A Soldier's Secret

Part 23

"I misjudged you" I whispered "I thought you had kidnapped me because you hated me" I lied "But, I can see now, that it wasn't true" I closed my right hand over his left. "Kelish" I murmured and pulled off my helmet, revealing my eyes. He hesitated, then pulled off his

"Cedar, I can't hide from you." he said "My face was damaged in the fire, my dearest..."He said

"I don't care" I whispered "Because you're still you" And, to seal the fake affection I was giving him, we kissed

Neither of us knew how to, but we tried

Or, he tried, and I needed to keep leading him on to get free from here.

His left hand held my cheek, and I squeezed my left hand around his right harder.

Then, I was knocked away from him by a large red cat, who stood over me as Commander Woods came in. My hands found my helmet, and I put it on.

"Cedar? CEDAR!" Kelish roared, and drew his lightsaber, turning to Woods.

"Kelish!" I shouted. I tried to fake an emotional voice

Kelish charged at Woods, their blades meeting in a hard battle, sparks crackling as they fought. I was pinned on the ground by this red cat.

Woods shouted something, and I tried to free myself from this oversized cat

"Get off me!" I shouted, and I swung at it, leaving tiny dents in its fur. But the momentary distraction was good, and I got free. Not knowing what to do, I dashed over to the tree and started climbing.

Kelish was locked in battle with Woods, but that didn't matter. I had to get a message to some other clones that my emotional response was fake. The red cat below me growled, and I snarled at it, anger from having to fake love coming out with it. I climbed higher and threw a seedling from the tree at Woods. It bounced off his head, and he was momentarily distracted, putting him on the defence as Kelish pushed back.

"Kelish, please, I don't want to hurt you!" Woods tried "Please, come back to the light!"

"WHAT DID THEY DO FOR ME? LEAVE ME TO DIE IN THE BOTTOM OF A BURNING GORGE?!" Kelish roared and pushed harder. The red cat and a pink cat leapt at Kelish, biting his arm. With another roar, he summoned a lightsaber from somewhere, and it swung at the cats with as much vigour as Kelish attacking Woods. Skywalker's lightsaber, it looked like. Kelish was more powerful than I thought because the Force was piloting the sabre while Kelish fought Woods. It was impressive to watch from far away. I tossed another seedling, and it missed.

"IT WAS KRELL'S FAULT!" Woods roared, and more people charged in. The pink cat got larger and was joined by a green one. While I still hated Kelish, I didn't like how he was getting ganged up on...

With a shot of searing pain, I leapt from the tree, feeling a new sense of power

I roared, a powerful, raging thing as I leapt at the pink cat, clawing at its back legs. The green one stopped in shock as the pink one and I engaged in deadly combat, circling, and waiting for the other to show weakness.

"Cedar?" The pink cat asked "Stand down"

"Never" I growled, then leapt at her, my claws finding her unprotected nose. She screamed in pain as my claws opened a wound, and her claws met my front legs. We continued fighting in a hissing, screaming mess, until the green cat pounced on me, trapping me again. I roared, and clawed his chest, freeing myself. 

It was me against two as Kelish fought Woods. The pink one was limping, the claw marks on her legs making her slow. The green one was uninjured, and I was going to fix that. Settling on my back legs, I prepared a jump

"Cedar" The pink one tried "Stand. Down. It's an order"

"When did I ever follow orders?" I snarled, then pounced onto the green cat, my claws meeting his in a new battle.

We fought, with him putting up a valiant fight against my rage. I released it, the months of hiding, waiting, suffering, screaming, the emotions from Benny's death, the death of my unit, the whispers, everything.

By the time I had released it all, both the pink and green cats were out of action, turning tails from the fight. Woods was losing ground to Kelish, but Woods was fighting hard.

I turned to the red cat, who was suffering on the sidelines, with Cody trying to help him. But by now, I saw Kelish losing, and I dashed to fight Woods. 

Before I reached him, however, I was pushed back.

Skywalker had entered the atrium and was duelling Kelish. Woods had stepped back from the fight, and I heard a snippet of a song

"I had a dream I was seven, climbing my way in a tree. I saw a piece of heaven, waiting in patience for me" It was Danger, and I growled at him. How dare he know my song?

"And I was running far away, would I run off the world someday?" Another voice joined

I screamed and lunged for Danger. I would silence him, once and for all.