Chapter Thirty-Five

"Does anyone know the combination? Or have a key?" Gamala whispered. 

"How are we supposed to know the combination?" Sergina whispered back. "All we're allowed to do is mend Hondo's wounded men and dance on the stage shamelessly!" Denali could tell that Sergina wasn't a big fan of her job, especially the second half of it. But Denali didn't judge her, she knew she would've hated it, too. As the four pirates bickered amongst each other, Denali looked down at her hands. 

Her palms were covered in dark purple, yellow, and brown blobs. Bruises. She knew one way to open up this crate, but she wasn't sure what the repercussions would be if she decided to go down this path. She had just turned back to normal after months and months of constant fear, a deep fear of what was happening inside her. Her crimson eye had finally gone back to its original blue. If she did this, then would it take her right back to the start? Right back to where she had been on board Dooku's ship after the battle on Geonosis?

A sudden burst of pain shot through her hands, up her arms, and spread acrosst her entire body. It wasn't a horrible pain, more of a vibration that slightly stung. But she could tell what it meant. Obi-Wan and Anakin were in pain, terrible pain. Her heart started to race. She knew that she needed to get to them as fast as possible, but she would need her lightsaber to do it. Denali couldn't just face an entire band of pirates alone, especially without a weapon.

But the only way to open the box would be to zap it with her lightning abilities.

AHHHHHH!!

The sound of Anakin screaming echoed through her brain, bouncing around her skull like a rock inside a tin-can. They were in pain, and she knew that she needed to stop acting so selfish about this and just do it. She lifted her hand up and glanced over her shoulder to see if the nurses in the room were watching. Nope, they were still absorbed in their argument, whispering fiercely to each other like impatient children.

Another scream scorching her head, then ZAPP!

The four ladies looked over to their right and saw Denali digging through the box of weapons, grabbing one lightsaber, hooking it to her utility belt, grabbing another, placing it beside the previous one she had held, then reached in for one last thing. Or course, another lightsaber.

Her lightsaber.

* * * * * * * * * * 

The two hung there on the stage, feet dangling in thin air, suspended by their wrists around six feet above the floor. Their breaths were ragged from shrieking out in pain and pure agony. The electrical current flowing through their cuffs and into their bodies was terrible. The pirates in the room laughed merrily at the Jedis' misfortune, just thankful that it wasn't them in the stocks. Hondo laughed loudest of all as he sat in his large throne, holding the button that controlled the shocking device they were attached to.

But, all of a sudden, the lights suddenly went black.

"What!? What's going on!? I was having fun!" Hondo shouted like a whining child and rapidly pressed the button in the middle of his control panel. Nothing happened. Screams echoed through the room as people stumbled around clumsily as if they were blind-folded.

FIZZZ-ZAP!

Obi-Wan and Anakin weren't prepared for the fall, which made it twice as terrifying. Anakin fell to the floor with a hard THUD. But Obi-Wan gradually felt the pull of the Force, gravitating towards someone across the room that was gently setting him to the ground. His heart stopped.

It couldn't be.

Could it?

"Obi, Ani, catch!" the familiar female voice shouted through the darkness. His hand immediately shot up into the air, as if by instinct, and used the Force to guide his lightsaber hilt through the pitch-black air. It zipped by the frantic pirates bodies as they all ran around the gathering room, searching blindly for a light source of some sort, anything that would help them. Within milli-seconds, he felt the hard metal of his lightsaber appear in his grasp and pushed the activation button.

Two blue blades ignited and, like moths to a flashlight, the pirates all stumbled in the direction of the bright blue glowing objects, tripping over chairs and tables in the process. Anakin quickly slashed Obi-Wan's binders off as the pirates were regaining their barings, then his master did the same for him. It totally would've been more difficult for them to fight if their hands were stuck together. The two stood back-to-back as the pirates surrounded them, blasters out and aimed at the two Jedi. There had to have been at least seventy-five men in all, maybe even more. And all of them were armed.

The sound of one more lightsaber coming to life filled the gathering room.

"I'd put your weapons down if I were you."

All eyes turned to the third lightsaber shining in the darkness of the gathering room. The white blade was pressed against Hondo's throat, but not slicing it open. Even though it was really close to doing just that. Two female pirates held blasters on the left side of Hondo, aimed at the surrounding scoundrels across the room, and there were two to their right as well, aiming weapons just as deadly at the large group of people.

Standing directly behind Hondo, white blade never quivering, was Obi-Wan Kenobi's wife.

Alive.

* * * * * * * * * *

The fact that her lightsaber blade had somehow magically changed white was a mystery to the Jedi master. Had it been because she used her lightning powers again? Maybe the Force had reacted in either a negative or positive way, switching the color of the blade to the one of her previous lightsaber. Denali snapped the thought out of her mind. She could worry about colors later, she had other things more important to think about at the moment.

"Now, if you don't want your leader sliced into itty-bitty pieces, I'd recommend that you let my friends through." Denali announced to the pirates. Gamala, Azzelia, Feedra, and Sergina were all backing her up on this. She was thankful that, no matter how hard she tried, Denali still couldn't sense a single ounce of betrayal in their actions. They were with her on this one-hundred percent. 

Slowly, Obi-Wan and Anakin began to walk through the crowd, their lightsabers still out and held tightly in their hands. Anakin and Obi-Wan were over-joyed to see that Denali was okay and that they hadn't truly killed her. Relief filled their hearts like water being dumped into a cup. Obi-Wan knew, deep down in his heart, that he hadn't killed her. Even when he was drunk, he knew that he loved her too much to do such a heartless thing. 

Once Anakin was standing to Denali's right and Obi-Wan was standing to her left, the eight of them began to slowly move backwards towards the exit, Hondo still at blade-point.

"Denali-"

"We'll talk about it after we get out of here." Denali snapped at Anakin, refusing to even look at him as they all walked. Obi-Wan and his former padawan exchanged quick glances. She was mad with them, why wouldn't she be? From the look of her appearance, she was really beaten and battered. Her face was covered in bruises, she had a black eye, and from the way she walked, they could tell that something was wrong with her legs.

This did not look good.

"Den-"

"Obi-Wan," Denali growled, then took a deep breath. "Can we just not do this right now?" She was angrier than they had thought if she wouldn't even talk to Obi-Wan. They may have gotten out of trouble with the pirates, but they had a whole other thing coming when it came to Denali.

"I'd listen to the woman." Hondo spoke up. 

"Shut up, Hondo." Feedra snarled at him from Denali's left. Anakin and Obi-Wan looked over at each other again, the same thought flowing through their skulls.

If the pirates couldn't kill them, then Denali might beat them to the punch.