A/N) Surprisingly I finished this chapter quite quickly. I'm pleased to say that this story has got two chapters plus an epilogue left. Originally I had an extra two chapters planned but I didn't feel that they were needed so I've chucked them. You'll learn exactly what those two chapters were in one of my author notes, possibly for the next chapter.

And here we go onto this chapter…

Twenty-Four

He hadn't tried to stop Obi-Wan fleeing. Anakin could understand the conflicting emotions that must be raging through his former Master. The young man looked over at Dooku's body, wrinkling his nose in disgust. The Count was dead, he had deserved it. After everything he had done, death had been the only option.

Anakin ignored the body of the Chancellor; he was irrevocably dead, there was no question about that. Instead he walked over to Padmé's still body and bent down, placing his fingers on her pulse on the skin lining her throat. It was slow but steady, consistent with a coma. Anakin could have woken her up but he decided it would be better to get her to a medical centre. Her injury was likely to be severe if not treated.

Carefully, Anakin picked up her body, supporting her head in the crook of his arm. Her skin was pale but she was still alive, still hanging on to life.

He would contact the Jedi Council after he had got his wife to a safe place.

Anakin had taken his wife to a private medical centre, signing her in under own name but asking for anonymity. She was currently in theatre having an urgent operation to repair the damage to her abdomen. He was worried, he couldn't deny that.

I have to tell the Jedi Council what happened.

The Chancellor's body had yet to be discovered but when he didn't arrive for his daily Senate meeting then security services would be utilised to find him. The first place they would look after his Senatorial Office would be his quarters. Anakin sighed. He didn't want to leave Padmé but he wasn't even allowed in the theatre to be with her.

His mind raced as he considered the repercussions of the events that had happened in the last few hours. Both of the Sith were dead, yet neither the Republic or the Separatists were aware that their respective leaders were dead.

"Get a grip, Anakin," he muttered to himself. "Padmé will live. She's in the right hands now."

Calming himself through the Force, Anakin went to the back of the medical centre and stood outside on a secluded platform. Taking out his comlink he called the Jedi Temple.

"Anakin," it was Mace Windu who answered. "We've been waiting for your call."

Anakin swallowed. This was going to be a difficult conversation to have. "Masters, I have no excuse for why I left with Obi-Wan, but it is safe to say that the Chancellor is dead and so is Dooku."

There was a pause and Anakin could hear the brief mutterings of the other Jedi Masters over the comlink though he could not decipher exactly what they were saying. They were clearly coming to some decision about what to do, and it wasn't his place to be partial to this conversation.

"Master Yoda intimated to me that you and Obi-Wan had gone to face the Sith," stated Mace.

"It was Obi-Wan who was more adamant. The only way I could have stayed with him would be to help him. Trying to stop him would shatter the very little trust he still has in the Jedi Order. For his sake, I had to let him go," answered Anakin. He would not mention what had happened in the duel just yet. There was a time and a place for a proper debriefing.

"Very well. Where is Obi-Wan?" asked Mace.

Anakin bit his lip. This was a question he couldn't avoid answering. "He… he ran away."

"He what?"

He could register the surprise in the voices of the Council members.

"Dooku tried to entice Obi-Wan to use the dark side. But he was fighting it, so Dooku did the one thing that would make Obi-Wan fall." Anakin paused, unsure of how to continue. "Dooku killed himself using Obi-Wan. He had to leave. We may no longer have a bond but even I could sense how conflicted he was after that."

"And you let him go?" accused Windu.

"He left his lightsaber at the scene," retorted Anakin, sounding a little annoyed that the Master thought he had done something wrong. "I have it with me. I'm at the med-centre in Galactic City. Palpatine took my wife… He tried to turn me but failed. Dooku made it look like that Obi-Wan had killed Padmé but she's still alive and in surgery. I had to get her to a hospital. Obi-Wan isn't dangerous, just very confused, and I think he needs the time to sort through things on his own."

Mace sighed audibly. "We can't have Obi-Wan running around the capital with the Chancellor murdered. The suspicion may very well fall on him. He needs to return to the Temple and the Council needs to assess whether he is safe or not. Only the Order can protect him from the fallout that the Chancellor's death will cause."

"Dooku's body remains there too. The blame could be shifted on him," added Anakin.

"That may not help…" answered Mace slowly. "If Dooku was killed by a lightsaber it is possible whoever investigates the scene could leap to the wrong conclusions. Obi-Wan could be arrested. His forced defection to the Separatists has not been rescinded by the Chancellor's office because we never announced that Master Kenobi had been captured. If he's seen wandering the streets, the blame will fall on him."

