Hopeless End

[Moonfire]

Ice and snow poured from the sky. A never ending down pour of sleet and ice and snow. Never melting, just piling higher and higher all around her ship, in great snowy piles. The ship had been broken for weeks, the food supplies were nearly run out, the cold was seeping in more and more, chilling her to the bone, Mooney could feel her capillaries freezing and breaking beneath the pale skin. Bruising and bluing with the cold.

Wrapped tightly in her blankets, Moonfire stared out the window, knowing she needed to abandon her broken down ship. She needed to find shelter, somewhere... Out there. The snow and ice continued to pour around her, bury her alive in her metal coffin.

Why bother leaving? You'll just die anyway. Die in here or die out there, whats the difference? Shaking her head, long dark hair flowing freely over her face. Taking in a deep breath for a long moment, her options laid out before her. Fight to go on, fight to the last breath, or waste away like she had been all along seen stranded on this foresaken waste of a planet.

Standing, her tattered indigo robes swirling about her feet she walked to the Com-panel. Everything was dead, the only thing that kept her from freezing to death was the metal coffin all around her defending her from the icy winds, that and slight control of the force that helped to heat and warm her body, warming the very molecules within her to maintain blood flow and organ function. She grew weary though, weary of forcing herself alive, sitting and waiting for some miracle.

She couldn't make contact with anyone, she couldn't feel anyone, nor anything out in the great expanse of the universe. Nothing. At first this filled her with great anger, and great sadness. Now that too was replaced with nothingness. Numbness.

The snow and ice plowed down as steadily as ever. Quickly, quietly Moonfire gathered her things. Lightsaber, bag with basic provisions, blanket. Still wrapped and huddle with her many layers she closed her eyes, forcing the door of the ship open for the first time nearly a month. It gave a great shudder and crack as it pushed away, the howl of the wind and snow whipping past the young girl.

Slowly she stepped out into the unforgiving cold, ready to face either her saviour or death.

Hour passed, the howling wind and pelting snow pounded at her. The infernal cold threatening to freeze her to take her in by exhaustion. The land was unchanging. Unchanging, maddeningly white. The snow unbroken as far as the eye could see. Which in this snowy tempest wasn't all that far anyway.

Hope drained from the girl more and more with each step. This play was ending far too soon, and far too tradgically, as though the author himself felt his own end near and rushed to finish his greatest work before they met their own beautifully depressing end.

Blue eyes squinting, out there in the field of ever snowy white a looming figure all but rose out of the snow. Blinking, as though unbelieving that a savior could truly just rise from the ice and snow to wisk her away from the bitter end before her. Though what else could it be? This figure hulking towards the bundled up girl in the sea of ice and snow?

Her heart fell as she realized her mistake, her foolishness. The wampa descended slashing out at her, ripping with its fearsome claws through the many layers of robe and blanket. Blood poured warm and fresh, freezing against her skin in all its crimson glory. Crying out she toppled backward, not even able to find her lightsaber. Seizing her with its claws, ripping and tearing flesh more the girl cried out in angiush. This was the end. Death, finally.

Dragging her through the snow, the wounds still pumping and blood to freeze and stain in the snow beneath her, the Wampa headed to its cave. Now, it wouldn't just kill her now, that would be too kind. Laying back, watching the ever swirling and dancing snow, Moonfire laughed bitterly. The end was still nowhere in sight.

[Cain]

From his stolen X-wing hovering in space Kyo sat staring blankly at the ships controls. He wanted to find Jor and the others but he had no idea where to begin looking. As he tried to reach out to the other Jedi with the force something he did not expect happened. A cold shiver ran down Kyo's spine. Snow and ice... and something strangely warm... was it... blood? There was pain... a great deal of pain. It was Moonfire, she was in pain somewhere on a snowbound planet. There was only one planet like this that Kyo knew of... and perhaps that was fortunate for him. He entered the coordinates for Hoth into his navicomputer and took off into hyperspace immediately.

When Kyo's ship finally arrived over Hoth the connection with Moonfire had become faint, but she was still alive somewhere down there. Following the force as best he could in the absolute white out, Kyo brought his fighter down and cracked open the cockpit.

"Holy shit that's cold!" he yelped as the frigid air rushed in, Kyo having lost his outer robe on Kashyyyk and being ill prepared for the cold. Taking a deep breath Kyo plunged into the snow and trudged forward, he couldn't see exactly where his destination was, only feel it.

After a bit of walking Kyo was caught off guard as the snow suddenly gave way beneath his feet and he was sent tumbling down into an otherwise well hidden cave. There as he picked himself up he saw Moonfire in not the best of shape. Brushing the snow off of himself he cautiously approached, checking to see if the creature responsible was anywhere near by. Finding the coast to be clear Kyo took his newly constructed lightsaber off his belt. The blade lit up a bright yellow as Kyo quickly cut Moonfire down from the ceiling, catching her in his arms before she hit the ground.

