#beru stole the show as always

[scribble-dribble-writes]

Blissful nights

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<< part 1

Requested by: @alexaaahh

Pairing: Obiwan x reader

Contents: He follows his vision to the house he keeps seeing in his dreams

Warnings: none. As mentioned I wanted this to be really sweet 💖

Word count: 3000

Tag: @actuallyanita

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He saw it again. A house. The very same he had been getting in recurring dreams. It woke him up softly with a feeling that made him miss the mental respite he received through these dreams. It took different forms everyday. Some days he would dream of the garden, while in most others he dreamt of a bedroom. He would always wake up in this foreign room and the windows would be open to let in morning light. It felt calm and serene. His current life lacked both those qualities that he had forgotten how it felt to be at peace.

The cave surrounded him like a prison, one he put himself in. He didn’t have the energy to deal with these thoughts today, he had to show up for work. His feet felt the rough warm soil beneath, his hand felt dry and he knew he had lost the glow of his youth. He felt foreign in this body, his face looked nothing like how he had once been and so he didn’t have any mirrors or look at himself in reflections. His fingers pushed away his long lock that fell over his forehead, his shoulder and lower back ached, he wasn’t used to doing manual labour. If he was being honest, he wasn’t used to any of this. He missed home or atleast the place that had once been. He missed the feeling of his lightsaber in his hands. He missed his suite and the library and-

He stopped.

There were a set of thoughts that he deemed to be off limits. Thoughts that would break him apart and make him spiral. Anything to do with you, had now become a minefield, so he got up to get dressed. He resorted to distraction when any thought of you popped up in his head, so he was always busy.

The work was dreary, the people were the same and he only received half a day’s credit even though he was here before the two suns had risen. One among the crowd he mindlessly trekked back to his quarters to get ready for his watch over Luke’s residence. He was alive, he had a duty to perform and that was all that mattered. Lost in his thoughts he bumped into someone. “Why won’t you leave us alone?”, he knew who it was upon listening to the sound of the man’s voice. Owen Lars. His tired eyes first noticed the scorn on Owen’s face and then a little figure shuffled near his hips. The boy. He took a step back. He lowered his head slowly to see that Luke was hiding behind his uncle. Owen nodded his head in a way of telling him to make a move on and so he did. But the encounter shook him. The fear of Luke’s face disturbed him.  Was that how everyone saw him? Like a crazy desert fool?

He dropped his stash of food on the table. For a moment it was as though he was seeing himself from the outside. He stole food. He kept watch over a kid to an extent the very same child was terrified of him. He had no friends or family. He had nothing here. It struck him then, he wandered off limits. That was how you would have felt, on the day you chose to leave. The Jedi order could not have given you the life you wanted. But another thought plagued him.

Would you have stayed if he had asked?

You didn’t miss Coruscant much. It had now been reduced into a vague memory. This new life that you had made for yourself suited you best, on the outskirts of town in the middle of a forest in Naboo, you had safely constructed your own world untouched by the tragedies of your past. The wounds in your heart were now sealed. The feelings you had once harboured for him, had vanished. He didn’t linger in your mind. You had even forgotten his face. But ever so often you would think of him, hoping he had survived. There was however one thought that never seemed to die down.

Did he ever think of you?

He held his binoculars close to his eyes, watching Owen and Beru play with Luke. He felt insignificant. Lowering the device, the reality of it hit him, that if he was free to chose a new path, he could. He had a new purpose now. These dreams beckoning him to a different place if it even exists. For the first time in his life, he wanted to be selfish. He wanted to go in search of this place the force was lulling him to. So he rushed off inside with an urgency he had felt only once before, when he ran through the halls before you disappeared from his life. He stuffed his bag with a change of clothes and took all the credits he had earned so far. He needed respite and that was only found in this place that he saw in his mind. He wiggled his fingers into his black gloves and rode his eopie till the station. Following his instinct, he bought a ticket to Naboo and boarded the starship.

