Title: The Proposal
Author: Flowerlady
Timeframe: Legacy era (contains possible spoilers/speculation)
Characters: Jag Fel and Jaina Solo
Genre: Romance (maybe), vignette
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: The galaxy is ripped apart and Jaina finds herself alone as her friend has been killed by the new Sith Lord. However, there is hope in the form of the most unusual person. He may hold the key to peace and she may hold the key to its preservation.

N/A: Well, this Sithspawned bunny can be blamed on something I read in several threads concerning Legacy spoilers and on my curiosity as I read too many Wikicities articles on the Legacy Comic Series…

However, just for the record. No, I was not converted to J/J…I still hold the utmost hope that Kyp and Jaina will be eventually togetherand that the Force-sensitive Fels that look like Padme/Leia/Jaina of the Legacy Comics are products of Allana marrying into the family… (plot bunny anyone--please)

The Proposal

(50 ABY, Ossus Memorial Field)

The stench was horrid and the heat of the flames burned her bared forearms as she hugged herself and heat dried the tears that silently slid down her face. She watched as the flames of the funeral pyre consume her best friend since childhood, her partner, her mind-mate of the Taat, her lover, and her fellow Jedi. He had been cut down by her own brother and now her sworn enemy. They had talked of marriage but Jaina had always told him that now, while the galaxy was being torn apart yet again by war, was not the time. Now, as she watched Jedi Knight Zekk burn to ashes she wished they had. Of course, the real reason she never gave in and married him was because in her heart of hearts she still loved another and always would.

She closed her eyes against the pain she felt. Not just grief over Zekk, but also for the grief of other losses, and in some ways a more important loss, at least, for the galaxy and the Jedi, the loss of her brother.

The battle that killed Zekk along with several other Jedi was fought with the new Sith Lord—Krayt. And today she didn't just mourn the loss of her friend who died with valor but also she mourned the death of her twin who had his fragile soul swallowed by the same Sith Lord.

As the Ossus wind shifted and caused the flames to send sparks to the darkening sky, she felt him step in closer to her but she didn't turn to look at him. Instead she asked, "So, what do you plan to do know?" He had come to Ossus with the Jedi after the battle on Imperial controlled planet, Brimmel that had torn her world and the Jedi Order apart.

He looked at her, his blue-green eyes hardened with the years of war he had endured. "I intend to bring peace and order to the galaxy."

Now she did look at him, "But how? By swallowing the GA? Is the GA that bad? Is it any worse than your Empire?"

He watched her face; she had aged since he had last seen her nearly fifteen years ago, but she still was beautiful. Even with her brandy brown eyes hard with pain and grief and her long chocolate hair bobbed short. They had been fighting for most of their lives and every time they thought peace was close at hand, it was ripped asunder. Finally, he said, "It could work, you know."

She stared at him incredulously, "How can you say that? The galaxy is literally ripped apart. The Jedi on one side with the GA, the Empire with you at its leader on the other and now—and," she let out a sob of despair and her voice cracked as she continued, "and now my brother has proclaimed himself dead and the Sith Lord Krayt born in his place."

"I have a dream, Jaina, and I know it can work," his voice calm, composed and clipped just as she had always remembered but it also contained a quality of the Supreme Commander that he had become. Supreme Commander of the Imperial Remnant, Jagged Fel looked away briefly to the flames that consumed her lover's body which now had burned down to nothing. And out of nothing but ashes a new life could be brought forth, he thought. Finally, he turned to look directly at her. "I intend to become a new Emperor."

Jaina Solo stared at him as if he had just sprouted horns and a tail. "You—you what!"

He finally smiled; she hadn't changed as much as he thought from the girl he had fallen in love with all those years before. "I intend to unite the galaxy under me and end all of the strife. Let's face it the Corellians and their allies were successful in their war effort because the GFFA failed miserably at providing for the planets that are still, nearly twenty years later, struggling from the Yuuzhan Vong War."

She frantically shook her head, disbelieving what he was telling her, "And you think you can bring this about? Jag, I—I thought you hated politics."

He laughed, "I still do, Jaina." He crossed his arms over his formal impeccable white uniform. "I want to pull all the resources together and help those who need help the most. I feel that if direct order and responsibility is placed on one head of government, instead of many greedy self-serving politicians, peace and tranquility can be restored."

