Redemption

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO:

"Stay with Padmè! "

Exhaustion numbed her grief as Opal sank back onto the landing pad, oblivious to the duel her husband and former best friend were engaged in before her. There was no doubt that one of them would not be coming out of it alive. Utter defeat flooded her as she slowly sat up at her waist beside Padmè, running her fingers through the younger womans hair to keep herself calm.

12 year old Anakin Skywalker grinned brightly as he called his lightsaber to himself for the first time using The Force. Opal jumped up and squealed as her padawans excited eyes met hers. "That's it! You finally did it!"

The pride that swelled within her for Anakin was inexplicable. To hold such a high reputation in The Jedi Order like he had... Despite her extensive training, Opal could never compare to him. They called her Light Bringer, and Obi-Wan was The Negotiator, but Anakin was otherwise known as The Hero With No Fear.

Light Bringer. Where they'd come up with that, she didn't know. She was skilled in the art of saber combat and often turned to The Force in her most dire times of need, but compared to Anakin and Obi-Wan? Opal was nothing. She wasn't a General and she wasn't The Chosen One. She was just a Jedi, like her mother before her.

Raising him had been the greatest decision she'd ever made, and to see the darkness consume him was a sight to make her word come crashing down altogether.

"Can I ask you something, Master Stone?" Anakin asked. He had learned the habit of tugging on the end of his Padawan braid when he was nervous from Obi-Wan, who had done the same when he was the apprentice to her uncle. Placing her chin on her hand, Opal looked into his eyes and nodded. "Why do you hide?"

"Hide what?"

"Your true feelings for Master Obi-Wan." He replied. She winced at his statement, her mind flashing back to the night they had kissed so long ago that hadn't been talked about since. The two of them still valued the other deeply, but love had not been a topic of discussion, well... ever. "You two tell me constantly that I need to be mindful of the Jedi Code because of my undeniable feelings for Padmè, but have you ever denied yourself loving someone?"

If it hadn't been for Anakin's resilience to get her and Obi-Wan together, she may have never confessed her love for the boy who saved her life so many years ago. Anakin Skywalker had been beneficial to her growth as a person ever since the first time they had met. She had wanted to thank him for it, but he was dead. Anakin was dead.

Opal could not fully comprehend the reality of her situation. Here she sat, pregnant and alone, as her husband dueled his brother somewhere deep within the planet. If it weren't for Anakin, that precious little boy from Tattooine with a thirst for adventure, she would've never come back from The Dark Side herself. He made her see reason, see hope and light, and see the man in front of her and had never given up on her despite reason telling him otherwise.

Opal closed her eyes as she pulled Padmè's head into her lap, closing her eyes and pulling herself deep within her Force Bond with Obi-Wan. She could feel his pain, his heartbreak with every connection of sabers.

Her choice appeared to her clear as day.

"I have to break it." She whispered uncertainly, taking Padmè's hand in her own and clutching it tightly. "Maker, I have to break the training Bond."

When Anakin had been assigned to herself and Obi-Wan, they'd both formed a training bond with their Padawan so they could sense his troubles and his emotions better. It had helped her calm him down after night terrors for years.

But after so long, it was time to let him go.

Master Windu had told her that forcibly breaking a Bond was almost as bad as death. If this was the way to give herself the closure she needed to let go of Anakin Skywalker, she'd do it no matter the cost.