Chapter 3
Bail Organa will hardly consider himself a happy man these days.
He constantly remembers the day that he offered to take Leia as his own every passing day, having for a long time discussed adopting a baby girl with Breha; they had had many difficulties in producing an heir, and doctors had informed them that another attempt to conceive a child will probably kill Breha so they have been no possibility.
That is, until on the darkest day of the galaxy, a light that is his oldest friend's daughter was born. Despite the tragedy of the day, there was an opportunity to finally raise a child and be able to cherish them unconditionally.
The Senator also took the droids that once belonged to his oldest friends into his service and ordered C-3PO's memory wiped to keep the chatty droid from someday accidentally revealing Leia's true parentage, placing them in the care of Tantive IV's captain Raymus Antilles. Along with Mon Mothma, Organa attends Padmé's funeral on Naboo. He continues to serve in the Senate well into the days of the Galactic Empire, where he remains a representative for Alderaan. Bail is one of the few people in the galaxy who is aware that Palpatine is a Sith Lord, having been informed of this by Yoda.
Despite the Viceroy's sheer affection for his daughter, on the whole, the young Leia has far more meals with servants and household droids. Eventually, he will entrust the princess' education to an army of experts.
Despite placing on the smiles, loving Leia, showing endless affection for that little girl, Bail knows that he would have to tell her the truth one day about what had happened to her mother and her father, dreading the painful day as days became months and months became two and a half years, another day of bearing the truth. In spite of her may hating him, loathing the ground he walks on, and viewing him as a liar, at least the Emperor would long since be dead and peace and balance would return to the galaxy.
That is one of the brightest things he can look at in keeping things concealed from the little girl he loves so much. Their daughter deserves to at least understand Anakin in some perspective before he became a backstabbing murderer.
Who knows? Maybe the boy can know as well.
Such a conversation would leave either twin full of deep depression or rage that will hopefully not drown them in the violent natures of the dark side as it did their father. He knows it would end with deep depression and self-despair but by then they may understand why the Jedi and he did what they did. They would be traumatically scarred that they killed their own father, he knows that, as no child should ever have to encounter the possibility of killing his or her father, but their father has become a brute who must be stopped just like his Master.
Deceiving Leia is something that will possibly hunt him for the rest of his life after the Empire, but it is done for the safety of the galaxy, and at the very least, some redemption to the Skywalker's name which would more likely than not get out to the public that Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader.
Bail begins printing his paperwork, sighing slightly as he hears his little girl cry, a smile on his lips as he plants down the paperwork and approaches the room, only, unsurprisingly, seeing Breha stroking the girl back and forth while changing her diaper.
He can't help but wrinkle his nose at that; he practically negotiated with his wife that her working on the diaper part is the best of her capabilities, not his. Though both know he just didn't want to do it and she brought it up from time to time.
After the 2-year-old is clean, Breha places her back down on her crib and begins singing a soft lullaby tune that closes Leia's eyes and she is soon asleep.
His happy dwellings are soon replaced as old memories overwhelm his senses. A sad frown come on his lips as he thought about Padmé; how that could have should have been her. She didn't deserve to be stripped from the galaxy without even knowing her children. Why did Anakin do what he did? Why does the galaxy have to be so cruel?
Breha approaches the door and closes it softly to ensure that Leia wouldn't awaken. The little girl does have the tendency to cry a lot.
It is humorous; she is going to be quite the trouble-maker when she gets older.
With a quick kiss on the cheek, Breha goes to return to her duties, while Bail returns to his office and closes the door, and sits down. He is thinking about planning a vacation just for him, Breha, and Leia.
Not too surprisingly, a hologram is on his desk.
He always receives frequent reports about the current states of the galaxy and the man always listens to them since, despite him hating what had happened to the galaxy two years back. He cannot just destroy the holograms without knowing what is happening to the galaxy because entrapping himself is fruitless.
