A/N: This is a three parter which I have finished. I will upload the next chapter in a day or two.
"It has been said," Obi-Wan spoke softly, "that they warp the flow of the force itself."
He and Anakin stood side by side in front of their shuttle's window. Before them was the most powerful thing Anakin had ever seen. The black hole was still far away, very far, but still it loomed. He had thought space was dark, but that was nothing compared with this gaping wound of blackness. He did not like how it felt in the force. When he looked at it he felt as if there was something missing, something he hadn't noticed was there until it wasn't.
Obi-Wan was still talking. "The force is woven into the fabric of space-time, just as it is through all living things. Here, all aspects of the universe are warped. We must be cautious, Anakin. I have read stories in the archives about the effect proximity can have on those attune to the force. They say, near a black hole a Jedi can see through time itself. A dangerous thing, to be sure."
"We have bigger things to worry about than some old legends," said Anakin, shaking himself. He would not stare into it like that again. "I'm the one who has to pilot this ship remember."
"Ah, I do, which is why I fear distractions. One wrong move could be deadly for us all."
"Glad to hear you have faith in me. Don't worry Master, we've got Artoo along. He's the best co-pilot a guy could ask for."
"So it's your little astromech droid v.s. that… thing…" Obi-Wan gestured out the window.
Anakin did not look. "We're staying in high orbit anyways," he comforted. "It should be fine. Get any closer and we're subject to time distortion of the non force related kind."
"I'm grateful to hear you say that. I know how stubborn you can be about completing a mission. No data, no matter how valuable, is worth our lives and the lives of the crew."
"And if there were survivors?"
"With this thing's gravity difference, if they fell in too close they're probably already dead, ripped apart."
"Not in our reference frame," said Anakin. "To be sucked into that thing is to be dying for a millennium."
"Comforting… So we could see them, pick them up on the scanners, but know there is nothing we can do. I see why we normally steer clear of these things."
"Like ghosts," Anakin whispered, mostly to himself. "I have a bad feeling about this."
He would take a Separatist armada or a foxhole on some backwater planet over this mission any day. It was all the fault of some experimental Separatist technology; a gravity well capable of plucking Republic ships right out of hyperspace. Terribly imprecise, it had launched the spy ship they were targeting into the galactic core. Republic engineers had calculated its trajectory and found that it had been pulled into the orbit of a black hole, thankfully in reach of a known hyperspace route.
"Generals." Captain Rex stood in the doorway of the mess, pulling Anakin from his thoughts. "We need you on the bridge. "We just passed the point of no return. From here on out, we won't be able to jump into hyperspace."
The information the spy ship carried was important, though Anakin knew no more than that. It was important enough to send two Jedi and a hand-picked squad of clones. If Obi-Wan knew more he was denying it. Since his master had been appointed to the council it always felt like he was holding something back.
On the bridge, Anakin did a full systems diagnostic and typed some trajectories into the navcomputer. Everything was going smoothly, though there was still no sign of their target. They were moving cautiously, in a slow orbit. It could hypothetically take them over a standard day to find the ship, if they did at all. Anakin hoped this was an exaggeration. He did not relish the thought of being near that thing for so long.
Obi-Wan had come up behind him, placing his hand on his shoulder. Anakin sat in the main pilot's chair, staring purposely at the blinking screens instead of the monstrous cosmic body.
"Rex and Cody are taking the first shift," Obi-Wan said. "We should both get some rest, while everything is calm. It's night at the Jedi temple, I believe."
Anakin complied. He knew arguing would have gotten him nowhere. Sometimes, with Obi-Wan, he still felt very much like a child. He knew his mentor didn't see it that way. He was simply worried for his friend. Their quarters were next door to each other and they walked towards them together.
"I've felt weird for the last hour or so," Obi-Wan said. "I can't really describe it, but it worries me. I was wondering if you felt it too."
"I do," Anakin said, though he hadn't fully admitted it to himself until that moment. He'd been trying to ignore it, push it down.
"I tried to meditate," said Obi-Wan, "but it only made it worse. Sending Jedi on this mission may have been a mistake."
"You worry too much, Master." They'd reached their rooms, and stood talking in the corridor. "I'm sure whatever this is, we can handle it. We always do."
Obi-Wan smiled at him. He looked tired, and a little sick. "Good night, Anakin."
As Anakin tried to get to sleep he tossed and turned, trying desperately to ignore a nagging feeling of foreboding in the back of his mind. It was like the ticking of an analogue clock. Once you noticed it it was impossible to ignore. Eventually his consciousness did slip away, through sleep, to somewhere else.
When he opened his eyes Anakin was standing in a white room. The medical equipment and smell of bacta gave it away as a medical facility. What he noticed first was the quiet. It was eerie. No machines beeped or hummed. There was only one sound. Someone was crying, though the sound was very muffled.
