Author's Note: I hope this is the prelude to an update spree, but we are going to have to see. I am almost done with two chapters for two different stories, so hopefully that means that I am out of my funk, but because my love for Star Wars is never ending and in honor of Obi-Wan Kenobi, I decided it was time that I take a crack at a story for him. I'm trying the idea out to see if anyone would even be interested so let's see how it goes. Do let me know if you enjoy! Have a great day!
Obi-Wan stands back, counting quietly in his mind, taking in the scene before him.
The office is in shambles. Equipment and data pads are scattered about the floor and the desk is destroyed. The wall and ceiling are both streaked with arcs of scorched marks from lightning. Masters Tiin and Fisto lie dead a few feet away. The smile that never truly left Master Fisto's face through all the hardships and trials that, in some cases, Obi-Wan has personally watched him take part in has loosened enough into a smirk that is frozen in place. Almost fitting, he thinks, that the Master would still be grinning even with his head severed from his body. Laughing in the face of the Force. Maybe it was all worth it.
Maybe not.
There are burn marks from sabers through the floor and along some of the walls from when the fighting got too close. There is a vase across the room from him, large, antique, that is now in pieces. The large, thick transparisteel windows used to observe the sleepless, chaos-controlled planet of Coruscant are blasted away in a moment, spraying shards of glass that barely make it into the room before being sucked out as the pressure from the room balances with the outside.
The power of the Grandmaster and Sith Lord combined is truly an amazing sight to behold.
Obi-Wan's ears pop. He swallows, trying to clear it. The roar of the wind takes its place. It pulls at his loose sandy blond hair, his robes. A chill washes over him. The sound of Coruscant's life - namely its traffic - can finally be heard faintly as a low layer of din. The planet is as loud as it's ever been. Today is the day that changes everything one way or another forever and yet Coruscant is left nearly unaffected. It continues without preamble.
Coruscant preservers. Even in the days, weeks, months, years, that follows this moment, Coruscant will remain as it always has. A bastion of life. A melting pot where people from all walks come to make the planet breathe. Any remnants of what Coruscant's original life used to be like is gone forever. Now the planet is as the people make it to be. It is but a reflection of its own existence and what the people are willing to preserve. Today will be a turning point. As it has many a times before, Coruscant will be the staple piece for change. And in it, the rest of the galaxy will either reflect that, or be destroyed.
They stand before a precipice.
As the spinning of two red and one purple lightsaber, still flashing in his mind's eye, gives way to the scene before him, he is pulled from his musings. Arcs of lightning filter through the room, making strands of his hair rise along his head and arms despite the thick, warm robe wrapped around his body and even the cloak that he has yet to discard. In one hand, his fingers are relaxed as his arm rests at his side, but the other is wrapped around his trusted saber. His one friend through it all. The only one who has seen him through thick and thin. Despite the number of times that he's lost his saber, it has always found its way back to him.
Respectfully by a particular white and yellow armored Marshall Commander. Good man, that Cody. Great man, even.
The Chancellor crumbles against the junction between the floor and the window, partially leaning out over the open air, hands held up in a brittle attempt at surrender. Mace Windu, the last surviving Jedi Master that came to dethrone the would-be Sith Lord, moves in as close as he dares, pointing a deadly purple saber at the seemingly infirm old man in front of him. Mace watches his every move, not willing to give a shadow of a thought to the whimpering old man and his possible weakness. There is no weakness in this man, despite the burn marks working across his face from when Mace sent his own hate filled Sith Lightning back at him, but also no light.
Obi-Wan senses nothing more than an empty blackness falling into itself. Truly a horrifying and dangerous presence. Whatever Sidious was, in actuality, it wasn't a Sith Lord. He was something much worse. Something so much darker than that. Obi-Wan has seen true evil, and even that has some form of light in it. But not him. There is nothing in Sidious. Just empty darkness. Intimidating, horrible, desolate.
Obi-Wan glances at the figure entering the room, just in time. His counting stopping as Anakin takes in the chaos of the room, gray-blue eyes wide as he takes in the mess, the carnage, and the death. Then, with a flicker of pain, no doubt holding a bit of responsibility in his heart for the two dead masters on the floor of the Chancellor's office - one of which, in Master Fisto's case, Obi-Wan knew his former Padawan actually liked - and for his role in them even being here in the first place, before he steels himself as much as he can, given the situation and look towards the two before him.
