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Last time on the Meridean Twins, we met the gang, and we started to figure out a little about all of them. What secrets to Loki's lavender eyes hide? Can Luke unlock them? Why is Xinix attacking Luke? Find out in the final half of Chapter One! Code C1P2, and if you missed the first half, the code is C1P1. If you would like the entire volume of chapter one emailed/pm'd/whatever to you, send me a pm with the code C1E. Thank you, and here goes nothing!
He leapt, saber raised, ready to plunge it into Luke’s heart.
There was another snap-hiss, a whirring hum of a lightsaber moving, and a spray of sparks. A smaller figure had an iced-purple saber horizontally to Xinix’s.
“Loki?” Luke whispered. She pushed the larger person back and stood there, saber at the ready. Her face was a mask of cold indifference, but her eyes gave her away. She was worried, and had stepped in to the fray for Luke. Those eyes matched her saber perfectly and, at the moment, they were narrowed at Xinix.
“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” She spat at Xinix.
“You will pay for your interference, little one.” Xinix growled. Loki smirked.
“Bring it on.” She said. “Let’s see just how good you really are at Force Fire.”
Force Fire, Luke thought. The energy that Xinix produced incapacitate me? Force Fire?
Xinix yelled and charged her. He slashed, Loki ducked and swivelled, and was now behind him. She turned and raised her saber to block as he came again. Luke could see she was, indeed, excellent at sparing. Loki matched Xinix move for move.
Slash, parry, block, stab, dramatic spinning twirl, Loki seemed to know dozens of fighting styles. Xinix slashed at her unprotected sides and she flipped over the blade, flipping away from him, only to race back, swinging her saber expertly, slashing through Xinix’s black braid. Loki stood before Xinix unafraid, his now cropped hair laying on the sides of his face. Luke could sense that she had fought more experienced fighters than the Fallen. Xinix swung his saber and Loki blocked. He pulled back and struck another two times and each time, Loki stood strong, although Luke saw her heels digging into the dirt, inch by inch.
The smaller girl raised her saber to the other side, just in time too, for her and Xinix locked sabers. Loki leaned in closer.
“Not bad, but how’re your technical skills?” She hissed. Then Loki pushed back again, sheathing her saber as she skidded back on her heals, dropping to drag the ground with one hand to stop herself. Luke had long since gotten to his feet to observe the battle in a different angle.
It was not the first time Xinix had attacked him, but it was the first time a student intervened and actually was holding ground against him. Xinix was good, very good. But Loki was better. She seemed familiar though. Luke felt he had seen her moves before.
All at once, her eyes flooded a glowing purple, that strange icy-purple, that color he would come to associate only with her. Her hands glowed and then burst into lavender flames. She smirked at Xinix, her eyes iris-less and all glowing. Xinix froze for a moment, then shook himself. He threw one hand violently out towards Loki. A shapeless, colorless energy-oblong hurtled from his fist.
Loki held both hands together, index finger up, in front of her then separated them. That gesture created a lavender shield that blocked his Force Fire.
“You’ll have to do better than that,” Loki cat-called. Xinix threw two this time. Loki cartwheeled away from the first one and caught the other one in a net similar to her shield. She threw it back at him and it burned the hair off his right arm as he hastened to dodge.
“Jenovian witch!” He yelled at her. “Spawn of evil, the ultimate evil!” Loki frowned.
“Well, that’s not very nice,” she said. Then she yelled and thrust her arms ahead of her. Two icy-purple pillars of Force Fire nearly hit him. It was clear that Xinix was shaken. “Play nice or I just might start to get rough. And, by the way, I never miss twice.”
Luke knew it wasn’t that Loki had bad aim, she was most likely an ace. She just wanted to show Xinix who was boss when it came to the special powers. Xinix recovered himself and it was clear he was furious. He raised his saber again, looking menacing and ran at her. Loki’s hands glowed a more violent purple. Xinix brought his saber down . . .
Loki caught it between her two hands, holding it there. The blade crackled a little and Loki grimaced. The Force Fire must protect her hands from the saber, Luke reasoned. Blood tricked from her palms, dribbling down her wrists. But not completely.
