Thank you, Nauze!
The Making of Mavericks: Has about ten to fifteen chapters left, I will probably be switching between that and The Price Paid for a few months.
Significant Brain Damage: I'm sorry! I still have two books to read before I want to reproach Leia's character. I don't want to fall into tropes.
How it Ends: Fully plotted and will be finished when I feel a bit more fluffy and romantic, right now I'm watching horror movies ;D
Remember Your Failure: Taking my time with it, but also plotted fully.
The Price Paid: Is my next big project because I finally found a plot that fit everything I wanted into a single story. Obi-Wan Centric and though not exactly like this fic, will be a richer version of The Darkness Between the Stars in spirit.
Chapter 8 - Hope and Starlight
Valarian was such a preferable term to clone that Rex didn't know why they hadn't thought of it before.
Oh, right, because we were neck deep in war and mayhem.
Even the training on Kamino was so much more… relaxed.
It reminded him of the training rooms in the Jedi Temple Ahsoka had taken him through a few times when they were centred on Coruscant.
But with it also came the realization that as competent as his brothers were, the six of them had time travelled and were true veterans of the Clone Wars.
Cutup, who wasn't someone Rex knew well but who Fives had missed dearly, made the mistake of throwing a jest at Fives about the Republic.
Secrets, at least in this time and place, did not hold water; they all gossiped like they used to know before going into the outside galaxy that everything they thought they knew about the Jedi, waging war, and the Republic was heavily screwed.
And that the only real training was surviving.
But Cutup's comment snapped Fives's head around, and the once-trooper you could almost count on to have a sense of humour gave his batchmate such a look as to freeze his blood.
Ponds, stupidly, or maybe just ignorantly, stepped in.
Since when does a commanding officer among them check another battalion man out of sight of the Jedi?
Rex glanced around, and found to his surprise, Kenobi was speaking with Havoc in the corner…
They were doing stretches together?
Kenobi trained with the troops?
Ahsoka did, but Ahsoka was Rex's shadow, she always followed him when Skywalker outran her.
Though, sometimes, he thought it was just because they paired so well. She was his shield, and he was her range weapon.
His attention snapped back to Ponds when Fives went ever more rigid.
Echo, thank the Force, got between them before something unfortunate happened, "Hey, since the topic's up, why don't we see who's actually better?"
Ponds scowled at Echo, who gestured at Cutup to shut the hell up.
Oh, how Rex missed the younger troopers of his battalion, he had forgotten how much. Had always stopped himself from looking back as much as possible.
How many of the men here had died without ever leaving Kamino, how many had died on Umbara, how many-
A trooper from Ponds's group guffawed, "Oh, come on, no way did the Republic train them better than us."
"Train?" Bly asked, "No. Shove us through hellfire, repeatedly? Yes."
Wolffe snorted, gaze distant as he gazed at his brothers. He was having one of the hardest adjustments to this time period.
Wolffe's people were very much General Plo Koon's people.
If there was ever a Jedi that could be said to love and show love openly and without reservation to all life around him, it was Koon. In a rather Mandalorian fashion, Koon had adopted Wolffe and his men.
But his men didn't even know who General Plo was now, and likely what hurt worse, Master Plo Koon didn't know them, didn't know Wolffe.
Rex was less starry-eyed about his own General because… well, because the amount of times Skywalker and Kenobi had almost kicked it on him had kind of taken the punch out of the idea of Skywalker being gone.
Sure, maybe it would hit him months from now, but Skywalker had gone 'missing' before, and besides, Ahsoka was still with him. Having Ahsoka and Fives at his side again made Rex feel more complete than he had in a year, which might as well have been a lifetime.
Havoc and Kenobi had joined them now, Kenobi stood back as observer, and to Rex's astonishment, the others who had not time travelled, ignored him.
If Kenobi was the highest ranked officer in the entire structure, higher than what would be the Chancellor himself, shouldn't they have been more conscious of their behaviour?
To further his state of shock, Kenobi caught his gaze and correctly interpreted and Kenobi signed with fluid hand gestures to Rex, This is your home, your planet. My rank is of little importance here.
Even as Havoc said, "You mean, Republic to Separatist General?"
"Commander," Bly replied in a knee-jerk reaction.
Rex stared at him and blinked slowly even as Wolffe snapped, "You Seppies have no idea what you're asking for."
