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crack_van2009-08-31 11:52 am
sandystarr88.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2009-08-31 11:52 am
Entry tags:
Fallen by crazyundeadfairy (NC-17)
Fandom: STAR WARS
Pairing: Anakin/Obi-Wan, background Anakin/Padmé
Length: ~62,000
Author on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
crazundeadfairy
Author Website: Defensive Walls
Why this must be read:
This was the first multi-chapter fic I ever read for Star Wars, and even now years later it's one that re-read every so often. Obi-Wan Kenobi has been killed during his mission to destroy General Grievous, or at least that's what Anakin and everyone else thinks. This seemingly small deviation from canon has serious repercussions as Anakin starts to question if Palpatine was ever on his side at all, and Obi-Wan fights to bring Anakin back from the dark side.
Disengaging from the hyperspace booster, Anakin entered Mustafar’s atmosphere. The frightening landscape was beyond anything he could have envisioned. It was a terrifying world of fire and would have been a suitable setting for his downfall did he not have other things to take care of. Obi-Wan and Padmé were depending on him and he couldn’t allow himself to give into his grief.
“I want you to stay with the ship, Artoo,” Anakin ordered as he brought his ship towards one of the docking platforms. “This shouldn’t take too long and I want to be gone from here as soon as possible.”
There was a twittering from the astromech droid that Anakin took to be an affirmative. If he could just keep focused on events as they took place, he would be okay. What he was about to do would end the war that had cost many thousands of lives. Dooku was dead and soon the Separatist leaders and Grievous would be as well. The droid army would be without their leaders and the Republic would have its victory. There would be peace then. A peace that he and Obi-Wan had fought so hard for and that Obi-Wan had died for. Even if Palpatine was telling the truth and they were able to resurrect Obi-Wan, the other man would have still been dead.
Receiving the landing coordinates from one of the command centers, Anakin steered his ship towards the designated landing platform. The Separatist leaders were waiting for him just beyond the platform in one of the few constructed outposts on the planet, its defensive shields the only thing protecting it from the lava and the radiation that was its main source of income. The Separatist leaders were expecting new orders from Lord Sidious, not their deaths. However, betrayal was something to be expected when dealing with the Sith. It was that knowledge Anakin feared most. That Palpatine had been his friend for the past thirteen years offered him no comfort whatsoever because Anakin was starting to doubt that the Palpatine that was his friend had ever truly existed.
Anakin stood before the Council, shoulder to shoulder with his master. He had known from the instant he’d set a course for Riflor that he would be punished by the Council for disobeying the orders of one of its members. It didn’t matter that he’d found Obi-Wan and rescued him, the mission had started with him going against Ki-Adi-Mundi’s orders because he’d felt a brief flicker of his master’s presence.
“Too strong this attachment to your master has become,” Yoda mused, his gaze unwavering as he stared at Anakin. “Listen to reason you do not where concerned Obi-Wan is.”
“I will not apologize for my bond with my master,” Anakin stated calmly, his hands clenched tightly behind his back. “He has been my teacher and friend for more than ten years. I could not abandon him when I knew he was in danger.”
“We are in the midst of a war, Skywalker. Every Jedi here is in danger,” Mace Windu pointed out, smug as ever as he leaned forward to rest his forearms on his knees.
“And those that can be saved should be to keep our numbers from being so depleted,” Anakin protested. “If Ventress had captured my master a second time she would have given him to Count Dooku. They would have twisted his mind and turned him against us.”
“Anakin, calm yourself,” Obi-Wan murmured, placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing lightly.
“They would have left you to die!” Anakin shouted, spinning about to face Obi-Wan fully. “After everything you’ve done, they would have let you be swallowed by the Dark Side.”
Obi-Wan smiled softly, the corners of his eyes much more lined than they had been in recent years. “Yet here I stand, alive and well. You need not always put yourself at risk for me. I did manage to survive twenty-five years before meeting you, after all.”
“Out of hand, this meeting has become,” Yoda interrupted, clacking his gimmer stick against the edge of his seat. “Order there will be. Excused for the present, Obi-Wan is. Speak with young Skywalker the Council will.”
Beside him, Anakin felt Obi-Wan tense, but he nodded his head as expected. For all their faults, Obi-Wan never went against the will of the Council, even when it contradicted his own thoughts. At that moment, Anakin could feel a flicker of unease and distrust coming from his master. It was gone in an instant, replaced by the calm that usually enfolded the older man. Obi-Wan squeezed his shoulder a final time before turning about on his heel and exiting the room, leaving Anakin to face the Council by himself.
~*~*~
His head ached nearly as much as his chest. When he went to lift his hand, he found himself unable to, the weight of his arm too much. Worried by that, he remained perfectly still, reaching out with the Force to gain a sense of his surroundings only to discover that there was very little around him. Very cautiously, Obi-Wan blinked his eyes open, confirming that he was indeed lying in an escape pod and that Cody was seated across from him. Obi-Wan was able to focus on his companion for only a brief moment before unconsciousness claimed him once again.
