Chapter 29 - WHAT THE CRAP??

Down the hall she heard screaming and more rocks falling. She faintly heard Echo.
“Dead,” Echo said in an angry voice. Ash could still imagine the tears falling though. “You will let me see him.”
“We will let you see him. Right this way,” someone said.
“Come on,” Ash said. “We need to go make sure she doesn’t kill anyone else.”
Kiro smiled and they all walked out of the cell and into the way. There were unconscious people and rocks everywhere.. Ash had trouble walking. She was still very sort on breath. Kiro must have picked up on her heavy breathing and he scooped her up into her arms.
“Thanks,” she coughed.
“No thanks are necessary, just doing my job,” he said and continued carrying her over the rocks.
Ash could sense Echo’s pain and misery. She was going through exactly what Xiang had gone through a couple months ago. She could make a picture of what Echo was seeing right now. She was looking at Xiang’s cold, lifeless, pale body and she was crying. She bent down and kissed him on the lips.
“Ash?” Kiro asked.
“What?”
“You zoned out for a second,” Kiro said. “Is something wrong?”
“There’s a lot of things wrong in Echo’s world right now,” Ash said simply. She couldn’t dare explain to Kiro was Xiang looked like.
Just before they reached the door Echo had gone in they heard a shriek. But it was a shriek of terror or pain; it was a shriek of surprise from Echo. Ash tapped into her thoughts again.
Xiang was alive. Echo had saved him.
“He’s alive!” Ash almost screamed, but couldn’t and it came out as a whisper.
“Make up your mind!” Kiro said. “He seriously is?”
“There’s no denying…the feeling I’m getting…from Echo,” Ash said smiling.
They walked to the open door and saw Echo crying with a smile on her face uncontrollably and Xiang touching her face lightly. Ash smiled. She couldn’t have been happier for her sister.
She looked up to Kiro who was smiling too.
Echo looked over to them, wiping tears from her eyes.
“What are you smiling about?” Echo asked.
“I don’t know…it’s just a vibe I’m getting,” he said. Ash giggled, or at least tried too.
“Hey, can you let me down for a second?” she asked Kiro. “I need to tell Echo something.”
“Are you sure you can handle it?” he asked.
Ash just looked at him. He got the point.
“Of course you can handle it,” he said and put her down lightly. She started to breath a little heavier, but she knew she could make it. All her friends were here. She wouldn’t dare collapse on them now.
She slowly walked over to Echo. Echo met her more than halfway.
“I need to tell you something,” Ash said smiling, but also clenching her teeth.
“What?” Echo asked, steadying Ash as she wobbled.
“I love you Echo. You’re the best sister I could ever ask for. I wouldn’t trade that for anything,” Ash said.
Echo smiled. Ash could tell that had made her day…besides the fact that Xiang came back to life. She hugged Ash tightly.
“I needed to hear that,” Echo whispered into her ear.
“I know,” Ash said. Her sister released her from her arm and Kiro knew that he could come help her now. He came up and wrapped his arm under Ash’s shoulder to help her. Echo went back over to Xiang how was trying, and failing, to sit up.
“Ash, there was something out capture told us about you that I need to know isn’t true,” she began. “He told us that a couple years ago you almost killed your master and joined the Separatist. You met up with Count Dooku himself and then basically blew up an entire space station. Is this true? And why didn’t you ever tell me?”
Ash sighed. She had tried to forget that part of her life, and almost had until now.
“I did not kill my master,” Ash said in her sternest, yet wheezy, voice. She was still breathing really heavy. The adrenaline was kicking in. “I would never even…think about doing…such a thing. But he is right…about the rest, he just said it a little…wrong. I was on an undercover mission to…infiltrate their base. It didn’t…go exactly as…we had planned it. Truthfully, I had…planned on…forgetting that…part of my life.”
Echo gave her a reassuring smile.
“I understand,” Echo said, and then looked back to Xiang. “We need to get out of her quick. Reinforcements will be here any minute.”
Zuri walked up from behind him.
“This place is guarded at every corner! Every door is locked with genetic codes! Plus, Xiang is half dead! How are we supposed to get out without getting killed ourselves?” Zuri asked.
Kiro smiled.
“I think Echo’s taken care of most of the guards,” he said. “Other than that, I can carry Xiang and Echo can help Ash.”
“Sounds good,” Echo said, walking back over to Ash. Kiro let go of her and pushed her into Echo’s arms. Ash wrapped her arms around Echo’s neck.
“Thank you sis,” she said.
“No problem,” Echo replied.
Kiro walked over to Xiang on the cot.
“Okay dude, don’t think I’m getting fresh with ya. Besides, you’re not my type,” he said. Even Xiang had to laugh. Kiro picked him up and lifted him onto his shoulders. Kiro grunted.
“Have you gained weight?” Kiro said heaving. Xiang smiled and so did everyone else. It was actually a pretty funny site.
