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Fall of the Risen	By : Meleana24 Category: Star Wars (All) > General Views: 3079 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
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“You need to give this up,” Rendain ignored the voice in the room. At times he'd talk to the ghost of his lost friend, but lately she'd become increasingly negative. He'd started telling himself the thing he was talking to wasn't really her. That it was only an echo. In the back of his mind he always knew this wasn't true. If it had been he wouldn't still be there toiling endlessly. He allowed himself to believe his lie because he needed to. It was impossible to believe that the angry bitter words spoken by the specter could ever have come from a Jedi. When he doubted himself he would find something else to think about. Something light and banal. He created for himself the casual moments of conversation he'd taken for granted before his self imposed imprisonment. He found himself needing one of those moments now and focused more intently on himself and the task at hand. He pushed his thick black hair away from his sweat coated face, it was longer than it had ever been, almost down to his jaw. He hadn't exactly had time for a haircut in the past few months. He tucked it behind his ears and continued to focus on the alien machine in front of him.

“It's been months. You need to move on.”

He narrowed his blood red eyes to focus on the tiny wires he needed to connect. He was sure he'd figured out how to reverse the function of the machine this time. The Sith had done her best to destroy it, to keep Meleana from saving herself. In that she'd succeed, Meleana had died. Her soul was trapped, along with everyone else the Sith had murdered during her quest for endless life. The other spirits had been more interested in him in the beginning. They sill dropped in on him now and then. Most had given up once they realized they had no effect on him. He ignored them, no matter how awful they became.

“Why don't you work on destroying whatever it is that keeps everyone here from becoming one with the Force?”

“Will you shut up!” It wasn't like him to raise his voice, but he was finding after months the dark energy of the Sith's compound had finally begun to wear on him. He was rarely given the chance to sleep through the night without something coming to haunt him, “I can save you,” he said in a calmer tone as his long slender fingers worked to soldier the wires into place.

“You don't have visions, Red.”

“I never said it was my vision,” He'd spent months avoiding having this conversation with her. Every time she came back to it he gave her the same answers until she gave up.

“I don't like this. Human cloning, Sith technology, visions from a source you refuse to name. I don't want you to do whatever it is you're doing.”

“The worst part is already done,” he said emotionlessly, “I haven't come this far to give up on you now.”

“I'm sorry about this,” her voice was closer than it had been. He felt icy hands on him and his body tensed. She'd never been able to touch him before. He found himself sucked into the memories he was trying to forget.

Meleana pulled her hand away. He was afraid of what he might see when he turned around. He was upset at the invasion of his mind, but more than that he worried he'd forever tarnished her image of him. She'd seen what he'd done on his quest to find himself. What he'd found when he went looking for his mother on Dathomir.

“I needed to find out where I came from,” he said as he went back to his work. That was all the justification she would get.

“Force, Rendain... did you think it would be anything good? Did you think the Jedi allowed Ari to raise you because your origin was some transcendent love story? Did it not occur to you just how bad things would have to be to incite pity from the Jedi council?”

He stood up and turned around, he was more than a full head taller than her, though not much wider. His taller stature had never intimidated her. He wasn't sure anything had. Perhaps if she'd been less headstrong they wouldn't be in their current predicament. Not that any of that mattered. They were where they were, and he needed to set things right. He'd never get anything done with her heckling him as she was. He walked past her towards the garden where he knew she couldn't follow. If he was going to be unproductive he may as well relax.

“Don't walk away from me,” the specter said following him as he pushed towards the outdoors. Meleana was trapped within the walls of the Sith's compound, along with all the other souls there. He could feel her anger through the Force as he passed through the exterior door, “You trusted a Nightsister! You have no idea where this path leads! For all we know they wanted the Sith to escape.”

He held up a hand and waved to her as she shouted at him from the door.