Loki’s grimace turned to a hard-earned sneer. She jerked her hands to the side, snapping Xinix’s grip and in the same instant, she grabbed his saber hilt and held it against him. Her left palm (the only one Luke could see clearly) looked as if it was gashed by butcher knives.
“That’s match, Lizard Boy,” she said. “I only have one last thing to do now.”
“You cannot kill me,” Xinix spat. “You’d be expelled.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Loki said. “I won’t kill you.” Her eyes blazed and her hair blew around, though there was no wind. Luke watched in awe and shock (as did most of the Academy) as a purple, smokey, light entity emerged from Loki and flew into Xinix. He gave a cry and slipped to his knees. His eyes were wide and Loki’s mouth was moving slightly, like she was muttering words under her breath. All at once, the entity re-entered Loki and Xinix gasped, for two reasons. One, he was released from what everyone guessed to be a traumatic experience and two, Loki had pulled his and her sabers faster than the eye could follow and held them in an X at his neck. He gulped.
There were murmured voices around Luke. He knew about what. That last move. He had seen the holo-vids and reproductions of what his father Anakin Skywalker did to Count Dooku above Curoscant. Loki’s motions were identical.
“And one more thing,” she said. Xinix said nothing and made no sign of hearing her. She flipped his saber into the air. It disabled itself and flipped up higher. Loki drew a blaster from her belt that Luke didn’t even notice and fired four times, blasting the saber to a million tiny pieces. Xinix flinched with each blast. Loki holstered her blaster and walked around him. The crowd of students parted to let her pass. Luke made no attempt to find her right then, but it did cross his mind to do it and soon. The students dissipated once the action was clearly over. Xinix still sat on his knees.
Luke walked to him, standing behind the broken and shamed Faleen who attempted to kill him for honor.
“Let this be a lesson, Xinix,” he said. “There will always be another, bigger fish in the sea.” Xinix glanced at him.
“She was no more than a child,” he muttered. Luke inhaled, struggling to control his temper, even if it rarely surfaced.
“She beat you nonetheless,” Luke said. “You have permission to rebuild your lightsaber, if it is any consolation.” Then he left.
5
Loki and her friends celebrated her victory over Lizard Boy, as they called him, in the hangor. They all had their own ships they brought with them, which were like their home away from Temple. Needless to say, they enjoyed sneaking away and doing things they weren’t supposed to. Gabrielle was the only real innocent one in the whole lot. She enjoyed reading and spent most of her time in The Icefire, her ship. That night, she was in the library.
Nikolai, Constantine, and Rio, thick as thieves, supplied the whisky, wine, and Corellian brandy. Trilian made a drink she heard about called “margaritas” using her own ingridenants and the others did their respective drink things. Loki hooked her MP7 up to the WhiteRaven, her Jenovian fighter/racer. Bands blared over its speakers as Loki downed another pucker shot.
Her face scrunched up for a moment then let go and she laughed, thinking about the funny face she made. Her, Max, Nikolai, Connie, Jaken, Rio, and Roki played Sabaac on the Raven’s roof. And they drank a bit more. It was a celebration after all. No harm in it really. Until the morning, of course . . .
“I see your s’more,” Max said, “and I raise you two jerky sticks and four sour balls.” They were playing with snack foods. He threw his wager in and Loki laid her cards down.
“I’m out,” she said. The boys smirked.
“Scared?” Jaken asked. Loki gave him a cool “wait and see” look as Max laid down his hand. Four aces and a king.
“Read ‘em and weep, suckers,” he said. Jaws dropped. He pulled the pile to him.
“Cheat,” Riku muttered. Max hit him upside the head.
“I won fair and square,” he said. Riku was lucky he didn’t just bonk him with the torque wrench he kept in one belt loop at all times. The two bickered, but Max had shown no sign of cheating, so it was over soon enough.
“How’d you know he was going to do that?” Rio asked Loki. She shrugged.
“Any time Max bets one of his precious sour balls like that you have no hope of winning, let alone if he bets four,” she said. Max eyed Nikolai, hungrily.
“You know the deal,” he said. “I won three games of Sabaac, now you pay up.”
