New Beginnings
Author: Celestia Vitaria
Disclaimer: I don't own George Lucas' characters or Star Wars, though I wish I did. Although if George is willing to sell it to me...LOL!!! J/K! Nor do I make any money off of this. So please don't sue me!!! I have no money or anything of value. Any unrecognizable characters belong to me and my friend who so graciously helped me write this. (Casey belongs to my friend, Layla *a.k.a. Fox* and Aria belong to me. DO NOT STEAL OUR CHARACTERS! DO IT AND FACE OUR WRATH!!!)
Summary: Just a strange little thing my friend and I came up with one day when we were bored. We get zapped into the Star Wars universe during TPM just in time to head to Naboo and change *that* scene *cough cough DENIAL*!!! QUI-GON SHOULDN'T HAVE DIED!!!!!! *ahem* Anyway, before I get *too* carried away...PLEASE R&R!!! I MEAN IT! DON'T MAKE ME BEG, B/C I WILL!!! And yes, I know something like this has already been done (i.e. ppl being zapped into the universe we all know & love) but this story is completely different!!! So nobody have a cow! Ok, I'll shut up now.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The snow fell silently outside, listlessly covering the world in a beautiful blanket of white. I watched it for a moment, then sighed and took another sip of my hot chocolate, turning my attention back to the television. I was watching The Phantom Menace for what must have been the ten-thousandth time since I'd bought it.
Just then, I heard someone knocking on the front door. I set my glass down on the end table next to the sofa and put the movie on stop.
"Come on in, Casey. The door is unlocked," I called.
A moment later the front door opened and Casey walked in, shutting the door behind her. She had a small duffle bag slung over her shoulder, which she dropped unceremoniously on the floor in front of the couch as she sat down. I looked on curiously as she started to rummage through her bag.
"What did you bring?" I asked after a minute, unable to bear the suspense any longer.
"Ewan and Liam," she answered.
"Oh, nu-uh! There's no way! Besides, isn't that bag of yours just a little too small?" I remarked.
Casey only rolled her eyes and laughed at me. "Okay, now that was funny. No, I didn't actually bring them, though I wish I did," she said.
I nodded my agreement and gave a dramatic sigh. "Yes, indeed. 'Tis such a horrible loss on their part. But perhaps someday their paths shall cross ours and all shall be right in the world," I declared jokingly, letting a rather convincing British accent seep into my voice.
"Yeah, we wish, anyway," Casey said.
"That's true. It could probably only happen in our twisted minds," I said.
Casey gave me a mock-indignant look. "Hey, who are you calling twisted?" she asked.
I shrugged. "Both of us, as in yourself included in that," I smirked.
"You're nuts, Layla. You do realize that, right?" she shot back.
I stuck my tongue out at her and was about to fire a comeback at her when I noticed that the room seemed to be getting brighter. Confused, I turned and saw a strange blue light starting to form.
"Ummm, Casey?" I stammered fearfully, tapping her on the shoulder frantically to get her attention.
"What?" she asked, looking up from rummaging in her bag again.
My voice had caught in my throat by now, so instead I started gesturing wildly. Favoring me with a curious look, she turned and followed my gaze, her dark eyes widening in shock as she realized what was happening.
"What the...?!" she blurted out just before an overly-bright flash of light blinded us both. A wave of dizziness flooded over me, and the next thing I knew, I had blacked out.
When I finally came back to consciousness, I found myself in a different world, laying on a bed of some sort. I started to panic and tried to sit up, but someone pushed me back down gently into the pillow behind me.
"Whoa, whoa. Lie still," said a kind female voice.
By now my vision had cleared, but I was still disoriented and scared. Slowly I turned my head and nearly screamed when I saw the figure hovering over me. She was tall and slender of build, but her skin was a pale blue and instead of hair, she had two tail-like appendages protruding from the top of her head. She wore a light-colored tunic and pants, with a long, dark brown robe draping over them.
"Where am I? Who are you?" I asked, almost dreading her response. I had the feeling I knew exactly what had happened, but I wasn't really sure that I wanted to hear the answer anyway.
"You don't remember?" the woman asked, favoring me with a look of concern. When I shook my head, she sighed and smiled down at me sympathetically. "I'm Healer Aria. You're in the infirmary in the Jedi Temple. It was Master Jinn who brought you here. He said he found you and another girl out in the gardens, unconscious," she explained.
