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𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐓
𝟏𝟔 𝐁𝐁𝐘

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𝐓𝐎𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐘. Three years ago the Clone Wars ended with the massacre of the Jedi, and the Empire taking over the galaxy. This was the day that Kirei Kallus hated the most, purely because she had never really seen eye to eye with the Empire's methods. Despite growing up as Empire, enrolling in the Academy, she felt trapped by the stupid rules and regulation that came with this life. For the most part of her life, the fifteen year old just went along with whatever was said, conforming to the image even though she despised it. That was really the only reason why she had agreed to enrol in the Imperial Academy. That, and the fact that she wanted to be closer to her older brother Alexsandr.

The whole Academy experience was hell for her. She had managed to pick up a few fighting skills, such as learning how to shoot with a blaster. But, upon arriving at the Academy, Kirei was an outsider. Just to make her whole situation worse, she had been in too many fights to count. These often ended with her father shouting at her, or her mother being disappointed. She didn't really care about all that though. She only cared what Alex thought, but he was never pleased about her fighting with her classmates.

Kirei had made a promise to herself that one day she would finally be free, and it couldn't wait any longer. She had to leave. She knew she'd regret this one day, but Kirei couldn't live this life anymore. She had to make her life mean something, and leaving was the only way she knew how.

During the parade and celebrations of Empire Day, Kirei had snuck around the back of the crowds. But, as if it was a sign telling her to stay, she walked straight into her brother. She quickly gathered herself together as Alex looked over the figure in front of him. He obviously immediately recognized her to be his sister, and the look on his face turned into one of confusion. "Rei? Where are you going? The parade's that way, don't you want to see it at the front?" He asked, crossing his arms and looking her up and down with confusion.

Kirei hesitated for a moment out of panic, but managed to reply. "I uh, think I might have a fever..." Her voice wavered and Alex raised an eyebrow as if saying 'tell me the truth', and she cracked under the pressure. "Fine...I'm going home. The noise is too loud, and I think it's giving me a headache." She sighed. Only half of what she said was true, and it definitely wasn't the part about her going home. Alex's previous expression of confusion morphed into a crooked grin as he ruffled his hand in her strawberry blonde hair.

"Alright." He nodded to her. "Go get some rest then if you've got a headache. Got to be up early tomorrow for the Academy." He held his arms out for a hug, and Kirei eagerly accepted his embrace. She inhaled his scent like she would never smell it again, never see her brother again. She held onto him tightly, burying her head into his chest. Alex stroked the back of her hair and murmured a simple "I love you" against her ear. He placed a small kiss against the top of her head before the two of them finally let go of each other.

"I love you too Alex." Kirei smiled, but the aura was sad and guilt-ridden. "I'll see you...later." She sent him a playful salute, to which he returned with a similar salute, then walked off in the direction he had come from. That was the last time she would see him, her big brother, her only friend.

Kirei had managed to pack herself a bag earlier that day. All she needed was a spare pair of clothes, some food and some credits. Credits that she had 'borrowed' from her parents. Just about everyone would be watching the parade or partaking in some sort of celebration, so it should have been the perfect time for her escape. She had learnt about a ship leaving the port that night and was determined as hell to be on it, even though she had no idea where it was going. It was her only way out of this hellhole.

She pulled her strawberry blonde mess into a low ponytail, and swung the bag she had hidden in the alleyway near her house over her shoulder. She pulled a hooded cloak on, pulling the hood up fully, but as she began leaving, she paused in front of her house. She would never see this place again. Guilt pulled on her heart strings, almost making her stay, but she let the passion, the feeling of being free wash over her and turned away. She didn't look back.

The back alleys and streets would have been the safest option for Kirei, so she turned down a small alleyway further away from the main road on Coruscant. She ignored the few spice offers presented to her, and did her best not to draw any attention to herself, walking her way down the tight passages infested with the homeless and the occasional gang or thug.

The port was only a few miles away, and the ship wasn't meant to take off until later, so at least she had time to get there safely. The only thing she knew was that it was a cargo ship. Turns out she would be becoming a stowaway, staying on the ship until she was eventually found and kicked off.

Only a couple miles left. She rounded a corner a little too quickly, and walked into the backs of two stormtroopers. Her hood fell down and panic coursed through her veins as she stared at them turning to face her. "S-Sorry-" She stumbled a little over her words, fear radiating from her being you could practically smell it. The stormtroopers looked her up and down, their grips on their blasters tightening. Then, Kirei did the most stupidest thing you could possibly do in a situation like this. She pushed past them and ran.

This alerted the stormtroopers that something was clearly off about this interaction. A) there was a civilised girl, most likely a student at the Academy, who was not celebrating Empire Day, and B) she started to run away.

Obviously, they chased after her, and at an urgent pace. No doubt they had probably already called for back-up, even if she was just a young girl. Kirei managed to turn her head around long enough for her to see where they were and if they were close. Another mistake. When she whipped her head back around to in front of her, she was moments away from hitting a wall. She turned the corner abruptly, slamming her shoulder in the process. That was going to leave a bruise. He hand clasped onto the area where her new found pain was coming from for a moment, but she kept running. All she could do was keep running so that's what she did. But, then the stormtroopers started blasting at her.

