Sand & Ruin
«Chapter Three»
Destinations
-Three Days Later-
Anakin awoke wrapped tightly in the bantha fur blanket. He could feel a layer of sweat coating his torso and struggled to free himself from the thick fur prison cooking him alive. Anakin rolled off the couch onto the floor finally free and peered out one of the house's few windows at the twin suns hanging high overhead.
He hadn't missed this forsaken planet much. Luckily the storm had finally subsided. It was one of the longest Anakin could remember from when he had grown up here. It had bought him time to recover though. He knew Palpatine would dispatch every resource to hunt him down once the storm had subsided.
Anakin stepped into the refresher and peeled away the bandages covering his wounds. Most of them had healed save for the serious cut across his forehead. He would rewrap that one later. Anakin pulled off his boots and hooked his two thumbs into the waistband of his ruined tunic let it fall to the floor. Anakin ran his hand over the two scars on his right shoulder and the left side of his chest left by Obi-wan's lightsaber on Mustafar thoughtfully before activating the shower module.
The door to the refresher opened behind him and Obi-wan handed him some new clothes paying no attention to his former apprentice's state of undress. Anakin felt his cheeks flush a little and took the clothes mumbling a quiet thank you before Obi-wan left the small room.
Anakin set the module to sanisteam to not use all their water for the day and cleaned the sand and grim off of him. Once he was satisfied, he stepped out and deactivated the module. Anakin pulled on the matching gray leggings and tunic and clipped his equipment belt around him before pulling his boots back on. He returned to the mirror and ran his mechanical fingers through his hair, pushing the mane of hair he had been growing to the side.
Anakin left the refresher and glanced around the small house for any sign of Obi-wan. He reached out with the Force and felt him outside. He could hear a pair of voices outside as well. Stormtroopers from the sound of it. Anakin tensed and stood by the door, watching the exchange carefully from the window. Obi-wan seemed completely calm. "Could I see some identification to verify your true identity?" the captain asked.
"Of course. It's no problem," Obi-wan responded, producing falsified documents.
"Everything checks out. We still need to search your home. There's a fugitive of the Empire believed to be in this area," the other trooper said to Obi-wan.
Obi-wan gestured towards the house, "I've nothing to hide," he said confidently. The stormtroopers entered the house with scanning equipment at the ready to search for any hiding places. The troopers passed Anakin's alcove and searched the rest of the house first before returning to the main living space. Obi-wan stared at him confidently even though he was in plain sight as the troopers returned.
"Who's this?" one of them demanded. "You didn't say anyone was inside the house. I'm going to need to see his identification as well-"
Both troopers' hands went to their throats as their airways closed. Anakin's grip through the Force tightened as he stared at them intently.
"Anakin stop!" Obi-wan shouted at him, "If they don't report back to their commanders. More of them will come for you."
Anakin released his hold on the stormtroopers reluctantly. Obi-wan moved quickly and used the Force to make them forget what just transpired and ordered them to return to their commander.
"Stay out of trouble citizens," one of them said, "Contact the authorities if you spot anything suspicious," the other said before they left Obi-wans house and got on their speeder bikes.
Anakin watched them zip away back towards Mos Eisley. "You need to control your anger or you'll be right back where you started," Obi-wan chided him. "I'm really trying to trust you again. It's going to take a while but I'm trying. But I need you to stop using the dark side before you corrupt yourself any further than you already have."
"I'll try," Anakin replied, avoiding his old master's reproachful gaze. "Keep in mind that four Jedi Masters were defeated by Sidious and even Grand Master Yoda couldn't beat him in a duel. We're going to need every bit of help we can get to destroy him."
Obi-wan let sink in for a moment. "When we face Sidious you may use whatever he's taught you. Until then, you will not put yourself at risk to being consumed by the darkness again."
"As you wish." Anakin couldn't help the smile that crossed his features, "Does that mean you're coming with me?"
Obi-wan looked out the window at the sprawling mesa in front of the house. "I suppose it does. I can't let you face him alone." I can't lose you again. "Tomorrow we'll go to Mos Eisley and look for a ship that can get us out of here. There are some people who may be willing to help us."
Obi-wan pointed towards his security chest with an outstretched hand and unlocked it with the Force summoning the two lightsabers stashed inside. He held one in each hand and held them out for Anakin to make his choice. "What you decide to do from this point on will affect the galaxy and the balance of the Force in ways you can't possibly imagine my friend."
Anakin considered this and reached for his original lightsaber he had built as a Jedi Knight. His gloved hand hovered over it for a moment before he took both. "All of my choices have led me to this point. Good or bad they have affected the galaxy around me and it would foolish to try to forget the things that I have done. The crimes I have committed in the name of the Empire. It would dishonor those who lost their lives at the hand of Darth Vader to pretend that side of me never existed in the first place."
"Wise words. I would counsel you to hold onto that part of you. Let it be a constant reminder of the dangers of the dark side. As much as you have a penchant for disregarding the Jedi Code, there is profound wisdom there Anakin." Obi-wan told him placing a hand on his shoulder.
