Present Day
Aurora's POV
2 Days Later…After Her Voice Returns
I pointed and flexed my left foot, since it was immobile for the last few days due to it being wrapped up in a bandage, since I was semi-barefoot when I was running from the Trandoshans. Thankfully, the cuts were healed, and the doctors assumed that my mental and physical state of shock was over, which indicated that in another day or so, the cast on my right leg could come off. Thank God.
"I'd keep your weight off of it, at least until the cast comes off, but it'll only be a few days, at least at the rate you're healing." The Therapist explained as she had been overseeing my recovery for the last few days.
I nodded as I continued to point and flex my foot as she walked away to see her other patients.
"You got your bandage off!" A familiar voice said with excitement.
I smiled as I looked up to see Caleb sitting across from me. In the last couple of days, he's become a good friend of mine. I tell him stories of my childhood (the pleasant ones), and he brings me information about what's going on in the galaxy now. How he gets it? I have no clue, but it's better than watching the HoloNet for news.
"I did." I explained. "I've never been happier. The doctors think that I'll get my cast off in a few days at the rate I've been healing. Soon enough I'll start my walking exercises and then I'm out of here."
"Hey, that's better than me. I'm stuck here for another week at least. They want to make sure I don't have a blood clot." He explained.
"Isn't another week a little excessive?" I asked in confusion.
He nodded. "My Master insisted."
I huffed in amusement. "Sounds like your Master was speaking to Obi-Wan. That man wants nothing but to keep me prisoner in this place, only going outside for brief moments during the day."
"Prisoner? Princess I've been here for almost 2 weeks and they're keeping me longer. At least I know how to get out of here." He explained.
That made me sit up straight. "You know how to get out of here?"
He nodded. "How do you think I get you the news of what's going on around the galaxy?"
I shrugged. "I always assumed that your Master was telling you the information."
He shook his head. "Please. She won't tell me anything. She's great and all, but she won't tell me anything. That's why I can break out of here so easily."
"How do you do it?" I asked.
"A magician never tells his secrets." Caleb replied slyly.
"Yeah ok, you seriously think I can't break out of this place?" I asked.
"I'd like to see you try." He replied.
I rolled my eyes in amusement as the therapist helped me off the table and into a wheelchair. "You're on, I guarantee you that I can break out of here, and not be noticed by any of the High Council Members."
"Good luck Princess." He said as he called after me as I got pushed away.
That night, I was plotting my way of getting out of the infirmary. I figured that the best way to leave would be by getting out before the doctors came in. This would be about around 06:00, so I'd need to leave before then. The only issue is my mobility, even though my left foot is healed. Honestly, I didn't care about my left foot, the therapist said it's healed, so in my opinion is that it's healed. All I needed was to get my hands of a pair of crutches, and I've had a minor setback since I have an IV drip in my arm, but I could make it work.
Around 05:00, I made my move. I slowly got up out of bed and placed all my weight onto my left foot. I grabbed the IV drip's pole and used it to steady myself until I found a pair of crutches. I winced in pain as I hobbled around my room, but I didn't care. I was breaking out of this prison one way or another. I slowly slid the glass door open and looked both ways down the hallway of the infirmary, and thankfully there were no doctors or nurses around. I slowly made my way into the hallway and began to head towards the closet where they kept the crutches, which wasn't very far. Once I got a pair of crutches, I began my trek down the hall and out of the infirmary, with the stupid IV drip following me.
The temple was quiet, which I didn't mind, but one thing for certain, it's so odd considering so many people live here. I headed down the certain corridors and hallways that led to one of the main briefing rooms. My left foot was in so much pain, I should've listened to that damn therapist. I continued to slowly walk down the corridor and I eventually made it to the briefing room. I pushed the button so that the door would open, and instead of having a room that was empty and deserted, I was met with a room that contained Anakin, Ahsoka, Obi-Wan, Windu, and Yoda.
"Oh…this is awkward." I said in an annoyed voice.