Ponds crossed his arms and Fox joined him with a smug smirk, "You think you're better than us?"
Fives's anger dispersed as he chuckled, "We don't think, we know."
"Who did the 501st serve under?" Kenobi interjected.
Only Wolffe, Bly, Cody, and Rex came to attention, Ahsoka and Fives did give the Jedi their full attention, everyone else looked to their little outcast group for the answer.
"General Anakin Skywalker, Sir," Rex answered.
Kenobi snorted a laugh, "Oh, my dear, Rex, Fives, and I suspect, Cody. I do apologize." Then he grinned, mischief sparkling in his grey-blue eyes, "Hundred to one the Republic officers beat our Separatist Generals."
A chorus of good-natured protest went up in the training room and Kenobi raised a hand, laughter in his voice, "You haven't met my first Padawan, I assure you all that any length of service under his-" Kenobi paused here and Rex could think of a number of things to fill that gap, however, the Jedi Master settled on, "leadership, deserves a medal of honour."
Ahsoka snorted and Fives muttered, "No kidding."
Of all of them, Fives was the only one to die, so Rex supposed he couldn't hold his loose tongue against him.
Though, Rex himself had probably said worse over the years.
Fox pushed it, "Alright, let's see it, if the High General has such faith in you lot who fought for-"
"Don't complete that sentence," Fives said, the uncharacteristic coldness entering his voice.
Fox scowled at him, "I outrank you-"
"You shot me," Fives snarled, "I was trying to warn you about the chips and you all called me crazy and you murdered me for the Republic."
Fox's face had gone pale, the room going deathly silent.
Rex stepped forward and clasped Fives on the shoulder, "Which is why we are going to prove there is a thing or two more we can teach you, Seppies."
Cody pinched the bridge of his nose, "We are not beating their shebs into the mats."
"Obstacle course," Wolffe said.
Bly nodded, "Seppies first, no need to demoralize them."
Ponds cussed at him, which actually earned him a small smile from Bly.
"The course for bystanders isn't big enough for six, we'll have to take it in pairs," Havoc noted.
Kenobi spoke up then, "Ahsoka and Rex, unfair, but Rex is third in the army, and Ahsoka, you are yet to reach a rank above squad leader, I would like to see how you two work together."
Rex shared a small smile with Ahsoka then her large blue eyes met his, and in her gaze, he did not feel like less a person.
She was, in all the galaxy, perhaps his closest friend.
Perhaps, above his brother because a part of him trusted she wouldn't die on him, that she would survive it all and come back around to kick its ass.
That self revelation hit him like a ton of durasteel. Had he purposely desistanced himself from his brothers?
What hurt the most about that thought was that was exactly how the Kaminoans had trained him not to love his brothers, not care, not to see them as brothers, just numbers on a map.
Ahsoka touched his arm, "You alright?"
He nodded.
She narrowed her gaze, but didn't push.
As this passed between them, the others paired off.
In this order, Bacara and Havoc, two of their most aggressive leaders.
Ponds and Fox.
Grey and Monnk.
Then on their representative side, Bly and Wolffe.
Cody and Fives.
Finally, Ahsoka and Rex, who, with the Jedi included was an unfair win but the self-proclaimed Valarians didn't seem to understand that Commander Ahsoka Tano could easily keep pace with General Kenobi, and maybe she wasn't as skilled a tactician, especially given her age, there were times she could be more destructive to their enemies than Kenobi had ever been.
In the good-natured jockeying took place along with the betting. Rex was amused that they were betting on which of their own pairs would succeed.
They had no idea what was going to hit them.
Obi-Wan, having befriended Master Sifo-Dyas, was aware of the more direct and stranger routes the Force could take to interfere.
Even so, a part of him felt like he had lost a Padawan, friends, and brother.
But his remark about seeing what the 'Republic' officers held true.
The non-transdimensional-vision-Force-gifted Valarians went first.
The course was not long. It would take a shiny half an hour, anyone experienced under ten, and the ARCs and the officers under five minutes.
The first was a frontal assault that if you didn't illuminate would lead to you being shot at on both sides as you jumped on small platforms above a pool, then what was a simulation of the frontline of droids.
Bacara and Havoc completed the mission to ruckus applause and roars of approval as they rigged a few of the droids to explode on top of one another.
It cost them time, but it was impressive.
