Fic: "Carry You Home" (1/2)
Title: Carry You Home
Author: the Wolf
Genre: Drama, Romance
Characters/Pairings: Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Carolyn(OC), Obi-Wan/Carolyn
Rating: PG-13, NC-17
Spoilers: All Star Wars-movies
Summary: The Jedis joining the Force created the Force Jedis, still taking quests all over the universe. But a mission to planet Earth doesn't turn out as planned
Disclaimer: George Lucas owns these movies, I only own my own characters and my imagination
”Master! Master Kenobi!”
Anakin Skywalker called out for his old master as he crawled out from the wreck. He was quite disappointed on the new ship; it hadn’t even managed to cross this planets atmosphere. Honestly, he had been quite lucky not to get more than a few bruises. He rose and looked over the pile of metal scrap. His master was nowhere to be seen.
“Master!” he called out again. A small grunt made him twist. His master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, carefully crawled out from a thicket not too far away. Even before Anakin reached him, he saw that the older man was badly injured.
“Force, my whole body aches”, Obi-Wan grunted as Anakin helped him sit down next to a tree.
“You’ve broken a couple of bones, master”, Anakin replied. “I can’t see if anything else is injured.”
Obi-Wan nodded, but grimaced at that simple movement. Anakin sat down in front of him.
“You should stay here, master, I’ll go and get some help”, he said.
“Anakin, this planet has no idea that there are Jedis and definitely not Force-Jedis”, his master said. “We won’t be able to talk to them.”
“You’ve said that”, Anakin grunted. “But things have changed now. You’re injured and we need somewhere to take shelter.”
He looked at the snow that lay around them, except for closer to the wreck where the snow had disappeared.
“Anakin, I’m sorry to say this, but you have to carry out this mission alone”, Obi-Wan said in a harsh voice. “Don’t think about me for once, when you’re done I’ll be here waiting and together we can contact the Council to get home.”
Anakin was about to protest, but the seriousness in his master’s eyes made him rise and walk away. He never turned around, as his master might then sense what he was about to do. He didn’t want to see his master dead when he returned. Instead, he would find someone who could help him but not mention how she or he had been able to find him.
“I’ll go down to see that the rabbits are fine!” Carry called out as she put on a jacket and her boots.
“Again?”
Her mother looked surprised.
“The storm must scare them”, Carry answered. “I’ll be careful, I promise.”
Her mother shook her head and returned to her dishes with a sigh. Carry smiled as she stepped out into the wind. The storm had calmed down a bit now, but she still wanted to see that the three rabbits were alright. Their cages stood down in the basement, so they shouldn’t be cold, but the wind and snow could blow in on some places and the whooshing outside might scare them.
As she opened the old door, she froze as she saw the man standing near the youngest rabbit’s cage. He immediately turned towards her.
“Could you please close the door?” he wondered. Carry stared at his clothes. They where so thin! How the hell was he able to survive in the winter? Slowly she stepped inside and closed the door behind her. The man blew some air in his hands as he kneeled before the cage.
“What are they?” he asked.
“You’ve never seen a rabbit before?” Carry said in surprise.
“No.”
He carefully put his hand inside the cage and allowed the white female rabbit to smell it. As she started to lick him he pulled back.
“She likes you”, Carry said. “Her name’s Luna. It means ‘moon’.”
“I’m Anakin”, the man said and rose. “And your name is…?”
“Carry”, she answered. “Well, Carolyn, but everybody calls me Carry.”
“Nice to meet you”, the man said and smiled briefly. “I’m sorry if I scared you, I needed some shelter.”
“Well, what are you doing outside in a snowstorm dressed like that?” Carry asked. Anakin looked uncomfortable.
“Can you swear that you won’t tell anyone?” he asked her.
“Tell what?”
“That I’m… from another world?”
Carry stared at him. No wonder he had never seen a rabbit before!
“You mean… you are that Anakin? Anakin Skywalker?”
“How do you know my name?” Anakin said in surprise.
“Well, here on Earth we have something called movies and there is a series called Star Wars. You’re the main character in those movies.”
Carry leaned down and took the black female out of her cage.
“So you could say that I know a lot about you”, she continued. “And others.”
“Does those films show when I die?” Anakin asked. Carry nodded.
