Forces of Fate

Help on Batuu

Time Skip
Dogma and Reva sat nervously as they waited for hours, steadily the moon began to disappear in the early morning sky when the healer came out of her hut with bloodied gloves. "Your friend will live, she is in stable condition. However, it is still undetermined when she will wake up." The healer proclaimed. "Thank you, seriously thank you." Dogma thanked. The healer nodded her head and then gestured for the pair to come into the hut. Dogma and Reva walked into the hut and saw the pale figure laying on the table with a oxygen over her face, however now her breaths were large and steady. Dogma visibly relaxed at the sight of Seren's stable condition. Reva let out a sigh of relief and then climbed onto the table and curled up next to Seren. "Her fever has leveled out, but the infection is still something to be worried about. However, as of now, she is on a drip, and recovering." The woman nodded. Dogma nodded his head and sat down beside the table. "Rest easy." The woman nodded before climbing up the stairs into the attic. She shut the door, leaving the sleeping youngling and Jedi alone. "Thank you for not leaving us," Dogma whispered as he took her hand in his.

Time Skip
Seren's cloudy, exhausted, and sick blue eyes opened and winced against the bright lights streaming in from the windows. Confusion bustled in her eyes as Seren felt weight leaning against her side and something holding her hand down on the table. She looked down and saw Dogma's head laying on her hand and then saw Reva laying beside her. "Your friends were very worried about you." A calm, quiet voice spoke on the other side of Seren's head.  Seren's head whipped to the side to see the aged grandmotherly face beside her. "Are you experiencing any pain, my dear?" She questioned as she exchanged the oxygen mask for the cannula in her nose and placed a cold cup against Seren's lips. Immediately Seren greedily drank down the cold liquid. The healer pulled away the cup and looked over the woman. "No, I feel....numb." She spoke out raspily. "That is good, I have you on multiple pain revealers that you will have to be on for six weeks." The healer whispered. "Do you want me to wake up your padawan and friend?" The healer inquired. Seren's eyes widened at the woman, who only smiled at her tenderly. "I know Jedi when I see one." She explained. Seren nodded her head and then turned to look at both Dogma and Reva, she saw how exhausted and worn down they appeared to be. She turned her head and looked back at the healer. "No, let them rest," Seren spoke. The healer nodded her head and then filled the cup again with water before giving it to Seren. "You know I must say for a deadman, you seem pretty lively." The old woman spoke before turning towards the screen where a photo of her standing beside her father shined.

Third person
On coruscant
The streets of Coruscant were lined with people in black who held candles close to their chests. "We are here today to mourn the loss of my daughter, who was ruthlessly murdered by the traitorous Jedi Mace Windu. However we are not here to speak about their acts, but the actions of my daughter, who died protecting me." Palpatine spoke to the immense crowd who had appeared to show their respects to the fallen hero. The troopers of the now Imperial Security Bureau stood in front of the rest of the troopers, their commanders and Generals stood in front of them in uniform. Commander Fox stood next to Katia as guilt, grief, and anger ate at his stomach, knowing he had caused the death of his best friend, the only person who had been there for him and his men. "Now her General Katia Solo will speak for her." Palpatine introduced. The brown-haired, blue-eyed woman moved around the cloaked chancellor and the large machine-like man standing beside him. "Thank you, Emperor Palpatine." General Solo nodded toward the man before turning to address the crowd. "Seren wasn't like the normal daughter of a politician, not only was she impressively trained in martial arts. But she put her life on the line every day of her life protecting the people she cared about, some might say the people she loved. Facing agents of the separatist. She would constantly take blasts meant for others, just to protect them. She may not have smiled a lot, she may have been brass, but she showed her love in other ways. Whether that was buying your favorite treat after you had a rough day, or it was assigning you a lower workload after you lost some men the day before. Seren cared for every single person she met and everyone she didn't. She personally confided to me about feeling guilty for sending men to their deaths without there being any memorial for them, feeling guilty for every civilian that had been taken because she wasn't fast enough to protect them. That is why she had so many sleepless nights, working by herself to protect people both planet side and in the far reaches of the galaxy fighting for their lives." Katia spoke firmly attempting to hold her tears at bay. Katia nodded as she looked over the breathing-taking crowd. "I know Seren was soo selfless that if she was here, she would over this crowd and feel guilty about taking your priceless time away, she wouldn't want her men to mourn her death, and she wouldn't want the republic to grieve. She would want us to take the time and remember all of those who died in this war. The lives that are forever lost, marching away from the galaxy." She spoke into the mic with tears silently rolling down her cheeks. In the distance from the podium stood the lone sniper, from the rest of the world it appear he stood unmoved by the event. Some would believe that he was heartless as he watched the funeral silently. However, that was the muted mask he bore, beneath the visar, beneath the matte black helmet. His mind whirled, refusing to believe that the formally believed to be an unkillable woman was gone, his knuckles tightened into fists as he struggled to hold himself together. "So it is now that I say goodbye to the Princess, Director of the Republic Security, Bureau, and my sister-in-arms, Seren Palpatine," Katia announced as a small, open casket. Crosshair leaned forwards to see inside the casket, holding onto the hope that maybe the body was fake. Only to feel that same hope die in his chest. There laying in a silver and black armored dress, red fiery locks pulled into her usual loose bun, with her hands resting on the red and black lightsaber that was placed on her stomach. Crosshair's mind stopped and all he could do was stare at what was left was his beloved, his Cyar'ika. Though on the outside it appeared nothing had happened, inside Crosshair was screaming out. What if she had said yes, what if they were together on the far distant, undesirable planet of Batuu he had picked for them? None of this would have happened, SHE wouldn't be dead, he wouldn't be alone, and they would have been able to live out their lives together even though the fates had tried to pull them apart. But it would seem the forces of fate had won, there she lay, and here he stood alone with his grief. When he made a gut-wrenching realization, he owed his late lover a visit, something he should have done months ago.

