Chapter Eight: A Bad Feeling Come True
Call it intuition, or just knowing a bad situation when it's coming, dad was right. That was proven when a distant shriek of a rathtar came closer, and though it was a terrifying sound, I couldn't help but let out a laugh, one my father responded to with a look of disbelief.
"Now it really feels like old times," I offered him a nervous grin, watching as he took his blaster out it's holster, rolling his eyes at me.
"Don't be getting sentimental, we should probably run," he muttered, though I spotted an exasperated smirk crossing his face.
His plan of running was flawed though, considering we were still cornered by both Kanjiklub and the Guavian Death Gang, both gangs blocking our escape routes. In a moment of madness, one of them ran over, blaster pointed at my father, and as he attempted to shoot at us both, I quickly deflected both blasts with my saber in one swish movement, knocking them back into his own chest. He fell back onto the floor with a hiss of pain, dying, and I didn't have chance to fully realise that I'd killed someone as both gangs took that display as a signal to attack. They all shouted curses in varying languages and I quickly grabbed hold of my father's arm with my spare hand protectively, forcing him to cover my back whilst I covered his.
I was fine fighting for a while, adrenaline coursing through me in a way it hadn't done for a long time. It felt right until one gang member fired another shot at me. Except as I deflected it he didn't seem to give up and as he got close I lost my nerve, remembering the last time I fought with my saber, and as the traumatic memories hit I felt myself black out, only to be jolted back to reality, realising that in one sweep of my blade I had taken his head off and he'd fallen down, dead. I flinched, jerking back into my father, stunned by my own action. He would have hurt me, hurt my father and Chewie, but it wasn't the Jedi way to kill someone in such a brutal attack. It was self-defence, but it had taken me back to my past, and I had to fight against my nerves to keep my focus, feeling my chest tighten ever s slightly the way it used to when I'd have a panic attack.
There wasn't time to lament on it further, Chewie pulling on my arm as we began to force our way past the remaining members of Kanjiklub, closely followed by Bala Tic and his cronies. I took a deep breath, glancing between my father and Chewbacca to ground myself in what was happening around me, pulling myself from the past. I decided I would try and not harm anyone else as brutally, so I focused on deflecting blast shots once more, following my instincts in the force. It was pretty hard to stay focused, however, given the fact that the gangs wre practically biting at our ankles and whenever I looked behind me I could see an almighty rathtar, moving so fast I could barely see it, other than the tentacles that occasionally flailed out to try and grab at its prey.
"Keep moving, kid!" Dad called to me as we ran towards the Falcon together.
I nodded along with his command, though I was already way ahead of him. I'd been in enough situations like this to know exactly what to do, keeping a fast pace and baring my lightsaber out in front of me. I could have used my blaster too, but I was no good fighting with my left arm, not any more, and considering how fast we were moving and the fact that dad was constantly switching directions would have given me poor aim. Instead I just ran alongside Dad and Chewie, protecting them from any oncoming blasts.
As we rounded another corner, I watched as one of the Guavian Death Gang flew around to meet us face-to-face. I quickly jerked back, holding my saber out in protection of myself, but he didn't get chance to fire at any of us since, as a reflex, Dad slung his fist, hitting him hard in the jaw. The gang member spun from the impact, but Dad grabbed hold of his jacket lapels, tossing him behind us, and before he could recover the Rathtar had gotten hold of him, wrapping him up into its tentacles. I let out a gasp of shock, one that turned to a laugh of amazement, looking at my Dad in utter wonder, feeling like I did as a kid when he was my hero. They may have called him old, but Han Solo still had style, and even with everything we had been through, I was proud to call him my father.
"Remind me never to call you old," I joked, dad merely hitting my arm in response, signalling for me to keep moving.
Another member of what I thought was Kanjiklub came running at me, and for a brief moment my mind threw me back to fighting the Knights of Ren, one of them running at me, wielding his axe-blade in the same reckless, threatening manner. I blinked, forcing the thought away, but without even realising I'd sliced my saber at him, severing his arm off. He wasn't dead though, and blacking out in my fear I seized his blaster before it could fall to the floor in the grip of his dead arm, holding it with my left hand as I shot him right through the head. I winced, pain running through my arm from my old injury, dropping the blaster quickly as I looked between the dead body I'd just made and my shaking hand.
"Well... that's one way to get rid of those pests," Dad muttered wide-eyed, shocked still by how I was using my weapon, though he noticed the grimace of pain playing across my face. "Luce, you alright?"
"Yeah, yeah, just outta practice with my left," I nodded, far too quickly for it to have been a truthful answer, and though I knew both Dad and Chewie noticed me lying neither of them commented, not having the chance. "Come on, gotta keep moving!"
We ran round yet another corner, reaching an area by one of the main doors, surrounded by control panels. I breathed a quick sigh of relief since the Falcon was practically in reach, just through the heavy blast doors, and I took that time to quickly glance down to the floor, seeing that BB-8 had managed to keep up with us. I'd barely noticed him in all the chaos, and from what I could see he looked relatively unscathed, though I promised myself mentally that I'd check him over properly once we were in the safe confines of the Falcon. Dad slid his blaster securely back into its holster on his thigh, rushing over to the monitors and machinery. He was trying to get the doors to open, and so Chewie and I moved into place, covering his back.
"You know I could try and open it with the force!" I suggested, glancing over my shoulder only to see him roll his eyes, scoffing at my suggestion. "Or I could at least cut through it?"
