Disclaimer: I am not George Lucas, I am not making any money from this, and I do not own Star Wars, or any of these characters, although if he lets me use them I will return them in good condition, I promise! Or, well, as good a condition as his writers left them in, anyway!

Star Wars -­ Anakin Solo's Legacy

Chapter 7 -­ Nothing

Tahiri sat in a small chamber on the stolen Yuuzhan Vong frigate, staring at Anakin's body, and thought of nothing. The ship shook around her, her broken arm sent stabbing pains up her side, the rest of her body felt as though it had been beaten with hammers, and none of it mattered. Nothing mattered, anymore.

On some level, she was aware of Tekli bustling around her, tending to her wounds, but her presence seemed far away and unimportant. Her mind was a blank slate, empty of conscious thought, and she was alone with her memories.

Anakin, as she had first seen him, standing alone and apart from the others in the great Massassi temple that housed the Jedi academy. Anakin, smiling his lopsided grin after some minor success in their training. Anakin, older, as she had seen him again when he came to Yavin 4 to warn them that the peace brigade was coming. Anakin, as they sat side by side in a small cave and she'd fallen asleep against his shoulder while waiting for dark so they could steal a peace brigade ship. Anakin as she'd last seen him at the controls of that ship before she'd jumped out after Master Ikrit. Anakin, as she'd felt his touch through the steadily growing confusion of her shaping at the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong. Anakin, lying on the ground with the tip of the lightsaber in her hands almost touching his cheek, as his voice broke through the false Yuuzhan Vong personality and freed her.

Anakin, sitting pressed against her side in the cold locker on the Yag'Dhul station as he gave her her first kiss.

Anakin, sitting with her on the bed in his quarters, asking her to marry him.

Anakin, alone, wounded, and surrounded by enemies, sending her one last goodbye as he died.

The memories assaulted her, feeding the ever-growing tide of grief that was all the emotion left to her. She recalled her angry determination to recover his body, but once it was done that had faded. She would have welcomed it now, welcomed anything besides this blank, empty pain, but nothing came. Her shaping might have left her with an incredible tolerance for physical pain, but nothing could have prepared her for this.

She longed to escape from all this, to follow Anakin wherever he'd gone, but she couldn't. The children she carried in her belly, the last remnant she had of him, tied her here. She wished she could hate them for that. She wished she could feel something, anything at all. Her children should have been a source of happiness and joy, but now were just one more cruel reminder of what she had lost.

How could he be gone? For the longest of times, they had been friends. Even when he wasn't with her physically, she knew he was out there somewhere. He had been a constant, comforting presence, and much more. Now he was gone, and it felt as though the sun had exploded and destroyed her world, not in fire but in freezing darkness and cold.

When he died, her soul had died with him. Without him, she was empty. She wasn't Tahiri, wasn't even a person, wasn't even a living being. Without him, all she was was a vessel for pain.

Though the room was brightly lit, Tahiri Veila sat in darkness, alone with her pain. She thought of nothing, for that was all she had the strength to do.

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Whoof! #flops down on chair# I'm all vacationed out! Thank you for waiting, and here is the next chapter, as promised. Sorry it's kinda short, but I'm still tired. Didn't have computer access after all, so couldn't write there. Sorry!

I had a great time, thank you for your kind wishes.