Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or elements of the universe found in the story below. They are all property of George Lucas, Disney, et al.

Author's Note: Here's the third chapter and sorry it's a little late! If you're enjoying the story please leave a comment and let me know. Reviews help keep my oft wayward muse securely chained in my basement... Mwaaa haaaa haaaa!

Please R&R!

"Feeling better, Master?"

"A bit actually," Obi-Wan replies as he takes a seat on the ground across from Anakin. Anakin stares at Obi-Wan in silence for several moments. His brow wrinkles. To Obi-Wan it seems that Anakin is debating something with himself, which strikes Obi-Wan as odd. It isn't like his former padawan to hold his tongue without prompting; usually prompting from Obi-Wan himself.

"Master," Anakin begins noticeably hesitant.

"Yes, Anakin?" Obi-Wan answers mildly curious as to what could make someone as bold as Anakin suddenly become reticent. Anakin stares at Obi-Wan for a moment more than he looks back down to his work on the transponder as he picks up a hydrospanner.

"Nevermind. It's... nothing," he says finally. Obi-Wan briefly considers pressing the matter, but decides against it choosing to save his already beleaguered mind from what he is certain will devolve into an argument.

"Very well," he says with a bit of a sigh. Anakin spares a quick glance and sees Obi-Wan rest the back of his left hand on his left knee as he sits, his legs crossed, his eyes closed. Anakin returns to his repairs as Obi-Wan settles and prepares to enter deep meditation.


Anakin has seen many things in his life. He has seen excessive cruelty and unbidden kindness. He has seen wondrous things and things that live on the furthest edges of horror. He has seen things both ordinary and extraordinary; things that defied reason and things that surpassed his wildest imaginings... but the one thing he has never seen is Obi-Wan Kenobi not able to meditate.

Never.

Not once.

Ever.

Until now.

Anakin doesn't say anything. He waits for his former master to open his eyes, finally giving up on the attempt after nearly an hour. Obi-Wan sighs deeply, his gaze cast down on the cave floor. Anakin puts down his work.

"Master, we need to... talk."

"No, Anakin. We do not."

"Obi-Wan,"

"Oh just shut it, Anakin!" Obi-Wan barks. "If you had spent half as much time fixing that transponder as you do worrying about me we would be already off this wretched rock!"

"What's wrong with you?" Anakin yells back in exasperation. "This isn't like you, Obi-Wan. Something is going on. Why won't you tell me what it is?"

"There is nothing to tell."

"That's a load of bantha poodoo and you know it."

"Language, Padawan!"

"Padawan?" Anakin repeats, his tone a mix of shock, concern, confusion, incredulity.

"There is no... no center... Where is it?" Obi-Wan mutters so low Anakin can barely make it out. He reaches out his hand to his former master. Obi-Wan looks at the gloved hand hanging in the air between them. He knows it is an offering, a life-line flung into the murky waters of Obi-Wan's floundering self-control. All he has to do is take it, grasp it and he will find safe harbor. Anakin will anchor him. He needs only to take his hand.

But he doesn't.

Obi-Wan slaps the hand away and jumps to his feet.

"I need to find my center!" he yells. "I must find my center. I must... must find it... my center... I must," he mutters to himself as he turns and storms out of the cave. Anakin pushes himself up to follow, but his left leg stubbornly refuses to support him and he is forced to remain behind. Unable to follow Obi-Wan physically, Anakin closes his eyes and tries to track him through the Force. What he senses surprises him. Fear. Confusion. Doubt. Anger... Anakin can feel Obi-Wan's anger tremulous over their old bond. Then suddenly nothing. Obi-Wan forcibly shoves out Anakin's presence as he quickly erects thick shields around his mind. Anakin sighs deeply and despondently renews his moving meditation.


