The Jedi and the Bounty Hunter

Chapter 4 I give you my word

The night passed peacefully as the two fell asleep in the large hole. Soon, the sun began to creep up softly onto the Jedi, waking her up. Her eyes slowly openedblurry picture of her surroundings becoming clearer. She was laying on the ground. In a large cave. She had forgotten for a second why she was there until herglanced over at a sleeping Jay several feet away from her.She looked up at the skylight and without a second thought, she attempted to climb up the wall of the cave again. Whether or not she would use the force to liftafter she reached the surface was something she was considering.Just before she reached the top, her foot slipped and she came crashing back down onto the ground. The loud noise woke Jay up with a startle. He shot up with widened. Groaning from the sudden awakening, he pinched the bridge of his nose as Mal picked herself off the ground.

"Morning, sleeping beauty. Sleep well?" the Jedi asked."Aside from the weird pain on my back," Jay paused to stand up. "Just peachy."The current setting was sort of funny to him. Usually, when he wakes up with a girl with him, it's not because he tried to kill her and they fell into a hole."You still trying to climb your way up?" he asked."I don't see you coming up with any ideas," she replied.Jay scoffed and turned to pace around. When he turned around, Mauve-top saw a rather large spider on his back. Her eyes widened at the sight. Quickly, she usforce to pry the creature off Jay's back and ignited her lightsaber, slicing it dead. The bounty hunter jumped at her actions."Spider," informed the Jedi, watching the smoke rise off the large bug.As if they were in a cartoon, a lightbulb lit up above Jay's head. The force-using Jedi was his ticket out of here."I've got an idea. You can use your magic...thingy to lift me to the surface.

 Then I can drop down a vine and you can climb out of here," he told her."Nice try, hotshot, but I'm not falling for your tricks that easily," she replied, her hands on her hips."You really think I'm gonna just leave you here?" Jay asked."I'd expect another attempt to kill me, but yeah. Pretty much," she answered."Nightshade, I give you my word that I won't kill you and run off," he promised.The Jedi didn't trust him one bit. What has he done to prove he was worthy of her trust? Sure, she would admit, he's easy on the eyes. But that doesn't mean sentrust him with his life.But...then again, this was the only option right now. There didn't seem to be a whole lot of other ways to escape. None that she could think of, anyway.

 Besides,end up trying to kill her, she can always force him right back down.Jay was still waiting for a response. The Jedi finally agreed with his plan. He knew she still didn't trust him, but he wasn't planning on breaking his promise.So with that, Mauve-top raised her hand and concentrated, lifting Jay off the ground. The whole force thing felt weird to him. It was like he didn't have full contrbody. His thoughts about that came to a stop when he reached the surface. The sun wasn't too bright, since the bushy, tall trees blocked most of it. Still, it felt g"Okay. I'm gonna go find a vine. I'll be right back," Jay said, before rushing off.In no more than five seconds, the Jedi began to regret going along with this plan.'Of course he's going to just run off! It's not like he actually cares about helping me out. What was I think-' her thoughts were interrupted when a green vine drdown beside her.

She looked up to see Jay's face through the skylight, smirking. He could see the look of worry that was written on her face."And you thought I was actually going to leave you here," he said. "Well, you should know, I never break a promise."The Jedi just scoffed, rolling her eyes. She then grabbed a hold of the vine and Jay pulled her up. At first, it was working. But then they heard that low hiss agaithis time, it was REALLY loud."Uh, Jay?" the Jedi called. The bounty hunter paused.For the first few seconds, it was silent. Deadly silent. Until...CRASH! A giant serpent broke through the wall and slithered around the cave."Pull me up! Pull me up!" shouted the Jedi, feeling her heart pounding from the scare.  Jay used all his strength to pull her up as fast as he could. Mauve-top ignited her lightsaber and tried to swat the beast away. The serpent lunged forward at heropen wide. She was able to swing away in time, but in the process, the vine snapped.The Jedi stumbled to the ground.

 She stood back up through the pain and continued to fight off the serpent. Meanwhile, Jay was panicking. He felt helpless. Hehelp her. Why would he want to? No idea. She was supposed to end up dead anyway. But he felt like he had to do something. Though he would never normally dEyes going crazy searching for a weapon, he spotted his blaster still on the ground next to Mauve-top's feet."Mauve-top! Throw me my blaster!" Jay shouted."What?! Are you crazy? I'm not giving you that thing!" she yelled back, bouncing around, swinging her lightsaber at the serpent."It's the only way I can help kill the monster!" he replied.The Jedi grunted from a harsh landing into the wall. "How do I know you're not just going to kill me instead?!" she shouted back."You just gotta trust me!" was his only response.Seeing that this fight with the serpent wasn't one she was winning, she reluctantly reached for the blaster and threw it up to Jay. He caught it and quickly aimedfor...well, he didn't know what to aim for. He remembered he had a mission. Kill the Jedi, get the money. So he aimed his blaster at her. He was about to pull thebut something felt wrong. He couldn't explain it, but instead, he aimed and shot at the serpent.The lasers kept flying towards the beast, distracting it enough for the Jedi to hop onto its head and strike her lightsaber into it. She then leaped up in time beforserpent fell dead. Her hands were able to grip the side of the skylight, but she felt herself slipping. Before she could fall, Jay helped her up.She finally was on the surface, laying on the leaf-covered ground trying to catch her breath.Jay was sitting beside her, subconsciously staring at her purple hair flawlessly spread out on the ground. What can he say?

 It looked pretty.The Jedi looked at him. "You saved my life," she stated."Of course I did. Aren't we friends now?" Jay asked, jokingly.She sat up, amazed by what had just happened. She hasn't experienced anything exciting and dangerous years. It was exhilarating. But exhausting. All of a sudJay's stomach started to grumble. She couldn't help but chuckle."Hungry?" she asked.Jay chuckled awkwardly. "Fighting a serpent works up an appetite," he answered."Well, I've got some food in my hut. 'Bout time we get some breakfast," said the Jedi.She stood up and began to walk to her place, leaving Jay confused. Inviting him to her house? Had she forgotten about the truce? They were out of the hole nowcould freely kill her. What happened to her not trusting him?'I probably gained her trust helping her defeat that beast,' he thought to himself. He still planned on killing her somehow. But not now. He needs to strike whendefenseless. That lightsaber is still in her hand.So he got up and followed her. But she stopped in her tracks for a brief moment. Jay worried she had remembered the plan about the truce."My name's Mal," she spoke softly, hardly looking back at him. "In case you were wondering." The corner of her lips were tugged up a little.Jay smiled, now knowing her name. And how beautiful, it was.