Be My Apprentice! (Part 1)
Anakin Skywalker looked at his mother before him, his eyes filled with sorrow. He stepped forward, ignoring the stench of decay coming from Shmi Skywalker, dropped to one knee, and rested his head on her lap without saying a word for a long time.
"Master, medically speaking, Mother's body should no longer be alive. Her heart beats fewer than ten times per minute. According to Rock Johnson, only by regularly placing her in a Bacta tank for physical recovery have we managed to keep her body going until now," C-3PO said from the side.
Anakin rose to his feet and said gravely, "Her memories are still stuck ten years in the past. That means her brain suffered damage, and all memories from the past ten years are missing. However... ever since before the war began, after the Archangel of Death revived her into this state, she has gained no new memories either. In other words, her body has already stopped functioning."
"You mean she's already dead?" C-3PO raised both hands. "Oh... my language programming does not allow me to express something so sorrowful. I cannot even shed tears. I'm sorry, Master... I am deeply saddened."
Anakin nodded and asked again, "Are you truly certain that, on that day two years ago, Mother was already dead before the Archangel of Death arrived?"
C-3PO replied, "Master, you ask me this every time. Mother had indeed already died then. Her heart had stopped beating, and her cerebral cortex activity had ceased as well. About an hour later, that person in the black cloak arrived here."
Rock Johnson said, "Recently, there were two occasions when someone wanted to come visit Mother under the guise of offering condolences. I turned them away."
"Perhaps they were sent by the Chancellor... I'll