~Anakin's POV~

Alright; it was official, he was frozen, frozen to the deepest part of every cell in his body. His fingers were too stiff to reach his saber; his legs were so rigid his knees did not bend.

What made it all the worse was that Obi-wan seemed to be perfectly fine.

"I swear, Anakin," the older man remarked as he grabbed Anakin's hands in his own, rubbing them to stimulate blood circulation. "

I can't ever take you anywhere cold. You're practically as blue as the inhabitants. One would think you're used to it by now," he said. "Shu…Shut…Shut u...Up, Obi… Obi-wan," Anakin's chartering teeth growled crossly.

"Stupid…Bou...Bounty…Hun…Hunt...Hunters stuff... Stuffed snow…Down… My… Wh-whole body," he sneered. "You should not have left yourself vulnerable," Obi-wan chided.

Anakin found the energy to roll his eyes. Of course it would be his fault in Obi-wan's kriffing eyes.

"Not…m-my... F-fault," he said. "Of course not," Obi-wan replied carefully, he had been especially susceptible to catching any sort of thing Anakin might blame himself for. Any wayward emotion or out-burst that could have deeper meaning.

Anakin found it touching, actually, that Obi-wan was trying deeply to help him past his mistakes and earlier pain. However, it was also a bit irritating, since he was not some anger-management-issue troubled teen.

Not anymore anyways.

"You just should have been more careful," Obi-wan said, breathing softly on Anakin's sub-zero fingers. He bit the inside of his cheek as they began to burn in the process to heating up. At times like these, he could swear Obi-wan sometimes mistook him for the son he had never had.

And he swore he mistook Obi-wan for the father he had never received.

Anakin looked around the camp to distract himself from the sting. He was sitting on a munitions barrel among the scuttling clones in the village they had saved a few days earlier.

The winter sun was setting, making for an orange glow on the thick masses of ice and snow. The chief and his people were helping the clones with perfect ease and happiness. They were indebted to the two Jedi in a way Anakin understood perfectly.

He returned his eyes back to Obi-wan, who was wonderingly still fine. He must have been super extra nonhuman. The barve.

"Respect, Anakin," Obi-wan replied, having heard that and chiding as always. Anakin did not mind. Matter of fact, he did not mind much of what Obi-wan did nowadays that would have angered him in the past.

"Kind of hard not to respect you, master, when currently my hands are at your mercy," Obi-wan's stern demeanor changed not.

But Anakin was one of the few who could read the sparkle of amusement in his eyes. It was extremely hard and rare to get Obi-wan laughing as hard as he had. Or at all.

"Yes, they most certainly are. I could leave them to freeze at my convenience," Obi-wan agreed. He patted Anakin's hand. "Better?" he inquired. Anakin smiled and nodded, using the force to transfer warmth from his hands to the rest of his body.

"Yes, thank you. Why aren't you cold?" he asked, standing as Obi-wan did. "I am, I'm just better at hiding it," Obi-wan said with a playful grin. Anakin mock glared at him when Obi-wan's comm. link blinked.

The council awaited.

Anakin exchanged a glance with Obi-wan. Time for the report. Obi-wan laid the comm. link down and operated it. Mace Windu and Yoda stood before them in solitary.

The other council members were busy, it seemed. "Status report," Fisto ordered curtly. Obi-wan expertly explained what had so far been accomplished. In record time, Anakin measured.

"Being watched by bounty hunters? Enslaving villages? I thought after the massacre of children on the home planet Bruck could do better than that," Mace reflected bitterly, with his casual sick sort of humor. Anakin's stomach rolled, as it did each time he thought of that particular adventure.

Obi-wan only shrugged nonchalantly, his face a mask. "He's watching for right now. Testing his advantages, looking at ours. Warning us that he is, that he has a plan," as usual, Anakin looked at Obi-wan oddly, wondering how he knew all of this about Bruck, as if they had once been close friends.

Ever since his dream a few nights ago, he had not welcomed the thought of Bruck into his mind. Nor of him being anywhere near Obi-wan, having anything to do with Obi-wan, or ever having done anything to Obi-wan.

The future held dark pretenses for them, but Mace had warned Anakin of this before he had flown into the mission. He understood now more than ever what the older Jedi had meant.