I stared at her in pure shock, unable to speak for a long time. Finally I regained my voice. "Ummm, the Jedi Temple? Unconscious in the gardens? Master Jinn? As in Master Qui-Gon Jinn?" I stammered in utter disbelief as I tried to let what she had just told me sink in.
Surely she couldn't be saying what I thought...no, hoped...she was saying. It just wasn't possible! Was it? But then again, if all of this was nothing more than merely a practical joke that someone was playing on us, not only was it not in the *least* bit amusing, but it was also a really cruel and very elaborate joke at that.
"Yes, why do you ask?" Aria inquired, once again giving me a concerned look.
"Oh. My. God. We did it. We actually did it. This is really happening," I gasped, only half aware that I had even spoken those words out loud.
"Did what?" Aria asked, her brow now knitting together in confusion.
But before I could offer some lame excuse, we heard a quiet moan from the other side of the room. I watched in silence as Aria moved to tend to the only other occupant in the room, who I quickly realized was Casey. After a moment, she opened her eyes, took one look at Aria, and completely freaked out. I sighed and rolled my eyes, shaking my head as I sat up.
"Casey, calm down! It's all right!" I called to her.
Calming down slightly, she turned to look at me. "Layla? Are you all right? What's going on here?" she asked, casting a wary glance at Aria.
The aforementioned Healer merely stood there, staring at the two of us in what I could only figure to be total confusion. I had the distinct feeling that the woman was starting to lose her patience with us. Not that I could really say that I blamed her. I suppose that having two of your patients completely freak out on you as soon as they saw you would be enough to try even a Jedi Healer's patience.
Finally I decided to take pity on her. "Ummm, can I talk to my friend alone for a moment? Nothing personal," I said.
"Certainly. If either of you need anything, just call. I have some other patients that I need to check on," Aria agreed, taking her leave of us.
As soon as Aria was out of earshot, Casey slid down from the bed that she had been laying on, steadying herself for a moment, apparently dizzyheaded from standing up too quickly. Then she walked over to me, the expression on her face demanding some kind of explanation to the situation that we were currently in. Answers that I most likely didn't have.
"Okay, Layla. What is going on here? Where are we?" she asked.
I sighed, and I suppose I must have looked really pitiful in that moment, because some of my friend's irritation faded from her dark brown eyes. Taking a deep breath, I braced myself before I spoke. I had absolutely no idea as to just how she was going to react to the news.
"Well, ummm, I'm not really, entirely sure as to what exactly is going on. Yet. But what I do know from what Aria was telling me is that we're in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, in the infirmary. Oh, and it gets much better, trust me. Guess who found us out in the gardens, unconscious mind you, and brought us here? Get a load of this. Master Qui-Gon Jinn," I replied.
Casey merely stared at me in stunned silence. Her jaw had dropped to the ground for a moment as she plopped down in a chair beside my bed. She shook her head, not speaking, and stared at the white tiled floor for a long time.
It was then that I took stock of our appearances. Instead of the t-shirt, jeans and tennis shoes ensemble that we'd both had earlier, we now wore light tan-colored tunics and pants, and long, flowing dark brown robes over them. We both had lightsabers, not the fake ones that we had constructed a few months ago in a moment of sheer boredom, but the real things. Casey's dark hair was now close to shoulder-length, barely shorter than my own auburn curls, and we both sported the traditional Padawan braid.
"This is impossible. It can't be really happening. It's all just a really strange dream, and I'm going to wake up any time now," Casey muttered quietly to herself, the words only half coherent as she finally turned her gaze up from the floor to look at me.
"No, Casey. It's not a dream. We're really here. I mean, look at our clothes and the braids. And look, real lightsabers," I said.
With that, I stood up somewhat shakily and unclipped the lightsaber from my belt. I backed away from Casey so I wouldn't hurt her and pressed the activation button. Seconds later, the magenta blade blazed into existence with a snap-hiss. For a moment, the only sound in the room was the quiet, eerie humming of the blade and that of our breathing. Casey and I both stared at it, transfixed.
Finally Casey spoke, breaking the awkward silence that had inexplicably fallen in the air between us. "All right. So now what do we do?" she asked as I shut down the lightsaber and hooked it back onto my belt.
I shrugged. "I don't know. The only thing I can think of that we can do really would be to find out if anyone saw anything strange and then take it from there. Maybe if someone knows how we got here, they can help us find a way to get back home," I replied, though I had no intention whatsoever of leaving this place.