Obi-Wan paced outside the Council chambers, hands clenched tightly behind his back. This was not the first time Anakin had been reprimanded. Far from it, actually. What it was, however, was the first time Obi-Wan had been sent away during the interim. That was what worried Obi-Wan most. He was Anakin’s master and there should have been no reason to confront the boy without him being present.
Straining his senses outward, Obi-Wan hoped to be able get some sense of what was happening on the other side of the door. Instead he was slammed up against a barrier that was not of Anakin’s making. Obi-Wan knew that there were dampening shields that surrounded the Council room in order to ensure its secrecy, but he should have been able to still sense Anakin’s emotions given the strength of their bond. It had been strong enough for Anakin to know he was alive even when half the galaxy separated them.
Obi-Wan could only find minimal comfort in the conversation he and Yoda had had the day before. At the time he had been relieved that Yoda had agreed to return Anakin’s guardianship to him. He now feared that Yoda had simply meant to appease him until this afternoon’s formal meeting. It was a tactic Obi-Wan would have expected of Mace who had never bothered to hide his mistrust of Anakin despite all of the good he’d done. Obi-Wan would not deny that Anakin was still prone to giving into his emotions, but he could hardly condemn the boy for something that had just saved his life.
Stroking a hand over his bearded jaw, Obi-Wan stared at the Council room door, waiting for it to open and hoping that all would be well when it did. Obi-Wan wasn’t certain that he was ready to abandon the Jedi Order, but he did know that he wasn’t ready to be parted from Anakin.
It was the rolling of the escape pod that woke Obi-Wan a second time. Unable to catch himself in time, his full weight was flung against the safety straps, digging into his chest and stomach. It took a moment before he was able to reach out with the Force to help steady his body. Simple as it was, the act exhausted him and Obi-Wan had no choice but to release his connection to the Force. He managed to remain conscious for a few seconds longer before giving into his exhaustion.
The door to the Council chamber slid open soundlessly and Obi-Wan was immediately bombarded by Anakin’s anger and frustration. Anakin remained standing in the center of the room even as Obi-Wan stalked inside. He reached out through the Force, seeking to calm Anakin’s frazzled nerves. Whatever had happened had not gone well in Anakin’s estimation.
“A decision the Council has reached on the matter at hand,” Yoda announced once Obi-Wan was once again standing at his padawan’s side.
It was with a start that Obi-Wan awoke, something having spurred his return to consciousness. His back arched as he lay panting on the rather uncomfortable bench. It was not his dreams that had woken him; memories of a time that seemed a lifetime ago. It was something much more present that woke him, shuddering into consciousness.
“Another one of your spectacular landings, Anakin,” Obi-Wan whispered, still on the verge of sleep. Eyes mostly closed, Obi-Wan fumbled with the fastenings of the straps that held him in place. Then he paused, glancing about the small space and not seeing his partner. “Cody. What’s going on?”
“Welcome back, boss,” Cody grunted, unstrapping himself from his own seat.
Obi-Wan furrowed his brows. “I was unaware that I’d been somewhere.”
“The HoloNet has named you as a casualty of this war,” Cody revealed, rising to his full height as he spoke.
“Oh.”
Leaving the unfastening of the safety harness for a moment, Obi-Wan brought a hand to his face. He pressed his thumb and middle finger against his temples, his remaining fingers splayed across his face. He stretched out through the Force, hoping that it would grant him some hint of what had happened in the giant void in his memory. He pushed through the muddled area, searching out his last clear memory.
Jumping down silently behind Grievous, Obi-Wan brought his lightsaber up in a two-handed grip, the sapphire blade momentarily disengaged. While the cyborg was still unaware of his presence, he straightened, a slight grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“Hello there.”
Grievous whirled around, reptilian eyes immediately locking on him. “General Kenobi, you are a bold one. I find your behavior bewildering. . . . Surely you realize you're doomed.” Though no expression could be seen through the death mask, Obi-Wan imagined the smile that would have been there as the general addressed the nearby droids. “Kill him!”
Obi-Wan didn’t even flinch as he was surrounded on all sides by droids, Grievous and his cadre of bodyguards directly in front of him. Even outnumbered to such a degree, Obi-Wan’s calm never wavered. He stared down the monstrosity that had once been the Kaleesh general, waiting for the beast to make the first move.
Grievous snarled. “Enough of this.”
“The rumours of my death have a frighteningly real source, don’t they,” Obi-Wan mused aloud, his fingers straying to what felt like a painful bruise concealed beneath his tunic. While the rest of his body ached, it was his chest that had obviously bore the brunt of some attack.
Instinct called for him to glance upwards just in time for him to see the blaster fired directly at him. Shock, however, held him in place when he should have ducked. As Obi-Wan felt a sudden fire burst through his chest his eyes locked with Cody’s beyond the barrel of the clone’s blaster.
