Confrontations at a Lake

Chapter Nine – Nightmares of Reality

(A/N: This probably will be the last chapter that I will update in awhile. I, to put it nicely, am unable to be on the computer, until around the middle of July, to be actually able to RP with Obi-Wan. Sorry for the inconvenience, my friends. Thanks so much for reading! Enjoy!)

Obi-Wan was thrown back into his cell, rolling until he painfully hit the wall. Ice water still dripped from his hair and growing beard. He squeezed the water out of his hair, into his hand, and drank it up, savoring every drop. Nothing all that bad had happened today, just some extremely cold ice water, and an up-in-your-face interrogator. They were probably letting him heal a bit before they started in on the real torture. He looked up towards his small window, and guessed it to be early morning. Padmé was never awake this early in the morning, and he'd always taken a few minutes to watch her sleep. Her face had no lines or sour expressions that were always directed towards him. She was always beautiful in the morning light. Obi-Wan sighed and closed his eyes, imagining her face, smiling to him.

---

Padmé was burning up with fever. She was delirious and thrashing in bed, moaning unintelligible words, from where Aeryn was standing, anyway. Her mouth pinched into a frown as she walked over to the girl, wiping her face with a wet cloth.

"No..have..no..don't do this." Padmé moaned in pain, thrashing around again. She groaned these words out in her delirium at an invisible enemy. "Leave...must...save...I have to save him..." Her fingers clutched the bedsheet tightly, tears on her cheeks, the scene of him being taken away replaying in her mind, in this delirium of hell. Aeryn frowned and ignored her words, until she started thrashing even harder.

---

Obi-Wan laid his body down and curled up, trying to sleep. The image of Padmé's beautiful face helped him fall asleep quickly in his small cell. He fell asleep peacefully for the first time since he'd been there, and stayed that way for several minutes before he started to dream.

//Padmé was there, being attacked by wolves. He was too, but he could've done something. Saved her. Anything. She lay on the ground. For a few seconds he thought her to be dead and his heart cried out, but she moved. Thank the Gods she was moving, he fell over. Padmé...she was over him now, trying to help him. To feel her touch was heartwarming. He felt like he was safe, thought far from it.

He couldn't see anything for a few minutes, but then he woke up, to see her firing her arrow at a guard of some sort. How'd they get here, and why were the guards attacking them? Nothing mattered as he saw the man fall and another come to take his place, pulling his arm back to fire an arrow at her.

He was hurt badly. She would definitely live. She didn't deserve an arrow. He practically fell off Comet and jumped in the arrow's path, pushing her out of the way. He heard his name screamed out in surprise and horror. She landed on top of him, shock all over her face. The only thing that mattered was she was safe. Her hands were in his shirt now and she was crying.

He wished she wouldn't cry. "I'm so sorry..." she said. Sorry for what? he wondered. She'd been the best thing that happened to him. He loved her, why was she sorry? She kissed him. She just leaned down and kissed him. It could've been a kiss of gratitude, but it didn't feel like that. It felt real, like she really loved him, really wanted to kiss him. He felt so wonderful, even after all the pain he'd been through.

Somehow he managed to speak, "It's not your fault, love." He would've caressed her cheek had he found the will to move. He felt numb. Paralyzed. Guards yanked them up. He needed to tell her he loved her. He didn't know how much time he had left. He swore he heard a boom, like the false floor of the gallows, falling out...//

Obi-Wan awoke with a start and looked around frantically. The noise...it was only the sword against the bars of his cell. He looked around a bit more, calmly this time, breathing hard from his dream. Why? He asked himself.

---

"You have to save who, Evey?" Aeryn asked softly, wiping the sweat off her face again, her thrashing had subsided. She was still sick though.

"I-I have to save him..." Padmé actually attempted to sit up, she was so dead set on saving this person, and Aeryn had an inkling as to who it could've been. Padmé struggled to sit up again, crying because of the pain both inside and out. "He's not safe. He needs me..." Padmé crumpled against Aeryn's body, clutching onto her. "He needs me..."

"No Evey. You can't save him. You have to stay here, you're not well. I'll take care of you, you'll be fine." Aeryn hugged Evey to her, stroking her hair. "Shh, it's alright. I'm here for you." Evey's body trembled beneath her arms, and her body was on fire. Her heart ached at the grief so evident in the girl's life.

"NO! I have to save him! HE NEEDS ME!" The blaze in Evey's eyes scared Aeryn. She suddenly was shoved backwards powerfully, by the girl. Evey stumbled towards the door and almost reached the it. An arm went around her waist, stopping her from going outside. She sobbed as she frantically reached for the door. He needed her. She needed him.

"You don't understand!" She screamed, fighting against the arm.

Aeryn hauled Evey back onto her bed, staring her in the eyes.

