Chapter 2: Impact
"..eneral? ..an you … me?" His head rang, there was a slow but steady beeping noise in the background. Hearing was difficult, everything sounded muddled. Obi-Wan tried to open his eyes and regretted it instantly when he was met with blinding white light. A figure was leaning over him. As he slowly came to, he realized how much he hurt. His body felt like he was on fire. The voice interrupted him again. It was still rather hard to make out the words.
"General Kenobi, can you hear me?"
He recognized that voice and force signature. "Helix?", he croaked with a raspy voice.
"Yes sir, it's me. Do you remember what happened?", the clone asked.
Obi-Wan remembered the fight with the good general in detail. Still he couldn't pinpoint how he got off the ship. "I do, but how did I get off? The last thing I remember was that I passed out." The jedi only now took in his surroundings. He was laying on a bed in the med bay of the Negotiator.
"Cody and the men had set the bombs and managed to get you out before Grievous could kill you. I'm afraid to say that he escaped the detonation of the Invisible Hand. We've been in hyperspace for almost a week. You've been in a coma since then. Until now I wasn't sure you'd wake up. It didn't… look good. To put it mildly." Helix was on edge, he could sense that, even in his state of mind. 'I don't remember him ever being that worried.' And they'd been in a lot of battles over the years.
Obi-Wan closed his eyes for a second. "I see. I'd like to speak to the commander if that is possible."
"Sir with all due respect, you suffered severe injuries, I think that talk can wait and you should rest. Commander Cody already took care of informing the council."
Only now he took in the state his body was in. His right leg was held in place by some kind of metal device, he had been in surgery then. It felt numb, the sedation started to wear off slowly. His right hand wasn't faring better, it was casted from his elbow to his fingertips. The saberwound on his chest had been tightly dressed with bandages and bacta. Breathing still hurt and Obi-Wan remembered as Grievous crushed his torso with no effort. His head had been bandaged as well; the whole left side of his head was covered in bacta patches. As his mind felt rather muddled, Obi-Wan guessed the medics were keeping him drugged.
After his examination, he became aware of Helix, who was still standing next to his bed and tried to snap him back to attention. 'That man must have some insane patience, if that is what he has to keep up with on his every-day basis.' The jedi leaned back against his pillow and tried to ignore the pounding headache which started forming since he woke up. "Sorry Helix, I must have drifted off."
The medic spoke up again. "Sir, the damage that was dealt to your leg was extensive. I'm afraid the injury is irreparable. Your hand is in better condition. We were able to knit the bones back together, but still there could be some nerve damage. The wound on your chest was rather superficial compared to the other injuries, if you're lucky it won't even leave a scar. Some of the fractured ribs punctured your lung. We had to perform an emergency surgery to keep you from suffocating on your own blood", the clone made a face, "you almost didn't make it, sir. Most of us thought we lost you for good. We had to revive you at some time. We were scared as hell."
The jedi looked him in the eye with a look of remorse and gave a wry smile. "It seems you won't get rid of me that easy."
Helix huffed. "Honestly General, I meant what I said. Please don't do that again. Anyway, there's one more thing."
"The lightsaber severed your ear but a major part of your skin as well. I'm honest with you, there is going to be a rather large and jagged scar on your left side. Concerning your hearing, at the moment you might be deaf on the left side, but the damage was mostly dealt on the surface. I think we could fit you with an artificial hearing device."
Obi-Wan grunted in response. Exhaustion started to claim him. "Thank you, Helix." He was drifting off to sleep again.
"We will arrive on Coruscant in a few hours. I've already made contact with the temple healers for your transfer. "
Present time
Helix had been correct with his forecast. The healers hadn't been able to do much about his face and leg. His hand had healed nicely in the past weeks and wasn't making any problems. He was optimistic to wield a lightsaber with it again. On the contrary, his leg hadn't improved at all, he had been in surgery again, the medics had to wire and screw the bones together in order to keep them in place. It hurt like hell and Obi-Wan was forced to walk on crutches with a heavily casted leg. He had decided against a hearing device at the moment. It would be a difficult surgical intervention and Obi-Wan had enough of hospitals. He could hear rather well, despite it being mostly one-sided.
He was in his quarters studying a datapad when he heard a knock on the door. Glancing at the chrono he realized it was a few minutes past midnight und wondered what might be that important at this hour. Obi-Wan took his crutches and hopped towards the door, opening it with a wave of his hand. Little could he do to hide his surprise when he saw his grandpadawan Ahsoka standing at his door.