Anakin hadn't considered the possibility that Obi-Wan could be tried for the Chancellor's murder, though he hadn't been the one to kill him. He wanted to stay with Padmé, make sure that she would be fine after her surgery.

"Therefore we are asking you to find him and bring him back to the Temple. At least until this crisis is over. If he wishes to have time away from the Order, and we believe it is in his best interests to do so, Obi-Wan will be free to leave. We won't keep him prisoner," explained Mace.

That is unusually thoughtful of the Council. Perhaps they are realising that certain things are not black and white after all.

What intrigued Anakin the most about Windu's request was that it wasn't an order. That made all the difference.

"We will contact Senator Amidala's allies. The fall out of the Chancellor's death could be catastrophic. We will also send Knights to guard Amidala while she recovers from her injuries. She has evidence we need to justify why two of our Jedi Knights are involved in the death of the state leader. It may be possible to blame Dooku for the killing however we must be careful to not alienate the supporters of the Confederacy."

"Your assignment to find Obi-Wan, mandatory it is not," added Yoda over the transmission once Mace had finished talking.

Relief swept through but Anakin's heart told what he had to do. Padmé was in the right hands. He had to trust in her to pull through. If it was him in her position, his wife would do her duty. Steeling himself, Anakin spoke again, breathing out slowly: "I will find Obi-Wan."

There was gratitude in Mace Windu's voice as he answered back. "The Council thanks you for this, Anakin. May The Force Be With You."

"And you, Masters."

Obi-Wan had fled deep into the Underworld, using the Force very limitedly to hide his presence. He hated how he felt, what he had done, why he had enjoyed it. Disgust ran up his spine and he felt sick at how the dark side's influence continued to urge him that he should be happy with his actions, but doing so he understood that he would be embracing the dark side fully.

He was running away to escape its influence.

Dooku had deserved death and Obi-Wan's intention had been to kill him after the Chancellor had been dealt with but things had taken an unexpected turn.

He felt guilty for enjoying Dooku's death, remorse for what he had done because he could have stopped it. He could have made the decision to turn off his lightsaber quicker. But he hadn't.

He hated himself for it.

He was in the lower levels, though he didn't know how far he had descended before he had slapped the button on the turbo lift bringing it to a stop, before he had leapt out and ran quickly into the dark shadows of the streets.

Obi-Wan found an empty, darkened alleyway, and huddled up into the darkest, filthiest corner of all. He didn't deserve any luxury. Pressing his back against the wall, he ran his hands down his face, small tears leaking out the side of his eyes.

"Why did Dooku have to do this to me?"

Then he broke down into sobs as his emotions overwhelmed him, his shoulders shaking erratically as the cry he sourly needed leaked out.

He was not who Obi-Wan Kenobi should be.

Surprisingly when two Jedi Knights had turned up at the medical centre, Ahsoka Tano was accompanying them. The Council had assigned her to Anakin's side as they felt that she would prove useful in the hunt for Obi-Wan.

The trouble that Anakin had was that with their bond broken, he couldn't sense Obi-Wan so he didn't know where to look for his former Master. If there bond remained intact then he'd have a passable chance of tracking him but he didn't.

Ahsoka folded her arms across her chest, looking up at her Master. "So, where do we start?" The Council had clearly informed her of the gravity of the situation.

"I don't know where Obi-Wan could be. Our bond has been broken. I can't track him," explained Anakin for her benefit.

"Good thing I have one then," said Ahsoka amused.

Anakin did a double take, shock registering across his face. "Since when did you have a bond with a Jedi who is not your Master?"

The young Togrutan shrugged. "I don't know. Master Yoda sensed it. It isn't well defined, just a very faint string. It's barely nothing compared to what you and I have. Master Yoda said I have it because of your bond with Master Kenobi is reflecting in our bond together, so the Force has given me a faint link to him which neither of us can detect unless we really search for it."

It sounded like a reasonable explanation and it was the only option Anakin had if he wanted to find his friend. He had to take the risk.

"Ok then," accepted Anakin, "lead the way!"

Obi-Wan was in one of the more dubious spaceports on Coruscant: the one mainly reserved for the Underworld. In his solitude in the alleyway, Obi-Wan had come to the difficult conclusion that he needed to escape the planet if he was to sort out his head. He needed somewhere to go where he wasn't in the centre of things, somewhere peaceful where he wouldn't have to worry about anything.

He had changed his clothes, though he had used the Force to convince a spice trader to part with a spare set of clothes. He had disliked doing that.

In seeking passage off-world, Obi-Wan had struck a bargain with a spice merchant who had offered him a free ride to wherever he wanted to go in the galaxy in return for his help for one spice run to the outer-lying planets. Obi-Wan had agreed because this smugger – a Rodian male – seemed decent and honest; someone Obi-Wan could feel he could trust to keep his word.

