Chapter 7 - A New World
DISCLAIMER: We (unfortunately) do not own Star Wars. :P
Author's Note: In which Collette meets Ahsoka and Obi-Wan. :)
~ Amina Gila
There's an all too familiar but very loud beeping and Collette looks over to see Artoo towering over her. Oh... great. Did she seriously just get transported with Anakin and Artoo back to the Star Wars Universe?
"It appears you were a little too close to that portal," observes the giant Anakin standing – more like towering – next to her, sounding altogether too amused. And frankly, she's not sure whether she should find this funny, annoying, or simply panic like she is right now.
"Yes, I can see as much," she states dryly, glancing around the halls and almost regretting it. The walls are so high it's almost dizzying, "... Where even are we?"
"In a part of the Temple no one usually comes too," Anakin answers, "But after so long, I'm not sure if I even remember the way back."
"Oh great," Collette groans, "So I'm stuck in a new universe where I have no idea what it's like, never mind that we're stuck here in a place I've never even thought about being to before."
Artoo beeps. "Well, he knows how to get back to my apartment, so don't lose hope yet," Anakin informs her, a little too cheerily.
"Yeah, well the next question is how am I even supposed to get there? That happens to be a very long walk, and I'd probably be stepped on in the meantime." And unfortunately, she doesn't have Artoo – or the Force – to use to get around more easily. Perfect. Now she's really beginning to feel bad for Anakin when he was stuck so small.
Anakin dares to laugh. "It appears I'll have to carry you."
"Carry me?" she shrieks. Absolutely not. Just no.
"Artoo could carry you if you prefer," he reminds, "But that seems a little too obvious. Not to mention I don't know how you'd get on him in the first place."
He does have a point. Even so, she glares at him the best she can. "Fine," she grouches. He holds his gigantic mechanical hand out to her, and she carefully climbs on, grumbling all the way. This is just so beyond weird.
"Okay, you lead the way Artoo," Anakin orders and Artoo zips away, Anakin following. She does her best not to think about how high off the ground she is. Something glints on his belt – which she quickly realizes is his lightsaber – now bigger than her. Colette releases a startled yelp as Anakin deposits her inside a pocket of his robes, out of sight.
"Shhh," he chides. "If someone hears you, they'll be wondering why my robes are talking. I'll take you out as soon as I reach my apartment." He sounds like he's about to start laughing, only serving to anger her further, but she doesn't say anything – even if she really wants to poke him.
She feels him moving, and it seems to be taking forever to get anywhere. Not surprising, considering the Temple is so enormous, but she's impatient. She has no idea how any of this is going to work. It's not like there's bottle caps in Star Wars, as far as she knows. And how long will she be stuck here as a literal midget? This is going to become unbelievably awkward very quickly. Never mind what would happen to her when Anakin inevitably goes on a mission. Then what?
"Master!" a familiar voice reaches Colette's ears, making her tense excitedly. Ahsoka. "Where have you been?"
"Here and there," Anakin casually shrugs off her concern, though Colette is almost certain he's wondering how long he's been gone.
"You disappeared for several hours," Ahsoka replies, voice laced with irritation, "And you didn't say a word about where you were going."
"I'm here now," Anakin replies lightly.
Silence settles over the two, but Colette hears the sound of Ahsoka's footsteps as she falls into step with her master. Right. Anakin is probably going to have to explain the situation to Ahsoka for sure, since they share their apartment. He probably will want to tell Obi-Wan about it, too.
After what seems like forever, Colette hears what sounds like an apartment door closing, and a few moments later, he pulls her out and sets her down on a window ledge. She glances around, taking in the sight of his room for the first time. Now it's time to have a much-needed discussion.
"How is this ever going to work?" Collette sighs, "It's not like I have a droid to help me around everywhere like you did."
"Well I was thinking... I'll have to tell Obi-Wan and Ahsoka. At least that way you won't have to hide from anyone in my apartment," he replies, before adding as seemingly an afterthought, "And I think it would probably be best for you to stay in Ahsoka's room anyway."
"Yeah probably," she agrees, hastily moving her mind away from the awkward thoughts, "I'm just glad I don't have to be involved in the initial conversation. They'll probably think you're insane."
"Well, who could blame them? Now come on. Let's hurry." Anakin heads to the main room after moving Colette to the floor, and she runs after in an attempt to keep up. This is definitely going to be an extremely awkward conversation. Ahsoka is seated on the couch, completely oblivious to Colette's presence.
Obi-Wan enters the room a moment later, his gaze thankfully not falling on her. "So what did you so urgently want to talk to us about?"
"So..." Anakin begins, sounding terribly uncomfortable. "There was a bit of an incident."
"Like that's unusual," replies Obi-Wan with a smirk.
"What –" Ahsoka's eyes suddenly land on Colette, widening comically. "What is that? Or who –?" Of course, that promptly draws Obi-Wan's eyes to her as well.