They argue back and forth, but all Obi-Wan can do is stare at the partial side profile of his former padawan. Anakin has grown so much from when Obi-Wan first met him. Back then he was a young, naive boy who looked at the galaxy with stars in his eyes. Anything and everything was great because it wasn't Tatooine. Everything was bright and shiny and new.
He wasn't that little boy anymore. He's tall, broad-shouldered, with a harder set to his youthful face. He's a young man now. But those stars, force, they still shine in his eyes. Even if they are tamer than when he was a boy, there was still so much out there to explore and experience. The war also helped in calming him and making him more thoughtful, but Obi-Wan is confident that it had only been a matter of time for his young protege. Anakin was always meant for great things. Qui-Gon saw it. Obi-Wan saw it. Even Sidious saw it. And unlike the Jedi council, the three aforementioned men didn't want to shy away from that greatness, but instead help direct it.
Some with more nefarious plans in mind than others.
But that was neither here nor there. Obi-Wan can't dictate the actions of others so cleanly. No matter how much he wants to.
"I need him," Anakin insists, turning dark, angry eyes toward the Grandmaster of the Order. He should have lightened up, Obi-Wan rationalizes, glancing over at the dark-skinned man. Had Mace been a bit easier on Anakin, more trusting, than perhaps this all could have been avoided. Or at least, he wouldn't have played such an integral role in forcing Anakin to the Dark Lord of the Sith's side. Unfortunately, the young Hero without Fear was doomed from the start. A good Sith could never ignore someone like Anakin. It would be insane to. Obi-Wan's lip curls at the thought.
Obi-Wan has spent countless hours pondering the many failings of the Jedi and Republic. He's been rationalizing their actions and movements, even trying his hardest to guide them. He's known that there was a Dark Lord pulling the wool over the eyes of the Jedi and feeding into the corruption, greed, and gluttony of the Republic, meticulously moving the pieces into place for the destruction of both of them because he believed Count Dooku when he said that the Sith Lord they were looking for had been in charge of the Senate. Obi-Wan wasn't sure how literal to take the Count's words, but as the war proceeded onward it became impossible to ignore the reality that the Sith Lord was someone directly in the Chancellor's office or, as proven in this very moment, the Chancellor himself.
The Jedi offered Count Dooku's words more criticism, which, he supposes he understands. But it wasn't his place to try and convince the council. They would see the truth, one way or another.
And it seems as though, despite their hesitance to trust the Chancellor, there hadn't been enough planning put in place for when he actually did reveal that he was the Sith Lord that they were looking for. To Anakin of all people. Anakin, whom since the day he was brought to Coruscant, was put on the Sith Lord's radar. And over time, the old man has begun grooming Anakin to become his next apprentice.
It won't happen. It won't. Obi-Wan will never allow it. Sidious cannot have Anakin. Never.
"No!" Anakin's voice pulls Obi-Wan back just in time to see his former Padawan sever the hand of the Jedi Grandmaster from his body before, while laughing maniacally, the former Chancellor funnels wave after wave of Sith Lightning through the body of the human in front of him. The force of the lightning sends the Grandmaster rocketing out of the blasted remains of the window and into the loud, chaotic city of Coruscant below. And as the planet does so well, it swallows him up so fast Obi-Wan loses his sense of the other man shortly after he loses sight of him as he descends to the blanket of movement from the planet below.
"Oh my," Obi-Wan mutters, blue eyes wide with his eyebrows shot up to his hairline.
Anakin twists sharply to look at him, face drained of all color. Horror and regret written across his expression and as soon as his eyes lock onto Obi-Wan's face, shame colors it too. Sidious turns to him, pulling up his hood to shield the wounds on his face, a spark of surprise entering into the force at seeing him. Obi-Wan had been so muted, so quiet that the Sith Lord forgot that he had been standing there the whole time, bearing witness to everything unfolding in front of him.