When he returned Meleana wasn't in his work room. Not in her spirit form anyway. Her clone was still there, floating in her tank. The clone was sickly looking, she'd been grown too quickly. Had it not been for Rendain's ability to heal it never would have survived. When he did get Meleana back into a body he'd need to monitor her carefully to make sure the clone body didn't fail. She now knew exactly what he'd had to go through to get that clone, and everything else he'd need to do to bring her back. Years of work, often doing things that sickened him to think about. He felt Meleana's presence enter the room.

“He always loved you more than me,” he said after her appearance interrupted his thoughts.

“Ari loved you.”

Rendain frowned and shook his head as he set back to his work on the machine, “There was always something behind his eyes when he looked at me. You were his legacy. His Padawan. He gave you everything he loved about himself. I was everything he wished he could erase. He loved me because he was a good man. He never took pride in me the way he did you.”

“So you're doing this for him?”She said with a tone of cynical disbelief.

He fixed the last wire and looked up at her pale blue form, “I'm doing this for me, because you're the only one who ever really loved me. My father and the Jedi tolerated me and did their best to be kind to me, but it was always clear I was a stain they couldn't remove. You're my family. The only person in the galaxy who knows me and still looks at me with love behind their eyes. I'm doing this for me. I'm not strong enough to be here without you.”

“Red...”

He checked the connections to the clone body and took one more look at her specter, “And I'm sorry,” He flipped the machine on. The room filled with blue light then darkened as the power drained from the compound. The clone's tank had its own power source and so remained lit when the room went dark.

“Meleana?” He said, unsure how he would know if his experiments had finally paid off. She'd never disappeared during his past attempts, “Mel?”

He could still sense her presence, but her blue light was nowhere to be seen. He turned back to the clone and gasped when he saw her eyes open and fixed on his with a mix of terror and confusion. He smiled and pressed his hand against the glass, “You're okay. You're going to be fine.”

It was past midnight on Coruscant. The Jedi temple was quiet and peaceful, exactly what Obi-Wan needed after a stressful mission. He'd been looking forward to a quiet restful evening alone, but it seemed that was not in the cards for him. No sooner had he set foot in the temple than he'd received a summons from Master Windu. He was in no mood for anything, but he could hardly refuse a summons from a council member. He told Anakin to get some rest. His Padawan had been trying his nerves ever since he'd had what he assumed was a premonition of Meleana Ariadne rising from the dead. Anakin's 'visions' made him uncomfortable enough under normal circumstances. That his current fixation was on Obi-Wan's dead lover made dealing with his Padawan's predictions of the future even more distressing.

Obi-Wan had been instructed to meet Master Windu in the medcenter. He couldn't imagine why Master Windu wanted to meet him there. Unless the Jedi Master had been injured. As he walked through the temple's empty halls he tried to think of what Master Windu could possibly need him for so urgently. The only thing that came to mind was the Sith. He hadn't told Anakin, but he'd assumed if Anakin's premonitions were true they were about the ancient Sith, not the Jedi who'd once inhabited the same body. They'd had no real proof that was the case, until Garen had a run in with a Sith a few months ago. It would make sense that Master Windu would want Obi-Wan to accompany him in tracking and killing the Sith.

The medcenter was as quiet as the rest of the temple. He asked for the Jedi Master at the front desk and was directed to one of the private rooms. As he followed the healer he wondered if Master Windu had already had a run in with the Sith on his own. One which had landed him in the medcenter. The healer motioned to a closed door before bowing and returning to her post. Obi-Wan opened the door and stepped through the threshold. He bowed to Master Windu, relieved to see he was standing and had no visible injuries. He turned to look at the sickly looking woman sitting in the bed to Master Windu's right and froze unable to form a full thought, much less a sentence.