"Yes, do explain, Anakin," he advises.
"When I was going through that part of the Temple, it seems the Force decided that it would be a good idea to send me to a different dimension."
"Excuse me?" exclaims Obi-Wan.
"That's impossible!" protests Ahsoka.
"And Artoo was with me so he can prove it," Anakin continues. The droid whistles affirmatively, rolling closer to them and projecting a three-dimensional image of he and Anakin walking down the hall through that part of the Temple before the scene suddenly changes to show them standing on her desk, with a very enormous her standing nearby.
"Don't tell me that's not enough proof," Colette says – more like yells – from her position on the floor.
"But that doesn't explain why there's a midget in your apartment," Obi-Wan objects.
Anakin sighs. "For whatever reason, it shrunk my size, and it seems when a portal opened to bring me back, she got sucked through and shrunk also." Good idea. He would be rather stupid to even try and explain he was technically a toy.
"So, what was your several hour interdimensional excursion like, Skyguy?" asks Ahsoka.
"Apparently, there was a time warp," Anakin observes. "I was there for two weeks." Collette considers intervening in the conversation but decides not to since she feels incredibly awkward being so tiny. Never mind that she finds the entire situation awkward to begin with.
"Hopefully, you had a nice adventure there," Ahsoka chirps.
"The dimension I was taken to," Anakin finally continues, "Apparently has holofilms of our dimension. Of both the past, and what the future will bring."
"Which he decided to look at even though I told him not to," grumbles Colette. She's still annoyed about that little fact. He should never have found out... but maybe it's for the best he did. Anakin was right, after all. The more he knows, the more he light be able to stop. She was originally afraid it might break the universe, but not anymore since everything seems perfectly fine. Aside from the fact that she's stuck the size of his hand.
"You saw holofilms of the future?" Obi-Wan actually seems interested now.
"Some," Anakin confirms, "Artoo has the footage of it all so he can show you later. It's... not the best future at all, to say the least. We'll be having a conversation about it later. But first of all, we've forgotten introductions. Her name is Collette Fernsby."
"Umm... where is she going to stay?" Ahsoka queries after a moment, looking down at Collette again.
"I was hoping she could stay in your room," Anakin says, "Since I didn't think mine was the best option." Ahsoka nods in agreement. "Well," he says, turning to Colette where she remains awkwardly on the floor. "How about Ahsoka takes you to her room while Obi-Wan and I discuss this?"
"What about me?" protests Ahsoka.
"It's something that should probably be just kept for the Council to know," Anakin explains, but Colette is fairly certain the real reason he doesn't want to tell her is because he doesn't want to get someone so young involved in this. "Besides, you should make our guest comfortable in your room."
"Fine," she concedes reluctantly, standing up. Colette hurries after, annoyed at how long it takes to cover the otherwise short distance between her position on the floor and the door to Ahsoka's room. Finally, Ahsoka steps over to her, letting Colette climb onto her hand. Anakin snorts and promptly received a death glare.
"So, what was it like to have a tiny Anakin living in your house?" asks the Togurta with a smirk as she lowers her hand level to the edge of the windowsill, allowing Collette to gingerly step off, nearly face planting in the process. This is becoming very embarrassing very quickly.
"It was awesome," Collette replies, "But also a circus. He was always getting himself in trouble."
Ahsoka laughs. "Of course. Tell me about it." She's practically radiating with excitement.
"Well one time his metal arm got stuck to a giant magnet," She's not sure if they have "refrigerators" exactly in Star Wars, so she refrains from calling it that. "And he fell into the sink once, and a pile of dishes started falling on him. Yes, that was totally his fault though he insists it wasn't. And then he had to jump out and run before someone saw. After that, I gave him the project of making something to charge Artoo so he would stop getting in trouble. But that didn't last long because only a few days later, he was nearly eaten by a cat. I could go on."
Ahsoka laughs. "Tell me more later... First let's see what sort of home I can make for you in here..." She glances around the room with a frown.
"I'd only need stuff for a bed," Collette says, "I didn't exactly give Anakin a house either. The only dollhouse I had around had only half the backdoor left and the front door was missing entirely. The stairs would have been like two feet tall for him and the balcony was so tiny he wouldn't even have been able to stand on it. The toilet was the size of a person, and the bathroom and kitchen sinks... well, you couldn't even stick a finger in them. Never mind the fact that there wasn't even a way to get between the floors in the first place."
"I don't even have a doll house at all, so I couldn't even offer you a broken one," Ahsoka chuckles.
"Well," Colette suggests, "I guess we better start making something, but I'll be rather bored here alone."
"We'll be here most of the time until we have to go on another mission," Ahsoka assures her.
Colette nods, glancing up at the darkening window. This is definitely not a situation she expected to get herself into. She's glad to be here, but she's not sure how she'll get home. As much as she wants to stay here, she has a life back on Earth which needs attention. For now, though, she'll just have to wait and see what the future brings.