TITLE: Hang
AUTHOR: Obi the Kid
RATING: PG
CHARACTERS: Jaythen Talari, T'narr Kresson, Yasin (new character)
SUMMARY: Pre-TPM time-frame. (Jaythen is 9). Jaythen spends time with a Jedi returning from war.
NOTE: This story is a sequel to "Returning" and will make more sense if you've read that story and my other stories that star T'narr and Jaythen.
DISCLAIMER: The characters and venue of Star Wars are copyrighted to Lucas Films Limited. I make no profit from the writing or distribution of this story.
**This is story is part of a challenge I made to myself. My goal, to take the 12 songs titles from the Matchbox Twenty album "Yourself or Someone Like You" and write a story that goes with each song title (these are NOT song fics). In no particular order, the stories will be called: Real World; Long Day; 3AM; Push; Girl Like That; Back to Good; Damn; Argue; Kody; Busted; Shame and Hang. They will be a mix of Jaythen based stories, Yappy Obi (YO) stories and Qui-Gon & Obi-Wan based stories. I hope you enjoy!**
The room lay quiet aside from the rhythm of the vital monitoring medical equipment. The boy found himself involuntarily breathing in and out with the measured hum and drone of the bedside machine. His piercing green eyes following the rise and fall of the monitors, mirroring the rise and fall of the Jedi it assisted. After a period of time, during which the youngster lost track of the hour, the monotony of the hushed sounds were eventually interrupted by a struggled cough. The patient – the mortally wounded Jedi – on the bed fought himself awake. The first thing his black eyes saw were the emerald ones of a boy he didn't know. A padawan named Jaythen Talari.
It was a confusing, yet pleasant sight for the middle-aged Jedi. Like so many who would never admit to it, he'd always harbored a fear of loneliness about waking in a hospital bed with no one at his bedside, anxious and worried. This dark-haired boy, he didn't know who he was. Couldn't recall ever seeing him. But there was a comfort there if for no other reason than seeing a friendly face when eyes came open.
The young Jedi stared at him curiously, yet without pity. Eventually he began with a simple, "Hi."
The bed-ridden Jedi cleared his scratchy throat and returned the greeting with a soft, raspy voice. "Hi to you."
"I'm Jaythen."
"Yasin."
"Good to meet you finally. Healer Terran thought you might wake up soon."
"You are an apprentice healer?"
"No. Just a regular padawan."
The man was more awake now, but confused. His brow furrowed and he looked around the room before returning a questioning gaze to the boy. "Why are you sitting here, Jaythen?"
"So you wouldn't be by yourself when you woke up. I hate that feeling."
"I appreciate that, but I don't understand."
"You were one of the Jedi who returned from Krytus. Healer Terran said it was okay to sit with you."
Yasin coughed again, regretting it instantly as a concentrated pain pounded deeply into his chest. Then a whiff of a breeze from the air duct in the ceiling brushed his long dark-blonde hair. Something wasn't right. Reaching a hand up towards his pillowed head, he felt a strange sensation. Puzzled further, he again turned his eyes to Jaythen and the boy flattened his lips in an awkward grin.
"They had to shave part of your head because of the wound. You had surgery."
"I did. And you're here and I don't know you. And, part of my head is bald."
"It doesn't look so bad."
"Honestly?"
"Well, maybe it does look funny, but it's okay. Everyone knows about those who returned from Krytus."
"They do?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Jaythen, I'm sorry. Perhaps my head injury is causing this confusion, but I'm still not sure why you are here."
"Because you needed someone to be here when you woke up. It's what I can do to help."
"Help…"
"Those returning from Krytus. I can't fight there, but I can do something when you come home."
It all clicked in then and Yasin stared at the boy in disbelief. "You came here to sit with a stranger for hours on end…"
"A lot of Jedi died. A lot more got hurt. The only way I could help was to just..."
"Hang around until I woke up and talk to me."
"I like to talk. But I like the quiet too. So it's the best of both. I'm sorry for what happened to you and to the other Jedi. I don't know very much about Krytus, but my master says it's a terrible place."
"It is. Many Jedi fought and died bravely. They deserved better."
"I wish I could have helped them too." Jaythen paused as he saw a single tear slide from Yasin's eyes. Perhaps he'd overstayed his welcome. "Maybe I should go. I don't want to be a bother."
