(A/N): Okay, stay with me on this, remember how I said that I was planning on writing certain memories? Yeah, well, this chapter is one of those memories. The reason I decided to do a whole memory chapter is because I was kinda stuck on how to exactly write the original chapter four, since this memory was supposed to only be a few paragraphs long. But since I got stuck in a little chapter hole, I decided to go into detail with this memory, since I have good ideas for it. Plus it gets cute. Anyway, this was only supposed to be ONE chapter but it quickly became two, so this is Part 1 of the memory and Part 2 will be up shortly. Enjoy!


The Phantom Menace

Chapter 4: Ragoon VI

This wasn't her first time on the exotic planet of Ragoon VI. Her master had taken her here many times; training her in the ways of surviving harsh extremes and tracking the things that went bump in the night. This, however, was Keiris' first time without having her master by her side. Master Zeshi wasn't there to whisper ideas into her ear when she was stuck, pat her on the head when she had done something right, or help her get out of sticky situations. Keiris was without her master and she had to rely on her own instincts; which made the whole situation a little more stressful. She wasn't entirely alone, which she graciously thanked the Force, she had a dear friend close by her side.

Obi-Wan and Keiris had been tracking two of their fellow Padawan's, Bruck Chun and Siri Tachi, for little over a week. Their mission, as teammates, was to ultimately survive the unforgiving environment of Ragoon VI while attempting to track and capture the opposing team. It was a deadly game they were playing, one that Bruck Chan seemed to be enjoying too much.

"Will you hold still!" Keiris frantically hissed just as Obi-Wan shied away from her approaching fingers, which were already stained crimson with his blood.

"Is it out yet?" Obi-Wan asked through clenched teeth. He was seething.

"It would be if you weren't squirming so much." Keiris exhaled as she pressed her palm against his muddy cheek to keep him still, digging her knees further into the slick grim as she leaned over him to study the damage further. The whole situation would have been considered amusing if it weren't for the shard of stone lodged deeply into the skin of Obi-Wan's forehead. She felt her stomach twinge as she looked into his face; his right eye was tightly closed as a mix of muck and blood trickled down the side of his face, the skin surrounding the lodged stone was turning a deep shade of purple while his face began to lose its coloring.

Keiris quickly, yet gently, removed the stone from his skin before he could turn his face away. She immediately cleaned the wound with water from her flask and held a clean cloth to his forehead as a new wave of sticky crimson began to trickle from the wound.

"I can't believe he did that." Obi-Wan mumbled incredulously while Keiris searched the contents of her utility belt with one hand. "What he did was against the rules."

Keiris merely nodded as she distractedly pulled out a needle and medical thread. What Bruck Chan had done was, in fact, against the rules. They weren't allowed to harm the opposing team, it was to be a simple game that challenged both skill and knowledge; a simple game of cat and mouse. It was not to be a game of cheap shots…which it was now slowly turning into.

Obi-Wan winced as Keiris began to sew the broken skin together, sending him apologetic glances when a swift expression of pain would shoot across his features. Keiris poured water from her flask onto her dirtied hands and the newly fixed wound, cleaning it well before she began to bandage it up.

"Well, Mr. Kenobi, I think that's the best I can do right now." Keiris said as she washed up the needle and placed it back into her utility belt.

"Thank you." Obi-Wan nodded as he sat up. "I think we should continue on now."

"I don't think you're in the right conditio-"

"Nonsense."

Keiris yelped as Obi-Wan, who had shakily gotten to his feet, collapsed when his knees buckled. She deftly caught him before he hit the forest floor, groaning under his weight as she attempted to right him.

"I don't think that's the best idea-" She said as she guided his arm around her neck and clutched his side. "-you've lost a lot of blood. And, as I was saying, I don't think you're in the right condition to continue. Plus, you probably have a concussion."

Obi-Wan scoffed. "I'm fine."

She rolled her eyes. "Of course you are."

