Second chances

THE EPILOGUE

I sighed from exhaustion as I walked past various buildings, trying to get home. Hah, I snorted mentally, home. More like a house. My home was killed long time ago. I thought all that time I was just surviving. So how can I call this life I have now? Just keep the body going. Day, night, eat, drink, rest, repeat.

My "positive" thoughts were interrupted by the sight my house. Or, if we want to be specific, one big room with bed, kitchen and small table and one small refresher. It was all I needed anyway. All I needed to keep my body going.

The door opened with a hiss. As they closed, darkness enveloped me. I didn't use the electricity for lights, it would be too expensive. I headed straight to refresher. I really had to get a shower. I work in mechanics, but the company is able to use every scrap metal and sell it as a top quality material. Of course, that leaves us, the workers, making that scrap work like a top material. Which is never easy and usually results in one being stained in oil. It felt good to wash the oil and dirt away.

I exited the 'fresher and that was the first time my old instincts kicked in. I immediately sensed a presence in my room. Was it there before? If yes, I am seriously getting old. A quick eye-scan of the room revealed a cloaked person leaning on a desk.

I reached for a blaster which I always kept with me.

"Why are you here? What do you want?" I asked dangerously. The person only chuckled. A female.

"Come on, Captain. Is that any way to talk to your Commander?"

My blaster dropped. I knew that voice. I didn't hear it since we parted ways all those years ago. Since we burried my home. She put the cloak away, and, at first, I was confused. It was Ahsoka, but her face... "Face-paint," she answered a question she saw in my eyes. I nodded. It's a great way for her to mask herself.

She smiled and I snapped out of my shock. She was here. She wasn't injured. She was smiling. She was alive. I felt myself smile widely. Her own smile grew bigger as she walked towards me quickly and closed the distance between us, hugging me. It was then I realized, she was the first person to ever hug me. My arms moved on their own and I embraced her tightly, wanting to prove to myself I am not imagining things. I wasn't. She was real. We just stood there, not caring about anything else. In that moment, there was nothing and noone else for me. My little *vod was alive. I knew my eyes were shimmering with tears. Her's were already falling. I could say by the wetness I felt on my shoulder. I pulled as apart and wiped the tears from her cheeks. It was funny. I wouldn't do this during the War. I would have hugged her back, yes, but I know I wouldn't be as affectionate as I was now. Well, that was different me. I was a soldier, a captain, she was my commander and a Jedi. Not anymore. Now we were just...people. Just two people that survived. I kept looking her in the eyes and knew she thinks the same.

"I finally found you *ori'vod", she said, still with a shaky voice. I must have been grinning like an idiot. But that was okay. She was, too.

"It seems so," I answered, "but how exactly?"

She looked at me cockily: "The Force...and a little bit of my old contacts in the Rebellion."

"Rebellion, huh? Doesn't surprise me you joined, even though I thought you would want some peace after the War." Her smile fell a little.

"Sit down," I said and gestured to bed. There was really nowhere else for us to sit, given that I have only one chair. She complied, sat down and leaned againts the wall. I sat beside her.

"So," I started, "what's it with the Rebellion?"

"I was a part of it for some time, spying for senator Organa." I cringed. The word of the Alderaan's fate spread like a venom, poisoning every system with fear of the Empire. Many, myself included, were mad with hate, but couldn't do anything. Without Alderaan, the Rebellion's strength diminished greatly.