Chapter 28 - Ain't No Place For No Hero

If time could slow down, it certainly did in this very moment.

Obi-Wan watched as the red bolt zapped from the blaster in his hand right towards Satine.

She wouldn't be fast enough. No normal human was.

His vision zoomed out as the bolt hit its target and she began to fall. Obi-Wan registered a scream emanating from somewhere,
only realizing it had been his own.

His mind was racing, torn between racing towards Satine or turn around and snap that monster's neck like he should have done so many years before.

The human side inside of him won. The jedi ripped himself free and bolted.

'I'm sorry, Ahsoka. I swear I'll find you', he thought as he stumbled forward.

Obi-Wan felt numb as his knees finally hit the ground next to Satine, barely sensing the dull pain in his bad knee as it made contact with the dirt.

"Satine…", he muttered under his breath, lifting the dead weight in his arms.

He cradled her body in his lap, noticing how is fingers came away sticky with blood as he gingerly touched her head. She must have hit it on the ground.

"Come on, don't do this to me…" Hands slick with blood, Obi-Wan frantically searched for a pulse.

There. It was weak and slowly descending. He had to act fast if he wanted Satine to survive. His eyes casted over her body, shortly lingering over her closed eyes and far too pale face.

An image flashed up in his mind again. Qui-Gon. The reactor on Naboo. Those empty eyes which had kept staring up at him until Obi-Wan had finally closed them.

"No, not again." The jedi master gritted his teeth and regained his focus. His gaze fell on the source of his concern. Blood was oozing from the injury where the blaster bolt had hit Satine square in the chest.
He placed a hand over the wound and closed his eyes.

Obi-Wan had never been much of a healer. He had tended to his fair share of wounds over the past years, but never something like this. After Qui-Gon's death he had tried to learn Force Healing,
hours had been spent on trying to accomplish it. It was like the Force itself was keeping this ability from him. At some point, he had given up on trying. He had come to terms with his failures.

It had only been years later, shortly after he had been made a master, that he had stumbled upon something in the secluded area of the archives. A holocron.
The cube had somehow called out to him and Obi-Wan found that his curiosity got the better of him. It did contain information on forbidden Force Acts.
Against his better judgement, the jedi master had looked into it and quickly found himself drawn to one particular use of the Force.

Draining one's Life Force. Obi-Wan knew that it had been the Dark Side which had called out to him but somehow the thought had lingered in the back of his mind.
Could it be used to save someone? And would the user be able to turn back?

Right now, he didn't care about that anymore. He couldn't let Satine die. Not when it had been his own fault. The jedi didn't put much faith into him either way. Always the unwanted burden.
He had been the second choice for the most part in his life, only good enough when it came to shedding work on him. Otherwise quickly forgotten.

Satine had given him a sense of worthiness, even though they had clashed a lot. The jedi had taught him to don't form attachments. As Obi-Wan studied the still form in front of him,
he realized how wrong they were. Attachment was what made them human. Suddenly, drawing from the Dark side inside of him became much easier.

"Don't leave me. I need you…", he whispered. Obi-Wan couldn't take another loss, not when the blood was practically on his hands again. He hadn't been strong enough to save Qui-Gon,
denying Anakin the master he had always wanted with his shortcomings. And even now his past came back to haunt him, snatching his grandpadawan away from right under his nose.
He wouldn't fail again, even if that meant to step away from his path for some time.

"Forgive me, Anakin." He hoped the man would understand.

The hand on her wound trembled a little as the jedi master began to transfer parts of his own Life Force into Satine. The Force darkened around him and Obi-Wan knew if he would open his eyes now,
they wouldn't be blue. He grimaced as the power surged through his veins like acid, slowly stealing his own breath. It hurt and he felt the Force scream around him.
Obi-Wan was oblivious to that, concentrating on saving the one he held so dear.

He didn't notice how they were approached by police droids or how they raised their weapons as he didn't comply to their demands.
He didn't notice how the droids were torn apart by an uncontrolled force as they tried to get closer to him.

Obi-Wan only emerged from his sub-consciousness as more droids bore down on him, breaking through his barrier and wrenching him away from Satine. Metal claws clasped his hands and feet,
holding him down on the ground. The physical connection lost, Obi-Wan felt the full backlash in the Force. The fire burned through his body and he watched with teary, bloodshot eyes how Satine was taken away by medics.

He thrashed in the droids' grip but it was getting harder to keep conscious. Obi-Wan could only hope that he had been able to save Satine. As his head was pressed down onto the hard ground,
the jedi caught a glimpse of his own reflection in one of the wreckage parts. His eyes shifted again from yellow to blue, but still the faint tint of amber remained. Another reminder for him to shoulder.

He felt how the claws on his body shifted slightly and one was pressed on the back of his head. Suddenly he felt a needle enter his neck and the Force was ripped away from him.
A Force suppressor. His consciousness was soon to follow and he was dimly aware of how the droids hoisted him roughly off the ground.

"Suspect secured and ready for transfer."

Anakin smiled as he gently cradled his new-born son to his chest. Padme had gone into labor earlier than expected, so they had to rush to one of the public hospitals as the contractions had set in.
That had been a few hours ago. Luke and Leia had taken their time to finally enter this world, but now both were resting peacefully with their parents.

Padme was laying on the hospital bed in front of him, Leia placed in the crook of her elbow, and was dozing off a little, still exhausted from the whole thing.

The knight couldn't grasp his luck, his family was finally complete. He had tried to hail Ahsoka and Obi-Wan to tell them the news, but neither of them seemed to answer the call.
Probably the two were caught up with something or had just gone to sleep, as it was already late.

