Chapter Two - To Be Or Not To Be

Lili was having a wonderful dream in which all her fantasies had come true. She dreamed she was an Oscar-winning actress, married to the gorgeous man that was Hayden Christensen and living in a mansion, looking over Beverly Hills. It was a lovely dream, one that she hoped she would never forget. But it came to an abrupt end when she felt the painful twinge her side was giving her. It was the kind of pain that came when lying on a hard surface for too long. Thankfully, she was nudged awake.

"Morgan, go away…" Lili mumbled and continued to sleep.

She was woken again when she was nudged rather rudely a second time. Lili lifted her head to look at who she thought was Morgan trying to wake her up to get to class. Instead, a woman who looked vaguely familiar was standing above her. And the woman looked like she had just seen a ghost.

Lili was surprised to see a stranger in her house, but thought perhaps it was a friend of her roommate. But then, why would this person be waking her up? Hearing the large blowing of a horn, Lili quickly looked in the direction of the sound. She saw a yellow car or something whizzing by. She quickly discovered she was no longer in her room! Apparently, she had been lying on the cold, hard ground.

"Where the hell am I?" Lili blurted out before she could stop herself.

Sabé, still in shock, said nothing and just stood there. The young woman below her was the exact image of Padmé! Right down to the birthmark on her cheek! But how could this be possible? She had held the body of Padmé in her arms as she passed away. She had attended the funeral, given the eulogy. She knew her best friend was gone. She still made the trip to Naboo each year on the anniversary of her death to put flowers on her grave. How, then, was it possible the woman peering up at her looked exactly like Padmé Naberrie?

Lili slowly raised herself up, her muscles aching with stiffness. How long had she been there? Now completely awake, she looked more closely at her surroundings. She was in a semi-dark alleyway, between two extremely tall buildings. Looking towards the entrance, she could see the sun setting behind a large, neon sign displaying images of oddly familiar aliens. Words in Aurebesh followed each image, as if announcing a product. Wait a second, Aurebesh? Where the hell am I? Lili tried to find a reason or an explanation for why she had been sleeping in an alley to begin with, let alone why she was seeing a neon sign displaying a language in the Star Wars universe. Her mind drew a blank. She was starting to get a little worried and was afraid that her mind had finally snapped when she realized she was still clutching the photo of Jake. Lili put the photo into the back pocket of her jeans. She didn't want to lose it. It helped ground her, being a familiar thing.

Sabé watched the woman, no, her Queen, put whatever she was holding into the pocket of her clothing. She got the feeling that something wasn't quite right with this woman. Whomever she was, she seemed to be very disoriented.

"Who are you and where am I?" Lili asked.

Sabé could hear the fear in the woman's voice. "You don't know who I am?" Sabé cautiously asked back.

Frustrated and a little annoyed, Lili responded, "Would I have asked if I knew?"

"My name is Sabé and you are on the planet Coruscant."

Lili couldn't help but blink at that response. Did she say Coruscant? The woman was positively insane. She was pretending to be a character from Star Wars? And she thought she was obsessed.

A particularly bright image on the screen across from the entrance of the alley captured Lili's attention again. Aurebesh… She looked back at the stranger in front her. Now that she thought about it, the woman did look like Sabé from The Phantom Menace.

"I'm sorry, did you just say you were Sabé and that I am on Coruscant?" Lili said with a chuckle. "This is a joke right? Did Morgan put you up to this?"

"Yes, that's what I said. And I don't know who Morgan is, but the joke is on me." Sabé said. She wondered what the young woman's response was going to be to what she asked next. "Who are you?"

"My name is Lilianna.. I would say that it's nice to meet you, but…" Lili was now more than worried. She pressed her back against the cold, steel-like wall behind her and put her hands to her temples. She was beginning to get a headache and just wanted to go home and snuggle with her cat, Minx.

Sabé walked over to Lili and leaned back against the wall next to her. The woman's response was not what she had expected.

"Are you all right? You don't remember anything?"

"Remember? What am I supposed to remember? You just told me that you're Sabé. The only Sabé I know of is from The Phantom Menace. She's Queen Amidala's handmaiden, and that this " Lili waved her hand around, "…is Coruscant…from Star Wars?" Lili gave her a quizzical look. She was going to play along for the moment.

