The Water's Edge (~*co-written with Happy_Hobbit_Padawan*~)

Hello, everyone. This is the beginning of a new story! *throws confetti* And I'm very happy to say it is being co-written with vader_incarnate. Though this is under my name, she'll probably be doing most of the work.

[edit] As of January 18, this story will no longer be updated here. It is being reposted and will be updated here.

[edit] Now co-written with Happy_Hobbit_Padawan as of October 14, 2003.

Title: The Water's Edge. (A/N: You won't get it now, but it'll make sense later)

Rating: PG, for some mild violence.

Warning: Prepare to be confused - not in the first post, but, well . . . .

NOTE: At this point, vader_incarnate and I are alternating posts. We will always post under our own usernames. If that is not the case, we will say so. [edit] For various reasons, vader_incarnate no longer co-writes on this story. She did provide wonderful posts for quite a while, though, and we hope you enjoy.


And on with the first post, written by me, obaona.

*********************************************

The warehouse was not extremely large; it was designed to hold small but fragile cargo. It had been well built, made of steel with a foundation of duracrete. But the years and wars had taken their toll on the building; the duracrete foundation was crumbling, the steel walls were dented and had jagged holes. The most intact part of the building was the slowly deteriorating roof.

At least it keeps the rain out, the man mused. He sat on the floor of the mostly empty building, his black shirt and pants worn but still intact. He clung to an old, worn brown robe with rough hands like it was life itself. Shifting where he sat in a mediation pose, he wrapped the robe around his body, putting his arms through the loose sleeves and pulling it tight.

He gazed up at the roof, where a distant pattering sound could be heard. Little drops of water fell on his face, wetting his shoulder length ginger hair and trailing down unshaved cheeks like tears.

He turned his face down, letting the water fall on his thick hair instead of his face. Weary blue eyes blinked, looking at the stained duracrete floor. He sighed.

Finally, he rose to his feet, shaking unsteadily. His stomach growled, reminding him that he had to go out and find food soon. His cheekbones were clearly visible, his skin drawn and pale. He had been running for a long time on this miserable planet, shifting from location to location. The Empire had come and taken it easily ? not that the government officials had put up much of a fight. The Empire settled down in the industrial oriented planet and suddenly he found himself trapped. A Jedi Knight, trapped within the Empire.

He frowned slightly, walking forward among empty boxes, rags from other homeless occupants ? now gone ? and other debris. He growled as he did not find what he wanted. How could he have just thrown it so carelessly when he come here? His lightsaber was his life. Blue eyes restlessly searched the area.

He closed his eyes for a moment. Then, with a growl of frustration, he kicked a box. Then his hand swept out, knocking over other boxes. Soon, he was kicking and striking out with both hands.

There was the sound of glass shattering when an empty bottle shattered at his touch. Shards of glass flew, striking the man?s hands and arms. He hissed, drawing away. The pain told him he would likely have to pick out the shards.

He closed his eyes, making a sound almost like a sob. Quickly, though, self-control returned. He sat down, sighing softly. He gazed at his bloody hands and began picking out shards.

Blood. The sight seemed to draw his eyes, his attention. Like an arresting fascination.


Swiftly, he closed his eyes and turned his head away. He should not think of such things. ?Come on, Obi-Wan. Get a hold of yourself,? he whispered hoarsely, so unused to speaking.

 

[face_shocked] A cliffie! What a beautifully written story you have here. The descriptions were portrayed so well and the emotions were... wow... the emotions were just wow. Can't wait to see more of the tale unfold!

*Dust*

 

Really, that was stunning,obaona, not to mention engagingly written. Impressive and real - I loved the beautifully visual aspect of your descriptions and settings. Brava. I'm definitely keeping an eye out on this (I'll have you know that I can rarely get into anything Obi-Wan, but that your touch is magical enough that I really did here...though I must say that I'm very much looking forward to having Vader enter the picture ).