"I suppose you've got a point there, but the only person who might have actually seen anything would be Qui-Gon. How are we going to find him?" Casey pointed out.
"Find who?" Aria asked as she came back into the room, having walked in on the last part of our conversation.
"Master Jinn. We need to talk to him," I answered.
"Well, I don't know if you'd be able to do that right now. I think he and Obi-Wan left a few minutes after they brought you here. If I remember correctly, they were going to accompany Queen Amidala back to Naboo," Aria explained.
Casey and I exchanged horrified glances and went very pale. "Ummm, Naboo?" I stammered.
"Yes, I believe so. Why? Are you both all right?"
"Yeah. We're fine. Just out of curiosity, when are we being released?" Casey spoke up before I even got the chance to do so.
Aria glanced at a small datapad in her hand. "Well, everything seems to be all right, so I guess you can go now," she said.
"Thanks Aria. Come on, Casey. We've got to go. Now," I said, grabbing her arm and hurrying out of the infirmary.
"Strange girls," I heard Aria mutter behind us as we left.
Casey and I hurried down the Temple corridors, ignoring the ocassional stares that we got from passers-by. Finally Casey must have decided that she'd had enough of me practically dragging her around. She pulled her arm free from my grip and stopped, giving me and irritated glare as she crossed her arms over her chest. I, too, stopped and turned back to face her rather impatiently.
"Casey, what's the matter? We're running a little short on time here, in case you haven't noticed," I remarked.
"What? Short on time? Layla, what the Sith are you talking about?" Casey demanded, looking at me as though she thought I had just lost my mind. Perhaps I had.
"What do you think, Casey? We have to get to Naboo and help them," I said impatiently, my hands resting on my hips and my chin lifted slightly in a gesture of defiance.
Casey and I stood facing each other down in the hallway, our wills clashing in the silence. I knew she was only protesting to this because she was worried about us getting hurt or killed, but I was also too stubborn to back down. In my mind, I was doing the right thing, regardless of what Casey had in mind.
Finally she spoke up. "What are you planning to do?" she asked, unable to keep the exasperation out of her tone.
"I don't know about you, but I'll tell you what *I'm* going to do. I'm going to find the docking bay, get on a ship and go to Naboo," I said.
"Layla, no. For one thing, neither one of us knows how to pilot a ship, and for another, you know just as well as I do that every time you come up with some cockamamie scheme like this, it always backfires on both of us," she protested.
"Casey, don't you remember how we both said that if it were up to us, Qui-Gon never would have died? Well, now we have the chance to change things," I said.
"This isn't even our world, Layla. What can we possibly do?" she pointed out.
I sighed and turned away from her for a moment. "Maybe not, but I feel like I belong here," I muttered, finally turning back to face her. "But then, you have a family and a true home to go back to. I don't. I don't have anybody."
She laid her hand gently on my arm. "Layla, you know that's not true. You have your friends," she said. "Why are you so eager to go and get yourself killed for someone that you don't even know and a world that's not even yours?"
I pulled away from her roughly then, obviously having startled her, because she took an involuntary step backwards, eyeing me almost warily. My honey-colored eyes narrowed in an expression of grim determination as I glared at her.
"I should have known you wouldn't understand. For one thing, I'm not going to go and get myself killed, and for another, I'm not going back, even if we do figure out a way out of here. It's time for me to move on, and this life is how I want to start again. If you don't want to come with me, then fine. Don't. Stay here if you want to. But make up your mind now, Cas, because I'm not going to stand idly by when I have the chance to prevent this whole thing from happening," I snapped angrily.
Casey sighed. "Layla, please. Listen to me..." she started to say before I interrupted her.
"No. I need to do this. Now are you in, or not?" I said.
She fell silent, staring at the tiled floor for a long time. Watching her face, I could see her visable mental debate. Unconsciously I began to fidget with the sapphire and blue topaz pendant that I wore on a thin gold chain around my neck.
Finally she turned her gaze up from the floor to mine, a look of exasperated surrender in her eyes. Inwardly I sighed in relief. I would have gone alone if I'd had to, but I hadn't really wanted to. She was one of my 'partners in crime' so to speak, and it wouldn't have been quite as much fun if I had gone by myself.
"I'm probably going to regret going along with this insane scheme of yours, but all right, I'm in," she agreed reluctantly.