"Out!" Obi-Wan demanded.
"But my foot is healed!" I exclaimed pointing to my left foot.
"But your right leg is in a cast." Obi-Wan began.
"And you still are running on an IV." Anakin said in agreement.
"And your neck is still purple." Ahsoka also replied.
I frowned in annoyance. "Your point?"
"Out!" The three of them shouted.
"What're you going to do, drag me down the hall?" I asked in challenge.
"Can I drag her down the hall?" Anakin asked. "Please let me drag her down the hall."
"Anakin." Obi-Wan began.
"Wait if he gets to drag her down the hall, I get to drag her down the hall." Ahsoka said in excitement.
"No one is dragging me down the hall." I explained. "It's not like you'll call the infirmary to have them come get me."
"If you don't get down there this instant I will." Obi-Wan threatened.
"When're you going to do that?" I asked, still not believing it.
"In the next 15 seconds." He explained.
I rolled my eyes still not believing it.
"15, 14, 13, 12, 11…" Obi-Wan began and I shrugged it off as I turned around to begin my walk back to the infirmary.
Eventually when I got back to the infirmary, I was placed back on bedrest for the next day and a half, meaning that my cast wasn't coming off today or tomorrow. I fucked this one up big time. I was sitting in my bed, scrolling through the HoloNet for the hundredth time that day when I got a knock on my door. It was Caleb.
"You failed at it, didn't you?" He asked with a smirk.
My eyes narrowed at him. "You win."
"Want to play Dejarik?" He asked and I nodded as I wanted to keep my mind active.
A few hours later, Caleb and I were sitting in my room on my bed playing what felt like the 20th round of Dejarik…and so far, I was losing.
"You are awful at this game." Caleb said with amusement.
"I know, I'm rusty. I didn't learn this game until I was about your age." I explained.
"Really?" He asked.
I nodded. "My aunt taught me it in between training sessions."
"Your aunt?" He questioned and I nodded. "I thought she was a terrorist/war-criminal/former princess."
I tilted my head back and forth. "Essentially."
We were quiet for a while until I brought up what I was thinking about.
"How do you get out of the infirmary without getting caught?" I asked.
"It's actually rather easy." He began. "Once you learn the schedules of the doctors. Honestly, I'm surprised you made it as far as you did, without getting caught."
"I'm flattered." I sarcastically replied.
"I mean seriously, for a master assassin, along with a criminal like yourself…" He began.
"Former criminal." I corrected.
"Right, former criminal, but as I was saying, when you actually analyze what occurs in this place, you can easily get out." He explained.
"How do you do it?" I questioned.
"It's easy Ro. All you have to do is make sure that you time it correctly, and that you are using the vents." He explained as he made his final move, allowing him to win the game. "I win again."
"The vents?" I asked in confusion.
He nodded. "Yep. It's so easy. You catch the vents from your room, and they take you all the way around the temple."
I looked at him in all. "You're a smart kid for your age."
"I know." He replied with self-pride. "I'll help you get out of here, just after until you get the cast off."
I nodded. "Alright Kid. You help me get out of here when I get my cast off, and I'll give you some credits to spare."
"Deal." He replied with a smile.
4 Days Later…After Her Voice Returns
I slowly started to walk towards my therapist as she stood in front of me. I got my cast off earlier in the day, and after a week of not being able to walk, I finally was able to walk. I was still a little slow, but I was able to walk, and the bruises on my neck were almost healed, but they still wanted to keep me for a few days under observation. I looked over to Caleb once I completed the walk toward the nurse, and he nodded. Today was the day. We were busting out of here. He told me he'd be by my room around midnight, which in the back of my mind, I knew was impossible, since the doctors and nurses were still on patrol around the infirmary at that hour.
Around midnight, I was sitting in my bed, waiting for Caleb to come in, when I heard a loud noise above me.
"Psst, Ro." A voice said.
I looked around the room. My door was shut, so I didn't know where the sound was coming from.
