Disclaimer: Star Wars is the property of Lucasfilm Ltd. and George Lucas. I'm
just borrowing most of these characters to try and entertain folks. No money is
being made off this fic, so don't sue me please.

STAR WARS: Shattered Dreams
Epilogue: "Cry for Yesterday"
by Dave Ziegler


Leia Organa-Solo paced her office, wearing a nervous track in its plush
navy carpeting. It had been so long now, three days since the arrests of Admiral
Terion and Senator Meecron, and the escape of Xayla, and no one had been able to
find any clue to the whereabouts of Anakin. Even Artoo had not been able to supply
them with any information. One thing was certain, though, and that was that a cargo
shuttle had been reported stolen the same day all these events had come to their
conclusion.

Anakin had run off somewhere. Unfortunately, Leia had no idea of where he
might go hide himself to deal with the pain of losing his apprentice. A girl,
according to Han, that Anakin may have developed more of an attachment to than a
simple student teacher relationship. Leia knew the agony her son must be
suffering if those feelings were true. She had gone through the same after
their experiences on Bespin. But she had had hope at least. Han had not been
taken from her fully.

Perhaps that made all the difference.

Sighing in frustration, Leia moved to her desk and sat down. There had
been at least one positive occurrence in the past three days, Jacen and Jaina
were both safe. Her daughter had contacted her late that night, and the two of
them had exchanged stories. Everyone was now on their way back to Coruscant,
ready to help by whatever means they could. Not that Leia envisioned it being
much. They could, perhaps, assist in the memorial service for Miss Mathys, but
Jacen and Tenel Ka were under strict doctor's orders to get lots of bed rest
throughout the next week, and none of them had been able to think of single
distinct place where Anakin might flee to in such a time of turmoil.

They all said the same thing. His place was at the academy. It was
where he always was, in happy times and sad. It was his bastion.

The door to her office suddenly swished open, and in strode a beautiful
woman with long white hair. "Winter!" Leia gasped excitedly, jumping to her feet.
"Has there been any word from Han and Chewie?" The pair of them had taken off in
search of the stolen shuttle as soon as Leia had obtained all the details of the
incident. If anyone could track the ship, and consequently Anakin, down, she was
sure it would be the two of them.

Unfortunately, the elegant woman shook her head in a slow sad no. "I am
sorry, your highness. But as of his last communiqué, Captain Solo had nothing
positive to report on his search."

Leia returned stiffly to her seat. "And what of the vote?" she asked.
Since the arrests of both Meecron and Terion and the charges against them were
made public, the senate had gone into an uproar. Many had begun to question
Leia's abilities as a leader and decision maker for their government.

Winter bowed her head for a moment, and took a slow deep breath. She
then opened her eyes, caught Leia's gaze, and firmed her resolve. "The
documentation is being drawn up as we speak. The senate has decided that
they can not, in good faith to the people they represent, allow a Chief of
State who so blindly allows corruption in her administration to continue.
The overwhelming majority has declared that they no longer have confidence
in your abilities. A new election is being called for immediately." Winter
allowed the silence that followed to linger for a moment. "I am sorry, your
highness."

Leia waved her friend's apologies away. "I've been considering
retirement for a long time now, Winter. I just never thought it would be
under these circumstances. Did the inspection teams I ordered to Dasney
manage to get off before my power officially ceased?"

"Yes. General Antilles assures me that all the proper arrests
according to the evidence we have shall be made, and that not one battle
droid nor factory shall escape the eternal scrap heap, I believe he put
it."

Leia smiled thinly. "Good. I'll leave it to Wedge then to put a
final end to this affair."

Silence descended upon the room for a moment, and for the first time
since her very early childhood, Winter found herself fidgeting. Finally,
after realizing there was no easy way to broach the subject, she spoke.
"Your highness, you do realize that removal from your office will put you
at a distinct disadvantage when searching for your son. You will no longer
have access to any reports or stray facts that may help you."

"I know," Leia said gripping the edge of her desk tightly. "I know.
There is nothing else I can do but go on. We will find Anakin, and we will
help him. But first, I must honor the request he made of me. After that, I
will put everything aside, head out with Han, and look."

