Disclaimer: I do NOT own Star Wars At all. But I do own the planet Dyonys, the Legend, and Lorelei Gibaldi or her parents.
Summary: A Seventeen year old girl, who has lived with a mysterious illness her entire life, wishes for it to just 'go away'. What her wish gave her was just more than she could imagine.
Dyonys
Chapter Four: No Longer With Us
"But, I want to see what the message says too!" Lorelei whined to the droid guarding the door to the Jedi Council. "It's been three days since it came, I want to see! I think I have a tiny sliver of a right!" Stamping her foot like a child she pouted her arms crossed over her chest.
Lorelei stood there still staring at the droid who refused to even acknowledge her anymore. She had been at the Jedi training area when she had overheard one of the Padawan's talking about the transmission they had received from Anakin and Obi-Wan. So standing there her hair in messy pigtails, sweat dripping down her body, dressed in tight gray cotton shorts, white tennis shoes and a white tank top she was trying to whine her way into the council's chambers.
"If you don't let me in I'll dismantle you piece by piece WITHOUT TURNING YOU OFF!" If a droid could show emotions this one would have been scared.
"I will ask the Master's permission of you." The droid droned out before disappearing into the room behind him. Lorelei waited impatiently tapping her left foot on the ground.
'This is taking way too long; I'm going to implode if they don't hurry up!' She thought to herself biting her left forefinger. 'I can't wait to see what they have to say!' She was about to bang on the door to the room when the droid came back and stepped aside to let her in the room. Lorelei grinned and all but ran into the room; she regained her erratic and childish composure when she noticed some of the men in the room were giving her blatantly disapproving looks.
"Masters, I hope the day sees you all well." She said bowing slightly as she came to stand in the middle of the room. She caught Mace's eye and he nodded slightly. 'Haha, I actually learned something from the lug.' She thought smiling to herself.
"Mistress Gibaldi, it is lovely to see you looking so well. Please take a seat and we can begin to watch the transmission." She smiled her thanks to the Jedi master closest to Yoda, whom she had never seen before. Taking the only seat open; off to the side of the room. She sank down and quieted as Yoda glanced from person to person.
"Transmission; begin." Mace said to nothing in particular, the lights dimmed in the room and the blinds that surrounded the windows of the circular room closed slowly shrouding them in darkness. Lorelei looked around and couldn't help but gawk as a circular table seemed to rise out of the floor. Slowly it reached its end and stopped, an eerie silence followed.
"When does it start?" Lorelei asked looking around. After receiving some stern glares she shrunk back into her chair and stared at the table.
Flickers of blue as two figures were illuminated on the table in 3-D. Lorelei's eyes shined as she recognized them as a dirty and tired Anakin and a scrubby looking Obi-Wan. They were dressed in robes but they definitely weren't their Jedi robes. After she had gotten past the initial relief of seeing the two people she had depended on this entire time, was in fact still alive, she began to notice the slight swelling of the left side of Obi-Wan's face and his cracked lip. She noticed the scratch mark in the middle of the bruise on his jaw line. Anakin seemed to only have slight scratches but other than that he was fine. Lorelei's anger rose as she listened to them speak.
"This is Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and my Padawan Anakin Skywalker. We are reporting from the planet Dyonys where we are currently held captive by the said Princess of Dyonys. The visit was somewhat peaceful until at a banquet dinner we mentioned Lorelei Gibaldi's name. The Princess went into a fit and had us arrested, Jedi magic does not work with the Dyonysians." Obi-Wan stopped a moment to look towards the side. Since he had stopped pushing the com-link button he was no longer transmitting sound, but the thing was still recording motion. There seemed to be a struggle between Obi-Wan shielding Anakin from some cloaked men. In the struggle someone knocked over the transmission receiver and it smashed to the stone floor. Everyone in the room was silent for a moment as the blinds on the windows began to retract up and the circular table fell into the floor slowly.
"We must take action!" One Jedi master yelled out looking around wildly.
"Not without answers first!" Lorelei piped up. "Cuz, According to you people I'm that said Princess, and I definitely wasn't have a Grand Ole Tea Party with the boys before locking them in jail. So, mind telling me what the hell is going on?" She was calm as she said this but her royal blue eyes sparked in anger. Yoda stole a glance at Mace who was staring at Lorelei as if she were stupid.
