Thunder rolled through the darkened sky over the Jedi temple of Coruscant. The sun, hidden behind the abundance of grey clouds, was setting somewhere on the horizon. Soon, night would engulf the never-sleeping world. Obi-Wan silently observed all that he could see from the window of his empty room. The courtyard below was devoid of other Jedi, as they all had fled the oncoming storm, save for the lone hooded figure hurrying up the steps. The anxious consciousness he felt was Ahsoka Tano. The teenage girl was out looking for her master in the surrounding area. A thing Obi-Wan had only learned was happening when he went looking for Anakin himself upon returning from a routine mission half an hour ago, although Anakin had supposedly left the temple early that morning. He told Ahsoka he would "be back shortly, and had a weirdly sad look on his face." So her text message read.
By the nervous feeling surrounding the girl as she approached him, he could already tell there was no sign of his former padawan. The two didn't need to exchange words. The worry was heavy in the air, and clear in both their eyes. Neither could feel Anakin's counsciousness. Obi-Wan's bond with Anakin was incredibly strong; like steel chain links. He should be able to sense him no matter where he was, or at least reach out. If anything bad had happened, he would sense Anakin's distress, or his pain. But instead, it was like Anakin did not exist.
Then the thought struck him: the only reason Obi-Wan would feeling nothing at the end of that bond was if Anakin was- he quickly buried the thought, as if it were something intrusive and impossible. He would have felt that, before he could feel his own heartbeat, he would have felt that.
"It's getting dark, Master Kenobi." Ahsoka's words interrupted his thoughts. He was almost grateful for it. "How do we find Anakin?"
Obi-Wan searched for the answer to her question in his mind. It was getting dark. That meant that the scum in the underbelly of the endless city would bubble to the surface. It is an even more dangerous place in the night than it is when the sun is out. Even for a powerful Jedi. Between the shadows and politicians, slave traders, smugglers, and various criminals of every sort seemed to wash out of the sewers to flood the streets. Now the image of Anakin possibly injured, weaker and less on guard than he would normally be sent a wave of anxiety over him that Ahsoka felt as well.
"You should stay here, young one," he finally replied. "I will search for Anakin myself."
Dismayed, Ahsoka grabbed Obi-Wan's cloak as he began to rush out the door. "Wait!"
"Don't you think we'd have a better chance at finding him if there were two of us?" Her eyes were brimmed with the same feeling he was trying to quell.
"Stay on temple grounds," he managed calmly, "if Anakin comes back he'll need you here." And Ahsoka couldn't disagree, as much as she wanted to come.
Swiftly making his way down the stone stairs and into the city, Obi-Wan began to feel his anxiety become a torrent of emotions. It was hard to keep them at bay. Hard to keep calm. No matter which technique he tried to use on them, those emotions twisted into the pit in his stomach, and the knot in his throat when he asked passersby if they had seen a young man with a scar over his right eye and dusty blond hair, ocean-blue irises, and dressed in dark clothing. Most people didn't even reply to him. He regretted not having any recent pictures of Anakin in that moment. Still hoping that this was due to Anakin's usual shenanigans, and he would come home otherwise safe and not as full of that familiar reckless abandon, satisfied by some misadventure.
But as twilight fell, followed by the shroud of night and a deluge of rain, it was clear that something was very wrong. Searching for hours after dark, Obi-Wan missed the texts from Ahsoka inquiring what the deal was.
Several layers below the city's surface, Obi-Wan started to turn back in the upward direction of the temple settled on the fact that Anakin simply was not on Coruscant, when he spotted a brown cloak like his own out the corner of his vision. Then suddenly, he sensed Anakin's presence hiding within it. The knot in his throat untwisted and the deep pit in his stomach disappeared upon feeling his former padawan's consciousness. But still, something else was amiss.
Obi-Wan ran up to Anakin, and the face he knew so well beneath the hood just gazed at him. The young man's hair and clothes soaked with rainwater, leaving him pale from the cold, and shivering.
"Anakin!" Obi-Wan's voice shook when he said it. Before he spoke further, he corrected the tone to one of gentle concern, and not of panic. "What are you doing out here?"
Anakin did not reply. His eyes were red with tears, easily discernible from the drops of rain. Distinct, harsh tear lines marked his near-porcelain face. The sight instantly slowed Obi-Wan's heartbeat. He had not seen Anakin cry like this in years, not since he was a child and prone to uncontrolled bursts of emotion.
"Master," Anakin barely made it out as a whisper past his teeth.
The single word triggered the full force of their bond; a crushing grief from inside Anakin's consciousness almost knocked Obi-Wan over. All of Anakin's recent thoughts flooded through his mind, and they all were agonizing. They reflected the action Anakin was unnervingly close to fulfilling. It was a strange pain, fueled by the dark side of the force. Something Anakin should not have been able to hide from his master so completely, so perfectly.
Obi-Wan stared at the young man, wondering what in the hell had caused this. Why was Anakin spilling over with these feelings? More importantly, who did this to him? But those questions were for later. Right now he had to focus on getting Anakin back to a safe enviroment. He thought it might be difficult to coax his friend back to the temple, expected some reluctance. Yet Anakin didn't fight him or argue the suggestion. Instead, when Obi-Wan took his hand to guide him, he gripped it tighter and allowed himself to be pulled along. This was equally relieving as it was concerning.
When the gates of the temple were in view, Anakin's gaze rose to meet Ahsoka's. Her worried face washed away some of the darkness around his consciousness. Some small weight inside him was lifted. He glanced back at his own master, who forced a soft smile. Anakin turned back to Ahsoka, who was waiting for his explanation, caught off guard by Anakin and Obi-Wan's stillness.
"I'm fine, Snips." Anakin managed a smile not unlike Obi-Wan's, through a pained expression. However, it didn't fool her. Things were clearly not okay, and she planned to help as much as she could. Whether Obi-Wan and the council permitted it or not.
"You will be." Ahsoka said vehemently, and reached out to take his other hand, dragging both masters up the steps and into the warm air of Obi-Wan's bedroom.
"Recovery starts with both of you getting some sleep. We'll talk about what happened in the morning." Ahsoka sounded surprisingly masterly. Anakin was too distracted by keeping his own pain choked down that he couldn't object. Hugging Obi-Wan forever was all he wanted to do in that moment. To feel safe from the ones that hurt him. And that was exactly where the night ended.
Anakin curled in Obi-Wan's arms.