“Well, then you don’t know everything”, Anakin continued. “Nowadays I’m a Force-Jedi, a Jedi that is a part of the Force. The Council allowed me to join them after some rehabilitation.”
He patted the black rabbit and she immediately seemed to relax.
“She loves to be patted”, Carry explained. “Her name’s Cola and the hairy male is Fuzz.”
Anakin smiled, but quickly grew solemn again.
“Well, I guess you know who Obi-Wan Kenobi is then?” he said. Carry nodded, as she put Cola back into her cage.
“He’s up in the woods, injured”, Anakin continued. “He didn’t want to let me fetch some help, but in this storm…”
“He might already be dead!” Carry filled in. “You’ve got to show me where he is or he won’t survive the night!”
It was cold. No matter how he turned he couldn’t escape the wind. He guessed that he had a fever and along with all his injuries he doubted that he would survive too long. Obi-Wan gazed up into the stormy sky. He had been a fool to send Anakin away; he should have seen this coming. This time, there would be no old master that would welcome him and help him back to life. When he died this time, everything would be black and he would fall forever. It scared him. He wanted to complete his mission on this planet; he wanted to make sure that people survived. Now it was all up to Anakin.
A light moved around behind some trees. Obi-Wan tensed. It was time. The light approached him, it would be over soon.
“Master!”
Anakin’s voice was heard over the wind. Obi-Wan thought he saw him and opened his mouth to call back, but no sounds came. He was too cold. The light came closer and so did Anakin’s voice.
“Obi-Wan!”
That voice belonged to a female, he was sure. How did she know his name? Was it someone he should know? His head ached of all these thoughts. Shadows came running against the wind right behind the light. Spirits or humans? He didn’t know. He felt that someone fell down beside him and the light was placed on the wreck.
“Gods, you’re so pale!”
The female sat beside him, her voice calmed him and made him relax. It was almost like his fears of death had gone away as he felt her near.
“Anakin, can you carry him to my house?” the female called out to the other shadow.
“I hope so, but he’s badly injured”, Anakin answered. “He might die of it.”
“We’ll have to wait for dad and the others”, the female said and carefully put a blanket around Obi-Wan. “Meanwhile we have to keep him warm.”
Obi-Wan tried to stay awake, he really did, but the darkness felt so safe. If he just closed his eyes for a brief moment he would be alright, Anakin and the female was here, he wouldn’t be harmed. Carefully he turned his head to look at the female beside him, but it was hard for him to see. He spotted her bright, green eyes in the light. Then he closed his own eyes and fell down into the darkness.
Carry grabbed him as he fell to the side. His body was warmer than a fire.
“He’s got a fever”, she told Anakin. “Try to lead the others here; we must make sure that they find us quickly. Use the lamp.”
Only minutes later the four men came with the sleigh. Together they put Obi-Wan on it and put several blankets around him to keep him warm. Carry sat down so that she could hold his head between her hands as they hurried back to the neighbourhood. In this storm it was dangerous to be out in the woods.
The first thing he sensed was the warmth creeping back into his body. Then he realised that he lay down in a bed, not in the snow where he had been before. As he slowly stretched his body, he felt that he had bandages on several places and something even bigger around his left leg.
“Obi-Wan?”
The female voice made him relax once again. If she was here, he was safe. He didn’t know why he thought that, but he was sure about it. He felt a small hand being placed on his forehead.
“Where am I?” he managed to whisper.
“At my house”, the voice answered. Carefully he opened his eyes and looked at her. Her green eyes shone as bright as they’d done that night in the wood.
“Can I have something to drink?” he whispered. She handed him a bottle of water that he quickly emptied.
“Your fever is almost down”, the woman said. As Obi-Wan looked at her more closely he decided that her age must be about 18.
“You had several injuries, but the doctor said that you’re stabile now but you should rest a couple of days”, she continued. He found it hard to look away from her eyes.
“The doctor was surprised to see that you healed so fast, but Anakin explained why for him”, she said and looked away for a moment.
“So you know?” Obi-Wan said in a low voice. “What we are?”
“Force-Jedis”, she answered and rose from the chair. She took something down from a shelf and showed it for him.
“That’s me”, he whispered and looked at the picture. He was surprised.