Surprising himself, Yasin reached out and caught the boy's arm before could get up. The gentle hold was quickly released, but the black eyes never wavered.
"Stay, Jaythen. Please. I don't mind you hanging around here with me. I'm glad to have the company. And I admit I'm a bit taken aback by it. I probably expected if anyone were here when I woke that it would be a healer. But you here, just…because. Please stay a while longer."
Jaythen did. He and Yasin talked. Well, Yasin did most of the talking. Jaythen mainly listened. The knight found himself releasing the emotions that were Krytus. Watching his fellow Jedi fall. Seeing the horrors of their deaths and life changing injuries. No attention was paid to Jaythen's age or his inexperience. Those things didn't seem to matter to Yasin. All that mattered was that there was someone close who wanted to hear the stories. Someone who wanted to help, just by listening. Someone who cared about what he had suffered through. Cared about his life, the life he'd given up in the name of peace.
It was more than the battle scarred Jedi could have ever hoped for upon his return.
Yasin never recovered enough to get out of his bed, or even sit upright for more than a few minutes. But for the next five days, he and Jaythen spent the majority of their days together. Instead of being with friends his own age, Jaythen spent his downtime hanging around the hospital at the bedside of a man, that a few days prior, he'd never seen or met. Yasin shared stories of his past. Happy times spent with friends and fellow Jedi. He told tales of his most memorable missions to strange planets and the even stranger villages within. His had been a life filled with adventure and excitement and stories that had Jaythen sitting on the edge of his seat, enthralled and captured.
These were days that Jaythen knew without a doubt that he would never forget.
And when the sixth day came and Yasin grasping struggle for life gave out, Jaythen, who had been there when he'd first opened his eyes, was there when he last closed them.
A silent squeeze to the boy's hand was the last act that Jedi Knight Yasin Hadar would ever know. His black eyes went lifeless staring into those that were compassionate green.
Jaythen hung to Yasin's hand for a long time as soundless tears tracked his young face. He only released the hand when one of the healers came to remove the body and prepare it for the funeral pyre. Even then, in the now empty room, Jaythen didn't leave until a familiar deep voice came from the doorway.
"I thought I'd find you hanging around here." T'narr had come in search of his apprentice, unaware of Yasin's death.
Without warning or word, Jaythen got up and hurried to his master, collapsing into his arms, desperately seeking the warm embrace that followed. T'narr knew then what had happened. The empty bed. The hollow room. The cascading emotions suddenly erupting from his distraught padawan.
"I'm sorry, Jaythen."
Muffled sobs mixed with sorrowful words came from the boy as T'narr held him. There was little he could do for his apprentice. This was a unique and difficult situation and quite honestly, T'narr had been surprised by the quick friendship Jaythen and Yasin had shared. As he thought deeper though, he realized that he shouldn't have been surprised. Jaythen cared about people. Even those he didn't know. It was one of the qualities that made him so special. He always wanted to help, always wanted to do something to benefit another. This time it was the simple act of hanging around a sterile hospital room with war-ridden Jedi listening to and caring about a complete stranger. The act was so very Jaythen, but it didn't fail to amaze his master.
"Did you want to stay here for a while longer, Padawan?"
Jaythen finally did pull away and dragged his clothed sleeve over his sodden eyes. "No. I want to go. Being here makes me sad and Yasin wasn't sad. So I don't want to remember him that way."
They began their walk back to quarters, Jaythen careful to not stray far from T'narr's side, his shoulder brushing the big man's arm every other stride.
As they wandered past one of the docking bays, they paused as another ship descended. The exterior of the ship's hold was covered in blaster burns and pockets of missing or seared metal. Another ship from Krytus. More dead and injured Jedi. More that would be lost within a few days of returning home.
More - just like Yasin.
Watching sadly, Jaythen leaned heavily into his master's side until every Jedi had been removed or helped from the ship. Honoring their sacrifices by not turning away until the last of the Jedi disappeared behind the bay doors.
Jaythen thought of each of them - their unfamiliar faces - as they had passed.
Mostly though, he thought of Yasin. Once an unfamiliar face, then a friend.
And now, a memory that would hang in his mind forever.
The End