Beyond - Legends NOTE FROM ISH 5/12--Lest Ye Be Judged--Vader War Crimes Trial

*nabs post 950*

 

Effil! EFFFIL!
Not you, Ish, but the effil Pariah for grabbing that post so shamelessly..

Anyways, I'm still not able to give a coherent reply, maybe I'll wait to gather my wits after the funeral and epilogue.

 

This time, it was Leia's solemn duty and privilege to prepare the body for a last rite.

Luke had left as she was coming in, lingering in an embrace before heading off to make final preparations for the service that would take place in a matter of three hours. He would return in an hour's time with Mara and Sial to replace the Jedi robes that he had earned so many times.

But for now, she was alone with her thoughts and what was left of her father and it was a strangely haunting, thoroughly miserable duty.

She wasn't accustomed to this duty. Traditionally, during the war, friends and foes were left behind on some barren wasteland as the survivors had to flee for their lives, hearts catching up to their loss once the danger passed.

On the rare mission where they had time to deal with the body, they would not be able to give it proper rites. There was too little time when you were racing against the chrono to get to a transport to do anything other than cover the body with a spare blanket and create a pyre with the help of a DL-44.

Occasionally, she'd seen fighter pilots who had died of their injuries after the fighting was over honored in the traditions of their homeworlds, but with the scale of loss, private ceremonies had been next to impossible.

Even with Mother's death, she had been bound to the tradition of the vigil, but the last preparations had not been her burden. Her foster father had been entombed in the free-floating atoms somewhere in the Alderaan system. Her aunts had considered the duties of a funeral too much of a strain for her when her foster mother was killed and she hadn't argued, had been too angry to take on something this solemn.

So, it was her first time and she had no idea what to do.

The task itself was simple--she needed to clean the body and keep it stored properly for Luke's next task--but there were so many thoughts unspoken that they could not work through the lump in her throat to be voiced.

So instead, she found herself engaged in the first mindless chatter since she was a little girl as she worked bottom to top, starting with the feet and moving upwards.

"I suppose it's best for everyone this way," she murmured as her fingers curled around his so she could pay attention to the arms. "The one thing I dreaded since the beginning of the trial was having to say a last goodbye to you before I had to watch you die beyond my reach."

Her jaw clicked shut at the realization of what she'd said and her hand tightened, the cloth moving more forcefully over the swollen, frigid skin. "Of course," she said, more softly, voice barely registering as a whisper, "you died well beyond my reach anyway. And you never gave me a chance to say goodbye. In a way, I'm glad, because I don't know what I would have been able to say."

Like now. What do you say to something that can't hear you? Why do you bother speaking at all? What can be said to benefit either of you?

Her hand released his, the cloth going back to the cleaning solution before moving to the chest. For a moment, her hand paused over his heart, half-expecting to find something throbbing beneath the surface, half-hoping to feel the rise and fall of his chest, but then she shook off such sentimental nonsense and continued.

"I don't think I'll ever understand," she admitted finally. "It was hard enough to understand why I was given so few weeks with Mother, why she was only there to be a momentary support before her passing simply became another bitter experience. She gave everything she could, but still left us wondering why she couldn't have lingered to finish the job.

"But you," she countered, "kept cheating death. You evaded what everyone expected for so long that Luke and I began to foolishly think that you'd cheat death on the day of judgment. I kept thinking of the possibility of having you assigned to Coruscant until Kaiya was born, having you at Luke's wedding as you were at my own..."

The hand holding the cloth clenched abruptly with the force of her emotion, the inescapabl

 

Well, ana, go ahead. Come on, read the funeral and epilogue and rant. Pariah, you are too funny for words.

Thanks for reading this monstrosity!

 

The end was awesome... I mean, all the story was awesome, loved it.... Ish, you're a great writer

 

Beautiful conclusion. That's all I'm going to say.

 

Okay, everybody, all together now: AWWWWWWWWWW!

My gosh, I can't believe it's over! *grabs Ish and SQUEES like a Miss America moment* I'm so glad this story has become the longest one you've written yet, because I think it's also the BEST one! *throws confetti*-------> *~*~*~*~*~

*sings to the tune of "I'm So Pretty"* I'm so happy, I'm so happy, I'm so happy and sappy and bright! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!


