A/N; Hey all. All rights to Star Wars belong to Disney and Lucas Films, this is merely a work of fanfiction, that I make no profit off of.
In addition, this is my firast work of fiction, and I'd appreciate all comments and critiques. Please answer
Chapter 18: Fragments
Aurora peered down the hall, anxiously fiddling in the dress Padme had insisted she wear to the ball. Tugging at the black hem on the sleeves of her dress, she shivered slightly, the cool air of Coruscant still managed to unnerve her, despite having returned from Ryloth a week prior. Glancing around furtively, she instinctively shrunk away as a gaggle of party goers passed by the entrance, chatting loudly amongst themselves. "I heard that Anakin Skywalker is going to be here!" One of the women exclaimed, "he's soooo dreamy."
Aurora gagged slightly at the thought. The idea of some floozy spreading themselves on her brother brought her close to puking. As she was about to just leave the party, to avoid hearing those kinds of conversation, a voice broke her train of thought.
"Aurora," Padme cried out behind her, "There you are. I was afraid you wouldn't be coming."
Aurora shook her head, "I made a promise, Senator, and I keep my word."
Walking quickly over and wrapping her in a tight hug, Padme leaned into and whispered into her ear, "You know you can call me Padme, right?"
Nodding slowly, Aurora hesitantly returned the hug, glancing around the room again before murmuring back, "Is Anakin going to be here? Or is he bailing on us?"
Padme giggled, "He'll be right down. He's tidying up."
"Of course," Aurora replied quietly. Turning to face the crowd, her face scrunched up, "Do I really have to do this?"
Padme sighed, "Stop frowning, it's going to give you lines. And yes, Aurora, you have to do this."
"But why?" She whined pitifully.
"Is Aurora complaining again?" Anakin asked from behind the two women.
As both spun around to face him, Padme smiled brightly, "You know her, always complaining about meeting new people."
Laughing loudly, Anakin turned to look at Aurora and quickly spotted the frown, "You should stop that. You don't want to get frown lines."
"Now there are two of them," She groaned, as she dropped her head into her hands. "Someone help me."
Wrapping an arm around her shoulder, Padme steered the pouting Jedi into the large reception room, "Don't be like that, let's go have fun."
Muttering bitterly to herself as she got dragged into a large crowd. Shrinking at Padme's glare, she quickly plastered on a smile, receiving a nod of approval from the senator. "Oh, you must be the young Aurora," A tall, handsome, human man declared as he approached the trio. "Easily as beautiful as my colleagues described!"
Aurora shifted uncomfortably as the attention of all of the party goers turned to her. "Yes, uh-" she trailed off, unsure of what to say.
"What she means to say is," Padme swiftly came to her rescue, "Is that she appreciates the compliment, Senator Paulness."
"Good, good," The senator beamed, before a frown crossed his face. "I'm sorry if I threw you off guard. I was just surprised that you were here."
"Why would you be surprised?" She bristled suddenly, "I thought that the conditions on the conclusion of my trial was approved by the senate."
"I'm sure it was, my lady," he bowed apologetically, "But I was offworld at the time. I needed to attend to matters on my homeworld of Arkanis."
"Oh," Aurora's tone shifted, "I apologize for my outburst. I was unaware."
Paulness shook his head, lowering his voice as the other party guests turned back to their own conversations. "You have no need to apologize, my lady," he declared, "I shouldn't have called attention to you when you clearly didn't want it." The two stared silently at each other, the awkwardness palpable between them. Clearing his throat, the Senator gestured to a bar off to the side, "May I buy you a drink, my lady?"
Aurora glanced over her shoulder to get Anakin and Padme's opinion. Not seeing them there, her eyes widened and she felt her heart rate spike. "I need to find my companions," She managed to breath out, the other party guests appearing to suddenly loom over her.
"I'm sure they won't mind," Paulness responded, holding out his hand, "Are you sure I can't offer you that drink."
Aurora ignored him, glancing around quickly, trying to spot Anakin through the crowd. "Where are you?" She muttered, the senator forgotten in her fright, her breath coming in short, rapid, gasps.
Suddenly, a hand brushed her shoulder, causing her to turn sharply, hand raised to attack before she could stop herself. Stopping her arm quickly, as it shot out to slam into the man's chest, she spotted Senator Paulness looking at her with concern in his eyes, "Are you okay?"