His body tense, Obi-Wan kept Cody in sight just out of the corner of his eye as he resolutely unfastened the harness that continued to hold him stretched out and vulnerable. He didn’t want to believe that Cody had done anything to harm him, attempting to convince himself that it was a side effect of whatever drug was currently making his limbs feel almost leaden. Of course, that didn’t explain why they were in an escape pod as it would have required them to first return to the battle cruiser, something which Obi-Wan had no recollection of.
“I’ve obviously missed something again, haven’t I? What are we doing in an escape pod?”
Obi-Wan wasn’t certain what type of explanation he’d been expecting, but it wasn’t the one Cody mapped out for him. He couldn’t wrap his mind around the knowledge that the Jedi Order and the Republic could both be destroyed so easily. That they had only existed so long as Sidious had willed it so. The revelation that Chancellor Palpatine and Sidious were one and the same was especially troubling to Obi-Wan for what it would mean to Anakin.
“Anakin. Where is he?” Obi-Wan demanded, forcing himself to his feet. “Did he survive or has he fallen as well?”
“Anakin Skywalker has indeed fallen. He has become the Sith Lord Vader.”
In that moment, everything that Obi-Wan Kenobi thought he knew was yanked out from under him.
~*~*~
As he strode towards the main control room where the Separatist leaders were gathered, Anakin pulled his hood up to conceal his features somewhat. It would not in any way absolve him of the deeds he’d committed since learning of Obi-Wan’s death, but there was a comfort in the familiar gesture.
“Welcome, Lord Vader. We’ve been expecting you,” Nute Gunray said as Anakin stepped into the doorway.
With a brief gesture towards the control panel, Anakin is able to shut all of the doors and effectively block any escape the Separatists would attempt. While they all watch in confusion, Anakin ignited his lightsaber. Panic overtook the room then, droids moving towards him while the Separatist scattered, banging against the doors and hiding where they could. In contrast, Anakin was utterly calm, doing what he needed to do. What he had to do.
Anakin felt instantly soothed when Obi-Wan returned to his side. He longed to brush even a fingertip along the side of Obi-Wan’s hand—the only unobtrusive area of bared flesh –for reasons that he cared not to think about. He was married after all and he loved Padmé desperately. But the thought of a life without Obi-Wan....
Anakin knew that he should be better at shielding his thoughts, if not from Obi-Wan than from the Council. Master Yoda and the other Masters had the ability to separate him from Obi-Wan if they so choose. Anakin had certainly given them reason enough to do so in the last half hour.
“A decision the Council has reached on the matter at hand,” Master Yoda announced, his gaze not wavering from the two Jedi standing in the center of the Council room. “Remain on Coruscant Obi-Wan and Anakin will. Young Skywalker to begin his trials, Obi-Wan to oversee delicate situations that have arisen on Coruscant.”
Relieved as he should have felt, Anakin couldn’t ignore the truth. The Council meant to separate them.
“Stop! Enough, this is not right!” Rune Haako cried as Anakin followed the remaining Separatists into the conference room.
Anakin had to resist from snorting in mirthless amusement. He fully agreed with Haako’s words because nothing of what was going on was right with the exception of the fact that the Separatist threat was finally being eliminated. It was all coming too late, though, and at too high a price. How could he be expected to be a proper father when he had killed younglings? He had murdered children who had posed no threat to anything. They’d trusted him to protect them and instead he had cut their lives short.
Behind him, Anakin sensed two battle droids approaching at the same instant they opened fire on him. With the aid of the Force, Anakin bolted up into the rafters to avoid being struck by the ensuing blaster fire. Through it all he kept Nute Gunray—the only remaining Separatist –in his sights. Even as he backtracked in order to jump down behind the droids, Anakin made certain he could still see the Neimodian viceroy.
“The war is over. Lord Sidious promised us peace ... we only want—”
It made dispatching of the villain who had spent so much time trying to kill Padmé that much easier.
Killing Gunray didn’t offer any relief like Anakin had thought it would. The vile Neimodian was dead, but it didn’t erase anything that had been done to Padmé on his orders. For several long minutes, Anakin stared down at what remained of the being he had tried so long to bring to justice. To kill Nute Gunray was a wish that had existed in the back of Anakin’s mind since the war on Naboo so long ago. Back then Anakin hadn’t even known who Viceroy Nute Gunray was. The Neimodian had been a faceless being that existed in the nine year old’s mind as “the one who’d tried to kill Padmé.” It seemed strange to Anakin that he was finally dead, yet fitting that it had been his own lightsaber that had killed the viceroy.
“You’ve been awfully quiet,” Obi-Wan said quietly as he and Anakin strode down the corridor leading to their quarters. “I would have expected you to be bounding with excitement now that you’ve finally been granted permission to take your trials.”
