She had climbed the building walls as quickly as she could, using patio railings and loose bricks as handholds. It scraped her fingertips painfully, but there was no time to get gloves or to find an easier way. She had seen the bodies fall from the top, too many, almost all of them were faced she recognized, which was definitely not a good sign of how things were going up top. She grabbed the edge of the roof, almost falling when fire passed little more than an inch away from her fingers, she could feel the heat of it on her skin before it passed, zipping safely over her shoulder to hit the buildings behind. She pulled herself up quickly and carefully, glancing around, not disheartened though it was a sorry sight she saw. All but a few of her comrades were fallen, and the few left were at an easily seen disadvantage. She pulled her blaster from its holster at her thigh, holding it with both hands at the ready, running in a crouch to a better perch, now able to peer over the ledge slightly. Shooting at each and every head that dared show itself of the rock face ahead, but fire still filled the air, most all of it from the other side, and she couldn't help but groan at the sound of yet more of her comrades falling, their cries of anguish and agony, and wrinkle her nose at the smell now seeming to cling to the wind, the smell of burning soldiers, enough to make even strong stomachs turn. As a particularly large cloud of fire passed over her head, she heard an all too familiar cry, spinning around to see just what she feared. That strong man, who she had never felt anything but respect, fell so slowly it seemed, his captains uniform singed beyond recognition. His hand was outstretched to her, his brilliant, strong eyes softened and his mouth opened as if to say one last thing, but the only sound heard from him was the loud ground-shaking this of his body hitting the ground and the almost too quiet to hear sigh of his last breath leaving him. She closed her eyes tightly and hissed softly in pain, she quickly turned round, downing the soldiers that had managed to climb the wall in her distraction. she ran to a better viewpoint, spraying fire down the wall, causing many enemy soldiers to fall with a scream. she had to run back quickly, for she had little cover here. She heard a few cries of excitement over the groans of the wounded and dying, she glanced around and soon learned why. It was only her, all alone, the rest has fallen. She couldn't look back again, and wouldn't. She slammed her shoulder into a rock large enough to give her a decent amount of cover, and it moved forward slowly at her attempts until she had finally moved it forward close enough to have a decent defensive position, after having to slam her shoulder into the rock enough to leave it bloodied and sore. She continued spraying fire over the rock, favoring her left shoulder. It seemed so quiet, much too quiet, but she knew it was only in her mind, the only thing she could hear was the pounding of her heart in her head and the occasional scream. She knew it wouldn't be long know, before her luck ran out, she tired, got shot, but as a cornered animal, she would be sure to take as many of them down in the process, after all, she had only her life to lose, and she had never been afraid of death, she didn't seem it out of course, but it didn't scare her, and that is what made her a warrior. She winced at the pain in her hands from holding the gun so tight and for so long, but she only held it tighter at the pain, and while her arms and legs, knees and elbows, were covered in cuts, scrapes and bruises it didn't slow her in the least, not when she was the only one left. She continued blasting anything that moved, even clearing out a tree or two in the process, but it seemed the enemy was finally getting smart about their attacks, taking pot shots at her over the ledge instead of trying to rush over as they had before. She scuttled to the very back of her side of the cliff, swinging down, bracing her feet on the top buildings railing, letting them have some ground, but also making them come to her. At first it was just reckless singles that ran for her and fell, then they started sending organized groups, though they also fell, creating quite the convenient barrier. It seemed that it all became disturbingly quiet for a moment, and she waited. No more soldiers came, no more blasters fired, it was only the pounding of her heart in her head and a slight hissing she took to be the traffic below. But the hissing grew louder and louder, and the ground she clung to seemed to be growing warmer. The ground beside her exploded outward to leave a perfect cylindrical tunnel burned out of the rock face. She slowly moved closer to the tunnel and looked within. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw what lay at it's end. He was looking straight at her, yelling from what she could tell, for his mouth was moving, but she could hear none of it. In the space of a heartbeat, they were on the cliff again, close to the edge that separated the two sides. She felt a drop of blood drip down her nose from the blade now pressed between her eyes. She looked up at the swords master, smiling softly and musing at how his brown eyes seemed ice blue when they reflected the blades color. His eyes seemed to soften and he smiled back. She felt more blood drip as the tip of the sword moved along her skin for a moment, parting it almost painlessly before going still again. She leaned into the blade.
