Title: If Tomorrow Never Comes
Author: SilverDragon
Obi-Wan Kenobi waited, one hand clenched tightly around his lightsaber blade. His bearded jaw was set and there was a grim determination in his eyes. At first glance, a common person wouldn't see him, tucked away in the shadows of the buildings. Obi-Wan was glad for that. He couldn't risk being seen until…
Until Anakin Skywalker sought him out. Obi-Wan knew his former apprentice - no, the boy was still his apprentice, despite all he had done, Obi-Wan quickly corrected, but he knew his apprentice would not be fooled by simple camouflage.
There was a gentle tug in the Force, one that made Obi-Wan's head jerk up. His cool gray eyes narrowed as he took in his surroundings.
"I know you're here, Master Kenobi," Anakin sneered. "Why do you hide like a coward? Reveal yourself!"
Obi-Wan stepped from behind a trash bin. "You did not need to make such a fuss," he said placidly. "I do not hide from my apprentices. When they wish to seek my counsel, I am always there for them."
Anakin leapt forward over a sundry of mechanical components, his rich dark cape unfurling behind him. "Do not," he growled out. "I am no longer your apprentice. I am shamed to say you were ever my master!"
Obi-Wan bowed his head, but kept his gaze on Anakin, who was now within striking distance. "Why do you hate me so?" he said quietly.
"You do not know why?" Anakin shouted. He pointed accusingly at Obi-Wan. "How can you not know? My mother is why! I spent eleven years at your side, begging, pleading, just to go back to save her. You never listened to me. So she died. Her blood is on your hands."
"Why do you lay so much blame on me?" Obi-Wan asked plaintively.
"Why do you continue to answer everything with questions?" Anakin said wryly. He threw back the hood of his cloak, revealing his handsome features. It hurt Obi-Wan to see his apprentice's familiar face contorted with so much hatred.
"You deserve my blame," Anakin continued. "You say you were my master? I have heard masters are supposed to support their padawans. You never did. Not once can I recall a time you supported me. You always tried to hold me back!"
"You never were omnipotent," Obi-Wan said, "Contrary to your belief."
Anakin's dark eyes glittered angrily. He settled one hand on his lightsaber and started to yank it free of his belt, but a strange smile crossed his face and his features neutralized. "You do not know a fraction of my strength, Master. You never allowed me to show you."
"You are incorrigible."
"I am?" Anakin asked angrily. "You are the incorrigible one, Obi-Wan! Shouldn't my mother's death have taught you anything? Shouldn't you have learned to trust my instincts?"
"How can I, when you failed to tell of me of your mother's death until three weeks ago?" Obi-Wan returned.
Anakin hesitated for a second, fumbling for a retort. None came. Blinding anger roared through him and he did draw his blade. In a second, Obi-Wan's blue blade was also up and ready, held defensively and yet easily next to his body. Anakin's fingers trembled over the familiar grips of his lightsaber.
"You chose a red blade," Obi-Wan said. "If I erred, it is because I failed to see your faults, your dark side. My love blinded me - "
Anakin scoffed. "Your love?"
"I love you, don't you know?" Obi-Wan said. "You are my apprentice - and I love you as every master loves his apprentice."
"But not like Qui-Gon would have loved me." Anakin's voice was full of hurt. "Not as Qui-Gon loved you…as my mother loved me."
Obi-Wan shook his head slowly. "There is so much you have not learned," he murmured to himself.
Anakin swung at him, the blade tantalizingly close to Obi-Wan's chest. The Jedi didn't blink. He had known the attack would be a feint. "Maybe I ought to show you what I know!" he snarled. He drove forward again and this time Obi-Wan parried. The two blades met and clashed in the thickly polluted industrial air.
"If you strike at me, my respect for your wisdom only decreases," Obi-Wan said evenly. He ducked underneath a brutal swing and pushed with the Force, sending Anakin stumbling. His apprentice's eyes blazed.
Obi-Wan twisted again and came up on Anakin's other side. He parried a flurry of strokes, allowing Anakin to drive him back toward the nearest wall. When he felt his back against the coarse concrete, he reached out for the Force and leapt, somersaulting over Anakin's head and landing on a fire escape on the second floor. Without hesitation, Anakin followed. Obi-Wan pulled back his arm and struck with all his strength. Anakin parried, but the force of the blow knocked him back to the lower level. He landed hard on his back, the air exploding out of his lungs.
Obi-Wan nimbly landed next to him. "Had enough?" he asked quietly. "You are still my padawan, Anakin. It can end now and we can return to the Temple. All is not lost."
Anakin spat out a bloody tooth and glared up at the Jedi master. "It is lost. I am not your apprentice. I am Palpatine's apprentice!" he leapt up and winced as his twisted ankle took his weight. He stumbled.
Without conscious thought, Obi-Wan reached out a hand to help him, but Anakin swung wildly at him, swaying dangerously on his ankle, his face twisted in pain. Obi-Wan pulled back, his expression stoic.
"You never accept my help. How can you accuse me of never offering?" he admonished gently. He deactivated his lightsaber. Seeing his chance, Anakin sprang at him, but Obi-Wan stepped aside and Anakin's precarious balance was lost. He fell hard to the ground, banging his head and elbow against the hard ground with a sickening thud. Distinctly, Obi-Wan heard the sound of bones cracking.
Anakin moaned, blood dribbling from his mouth. His short hair was plastered to his forehead and the stump of hair where his padawan braid had been was knotted. "I hate you!" he raved, spitting out a mouthful of blood and dirt.
"Anakin! Obi-Wan!" Padmé raced over to the pair, her eyes solemn. She turned to Obi-Wan. "What happened here?" she shouted.
"Padmé, Padmé…" Anakin reached for her, but Padmé gently folded his injured arm back into his own chest. "Help is coming, Anakin." She signaled to her guard and they began moving Anakin towards the landspeeder. At last, only Padmé and Obi-Wan were left standing in the impromptu battlefield.
Her voice was soft and composed now. "What happened, Master Kenobi?"
Obi-Wan sighed. "I did not intend for things to be this way, Padmé. I sought him out only to speak with him."
"I know. I understand. I do not approve of his renounced relations to the Jedi and I most certainly do not approve of his apprenticeship to Palpatine." Padmé sighed. "Anakin reacted badly," she guessed.
"Yes." Obi-Wan did not offer any further words. None were necessary.
Padmé glanced at the bloody ground and knelt down before Anakin's blood, breathing in the essence of her husband. She looked up at Obi-Wan, tears shining in her eyes. "He was not always like this, Obi-Wan. He loved you. But Palpatine played with his mind, his fantasies, and his dreams."
"I know," Obi-Wan said quietly.
An uncomfortable silence fell between the pair as both looked off, both struggling with emotions. At last Padmé spoke.
"Perhaps things will be better tomorrow," Padmé said brokenly.
Obi-Wan paused pensively. "And what if tomorrow never comes?" he asked softly.
The End