Shadows {5}

Chapter 38

Sand was never a major nuisance to Kira until now, when it kept spraying in her face and making her eyes water whenever a stormtrooper missed her and the blast hit the ground near her. She spat some out and wiped her face off with a scowl. "We need to move!"

"I only see like five or six of them, if we attack all at once we should be able to get them!" Leena replied, her eyes narrowing determinedly. Now Kira knew what Luke meant about her striking first and asking questions later.

"We need to get to that entrance!" Luke exclaimed, pointing to the duraglass blast door. "And fast!"

"I know, I know!" Kira flinched as a blaster bolt strayed close. "Let's push them on three. One! Two!"

"Three!" She shot her hands out, not bothering to see if Luke and Leena did the same. All of the stormtroopers around them folded on each other like dominoes falling, and the three of them took their chance and started running.

But Leena froze in place, her eyes wide with terror. At first Kira thought the movement was voluntary, then she saw Leena struggling against it. Luke and Kira both whipped around and pushed the Empress back, who was running towards them with her elite troopers. She stumbled and Leena gasped, and the three of them kept running.

As soon as they entered into the hall Kira slashed the controls to the blast door, watching as it started to slide shut and backing up. The stormtroopers were racing towards them, and Kira smirked in satisfaction as they were too late. However, her smirk faded because the Empress was close enough to make it. "Keep running!" She exclaimed, backing up and turning around and running. "Luke, call for a U-Wing!"

She could hear him making the call into his comm and Leena next to him, both running. But Kira slowed to a jog, then stopped. What if she could end this now? No one else would be involved, just her and her mother. It was what she'd been waiting for: the chance to make her pay for what she'd done. She was tired of running away from her.

Meanwhile, Leena looked up to see the door sliding closed and somehow forced her legs to move faster, adrenaline sparked by the fact that the door in front of her was sliding closed. She gasped and sprinted harder, making it by and breathing heavily, but something in Leena's mind urged her to turn around. She did, and her stomach plunged as she saw Kira stopping at the door, her bright green eyes narrowing. Leena knew exactly what she was debating; flee, or fight?

Luke had stopped as well and was screaming at Kira to run, but she was either too focused on her mother or ignoring him altogether. Leena's body made the decision before her mind did, her legs starting up again but in the wrong direction. The door was almost closed now, so she picked up the pace, fear and determination swirling together inside the pit in her stomach.

She barely made it inside, squeezing in just before the door closed.

"You shouldn't have done that." Kira breathed quietly, her eyes not straying from the Empress, who was now standing in front of the stormtroopers who were trying to hijack the panel to get inside. She knew Luke was on the other side doing the same, but couldn't make herself look back at him.

"You don't have to face your demons alone." Leena replied. Kira stiffened at that, but whatever reaction she may have had from Leena repeating Kira's promise to her evaporated as soon as the Empress opened her mouth.

"You two are more foolish than I thought." She declared. "Especially you, Tano. You should've run when you had the chance. This isn't your fight." She twirled her saber. "But, as long as you're here."

Leena ignited her lightsaber, the white beam casting a small ring of light around her inside the dark hallway. Kira ignited hers as well, and the red from both sabers seemed to illuminate the short hall as if it was awash with blood.