"Great! Come on, let's get going!" I said, once again grabbing her arm and rushing down the corridor.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Casey muttered. I rolled my eyes.
It only took us a few minutes to find the docking bay. Once we reached the hanger, we ducked into the shadows so as not to be seen by anybody. Trying to explain why we were *borrowing* one of the Coucil's transports and heading for Naboo would be really difficult, even for us, and quite frankly, I really was not in the mood for such stupid delays right now.
Cautiously I poked my head around the corner, making sure the coast was clear. Then I turned back to Casey and gestured towards a small transport with an open ramp. She followed my gaze and nodded. Both of us had realized that we were able to actually use the Force, and I did so now, making absolutely certain that there wasn't anyone on board our chosen transport.
Finally satisfied that we were safe from prying eyes, for the time being at least, I gave Casey the signal and we made a mad dash for the ship, sprinting up the boarding ramp and shutting it quickly behind us. Hurrying into the cockpit, I dropped into the pilot's seat and started to examine the control panel in front of me.
Just then, Casey burst into the cockpit in a panic. I glanced up at her questioningly as she dropped down into the co-pilot's seat next to me.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Ummm, I don't want to sound pushy, Fox, but I think we'd better hurry and get out of here now," she said, her voice taking on a strangely urgent tone.
Now it was my turn to look confused. "Why?" I asked, not particularly liking where this conversation was most likely going.
Suddenly we heard angry shouts coming from somewhere just outside and the sound of said extremely PO'ed someone pounding on the ship's sealed airlock door, trying to get in. "We've got company! HURRY UP!" Casey gasped.
"All right, all right! I'm trying here! Ummm, okay, let's try this one," I muttered under my breath.
Reaching out blindly, I pulled back on a random lever, hoping against all hopes that it was the one that would start the ship's engines. Unfortunately, I wasn't that lucky. I never am. Instead of starting the ship's engines, the ship lurched up on its side, nearly throwing us both to the deck.
"Oh, crap! That's not it!" I screeched shrilly.
"LAYLA!" Casey shouted, gesturing frantically out the front viewport.
"Okay, why in blazes do they even *have* that lever?!" I muttered half to myself as I finally managed to steady the transport.
"You know, sometime this CENTURY would be good, Layla!" Casey remarked sarcastically.
Author: Celestia Vitaria
Disclaimer: I don't own George Lucas' characters or Star Wars, though I wish I did. Although if George is willing to sell it to me...LOL!!! J/K! Nor do I make any money off of this. So please don't sue me!!! I have no money or anything of value. Any unrecognizable characters belong to me and my friend who so graciously helped me write this. (Casey belongs to my friend, Layla *a.k.a. Fox* and Aria belong to me. DO NOT STEAL OUR CHARACTERS! DO IT AND FACE OUR WRATH!!!)
Summary: Just a strange little thing my friend and I came up with one day when we were bored. We get zapped into the Star Wars universe during TPM just in time to head to Naboo and change *that* scene *cough cough DENIAL*!!! QUI-GON SHOULDN'T HAVE DIED!!!!!! *ahem* Anyway, before I get *too* carried away...PLEASE R&R!!! I MEAN IT! DON'T MAKE ME BEG, B/C I WILL!!! And yes, I know something like this has already been done (i.e. ppl being zapped into the universe we all know & love) but this story is completely different!!! So nobody have a cow! Ok, I'll shut up now.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The snow fell silently outside, listlessly covering the world in a beautiful blanket of white. I watched it for a moment, then sighed and took another sip of my hot chocolate, turning my attention back to the television. I was watching The Phantom Menace for what must have been the ten-thousandth time since I'd bought it.
Just then, I heard someone knocking on the front door. I set my glass down on the end table next to the sofa and put the movie on stop.
"Come on in, Casey. The door is unlocked," I called.
A moment later the front door opened and Casey walked in, shutting the door behind her. She had a small duffle bag slung over her shoulder, which she dropped unceremoniously on the floor in front of the couch as she sat down. I looked on curiously as she started to rummage through her bag.
"What did you bring?" I asked after a minute, unable to bear the suspense any longer.
"Ewan and Liam," she answered.
"Oh, nu-uh! There's no way! Besides, isn't that bag of yours just a little too small?" I remarked.
Casey only rolled her eyes and laughed at me. "Okay, now that was funny. No, I didn't actually bring them, though I wish I did," she said.
