I didn't know how long I'd been in this house, taken hostage by the stormtroopers that inhabited Zeffo. I'd came here to find shelter cause I had heard that people were awfully kind to newcomers. But I guess I was wrong, because the new population was the stormtroopers - they were once clones that interacted with me and loved me to pieces , they always enjoyed the padawans.
How would Master Tapal go about this? I asked myself. He was a wise man, always knew his way out of Separatist plans to entrap him. He would've known how to free himself from this mess, if only he was alive. I had time to think in this small, cold house that I now resided in. What if I had taken those shots for him and Cal, it would have been worth it.
Oh Cal, Cal Kestis. I was in love with that boy. The Jedi Council had assigned my Master, Jaro Tapal, two padawans, I was one and Cal Kestis was the other. And oh how I was obsessed with that boy. I wondered day after day, night after night what he would look like at this age, what he would act like. He always protected me with him life. I wondered if he loved me and longed to meet me again like I did for him. I also wondered if he was still alive wandering about in the cold galaxy.
I got shocked out of my thoughts, listening to the blaster fire that went off from outside my door. What was here? I hugged my blanket closer to me, it was one that I had snatched off the couch that the old residents had. I felt a tug at the Force. It felt weird, I knew that this planet had nothing to do with the Force, it was just a place where families were once gathered and raised, where people chose to raise their kids and make friends, find love. Now, it was vacant, The Galactic Empire's pets now running around the streets with blasters like it was a game of tag. And here I was, my skills with the Force empty as well, though the tug felt intense. It could've been the inquisitors ready to take me and torture me, they might've felt the way that the Force sparked up here along with the latest visitor.
Or maybe someone else was here.
Lucky ol' me - they hadn't spotted the lightsaber swinging from my utility belt underneath the poncho that had once hung off my shoulders like a waterfall. Now, it laid by the hearth while I had a heavier blanket strung over my shoulders.
More blaster bullets. I stood up quickly, grasping my blanket with both of my hands, freezing as the fire started to burn out. I leaned against the door, my ear pressing to it as I let it hold my weight. The groan of stormtroopers echoed in the lonely roads and paths that were once filled with people walking about. Their armor falling to the ground was the last thing I heard before the footsteps vanished - except one pair. It could be an inquisitor - yeah, they killed their troopers, but they didn't do it when they weren't standing in the way of things. And from what I knew, any trooper with a brain in its head would let an inquisitor past.
But, my heart started to beat faster in my chest as I heard them - the leather boots walking towards the home that I was almost freezing in. It felt like the more terror that consumed me, the more that the cold did the same. I could almost feel it. Like the hope that I had held in my chest proudly since my Master died - the fire burned out.
This was it, I said to myself, acknowledging the fact that this may be the last time I was at peace, though I was still in a state of panic. The last time I may ever be close to peace.
They stopped in front of the door and I pulled back, waiting for it to open forcefully and one of my enemies to be standing there with their dark helmet and glowing yellow eyes.
...Nothing.
So I opened up the door to get it all over with, I was tired of my heart beating out of my chest. But when I opened the door, I didn't see a body hugged tightly in black armor and cloth, I saw my hope light back to life. Tears brimmed in my saddened eyes.
"Cal.." I whispered, my voice breaking and my words almost inaudible. There he stood, his pale freckled face more handsome than I could have ever imagined and his hair almost mimicking silk. He was tall, broad, and well built - he was older and much more appealing to my eyes. He was the man I'd fallen in love with all these years of being away from him.
"Cal," I repeated, my voice more clear, almost like I didn't know if it was him yet, but I knew. I wasn't unsure - I recognized the man I'd been waiting for.
He never responded, not yet at least, but I was pulled into a hug, my face pressed into his chest, making me inhale the scent of him. Intoxicating was the only word I could describe it as. And his arms - the way they wrapped around me made the tears flow down my face as I broke. I was fragile, like vase made of glass that had cracked over time and just now had been done with holding itself together.
"Flower," he whispered back, his lips moving against my hair. His voice, it was matured and it melted my heart like a flame to a candle.
"Cal, Master Tapal told us not to mess with things, the plants here are dangerous," I warned him, voice stern as I watched him pick a daisy out of the ground.
"Look," he said, beckoning me over to him. I sat on my knees in front of him, watching his eyes go from the flower and back to my face. "It's pretty, you kinda look like it," he said, pushing the stem around the back on my ear so the flower stayed put next to my face.
I tried so hard to be mad at him but I couldn't, a smile breaking out on my face and a giggle escaping my lips at his young, boyish nature with the charm of someone much more mature. "You're something else Cal Kestis."
"And you are something special, Flower."
"I missed you so much, I never stopped believing that you were still alive, I knew you'd find me," I mumbled into him, my words shaky due to my emotions giving out. I felt Cal's hands grip at the back of sweater I wore, the blanket having fell to the ground when he hugged me. But I didn't bother complaining, I was warmer than the Mustafar air while being in his arms.
"I.. I'm sorry I didn't come sooner, Y/n. My escape pod landed on Bracca and I was stuck there, I just don't know how you managed to slip away after the crash. I was stuck there till I was found by another Jedi. Her name's Cere, we went to find a holocron with all the younglings names on it, all the ones with the Force. It's a long story but I've been chasing around your Force signature, waiting for you to finally rest somewhere. And here you are, more lovely than the sunsets on Coruscant," he said, slightly pulling back and holding my face, my chin rested on his palm and his index finger and thumb on either side of my face, lightly squeezing my cheeks. "I know how you feel about me, Flower, I knew the day I lost you that you loved me as much as I loved you. I thought it wasn't true cause we were young, but I love you more than I ever have now that you're in front of me."
My breath clogged in my throat. Force signature. I forgot that was a thing, I had almost forgotten everything that I learned when I was a reckless padawan. I only focused on fighting skills now, defending myself. I had learned to read Master Tapal and Cal's force signature when I was young, knowing when they were around was important because the young red-head was mischievous, always trying to spook me on the daily and getting lost on missions wasn't uncommon.
I couldn't believe he was finally with me though, holding me like I'd turn to sand, like I'd disappear once again. Just being near him made me remember the last time I'd seen him - frightened as Master Tapal fell to the ground in front of him, in front of us.
Leaving. He was here again. He wasn't leaving, he didn't seem like he wanted to.
"Are you going to leave? Now that you found me, are you going to leave?" I asked him, my eyes glossy. I felt like a helpless child, my face in his hand and my lips pouted, waiting for an answer, like whatever he said would determine my fate.
It would though. If he took me with him, I'd live a life of happiness and love, care and compassion. But, if he left me behind like I was some throwaway toy, like some useless girl - what I saw myself as all these years since my Master had died, I would live a life of hate and fear. A Sith's life.
And I was no Sith. Maybe I wasn't a Jedi, but I was fine with being just human. Cal's human.
His emerald eyes sparkled at me, seemingly outshining the darkness around us. He smiled, a small cut on his lip bending with his face. "No, Y/n, no. I wouldn't dream of leaving you. I finally found you, I won't let you go like I did before."
I smiled back at him, my teeth biting my bottom lip to hold off noises of happiness and sobs from when I had broke down in his grasp. "My handsome Jedi, you are a blessing from the Maker."
"And you, my Flower, are the most angelic work of art I have ever laid my eyes on, you truely are a gift."
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