Kirei managed to dodge a few of their blasts, but skimmed her thigh, just deep enough to cause her to stumble. The pain surged through her but she caught herself and continued running. She was so close to the port. So close, yet so far. She turned her head the slightest bit, but her running so fast caused her to trip up on her feet. Then a burning sensation coursed throughout her entire body, radiating from her left side, her lower back and her stomach. A blast had hit her side and she fell to the floor letting out a blood-curdling shriek, clutching her side. Her head hit the floor first, and she could feel the smallest amount of something hot yet cold trickle down her forehead and onto her right temple. Hot tears stung her eyes as she attempted to turn onto her back and prop herself up on her elbows.

The stormtrooper's blocked out her view of everything else in front of her, and the tears finally fell, her heart beating at a tremendous pace. She was going to die and she had barely lived her life. "Please...please let me go..." She pleaded with the two masked figures, but they replied by pointing their blasters at her. Her breath quickened and more tears streamed down her pale cheeks. She raised one of hands in front of her face in defence, not that it would do much anyway. "I'm not any harm to you...please...let me go..." She asked between pained, scared cries. But they didn't listen.

The first shot their fired missed where they were aiming, but the plasma scraped her ear and she let out a yelp of shock and slight pain. When she moved her hand up to touch her ear, there she felt an odd curve that wasn't there before. Part of her ear had been permanently removed by the blast. Thank the God's it wasn't anything vital but just a bit of flesh and cartilage. The other stormtrooper aimed their blaster closer to her head so that she was practically staring down the barrel. "Please don't..." She cried, tears still leaking down her face. As they pulled the trigger, Kirei's hand flew to her face again, her eyes closing and she screamed. But, the strangest feeling overcame her. A warmth blooming in her chest, something that almost felt safe or calm. A serge of energy flowed through her veins, replacing the panic and fear, and her crying stopped. She managed to open her eyes and looked up to see two clearly confused stormtroopers exchanging panicked words. She was just as confused as they were. Somehow the blast hadn't harmed her.

The trooper shot at her again and the same feeling washed over Kirei like a wave going to shore. With one slight movement of her hand, the blast backfired onto the stormtrooper. The armoured figure crumpled to the floor like a paperchain and Kirei stared, now panicked, at the dead stormtrooper in front of her.

Had she just caused that stormtrooper to die? To just fall so easily to the ground? How had that happened? What the hell was that feeling? These thoughts among others raced around in Kirei's head, causing her head to pound. The blood from her cut had dried against her temple, but it was still slightly wet against the wound itself. She was paralyzed with shock, but soon regained herself when another blast to her already throbbing side burned again. She hesitated where she was, but leaned forward and grabbed the dead stormtrooper's blaster in a swift movement and fired at the armour in front of her. She let out a small scream and dropped the blaster realising what she had just done. This was different than the first stormtrooper, as she had actively killed the second trooper.

She sat there still on the ground unsure of how to react. But, tears stung the corners of her eyes again as she stared at the lifeless suits of armour. Her body ached, her side still burning up, and still the ghost of pain in her thigh and shoulder. All she felt was pain, sadness, guilt. She was drowning in her mind, the messy pool of thoughts consuming her slowly.

Kirei's breath quickened, turning into hyperventilation that she couldn't control. They may have been Empire, stormtroopers, but inside there were two people, human beings. Two human beings that she had just killed in the space of minutes. But, deep in the back of her mind a voice was speaking to her, telling her that they deserved it, that they had probably killed more than just two people. She tried to shake away the thought but it stayed there all the same, lurking in the back of her mind, threatening to come out like a shadow, a darkness.

In all honesty despite all this, the one prominent thought in her head was her brother. What she would do just to hug him, just to feel his warmth again. She just wanted to cry into his chest with her arms wrapped around him in a tight embrace. But, he wasn't there. She was alone. Then the tears fell again as the powerful memory of her brother took over her.

Her hands began to shake as she brought them to cover her eyes. Her squeezed shut, tightly. She just wanted the nightmare to be over. She moved her hands to the back of her neck, but they twitched and shot down into her lap and her eyes fixated on the lifeless forms again, causing more tears to stream down her cheeks.

Only one thing connected her to reality now, and that was the burning from her side. One of her hands barely touched the wound and she winced from the pain. It may not have been bleeding, but it felt so much worse. She squeezed her eyes shut and began to focus on her breathing. But, the memories, the thoughts, the voice, they all kept pushing into her mind. A whimper escaped from her as she held her hands to her head. "Stop!" She shouted, squeezing her eyes shut even tighter. "Just stop!"

Then, the wave of calm washed over her again and her eyes fluttered open. She had no idea what it was, but it was nice. The darkness inside was quieter, smaller, further away, and she felt safe once again. Kirei slowly pulled herself up to standing, and grabbed the blaster that she had dropped thinking that she could use it for difficult situations, even though she would probably not use it ever again. Then, she limped her way to the port.

Once there she noticed the markings of the ship known as Riptide. Workers will still loading crates onto the ship, so she hid behind a different set of crates. When they were distracted, talking, Kirei ran up the ramp and into the belly of the ship. Crates were piled up high, so she positioned herself behind a set of them. She then took her hooded cloak and attempted to use it to hide, even though it was kind of small. Eventually, the ship began to set off on its journey, but Kirei's burning pain suddenly came back to light and she let out a small whimper adjusting to be in a more comfortable position. She drifted off into a deep slumber, well, she had passed out from exhaustion. She was finally going to be free.

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𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐊𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆

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