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I choose my words carefully, so I grapple with the seconds, and tension amasses in the car. “You’re right…when I look at you, I do see a hero. Not because I think you’re indestructible, but because you’ve chosen the light side despite growing up in the dark.” I let out a breath. “It’s justStar Warsstuff.”
His smile is everything to me. The way it effortlessly inches up his lips. “Let’s hear it.”
I’m caught in how he’s looking at me now. If he’s my hero, then I’m his queen.
Affection tumbles through my body like a pinball machine, hitting all the pockets that flash neon lights and make high-pitchedpings.
I swallow hard to control the butterflies swarming my stomach. “Anger, hate, pain—it disturbs the balance of all natural things,” I tell him. “InStar Wars,it disturbs the Force, and the Sith learned to focus solely on these negative emotions. They empower themselves through the dark side. It’s tumorous. Like a disease on the world.” I speak softer. “I know people have all different sorts of theories and feelings about the balance of the Force, but I believe light and dark always coexist in nature. And it’s Jedi who realize choosing light is what maintains the balance, the peace and harmony. So when I look at you, I see someone who embodies the light side, and maybe I admire you more because you found balance even living among the dark.”
His eyes are glassy, but I’m unsure which part struck a chord with Donnelly. His lips part but close, unable to speak.
My heart races wildly, but I dig into my mini-backpack, searching more urgently for something. Donnelly watches in silence while I sift through the contents.
I find a plastic blue crystal. “I bought this a long, long time ago.” I hand it to him and rummage around for a second thing.
“What is it?” He inspects the blue tint that fades to clear.
“It’s a kyber crystal.”
“It powers a lightsaber,” he realizes. “Thank you, Illyana_Dallas222 and herStar Warsrecs for my wisdom.” He names me.
“You’re most welcome, SB.” I name him.StaleBread89.I smile over at him, seeing his smile on me, and finally, my fingers brush the long silver chain at the bottom of my backpack. It’s tangled around metal bindings of a notepad. I pull both out and unknot the chain. “Do you still have to keep seeing your dad?”
“Yeah.” He pinches the kyber crystal between two fingers, but really, he’s staring far away. “I’ve been wearing a wire.” He explains the whole security aspect regarding his family. By the end, my stomach is knotted more than the chain I’m untangling.
“Maybe you can wear this next time too.” I pool the freed chain in his palm and motion to the kyber crystal in his other hand. “To remind you of the balance of the Force.”
He sees the hole chiseled at the top of the plastic crystal and immediately fishes the chain through it. His soulful gaze returns to mine while he loops the long chain around his neck. The crystal reaches his sternum, and he tucks it protectively underneath his shirt.
And then he suddenly unclips his black wristwatch. “I don’t have much, but I wanna give you something too.” He leans further over the middle console, to reach me, and as his fingers close over my wrist, adrenaline seeps through my veins.
I feel dizzy. Transported to another dimension.
“It’s engraved and everything,” he says. “Fancy shit.” He grins as he shows me the back casing of the watch. A crudely scratched “D” is legible in the silver. He must’ve used a knife.
It’s perfect.The words are stuck in my throat, swelling with emotion as Donnelly clasps the black band around my wrist.
“To remind you of our future together,” Donnelly says. “Time is irrelevant when I’m always right here.” He hoists my wrist, the watch secured perfectly.
I smile, choked up. “Thank you.” He shakes his head like it’s unneeded, but before he says it, I tell him, “You can’t disappointment me, you know.”
“If I fail—”
“Heroes fail all the time. It won’t change how I see you, Donnelly.”
He looks uncertain.
“It won’t.” A quiet strain overtakes the car, and I end up asking, “Did you ever read about Ulic Qel-Droma? In the comics?”
“I haven’t gotten too far in the reading list you sent. Where does he fall in the timeline?”
“Tales of the Jedi, written by Tom Veitch. He appears long before all the movies. I think around 4000 BBY.”
“Is he Sith?”
I shake my head. “A Jedi Knight. His Jedi Master died, and Ulic was convinced the only way to defeat his murderers was to infiltrate the Krath. They were these aristocrats who learned dark side Sith magic. He was going to pretend to be one of them, get close to them, and take them down from the inside.”
The correlation of what Donnelly is doing with his family is obvious, so neither of us mention it.