“I am glad to be taking them,” Anakin insisted, sounding unconvincing even to his own ears. “It’s all that I’ve ever wanted.”
They were close enough to their suite then that Obi-Wan refrained from speaking until they were safely inside, away from any unwanted observation.
“Just who are you trying to convince, Anakin? Me or yourself?”
Ducking his head down, Anakin stared at the floor rather than meeting Obi-Wan’s piercing gaze. “They’ll separate us, Master. Once I’ve passed my trials there won’t be any reason for us to be kept together and they’ll send us to different sides of the galaxy. I know it.”
“You fear it,” Obi-Wan corrected, placing a hand on Anakin’s shoulder and urging him to turn slightly. “It’s a fear you need to release because it’s a useless one. The Council won’t separate us. We work together too well for them to risk separating us.”
Though he was far too old for such a thing, Anakin allowed himself to be bundled into Obi-Wan’s arms. He wound his arms around the older man’s torso, holding on as tight as he dared. Anakin wanted some way to bind Obi-Wan to him for the rest of their lives, something more substantial than the tentative one their training bond offered.
Back in the control center, Anakin opened a communication link between Mustafar and the offices of the Chancellor. It took only a few moments before a holographic image of Sidious took shape above the console of the holocommunicator.
“The Separatists are taken care of, my Master,” Anakin informed the Sith lord, blocking any emotions from effecting his voice.
Even in his holographic form, Sidious appeared far too smug with that bit of information. “It is finished, then. You have restored peace and justice to the galaxy. You have done well, Lord Vader.”
“Thank you, my Master,” Anakin said because it was expected of him.
Cautiously at first, Anakin began to stroke his fingertips along Obi-Wan’s sides. It was a test of sorts, a way to see if Obi-Wan would push him away or allow the intimacy they already shared to become something more. Anakin wasn’t quite sure how far he was willing to take things. He wasn’t sure that he could make himself that vulnerable.
“Anakin?” Obi-Wan murmured, bringing one hand up to cup Anakin’s cheek and tilt his head back slightly.
Anakin clutched compulsively at Obi-Wan’s sides, unwilling to release the tight grip he had on the beige tunics. “I’m sorry, Master.”
Obi-Wan merely stared at him in confusion. “What are you apologizing for, Anakin? You haven’t done anything that warrants such guilt.”
Squeezing his eyes shut tight so that he wouldn’t have to see the look of disgust on Obi-Wan’s face, Anakin touched his lips to Obi-Wan’s. The kiss was more forceful than the one from the previous afternoon as there was no risk of waking the older man. Obi-Wan was already awake and, surprisingly, didn’t stiffen at the first touch of their lips. He didn’t return to kiss, but there wasn’t the disgusted recoiling Anakin had half feared and expected.
When Obi-Wan’s hand on his cheek didn’t fall away, Anakin slowly blinked his eyes open. There was confusion in those familiar blue-grey eyes, but no sense of reproach.
“Anakin, what are...?”
Anakin couldn’t find the words to explain it to Obi-Wan. He wasn’t even entirely certain he understood it himself. Everything was just happening too fast. He had almost been ready to accept the fact that Obi-Wan was dead only to have his best friend returned to him. And now the Council wanted to separate them again. It hadn’t been said in so many words, but Anakin had sensed the undercurrent that charged the Council room. With Master Windu as a spokesman, he’d been told unequivocally that he was far too dependent on Obi-Wan.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Obi-Wan whispered against his forehead, once again drawing Anakin into his arms.
Standing on the balcony that led out from the control center, Anakin attempted to center his thoughts. Sidious had ordered him to return to Coruscant, but Anakin couldn’t do that yet. Grievous was still on Utapau and Anakin couldn’t return home without first avenging his lover’s murderer.
~*~*~
Obi-Wan sat in front of the console, unable to fully comprehend what he was viewing. It was all as Cody had said. His death had been falsely reported only a few hours before all the other Jedi stationed throughout the galaxy had been simultaneously attacked by the clones under their command. Mace Windu had been killed in an attempt to assassinate Chancellor Palpatine. And the Temple had been attacked, the Jedi within all killed by a force of clone troopers and a single black-cloaked Jedi.
Anakin.
Even though no image existed of the rogue Jedi’s face, Obi-Wan knew that it was Anakin. The set of the shoulders, length of the stride, and movement of the body were all his lover’s. Anakin had fallen. He had become a Sith.
For the life of him Obi-Wan didn’t know what he was going to do now. For all of the anger he’d known existed inside Anakin he’d never thought the younger man would actually fall prey to the Dark Side of the Force. There was a goodness in Anakin that had always prevailed.
Covering his mouth with his right hand, Obi-Wan used his left to sever the HoloNet connection. Obi-Wan struggled to center his now roiling emotions, knowing that it would be impossible for him to fall apart. There had to still be some good left in Anakin. Something that could be redeemed. At the moment it was the only hope Obi-Wan had to cling to.
