32 - You Found Me
{ a/n : Hello everyone!!! If you guys remember back to chapter 15, I included a picture to show how I imagined Ayzel to look like Ryan McCartan as J.D. from Heathers, and now I'm here to do the same with Devica! So I imagined Devica to look like Ayelet Zurer as Vittoria Vetra from Angels and Demons, but you can choose to imagine her however you wish so she can match your own visualisation of her!! }
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{DEVICA'S POV}
"I'm Queen (y/n) Anara of Solaris... My brother Ayzel sent me; I'm your little sister," the girl said to me, her hands shaking a little as she spoke to me.
I feel my jaw drop slightly, no sound coming out of my mouth to respond to (y/n) with. My body seemed to have just frozen... kind of like I was a software that was lagging when you needed it the most. It's just that she claims to be my sister. I usually wouldn't be so quick to believe her if it wasn't for the fact that she mentioned Ayzel had sent her, and I did know that he is my little brother.
She looked exactly like Mother though; she had the same face shape, the same (y/e/c) eyes as Mother and even the same (y/h/c) shade of my Father's hair colour on her own. Hell, she even had a few hints of Ayzel in her also. There was no doubting that we were probably related, but that's not what was bugging me.
My question is: why is she here now?
"We should give you two some time to talk about this," Xavian suddenly spoke up from behind me, breaking the tense silence surrounding the the room as he narrowed his eyes at the other man sat down next to (y/n).
"I'm afraid I must stay with the Queen... for safety precautions," the man snapped bluntly, folding his arms arrogantly as he stared me dead in the eyes. He reminded me of an arrogant toddler about to throw a tantrum if he didn't get his way.
I rolled my eyes at him and scoffed amusedly, "You really think I'm going to hurt her? I don't hurt people; and especially not those of my own blood."
"Yeah well, after past incidents regarding other members of her family, you can never be too careful," he spat in an irritated tone, rising from his seat to approach me. As he began to take his first few steps towards me, I folded my arms to show how he couldn't intimidate me.
What the hell does he mean by that?
Amusingly, just as he nearly reaches me, (y/n) suddenly stretches her arm out in front of her to stop him from advancing any further. "Really Anakin; what is it with you today? I'm sure that even though it is highly unlikely, I will be able to defend myself," (y/n) says to her friend through gritted teeth in an irritated tone, looking a little annoyed as she met eyes with him.
"You seriously have nothing to fear, your highness. Dev would never hurt so much as a fly... well I mean unless you're trying to harm her or anyone she loves, she wouldn't," Xavian spoke again to (y/n), walking over to me and placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. I looked up into his blue eyes and smiled at his compliment before returning my gaze back to the pair across from us.
"Come, we'll go upstairs so your bodyguard doesn't get stressed that we're not nearby," I offer (y/n) a reassuring smile who thankfully reciprocates and nods her head slowly but eagerly at my proposal.
My eyes dart over to Anakin, who after a few moments sighed in defeat and nodded to (y/n) as if to say that he was ok with this. I watch as (y/n) places her hand gently on Anakin's arm, bringing his eyes down to meet hers. As they stared into each other's eyes, I noticed her smile at him and all of a sudden, he simply stops being so tense and loosens up. She brings her hand up to his cheek and smiles warmly at him once more before separating the two of them and making her way over to the doorway with me.
Hang on a second... were they like a thing?
I quickly shake off the thought before taking one last look at Anakin and Xavian and then turning to climb the staircase with (y/n), careful to avoid the planks of wood on the stairs which I knew would probably give way if you put too much weight on them. Once we had reached the top of the stairs, I ushered (y/n) into the room in which Xavian and I shared because of how small our home was.
"I know it's not much to look at, but it's home I guess," I chuckled to make light of our less-than-ideal living conditions as I swiftly closed the door and leaned my body on the dirty wall to face my sister.
"How did you end up here on Corellia?" she asked me curiously, sinking down onto my mattress in the corner of the room.
Now this is a long story.