"Obi-Wan," Anakin says brokenly, staring at his former master pleadingly, desperate for the blond to understand his actions even if he himself hasn't fully put it together. Obi-Wan can hear his former Padawan's mind race, thoughts flying in all directions, trying to understand what just happened. How he lost himself so completely, so suddenly. "What have I done?"
"You saved my life, Anakin," Sidious says, mock-soothing. "Had you not, the Jedi would have killed me."
Anakin looks at him, uncertain hatred and disgust - at who, he doesn't know, so Obi-Wan can't discern - before looking to his master, taking a step closer. "I didn't... I don't know why I... he said... Palpatine said he could save..." He shakes his head, like the words were too difficult to string together. His blue eyes hone in on Obi-Wan's more solid blue, begging the older man to understand. To not turn away from him. To not hate him.
"I must admit, you've surprised me, Master Kenobi," Sidious says, finally standing, straightening himself up.
Obi-Wan relents, never able to deny his former Padawan anything, especially when he looks so miserable. The blond moves closer to his former padawan, and the Sith Lord, before resting his unarmed hand onto the young man's cheek. Anakin flinches at the contact for a brief moment, before reaching up and wrapping his metal hand around Obi-Wan's keeping it in place.
"I'm sorry, Obi-Wan," Anakin whispers, shame and pain written across his face. "I had to. I had to. I need him."
Obi-Wan lets out a little whoosh of breath, trying to settle the twist of anticipation and danger he feels swirling in his gut. "Oh, Anakin..."
"Now what will you do, Master Kenobi?" Sidious ponders aloud, delicious malice soaking the air around them, poisoning it. Anakin flinches again but Obi-Wan holds steadfast.
"I will comfort the boy that I raised," Obi-Wan says simply, sending a sharp look to the old man, repulsed by his deviant grin. Obi-Wan looks to Anakin. "Oh, Darling, I know this whole thing has been so hard on you. Believe me, I never intended for anything to turn out like this. I am so sorry for what has been done to you. Truly."
"You didn't do anything wrong, Obi-Wan," Anakin insists, burrowing his cheek into the older man's hand, trying desperately to soak up any sort of comfort that he can from the man he trusts most in the whole galaxy. "It's me. I wasn't good enough."
"Nonsense," Obi-Wan says, shaking his head. "You are enough. You always have been. And you don't need him, Anakin. You don't even really need me. You are far greater than anyone has ever given you credit for." Obi-Wan offers a thin, but tender smile, and Anakin melts more into his former master. "You have always been, and will always be, my favorite person in this galaxy. It's as I always say, it's you and me, Anakin. Us against the galaxy. I will always be by your side, no matter what."
Anakin squeezes his eyes shut, pressing his face into his master's palm more. "I know, Obi-Wan. You and me. Us against the galaxy."
Sidious frowns a touch, when Obi-Wan's cool blue eyes turn toward him. "See, Sidious? Try as much as you can to groom him. Isolate him from the Jedi. From his padawan. From his friends and even those that he loves and those that love him. But you won't ever separate us. We are bonded beyond flesh and bone. Although, I must thank you."
Even Anakin seemed surprised by the blond's words, opening his eyes to look at the Jedi Master in front of him, who's attention is now turned to the Sith Lord.
"Thank me...?" Sidious draws out. "For what, pre tell?"
"You taught Anakin many of the valuable lessons this galaxy has to offer, and despite what I might think about it, war is a very good teacher. And no doubt, the lessons the Clone Wars has taught him will carry with him forever. Admittedly, I too learned many valuable lessons from all of this as well. This entire war was beautifully orchestrated. I was definitely left guessing exactly what was going to happen next. Trying to stay ahead of the game was no easy feat and I was caught off guard more times than I care to admit."
Anakin and Sidious stare at the eerily calm Jedi Master. Anakin even flinches when Obi-Wan lets out a little huff of a laugh and a shake of the head. "Master..?"
"Take over the galaxy, now that's a cliche," Obi-Wan muses. "Betrayal by a close confidant and friend. Yes, very cliche. But then again, I suppose I have no room to talk. So, I thank you, Sidious. For as much as I hate your guts, I have to admit when I am bested by a superior mind and strategic planning." Obi-Wan pats Anakin's cheek before pulling his hand back and turning his full body toward Sidious. He looks at the oldest in the room through long, thick lashes.
