Disclaimer: From the first letter to the last word, I don't earn money off of any of it. This is purely a stress reliever.
Author's Note: There is an epilogue to follow.
Nimloth4th: Thank you so much!
Anakin T Skywalker: Thank you! I had a lot of fun writing it.
Be3: Maybe you should take up fan poetry. :)
phantom-jedi1: It was not intentional to post it like that. The formatting should be fixed now. Sorry about that.
SpiritedEstel: I'm very much enjoying paternal Obi-Wan, too. The shot of him in ROTS with Luke just makes me melt every time.
Dawn of Time: Analyzing it took a lot of time and research, I'll admit. Overall, I'm pretty much pleased with how it turned out.
AngryPanda : I'm a little sad about killing off Ventress, too. I liked her character.
pronker: Haha, yes, Anakin can think! I'm rather inclined to question rather it's a strength of his :), but from what I can see in the EU and movies, he does seem to be able to strategize when the need presents itself—and he seems to be able to do it well. It just seems like, if given the choice, he'd much rather use his raw power and talent to get himself out any situations he's in. Oh, and the line about Sidious was one of my favorites, too. :)
ObiBettina7: Yes, I'm sure Obi-Wan would appreciate that.
SpiritedEstel: Haha, I'm so glad someone noticed that line! It was one of my absolute favorites. And, yes, I'm also rather inclined to believe that Anakin picked up the wittiness from Obi-Wan. :)
Hazelcloud: The only reason I like the way it happened in the movies was because I knew the back-story and knew that it meant Anakin finally fulfilled his destiny as the Chosen One. It did seem to be kind of an underwhelming way for someone as clever as Sidious to die, though.
Feedback: Yes, please.
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The Death Star explodes in a stunning array of fire and shrapnel, flaming out into space and then disintegrating in the icy coldness of the black void. In the span of a few seconds, a well-placed proton torpedo launched into an exhaust shaft by a trained Jedi has destroyed something as formidable as the Death Star. Now, it's as if it never existed. There is nothing in the place where it was except some floating debris.
From where he's standing by a computer consol, Obi-Wan can only hope that Anakin wasn't destroyed with it.
"I miss Daddy, too, Ben," Leia says from beside him.
Sometimes, Obi-Wan thinks she's too perceptive for her own good. Maybe she'll go into politics one day. She'd be frighteningly good. The thought alone makes him shudder.
He should be able to sense Anakin, and that's what worries him. He'd know if he were dead—he'd have felt the severance of their bond—unless Anakin had closed him off... and he very well might have. It would have been the intelligent thing to do, considering how Sidious used their bond the first time.
"Ben!" The noise comes from Luke this time, only, unlike Leia, there's a lightness to his voice. "Come play, Ben!" he begs, running across the room to where Obi-Wan is standing with Leia.
Luke's enthusiasm is infectious, and moments later Leia seems to have caught it: both jump on him, taking a leg each, and latching on, giggling. He's not really in the mood for roughhousing, but neither of them can possibly understand the significance of what he just saw on the monitor, and it's really not fair to them to project his anxiety. If Anakin does come back, it would be just as well that they never had to worry.
"You, Luke," he says, swinging Luke up into his arms and dangling him upside down, "have entirely too much energy."
Whooping with delight, Luke grabs onto Obi-Wan's obi and tugs, putting up a fight as best as he's able. Leia, seeing an opportunity, begins to mercilessly tickle her brother. "AHH! BEN! Make her stop!" Luke screams, erupting in a fit of giggles as he takes a swing at his sister.
Leia easily dodges. "Can't get me, Luke!" she teases, sticking her tongue out.
Obi-Wan rolls his eyes. "That's not nice, Leia. And, though you're quite right in thinking that Luke can't reach you, I can." And he does, shifting Luke to one arm before scooping up the other twin. Grinning, he indulges in a little liberal use of the Force to flip her over so that he's holding her upside down as well.
"This is a curious way to teach your younglings the ways of the Force, Obi-Wan."
Immedaiatly, Obi-Wan looks up from where he's holding the twins. "Bail."
The man looks cleaner, at least. He's still unnaturally thin, and there's a haunted look in his eyes that Obi-Wan knows won't vanish for a good long time—if ever—but at least there's some color in his cheeks, and he's wearing clean clothing. It's an improvement.
Bail flashes him a small smile. "In the flesh." He gives his body a quick, self-deprecating glance. "Or what's left of it, that is."
Obi-Wan takes the opportunity the following awkward silence affords him to gently lower the twins back to a normal position. They seem to sense the solemnity of the situation, and take to clinging to Obi-Wan's legs as they assess the newcomer. They've been particularly clingy ever since Obi-Wan returned. He suspects it's because they fear being left again.