"Well... when I was 12 I think, I sneaked out onto a merchant ship heading from Solaris and it unexpectedly crashed here on Corellia. It was originally on a course for Coruscant, but the engine failed and crash-landed, and so here I've been for the past twenty-two years. I came here with nothing, no money or anything... but Xavian found me and I've been staying with him ever since," I explained to her, sighing a little in reflection of my somewhat meaningless life.
"How come you've never left?"
"We couldn't afford it. Plus, the people we work for would be less than pleased if any of their employees tried to pick up and leave all of a sudden. It's ok though, I haven't exactly been alone; I have Xavian. Without him, I probably would've died a long time ago," I laughed, smiling a bit as I thought about the day I crashed on Corellia and met Xavian.
"You said you were on course to Coruscant... did you intend to go there or were you simply just trying to get away from Solaris? I'm sorry that I'm asking so many questions; they just keep formulating in my mind," (y/n) smiled over to me apologetically.
I shook my head at her and returned the smile, picking my body up from the wall and walking over to her before collapsing onto the mattress next to her, "Well let's just say that Mother and I did not get along very well when I was a child... so I figured it would be a good idea to sneak off to Coruscant to join Father. Even though this wouldn't have worked anyways due to the Jedi and their stupid Code forbidding attachments, like I said, the ship crashed here on Corellia and I've been here ever since."
I watched (y/n) nod as she took in everything I was telling her, wondering to myself if I should tell her the whole truth just yet. It's been years since I have so much as spoken about our family to a single soul aside from Xavian, who thankfully did not care about the fact I was technically a Princess. I'm not now though, I denounced my title a while back... and I'm fairly sure Mother did too.
{FLASHBACK - DEVICA = 12 }
"Devica? Devica where are you? This isn't funny young lady; you have three seconds to get out here right now!" I giggled silently to myself, hearing my Mother yell angrily down the corridor as I hid in the dark storage room along with my four year old baby brother.
I pressed my eyes against the crack in the door, smirking to myself as I noticed my Mother scan the corridor in obvious frustration. I felt Ayzel start to fuss next to me, getting a little too excited as he spotted Mother's shadow appear from under the door. He accidentally lets out an excited squeal, probably thinking that we were simply playing a round of hide and seek, making me widen my eyes and pressing my finger to my lips in an attempt to shush him.
"Ayzel, be quiet!" I hiss in an almost inaudible tone as Mother's shadow suddenly stops moving around and starts becoming bigger and bigger by the second. I squeeze my eyes closed in frustration as Ayzel squeals excitedly once more, probably definitely alerting Mother this time.
Suddenly, I hear the door handle of the room rattle and twist downwards before swinging open to reveal our clearly livid Mother standing above us.
"You're in big trouble, Devica. How dare you rope your poor brother into your escapades; I was worried sick when Raya had told me he was gone! It's the poor girl's first week on the job and you're already giving her a heart attack!" my Mother snaps disapprovingly, bending down to pick up and prop my happily content little brother on her hip.
"We were just playing, Mother. What's the harm?" I moaned in annoyance as I hauled myself from the floor and straightened out the skirt of my navy blue dress.
"The 'harm', is that this is not how young Princesses should be acting! I mean... look at your lovely dress now covered with dust from the floor! Really Devica, you are to become Queen one day-" she complained, brushing off the very few specks of dust that probably weren't even visible from my skirt.
"But I don't want to be Queen!" I protest, folding my arms in anger.
"I'm afraid this is not up to you to decide."
"I want to go and be with Father on Coruscant! Just give your crown to Ayzel instead, I don't want it!"
My Mother scowled down on me furiously as I spoke of Father; I knew how much she resented him for leaving us to go back to the Jedi Order once more. She looked as though she was absolutely seething with rage as she despised when I was defiant and wished to stray from tradition.
"This isn't up for negotiation Devica! You will become Queen once you're older and that is final," my Mother shook her head at me in disappointment before turning her back to me and began walking over to Ayzel's bedroom, watching him wave his little hand at me as they left me alone outside of the storage room.
Not if I have anything to do about it.
It was at that moment I decided that tonight was the night I would finally leave my mother, the crown and Solaris to join my Father. That night, I found myself packing a bag with a few sets of clothes inside along with a small photograph of Ayzel to take with me on my journey. As I stared down at the smiley, innocent face of my brother, I realised how much I was really going to miss him now that I was going to leave forever. He'd be happier here without me and I just knew he was going to make a better ruler than I could ever hope to be.