"Jag, I still don't—" suddenly she stopped and stared at him, "Jag, what happened to you?"

He smiled and said, "I learned what is important. I served the Chiss for over ten years, but you forget I was an Imperialist before. My father was an Imperialist before me. After you betrayed me during the Swarm War and your mother shot me down, I realized I could never go any further in the Chiss military. I had no desire to join the GFFA, so, I went to the Imperial Remnant has my bother Chak had done before me. And within a few years I become an admiral." He then let his smile turn into a rare grin, "And now I'm the Supreme Commander. I already basically run the Empire, Jaina, just as Pellaeon did before me. But unlike Pellaeon, I want a legacy go beyond me. I want to be the one to bring peace."

Jaina couldn't believe what she was hearing. She still loved the cocky, too starched flyboy who stole her heart on Hapes, but this man before her was—she stopped her own thought as she really thought about it. This cocky, too starched Imperial Grand Admiral was still that idealistic boy who wanted to save the galaxy.

Seeing the change in her he cleared his throat and began to lead her away from the ashes of the man she had spent the past fifteen years with. He didn't what his reminder clouding her mind as he proposed the rest of his plan to her. They made their way across the field. Finally, they came to a stop at the entrance to another garden. Jaina, sensing that he wanted to talk to her and out of her own curiosity, followed him to a secluded bench.

They sat down and she said, "I know that you haven't told me everything."

He looked at her and slowly shook his head, "No, I haven't." Then he surprised her by reaching into her lap and picking up one of her hands. He looked deeply into her eyes and she found herself being drawn into their blue-green depths. After taking a deep breath, Jag plunged, "Jaina, I never stopped loving you. Even after all the pain you caused me. There isn't a day that I don't think of you—of what we could have had. But I also think of the future." Jag looked away for a moment, a distant look in his eyes. "I don't want my legacy to end with me, Jaina. I want my heirs to be strong. I want the peace that I know my plan can bring to the galaxy to last. But now there is this new threat." Now he looked at her and Jaina nearly gasped at the intensity of his eyes, "The Sith can destroy everything we have worked so hard to build. Your uncle has wounded him but the fact that he escaped means that he wasn't defeated." He swallowed and reached up and stroked her cheek. Jaina was so surprised by his action that she gasped, then he smiled one of his rare smiles that had always melted her heart, "Jaina, if my heirs have the Force they will be able to hold Jacen—"

Jaina whispered, not sure where he was going with this, "Jacen is dead."

He nodded and went on, "If my heirs are Force sensitive they will be able to fight the Sith if they return and the peace we have worked so hard to bring to the galaxy can survive and thrive. Ben Skywalker will eventually head the Jedi. Jaina our heirs could keep peace in the galaxy, they could keep our legacy from falling apart."

Jaina stared at him. She was so stunned that she could only gasp, "Jag—"

Jag swallowed and surprised her by dropping to kneel on one knee before her. He held both of her suddenly clammy hands in his. He then looked deeply into her eyes and said, "Jaina Solo, I love you as much today as I did when I first saw you at the meeting before the Battle of Ithor. I fell in love with you that day and I never expected to ever live without by my side. I watched as you flirted with Kyp Durron and I watched as you became a Joiner with Zekk." He reached up and pushed back a stray lock of hair that the wind moved into her face. She hadn't even noticed it was directly in her eyes. He trailed his fingers over her tear stained cheek and went on, "Jaina, my biggest regret is that I didn't whisk you away from Zonama Sekot that day when you rejected my offer to come back to Csilla with me."

She finally reached up with her free hand and laid it along his handsome face. She then whispered, "I sometimes wish you had."

Her quiet words strengthen him and he took a deep breath, "I know it is probably too soon for you to even think of this after—after his death. But I only have a few hours before I need to get back to Bastion and I do not want to return without you." Before she had a chance to respond he asked, "Jaina Solo, you were once the goddess I worshipped, will you now become the Empress of my heart? Will you marry me?"

Jaina was so stunned that she didn't know what to think. She had promised herself if Jag Fel ever asked her to marry him after all that she had done to him she would not refuse him. She smiled and leaned over. Before she captured his lips in a tender kiss she whispered, "Yes."

Jagged Fel, the soon to be Fel I of the new Galactic Empire, enveloped his queen in his arms and he swore that now that she vowed to be his he would never let her go again.

Fin

FL

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