Obi-Wan strolled through the hall toward the cafeteria, his stomach growling. Raised voices penetrated through the usual peacefulness of the Temple halls that weren't right near the creche. Both voices were familiar to him, one as familiar as his own.

Siri and Adi Gallia.

He hurried around the corner of the hall. A crowd was gathered in the doorway to the mess hall. He got as close as he could without pushing through other Jedi. His heart pounded against his chest.

"You don't think I would make a good Jedi!" Siri shouted.

"You are misconstruing my words, my young padawan. I don't think you would be a good fit for the Jedi right now. You still have the chance to grow and change and become able to pass the trials," Adi Gallia said calmly.

A knot grew in Obi-Wan's stomach. How could Master Adi think Siri was not ready? She would make a wonderful Jedi. She was more ready than he was.

"You've never looked at me the same since I was sixteen! If I knew you were going to treat me like this, I would have left then!" Siri yelled. "I should have left then. You're never going to recommend me for the trials because of what happened, are you?"

A stake drove into Obi-Wan's heart. He began pushing his way through the crowd of Jedi. He couldn't let them fight because of him. Their love wasn't something to be ashamed of. He should be able to shout it from the rooftops. It shouldn't hold either of them back from fulfilling their dreams, their purpose.

"Given that you have not shown a change in your feelings since then, I do not feel I am unjustified in not recommending you until you grow past what happened then," Master Adi said.

Not changed. Siri still loved him. Obi-Wan tried to squash the part of his heart that began to soar at those words, but he couldn't. He squeezed through the last of the crowd to see Siri and Master Adi facing off against each other. Siri was red in the face, her hands balled into fists. Master Adi had her arms crossed and her jaw was firm.

"You ruined my life! I never should have listened to you!" Siri shouted. "You insult me constantly, you disparage me in front of the Council, and you hold an outdated part of the Code over my head as if it's unnatural for me to have feelings! I'm done! Done with you, done with the Jedi, done with everything."

No. No, no, no. Obi-Wan tried to speak, to intervene, but his voice had fled from him.

"Padawan—" Master Adi started.

Siri drew her lightsaber and ignited it. She grabbed her padawan braid, holding it away from her face.

"Siri," Obi-Wan managed to whimper.

With a quick slash, the braid fell from her head. Siri flung the burnt braid at Adi and spat, "I am not your padawan."

She pushed through the crowd, stalking away.

Obi-Wan stared at the scene for a few seconds before finding his strength. He bolted after her, catching up in a deserted part of the hall. He caught her arm. "Siri. Siri, wait."

She turned, reaching up to wipe at her eye. "Obi-Wan?"

"Please, don't leave because of me. Don't leave at all. When I left the Jedi, it was the worst mistake of my life, and you hated me for it. You'll hate yourself if you leave with all this bitterness in the air. All you've ever wanted is to be a Jedi. Please, don't leave now. I…I…" Obi-Wan swallowed down the next words. I need you.

"Obi-Wan, I…" Siri winced. "I can't just… It's already done. I've already left. I can't just…" She shook her head. "I can't do this anymore. It's not just you, what…happened with us. She just doesn't respect me. It's…it's everything, Obi-Wan. This was always going to happen. I just need some time away from this."

"But…but…" Obi-Wan swallowed hard, trying to catch a breath. "Siri, I…if you're determined to do this, then let me come with you. We can have the life we've always wanted. We can be together, forever." He grabbed her hands, enveloped them in his. He didn't know what he would do if she left him. "Please."

Tears glittered in Siri's eyes. She shook her head. "I can't. We…can't." Her face crumpled. "You'll understand one day." She pulled away from him and turned to leave.

"But this is everything we've ever wanted. All we've ever wanted is each other. Siri, please, if you're leaving, don't leave me behind." The words just spilled out of the gaping wound in Obi-Wan's heart. "I can't lose anyone else."

Siri pressed her hands to her face. A sob escaped her. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She ran off, disappearing into the halls of the Temple.

Obi-Wan stood frozen, unable to process what had just happened. A tear rolled down his cheek.

A small body crashed into him. He stumbled back a step and looked down.

A dark-haired initiate drew back and gazed up at him. Stuck-up Ferus. Wasn't he supposed to be in class?

"Master Kenobi!" Ferus panted for breath. "Anakin's being rude to the chancellor, and he told me to shut up."

The words took a while to process. "The chancellor? In the Temple?"

