~Obi-Wan
I am more than worried about Anakin right now than I am about anyone else……except maybe Qui-Gon, because I'm a good bit worried about him too.
I stare out the window of the starship for the hundredth time.
"5 minutes to landing Master Jedi, best better get strapped in" the pilot called back.
I comply and return to my thoughts.
Anakin had his Qui-Gon nightmare 4 times over the night. Luckily while I was lying at the healer's ward, Garen took care of it (he was after all a trained Jedi Knight.)
But I'm worried. Anakin can't just be having this dream for no reason you know. Which brings me to worry about Qui-Gon. My mind has been racing ever since the shuttle took off. I mean I'm almost dying to look at Qui-Gon, even once just to make sure he's ok.
My parting from Naboo became a bit more emotional than I would have preferred. Garen, like the proud jerk (XD) he is didn't let anyone see he was crying except myself. He hated the fact that we had such a short lived reunion. Padme was flat out bawling and refused to let go of me after I allowed her a hug. Anakin wasn't too thrilled about that but I can tell he didn't want me to leave either. And even though it's not the most comfortable reaction, I can deal.
I continue to ponder until I hear the pilot call back to me "Master Jedi, we have landed."
The words sound like music to my ears. I immediately grab the crutch that's leaning against my seat and use it to stand up. Force, this is such a pain.
I wish I would just dammit recover already.
I limp out of the ship and as soon as I walk down the ramp the first person I see, standing some 35 feet away is……Xanatos.
………Well not exactly his back is turned against me, and he seems to be talking to someone over the comm.
"Yeah-No you can totally tell her I'm gonna kill her…….No I don't care if she's all over you Garen. If you knew what was good for her you would kill her before I can make my way over there!"
I hear him yell into the comm.
Heh, so he's talking to Garen.
"I'll find Anakin some new crush material but Amidala is going down"
I find it very hard not to laugh as I begin walking towards him. And he's so engrossed in his conversation he doesn't even notice me come up behind him.
"Yeah, yeah whatever, what? Obi-Wan? He's not here yet-""On the contrary…" I cut him off grinning.
He spins around and his aquamarine eyes go wide as they settle on me.
"Obi-Wan!" He half yells then closes me into a tight hug.
"Obi! You alive out there!" I hear from the comm.
"Perfectly fine" I reply.
Xanatos pulls away from me and studies my face for a second "Good to have you back kid" he smiles.
I love it when he calls me kid. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It makes me feel like he really cares.
"Good to be back" I reply.
"I'll catch you later, alright Garen?" Xanatos says into the comm. Garen agrees and hangs up and Xanatos immediately ushers me inside.
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~Padme
"Anakin!" I stick my head out the door of my room and call into the hall. Knowing him he'll run up in seconds even if he's half way across the palace.
"Yes?" he says running down the hall within seconds, Muln following several steps behind him.
But Unlike Anakin, he's taking his time nonchalantly walking over. For some reason it bothers me that he isn't giving much importance to the fact that I need something.
"What is it Padme?" Anakin says as he comes to stand in front of me.
"Anakin, I'd prefer if you'd call me by my proper title" I say after a while. It does bother me a bit that anyone besides Xanatos and Obi-Wan would call me by name.
"Oh, right, sorry milady" he quickly corrects himself. I half ignore him to see how far down the hall Garen-er I mean the other Jedi is…….he's so far I can't even see him past Anakin. Wow he's really not concerned about what I have to say is he?
"It's alright" I mutter absentmindedly. I turn my attention back to Anakin "I wanted to go out and I probably should bring you along, just in case you know…"
He smiles "Oh, ok. Sure-"
"Is it too far away?" A voice cuts Anakin off. I look behind him and see Garen.
I smirk. So he made it. Finally.
"It takes a public transport or two" I say roughly.
"In that case I recommend you don't go" he says with a sigh.
What the hell is up with this guy?! It's like he has better things to do than this.
"No. I will go, and I'm taking Anakin with me" I say taking Anakin by the arm and pulling him off into the hall. Anakin gets a goofy grin on his face for some reason……
It upsets me to a degree that Garen doesn't even say anything until Anakin and I are just about to turn a corner.
"This is a bad idea milady, I'm warning you" is all he says. I turn around, my arm still linked to Anakin's "I'm going you know" I retort. Why am I not just walking away? Why the heck do I keep turning around to reply to that jerk?
"If you go then I recommend you bring me along. We'll rent a speeder" he says. Why can't he change that ever so bored tone? But even so when he suggests that he should come along, something inside me goes off. A weird feeling that sort of….well wants him to come along. Not really come along but…..something that wants to be alone with him-
And ew. Have I completely lost it? Be alone with that moron? No.