I nodded my agreement and gave a dramatic sigh. "Yes, indeed. 'Tis such a horrible loss on their part. But perhaps someday their paths shall cross ours and all shall be right in the world," I declared jokingly, letting a rather convincing British accent seep into my voice.
"Yeah, we wish, anyway," Casey said.
"That's true. It could probably only happen in our twisted minds," I said.
Casey gave me a mock-indignant look. "Hey, who are you calling twisted?" she asked.
I shrugged. "Both of us, as in yourself included in that," I smirked.
"You're nuts, Layla. You do realize that, right?" she shot back.
I stuck my tongue out at her and was about to fire a comeback at her when I noticed that the room seemed to be getting brighter. Confused, I turned and saw a strange blue light starting to form.
"Ummm, Casey?" I stammered fearfully, tapping her on the shoulder frantically to get her attention.
"What?" she asked, looking up from rummaging in her bag again.
My voice had caught in my throat by now, so instead I started gesturing wildly. Favoring me with a curious look, she turned and followed my gaze, her dark eyes widening in shock as she realized what was happening.
"What the...?!" she blurted out just before an overly-bright flash of light blinded us both. A wave of dizziness flooded over me, and the next thing I knew, I had blacked out.
When I finally came back to consciousness, I found myself in a different world, laying on a bed of some sort. I started to panic and tried to sit up, but someone pushed me back down gently into the pillow behind me.
"Whoa, whoa. Lie still," said a kind female voice.
By now my vision had cleared, but I was still disoriented and scared. Slowly I turned my head and nearly screamed when I saw the figure hovering over me. She was tall and slender of build, but her skin was a pale blue and instead of hair, she had two tail-like appendages protruding from the top of her head. She wore a light-colored tunic and pants, with a long, dark brown robe draping over them.
"Where am I? Who are you?" I asked, almost dreading her response. I had the feeling I knew exactly what had happened, but I wasn't really sure that I wanted to hear the answer anyway.
"You don't remember?" the woman asked, favoring me with a look of concern. When I shook my head, she sighed and smiled down at me sympathetically. "I'm Healer Aria. You're in the infirmary in the Jedi Temple. It was Master Jinn who brought you here. He said he found you and another girl out in the gardens, unconscious," she explained.
I stared at her in pure shock, unable to speak for a long time. Finally I regained my voice. "Ummm, the Jedi Temple? Unconscious in the gardens? Master Jinn? As in Master Qui-Gon Jinn?" I stammered in utter disbelief as I tried to let what she had just told me sink in.
Surely she couldn't be saying what I thought...no, hoped...she was saying. It just wasn't possible! Was it? But then again, if all of this was nothing more than merely a practical joke that someone was playing on us, not only was it not in the *least* bit amusing, but it was also a really cruel and very elaborate joke at that.
"Yes, why do you ask?" Aria inquired, once again giving me a concerned look.
"Oh. My. God. We did it. We actually did it. This is really happening," I gasped, only half aware that I had even spoken those words out loud.
"Did what?" Aria asked, her brow now knitting together in confusion.
But before I could offer some lame excuse, we heard a quiet moan from the other side of the room. I watched in silence as Aria moved to tend to the only other occupant in the room, who I quickly realized was Casey. After a moment, she opened her eyes, took one look at Aria, and completely freaked out. I sighed and rolled my eyes, shaking my head as I sat up.
"Casey, calm down! It's all right!" I called to her.
Calming down slightly, she turned to look at me. "Layla? Are you all right? What's going on here?" she asked, casting a wary glance at Aria.
The aforementioned Healer merely stood there, staring at the two of us in what I could only figure to be total confusion. I had the distinct feeling that the woman was starting to lose her patience with us. Not that I could really say that I blamed her. I suppose that having two of your patients completely freak out on you as soon as they saw you would be enough to try even a Jedi Healer's patience.
Finally I decided to take pity on her. "Ummm, can I talk to my friend alone for a moment? Nothing personal," I said.
"Certainly. If either of you need anything, just call. I have some other patients that I need to check on," Aria agreed, taking her leave of us.
As soon as Aria was out of earshot, Casey slid down from the bed that she had been laying on, steadying herself for a moment, apparently dizzyheaded from standing up too quickly. Then she walked over to me, the expression on her face demanding some kind of explanation to the situation that we were currently in. Answers that I most likely didn't have.
"Okay, Layla. What is going on here? Where are we?" she asked.
