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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Before - Legends The Things I Know Now (Obi/Qui) First Person POVs - REPOST

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction- Before, Saga, and Beyond' started by Shaindl, Mar 20, 2003.

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  1. Shaindl

    Shaindl Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 18, 2002
    Title: The Things I Know Now
    Author(s): Shaindl
    Timeframe: Pre-TPM
    Characters: Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon

    Summary: Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon's thoughts as a few moments in their lives unfold. Written in first-person format.

    Notes: This is a repost from the old board. Thanks to all who read it there the first time I put it up. I'm just hoping that it might get a little more exposure...

    WARNING: This might be cry inducing (or at least, that's what I've been told)...

    * * * * * *
    The Things I Know Now


    Please don?t let me be too late. Please don?t let me be too late! PLEASEDON?TLETMEBETOOLATE! PLEASE DON?T LET ME BE TOO LATE!

    Force damn it, Obi-Wan! What?s blocking us? More important, what?s keeping you from noticing that shooter on the roof?

    Look up, damn it! LOOK UP!

    Have to move faster. Concentrate. Left, right, left right. Don?t think I?ve ever felt my age this much.

    Never been this thankful I?m as big as I am. It?s the only reason I might be able to get to him in time, since I can?t reach the Force to help me. Long legs, please don?t fail me now.

    Scream at him again to get down, and he doesn?t hear. LOOK UP, OBI-WAN!

    Too much noise, too much distant blaster fire and he?s too focused on protecting that group of schoolchildren from the last few remaining rebels. He can?t hear me, damn it to all the Sith hells.

    Pray to whatever deities can hear me that legs that are close to fifty standard years old will be able to move fast enough to tackle him out of the way.

    Funny the things you think of when you?re running to what you know is your death. A line from a song I heard on some forgotten planet. ?Love can move mountains.? I hope it can move legs as well.

    Jump! Over a fallen soldier, and keep running across a debris strewn street. Watch as the shooter on the roof draws a careful bead on my Padawan?s back. Scream again.

    This time he hears ? I?m finally close enough ? but he doesn?t hear the words.

    He turns to look and I know this is the end.

    I see my Padawan?s face, the questioning look on it asking what?s so wrong that his Master is running full speed at him, terror imprinted on his face.

    I memorise Obi-Wan?s face with my last few remaining moments of life, and it occurs to me that that the face of someone you love beyond all imagining is a good last thing to see before you die.

    A last couple of steps and then I dive at him, putting all the speed and muscle and weight built up over fifty years of physical training into it. I slam into him with everything I have, sending him flying and I feel the shot that was about to kill him rip into my side.

    We both land, hard, and I find that I am lying on my stomach, stretched full out on the dusty ground. I hear a muffled thump from off somewhere to my right, and I know a government soldier has taken out the shooter who tried to kill my Padawan.

    I look up, and meet my Padawan?s horrified eyes, eyes that comprehend suddenly what has just happened. The pain in my side is fading, and I find I have enough strength in me to smile at him gently. I wasn?t too late, old and tired legs had enough in them to reach him in time to save his life.

    The trade was worth it, Obi-Wan. My life for yours has always been worth it.

    I hear him scream the title that has always meant so much to me when he says it. I wonder if he knows how much it means to me to hear him call me Master?

    He scrambles to his feet, and comes to me. He gently pulls away my still smoking tunic and I hear him gasp at the damage the shot did to my side. I hear him yell for help, and he moves around to my other side so he can look me in the face.

    ?Master, don?t leave me!?

    It?s funny, but for some reason I hear the thirteen year old boy that I first took as my Padawan instead of the 22 year old young man he is now in his voice. I don?t know what it is ? the tears, the fear, the grief ? but I am reminded of the small boy that fought like a demon to become part of my life.

    Thank all the gods in all the cultures in
     
  2. Nat

    Nat Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 11, 2002
    :_| Yes, definitely still cry-inducing. *wipes a tear away*

    Even the third or fourth time around, it's impossible not to get touched by your text.
     