"Princess, look up." The voice said again.
I looked up to see Caleb waving to me through the vents. I rolled my eyes as he gestured for me to climb up. I quickly got out of bed and looked out the door. No nurses or doctors were patrolling the hallways, so I was in the clear to get out. I got back up on my bed, stood on it, and climbed into the air vent.
"When you said you'd be by at midnight, I wasn't expecting you to be in the vents by then." I explained as I followed him through the vents.
"Sorry about that." He explained. "I should've told you."
"Don't worry about it." He explained. "These vents let you see everything."
"Really?" I asked. "No one will know we are gone?"
"Oh, they will." He continued. "But they'll never know we are in here."
I nodded in suspicion, but eventually, he was right. Below us, as we continued to climb over the infirmary, the doctors and nurses were frantically running around trying to figure out where we were, little did they know that we were above them. I tried to conceal a laugh, but it was getting harder and harder, as we continued to go through the vents.
"What's so funny?" He asked.
"They're just so stupid." I explained. "How clueless are they?"
"Very." He replied.
We continued to go through the vents and eventually we made it out of the infirmary and over the hallways and corridors of the temple.
"Do you think they think we vanished?" I asked.
"Like how? Like we magically disappeared?" He asked.
I shrugged. "I don't know, where are we going anyways?"
"I don't know. Where do you want to go?" He asked.
"I guess the hangar. I want to get out of here and go back home." I explained.
"Ok, it's not that far away." He said with a nod.
We continued to go through the vents in silence and eventually, we came across a room that looked familiar to me, but I figure out how it was familiar to me.
"This room looks familiar." I explained.
"That's because…" Caleb began but was interrupted by a loud noise. "What was that?"
"I don't know." I replied as the noise got louder.
"Uh oh." Caleb said with fear.
"What do you mean uh oh?" I asked in anger and fear.
"Exactly what I was afraid of…the vents aren't able to hold both our body weights." He explained.
"What does that mean?" I asked in confusion.
Before Caleb could answer, the vent gave out, sending us flying out of the vent and onto the floor below. I landed on my stomach, and Caleb landed on my back. We both groaned in agony, pain, and annoyance.
"That's what that means." He explained.
"Kid if you broke my back again, I'll kill you." I said in annoyance as I picked my head up off the floor. My eyes widened as that's when I realized where we were.
"Oh shit." I murmured as I looked around the room, before placing my head back on the floor. Not only did Caleb and I basically just guarantee ourselves another week in the infirmary, but we also just happened to fall out of the vents on a meeting of the Jedi High Council.
I picked my head up again when I heard familiar footsteps walk towards me. I slowly lifted my head up to look Obi-Wan in the eyes as he stood above me.
"Hey." I smiled sheepishly. "How's it going?"
He gave me no response. Instead, he looked at me with his arms crossed along with the same monotoned look he gave Anakin and I when we did something stupid…which was all the time.
"You're not going to drag me down the hall back to the infirmary, are you?" I asked.
"No." He replied with the same monotone voice.
"Are you going to call the infirmary to come drag me down the hall?" I asked.
"No." He replied again with the same tone.
I shrugged. "I'm sorry?"
"Not going to work." He replied.
I sighed in annoyance as I slowly got up off the floor. "Oh."
"Come with me." Was all he said to me as he began to walk out of the room.
"Great here comes the lecture." I said in annoyance as I began to follow him out.
I turned back around to the members of the council, and Caleb who was being scolded by his Master.
"It was an honor." I began with sarcasm. "I'll mostly be here for the next week, as I have a feeling I'm going back to the infirmary, so good night, everyone, stay alert and exercise, I love you!"
Once the door closed behind me, I turned back to Obi-Wan.
"You're taking me back to the infirmary?" I asked in confusion.
He shook his head. "No, we are going somewhere else."
"Where?" I asked in confusion.
"You'll see." He explained and I nodded as even though he is one of the few people I trust, I still had a feeling I was going back to the infirmary.