"Tell me girl, you honestly believe that we Jedi have been lying to you?" Mace started. Lorelei shook her head no but her anger wasn't leaving her. "Yes, we knew there was a Princess living on your planet who 'claimed' she was the lost princess. But, she can't perform a single task that the real Princess of Dyonys should be able to perform. The only thing she has is her looks and her wings." Lorelei's eyes narrowed a moment.
"So there's some chick out there impersonating me?" She asked them. "We are so going to kick her ass." She grumbled to herself.
"No, she's not impersonating you; she goes by the name of Aneas Kasheer. She came to the planet Dyonys from the planet Dartagne. A trading planet full of many different species much like Corusant. Your mother's sister, Memre Olin, found her on a trip to Dartagne. Since Aneas looked just like your mother she took her to the planet and had the council take a look at her. They believed without a doubt she was the lost Princess of Dyonys."
"Why wasn't I informed before, why would you send Obi-Wan and Anakin there knowing what you knew?" She asked them her eye brows furrowing together. "It makes no sense."
"It makes perfect sense, Mistress Lorelei. Obi-Wan and Anakin's mission was to go and report back on anything odd they found on the Princess Aneas. Which they have, they have found out that Princess Aneas knows that you're alive and will some day take your place on the throne. Therefore, she will do anything to make sure you are either too scared to come forward or dead altogether." Lorelei bit her lip thoughtfully as she stared at Master Yoda. His lime green eyes shone as if he knew what she was thinking and she was thankful that he hadn't given her a look of disapproval.
"It's ok to be afraid." Lorelei said standing up. "But we must not show fear. I will not back down, especially now that my friends are in danger just because of me. It's ridiculous." Lorelei sighed. "Can you at least feel them?" Each Jedi Master turned to look at the other a moment and Lorelei closed her eyes in the uncomfortable silence. Nodding her head she bit her lip again. "Oh." was all she got out as she opened her eyes. The room swam and she found herself falling to the floor fast as she blacked out.
- - - - - - -
Lorelei opened her eyes slowly as she blinked a bit. She was almost surprised not to awake in the hospital but in her own bed. Sitting up she saw that it was dark; the clock said twenty-two hundred hours. Sighing she fell back into her pillows and stared up at the ceiling. She hadn't even noticed that she was crying until she felt the cold moisture touch her hairline. The tears falling from the corners of her eyes, she just let them fall, her body felt almost numb just lying in the plush bed but not really feeling it. Deep in her warm covers but not feeling it.
"I can't believe they're gone." She whispered to the ceiling, sniffling she rolled over onto her right side so she was facing the bathroom door. She went back over all the short but meaningful memories she had of Anakin and Obi-Wan. How he and she always fought over every little thing. How she and Anakin would either stay up all night telling ghost stories or sleep in each other's beds because of the thunderstorm. The last thought of the thunderstorms made Lorelei choke back a sob that almost escaped her dry lips.
Lorelei pulled herself up out of bed and dragged herself out of the room. She hadn't even noticed that she hadn't had to push the button for it to open. She crossed the living room and went into Anakin's room and took his pillow and the last robe she had seen him in. His training robe for class, she smiled as she remembered him running into the living room to show off his class robes and his light saber. Lorelei remembered praising him before ruffling his hair. Obi-Wan had come into the room telling him that Anakin had to leave soon if he was to make it on time. That left Lorelei alone without them for three hours, she didn't mind, they would come back.
That was different however, Obi-Wan and Anakin weren't coming back this time, they were gone for good. Failing at fighting back her tears she left Anakin's room with the pillow and the robe before she all but dragged herself into Obi-Wan's own room. She hadn't been in either place for the duration of their mission so it was like opening a familiar book. Lorelei dropped Anakin's stuff on Obi-Wan's bed before she began to strip herself of her own clothes. Rummaging through Obi-Wan's drawers in the dark she managed to find a large tunic and pulled it over her head. Closing the drawer she padded her way towards his bed and fell into it rather ungracefully. Bouncing roughly on the bed she just laid there staring up at his ceiling.
