One Day Remains
By Rhi
Chapter 7 – Right Where I Belong
Hey everyone, this is the final chapter of One Day Remains. Sad, yes, I know. It's been my baby for so long. I would really appreciate it if you could leave me some final feedback on the story, especially if you've been lurking (don't worry, I do that too…) I would love to know what you thought of it.
The sequel (not sure what the title is yet) will be up in a few weeks, depending on how much writing time Darth Real Life lends me, especially seeing as I've taken up kickboxing and a military fitness class recently, and them along with everything else I do, chew out a huge lump of my time.
Other than that, enjoy the chapter and thank you so much for everyone who read this fic, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Cheers
…Rhi
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It was in the early hours of the morning before Laini was cleared for release. Sarini had come to collect her, and Obi-Wan, Tahl and Remy walked with them to their house, before continuing on to Obi-Wan's house so he could collect his things.
The house seemed eerily empty without his family there, so Obi-Wan tried to collect his things as fast as possible, so he could get out of the house. In a canvas backpack, he packed his clothes and the few personal items he had, and as a last minute thought, added a holopic of his family, as a reminder of where he had come from. He took one last, nostalgic look around the house before they left and went back to the hotel where Tahl and Remy were staying, so they could get a few hours sleep for the rest of the night.
Obi-Wan woke early in the morning to someone gently shaking him awake. He opened his eyes and rubbed them, momentarily wondering where he was, before he remembered the events of the previous day.
"Good morning, sleepyhead." Remy greeted Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan sleepily mumbled his own greeting.
"Are you ready to leave?" Tahl asked.
"Yeah." Obi-Wan replied, nodding.
The two Jedi stood. "Let's go then." They shouldered their small packs and stepped towards the door. Obi-Wan followed suit with his own backpack and followed them out the door.
Tahl checked out at the front desk, and requested transportation to the docking port, where their ship was waiting.
The ride to the docking port was short and they were met by the same two CorSec representatives that had met them two days ago, Commander Deine Paq and Officer Oster Rush.
Commander Paq went straight to the point. "We have already loaded Ris Threm onto your transport. He is under sedation and shouldn't wake until you get there. He is still slightly under the effects of the tranq that was used on his yesterday, so you should expect some convulsions, but they should be mild."
"Thank you for your assistance, Commander." Tahl said. "Now we must really be on our way."
"Have a good trip." The Commander said, before turning and leaving, the Officer following him.
Tahl and Remy started to walk off towards the ship, and Obi-Wan lagged behind, looking around. He'd hoped that Laini would come, so he could say one final goodbye to his best friend.
He saw that Remy and Tahl had already gone up the ramp and entered the ship, so Obi-Wan looked one last time towards the entrance to the docking port, then turned and followed the two Jedi up the ramp, into the ship.
He'd just reached the top of the ramp when he heard his name being called. Obi-Wan turned around to see Laini and Sarini enter the docking bay and Laini began running towards him.
Obi-Wan ran down the ramp and the two 5-year-olds crashed into each other, falling to the ground and going into a roll, the routine familiar to both of them. Obi-Wan controlled the roll, and stopped the roll so that he was on top. "I win, Laini." He said, grinning, knowing that she wouldn't accept a loss.
He felt her push at him, so he let himself be pushed to the side and Laini climbed on top of him. "No, I win." She gave him a grin, which quickly faded. "I'm gonna miss you so much, Obi."
"Me too. You're my best friend." Obi-Wan said.
The two kids got up and dusted themselves off.
Sarini came over and handed Laini a package, which she then handed to Obi-Wan. "This is for you. Don't open it until you've left, okay?"
Obi-Wan nodded. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a shiny red rock, a red so bright that it matched Laini's hair colour perfectly. On the stone, in his childish print, Obi-Wan, with Remy's help, had engraved his name and Laini's name.
"Thank you, Obi." Laini said, wrapping her hands around the stone. She then pulled Obi-Wan into a tight hug.
