Redemption

CHAPTER NINE:

Opal leaned against the balcony outside Padme's apartment, the fading sunlight flickering in her eyes as she watched the sunset descend. Her mind was filled with troubled thoughts of The Council, and how she would react if they were to find out about her and Obi Wan. He'd probably up and leave her because he wasn't about to give up all he'd worked so hard to keep. "Is Padme still trying to go through with her psychotic plan?"

Obi Wan stepped out onto the balcony, welcome the cool breeze as he leaned against the archway to stare at his soul mate. "Anakin is on top of things, just like he always is." He said. Opal turned around to face him, her eyes drinking everything from his glowing blue orbs, the curve of his smile, all the way down to the muscular tone of his body. If flaws existed, Obi Wan didn't have any. "What's wrong, my love?"

She took a deep breath before running a hand through her hair. "I can feel bad things approaching." Opal murmured, avoiding his piercing gaze. She had been trying to put off revealing her inner thoughts for so long because most of the time when she dreamt about something, it didn't come true. "I don't know if it's soon or in our future, but I sense darkness, Obi Wan."

"There's more then just that, Opal. Please tell me what's wrong."

"Please. Please don't ever leave me." She pleaded, clasping her hands in front of her. His heart stuttered inside his chest as she looked at him with tears in her eyes. "We've been so faithful towards each other over this past year, and I want what I have with you to never end Obi Wan."

"Opal, throughout my years I have made a lot of unforgivable mistakes. When I was reunited with you, I made myself a promise that leaving you, my greatest gift, would be the last thing I do. I would rather die then leave you behind again." Their conversation was halted as they felt a tug towards Padme's bedroom where the zing of Anakin's lightsaber slicing something in half was heard.

"Go."

Obi Wan jumped off the balcony, lunging towards the droid that was carrying the weapon the supposed assassin had used to try to kill Senator Amidala. Opal unsheathed her saber and ran around the corner, smacking into Anakin so hard that he fell backwards onto the floor. "D-Did Obi Wan just jump off the balcony?!" Anakin gasped, desperate to control his shock and his laughter.

"That's only the beginning!" She exclaimed, racing to pull him along with her as they ran down flights of stairs to exit the building and choose a speeder from the parking lot beside it. "Pick me a speeder, Skywalker! You're flying it!"

Anakin grinned at her as the two of them jumped into a sunshine yellow speeder together, taking off through the mass of people flying throughout Coruscant. Adrenaline coursed through her veins as her blonde hair flew behind her, like ripened grain swaying in the summer breeze. "Where is he?!" Anakin yelled, laughing as he tilted the nose downward to let Obi Wan in it. "Grab his hand!"

Opal grinned up at her boyfriend as he wiggled his eyebrows at her, outstretching his hand to pull him into the speeder. "Now that is what I call high speed flying. Or in other words, another form of torture!-" He exclaimed, gripping her hand as Anakin dipped the nose of the speeder downwards. "I hate flying. This is practically suicide!"

All three of them screamed as Anakin curved around pillars of fire, leading them through electrified power couplings that powered Coruscant. Opal convulsed against Obi Wan, unable to speak albeit the laughter that spilled from her lips. "Hey Skywalker, I hate to break it to you, but you lost him."

"Excuse me Master Stone."

Obi Wan and Opal grimaced as he jumped out of the speeder, outstretching his limbs to help him free fall quicker. The blonde woman took the wheel as Obi Wan stood, catching Anakin's lightsaber. "I hate it when he does that." The Master Jedi grumbled, gasping as Opal tilted the nose of the speeder down and landed it safely in front of a club. "Opal! Why are we going inside the club?"

She turned towards him and flipped her head up, releasing her confined curls from the ponytail and wiggling her eyebrows at Obi Wan. "C'mon Kenobi, you've always said you wanted to have a drink with a hot blonde. Why don't we start now?"

"Where are you two going?" Anakin exclaimed, his eyes narrowing in as Opal wrapped her arm through Obi Wans and rested her head against his shoulder.

"I believe Mr. Kenobi is going to buy me a drink." Opal replied seductively, winking at their padawan as she watched him coalesce with the others in the club. "This is a drink that's long overdue." Obi Wan turned to the woman on his arm with a skeptical look on his face, confused as to why she was acting so sexy. "What? I'm only telling the truth."

It didn't go unnoticed how many heads turned whenever Obi sat down at the bar with her, ordering two blue drinks. Obi Wan felt a ting of jealousy as he realized the men beside her were drooling into their drinks. That is my woman. Opal took a sip of the blue liquid, trying to contain her laughter as the man to his right attempted to sell Obi Wan death sticks. "You want to go home and rethink your life."

"I want to go home and rethink my life." He repeated.

She turned in her seat, crossing her legs as Obi Wan took a sip of his own drink. "That poor man was just trying to make a living." She mused, lightly kissing his jaw as he stared at her. It was always amusing to see how flustered he would get when she would show any sort of affection in public. "You keep staring at me like that, I might just do something naughty."

Now if you wanted to ever embarrass a Master Jedi, who 99% of the time was a bad a**, that was the way to do it.

Obi Wan whipped around as he felt the barrel of a blaster aim directly at Opal's head, cutting through both arms of the changeling behind him before she could even react. Anakin suddenly chose that moment to reappear, standing in front of his Masters who were drawing all the attention to themselves. "Jedi business." He announced. "Go back to your drinks."

While Anakin and Obi Wan took the woman outside, Opal remained behind in the Club when she felt two dark, angry eyes settle on her. She could not pinpoint the location, but those eyes felt so familiar and so cold. She was curious as to whom they belonged to.