"Ugh, I miss them so much, I hate them for leaving me here to do this on my own." bitterly she glared at the pillow she had clutched in her arms. Delving under the covers, Lorelei closed her eyes trying her best to sleep; the only thing she managed to accomplish was more tears. More memories began to flood through her head, any little thing that had happened before this came rushing back like a horribly strong tidal wave crashing against her.
Lorelei cried herself to sleep that night, managing to stain the white sheets with her tears and black mascara. Clutching Anakin's pillow that smelled just like him and Obi-Wan while she slept in Obi-Wan's bed. Not even that gave her the comfort she needed until she fell into a restless, nightmare filled sleep.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Lorelei sat up again for the fourth night in a row. Her body looked fatigued but her eyes just wouldn't close. She hadn't changed out of the same clothes and she hadn't eaten since the morning the transmission was played. In other words, she was hell in a hand basket. She refused to allow anyone in the apartment, including Master Yoda and Master Windu. She glanced at the clock from her position in the dark living room; on the couch she was facing the door to the apartment with Anakin's pillow in her grip.
"Any minute now they'll walk through that door and I can tell Mace and Yoda that they were wrong, that the Force was wrong, that they were just all, wrong." She whispered to the dark room. "No, what I need to do is sleep." She sighed and stood up leaving the stained black and gray pillow on the couch. Swaying as she walked into the kitchen she went to the cabinets where she knew she could find at least something she might like. "Lights fifty percent." she grumbled as they came on. Opening one cabinet she raised an eyebrow and pulled out a glass bottle that had no label. Upon further inspection she found it to be a high quality alcohol, and by inspection, Lorelei drank it without even a moment's hesitation. "Ok, maybe I will sleep well tonight." She said in half a daze going into the living room leaving the kitchen's lights on. Grabbing Anakin's pillow she entered Obi-Wan's bedroom and fell into the bed with her new found best friend.
Lorelei didn't make it through much of the bottle but she made it through enough where she was to the point of being absolutely smashed out of her mind. She had a make-shift bar in Obi-Wan's now her temporary solitude. She had an ashtray full of cigarette butts and ashes sitting on the bed side table next to her. Pulling another cigarette from her endless supply; her suitcase; she lit it and took a drag. Her buzz was going down with her highly rising depression as she took another drink of the strange alcohol in the green glassed bottle.
"I bet people would shit themselves if they could see me now." She mumbled taking another drag of her cigarette. The thing calmed her body, even though she knew they were bad, they made her calm since she was fourteen. "I never needed one before this; I had a pretty good cold turkey streak until now." A few tears fell as she angrily as well as drunkenly rubbed the moisture from her cheeks with her thumb. Sitting in silence she finished her cigarette and thoroughly accomplished getting drunk before she fell asleep yet again.
- - - - - -
Lorelei was standing in the kitchen of her home on Earth. The light robin's egg blue painted walls matched the white and light green of the same color tiles. Her bare feet slightly stuck to the wet floor as she began to walk around. Looking down she saw she had a towel in her hands and there was running water coming from the sink. Walking over and turning the horrible noise off she just stood there looking around. It was ungodly hot in the house as she noticed she wore only a simple maroon bathing suit top with a pair of dark blue denim shorts.
"Lorelei, honey have you seen my boots anywhere?" A distinctly male voice called out from somewhere in her home. Lorelei blankly stared at the kitchen doorway before she walked through it to stand in the living room wiping off her hands as a man entered from the hallway at the back of the living room. Smiling as she saw him she felt herself being pulled towards him by some invisible string.
"No, I haven't but, have you checked our room?" She asked, her own voice didn't even sound like herself, it was older more mature sounding. The man shook his head his blue eyes catching hers in a feral look.
"Lorelei, you look more beautiful now than I could ever imagine." He claimed striding forward a few more steps to take her in his arms. Lorelei giggled contently as she wrapped her arms around his slender neck and bent her legs as he held her up in the arm.
"Ah, my dear Obi-Wan, you are far more beautiful than I." She giggled again as she bent her head down to kiss his lips.
"Ew cut it out!" She heard and broke the kiss to look behind Obi-Wan to stare at an older Anakin. His face was screwed up but it was in a playful manner. "Get a room you two!" He exclaimed blanching.
"We do have one; unfortunately for us we don't have the time to use it at the moment." Lorelei slapped Obi-Wan's arm for his perverted remark while Anakin just continued to pretend as if he were vomiting.