Obi-Wan pulled away after a while, and accepted a hug from Sarini. "You be good, Obi. Don't get into too much trouble." The grey-haired woman said.
Obi-Wan grinned. "I'll try." He turned towards the ship and saw Remy waiting at the top of the ramp. "I have to go now." He said hesitantly. "Bye."
Sarini and Laini waved as Obi-Wan ran off to the ship. The ramp closed after him and Obi-Wan ran through the ship into the main area, to find a window that he could watch out of as the ship rose into the air.
He watched as the waving figures of Laini and Sarini grew smaller and smaller as the ship got higher and higher into the atmosphere, until he couldn't even make out the docking bay anymore. He watched until the ship entered into the blackness of space, and all that he could see of Corellia, was a gleaming green and blue marble surrounded by blackness.
With nothing left to look at, Obi-Wan sat down on the cushioned couch that was built into the wall. He reached for the wrapped package that Laini had given him, and opened it, pulling out three items. The first was the book that Sarini had taught him to read from, the one with all the Jedi stories that he loved. The second item was a holopic, taken of Laini and Obi-Wan recently. Scrawled on the back of the holopic, in Laini's childish handwriting, were the words 'Friends Forever'. The third item was a stuffed ferbil, Laini's favourite toy.
Obi-Wan looked at as Remy entered the room. "Are you all right?" The dark-haired padawan asked.
Obi-Wan nodded. "Yeah."
"Good." Remy said, a grin forming. "Do you know how to play sabaac?"
"Of course." Obi-Wan said, returning the grin.
Remy winked at the 5-year-old. "Come on then." He said, sitting down at the table, Obi-Wan following suit. He Force-pulled a pack of cards over to him from the shelf. "5 woodsticks says that I win the first round."
Obi-Wan's mouth curved up into a half smile. "Bring it on."
After an uneventful trip back to Coruscant, the pilot docked the ship at the Jedi Temple at just after 1500 standard hours.
Obi-Wan followed Tahl and Remy off the ship, passing Coruscant Authorities as they came on to collect Ris Threm, who hadn't made a sound for the entire trip.
As they walked through the busy docking area, Obi-Wan stayed close to Remy and Tahl, feeling very shy all of a sudden. He stared ahead at the huge Jedi Temple, recognising it as the building that had been in his dream, but even in the dream, he had not been able to accurately gauge just how huge it really was.
Obi-Wan shook himself out of the amazement, and realised that he had lagged behind Tahl and Remy, so he ran to catch up with them. They had stopped not far ahead, and Tahl was talking to some people, an older man with long, brown hair, and a man in his early twenties, who had long black hair.
"There you are." Tahl said when Obi-Wan joined them. "Obi-Wan, this is Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice, Xanatos."
"Hi." Obi-Wan replied, curiously studying the older man.
"Master, it's time that we left." The black-haired young man, Xanatos, said.
Qui-Gon nodded. "Yes, you're right, Padawan. We should be going. See you later."
Qui-Gon and Xanatos walked off in the direction of their ship, and Tahl and Remy led Obi-Wan in the opposite direction. Obi-Wan, still curious about the older Jedi, watched him walk away, before turning and following after Tahl and Remy.
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Qui-Gon walked towards the ship quickly, then suddenly felt a pull to look back. He did, and his eyes paused on the young boy he had just met. Obi-Wan Kenobi, he thought, wondering why he felt such a pull to the child. Shaking his head, he pushed the thought to the back of his mind and concentrated on the mission ahead. The mission to Telos was not supposed to be a difficult one, but he had a strange feeling about it that would not leave him be.
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Obi-Wan followed Tahl and Remy up the long set of stairs to the entrance of the temple. At the top of the stairs waited Yoda, his ears twitching and heavy-lidded eyes looking sleepy.
"Obi-Wan Kenobi, you must be." Yoda said. "Welcome, you are. Far to come, far to go it is. Cold and warm it is. Seek what you are looking for you will. Find it here you shall. Listen."
THE END