Brothers

Obi-Wan Kenobi awoke in his room as a wave of anger and depression swept through the force. Feeling slightly alarmed, Obi-Wan looked into the force to see where the emotions were coming from. With no surprise whatsoever, he tracked the anger to his current apartment, right to the room where his padawan slept.

Anakin.

"Oh Anakin," Obi-Wan murmured as he climbed out of his bed. "What am I going to do with you?"

As he made his way to the young man's room, Obi-Wan heard a bout of murmuring coming from within.

"I wasn't strong enough to save you, mom," he heard Anakin murmur from behind the closed door, "but I will be."

The words confused Obi-Wan a bit. He knew that something had happened on Tatooine, but he hadn't really been able to talk to Anakin about it. The boy had just returned from escorting Senator Amidala home, after all. Had something happened to the boy's mother?

As Obi-Wan opened the door he wasn't surprised by the amount of emotion located in the room. No, it came as little surprise to the older Jedi who had been through this practice so many times since the child had become his padawan.

Obi-Wan knew of Anakin's frequent nightmares and many times he would simply wake the boy up and bring him to meditate. But not tonight. No, Anakin needed his sleep. Obi-Wan sent a wave of calmness through the sleeping Jedi and sat himself on the chair near the bed.

"Master-?" Anakin questioned softly as he lifted his head quizzically.

"Go to sleep, young one," Obi Wan comforted, sounding much like a father comforting his youngling to sleep. "You need your rest."

"I'm not a youngling anymore," Anakin muttered, contradicting his words of defiance by laying back down to sleep.

You are in my mind. Thought Obi-Wan.

"I heard that," muttered the boy from his bed. Cursing himself for forgetting to put his shields up, Obi-Wan sent another wave of calmness over his Padawan. Anakin was out in a second.

Perhaps I overdid that a little, thought Obi-Wan wearily, resting his head on the back of the chair.

Sleep came quickly.

Obi-Wan woke a few hours later as something heavy crashed into the side of his head.

"Ow!" He shouted as he was torn from his sleep. Looking up he saw a small metal box floating in the air. He rubbed at his head and looked around the room. In fact, there were several things floating around the room. Well, not exactly floating. More like flying around at top speed.

I suppose I should be glad Jedi don't have many possessions, the knight thought.

The Jedi looked to where the nineteen-year-old padawan was sleeping. Anakin was breathing heavily and his master could tell that he was muttering. Obi-Wan took a deep breath as he bravely got out of his chair and attempted to make his way through the storm of random books and boxes.

"Obi-Wan, no." He heard Anakin mumble. "No, no, no. Obi-Wan." The boy writhed miserably on the bed.

Obi-Wan had only managed to make it half way across the room when Anakin started to shout.

"Obi-Wan! No!" Anakin bolted upright, chest heaving. The books and boxes fell, one of them managing to hit Obi-Wan's head where a bump was already forming. The boy gazed wide-eyed at Obi-Wan for a moment before falling back onto the bed, his hands covering his eyes. Obi-Wan moved cautiously to sit next to Anakin on the bed.

"It was only a dream." He tried to sooth.

Anakin sighed. "I know. It's just... my mother..." He trailed off, unsure of what to say.

"Anakin, what happened on Tatooine?" Obi-Wan asked gently.

Anakin removed his hands from his face and looked up to his master. Obi-Wan saw in his eyes a mixture of quilt, pain, and anger. Definitely not emotions Jedi dwell on.

"Master, she..." Anakin didn't know what to say. He hadn't told anybody, really. The only people who knew were his step-family on Tatooine and Padmé.

Padmé, his wife.

The thought of her gave Anakin some courage.

"It's ok, Anakin." Obi-Wan said gently. "Tell me when you're ready."

Anakin searched the man's eyes, seeing only understanding and comfort. He sighed. "She's dead." He choked out. "My mother is dead. She died, in my arms, just like my dreams told me she would."

Obi-Wan seemed frozen for a moment. He then broke out of his trance and placed a hand over his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Anakin. If I had known your dreams were visions... it's been so long since someone has had that power..." He trailed off. "It's all my fault. I'm sorry, Anakin. It must be hard."

With Obi-Wan's understanding weighing down his quilt, Anakin wanted to tell his master about how he had broke. About how he had killed the sand people in revenge for his mother. But Anakin wanted to tell this to Obi-Wan, his friend and brother. But with telling that Obi-Wan, he also had to tell Jedi Master Kenobi, his mentor, the man responsible to report to the council were something to happen. That was something he knew he couldn't do.

"It was just like my dream." He repeated instead.

"You had another dream." Obi-Wan stated rather than asked. Anakin nodded. "What was it?"

"It... was about you." Anakin said slowly.

"What about me?" Obi-Wan questioned.

Anakin looked up and his master. Obi-Wan saw a spark of fear in his padawan's eyes. "You died, master. In the Clone War."

Obi-Wan felt uncertain. "Anakin, the Clone War has barely begun. How could you possibly–"

But Anakin ignored his interruption. "The clones turned on the Jedi, Master. I don't know why. You were on some other planet, Utapau perhaps, riding a creature, a varactyl, I think. There was... an explosion and both you and the creature fell and died." He paused for a minute as if trying to remember his dream. "Or at least, everybody thought you were dead. Something didn't seem right..." The padawan seemed near hyperventilating and was a about to continue when Obi-Wan interrupted.

"It was only a dream, Anakin." Obi-Wan said firmly.

Anakin looked at him sharply. "That's what you said about my mother." He growled. The reaction startled Obi-Wan. Anakin sat up in bed. "You told me that they were only nightmares and that I should just forget about them. She died!"

"Anakin, calm down." Obi-Wan pleaded, once again placing a hand on his padawan's shoulder. But this time Anakin shook him off.

"Don't tell me to calm down, Master." Anakin shouted, emphasizing the last word almost menacingly. "She died in my arms! I could have prevented it!"

"I'm sorry, padawan. Some things can't be prevented." Obi-Wan stood from the bed, moving toward the door. "Breakfast will be in two hours."

Anakin sighed, realizing that he had lashed out on his master. "Master?"

Obi-Wan turned at the door and sighed. "Yes, Anakin?"

"Will you at least be careful?" The boy pleaded. Obi-Wan still found himself amazed at how easily Anakin could change moods.

"Yes, Anakin. I'll be careful." He replied before heading out the door.

"You better be!" He heard Anakin call after him.

As he made breakfast he thought about Anakin dream. It was just a dream, wasn't it? Or was it like the incident with the boy's mother?

The knight sighed. I guess we'll find out.