Anakin placed a hand over Obi-wan's. "I will Master."
Obi-wan withdrew his hand and stepped back, glancing at the twin suns vanishing behind the distant mesas. "We should get some rest. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow." Obi-wan withdrew to his quarters and stared at the ceiling sadly. Trust in the Force Obi-wan. Trust in him.
"I'm trying," Obi-wan murmured, burying his face in the pillows.
-Next Day: Mos Eisley-
Obi-wan and Anakin moved through the crowded market with their cowls pulled low to obscure their features from any prying eyes. Mos Eisley Spaceport was still a few blocks away under the watchful eye of a Star Destroyer overhead.
"The Emperor must really want you dead," Obi-wan muttered to Anakin watching the squadron of TIE fighters do a pass over the city. A few platoons of stormtroopers passed by in the streets. Anakin and Obi-wan took to the many alleys and shortcuts to avoid them. Two AT-STs guarded the entrance to the spaceport accompanied by a checkpoint.
"You have no idea," Anakin laughed.
Obi-wan scanned the area for any other way into the spaceport. They could scale the walls but not likely without being spotted. There was no way he or Anakin would make it through the checkpoint either. That left only one other way inside.
"We're going to have stash ourselves away in a cargo shipment," Anakin and Obi-wan said in unison.
Anakin dropped from the rooftop in a crouch and grabbed two stormtroopers by the neck and slammed their helmets together knocking them out cold. Obi-wan shook his head and leapt after his old apprentice rolling with the impact and jumped back to his feet.
Obi-wan scanned the empty street for any sign of danger and found nothing of concern. It was almost too quiet. A few locals moved from place to place headed for the local cantina. Obi-wan spotted a few stormtroopers up ahead with a protocol droid checking over a shipment loaded up on a hoversled. Obi-Anakin was already on the move. He grabbed an ion grenade from one of the unconscious stormtroopers and tossed it into an alley after priming it.
He grabbed Obi-wan's hand and pulled him down another street and moved through alley after alley until they came back to the street with the cargo shipment. The ion grenade went off and caught the squadron's attention. Obi-wan waited until the protocol droid was facing the other direction before he and Anakin sprinted to the hoversled. Obi-wan unlocked one of the durasteel containers with the Force and stowed himself and Anakin inside. They waited a few minutes before the stormtroopers returned to their posts.
One of the stormtroopers was complaining about the locals causing trouble for the garrison again. "Everything checks out. Let's get this shipment to the spaceport," the captain said activating the hoversled and signaling for the squadron to move out.
Anakin bumped into Obi-wan as the hoversled lurched forward and began to glide down the street towards the checkpoint a few blocks away. They didn't have to wait long to pass under the AT-STs ever watchful gaze. "Clearance codes," the checkpoints commanding officer demanded of the platoon. The squad leader handed over a data pad containing all the necessary codes.
The commanding officer waved the hoversled through the checkpoint and handed the data pad back to the stormtrooper. "Take it to Hanger 4A."
"Yes sir." The stormtrooper echoed in response. Obi-wan tensed for a moment as the hoversled came to a stop. Perhaps a scanner had picked up odd vital signs coming from the shipment. Obi-wan let out a sigh of relief as the hoversled descended on a lift into a cargo hangar. Obi-wan waited until droids had carried their container aboard before kicking open the side of the crate.
Anakin spilled out after him getting to his feet and looking for any sign of the light cruiser's crew. Obi-wan moved through the cargo hold cautiously. Reaching out with the Force he detected the only signs of life in the cruiser's cockpit. Anakin had likely sensed as much as well as he made his way to the front of the ship. With a wave of both hands the pilot and co-pilot flew out of their chairs and struck the bulkhead behind Anakin. Anakin gestured again lazily with one hand and hurled them down the corridor. Obi-wan
Obi-wan shook his head and took his seat adjacent to Anakin in the co-pilots chair. He quickly strapped himself in. He knew Anakin's method of piloting enough to know he needed to be. Anakin lifted the landing gear and guided the cruiser out of the hangar and up and away from Mos Eisley. The cruiser broke through the upper layers of Tatooine's atmosphere momentarily and prepped for the jump to hyperspace.
"Where to?" Anakin asked Obi-wan.
"Alderaan."
A/N: Hello all. I hope you're enjoying Sand and Ruin so far. I'm going to try to update this fic as much as possible. I've been working on this idea and now I've finally been able to get it down some drafts good enough that I wanted to upload them. I'm going to try to get another chapter done either today or tomorrow. Please review and tell me what you think.
If you haven't realized yet this is going to be an AniObi or Obikin fic whichever ship name you prefer. I will be posting this fic on Ao3 as well soon and it will have slightly different content than the one on this site as we get much further ahead into the story. This is going to be my first slow burner fic so we'll see how long my patience holds out.