Fallen
Pairing: Anakin/Obi-Wan, background Anakin/Padmé
Length: ~62,000
Author on LJ:
crazundeadfairyAuthor Website: Defensive Walls
Why this must be read:
This was the first multi-chapter fic I ever read for Star Wars, and even now years later it's one that re-read every so often. Obi-Wan Kenobi has been killed during his mission to destroy General Grievous, or at least that's what Anakin and everyone else thinks. This seemingly small deviation from canon has serious repercussions as Anakin starts to question if Palpatine was ever on his side at all, and Obi-Wan fights to bring Anakin back from the dark side.
Disengaging from the hyperspace booster, Anakin entered Mustafar’s atmosphere. The frightening landscape was beyond anything he could have envisioned. It was a terrifying world of fire and would have been a suitable setting for his downfall did he not have other things to take care of. Obi-Wan and Padmé were depending on him and he couldn’t allow himself to give into his grief.
“I want you to stay with the ship, Artoo,” Anakin ordered as he brought his ship towards one of the docking platforms. “This shouldn’t take too long and I want to be gone from here as soon as possible.”
There was a twittering from the astromech droid that Anakin took to be an affirmative. If he could just keep focused on events as they took place, he would be okay. What he was about to do would end the war that had cost many thousands of lives. Dooku was dead and soon the Separatist leaders and Grievous would be as well. The droid army would be without their leaders and the Republic would have its victory. There would be peace then. A peace that he and Obi-Wan had fought so hard for and that Obi-Wan had died for. Even if Palpatine was telling the truth and they were able to resurrect Obi-Wan, the other man would have still been dead.
Receiving the landing coordinates from one of the command centers, Anakin steered his ship towards the designated landing platform. The Separatist leaders were waiting for him just beyond the platform in one of the few constructed outposts on the planet, its defensive shields the only thing protecting it from the lava and the radiation that was its main source of income. The Separatist leaders were expecting new orders from Lord Sidious, not their deaths. However, betrayal was something to be expected when dealing with the Sith. It was that knowledge Anakin feared most. That Palpatine had been his friend for the past thirteen years offered him no comfort whatsoever because Anakin was starting to doubt that the Palpatine that was his friend had ever truly existed.
Anakin stood before the Council, shoulder to shoulder with his master. He had known from the instant he’d set a course for Riflor that he would be punished by the Council for disobeying the orders of one of its members. It didn’t matter that he’d found Obi-Wan and rescued him, the mission had started with him going against Ki-Adi-Mundi’s orders because he’d felt a brief flicker of his master’s presence.
“Too strong this attachment to your master has become,” Yoda mused, his gaze unwavering as he stared at Anakin. “Listen to reason you do not where concerned Obi-Wan is.”
“I will not apologize for my bond with my master,” Anakin stated calmly, his hands clenched tightly behind his back. “He has been my teacher and friend for more than ten years. I could not abandon him when I knew he was in danger.”
“We are in the midst of a war, Skywalker. Every Jedi here is in danger,” Mace Windu pointed out, smug as ever as he leaned forward to rest his forearms on his knees.
“And those that can be saved should be to keep our numbers from being so depleted,” Anakin protested. “If Ventress had captured my master a second time she would have given him to Count Dooku. They would have twisted his mind and turned him against us.”
“Anakin, calm yourself,” Obi-Wan murmured, placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing lightly.
“They would have left you to die!” Anakin shouted, spinning about to face Obi-Wan fully. “After everything you’ve done, they would have let you be swallowed by the Dark Side.”
Obi-Wan smiled softly, the corners of his eyes much more lined than they had been in recent years. “Yet here I stand, alive and well. You need not always put yourself at risk for me. I did manage to survive twenty-five years before meeting you, after all.”
“Out of hand, this meeting has become,” Yoda interrupted, clacking his gimmer stick against the edge of his seat. “Order there will be. Excused for the present, Obi-Wan is. Speak with young Skywalker the Council will.”
Beside him, Anakin felt Obi-Wan tense, but he nodded his head as expected. For all their faults, Obi-Wan never went against the will of the Council, even when it contradicted his own thoughts. At that moment, Anakin could feel a flicker of unease and distrust coming from his master. It was gone in an instant, replaced by the calm that usually enfolded the older man. Obi-Wan squeezed his shoulder a final time before turning about on his heel and exiting the room, leaving Anakin to face the Council by himself.
~*~*~
His head ached nearly as much as his chest. When he went to lift his hand, he found himself unable to, the weight of his arm too much. Worried by that, he remained perfectly still, reaching out with the Force to gain a sense of his surroundings only to discover that there was very little around him. Very cautiously, Obi-Wan blinked his eyes open, confirming that he was indeed lying in an escape pod and that Cody was seated across from him. Obi-Wan was able to focus on his companion for only a brief moment before unconsciousness claimed him once again.