I sighed, and I suppose I must have looked really pitiful in that moment, because some of my friend's irritation faded from her dark brown eyes. Taking a deep breath, I braced myself before I spoke. I had absolutely no idea as to just how she was going to react to the news.
"Well, ummm, I'm not really, entirely sure as to what exactly is going on. Yet. But what I do know from what Aria was telling me is that we're in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, in the infirmary. Oh, and it gets much better, trust me. Guess who found us out in the gardens, unconscious mind you, and brought us here? Get a load of this. Master Qui-Gon Jinn," I replied.
Casey merely stared at me in stunned silence. Her jaw had dropped to the ground for a moment as she plopped down in a chair beside my bed. She shook her head, not speaking, and stared at the white tiled floor for a long time.
It was then that I took stock of our appearances. Instead of the t-shirt, jeans and tennis shoes ensemble that we'd both had earlier, we now wore light tan-colored tunics and pants, and long, flowing dark brown robes over them. We both had lightsabers, not the fake ones that we had constructed a few months ago in a moment of sheer boredom, but the real things. Casey's dark hair was now close to shoulder-length, barely shorter than my own auburn curls, and we both sported the traditional Padawan braid.
"This is impossible. It can't be really happening. It's all just a really strange dream, and I'm going to wake up any time now," Casey muttered quietly to herself, the words only half coherent as she finally turned her gaze up from the floor to look at me.
"No, Casey. It's not a dream. We're really here. I mean, look at our clothes and the braids. And look, real lightsabers," I said.
With that, I stood up somewhat shakily and unclipped the lightsaber from my belt. I backed away from Casey so I wouldn't hurt her and pressed the activation button. Seconds later, the magenta blade blazed into existence with a snap-hiss. For a moment, the only sound in the room was the quiet, eerie humming of the blade and that of our breathing. Casey and I both stared at it, transfixed.
Finally Casey spoke, breaking the awkward silence that had inexplicably fallen in the air between us. "All right. So now what do we do?" she asked as I shut down the lightsaber and hooked it back onto my belt.
I shrugged. "I don't know. The only thing I can think of that we can do really would be to find out if anyone saw anything strange and then take it from there. Maybe if someone knows how we got here, they can help us find a way to get back home," I replied, though I had no intention whatsoever of leaving this place.
"I suppose you've got a point there, but the only person who might have actually seen anything would be Qui-Gon. How are we going to find him?" Casey pointed out.
"Find who?" Aria asked as she came back into the room, having walked in on the last part of our conversation.
"Master Jinn. We need to talk to him," I answered.
"Well, I don't know if you'd be able to do that right now. I think he and Obi-Wan left a few minutes after they brought you here. If I remember correctly, they were going to accompany Queen Amidala back to Naboo," Aria explained.
Casey and I exchanged horrified glances and went very pale. "Ummm, Naboo?" I stammered.
"Yes, I believe so. Why? Are you both all right?"
"Yeah. We're fine. Just out of curiosity, when are we being released?" Casey spoke up before I even got the chance to do so.
Aria glanced at a small datapad in her hand. "Well, everything seems to be all right, so I guess you can go now," she said.
"Thanks Aria. Come on, Casey. We've got to go. Now," I said, grabbing her arm and hurrying out of the infirmary.
"Strange girls," I heard Aria mutter behind us as we left.
Casey and I hurried down the Temple corridors, ignoring the ocassional stares that we got from passers-by. Finally Casey must have decided that she'd had enough of me practically dragging her around. She pulled her arm free from my grip and stopped, giving me and irritated glare as she crossed her arms over her chest. I, too, stopped and turned back to face her rather impatiently.
"Casey, what's the matter? We're running a little short on time here, in case you haven't noticed," I remarked.
"What? Short on time? Layla, what the Sith are you talking about?" Casey demanded, looking at me as though she thought I had just lost my mind. Perhaps I had.
"What do you think, Casey? We have to get to Naboo and help them," I said impatiently, my hands resting on my hips and my chin lifted slightly in a gesture of defiance.
Casey and I stood facing each other down in the hallway, our wills clashing in the silence. I knew she was only protesting to this because she was worried about us getting hurt or killed, but I was also too stubborn to back down. In my mind, I was doing the right thing, regardless of what Casey had in mind.
Finally she spoke up. "What are you planning to do?" she asked, unable to keep the exasperation out of her tone.
"I don't know about you, but I'll tell you what *I'm* going to do. I'm going to find the docking bay, get on a ship and go to Naboo," I said.
