STAR WARS

ALTERED

UNIVERSE

Obi-Wan's Death

THIS IS A SHORT ONE STORY CHAPTER DEALING WITH OBI-WANS DEATH IN THE FAR FUTURE AND WHAT IT DOES TO ANAKIN.

Disclaimer: As always, None of the characters are mine, and the universe isn't mine either. All belongs to Lucas, and no profits are made. I am simply playing in his sandbox.

Obi-Wan had know for months now that his health was failing. At nearly 90 years old, the Jedi Master had lived a long and, to his mind, very successful and happy life. He had many regrets, had made his share of mistakes, had lost people he cared about. Still, the one person he cared for above all others was the reason he was nervous now. He had no idea how Anakin would take his death. Sure, he'd appeared to be dead during the crisis on Jabiim, and yes he'd faked his death once to protect then Chancellor Palpatine during the festival of life of Naboo, though it made little difference when it had turned out that Palpatine was really the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. Both times had given him an idea as to what Anakin would feel if and when he died, but that was many years ago. He was much different today then he was during the Clone War, and again during the few but sometimes long conflicts that followed. He had changed drastically from the boy he'd trained. In fact, if he was going to be at all honest with himself, Anakin had become the Jedi Obi-Wan knew he could be. He'd trained two Padawans who were now excellent Knights themselves, one of them, his first one actually, having even attained the rank of Master. Still, knowing all of that didn't make it easier for Obi-Wan. He still had no idea how Anakin would react, even after all these years. The man was still as much a mystery to him as he was when he had taken him as his apprentice. Of course, he still loved him like the son he never had. He'd never been able to connect to Whie, his second apprentice, as he had with Anakin. They had maintained contact after he'd been knighted, and had remained friends all these years, but never to the extent that he had with Anakin. Obi-Wan was brought out of his silent musing by what sounded like something barreling through the door to his room and then crashing into the only table in his suite at the Temple. Only Anakin would make an entrance like that. He smiled and chuckled softly, noticing once again that some things never did change.

"Anakin, you might try actually walking in, and perhaps you won't nearly destroy my dining room in the process next time?" Obi-Wan said sarcastically. It was a running joke they had.

"Oh, you know me, Master. I can't get where I'm going fast enough. Walking would take too long." He replied with almost the same level of sarcasm, but Obi-Wan knew that deep down, Anakin was simply playing along, and Obi-Wan knew he would continue to do so and would probably fidget and change the subject he had asked Anakin to come to discuss with him until Obi-Wan simply all but ordered him to stop changing the subject. But as always, Obi-Wan decided to try his luck and hope Anakin would actually talk to him instead of avoiding the subject of his impending death. And so, he prepared himself to discuss the matter with his wayward and very emotional former apprentice.

"I've talked to Master Offee. She's making all the arrangements as we speak. I know this won't be eas—"

"You know I got here in record time, right?" Anakin asked, doing exactly as Obi-Wan hoped he wouldn't, avoid the subject at all costs.

"Yes, I know. Now, I know—"

"I actually broke just about every speeding law in the galaxy." He said.

"I'm sure you did. Now if you would just—"

"Actually, I don't even know how I didn't—"

"ANAKIN!" Obi-Wan growled, then coughed.

"Sorry, Master. I know you want to discuss this, but I really don't." Anakin replied.

"I think you've made that quite clear to me over the last several weeks. You've done a good job of avoiding the inevitable for this long, but now there simply isn't any more time. You can't avoid this conversation any longer."

"It's not that I'm avoiding it, Master, I simply don't want to talk about it." Anakin said.

"I know, Anakin. You've avoided it longer then you should have. Now you can't avoid it any longer. You knew this would happen one day. You had all this time to prepare yourself for it." Obi-Wan told him, having moved into a sitting position.

"I don't have to prepare for anything, Master. I—"

"Anakin, I am dying!" Obi-Wan said. So, there, he had said it. Put it out in the open so Anakin couldn't possibly avoid it any longer. And so Obi-Wan finally got the response he wanted and was hoping for. The sagging of Anakin's shoulders and his trademark sigh of defeat.

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm not acting like myself, am I?" he said with a sad smile.

"No, you aren't. Anakin, I know this is very difficult for you to accept, but you must understand that it is the way things are. People die every day, Anakin. Now it is nearing my time. Don't bottle yourself up in grief for me. You still have Padmé, Luke, and Leia to think about. When the time comes, just grieve for me as any Jedi would, and do as I taught you. Release your grief into the Force. I know you won't want to, but if you don't you'll never get past it and you'll never be able to move on."

"I know. And I'll try, Master. I really will."

"Do not try, Anakin. Do, or do not."

"I know, I know. I don't need a lecture on that particular subject, Master."

"Well if you would actually listen to me for once—"

"Then you wouldn't need to keep repeating your lectures, I know, Obi-Wan." He said, rolling his eyes.

"Ah, so you have listened to me. Some of the time at least." Obi-Wan replied with a hint of a smile.

"Of course I listened to you, Master. I always have." He replied.

"I know you do. And now I'm asking you to listen to me one last time. I want you to keep living your life happily, Anakin. Don't lose yourself in your grief. If it should turn out that you can't do it by yourself, then go to Ahsoka. She's always been able to help you when others couldn't, and you know her. She'd do anything for you." Obi-Wan said, hoping he had just made it obvious that he didn't want Anakin grieving for months like he had with his mother. And, as before, he got the response he was hoping for. Anakin had taken the hint as Obi-Wan had hoped he would.