I can't wait for the next installment!

 

Jedi_Stardust: Thank you.

Darth_Silenous: Thank you. And actually, there is quite a bit of Obi-Wan in this story. And about Vader? Well . . . kinda. You'll see.

 

I actually really do like your Obi-Wan - I think he'll be enough to keep me satisfied.

 

Thank you.

 

WHOA! OBI!!! DON'T DO IT!!!

 

GRRRR.....WHAT A CLIFFIE!!! I can't believe you would stop there!!!!!! EVIL!!!

Oh I understand what you ment now. Instead of Anakin begin dead you made him heartless. Oh I see that's MUCH better.

POST MORE!!! ...consider this a personal order from your stalker.

 

Obaona! You posted! *hug*

Hey, everyone! Next post's mine, probably going up... Thursday? *shrugs* You never want to trust me with deadlines, though, as obaona has learned...

Yeah, this is an Obi story, but you can count seeing Anakin, too, I guess. But, a word of warning, DON'T count on anything else.

*giggles* It was my username, wasn't it? You came in expecting a purely Vader story-- and saw this.

Personally, I love m?Lord Vader, but that?s just me. Not that that has anything to do with the story, or even the next post, of course?

REALLY! It doesn?t! Shutting up now!

*is tackled by her cowriter who doesn't want V_I's big mouth to spoil the story...*

 

MCK:

The_Chosen_One_41981: My post isn't next.

*clamps hand over V_I's mouth*

 

Heh heh heh... Vader rocks. This is a great start. I will definitly keep this one bookmarked.

J_J

PS: v_i You know how I am about deadlines. I understand perfectly.

 

Ooh! This looks very promising!

< sets up camp and awaits the next post >

 

Jedi_Johnson: Thank you. And . . . don't make assumptions.

Chaos_Rose: vader_incarnate wanted me to relay that you should have several bottles of Kevlar nailpolish handy (though I don't think the cliffies are that evil). She couldn't tell you herself because I have her mouth clamped shut. *glares at V_I* She needs to stop spilling secrets.

 

*glares at obaona, who is still covering her mouth* Mmmmph!

J_J: *waves vigorously at Master-person-guy and quietly agrees with obaona's warning*

Chaos_Rose: *[face_awe] falls flat on face, prostrating self before the mighty Lady Chaos and pulling an extremely surprised obaona to the floor with her. Subsequently removes the hand.* Wow! Chaos is here! I love your fics and -- Mmmph!

*has gotten her mouth covered again and is now furiously trying to wrest off the hand...*

 

*gets to feet, still holding vader_incarnate*

Thank you, everyone *waves hand* nothing to see here.

*walks off, still holding vader_incarnate with hand over her mouth, while glaring at said person*

 

Whoa! Nice!!!

This is looking good...more...if you two will stop wrestling???

Please???

 

Wow Obaona..That was a great post...

But once again you left us with an evil cliffy..

So your partner in crime needs to hury and post the next post..or as you know things can get pretty crazy in here when readers get restless...

PT

PS..And I am not talking about me...

 

No, no..don't stop Vader_Incarnate! Keep going!!! *Begs for secrets*

 

*waves, but still has obaona?s hand firmly clamped over her mouth*

KatarnLead-- *furiously signs Next post, mine, coming tomorrow!*

Padawan_Travina-- *pulls out blue belt and grins wickedly. There is a reason she takes TKD three times a week, after all?*

The_Chosen_One_41981-- *starts signing again: Obaona not killing Anakin for once? Don?t tempt her-- or me. About Anakin, Obi, or anyone else. Obaona isn?t the only one who likes to kill characters off, after all.*

*cues on the Imperial March...*

 

It was sunny. By the Force, it was actually sunny.