Though he didn't want to smuggle spice, at least it wasn't into the capital itself, at least that way his conscience would remain intact.

He felt guilty about his decision to leave but it was something he had to do.

The Rodian trader was just making one last check of his cargo before Obi-Wan noticed the sense of two approaching Force-sensitive's: Ahsoka and Anakin. How had they found him? They were too close now for him to start denying that he was here.

Anakin deserved to know why he had to leave: he couldn't just disappear without saying goodbye.

He turned to the Rodian who was still going down his list. "I've got two people coming to see me. How long can you hold launch?"

"Another hour," came the reply. "Then I've got to leave otherwise I will risk arriving late and losing a bit of my pay for this delivery."

Obi-Wan nodded. "If I'm not here within thirty minutes, then leave without me. As you said when you offered me this run, you don't need a second pilot, but the area of space you will be flying through requires experience. You just want to use my Force abilities to get a fast run." That part was true: the Rodian captain had all but said that when Obi-Wan had approached him for transport. There was no hiding he was a Jedi or at least had some Force abilities…Whether the pilot knew he was a proper Jedi was another thing entirely. There were plenty of people with skills enhanced by the Force but were not attuned enough to need Jedi training.

"Fine. I'll leave on the dot if you are not back. But remember, if you ever do need a lift anywhere, then the same thing will apply if you choose to come back to me for my services," the Rodian captain said.

Obi-Wan inclined his head. "It's a fair deal."

Turning away from the hanger, Obi-Wan moved out into the long winding corridor that led to other hangers. He hadn't even emerged from his chosen transport hanger when he saw Anakin and Ahsoka approaching rapidly, moving through the crowd effortlessly. He folded his arms across his chest.

"Obi-Wan!" Anakin smiled as he stopped in front of him. "When Ahsoka said you were at this spaceport, I thought you were trying to leave planet."

Obi-Wan blinked. "I was."

Anakin reached forward but Obi-Wan moved out the way. Hurt spread across Anakin's features.

"I need to leave, Anakin. I can't stay here," his shoulders slackened, "not after everything."

"You can't leave," said Anakin.

"And why not?" snapped Obi-Wan. "I'm not going back to the Temple. I don't belong there, not after what I've become."

Ahsoka's head tails twitched at that statement, a sad expression forming across her face. "You haven't become anything."

Obi-Wan snorted. "I wish I could believe that. Do I really feel the same to you?"

"No," answered Ahsoka. "But that can be fixed!"

Obi-Wan shook his head. "No, it can't. I'm dark, Ahsoka. I'm glad that Dooku is dead. I'm glad that I killed him. Is that the mark of a good Jedi?"

"Leaving isn't the answer," said Anakin. "Dooku is the one responsible. He goaded you. Yet you didn't fall. You may have enjoyed killing him but after what he did to you, it is understandable."

"The Council won't see it that way," stated Obi-Wan, turning his face away. "They'll deem me a dark Jedi and imprison me or they'll expel me and hand me over to the Republic."

"Do you really have so little faith in the Jedi Council?" queried Anakin.

"I was a member of their Council. I know the policies they will use to deal with me. They won't let me retain my seat, and they won't want me in the Order." Why couldn't Anakin see that? He had nearly fallen and he still could. The guilt roared into the pit of his stomach.

"You are running away because you are scared to face the consequences. Because you believe that you are guilty of something that was beyond your control. If you leave now, the Republic may blame you for the death of the Chancellor because it was last known you were working with the Separatists. The only way you can be protected from that is seeking refuge with the Jedi! The Council are offering you this!" said Anakin passionately.

"If I go back they won't let me leave! I need time to work this all out on my own!" repeated Obi-Wan.

Anakin shook his head. "They told me that they will let you leave if you wish to."

Obi-Wan bristled. How could he trust the Council on this? If he did, he could easily be betrayed again.

"They won't betray you," said Anakin quietly. "They know enough about your mental state that if they did it would ruin any chance of you ever wanting to come back to the Order. If your arrest is demanded in connection with the Chancellor's death, the one person who could possibly defend you is lying in a hospital right now fighting for her life, and running away will only make you even guiltier! I killed the Sith but they won't know I was there. They will see Dooku's body and because you were associated with him, they will make you their number one suspect. And if you are not protected by the Jedi, then you could die, and the betrayal by the Republic will throw you over the edge completely." The young man stepped forward, his eyes locked on Obi-Wan's. "If you fell fully to the dark side, I would have to kill you because that is my destiny to destroy the Sith. And I don't want to kill the man who is a part of my family."