Ferus nodded. "He wants to talk to him alone and Anakin keeps saying no."

Obi-Wan's heart pounded. Not this, not now. He couldn't lose everyone at once. "Where?"

Ferus pointed. Obi-Wan bolted in the direction he pointed. Not far down the hall, he drew into the classrooms area. And there was Palpatine, the Sithspawn trying to steal his padawan. He started after Anakin, who was down the hall.

Obi-Wan caught his arm and turned him around. "What in all the nine Corellian hells do you think you're doing, Chancellor?"

Palpatine turned, a look of venom on his face melting into a kindly smile. "I was simply trying to offer your padawan an extra ticket to a swoop bike race I was given. I believed he might enjoy it."

Obi-Wan struggled to draw in a breath. "Anakin wouldn't go with you if you were the last person on Coruscant. He won't ever be going anywhere with you, so you might as well get it out of your head now. Your scheme has failed, Chancellor, so you might as well get it in your head now that you need to get your hands off my padawan. You are a lying, scheming, conniving murderer, and I'll die before I see my padawan go anywhere with you. In fact, you aren't even supposed to be in the Temple without an invitation, and I know you didn't get one, so I'll thank you to leave now, before I call the Jedi sentinels to escort you out."

"I hardly believe that's necessary," Palpatine started.

Obi-Wan laid a hand on his lightsaber. "Now, Chancellor."

Palpatine sighed. "Very well, if that's the way you feel, I won't trouble you any further. Good day, Master Jedi." He bowed to him and walked away.

Obi-Wan stalked after him until he saw him tromping down the Temple steps. He turned, made his way to his apartment, threw himself on his bed, and burst into gut-wrenching sobs.

When Anakin got back from classes, the apartment was quiet, but he could feel the muted presence of Obi-Wan. He made himself a sandwich and worked on his homework in the living room, but Obi-Wan didn't come out. Finally, he got himself ready for bed and checked in Obi-Wan's bedroom.

Obi-Wan was lying on top of the covers, still in his robes, cloak, and boots, strangling a pillow while also resting his head on it.

Anakin snuck forward. It was a lot easier to be quiet in Obi-Wan's room than in his, mostly because Obi-Wan's floor wasn't littered with mechanical parts.

Obi-Wan was asleep, and his cheeks were stained with tears.

Anakin blinked. This couldn't be just because of him. It had to be whatever rumor he had barely overheard coming out of his last class about Siri, Obi-Wan's love. He swallowed. He'd have to ask around about the rumor if Obi-Wan wasn't willing to tell him in the morning. He pulled Obi-Wan's boots off, slowly worked the covers out from under him, and pulled them over him.

"Sleep well, Obi-Wan," he said. He snuck back to his room and went to bed.

A cry woke Anakin. He started and sat up in bed.

"No, no! Come back! Don't leave me! Master, I'm sorry!" The cries were more pained and more pathetic than usual. Anakin slipped out of his bed and ran to Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan had turned onto his back sometime during the night and was tossing and turning. Pain twisted his face, but his eyes were still closing. "Come back! Don't leave me! Don't leave me here alone!"

Obi-Wan's agony radiated into the Force, piercing Anakin's brain. He winced. He couldn't leave him like this, but whenever he tried to wake him up during nightmares, it usually didn't work.

He climbed on the bed and put his hand on Obi-Wan's forehead. Sometimes, when Anakin was upset or worried or having nightmares of his own, Obi-Wan would reach through the bond and send comfort to him, warmth or security or happiness.

Anakin reached through the bond, calling up a memory of when he was very sick and his mother stroked his brow and sang to him.

The bond, the anguish and the pain screaming into it, sucked him in. Suddenly, Anakin wasn't sitting on Obi-Wan's bed anymore.

He was in the middle of a war-torn city. Some of the buildings around him were reduced to rubble. He was a Jedi, dressed in the robes and brandishing a lightsaber. All around him were children, some of whom he knew. Two of them were his friends, Nield and Cerasi. In the air, starfighters flew by, firing, and they were firing on the children. A girl, younger than him, dove out of the way. A boy was hit in the leg and fell. Another child dragged him to what safety they could reach. He had to stop this!

Nield turned to him. "We need your starship. We have to fight them in the air. With your skills, we can shoot them down, just like we hit those deflection towers."

Anguish shot through Anakin, though he wasn't sure why. "You said you would not ask me to go against Qui-Gon's orders again."