Once I was completely certain the palace was asleep, I successfully crept down to the aircraft hangar at the side of the palace where I found a merchant ship preparing to go to Coruscant. Unfortunately, I had no idea what was to become of that ship once I had managed to hide in between the crates of imported goods stashed in the back.
And before I knew it, I had crashed onto Corellia.
(FLASHBACK ENDS)
"Hang on a second, I have a question myself," I re-adjusted myself so I was now facing (y/n) on the mattress. She nodded eagerly, ready to answer whatever I had to throw at her. "Seeing as I left Solaris when I was young, Mother obviously would've changed the successional decree once she gave up on finding me, right? Meaning Ayzel would've been made King once he was old enough... but here you are claiming you're the Queen. It just doesn't add up."
What only bewildered me further, was how I noticed (y/n)'s facial expressions drastically change once I had mentioned our brother's name. Her happy smile had fallen into a frown which could only suggest to me that she was experiencing some form of pain from my words.
"Ayzel never became King, Devica... Over the last few years, he, Mother and I had an extremely complicated relationship to which I was oblivious to. Mother had always favoured me over him all of our lives, and then once when I was six and he was thirteen there was an incident which cost him his right to succeed Mother's crown. I had never known this and he and I went on as usual, but I noticed that he became more and more troubled with each passing day. I-I had no idea what he was planning all that time-" (y/n) took steady breaths as she spoke, and I picked up on how she twiddled with her thumbs nervously and blinked a hell of a lot of times as though she was holding back tears.
"What was he planning, (y/n)?" I whisper, placing my hand on top of hers gently to stop it from shaking.
"He-he was planning mine and Mother's murders."
I felt sick to my stomach almost immediately as those words leave (y/n)'s trembling lips in the form of a ghostly whisper. And to think Ayzel did this... it was purely sickening to think of. When he was younger he was the most kindest, most perfect little boy on the whole of Solaris. He was gentle, compassionate, empathetic. How the hell could that little boy grow up to plan something as vile and as evil as the murder of his own Mother and little sister. I physically cannot comprehend or even begin to believe this as the truth; not my Ayzel.
"So w-what happened?"
(y/n) took in an even deeper breath as she quickly wipes a tear from rolling down her cheeks as her watery (y/e/c) stared into mine, "He went through with it. About a year ago, he hired maybe four or five Mandalorians from Death Watch to stage a fake invasion so Ayzel was able to trick us; he even allowed one of them to shoot at him to make it more believable. The Mandalorians took my Mother and Ayzel ran after her through the smoke... I-I couldn't see anything so I just lay there on the floor completely numb after begging for him to not leave my side. It suddenly went eerily silent and then that was when I heard it: two gunshots. It turns out that Ayzel had shot Mother twice when he murdered her, but I mistook it as the Mandalorians shooting at each of them so I thought he was dead too."
I have no words.
Ayzel did this?
My very own baby brother?
Trying to swallow down the desert-like dry patch in my throat, I grasp onto (y/n)'s hand gently to comfort her whilst I attempted to deal with all this myself, "I'm assuming there's more to this story."
She nodded slowly and directed her eyes down to our hands intertwined on her lap, sniffling a little, "I thought he was dead for months. The ex-Senator of Solaris took the reins for a while - which I got extremely sick of after a while - and so one day I sneaked out down to Vis. Unfortunately, I was almost assassinated by an explosion in the market. I was then brought to Coruscant and assigned to a Jedi to protect me from the Assassin-"
"-Hang on a minute.. By a Jedi, do you mean the arrogant man-child sat with Xavian in my kitchen right now?" I cut her sentence off, bringing her attention back up to me. I grin happily as I managed to get her to crack a smile by calling her Jedi friend an 'arrogant man-child.'