Obi-Wan is a tectonic plate grinding against itself, trapped on all sides by geothermic pressures roiling and churning its way to an inevitably violent eruption. He is angry. He yelled at Anakin. He lost his temper and stormed out of the cave knowing, thankfully, that Anakin could not follow. And the Force... the Force seems more elusive than ever. Obi-Wan is lost, unable to meditate, unable to release the growing shadow of dread, terror, and rage slowly engulfing his mind and rending his heart.

He walks. His pace is brisk, but he is in no hurry. Obi-Wan's thoughts are jumbled and disorganized. It takes significant effort to reign in his errant emotions and focus his mind to address his situation with some measure of reason.

"I am losing my ability to control my emotions... to control myself," he thinks aloud. "And the Force... I can't release my emotions to the Force!"

Obi-Wan feels a rush of panic sweep over his senses, but he is able to hold the queasy feelings at bay... barely. He focuses now only on his breathing, tracking the deep and rhythmic inhalations and exhalations in an effort to quiet the cacophony of unbridled feelings and wild suppositions clamoring for his attention, but something does draw him away. The Force, though elusive, has not abandoned him as it whispers a warning in his mind. With his left hand he reaches for his lightsaber. He lights it and stands en guard. Obi-Wan feels awkward and clumsy working from his left, but given the circumstances he feels he has little choice in the matter. He closes his eyes, listening, waiting. Then, acting on instinct as he has been trained, he spins around bringing his lightsaber up and over in a graceful arc where mid-way it connects with the black hull of a scout droid. The saber slices through the droid's metal skin cleaving it, its edges glowing from the heat of the blade.

"Where there's one there's more," Obi-Wan says to himself as he scans the horizon. Further west across a great divide he thinks he sees something, but without a pair of scopes he will have to get closer to know for certain. Obi-wan begins to cross the distance between where he downed the probe and the edge of the chasm. As he gets closer, the terrain becomes more hilly and full of loose rocks and gravel. He moves with his usual speed and deliberation as he climbs up a small hill. As he begins the meager descent, Obi-Wan loses his footing. He swings out his left arm in an attempt to recover his balance, but the single arm is not enough. He falls on his rear, bumping and sliding his way down.

"Blast!" Obi-Wan growls angrily. His frustration rearing its head again. Obi-Wan makes a conscious effort to push it from his mind. Calm again, he approaches the edge squatting low as he does so. From his new vantage point he can indeed make out something on the other side.

"Battle droids," he murmurs. The group is small. "A scouting party," he thinks silently, but he knows the main force would not be far behind. Suddenly, Obi-Wan clutches his chest. Under his robes his skin feels as if it is on fire. Without care and with both hands Obi-Wan claws at his robe and tunics, exposing his bare chest to the early afternoon air. He looks down and sees a multitude of angry red and black lesions crisscrossing his abdomen and chest. Obi-Wan falls on his back writhing in the dirt as the burning reaches its apex. It is all he can do to choke back the scream trying to escape his throat. He still has just enough presence of mind to know that if he loses control and calls out, the droids across the ridge will surely hear him. Gradually the pain begins to lessen. Obi-Wan releases the death grip he has on the edges of his robe; his fingers aching from the prolonged intensity. He lies there in the dust and dirt trying to catch his breath. Aftera few minutes, no trace of the pain remains save the lesions which have spread and now creep up his left shoulder. Obi-Wan slowly gets to his feet. He looks across the chasm at the droid scouting party. It appears that his little episode has gone unnoticed.

"Small favor," Obi-Wan thinks as he straightens his clothes, knocking dust off as he goes. He glances once more at his marked torso, sighs then closes his robes tightly. "This will complicate things," he says as he begins to walk back to the cave.


Obi-Wan returns to find Anakin right where he left him.

"I don't suppose you have contacted the Fleet and they are on their way with a rescue?" Obi-Wan says as he re-enters the cave. Anakin puts down the piece of equipment he had been soldering. He looks at his former master with an uncharacteristically serious expression.

"Master, what is going on?" he asks. Obi-Wan carefully sits down near the entrance and far from Anakin. He closes his eyes and tries to think of what to say. Finally, he opens them having decided that the truth seemed the most appropriate response.

