Chapter 16 – Truth and Reconciliation
Liana could feel a dull throbbing in her head as the fog gradually lifted. She rubbed her eyes as she propped herself up on her elbow, letting the spinning in her head gradually stabilize as she looked around the room. The first thing she noticed, since it was difficult to miss, was Jacen lying behind her, his stiff penis half-immersed in her still-wet vagina. She gasped in shock, realizing that they were both naked and, presumably, had previously been having sex. As the gasp escaped her lips, though, the memories – memories that had been forgotten, repressed, or merely brushed aside as trivial, came flooding back. As if disembodied and floating above the world, she saw herself lewdly pleasuring her spread pussy with a bottle in her room. She saw herself, soaked to the skin with rainwater, seducing a young man in the Jedi Academy's communications center, draining the energy right from his body to fuel her lust. She saw herself do the same to student after student, everywhere from the study rooms to supply closets in the back of lecture halls. She relived every encounter, every coupling. She watched herself kill a man mercilessly, leeching away his very life force to selfishly drive herself to orgasm. She watched herself take Jacen, her friend, captive and torture him with her sexual charms, fully prepared to use him as a sex toy and then discard his body after she had finished him off as well, at least until Star intervened.
'Star!' she suddenly cried in her head, remembering the night's earlier events.
She turned her head from side to side quickly, whipping her sweaty blonde locks back and forth as she desperately searched the room for some sign that Star and her lover were all right. Horrified, she saw their still bodies lying against the wall.
"What have I done?" she whispered, quickly separating herself from her coupling with Jacen and getting up on her knees, running her hands through her hair in exasperation and fear. "No no no no..."
Her voice rose in tandem with her fright.
"What have I done???" she repeated again, shouting this time.
The sound of Liana's voice snapped Jacen back to the real world, where he saw the naked girl kneeling on the bed in a panic. He watched her swing her legs over the edge of the bed, and he realized that she was about to leave. Where she would flee to he did not know, and he didn't care. Shaking off the fuzziness in his head, he forced his own body into motion, jumping off the bed and landing on his feet, albeit barely, behind her. He caught the crying girl in a strong bear hug from behind, pressing her back into his chest as he squeezed her, clasping his own arms together just below her breasts. The startled young woman scream, kicking her feet in the air as he lifted her off the ground and toppled backwards onto the bed.
"Let me go!" she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Get away from me!"
He did his best to ignore the impact of her heels on his shins as he whispered soothingly into her ear.
"Shhhhh, Liana, it's me, Jacen," he told her. "I'm not going to hurt you. It's okay. You're safe."
"But you're not!" she screamed, twisting her upper body back and forth in his grasp. "I'll hurt you! I don't want to! But I can't help it!"
"Yes you can, Liana," he insisted. "Just calm down. Calm down and you'll see. You're you again. You don't have to worry."
"I killed them!" she sobbed, finally relaxing a little bit in his arms. "I killed Star and her friend."
"Cora," he told her. "Star and Cora. And you didn't kill them."
"They're right there," she sputtered, her chest heaving as sobs continued to wrack her body. "They're dead because they tried to help me."
"Liana, just slow down and listen," he whispered. "Breathe, close your eyes, and listen."
The girl fell quiet, save an occasional sniffle, as she tried hard to listen. But all she heard was her panting and his breathing, plus the pounding of her own heart.
"I don't hear anything," she said quietly.
"Try harder," he insisted, releasing his grip somewhat so that his arms were only loosely encircling her body. "Try."
She closed her eyes, breathing in and out through her nostrils as she tried to calm herself. Finally, after what seemed almost like forever, she heard it – faint heartbeats, masked by the much louder beating of her heart and Jacen's. She heard breathing as well, slow, deep breaths.
"You hear it, don't you?" he asked, whispering.
She nodded, her eyes still closed.
"Is it them?" she asked.
"Yeah," he told her. "You wore them out good, but they're alive. They'll be okay – they just need some rest."
"But all of the other things I did...," she protested weakly, her slurred words indicating that drowsiness had finally set in on her.
"Shhhhhh," he shushed her. "No need to worry about them now. You need your rest too. How do you feel?"
"Good," she replied, slowly licking her chapped lips. "Normal... and sleepy."
"I'm tired too," he whispered reassuringly. "Get some rest now. I'll be right here."
She barely heard what he said, as sleep was already drifting over her. He pressed his lips against the back of her head, kissing her damp hair protectively as he too let sleep overtake him.
When Liana next awoke, she woke with a start. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she was breathing quickly. She had been dreaming, she remembered, but she had no idea what the dream was about. She assumed it had been a nightmare of some sort, but for all she knew it might have been a dream about a physical training class. She looked to the window and saw the skyline was a grayish-blue, indicating that dawn was approaching. She felt Jacen's arms around her and looked down. Sure enough, his arms were still clasped around her body, just beneath her bare breasts. She became suddenly very self-conscious of her nudity, and decided to get up to look for some clothes. She tried to pull away from Jacen's grip, but his sleeping form was heavier to shake off than she would've guessed. She couldn't use her arms, for he had wrapped his arms over hers. She wriggled back and forth until suddenly she stopped, feeling something hot and hard pressing against the cleft of her buttocks. Shocked, she realized it was the swollen head of his erect cock. A small amount of pre-come oozed from the tip, tracing cool, wet trails on her skin. Her entire body tingled from the sensation, which simultaneously excited her and worried her. What if she lost control again?
"Jacen," she whispered, trying to nudge him with her shoulders. "Jacen, wake up."
His slow, steady breathing didn't change, indicating that he was out cold. She nudged him a few more times, unsuccessfully. She let her head fall onto a pillow and tried to fall asleep again, but she couldn't stop thinking about his erection rubbing against her ass. She caught herself thinking sexual thoughts, reminiscing about the first time they'd had sex on Yavin IV. Much to her own distress, she could feel herself getting moist between her legs just thinking about it.