His first thought, when he'd returned to his senses, was that Anakin would be impossible to deal with once he'd found out who Obi-Wan had been called to meet in the middle of the night. It had been more than a year since he had seen Meleana. It had taken him months to finally keep her from haunting his memories. Seeing her sitting in front of him swinging her stick-thin legs on the table was almost too much for him. She was thinner than he'd ever seen her. Meleana had always been muscular and curvy, but the woman before him was barely more than skin and bones. Her high cheekbones and pointed nose seemed sharp rather than strong. All of her angles were too hard, too pronounced, with no muscle or fat filling her out. Her skin was almost as pale as it had been in death. She hardly reacted to him, save for a glance in his direction. He'd imagined her coming back to life a few times, but never like this. It was as though she had no idea who he was.

“Meleana, this is Obi-Wan Kenobi,” Master Windu said in a level tone.

“Hello, Obi-Wan Kenobi.” He hadn't remembered her voice being so high pitched and airy, or her accent being so strong.

“Hello,” Obi-Wan looked at Master Windu, “May I speak with you outside a moment, Master?”

Master Windu walked into the hall with him. Obi-Wan didn't feel he needed to explain his reasons for requesting a private audience and instead stood with his arms crossed while he waited for Master Windu to explain himself.

“She arrived at the temple about a month ago,” He began, “She walked up to the front of the temple and asked to speak to either you or Ketana Lesair. Since neither one of you was available I was contacted after her identity was pulled up by one of the security droids. The strange thing is she didn't seem to know who either of you were. She said only that she was told to ask for you.”

“Told by whom?” Obi-Wan interjected.

“She doesn't know. She doesn't know much of anything. As far as we can tell she poses no threat. She knows her name and her home world but not much else. At this point we have no reason not to assume she is Meleana Ariadne. The healers have run every test they know on her. She has made a bit of progress since she came to the temple... her basic has gotten better, and she correctly identified the Jedi Master who brought her to the temple when she was a child,” Master Windu spoke in a clinical tone, as though a Jedi risen from the dead were just a medical anomaly which required further study.

“I have been handling this matter personally. The existence of the woman in that room, and the Sith who bares her likeness are still not public knowledge within the Jedi order. I think it would be best if someone who knew her monitors her. You will be able to tell if she is in fact suffering from amnesia, or an imposter. Jedi Lesair should return in a few days from her current assignment, at which point she will be tasked with aiding you in monitoring her.”

Obi-Wan shook his head in confusion, “What am I supposed to do with her?”

“You will stay with her on the Jaded Star. Ketana will join you when she returns. It is important that she be under constant surveillance by those who knew her. Keep an eye on her. We need to know if she is becoming more or less like herself. Until further notice you and Jedi Lesair will remain at the temple and watch her. We have to be sure this is not a trick being posed by the Sith. Hopefully familiar faces will help her memory come back; if she has any memories to recover.”

Obi-Wan still wasn't fully grasping what was going on, “Garen reported the Sith months ago... This could easily be a trick.”

Master Windu nodded in understanding, “When she came here she could barely speak basic. She has just enough muscle to carry herself across a room. I am by no means saying we should let our guard down, but it seems highly unlikely this is the same woman Garen came into contact with. Whoever she is, she needs help. So far the evidence points to her being Meleana Ariadne, or at least a very convincing fake,” He nodded his head towards the exam room, “Help her up, I'll walk you to her ship.”

Obi-Wan looked at the door then back to Master Windu, “What can I say to her?”

“Try not to feed her any information. Answer her questions, but don't push her. She is more lost than we are.”

Obi-Wan nodded and walked back into the room. He found himself tensing up as he approached the woman on the table, “Hello,” he said again.

“Hi,” she replied sheepishly.

He wasn't sure what to say or do. She didn't know him. He didn't know her. For all her knew she wasn't even related to the woman he'd known. She looked so small and frail sitting on the exam table. Meleana's posture was always dominant. She took up the space she was sitting in and commanded some kind of authority, the girl in front of him had none of that. Her deep purple eyes were unsettlingly dark next to her pale skin. His eyes kept falling to the bones exposed by the olive green sleeveless top she was wearing. Her shoulders looked sharp and hollow. She looked as though she'd never spent a day in the sun. Her normally golden hair was closer to chestnut. Everything about her seemed foreign. She looked terrified. Obi-Wan suddenly realized why. She wasn't Meleana. She wasn't a Jedi. Whether or not she had the potential to be she was a very frail girl alone in a room with a much more powerful man who'd spent the past few minutes glaring at her.

