A/N: This is another one-shot based off of the season five finale, but it isn't pairing based at all. It's not Anakin/Ahsoka or Anakin/Obi-Wan. This is just Anakin and Obi-Wan's brotherly bond. Enjoy!
X-x-X
After the events and sudden turnaround of Ahsoka's trial, Obi-Wan joined Masters Yoda, Windu, Koon, Mundi, Tiin, as well as his former protégé in the discussion involving Ahsoka's innocence within the Council chambers. Obi-Wan, like Anakin, never once believed Ahsoka had been guilty of the crimes she'd been blamed for. He knew there was a darker hand working behind the scenes, orchestrating everything that had gone so wrong. The bombing, all of the deaths, Ahsoka's removal from the Order, and her trial. Each of those things had come to life as a result of Barriss Offee's work, and that disappointed Obi-Wan greatly. He always admired the Mirialan Padawan for her healing specialty as well as her composure in various situations. She, like Obi-Wan, could be considered the perfect Jedi. However, that image had been ripped to shreds after Anakin brought her before the Senate.
Obi-Wan had nothing to add to this particular conversation. His opinion had been voiced vehemently and had been ignored. He had always abided by the rules of the Order. He lived and breathed for the Order. He knew that Ahsoka was the same way, but that didn't matter in this situation. The other Council members decided that they must do what needed to be done. He wasn't happy with that and he certainly feared for his former protégé. He knew how emotional Anakin could be and he knew how attached he'd become to his own Padawan. Obi-Wan saw that on Mortis when he frantically pleaded to save and revive her, and he got his way. Ahsoka was an important part of his life and this had put their relationship to the test.
Obi-Wan was proud of Anakin for sticking by Ahsoka's side through this. She needed someone she could trust and the only person capable of gaining her trust was her Master. Anakin stood by her side and attempted to defend her as best he could, even when she'd directly disobeyed his orders and they had been lectured before the Council. Obi-Wan admired their relationship. It reminded him of the one he had with Anakin himself. He returned to the conversation at hand when Anakin shifted nervously beside him. The young man always had a knack of being as close to Obi-Wan as he could, and he didn't disappoint.
He watched his former protégé step forward. Pride as well as regret swelled in the Knight's chest. "They're asking you back, Ahsoka," he said. He stopped in front of her and Obi-Wan felt his anxiety rise as he slid his right arm back towards a small pouch on his utility belt. Within it had been Ahsoka's Padawan beads. Anakin had collected them and saved them as soon as they had been ripped away from Ahsoka. "I'm asking you back." He extended his hand, palm open with the line of beads in it. He was hopeful and he felt as though he knew Ahsoka wouldn't let him down. He felt that she would immediately rejoin him.
The air around Obi-Wan shifted as a result of his attunement to the Force and he felt a pang of sadness in it. He traced it back to Ahsoka and his eyes lifted to the young Knight's back. He, as he always did, had a very bad feeling about this. Ahsoka and Anakin stood in close proximity to one another, completely silent.
She uncrossed her arms and met Anakin's eyes before looking down at his hand. Please, Obi-Wan thought, take the beads from him. He needs you at his side, Ahsoka. His anxiety rose with Anakin's and both of the men relaxed as Ahsoka gave Anakin a small smile. Anakin, in turn, eased and smiled back, his expression softening greatly as he assumed his Padawan would take the beads and reattach them in their rightful place. He looked at his own hand and shifted it slightly, encouraging her to take them from him, before peering at her figure once more. She, again, looked at his hand, and the silence ensued. The Masters beside Obi-Wan held their breath, though none of them seemed to realize it. They, like Obi-Wan, felt the shift in the Force. They all knew what was coming, but that didn't necessarily mean they liked it.
Ahsoka's hand lifted slightly and it looked as though she was going to take the beads from him as they had all been secretly hoping. Anakin's prideful energy swirled around him; he truly was proud of his Padawan. That was when the unexpected happened. Yes, the Masters began to expect it, but Anakin surely hadn't. Ahsoka touched his palm with her right hand and curled his fingers back into it with her left, momentarily stunning him as she looked at him in remorse.
