Chapter 18 - Sacrifice

A huge surge in the Force and the sound of buzzing lightsabers awoke her from her sleep. She was lying down on the floor. She didn’t feel any better than when she went to sleep, but at least she didn’t feel any worse.
That didn’t last.
As soon as she awakened, the pain came back. Her head felt like it was going to explode and her bones felt like they could disintegrate right then and there.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Echo fighting Aero. It looked as though he had given up and she was about to punch him out, but instead, she stopped an inch to his face. He looked at her like she was crazy, but then Echo opened her palm and unleashed an extremely powerful force push. He went flying to the opposite wall and even from where Ash was she could hear his back crack.
Ash silently congratulated her sister. Echo stopped fighting and looked to the masters fighting a Dark Jedi. He was the leader of the group.
Then, the leader backed away from the group and took out a viol from his utility belt.
“Inside this is the antidote for the girl,” he said. “You kill me or disagree with my plans and the antidote goes bye-bye.”
Oh no, Ash thought. They were going to risk the life of who knows how many people for her. Ash wouldn’t let that happened. She focused as had as she possibly could on the Force to slow the toxins and try to prepare to make a statement.
“We’ve already established that we’re not going with your plans.. And your going to prison,” Echo said.
Ash used all her strength to try and sit up, and failed. This caught Echo’s attention. Her head was busting, and she didn’t think she could stand this much longer. She had to say what had to be said, even if it killed her.
"It's okay...don't do…anything he says," Ash said incredibly weakly. She was shaking as she said it. Just keep talking, she thought to herself."You don't have...to worry…about me."
“Ash-“Echo began, but Ash cut her off. She couldn’t stay awake much longer. She needed to concentrate on containing the toxins, and she couldn’t do that while she was awake.
“No, it's ok. I'm willing to…accept my fate...for the life of…all the other Jedi," Ash said. She couldn’t believe those words just left her mouth. But they did, and she felt good about it. She may have just saved countless Jedi knowing the type of sleemo they were dealing with.
Then, she went back into her sleep. Her bones were shaking, her whole body was trembling, and eyes felt like they had sunken to the back off her head. She needed rest. Much needed rest.
Through her half-dead half-alive status, she saw the rest of the battle.
She saw the Dark man use his lightsaber to disintegrate the antidote.
She saw him activate a bomb on his chest.
She felt Master Windu picked her up and carry her out of danger.
She felt the shock of an explosion erupt under her.
She felt all hope that she was going to live…disappear.
And most clearly, she felt Echo’s anxiety in the Force.


She was beginning to give up. She couldn’t concentrate long enough to stop the poison from expanding. Slowly, it began to overwhelm her. She could feel herself shaking and trembling. She felt like she had failed as a Jedi.
Finally, she let go. She couldn’t control it any longer. She felt as though she might kill herself by doing that. So she just let the poison do its thing. If she died, she died. But she knew that she died saving other Jedi.
The toxin began to consume her. She wanted to scream but couldn’t. She tried to call out to her sister in the Force, hoping that she would help her somehow, but she was too weak. She finally fell so deep into her poison controlled sleep that she didn’t feel anything at all.

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