Yoda nodded and looked at Obi-wan curiously. "Defeat him once, you did. Defeat him again, can you?" that was new; Anakin had never heard another master ask if Obi-wan could do something. He himself had never asked. He had just assumed that Obi-wan could do anything.

Couldn't he?

Obi-wan's eyes flickered with some emotion Anakin had not seen from him before. "I will do as I must, Master Yoda," he said plaintively. It was his favorite line. Yoda nodded. "Move on then, you must. Abandon this search," he instructed, half in mockery.

"You will move on to the next planet and continue campaigning there. Bruck is our second priority now. Free the other four worlds from Separatist rule," Mace ordered.

Anakin nodded, perfectly fine with leaving the freezing atmosphere of this place. Take him somewhere warm; but he was done here.

"Yes master," Obi-wan agreed with a nod of his head. "It will be done," Anakin determined. The two masters nodded. "May the force be with you," the final goodbye for many Jedi. Anakin's stomach cramped with a bad feeling. Things could only get worse.

But with them, whatever got better before it became worse? Anakin was not especially surprised.

"And you," the two of them replied in union before the image mirage away. They were silent, somehow; without the masters, the air felt empty. Anakin's bones chilled. He felt lonelier, as if he were naked in the cold. He recognized the feeling of uneasy danger.

"It hasn't been easy so far," evidently, Obi-wan was feeling the same. Anakin smiled crookedly, no, so far, the mission had been the farthest thing from easy. It had been a nightmare.

But a nightmare that had ended in some goods and some bad's. The bad's they could handle. They were the team. And nothing could change that. They had already proved it throughout the whole ordeal. Just them together.

"It won't get any easier," but they had to accept that. "Yes. This could turn out to be the hardest mission we've had yet, Anakin," Obi-wan sighed. Anakin felt a smile pull at him. "Sounds like fun," he chuckled.

Surprisingly, Obi-wan chuckled too. "Yes. Come, let us go tell the chief we're leaving;" he said. Anakin nodded and they headed to the chief's hut, together.

~Obi-wan's POV~

The wise man, who rather reminded Obi-wan of Qui-gon, painfully, did not seem surprised at their having to leave.

He only nodded remorsefully, knowing that when the Jedi left, there would be no more protection for his people. Obi-wan shared his sorrow in that.

He wished he could leave a few clones to supervise that Bruck did not try to enslave the people again, but as he had pointed out to Anakin, this could be their toughest mission yet.

They needed all the help they could get.

"We certainly appreciate your hospitality and generosity," he went on cordially, his eyes betraying the truth in his statement. Force, he hated having to leave Bruck un-apprehended, he truly did. Yet he did not. He was not sure if he was ready to face his old bully yet. Not alone.

And when he did face Bruck, he would most certainly be alone with his demons and failures.

The chief smiled with toothless gums. "Not as much as we appreciate your compassion and mercy. Anything you need, please, come back to us," half a plea to help if they were enslaved again and half a sentiment of fealty.

"We will," Anakin did not see this as he promised. He was not a politician. Obi-wan had the ill-fortune of having the talents of one.

All of a sudden, Obi-wan heard the sharp slap of snow catapulting against the tent. Then another. Laughter sounded along with shouts of delight, screams and shrieks of women that replaced laughter, the deep roar of men and clones running and joking. The sounds were foreign to Obi-wan.

"What in the blazes?" he demanded as the three of them ran to the tent. Anakin threw open in the tent flap and outside; Obi-wan saw the entire camp deep in a war of snow.

Obi-wan had never actually seen nor been in a snow fight before, he had always imagined it was somewhat like the food fight the younglings had had when he was fifteen.

People throwing handfuls of snow at each other, more than likely. In truth, he had never really seen what could be all that fun about having chilling snow stuffed into one's face. It was barbaric.

But the way these people did it made it seem as if the whole universe revolved around these moments. Even Cody was involved.

Munitions and supplies had been turned over to make shelters from which people hid behind to block the snow. The clones had torn off pieces of their armor, prepared to block with the piece of metal they had destroyed.

The clone's helmets were off; blasters were laid discarded all over the ground, the prime weapons abandoned. Cares had been forgotten. It was an unprofessional catastrophe.

The women, children and men of the village had joined too, their blue skin flashing darker with delight as they flung balled pieces of snow at one another and the clones.