"Luke, Leia, this is Bail Organa," Obi-Wan says, putting a hand on each of their heads as he introduces them. "He's an old friend of mine."
"Hello," Leia mutters, regarding Bail speculatively from her place by Obi-Wan's leg. Her hands dig a bit more firmly into the fabric of his pants.
Luke simply watches him with big eyes. "'Lo," he murmurs.
"They're cute," Bail says slowly, with a small smile. "Luke looks like Anakin; Leia like Padme."
Obi-Wan can't help but smile at that. Anyone who knows or knew their parents would see it—and Bail knew both. "The personalities are opposite. Luke's far more like his mother, and Leia like her father."
Laughing softly, Bail looks away and shakes his head. "The last time I saw them, they were newborns."
Yes, back when Anakin was still Darth Vader. Bail had been delivering Yoda's message. Obi-Wan remembers. He will never forget, even though he'd like to. "I'd rather not talk about this."
"You mistake my intentions," Bail assures him, raising a placating hand. "I'm not here to dredge up old memories. I simply thought that you'd like to know that Anakin has made contact."
Relief so powerful that his knees almost give out sweeps over Obi-Wan. Anakin is alive, then. Maybe not safe yet, but alive, and almost back. How did Anakin manage it? How did he defeat Palpatine? He's not sure it even matters. All that counts is that he did.
It suddenly occurs to him that, in doing so, Anakin did fulfill the prophecy.
He also finds that he doesn't care, so long as Anakin comes home safely.
That prophecy has been the bane of Anakin's existence ever since he was declared to be the "Chosen One" at the age of nine. His agemates often shunned him because of it; adults expected more from him; and Anakin himself was always left wondering exactly what it was that he would have to do to "bring balance". About the fifth time after Anakin asked him if he could just not be the Chosen One anymore, Obi-Wan found himself wishing that Qui-Gon had never told the boy about his destiny—because Obi-Wan had been sure that it was his destiny. He simply wished that the destiny could have been accomplished when the time came, and without all the fanfare before. For Anakin's sake, Obi-Wan would have preferred to let things play out as they came. Anakin might have had an easier childhood if that had been the case.
"How far away is he?"
"He'll likely be here by 22:00 hours."
A tug on his left pant leg shifts his attention back down to Luke. "Daddy's coming back?" he asks, a tiny smile flickering on his almost-elfin features—Anakin's features as a child—as he looks up at Obi-Wan.
"Yes."
"Yay!" His smile splits into a grin, and he hugs tighter.
"Not so tight, Luke," Obi-Wan protests, reaching down to untangle the boy from his leg. He's got a strong grip for such a little thing. "Until then, why don't you, your sister, and I go practice with your lightsabers. I'll even teach you a new maneuver that you can show your daddy when he gets here."
Both the twins give happy cries of affirmative and, as he'd hoped, release his legs as they race off towards their quarters, which are only just down the hall. As they reach the exit to the room, Obi-Wan hears Leia tell her brother, "Don't lose yours this time, stupid! Remember, that weapon is your life!"
"Leia, we don't use words like that," he sternly calls after them.
She offers him a contrite look and a mumbled, "Sorry, Ben," before streaking off after her brother, who Obi-Wan can hear laughing happily, probably pleased that his sister was caught. They can be such little imps sometimes—a trait they inherited from Anakin, he's sure. At least they're not swearing in Huttese. When Anakin had first become his padawan, it had taken Obi-Wan a few months just to learn what he was saying, let alone reprimand him for it.
Once he's sure they're gone, he turns back to Bail, only to find the man failing to stifle a chuckle. "What?"
"'That weapon is your life'?" Bail asks, his eyes alive with mirth. "That just smacks of you, Obi-Wan. You're rather adept with Skywalker children, you know that?"
He can't hide his own chuckle. He's aware that the children sound like him sometimes, but he never quite notices it so much as when someone else points it out. "It's a means of survival."
"Learn to handle them or go insane?"
He hides his smile with his hand and arches an eyebrow. "More or less."
"Ah, well, I wouldn't want to hold you up. You've got younglings to teach. I merely wanted to let you know that Anakin is almost back... and I also wanted to thank you."
"I rather think we should be thanking you, Senator. The Emperor is dead, and democracy now has a chance to be restored, largely because of the information you stole."
"It's going to take more than the downfall of the Emperor and the Death Star to fix what's been broken."
Yes, it certainly will, and, no matter what, things won't be like they were before. Certain parts are going to have to change. Still, there is reason to hope.
"It can be done."
As he pushes a stray piece of hair—hair that's longer and far more unkempt than Obi-Wan remembers it ever being—out of his face, Bail sighs. He looks tired, though it's probably just as much due to his physical deterioration as actual exhaustion. "It will be done, Master Kenobi."