"Obi-Wan..?" Anakin mumbles. "What is going on?"
"Giving credit where credit is due, Anakin," Obi-Wan chides, offering a little bow to the old man. Straightening up, Obi-Wan stares at Sidious as pretty blue eyes bleed yellow. "Truly masterful, my lord. You almost got me."
Anakin spots Obi-Wan's eyes change, and he recoils as if struck. "Obi-Wan! You - you - !"
"Hush now, darling," Obi-Wan says smoothly, his expression falling chillingly blank as he finally lifts the restraints put on himself and his true power and malice bleeds into the force, thickening the air around them. Sidious's own yellow eyes stare back in shock trying to make sense of what has revealed itself before him. He stares at Obi-Wan's impassive face as the seconds very slowly ticked on before realization washes over him. In that very moment, Obi-Wan used the old man's surprise to blast his way past the mental barriers he had erected. All his life, Obi-Wan has been an unspeakably powerful empath with an incredible affinity for passive mind reading and emotion sensing.
While the later does little to assist him in this endeavor it does grant him the satisfaction of tasting a hint of terror on the back of his throat before he's blasted through the old man's mind, searching for the piece of information that he needs, taking in everything he can along the way. His former skill, though, has made him an incredible master of the mental arts. Something that isn't really needed when dealing with droids, so he's sure not a lot of people put much stock into it or wrote about it in reports for the Chancellor's perusal. But his skills in negotiating have taught him even more about dealing with the mind of an... unwilling participant.
Coupled with the element of surprise, with him being fast enough he can - ahhh, there it is.
"You are - " Sidious starts but Obi-Wan draws up his saber so face and without a hint of direction or intention in the force, throwing off any form of Force Perception that the Sith Lord could use to sense what was about to happen next and leveling the opening of his saber at the former Chancellor's face before igniting the blade and watching in seldom silence as the blade pierces through the old man's face and out the back of his head. The Chancellor's body goes rigid for a single, tense moment before it collapses, blade still lodged through his brain, cleanly cutting a chunk from his face and head as his body crumbles to the ground.
"Be silent, traitor," Obi-Wan snarls, lip curling, deep yellow of his eyes darkens until it's a swirling inferno of reds, yellows, and oranges. Rage, annoyance, and malice thickens the air around them so fully, Anakin choked as if unable to breath. "I've been dealing with your plots and plans for years. I'm sick of you."
Sidious's darkness and evil spirals around the former Master and Padawan duo, pulling at their hair and clothes, scorching the skin without actually hurting it before it begins to dissipate like a roar of rage tapering off into silence. And then the room is silent.
Or it would be if not for the whipping wind outside and the life of Coruscant pumping through the air.
Anakin stood stunned, staring at the man he thought that he knew better than anyone else in the galaxy, like he was a complete and utter stranger. He couldn't string together any sort of words. His thoughts flying all over the place. But mostly the disbelief was so great. He can't believe what he saw. It was impossible. It had to be. That wasn't Obi-Wan. It couldn't be. This had to all be some sort of sick joke. Some sort of bad dream that he's going to wake up from on the Redeemer, surrounded by the safety, comfort, and sense of belonging of the 501st, or in the Jedi Temple, with their familiar calmness and serenity to help clear his mind.
Then, the stranger wearing his beloved master's face, turns toward him, eyes lightening up again until they return to that bone-chilling yellow and a smile sickeningly familiar flashes his way and in a jovial voice, too similar and flippant to be true to this stranger, says, "Sith Lord or not, I've wanted to do that for bloody years. Let me tell you, Anakin. I have never felt a more cathartic release than when I went to deal with Maul and that brute Savage on Mandalore." A big, shoulder flopping sigh, then a cheerful, "Well, dear, it's time to finish this. Shall we?"
"Fi...Finish?" Anakin mumbles, still shocked beyond parroting back singular words with his numb lips.
Obi-Wan smiles softly, almost tenderly. "Yes, Anakin. The former Chancellor had a good idea in dealing with the Jedi. I don't see why we should mess with perfection. Now, let's see to it."
