Spoiler: The Death of Hope, I think…
Author's Note:
Yeah, I have a not-quite-fitting statement in here, I
know; but I had to tie up that loose end. I think Tahl knew Qui-Gon well
enough to know what her death would do to him, and would've been… Oh,
you'll see how I think she would've been.
(I have a few paragraphs on her in his
dying moment. Ask, if you're interested.)
Enjoy! :)
She was dying. She'd known it all day. She was so cold…
Her dear Qui-Gon piloted the speeder with a vengeance,
keeping himself strong, for her sake. She never had revealed to him what
she knew of Yoda… As if that mattered now. She had to speak with
him… to tell him what she'd discovered about the mission, before it was too
late… She could not bring herself to tell him the dreadful truth: they
would never be together.
And she would never be complete…
· · ·
She was beyond all help. Saving her
strength for his consolation, she tried to give the medics a hint as she
directed her sightless eyes longingly at the door. After what seemed like
ages, she heard the doctor shake his head sorrowfully, and go to get him. It did not bother her. She knew she was nearly gone.
Qui-Gon had hurried in. Her heart broke. He didn't understand
yet. He took her hand. Slowly, painfully, she turned her head towards him,
not letting herself cry. She never cried.
It was time to tell him.
He leaned close to hear her, his hand on her bare arm. "Wherever I am headed, I will wait for you, Qui-Gon. I've always been a
solitary traveler."
He still didn't understand. He didn't want to
understand. "Not anymore. Remember? We will go on together. You promised,"
he teased her. "You can't back out now. I'll never let you forget it."
Ignoring the pain as her bodily systems failed from the
paralyzing agent she'd been given far too many times, she smiled and pressed
his hand weakly, for his sake. He must remember her as emotionally strong. To see her weep would break him more than her passing was about to. If
not for him, she would have sobbed.
She would never be complete.
She sensed the panic race through her dear Qui-Gon as
reality hit him. He leaned forward, putting his forehead against hers. Gathering all he had, all he knew and believed in about him, he tried to
give it to her. The Force… their love… his own bodily strength and warmth…
She sighed, pressing his fingers in gratitude. He could
not help. That he tried was noble. May it not haunt him; may he not
believe he failed.
Never had they been this close… Never had she been
so attuned to his every thought and feeling…
She was complete.
"Let my last moment be this one," she sighed, at total
peace for the first time in her fifty-plus years of life. Savoring the feeling
while she could, she drew a feeble breath and slowly released it.
She never did so again.