Anakin turned, and saw the room's two occupants. It felt so real here, from the smells to his feet on the floor, that at first he wasn't sure if he could be seen. Padme lay on a table, skin white, perfectly still. She was so beautiful, even in death. Obi-Wan sat on a chair beside her, head in his arms. He cried into her stomach. The sound was barely audible, but his shoulders shook slightly. Anakin had never seen his master like this. He was dishevelled, ash matted into his tattered robes.
Obi-Wan and Padme had been friends, but the level of defeat that encompassed the Jedi master spoke of something more, some terrible future. This was the worst thing Anakin could have imagined. Padme was dead, he had been unable to save her. But for it to have broken Obi-Wan, he was too scared to think of what the future might hold.
One question kept him frozen in this tomb of a room—which was too quiet, too cold. Where was he? Where, in this future, was Anakin Skywalker? It was not him in the chair, mourning his wife in this unfamiliar hospital. Padme had many people who loved her, so why did it seem as if Obi-Wan was the only one in the galaxy?
Was he dead? Anakin bubbled with self-loathing at the though. He'd failed, abandoned those he cared about, lost his reason for existence back to the force. This would not come to pass. He would not allow it!
Obi-Wan had raised his head. He looked infinitely tired, and older than Anakin had ever seen him.
"I'm not sure if I can do this," he whispered to Padme, as if admitting some great secret.
Padme, of course, did not respond.
"How can you expect me to do this when you just gave up?" He was sitting up now, drawn away from her, and he appeared almost angry. "You think I don't want to just leave? The force calls to me more than it ever has. I feel as if I am always speaking to the dead: to you, to Qui-Gon…"
He trailed off. Anakin had never felt so helpless. He reached out involuntarily, but his fingers went right through his masters back. He was nothing but a phantom, an observer. All the same, he drew closer, staring down at Padme's beautiful face. This was an old fear, a nightmare which would never lose its potency.
"You have left me alone with this great task," said Obi-Wan, "but I'm not sure if I can do it. Not even for you… not even for him… not even for the galaxy."
Him. Anakin grasped desperately at the clue. If he could figure out where he was, what had happened, maybe he could prevent this terrible future.
Suddenly, Obi-Wan looked up, seeming to stare directly at Anakin. Anakin could not help but meet his eyes; a sad, washed-out blue. Then, he woke up.
In his desperation to get away, Anakin tumbled from his bunk. He landed in the pile his bedclothes had made, thrown off at some point during his sleep. He felt strange, a little dizzy. He could not get the image of Padme's still body out of his mind. Pulling his cloak on over his sleep clothes he stumbled out into the hallway.
As if in a trance he walked to the mess. Stepping through the door, he realized he was not alone. Obi-Wan sat hunched at one of the two tables. A steaming cup of tea sat before him. He wasn't drinking it. He held his head in his hands. Although not identical, this scene was too similar to the one in his dream, and Anakin considered fleeing before his master noticed him.
"Anakin…"
Too late.
"…I see you can't sleep either. What has it been? Only a few hours, I believe."
Anakin took a seat opposite him, his back to the large window. He knew the black hole was there though, imperceptibly closer.
They'd been sitting in groggy silence for about a minute when Obi-Wan spoke. "I hate to admit this, but the black hole has been having a profound effect on me. I had a terrible vision of what I hope is not the future."
Anakin froze. Was it possible, could they have seen the same thing? As much as he wanted to talk about his dream, he didn't know if he was capable of admitting it to Obi-Wan. It hadn't been himself he'd seen. He felt partially as if he'd been spying on his master's private moment. But mostly he held his tongue out of a strange sense of failure. He'd failed them: he and Padme both.
"I saw the Jedi temple," said Obi-Wan, taking Anakin's vacant stare as a prompt to continue. "It was burning. Then, I was walking through the halls, and they were so silent…"
Obi-Wan looked genuinely shaken. Anakin leaned forward, prompting him to continue with a nod. This was the same future; it had to be. This was another clue.
"There were bodies everywhere: clones, Jedi, Padawans, younglings… The thing is—and I only realized this after I woke—I didn't see a single droid."
"If there were any other details you have to tell me," said Anakin. "Maybe together we can figure this out. If this truly is the future, we have to find some way to stop it."
He had not intended for the last part to come out so intense. His metal hand had been gripping the edge of the table, warping the metal a little.
Realization crossed Obi-Wan's face. "You saw something too, didn't you? The timing may be inconvenient, but maybe this was meant to happen. We've been given an opportunity. Alright, it is not pleasant to think of it, but I will try to remember."
"The force is never straightforward, is it?" Anakin asked, venomously. "It has us playing detective."
"I believe Yoda was with me. It felt as if we were the only living beings in the galaxy." Obi-Wan furrowed his brows and stroked his beard. "At first I wasn't sure. I was so distracted by all the horror, but the clones, I think they were the 501st."
"And you didn't…" Anakin swallowed. "See me, did you?"
"No, Anakin, kriff no! If you were dead, don't you think I would have mentioned that earlier?"
Not that he'd seen, Anakin thought, though he kept it to himself.
"There's something else," Obi-Wan said.
"I don't like your tone of voice. What else could there possibly be?"
