Flaws of the Jedi

Captured

Narrator POV:
For everyone else, it took a moment to fully process who they were looking at and how they knew who Astoria was. Astoria's realization hit the very second that she laid eyes on the couple.

The Twi'lek and Togruta both rushed out of the room, noticing everyone's lightsabers and not wanting to be apart of whatever may occur.

"Astoria, would you like to take a seat with us? We've missed you dearly!" The man at the end of the poker table said with an evil grin.

"You've always been an awful liar, Father," Astoria replied harshly, "I will not sit anywhere near you two. It sickens me to be in the same building as you!"

"Oh, Astoria... still as rude as ever I see," the woman said, "Must we teach you manners again?"

She grinned devilishly and pulled a cylindrical object from a small purse at her side. Upon seeing it, Astoria's eyes widened in horror and she took a step back.

"N-No... K-Keep that thing away from me!" She yelled at her Mother.

"Why would we listen to you, brat?" Her Father remarked.

"Y-You can't control me anymore! You may be Sith, but you're outnumbered six to two! You stand no chance of any sort of victory."

"So you believe, darling; but we are much stronger than you realize," Astoria's Mother said.

Astoria took both lightsabers from her belt - her red one in her right hand, blue in her left - and prepared to defend herself and her friends. Her Mother activated the cylindrical object, revealing it to be a slave whip. Astoria immediately grew very tense, but was clearly determined to not let her parents see this.

Her Mother cracked the whip at Astoria and in response, she held her red saber up to block it, then turned it a little forwards and to the left to make sure the whip couldn't wrap around her lightsaber. Her Mother drew the whip back and a grimace grew on her face.

"Clever girl... you remember how they work from all those years ago..." She remarked

"Kriff off, Mother," Astoria snapped. She used the Force to push the poker table far to the side of the room, out of the way of a duel. She then ran at her parents quickly and with no hesitation, swinging her blue lightsaber at her Mother and her red at her Father. They blocked her swings with deep red lightsabers of their own, pushing Astoria back aways.

Ezra ignited his own lightsaber and went to stand beside Astoria to assist in her duel. Together, they both ran at Astoria's parents - Astoria attacking her Father and Ezra attacking her Mother.

"Ah, you must be her little boyfriend..." Her Mother said to Ezra as their lightsabers clashed. She lured him close and quietly said, "We will get her back... and she will suffer.... and you will not be able to do a thing about it..."

Ezra grew furious at her words and pushed her hard against a wall with the Force. He walked over to her and pinned her against the wall, holding his saber to her neck.

"You lay a single finger on her, and I kill you..." He said quietly. Then, after a moment, continued, "Actually... I think I may kill you anyways..."

He held his lightsaber a bit closer to her neck and she tensed a bit, leaning her head against the wall as to not let the saber make contact with her neck.

Astoria noticed what Ezra was doing and was, for a moment, ready to just let him kill her. But she knew she couldn't let him. She shoved her Father hard against a wall, momentarily knocking the wind out of him, then rushed over to Ezra.

She stood just a bit behind him, glaring at her Mother, but resting a hand on his shoulder.

"Ezra... don't do this... you know you can't..." Astoria whispered very quietly to him.

"They hurt you..! I can't let them get away with that..!" He quietly replied.

"And they won't... I pr..-" She tried to say, but she was cut off by her Mother shoving Ezra's lightsaber away from her neck, then springing away from the wall, grabbing Astoria and keeping an arm around her neck.

"Astoria!" Ezra shouted.

"Let go of her!" Obi-Wan chimed in, coming quickly to stand beside Ezra, along with Anakin, Ahsoka, and Kanan.

"No, I don't think so... if you want her to live, you'll drop your weapons and let us leave with our daughter!" Her Mother yelled. She was soon joined by her Father.

"You can't do this! Let her go!" Ezra yelled, tears becoming clear in his eyes. He took a step forward and, as he did so, Astoria's Mother's grip on her neck tightened a little.

"Ezra, don't..!" Astoria said, "I will be ok...-" She quieted her voice, "-...I will escape.. I promise..."

Ezra and Obi-Wan both had tears running down their faces now. The others were on the verge of doing the same.

"Goodbye, Jedi scum! When you see her next, we guarantee Astoria will be a Sith like us... or at least a husk of a Jedi!" Her Mother cackled. She turned with her arm still around Astoria's neck and took Astoria out quickly, her Father following.

Ezra immediately turned to Obi-Wan as the three left.

"We have to get her back! We can't let them hurt her!" He shouted through tears.

"I fully agree... but we must strategize... we need to figure out where they're bringing her," Obi-Wan replied.

"Ezra, come on... Obi-Wan is right; we can't go into this blindly..." Ahsoka said, "Let's get back to the Temple and try to rest, it's very late... in the morning, we will start our search for Astoria, I promise."

"N-No! We can't wait! I'm going after her whether you guys come or not!" Ezra yelled at them before turning away quickly and running out of the room the same direction that Astoria and her parents went.

"Ezra!" Ahsoka shouted, getting ready to go after him herself; but Anakin put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"You can't stop him and you know it..." He told her, "He'll come back. That's when we'll be able to properly strategize how to get Astoria back."

Ahsoka hesitantly nodded and very slightly relaxed as Anakin pulled her into a hug. That's when Obi-Wan noticed the ring on Ahsoka's hand.

"Ahsoka, where did you get that ring?" He asked her as Anakin and Ahsoka separated, but remained close.

"Oh... I guess tonight was so busy that we never got to say anything..." She said with a nervous and slightly forced smile. As she spoke, Anakin rested an arm around her shoulders, "Well... after we had dinner, Anakin and I went to a nearby lake where he.. well... proposed to me..! Obviously I said yes."

"Really? I'm so happy for the both you! I'm just sorry that something like this had to happen the same night as that..." Obi-Wan said.

"Yeah... I guess I didn't have the best timing..." Anakin said, trying to make a joke to lighten the mood just a little bit, but the anxiety in his voice ruined that and made it obvious that he feared what may happen to Astoria. Everyone had the same anxiety at the moment. Not only was she basically kidnapped, but now they had to worry about a new and soon-to-be rising threat; the 'Cannossis Couple' as they seemed to have been dubbed.

Soon, Ezra returned to the room, out of breath.

"I couldn't get her in time..." He solemnly reported, "Will she be ok..?"

"She's tough, and we'll find her soon..." Obi-Wan said, "She'll be ok until we can get her back..."