WARNING: Short gory chapter and sickening levels of fluff. I broke up my giant chapter because some of it is jarring without some breathing room. Also this story will have no epilogue.
This chapter isn't betaed but you can thank Sectumus Prince for the inspiration to finish this story.
Excerpt - Cut Because Blah-Blah Politics (with Sprinkle of Crack)
"Hello Anakin," Count Dooku greeted him warmly.
Anakin froze, the insult he had been ready to hurl dying on his tongue as a look of… affection? Stole over the Count's expression.
His gaze swung to Obi-Wan and Luke, both of whom looked far too terribly amused.
When Anakin continued to say nothing, the Count again tried to address him civilly, "I'm glad to see you alive and in one piece."
Anakin gaped at him, "Are you karking serious!? You took off my arm at the shoulder, you-" he continued in Huttese with the most vile words he had ever heard uttered in his presence.
And since he had been a slave, it took him several minutes to get through his tirade.
But it was worth it to see the shocked outrage on the Sith's face.
Ahsoka, Luke, and Leia began laughing.
Dooku recovered with far less grace than he probably would have liked, "I see you have recovered from your significant brian damage. I cannot say that it is an improvement."
Anakin spun on Luke, "When the kriff did you speak to Dooku?"
Luke shrugged, "Once on Mon Cala, then I went to see him on Serreno before I was pulled to Mortis and we got our bodies back."
"Why, for kark's sake, would you do that?" Anakin demanded.
Luke shrugged, "He had the plans to the Death Star, the planet killer."
"What do you mean 'got your bodies back'?" Dooku asked.
"It means," Asajj said drily. "It was Luke Organa on Serreno, not the Hero With No Fear. Which honestly makes more sense than brain damage."
"Doesn't it?" Obi-Wan asked, sounding more amused than ever. "I thought I had been the one to hit my head."
Dooku frowned at Luke, "You are the polite one."
Luke grinned, "I've been told I'm very likeable."
Which was the Force forsaken truth. "I'm beginning to wonder how anyone could have mistaken us. I'm not a bad person but you're—" Anakin waved at Luke.
"Kenobi's apprentice," Dooku said flatly. He squinted between Luke and Leia, "But still a Skywalker. You and your twin are the son and daughter of Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala, that's how you knew about the Death Star, Darth Sidious, and knew to leave the Order and the war when you did."
Anakin rolled his eyes, "How does everyone figure out the time travel so fast?"
Dooku, Asajj, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan said in unison, "Because it makes more sense than brain damage."
Anakin sighed and said with feeling, "I hate all of you."
Obi-Wan patted his shoulder, "Anakin, we love you, but you do not have your wife's gift for politics."
Anakin shook his head, giving Luke a rye smile, "I can't fault you for inheriting the best from the woman I love."
Luke's smile was soft, "I was raised on Tatooine, Father. Uncle Owen said I was a lot like you, but Aunt Baru told me that I reminded her of my grandmother, your mother."
Anakin blinked back tears, "There is no fault in that at all. She would have been proud of you two."
Luke caught Leia's hand, "Like the suns, in time we all fall beyond the horizon and are born one after another again from the coldest nights."
Anakin lifted his real hand and touched his heart as his son reminded him of his mother's words that he had long since forgotten.
Until now.
Knowledge, like the binary stars, could be forgotten for a time, but they would always return.
One after the other.
Chapter 36 - Rewritten
Cody had never expected much from his future. All he had ever known was war, and technically, he was still at war. But he was also dating a Princess.
The Princess of Alderaan, a place that was so anti-war he often wondered why the Organa family supported the Republic at all.
But Princess Leia Organa was not a pacifist, she might fight for peace but she was one of the most gifted generals Cody had ever met.
If Count Dooku hadn't thrown his lot in with the Republic and the Mandalorian Alliance (which included Alderaan, Naboo, Jedha, Rolyth, several other notable systems, and the Jedi Order) he was convinced that with Leia on their side they would have won against the Separatists in less than two months.
But the galaxy had shifted its focus, for better (being that they were fighting for unarguably the right causes) or for worst (being they were working with other enemies that were likely to stab them in the back), on the slave empires and the Hutts.
However, for today, Cody was able to put such concerns aside as he waited at his friend's side as Satine did the hardest, most painful thing imaginable.
It was enough to give him a whole new look on nat-borns and the females of every race if the bloody mess of natural births was the way of things.