Fox and Ponds were far more textbook, their times were better with nothing to reprimand but nothing to highlight other than to say there were excellent reasons they had been promoted to Generals.
Grey and Monnk were more interesting, managing to leave traps behind them as they broke the frontline, their times were not as good as Fox and Ponds, but Obi-Wan didn't fail to notice that if they had been trying to evacuate civilians, their strategy would have been superior.
Wolffe and Bly stepped into the stimulation with the Force oddly turbulent around them.
Bly was expressionless, cold, but Obi-Wan sensed his rage, though he couldn't determine what at. Wolffe looked… annoyed.
When the simulation started, Obi-Wan appreciated how often these men must have spent on the front lines.
They finished the course in under two minutes.
The silence at this new record was part astonishment and part confusion at Wolffe and Bly's lack of playfulness. No victory laps, no 'I told you so's, no anything; they just came to stand beside Obi-Wan to watch the others.
Cody and Fives were far more light-hearted, and they took Obi-Wan's breath away as the two made a real effort to work together.
Cody moved them forward, taking the lead and Fives seemed to be able to read his every movement. Cody got everything in close range and Fives sniped everything else.
They did this at a near sprint, but they made it look an easy jaunt.
It took them exactly a minute.
The Valarians expressed some consternation at this point and Fox spluttered, "How?"
Ahsoka sniggered, "We lived on the frontlines, Fox. The 212th and 501st were thrown at everything-"
"Unstable," Rex provided.
Ponds looked at Wolffe and Bly, "What, you're not going to stand up for your own battalions?"
Wolffe shrugged, "Why? It's the truth, they were always on the front lines. Kenobi, Skywalker, and Tano were three of the best military minded Jedi. Certainly the best at adapting when well intentioned plans went to shit. Which, given the scope of the war, was most of the time. My battalion saw its time on the frontlines, but the 212th and 501st got all the truly asinine assignments."
"At least we weren't the only ones to notice," Rex grumbled, sharing a grimace with Cody.
"Oh, we noticed," Bly said, "I never agreed that Jedi should be in charge of us, especially not the Padawans. But I'm not surprised that the Count tapped Kenobi, he at least, was an actual General."
Obi-Wan sighed, "I learned young."
Bly looked at him with those cold angry eyes and demanded, "How young?"
"Thirteen, planetary civil war. It wasn't quite a year, but it was children against their elders and it stuck with me. Plus, my Master and I weren't exactly assigned simple or straightforward missions," Obi-Wan answered, willing to answer almost any question.
And that, seemed to floor Bly, seemed to trip his anger.
Whatever reality they had experienced, Obi-Wan didn't like it. But then, they had been pulled from Order 66, so that made sense.
Obi-Wan suddenly felt a rush of gratitude for the choices he made, for agreeing to Dooku's insanity, for taking that risk.
Dooku may have been a Sith, but a senseless war with their people the Valarians and the Jedi as the one to bleed with who knew how many innocents…
No. This was the better path, even if Anakin had learned to hate.
"So, let's see what you can do, little Jetti," Grey said not unkindly.
Ahsoka smirked, bowing to them deeply before she and Rex walked to the training course start line as a single unit.
If Cody and Fives had been a finely matched team then Ahsoka and Rex were extensions of one another.
Ahsoka acted as shield and plow, Rex's aim was as fine as Fives, and they seemed to move in the same space. Logically, Obi-Wan knew they weren't actually standing on top of one another, but they were fast, and the course wasn't actually that long per se, there were just many droids.
Wolffe and Bly had taken care of every droid with frightening familiarity. They worked together well but the way of competent troopers in the same military. Cody and Fives had obviously fought beside one another enough to know and trust the others skills, but as fast as they were, they had to be careful of stray blaster fire, moving too quickly for the droids to accurately aim at them.
Rex didn't have this concern, charging through hell fire as if there was no possible way anything could hit him.
Because of Ahsoka, he was right, and when they got to the raised and spaced platforms, Rex merely lengthened his stride and Ahsoka assisted his reach along with her own.
Forty-two seconds later, and Hevy summed up what appeared to be the majority opinion, "No karking way."
Obi-Wan smiled.
Rex approached with a grin that grew as he saw Ponds and Fox's expressions, "What's the matter, Seppie? Kenobi not thrown you off enough buildings yet?"