Every bit of Anakin's pride and happiness was shattered in that moment. Obi-Wan felt horrible. If he had done something to stop this, Anakin would have been spared of the pain of watching his Padawan walk away from him, something he never thought would happen. "I'm sorry, Master," she said softly, pain evident in her voice, "but I'm not coming back." Obi-Wan watched, shocked and horrified, as Ahsoka turned and began to leave the chambers. He sensed his former Padawan's pain and, as a result of their close bond, that pain rushed through him, adding to his sorrowful regret tenfold.
Anakin's head lowered as he tried to fight back the tears that threatened to escape. Everyone knew how attached he'd gotten to his Togruti Padawan. The sadness within the room was nearly as tangible as the regret. Anakin's anger surged between the two, but it was not directed at Ahsoka. His anger was for what the Council had done to push Ahsoka from returning to the Order, from returning to him. Ahsoka's footsteps trailed further and further until the doors slid open and she passed through the threshold. As the doors closed, Anakin's head lifted slowly and the intensity of his emotions overwhelmed his former Master.
He shook his head, not wanting to believe he'd just lost someone else. He couldn't handle losing the ones he cared for. He spoke of his fears to Obi-Wan, fears that he would lose the ones he cherished, Ahsoka being one of them. Obi-Wan knew Anakin was going to be as irrational and emotional as he always was. No amount of training him to keep his emotions in check would ever work. Even if it had, no training could have prepared him to keep himself composed as his apprentice turned her back on him, after everything he'd done to prove that she was as innocent as he knew she was.
He made slow, painful steps towards the door, his sorrow and pain heightening the intensity of the emotions circling the room that was already very intense. Master Plo had been the one to bring Ahsoka to the temple and Ahsoka had always seen him as her father figure since she hardly knew her biological one. Obi-Wan has always seemed like yet another father figure to her, while she saw Anakin as a brother, just as Obi-Wan did.
Obi-Wan stepped forward, wanting to keep his best friend from the pain that would most certainly ensue if he pursued Ahsoka, only to be held back by Master Plo's firm hand. He was just as concerned as Obi-Wan for Anakin's well-being, but they had to let him go through this on his own. Obi-Wan desperately wanted to follow him and try to rationalize the situation with him, but it was evident that he was meant to stay alongside the other Masters, even as Anakin's steps quickened, turning into a slight sprint as he exited the chambers himself.
The air around the Masters was very thick with remorse. None of them had wanted to let go of Ahsoka, and now they feared they would lose Anakin as well. "She has made this decision based on our actions," Obi-Wan said aloud, voicing his thoughts as he slowly replayed Anakin exiting the room over and over again. He knew attachments were forbidden, but that didn't mean he could help attaching himself to the younger man of which he had grown close to over the years.
The other Masters in their silence agreed with his statement. Master Yoda dismissed each of them, sorrow in his deep, ancient voice. Each of the Masters returned to their respective quarters. As Obi-Wan reached his quarters, the quarters he shared with Anakin, he felt that a confrontation was in order.
He went into their small apartment for two and plopped down onto the couch, slumping forward to hold his head in his hands. What was he going to say to Anakin? How could Anakin look at him again after agreeing, or so Anakin thought, with the Masters on their decision to remove Ahsoka and bar her from the Order? He waited patiently, but Anakin was rubbing off on him, and he began to grow impatient. He felt the pain, remorse, and sorrow from the others who had been in the chambers, but the two that stuck out the most were Anakin and Ahsoka. It was evident that he caught up to her, but it was also evident that she still disagreed with him, and she would not return to the Order.
Several long minutes passed and it felt like an eternity before Anakin returned to the temple, Ahsoka not alongside him. Anakin dragged his feet, not wanting to face anyone right now, but knowing he needed someone, anyone, to talk to. He just lost his apprentice, even after being the only one who had never turned his back on her. It pained him to think about it because she had turned her back on him, abandoned him.
At some point, he, at his slow, emotional pace, made it back to his shared quarters. The door slid open with a burst of air and Obi-Wan looked up, hoping Anakin would come to him and talk to him. He knew the young man all too well. Anakin's head raised and his eyes seemed to drag themselves to meet Obi-Wan's own. However, tears now filled his sad, fiery blue eyes. "She's gone, Master. She's really gone," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. Obi-Wan stood and Anakin made no move to come any closer than the threshold of the room itself, while Obi-Wan stood a good number of feet away. "She's never coming back." His voice dripped with venom and an air of finality.
