Redemption

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:

[Revenge of the Sith]

When Obi Wan awoke clinging to the body of his padawan, he thought that everything that had happened with Count Dooku was a dream. The anxiety brewing in his stomach when he'd seen Opal standing in front of the Chancellor wearing the face of Darth Zannah, had made him think she was gone forever.

Opal was very reluctant to speak with Anakin laughing beside her with her husband unconscious on his back. She kept having that nagging feeling in the back of her mind that the two of them were going to push her away the second they got back to Coruscant. With everything she'd done, why wouldn't they? It wasn't like she was innocent. She had slaughtered her own father and the residents of Atricus too simply because she was angry.

She grunted as the four of them flew through an open door and tumbled into a separate hallway that led back to the main control room of the ship. Her fingers shook as she wrapped them around Obi-Wans arm and pulled her towards him. His blue eyes glistened as she lifted her head. "Hi." Opal murmured.

Her heart pounded frantically as she waited to hear those three words that would be the proverbial knife in the heart. I'm leaving you.

"Opal."

There was so much acceptance, so much relief behind the way he said her name. A silent cry left her lips as the Jedi fell to his knees with his wifes arms wrapped tightly around his neck. "My sweet Opal Kenobi. I missed you." Tears ran down her cheeks as Opal cried while Obi-Wan ran his fingers through her hair.

Opal could feel her chest constricting as it suddenly became incredibly difficult to breathe. Her sobs were muted by Obi-Wan's whispers in her ear. "I'm sorry." She gasped for air. "I-I-let me go back. I can't do this. I can't face them!"

"If you think I'm about to leave you alone again, you are sadly mistaken." He whispered, gently tilting her chin upward to look into flickering yellow/brown eyes. One of the characteristics of a Sith was beady yellow eyes, and the ones staring at him were definitely not unnoticeable. "It took me months to even try to calm myself down after Atricus... And I almost left the Order. Twice."

Anakin had mentioned in their time descending through the elevator shaft of the ship that he had worked himself so hard and had to be hospitalized because of it. No sleep, no self-care, nothing. He'd literally almost died for her.

"Anakin told me what happened." She whispered. "How you worked yourself to death and had to visit The Hall of Healing because you forgot how to take care of yourself. You forgot how to live, and it almost killed you. Why would you do that to yourself?"

Obi-Wan frowned. That wasn't a time he was keen on remembering. He ran his fingers along her cheekbones and jawline, their eyes never parting from each others.

"I-I am not worth saving! I'm not worth anyone's time anymore! You should've just left me-"

A gasp left her lips as Obi-Wan met her for a bruising kiss. Desperate fingers gripped the fabric of her tunic and traveled up her torso to thread through her hair, pulling her closer close closer until she could feel the ridge of his nose against her cheek. He was warm and alive and she was safe and loved and there was no better world then that.

"When I met you, I never realized how much I would rely on you." He whispered, resting his forehead against her own. "You're right. It did almost kill me. I cared more about finding you then I did anything else. I despised The Jedi Council when they told me to just let you go. I worked myself to the bone and was hospitalized after almost two weeks with no sleep. I would've died to find you. I'd still die for you because I love you." He ran the pads of his thumbs against her cheeks only to find them wet. "Despite every instinct telling me otherwise, there has never been a time in my life where I haven't loved you."

"Remember that time we met again after the attack when you were on your way to the Agricorp?" He nodded softly. "This is like that, the night you ran straight into my arms because that was familiar and you needed it. It was safe. I-I need help with this. I can't do it by myself."