Echo and Ash turned around and they exited the room taking the lead. Zuri was in the middle of the group. There were huge chunks of rock everywhere and Echo was nice enough to pick Ash up a little bit when she couldn’t move over them. She lead them swiftly through the huge pieces of fallen ceiling and broken walls.
“The things people do when they get mad,” Kiro mumbled, aiming the point at Echo. Ash giggled. It wasn’t the first time Echo had done this.
“So what exactly happened to Xiang? How did he…you know…come back to life?” Zuri asked.
“It was like a fairy tale. Almost exactly what happened when I almost died,” Echo said.
“See, the body can still come back after at least 10 minutes,” Kiro said, explaining things to Zuri. “That’s what happened to Echo. She was actually dead for 30 seconds.”
“Exactly, except this was a tad different,” Echo said, smiling. “I sat next to his bed crying and I grabbed his hand. I leaned over him and kissed him, thinking it was the last time I would ever touch him. When I leaned back, his eyes opened.”
Ash smiled. She was extremely happy for her sister and Xiang right now.
They turned a corner and saw a group of guards lying on the ground, blasters still in their hands.
“Everybody grab a blaster,” Echo said. Echo leaned Ash up against a wall and picked up 2 blasters for each of them.
“Do you think you can handle a blaster?” Echo asked her.
“It’s my…legs that don’t work…remember?” Ash said and smiled, grabbing the blaster. Echo smiled and turned around to look at Zuri.
“Do you think you’re ready for a blaster?” Echo asked her.
Zuri giggled.
“I’m a soon-to-be Jedi! I can handle anything!” she replied, smiling widely.
Echo laughed and threw her blaster. She almost threw one to Kiro, but then remembered that he was carrying Xiang.
“Zuri, I need you to cover the back behind Kiro and Xiang. They won’t be able to protect themselves. And if either one of them gets hurt, you’ll have it comin for ya!” Echo said jokingly. Zuri giggled and got behind Kiro and Xiang.
They set the blasters on stun and continued walking through the debris field. The whole group was tiring except for Zuri it seemed like. Ash was able to hold her blaster up with her mechanical arm. She didn’t feel any pain in that one compared to the rest of her body. They were trying to give as much strength as possible to each other through the Force. They had been in so many close situations like this that they were all starting to form a bond with each other, even Kiro and Echo. But they were so exhausted that they didn’t sense what was coming.
They turned a corner and Ash saw a Bothan which she knew to be Belk For’Yesa and a group of his guards.
“Belk For’Yesa,” Ash spoke up. “It’s been a long…time since I’ve…seen you. What? No droids? Did the…Separatist dump you?”
Ash cringed as she spoke
Echo moved closer to her.
“I would be a little nicer if I were you,” Echo whispered.
“I’ve dealt with…him before,” Ash said.
She looked back up to Belk. Even for a Bothan he looked mad. His fur rumpled and he shook it off.
“I am still a part of the Separatist Alliance,” he said. “And they’ve had a pretty big mark on your head for a long time Ash.”
“No big deal. There’s always…someone trying…to kill me.”
Belk’s fur rumpled again and he waved a hand. The guards behind him locked their blasters to kill and aimed at them.
“Just let us leave,” Echo pleaded. “We mean no harm to you.”
“You’re Jedi,” Belk said. “You’re always looking to do us harm, and after what harm you’ve done to this facility today Echo, there’s no way we can let you go.”
Nobody said anything. There was a deathly silence that filled the room. They all knew the odds; they just didn’t want to face them. They had no lightsabers, two people that couldn’t even stand without help, a child that barely had any force experience, and they were all exhausted. There was no other choice, but none of them wanted to admit it. Ash realized that they had to surrender.
Belk looked around, surprised that they hadn’t said anything.
“I take it that silence means you surrender?” he asked. “Because if not we are prepared to blow you to bits.”
“Just don’t make us say it,” Echo spat. “We know the odds. We aren’t stupid.”
“Fine. You’ve made a very smart decision,” Belk said. He motioned to the guards and they went up and grabbed Echo, Ash and Zuri by the shoulders. It almost knocked the air out of Ash because they put so much pressure on her. The guards let Kiro carry Xiang, realizing that he wouldn’t be able to make a run for it.
Echo turned to Zuri. She really cared about the girl.
“Do you trust me?” Echo asked.
“Of course,” Zuri said.
“Then trust me when I say that we will get out of this. We won’t try, we will. A very powerful Jedi master once said, ‘Do or do not, there is no try.’” Echo said as the guards started to pull them down the hallway. Zuri smiled at her. Ash knew that Zuri had faith in Echo; Ash just wished she had faith in herself. She had no idea how they were going to get out of this mess.
The guards lead them down a hallway that hadn’t been hit by Echo’s temper tantrum. At the end of the hallway there were 2 more cells and about 5 more guards. Ash and Zuri were pushed into a cell and Echo, Kiro and Xiang into another. They were pushed into the cell that had a cot. Ash and Zuri’s didn’t. They had to sit on that dirty duracrete floor. Kiro walked in and immediately put Xiang down gently on the cot.

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