Obi-Wan walks over to the command counsel at the side of the room, carefully typing in Sidious's command codes until he has the list before him. Anakin follows him with his eyes, still trying to come to terms with what just happened. Trying to wrap his mind around what he's seen. But he can't move. His feet are rooted in place. If he attempts to move, he's not sure if he'll just run away or crumble to the ground.
"Obi-Wan...?" Anakin says, swallows, then continues, "What are you doing?"
"Worry not, Anakin," Obi-Wan says soothingly, turning eerie yellow eyes toward him for a moment. An achingly familiar sympathetic smile crosses his face. "I promise that I'll explain everything soon. Just give me a moment to take care of some unfinished business." Turning his attention back to the screen in front of him, he carefully chooses his first target waiting a few moments until the clone commander appears over the center of the counsel.
"But... I don't understand what is happening right now..." Anakin says, reaching up to touch his chest, as if his heart was going to beat out from behind his breastplate.
Obi-Wan glances up from what was on the screen before him. "We all serve a purpose. Our reason for living. Some is for love. Some is to fight for freedom. Some is to destroy. Some is to dismantle and rebuild. Some, like myself, are bound for greater things. But our purpose is not something out there we must earn, but something that was always was meant to be ours. And in my case, it was lost long ago, but now I've come to claim it."
Anakin didn't know how to respond to that. Not even completely sure he understands what the older man was trying to say. But Obi-Wan smiles at him, not appearing as if he wanted any sort of follow up before turning his attention back to the Commander awaiting on the screen, drawing the Hero without Fear's eyes to the image of the clone, glancing around to ensure the space around them is safe.
"Commander Bly?" Anakin mumbles at the sight of the commander.
"Hello, Commander," Obi-Wan says easily, keeping his eyes trained on the image in front of him. "Can you hear me?"
Bly kneels down, glancing at something ahead of him, no doubt in the middle of a fight or about to engage enemies. "Yes, sir. I hear you."
"Fantastic," Obi-Wan says, offering a small smile. "Is Aayla with you?" Anakin glances at his master, wearily, not at all sure what's happening. Why was he looking for Aayla? Why wouldn't he just call her on his own communicator? Honestly, why in the Force was he calling her at all? Were they somehow partners in... whatever the hell is happening right now?
He tilts his head, slightly. "Yes, sir. General Secura is present."
"Fabulous," Obi-Wan says, kindly. "Now, Commander, at your earliest convenience, could you please execute Order 66?"
Many years prior:
"Stay close, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon says, placing a hand on his young Padawan's back, guiding him away from their ship, eyes scanning the area around them. "I know that it's been a while since you've been back but make sure you continue to keep your wits about you."
"Yes, master," Obi-Wan murmurs back. The blast of dry, sandy air hitting at his face and pulling at his robes and his long Padawan braid resting on his shoulders. The spirits of these lands pull and tug at his braid particularly, mocking his nature as a Jedi. If he listened hard enough - which he isn't trying to do, knowing these lands as well as he does - he can hear maniacal laughter like a faraway echo in the shell of his ear.
Normally, Obi-Wan would be a bit more excitable and even arguably rowdier in most situations but this place... he knows this place. It will swallow him whole if he lets it. It was unusual for someone his age to be allowed on this world, but he was a special case. Has been ever since the day that he was born. It's only been a few short years since Obi-Wan has stepped foot on this world; it's been two years, having left when he was seven. Being back again is stirring old feelings but he stomps them down. He can't lose himself to his musings. Not here, anyway. This planet is a very dangerous one if left to wonder the expanse of the subconscious mind.
It's one of the first lessons Obi-Wan remembers learning of all his skills. Even fully speaking. He has learned to defend his mind and build barriers stronger and stronger as he aged, and the spirits left behind on this world grew more interested in him. Every day was its own battle. If Obi-Wan lacked skills anywhere in his life, mental fortitude was never going to be it. He never would have survived as long as he did without it. This was always to be his destiny, to come back to this planet many more times over the course of his life, so he knew that he had to keep up on his training, because this world would be unforgiving.