"Mooney... can you hear me?" Kyo said, placing his palm over her forehead, "We've gotta stop running into each other in these kinds of circumstances, kid."

[Moonfire]

The wampa dragged the bitter laughing woman through the ice into its cave. Even in her state she could appreciate the beauty of the beasts lair. Carved from the chilling ice itself, the eerie sunlight filtered through its glimmers softly. Though that too was stained with gore and blood. Not just hers either. Her numb body gave another shiver as the beast attached her with such care and precision to the high icy ceiling. It seems things were going to be a little more drawn out than she had hoped.

Eyelids grew heavy, exhaustion coming over her as blood only trickled some now from the wounds. Gently, she sunk into a frightful dream. Hardly coherent the dream tossed her back and forth through recent events, hunting for Ryuu, saving Kyo all these events both happy and sad marred with a figure standing in the shadows, his stolen face, his flashes of lightning from his fingers tips flickering in the background of every scene.

Then, the white returned, a face leaned close down to her, the voice of her memories speaking to her. Carefully she blinked, her head still swimming in her dreams some. Ryuu...? Her mind called out, wishing desperately for it to be so as she stared at what she knew to be his angelic face. The dark red hair, the blue eyes, the smile. It was all his. Blinking more her voice focusing more on his words. It wasn't him. It would never be him. Yet this realization didn't sadden her as it might have once done.

A soft smile crossed her lips, still weak and limp in Kyo's arms. "Kid? Last I checked I still had nearly seventeen years on you. What are you, three months now?" She attempted to laugh, though only a soft kind of wheeze escaped her lips. "If memory serves, I saved you that first time. About time you repaid the favor."

[Cain]

Kyo smiled back as Moonfire spoke, "I like to think I've matured since then. From now on its gonna be me doing the saving," Kyo wrapped his arms around Moonfire to try and help warm her up and was about to help her to her feet when a terrible roar echoed through the cavern.

"Great... ya know I'm getting really tired of caves," Kyo commented, setting Moonfire down easy and reigniting his lightsaber. The Wampa creature emerged from behind the ice, and its expression was not happiness. With another roar the monster charged forward, but Kyo simply closed his eyes.

"A little something I picked up in the shadowlands..." Kyo said, lowering his lightsaber and raising his hand to the beast. Through the force Kyo reached out to the beast's mind, soothing its anger and calming it down. The Wampa slowed and stopped mid charge before falling back on its butt and sitting patiently. Kyo slowly approached keeping his hand in front of him.

"She's a mother... and she has cubs," Kyo said opening his eyes. We should leave her here... that should have gentled her down enough for us to get away. Come on Mooney..." Kyo moved back to Moonfire, helping her up again and walking with her out of the cave, leaving the Wampa behind. Kyo put Moonfire in his X wing with him. There was only one seat so they would have to share, "Hang in there. There's gotta be someplace around here that's friendly.... though, just how did you wind up on this ice cube anyway?"

[Moonfire]

Moonfire nodded dazed, the soft smile still present over her lightly blue lips. "Congrats. You've grown up in only a few months, better than I ever did." She said softly, almost whispering. She was so cold. So very cold. Watching, with quiet admiration as Kyo tamed the savage beast and swept her away back into the chilly white out of Hoth.

It seemed within moments they were in the X-wing, Moonfire gently seated in his lap, compacting her self so as not to block his controls to much, her small face pressed into his lap. The warmth of his body against her frozen skin was delightful. "I don't even know... It was such a blur. I fled Coruscant, landed here awkwardly, I was never the best pilot. You got me right on time, Kyo. Thank you, thank you so much." She said with a gentle sigh.

The blood had stopped flowing from her wounds, which were mostly superfical. Though it still smeared across his robes and inside the X-wing some. Looking up at him, still sleepy, she noticed there was some minute differences. There was something about him... something strong.

"You're... a Jedi Knight now, aren't you?" she asked softly. "Something always told me you'd surpass me. You're still him, in some ways, even though you're so different. His talent, his ability was all wrapped up inside you... I'm proud of you, Kyo." Softly she buried her face into his shoulder and robes.

[Cain]

"A Jedi Knight? I haven't gone about giving myself any titles... I'm just Kyo..." Kyo answered though cut himself off as Moonfire seemed to drift off into sleep. She needed her rest and this cramped X wing wasn't really the place to get it. They would have to go somewhere to recover before they could rejoin with the Jedi. There weren't many good choices, since the fighter had been stolen from the Empire most of the planets in its database were Imperial strongholds. Though one in particular attracted Kyo's attention. Chinine. He'd never heard of this world but his feelings were telling him this was the place to go. Kyo gave a shrug and entered in the coordinates. The X wing then sped off into hyperspace, toward the unknown regions...