Star Wars: An Earthling's Journey

~Chapter 15~

   We were all gathered in a room in the Jedi Temple for my Master's funeral. The high ranking officials from the Republic were there too, including the Chancellor himself.

   For some odd reason, I just feel this negative energy radiating from the Chancellor, the same energy from when we encountered the Sith. But there can only be two Sith, right? My thoughts were interrupted by someone tugging on my sleeve. I looked down to see that it was Melisa. Her eyes were filled with tears threatening to fall but she couldn't let anyone see it, not even the other younglings.

   I gave her a comforting smile as I took her small hand in mine and led her out of the room back to my quarters. As we walked through the empty hallways, I heard tiny sobs from Melisa. She never trusted anyone enough to cry in front of them except for Obi-Wan, my late Master and myself. We were the only ones she really trusted, she didn't even trust most of the younglings and stayed away from them most of the time.

   Since she was older than almost all of them, I could understand why she didn't trust them to even make friends with them. They were too young to understand her anyway. She doesn't even know about her own twin sister, the only real family she has in this universe. I pity her and how she was completely oblivious that she has family here. She's so clueless about her real parentage but I don't think her adoptive family told her yet before she came here.

   I sighed as we continued to walk down the empty hallways with the only sound being my boots coming to contact with the marble flooring. Melisa noticed that I sighed as she perked her head up to look at me.

   "Why did you sigh?" She asked, her voice hoarse from sobbing.

   "Oh, it's nothing. You don't have to worry about me, I'm fine." I said to reassure her. I didn't want to worry her with the thought of her twin being here.

   "No, something's up. I can tell from the sad energy radiating from you. Tell me. Please?" Her voice was no longer hoarse, it was as if she didn't even cry. There were no traces of tear streaks on her cheeks either.

   Sometimes I wished she wasn't so mature for her age.

   "Melisa, don't worry about me. Take care of yourself." I said as we walked into my room. "It's really nothing. It's just that... I was really close to my Master and seeing him go so suddenly is a little... you know... hard to take in." I finished with a small smile on my face as we sit down on the sofa.

   "Heh, I know how it feels to lose someone close to you so suddenly. It's like a part of you just wants to give up and join that person wherever they went." She said with a small smirk crawling onto her face.

   "Wait... how do you know that? Did you lose someone before?" I instantly regretted my words as they came out.

   She was silent. The smirk gone from her face. She looked like she was on the brink on tears again.

   "I-its okay. You don't have to tell me of you don't want to." I tried to make up for my mistake when I said that.

   "No, it's fine. I do want to tell you." She looked at me for reassurance for her to carry on. I gave a slight nod to signal her.

   "Okay, well, I lost my dad to a car crash a few months ago and well... to witness another death so soon is... taking quite a toll on me. We were just heading home from a bike ride and the car in front of us suddenly put the brakes and my dad wasn't quick enough to stop the car in time to avoid crashing. I was injured since I sat in the passenger seat up front with him. That injury left this scar on my forearm." She said while rolling up her sleeve for me to see the scar that I somehow never noticed. She covered it back and continued.

   "I was bleeding a lot but it was not nearly as bad as my dad. He had a huge wound across his forehead and that was the last thing I remembered until I woke up in the hospital. Fortunately, my mom and little sister were unharmed. They were beside my hospital bed when I woke up and it took me a second to r-re-remember what ha-happened to my d-dad." She said while on the brink of tears. Her voice was a little wobbly at the end, but she still continued.

   "The doctor came to check on me and said that I can be discharged right away. But... I couldn't leave without seeing my dad first so once I changed into my own clothes, my sister brought me to see dad and... when I got there... I-I, couldn't believe what I saw." She started to sniffle, tears were streaming down her cheeks. I brought my hand up to wipe her tears away, but I thought otherwise and put my hand on her back instead to comfort her.

   "It's okay, you don't have to continue if you don't want to." I said in a smooth whisper.

   "But I do want to." She looked up at me with her tear stained face. I simply nodded in understanding for her to continue.

   "Dad was... hooked up to a lot of machines. On the heart monitor, it showed his pulse getting weaker then, a straight line. I saw my dad die in front of my eyes. The doctors and nurses came to cover his body but I pushed past them to see my dad one last time. His funeral was held two days later and... I could never forget that moment. I still remember it like it was yesterday and I'll remember Qui-Gon's death just the same. All deaths stay in my mind for life, they never leave because I don't want to forget them. Especially if its someone I'm close to." She finished and I felt tears well up in my eyes as she said the last part. My Master's death will stick with me for the rest of my life too.

   I wrapped my other arm around her to pull her into a hug. I wasn't sure why I did it, I just did it on instinct. She needed someone to lean on and I'm going to be that person. I will stay by her side and protect her until the day I die. I vow to not let anyone harm her no matter what circumstances we are in.

   I held her by her shoulders and pulled away from the hug. She looked at me confused, not sure what to think of the situation.

°Melisa's POV°
   I was surprised when Anakin pulled me into a hug after I finished saying what I wanted to say. I swear I saw that he wanted to place his hand on my cheek but decided against it. But I could've been mistaken since my vision was blurred by my tears.

   He hugged me pretty tight and though it took me by surprise, I hugged back. When he pulled away from the hug and held me by my shoulders, I was so confused. Then he said the words that I'll never forget. The words that will stick with me forever.

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Another cliffhanger hehehehehehehehe. *Makes creepy and evil face*

Hmm... I wonder what those words are... oh wait, I know what they are! Though maybe you already know but I still can't tell you! Hehehe... Ahh, I like doing this. :> Too bad you guys gotta wait again. *Smirks evilly* again, no promises that I'll have the next chapter up so soon. *Evil smirk widens*

Aaanyways, I'll see you in the next chapter! Buh-bye!