OOC: (Edit): I've gotten where I want...it's open now. This is Metropolis' IC return to The Rebel Faction. Yes, I love you all...you lucky people you!

IC: Rusty sat in the pub, recounting his past. Reliving the memory over and over again.

Flashback

"NO!!!!!"

Rusty ran up on the man methodically backing him up to the railing over the chasm, before knocking the mans' lightsaber into the chasm, and, grabbing his throat, lifting him over the railing.

"You...@#%$!"

The man laughed.

"Tell her...tell her your secret...METROPOLIS!"

The dying woman laying nearby sat up slightly, just in time to see Rusty hurl the man over the railing and into the chasm below.

"Is he telling the truth?? Are you really Rusty?"

"Yes, Megan. It's me..."

And with that, the woman told him she loved him, and always would. Then, she lay back, and died.

Present Day

Metropolis stared into nothing, rethinking his memories, wondering if somehow, some way, he could have done something to save her. He relived it over and over. It ate at him until he could no longer stand it.

"If only I'd been faster...if only I'd have seen it coming..."

Megan stared out the window of the air-taxi. She passed the buildings and she could remember almost every one of them...only the newest did she not fully remember. She saw the man sitting on the bench, and she was shocked.

"No! It can't be!!"

The driver stopped as the traffic in front of him did.

"What was that, miss?"

Megan stared a moment longer, before snapping her head to look at the driver.

"Huh? What? Oh! Let me out! Here!"

She jumped out and tossed a few dataries at the driver before running out. She approached the man from behind, and heard him talking to no one.

"If only I'd have been faster...if only I'd have seen it coming..."

She placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Rusty?"

Rusty reached for his blaster, and jumped up, spinning around. When he locked eyes with the woman before him, he slid his hand back to his side, and off the handle.

"You seem to know me...but who are you? How long have you been standing here?"

Rusty was slightly miffed. He didn't like to be followed. He was surprisingly impatient as well.

"Well? Who are you?"

Rusty shifted his weight onto his right foot, crossing his arms in front of him. His body language clearly projecting his agitation.

Megan laughed. He had to be kidding. He looked exactly the same as when he was a boy. Except that he was taller now, and man was he burly! She couldn't help but smile when he looked at her.

"You really don't remember me?"

She laughed when he changed position.

"You haven't changed a bit!! Rusty...my name is Megan Metropolis...I mean...Megan Kalinsky...I took your name after...after I heard..."

She looked away. She couldn't bring herself to say it. The thought brought tears to her eyes.

Rusty couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Stealing my name? And then trying to say you're my dead girlfriend from my childhood. That's really quite rude. But tell me...just what are you babbling about? After what? What have you heard about Rusty Metropolis? How he killed a raging maniacal Sith? How he saved a screaming 5 year old from a bantha's rampage? How he wiped the galaxy clean of evil? Because I've heard the rumors too...and none of them are true..."

He looked away too.

"Except for the one about the Sith...killed the love of my life...the one whom you've been talked into pretending to be. So go tell whatever friend of yours put you up to this, that he/she can come and talk to me personally, if they think this is funny. And I don't give autographs, for I am not who I have been made out to be."

He was harsh, and he knew it. Normally he'd have felt bad about it, but this wasn't a normal circumstance. He had lost Megan for the 2nd time, and it ate at him from the time it happened to the present. For 4 years he'd done nothing but wish he could have saved her. And this girl wasn't making matters any better for him.

Megan was shocked. She'd never heard such harshness from Rusty. Then again, she hadn't seen him in over a decade.

"Rusty...I assure you, I am who I claim to be. I am not dead. And neither are you. It would seem, that we have both been deceived. About 7 years ago I came across a man just down the road from my mother's apartment. He told me he knew you, what had happened to you, and that he could lead me to you. So I followed him. His order, as he called it, claimed to need a blood sample...to ensure that I was who I claimed to be. They took me to a room, closed the door, and then told me that you were dead. When I told them that was impossible, the man stated that he was there. He said that he was a Sith, by the name of Karatoga. He told me that you had killed one of his clones, and then he and a Rogue Jedi known only as Kamon had conspired to murder you. I managed to break out of that prison, and got away, but I was devastated. I thought you were dead...and I see, that his plan worked. I found out later, that he had cloned me, and killed a clone in front of you before murdering you. The records say that you were wrought with guilt over my death, and just stood there as he killed you."

Megan smiled.

"I became a bounty hunter, to find the Kamon he spoke of, and kill him. I was on my way to a friend's house when I saw you sitting here. I thought that I was dreaming...there was no way that could be you...but it is...it really is you..."

She started to cry. She couldn't help it.

"It's been so long...and look at you...you've done it...you've accomplished everything you set out to do. How many people can say that?"

Rusty was shocked. This was the wildest thing he'd ever heard.

"Well, if I'm a dead man, that makes two of us. Now, who are you? Really...and who put you up to this? You may be a bounty hunter, but I can assure you Kamon Vondiranach is not who you have made him out to be. And if you intend to kill him, you'll have to kill me first. Kamon is the only reason I'm HALF the man I am. He's kept me going...even when I didn't want to. You do look familiar...I'd say it's possible you're Kalinsky...but then again, it's possible you're a clone. And even if you ARE who you claim to be, why should I trust you? I haven't seen you in over a decade. Who's to say you're the same? I've known others and gotten quite close to them before having them turn their back on me. Who's to say you won't try to get close to me, only to stick a dagger in my back?"

Megan was pressed between a rock and a hard place. How could she prove who she was? Then it hit her.

"Think back...think back to that day on the transport...what did you say to me? Right before you left me on Coruscant?"

She knew he'd remember. Whether he wanted to or not.

"What did you say Rusty? What did I say to you?"

She stared at him, wiping the tears from her face.

"Come on...I know you remember."

Kamon came out of the shadows of the alley just behind Rusty. He hadn't seen the man in a long time. The woman seemed to know Rusty, but Kamon didn't know her.

"I didn't know I was so important."

He stopped a few feet away from the two. The woman had spoken as if she intended ti kill him and he thought it best not to give her the chance.

"Hello, Rus."

Rusty walked past the woman, and towards Kamon, extending a hand.

"Hello, my friend. How have things been? I hope you are well."