Obi-Wan raised a brow at Cody, despite his expression giving away nothing, radiated pride that his General still turned to him first.
Cody said, "You threw us over a wall and off buildings."
"And up them," Fives quipped.
"More than a few times," Rex said drily.
Fox was frowning at Ahsoka, "How did you improve that fast?"
"She's seventeen, nearly eighteen and she's been fighting in the Clone Wars since she was fourteen," Rex answered.
"And she would gladly kick your ass into the mats, Foxxy, no Force needed," Ahsoka sniped.
Obi-Wan was caught between a smile and a frown, "It was called the Clone Wars?"
Cody met his gaze, "No one else was fighting it, and the Jedi only got pushed into because of us."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Barbara asked.
"It means," Woffle said with a note of sorrow, "that bastards who graduated from the Republic Military Academies didn't think we were people, anymore than they cared about the casualties outside the Core or Inner Rim. The Jedi did what they could to give us some safeguards and to make the war less of clusterkark than it was. Though wonderful to know that with Order 66 the reason we were always ten steps behind Dooku was because the Senate was actively sabotaging us."
"If the Republic falls now," Obi-Wan said, "It will not be the systems that suffer but the Senate that is forced to disband for its incompetence."
Wolffe met his gaze, "I will not fight against the Jedi."
Obi-Wan bowed to him, "That is never something I would ever ask of any of you."
When he rose, he felt the grief heavy on Wolffe but he still offered a small nod in acknowledgement.
Obi-Wan looked back at his Padawan, "That was impressive, Ahsoka, many Masters do not have such fluidity."
She smiled, the younger version of her breaking through the suspicious lone soldier whose memories had blown over her like clouds over the sun, "Thanks, Master Obi-Wan."
His heart loosened a bit at her calling him that.
Asajj, who had been hanging in the banisters, dropped down at Obi-Wan's side, "I would like to spar, Tano, you get ever more interesting."
Several of the Valarians cursed and one muttered, "Stop doing that."
Another simply despaired, "Sith."
Ahsoka shook her head, as she eased her hands away from her weapons, "Maybe another time, I think we've had enough excitement for the day."
Rex, Fives, Cody, Wolffe, and Bly all still had their hands on the butts of their blasters.
Asajj pouted at Ahsoka ignoring the agitated Valarians who were looking for any excuse to shoot her, "You're no fun, you should be prepared for-" she reached for her own sabre.
Fives raised and fired his blaster so fast, even Obi-Wan couldn't have reacted in time to save Asajj, the Force's warning coming in time with visuals.
"FIVES!" Rex bellowed as Asajj dropped and Obi-Wan caught her.
Unrepentant, Fives shrugged, holstering his weapon, "I had it set on stun."
Obi-Wan could feel that Asajj was unharmed, but he checked her pulse anyway. Her heartbeat was strong and steady.
Clearly, this wasn't going to be an easy adjustment period.
"Rex," said a soft familiar voice.
Rex's eyes snapped open and it was some kind of miracle when the four others didn't wake. Bly, Wolffe, Rex, Fives, and Cody all shared the same room assignment, which since their probation, it didn't matter that they all weren't from the same units despite being lead officers. They had also opted for a single bed because the option of four on a giant bed was apparently a thing on Valar; oh, how things changed. The big beds were the closest they had to how they slept in the field during ops or cold temps, but actually comfortable and the furthest thing from the cots and beds that the Kaminoins had regulated.
Ahsoka hadn't come to him like this, and really, it had been a year since they had lived together. But as un-Jedi-like as Skywalker could be, he wasn't necessarily easy to ask for emotional support from, nor if they were on Coruscant was he around much, mostly because he was with Padme.
As far as Rex knew, outside of the 501st, General Plo Koon, and Healer Barriss Offee were her only friends.
And the latter hadn't ended well.
Rex shifted back on the bed, Wolffe muttered in his sleep, but resettled without waking up, Fives, however, whined a bit as the cold air broke the space between them, but Rex locked his arm to keep Fives from closing the space he left open for Ahsoka to climb into. The room was dark, but dimly lit that his eyes could adjust for color, but he could make out shapes and faintly the white on Ahsoka's face and montrals. Cody snapped awake on the other side Fives.
Fives came awake then as Ahsoka slid between them. He wasn't surprised, just curled himself around her back as Rex brought them both closer.