Still not quite believing that this woman wasn't Padmé, Sabé decided to placate the young woman, "How did you know that I was Queen Amidala's handmaiden? You just asked me who I was as if you didn't know, but you do, don't you?"

"Yes, well, no, I…" Lili heaved a big sigh. How do I explain this? She should be explaining to me what's going on. "Okay, look. I don't know how to explain that I know, but I do. And you never answered my question. What am I supposed to know? I've only just met you! I don't even know how the hell I got here! Last time I checked, I was in my bedroom so I'm still finding it hard to believe that this is Coruscant and that-" Lili closed her eyes and tried to calm down. "Oh never mind…I just don't belong here."

Sabé took a deep breath. "Let me get this straight. You don't know what you're doing here or how you got here? But you do remember that your name is Lilianna?"

"Yes. I don't have amnesia about who I am. I just don't know what's going on. I'm sorry…this must seem very strange to you. But it's just as strange to me. This isn't supposed to be real…is it?" Lili responded. The woman was quite calm for a nut. Although, she was sure that 'Sabé' must be thinking the same thing about her.

For some strange reason, Sabé was beginning to get the sense that this woman was telling the truth about herself. She knew that she shouldn't believe her based on just a feeling, but she did. There was one sure way to find out if she was lying. She just hoped Lili would trust her enough.

"Let's try this again." Sabé stuck out her hand and said with a smile, "I'm Sabé. And you're right. I was Queen Amidala's handmaiden."

Lili shook her hand and gave a faint smile. "I'm Lili. Nice to meet...wait, did you say 'was'? Why aren't you now? What year is this supposed to be? I mean when did the Phan-uh…" Lili pounded Sabé with questions.

Sabé responded in kind. It was obvious now that the woman truly didn't know where she was or what was going on and was thoroughly confusued. "I am no longer Queen Amidala's handmaiden because she is dead." Lili's face went white, but Sabé continued. " I could tell you what year it is, but I have a feeling that it would only confuse you more."

Lili furrowed her brows at what she had just heard. For arguments sake, she was going to pretend that she was on Coruscant and that she was standing here talking to Sabé.

"I would understand if you told me how long it has been since the Trade Federation invaded Naboo and were defeated…" Lili said cautiously.

It was Sabé's turn to go pale. If this woman didn't know where she was or what was going on, then why was she referring to Naboo? Sabé wanted to be cautious. "You know where Naboo is?" The confusion was making her head hurt.

"Yes, it's a planet which is supposed to be ruled by Queen Amidala. How long?" Lili demanded.

Sabé answered, ignoring the huffiness in the young woman's voice. "Well, I've never heard of a Trade Federation and as far as I know, there's never been an invasion, but the Queen died when she was only fourteen, shortly after she was elected. It's been ten years since then." She was surprised she was able to answer Lili's question without chocking up. It had always been hard in the past to talk or even think about what had happened. But, Sabé felt she needed to be strong and help this woman find her way. However, she noted that Lili still hadn't explained how she knew what she knew.

"Ten years?" Lili said. She mumbled something about 'episodes two and three' and then looked as if she was lost in thought.

It was quickly getting dark and Sabé knew that they should find shelter soon. Coruscant's lovely 'nightlife' would begin to show and Sabé didn't want to be around for it. She didn't have the heart to leave the confused, possibly deranged woman, who just happened to look like her best friend, here alone. She decided she would take pity on her and then try to help her in the morning.

"Lili, I was on my way home…Do you have a place to stay?"

Lili shook her head and began to chew on her lower lip.

"Why don't you stay with me for tonight? Please. I won't harm you. Maybe we can figure out what is going on tomorrow," Sabé offered.

Options ran through Lili's mind, of which there were only two. Should she go or should she stay? Stay where? And do what? She was still confused and had no idea what was going on or why. Sabé seemed like a nice enough person, though she normally wouldn't go anywhere with a stranger. She was usually just fine on her own. Today, however, was a very odd day and so she decided to take a chance with Sabé.

"Thank you, Sabé." Lili said and they both walked out of the alleyway together.

Hopefully, they would be able to clear up the confusion in the morning. Sabé knew exactly what she should do. She was going to take Lili the Jedi Temple. They would be able to help Lili and would know what to do. Or at least Sabé hoped so.