“I'm sorry,” He said trying to sound soothing. His misgivings were no reason to frighten this poor girl, whoever she was, “Master Windu tells me you asked for me when you came to the temple.”

She nodded, “Obi-Wan Kenobi or Ketana Lesair. The man told me you would know what to do with me,” She sounded quite pleased to report how well she'd followed orders. “Do you know what to do with me?” Her accent was thicker than it had been. He'd never really noticed it before, but now she sounded foreign to Coruscant. Her large eyes appeared even bigger on her thin face. She was somewhere between pitiful and terrifying.

“I am to escort you to our quarters.”

Meleana had always been a fast walker. This poor girl could barely keep herself standing by the time they had walked across the temple to Meleana's dusty starship. She placed one foot in front of the other slowly and methodically, as though she was worried she would lose her footing.

“Thank you,” she said softly when he had set her down on the sofa, “May I have a drink of water?”

Obi-Wan nodded and went to the kitchen to fetch some. The ship was terribly dusty. No one had used it in over a year. In the kitchen Obi-Wan glanced at the refrigeration unit. He doubted anyone had been by to clean it. He opened the door and shut it quickly when he saw the state of it. Perhaps the new Meleana would take an interest in cleaning. He poured a glass of water for her and checked the cabinet for something stronger for himself.

When he walked back into the main room she was hunched over with her arms wrapped around herself. Her eyes trailed over the ship as though she'd never seen it before.

She took the water she was handed and Obi-Wan sat down next to her with his body angled towards hers.

“Thank you,” she said again, “Do you speak Biernan?”

He shook his head and took a sip of his drink. Meleana had taught him a few words but he was relatively sure they were all inappropriate.

“No one does,” she sounded sad, “I don't like basic. It hurts my tongue.”

“I think Ketana speaks Biernan.”

“Oh... that's good,” her impossibly large eyes scanned the floor, “Do you know me?”

Obi-Wan wasn't sure how to answer that question, “I did know you,” he tried to keep his voice as soothing as possible so she wouldn't take his answer the wrong way.

It didn't work. She looked hurt. Which made her even more pitiful than she'd been before. Clearly he needed to tread lightly with her. He tried to see things from her perspective. Whether or not she was Meleana Ariadne didn't really matter. She had been given that name and knew nothing about herself or anyone around her. To make things worse she'd been interrogated by Jedi for the past month.

“We were friends, but I haven't seen you in a long time.”

“I'm sorry I don't remember you. I don't seem to remember anyone. I remember my parents and my brother, but Master Windu said they died... So there's that...” she shrugged and took a sip of her water.

Obi-Wan smiled a little. Her dark humor made her sound more like herself; in spite of her too high voice and thick accent.

“I know I'm supposed to be a Jedi, but I don't really know what that means. Master Windu explained it to me,” she shrugged her boney shoulders again, “I don't know how I could be one though.”

“Are you hungry?” The list of questions Obi-Wan felt comfortable asking her was very short.

She shook her head, “I'm very tired.”

He set his drink down and offered her his arm, “Let's get you to bed then.”

She took his arm and used it to brace herself as she stood up. He slowly walked her the few feet between the sofa and her bedroom door. Upon opening it he froze. The bed still had the same bloodstained sheets they'd had the last time Obi-Wan saw it.

“What happened?” Meleana asked.

Obi-Wan stared slack jawed at the bed for a moment before shaking his memories away, “I don't know,” he realized after he'd said it that not knowing why the bedroom was covered in blood was not very reassuring. “I'll clean it up. Come on, you can sleep in the cabin tonight.”