Time Skip
Crosshair stood in the rain before the pyramid which stood in front of the Jedi temple turned imperial palace. "Perhaps of visit?" The princess's guardsmen. "To pay my respect to the fallen." Crosshair gruffed out. The men nodded their heads and opened the sealed tomb door. Crosshair walked into the moonlight-lit temple center and saw the carefully painted stone sarcophagus. Crosshair took off his helmet and looked over the sarcophagus before releasing a huff and sinking to his knees. He leaned himself back onto the stone behind him. The sniper stared down at the ground as he tried to think of what he wanted to say to his estranged love. "We could have had it all you know," Crosshair spoke. "We could have been married, we could have had our own home, hell we could have had our own kids," Crosshair said before he shook his head. "But no you just had to be a perfect, self-sacrificing, asshole." Crosshair spat before he leaned his head back against the sarcophagus. "Why..." "Why did you have to go before...."He began as the tears began to collect at the base of his eyes. "Before I could say-" Crosshair hesitated. "I'm sorry." He breathed out. "I'm sorry you died believing I hated you, I'm sorry I didn't see you before and now I'll...never be able to hold you again." He said as his face tightened. "I'll never be able to hold you in my arms, to tell you that I love you, to run my hands through your softer than silk hair, to get lost in your Kamino blue eyes, to smell you...And I'll never get to love you the way you deserve." Crosshair confessed as he allowed his tears to stream down his face. "I'll never hear your comforting and adoring voice, I'll never be able to fall asleep with you holding me tight, so my nightmares wouldn't attack." He added. "But maybe I don't deserve that..maybe I lost that gift when I made you feel like I hated you, maybe I never deserved you in the first place." Crosshair proclaimed as he stared forward with a blank expression. "Gods I miss you." He huffed. "I forgive you for saying no though.....and you were right. It wouldn't have been right to leave the war for everyone else. But it would have been what you deserved...You deserved to know peace before you died." Crosshair professed as he gulped down his tears. Crosshair rose to his feet and turned to face the calm face of his stoned lover. The sarcophagus's eyes were sculpted shut, but her face was peaceful. Crosshair closed his brown eyes and released a shaking breath as he collected himself. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small, silver ring. "I was going to give this to you after Kellar. I figured since I couldn't have that small house in the forest maybe I could have part of my dream. But I guess it wasn't in our story..." Crosshair said as he looked down at the small, delicate ring. Crosshair closed his eyes once more, allowing a lone tear to slip down his defense. "It may be too late, but you should have it," Crosshair affirmed as he placed the small ring on top of the altar of offerings to the late princess. Crosshair took a step back as he held his helmet in his hands. "Life may move on, but I won't princess. You will always be my Cyar'ika." Crosshair announced before he turned away, slipped his helmet on over his grief-stricken, and walked away from what was and what could have been. The life the two could have shared if only the forces of fate hadn't gotten in the way. If only their love story had had a happily ever after if only it hadn't been a tragedy.

Though her father had gained the galaxy, Seren had lost hers. Seren lost her mother, her sisters, her brother, her order, and now her lover. Sheev had gained everything and Seren had lost everything. It is moments like these when we wonder what could have been if only we had done something different. It is in times like these that we mourn what never happened, when we grieve the loss of what could have been.