Naboo welcomed him with the lush display of greenery that his eyes felt relief from having been caught in the dry arid climate of tatooine. But a fear took root. A fear that he won’t go back. He adjusted the strap of his satchel when he reminded himself that this was just for a day. He will put an end to his misery, have a break and be back to his duties. That once he found the root cause of those dreams he’ll go back to his cave. He walked down a path that led him into the forest, the air smelling sweet with the scent of wild flowers and the sound of a nearby stream calling to him. The water trickled gently making everything around him feel serene, he wanted to sit down and catch his breath. But when looked up, he caught sight of it. The house. It looked the same with overgrown wall climbers and couple trees hiding it from view. A part of him couldn’t believe himself, so when he took the next step he lost his footing and tumbled down into the stream.

The water hit him with a sudden coldness, so he whipped his head out to gasp for breath. He was completely drenched, so was his bag and everything in it. As he waded through, he only wanted to stay in the water a little while. The fresh feeling on his skin, his fingers feeling the rush of the river, he felt rejuvenated. He pushed his hair back and immersed himself. It was then he realized how much he also missed his showers back home. He got out the water and laid on his back. He kept thinking of home like a place he could return to. But in truth it was lost and he had not made peace with that. So he looked at this little hidden villa again. Whatever that was in it, could be the answer. The key to him feeling whole again. So he dragged himself up the slope and walked, his boots squeezing out water with every step. He got to the front door, his bag and clothes dripping wet. The doorbell was an inch away and all he had to do was ring it. He hesitated.

Would this really solve all his problems?

He had to know, so he rang the bell.

You hardly got visitors so it was even more unusual for someone to ring your doorbell at this time of day. You wiped your hands on your apron, having completed your final touch to the strawberry shortcake you had baked with strawberries from your own backyard. Pulling your dress in place you dusted your hands before opening the door.

“Yes.”, you answered and swung the door opened. A man stood on your doormat dripping wet, his long hair pushed back and his eyes going wide with surprise. The blue of his eyes, the red flush in his cheeks, within a second you recognized him. Time had not changed him at all. You held onto the doorframe to hide the nervous shiver and to make sure you wouldn’t fall to the ground. “Obi wan, what are you doing here?”, you gasped. “I don’t know.”, he responded looking as stunned as you were. He was beginning to shiver in the way his bottom lip quivered so you invited him in and he walked into your space like an old ghost. Anywhere he walked, he dripped fresh water splotches in the same way your heart now had decided to wake up and beat for him. Even after all these years all the love you had once put away rushed back in and now, now he needed warm clothes so you went into your room to get him any sort of dry clothes for the time being.

He watched you buzz about from room to room as he stood in the middle of the hall rendering your carpet wet with his presence. This had not solved anything, except it only broke him further. The air was tense and he didn’t know what to do to ease it. Could he ease it after all these years? But you emerged again and held out a set of warm clothes. “You need to change or you might catch a cold.”, he heard you say and couldn’t bring himself to say anything so he nodded and took the clothes.

When he went away, you placed his bag near the fireplace for it to dry and sat down on your seatee. Your rather peaceful world had now been touched by fire. The ticking of the clock was the only rhythm you could focus on because your heart was haywire. You heard his footsteps as he emerged out slowly. Your farm hand had left a couple of his clothes behind and so now he walked towards you in a ragged pant and patched up shirt. You had seen him in all forms and in each form he still managed to look his absolute best. You look away when you realized you had been staring. “Please have a seat.”, you offered and he sat down on the other end. The clock was ticking again and all that passed between you was silence.

“Leaving the order has done you good.”, he managed to say only to notice it caused the opposite effect. He saw the hurt flicker in your eyes. He dug his fingers into his palms. You were settled now, he was the odd one still harbouring feelings as he sat in your living room wearing your husband’s old clothes. There was so much to say and yet not a beginning in sight. “Your clothes should be dry in a while. Would you like to have something to eat?”, he heard you ask. Maybe this was your attempt to diffuse this awkwardness, so he agreed. You emerged from the kitchen with two plates, upon closer inspection he knew what it was. His favourite. So like he grabbed for the spoon like a mad man. Taking a bite he sunk into the cushions, closing his eyes, he savoured every bit. His eyes popped open when it hit him. “Do you remember that cake store we used to go to? This tastes exactly the same. For a moment, it felt like nothing had changed.”, he burst with new found energy and then drew back. He had put his foot in his mouth again.