"You clones have tough armor!" One man laughed as he tackled Rex down, stuffing a handful of freezing snow into his armor. Rex gasped in surprise but laughed afterwards. He did not even know this man, yet he flipped himself over and did the same to him.

It was intriguing, certainly.

The way this simple act of play and disorganization had connected two cultures, one naturally constructed for this world and cold while the other intended for war and death.

Obi-wan had never expected to be able to see something like this, nor let the clones experience it. He found that it filled him with mixed feelings.

He frowned confusedly, he did not understand how this had happened, but it was heart-warming. Sort of.

The Chief grinned and Anakin straight forwardly laughed, obviously enchanted. "Gentlemen," the chief said with a light giggle. Obi-wan read his intentions like a book on his face.

"I believe perhaps this would be a better goodbye than mere words," he said plainly. Obi-wan still had no clue what that meant, but he smiled. "Well said, chief," he agreed. "Yep," there was something strangely odd about Anakin's voice. Obi-wan turned to him suspiciously.

"Because I have about sixteen years of lectures to pay someone back for," what did he….?

Obi-wan was nearly knocked down by the force of the snowball that got him straight in the face. Just as he had predicted, it was not the greatest feeling in the universe. But Anakin's laugh was.

Obi-wan wiped the snow out of his face. "Blast it, Anakin! Would you wish hypothermia upon me?" he declaimed indignantly as Anakin laughed boisterously.

"What? You've never been in a snow ball fight before?" Anakin laughed. Obi-wan's vision was cleared of snow enough for him to see Anakin leaning half in the doorway, as if ready to bolt. The Chief had gone out to join in the folly. Why, Obi-wan could not comprehend.

"Why would I have been?" he snapped. He was a Jedi, for force blasted sakes, not a child, and not a villager, and not… Normal. He had never been normal enough for this nonsense. Perhaps Siri had done something like this and talked about it once.

Anakin was gawping at him. "You've never been in a snowball fight before?" He asked again. Obi-wan glared at him, daring him to repeat himself. Anakin studied him for a moment, as the commotion continued.

Obi-wan decided to let them to it. A little folly and play eased the nerves. And in war they needed nerve easing, especially his men. They had been loyal long enough, let them play.

Let them have the childhood they had spent training.

He waved Anakin off. "Go with them," it was obvious he wanted too. Obi-wan, meanwhile, would stay inside and prepare properly for departure. Anakin shook his head obstinately. "I'm not going without you," he said defiantly.

"Yes," Obi-wan sent him a gentle force push out of the door. "You are. You deserve a break," he said. "So do you!" Anakin protested.

Obi-wan went to walk past him; he had no time to argue. "Surely you know what you'll have to do, Ani?" Qui-gon suddenly asked, not appearing. Yet his voice rang through the force like a lantern in the night.

Anakin nodded somberly. "Yah," he sighed. "I know," he looked at Obi-wan mournfully. "Good, go without me," something was not right. Qui-gon was never on his side, neither was Anakin. That had been Tahl's job.

Anakin cocked an eyebrow. "Without you? I think not. We are a package, master; remember? A team. Where I go, you're coming with me, whether you agree or not," he obviously had never met Obi-wan.

He was not going anywhere.

Before he could say this, though, Anakin had grabbed him and was running out of the tent with Obi-wan cradled in his arms like a youngling. "Anakin! Blast you!" He certainly did not approve of this.

"What? You have never been in a snowball fight before, Obi-wan! There are some things the master needs to learn from the student," Anakin claimed wisely. Obi-wan was very tempted to hit him.

"Put me down, Anakin!" he ordered, struggling. "Pride is not a virtue, apprentice," Qui-gon scolded teasingly. "Shut up, Qui-gon," Obi-wan snapped, in no blasted mood for his advice. This was humiliating.

"Wow!" Anakin ducked, dropping Obi-wan on the ground as several snowballs whizzed past him. "Nice try, boys! But you can't beat the Jedi!" Anakin crowed to his men, who were already loading more snowballs into their arms. Several pelted Obi-wan from behind.

That was it.

Full of a mad vengeance, Obi-wan picked up a lump of snow. How were the clones doing it? Oh, yes, pack it into a ball. Obi-wan smashed it in his hands angrily.

