𝐀𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬 | a. skywalker

chapter fifty-two

❝ we're all on borrowed time, it's just about
what you decide to do with it that
makes it count. ❞

—

CARINA SPUN IN HER SHEETS, groaning slightly as she stirred in her sleep. The mother slowly blinked, squinting her eyes as she adjusted to the unwelcome light.

Algora pulled herself upright, running a hand through her tousled chestnut locks as dread flushed through current state. Each day felt like it's own week the longer she spent confined in her cell— and she absolutely hated it.

"Good morning."

Carina jolted violently in her place whilst her head snapped to the side to see Obi-Wan sat at the table just a few feet from her. The brunette blinked, "What is your problem?"

Obi-Wan tipped his head slightly to the side in a playful manner, "Should I wish you a terrible morning then?" Algora narrowed her eyes at the male, "You can't give me a heads up that you're going to appear out of thin air? Five seconds would do you know."

Kenobi rolled his eyes at the younger woman, "Still the same I see." Carina swung her legs over the edge of the bed before shaking her head in disagreement, "Far from it actually." Obi-Wan noticed how her eyes glazed over with almost unnoticeable sadness, but he'd caught it. "Do you miss your younger self?" The force ghost voiced his question, even if he himself knew the answer.

Carina swallowed audibly, her eyes fixed on the floor beneath her as heavy silence weighed the atmosphere surrounding the two old friends. "I do and I don't. She was happier, more carefree, felt as if she was actually doing something in this corrupted galaxy. Yet at the same time she was arrogant, gullible, and underestimated everyone entirely."

Obi-Wan's expression faltered slightly, "You can't keep blaming yourself, Carina. You didn't know—" but the Jedi Master could not continue as Algora quickly snapped back in response, "But I did. I did know, the thought always lingered in my mind. I saw what Palpatine was doing and I knew he was doing it to Anakin because he'd tried to do it with me."

Kenobi's brows quirked up in sudden curiosity, having had no knowledge of such a thing, "Palpatine attempted to make you his apprentice?" Carina hesitantly nodded, her hands clasping themselves together, "He did, manipulation seems to be one of his specialties. Though, with me he failed."

"Why did I have no knowledge of this?" The male curiously questioned before the mother licked her dried lips, "I was ashamed. Had I said— done something to prevent the fate bestowed upon Anakin, we wouldn't be here."

Obi-Wan shook his head in disagreement with what the brunette had spewed, "No, you cannot continue glancing back through the years to hold resentment for yourself. You were young and tried to keep hope. That is not a weakness, hope it was keeps us going."