“Dude, you suck so much,” Nikolai said, standing. “Okay, e’rybody shut it for a second!” Everyone looked at him. “If Trilian and Jaken can stop making out,” at that comment, Jaken threw a gumball at Nik’s forehead, “I’ll sing my Irishan drinking song!” Constantine and Roki cheered and whooped, Constantine being half-way sloshed. “Now, who wants me to sing?” Nikolai asked, sounding like an announcer. There were cheers and a few light-hearted boos. “Should I sing?”
“Sing, all ready!” Xaqi said, sitting on Riku’s lap.
“Now, I can’t do it without being properly drunk on my a**. Roki?”
Roki poured him a mug of Irishan brew and handed it to him.
“Drums please,” Nikolai said. Those on the ground had climbed aboard the Raven and hit the roof. Loki and a few of the others clapped the beat.
“Get on with it all ready,” Aliea said, deadpan.
“O, i-de-di-de-di-de di-de-di-de-di,” Nikolai sang, dancing a rag-tag jig. After his rather questionable song, they were falling all over themselves laughing.
“Get the lady of the hour up there!” Kagome said. Loki smiled and shook her head.
“No way in the nine Sith hells,” she said. “You guys know I can’t sing.”
“Aw, come on, Loki,” Max said.
“Yeah, Lo,” Constantine said. “Sing the one about the secret.”
“Dirty Little Secret!” Roki said. He started chanting it and the others joined in. Nikolai grabbed Loki’s hand and hauled her to her feet. She waved them off and told them to shut up.
“Geez! Okay, okay, okay! I’ll sing, I’ll sing!” She said, after being bagered again. “But for me to sing, I have to be properly drunk on my a**.” More cheers. Nikolai handed her the mug and she downed about half of it in one gulp, proving once again she could drink any man under the table easily.
“Now, sing, lass,” he said in a strong Irishan accent. “Sing ‘til yer little heart explodes!”
“It sounds better when there’s the right background music,” Loki said. “But no guts, no glory, right?” Then she cleared her throat and began.
It was a rather sad song about a girl who had a questionable other, it seems, and keeps him a secret from all her friends and family. She sang, and she sounded excellent.
The others sat, listening with rapt attention, no one daring to even whisper, for fear of breaking the sound of her voice. Loki took a moment to breathe, minutes later. “That’s all I can remember,” she said. Nikolai took her right wrist and raised it into the air.
“Let’s give the lass a hand!” He said. Her friends cheered and clapped.
“That was wondrous!” Juniper said. Loki sat down again, completing their circle.
“Thanks,” she said, shyer than she usually was. The flush to her cheeks said she had enjoyed her last drink.
“You are in the welcome, but, there is still one thing I do not understand,” Juniper said. “Can you explain?”
“Shoot.”
“Please, what are dirty little secrets?”
Jaken chuckled at that.
“Well, here’s an example,” he said. “Rio’s dirty little secret is that he is head over heals in love with—mmph!” Rio’s hand darted out and covered Jaken’s mouth.
“Shut up, Crane!” He said. Jaken’s eyes narrowed. Rio yelped and pulled his hand away. He blew on it as if it were burnt. Jaken had increased his body temperature to over 600 degrees Fahrenheit, while still, through the grace of his Draconic ancestry, maintaining his core temperature of a cool, reptilian 94 degrees. Like Tamaranians and Jenovians, Draconics were more than human, while still looking the part. Thus, they were called para-humans.
But it was too late for Rio. They were all intrigued about his secret love affairs.
“What’s you’re secret, Solo?” Constantine asked, eyebrows raised. Rio shook his head.
“Bull,” Vyse said.
“Who are you in love with?” Trilian asked, gossipy as ever.
“No one!” Rio said indignantly. “Jaken was just screwing with you.”
“Riiiight,” Riku said. “He’s probably in love with his brother’s wife or something.”
“No!” Rio said, trying to defend himself. “I told you, Jaken was just messing around.”
“Was not,” Jaken said. “I read your holo-diary on MyZone.” Rio’s eyes widened.
“That page is restricted! How did you access it?”
“I stole your password.”
“How?! It’s impossible to guess.”
“Not that hard.”
“Okay then, smart a**, what is it?”
