Luke stood there, helpless, holding a useless weapon. What would he do? What could he do? He had to decided fast.

"It's all up to you, Jedi," Jlenet sneered.

Just hold on, Dilaaana...

"You're never getting this pendant," Luke shouted at him. He stepped back. He had to plan real carefully. He stepped back some more, then he turned and ran.

Jlenet didn't care about Dil. He just cared about himself, about the Empire. To Luke's pleasure, the enraged Imperial shouted, "Kill the Jedi!"

Luke ran until he reached the X-wing, then turned sharply behind it. All of his pursuers were thrown off-track- temporarily. Then they whirled around to face him. Luke ignited his lightsaber and started forward.

It wasn't hard to kill the five. The rest, ten or so, remained by Dilaaana and Jlenet. Luke crouched by his ship and peered under it. He could make out Jlenet's figure. He reached out through the Force, tugged at a small device in the man's pocket-

"You two! Get that man!"

Luke's concentration broke. Okay, he could do this.

Jlenet's mind-analyzed suddenly broke free from his pocket and the wire from its ear. It shot towards the X-wing with incredible speed. Luke was there to catch it, or more realistically, to get hit with it in the head. But he picked it up, stuck the device reciever in his pocket, and attached it to his head. Jlenet cursed loudly, and suddenly told all of his troopers to go after Luke. But this time, Luke knew what to do.

He felt feelings and words inside of his mind, evil and jumbled.

No- remorse-anger-Jedi-die-after him-stormtrooper-chase-Jedi-kill-kill-die Jedi-die-die-die Dilaaana-kill-

Luke's head snapped up. What? Dilaaana?

Jedi-gone-disc-gone-Empire gone-Dilaaana-here-Dilaaana-die-

Luke stood up immediately. He didn't care if all the stormtroopers saw him. He ran by them, dodging their blasts. He had to reach Jlenet in time before-

A blaster rifle shot. He looked towards Dilaaana...where was she? No, no, NO! He couldn't see her. The blinding twin suns obstructed his view of the landscape. He barely saw Jlenet, holding a blaster- where was she-

He saw her crumpled body laying on the ground next to Jlenet two seconds later.

"NOOOOO!!!!!"

Dashing forward, he gripped his lightsaber. He filtered in good, chased back the Dark Side. The mind-anaylzer fell from his ear. He didn't care. He simply didn't care.

Jlenet was startled by the Jedi's speed. He couldn't fumble for the trigger fast enough.

"Jedi, please, I didn't mean to- I pulled the trigger accidentally, no, it was a stomtrooper. If I had seen it happening, I would have shot my man before he could have-"

Those were his last words. In a splitsecond, he lay on the ground- in three pieces. The following stormtroopers saw their leader on the ground, obviously dead, and scurried for Mos Eisley.

Luke stared down at her body. Water splashed on her face. Drops, one by one, slowly falling... he was crying.

It wasn't real. He remembered seeing her for the first time earlier today, or had it been several years ago? It all seemed like that. He had seen their future in a flash, a beautiful house, a child, a complete life together.

But now she just lay there, in utter silence. He knelt besides her, put his hand delicately on where she was bleeding, right at her heart. She had died almost instantly, but no pain. Luke found himself trembling. Tears stung his face. It hurt so much.

Dilaaana, Dilaaana, no, no! You're alive, come on, remember everything? Remember our conversations, how we were in love. How we shared those kisses that lasted forever. How the world seemed to stop when we spoke, when you whispered in my ear. How everything was simply perfect when we held hands.

Luke rested his forehead on her shoulder and cried.

Memories flooded back with the fire. Luke held the disc in his hand and carefully put it around his neck and tucked it in his shirt. Where he would keep it close to his heart, always. Forever.

Dilaaana's body lay on top of some wood he had found in Mos Eisley. He had bought her a dress made of silk and a necklace made of Djaldi diamonds. He'd dressed her and brushed her hair. It didn't intensify her beauty, it only framed it.

So she lay there, and Luke lifted the torch to the bottom of the wood mound. He let the fire slowly catch it, slowly rise up and burn the hems of her silk dress. Her face remained intact. He watched it rise, touch her face-

Then he turned away. That would be the last he'd ever see of her. He didn't want to face her burning body again. So he approached his X-wing with a heavy heart, letting the disc bounce against his chest. He climbed in, completely ignored his little sympathedic beeping droid, and flew away from Tatooine.

Now Tatooine was different. It would always be marked with joy and happiness, in memory of Dilaaana.

Back to the creative corner...