The Rebel Faction

The Jedi had to make yet one more stop before heading for the docking bay, her living quarters.

Amalia had stopped looking after her room long ago; it showed. Her room was completely cluttered; dust everywhere. It was by pure luck that she could actually find what she needed.

Going to her bed, she ducked down low and pulled out a long box from underneath her bed. The box was filled with lightsabers that she had constructed over time.

Carefully rummaging through the lightsabers filled within the box, Amalia pulled out a purple lightsaber. The tool was almost an exact replica to the one Leia had given her.

I'd rather it'd be one of my own lightsabers that takes a life than...

She couldn't finish her thoughts.

Amalia had not wanted to leave her other lighsaber behind; the tool was too much a part of her. A gift from Master to Apprentice, something Amalia very much treasured. She could not fathom the thought of using that lightsaber to take another life.

Amalia would not allow that to happen.

If she couldn't prevent a death, then she'd make sure it was one of her own lighsabers that did the deed.

Guilt would come for sure, but leaving her other lighsaber behind eased her guilt slightly.

... but it did not ease her shame.

... nor her pain.

Closing her eyes, Amalia let all of the feelings she was holding deep within, wash over her.

The room was filled with silence, what was supposed to be peaceful silence.

When Amalia opened her eyes again, her eyes opened only to have to be fixated upon her mirror.

Whether it was all the emotions Amalia had been holding within her own moment of frustration, Amalia let out a scream. The kind of scream that could wake up the dead.

High-pitched and quite loud.

Who knew if Amalia was even aware of her own actions…

Within a matter of seconds the mirror shattered into a million pieces.

Amalia had shattered the mirror in her moment of frustration.

How quickly had it begun, only to end just as quickly.

Buckling forward the Jedi fell to her knees, clutching tightly onto the lightsaber within her hands.

Pain, shame, anger, guilt, failure... all of these emotions seemed to be written across her face.

All centered on one thing, herself.

She wanted just to heal.

...And she would, but it would take quite a transition before she could heal.

Sometimes even the most pure of Jedi had to fall to be able to rise back up again....

For what seemed like an eternity, the Jedi rested upon her knees.

The drizzle outside Amalia's window was not helping the Jedi's outlook, if anything, it made her attitude more negative than it already was.

On most days, sunlight would be the warmest of hellos' for a morning rise, but on a day like today, the weather outside her bedroom window held no such momentous meaning.

Instead her sunlight had been substituted with dark clouds and rain, even a little fog.

She felt just like the weather outside.

The screaming Amalia had done had brought some sense of small relief, though it did not fully release the demons that still remained dormant and locked within her. No screaming in the world would heal her suffering; she would heal her own suffering within herself, in time.

As if only now just suddenly remembering that she had somewhere she needed to be, Amalia scampered to her feet, though a bit unwillingly.

Stepping over the glass that was scattered about the floor, Amalia sauntered over to the window to investigate the weather outside.

The rain appeared to be dying down some, and Amalia could even see a little patch of sunlight starting to break its way through just off to the west of her.

Yet that was not the only thing she saw....

Though just barely visible, Amalia could make out the tiniest baring of a rainbow.

Rare yet beautiful, yet there it was... a rainbow.

"... Looks like there still are some things left worth believing in," she said softly, the tiniest hint of a smile falling onto the Jedi's lips.

Ten minutes later....

With the image of nature's rarest beauty still on her mind, Amalia headed out the door, a small weight of hope being carried with her as she went to meet back up with Jensen at the docking bay.

As Kenshin stepped onto the premises of the Jedi Academy, he immediately sifted through the Force signatures and singled out Master Leia's.

With Amalia's lightsaber still in his hand, he began his little quest to seek out his Master's Master. His search led him to a somewhat hidden corner of the Jedi Academy courtyards.

It would probably have been a nice quiet spot but it was currently swarming with remote droids all on their full intent, not to mention on full power and intelligence settings, to put a hole through Master Leia.

Not wanting to disrupt the Jedi Master's concentration, Kenshin stood nearby and just quietly observed as she did her workout.

Leia sensed another presence step into the immediate vicinty, but for the moment she paid it no mind- she was a little busy at the moment.

The droids had split into two groups now, and they dove down at her, the first group opening fire on her. Leia sidestepped the fire, but simultaneously found that she had stepped into the line of fire of the second group, who promptly opened fire.

As Leia moved to block the shots of the second group, she realized she had stepped into a trap. As she busied herself with dealing with the second group, the first was coming up behind her to shoot at her unprotected back.

Split seconds before the group behind her also opened fire, Leia let her legs go limp under her, and she fell to the ground. Both groups of droids had to scatter to avoid each other's shots, and Leia rolled under the arial swarm.

She came back to her feet a few yards away from the droids, and almost immediately her eyes narrowed in concentration as she summoned the Force.

Suddenly the droids were all pushed into a cluster as if gathered by a pair of large, invisible hands. They then all went dormant as Leia used the Force to deactivate them. The cluster dropped slowly to the ground, landing with a series of metallic clunks as each droid made contact with the ground.

Leia then turned to look in the direction of the presence that had been standing silently nearby for some time now, waiting.

It was Kenshin. One of Amalia's charges, Leia did not see him often at all. She knew there was little other reason for him to have been here unless he had sought her out, obviously. But the fact that he had sought her out here, now, gave her a suspicion that something was up.

Leia shut off both of her sabers, but did not put them away. She stepped over the pile of droids, and began slowly walkng towards Kenshin, nodding to him in greeting.

"What brings you to this area of the Academy?"

Despite the sheer amount of willpower that Leia focused upon her hand as she reached out with it to take the saber, it still shook visibly.

A cold knot of dread formed in the pit of Leia's stomach as she took the saber from Kenshin, and held it before her. She studied the familiar curves and lines of the saber with a practiced eye, she recognized this saber: she had given it to Amalia long ago, back during her training as a Padawan. Leia was somewhat surprised to see that she had kept it, not to mention intact, for so long. More often than not Jedi Padawans, Knights, and Masters alike managed to lose their sabers in some predicament or another. Leia knew that Amalia had seen the saber as special.

For her to have returned it, not even in person....

Leia didn't even have to wonder why Amalia had done that, she already knew- Amalia had turned towards the dark.

Leia knew she should have seen it coming. With all that had happened in the recent past....

But she had been too ignorant towards Amalia during those times, and even for a time before that. Not there for her when she needed to be, just never around in general.

Leia knew she was not entirely at fault, and never could be. It had been Amalia's decision, affected my many factors. But it was based entirely for once, Leia concluded, on what Amalia felt was best for herself. That very thought alone was consolation for Leia, even if not very much.

Kenshin had also said "...until she came back..." when he had explained why he was giving the saber back to her. Something in the way he had said that pushed the cold feeling of dread away, and Leia tucked the saber into her belt. She knew not to worry. Somehow... Everything would be okay with time, and Leia knew her place in the particular battle was to be on the sidelines.

After a long, quiet moment Leia's gaze once again met Kenshin's. On the spur of the moment, a question popped into her head and escaped through her lips.

"What do you think?"