“It’s a series called Star Wars”, she explained as she sat down. “A lot of people have seen them, so we already know what happened to the Republic, from that war on Naboo when you were a Padawan to Luke’s victory over the Empire.”
“How is it possible that the Council didn’t know?” Obi-Wan asked.
“I don’t know, you should ask them”, she answered. He shut his eyes for a moment, tried to focus and find out more. The girl held a strong power inside her; he realized that she could use the Force.
“I know.”
Her voice made him look at her. She smiled briefly.
“I found out some years ago, but I hardly use it”, she explained. “It’s a part of me and without it I would find it hard to live.”
Obi-Wan nodded. Even though she could use the Force to keep him out she allowed him to look inside her, at least most of her memory and feelings. He found out that her name was Carolyn but everyone called her Carry and that she would sacrifice herself for those that she loved. Then he fell back onto his pillows. The wounds still made him weak.
“How long has it been since we came here?” he asked and looked at her.
“Well, you’ve been here during the last three days”, Carry answered. “You spend one day at the hospital and a couple of hours in the woods, I guess, so that would make it at least four and a half day.”
“Force, we should have been able to start working with most of the people on this planet during that time”, Obi-Wan muttered. Carry smiled briefly.
“I’ve helped Anakin with that, as much as I could”, she said. “Environmental issues have always been something that I’m interested in.”
She smiled once again when she saw his surprise.
“But, I guess, you are a bit behind your schedule”, she continued. “We’ve only managed to get your message to the head of EU so far.”
“Well, it’s a beginning, I guess”, Obi-Wan sighed. “Do you know what will happen if your environment isn’t saved?”
“Probably a disaster and the end of this world”, she said with a sigh. “But the scientists and experts have told us that it won’t happen if we act now and not in a couple of years.”
“You don’t have a couple of years”, Obi-Wan said solemnly.
“What?”
“Everyone on this planet has to begin to act now; the Council will only give you a year.”
Carry stared at him, before she rose and rushed out of the room. He wanted to call her back, but moments later he heard a bigger door slam shut. Obi-Wan sighed and sank back in the bed. He had known that people would be chocked by the news, but he had hoped that at least Carry had understood why. The next moment, he realized that he had only known Carry for a couple of minutes. How could he possible have hoped that she would understand? He shook his head, before turning his head to the side and tried to fall asleep again.
Carry hugged the white rabbit and cried into the fur. One year? That would never work, people all around the world only wanted more and more nowadays. She doubted that they would make it, even if a lot of people knew about the Jedis through George Lucas’ movies about them. Luna made her regular noises, but instead of comforting Carry they just made her even sadder. In one year she would be dead, this little white rabbit that hadn’t done any harm. How could the Council think like that? She had always thought of them as people that wanted to save others, also animals and creatures that they hardly knew. They would never destroy an entire planet… right?
After a while, Carry dried her tears and put Luna back in her cage. She could swear that if rabbits could look sad, Luna did that right now.
“I will try to save you, dear”, Carry whispered. “Save us all.”
Luna didn’t answer, she just jumped away.
“Carry?”
Anakin had opened the old door without her noticing. He looked uncomfortable.
“I… I just want to apologize… for not telling.”
He looked like a small boy that had broken a rule and now told his mother about it. If it had been another day, Carry would probably have laughed at his face, but not today.
“I guess you did it right”, she answered and looked away. “If you had told me, I would have been so upset that I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on the mission.”
“Still, I did wrong”, Anakin said and came to her side. “I believe that the Council’s wrong about this as well. They’ve admitted that your scientists are right.”
He sounded irritated and she carefully looked up on him.
“Your planet can survive a couple of more years, but you have to act now and try to help it from this day on”, he continued. “The Council is wrong about this, but this kind of action is not one that they would usually choose.”
He wrinkled his forehead and stood silent for a while.
“Isn’t Obi-Wan in the Council?” Carry asked. Anakin shook his head.
“No, but he is still a Jedi Master”, he answered. “He is wise and powerful, but sometimes he believes too much in the Council and not in himself.”
“I guess, but he’s used to being that kind of man”, Carry said and walked past him out in the snow. Anakin nodded and they walked back up in silence.