Ahsoka was one of them. When she left, none had blamed her, because she had joined the war as a child, in some respect, younger than them.
The Order and the Republic had betrayed her for doubting her.
Ahsoka rested her cheek on Rex's chest and he held her tight. The horror that he had ever threatened her life, deepened its claws in his heart. No wonder Fives had nearly lost it.
Cody reached over Fives to touch Ahsoka's shoulder. For her part, she just settled further into the bed, into Rex and Fives's arms. This bed was far more comfy than trying to fit two or three into a bunk or resting in the dirt.
Cody gave Rex a look over their heads. Rex said softly to Cody's silent question, "It's alright, she's the Commander of the 501st."
He could almost hear Cody's silent demand for a longer explanation, but Rex was too tired and he really didn't want to wake the others. Fives had already slipped back into sleep.
Cody gave up, laying back down into the cuddle pile.
Ahsoka murmured a soft Thank you.
He hushed her with quieter words in Mandalorian.
She fell asleep before he did, and it healed something deep inside him that despite what he had done, she still trusted him enough to come to him for comfort.
Despite the year apart, despite the horror and ragid tragedy that dogged them day and night. Rex slipped into his dream feeling as if he were a protector, not the weapon he had been created to be.
When he woke, Ahsoka was still asleep.
On Rex's otherside, still half asleep, Wolffe stretched out before snuggling himself more completely around Rex, pulling Ahsoka closer to him in the process.
Wolffe froze at the decidedly not vode shoulder his fingers met. A moment later and he whispered in Rex's ear, "You brought a female in here? While we were sleeping?" He sounded incredulous, downright scandalized.
Rex sighed, they were all brothers but they did not all have the same experiences. "It's just Ahsoka," he said softly back, knowing that a whisper was less likely to wake her.
"You regularly invite commanding officers into your bed?" he hissed.
Fives who had woken up, patted Wolffes's head and mumbled, "'Soka's one of us."
Bly sat up, "Um?"
Ahsoka who, unless it was an emergency, didn't wake with grace, growled at them all, "Ne'johaa!"
That actually got a laugh from Cody, who reached over Fives to pull the covers back up over them, "It's alright, little one, we'll let you sleep."
It was said kindly, and said to Ahsoka, but it was a veiled order, and in this bed, Cody was the highest ranked officer, probation be damned.
They all minded him.
Bly laid back down with a huff, Wolffe sighed, but he two settled back in to sleep the morning away.
Rex stayed up, content to be surrounded by vode, to have Ahsoka safe in his arms, and to watch the storm clouds roll over the sea, knowing that all people who knew and loved, lived still.
0000000000000000000000000000000000
Cody felt lost, Kenobi was more, not less of the man he had known, and seemed just at a loss without Cody. But the little differences kept tripping him up and seeing so many vode he had lost alive once again was disturbing in ways he didn't even know how to voice, he was grateful, and yet…
And yet.
Ahsoka sat cross legged on the bed, eyes closed, meditating as they dressed in their armour. No one asked her to leave.
Commander Tano had lived with the 501st too long, she had seen a few of them naked, and if she had seen one, she had basically seen them all. But their modesty was neither here nor there as they all trusted her, with the exception of maybe Bly, to keep her eyes shut.
Why?
Because she said she would.
Once they were dressed, however, it was finally time for them to have the talk.
As they went over what had happened, again, and admitted that even if there was a way back they wouldn't want to go back, and that as General Kenobi had suggested, that perhaps it really had been a Force vision, as they all had moments when their 'other' selves's memories would slip through, routine from a different year.
Rex, couldn't help himself from apologizing again, "Ahsoka, I am so sorry I couldn't fight the compulsion that I could think to-"
Ahsoka hushed him, taking his hand, "Aside from Plo and Anakin, I guess, maybe weirdly Sifo-Dyas, I think, you all are the closest thing to family I have."
Her own gaze dropped and she held his hand tighter, "I am so sorry for how many of you got hurt helping me."
"Ahsoka," Rex said, in what was fast became a far too intimate moment for the rest of them to be here for, "we chose to fight for you, with you. That was our choice, solely."
Ahsoka looked up at him, then at the rest of them in turn before asking, "Do you want to fight in this war, with Master Kenobi and Count Dooku?"
"Yes," Cody said first.
They all stared at him, his lack of hesitation, and it was Bly who asked, "Why?"
