The Rising

Breathless

Cody's voice died in his throat as he and Fi looked at each other for a split second before he felt pain spreading through his chest, he let out a loud grunt as he gripped the front of his armor falling to his knees. 

"VOD?" Niner yelled as he ran over to help his brother to his feet, Cody, on the other hand, ripped his chest armor and tore his shirt open revealing a large angry red mark that was slowly opening before their eyes. Fi recognized it immediately as a lightsaber burn, but without the lightsaber and in slow motion. 

"What the hell?!!" Atin yelled not understanding what was happing, but Cody scrambled to his feet and dashed out of the room again knowing what the pain meant. his heart beating out of his chest praying he was wrong but knowing he wasn't. 

his eyes landed on Barris leaning against a wall, her saber held out in front of her in a defensive fashion while her other hand clutched her shirt that had been torn by a lightsaber. Her gaze meeting his before switching back to the fight at hand, her hand trembled slightly. 

Darth Abid laughed "tell me how does it feel to die alone?", Cody glared at the sith that dare hurt his girl before pulling his blaster up and fired, Abid deflected it easily turning to laugh at Cody when she felt pain spread through her chest. she looked down to see a hole in her chest, right where her heart would be when she looked back at Barris to see her smiling slightly. 

Cody was dumbstruck at what he had just seen. His clever little Jetti had caught the shot Abid deflected using the force and made it go through her chest. 

Abid and Barris's eyes met for a second before Abid fell backward through a window, falling hundreds of feet to the planet's surface. 

Cody and Barris's eyes met again as they shared a small smile before Barris fell to the floor, finally letting her body win. 

"BARRIS!!!!" Cody yelled his own body feeling extremely depleted as he ran to her side, once he was there he gently caressed her face as he got to his knees pulling her against him. "hey keep your eyes open ok?" he whispered to her as he brushed her hair out of her face, the purple veins covered most of her face and neck now. 

"c-co-dy" she whispered as she fought to keep her eyes open, he smiled at her desperately trying to keep calm. "its ok, your gonna be ok, you've lived through so much worse you can live through this" he whispered as he spotted Fi, Niner, Corr, and Atin running full speed at them. 

"your gonna be ok" Cody whispered as he kissed her cheek gently before he felt her hand on his heart, he grabbed her hand gently before kissing her knuckles and holding it over his heart again "they are almost here ok, they found another vial of the cure...just.....just hold on....please" he begged quietly before he saw Fi bend down next to Barris. 

But when he looked down at the vial in Fi's hand it was not the small blue one he had seen earlier, instead, it was a metallic silver-looking liquid.  

"What is that?!" Cody asked his grip on Barris tightening. 

"Cody you need to let me give this to her" Fi said as he bent down next to Barris. 

"Not until you tell me what it is!" Cody growled his fear getting the better of him. 

Fi shook his head before he tried again "Cody that's an order". 

"NO!!" Cody yelled pulling Barris to his chest protectively. 

Then he felt three sets of hands pulling him away as Fi pulled Barris out of his arms. 

"NO! LET ME GO" Cody yelled as he tried his best to fight off his brothers who pulled him away from Fi as he worked. Cody felt exhausted but still tried his best to break free, this promptly caused the three of them to pin him to the floor both obstructing his gaze of Barris and stopping him from killing Fi. 

Cody heard a loud ripping sound before his mind jumped to the worst scenario "BARRIS!!!! LET ME GO!!!! BARRIS!!!!" he yelled as best he could as he struggled harder. 

Then he felt it. 

It was like being shot in the chest 

Only a thousand times worse. 

Cody felt as if he was being plunged into freezing cold water that stabbed at his very soul, he struggled to keep his eyes open as he saw Corr's mouth moving but no sound came out of it, then he could have sworn he heard someone screaming bloody murder before he fell back into the black abyss that was sleep. 

His dreams were almost ghost-like as he slept, barely remembering any of them before he felt a strange and painful sensation running from his toes to his crown. It was like someone had pumped him full of acid that was eating its way out of his body through his veins, mussels, and skin. 

Just as he thought the pain wasn't going to stop, it did. 

In fact, he felt as though he had gone completely numb. 

His body throbbed painfully as tried to reach out through the bond he had with Barris, praying she was not in the same amount of pain he was, but when he reached out for the familiar tether he had grown to love and depend upon it wasn't there. 

He panicked slightly before he reached out again, praying he was wrong. 

Praying that he was just too numb to feel her. 

He tried again.

And again.

And again.

But as time trickled by the numbness only grew as his heart and spirit slowly broke with each failed attempt. 

Just as he was about to try again he felt himself breakdown, his mind only able to draw two conclusions as he was unable to feel anything or anyone around him. 

One, which he hoped was true, was that he was dead. 

Or.

Two, Barris was. 

His heart and mind desperately fighting each other as he felt himself fall further and further into sleep. 

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