The Benevolence of the Force by Spiritofthesky4 (WILL RETURN)

Chapter 10: Veritas

Obi-Wan gently placed his chin on top of my head and wrapped his free arm around me– at least, as well as he could over the central console of the truck. I buried my face in his neck, trying to pretend that everything was fine, that everything would be fixed as long as I was locked in his embrace. I tried to pretend I wasn't scared, that everywhere I went I saw evidence that my society– my planet was collapsing.

Rex hadn't noticed it the last time we'd gone to the town, but there was a notice on all the windows saying that another mask mandate was about to be enforced due to the new COVID variant on the rise, twenty-five times as dangerous as last one.

A seventy-five percent chance of death once you catch it.

Obi-Wan didn't know how the fish in the lake had long since disappeared, looking for cooler waters. The lake had once been ice-cold year round, but now it barely raised a chill. None of them, besides Obi-Wan now, knew that the massive snowstorm they'd arrived in would never happen again, that the ice in the oceans was disappearing, and that most species in the oceans had been slowly dying out for years.

They didn't know how Earth's population was a fraction of what it once was, or why I hunted so often to keep the populations of deer and elk down, now that the big predators were extinct, how the air in some places was so clogged with the smog from burning fossil fuels you could barely breathe, how the oceans were so choked with jellyfish that they'd starved the whales to death and clogged the seawater cooling systems of nuclear power plants.

News reports and articles ran through my head, all of them telling me that I was going to see the collapse of society and ecosystems across the planet before I was 60. I inhaled hard, getting a faceful of Obi-Wan's scent, then gave a ragged exhale.

"Shhh," he whispered, carding his fingers through my hair. "You're all right. You're here, with me, in this truck. You're safe."

I'M NOT SAFE! My mind screamed. THIS PLANET IS DYING! I almost choked on air, and I felt my whole body practically vibrate in terror. Hot tears began to stream down my cheeks, and my ribcage convulsed in a sob.

"Oh, dear one," Obi-Wan murmured. His voice sounded far away, or like I was hearing it underwater. I collapsed into his chest, shaking, and let out a strangled noise, halfway between a whimper and a wail.

I must look so stupid right now, the back of my mind whispered. Look at me, sobbing helplessly into OBI-WAN KENOBI'S chest like a KRIFFING child.

I drew away from him at once, avoiding his gaze with a mutter of, "I'm sorry. That was... out of character, unprofessional, and inappropriate."

Obi-Wan looked at me with a deep sadness in his eyes. "Viria, no, it's... it's alright. You know what, here..."

I tilted my head in confusion as he opened the door to the truck and stepped out, only to get into the backseat. He made a gentle "come on" gesture, so I brushed tears out of my eyes and reluctantly joined him in the backseat.

Once I was in the back seat, he wrapped me in a hug, one much tighter and closer than the other without the center console in the way. I couldn't help it; I resumed my sobs.

"You have no reason to be sorry. If I were in your place... I don't even know what I'd do," Obi-Wan said firmly but kindly. "And wanting to survive isn't selfish. It's human nature to desire to live."

His words only made me sob harder and I curled in on myself-- at least, as best I could while plastered against Obi-Wan. My fingers began to cramp where they were gripping Obi-Wan's shirt like a lifeline, but I didn't let go. I couldn't. I gasped for air but none came.