Beyond - Legends Remembrance Never Dies (post-RotJ, dead Gaeriel vignette- updated 11/24- cover art)

Disclaimer: These characters, and the places I put them in, are not mine. They're LFL's. However, I highly doubt that any professional SW writer would come up with something like this. And I'm not selling this illegally on the black market, because I have no connections. Is there a black market for fanfic?

Characters: Gaeriel Captison, Malinza Thanas

Timeframe: Immediately after Showdown at Centerpoint

Summary: After her death, Gaeriel tries to visit her daughter one last time.

Rating: PG for creepiness

Author's Note: I was a little unsure if I should post this or not. You see, I've been having nightmares lately. Scary, creepy ones, with flames that are trying to burn me alive. I was getting not enough sleep because of them, so I decided to try to write my fears out in a vignette. Hopefully, it worked. And I'd really appreciate feedback on this one, because I'm really uncertain about it.

~*~**~*~

Sleep brings no joy to me,
Remembrance never dies;
My soul is given to misery
And lives in sighs

Sleep brings no rest to me;
The shadows of the dead
My waking eyes may never see
Surround my bed.

Sleep brings no hope to me;
In soundest sleep they come,
And with their doleful imagery
Deepen the gloom.

Sleep brings no wish to knit
My harassed heart beneath:
My only wish is to forget
In the sleep of death.
~Emily Brontë

---

[b]Remembrance Never Dies[/b]



My own death caught me by surprise. I was not prepared for it, even in the darkest times. When I watched my husband slowly fade into a sickened, weakened shell of a man, I focused on the present, and ignored my childish fears of purgatory and scalding fires from the pit of hell. As a child, I had only heard rumors of the nine Corellian Hells; but somehow, those tales had taken hold of me and affected my thinking. I thought I could ignore them: black tongues of flame, annihilating my fragile soul and consuming any trace of life. They were schoolgirl terrors. I was an adult, with mature reasoning; in my rational world those horrors could not exist. Thoughts of searing heat and endless torments were replaced by a careless ignorance of the world beyond my own. Fear was for the foolish. My parents were killed, old friends passed away, and Pter lost his health and life; I was left unscathed?except by the dread that continued to plague my mind. Bereavement stabbed my heart like a sharp assassin?s knife, yet I was still intact. I was invincible, vivacious, triumphant. Possible perpetual torment had no place in the ambitious existence I had carved for myself. The wheel of time spun, first up, then down, while I dwelt in the middle, callously oblivious to the struggles that ensued around me.

Nothing in my limited experiences could have prepared me for the dangers in my distant future. I was not a Jedi; how could I have foreseen the tragedy ahead? The battle in the Corellian system was fierce, for Sal-Solo?s forces were well armed. Our ship would be hit; it was only a matter of time. I remember a sharp jolt, then the tingling sensation of numbness. It must have been a serious injury, for the others onboard stared at me with both pity and alarm. Admiral Ossilege staggered forward, a crimson stain spreading across the pure white of his dress uniform. I shut my eyes, but the image still persisted: blood red drops oozing from his prominent stomach, leaking his strength with each cloyed molecule. He was dying. And I was dying.

I broadcast a call to abandon ship, as I fought against the loss of feeling in my feet, my legs, my back. Something must have damaged my spine. There was no way I could have escaped with the others, and in any case, someone had to remain behind. I suppressed my fears about my daughter and my people, reached for the self-destruct panel, and quickly pressed the button.

It was strange. The Cosmic Balance emphasized the present rather than the afterlife, so I entered that nether world with no prior knowledge. De

 

That was really good. I can't say that I've read something like it cause I haven't but, it was truly an excellent fic nonetheless. Are you thinking about writing another piece? If so I can't wait to read it.

Fireyforce

 

That was magnificant, Liana! A bit creepy, but that was part of what made it so good! Great job!

 

very nice.

I was sad when Gaeriel died. And I was glad when I read the EU that Mara and Luke had sponsored her, becoming like an Aunt and Uncle to her.

 

Wonderful viggie, Liana! Yes, I just had to review before I went to bed, because it was just so creepy and otherworldly!

I hope that this story brings closure to your nightmares, and I know that you'll never have to face anything like flames, so don't worry!

Jae Angel

 

Fireyforce- Thank you. I've always marvelled at the lack of stories in any genre from a ghost's perspective, so this story really made me think hard. It's so much easier to write alive people. And I might attempt something else along these lines again. I've always like Poe-esque things, and this vig was cool. Hmmmm...
*awaits plot bunny's bite*

Lt_Jaina- Thanks, dear! I'm glad it wasn't too creepy, because I was aiming towards only a little bit of weirdness.

Liz- Thanks.

I didn't like Gaeriel's death either. I think what really upset me about it was that her husband had just died a year earlier from a horrid illness, and she had a young daughter. That had to be extremely tramatizing to poor Malinza, and I just didn't like it. Luke and Mara sponsoring her, though, was so sweet. I sorta thought of it like Luke's gesture towards Gaeriel, that even though they'd never had a relationship together he was still going to care for her daughter after her death.