"I was reluctant to share this. I don't wish for my own failings to get in the way of the mission. One moment I was walking through the halls of the temple, terrified of whose body I would see next. Then suddenly, it was the halls of the shuttle. I have no memory of leaving my bunk."
"Just a little sleep walking is nothing to worry about, Master," Anakin said, though his reassurance came out sounding flat.
"I hope you're right, I truly do. But now it's your turn. What did you see?"
There was no getting out of this now. He was going to have to share. After all, it would be unfair to keep details of Obi-Wan's own future from him. So Anakin told him. It was hard for him to conceal the full extent of his emotions when he spoke of Padme's death, but he did his best to repeat what he'd heard Obi-Wan say.
When he finished, Obi-Wan still hadn't said a word.
"Do you think," Anakin asked, hating the way he sounded, "do you think this means I die? Maybe at the temple with my men?"
Obi-Wan's answer came too quickly. "We don't know that." He took a deep breath and seemed to center himself. "We've been given a rare opportunity. The force has guided us here for a reason. However, we cannot allow these visions to interfere with our original mission. Once we find the ship we can stay, meditate and try to find some answers."
Anakin nodded. He could always count on Obi-Wan to bring some focus, some clarity.
"Let's go check on things on the bridge."
"That sounds like a great idea," said Anakin, glad that he had not needed to carry the weight of his vision alone.
Even in the short journey from the mess to the bridge, Anakin's moment of clarity evaporated. The best way he could explain it would be to say he felt seasick.
"Generals," Rex greeted, as they entered. "Everything's all good here, don't worry. Black hole's nothing we can't handle."
Both he and Cody had removed most of their armour, though it sat nearby in the corner of the room. Artoo beeped a greeting as well. Anakin slumped down into the pilot's seat, only because he was unsure how long his legs would be able to support his weight.
"Not to speak out of turn," said Cody, "but you both look like you could use a good sleep. We can handle things here. We'll just wake a couple of the men for the next shift. If something comes up on the scanners, we'll wake you."
Anakin could see what had evoked this response. Obi-Wan was leaning heavily against the wall. He looked worse than Anakin felt.
"I'm unsure if sleep will be the cure for this," Obi-Wan released a dry laugh. "I wasn't sure if it was pertinent to share this, but you have the right to know. Proximity to a black hole is known to have some unexpected effects on force sensitives. Anakin and I weren't prepared for the reaction we seem to be having. You and the men may have to take on more of the burden of this mission than was initially intended."
Rex and Cody exchanged a look.
It was Rex to speak. "Of course general. Are you sure you're alright? Do you need Kix to take a look at you?"
"I'm afraid this isn't the sort of thing modern medicine can help." He forced a smile. "I do feel rather ill. I'll return shortly."
Before Anakin could say anything he was gone. Anakin decided to stay, not wanting to be alone. They made conversation: about the men, about the war—ordinary things. Anakin was actually beginning to feel better.
"The general's been gone for a while," Cody commented.
"Maybe he went back to bed," Rex suggested.
"I think I better check on him," Anakin said, getting to his feet.
He was halfway to the door when the ship pitched violently. Anakin stumbled, reaching out for the wall to steady himself.
"We need to keep the ship level!"
Rex had rushed to his side, reaching an arm around him to steady him. "General," he spoke cautiously, "nothing happened. We're still on course."
Embarrassment brought a flush to Anakin's face. He pulled himself free of Rex, leading the way as they left the bridge. He put all his concentration into every step he took.
"I'll be fine," he said, partly to himself and partly to the captain. "I can handle this. I'm just worried about Obi-Wan."
"All the same, I'm coming with you," said Rex. "Cody, can you keep an eye on things here?" he yelled over his shoulder. "I think I'll wake some of the other men."
The door of the nearest fresher was locked.
"Obi-Wan?" Anakin banged on the door.
At first there was no response, but then the locked mechanism released. It was clear he'd done it with the force, as he sat curled on the far side of the small room. His head hung over the fresher, though it didn't smell like he'd been sick. His face held a sheen of sweat.
"Master!" Anakin dropped to his knees.
He cupped Obi-Wan's chin, lifting his head. It looked like his eyes were having some trouble focusing. Anakin brushed his bangs back, feeling for a fever. Of course, there was none.
"General Skywalker." Rex was back. With him was Kix. "Let's get him out of there."
Anakin pushed himself to his feet, stepping out of the way as the two clones lifted Obi-Wan between them.
"He doesn't have a fever, and I don't think he threw up," Anakin hurriedly listed what he knew.
In his gut he knew Kix would be unable to help, but he just felt so useless on his own.
"It's the dark side," Obi-Wan spoke for the first time, surprisingly coherent. "All parts of the force are strong here, pulled tight together, swirling, bubbling. I don't think I was cut out to be a Sith."
Was he making a joke? Now?
"I'm afraid all this's a bit out of my depth," Kix admitted. "I think the best thing is for you to lie down." He looked at Anakin. "Both of you."