"Layla, no. For one thing, neither one of us knows how to pilot a ship, and for another, you know just as well as I do that every time you come up with some cockamamie scheme like this, it always backfires on both of us," she protested.
"Casey, don't you remember how we both said that if it were up to us, Qui-Gon never would have died? Well, now we have the chance to change things," I said.
"This isn't even our world, Layla. What can we possibly do?" she pointed out.
I sighed and turned away from her for a moment. "Maybe not, but I feel like I belong here," I muttered, finally turning back to face her. "But then, you have a family and a true home to go back to. I don't. I don't have anybody."
She laid her hand gently on my arm. "Layla, you know that's not true. You have your friends," she said. "Why are you so eager to go and get yourself killed for someone that you don't even know and a world that's not even yours?"
I pulled away from her roughly then, obviously having startled her, because she took an involuntary step backwards, eyeing me almost warily. My honey-colored eyes narrowed in an expression of grim determination as I glared at her.
"I should have known you wouldn't understand. For one thing, I'm not going to go and get myself killed, and for another, I'm not going back, even if we do figure out a way out of here. It's time for me to move on, and this life is how I want to start again. If you don't want to come with me, then fine. Don't. Stay here if you want to. But make up your mind now, Cas, because I'm not going to stand idly by when I have the chance to prevent this whole thing from happening," I snapped angrily.
Casey sighed. "Layla, please. Listen to me..." she started to say before I interrupted her.
"No. I need to do this. Now are you in, or not?" I said.
She fell silent, staring at the tiled floor for a long time. Watching her face, I could see her visable mental debate. Unconsciously I began to fidget with the sapphire and blue topaz pendant that I wore on a thin gold chain around my neck.
Finally she turned her gaze up from the floor to mine, a look of exasperated surrender in her eyes. Inwardly I sighed in relief. I would have gone alone if I'd had to, but I hadn't really wanted to. She was one of my 'partners in crime' so to speak, and it wouldn't have been quite as much fun if I had gone by myself.
"I'm probably going to regret going along with this insane scheme of yours, but all right, I'm in," she agreed reluctantly.
"Great! Come on, let's get going!" I said, once again grabbing her arm and rushing down the corridor.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Casey muttered. I rolled my eyes.
It only took us a few minutes to find the docking bay. Once we reached the hanger, we ducked into the shadows so as not to be seen by anybody. Trying to explain why we were *borrowing* one of the Coucil's transports and heading for Naboo would be really difficult, even for us, and quite frankly, I really was not in the mood for such stupid delays right now.
Cautiously I poked my head around the corner, making sure the coast was clear. Then I turned back to Casey and gestured towards a small transport with an open ramp. She followed my gaze and nodded. Both of us had realized that we were able to actually use the Force, and I did so now, making absolutely certain that there wasn't anyone on board our chosen transport.
Finally satisfied that we were safe from prying eyes, for the time being at least, I gave Casey the signal and we made a mad dash for the ship, sprinting up the boarding ramp and shutting it quickly behind us. Hurrying into the cockpit, I dropped into the pilot's seat and started to examine the control panel in front of me.
Just then, Casey burst into the cockpit in a panic. I glanced up at her questioningly as she dropped down into the co-pilot's seat next to me.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Ummm, I don't want to sound pushy, Fox, but I think we'd better hurry and get out of here now," she said, her voice taking on a strangely urgent tone.
Now it was my turn to look confused. "Why?" I asked, not particularly liking where this conversation was most likely going.
Suddenly we heard angry shouts coming from somewhere just outside and the sound of said extremely PO'ed someone pounding on the ship's sealed airlock door, trying to get in. "We've got company! HURRY UP!" Casey gasped.
"All right, all right! I'm trying here! Ummm, okay, let's try this one," I muttered under my breath.
Reaching out blindly, I pulled back on a random lever, hoping against all hopes that it was the one that would start the ship's engines. Unfortunately, I wasn't that lucky. I never am. Instead of starting the ship's engines, the ship lurched up on its side, nearly throwing us both to the deck.
"Oh, crap! That's not it!" I screeched shrilly.
"LAYLA!" Casey shouted, gesturing frantically out the front viewport.
"Okay, why in blazes do they even *have* that lever?!" I muttered half to myself as I finally managed to steady the transport.
"You know, sometime this CENTURY would be good, Layla!" Casey remarked sarcastically.