Obi-Wan woke up when the door to the room opened up again. He already felt stronger, though he had only slept a couple of hours. It took him a few seconds to get used to the darkness, but then he saw that it was Carry. She hadn’t noticed that he was awake, he believed, as she silently crept down in a smaller bed placed next to his on the floor. Without thinking he reached out and touched her arm. She turned towards him.
“Did I wake you up?” she whispered. He smiled.
“Don’t worry, I’ve been sleeping all day, I guess.”
“Four hours”, she corrected. “It’s good for you; you’ll heal much quicker that way.”
He nodded and they lay silent for a while.
“Carry, I’m sorry about… the time”, Obi-Wan said after a while.
“Well, I have to say that it doesn’t sound like the Council to give orders like that”, Carry said in a frosty tone. “It sounds more like the Sith.”
Obi-Wan didn’t answer. Anakin had said that a thousand times before and even though he felt that Carry had heard Anakin say it, he also felt that she really believed in it and that Anakin’s words hadn’t changed it.
“I guess”, he said quietly and looked away.
“You felt what happened to Aldeeran, you should know”, Carry said. He closed his eyes and shuddered. He still remembered the screams from all the people on Aldeeran that had died because of the Death Star. A lot of his friends had died there, friends that didn’t have knowledge about the Force and were gone forever.
“I’m a Jedi and I’m not in the Council”, he said after a while. “And I’m not Qui-Gon.”
Carry heard how sad he was and sat up in her bed.
“Hey, that’s not true”, she said in a calm voice. “You’ve stood up for what you think many times.”
“Not during these last years”, he muttered. “I… I’m just…”
He sat up and rested his back against the pillows.
“I’m scared, Carry”, he said after a while. “Force, I’m scared of something that I’ve already gone through!”
He turned to face her and felt how tears began to fill his eyes.
“Death”, she said calmly. He nodded, before his tears began to fall.
“After this, I don’t know what will happen”, he whispered. “I don’t know if I’ll find another place and that it will continue like that forever…”
He felt that she crept up beside him; her soft arms were placed around his shaking shoulders.
“We never know that”, she whispered and massaged his shoulders with her fingertips. “Still, we find ourselves one day knowing what will happen, and that is right before it does.”
He rested his head against her shoulder, like a child searched for comfort in his mother’s arms, as he continued to cry.
“You know, I believe that after death we will be reborn”, Carry said as she stroke his hair. “As someone new, and with the help of others we might find out who we were before and continue on the same road, or we can make up a new road. Some believe that the dead are always here, watching over us and helping us.”
She smiled as she continued to comfort him.
“Some believe in paradise and some say that the bad ones are sent to hell. And there are a lot of other believes as well.”
She helped him sit up straight again and looked at him.
“The most important thing is to know that it’s a secret and that we won’t find out what it is until it’s time. Until then, we have to believe that something good will happen. Otherwise we won’t get through it all.”
He nodded and she carefully stroked his cheeks to dry his tears. That was when he leaned forward and kissed her. She gasped in surprise, before she responded and opened her mouth for him. Their tongues battled for dominance as he carefully stroke her back with his strong hands. Her fingers ran through his thick hair before sliding down his bare back. After a while she lay upon him, then he rolled her over as he continued to kiss her. She moaned into his mouth, which made him let go of her soft lips. Her fingers touched his face as she slowly shook her head.
“Obi, you’re still injured”, she whispered. “I don’t want to risk…”
He caught her lips in another passionate kiss, before he slowly rolled off her and stroke her cheek.
“As you wish”, he whispered. She smiled at him, before she carefully placed her head on his shoulder. His muscular arm was wrapped around her as they both fell asleep.
The sun woke him up quite early the next morning. Though, he realised that Carry was already gone. He carefully sat up and rested against the pillows as he tried to think. Since he had seen Carry’s green eyes out in the woods he had thought of her as beautiful. Yesterday he had seen that she was strong willed and a person who easily could understand him.
“Morning, Master.”
Anakin showed up with a smile and Obi-Wan smiled back at him.
“How are you feeling?” the younger man asked.
“Honestly, better than ever”, Obi-Wan answered as he remembered Carry’s soft lips. Anakin raised an eyebrow at him, before sighing.