Keiris began to look around for any sort of shelter, since the daylight was beginning to fade and Obi-Wan needed a place to rest before he collapsed in the middle of the forest. Her eyes found a clump of old trees, their gnarled roots clutching at the muddy earth in a desperate attempt to stay rooted. Keiris stumbled towards them and found, to her delight, that the roots of the trees formed a deep knoll that looked dry enough for them to spend the night. With her help, Obi-Wan was able to climb into the deep mass of roots before they found the dry earth below. Keiris made sure her friend was comfortable before she quickly busied herself with the task of finding dried roots and twigs for a small fire.

The weather outside their earthly knoll quickly turned monstrous as rain, unrelenting and fierce, began to pelt the surface of Ragoon VI. After getting a small fire started, Keiris carefully climbed the roots of the tree until she came to the opening of their hidden shelter. She held out her empty flask until it was heavy with water. While she placed the flask to her lips and began to hungrily drink the cool liquid, a familiar presence popped into her conscious.

Keiris held out the half-empty flask again, her features twisting into a furious glare as she glanced through her lashes towards the surrounding trees. Her eyes, sharp and calculating, seemed to lock on an invisible figure hidden deeply within the canopy of the large trees.

"You're a real cheap asshole, Chun!" Keiris yelled hauntingly into the obscuring veil of rain. "This is why Master Jinn ultimately picked Obi-Wan over you!"

As she began to climb down the tangle of roots, she heard the sound of malicious laughter right before it was covered up by a loud clap of thunder.

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The small fire continued to burn brightly well into the night, keeping the various wildlife away from the dry and inviting knoll. The bright flames of the fire continued to cast pulsing shadows onto the dirt walls, causing the shadows to dance and lunge to an unspoken, yet furious, tempo. The elements were furious; rain continued to fall like an unrelenting veil of water, thunder crackled and snapped while the lightning streaked across the darkened sky in haphazard patterns. Wind twisted through the forest above the two Padawan, violently tearing through the trees without mercy for any living creature.

Keiris sat silently against one of the dirt walls, shivering, watching the flames of the fire intently while jabbing a stick into the smoldering embers. A groan from the opposite corner of the knoll caught her attention and she swiftly crawled over to where Obi-Wan lay under her cloak. Sweat beaded on his brow and his face was still a deathly shade of gray, his eyelids were beginning to take on a purple hue.

Obi-Wan was growing sicker by the second.

She gently removed the bandage and winced when she noticed how puffy and irritated the wound had become in such a short amount of time. In the back of her mind, she knew he was slowly being poisoned to death.

The rock must have had poison on it. She remembered seeing a small amount of yellow substance on the rock after she dislodge it from his skin. Her eyes widened as she gasped.

"Curse you, Chun." Keiris hissed under her breath as she felt tears begin to prickle the edges of her eyes.

The only cure for the poison was crushed up Gigila berries and Noxi herb; which, luckily, could both be found, hopefully, outside the knoll. She glanced desperately towards the entrance to the knoll, wincing as a earsplitting clap of thunder and a flash of lightning struck out from the sky. It would be suicide if she ventured out during the storm, especially by herself. But, as she turned her attention back towards a shivering Obi-Wan, she knew she had to do it.

Obi-Wan had saved her behind in the past; more times then she could possibly count on each finger and toe, and this was her time to repay him.

Her jaw tightening as she reached for her light saber, clutching it tightly in her hand as she scurried towards the entrance and climbed up the roots. Before she made it to the entrance of their shelter, she glanced back with fearfully large eyes. She noticed his chest was heaving as he struggled for breath, she could feel the Force slowly beginning to fade. A generous dose of adrenaline began to pump through her veins as the severity of the situation began to really take shape.

"I'll be back as quickly as I can, I promise." She said, squinting as her face began to be pelted with moisture from the rain.

She knew he couldn't hear her but, as she used the Force to help propel her from the roots and onto the forest floor, she said it more for her own sake rather then his.

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Keiris' body was numb from the winds frigid chill, her robes stuck to her quivering body as the rain continued to fall. She staggered through the mud, almost losing her boots a few times, as she scanned the environment for the Noxi herb she desperately needed for the antidote. She squinted through the thick layer of rain and brushed her bangs, which looked as if they were crimson tentacles that happened to be attacking her face, out of her eyes. She gasped at the sight what looked to be a bunch of Noxi herbs and quickly stumbled towards them, but stopped short and almost childishly stomped her feet.

