{{ simply being loved - chapter 23
"What did you say, Vessau?" Ta'a Chume raised her chin and lifted her head as she sneered towards the black-haired man.
"You heard me. I asked you a question." Gadell turned his gaze from the weakening Queen Mother to the closed double doors ahead of him, absently staring at them, waiting for an answer.
Jacen Solo watched as Ta'a Chume leaned back in between Exna and Jeauno, whispering something to their hunched in forms. The two men exchanged a concerned look to each other. And then Jacen heard her cutting words:
"Get it out of him."
Get what out of him?
Jacen stared in muted horror.
The two Hapan men hesitated.
"Go on!"
They walked over to Gadell's still form. He didn't struggle when they latched onto him. Jeauno took Gadell's two arms and drove him to his knees, while Exna pulled out a short vibroblade from a black sheath at his waist. Exna used the vibroblade to cut Gadell's tunic off, leaving his pale chest and scarred back exposed. Jeauno exchanged a glance with Exna, both sets of eyes mildly afraid.
Exna whispered, so only Gadell could hear.
"We're sorry, bro."
Jamming the vibroblade into the center of Gadell's X-shaped scar, Jacen cringed at the sight, slowly turning his head away from the Commander and his assailants. Exna used the vibroblade to perfectly slice into the scar, retracing the X shape. Tenel Ka continued to stare with her glazed eyes up to her Commander and the two Hapan men. She could see the side of Jeauno, who was holding Gadell's arms in front of him. She could see the side of Gadell, who was on his knees in front of Jeauno, head hanging between his shoulders and kneeling behind Gadell, was Exna who was now sliding his fingers under the skin on Gadell's back.
Tenel Ka felt her stomach churn and she as well, looked away from the scene.
Jacen and Tenel Ka both heard something rattle to the ground, followed by the wet sound of liquid, dripping and pattering to the floor. Jacen shuffled his head back to the twisted trio of people, which had now decreased to a solo person. Exna and Jeauno were walking away from Gadell, who was back on his feet, swaying back and forth. Gadell was facing Tenel Ka and Jacen, and Jacen could see black and red liquid streaming to the ground from his back. The fluids pooled at his feet, around his boots. Near the swaying form of the Commander was a small heap, probably whatever they pulled from his back. Jacen couldn't tell what it was since it was smothered in dark, thick liquid.
Solo could feel raw power assaulting his Force sensitivity, radiating off of Gadell and growing stronger as black liquid continued to drizzle from the cut across his back. The Commander's eyes slowly became an oceanic blue as he glanced from Tenel Ka to Jacen, angry tears sliding down his face, taking the melted ice with them. Tenel Ka weakly nodded to him.
Spinning around with as much power as he could build up, Gadell faced the former Queen Mother and her henchmen as he tripped up onto the dais, stopping in front of them. Jacen could now perfectly see the X on Gadell's back, where the poison was drenching him, making onyx smears down his skin and on his pants. Traces of red blood could be seen in the ebony fluid as Jacen drew in deep breaths, trying to take in everything at once.
Gadell had the Force, he had a lightsaber. Had he been trained? How powerful was he?
Tenel Ka was almost to her normal state, but in bad shape. What could Jacen do?
Jacen. He couldn't really move, his eyes were becoming blurry. His vision was becoming the static he was growing accustomed too. But he kept himself awake. He had to help somehow.
Gadell stood, his feet planted on the ground as firmly as they could be. He could feel his anger towards Ta'a Chume rising and building up steadily as he glared into her narrowed eyes. Without any kind of warning, he could feel his own fury attack, as something tangible ripped from his fingertips towards Ta'a Chume's throat.
Jacen hadn't been paying much attention to the events around him because it took him a moment to register what was happening. Gadell had lashed his hands out and was using rich, purple Force lightning on Ta'a Chume, who had collapsed to the ground in a heap, screaming words no one could understand. Tenel Ka was writhing on the ground, holding the stump of her left arm and Exna and Jeauno stared in disbelief at Gadell. They had no idea he had the Force.
