Rules are meant to be broken

motion and emotion

However, just as she went to press the elevator button to go down, she was plunged into complete darkness. She attempted to press the elevator button again but there was no reaction. There must have been a power outage. She shrugged and stood there waiting. Normally the power would be back on in a minute. However, it never did turn back on. 

As she made her way over to the window, she realised it wasn't just her building that was powerless, it was the whole city. As she looked out across Coruscant, all she could see was the travel lanes lit up by the speeder lights. There were no lights in the buildings. She felt a small pang of fear in her heart at the thought of being trapped in her room so she stepped out onto her tiny balcony. It was enough though. The feeling of the rushing air around her fluttered through her loose hair soothed her nerves. Until she remembered her friends.

Melanie reached in her bag and fished out her little communication device.

"Padme? Can you hear me?" She called into the comlink. "Padme?!"

"I'm here Mel, are you okay?" Came Padmes reply. The girl heaved a sigh of relief.

"Of course I'm fine. I'm still at the residence. What about you? Where are you? Are you safe? What's happening?"

"Easy Mels. I'm safe and at the senate building. We were about to vote on deregulating the banks when the outage happened. We are getting reports that it was a separatist bombing that knocked the generators out."

"Separatists? Surely not? After all, they just extended an olive branch," Melanie was speechless. After all, they had heard the confederacy vow to extend an olive branch, why would they do something like this now.

"I'm not sure... I sense something outside of our vision had happened. Can you get to the Senate building?"

"No, the elevator isn't working."

"I see... the Senate has been ordered to stay in the building for our own safety. I'll alert the Jedi council that you are not in the building. We have no idea what or who this attack was meant for... I'm nervous that they found out about our trip... I think it's best that you stay where you are." Padme replied. It was obvious to hear the toll of this bombing in her voice. She wanted this war to be over so bad and now she felt like it would never end due to events like this.

"Okay. Stay safe Padme. I'm guessing you still have Ahsoka with you?"

"Yup, Ahsoka and Anakin now."

"Well, aren't you lucky? Nobody will be attacking you anytime soon. I'll see you tomorrow. stay safe."

"Goodnight, Mels."

Melanie ended the transmission and walked back inside. Slumping on the sofa, she undid her heels and brought her knees to her chest. She stared out at the dark abyss that was Coruscant and revelled in this once in a lifetime view.

After half an hour or so of thinking about what had happened and about life in general, Melanie went upstairs to find something to keep her busy. She cursed herself for not recharging her flat datapad before she left for Raxus, she had a few reports that she needed to read on that... As she continued her search she realised how near impossible it was to find anything in the near pitch-black. She went inside her bathroom and found a number of candles she liked to light when she was having a relaxing bath. They were small but they would give some light.

She was searching in a draw in her kitchen for some matches when she overheard a bang on the balcony. Melanie quickly ducked to hide. She grabbed a knife from one of the draws as quiet as she could and made her way towards the door.

The faint outline of a body could be seen due to the traffic and she made a dash to attack the form. It turned around and stopped her when the knife was an inch from their skin. She quickly brought her knee up, praying her intruder was a man or else her attack wouldn't do much damage. The intruder, obviously a man, groaned at the impact and fell to the floor.

"Melanie?" He groaned in an all too familiar voice.

"Obi?" She yelped and put the knife down before kneeling next to her friend. Luckily it was dark or else he would see the blush that had not only engulfed her cheeks but her entire face. "Why didn't you say something?"

"You didn't really give me a chance." He finally found the strength to sit up, ignoring the pounding pain between his legs. "With moves like that, I wonder why they even sent me to look after you."

"Oh my, I'm so sorry. Come on, come to the sofa." She grabbed his hand, pulling him to his feet. Melanie settled him on the sofa and then continued her search for the match, returning the knife in the process. She found the matches and lit the candle. The small light did a miraculous job illuminating the room and her recovering friend. She took a seat on the sofa next to him."So um... You were sent here to look after me?"

"Indeed. They thought it would be best to send me since we know each other well." In truth, he hadn't been sent at all, he just wanted to make sure she was okay. 

"Ah right..." Melanie struggled to think of something to say after that awkward event. The two fell into silence both staring at the candle.

"Might I ask for a drink?" Obi-Wan asked, unsure of what to talk about.

"Sure, what are you after?" She felt relieved to have something to do. Grabbing a glass from the cupboard, she awaited his answer.

"Water will do."

With a nod, she headed over to the sink and turned on the tap, however, no water came out because of the power outage. She checked the fridge for a jug of water but found nothing.

"Bad news, the power cut means there is no running water. However, I do have a bottle of wine in here?"

"Sure, that would be nice." Obi-Wan agreed. He hadn't drunk wine in years.

Thank god, I need some liquid courage right now, Melanie thought as she grabbed some wine glasses. She poured two glasses and made her way back to the sofa. This was going to be an interesting night.