Reviewer Notes
smeagol's preciousss - continued, and completed!
Alison Sky - thanks! here's the end!
Adam - ooooh, that's harsh :P
******* Six Years Later *******
The devaronian held them at gunpoint before a flower shoppe. It was twilight, and nobody paid attention to anything at this hour.
Which was good for him.
And very bad for the three he'd assaulted.
He didn't want money, valuables, or even any of the more base of things. He wanted one thing, and one thing alone.
Revenge.
"My family was on Alderaan when it blew up, you know. They were on vacation, I couldn't go because I had exams. It's your fault I never got to see them again." He tilted his head to the side as the Omwati woman and her two children huddled together, too frightened to call out for help.
"It's taken me too many years to find you. I think I'll tear your family away just as cruelly as your machine did mine, then they can finally have peace." Without batting an eye, he shot the two children in the centre of their chests. The boy went down without a sound, the girl with a small cry.
The woman stood in shock, unable to move, tears streaming down her light blue cheeks.
"I think I've collected your debt on society now," he said blandly. He turned and, without a word, left.
Qwi looked down at her two beautiful children, still and lifeless on the ground. She found her voice, briefly, and screamed. It felt as though her heart was rent into pieces, and blackness overcame her as she fell beside them.
*
He walked by a flower shoppe, having hoped to go buy a few for his wife to apologise for being late... yet again. When he got there, a crowd of people covered the walkway, making it nearly impossible to pass.
He noticed a constabulary line across the shoppe, three figures covered in sheets being pushed on hoverbeds to a quiet ambulance. He tapped a Duros on the shoulder, "What happened here?"
"Nobody really knows. They were found here dead by the shoppe owner when he came out. A woman and her two children." He noticed the questioner's eyes widen in fright, "Not human," he added to reassure the man.
He nodded, yet still felt sorry for whomever they had left behind. Deciding not to linger any longer, he made his way quickly home. He felt the sudden need to be with his wife and daughters right about now.
*
At breakfast the following morning, Iella brought Wedge's attention to the newsholo. He looked up to see a report on the killings at the flower shoppe the previous evening.
"Venerable Doctor Qwi Xux, and her twin children, Welles and D'Geanti, were murdered last evening in front of an unassuming flower shoppe. No murder weapon was found. The children recieved blaster wounds to the centre of the chest, while it appears Dr. Xux died of massive heart failure. Here's Srauw with the story."
The image faded to show a Sullustan standing with the human reporter.
"You're the one who found them?" the human reporter asked.
"Yes, I hear shots and a scream. I wait a few minutes before I go see what happens," he chittered, the translation flowing at the bottom of the image. "They were dead by the time I see them. The kids shot through the heart, the lady have no marks on her, but she dead too. Nobody in sight, the killer just disappear!"
Wedge grabbed the remote and turned it off. "Sithspit."
Iella poured him another cup of caf, "What is it?"
"I didn't know it was her," he said quietly. "I never even knew she had kids...."
She raised an eyebrow, and he explained. "I walked by there last night, right as they were finishing cleaning things up. I guess I'm kind of in a bit of shock about the whole thing."
"You're going to go to the funeral, right?" she asked matter of factly, sitting beside him.
"You mean you're okay with that?" Wedge eyed his wife curiously.
"With you going to the funeral of someone you'd been close with? Of course. I'm not insecure or anything," she smiled softly. "I'm sorry."
He nodded silently.
*
The service ended, and most who'd attended were filing away. Wedge stayed where he'd been seated near the back until the place was nearly empty.
No family left behind? How did she make it? Why didn't I know?
Slowly, he got to his feet, and made his way down to the front, where the caskets had been laid. The very ends of the top panels had been made transparent, he was able to see them from the shoulders up, as though they were busts in an art museum.
Qwi lay peacefully, lovely as ever. There were some lines that hadn't been there last time he'd seen her, but that had been eleven years ago; and her blue skin had gone nearly white in death. His heart clenched in sorrow, wondering what had happened during the past several years.
They were supposed to stay in touch.
They were supposed to have stayed friends.
What had happened?
With a silent nod of goodbye, he moved to see her children. He hadn't even been aware she'd become a mother, but he felt a responsibility to say goodbye to her family as well.
He could see the faces of the two young ones, one was a boy, one a girl. Something in his heart tugged at him, but he knew not why. They had fine brown hair, not typical to their species, but their pale skin showed it had been blue like their mothers in life. There was a twinge of familiarity in their looks, he figured it had to do with looking some like their mother.
"Wish I could have met you guys, you look like you were nice kids," he said with a soft smile. "Your father must have been a great guy, but I guess you're with him now."
He stepped back and saluted the trio of coffins. "May the Force be with you all."
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