The cream-clad figure in the doorway blinked several times, trying to accustom his midnight-blue eyes to the sudden brightness, and grinned. It was almost never sunny on Coruscant. There were places on this planet, he had been told, where the sun never shone. Slums on the lower levels, hidden forever from daylight, where a subhuman species was rumored to lurk, living on whatever fell from up high. Even on the higher levels, sunlight was a rarity, thanks to sudden, unpredictable storms. People spent most of their time indoors, many here never seeing the sun, even here, but by choice rather than necessity.

And it was sunny.

He glanced surreptitiously around as he moved to the edge of the catwalk, just to make sure that no one was watching. There was not anything wrong with enjoying the weather, per se, but some might object it while he had other things to do. More important things, they might argue, but sometimes just enjoying oneself was pretty important, too.

Leaning against the safety railing, he inhaled deeply, simply enjoying the tangy fragrance of the air. He would not have dared do this anywhere else on the city-planet, as crowded and polluted as it was, but this place, fondly referred to as the "Jedi Quarter" was different. The district that housed the ancient Jedi Temple had always, or at least to all living memory but perhaps Yoda?s, been beautiful, serene, as different from the rest of Coruscant and as frigid Hoth from tropical Naboo.

The Temple, he had been told, while rivaling only Ord Mantell in beauty, far surpassed any other place in splendor. The catwalk he was standing on, for example, connecting two of the Temple?s five graceful spires, soared over a magnificent botanical garden, featuring plants from every imaginable corner of the Republic.

Coruscant was a nice planet, all in all, as long as you shirked the lower levels. But none of it was as... green. No other place on the giant city-planet of Coruscant was so vivid, so alive. This was far from the untamed beauty of places like Dathomir, of course, but with a natural beauty, nonetheless, from a harmonious blending of all possible plants the Republic had to offer. Like those within Temple itself, a mixture of everything, from everywhere. Humans, of course, but so much more, too.

There had been a time, he had been told, when the Temple had been smaller, consisting of only the five towers, not the elaborate grounds it contained today. Not so anymore. The Jedi were the protectors of galactic peace, defenders of the people, and loved as such. The grounds had been the gift of the Republic, a private district of Coruscant reserved for Jedi and Jedi alone.

It was good to be home. Especially so after being away for as long as he had, he reflected. That feeling would, he knew from experience, quickly wear away as the weeks wore on, until he was just itching to be on the move again.

Xanatos smiled, running a hand through his long, dark hair. It had taken a while for him to adjust to having long hair, especially after the short Padawan haircut, but it was simply a part of him now. Most Jedi, he had found, wore their hair long; all except Master Windu, actually, but then again, his hair problems were nearly legendary with the Temple youth.

He regretfully pulled away from the railing, casting one last look over his shoulder. Today was his first day back home, and he had things to do, things that had piled up during his long absence. He needed to find Qui-Gon, first of all, and--

"Xanatos!" a voice called out from somewhere behind him, followed quickly by the staccato thuds of running footsteps.

"Ani!" he exclaimed, whirling around to face the younger man. He quickly pulled the boy into a rough, fraternal embrace before thrusting him back to get a better look at him. "Look how you?ve grown! It?s been, what, three years now?"

"More," Anakin Skywalker corrected with a grin. "Closer to five, actually." He had grown. A lot. He wa

 

*hides behind vader_incarnate*

 

Stupid thing!!! Show up!!

 

all i can say is WHAT?!?! I'm so confused!!! All well. I'm sure it will clear up. But knowing the way Obaona writes fics, it wont' clear up until many many chapters later.

 

I deny that. I deny that most strenously.

Yes, it will make sense. No, I won't tell you when. *shoots evil glare at MCK*

 

Awww...that's awesome. I never thought someone could make me like Xanatos. But you did it Vader_Incarnate. Well done!

But...now I see what you ment in our conversation Obaona

Prepare to be confused

I am definitly that. But I know if your writing the next post happiness is about to go out the window. Someone's about to die aren't they!?!?!

This is like Obi, Anakin, and everyone are being thrown between different realities. How wierd??? ?