- - - - - - - - -
Lorelei awoke once again with tears in her eyes as she woke up from what she had hoped would be an alcohol induced dreamless sleep. Which turned into a good dream but in reality it was a nightmare for her. Sitting up she clutched her head as she finally remembered why drinking excessively wasn't such a great idea. Hangovers were a bitch no matter where you were.
"Ugh, this is hell." She grumbled collapsing back into the bed. Cracking open an eye she looked at the clock. "Fuck, its thirteen hundred hours, this is practically my fifth day just lying in bed. I really need to get out of this place, there's so much to do, and I've only got less than two weeks to prepare for this damn banquet." Lorelei sighed. "I also have to find a way to kick some Princess imposter ass." Still laying there she heard two very loud and very annoying voices in the living room. Ignoring them she rolled back over and tried to block out the sun creating her a larger headache than she was willing to have at the moment.
"Mistress Lorelei?" A timid voice asked through the closed bedroom door followed closely by a hasty knock on the metal door. "Mistress Lorelei, we're sorry to interrupt your sleep but we were sent by Master Windu to have you cleaned up and help you look for a dress for the banquet." Lorelei groaned as the door opened and two young girls entered the bedroom that wrecked of sweat, spilt alcohol, and cigarette smoke.
"Do we have to?" Lorelei asked peeking at them from under the covers. The first girl in was shorter than herself with pale blonde hair and dark brown eyes. Dressed in all white dress robes she was pretty, while the other one was about six feet tall wither dark brown hair falling every which way with even darker brown eyes. Both were pale and dressed the same.
"By Master Windu's orders." Groaning Lorelei rolled out of bed and trudged into the bathroom. The girls made to follow her, but one death glare sent them on the task of cleaning the nearly destroyed room.
- - - - - -
Her hangover still anywhere but gone found herself in the richer part of downtown Corusant. She sat with her head in her hands glancing at every dress the girls brought to her. So far she had nearly turned down every gown they had brought to her, either it was too bright, it was too dark, to the fact she didn't like the 'vibe' it gave her.
"Mistress how about this one?" One girl asked, Lorelei couldn't even keep track of their names anymore. She gave the lime green dress from vomit hell a once over before screwing up her nose and shaking her head pinching the bridge of her nose. A nearly silent beeping sound caused Lorelei to rummage through her purse and pull out the com link that one of the girls said Mace had insisted she use that day. Flipping it open, it was just like a tiny black cell phone only it attached to you ear.
"Hello?" Lorelei asked.
"Mistress Lorelei, how is the gown going?" Mace's voice came over the com link loud and clear. Lorelei couldn't help but smile, the man was almost like a father to her now. Only without the blatant affection.
"The gown is coming slowly. I swear, this whole planet doesn't know what fashion is, everything looks like a ten times worse version of a bride's maid dress." Mace sighed.
"Well, have you at least found a date yet?"
"No, I've been holed up in the apartment for a week, I hadn't had a chance. Besides, can't I just go by myself?" She asked him biting her lip. "I really just want to go by myself."
"For your safety we can not allow you to go to that banquet by yourself. If you won't take someone else, then I shall accompany you." Lorelei thought a minute before giggling.
"It's a deal if Yoda goes too." Mace sighed on the other line before he gave in with an 'mmhmm'.
"We'll see. Now, have fun with that gown." The com link transmission was cut off on his side so Lorelei just flipped hers closed and throwing it into her purse before closing it.
"How about this one?" One of the girls said, without looking Lorelei nodded her head as she studied her reflection. She looked sickly and tired, thinking a moment she had realized she had just chosen a gown without even looking at it. Turning so she could stop the girls she found them already paying for the already wrapped item of clothing. Shrugging she could really care less; it was just a stupid banquet anyways.
- - - - - -
Author's Note: Well, this chapter is shorter than the others that are usually ten pages long, but I'm very tired and can't seem to do very well with this chapter. This was just to show her depression and such. The next chapter will most likely be her transition from the depression of losing Obi-Wan and Anakin to the fact she must do what's right if she is to punish Aneas.
Also, before anyone kills me. The Obi-Wan and Anakin thing, I only have this to say, don't judge a book by its cover, you have to read on to see what really happens. .
