Is Not the End
When you're standing at the crossroads that you cannot comprehend
Just remember that death is not the end
And all that you've held sacred, falls down and does not mend
Just remember that death is not the end
Not the end, not the end
Just remember that death is not the end
"Death is Not the End" – Bob Dylan
In the center of the circle, there lay the memorial.
Pictures in frames sat in the center, with day old flowers strewn amid them. There was a necklace, made from cheap glass beads. A half dozen sesame cakes. A lit white candle, burning low on its wick. A boloball. A pair of pink hair ribbons. A holonovel, turned on with the first page facing upward, letters standing darkly against the white of the monitor. A folded letter on a piece of flimsi, the words hidden, known only to their author.
Memories of each member of the circle, of their home that had died.
There were gaps in the ring, places where people once filled, now empty.
There was a young woman with her face in her hands, cream colored lekku trailing over her shoulders, quietly crying. It was the only sound, save for the constant, dull whirr of engines idling.
A man whose face matched many others began the awkward shuffle backward. A woman with grey streaked strawberry hair moved with him, gently steering their strawberry haired, honey eyed daughter away. His brother, too, stepped aside, hand in hand with a dark eyed woman, faces dotted with tears.
One by one, they moved away from the airlock.
A nod of the head; a switch flipped on its own. The door began to close, sealing the items onto the other side.
Then, in the hand of a young Gungan woman, a flame lit. A long, narrow blue blade of light. It stretched outward, the pointed tip aiming forward.
Two more came. Green blades held by a Twi'lek woman and a Zabrak man, standing side by side, much as they always had.
Other lights began to ignite, casting the dim room into an aquamarine glow, the transcendent brilliance of green and blue merging, mingling, humming together. That luminescence filled the faces of children grown, of those allowed to live who would have been sentenced to die. For who they were. For what they were. And they mourned the lost parents, brothers, sisters, friends that they had known.
A Togruta woman of middling age stepped forward, her silver-haired husband beside her.
She ignited her own light. A green blade to match the rest.
The doors sealed with a soft hiss.
And the memories of those lost slipped away to join the newly-dancing asteroids.
(Just remember that death is not the end)
Hello all!
I've decided to continue with this storyline a bit further. Preview for the next story is added!
The more I wrote of this, the more ideas I got, and I've got a dozen random plot threads still drifting through my head. If it wasn't clear, the implication is that the original four (Ahsoka, Rex, Echo, Fives) were off planet when Alderaan happened. They are all alluded to in here. Ahsoka and Rex should be easily picked out. Fives is with a 'strawberry haired woman' (Behri) and Echo is the 'brother' with the 'dark eyed woman' (you'll meet her in the sequel). Some of the children they rescued are with them, including Roo-Roo, the Gungan woman mentioned. As for the other characters, I've left that moderately open ended. The fifteen years that happen between the last chapter and this epilogue is a long time. Interpret how you will.
All in all, I hope you enjoyed the tale.
Til then,
~Queen