It will be. Obi-Wan has no notion of how—not yet, anyway—but he's never been a man to back down from a challenge, and this is certainly the greatest one he's ever faced. The Force has always provided a way for him to overcome obstacles before. He will trust in it now.
"Yes," he agrees, accompanying Bail to the door. "It will be."
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The twins see him first.
They are out on a grassy flat above a river, practicing Form I lightsaber combat moves with Obi-Wan. From the looks of it, he's even teaching them something new. Trust Obi-Wan to make the need for distraction into a teaching opportunity.
Leia spots him just a few seconds ahead of Luke. As soon as she does, she drops her training lightsaber—a real one, not wooden like the ones they'd had out of necessity on Tatooine—and sprints towards him, her dark eyes wide with excitement. "DADDY!"
Force. His babies. His children. He's never been so happy to see anything.
Luke is right behind her, so close that when they reach him, she's only first by the space of a few seconds. The feeling of his children clinging to him, grabbing onto him when he sinks to his knees in front of them, is perfect beyond what he can describe. They're so real, so warm against him, and he holds them tightly with his one arm, thinking that, right now, he's the luckiest man in the galaxy.
There are new bumps and bruises on them both, and Leia's hair is in two pigtails, fixed nicely in a way that Anakin assumes has to be Breha Organa's doing, as Obi-Wan isn't capable of something like that. Luke's face is smudged with dirt, and there's a new blister on his left hand, probably from using his lightsaber for an extended period of time. Leia has apparently lost a tooth in his absence. Both have grass stains on their clothing. They smell like spring and the outdoors. They are perfect. Absolutely perfect.
These are his children, just as he remembers them. He almost wants to cry with relief.
"I've missed you both so much," he whispers.
"Where did you go, Daddy?" Luke asks, running a small hand over his father's cheek, as if he's trying to reacquaint himself with the physical reality of his father being there. He's only been gone a short while, but for children who had never been without their father, Anakin doubts it seems that way.
"It doesn't matter. I'm back now."
He's fairly certain he never wants to leave again. Right now, kneeling here in the open field, breathing the clean air with his children in his arms—he feels more at peace than he has in years. Maybe he can convince Obi-Wan that they should move here permanently, Jedi affairs be damned.
It's not like he really owes loyalty to an organization that just tried to blow him up.
"Most of you is back, at least," Obi-Wan says wryly from where he's standing a few feet away.
Slowly, Anakin looks up, taking in the sight of the one person who has stood by him through everything. This, he imagines, is probably similar to what Luke and Leia felt when they saw him.
And what Obi-Wan is feeling is probably exactly what Anakin felt when he saw Luke and Leia.
Obi-Wan is wearing a look of relief, though it's mingled with worry and, if Anakin's not mistaken, weariness. Obi-Wan probably hasn't slept since he left the Death Star. Even now, he still doesn't seem to have relaxed, and is staring pointedly at Anakin's missing prosthetic arm. The look could be interpreted as stern, but he knows Obi-Wan well enough to see the relief he's clearly feeling.
"Oh, Anakin, what did you do?" he asks tiredly, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. There's such concern there—though almost expectance, as if he had anticipated Anakin would do something like this—and it's enough to make Anakin feel every loss and victory that he ever experienced unusually acutely, because, as odd as it seems, he suddenly understands just what he's put Obi-Wan through. If Luke and Leia ran off and did everything he's just tried, he'd be frantic with worry.
Obi-Wan doesn't get frantic. He holds it all inside and internalizes it, worrying himself weary in a way that few can see... and Anakin is aware that he's just made him worry quite a lot.
"What in the world did you do?" Obi-Wan repeats, and then simply catches Anakin when his former padawan surges to his feet and throws himself into his former master's embrace.
Obi-Wan will never break down and tell him just how worried he was. He will never verbalize any of it if he doesn't have to... and Anakin won't make him. The tightness of his hold as he grips Anakin against him, one hand around his back and one resting lightly on his head where Anakin has tucked it against Obi-Wan's shoulder speaks loudly enough... and Anakin would rather have this than words.
"I missed you, too," Anakin whispers, answering what Obi-Wan didn't say. He doesn't need to say anything more—he saying all he needs to as he leans heavily into him, holding on tightly to the one person in which he knows he can still find safety, though never at the expense of truth. "And I'm home."
"Yes," Obi-Wan murmurs, letting Anakin hold onto him, and maybe even holding back. No, for sure holding back. "I know."
And, right now, he does. He's lost everything to get here, but wherever he's ended up, he knows it's right. There are things he'll always miss, but he belongs here, with Obi-Wan and the twins, and with everything that's left... and that's new.
From here, redemption is clear. It's not easy, and it's not simple, but it is obtainable.
The horizon is clear.
A new day is rising.