Who: Shepard and Obi-Wan When: Following the bombing Where: The ranch, a hallway What: Shepard breaks the news Rating/Warning: High, TW for references to current events Status: Complete
Shepard popped in near Obi-wan, before Clarice ported back out to continue what she can do to help. She was dirty and a little bloody, but there wasn’t a wound on her. She had a grim look on her face. “Obi-wan…”
Obi-Wan was sitting in the floor. Far from a meditative pose, he was sort of slumped forward, his back barely touching the wall behind him. With his hands between his knees, his fingers were still on his phone, as if poised to type. He’d just been texting Shepard, after all. But he was far beyond words, now. He looked up in sad silence. He knew.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, sinking to her knees next to him. “It happened quickly. She only had time to save everyone else.” Tyra could still remember the feel of her body being ripped apart and put back together again in the same second.
His eyes were red, but there hadn’t even been enough time for tears. Even so, Obi-Wan wasn’t prone to crying. He made a bad habit of burying down pain as deeply as it could go. But now, it was like he didn’t have enough room. He was dazed. He felt numb. “What was it?” What was it that had happened too quickly for Faiza, who could move through molecules.
"A missile. When it exploded she held the rest of us together." It had taken Faiza's last breath, but she'd saved a child as well. Shepard rested her hands on her knees. "She saved a child, before she could save herself."
He swallowed, but the saliva didn’t seem to go anywhere. His throat was too tight. “I’ll bet she did.” Obi-Wan struggled though a faint smile.
Shepard lifted her head. She didn’t know if Obi-wan needed physical contact or not, so she stayed still next to him. “I wish there was something I could have done. I’m sorry.”
“Is there…” His voice trailed away, squeezed by the vise in his throat. He choked. “Is there anything left for… I mean, is she gone??” He couldn’t bring himself to paint the grim picture.
Shepard was silent for a moment, then shook her head. "We...she's there. We can bury her or whatever is is she wished for. I'm sure she..." This was hard. Letters were easier. Letters were always easier.
Obi-Wan nodded, pulling in a sharp breath. At least he had that much. At least Faiza would have that much, a proper funeral. The more time that passed, the more the reality and the pain was sinking in. Like a knife.
"She told me she was going to the bombing. I decided to make sure everything here was taken care of before I joined her there. Perhaps if I had gone sooner. We were talking about getting married." The sentences didn't really follow each other, but everything was spilling out now.
"God..." This time Shepard did reach out, if only to squeeze Obi-wans shoulder. She wondered if Dani should have been here too, then decided that that might have been too much for him right now. "You don't know that. We can blame ourselves over and over, but it won't change what happened." And she knew they'd both blame themselves. She knew that there was nothing to do but push forward through that.
"We can honor her life and her death. She deserves that and more."
Shepard's hand was almost too much, but at the same time, Obi-Wan needed more. He wanted arms around him, a breast to rest his head upon, and the scent of curry that had come to define everything that felt like home. But those things were all memories now. How could the sweetest, most innocent woman he had ever known be taken by such violence? "She spent her life giving and in the end she gave her life. I'll bet her last thought was happier than either of us can possibly imagine."
Obi-Wan nearly smiled again and then it all fell apart, and he was reduced to shivering and tears.