Despite his earlier intentions of waiting for Anakin to come to him, Obi-Wan stepped forward, standing within arm's length of his former protégé who stood a good head taller than he was, though their age difference was significant. "Anakin, I am so very sorry," he said sincerely. He wished he could fix the decision of the Council, twist it in some way so that they could have aided Ahsoka rather than casting her aside. "I had no say in the Council's decision. I wish I…" he trailed off. He realized that Anakin was listening, but that he wasn't going to respond.
Anakin sucked in a shaky breath before releasing it, his eyes cast to the floor. "I know you tried to stop them, and I thank you for that." Obi-Wan had wrongfully, in his own opinion, been chosen to attend the Jedi Trial Ahsoka had to face. He didn't want to be there, didn't want to be blamed by Anakin for the banishment of Ahsoka. It seemed like Anakin's turmoil was beginning to calm and Obi-Wan thanked the stars for that. He wasn't sure if or how he would handle an emotional explosion.
"I believed her innocence." Anakin's eyes flashed with a small amount of joy as Obi-Wan admitted this to him, though it had no effect on his current mood. "I would never betray her." He was being completely honest, and he knew that was what Anakin wanted. He felt as abandoned as Anakin did because he let Anakin's emotions enshroud his own. Obi-Wan placed a firm, yet surprisingly gentle hand on Anakin's broad shoulder. "I would never betray you."
He noticed the twitch of Anakin's lips. He wanted to smile, but he also didn't at the same time. If he smiled, Anakin would break down or worse, run from Obi-Wan. "I just…" He stopped, reassessing whatever it was he wanted to say. "I don't understand why everyone I love turns away from me." Again, he stopped. "I did everything in my power to prove that she was innocent and she…she just left."
Obi-Wan nodded and vaguely noticed that Anakin's hands were balled into fists. He wanted to calm the young man down and he knew just the way to do so, even if it wasn't the most appropriate thing the two of them could do. Anakin had come to Obi-Wan as a boy when he was troubled and Obi-Wan reluctantly opened his bed to his Padawan to fend off his fears and nightmares or any troubles he ever had. "Anakin, come with me."
Anakin, though obeying his former Master, was deeply confused. He was led to the elder man's bed and watched curiously as Obi-Wan threw the blanket back. Obi-Wan took up the left side of the bed as was his preference and slid beneath the blanket. Anakin's eyebrow raised and he opened his mouth to question the situation, but Obi-Wan patted the mattress that was empty beside him.
The young man shuffled forward and crawled into the place he'd grown used to sleeping in for so many years. As he reached his senior Padawan age, he stopped going to Obi-Wan's bed to wash away his fears. It would have helped him even then, but he felt that he was too old and that Obi-Wan thought it would be inappropriate. He pulled the blanket up to his waist and watched Obi-Wan, curious. "What is this for?" he inquired.
Obi-Wan smiled warmly. "This is your safe haven, Anakin." His voice was soft and quiet. He shifted to lay on his side, facing Anakin. Instinctively, Anakin moved to curl against the man. Obi-Wan's arms drifted to hold his protégé turned Knight close, his arms the only protection and reassurance Anakin needed to know that Obi-Wan would never leave him.
"Thank you," Anakin whispered. He closed his eyes and breathed in his Master's sweet scent. He smiled to himself. He still smells just as good as he always did, he thought to himself. Their silence was comforting and Anakin felt at ease just being in his arms. His thank you was heartfelt, even though his heart shattered when his Padawan left him. He was grateful that Obi-Wan was here, and he was grateful to know that he would always have his Master. His Master was the only safety he had ever needed, and he was grateful to have his arms around him when he himself could be doing something much more important than holding his former student.
Anakin wanted to say something, but stopped himself as he realized Obi-Wan was drifting off into a comfortable sleep. Anakin smiled again and nuzzled into the crook of Obi-Wan's neck, allowing himself to embrace the warmth and love he felt. It was a warmth and love that would never leave his soul.