"I don't need more of you!" She shouted in frustration at the sight of a bush full of Gigila berries.

A wave of hopelessness washed over her as she stared down at the quivering berry bush. Her body shivered uncontrollably and her teeth rattled against each other, interrupting her thoughts as the persistent sound of teeth against teeth filled her mind. Tears began to fall freely from the corners of her eyes, mixing with the rain as it pelted her face. Keiris exhaled and fell to her knees when her legs couldn't support her weight, landing in the muck with a dull thump.

"I couldn't even save you." She whispered after a long pause. She threw her head back and screamed at the sky, a ferocious and primal sound that only seemed to pull the surrounding darkness towards her. The scream quickly turned into a wail of sorrow as her body seemed to rupture with despair. She fell forward, her hands clawing at the muck as her body convulsed.

Look inside a rotting trunk of a tree.

Keiris gasped as a voice reached her ears. In a flash, she bolted upright and quickly looked through the shadows of the forest, searching for the maker of the voice.

"W-w-who said that?" Keiris spurted as she quickly fumbled with her lightsaber before engaging it. The violet blade brought a menacing light to the surrounding forest as it quivered in her unsteady hands. "Show yourself!"

Keiris blinked confusedly and turned, searching through the forest while holding the lightsaber protectively in front of her.

Look inside a rotting trunk of a tree.

The voice said again, whispering it into her ear. Keiris felt a pull, which began to grow until it became too powerful to ignore. She whirled around and stumbled forward, her hands held out to her side for balance as she struggled through the thick muck. Before she knew where exactly she was going, she saw what looked to be a rotted tree that had collapsed. Keiris held her lightsaber over her head and brought it down upon the trunk of the tree when she got close. It split through the bark with ease.

Keiris disengaged her lightsaber and quickly pulled away the weak bark before looking inside the rotted remains. To her amazement, a bushel of Noxi herbs, healthy yet fragile, planted themselves within the side of the hallow tree.

"Of course." She whispered in amazement as her trembling fingers drifted towards the plant. "The herb survives on rotting bark."

Ignoring the urge to punch herself for being so foolish, she grabbed a handful and pulled the whole plant from its home, stuffing it into her robes along with the berries.

The Force helped put energy into her legs as she rushed through the forest, pushing away branches from her face as she ran with new found energy. Keiris quickly dove into the knolls entrance, colliding with the dirt floor in a dull heap. She pulled out the berries and herbs from her robes, throwing them to the ground as she pulled out a flat piece of bark from the pile of wood she had gathered earlier that day. Keiris worked skillfully and diligently as she placed a few berries and herbs on the plank of wood and began to pound them with the hilt of her lightsaber, crushing them until they were a paste. She took her flask and placed the paste within the water, swishing it around until the paste dissolved and became part of the liquid.

Keiris crawled towards a very still Obi-Wan, her whole body shivering from the sudden heat and adrenaline. She gently took his head and placed it in her lap; she opened his mouth, placed the flask to his lips and poured a gracious amount of antidote into his dried maw.

"Come on, Obi-Wan, drink. I know you can hear me, drink." Keiris commanded softly as she closed his mouth and messaged his throat, helping the antidote make its way down into his stomach. She almost laughed when she noticed his Adams apple weakly dip as he attempted to swallow. "That's it."

Keiris continued to gradually drain the antidote into his body until the flask was completely empty. She placed the flask aside and ran a comforting hand through his moist scalp, knowing that she had done her best and that the rest was all up to him. A river of tears slowly made their way down her face before she even knew they had begun, dripping onto Obi-Wan's pale cheek. Keiris began to hum softly to him, a sensual lullaby, while she tenderly stroked his cheek, blinking away the tears that were blurring her vision as she leaned her head against the dirt wall.

Her eyelids grew heavy with exhaustion and her motions began to slow, sleep was beginning to overtake her. She fought against it, wanting to make sure Obi-Wan lasted through the night, but her attempts were futile. Her eyelids closed and her body stilled, the last thing she felt before sleep completely overtook her was a slow movement against her lap.


(A/N): Review bitte! I love hearing from you guys.