"I was hacking into machines to save my life since before you were born, kid, we don't need some magical powers to save us," Dad insisted and I couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed at his stubbornness.
As I was still turned around, looking at the doors and wondering if I was strong enough in the force to open them, the last few remaining gang members approached at a run. Their arms were bared, all of them shouting in their arrival and I quickly spun back round, holding my lightsaber out, ready to deflect their blasts. Except, I hadn't been fast enough, one of their shots finding home in Chewie's arm. As he roared in pain I let out a scream of my own, the same glint of fury flicking across both mine and my father's eyes. Dad abandoned what he was doing, checking on his wookiee friend, whilst I could no longer hold back, protective anger flowing through me as I leapt forward, forgetting any previous hesitancy, slashing my saber in any which way.
I had my eyes shut, completely tuned into the force, moving wherever it told me to go, following my instincts. It was how I'd been taught, drilling lightsaber duels endlessly at the academy, but I'd never fought like that for real, since any other fight I'd engaged in had been far too messy. This time though felt right, ad my mind was far too focused on my instincts to even consider the memories of my last fight. I opened my eyes, seeing the pained expression of a gang member as I slashed him across the stomach, but I was pulled out of the fight my a jerking pain, someone grabbing hold of my neck, shoving me roughly against the wall. I let out a grunt of pain, my weapon slipping out of my grip as one of the gang members pushed his face into mine menacingly, a sneering expression on his face. I fought against his hold, knowing I'd fought off bigger, more violent threats, but he had me pinned back as he examined my face.
"Does your brother look like you?" he questioned threateningly. "No wonder he's after you, you little sith freak,"
I flinched at his words though I tried not to show that it had bothered me, spitting in his face. He responded by punching me in the face, my head slamming back into the wall. I hissed in pain, but noticed to hit me he'd let go of one of my arms. It was my left, the one that used to be the one I fought with until Ben injured it, but in that moment it was better than nothing as I held my hand out, summoning my saber. As soon as it was in my hand my thumb slipped over the switch to ignite it, and I watched as my bright purple blade lit up, right through his chest. The gang member opened his mouth as if to scream, but fell back onto the floor with no noise, dropping me in the process.
I thudded to the floor, feeling my ankle give way as I fell. For a brief moment I wondered if it was broken, my thoughts taking me back to a time of broken bones and severe injuries, and the fact that my nose was throbbing and probably bleeding too didn't help. I took in a deep breath, trying to stay calm, but I was unable to do that, not until my father appeared above me, holding out his hand.
"Damn, Luce, you alright?" he asked, fear and concern in his eyes as he helped me stand, watching me as I struggled to put weight on my ankle.
"Yeah," I nodded, disengaging my lightsaber, clipping it back onto my belt before quickly wiping my nose, not realising that I had just wiped blood more around my face. "I'm fine. We don't have time for this, we need to get out of here,"
From where he was still squatted, Chewie roared in agreement. His injury was far worse than mine, so I limped over to him, holding out my hand to help him to his feet. He was holding his arm, cradling the pain, so I let him lean on me ever so slightly, trying to ignore my own pain and focus on his. My father leant back over to the controls for the door and they swept open, just in time too as Finn and Rey both sprinted around the corner, both of them out of breath and visibly shaken, roughed up from the confrontation.
"You two alright?" I questioned them both urgently as we headed out through the doors, the speed of our movements straining my pained ankle, though I fought against crying out or flinching.
"Yeah, we're fine," Finn nodded for the two of the, though I cold tell they were both far from fine. "What happened to you?"
He was pointing at my face, and I wondered just how bad my bloody nose was, but in truth I didn't really care, too focused on getting Chewie back to the Falcon safely so I just shrugged, leading them up the ramp into the Falcon. As soon as we were safely back into the ship, I let Chewie sit down on the med-bay before leaning back against the wall myself, BB-8 circling round me worriedly. That was until Rey approached, a concerned frown on her face, and I forgot all about my hatred for people giving me their sympathy as I pulled her into a tight hug, careful not to drip any blood onto her. As she pulled away, I could see she was visibly confused, though a small smile crossed her face.
"What was that for?" she asked.
"I'm glad you're still alive," I confessed, the faces of my dead friends and the visions of my past circling my mind. "I've lost enough people I care about. I actually quite like you too, so promise me you won't die just yet?"
"I promise," she smiled again, and I knew whatever friendship Rey and I were beginning to build, it was one that was going to change my life.
"Hey!" my father's voice called from the cockpit urgently, and his head appeared from around the doorway. "No time for heartfelt moments, we gotta get out of here before we become rathtar food!"
Dad came storming out from the cockpit, and when I looked at him I didn't just see my protective father, but I saw Han Solo, the man from my childhood stories from the rebellion days. It was a moving sight, one that seemed to signal to me that it had all been worth it, trying to find him the past three years.
"You, take care of Chewie, you, come be my co-pilot,"He instructed, gesturing at Finn and Rey respectively, until his gaze fell onto me, a guilty look on his face as he saw my beaten up state. "Luce, go clean yourself up and sort your ankle out,"
*
Bala Tic was injured, and he'd just lost any chance of getting his money back from Han Solo. But still, there was a chance to make some sort of a profit out of the situation. Lifting the communicator up to his mouth, he spoke:
"Inform the First Order that the Beebee droid they're looking for with the two fugitives is on board the Millennium Falcon with Han Solo. And inform Kylo Ren directly that the girl he's been after, his sister, Lucinda Solo, is with them,"
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