Made me promise I'd try to find my way back in this life

[neverlosemyfocus]

[sickbay - locked to Simon Tam!]

“For star’s sake, Obi-Wan, I’m dying. Do you have to interrupt me now?” There was something like humour in her voice, but it was a pale and reedy thing. She was dying. And he would have to watch her go.

“You’re not dying.”

Something occurred to her then, the sentimental idea of a dying woman, and she struggled to get into a pouch on her utility belt. Her fingers plucked uselessly at it, and fear, for the first time, stabbed through her. “I can’t... Get it for me.”

It took him a moment to realise what she was talking about, but he slipped her warming crystal, the one that Talesan had returned to her, and pressed it into her hand. A faint smile appeared briefly on her face.

“No... yours.” She turned her hand, letting the crystal fall into his palm. It carried memories of things they hadn’t spoken about in years, but it was the only thing she had. “Now I will never leave you.”

“You will never leave me,” he echoed.

It took all she had, but Siri reached up, brushing fingertips gently against Obi-Wan’s cheek, before her hand fell. “Don’t worry so much,” she told him softly. She knew him better, knew he would anyway, but she had to try. She had so little time. I don’t want to leave you. She could admit that here, now, at the end. So much wasted time. As her eyes started to flutter closed there was a flash of brilliant white light...

Siri took a ragged, gasping breath of air, her back arching as her eyes flew open. Something had changed. Even dying as she was, she knew that something had changed. This wasn’t Azure. This wasn’t the wreckage of Magus’ ship. “Obi-Wan,” she rasped, blue eyes searching the room. She struggled to push herself up, to try and figure out what had happened, where she was. But she was too weak, her injuries too great.

No matter what had happened, where she was, what that flash of light had been... it didn’t change the fact that she was still dying. But it didn’t stop her from trying to ignore that, trying to ignore her injuries and the pain making it hard to breathe, and struggling to stand, to push herself upright and move.


[sickbay; after not dying - OPEN]

Sitting up on the medical bed, Siri rubbed absently at her chest; there was nothing left of the injuries that had nearly killed her but a slight scar from the blaster bolt. Nothing. She wasn’t dead. She was no longer dying. And she was no longer in her galaxy. Siri hadn’t expected... THAT. There had been a blinding flash of white light... and now she was here. And here was about as far from becoming one with the Force as she could get. She was alive. But the Force felt so... subdued. So... distant. She shivered. It didn’t feel right.

It made sense, she supposed, given that she was no longer where she was supposed to be. No longer in the right galaxy.

But it was still there. The Force was still there. And that was what mattered. She wasn’t cut off from it, no matter how distant it felt. She would just have to... work with that. See if she could work at it, strengthen her connection to it.

She would need SOMEthing to do with her time. She was in a new galaxy, in an unfamiliar place, with no idea whether or not she’d be able to return home. "Force," Siri sighed, pushing blonde hair back off her face. Kriff, where did she even start?

Comments

[beforethedarktimes]

'Interesting' seems like an understatement right now.

Hearing her, he found his voice. "Siri, I ..."

Perhaps not entirely. After all, what could he possibly say in this situation? She'd come back from the dead, anything he said wouldn't have nearly the gravity that warrants. So, he decided on the truth.

His shoulders sagged slightly as he let out a long exhale. He smiled a warm, soft smile.

"I'm glad to see you."

[neverlosemyfocus]

She didn’t know what to make of this. But she was glad to see him. Force, she was glad to see him. More so than she would ever admit aloud. A familiar face, HIS familiar face, as unexpected as it was... was incredibly welcome.

His smile made something release in her chest, eased some of the tension that had been there since she’d appeared in the sickbay, and she answered it with a warm, crooked smile that was more than a little bit... fond. “I’m glad to see you, too.”

She slid off the medical bed, her bare feet all but silent against the floor. But Guinan was right; she needed to take it easy, needed to rest. Even if she would rather not. And would probably do less of it than she needed to. She still hurt, still ached from her injuries, with a bone-deep exhaustion that was more intense than she’d felt in a long time, and she caught herself on the bed before she went and fell on her face or something equally graceful.

[beforethedarktimes]

Neither did he, but at the moment, he didn't feel like questioning it. One of his oldest and dearest friends was back from the dead. He was going to enjoy that before he started asking the questions of 'why' and 'how'.

When she stumbled, he started across the floor of the medbay, slowing down when it became obvious she wasn't going to fall. It didn't stop him from putting an arm on hers to support her.

"Are you alright?" The concern on his face was plain to see. She's going to have to forgive him for worrying over her like a mother hen considering the circumstances.

[neverlosemyfocus]

At least the question of ‘how’ was something she could answer. The part involving her rather sudden (even if it hadn’t FELT sudden while Doctor Tam had worked to keep her from dying) return to life, anyway. And despite being unsure about how she felt about... everything (there was a tangled knot of emotions that had only grown more so with the arrival of Obi-Wan), she couldn’t help but appreciate, enjoy the fact that she was alive, and standing in a kriffing medical gown in sickbay talking to her dearest (and most frustrating) friend.

His hand was warm on her arm, and she reached up to cover it with her own. “I will be.” It was as close an admission as he would get to the fact that she... was both in better shape than she would have been on Azure, and still less all right than she wanted to admit to.

[beforethedarktimes]

He nods, taking her meaning. He's known her more than long enough to know she's not the type to it show when she's shaken.

"Then you should rest," he gave her arm a gentle squeeze. "You've had quite the day." His smile was tired. Seeing her, even alive and well dredged up the memories of Azure as though they'd only happened yesterday.

[neverlosemyfocus]

She made a face at him. “I’ve rested more than enough, Obi-Wan.” Which was both a lie, and simply untrue. She’d spent a chunk of time after Doctor Tam’s timely assistance unconscious, which she suspected that both Obi-Wan AND the doctor wouldn’t count as anything like rest. And she certainly didn’t feel rested. She certainly WASN’T rested.

But her answer remained the same.

The tiredness of his smile hurt, and the memory of dying in his arms was already sharp enough to cut, and she suspected that the same was true for him at the moment, even though time had moved on for him. Without her. She curled her fingers around the hand on her arm and squeezed, gently.