Anakin leaned back in the chair and popped his head against the wall. He was exhausted but couldn't be happier at the same time.
Closing his eyes, the knight sunk into the Force, floating in its warmth and calm.

He didn't know how long he sat like that, his son fast-asleep in his arms, as a sudden, sharp perk in the Force ripped him out of his trance.
Blue eyes shot open and Anakin sat up abruptly. Luke rewarded him with wailing almost instantly.

"Sorry Luke", he soothed apologetically, standing up from his seat. Padme was looking at him through bleary eyes.

"What's wrong?", she whispered, not wanting to disturb Leia.

As Luke slowly quieted again, Anakin handed him over to his wife.

"I don't know. Something woke me up, but I can't tell what it was", he mumbled distracted, "I think I need to step out for a bit. Is that okay for you?"

"Sure, Ani", she smiled, "take your time."

"Thanks." He placed a small kiss on the top of her forehead and silently left the room. The corridors of the hospital were still buzzing with life,
even at this late hour. Anakin wormed his way through the nurses and other patients and exited the building near the emergency department.

He sat down on a bench near the walls and pulled out his commlink again. Static noise was the only response he got as he tried to call Obi-Wan and Ahsoka again.

Anakin tapped into the Force to locate his padawan. His brows furrowed in confusion as their bond got lost into nothingness.
Strange. Either Ahsoka was shielding from him heavily or something was wrong.

He tried the same with Obi-Wan only to be met with a strong wave of dark energy. The knight gasped and clutched his head, recoiling from the Force.

No. It couldn't be. His master would never fall. As Anakin reached out to him again, Obi-Wan was suddenly gone in the Force.
He stood up from the bench, worry and uneasiness creeping up his throat.

Where were they? And what had happened? Sirens started off somewhere in the distance and Anakin noticed how an ambulance arrived.
At first, he didn't really pay attention to the new arrival, until he caught a glimpse of familiar blonde hair on the stretcher between the paramedics.

He whirled around instantly.

"Satine!" It only took him a few, long strides to get close. As he stepped up, a hand landed on his chest, keeping him from reaching out to her.

"Sir, we need you to stay back", one of the medics said firmly.

His gaze swept swiftly over her prone form, stopping shortly on the hastily treated wound in her chest.

"Wh- What happened? How is she?" His mind had a hard time with catching up. Why was Satine here on Coruscant?
And if she was here, why wasn't Obi-Wan with her? Anakin grew even more worried as he remembered the coldness he had sensed from his master's presence.

"She's hanging on, but you really need to step back now and let us do our job."

He didn't want to leave now, but Anakin knew the medic was right. Swallowing thickly, he stepped aside and watched how they took Satine inside.

Anakin needed to find Obi-Wan and Ahsoka. Taking off in a sprint, the knight darted back into the hospital, dodging the persons on the corridors.

As he finally reached Padme's room, he slowed down and opened the door in a swift motion.

"Padme, I-", he began, before he was interrupted.

"Anakin, look." His wife had sat up on the bed and nudged her chin towards the screen on the wall. The Holo News were on.

"…large transport crash and a shooting, leaving several people dead, on the lower levels. The police has already arrested the main suspect. Jedi master and high general Obi-Wan Kenobi."

An image of his master popped up on the screen and Anakin felt like his heart was going to stop.

"…fingerprints had been found on the weapon, delivering the main evidence. Upon arrival of the authorities, he resisted and had to be brought down forcefully."

A video was being played in the background, showing how his friend kneeled on the ground over Satine, eyes closed and face twisted in a mix between concentration and pain.
His skin looked greyish, veins standing out in a dark tone from his skin. Anakin didn't know what Obi-Wan was doing but the image shifted again. He realized only now that they were watching footage from one of the police droids.

One of them stepped closer to Obi-Wan and was abruptly thrown aside, despite the jedi master didn't even move an inch. More droids followed, ending dismantled on the ground.

"Obi-Wan… what did you do?", Anakin gaped at the screen, still not believing what he was seeing.

"…as long as there are no evidences proving his innocence, Obi-Wan Kenobi will stand trial for murder in front of the Republic Law.
The chancellor already announced that this will not be handled as an internal jedi matter, as our fellow citizens of Coruscant had been involved."

"Oh Force." That wasn't good. It didn't make any sense. Obi-Wan wasn't a murderer. The man he considered his best friend would never kill someone in cold blood, let alone harm Satine on purpose.

But then there was the disturbing image of him crushing these droids. Had Obi-Wan lost control over himself? Did he really succumb to the Dark side? Or has he lost his mind?

And where was Ahsoka? Anakin was sure that she must have been there as well.

His commlink began to beep and he numbly reached for it. Not bothering to look at the screen, he answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Anakin, my boy."

The chancellor.

"I guess the disturbing news has already reached you? It's unbelievable that…", there was a short silence on the other side, "…your master is capable of such an act.
I always thought of him as a decent man. A pity how someone like him can fall so low. "

Anakin was still staring on the screen, not bothering to talk himself.

"I also have some information regarding your padawan. Apparently, she was with your master at the time and is now missing.
Maybe you want to come to my office and we discuss how to proceed. You know that I'm always there to help you, Anakin. Together we'll find your apprentice."

I just couldn't let Satine die. Even though I actually had an idea how the scene might have turned out than.
Nevertheless, I have no clue how Obi-Wan might pull his head out of the sling again (if he gets the chance to that is) :D

Thank you for reading and let me know what you think!