“Well, the doctor will be here in an hour or so”, he said. “Hopefully he’ll say that you can begin to move around here, it would make things easier.”
“Where’s Carry?” Obi-Wan asked.
“In school”, Anakin answered. “She left about one and a half hour ago and she’ll probably be away for six hours more.”
Obi-Wan sighed, which made Anakin even more surprised.
“Master, what is it?” he asked. “You’re hardly listening to me and…”
“It’s nothing, Anakin”, Obi-Wan answered in a sharp tone. Anakin sighed and shook his head.
“You should probably eat something before the doctor arrives. Carry’s made some breakfast for you, it’s in the fridge. I’ll go and get it right away.”
Obi-Wan nodded and placed himself in a better position. He smiled as he once again remembered the kisses, before he reached out in the Force and found Carry several kilometres away. But in the Force, nothing was too far away.
Carry wrote down the numbers she needed before she began to solve the mathematic problem. That was when she felt something rub her back. Surprised she turned, but there was no one there.
“What is it?” her friend whispered. Carry shook her head.
“Nothing, I just thought…”
She hesitated as she felt it again.
“Obi-Wan!” she thought as she reached out in the Force. She heard him chuckle softly.
“What the hell are you doing? I’m trying to study!”
“I just missed you”, she heard him answering as his beard brushed her neck.
“Stop it right away, you should rest!”
He chuckled once again, before the presence of him disappeared. Carry sighed in relief, before easily solving the problem. The next moment the lesson ended and she left the room.
“Okay Carry, what was that all about?” her friend Tasha asked as they reached the lockers.
“Nothing”, Carry repeated.
“Yeah, right, you didn’t even answer me when I talked to you!” Tasha said and shook her head. “Is it something with the Jedis?”
The last thing she said in a lower voice, as she was the only one who knew about Carry’s guests. Carry sighed.
“It was nothing, I just tried to think”, she said. “Sorry that I didn’t answer you.”
She took out the books for the next lesson, before grabbing her cell phone as it vibrated in her pocket. It was a message from Anakin. D’s talked to O, fine it read and Carry smiled. It meant that the doctor had talked to Obi and said that he was fine. She quickly wrote an answer that read Plaster? Moments later, Anakin’s answer arrived. Gone.
“Carry, hurry! We’ll be late for history-class!”
She quickly put away the phone again and rushed after Tasha up the stairs. Halfway up she gasped and dropped the books. It felt like someone had punched her hard in the chest. Tasha stopped.
“What is it?”
Carry hardly heard her as a new wave of pain attacked her. She was thrown back against the wall and rolled down the last stairs. Tasha screamed as a man appeared out of nowhere, laughing.
“You won’t be able to stop us, little Carolyn”, he said as he kept laughing. “We will win this battle!”
“I doubt it!”
The second voice made the man turn around, but before he could act a lightsabre was driven through his stomach. He disappeared with a scream. Carry carefully rose on her elbow and saw Anakin rushing to her aid.
“Obi-Wan felt that you were in danger”, he said in the Force as he supported her.
“What was that?” she whispered. “Who was he?”
“A Sith”, Anakin answered in a bitter voice. “I believe we were right, the Sith has got something to do with this.”
“Carry!”
Tasha came rushing down to them along with several other students.
“God, are you alright?” her friend asked. Carry grimaced as Anakin helped her rise.
“I believe not”, she muttered.
“Tell your teachers about the attack”, Anakin said. “I’ll take Carry with me back home, she needs to rest and we all need to be aware of the Sith.”
The students agreed with nods. Then Carry felt Anakin holding her close as the world disappeared in a blue light. Only moments later she stood, with Anakin’s support, in her own room. Obi-Wan came rushing to their aid.
“You’re hurt?” he said and his grey eyes scanned her. She didn’t answer, he already knew.
“None of us can deny it anymore, Master”, Anakin said when Carry had been placed in bed. His arms were crossed over his muscular chest.
“The Sith are involved”, he continued. “Not just involved, they want to destroy this planet!”
Obi-Wan didn’t answer. He just sat in the chair, staring out into the nothingness.
“Master, this is important!” Anakin bellowed.
“Everything is”, Carry said. “But now we have to focus. Why would they want to destroy this planet? How did they make the Council tell you that?”