"I don't know," he answers softly. "But whatever it is, it's getting worse." Obi-Wan stands up and tugs open his robe exposing a lesion covered patch of skin. Anakin's eyes are wide as he looks from the exposed skin to Obi-Wan's face.

"What is that?" he asks. Obi-Wan readjusts his robe and shakes his head.

"I don't know, but it's spreading and it's affecting my ability to control my emotions...," he hesitates, "and the Force." Obi-Wan allows for the gravity of this revelation to wash over Anakin before he continues. "So, it may be prudent to get that transponder working and, I can't believe I'm saying this, get me to a healer," he says as he tries to lighten the mood. A smile tugs at his mouth, but it doesn't reach his eyes. Anakin is still processing Obi-Wan's previous confession and has to blink several times to get his mind to focus on the present. He picks up the equipment in question.

"Well, there's good news and not so good news. The good news is I've fixed the transponder."

"And the not so good news?"

"The power cells are completely spent," Anakin sighs. "Was there anything left on the ship that might work?" he queries. Obi-Wan shakes his head.

"No, nothing of any value remains on the ship," Obi-Wan rejoins. He places his hand under his chin. "But I think I know where we get the power you need. As it so happens there is a recently disabled probe droid not far from here."

"A probe droid?" Anakin repeats in surprise as he tries to stand up. Obi-Wan moves to help him to his feet.

"Not to worry. If it had transmitted any information we'd be overrun by now," Obi-Wan says answering Anakin's unspoken question as he allows the knight to place his wait across his shoulders. "But battle droids have landed. There is a scouting party not far from here."

"Then we better hurry," Anakin replies. The two Jedi slowly leave the cave.

"What an intimidating pair we are," Obi-Wan laughs. Anakin smiles.

"I'm just glad Ahsoka's not here to see this. I'd never hear the end of it."

The two lumber on until they reach Obi-Wan's damaged probe. He places Anakin on the ground where he can better dissect the droid, while Obi-Wan himself walks closer to the ridge edge. Anakin rips off the droid's outer shell and begins to dig through its components. Obi-Wan watches as a full battalion of battle droids amass just across the breach. He walks back to Anakin.

"I trust this won't take too long."

"Almost..." Anakin replies without looking up, "got it!" He holds up a trio of small blue, glowing rods. "I can use these cells to power the transponder."

Obi-Wan returns Anakin to his feet.

"Then let's get out of here," he says and they begin their journey back. By the time they reach their cave darkness has fallen, but their fire is still burning; casting shadows that move across the cave walls like primitives engaged in celebration. Again, Obi-Wan helps his former padawan to his work spot and again, Anakin commences to tinker away, but this time his task is much simpler. Within minutes he is snapping the console cover back into place. He sits the unit down and suddenly it springs to life.

"It's transmitting then?" Obi-Wan says as the transponder begins to hum gently.

"Yes, any Republic ship within a few parsecs should be able to pick this up," Anakin responds with a slightly self-satisfied grin playing across his lips.

"That's good, but I fear we are still in danger," Obi-Wan remarks, his face serious. Anakin's smile fell.

"We will hear any droids long before they reach us. We can fight or go further into the caves."

"Yes, but it's not the droids I'm concerned about."

"Oh," is all Anakin can seem to muster for an answer. Obi-Wan hangs his head low for a moment.

"Anakin, I..." he starts, but then Obi-Wan is suddenly hit with an overwhelming rush of anger. No, not anger. Rage. Obi-Wan is enraged. Anakin can sense it too.

"Master?" Anakin calls out tentatively. His voice is laced with concern. Obi-Wan feels the heat of pure, vile hatred rush through his limbs as his hands curled involuntarily into fists.

"No!" Obi-Wan spits through clenched teeth as he rises from his seat.

"Master, wait!" Anakin yells as he struggles to get to his feet. "Obi-Wan!" he yells, but it, of course, is too late.

Obi-Wan is already gone.