"I know. And I will go to her if I can't release my emotions myself. And I won't wait months, weeks, or even days to do it. I promise." Anakin replied, and Obi-Wan relaxed visibly. Anakin never made a promise he had no intention of keeping. Content with having discussed what he'd called Anakin over to talk about, they simply spent the next few hours remembering the past until Anakin told him he had to leave for this evenings Council meeting. Before Anakin made it to the door, however, Obi-Wan stopped him.

"I know I rarely, if ever say this, but you and I both know that this is the last time you will see me alive. Anakin, you are my best friend, my brother, and my son, and I love you. Never forget that. It my not happen immediately, but Qui-Gon has taught me to be able to communicate with you and others after I pass on. So even in death, my brother, should you ever fall or need my guidance, I will always be there for you." Obi-Wan said. Anakin smiled, and did exactly what Obi-Wan had been expecting. He hugged him. After a few moments, with tears in his eyes, Anakin said his goodbyes and left. Hours later, sometime during the night, after only a decade short of a century of life, Obi-Wan passed on and joined his own Master in the Force.

After the funeral, Anakin had gone to the Room of a Thousand Fountains, and sat in from of his and Obi-Wan's favorite one. For hours, Anakin had been trying, without success, to release his grief into the Force so he could continue to live his life. And so, he now found himself in one of the private meditation chambers of the Temple. He'd told Padmé ahead of time before the funeral that in all likelihood he and possibly Ahsoka as well would be home late. Padmé had understood completely. Luke was away on Illum with his Padawan to get the crystals for her lightsaber, and wasn't able to attend the funeral. Leia had been there to pay her respects, but had left just before Anakin, the Senate having been called into emergency session and as Vice Chair of the Senate, she was required to attend. As Anakin would find out later, the Chancellor had been involved in a scandal and had resigned to save his honor, or what little of it remained. Anakin briefly wondered how Luke had done on his assignment. He'd tried to contact his father twice already. Padmé had answered the second time and told him Anakin was fine and just needed some time alone. She then told Anakin that Luke had said he would be home in a few days and would talk to him then. Anakin was brought out of his semi-brooding state when the doors to the meditation chamber opened and closed, admitting the one person he'd been waiting for. Ahsoka came to sit across from her Master on one of the provided floor cushions, similar to the ones in Master Yoda's chambers.

"I knew you would need my help, but I didn't want to you to feel like I was forcing it on you. I also knew that you would come to me on your own eventually. I just didn't think it would be this soon." She said. She then frowned, realizing she had just somehow made a joke without meaning to. Anakin, thankfully, knew she hadn't meant to make a joke.

"I know. I promised Obi-Wan I'd grieve as a Jedi should. I promised I'd come to you if I couldn't do it myself, and that I wouldn't wait what he would have called an unnecessary amount of time to do it." He said.

"I'll do whatever I can to help you, Master. I always have and I always will. You know that." Ahsoka replied. Anakin nodded in reply. For the next two hours, they sat in meditation together, working through his grief. At the end of the third hour, and with Ahsoka still helping him, Anakin was finally able to release his grief about his Master's death into the Force. After a few moments of enjoying the fact that he was back to normal again, he left his meditation to find Ahsoka looking at him. Before he could ask, she asked a question of her own.

"You going to be OK, Skyguy? I know I'm not Master Kenobi, but I did mean what I said before." She said, trying desperately not to blush. If her old Master noticed, he didn't let on. He did, however, smile slightly at the decades old nickname she'd given to him when she'd become his Padawan.

"I know you aren't, Snips. And I know you meant what you said. You and Obi-Wan have always been there for me, even when I wasn't exactly myself. I'll always be grateful for that." Anakin said.

"Thanks. So seriously, are you going to be OK?" she asked again.

"I never thought in all the years I've been dreading Obi-Wan's death I'd be able to say this, but to be honest with you? Yeah, I think I will be."

"Come on, you were never all that bad. Except for, of course, that giant wall on Geonosis, crash landing half a ship on Coruscant, and who could forget the time—"

"Hold on now, don't get ahead of yourself here, my snippy former Padawan. Not a single one of those incidents were my fault. Well, OK, maybe the wall, but the rest had unforeseen circumstances and you know it." He said, smirking.

"Oh really now? Shall I remind you of the time you tried, and might I add failed miserably, at changing Luke's diaper when he was a baby for the first time? I told you you should read the directions first but you went on about how easy it was and that as a Jedi Master, you shouldn't need to read directions." She said. Anakin playfully shot a death glare at her. He'd hoped for years that she would simply forget about that incident. Instead she'd brought it up to tease him at just about every opportunity.

"OK fine, so it was a disaster. And you've never once let me forget about it either. Tell me again who you trained you through to knighthood?" he replied.

"You did, Master, and I've always been grateful to you for it. You never once gave up one me." She said.

"And lets not forget that after all of that, you successfully trained Luke to knighthood." He told her.

"I taught him everything you taught me, Master. I think in the end we were both surprised at how well he turned out." She replied. Anakin nodded in agreement.