He clicks on the hologram, activating it and watching as the form of the Emperor appears.
It isn't long before shock registers on his face as the Emperor gives his speech, accusing the Jedi of the death of Darth Vader, threatening those across the galaxy for not turning in the Jedi or concealing him. Anger courses through the senator at what is happening to planets all over the galaxy and them, along with the Jedi, being accused of the death of Lord Vader.
Once the message ends, Bail clenches his hands up into fists at his desk, not absolutely certain how to feel. Their father has been killed, supposedly murdered by the Jedi. He looks at the brighter side. At least the children aren't going to be hunted by the death of their father.
He makes an order to his aides to disable the camera and grabbing a comlink under his desk and activating it.
It is a special comlink that cannot be linked by the Empire and they only use it rarely before Bail wipes all memory banks from it with his best technicians in the palace.
"General Kenobi," Bail speaks softly.
"Senator Organa," the reply comes from the other comlink, surprise evident in his tone. "What is it, old friend?"
"I trust you haven't heard the news yet," Bail replies in a voice that harbors compassion. He was in Kenobi and Skywalker's presence long enough to know the two were extremely close and that the former Master of Skywalker wouldn't take this well.
"No. It takes months for news to travel here, Senator."
"Recently, there has been an announcement. Darth Vader is dead."
He can hear the gasp from the other side at the bombshell he just dropped.
"Vader is d-dead?"
Bail has been in many people's proximity to know when someone's lip is trembling and tears are pouring down someone's eyes. Many of the people he knows was stressed out during the Clone Wars and that their families who were killed on the battlefield never returned.
Compassion forms inside of Bail, "Yes. Supposedly, he was murdered by a batch of Jedi that are being hunted down by the Empire. Palpatine used this as an chance to find an excuse to make life harder for many across the galaxy." The senator's voice is hard as ice. "Patrols increased in the outer rim and in the inner rim, searching for Jedi and many Jedi associates have been going missing, getting executed."
"Can it be fake?"
And Bail swears it sounds like the Jedi Master wishes for it to be. The poor man is hoping that his former student is alive.
Bail sighs some. "I'm afraid not," he replies, voice and eyes softening. "The Emperor would have never declared such an announcement if he was dead. Furthermore, he hasn't been spotted near Imperal Centor here for months."
There is no reply for a couple of minutes before...
"Very well," the Jedi Master's reply is obviously heartbreaking but resigned. "I would contact you to receive an update. May the Force be with you, old friend."
"May the Force be with you, General," Bail replies.
The comlink deactivates.
The Jedi Master rides his Eopie, not wanting to be by anyone right now.
Not that it matters anyway; remaining here on this miserable dustball is endless. While Obi-Wan lived in his exile here, hiding from his former apprentice and anyone else among the Empire and the Emperor himself, he is able to meditate here a lot, thinking about the boy who he failed, the boy who he hadn't saved because of lack of trust and lack of communication.
At first, Obi-Wan was just tired...tired, beaten down, and-and, Force forbid, angry, angry at himself, angry at these people who go on their merry way while angry at those senators who supports the Emperor, angry at his apprentice for supporting Palpatine, angry at the Jedi for not doing enough for Anakin while knowing he is attached and refusing to save his mother which had a motivator that led him down to the path of Vader and the dark side, angry at the Jedi for not doing enough when they were multiple clues and warnings by many individuals who were killed or imprisoned by the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic that Palpatine was a Sith, angry at himself for being such a fool and allowing Palpatine to put his treacherous hands around the boy that he promised to protect upon the dying words of an old man a long time ago.
After his anger passes, Obi-Wan is just heartbroken; utterly and completely heartbroken, his anger stripping from him by this planet and replaced by a deep solemnness and heartbreak. He was - and still is - in a deep state or solemn, believing his apprentice was dead for quite several months until the truth came out that he became a machine; for he knows his apprentice would go on to massacre many people under the orders of Palpatine, acknowledging the man that had manipulated not only the Jedi Order and the Republic but the man that he have been once.