Eyes wide, her red orbs shone in fear as she found herself surrounded by strangers, with no one she knew in sight. "Get your hand off my shoulder," She growled, hackles rising in response to the adrenaline pounding through her veins.
The Senator raised his hands defensively, "I apologize, my lady. I will leave you alone." As he strolled off, Aurora glanced around, spotting Anakin and Padme in the corner of the room, both in deep discussion with the Supreme Chancellor.
Slipping over quietly, Aurora approached the group from behind. As she neared the group, Anakin turned slightly, "Ah. Did the Senator bore you already?"
"Why did you leave me alone?" She growled, eyes flashing.
Padme smiled, "You two looked like you hit it off. We just wanted to give you two time to get to know each other."
Aurora snarled, "Well, I don't-"
Anakin placed a hand on her shoulder, cutting her off. "I'm sorry, Aurora. We should have let you know before we moved on."
"Can I go back to the temple now?" She murmured, calming slightly.
Anakin glanced to the Chancellor, cocking an eyebrow. Receiving a nod, Anakin turned back to her, "Of course. You've had enough excitement for one night."
Aurora shivered slightly, glancing around the room at the looming crowd. Looking back to Anakin "Can you bring me back?"
Anakin turned to Padme. Receiving a barely perceptible nod, Anakin looked to the Chancellor, "I apologize sir, but it seems I will have to cut our time short tonight."
The Chancellor glanced toward the young girl's wide eyes, before nodding toward the tall Jedi Knight. "Of course, my dear boy. I completely understand," Turning to the young girl, he bowed his head, "I apologize, my dear girl. I understand if this function was too large for you yet." Nodding in thanks, Aurora quickly turned, relaxing slightly as Anakin placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Everything is going to be alright," He leaned down, murmuring in her ear, as he guided her through the crowd. "Nothing bad is going to happen."
Aurora shifted uncomfortably, turning her head slightly so she could whisper directly to him, "I'm sorry for interrupting your time with Padme."
"Don't be," Anakin shook his head, "We'll always have more time together. And you are my little sister, I'll always make time for you."
Aurora smiled slightly at the thought, reflecting on the two's time together. "Do you ever wonder…" she trailed off.
Anakin looked down at her, concern etched on his face, "Do I ever wonder what?"
"Do you ever wonder what it would be like if Master Yoda hadn't found me?"
Suddenly, Anakin slammed her into a wall, the motion drawing the attention of some of the party guests in the entrance hall. Crouching down, he growled slightly in her ear, "Never say that again, understood?" Aurora nodded hurriedly, the anger directed toward her an unnatural occurrence. Feeling the nod, Anakin backed away slightly, "Good. I don't want you to even think it."
Anakin swiftly led her out of the senate building and down to parking, passing her a pair of Jedi robes from his speeder. "Here, Padme had this made for you."
Aurora held out the cloak, wondering in amazement at the dark cloak, the black fabric almost seeming to disappear in the night, with only the light from the moon keeping it in view. "This is incredible." Sticking her hand inside the outer fabric, the material inside almost made her jump back in shock. Opening the cloak slightly, she ran her hand over the fur interior, her face shining in amazement.
"Well, you should thank Padme. It was her idea."
Aurora smirked lightly, glancing up into the Jedi Knight's eyes, "You should be careful or I'm going to steal her."
"Or maybe," Anakin replied slowly, "I'll just take both of you." Aurora laughed, before jumping in the speeder beside Anakin.
As the two took off and sailed through the high speed lanes, Aurora felt her eyes close.
"I find your lack of faith disturbing." A voice called from the void, followed by the sounds of choking.
"Obi-wan has engaged General Grievous…" Another voice called out, before fading back into the shadows.
Suddenly, a multitude of voices called out, many of them indistinguishable from the others. One, in particular,called out, deep and sad, before fading away like all the others "Trust only in the Force."
Without warning, the sound of heavy breathing cut through the others, "I sense something. A presence I have not felt since…"
Aurora's eyes snapped open to Anakin shaking her arm. "Wake up Aurora! Wake up now!" He barked, as the speeder careened out of the sky.
"What's happening?" She cried out as they fell, her shrill cry trailing off as the speeder righted itself.
Anakin glanced to her out of the corner of his eyes, "You did." Aurora didn't reply, just hugging the cloak around herself, as a particularly cold wind cut across the windshield.
