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T/W: mentions of blood and gore
The bliss didn't last for long.
The night air tasted of bile and blood as the firefight broke out along the streets of Mos Eisley. In the dead of night, where no creatures should have been stirring, the world erupted into chaos.
Tess scrambled along with her parents, trying to pull them back, tears staining her little cheeks. She knew what was about to happen. She'd lived this nightmare before. Again and again and again. Every single time it drove her to the point of hysteria, where all she wanted to do was rip out her own heart. She never could. She could never do anything.
The attack had come out of nowhere.
The ship had arrived in the bay. The white clad warriors had filed out in a single line, their black, glistening blasters held dutifully by their side. The man dressed all in black had called the order to begin the raid. Tess was frightened. She was so very scared as her parents knelt before her behind a crumbling building. She didn't care that they were holding her hands, telling her it would be all right, embracing her for the very last time. She'd relived this moment more than she could count. Her parents' words had lost all meaning. They weren't going to be alright. They were never alright. They'd decided to fight for a cause and it had gotten them killed. Tess would not make the same mistake.
Dead bodies littered the ground like dead flies, blood seeping from wounds that cut deep. There were no more smiles, no more screams of joy, only shrieks of terror.
Tess had lost her voice. She pulled at her parents, kicking and punching them, trying to get them to stay back. All they did was give her hugs and kisses on her forehead and told her they loved her. Tess tried to yell at them, silent screams bursting from her lips. The building beside them exploded. Her parents then left her, telling her to run. She couldn't. She couldn't move. Her legs were stuck in place by some unseen force. She reached out her arms, back straining, but her parents paid her no mind. They were lost in each other's eyes.
Blaster fire stung Tess' ears as she clumsily fell to the ground, her feet were cement bricks that kept her in place. The streets were laden with rubble and blood, staining her hands with mud and rust.
She scrambled onto her knees, crying out as she seemed to watch the figures ahead of her move in slow motion. Her mother went first, spinning her dual pistols with her nimble fingers. She turned to her husband and pushed her face forward. Their lips connected, and in that moment, both their eyes, tearing and strained, said the exact same words they always did in these nightmares.