“Okay,” her eyes lingered on the bloody sheets as he led her out of the room.

“Good morning, Anakin,” Obi-wan said into his comlink. He didn't feel it was a particularly good morning. Cleaning up Meleana's room had brought back feelings he'd been happy to let go of. The woman sleeping in the other room did not quell his sorrow. He was in no way convinced that she was anything but an imposter. Dreams of Meleana had haunted him all night. When he woke up in her room for a moment he'd forgotten what was real and what was a dream. He'd half expected her to roll over in bed and say good morning.

“Good morning, Master,” Anakin said in a groggy voice.

“Do you remember where Jedi Ariadne's ship was docked?”

“Yeah.”

“Good, I need you to bring some food by there; enough for at least two people.”

“Alright, Master.”

Anakin arrived a short time later carrying a tray loaded with food. He let him through the main door, thanking him as he walked the tray over to the table.

“What are you doing here?” Anakin asked, “Are you finally going to let me fly Meleana's ship?”

Obi-Wan sat down across from him at the table and tried to think of the best way to explain the situation to his Padawan, “It seems Jedi Ariadne has come back from the dead.”

Obi-Wan had never seen his Padawan look so excited, concerned and perplexed at the same time. It seemed all he could do to keep himself from blurting out “I told you so!”

“Or at least someone who looks very much like her has arrived at the temple. Master Windu wants me to keep an eye on her. She has no memory of who she is, or was. When you speak to her keep in mind she is not Meleana.”

Anakin was silent a moment, obviously he disagreed with Obi-Wan, but was smart enough not to argue, “Well, that's good.”

Obi-Wan arched his brow at Anakin, “How so?”

Anakin took a breath and his eyes widened a bit as though he'd been caught in something. He watched Anakin scramble to think of something to say that wasn't related to his visions, “Well, Master... she wasn't always the easiest person to talk to.”

Obi-Wan laughed, “No, she wasn't.”

“So... is she... a clone, or?”

“Why would anyone want to clone Meleana?”

“Hello,” Meleana said walking slowly into the room. All she seemed to say was hello, thank you, and I'm sorry.

“Good morning, Meleana. I brought you some breakfast,” Anakin said. He scooted over so she could sit next to him.

“Thank you....”

“I'm Anakin,” he held out and hand for her to shake. Meleana just stared at it. He picked her hand up from the table and shook it. “When someone holds out their hand like that it means you should shake it.”

Meleana nodded, “Why?” she said in a curious tone.

Anakin shrugged, “It's just something you do. Like when Jedi bow.”

“Alright.. When do Jedi bow?”

“When saying hello and goodbye in a formal setting.”

Meleana looked over the tray of food. Seeing her confusion Anakin got busy dividing all of the plates he had brought with him. Obi-Wan was about five seconds away from putting his Padawan in charge of this mission, if it could even be called a mission.

By the time Ketana arrived Obi-Wan had worked out a system for training Anakin while watching Meleana. He'd have Anakin do warm ups with Meleana before saber practice which they completed while Meleana began a very low impact workout routine. Anakin and Meleana worked on his studies together, since Meleana seemed to know nothing about the galaxy. Anakin was better with Meleana than he was. He'd even started showing her how to work on droids. It was heartening to see Meleana took easily to mechanics, since she had been so good at it before. It gave him hope that she was locked away in there somewhere.