(No, I haven't gone Tekli on you and overdosed on sugar, I really am just giddy. )

[Monty Python_voice] And now for something completely different...


This is a really DUH thing, but once again you captured everyone's emotions and thoughts perfectly--Leia finally letting everything out, Luke being hopelessly confused (as usual ), and Han and Mara being cheeky. Kaiya being blind was a total surprise, but one I really liked--I've always had a thing for blind Jedi, weirdly enough. I think this screams for a new story chronicling the tales of Kaiya A. Solo! Pweeze? [-o|

And Luke and Mara finally getting together--pure sweetness. And oh, what fantastic irony--they're the ones who wind up with a son named Anakin! That was wicked cool. Will he be anything like the Anakin Leia would have had?

Show of hands, people--who wants a sequel with Kaiya and Anakin (with the rest of the crew, duh)?? C'mon, you know you want it! *bounces*

 

LOL! Kaiya A. Solo was created once before for TOH and I've been meaning to do her chronicle because I always figured she was going to be blind. And the Anakin for L/M is...well, AU!

 

Now, for the fun part.

::Curtain raises to show Aikia in swim trunks over a tank of sharks, with a target nearby.::

The rules:

1) You hit the middle, he gets dunked
2) you hit anywhere else, the seat lowers
3) You have three balls.

Have fun!

::Chucks a ball and misses completely.:: See? Maybe I like Aikia.

 

*rolls up with D12, ready to rescue EMinem when needed*

 

LOL.

::Hits Suzuki on the back of the head.:: OOPS! Get out of here. Aikia is so muc cuter than Eminem!

 

Awwww!!!!!! I loved the end so much!!! I'm sad it's over, but it ended so wonderfully!!! I was suprised that Kaiya was born blind, but that was a great explanation!

 

*throws all 3 balls at the target, but misses because of lousy aim, and hits an old woman walking past*

I guess that's why I played soccer, basketball and ran track, and not softball!!! I really wanted to dunk Aikia, too!

Ishtar, I'm up for any boy...just no RMs (yet!)!!!

 

*watches Obie Trice run away from Ishtar as a distraction as Kuniva and Kon Artist spring Aiki- er--Eminem from the trap*

 

Great ending.

I should have more to say but my brain is not functioning after a long day at work.

Kudos.

 

*gazes confusedly at Suzuki's last post*

Um...anyway...



Screw the balls.

*whips out bazooka and blasts away target, reveling in Aikia's high-pitched girly screams*

Ana did say I was evil.


And you forgot Dr. Evil's supervillain torture tip: "sharks with friggin' laser beams"

 

966

 

I really enjoyed this story. Kept me anxiously awaiting the next post for a loooong time, long time. Gonna miss that. Are you gonna archive it somewhere in one piece? (I do like to reread my favorite fanfic.)

 

I've been so busy with ROTS, that I let a great story, go by without notice(can't believe the word completed)
Thanks heaps for a great read

 

Their daughter is BLIND???? *cyber-slaps evil Ish around a little bit*

 

Great story D_I!I too will miss my daily reading from a obviously talented writer.What's your next piece called and when will it appear?
As for the ending,why did Ani have to die for justice to be served?Couldn't he have stayed around to teach the Imps what justice once was like in the Old Republic?Well I shant be contrary to the author of a great story,she obviously know more about these things than I.Look forwars to your next story.

 

Delpo: I'll be archiving it first at my site--The 9th Circle. It'll come pretty soon, maybe in a week. I am looking for betas to archive it here, though, because I want all of my trial pieces archived (the other was The Other Half, Burden of Choice) at tf.n.

GreatOne: HEY! You keep whacking me upside the head for putting Han in an abusive relationship, then start cyberslapping me? Hypocrite!

 

DarkRader: The thing is, he didn't have to die for justice to be served. He died because he had given the Force everything he could and it was his time to go.

 

And if you all want something scary to read, my next fic, already started is UNDER MY SKIN, a Jaina/Jag adventure!

 

Beautiful ending!