Cloning seemed suddenly far more humane.
Cody hadn't hurt his tube.
Obi-Wan was holding onto her hand and speaking to her in Mando'a words of encouragement that were drowned out by Satine's screams.
Well, screaming wasn't quite the right word, she was yelling as if she were on the frontlines crying out a call to war.
She sounded pissed. As if her pain just translated to fury.
Cody was not ashamed to admit that he was scared of her.
Obi-Wan, however, was weathering the storm unflinchingly, as the medics waited to catch the newborn.
He wasn't sure if Obi-Wan was using the Force to siphon some of her pain or if he was simply feeling her pain second-hand, because his general had that expression he wore when he was fighting injured rather than retreating to let a medic do their damned jobs.
But if it was the former, Cody didn't want to know how much pain Satine would be in without the help from Obi-Wan or the drugs.
Cody kind of wondered why the medics didn't give her more drugs. But then he supposed she needed to feel her muscles to use them to help the child rip her apart.
Ugh, he should never have agreed to this, should have never voiced curiosity for how nat-borns came into this galaxy. But he wasn't about to back out now. He wouldn't leave Obi-Wan's side and he could bear witnessing this when it was Satine who had to endure the torture.
It took hours, hours that felt like a millennium, but soon, a baby girl emerged into the light, bloody and crying the same war cry that Satine had.
As if the baby was infuriated to be pushed out from her safe harbour.
The medics made quick work of cleaning up the child and the mother. Obi-Wan slid into bed beside Satine so that when the medic gave the new parents the baby, they held her together.
For all the horror of it, the glowing happiness that surrounded them… they were the most beautiful thing Cody had ever seen in his life.
He realized then that this was what he wanted. He wanted that, he wanted this to be his future. He wanted a family, he wanted a child to hold and have them rewrite the purpose of his existence.
He didn't know if Leia would be his forever partner like Satine was for Obi-Wan, but Cody knew then that if this wasn't the future she wanted, he could let her go. He couldn't, however, let go of this newborn dream.
Cody backed up, his heart full of twisted emotions, but Obi-Wan looked up then, pinning him with his gaze.
"Would you like to hold her, Cody?" Obi-Wan asked, warm and open, welcoming him into his world, his family.
Cody swallowed hard and nodded, taking back those steps and taking the seat Obi-Wan had abandoned for the bed.
Satine was half asleep, but she still managed a soft smile in Cody's direction.
Obi-Wan laid the newborn in Cody's arms, and Cody held the child as if she were the most precious being in the entire galaxy.
She was so small, so beautiful, and adorable despite her bloody entrance into their lives.
Cody finally found his voice and asked, "Do you… does she have a name yet?"
Obi-Wan smiled, "She does, we named her after you."
"What?" Cody squawked.
"Seemed fitting," Satine said, her eyes fluttering open to look at him. "If it wasn't for you, she might not have a father."
"I don't understand," Cody said, because surely he hadn't heard them right. They had given her his name? When they weren't related in any way?
Obi-Wan touched the top of his head, "Colby Kenobi, Cody. She will grow up knowing you, knowing that she was named after one of the noblest warriors this galaxy has ever seen."
Cody was speechless, and he looked down at the babe in his arms, who was suddenly a part of him. Blood didn't matter, what mattered was this little life would look up to him. Want to hear his stories, want to know about his life and that of the vode. Not because they were Obi-Wan's men but because he was himself.
He was Cody, and she was Colby.
Names had power and meaning among the vode more so than for others. No matter how silly or common their names might sound to others, names were a belonging, a reclaiming of their right to exist in this galaxy.
And Obi-Wan had honoured him beyond imagination in naming his own precious one in remembrance of Cody.
"Thank you," he managed to choke out. He wasn't ashamed of the tears that flowed freely down his cheeks.
Obi-Wan bent over the side of the bed, using his hand to bring their foreheads together in a keldabe kiss.
His general, his vod said, "You are one of us, never doubt that, ner aliit."
Cody bit back a sob as he gently cradled Colby in his arms.
His purpose was rewritten.
(Keldabe - forehead kiss or head butt. Vod - brother, sibling. Vode, brothers, siblings. Ner aliit - my family.)
AN: Short chapter before the end, but the fluff deserved some breathing room. This story was very ambitious and it has its fair share of faults, but if you enjoyed, please review?