Rising From Ashes

Chapter 11 - A Moment To Live, A Moment To Die

Author's Note: There... is a cliffhanger. And a lot of... probably disturbing content? xP I can't believe we're over half done with this book now. Lol. 

~ Amina Gila

Obi-Wan Kenobi

I don't know what to think about... anything anymore. Everything seemed so simple before I saw them again, but now that I have, it doesn't feel like I can ignore it anymore. I want them back. I don't know how to continue moving on without them. I don't know if I can truly say I think they haven't been destroyed, lost entirely to the Dark Side, but right now? I can hardly find myself to care.

I just want to go back, to make them come with me. But maybe they were right when they said they couldn't realistically come with me. Really, they probably couldn't... Maybe. I don't understand why the Sith are so driven to keep control of them like this, but... Well, if the twins were fighting against them, it would be far harder for them.

But I can't stop wishing I'd said something different to them, to just make them come or something as we make our escape onto the ship and then from the planet. They're right that they're intentionally holding the Imperials back, because it should not be so easy for us to get away, even if I'm still expecting the Empire to be tracking us. We'll have to split up quickly.

(But maybe Qui-Gon was right. Maybe they aren't as gone as I thought. Other than being dark, they're still very much the same.)

"What happened?" Jaufre demands, the moment we're in a private area in the corner of the transport. He's holding a sleeping Luke in his arms, while Padme tries to calm a fussing Leia. How Luke manages to sleep through this, I have no clue. "You saw them, didn't you?"

I nod. "They said they were giving us a window to escape."

He blinks. "You talked to them? Are they okay? What are they doing? Why... they didn't come with you?"

"Does it appear that they're with me?" I ask, flatly.

"What happened?" Padme queries.

"Very little," I reply, though that's hardly true. Just not much I intend to try explaining. My own emotions about this area too chaotic right now. "They were... concerned about you. And they insisted they were trying to make the Empire better, and that they could not leave or the Sith would find them."

Do you think I would let them hurt Anakin, if I could stop it? Aniya's words ring through my mind again. What is it that they're doing to him? He looked fine – well, hardly, but still – but that doesn't mean much. And I'm admittedly wary of knowing the answer to that, now that I have time to think back to what they were saying.

I still remember the slight inkling of... something that I'd been picking up through my bond with him a while back, but I'd tried to block it. Now, I almost wish I hadn't.

"How would the Sith find them?" Padme counters, "If they were in hiding?"

"Plagueis is unnaturally powerful," I explain, "None of us know the extents of it."

"So, what are they planning to do?! That's all the more reason they need to be away from him!" Jaufre exclaims.

"I know." But I still don't know what to do about it. "There's something else Aniya wanted me to tell you. That... Padme was right, and their names are Ben and Ezra." And I have absolutely no idea what that means. I assumed it was just another... inside thing they had.

Except , apparently, Jaufre does, because he promptly goes deathly pale. "What?" he breathes, shakily.

Padme looks at him, equally wide-eyed.