He remembers his reaction when he had learned Vader survived their duel on Mustafar. He remembers when soon after beginning his exile on Tatooine, he went to Mos Eisley to buy supplies for his hut. He stopped for a drink at a cantina along the way, where he listened to HoloNetNews while he drank. Following a warning from Emperor Palpatine to report Jedi or people with 'unusual powers' came something mentioning Darth Vader. Obi-Wan instantly looked up and learned Vader survived the duel, albeit maimed and in a suit. He nearly fainted and disappears, rife with conflicting emotions.
'Why did he not come to me? Did I earn that distrust?' the lost Jedi Master thought remorsefully, clenching his trembling hand up into a fist as tears go down his cerulean eyes, his lip beginning to tremble. 'Why do I fail everyone who ever came across me?'
Obi-Wan sighs and closes his eyes in deep mourning. Once he defeated Anakin on Mustafar, Obi-Wan left him at the edge of the lava river, believing he would soon die from his injuries. Afterward, he tried his best to forget about his former friend, burying any feelings deep inside him, only to little success and regret that he had left him burned alive on Mustafar under the orders of Master Yoda instead of taking him after he was neutralized and be able to save him.
Obi-Wan knows they have to prepare for the galaxy's dark future. It would not be beneficial to dwell on the past.
He reaches out through the Force, attempting to sense his former apprentice somewhere in the galaxy, only to come back with nothing. Despite the monster his friend became, he loved him. He remembers the day after his Master perished to Maul and how he naturally prop the Temple only to come back with nothing except Anakin who comforted him, the beginning of their brotherhood.
Obi-Wan walks to the homestead he grown to call home, knowing that a sandstorm is approaching and wishing to just have a place to cry on once more all the whilst damming Darth Sidious, the Jedi Order, and himself. Each had a big part in the tragedy of what happened to Anakin in their own way.
He sits down on the couch before noticing the cade nearby. The Jedi Master approaches the case and opens it, digging deep through the parts that he has collected for the last two years before grabbing the lightsaber and activating it, staring at the cerulean lightsaber that once belonged to his former student.
Why is it always him who survives as others who he cares about die or betray him?
There is a recurring belief especially amongst the Jedi, that nothing happens without a reason. With the Force, everything is connected and nothing is an accident. It's why the idea of "the chosen one" exists. It's the Jedi's way of finding their true meaning by following the path the Force has set for them. Some, especially ones like Obi-Wan himself, become men of greater import as they navigate the strange skein of fate.
It means being a person who has to keep moving forward no matter what, no matter who he has to leave behind. A "chosen one" is a bullet fired on an inescapable path in the course of destiny. And Obi-Wan is one of them, considering the role he plays in Luke Skywalker's path to becoming a Jedi.
Thematically, Obi-Wan's life is one enormous string of losses, heartbreaks, and shattered bonds, but despite all that he endures, he always survives, because he is, in his own way, a chosen one. He has to keep moving forward because, for whatever reason, the Force has singled him out as the man who will play a great role in future events.
On Naboo, his own master, Qui-Gon Jinn, was cut down before his very eyes by Darth Maul. Kenobi could only watch as a man he had served and trusted died in his arms.
For years after his master's death, Kenobi endured not only the responsibility of becoming a fully-fledged Jedi, but also the horror as the Republic slid into division and civil war. The Republic, the order and government he had sworn his entire existence to upholding, fracturing at the seams thanks to the machinations of the Sith.
Then came the Clone Wars. Now, saying 'war is terrible' is nothing new, and for Kenobi it was greatly tragic, losing Siri Tachi. Front line combat and military operations are grievous enough on their own, but the sheer loss he endured is shocking. There were so many people he couldn't save.
On Mandalore, Duchess Satine, one of the women he ever loved enough to test his Jedi oath, was murdered by a madman.