"I am a murderer though," replied Obi-Wan quietly. "I could have stopped myself from killing Dooku! My blade went through his shoulder and I knew it was going to go into his chest, into his heart but did I stop when I realised this? No, I didn't! I killed him in anger, Anakin, even though I was aiming to maim him, that cut was still using the emotions a Jedi should not use!"

"I understand that! Remember what I did to the sand-people? I killed them in anger and I enjoyed it. They deserved to die at that time because I thought it was right. But have I fallen to the dark side? I regret that now despite occasionally still thinking they didn't deserve to live. What you are feeling is what is natural for human beings."

Obi-Wan leaned back against the wall. Their conversation in the middle of a busy walkway between hangers was not the idle place to hold such a discussion but this place was full of the type of people who did not care for others people's problems unless it affected themselves.

"Guilt won't turn you to the dark side, Obi-Wan. Running away will." Anakin reached to his belt and unclipped a lightsaber that was not his own. It was Obi-Wan's, the one he had thrown away because he didn't deserve to have it, and held it out towards his friend. "Please. Come back to the Temple until the fall-out with the Chancellor's death is sorted. If you still need to leave after that, I won't stop you, I promise you."

Feeling conflicted Obi-Wan wavered; torn between taking the lightsaber or making a run for it. His friend's compassionate argument was keeping him staying, considering the option of returning to the Temple.

He wanted to trust Anakin so badly because he felt that if he could trust one Jedi, the one that had kept secrets from him, then he could put his faith in the Jedi Order again. His Force connected surged then as the small part of him that was still ingrained in the light side encouraged him to take Anakin's offer.

On the other hand, the darkness inside told him he would be betrayed, handed over to the Republic and executed. He wouldn't be given a chance. He had been betrayed before, it would happen again.

What do you think is the right decision, Obi-Wan?

Qui-Gon's voice echoed into his head.

Obi-Wan startled at that, ignoring the looks of unease on Anakin and Ahsoka's face. Running away is all I want to do.

It won't fix your problems or you. Don't throw away what you spent years building towards. You can be saved if you can bring yourself to trust those that want to help you.

But the Council… Obi-Wan said.

Master Yoda won't let you go without a fight. He is very fond of you. If you leave now, you will be lost because you will consume yourself with guilt, but if you chose to stay there is hope for you.

A single tear fell down his cheek, but Obi-Wan wiped it away, not wanting to lose control in public. What shall I do?

I cannot make the decision for you, but I will always be here if you need me. Qui-Gon's voice passed from his mind.

Anakin remained silent, aware that the choice in front of his former Master was a life-changing one.

Obi-Wan sighed. He wanted to heal. He didn't want to fall to the dark side. He hadn't wanted anything what Dooku had done to him.

And then it became clear in his head.

He knew what he had to choose, what he was afraid to choose of doing.

He raised his right hand, hovering over Anakin's open palm where his lightsaber sat.

With his left, he held the bottom of Anakin's hand and with his right closed the younger man's fingers around the hilt of the offered lightsaber.

Shock crossed Anakin's features but before he could speak, Obi-Wan held up a hand to stop him.

"I don't deserve the weapon of a Jedi, Anakin."

"But…" Anakin stammered.

A slight smile formed at the left side of Obi-Wan's mouth. "Not yet."

Anakin's eyes widened in surprise at what Obi-Wan was doing, how he had chosen to show that he would come back, but not as a Jedi, because in his view he was not one at the moment.

"You're coming back?" asked Ahsoka.

Obi-Wan nodded once. "For now. I may still leave because I do need the space and the time to think things through. And this place, this planet is not where I can do that." A sad expression was on his face. "But I don't want my guilt to consume me. I don't want to give you the pain of having to kill me. And I'm coming back because I don't want to fall, I don't want to become like Dooku or worse Sidious."

He swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat. "But most of all, I want to be a Jedi again."

To be continued…

Please let me know what you think!

Erm, so where to start? Well, Obi-Wan was going to run away, was going to leave because he feels he has to. He doesn't feel that he is a Jedi anymore but he does want to be one again. I will admit that the inspiration for Obi-Wan closing Anakin's fingers over his lightsaber was inspired by The Clone Wars Season 5 finale: The Wrong Jedi… if you've seen it, you'll know it mirrors the actions taken by Ahsoka and Anakin in that episode. I thought it was poignant imagery and I think in this instance it worked well to illustrate Obi-Wan's mental state but also his desire to want to be a Jedi again.

Also, Qui-Gon is very useful isn't he? :D

Next chapter: Padmé wakes from surgery and learns some terrible news and Obi-Wan blames himself for her condition.

I hope to update next week!

Until then,

the-writer1988