Hopes

Chapter 8.

Solus's POV

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The sound of hurried footsteps caught my attention, and before I could replace my mask, I threw a glance over my shoulder to see if I was just imagining things. I wasn't. The margin between the doors rapidly grew smaller as they closed, but I saw someone through them. He had paused, blue eyes anxiously checking behind him. 

I frowned, forgetting that I wasn't wearing the mask as I studied him. Brown cloak, grey tunic, ginger beard, and kind face: I could never erase him from my memory. He seemed somehow younger and more lively, yet nonetheless weighed down by responsibilities. He stared at me, the mirror image of my own surprise and bafflement, then the doors clicked shut. I snapped into action, fitting my mask and racing after the intruder.

The doors flew open at my command, and I saw the blurred edge of his cloak disappearing around a corner. I chased hard, quickly assessing that his speed came largely from adrenaline. He was fast, but I was faster.

He skidded around a corner, nearly colliding with a senator. His hesitation almost cost him his freedom, but he slipped from my grasp, dodging my hand and sprinting down the hallway. His haste almost sent him crashing into a decorative statue, but he managed to duck out of the way in time.

A window loomed up on our right, and it became apparent that he would try to use it as an escape route. Making another lunge for him, I missed, but my action forced him to go left to avoid me, pushing him from the window. He glanced back in frustration, his eyes filled with confusion, and I knew he knew.

He made as though for a door, then immediately changed his course, turning down a narrow corridor. I slammed into the wall as I forced myself to make the turn, taking precious moments to find my footing again. He seized the opportunity and used the Force to swing a statue at a long window. It shattered spectacularly, the smashing noise reverberating through the entire hall and catching the eye of the half-dozen people at the other end who stood petrified. He stopped at the ledge of the window, his eyes flicking to me. His pause was his downfall.

Without thinking, I leapt for him. Why couldn't I keep my head? I full-body tackled him, sending both of us falling out of the Senate. We had chased each other floors down, but we were still a dizzying height above the ground. A fall from here would seriously injure, unless one could angle themselves perfectly. Even then, one wouldn't escape unharmed.

Acting on instinct, I jerked my mech hand out and caught on the windowsill one layer down. Pain ripped through my shoulder as my body weight snapped onto it, but it was weight of the intruder that popped it out of joint.

Agony blinded me, my vision whiting out briefly, but I scrambled to regain myself, gritting my teeth against my screaming shoulder. The intruder dangled in my grip, his hand lax as he decided whether to return my hold around his wrist. He set his jaw, then I felt his fingers winding around my flesh wrist, his grip firm. I could see us in the window we hung in front of and marvelled at the familiarity of it.

"Solus!" Maul's voice was disappointed and angry. A handful of glass shards trickled off the window as he stood at the edge, glaring down at me. "Come here!"

My protégé kept his head down, pulling his hood over his face so as not to be recognized. The movement sent pain shooting down my arm again.

"Don't worry about him," Maul called, irritation dripping down with his words. "Get back up here."

The fingers around my wrist, hot and slippery from sweat, held a little tighter, and I didn't need to see his face to feel his pleading. My logic was quick and simple. I didn't have to worry about him. I could still get to Maul. It might take me a bit longer, but what of it?

Biting my lip so hard I thought it might bleed, I started to swing him, hoping madly that he would take the hint. He did. 

Despite the near-incapacitating pain in my shoulder, I swung him out once ... twice ... three times. On the third swing in, he aimed the heels of his boots at the glass window we dangled next to, and with a resounding smash, it shattered like the one two floors above it. At the furthest point of his swing inwards, I let go, and he rolled inside. But the shift in weight was too much for my shoulder and my brain forced my mech hand to release its grip as the pain became unbearable.

As I fell, I knew Maul wouldn't catch me. The prowler should have taken his opportunity and fled, so I figured I would be on my own, if I wanted to land in some way other than badly injured. But the pain was clogging my senses, and my brain was swimming. I was rapidly running out of time.

Before I came to myself, pain again tore through my arm as it took the brunt of my weight once more. This time I did black out, but I was hasty to recover, blinking through the haze to orient myself.

I was hanging by my right arm from the Senate building again, but we had switched roles. His feet were hooked onto as-yet unbroken pieces of the window, both hands holding my wrist as he adjusted his balance. Carefully pulling me up, he backed into the hallway, flinching as he dragged me across the broken shards of glass. The folds of my tunic protected me from most harm, but the pain in my shoulder prevented me from helping him as he pulled me into the room.

We stayed on the floor, panting, and it frustrated me how useless I was. I should have been moving, fighting, standing ... anything.

"Anakin ...," he started, and that name alone was enough to shock me senseless. I found myself flinching as his hands, gentle and unobtrusive as ever, felt me for injuries. The vulnerability of my position made my skin crawl, but the strangest sensation pricked at my mind. It seemed familiar. It was almost like sitting by a crackling fire on a snowy day, listening to someone's calm voice as they read a story. It felt warm. It felt safe.

But then the cabin door was flung open and a swirl of icy snow blustered in, putting out the fire and plunging the room into darkness.

"Solus!" the demanding voice of Maul quenched my delusions, and I instinctively pushed away from the person next to me. "Get up! Fight!"

Despite my spinning head, I struggled to my feet, hand jerking for my lightsaber. But the movement was too sudden, the world too blurry, and the pain too much. 

The last image that hit my vision was the blue eyes of one I ....

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Okay, that was kind of intense to write, but I had a great time doing it. Obi and Ani metttt!! That's so excitinggg!! But is it?

And what will happen next? What will Obi-Wan do? Find out in the next chapter! (That sounds really cheesy XD)

Thanks for reading!! ^^

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