Over the din, Jacen tried to yell as loud as he could without hurting himself, "Gadell! Stop!" His voice lowered to a mumble that only he could hear in his head. "There has to be a better way."
The room fell prey to the darkness again as the lightning halted from Gadell's fingertips. Jacen noticed Tenel Ka clutching at Gadell's ankle, in a plea to stop. She knew that the Dark Side wasn't the way to go. She had crawled up onto the dais and stopped the Commander and the General inwardly smiled.
The brutes were ahead of Gadell and Tenel Ka, flanking Ta'a Chume's prone body.
"Ga--- Gadell... uh... we uh..."
"Get out."
"Gadell, uh, we.. we're..."
"I said GET OUT. I never want to see either of you again." Gadell hissed, his breath growing shallow.
And with those words, the two Hapan men scrambled out of the throne room. Out of the palace. As soon as they could, they were off of the planet. Never to be seen again.
Moments passed. What seemed like minutes. Hours. Days.
The beginnings of dawn were sneaking up on night as Commander Gadell Vessau slowly tumbled to the ground, falling beside the Queen Mother, whom pulled herself up to a crooked sitting position and used her right hand, which was covered in poison and blood, to pull Gadell's head into her lap. Her swirling eyes landed on Jacen, who was lying on his side staring to her with sweaty strands of brown hair plastered over his face.
"Can you move?"
"I can make myself."
"Jacen..."
"Yes?" Jacen called upon everything that he could, drawing all of his Force to the small of his back, making it numb.
"Can you get the guards? ...the medics? Please?"
Jacen saw the fierce determination in Tenel Ka's returning grays. He would do anything.
"Consider it done."
As Jacen swaggered out of the room at a breakneck speed Tenel Ka didn't think possible after what he had just been through, she found herself furiously working in the Force to help Gadell stay alive and also to keep her own blood in the dripping end of her left arm.
And over and over again, as the sweat poured down Gadell's face and the blood spilled out of his back he just kept repeating up to his Queen...
"I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry..."
The Force was the only thing keeping Jacen aware as he stumbled from door to door of the helper's quarters, screaming and throwing himself up against the shut rooms.
Guards slid their heads around the edges of the doors, alert and ready while medics peeked out sleepily, scratching their heads. Anhaje peered out of her open door to a shivering, sweaty Jacen Solo.
"Jacen?"
"Anhaje... it's.... it's Tenel Ka... Ta'a Chume, throne room, medics, guards, go... go... go..."
With those jumbled words, Jacen turned and jogged back down the hallway, leaving a suddenly awake Anhaje, snapping orders to guards and medics.
Jacen had relapses of that vision anytime he blinked, anytime his eyes weren't open. Tenel Ka and Gadell crumpled up on the dais. Tangled limbs, bleeding gashes, the cold sting of lifelessness hanging in the big, musty chamber. He had returned to the door of the throne room and drawing in a deep breath he shoved the doors open.
No...
Ta'a Chume's body, twitching on the floor, still smoldering. She wasn't dead.
But Gadell and Tenel Ka's lives were fading fast.
And there they were. On the dais. Shuddering breaths racking both of their bodies, which the color was draining from at immeasureable speeds. Jacen could hear echoes of footsteps behind him. Medics, guards, handmaidens... they were all echoes. They sounded like they were miles away. Nothing penetrated Jacen's thoughts as he rushed over to the two, instantly focusing all of his Force powers on them, not his back, the pain now driving him to his knees.
Stay with me... stay with me...
Everything became blurry. Fuzzy and slow. Lethargic even.
He could feel his own life slipping as his Force signature dimmed. He used all of his powers to try to save Gadell and Tenel Ka... he wasn't even paying attention to his own life, which flashed before his eyes.
Every memory he had ever known, trying to slip from his mind and drain to the floor into the streams of blood, poison, sweat and tears. He crumbled from his knees to the ground, between Tenel Ka and Gadell, his head slammed to the cold stone, facing Tenel Ka's stomach.
Jacen's last memory that moment was the sound of shuffling feet and the feel of a painful whimper passing his lips as arms lifted him from the ground.
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