You watched the sheer glee on his face and your chest tingled with warmth. He grabbed the spoon like he had not seen food for days. The edge of his fingers looked worn out. His hair retained the same lustre but now it was a little darker. But his eyes, they were the same. Now they were looking at yours with a glimmer as he spoke about a forgotten memory. But the moment he spoke, he began to shrink back into his shell, so you stopped him. “Yes, I make it when I miss home.”, you responded to which he gave a tired smile.

When I miss you, you thought.

He didn’t need to know that.

“You look like you’ve been keeping well.”, he said unsure of how you might receive it. But you were radiant or maybe it was that his time in the desert had made his eyes adjust to brighter conditions that with the golden light streaking across your face gave you an ethereal glow. He wasn’t here to cause trouble but as the silence engulfed him, he heard the thoughts that wanted him to be a menace. He wanted to drift closer to you, to see those deep wood brown eyes and run his fingers into your raven black hair in the same way he felt the water rush through. But you were with someone else and so he looked away.

The order was all in the past but you could still feel when someone felt distressed and right now he was distraught. So you approached the elephant in the room. “Obi wan why are you really here?”, you asked and you could feel his eyes on you. “I didn’t know you were here.”, he said and it hurt you. So if he knew, he would not have come. “I needed a break from my duty and I had these visions,” he paused looking around, “ of this house.”, he explained. “The force.”, you looked at him as you answered to which he nodded. “Well now you’re mystery is solved.”, you collected the plate from him and turned to go. “Would you have stayed if I had asked?”, he asked as though he had been reciting it in his head. “That is the mystery that needs to be solved.”, he said softly.

He observed as you turned to meet his gaze again, as you placed the plates on the side table. He saw you take in a deep breath before you answered. “I left the order because I was beginning to have feelings. And instead of wanting to put them away I wanted to embrace it. Now if the person I was having these feelings for, asked me to stay, what would you have done?”, his eyes widened. You had liked him. He was the biggest fool.

“I would have told them sooner.”, he replied and your heart rate shot through the roof. This cannot be happening. You got up to pace the room, then paused to point a shaking finger at him. “And what? Live at an arms distance from you. Not be able to be near you or touch you. Was that the life you dreamed? Can’t you see how miserable it would have been?”, you felt the rush of adrenaline through you. You walked unable to sit down, angry that he showed up after all this time to confess now. You turned to him again. “Are you going to tell me now that you thought of me daily? Don’t pretend like you cared then or now.”, but before you could continue with your rampage you heard him say yes.

“I did.”, he clasped his hands together. “You were the only part of me that kept me sane in the loneliness. That even though I tried not to think of you. I failed.”, he could feel his heart beating for the first time in a while. “I understand your anger now. To be so close and yet so far. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”, he said. Even in your righteous anger, you were beautiful. Only then he realized he needed to leave. If he stayed a minute longer, he'll fall in love all over again. Thoughts of you will make do.

“I suspect your husband will be back and I would like to return his clothes.”, he got up while your head was swirling. “I’ve lived alone ever since I left.”, you tell him and he pauses. “I see.”, his eyes meet yours again. “I’ve only ever loved you.”, you say it softly but muster the courage to look at him. “I don’t know how to love any one else like I love you.”, you say it and stand your ground as he walks to you.

He didn’t want to leave. Long ago a dream he had, became a nightmare. Now his nightmare had turned into a dream. The house, this place and you. He had it all wrong. “I wanted to tell you the day you left. That you should have taken me with you.”, he admitted it and slowly reached for your hand. “That I would be lonely without you.”, he kissed the end of you fingers. “That if you left, my life wouldn’t make sense.”

You push away a strand of hair from his face and place your cheek on his chest, tucking your head under his neck as his arms wrapped around you. “I’ve missed you so much, like a meadow buried under snow yearns for summer.”, you tell him and he kisses your forehead. “Are you still planning to leave?”, you ask him not wanting this moment to stop. “And miss out on eating strawberry shortcake? Never.”, you feel the laugh that rumbled through him. Somewhere in between all this, it felt like a dream, or a vision. You knew he would come back to you.