“They didn’t.”
Obi-Wan’s voice startled them. He looked pale.
“They never gave me the order”, he said. “I thought they did, but they didn’t.”
“What are you talking about?” Carry asked and wrinkled her forehead.
“I got the order from a boy”, Obi-Wan continued. “A boy that looked just like Mace’s new Padawan. Now I realize that it wasn’t him.”
He smacked his thigh in anger.
“Force, I should have seen it!”
“But how did that boy enter the Temple?” Anakin asked in surprise.
“If you think logically”, Carry began and straightened up a bit. “The Council let you away without any questions, right?”
The Jedis nodded.
“Well, then they must have send Mace’s Padawan to tell you about a mission. The true Padawan was taken by the Sith, who had another boy, maybe the Padawan’s twin, working for them that gave you the message.”
Both Obi-Wan and Anakin stared at her.
“It could be possible”, Obi-Wan said after a while.
“Not just possible, Master, it’s the only way!” Anakin said and grinned. “We have to return to the Council immediately!”
“How?” Obi-Wan asked. “Our ship is destroyed, we won’t be able to enter the star without a ship.”
“The Temple is in a star?” Carry said in surprise. Anakin nodded.
“Don’t worry, master”, he said. “The wreck is in the forest, with some help from the Force I can repair a lot of the parts and have it repaired by tomorrow evening.”
“If you ask my father, he can probably bring it here so that you won’t have to stay in the forest all the time”, Carry said with a smile. Anakin smiled back, before he rushed out. When he was gone, Carry looked at Obi-Wan. His eyes looked sad.
“I will never forget you”, she said and looked down on her knees. Obi-Wan rose and came over to the bed.
“And I will always remember you”, he whispered, before he kissed her. Even though she felt that his hands held hers, she believed that they also went up and down her back.
“Obi”, she whispered as she broke the kiss. His grey eyes met her green.
“I’m so sorry that we never got the night we both wanted”, she said and looked away. The invisible hands on her back slowly slid over to her stomach.
“I believe I can fix you”, he said. His fingers moved along with the hands created by the Force, which now seemed to be inside of her. She let out a gasp of surprise when the pain faded away.
“How did you do that?” she wondered. Obi-Wan smiled.
“Qui-Gon taught me that once, never thought that it would be that handy though”, he answered. She smiled at him, before her arms encircled his neck and they shared a long, passionate kiss.
There were a lot of people waving goodbye to the Jedis the next evening. Carry stood next to the ship, in the crowd Obi-Wan spotted the rest of her family, their neighbours and some of her classmates. All of them had been involved in this.
“Make sure you contact us if the Sith comes back”, Anakin told Carry. She smiled and hugged him, before he climbed up in the vessel. Obi-Wan held Carry close for a while, before he climbed after his old friend.
“Actually”, Anakin said and looked out again. “It would be nice if you contacted us even if the Sith don’t come back. Would be nice to hear from you.”
Carry laughed and stepped back a bit when the ship fired up. Long after it had disappeared in the sky, she stood there and looked after it. Tasha stood beside her.
“Well, then that’s solved”, she said with a smile. Carry smiled back.
“I guess… but I’m going to miss them.”
And I’m definitely going to miss those kisses, she thought, as they went back inside.
Obi-Wan turned his head to look at the blue and green planet one last time. Anakin shook his head.
“I believe she’ll contact us pretty soon”, he said. “She might even come to the Temple one day.”
“She knows about the Force, so why not”, Obi-Wan answered and turned his eyes forward again.
“What’s wrong?” Anakin wondered. “If I didn’t know you better I would say that you, Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, are in love…”
He stared at his old friend’s blushing cheeks.
“Force, you are!” he yelled. “And I believe she loves you back?”
He grinned as his master turned even redder.
“Well, I…”, Obi-Wan began and swallowed. Anakin laughed and shook his head.
“You don’t have to explain yourself”, he said. “I’ve been in love too, remember?”
His eyes turned a bit dark when he remembered Padmé, but he was only mad about himself for not listening to her.
“Well, we have a long journey ahead”, he said after a while. “So… when did it all begin?”
His master smiled a bit, before he told Anakin the whole story.