"Blasted no good… Dragging me out here… I'll show him a lesson," Obi-wan muttered to himself as Anakin was distracted in a fight with the clones. Obi-wan stood there, aiming. Yep, this should hurt.

With one powerful stroke, he smashed the hard packed ball into the back of Anakin's neck. He could sense every hair stand on end as Anakin let out a cry of alarm and sunk to his knees, desperately scooping snow from his shirt as the clones exploded in jeering laughter. "Nice hit, general!" Cody chanted as he ran up, laughing and snow pinched.

"Thank you, commander," Obi-wan could not help but say smugly. He crossed his arms over his chest. That had taught Anakin a lesson on respect all right. Perhaps this was more fun than he had thought.

"Very good aim," Qui-gon reflected. Obi-wan's grin grew. He chuckled softly. "A laugh? By our dignified Jedi master? During such unnecessary silliness? So you did learn something from me!" Qui-gon cheered delightedly. Now Obi-wan could not help but laugh.

Anakin swiveled around to see who had gotten him. "Oh, no you did not!" He yelled when he had caught sight of Obi-wan.

"Always remember, Anakin," Obi-wan took out his lightsaber nonchalantly as two more of his men appeared behind him, arms crossed supportively. "I taught you all you know, but not all I know," he said. The clones chuckled.

Anakin narrowed his eyes. The war was on. "You want to go with me, Kenobi?" He challenged. Obi-wan smirked. "Bring it on, Skywalker," he dared.

Anakin grinned, and then a sparkle in his eyes was enough to make Obi-wan see one of the truths he had not known was true.

The little moments, these moments, with the people he loved and respected, were the ones that won wars. Not the battles of death they fought.

"Rex! Gather the boys; we're up against Obi-wan!" Anakin bellowed. A collective cheer of excitement went out from the 501st as Anakin gave him a happy grin and ran to gather his troops.

Obi-wan turned to Cody calmly. He had always wanted to know what would happen if he and Anakin were pitted against each other. He guessed he would find out.

"I'll get the men," Cody agreed with a smile. He ran off and Obi-wan took up position behind a building, packing away his ammo. The civilian charges knelt beside him, speaking urgently and excitedly.

Obi-wan felt a curl of excitement grow in his chest.

He could not believe it, but he regretted missing out on this as a child. He missed being normal. And the mission? He would let those thoughts fall away right now. Now it was merely this, this stupidity and fun that he had never experienced as a Jedi.

Whatever the future brought, they could face. Whatever Bruck did next, he could handle. When the time came, he would be strong enough, just like he had always been able to be at the right time.

He would do what he had to do. And right now, he needed to beat Anakin at a snow ball fight.

Right now, he just needed to be Obi-wan Kenobi, no grand titles or overwhelming responsibilities added to it. And as he had told people time and time again, he would do as he must.

The only difference was, this time; he would enjoy it while he could.

~Bruck's POV~

So deeply amusing. So deeply amusing. Obi-wan was having a snowball fight. He seemed to be having fun as well.

Bruck had not seen him for near two decades, but he was sure no one had ever seen the smile that was planted on his face. Not even the fool Qui-gon or his wife Tahl. Perhaps not even Siri.

"Enjoy it while you can," he mumbled, watching the spectacle with enjoyment. He would let Obi-wan have this. He would allow him one last piece of happiness before he broke him.

It was the least he could do.

But he had more plans. The council had called him a second priority. He had always been second best, the second priority to Obi-wan. But he would leave his mark on the Order, if not as a Jedi then as a villain.

Bruck smiled. "Enjoy it while you can, my old friend, because I am upon you now. And when we meet again, I will be the victor," So Bruck watched the snowball fight as it went on, a smile of menace planted on his features.

In his mind spun the plan of how to bring the great Negotiator to his knees. And with him, he intended to bring the Jedi Order, and deliver the Chosen One to Sidious.

The dawn of conclusion was near.

Slowly, Bruck slipped back into the shadows of his office. Let the Jedi flatter themselves with games and mock wars. Before long, everything would fall into place.

To be continued…

Yah! Just an update, this story will have three parts to it. Next week, I'll post part two. And just wait until you get to part three, its torture galore! So what do you think, should I italisize or bold and italisize to make my point known?

~Queen Yoda