Jade fell to her knees, her side bleeding heavily from the cut she took to get to him. There was a diagonal slash across her chest, exposing the cauterized flesh underneath from the slice of the lightsaber. She couldn\u2019t remember why one wound was bleeding while the other wasn\u2019t. She didn\u2019t even bother to realize that her own life was slowly oozing away from her, the majority of her flesh underneath her armor seared and melding with the superheated metal. Her lightsabers were somewhere, forgotten, deactivated and destroyed during the battle. Her legs screamed with pain but she was numb to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cR-Rath?\u201d Her voice was weak. It shook when she spoke and cracked when she repeated his name once more, louder. He didn\u2019t stir. He lay there, motionless, with a hole through his chest. Her gloved hands shook as she reached out for him, tears welling up in her eyes. If only she hadn\u2019t been so stupid. If only she had stayed by his side. She should\u2019ve been there for him like he was there for her. He was always there for her, and the one time he needed the debt repaid, she had failed him.<\/p>\n
\u201cRathor, please,\u201d she swallowed hard as her hands fumbled with the gloves, pulling them off to find the skin charred. It tore as she pulled the gloves off, as if the two materials had wound together when she had been electrocuted. The pain shot through her, reminding her she was dying; reminding her that her power was on its last leg and that the Force wouldn\u2019t wait for her much longer. She put her broken flesh on his chest, trying not to cry. The tears would make it hard to work properly. She couldn\u2019t save him if she couldn\u2019t see.<\/p>\n
Through the Force, however, she knew he was gone. He was long gone before she had reached his side. She tried to remember how this had happened. She tried to remember who had done this. She drew a blank.<\/p>\n
Jade sealed the wound, blindly hoping it would somehow trap his soul within him, even when his pulse had faded and his presence had waned. Tears dropped onto his chest as her power faltered. Her bones ached, her muscles refused to work, and her heart started to slow. The pain came back to the surface of her mind but she pushed it away. She bowed her head and placed it on Rath\u2019s. Her tears betrayed her, and quietly, alone, in the solitude of the newly-formed morgue, she cried for the one she had lost. Her throat closed up and her shoulders shook, using the last of her energy. She could feel the Force tug at her. She knew if she let go now, she could join him on the other side. So she placed a kiss on his lips and rested her head on his chest. She shut her eyes for what she believed would be the last time.<\/p>\n
But someone yanked her away from him, screaming she was still alive. Her eyes shot open and the Force did not heed her call. She tried to throw the trooper back, tried to call for her lightsaber, anything that would let her life end. Yet the Republic trooper wasn\u2019t going to let her go. Through the adored helmet and medals attached to her armor, Commander Zal\u2019rak smiled at her dying friend.<\/p>\n
\u201cSelvan, we\u2019re here. We\u2019ll get you out alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo!\u201d Jade screamed, weakly beating against Zal\u2019rak\u2019s white-clad chest. \u201cNo! I have to join him! I\u2019m not leaving Rathor!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re going to be all right,\u201d the Commander said softly, easily lifting her friend from the ground and carrying her like a child. \u201cSomeone get me a medpac! We\u2019ve got one survivor and we\u2019re not about to lose her!\u201d<\/p>\n
Jade shivered, still muttering her curses and threats. She felt as the Force left her. She felt as it chose to no longer wait for her. She felt the sudden void of its power and the tears streamed down her face in greater volume. The medpac found its mark and adrenaline washed through her veins. Jade wasn\u2019t about to do anything about it, however. The Force had decided to let her live, but from now on, she was going to be on her own.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jade gasped, jerking upright in the bed she shared with her husband. Her heart pounded, sweat beaded her brow, and her breath came out short and choppy. She moved her legs over the side of the bed, putting her bare feet on the cold floor to bring her back to her sanity. Her hands covered her face as she slowly steadied her breath. It wasn\u2019t the first time she woke up in middle of the night because of some nightmare. It wasn\u2019t the first time she startled herself awake because of the horrors her own mind conjured; or worse, the horrors her own mind remembered. Somehow, however, this had been different. The absence of the Force had felt so real\u2026she shook her head and stood, adorned in long pants and a loose shirt. Even then, she was suspicious enough to have a small device she created cover the insides of her shirt. It wasn\u2019t exactly comfortable, but it would stab adrenaline into her system if an unknown form, organic or otherwise, entered the ship. She hadn\u2019t told Rathor she had made it. She wasn\u2019t entirely sure what he would say.<\/p>\n