The girl, Cerasi, spoke, crying. "But everything's changed, Obi-Wan. Look around you. Children are dying. We'll lose everything if we can't fight them from the air. Please."

Anakin—or was he Obi-Wan? With all the confusion, he wasn't quite sure—turned and took off running. He reached a spaceship and Master Qui-Gon was there, removing branches from it.

"I'm not here to go with you," Anakin/Obi-Wan said. "I came for the starfighter."

"Tahl is aboard," Qui-Gon said. "I am taking her to Coruscant."

"I'll bring the ship back," Anakin/Obi-Wan tried. "I need it now. If you could wait here—"

"No," Qui-Gon said angrily. "No, Padawan. I will not make your betrayal easy for you. If you try to take this step, know what a hard one it is."

Anakin/Obi-Wan reached for his lightsaber and activated it. Qui-Gon activated his as well. Anakin/Obi-Wan couldn't make himself attack him. He deactivated his lightsaber, and Qui-Gon did as well.

"You must choose, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon told him quietly. "You can go with me now, or stay. Know that if you stay, you are no longer a Jedi."

Anakin/Obi-Wan didn't want to leave the Jedi. But he couldn't leave and let children die. He tried to say something to convince Qui-Gon, but nothing would come out. He knew nothing would convince him. He'd already tried to argue with him, but Qui-Gon hadn't budged.

"I have found something here more important than the Jedi code," Anakin/Obi-Wan said slowly. "Something not only worth fighting for, but worth dying for. He handed his lightsaber to Qui-Gon. "You may go, Qui-Gon Jinn. But I will stay."

At first, the battle was theirs. But then the kids began fighting each other. Nield fought him viciously. Everyone turned on everyone and his friend, Cerasi, was shot in the crossfire and died in his arms. Nield became just like all the others, fighting and killing people. He turned on Obi-Wan.

"What are you doing here, Obi-Wan Kenobi?" Nield asked, disgust choking his voice. "You aren't part of the Young. You never were. You're not Melida. You're not Daan. You're nobody, you're nowhere, and you are nothing to me. Now get out of my sight . . . and get off my planet."

Obi-Wan cried for Qui-Gon to come and welcome him back. But it wasn't Qui-Gon that saved him. It was Yoda. Yoda was the one that listened to him. Yoda was the one that cared about him. It was Yoda that made Qui-Gon come back, the Council that let him back into the Order. But Qui-Gon never came back to Obi-Wan. Not truly. He had never cared about Obi-Wan. He left him on Bandomeer, he left him on Melida/Daan, and he left him on Coruscant, in front of everyone. The man who was supposed to be his father left him again and again and again.

Maybe it was just Qui-Gon. Maybe that was just the way he was. He had tried so hard to be good enough for him, but he never was.

Siri stormed away from him. "I'm done! Done with you, done with the Jedi, done with everything."

Obi-Wan tried to argue with her, bring her back to him. "If you're determined to do this, then let me come with you. We can have the life we've always wanted. We can be together, forever."

Siri shook her head. "I can't. We…can't."

"Siri, please, don't leave me behind."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." And she walked away, leaving him behind.

It was him. It had to be him. He was the one making people leave him.

Then he was looking at Anakin, all grown up. "Anakin, you don't have to do this!" Obi-Wan pleaded. "You don't have to leave!"

Anakin shook his head and dropped his lightsaber in Obi-Wan's outstretched hand. "Palpatine is my friend. Palpatine is my family. Not you. Never you. How could I ever want to be around a person like you?"

Anakin was back in his own body, on Obi-Wan's bed, his hand still on Obi-Wan's forehead. But Obi-Wan's eyes were open, staring into his, and streaming with tears.

Anakin burst into tears. He collapsed on Obi-Wan, giving him the biggest hug he could muster. "I'll never leave you. It's not you, Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon's a jerk, and Siri doesn't know what she's missing. It's not you. I love you, Yoda loves you, your friends Bant and Garen love you, my mom loves you, your brother Owen loves you, and I bet your parents do too. It's not you, Obi-Wan. You didn't do anything wrong."

An arm slowly encircled him. "Anakin?" Obi-Wan asked slowly.

Anakin choked back sobs. "Yeah?"

"You're here?"

"I'm here," Anakin said. "I'll always be here."

"Good," Obi-Wan said quietly. His arm tightened around Anakin. "Good."