Between Light and Dark

Deception

Cadria had felt it across systems. She was drifting, in both space and in and out of sleep, when it happened. A sinking feeling before sudden, sharp pain in her chest that would have made her fall out of bed if she could.

She had seen it in her mind. A bracing deep breath. Turning to the light. A gunshot. A shout. Falling.

And then she woke up. It couldn't be true. It was just a dream. But she couldn't lie to herself enough. There was no way she could deceive herself into thinking he was alive.

Two hours pass slowly. Anxiety fills her to the brim. She decides to meditate. Maybe he's just hurt. It happens all the time in war. But she opens her eyes to find herself standing in a small group of people in the Jedi Temple.

In the center of the group is a table.

And on the table lays a cold body, covered in a cloth.

"I'm worried about Anakin."

The table lowers. The doors slide over it. A beam of light shoots up.

A Jedi funeral.

She falls to her knees, and her hands meet the smooth metal panels of the Razor Crest.

~

It takes all of an hour for Cadria to figure out Obi-Wan was killed on Coruscant, and twelve hours later, she's fully armored and walking into the bar where the man was last seen. She walks straight the the back, ignoring the protests from the bartender.

She's gotten in one good punch and has him pinned against the wall by his throat when Anakin and Ahsoka come in.

"Oh. We didn't expect you to be here," the Togruta comments.

"Doesn't matter," Anakin tells her. "You kill him?"

Cadria pushes her vambrace harder against 'Hardeen's' windpipe. "Not yet. And frankly, I'd rather him rot in prison." She releases the man and he falls over onto the bed, gasping for breath.

She finds herself drifting in space again, unsure of where to go now. For some strange reason that chalks up to the Force, she decides on heading to Naboo for the Festival of Light. She should be able to find somewhere to land and watch the fireworks from the roof of the Crest.

She arrives on Naboo a couple days later and explores a bit until she can sense the Jedi arrive. But with them is a strange Force entity that has her feeling . . . off. So she returns to her ship and waits out the remaining daylight before climbing onto the roof with a pair of binoculars and a small comfy chair.

As the fireworks are erupting, something drags her attention away. Hardeen? How did he get out of prison? She slides down the side of the ship and grabs her speeder bike. She follows her instincts and ends up at a small processing facility, where another speeder pulls up shortly after. She recognizes the chancellor and Cad Bane. Her feeling earlier gets stronger.

"This is the rendezvous point. Dooku said he would meet us here."

'Dooku?'

Bane grabs the chancellor.

"What did I tell you, Bane? My plan worked to perfection."

The bounty hunter throws the man to the ground. "It wasn't your plan. It was my execution of your plan." He pulls out his blaster and points it at the chancellor, who is still on the ground. "Come on. Get up."

"How dare you disrespect Moralo Eval!"

"Pipe down. Where is Dooku? I thought you said he'd meet us here."

"That was the plan."

As Eval speaks, a third speeder pulls up, carrying only Rako Hardeen.

Cadria wants to lunge and rip his face off, but something in the back of her mind says to stay in her place. And as she watches, his Force signature becomes stronger. Clearer. Obi-Wan.

"Hardeen, you're not supposed to be here yet."

"I don't want to be double-crossed and left behind again."

"I think we've all been double-crossed. Dooku's a no-show."

"What do you mean?" Eval questions. "What do we do with the chancellor now?"

"We'll ransom him ourselves. If Dooku won't pay us, somebody else will."

"I'm afraid the chancellor is coming with me." Hardeen points a blaster at Bane, just for Eval to quickly grab his arm.

A fight breaks out between Bane and Hardeen and Cadria is unnerved by how calm Paplatine is considering he's feet away from blaster fire. The fight ends with Hardeen pulling Bane from the sky and flinging him at Eval.

Windu and Skywalker show up in a final speeder. They seem to have things under control so Cadria gets on her speeder bike and zooms away. She can feel Obi-Wan reach out to her, but she was already gone.

She doesn't know why she didn't leave as soon as everything was handled. But sure enough,  Obi-Wan is pulling up in a speeder, looking like himself again.

"Surprised you're still here," he tells her.

"Couldn't leave without chewing you out."

"I'm sorry. I didn't think how it would affect you. And I should have." He cups her cheek.

"It was terrible. I was systems away and felt it."

He pulls her in tightly when he sees the tears welling in her eyes, muttering quiet 'I'm sorries' over and over again.

Cadria eventually pulls away. "You should get back probably get back at some point."

"Not before I kiss you."