Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Aftermath

"I don't know," she rasped. The episode had drained her of any fight she'd had left, left her feeling empty and hollow. "I just . . . I don't want to lose what I already have."

Adelle flopped over onto the ground, cringing at how pathetic she must look but too tired to do anything about it. "There wasn't a Family in my past. There was Krayt. There was Rizala. And there was me. There were tasks. Drugs. Rewards. Punishment. I lost nothing. I had nothing. Until I ran. Ran until I couldn't." She barked a harsh laugh. "Can't even remember why."

She finally pushed herself into a sitting position. If they were going to talk about this, they might as well talk about it. "I woke up in a medcenter with hazy memories and nothing else. Doctors brought strangers in and told me they were my parents. My whole life, all that I remembered, was a lie. My mom, she— do you know what it's like to be suddenly told you matter to someone? After a lifetime of being worthless? Expendable?

"Does Na'an?"
 
Leigh only sat and listened as the words seemed to pour out of Adelle. So many names--of people and places only previously hinted at, at horrors only guessed at before now, finally starting to pour through. Adelle had been...badly used by the galaxy at large, it seemed. Unfairly so. To the point where years later, it kept the gentle Healer up at night just short of screaming.

And then, the question.

Do you know what it's like to suddenly be told you matter? Does Na'an?

"...I do not even register as a person to most organics." Leigh would have shrugged if she had felt the inclination. Instead, she reached out with her good hand to pat Adelle's knee. "As for Na'an...I would say her experiences trend towards the opposite. Being led to believe she mattered, only to have such illusions ripped to pieces in her grasp. I believe that may have much to do with why she has never pressed you to explain why you left with us. Or to tell us...anything, really."

Out along the path outside the house, the droid could hear the cry of some nocturnal bird. Absurdly for a droid, something in it connected to the feeling of the trembling organic under her fingers.
"We have wanted to know you for quite some time."
 
We have wanted to know you for quite some time.

For once, Adelle didn't ask why. She leaned against the droid's arm, careful not to put too much weight on the limb and cause strain. The metal felt cool against her forehead and provided some relief for the growing headache. She turned the words over in her head, slowly measuring their meaning and feeling their weight.

"You both have grown so much," she said softly. "I don't . . ." Want to bother you. Drag you down. Hold you back. Even as all these thoughts ran through her head, she knew Leigh's response to each one. And she was right.

She didn't give them enough credit.

Adelle placed one hand over Leigh's and wrapped the other around the wrist, holding onto the droid. She breathed in the cool earth, the wet smell of dew, listened to a nocturnal bird chirp. The night seemed oddly quiet but lively at the same time. She barely heard her own voice speak again.

"Don't leave me. Please."

She couldn't be alone again.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top Bottom