But Rex gave the explanation, "Because Kenobi was right, this is worth fighting for. The republic can save itself if it wants to, otherwise… We were told that we fought this war because the Republic was better than the hutts and criminals. Even if it's Dooku in charge of it, Kenobi is the one with the real power, and we are that. We could still die, but we aren't dying in the thousands.
"Karking hells, we get to use the droids as cannon fodder."
Rex continued, "What we are fighting for now, even if it's more complicated, or consider the chips previously, maybe it's less complicated, but it is our choice and it gives us something to believe in."
Ahsoka was quiet for a long moment before saying, "Darth Maul said that Anakin was being groomed by Darth Sidious to destroy the Jedi."
Cody looked away, not wanting Ahsoka to see his own opinion of Anakin Skywalker. He was a good General, but he wasn't a stable person, and after Ahsoka left, those cracks inside him had begun to show more readily. Kenobi had become less the civilian, if he ever had been, and more bitter. But he certainly was not the leader and head of the military he had become here in this reality.
No, in this reality, Cody General seemed to face everything with eyes wide open free of the Senate and Jedi Council's gaslighting.
But Skywalker had grown more volatile, short tempered in the Clone Wars, more vicious. To his credit, the 501st tended to have low casualties, but even Rex had begun to balk a bit when some of Skywalker's tactics led to high civilian casualties, more structural damage, more airstrikes on the surface.
But the thought that Skywalker would have lost so much of his sanity as to condone the chips, to allow his own Master to be murdered in cold blood at Cody's command… no. Just no. Cody would have personally strangled Skywalker for that.
As for Dooku who might very well have helped concocted the evil devices, but in this reality, at least, he hadn't used them and had helped with their removal. Additionally, as far as Cody could discern, Dooku wasn't actually in charge of Kenobi, they were uneasy allies, but it was Kenobi who had the final say on where and who they waged war against.
Cody trusted Obi-Wan Kenobi, always had, always would.
Rex pulled Ahsoka into an embrace that she melted into, "Ahsoka, there is no excuse good enough if General Skywalker betrayed us and sided with the monster who used the chips to destroy the Jedi. I love him, but I could never forgive him for that. There is no excuse."
Cody understood the deeper meaning there, if it was a choice between Skywalker and Tano, Captain Rex would have slain Skywalker a dozen times over to keep Ashoka Tano safe.
That Skywalker would in any universe condone Rex being the one to kill his Commander Tano…
No, for Rex, there was no excuse that would ever justify that, not in any reality.
Because Cody could say with absolute certainty what he had suspected for a long time.
Ahsoka and Rex were comrades in arms, forged in the same fires, a military commanding unit when Skywalker skipped off.
They were friends.
But more than that, they loved each other, and that love ran deep, so deep that it wouldn't matter what form it took in the future, for Captain Rex and Ahsoka, they would never trust another as truly nor love any other as they loved and respected each other.
Some Years Later
Ahsoka sat down beside her Master.
Her Master, even now, it felt odd, in the way of having one's greatest wish granted without having asked for it.
To have been chosen, to have earned her right to the title Jedi Knight through her competence within the Force.
Within herself.
Not the deeds completed in war.
"Master Obi-Wan, I'm ready to tell you the full story."
Obi-Wan opened his eyes, a soft smile playing on his lips as he cocked his head at her, "Are you now, Knight Tano?"
There was no bite, no reprimand, just wry humor and personal curiosity.
She narrowed her eyes on him all the same, "You know everything I have to tell, you've seen it all in visions before, haven't you?"
He smirked, "Technically, I've known since my own Padawan years, not that I ever put the pieces together until after any of it unfolded or passed by, mind you."
"But my future-"
"Your past," he corrected.
She rolled her eyes, she had been a Knight for a few years, had been on her own even longer, yet Obi-Wan always felt like the older brother she came home to for wisdom and support. "My past didn't unfold here the same way it did there."
"No, Sifo-Dyas was given visions of the future and made different choices, I had my own visions, and so did you. What happened, what didn't happen, it shows us but pieces of ourselves, how we would be if the world were different, but we are ourselves different for having realized that there is a difference."
"I still can't believe Padme married you," Ahsoka quipped.
He smirked, "When we first met, she thought Qui-Gon, I, and all Jedi were celibate. I imagine your Padme imagined your Anakin to be the exception."
