The Jedi And The Warrior

The Fragility Of Freedom

Flyra ducked behind the thick fronds of a bush. Its dark leaves bordered the jungle, and beyond she could see the ruined, bloody battlefield, dappled and broken by the leaves that blocked her view.

And the armies that raged upon the dust.

The droid army was vast, a heaving mass of regimented lines, all converging upon the frighteningly small battalion of clones. They had been forced into a tight circle in the middle of what had once been the city, making a last desperate stand in a sea of foes. At the edge nearest to her, Obi-Wan and Anakin fought back to back, defending what they could of their army's flank.

Flyra gripped Kai's wrist. He crouched beside her, with Malco carrying his sister just behind.

"They're all going to die," she whispered.

He gave her a look. "And we're going to get out," he reminded her.

She glared at him, and it suddenly hit her how much she hated him. How much she hated them all. What was she doing considering herself one of these loathsome people?

"Anakin!"

Obi-Wan's scream carried even across the din of battle. Flyra whipped her head towards it, the genuine fear surprising her. And watched Anakin go down, a blaster to his shoulder, his lightsaber tumbling from his hand. Obi-Wan lunged to catch him, but Anakin sagged in his master's arms, and Obi-Wan let him fall, choosing instead to deflect the blaster-fire with renewed vigour.

He stood alone at the head of his dwindling army, lightsaber a whirl of bright sapphire impossible to track, defending the man who was his brother in all but name. Kai and Malco had seen it too, and she felt Malco shift forward.

"Move now," hissed her commander. "We can't hope for a better distraction."

Kai surged forward beside her, and Malco launched into a run, keeping low to the ground as he darted across the dust and the blood.

A cry echoed across the battlefield, and Flyra hesitated, still behind the bush, compelled by the pain in it. A clone fell behind Obi-Wan, and he whirled towards it, reaching for his comrade but unable to do anything. All around him the clones were falling, stumbling, dying. She could see the panic in his eyes even from here.

And Flyra could not just leave. Not now, not like this.

For the third time, she stood hesitating upon a battlefield, torn between one choice and another. Kai's hand wrapped around her wrist, and she let him tug her along, but she did not take her eyes from Obi-Wan.

And now he and his commander stood alone among bodies of the fallen, and Obi-Wan ceaselessly defended Anakin's limp body, something hard and driving on his face now. The droids had thinned too, but they were still coming, and Obi-Wan seemed to be refusing to retreat.

"Flyra," snapped Malco.

And that's when she saw it. The break in the blaster-fire that allowed Obi-Wan to bend beside Anakin, a hand on his forehead as if searching for life. The single clone that remained beside them fired desperately against the enemy. The blaster shot straight for Obi-Wan's chest.

She had seconds, maybe, to get to him. And there was no hesitation now, not as she watched his death streak towards him, and she remembered that she loved him.

Flyra tore her wrist from Kai's grip and hurled herself across the plain.

"FLYRA!"

She barely heard Malco's roar. She could only see Obi-Wan, so concentrated on Anakin that he was no longer aware of his own life. Such a him thing to do that it broke her heart even as it terrified her, and she was leaping over bodies with a desperate fervour.