"Master Kenobi, I need to-" she stopped midsentence when she took in the state he was in, "well, what happened to you?" She turned her head up to his eyes with a questioning look.
Obi-Wan frowned and sighed: "I think it´s better to discuss this inside." With that he limped to the side to let Ahsoka inside.
Ahsoka didn´t know what to expect when she decided to look for her grandmaster in the middle of the night. He looked worse for wear, dark shadows under his eyes, a far too pale skin tone, bruises on his right hand and face, plus the casted leg and the large, angry scar on the left side of his face. His hair only partly covered the missing ear, the area had been burned off, leaving only patches of ginger hair. She wondered if he would be able to regrow the hair on the side of his head given the already forming scar tissue or if he would just shave off the rest on the sides to keep it even. It was clear that he was not faring well.
"You look troubled padawan, want some tea? " he asked in a calm tone, breaking the silence. Ahsoka had to smile a little at that question. Master Kenobi had always neglected his own wellbeing in favor of others'.
"No, thank you, I actually came to talk to you."
Obi-Wan hobbled over to her and took a seat across from her while trying not to jar his broken leg. After recomposing himself, he looked at her and asked:
"It's about Anakin, isn't it?"
"He's acting strange since your last mission together and seems very angry at you, almost in a hateful manner", Ahsoka talked slow and tried to study Obi-Wans facial expressions, but it was almost impossible to read the jedi masters' thoughts. Still she thought that she sensed a flash of hurt and sadness. "What happened back there?"
Obi-Wan opened his mouth to speak but after a few seconds he closed it again. He seemed to contemplate his next words or gather his thoughts. "I- I don't know how to explain actually", he answered with an almost steady voice. To an outsider it might have sound like his normal voice but Ahsoka knew her grandmaster to well to not catch the short crack while he spoke. Taking a breath, he rubbed his face with his hands.
"We were supposed to free a few villagers that were held as slaves by a group of pirates. Anakin and I succeeded on the first camp but then things went downhill. We underestimated them and lost a lot of men", the last words were said with a hint of remorse,
"but Anakin kept rushing forward and ignored the situation of his troops. I think… something was triggered in him as soon he found out that these people were slaves. He wouldn't listen to me. It wasn't much later that the council called us back because they had found Grievous' location."
Ahsoka tried to follow her grandmasters' words. "He snapped at you when you had to tell him that you have to leave, right?"
Obi-Wan nodded and looked to the floor. "He didn't understand. He… said some hateful things. But somehow I think he's right... Qui-Gon should have been his master. Not me,
I didn't even know how to teach back then and still I took him in."
She flinched a little when he mentioned Master Jinn but hat to shake her head vehemently after a few moments. "Master with all my respect, you know as well as me, that you have done the best you can to guide Anakin to knighthood and you did perfectly fine. Neither of you might admit it but you care for each other like in a family. And I am proud to say that I got the chance to be a part of that family."
Master Kenobi closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat. "Anakin doesn't seem to agree with that at the moment", he mused, "he has been ignoring me since then."
He stopped for a second. "I didn't even get the chance to tell him how sorry I am for what happened. He wouldn't believe me anyway."
"You know that it's not your fault that you weren't able to save these people?", Ahsoka chimed in.
"It is, I miscalculated, I could have-", he started rambling, so Ahsoka hat to interrupt him quite forcefully.
"Master, no! It´s not your fault! There is nothing you could have done different to prevent that outcome. You were clearly outmatched and I think the men of the 212th and 501st are most grateful that you kept Master Anakin from storming off."
Obi-Wan studied Ahsoka for a moment and chuckled. "When have you become so wise?"
In response Ahsoka smiled and said: "I learnt from the best masters a padawan can wish for."
With that she stood up from her seat on the couch. "I think I should go now or Skyguy will find me missing in the morning."
"Yes, I think you should do that." Obi-Wan struggled a little with his crutches but managed to stand up rather ungracefully as well. He guided her to the door and looked at her. "Thank you, Ahsoka, for-".
Before he could end his sentence Ahsoka had engulfed him in a bone-crushing hug. After a moment of irritation, he returned the hug hesitantly. Thinking about it he doesn´t even remember when he was hugged the last time. Anakin has grown distant over the last few years and his once best friends had fallen victim to the gruesome Clone Wars. Realizing he was dwelling on the past he released his feelings into the force and slowly let go of Ahsoka.
Having picked up her grandmasters´ thoughts in the force, she turned and said: "You´re not alone, Master, we´re your family."
With that she left the apartment and walked down the almost dead silent corridors in the middle of the night. She had to talk with her master in the morning.