"I never thought Anakin would be that good as a crechemaster," Ahsoka remarked, staring off over the lakes of Naboo, "I only ever saw him in the war until I came here. I had never seen him happy as he is now. Not truly."
Obi-Wan shrugged, "Anakin was so young, I'm not sure he ever knew what he really wanted, I just knew he would be able to accomplish it, whatever he aimed to be."
Ahsoka's heart warmed at the fondness in Obi-Wan's voice whenever he spoke of Anakin, of her, or the Valarians.
Her smile fell, "Do you still want me to tell you the story?"
He nodded, "I still wish to listen. We worked through much before you graduated, and I have surmised much, from what you and the others have said, from my own visions, but I would like to see it from your perspective."
"I still love him. The other one, I mean, not just this happy incarnation of him."
"I know," Obi-Wan said with a sad smile, "as I would, I always would."
She sucked in a breath before exhaling, "Both realities are so clear to me, so vivid, so tangible. I remember the Padawan Trials, I have never felt so honoured as the day that you chose me."
Obi-Wan turned and she turned too so that they were looking at each other seated on the stone balcony rather than looking at the, notably beautiful, scenery.
"In my other life, at the end, I felt Anakin fall, the Jedi Order fall, and the Republic fail utterly," she began, "And I believe, I wouldn't have reached Anakin in time. My Master died that day."
Obi-Wan watched her with solemn eyes.
He was a High General helping to construct a Sith Empire, and still, she could see the idea of his first apprentice falling to the Dark Side of the Force hurt him.
But she also saw in his eyes faith, faith in her, faith in Anakin, faith that they could be their best selves, that they could overcome the evil in the galaxy, the evil done to them, and be a part of the healing.
So, she told him the full story, and for once, did not censor herself.
In the retelling, she found herself, her absolute centre, the part of her that would always be Master Anakin Skywalker's Padawan, the Republic Commander of the 501st and Snips, and the part of her that was Master Obi-Wan Kenobi's Padawan, the Padawan who had a few more years of being a child, of protection and safety despite the circumstances.
At the end of the story, at the end of the day, she was both. A Togruta of her own making, she had earned her stripes in both realities, the part of her that knew betrayal and the part of her that knew trust, were sides of the same complicated whole.
When she was done, everything cleared between aired, all that she had lost, all that she had gained, as free flowing as the Force between them.
Obi-Wan leaned in and touched their foreheads together in a gesture of adoration they had learned from the troopers and said, "I can only tell you, Ahsoka, what I told Anakin; I am so proud of you, and I am honoured to have been your Master."
She pulled him into a hug and spoke into his shoulder as tears of grief and relief spilled from her eyes, "I wish we had trusted you more, I wish we would have turned to you for help more often than we did. So much-"
"Shhh-" he hushed her, "My mistake, Padawan, is evident in that neither you nor Anakin felt that you could turn to me."
She pulled back from him, "I know better now."
He took her hands, "We will do better, for the Force is with us-"
They finished the refrain together as Master and Apprentice, as equals, as mortals caught in the tide of a greater galaxy:
"Always."
Epilogue
How do wars end? Do they end? Or is it simply a series of misfortune events building toward the next catastraphe. A stacked pyre waiting for the embers to be stirred.
How this war ended, however, came not from a great warrior or great scholar but the death of an old man and the insight of a small child.
Caleb Dume, raised by Anakin Skywalker, Padawan to Depa Billiba, who might in another reality have been known as Kanan Jarrus, by asking a series of, in what was in hindsight, simple questions, unraveled the Sith's maniacal plans and Chancellor Palpatine was uncovered as Darth Sidious.
Count Dooku, or as was momentarily known as Emperor Dooku, died. Tragically, many tears, all around.
On the subject of the Emperor's death there exists much debate. The published story is rather straightforward, he supposedly died in his sleep at a rather respectable age.
What Rex and Ahsoka are convinced of is quite different. They believe General Cody poisoned his tea -not that High General Kenobi would ever believe Cody capable of anything so uncivilized.
Off the records, it was a multiple series of poisonings in the Dooku's caf that he secretly drank out of view of Obi-Wan and Ahsoka. The Valar Generals really had too much with the whole assination business if one were perfectly honest.
Ahsoka approved wholeheartedly.