"Yes, that's Anakin. Anyways, the Assassin tried to kill me once again that night at the Senate building so I was taken to the Jedi Temple to stay there for a while. About a month later, I decided to return to Solaris unattended after a decision made by the Senator which I was not too pleased with, and I faced off with the Assassin once more but frustratingly they got away. The Senator was framed as the Assassin and was arrested, meaning that I could be coronated as Queen. At the ball, I was kidnapped by a Clone Trooper from Anakin's battalion and Ayzel revealed himself as the Assassin and the one behind all of this. He tried to kill Anakin, and he also kidnapped my other friend and Anakin's Padawan in hopes of getting me to give myself up to him... which I did."
"That's very brave of you, (y/n). You were so brave through all of this... but what happened when you met with Ayzel?"
"Well," she chuckled lowly and in a sad, depressing tone, "This part of our little tale happened but hours ago. Ayzel called what I believed were Sith to aid him, but just as I gave him the 'OK' to kill me, he seemingly couldn't do it. The older Sith ordered his apprentice to finish the job, but just as she was about to impale me with her lightsaber, Ayzel-Ayzel threw himself in front of me."
Oh God.
Oh dear God no.
"Ayzel died, Devica."
I suddenly couldn't seem to take it anymore. All of the emotions I have been suppressing since (y/n) had started to speak which have been making cracks on my dam-like composure, suddenly opened the flood gates and I was drowned in grief for the loss of my brother and for the pain of my sister. I couldn't help but feeling that maybe if I had stayed it might have been different for the two of them. Sure, I would be doomed with the title of Queen for the rest of my life, but if it meant sparing my brother and sister from all of this pain, I would've sacrificed my happiness for them in a singular heartbeat. I made no sound, my body did not move an inch, but the sensation of a salty tear suddenly dripped down from my eye and rolling down my cheek.
"He-he told me to come and find you; he didn't want me to be alone," (y/n) whispered in a shaky voice, still obviously traumatized from witnessing the death of our brother.
"Well you found me... and I'm glad you did. I'm so sorry all of this happened to you," I say in a hushed tone, gently bringing the poor young girl into my cold - yet also somehow warm - embrace, wrapping my arms around her securely as she buried her head into my chest. I needed to lighten the mood somehow; and I needed to do it quickly. "Seems like you and your Jedi friend have been through a lot, huh?"
(y/n) shuffles back out of my embrace and onto the mattress in front of me, swiftly wiping her red eyes as she smiles warmly at me and giggles a little, "Yeah, but I wouldn't have wanted it with anyone else."
Oh really?
"So are you two like an item or something? I thought the Jedi Code forbade 'attachments'."
(y/n)'s eyes suddenly widened and she began to cough as I catch her off guard. I snigger to myself a little; she was clearly in denial.
"No, no! We're not. I mean sure, we're close. He's truly amazing though; he's reckless, gentle, kind, passionate, trustworthy, talented.. not to mention incredibly handsome also. He listens to me, he never wants to leave my side and he just seems to get me. But of course, I wouldn't hinder his ambitions in becoming a Jedi Master by holding him down; I can't do that to him." I couldn't help smiling to myself as I watched (y/n) adoringly gush about her partner in crime sat downstairs with Xavian. Although she clearly didn't want to admit it, I knew that she has it bad for him.
"Well, do you know how he feels about you?"
"He's told me that he um.. that he loves me on several occasions. I've never said it back though, I just don't know how I feel. It's all so foreign and new and scary, and I'm terrified I'd be holding him down," she sighed in dismay, casting her gaze back down to her lap.
"When you think about or when you're with Anakin, do you have a sick sort of feeling deep in your stomach? Sort of like butterflies but instead of a fluttery feeling, it feels like they're eating you from the inside, making you queasy and possibly on the verge of passing out."
"Yes.. I-I do. And so much more."
I laughed lowly to myself and placed my hand gently on my sister's shoulder, bringing her innocent and clearly confused back up to meet mine, "I think that sounds like love to me. You, my dear little sister, are in love with that Jedi downstairs."
"How-how can you be so sure?" (y/n) stammered nervously, gulping as I noticed her breathing quicken ever so slightly.
Smiling down on her, I give her shoulder a little push playfully as she stares into my eyes nervously, "I don't know... just a sister's intuition."
{ a/n : I'm not sure how I feel about this one, but I hope you all liked it! Don't forget to vote/comment your thoughts, ily all so so much <3 }
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