Ass Cover: They belong to Lucasfilm, and the Bearded One. I'm just borrowing them for a spell. That said, I'll warn you that I'm a slashwriter, first and foremost. I just felt I needed to have this lovely trio of stories. I've got Obi-Wan/Anakin, so why not Obi-Wan/Padme? Anyway, this takes place in the Attack of the Clones time frame, but the events are going to be drastically different. Like, no Anakin-and-Padme smoochies, for one. Yeah!
Darker Path
Family
The wind swept the flames of the pyre high into the sky. Obi-Wan Kenobi stood silently between Jedi Masters Ki-Adi-Mundi and Yoda as they watched the body of Jedi Master Mace Windu be consumed by the flames. Many of the remaining Jedi—too few, Obi-Wan noted---stood with their hoods lifted around their faces against the chill wind that swept across the bare plot of land. Obi-Wan did not.
Padme Kenobi stood slightly behind the ring of the Jedi. She too wore a Jedi cloak. She would not have, and did not want to, feeling that it was more respectful to the deceased Jedi Master to brave the elements as he was cremated, but Yoda had respectfully asked her to wear something to keep her warm. Obi-Wan had demanded she do so. Beneath the folds of the cloak, she rested her hand against her stomach.
Master Windu had died because of her. He had died so that her husband could escape the Jedi temple and return to her. Tears slipped down her cheeks, and wisps of her brown hair swept around her face. This was because of her and Obi-Wan.
Most of the remaining Jedi were only children. Even Anakin Skywalker, the ruthless former Jedi who had tried to take Obi-Wan's life and had taken Master Windu's, could not take the life of a five-year-old child. No matter how much he hated the Jedi now.
They were so small, yet they understood what was happening. They understood that they could no longer stay in the temple with the way the Sith were so intent. Baby Jedi soon grow into adult Jedi, no matter how few Masters and Knights there were left.
Padme wondered if her own children would have the skill to be Jedi. Wondered if Obi-Wan had passed on his abilities to the child that she carried. Master Yoda could tell her, she was sure, yet she was afraid. Afraid to know, afraid to ask.
The pyre began to burn low. The Jedi finished the ritual, and the few remaining Masters gathered the children around to leave the site. Obi-Wan put his arm around her waist and wiped away the tears that had been falling so silently. His own eyes glistened.
Slowly, the Jedi left the pyre of Jedi Master Mace Windu.
~`~
Padme stared across the water. She did this so much now, as a way to calm herself and conquer her fear. She feared so much now, feared that Anakin would find her, or that someday, Obi-Wan would leave and not return. She knew that she worried to much.
She listened to the sound of her sister's children playing inside the house. She had asked Obi-Wan to bring her family to the Lake-house to make sure that they were protected. The entire place was guarded by Naboo's royal guards. They knew that the focus was no longer on the Queen—Anakin would not attack the Queen. That was not his objective. He was after Padme.
She gasped as the first pain ripped through her body.
"No," She said aloud. Throughout her whole pregnancy, Obi-Wan had had to be in and out of their home, tracking his former Padawan around the galaxy and trying to prevent the worst of his deeds.
She screamed the second time it happened, and her sister came running out of the house.
"Padme!" Sola cried, kneeling next to her sister. "Now?" she asked.
"Yes," Padme whispered. Her heart ached for her husband, for him to be there with her, and safe. Her sister stood, pulling Padme to her feet. "Not now, oh, it can't happen now."
"Sister, you have no choice," Sola said.
"But he's not here. He promised me he'd be here…"
Sola led her sister into the house. Their mother met them at the door.
"He has to be here!" Padme shouted at them.
Sola looked at her mother and shook her head sadly.
~`~
The house was burning. The beautiful Lake-house on Naboo. Smoke choked the rooms, but there were only two people left in the house.
Obi-Wan had handed his baby daughter to Padme and told her to run. Padme had, looking back to see her husband cradling their son in one arm and holding his lightsabre in the other. Padme's family was long gone, and there was no one else to take the boy and run. And Obi-Wan had to stay, had to fight, to deal with Anakin.
Anakin stood before him, a frightening image dressed in black with dark smoke curling about him. With the glowing red lightsabre in his hand. All of Obi-Wan's Jedi training kept him from running.
But then, Obi-Wan realized that his first loyalty was no longer to the Jedi. It was to protect his children, and to protect his wife. He deactivated his lightsabre, turned and ran.
Behind him, Anakin laughed.
~`~
"Go to Alderaan, you must," Master Yoda said wearily. "Take her, you will."
Padme did not argue. Over the last four years, she had argued so much with the Jedi master. But he protected her as best he could, when Obi-Wan could not be there.
"What about Luke?" She asked. Her son was playing with the few remaining Jedi children in the temple. By some strange twist of fate, her son had been blessed—or cursed—with a high midi-chlorian count. Higher even than his own father, and certainly higher than her own.
