Memories Chapter 3-1

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A dream...

I can hear it in my dream. The sound of running water. Sometimes it is the roar of a river. Sometimes it is a harsh drumming of a summer thunderstorm. Other times it is the gentle whisper of a spring rain. Yet, these sounds are meaningless. Less than nothing.

After all, this is just my dream.

Though, I have to wonder. When did I notice? When did I realize that this was nothing but a dream? When did I stop being able to tell myself that I was awake and aware - that I wasn't dreaming?

Was it a long time ago? Months? Years? Or was it just a few minutes ago? Less than a heartbeat ago?

I remember being taught that time was subjective, especially for those with the Force as their ally. Yet, I know that this, all of this, is nothing but a dream. Or maybe it's a remembrance of a dream. Sometimes, I'm not sure I know the difference.

Because even that answer, that this is a dream, is getting hazy inside the dream. Lost to me...

Like so much else. I am even now; unable to tell how much time is passing, has passed. Is there really a difference? Does it matter if I dreamed for a day or for a thousand? Part of me says yes, that it is important. That it matters.

Yet, I cannot help but believe that it doesn't. That no matter how long I stay in this dream, be it seconds or centuries that nothing will ever truly matter. That it will always just be a dream that I can't wake up from.

That promises will be broken.

That dreams will not come true.

Especially, when my dream is of the day that I will wake up...

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The girl with yellow eyes threw a punch at Anakin. Instead of dodging or moving, he just stood there and took it. Her strike was weak, ineffectual. She struck again and then again.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

In response, she yelled again, and kicked at him. Anakin took the brunt of the kick on the side of his thigh, and then stretched out his hand and placed it against the top of her forehead. Her hands snapped up to his wrist, trying to break free from his grasp.

Anakin frowned at her, and asked, "Is that it?"

She let go of his wrist and dropped to her knees, hanging her head low. "Yeah..."

Anakin still looking down at her, chuckled. "That wasn't much of an attack."

"I'm hungry..."

Then she collapsed onto the ground, crumpling into a mass of splayed limbs. Anakin stared at her in shock for a moment, and then looked around the area, hoping to see someone, anyone, around. He sighed when he realized that he was alone with the girl. He leaned down and pressed his fingers to her neck to check her pulse. He found it, steady but weak. Brushing a few of the locks of hair away, he noticed three hardened thin lines on her neck, just beneath the jaw line. He ran his fingers down one of them, and watched as she shuddered.

He shook her. "Hey, don't faint here. And not on me." Looking once more for someone who could help and finding no one, he asked her unconscious form, "Just what is it that I'm supposed to do with you anyhow?"

Neither receiving nor expecting an answer, Anakin picked her up and tossed her over his shoulders in a standard rescue carry. He then grabbed his bags and carefully stood up. Grunting under the strain, he began the long walk back to his apartment building.

As he arrived, he rested for a moment at the main entrance, and glanced at where her face hung, noticing that she was still unconscious.

"You're heavy." He complained to her.

He sighed when she still did not respond. Pushing open the doors, he boarded the lift and stood while the machine took him up to the floor where his apartment was. Aching from the exertion of carrying her so far, he shambled to the door and pressed his palm against the lock mechanism. The door slid open and he stepped in.

"Welcome home!" Jaina called out from the living room. "You got the stuff for dinner, right?"

She calmly walked into the foyer, and glanced at the girl strung over his shoulders. She arched an eyebrow at him as a mischievous grin slipped onto her face. "We're supposed to have that for dinner?"

"What?" Anakin exclaimed. "Does she look like food to you?"

Mara Jade slipped into the foyer behind Jaina and looked at the girl Anakin was carrying. "Jaina told me that you were bringing home dinner, I didn't realize that she meant a date."

Anakin glared at his aunt, and through clenched teeth said, "You don't have to tell lame jokes like that."

Muttering under his breath, he pushed past them, carrying the girl deeper into the apartment, heading towards one of the unused bedrooms. He dropped the bags at the door, and then gently laid her down on the bed. Mara walked in behind him, carrying a blanket which she spread out over her. Anakin stood by, frowning down at the girl wondering why his life had become so complicated.

Then Jaina walked in. She leaned against the door jamb, her gaze flickering between Anakin and the girl on the bed.

"What happened?"

Anakin looked up at Jaina for a moment, before turning his attention back to the girl. After a moment, he responded, "She came up to me in the shopping district, and started hitting me. Then she collapsed."

Jaina frowned. "You've had to have left out most of that story? I didn't understand it at all."

"But that's really all that happened."

Before Jaina could respond, Mara Jade interrupted, "Regardless, we need to wake her up. It's getting late and her parents are probably getting worried about her."

Anakin nodded his head. "Yeah."

He took a few steps forward, and as Mara Jade and Jaina watched, he poked the girl on the nose, saying, "Hey! Wake up!"

When she did not respond, he frowned and glanced up at the others. Then he returned his attention to the girl, and called out in a louder voice, "Hey! The food's ready!"

Her eyes snapped open and she bolted upright, her arms flickered out catching Anakin in the chest and pushed him backwards so that he fell on his butt.

"Food? Where?" She asked. Then in a smooth movement, she rolled out of the bed, and dashed to the desk, looking around the flat surface of its top. "Where's the food?"

Finally, she paused and turned to look at the three others as confusion appeared on her face.

"Who are you people?" The girl stammered out.

Anakin scowled at her, and replied, "That's what we should be asking you."

The confusion on her face grew deeper as she considered Anakin's words.

"I..."

Mara Jade interrupted then, speaking to Anakin she said, "I think the questions can wait a bit, until dinner's ready." Then she turned her attention to the girl. "You can rest here. Someone will come get you when dinner's ready."

Then Mara Jade leaned down and grabbed the collar of Anakin's tunic and hauled him to his feet. She then turned and marched out of the room, gesturing Jaina to precede her, and dragging Anakin along behind her.

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