Redemption

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE:

Obi-Wan felt her the moment she entered the station. He turned himself away from his conversation with Yoda to watch Bail Organa's entrance with his wife safely tucked into his body.

"Opal!" The blonde Jedi lifted her eyes and burst into tears at the sight of her husband, still alive and still breathing, and ran into his arms with zero disregard for Yoda's presence. Opal threw herself into the safety of her husbands arms, fingers grasping at the nape of his neck as she buried her face in his shoulder. "I'm so glad you're okay, sweetheart."

Opal pressed her lips together as Obi-Wan pressed a kiss to the crown of her head before setting her back down on the floor. "So much death, so much of it in vain." She whispered, feigning a smile while struggling to wipe the tear stains off her cheeks. "I heard everyone in the Temple, screaming as they were slaughtered.."

"Try to focus on the here and now. Don't think about that." He replied. Her heart fluttered as he took her hand in his own and kissed the ridge of her knuckles. "Stay near." Opal knew why he wanted her near him. Obi-Wan needed affirmation as much as she did, he needed to know that someone was waiting for him at the end of this very dark tunnel. "Master, were there any survivors in the attack on the Jedi Temple?" Opal closed her eyes and deeply inhaled, then exhaled, in a futile attempt to calm her pounding heart as they continued down the hall.

"Heard from no one have we." The Grandmaster replied, hobbling along with his cane at his side. "Except you, Master Stone." Opal merely nodded, shivering as Obi-Wan's thumb grazed the inner skin of her forearm. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Had they been alone, she would've welcomed the comfort fully. Comfort in the face of The Jedi Order and its Master was the last thing she wanted. All she wanted was the assurance that Anakin would end this at home with his wife and his unborn baby.

She thought of Kit Fisto and Plo-Koon, of Ahsoka on Mandalore. So many people she knew and cared about who were in jeopardy.

"I saw thousands of clones attacking the Temple." Senator Organa said. "I believe it was the 501st battalion. Skywalker lead them.. but Rex wasn't the commandeer. It was Jesse." Anakin had told her that Rex had joined Ahsoka on Mandalore. Which meant he probably would've turned too. "That's why I went looking for Yoda. When you informed me Opal was still in Coruscant, I went looking for her too." Tears blurred Opal's vision as she felt Obi-Wan wrap his Force around her, feelings of comfort and assurance wrapping around her securely.

"All of the Jedi are dead, Obi-Wan." She didn't want to believe it, but they probably were. "As far as we know, we're the only remaining three. I heard their screams, their pleas as they were slaughtered by The Clones inside the Temple. I heard it all." Obi Wan's heart sank as he turned his head to look at his wife. Tears traveled down long lashes and dripped onto her prominent cheek bones as she silently sobbed into her hand.

When Obi-Wan lowered his free hand, Yoda finally noticed the glimmering diamond ring on Opal's finger and the golden wedding band on Obi-Wan's. Yoda had expected to be barraged with feelings of anger and betrayal that his two best Jedi Masters had broken The Code, but any rules that had come with it were now meaningless as The Order was defunct.

"There was a coded signal transmitted asking all remaining Jedi to return to the Temple." Bail said.

"Well then we must go back. Any stragglers will have heard that message and fall into the trap!" Obi Wan exclaimed. Opal pressed her hand over her chest as pain shot through her body, pain for the losses that the Jedi Order had suffered. She pressed her lips into a thin line and allowed Obi Wan to continue to say the words she couldn't muster to speak. "We will return to the Temple."

***

Opal leaned against the wall of archives as Obi-Wan finished re-transmitting the coded signal, warning all remaining Jedi to stay away from the Temple. "Is it done?" She murmured, lifting her head to meet her husbands eyes. She was just beginning to see the devastation and grief lurking in those pale blue orbs she loved so deeply.

Obi-Wan nodded solemnly. "It is finished." He replied. He outstretched his hand for her to take as they followed Yoda out of The Archives, a room she hoped never to step foot in ever again. She could feel his uneasiness when he stopped in his tracks and his eyes flickered over to the security desk in the corner of the room.