In violation of Jedi tradition, Kenobi became a General of Clone Troopers and was responsible for thousands of lives. All the men he lost battling the Separatists have weighed heavily on him. Men who came to him an extended brotherhood across countless campaigns.
Not to mention all his fellow Jedi dying alone and overwhelmed on battlefields far from home. Who wouldn't mourn the death of their comrades?
And the final, crushing revelations in the last days of the Clone Wars. That not only the entire war had been staged and both sides manipulated, but that the very Sith pulling the strings had been under Kenobi's nose the entire time and he still couldn't sense it.
Then that same monster who had killed so many with his schemes, with 3 simple words, enacted the near-complete extermination of the Jedi Order.
As if the loss of all of his brothers and sisters wasn't bad enough and the betrayal by the clones he had respected, Obi-Wan lost Anakin permanently, both on Mustafar and now that Vader is dead. The man whom he practically raised as a son, who became his brother through arduous conflicts and trials, fell to the dark side and betrayed everything he stood for. Despite all of that and the crime he made in the Jedi Temple, Obi-Wan couldn't bring himself to kill Anakin, even when he had him at his mercy.
All of these people he couldn't save and at the end of it all he has to face the facts. There is no going back. The Republic is gone. In its place stepped an authoritarian regime and a population that hated him and all his fallen friends for their sacrifice because of the deception and manipulations of a mad man. And all he could do is accept this and retreat into further exile, waiting out on this sand ball while training the future of the Jedi Order to stop Darth Sidious. Because this was the way the Force had willed it.
Obi-Wan deactivates the lightsaber and places it on the couch, staring down at it and wishing that his former Padawan would rush in, grab the lightsaber and that the Jedi Master would reprimand him for losing his lightsaber again before they engage in another bantering session that drives the Jedi Master crazy.
And then his former Padawan tries to find an excuse to go off-duty whenever there isn't a battle just to go to 500 Republica, only for Obi-Wan to make life difficult by not allowing him to go.
He misses those times.
He knew of the attraction between Padmé and Anakin. It was hard not to be. Back then, Obi-Wan would have chuckled; it was always easy for those who even hardly knew them to tell that both Padmé and Anakin have feelings for one another. The Council probably even knew as well but remained quiet about it until after the war was at an end before deciding what to do with Anakin.
Obi-Wan should have gone to him instead of telling him to release his feelings into the Force. Anakin was never going to be a perfect Jedi, given the Order's standpoint, orders, and codes. Shmi raised Anakin in a loving and tough home with attachments, provoking him to embrace those attachments instead of closing them out, contrary to the Jedi's codes and practices that have been serving them for thousands of years.
Obi-Wan knows the code is imperfect because most of the people inside of that Temple became cold and emotionless individuals, contrary to what they had once was supposed to be centuries ago when they were freely allowed to marry and fall in love. Even he did after the Jedi long since lost their way, not allowing Anakin to save his mother, faking his death, allowing Ahsoka to be banished and saying nothing while he knows the Council was making the wrong choice, and dismissing the feelings he had for his former Padawan instead of telling him after his death got through to the others or at least attempting to talk it out with him. That only strained the bond further than it did when he didn't allow him to save his mother.
It was wrong how many times he had failed Anakin. While Anakin was certainly problematic, that doesn't mean he deserved to be given to the Sith and becoming a tool, and then disregarded.
Now, his former student and friend are dead, and Obi-Wan Kenobi lost another person in his cruel life.
Qui-Gon, Siri, Satine, Ahsoka, Cody, the rest of his men, Padmé, Anakin. Oh, fate does love to torture him. While he may be able to get over all others, there is something he would never get through, a regret that would echo off Obi-Wan for his final days...
"I have failed you, Anakin."
Obi-Wan Kenobi is dead, along with each of his friends and allies. He has died during the night Anakin Skywalker was killed by Darth Vader. The shell of what he has been is dead as well. Ben Kenobi is all alone.