Starry Eyed

Chapter 12. Afraid

"Well, well, well. What have we here?" A voice said as I regained my consciousness. I moved my head around slowly, trying to figure out where I was. Coldness and humidity were dense in the air, the stone floor cold under my legs. I groaned, shaking my head, as I tried to pull myself back unsuccessfully; Two tight electronic handcuffs held my hands up, beeping with a little red light. "I can't believe out of all people, you managed to become a threat to our plan." The voice, moved closer, lifting my chin up. My eyes widened in shock as they met with Jaycol Craton's.

"Let-let me go." I demanded, my voice sounding powerless. "The entire kingdom will be looking for me."

"Not for a while, no." He paced the room. We were in the abandoned part of the dungeons, underground. The only thing that could be heard was the echo of our voices and the sound of teardrops hitting the floor. Screaming was useless. "I'm surprised you failed to learn the lesson after your aunt disappeared..."

"Obi Wan will find me."

"Or may I be more precise and say, after your aunt was killed." I sobbed in horror. All that time I had maintained my hopes of seeing her again, of being embraced by her again. All my hopes shattered in an instant.

"It-it was always you. You murderer." I lifted my chin up to meet his eyes. "But why?"

"The Separatists have always been where the future is." He said firmly. "Of course, your weak kingdom wouldn't know that. You were all too distracted with that joke of a blockade to realise what was going down behind the scenes."

"What did you do to Tredar?" I suddenly remembered he was the last person I saw.

"You mean, my scapegoat if things went out of hand?" He laughed. "Someone told me he is on a journey to a very far away land. And his absence as senator can only mean I will be senator."

"If the same fate awaits me do so while you still can." Tears streamed down my face. I had realised the deepness and importance of the conspiracy too late, and it had all exploded on my face. With Jaycol as senator, not only would the Banking Clan affairs be covered up, but the Separatist would also be inside the Republic, monitoring and corrupting their operations. It was all a perfect plan, and I had been too busy going after the wrong person to discover it before it was too late.

"And miss all the fun that comes from torturing a Jedi?" He knelt down in front of me. "It turns out you are the perfect pawn to kill two birds with one stone and get some Jedi secrets from him. My superiors would be delighted."

"He will bring you to justice." I said between sobs.

"Have you got any idea of how well paid Jedi heads are these days?" He laughed. "However, I must admit it wasn't my idea." Just as he finished the sentence, the same guard that had been patrolling my corridor came into the cell where I was kept.

"The necklace has not yet been found, boss." He told Jaycol as he removed his helmet; It was Shahan Alama, the same bounty hunter that had tried to kill me when Obi Wan and I were dancing in the village.

Jaycol retreated from where he had been kneeling down to have a discussion with the bounty hunter. "Did you look everywhere in her room?"

"Yes, of course I did." He replied defensively. Jaycol sighed. "Cad Bane will be here in any minute." He continued, turning his head towards me. "Let's hope we find it before he gets here." He smiled mischievously as he got closer to me.

Obi Wan's POV

"I can't believe you were smart enough to lure me out here." I unleashed my lightsaber.

"Can't believe you were stupid enough to trust what that guard told you about the bounty hunter having escaped out here." Cad Bane scoffed, extending his arms into the nothingness that was Suraniat's outskirts with a smirk on his face. I bit the inside of my cheek in frustration; Clouded by my own feelings, I had believed the agitated guard that was patrolling the corridor outside my room when he said that the king had sent him to inform that Shahan Alama had escaped his cell and was roaming the outskirts of Suraniat in search for a way to escape the city.

"Impressive. Although perhaps you should have thought about how our last encounter turned out, and be even smarter by staying home."

"Well we're here now, and we have some unfinished business, my old friend." He laughed before firing the first shot. The battle began.

"Why follow me here? Are you that driven by revenge?" I said, dodging his bullets determinately.

"Don't be so vain to assume you are all that drove me here." He laughed once more. "You just seemed to be at the same place as my current affairs. How fortunate."

"And what could that be?" I kept using my lightsaber to deflect his bullets, growing tired and wondering when he would run out of them.

"A certain nosy princess." My breath hitched. Suddenly, it all clicked. I looked at my speeder bike, and the distance to palace. I looked at his face of satisfaction. He laughed once more, pointing one of his guns towards the motors of the bike. Everything around me seemed to slow down. His finger was pulling the trigger. Adrenaline took over me. I kicked it out of his hand, and with a swift motion I had him under my weight. We struggled for what seemed like forever, twisting and turning, until I was able to knock him out, wasting no time to jump on the speeder bike towards palace, concentrating on the force to sense where Y/N could be. I cursed myself for my weakened senses, for leaving Y/N under the guard's protection, but decided it was not the time to think of anything else but what lay ahead of me.