#such is the life of Zekk Nolastname

[rai-knightshade-art]

Anakin Skywalker: Are you an angel?

Padmé Naberrie: What?

Anakin: An angel. I've heard the deep space pilots talk about them. They live on the moons of Iego, I think. They're the most beautiful creatures in the universe.

Padmé: You're a funny little boy. How do you know so much?

Anakin: I listen to all the traders and star pilots who come through here. I'm a pilot, you know, and someday I'm going to fly away from this place.

-Star Wars: The Phantom Menace

(artist thoughts under the cut, image ID in alt text)

So I was rereading one of the final scenes from Young Jedi Knights: Jedi Under Siege a while back, specifically one of the last chapters of the book, which goes like this:

The Praxeum students have defeated the Second Imperium's Dark Jedi, Brakiss is gone with the destruction of the Shadow Academy, and everyone's returning to the Temple to regroup, get medical attention, etc etc. Zekk, formerly Brakiss's Darkest Knight, has been having a bit of a crisis as he's watched all his Dark Jedi fall, felt the death of Brakiss (explicitly a sort of father figure to him), and saw his guardian Peckhum's ship apparently crash into the jungles of Yavin IV. He's questioning his actions, his decisions, his entire being, spiralling as he realizes just how little control he has over his own life, until he finally makes the decision that there's at least one thing he can control. He ends up in front of the Jedi Temple, confronting Jaina, Luke and the other trainees, brandishing his lightsaber and refusing anyone entry. He and Jaina have a verbal battle of wills as she encourages him to embrace the light instead of the dark, appealing to their friendship, "I know there's still good in you, it's not too late to turn back to the light!" Eventually they cross blades, even, until Jaina turns hers off and throws it away in a classic Skywalker maneuver, refusing to fight Zekk; he continues to argue and inch his blade toward Jaina even as he appears conflicted, until they're interrupted when Peckhum's ship, clearly damaged but still flying and containing a very-much-still-alive Peckhum (Zekk's other father figure), which finally snaps him out of it.

Then the Temple blows up from the inside, and we finally get the reveal of what Zekk was actually doing as everyone runs for cover from the falling debris: stalling for time so that there would be no one in the Temple when it blew (a pre-planned act by the Second Imperium), therefore saving everyone. Zekk himself gets hit in the head with some debris after pushing Jaina back and out of the way, and falls to the ground unconscious as Jaina can only look on.

This is where the original chapter ended, and the next chapter time skips to after the chaos of the explosion, when everyone's getting medical attention and the lower levels of the Temple have been decreed safe to enter. I found this to be a bit of a let down though, I had remembered there being more tension, more emotion from these scenes, especially between Jaina and Zekk. And so, enter this comic, a sort of filler scene: after the debris has stopped crashing down around them but before most of the others have gotten their wits back about them, Jaina runs to where Zekk lies unconscious, heedless of any further danger, only concerned about her beloved friend's safety. And because i love it best when star wars rhymes with itself, they unknowingly recreate a moment from decades past, between another lost boy, and another brown-haired girl determined to change the world.

This comic was originally a little sketch along the side of Jaina and Zekk's character page, which you can see here. But even as i drew it there i knew i wanted to see it in full color with the lighting effects i had imagined in my head. And so, here we are!