"Take care of him, I will." Yoda told her. "Leave soon, you must."
"Yes, Master Yoda." Padme said, closing her eyes briefly and steeling herself against the pain that burned inside her heart. "I will take Leia, and I will go."
"For the best, it is." Master Yoda said, blinking sleepy eyelids at her slowly. "Know this, you do."
"For the best," Padme whispered.
~`~
"I don't want to leave you here," Padme said.
"Master Yoda thinks it best that you take Leia away from here. He thinks that it will be safer for you and her both." Obi-Wan said calmly. Over the past years, and repeated battles with his former Padawan as the boy descended further and further into the Dark Side of the Force, he had become ever more the Jedi.
"How can you be so calm?" Padme cried, angry with him. "This war is tearing our family apart and you're allowing it to happen!"
"It's for the best, love. You know this."
"You keep saying that! Yoda tells me that constantly. Taking my daughter away from her father and to another planet is NOT for the best. Leaving you and my son here is NOT for the best!"
"Everything will work out in the end," Obi-Wan said. Padme cried out in frustration.
"You aren't sure! You don't know!" She cried.
"Anakin is the Chosen One," he told her. "He will bring balance to the Force, whether he be good or evil."
"And he is trying to kill you! How can you still have that faith that he is the Chosen One? He is trying to kill you! And your children! And your wife!"
She was screaming. She didn't truly mean to, but she couldn't stand how he could be so calm. How he could go on and not show any emotion at all.
"Padme," he said sighing.
"What," she said, still angry.
"I love you," he said.
She sighed. He was changing the subject. He did that quite often. "I love you." She replied.
"I have faith that the force will guide us. If Yoda tells you that it will be safer, you will be safer." Obi-Wan said. "I have faith in him as well."
"I know," Padme said. "I just do not want to leave you."
"You have no choice, for a time."
"I know," Padme said sadly. Obi-Wan stopped and turned her to face him. He brushed a few stray strands of hair from her forehead.
"I love you," he told her again. Padme smiled. This time, he was not just telling her to change the subject.
"I know," she said, "and I love you as well."
He leaned forward and kissed her.
~`~
Obi-Wan leaned against the walls of the low house, watching Luke play in the sand in the shadows of the building. A drop of sweat trickled down the side of his face, but he did not move.
He disliked the cruel atmosphere of the planet that Yoda had asked him to take his son to. It was warm, and almost too dry. But it was safe, or so Yoda had told him.
Yoda thought it would be safer if Obi-Wan took his son to Anakin's home planet and hid out with Anakin's stepbrother. He could almost imagine that Owen Lars was his own brother—almost. Obi-Wan could barely remember his blood brother—just that his name, too, had been Owen.
Luke stood up from the sand and walked to his father. Chubby hands reached out and clasped at his tunic. He picked the little boy up and gently brushed some of the sand off of him.
"Want mommy," the little boy said. Obi-Wan stared at his son for a moment before standing.
"Then we'll go see mommy," Obi-Wan told him. Luke grinned.
~`~
He had been waiting for them.
The moment Obi-Wan had stepped off the transport, his son holding onto his hand, and headed down the ramp, he was under blaster fire. He had looked up to see clone troopers—storm troopers, they were calling them now, now that they were no longer the Army of the Republic, but the army of the Empire—aiming blasters at himself and his son. He had picked up Luke and ran.
Now he was standing beside Padme, watching the commotion in the streets. The clone troopers were searching for them.
"I had no idea," Bail Organa said from behind them. He was holding Leia. "The whole time I supported Palpatine as Chancellor, I had no idea."
"Neither did any of us," Padme said, turning from the windows to look at the ruler of Alderaan. "I pushed for his election, even after his apprentice had killed Qui-Gon Jinn. None of us knew."
Obi-Wan blocked out the conversation at the mention of his former Master's name. He stared down into the street. A figure in black was striding toward the palace. The figure stopped and stared directly at Obi-Wan.
He imagined he could see every detail of Anakin's face. The lines of rage that marked him, and the anger that clouded his eyes. He could feel him, a darkness surging through the Force. His presence was so strong it made Obi-Wan sick. Leia began to cry.
The window shattered and Obi-Wan almost fell. Padme screamed. She moved toward Obi-Wan, but Bail held her back.
The Force flowed around Obi-Wan, both light and dark, stronger than anything he'd ever experienced. The Dark pulled at him—all of Anakin's concentration here, tugging at him—trying to pull him from the window. At the same time, he held back with a strength that he did not know that he had.
"Daddy?" Luke asked. He was moving forward.
"Stay back," Obi-Wan commanded, but his son did not listen. The Dark Side stopped when the boy came in view of the window. It dissipated and flowed away, and the light was as pure as ever around the Jedi Knight. A cry of anguish reached his ears from the street. Anakin.
As Obi-Wan knelt to embrace his son, he noted that Anakin was again moving forward, toward the palace.
But by the time Anakin entered the palace, he would not find them.