Ketana was as unnerved as he was, though she didn't show it as much. Ketana was a nurturer by nature. Her sweet calm demeanor had always balanced Meleana’s own head strong approach to life. As Meleana's oldest friend in the Jedi order, she also seemed to have a better idea of how to speak to the childlike person they'd been tasked with. Like Obi-Wan, Ketana was usually reserved and tended to keep to herself unless she had something important to say. Before Meleana died Obi-Wan recalled the two women had butted heads a few times. He'd always thought they were a bit of an odd couple. Then again, so were he and Meleana. The more Obi-Wan thought about it the more likely it seemed the the Council had deliberately kept Meleana away from other rebellious members in the order. Whatever had gone on between them before Meleana's death Ketana had put it behind her. She had no problem showing this new Meleana affection. That she spoke Meleana's native tongue helped. It seemed Meleana had some difficulty with basic, but would talk up a storm in Biernan. He had no idea what they talked about. Not just because he didn't speak the language, but also because he found himself unable to talk to Meleana in more than short sentences. When he asked Ketana what they talked about she said she told Meleana stories about herself. Sometimes she even told stories with Meleana in them, but changed her name so she wouldn't get upset that she couldn’t remember.

“She doesn't even remember her own ship,” Obi-Wan said. Meleana had already gone to bed and he and Ketana were talking over drinks in the main room.

“Can't you see her changing? Every day she's a little different,” Ketana was much more optimistic than he was.

“She isn't Meleana.”

Her brown eyes narrowed at him. He was so tired of having this conversation that he found himself more interested in her impossibly long eyelashes than her clear annoyance with him. Ketana’s long auburn hair fell forward when she looked down at her drink. She wasn’t very good at direct confrontation.

“What?” he asked sensing she was holding something back.

She ran her long slender fingers over her lips nervously and looked back up at him. “Do you think, maybe, you are letting your personal feelings get in the way a bit?”

“She was your friend too,” Obi-Wan said. He wasn't sure how his feelings were relevant to his distrust of the new Meleana.

“Do you think it’s possible that you... look I don't know you that well, and I really don't want to overstep my bounds.”

“We're trapped on this ship together for the foreseeable future. Overstep away.”

“You were in love with her. Even if this new person isn't Meleana I can still build a friendship with her, but all the things that made you love her are gone. I can imagine you feel a bit betrayed by that.”

“The woman I loved died. There is no reason for me to project that onto whoever the girl in that room is.”

“If that's true than why are you always keeping her at arm’s length?”

“What am I supposed to do? I am following orders. I answer her questions. I keep an eye on her. I'm trying to make sure she can run a mile without collapsing. I have done everything for her I know how to do.”

Ketana didn't look like she bought his reasoning, “Just try my way tomorrow. Tell her a story about you. Or a story about the two of you with the names changed. See if you can connect with her more. Whoever she is she's very sweet.”

“Meleana was not sweet.”

“Meleana was sweet,” Ketana's tone was much more commanding than it had been. “You see some strange new entity, I see someone who reminds me of Meleana when we were kids. Before life changed her. You didn't know her before she was broken.”

“She wasn't broken.”

“You and I both know that isn't true. She was a sweet delicate person, until she wasn't.”

“Jedi are not meant to be delicate.”

They both turned when the door to Meleana's room swished open and she staggered out. She walked into the kitchen to get herself a glass of water then stood and stared at them while she sipped it. Her brows were stitched together as though she were deep in thought.

“Ketana, I think I remembered something. That story you told me the other day, about the Padawan who tripped and fell into the fountains, that was me. Wasn't it?”

Ketana nodded with a big smile, “Yes, Meleana it was.”

“I broke my wrist?”

“Yes!” Ketana had left that part of the story out.

She pursed her lips and looked down into her glass, “Hmm,” Meleana took her water glass back into her room.

“You shouldn't be feeding her information about her past,” Obi-Wan said sternly.

“Oh really, Master, why is that? Because it seems to be working.”

“How are we to know if she's an imposter or not if we give her all of Meleana's memories?”

“By leaving out important details, like a broken wrist.”

“Which she could have easily looked up in the archives.”

“When? We watch her all the time. Does she really strike you as a criminal genius?”

“Well she wouldn't if she were.”

Ketana put her hands up, “I'm going to bed. I'll take Meleana for her exercise tomorrow. I think you and Anakin could use a day off.”
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Fall of the Risen