"Evey, how do you propose saving him, if you're like THIS. You can barely walk on your own legs. You don't even know where you are. You can't save him until you get better, and you can't get better unless you stay here, with me. You are my responsibility, and I know how you feel. I know how strongly you want to save him, and you will, but not without my help. You need to get healthy first. You're sick with fever."

Padmé nodded weakly, sobbing, but softer. She continued to tremble, his face in her mind. She lay back on the bed, panting with the effort.

"I'm so, so tired.." She shivered uncontrollably, yet sweat was on her body. She covered herself with the blanket, squeezing her eyes shut, trying not to think about Obi-Wan getting tortured.

---

After the guard dumped him back into his cell, Obi-Wan laid back down. She'd kissed him. He didn't seem to realize that he'd kissed her and told her he loved her, or that she was gone, probably forever, or that he was going to die here. Just that she'd kissed him, and he was overfilled with happiness. He fell asleep easily with the thought of Padmé's kiss still fresh in his mind, but his second dream would snap him back to reality.

//He woke up. There was a man in his cell, but he didn't care. Padmé was across the aisle from him. He so desparately wanted to shout 'I love you' to her, as she looked like she was on the verge of tears. She could've been crying before, he couldn't tell. Their conversation revolved around how they were going to get out of this.

A jail was no place for his beautiful Padmé. He had to get her out of here, so he agreed to take the blame. He was going to die anyway, and it'd be all the more worth dieing if Padmé got out alive.

She cried a lot. He wished she wouldn't cry again. Her eyes turned a different shade of brown, and he wished he would've never seen that shade, as she had to cry to achieve it. He promised himself to do anything in his power to never see that shade again. He claimed blame, and Padmé got away. Her accent and acting was amazing, though he liked her normal soothing voice.

They were carried out, and Padmé looked on the verge of tears again. 'Please, please don't cry.' he thought. He wished he could say everything would be ok. He could never lie to her. He stepped towards her and kissed her without even thinking, and whispered 'I love you.'. He'd waited so long to say that. So many nights contemplating how and when to say it, and it comes out that way, as a whisper in her ear.

He was being pulled away from her and she cried. 'Say it back!' he wanted to yell, 'Please...don't leave me not knowing.'//

The tapping of a sword against bars woke him. She hadn't said anything. Nothing at all, just cried. He put his head in his hands. "No.." He cried openly for the first time in a long time.

---

Padmé's eyes suddenly snapped open as she felt something touch her right arm. She hissed in pain, tears quickly coming to her eyes again. Padmé shivered as she laid there, looking around. Aeryn was across the room, so what had touched her? It had felt like a hand. It was the delirium talking...yes...the delirium..

"You'll never see him again. You'll never save him. You're too weak, too pathetic." A man hissed, crushing her arm.

"AERYN! HELP ME!" The healer ran over to her, a frown on her face.

"What's wrong? Evey, what's wrong?" Aeryn quickly took in her wide eyes, and looked in the direction that Evey's eyes kept swiveling. She put her arms on Evey's shoulders when the girl cried out in pain.

"Don't you see him? DON'T YOU SEE HIM?" Evey cried, looking at the man again, who was now behind Aeryn. Aeryn quickly turned out, seeing nothing. She tried to calm herself as she looked back to Evey.

"Evey, there's nothing there! It's all in your mind!"

"WATCH OUT!" Padmé's cry came too late, the man had already picked up a tool and had thrusted it in Aeryn's head. Aeryn fell to the ground, blood pooling around her. Padmé couldn't stop screaming. She couldn't even move. She tried so hard to stop screaming. Aeryn's wide eyes stared back at her, her lifeless eyes, looking at her from the floor, as if accusing her of letting her get killed...

Padmé's eyes snapped open as she felt someone shaking her awake. She stopped screaming, her mouth open, breathing hard. Her eyes immediately focused on the compassionate healer's face, looking down at her with great concern. Tears ran down Padmé's face as she clutched onto the healer's shirt weakly.

"You died. I saw you...there was a man..and he-he killed...you died."

Aeryn sat on the edge of the bed, hugging her, soothing her.

"It's alright Evey. It's fine You're here, I'm not dead."

"He...he said I wouldn't be able to save him...that I was too weak, too pathetic..." Padmé hiccuped, trying to stop crying. "I can't stand this, I just can't."

Aeryn soothed her hair.

"Shh, here," she gently eased Evey out of her grip. "I'll be right back to get you something to calm you down." She put some stuff together, stirring it in a tea cup. Aeryn sat beside Evey, helping her sit up. She gently put the cup in her hands.

"Here, drink this."

Padmé sipped from the cup, wincing at the bitter aftertaste. Her heart beat to it's regular pace, and suddenly she felt very tired. Her eyes slide closed, making no protest as Aeryn laid her on the bed again, asleep before her head hit the pillow.