“Rio-plus-insert-girl’s-name-4-ever.”
“Okay, I get it! You know!”
Jaken smirked in triumph.
“Who is she? What’s her name? Tell us!” Xaqi asked. Rio balked at answering.
“You can tell us, Rio,” Trilian said. “We won’t tell a soul.” Rio eyed them.
“You all have to promise,” he said. All present raised their right hands and spit into them, and then clapped them to their left shoulders.
“We swore, now tell,” Aliea said, actually interested.
“Okay,” Rio said, swallowing. “I have this crush on . . . ” They leaned forward into him, eyes wide and in anticipation of an unknown person, a name.
“Who?” Fina asked, her own sightless eyes focusing on him it seemed. Rio swallowed again. He made a small, choked sound for an answer.
“Say what?” Max said. Rio started coughing. Nikolai hit him on the back hard.
“Loki!” He spat out. Gasps and excited screams followed. None from Loki. She just looked at Rio, eyes wide. Abruptly, Loki blinked, all affects of the ale gone from her system.
“Is that true?” She asked. He nodded. She looked down. There was an uncomfortable silence after that.
“Well,” Constantine said, clapping his hands together and rubbing them. He climbed to his feet, swaying a little. He laughed drunkenly. “Hell of a party.” The others murmured agreement.
“I’m glad you think so,” another voice said. They all winced when they realized who it was. Turning slowly, they saw Luke standing on the ground next to the Raven, arms crossed. Loki glared at him. “I suggest you all come down.”
“How did you know we were here, Skywalker?” Roki said. Gaby peeked around him.
“Gaby, you snitch!” Kagome said, outraged.
“Gabrielle didn’t tell me anything,” Luke said. “I caught her coming out here from the library. At first I just thought she was lost and then I asked myself, What’s a little girl wandering to the hangar for?”
“I was coming to tell you guys he was going to catch you,” Gaby said, shrugging.
“There is a phrase, Gabrielle,” Jaken said. “And it goes ‘day late and a dollar short.’”
“Another fine example of why you should tell us the future before its supposed to happen.” Trilian told Gaby.
Luke’s eyes darkened. Perhaps he knew they were stalling.
“Down,” he said. “Now.” They obeyed, albeit begrudgingly. They stood in front of them, shortest to tallest, Gaby farthest right and Jaken farthest left, being two inches taller than Rio. “Because you’re all new here, I won’t throw the datapad at you.” Most exhaled in relief. Most, not all. “Drinking is strictly prohibited. That and,” he looked to Constantine, “smoking. I suggest you all kick whatever other unhealthy habits you have and soon. Understood?” Again most nodded, except about six stubborn ones. “I think it’s justified I remind you of the other rules that are enforced heavily here. Students are to be in their quarters by 2200 hours and can not leave there for any reasons besides an attack or instructed to by a Master or a Knight. You are to remain there until sunrise. Midnight raids on the kitchens are also prohibited. I noticed you all have ships. Going off planet without the permission of a supeRior will most likely get you into a lot of trouble. Now you know, so I don’t intend to reiterate this to you again without punishment. Am I clear?” All but the rebellious six nodded. “You may go to your quarters and stay there until morning.” They filed out, the Twins bringing up the rear. “Except you, Loki.”
She stopped and turned to him, trying to read him. Roki hung back. “You may proceed to your quarters, Roki.” He glanced at his sister and she nodded. He left them. Loki put her hands on her hips. He noticed she had the body of a dancer, like Mara did. But Mara turned out to be more than deadly at times.
“What do you want now, Skywalker?” Loki snapped. “Need me to save your a**, again?”
“I’d like to offer you a proposal, Loki,” Luke said. “You’re powerful, Loki. But you’re also stubborn, impatient, and, at times, arrogant.” Luke clasped his hands in front of him.“I’d like to take you as my Jedi Apprentice.” Loki did a double take, eyes wide.
“Do what now?” She asked, shocked.
comment and review. Coming up soon . . . Chapter Two: Her Fall From Grace . . .
TBC . . .
BLAKAIZE STARKILLER
 Omni.
Author.
Someone Loved Me. Blakaize · Sat Dec 15, 2007 @ 01:52am · 0 Comments |
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