Obi-Wan still doesn't really believe it.
Padme Amidala agreed with Ahsoka.
Dooku's death was quite a lucrative cause as he left everything to Obi-Wan and Obi-Wan immediately dispersed the absolute power he had been given to a smaller centralized government that had harder checks and open restrictions on how much income any seated officer could have in personal accounts and the punishments thereafter.
Obi-Wan and Padme in another life.
They had twins of abnormally high Force ability and Obi-Wan was grateful for having trained Anakin.
Their names were Luke and Leia Kenobi.
Leia married Prince Hale Organa, a boy the Organa's adopted from Separatists who perished during a conflict.
Luke as a Jedi trained in the ways of the Force under Master Ahsoka Tano, and Leia, though she trained some with her brother, Aunt Ahsoka, and her father, followed her mother into politics, and somehow ended up a General in the military like her father (thanks to Uncle Rex).
Leia was the second High General after High General Cody to serve as Prime Minister of the Representative Delegation of Safe Trade.
In such a large galaxy so far out in the Outer Rim, peace was never a static state, however, injustice was met with consequence.
The dark spaces between safe harbours were lit not just by the stars, but by the people who upheld the will of the Force and the sanctity of life above personal gain and despair.
They became as starlight, hope in the darkness.
Preface
This story and fanfiction isn't over. I think we can all agree that I rushed it. I enjoy writing fanfiction, writing in general, because it's like a puzzle box. From this story I wanted:
Obi-Wan as General, reluctant but badass.
Obi-Wan as Ahsoka Tano's Master.
Obi-Wan Kenobi and Padme Amidala pairing.
Angst free Anakin, though I love drama in story I'm not a fan justifying genocide, or because, let's be honest, hating on Obi-Wan, it makes me sad.
Ahsoka Tano and Rex
The clones not getting slaughtered because this also makes me sad
Villains being badass and maniacal
Drama, because I am a drama llama and this fanfiction
The grand reveal, that secret knowledge, the big surprise which I almost always get with time travel
Fanfiction, if I'm going to write fanfiction, I want to stay within the world somewhat, given how hit and miss The Queen Doesn't Need to Know was and its follow up, it doesn't pay to write that far out the box, plus, I mean, my own novel is in works so that need is filled for me.
And furthermore, I like Obi-Wan better as the main character because he isn't the Chosen One, he isn't OP, there is no prophecy, just a talented and intelligent man who worked hard to get where he's at with tragedy and mistakes along the way but still trying to be a good person in the end.
The Darkness Between the Stars hit a lot of these boxes but didn't have enough driving it. I know a lot of people complain about me starting so many fics and not finishing them, but for me, these are all drafts of a sort that you get to weigh in on with your thoughts and desires. I cannibalize them, make them more complex, smooth them out then my finished stories come out bomb ;D
And they are fire because they are an accumulation of other story ideas and other drafts. It might not be your favourite that gets finished, but if I'm not enjoying what I'm writing you're kind of shit out of luck. (I did start a community page for you bastards who will read this and complain anyway.) -Due to the presence of the previous sentence, understand, that yes, I am laughing, and not with you.-
So I am recovering and I know I was quieter the last few weeks but I started three fics that I did not post, wrote six chapters that are not fit to be published, including the end to Laughing All the Way to London that I have to rewrite. It's garbled gibberish and I can't touch it right now because, ick.
I'm going to turn a new page for a breath a fresh air before I turn back to the aftermath of pushing one past one's limits :D
KEYnote: Though the topics of slavery and warfare may be talked about with some seriousness, there will not be gratuitous depictions of harm. This is an overcoming misfortune and kicking ass kind of story ;)
Continuous, Prequel, Reboot, and Expansion of this fic:
In sum, I'm approaching this story on a slower and larger track that is far more suited to a Space Opera. The plot is balanced, all the characters have arches, there is no time travel but there are pinnacle secrets.
"Dead, Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi is," Master Yoda admitted, ears drooping, head bowed in deepest sorrow.
Jango Fett, an unsuspecting Mandalorian who finds an ally in a fellow slave, only he's a kid.
"This isn't going to be fun for him is it?" Appo asked.
Apples, laughing uproariously: "If it was easy there wouldn't be a story, would there?"
Mace Windu: "Motherfucker, what do you mean Obi-Wan was adopted by Mandalorian?"
The Price Paid