Her emerald eyes shifted to him then, still sleeping. She smiled softly, knowing he didn\u2019t always sleep so well. She turned her eyes back down to the floor and sighed. She reached out for her lightsaber, which obediently came to her hand from the nightstand beside her. Its presence comforted her as she ran her free hand through her long red locks, striped with the occasional blonde strand. She walked out of the room quietly and picked up her comm that sat outside. She softly called up her crew and sat down on the couch outside the shared room. A twi\u2019lek answered, looking at Jade with concern. She must\u2019ve looked terrible; Kye didn\u2019t usually take pause to look at her before asking her usual question.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was\u2026hoping we could talk.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should speak with your husband, Jade.\u201d She warned, shaking her head. \u201cMarried people usually do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want to wake him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSee you didn\u2019t have the same feelings about me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, you\u2019re not.\u201d Kye shook her head again. \u201cYou\u2019re not sorry. I know your nightmares have started getting worse, but that\u2019s no excuse not to tell your husband. Just because he\u2019s sleeping, doesn\u2019t mean he doesn\u2019t care. He\u2019s concerned, Jade. You of all people should know that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to hear your lectures.\u201d Jade grumbled, rubbing her eyes tiredly. \u201cI just wanted to talk.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJade. Seriously. Talk to Rathor. You need him more than you\u2019d like to admit. I\u2019m sure if he was gone\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would you say that?\u201d Jade snapped, her eyes flaring with intensity that the holocomm certainly didn\u2019t recreate on Kye\u2019s side.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just saying that if something were to happen\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing\u2019s going to happen!\u201d Jade hissed, louder than she intended.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re Force-damned Sith<\/em> for crying out loud! You\u2019re in a worse position than smugglers! You wouldn\u2019t be able to live without him!\u201d<\/p>\n Jade shut off the call. In fact, she turned the thing off entirely. She didn\u2019t want Kye calling back. Of course she could live without Rathor. She had done so before, why couldn\u2019t she now? She shivered, bringing her arms around her. Was this why the Jedi outlawed love? Because of how vulnerable it made her? Because of how fragile she seemed to be?<\/p>\n Her teeth sanded together and her eyes shut tightly. She was stronger now, wasn\u2019t she? She was stronger than ever before. It was because of him she was stronger. But it was also because of him that she had a fairly obvious weak point that could end up getting her family in danger. Rathor and<\/em> Veskin. Not to mention herself. She coiled tighter.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m fine,\u201d she whispered, \u201cthere is no Dark side nor Light side\u2026there is only the Force.\u201d<\/p>\n (Disclaimer: I do not own the Star Wars universe nor the character “Rathor”. This is based off a recent roleplay from my guild. I own Jade Cavvar and her story. Steal, and I shall cut you. :3)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jade fell to her knees, her side bleeding heavily from the cut she took to get to him. There was a diagonal slash across her chest, exposing the cauterized flesh underneath from the slice of the lightsaber. She couldn\u2019t remember why one wound was bleeding while the other wasn\u2019t. She…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,17],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p27tjX-3y","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/winter-publishing.com\/welcome-to-winter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/winter-publishing.com\/welcome-to-winter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/winter-publishing.com\/welcome-to-winter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winter-publishing.com\/welcome-to-winter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winter-publishing.com\/welcome-to-winter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/winter-publishing.com\/welcome-to-winter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":456,"href":"https:\/\/winter-publishing.com\/welcome-to-winter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220\/revisions\/456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/winter-publishing.com\/welcome-to-winter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winter-publishing.com\/welcome-to-winter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/winter-publishing.com\/welcome-to-winter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}