Obi-Wan paced outside the Council chambers, hands clenched tightly behind his back. This was not the first time Anakin had been reprimanded. Far from it, actually. What it was, however, was the first time Obi-Wan had been sent away during the interim. That was what worried Obi-Wan most. He was Anakin’s master and there should have been no reason to confront the boy without him being present.
Straining his senses outward, Obi-Wan hoped to be able get some sense of what was happening on the other side of the door. Instead he was slammed up against a barrier that was not of Anakin’s making. Obi-Wan knew that there were dampening shields that surrounded the Council room in order to ensure its secrecy, but he should have been able to still sense Anakin’s emotions given the strength of their bond. It had been strong enough for Anakin to know he was alive even when half the galaxy separated them.
Obi-Wan could only find minimal comfort in the conversation he and Yoda had had the day before. At the time he had been relieved that Yoda had agreed to return Anakin’s guardianship to him. He now feared that Yoda had simply meant to appease him until this afternoon’s formal meeting. It was a tactic Obi-Wan would have expected of Mace who had never bothered to hide his mistrust of Anakin despite all of the good he’d done. Obi-Wan would not deny that Anakin was still prone to giving into his emotions, but he could hardly condemn the boy for something that had just saved his life.
Stroking a hand over his bearded jaw, Obi-Wan stared at the Council room door, waiting for it to open and hoping that all would be well when it did. Obi-Wan wasn’t certain that he was ready to abandon the Jedi Order, but he did know that he wasn’t ready to be parted from Anakin.
It was the rolling of the escape pod that woke Obi-Wan a second time. Unable to catch himself in time, his full weight was flung against the safety straps, digging into his chest and stomach. It took a moment before he was able to reach out with the Force to help steady his body. Simple as it was, the act exhausted him and Obi-Wan had no choice but to release his connection to the Force. He managed to remain conscious for a few seconds longer before giving into his exhaustion.
The door to the Council chamber slid open soundlessly and Obi-Wan was immediately bombarded by Anakin’s anger and frustration. Anakin remained standing in the center of the room even as Obi-Wan stalked inside. He reached out through the Force, seeking to calm Anakin’s frazzled nerves. Whatever had happened had not gone well in Anakin’s estimation.
“A decision the Council has reached on the matter at hand,” Yoda announced once Obi-Wan was once again standing at his padawan’s side.
It was with a start that Obi-Wan awoke, something having spurred his return to consciousness. His back arched as he lay panting on the rather uncomfortable bench. It was not his dreams that had woken him; memories of a time that seemed a lifetime ago. It was something much more present that woke him, shuddering into consciousness.
“Another one of your spectacular landings, Anakin,” Obi-Wan whispered, still on the verge of sleep. Eyes mostly closed, Obi-Wan fumbled with the fastenings of the straps that held him in place. Then he paused, glancing about the small space and not seeing his partner. “Cody. What’s going on?”
“Welcome back, boss,” Cody grunted, unstrapping himself from his own seat.
Obi-Wan furrowed his brows. “I was unaware that I’d been somewhere.”
“The HoloNet has named you as a casualty of this war,” Cody revealed, rising to his full height as he spoke.
“Oh.”
Leaving the unfastening of the safety harness for a moment, Obi-Wan brought a hand to his face. He pressed his thumb and middle finger against his temples, his remaining fingers splayed across his face. He stretched out through the Force, hoping that it would grant him some hint of what had happened in the giant void in his memory. He pushed through the muddled area, searching out his last clear memory.
Jumping down silently behind Grievous, Obi-Wan brought his lightsaber up in a two-handed grip, the sapphire blade momentarily disengaged. While the cyborg was still unaware of his presence, he straightened, a slight grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“Hello there.”
Grievous whirled around, reptilian eyes immediately locking on him. “General Kenobi, you are a bold one. I find your behavior bewildering. . . . Surely you realize you're doomed.” Though no expression could be seen through the death mask, Obi-Wan imagined the smile that would have been there as the general addressed the nearby droids. “Kill him!”
Obi-Wan didn’t even flinch as he was surrounded on all sides by droids, Grievous and his cadre of bodyguards directly in front of him. Even outnumbered to such a degree, Obi-Wan’s calm never wavered. He stared down the monstrosity that had once been the Kaleesh general, waiting for the beast to make the first move.
Grievous snarled. “Enough of this.”
“The rumours of my death have a frighteningly real source, don’t they,” Obi-Wan mused aloud, his fingers straying to what felt like a painful bruise concealed beneath his tunic. While the rest of his body ached, it was his chest that had obviously bore the brunt of some attack.
Instinct called for him to glance upwards just in time for him to see the blaster fired directly at him. Shock, however, held him in place when he should have ducked. As Obi-Wan felt a sudden fire burst through his chest his eyes locked with Cody’s beyond the barrel of the clone’s blaster.