  3. KrystalBlaze

    KrystalBlaze Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 3, 2002
    I read this again, and have the same thing to say again: wow. This is so touching and really shows a parent's love for a child. You have a wonderful way with words, with describing Qui's and Obi's feelings. It's simply masterful.
     
  4. female_obi_wan

    female_obi_wan Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Aug 1, 2002
    I LOVED this one when you first posted it. I still love it. :)
     
  5. Obi the Kid

    Obi the Kid Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 13, 2000
    Oh, I hadnt read this before. So glad you posted it here. But oh my...sad is not the word for it. Very powerful story.

    Could I post this on my website?


    Obi
     
  6. PadawanKitara

    PadawanKitara Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 31, 2001
    just as touching as the first time :)
     
  7. Valiowk

    Valiowk Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Apr 23, 2000
    Wow. Beautiful! A long time ago I wrote an essay on our parents' love for us, and reading this story of yours has brought back all the emotions that I felt at that time.

    Thank you for letting me recall that beautiful feeling of knowing our parents' love.
     
    Jedi Knight Fett likes this.
  8. Arwen-Jade_Kenobi

    Arwen-Jade_Kenobi Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 9, 2002
    Loved it when yuo first posted...love it still!!
     
  9. Padawan_Jess_Kenobi

    Padawan_Jess_Kenobi Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 20, 2002
    Wow. I did NOT cry during that! :_| <---- That did not happen... erm. And thats not a tear traveling down my cheek. Honestly? I was weeping like a little schoolgirl! You did a perfect, wonderful, thoroughly specatacular job with this story!! I don't know how you managed to put so much power into your words, but it all ame out to just- WOW!! Its fics like these that really inspire poor little pathetic writers like me. :D I love how you made Qui... :_| And this

    I understand because my Master ? father? ? just did it for me. He didn?t have access to the Force, just his own two legs and a will stronger than anything I?ve ever seen. It was because of that, and not the Force, that he was able to cross a debris filled street in a matter of seconds in order to save my life.

    My vision blurs and I blink away the tears. He smiles and tightens his grip on my hand. I reach out my other hand to stroke his long hair which is spread like a shroud over his back and I smile ? somehow ? back at him. His eyes haven?t left my face since I moved into his line of vision and I realise with a renewed burst of terror that he?s watching me so that I?ll be the last thing he sees.

    Time slows, and I watch his eyes drift shut, for what I pray will not be the final time.

    For, knowing what I know now, how will I go on if it is?


    :_| :( :_| It was just so beautiful. Thank you so much for writing this and sharing it with us. The love is just overwhelming... [face_love] :_| *goes off in search of a tissue.
     
  10. LuvEwan

    LuvEwan Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 24, 2002
    Wow, Shaindl. [face_shocked] That was just amazing. I can't believe how beautiful and touching that was. In a small story, you packed all the emotion you'd find collectively in much longer stories. It was perfect, and I loved the way certain aspects were repeated in both viewpoints.

    I just don't know what else to say, Shaindl. Remarkably good. I love it. [face_love]
     
  11. Jemmiah

    Jemmiah Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 5, 2000
    Absolutely fantastic! I hadn't read this before either - I'm glad that I have now! :)
     
  12. shanobi

    shanobi Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 11, 2001
    Wow, very touching and beautiful Shaindl. You truly have a gift with words.

    --Shan
     
  13. dianethx

    dianethx Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Mar 1, 2002
    This was wonderful, Shaindl. It exactly portrayed how a parent feels about a beloved child, willing to do anything - including dying - to keep the young one alive. And you portrayed the child wonderfully as well, realizing too late just what a parent's love would drive them to sacrifice.

    Perfect!
     
  14. Ginger_Jedi

    Ginger_Jedi Jedi Knight star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 4, 2001
    Wow Shaindl :eek: That was just amazing - poignant and written in a very original style.

    Emotional stuff :_|
     
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