But my words betray me and then suddenly I find myself saying "Ok Anakin, then why don't you stay back and take the day off and Garen you can come with me"
I almost resist the urge to clamp my hands over my mouth as soon as the words come out of my mouth. God, did I just call him Garen…..out loud?! Shit.
"I-I mean Master Jedi….." I blurt out almost immediately. Dammit I'm blushing. I can feel it I'm blushing.
Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap.
"No problem-" Garen starts, but then stops as Anakin throws him a very deadly glare that tells me I should be concerned. And then he stalks off down the hall behind me.
But Garen ignores it and begins to walk towards me so I guess I can ignore it.
"I still don't think this is a good idea" he says as he approaches me. Wow I never realized how tall he was up until now. Or how broad his shoulders where. Or-
Listen to yourself Padme. Have you lost it?! He's not that tall. And he's not that broad shouldered either. He's just as much of each as Obi-Wan but you don't go crazy over him do you???
The voice in my head screams.
Oh but Obi-Wan's different. Garen makes me concerned in a different way than Obi-Wan does. I don't know how but it's different.
"I'm still going. Even Obi-Wan says staying in here won't do me any good" I retort.
"Wrong, Obi-Wan says staying in your room won't do you any good. Staying in the palace, he said nothing about" he says, standing (yeah more like towering) over me (you know I think I could compare him and Xanatos in height though he looks shorter than Xanatos, but taller than Obi-Wan……)
"How do you know that?" I say raising a brow. Wow déjà vu, and it just so happens I'm saying it to not Obi-Wan this time but his best friend.
"Cause I'm smart like that" He smirks and walks off ahead of me. I just stand there, gawking at him. Is he even allowed to talk to me like that?
"Hurry up, I though you wanted to go somewhere!" he calls back. I sigh and walk towards him. Sometimes I really don't understand these Jedi.
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"Are you Jedi trained to do that?" I lower my spoon and say suddenly to the man sitting in front of me. Garen. Whose sitting leaned back, his head thrown back against the edge of his seat, arms crossed over his chest, and is staring up at the ceiling…..well not really, his eyes are closed. But I can tell he's conscious.
"Do what?" He says without opening his eyes or looking at me. Wow it feels good to hear someone talk after so long.
Ever since we arrived at the café he hasn't said a word. He just sat down across from me in our booth and allowed me to eat in silence. He didn't even order anything for himself.
It bothered me not to talk so much that I actually entertained myself by staring at the other strange creatures dwelling around the café for a long time.
"Sit in one position for god knows how long without moving a single muscle" I specify.
"I'm concentrating" is his simple reply.
"On what?" I raise a brow. By now I've completely lost interest in my soup and am staring straight at him.
"On making sure no one around here is a threat" he mutters. I can't believe he's still not moving a muscle (beside his mouth or course. Have I mentioned how bright his lips are? Ok someone slap me, this is getting ridiculous.)
"How the heck are you doing that with your eyes closed???" I say, my face becoming even more questioning.
"I'm scanning the room for any presence that may pose as a threat to you" he says in that same monotone voice that's starting to annoy me. And just as I'm about to ask how he says "It's a Jedi thing."
I huff, did he just like read my mind or something?
He opens his eyes, uncrosses his arms and pushes himself to sit up straight. He takes a deep breath "Are you done yet?"
"No. No I'm not" I almost twitch. "Hurry up" he mumbles. There's a certain edge to his voice.
"Fine, fine" I say picking up my spoon and resuming my eating.
"Hurry up Padme" he says "er-sorry milady" he corrects himself immediately. It disappoints me to a degree. For some reason I feel comfortable with him calling me by my name.
"No, please call me Padme. I need someone to remind me I'm a human every once in a while" I smile.
He laughs. A small cover up laugh for whatever thought is running through his head right now that he's trying to hide from me.
"And that person can't be Anakin?" he asks with a cocky grin on his face.
"No" I answer a bit forcefully.
He doesn't bother to press the matter.
"Come on Padme, hurry up" he says, this time the urgency clear in his voice. I suddenly wonder what's got him so nervous.
I look down and pretend to eat but look up at him occasionally. And most of the time I meet his green eyes staring back at me but there are a couple of times I catch his pupils shifting to glance over his shoulder.
I don't see what he's looking at among all those creatures walking around behind him.
Whatever it is must have suddenly really bothered him because he then stands up and throws a good amount of credits on the table before growling "We're leaving. Come on" and he says it in a voice I know not to take lightly. But still I can't help but ask why.
"Stop talking and come on" he says. This time he takes a hold of my arm and pulls me out of the booth.
