Battle for Earth

Tough

The group of five had all spent the night in the living room. The three teenagers shared the couch. Athena slept in the middle as Rae and Ezra had their heads on opposite sides of the ends of the couch. Her head rested on the couch cushion and the rest of her body rested on the coffee table under her. Onthant and Kanan each slept on the floor separately with sheets underneath them and a pillow as well as a blanket for each.

It was hardly the dawn when Kanan woke up with a jerk. He did not have a nightmare of any sort or a vision. He just felt that something was off. He looked over and saw his father still asleep. Kanan looked over and saw both Rae and Ezra still asleep;but Athena was gone.

Kanan quickly stood up and looked through the Force for Athena. Of course, Kanan felt the blur of Earth's surface within the Force smear it. He then began to call out within the Force for her, a small calling of her name through the Force.

Then he got a reply. Her signature was distinct now in the Force. Like a match in the middle of a dark room. She obviously was stressed, fierce, and ...scared. He Force signature was almost telling him to stay away. He could tell she was standing somewhere up higher. The roof.

Sure enough, Kanan saw Athena's body fall from the roof and into the bushes as he looked out of the window. Athena quickly jumped up and stood. She had her lightsaber ignited and her face was covered with new scratches and some mud. Her eyes seemed crazed and fierce as she glared around her to make sure something was or wasn't there to attack. Kanan had never seen such an expression on Athena's face.

In the vision she had a more malevolent look at some points or a just crazed at others. Now, it was a mix of that and something else. She had the eyes of a bloodthirsty killer, but was scared. Her face was that of an outmatched soldier or warrior fighting to the last seemed to calm down and she deactivated the dark blue blades of her lightsaber. She put it in the pocket of her black hoodie and she looked into the window where Kanan was. She waved and soon came in through the front door with minimal sound. She took off her muddied shoes that had a black dust coated over them and her hoodie to show the green tank top she was still wearing.

"What happened out there?" Kanan asked in a low voice to not wake the others.

"Another minion of Abeloth's. I took care of it ,though," Athena assured.

Rubbing a small amount of mud off of Athena's face, Kanan offered, "Hey, why don't you go change and wash up. The Novella's will know something's up."

She brushed her brother's hand away. "I will. By the way: Martin and I guess most of the country must've thought that I did a magic trick when I discovered my Force-abilities. Just go with it. Say that we do magic tricks for a living and it's a family thing or something. It's our best cover-up."

"Ok, I'll tell the others when they wake up," assured Kanan. "Go wash up and change your clothes. We're going to make the most of being at a house like this and use the washing machine since we won't come across one for a while. We all have an extra pair of clothing."

"What about Onthant?" Athena asked.

"I'll let him borrow the clothes I'm wearing right now when they are washed," explained Kanan.

"Ok."

Later that morning, the group joined the Novella's for breakfast at the table in the kitchen. The table had only six seats, and there was eight of them all. Athena insisted she stood as well as Onthant and Kanan. The three were obviously related when this transaction of words went down as none of them wanted to be a burden or put above another. It ended up with them finding a spare chair that Onthant and Kanan sat in the other while Athena stood away with her plate of food in hand.