As they make their trek across the wide expanse of the valley, heading toward the mountain where the ruins of an academy peaks over the top, both Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon stop, feeling their senses perk up at a shutter in the Force. They both scan the space in front of them before the hairs on Obi-Wan's arms stand on end as something invisible to the naked eye shimmers just a short foot ahead of them, pushing around the dust and sand that half buried, as it shifts into a comfortable position before falling still once more. It vanishes before them once more, hardly able to distinguish the shimmer off of its large body and what could be produced from the heat of the star bouncing off the sand.
Obi-Wan lets out a little breath he didn't realize he was holding until then. "Don't aggravate the Hssis," Obi-Wan says aloud, more as a reminder to himself than a command to his master. An easy lesson to remember, especially considering the size and danger that the invisible Sith Spawn present, but difficult to follow through with. Most of the time, they remain sleeping for decades without so much as moving, but once something gets too close, they could awaken and be fully cognoscente in a moment's notice, able to attack and defend itself.
Hssis evolved over many generations to hang around in walkways or around corpses of animals, or even people that dared to tread this begotten world in hopes that their food would just stubble upon them with little preamble. They are quick to strike and then retreat back to their slumber, but they don't tend to travel far from where they decide to lay, spending most of their lives in one place, just waiting for their next meal to trip over them.
Obi-Wan can imagine the nuisance that they must have been when people often wonder these valleys back in the olden days of the Sith Empire. People being mauled or going missing completely had to be a very regular occurrence. Obi-Wan does not envy them. What a positively daft way to live your life. But then again, it was a different time. A different society, so maybe it's not his place to judge. At least, not out loud.
Regardless of whether Obi-Wan meant his words as an order or a reminder, the advice was still a sound one, so Qui-Gon nods his head. "My thoughts exactly, Obi-Wan." With his hand still on his Padawan's back, he leads the young boy barely nine years old around the dangerous mound and back on track toward the academy.
Obi-Wan looks back and forth across the valley to the tombs that rest around them. In any normal situation, the tombs should be mostly, if not completely, buried beneath the red sea of sand, especially since the caretakers of this place have long since turned to naught but minerals in the loose dirt beneath his feet. But he knows that this world obeys the wishes of its dark residents. The tombs are still open. People are still welcome to explore to their heart's desire.
And pay the price for coming ill-prepared or sufficiently unlucky.
Obi-Wan turns to face forward when the back of his head starts itching with a desire not his own. The tombs call to him. They want him to explore. They want to swallow him whole. And if he isn't careful, it won't just be the world that consumes him, but the spirits that never left.
"Do you remember when we first met?" Qui-Gon asks, pulling Obi-Wan's eyes over his shoulder at the man directing him.
"Not especially," Obi-Wan says with a touch of playful sarcasm. "I was a baby. You found me here, on Korriban. A powerful Force-Sensitive child living amongst the spirits of the evil men and Sith Lords. So, you took me to Stewjon for the Order to find me."
"Yes," Qui-Gon says, "it was safer for you there. But we've had to come back many times. It's why I took you into my apprenticeship so young. You still need to learn the ways of the Jedi and the Sith. The Force brought me here, to you. Despite Grandmaster Yoda's watchful eye on this world, I was able to get here without fully knowing what would await me. I found you, and a greater understanding."
"The Keeper has reached out to you again," Obi-Wan says, already knowing the truth. "It's time for the next step in my training."
"Yes," Qui-Gon says. "And once more, the pathway to Korriban has opened to us. We must go now to meet with the Keeper. And as always, you must be on your best behavior, Obi-Wan. The swell of the Dark Side grows more and more powerful over these last few years. Something is happening, and Korriban is feeding off the negativity and hungers for more. Old spirits stir from deep within their tombs and below the surface of the sand - those swallowed by the planet before their time. Never honored. Never remembered. Nothing more than vengeful, malicious spirits now."
The scorch of the sun on the sand, for the first time, leaves, even for the briefest of moments as a cold chill takes its place. Obi-Wan presses his lips together in terror as Qui-Gon calmly leads him forward.
"Careful, Master," Obi-Wan says softly. "The Spirits hear you."
A baited moment of silence follows before he says, slowly, "They always do. Come, the Keeper awaits us beyond the valley in the old Sith Academy."