never die, haven't I told you that?" She laughed, holding it tightly. "I guess you haven't, Your Highness." He smiled, getting up to sit next to her on the bench. Lillia leaned her head on his shoulder, falling asleep even with the slight turbulence of the ship.
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When the ship landed on Valérian, Lillia ran out to hug her parents. They looked utterly horrified that her white dress was stained with red blood. "My daughter!" Soteria cried, holding the back of her daughter's head and snuggling her close. "Are you alright, whose blood is that?" Kier looked to the dress. "It's not mine." She smiled through tears, hugging every individual sibling. Atlas was there too, he had come in from an ambassador trip in the outer rim as soon as he heard the news.

Lillia looked to him, smiling gratefully. "I wouldn't have made it out without your training." She cried, he held her arms, then pulled her in for a hug. "You are brave, Lillia, I hope you know that." He pulled back, then looked into her eyes once again. Her nieces were not present, Talia would not let them until Lillia was not covered with another man's blood. "We must find protection, this will not be the last time that they come for me." Lillia started, looking toward the Jedi and Yvaine.

"But I thank you three for saving me, who knows where I would be right now without your bravery and your help." She smiled, looking at each of them. She walked up to Yvaine, holding out her hands for her to take. "Especially you, you did not need to step in, but you did." Lillia smiled. "The Kratos system has always been my home, I'd shed blood to preserve its goodness." Yvaine smiled.

"We will discuss to the Republic about your safety, perhaps either Anakin or I can watch over you carefully for a while." Obi-Wan folded his hands over eachother. "I would gratefully appreciate that." Lillia smiled. Soteria guided her daughter out of the way. "We must get you cleaned up." She held her daughter once again in a tighter hug. Lillia looked back to Anakin, thanking him cleaning her face. She offered a smile, which Anakin Skywalker returned.

authors note. Oh goodness guys. WHAT. A. CHAPTER. This was a very emotional and hard one for me to write, and I hope the warnings above helped to subside some of those strong topics 😭🤍 This event really changed how Lillia thinks throughout the story now, and it'll be something she won't forget, unfortunately. Also If any of yall say this is moving too fast, PLS DO NOT. They have known eachother since they were kids, 9 years of pining 😭😭😭 but no i won't have them making out next chapter, bc they are still pining for eachother!!! I promise! But also, I kinda need to get the story moving along. Another thing I wanna mention is that Obi-Wan won't be much of an op like how he was with Anidala, yes he has his concerns, but he supports Valwalker (lilani??) the whole way!! AND LILLIA KEPT THE BOUQUET IM GONNA GO CRY  😭

PS. This is what Yvaine was wearing if anybody needs a visual 😭 Again, the art is not mine, all credits go to the original artist!! It's not a dress, it's kinda like a Jedi Robe get up, but she's not a jedi. Hopefully this helps 😭🤍