His body tense, Obi-Wan kept Cody in sight just out of the corner of his eye as he resolutely unfastened the harness that continued to hold him stretched out and vulnerable. He didn’t want to believe that Cody had done anything to harm him, attempting to convince himself that it was a side effect of whatever drug was currently making his limbs feel almost leaden. Of course, that didn’t explain why they were in an escape pod as it would have required them to first return to the battle cruiser, something which Obi-Wan had no recollection of.
“I’ve obviously missed something again, haven’t I? What are we doing in an escape pod?”
Obi-Wan wasn’t certain what type of explanation he’d been expecting, but it wasn’t the one Cody mapped out for him. He couldn’t wrap his mind around the knowledge that the Jedi Order and the Republic could both be destroyed so easily. That they had only existed so long as Sidious had willed it so. The revelation that Chancellor Palpatine and Sidious were one and the same was especially troubling to Obi-Wan for what it would mean to Anakin.
“Anakin. Where is he?” Obi-Wan demanded, forcing himself to his feet. “Did he survive or has he fallen as well?”
“Anakin Skywalker has indeed fallen. He has become the Sith Lord Vader.”
In that moment, everything that Obi-Wan Kenobi thought he knew was yanked out from under him.
~*~*~
As he strode towards the main control room where the Separatist leaders were gathered, Anakin pulled his hood up to conceal his features somewhat. It would not in any way absolve him of the deeds he’d committed since learning of Obi-Wan’s death, but there was a comfort in the familiar gesture.
“Welcome, Lord Vader. We’ve been expecting you,” Nute Gunray said as Anakin stepped into the doorway.
With a brief gesture towards the control panel, Anakin is able to shut all of the doors and effectively block any escape the Separatists would attempt. While they all watch in confusion, Anakin ignited his lightsaber. Panic overtook the room then, droids moving towards him while the Separatist scattered, banging against the doors and hiding where they could. In contrast, Anakin was utterly calm, doing what he needed to do. What he had to do.
Anakin felt instantly soothed when Obi-Wan returned to his side. He longed to brush even a fingertip along the side of Obi-Wan’s hand—the only unobtrusive area of bared flesh –for reasons that he cared not to think about. He was married after all and he loved Padmé desperately. But the thought of a life without Obi-Wan....
Anakin knew that he should be better at shielding his thoughts, if not from Obi-Wan than from the Council. Master Yoda and the other Masters had the ability to separate him from Obi-Wan if they so choose. Anakin had certainly given them reason enough to do so in the last half hour.
“A decision the Council has reached on the matter at hand,” Master Yoda announced, his gaze not wavering from the two Jedi standing in the center of the Council room. “Remain on Coruscant Obi-Wan and Anakin will. Young Skywalker to begin his trials, Obi-Wan to oversee delicate situations that have arisen on Coruscant.”
Relieved as he should have felt, Anakin couldn’t ignore the truth. The Council meant to separate them.
“Stop! Enough, this is not right!” Rune Haako cried as Anakin followed the remaining Separatists into the conference room.
Anakin had to resist from snorting in mirthless amusement. He fully agreed with Haako’s words because nothing of what was going on was right with the exception of the fact that the Separatist threat was finally being eliminated. It was all coming too late, though, and at too high a price. How could he be expected to be a proper father when he had killed younglings? He had murdered children who had posed no threat to anything. They’d trusted him to protect them and instead he had cut their lives short.
Behind him, Anakin sensed two battle droids approaching at the same instant they opened fire on him. With the aid of the Force, Anakin bolted up into the rafters to avoid being struck by the ensuing blaster fire. Through it all he kept Nute Gunray—the only remaining Separatist –in his sights. Even as he backtracked in order to jump down behind the droids, Anakin made certain he could still see the Neimodian viceroy.
“The war is over. Lord Sidious promised us peace ... we only want—”
It made dispatching of the villain who had spent so much time trying to kill Padmé that much easier.
Killing Gunray didn’t offer any relief like Anakin had thought it would. The vile Neimodian was dead, but it didn’t erase anything that had been done to Padmé on his orders. For several long minutes, Anakin stared down at what remained of the being he had tried so long to bring to justice. To kill Nute Gunray was a wish that had existed in the back of Anakin’s mind since the war on Naboo so long ago. Back then Anakin hadn’t even known who Viceroy Nute Gunray was. The Neimodian had been a faceless being that existed in the nine year old’s mind as “the one who’d tried to kill Padmé.” It seemed strange to Anakin that he was finally dead, yet fitting that it had been his own lightsaber that had killed the viceroy.
“You’ve been awfully quiet,” Obi-Wan said quietly as he and Anakin strode down the corridor leading to their quarters. “I would have expected you to be bounding with excitement now that you’ve finally been granted permission to take your trials.”
“I am glad to be taking them,” Anakin insisted, sounding unconvincing even to his own ears. “It’s all that I’ve ever wanted.”