He begins to pull me out of the café faster than I can keep up. And by the time we're a couple of steps away from the café I feel like he's gonna rip my arm off so I finally protest "Garen come on I can't keep up, slow down!"
"There's no time to slow down" he growls, not even bothering to acknowledge that I just accidentally called him by his name again "They know we're here" his step gets faster with those words.
"Who knows we're-" but before I can finish my sentence he spins around.
And in one swift movement, pushes me behind him, whips out his lightsaber, activates the green blade and blocks about a half a dozen blaster shots that where heading right towards where I was standing less than a second ago.
It makes me have half a heart attack knowing that if Garen's reaction was even a second slower I would be dead. And then it horrifies me even more when a man in blue armor comes charging through the crowds, right toward us.
"Sithspit" Garen curses under his breath. He deactivates his lightsaber and clips it to his belt. He glances over his shoulder and spots our rented speeder parked something around 20 feet away.
He takes my hand, grips it as tightly as possible and breaks into a run towards the speeder. I'm barely keeping up with him but after what seems like forever we reach the speeder.
Garen doesn't even bother to unlock and open the doors. He just places his hands firmly on either sides of my hips (which I would have found very uncomfortable if we where in a less life threatening situation) and lifts me up into the speeder. I scramble into the passenger seat and strap myself in.
And then much to my horror when Garen is just about to jump in the armored man appears behind him. And I really would have told him to watch out, had my mind been able to comprehend anything at the moment.
But the next thing I know the armored guy grabs Garen by the arm, pulls him back (shit, I think I just heard something pop) and strikes him at the back of the neck with the side of his (armored) palm. Garen's eyes go wide, then his pupils slowly roll up and his body limply sinks to the ground.
"Garen!" I squeak a bit late. Oh my god my Garen's knocked out. Holy crap holy crap holy crap.
I think the armored guy looks down at Garen's body for a second before giving him a rough kick. Then shoving the body behind him.
"No! Leave him alone!" I scream, tears springing to my eyes. I don't know what I'm more terrified of at the moment, the fact that Garen's being harassed or that I know this guy's gonna come for me next.
And just as I thought he looses interest in the unconscious form of my bodyguard and reaches out an arm towards me. I scoot away what little I can out of instinct, now the tears where pouring out of my eyes.
The armored man reaches further and just when I think he's going to grab a hold of me, a shadow comes over the guy.
I look up and see standing behind the guy is..….oh my god Garen. His forehead is bleeding at the side.
Apparently the armored guy noticed the shadow too cause the first thing he does is spin around and shoot an arm out towards a still slightly dazed man behind him.
This time I actually manage to scream out his name. And before he was hit I hear him lightly mutter my name in questioning too. Perhaps remembering he had a job to do…..
It almost makes me sick when the guy's steel fist makes contact with Garen's ear.
His head snaps to a side and when he turns back I see blood gushing out of…….oh my god there's blood freaking gushing out of his ear. But apparently it didn't affect him as much as it did me because he catches the next punch thrown at him.
And then he does something neither me nor our attacker expected.
Garen physically grabs the man's helmeted head and smashes it against the side of the speeded as hard as he possibly can. It definitely shook the man up a bit because he quickly sank to his knees.
Garen takes he opportunity to stumble into the speeder, and without even strapping in he takes off. And within seconds he has us inconspicuously blended into the traffic of daily Naboo.
It scares me to hell that after having his left arm dislocated, being knocked out, being kicked around and having his ear punched into bleeding he's still able to drive, and normally too. Guess it comes with having the skill of a Jedi.
And then it registers. He's alive. Not in the best condition, but alive.
The thought propels me to wrap my arms around his torso (wow just as tight as Obi-Wan and Xanatos, what do these Jedi work out?) and bury my face into his chest "thank god you're alright" I whisper.
"Heh…." He mutters.
I stay on him the whole ride home, seeing it made me feel much safer than sitting up in my seat, open to the view of his bleeding ear (that is unfortunately facing me.)
I didn't realize how much the entire ordeal wore him out until we landed in the hangar. Not until we both climbed out of the speeder and he collapsed at my feet.
Yeah just so you guys know that blue armored due was Jango Fett whom i don't have much talent for describing so dont kill me.
OMG Garen is just so hardcore it has me at the edge of my seat....and i'm the writer!!!! lol i love writing about him, I mean he is just so dammit cool! XD
im so saddened by the fact that i got like 4 reviews on the last chapter....oh well best better take what i get and be happy about it =]
Reviewers get a lifesize cutout of Garen in a suit with a glass of martini in his hand!!!! XD