F&P
"Concerned, we are," Yoda assured Anakin, as he, the GrandMaster, and Obi-Wan stood around a table, looking on into the Senate building's medical room, where Aurora was having her brain scanned. "Get to the bottom of this, we must."
As the machine moved around her head, she twitched on the table, her eyes tracking the glowing lights. "This won't remove her from combat, will it?" Anakin asked quietly.
Yoda shook his head, "The matron's decision, it is."
"Anakin, her being in the field should be the least of our concerns," Obi-Wan chided.
Anakin shook his head, "You try telling her that. If we don't let her go out there, things will get worse, I promise you."
"What do you mean?"
"The idle mind, a dangerous thing is."
Before they could continue, a matron stepped into the room, bowing deeply, "Master Jedi." Turning to her, the Jedi bowed back, "I have found something that you are going to want to see." Setting a tablet on the table, a holographic image of a brain appeared, with a picture displayed beside it.
"What is this?" Anakin asked curiously, sitting in a chair nearby, and peering at the two images.
The matron gestured to the two images, "These are the results we get from a normal brain, and the image beside it is an analogy of what the brain looks like. A healthy brain, the image is clear."
Obi-Wan frowned, "And an unhealthy brain?"
Instead of responding, the nurse tapped on the tablet, rendering another two images. "This is what young Ms Black's mind looks like." The Jedi sat in silence, as they peered at the two new images. The image of the brain was highlighted in certain spots, marking differences between the two brains, whereas the picture was starkly different. "As you can see," the nurse explained, "The image is grainy and filled with lines. If we had managed to see her sooner, we could have done something about it, but we can't do anything now."
Anakin glanced over to Yoda and Obi-Wan, seeing the shock on their faces. "You're saying that this could have been caught, if we hadn't trusted the Jedi's hospital."
"Oh, no," the nurse began hurriedly,"It's not their fault. They don't have the same state of the art equipment that we do. From what I understand, the temple only has rudimentary equipment for brain scans. They tend to deal with limb loss more than mental troubles, it makes sense they wouldn't invest in it as much."
Yoda held up his hand, cutting off Anakin's response, "Happen, what could?"
"Well," the nurse started slowly, glancing at the tablet, "We can expect flashbacks, nightmares, possibly multiple personality disorder, maybe a few other things."
"Like what?" Anakin asked quietly
The nurse hesitated, "Well, a dependence on someone they feel safe for is possible."
"What do you mean?"
"Well," the nurse replied quietly, "If she feels excessively safe with someone, she may overlook any flaws they have to preserve that feeling."
The Jedi remained quiet, looking between each other. Getting nods in agreement from the other two, Anakin turned to the nurse, "Is she okay to fight?"
"Oh," the nurse exclaimed, "Yes. She should be treated immediately for any future head injuries, as well as take medication to combat the previously mentioned mental issues, but other than that, she should be fine."
"You're sure?" Anakin asked slowly, "It won't cause anymore issues?"
"Frankly," the nurse replied, "there's not much more damage that can be done. The fragments and pieces of her mind, as you can see from the image, are primarily from severe situations, like being tortured, severe hypothermia, and being in a coma for a short period."
Yoda nodded softly, "Thank you, the Jedi do."
As the nurse bowed and left the room, Anakin turned to the other two Jedi, "I think we should keep this to ourselves. Keeping her away will only make matters worse, and if the council were to find out…"
Obi-Wan shook his head, "I don't feel comfortable keeping this from them, but I will if Master Yoda agrees."
As the two turned to the aged GrandMaster, Yoda rubbed his chin, "Agree with Skywalker, I do."
Anakin smiled slightly, bowing in thanks to the Jedi Master. Turning back to face Aurora, he glanced at the other two, "So, who's going to tell her?"
F&P
A/N: A short chapter this week, as I write with the flow, and not to hit a word quota. I have more respect than that for the universe (Canon or otherwise) as well as everyone who is reading Fragments. I am taking upgrade training for my job in the Air Force, which is taking a decent amount of my attention, and is also impacting my writing. Oh, if you are a Harry Potter fan, I also starting another fanfiction, so check that out if you want. Comment, review, and if you want to give ideas for direction, or ask a question, feel free to reach out. I will see you all next week.