He had forgotten what sleep actually felt like. He felt your arm slung over his bare chest as the songbirds sung outside. The window open to let the morning light in. Soft white curtains fluttering with the wind and your warmth keeping the cold at bay. Luke needed to have his childhood and the universe still had time to be saved so he turned and you stirred in your sleep. His slipped his hand over your waist, his fingers tracing your soft skin as he pulled you close. You softly hummed with delight and he knew he finally found peace.

[bubblegumbeech]

Shadows and Souls

Dannymay day 10: Shadow

Crossover with Solo Leveling

It had been a bit of a cliche really, when Clockwork showed Danny around the zone, introducing him to different places and realms and explaining what was important to know about each. There had been an area, far away from the backwater section of the zone the Fenton portal called home and further still from more densely populated areas like the Timeless Realm or the Drowned Quarter, that had been covered entirely in shadows with little light to see by.

Normally that would be ominous on its own, but many of the different places in the ghost zone followed their own rules and laws of reality. Sure, most of it was a swirling void of greens and purples due to the constant presence of rich ambient ectoplasm, but that didn’t mean the environment wouldn’t twist and shape to the desires of whoever existed. Afterall, the drowned quarter wasn’t really underwater any more than anywhere else in the zone was. But it damn well felt like it.

That’s when the cliche happened. Once Danny’s eyes roamed over the shadowy abyss Clockwork had pulled him back from it, just slightly, just enough that Danny could feel the threat. He’d said to not go there, at least not yet. He’d said there was a powerful being in the realm, one that was dangerous and unstable. He’d pretty much told Danny the whole entire area was completely off limits and that it was a risk to his afterlife if he accidentally wandered in.

He said pretty much everything he could to make a fourteen year old half ghost curious as hell and then stole them away to go look at something boring and safe and horribly mundane while Danny did everything he could to plot a way into the realm of shadows.

It was dark. Obviously it was dark. Danny just hadn’t been quite prepared for how dark it was. The shadows were ever present, it almost felt like they themselves had form and were pressing down on Danny himself. Then a light flickered. Something bright in the swirling dark, a deep purple unfamiliar from any natural color Danny was familiar with. It sparkled to life and faded just as quickly before coming back just a little bit farther away. 

Danny followed it. What did he have to lose? There was no real way for him to get back on his own, unable to see through the oppressive wall of shadows, and it was the first thing even close to a path he could try and take. The closer he got to it the brighter the light got until it was swirling all around him, a river of light and power and Danny marveled.

“Lost little Ghost?” A voice came from behind and Danny quickly turned around, startled. It sounded like Korean, but Danny didn’t know Korean yet he didn’t have any trouble understanding what was being said to him. Which… only happened when ghosts weren’t really using their words to communicate.

He hadn’t expected whatever was here to have enough sentience to speak, or even take form. Much less to be able to communicate despite what should have been an obvious language barrier. 

There was someone, half hidden in the shadows with bright neon eyes the same color of the lights that Danny had followed, that flowed around them even now. 

“I’m not little,” Danny argued, insulted. Was this the threat Clockwork had warned him of? He didn’t seem more threatening than the average ghost. In fact, if it wasn’t for the obvious flow of his eyes and the countless shadows around them Danny probably would have thought he was human. 

He smiled, at least, Danny thought it was a smile. It was barely there and didn’t quite reach his eyes, but his expression had softened just a bit. 

“Beru, lead him out of here before he gets more lost,” he said and Danny balked. 

“Wait! I just got here! I haven’t even figured out who shaped this realm!” Danny was waving his hands frantically in front of him, trying to dissuade him. Something formed out of the shadows, the bright purple light collecting inside until a monster stood before him, large insect pod pincers and thin translucent wings. It almost looked like an ant, if ants were twice the size of a person and bipedal. 

The man blinked, and cocked his head slightly in confusion. “I am the only one here, these are my shadows.”

Holy shit. “You… wait there aren’t any other ghosts? This place is huge. Isn’t that a ghost?” Danny pointed at the bug-ant-person thing that was frantically waving at him to follow it. The man only looked more confused.

“You’re the only ghost here,” he said, in a horribly ominous way. 

Danny shook his head slowly, trying not to think about the implications behind that. “Are you saying you aren’t a ghost?” Also, was he saying the shadows weren’t ghosts? Even Johnny’s shadow was considered an actual ghost right? Or was there a difference? Come to think of it, Danny had never asked. He’d always just assumed they were a packaged deal, but if Johnny’s shadow was just an extension of himself, then what did that mean for a single figure that had an entire realm of shadows tied to him? 