NJ- Aw, thanks!

It BETTER bring closure. I still had 'em last night, though they weren't as scary as before. I think it's all Jane Eyre's fault, because ever since I read that for school I've been having those fire nightmares. Damn you, Bertha Rochester!

 

*twacks back up to the first page*

 

Poor baby viggie. At least my nightmares have disappeared, though.

 

Wow, that is really good. Chilling. I liked it!

 

Brrrrrr...
That was a little (a lot) too well written

And you exorcized your nightmares! With writing. That's really cool.

I have a lot of crazy troubles when writing. Sometimes I look at the paper/screen and think... 'What is this?' Thankfully no nightmares

Sweet dreams

 

__angel__- Thank you! I'm glad ya liked it.

Chilling.

Somehow, my evil side just really took over with this vig.

Benjor45- Thanks! I really needed to get those fire dreams out, and it worked, which is really weird because my nightmares normally can't translate into anything even remotely writable. It may not seem like it, but my writing is a long, very weird process. I go through a ton of drafts before I put stuff up on the boards, and even then I'm constantly fixing stuff and trying to eliminate the strange stuff that creeps in. My writing can thus be pretty wacko sometimes, especially the "I can't fall asleep so I'll scribble" ones. Did you know, for instance, that Kyp Durron likes polka dot boxers? According to one of my wee hour vignettes, he does.

Thank you. They were luckily nightmare-free.

 

Up. Nightmare free since last week!

 

Okay, I liked. I'm sure you knew that already, but I thought I'd start off with that.

I found the way you presented this very interesting. I think the dead staying on this world, altered, is a common theme in stories featuring, er, dead people, but something about how you wrote it is different. Rather than simply putting Gaeriel in a ghostly body and acting like she was still a normal person, just able to walk through walls, you went further than that, and showed that death is not merely another place, but really another plane of existence. Things are different - how one must view reality is different, as Gaeriel realized that she was dead now, and the mortal world beyond her. Makes me wonder about Obi-Wan, hehe. Anywho, maybe I'm blathering, or reading more into it than you intended, but that's what I found interesting.

And of course, I enjoyed how Gaeriel joined her husband at the end.

In conclusion, very nice. But you knew that!

 

oba- Thank you! I don't know, but I think that in the GFFA, if you did remain behind after death, it would be totally different. Different awarenesses, and you'd exact in...another dimension...I'm not sure if that's exactly what I'm trying to say. Obi told Luke that he couldn't reappear to him in HttE, so I think that it must be very hard, even for a strong Jedi, to break into the real world, even for a short time. And Gaeri had no Force abilities, so she was pretty much damned when it came to trying to visit others.

I don't know about Obi...hmmm...I should ponder and try to write about that. As I said earlier, it must have been difficult to visit Luke, and you notice he usually appeared for only a minute or so (well, not in RotJ, but I haven't figured that out yet ). I think in HttE he finally surrendered himself totally to the Force, and...um...gave up any chances to appear as an apparition in the mortal world. Sorta like what Pter helped Gaeri do.

Aw, thanks! Originally, Pter wasn't in here at all, but I felt the whole family needed to be together.

Of course I knew that. But thank you again!

 

Write! Write!! WRITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Very good points, you've got there. Not something I really thought about, but I agree with you. Thanks for giving such a thorough response, it leaves me much to ponder, myself.

Upsy daisy!

 

oba- I'm planning. And it'll be dedicated to you, since you inspired it.

I'm glad you got pondering material. I always got pondering stuff from you, and NJ, and others, which fill my head with endless plots that I can never go through with.

Up, as a late birthday thing in my honor.

 

*inspired LianaMara*

*is teh *

 

oba- You're so sweet! I love unexpected inspiration. So far, it's called "Exit," and features Obi debating stuff in his head before appearing to Luke for the last time in HttE. I'll try to write it this weekend and get it up soon.

 

My writing can thus be pretty wacko sometimes, especially the "I can't fall asleep so I'll scribble" ones.
That pretty much sums it up in my case. When I have loads of time in the weekends I sit in front of the screen and can't write anything.

Did you know, for instance, that Kyp Durron likes polka dot boxers? According to one of my wee hour vignettes, he does.
Ok. *I* am gonna get nightmares now

Thank you. They were luckily nightmare-free.
As it says in FFNet: Unleash your imagination and free your soul.

 

Benjor45- Ooo, I feel your pain. Don't you hate writer's block?

I'm sorry...purple polka dotted, too!

As it says in FFNet: Unleash your imagination and free your soul.

True, true. Thanks!

 

I made some cover art in preparation for if this gets accepted to the Archives. I'm currently going through the beta process.

[image=http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-11/494801/RM.jpg]

Huggies to oba for her fonts!

 

I love the coverart, Liana!