They were close enough to their suite then that Obi-Wan refrained from speaking until they were safely inside, away from any unwanted observation.
“Just who are you trying to convince, Anakin? Me or yourself?”
Ducking his head down, Anakin stared at the floor rather than meeting Obi-Wan’s piercing gaze. “They’ll separate us, Master. Once I’ve passed my trials there won’t be any reason for us to be kept together and they’ll send us to different sides of the galaxy. I know it.”
“You fear it,” Obi-Wan corrected, placing a hand on Anakin’s shoulder and urging him to turn slightly. “It’s a fear you need to release because it’s a useless one. The Council won’t separate us. We work together too well for them to risk separating us.”
Though he was far too old for such a thing, Anakin allowed himself to be bundled into Obi-Wan’s arms. He wound his arms around the older man’s torso, holding on as tight as he dared. Anakin wanted some way to bind Obi-Wan to him for the rest of their lives, something more substantial than the tentative one their training bond offered.
Back in the control center, Anakin opened a communication link between Mustafar and the offices of the Chancellor. It took only a few moments before a holographic image of Sidious took shape above the console of the holocommunicator.
“The Separatists are taken care of, my Master,” Anakin informed the Sith lord, blocking any emotions from effecting his voice.
Even in his holographic form, Sidious appeared far too smug with that bit of information. “It is finished, then. You have restored peace and justice to the galaxy. You have done well, Lord Vader.”
“Thank you, my Master,” Anakin said because it was expected of him.
Cautiously at first, Anakin began to stroke his fingertips along Obi-Wan’s sides. It was a test of sorts, a way to see if Obi-Wan would push him away or allow the intimacy they already shared to become something more. Anakin wasn’t quite sure how far he was willing to take things. He wasn’t sure that he could make himself that vulnerable.
“Anakin?” Obi-Wan murmured, bringing one hand up to cup Anakin’s cheek and tilt his head back slightly.
Anakin clutched compulsively at Obi-Wan’s sides, unwilling to release the tight grip he had on the beige tunics. “I’m sorry, Master.”
Obi-Wan merely stared at him in confusion. “What are you apologizing for, Anakin? You haven’t done anything that warrants such guilt.”
Squeezing his eyes shut tight so that he wouldn’t have to see the look of disgust on Obi-Wan’s face, Anakin touched his lips to Obi-Wan’s. The kiss was more forceful than the one from the previous afternoon as there was no risk of waking the older man. Obi-Wan was already awake and, surprisingly, didn’t stiffen at the first touch of their lips. He didn’t return to kiss, but there wasn’t the disgusted recoiling Anakin had half feared and expected.
When Obi-Wan’s hand on his cheek didn’t fall away, Anakin slowly blinked his eyes open. There was confusion in those familiar blue-grey eyes, but no sense of reproach.
“Anakin, what are...?”
Anakin couldn’t find the words to explain it to Obi-Wan. He wasn’t even entirely certain he understood it himself. Everything was just happening too fast. He had almost been ready to accept the fact that Obi-Wan was dead only to have his best friend returned to him. And now the Council wanted to separate them again. It hadn’t been said in so many words, but Anakin had sensed the undercurrent that charged the Council room. With Master Windu as a spokesman, he’d been told unequivocally that he was far too dependent on Obi-Wan.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Obi-Wan whispered against his forehead, once again drawing Anakin into his arms.
Standing on the balcony that led out from the control center, Anakin attempted to center his thoughts. Sidious had ordered him to return to Coruscant, but Anakin couldn’t do that yet. Grievous was still on Utapau and Anakin couldn’t return home without first avenging his lover’s murderer.
~*~*~
Obi-Wan sat in front of the console, unable to fully comprehend what he was viewing. It was all as Cody had said. His death had been falsely reported only a few hours before all the other Jedi stationed throughout the galaxy had been simultaneously attacked by the clones under their command. Mace Windu had been killed in an attempt to assassinate Chancellor Palpatine. And the Temple had been attacked, the Jedi within all killed by a force of clone troopers and a single black-cloaked Jedi.
Anakin.
Even though no image existed of the rogue Jedi’s face, Obi-Wan knew that it was Anakin. The set of the shoulders, length of the stride, and movement of the body were all his lover’s. Anakin had fallen. He had become a Sith.
For the life of him Obi-Wan didn’t know what he was going to do now. For all of the anger he’d known existed inside Anakin he’d never thought the younger man would actually fall prey to the Dark Side of the Force. There was a goodness in Anakin that had always prevailed.
Covering his mouth with his right hand, Obi-Wan used his left to sever the HoloNet connection. Obi-Wan struggled to center his now roiling emotions, knowing that it would be impossible for him to fall apart. There had to still be some good left in Anakin. Something that could be redeemed. At the moment it was the only hope Obi-Wan had to cling to.
Fallen