* * *

The small glow within the logs of the pyre slowly built up till
tongues of fire were licking at the deep night sky. The smoke began to
rise up and float wistfully away along the deep ocean breezes of Mon Calamari.
Flanking each side of the pyre was a rank of Jedi, all standing in solemn respect
for their fallen comrade. Mourners huddled about at the head and foot of the
structure, holding one another and wiping away tears for a loved one now gone.

Anakin Solo watched this all, silently, from atop a nearby building.
He had thought, at first, of joining everyone else down there, of paying
tribute to Elle in person and not from a great distance. But if he had
done that, he would have easily been discovered by the other Jedi. The
distance allowed him to feel removed from the activities below, and so
let him maintain a more concrete concentration while masking himself
from the abilities of the others.

"You should be down there, you know." A voice suddenly broke
Anakin's self imposed silence. He whirled around, lightsaber at the
ready, only to be faced by a woman in a plain black dress. Her hair
was long and of the same hue, and her eyes were a cool frosted blue.
She held herself with ease, yet seemed stiff at the same time. Anakin
wasn't sure, but he didn't think she could have been more than twenty-five
years old.

"Who are you?" he asked warily, still holding his lightsaber.
The woman took a few steps closer to him anyway. "My name is
Briana. Briana Mathys."

Anakin nodded his understanding. "Elle's older sister. She liked
to talk about you often. She admired your strength." Anakin paused.
"Shouldn't you be down there with her?"

"That is exactly what I asked you," Briana said. "And you must
be Anakin Solo, Elle's mentor. She spoke of you quite a lot in her
letters back home. And rather fondly, I might add. She would want you
to be down there with her family and friends, not hiding up here."

Anakin turned away from Briana, and focused his gaze on the
distant pyre and its dancing flames. "I don't deserve to be. I wasn't
much of a master to her. I failed in my first, and last, test in that
respect."

"That doesn't matter," Briana said, shaking her head and smiling
a small wistful smile. "You meant more to Elle than you realize, Anakin.
She had such expectations, such dreams for the both of you. She used to
tell me how it felt like her heart would do a little leap every time you
two were together. Don't deny her that this one last time. Go down there
and share in her dreams. They were beautiful, Anakin. I wish she had
told them to you."

"And you say it doesn't matter that I failed her?" Anakin snorted.
"Look at everything my incompetence has denied her. Her dreams, she should
at least have had a chance to pursue her dreams. But no, I didn't give it
to her! I let her run away from my protection and be killed!" Anakin roared,
spinning about and facing Briana again. "She deserved much more than she
ever got from me! I was worthless to her, just sitting there, always
reluctant and refusing her ideas, her invitations!" Anakin suddenly quieted.
"Even if I couldn't have saved her life, I should have at least made it
happy when I could."

"But you did," Briana pleaded.

"No! I did no such thing. I failed her as her master, as a
person, and as a friend! Maybe even more. I no more deserve to be near
her than I deserve to carry this!" Anakin brandished his lightsaber before
Briana, then spun and hurled it from the rooftop. The thin cylinder spiraled
unwittingly through the air, before finally striking the surface of
Mon Calamari's vast ocean. It was quickly engulfed. "She was the sun,"
Anakin continued, "and I'm a void. I won't sully her this last time with
my presence. Good-bye."

"Wait," Briana challenged him. "What are you doing?" She
gestured toward the ocean, where his lightsaber had disappeared.
"You're going to abandon your heritage, your life? All the good you
can do? Elle would never have wanted this. More than anything, she
knew you were a Jedi first and foremost."

Anakin walked deliberately to the edge of the rooftop, then
stopped. "I am not a Jedi," he said coldly. "A Jedi has the power to
protect the innocent." He then quickly disappeared down the thin metal
ladder that clung to the building's side. Briana watched him go, then
turned her eyes toward the stars.

"Elle," she said softly, hands clasped in front of her, "he's
lost his way. I know how much you cared for him, loved him. Try to
help him find the road back. I do not think he will survive if he doesn't."

As Briana turned and began to make her own way off the rooftop,
a small patch of stars flared brilliantly, lighting up a corner of Mon
Calamari's thick night sky.

The End.