In the back of the club, an older man with piercing green eyes wearing a black robe reclined in a booth, his lips curled against the top of his glass as he watched the blonde woman look around the club before leaving the premises. Pulling up his sleeve, he stared down at the tattoo of his Jedi Number he had taken the liberty to imprint on his skin years ago.

78663.

***

Opal stood inside the Council Chambers that next morning, her shoulder just barely brushing with Obi Wans as they listened to the orders Master Windu was giving them. "Anakin, escort Senator Amidala back to her home planet of Naboo. Don't use registered transport. Travel as refugees."

"As the leader of the Opposition, it will be very difficult to get Senator Amidala to leave the Capitol.'' Anakin replied, struggling to not hunch his shoulders as he spoke. Opal was incredibly proud of who he was becoming. However, like Obi Wan, she didn't feel as if he were ready to take on a mission of his own yet.

"Go to the Senate and talk to Chancellor Palpatine. She can not refuse an executive order."

All three Jedi nodded as they exited the room, and Anakin pulled Opal into a hug before leaving the Temple completely. "Wait, you must." Yoda called out, drawing both Opal and Obi Wans attention to himself and Master Windu.

"Master, with all due respect, we both have concerns for our Padawan. We feel he is not ready to be given this assignment on his own yet."

"The Council is confident in its decision, Obi Wan." Yoda replied, raising his hand to speak to the male Jedi. "Given an assignment at such a young age, you both were. Be fine, he will." Opal smiled at the memory of the first time she'd left the Temple after her parents died, when she and Obi Wan had been assigned to do a small mission a few planets away from Coruscant. They had only been a few years younger then Anakin was, and had succeeded with the mission quickly, but she never let him live it down.

He had somehow managed to fall into a heap of alien eggs, of which species she did not know, but the expression on his face was past priceless as he submerged, covered in a translucent slime that coated him from head to toe.

"Awe, look at how adorable you are!" She cooed, grinning over the edge of the platform.

"If you think it's so adorable, you can come be adorable with me."

Lets just say that the two of them arrived back to the Temple laughing like idiots and covered in slime. The rest is a story for another day.

"Anakin still has much to learn, Master." Opal spoke. "His abilities have made him arrogant." Her words reverberated inside of her head, drawing her back to the days where her father trained inside their home and yelled at her mother, quite often, because he always thought he was better then everyone else when it came to his swordsmanship.

"Ah, yes. A common flaw in Jedi. Mhm. To sure of themselves, they are. Even the older, more experienced ones."

"Remember Obi Wan, Opal, if the Prophecy is true, your apprentice is the only one who can bring the Force back into balance." Master Windu said, bowing lowly before turning the corner and disappearing from their side.

Obi Wan bowed alongside Opal as they turned away to fetch a transport to take them back to see Padme and Anakin off to Naboo. "I am proud of you, sweetheart." Obi Wan whispered, sitting beside her as their transport began to drive down the road. "You are growing much stronger then I could ever be, and your hatred towards the Council has almost completely diminished."

"If it wasn't for you, none of that would've happened." She replied, using the security of her robe to press a small kiss to his lips. "You've made me a better person and I can't thank you enough for it. Even if your hair does resemble that of a girl."

"I hate you sometimes."

She smiled brightly as she removed her robe, stepping off of the transport and into the dock. The sun reflected against her hair as she twirled around, her lungs inhaling crisp, clean Coruscantian air. "You can keep saying that, but I'll never believe it."

The two of them boarded a different transport that was carrying Senator Amidala, who looked less than thrilled to leave with Anakin as her bodyguard. "I am glad that the Council has put the two of you on this assignment, Opal. I only wish for all of this to be over." She murmured.

"We'll have you back here in no time, my lady." Obi Wan reassured, taking a half bow before smiling at her. "Anakin? May The Force be with you." Anakin's eyes flickered between Opal and Obi Wan, who were both smiling despite the anxiety creeping up on them.

"May the Force be with you too, Masters."

Opal sighed as she watched Anakin walk away with Padme, R2D2 trailing aimlessly behind them while beeping happily. "I'm concerned he's going to do something stupid." She said softly, lacing her fingers through Obi Wan's beneath the sleeves of their robes. "Really stupid."

"I'd be more concerned about her doing something, then him."

The Master Jedi turned to his partner and smiled widely, pulling a card containing credits out of his pocket. "Would you care to join me on a date, beautiful?" His flirting always made her blush like a maniac, and it always won her over with him when he asked for something. "I need to ask an old friend some questions about the poison dart used on the Changeling. He works at a diner downtown."

"Any date with you is a date well spent, Obi Wan Kenobi."

The two of them left the docks and made way towards what he called Dex's Diner which was in downtown Coruscant, a shanty building that glinted silver and had the classic OPEN sign flashing in the window. Opal waved her hand as they entered the diner and a red droid approached them. "You here to see Dex?"

"Yes. He's an old friend of mine. I need to speak with him about something." He said. Opal nodded and watched as the droid sped around the counter and began speaking to the cook. "Would you rather just get a drink and wait for me? It might be a while."

She nodded and kissed his cheek, sitting down at an booth two down from the one Obi Wan occupied and tapping her fingers against the table. "Do you want a cup of Jawa juice?"

"Yes, thank you."

In the time she spent listening to Obi Wan and Dex speak, she found herself reflecting on the past years that she had spent with the Jedi Master. After losing her parents, she'd felt like there was nothing left for her in this world. Like she had no purpose, and that the weapon in her hand at all times wasn't strong enough to save peoples lives anymore. But when she'd reunited with Obi Wan, and began training Anakin, Opal began to feel like she finally belonged somewhere, and that place was in the arms of Obi Wan Kenobi. The man who dedicated his life to the Jedi Order, and fell in love somewhere along the way.

His arms... They were home.

Home. The only home she had ever truly had.