He shivered, maybe he should have listened to Clockwork this time. He was usually right about things now that Danny thought about it.

“I’m not a ghost,” the man said, his eyes glowing in a very distinctly ghostly way, “I never died.”

Oh, terrifying actually. Wait, “you’re human?” 

The man flinched, turning his head away and pointedly not answering. “Follow Beru, he’ll lead you out.” 

“Wait, just one more question,” Danny pleaded, ignoring Beru’s increasingly desperate gestures. 

It was something that had been bothering him for sometime actually, ever since he saw the realm formed here. Realms like this, distinct as they are, didn’t come from nothing. And according to Danny’s calculations and the sheer amount of time he’d spent studying the infinity map with Frostbite, there should be a mortal plane tied here to the realm. 

That usually meant thin spots, a vague connection through the membrane of the zone and possible portals, but the entire area was dead. Flat. Lifeless. As if there was nothing living on the other side.

“The world you’re from… what happened to it?”

The man’s eyes went dark, something heavier than even grief weighed behind them. “It’s gone. The only thing left are shadows.” 

Ah, maybe Danny should leave. It would probably be the safer option, definitely the smarter one. But his core ached at the thought of leaving him alone, surrounded by what must be shadows from his own world. 

Shadows that aren’t full ghosts, that are an extension of him. He‘s powerful, Danny can tell, there’s very few ghosts that are as powerful as this man and he (apparently) isn’t even a ghost. But he’d also flinched when Danny asked if he was human so he probably wasn’t that either, not anymore. 

Neither living nor dead, Danny’s heart clenched, how unbearably lonely. 

“My name’s Danny, what’s yours?” It never hurt to have another powerful friend, and Danny’s obsession wouldn’t let him leave when someone so clearly needed help. Even if that someone didn’t realize it. 

“...Sung Jin-Woo,” the man said, suspicious. 

Danny just smiled, he’d never thought he’d be grateful for being frozen at fourteen all these years, but it did wonders for building trust. “Well Sung Jin-Woo, why don’t we be friends?” 

[ourladyofrebellion]

A New Hope, A New Jacket

Can we talk about the yellow jacket Luke wears at the end of Episode IV?

Maybe there's like a consignment shop on Yavin IV and Leia gave them some credits ahead of their reward, telling them to clean up for the ceremony, because she's Leia and that's how she rolls and Han just pockets the money, like, "I'm just gonna wear what I always wear," except he washes his shirt so it's a little whiter, and Luke is like, "kriff, I don't want to wear the same scrubby rags I wore on Tatooine," and so he looks around and finds some brown pants that are in pretty good shape and then he passes this little shop across from where the pilots go to drink on their off hours and there, in the window, is this yellow jacket.

And what he doesn't know is that the shop keeper had been trying to get rid of this thing for months. Everyone makes fun of it. No one even calls the shop by it's name anymore, they call it "The Yellow Jacket".

"Who wants to wear that thing? You'd stick out anywhere."

Some people actually feel angry when they see it because it's too nice. The same kind of anger they'd feel when they saw a council VIP. How can you think about fashion when there's a war to win? It's disrespectful.

That jacket makes a mockery of the whole base.

But this desert planet kid shows up one day and sees that jacket in the window and he immediately thinks, "Uncle Owen would never let me buy something like that. Aunt Beru would love it."

So he marches right in there and asks to try it on and the shop keeper is put off because they've had several people ask to try it on only to be gone by the time they got it off the mannequin because it's a joke. The whole thing is a joke.

But there's something different about this Skywalker kid. And sure enough, it fits him perfectly.

Couple pilots on their way out of the pub notice the naked mannequin in the shop window on their way to the temple for the award ceremony and they joke about it. Maybe someone stole it. Maybe the shopkeeper finally gave up on that thing and cut it down into scrap.

But no.

They're all lined up in the temple waiting for these newbies who took on the Death Star and there's that fucking yellow jacket.

The pilots look at each other as Luke passes by and they can't even believe it, but damn if that desert boy don't shine like two suns.