Obi-Wan couldn't stop touching Anakin. He feared that as soon as he moved away from Anakin that the other man would disappear from sight. Obi-Wan didn't know what was going on. How he had gotten out of the cell so easily or how he had even been able to find Anakin. Obi-Wan didn't understand it, but at the moment the only thing that concerned him was that he was with Anakin. Dooku couldn't hurt Anakin again as long as he was there to protect him. He had made the guards go away, after all.
"We need to get out of here," Anakin said, nudging his nose against Obi-Wan's cheek. "Artoo can patch into the building's computer system and find us a safe route out."
Winding the fingers of his left hand around the thin braid that trailed down from behind Anakin's ear, Obi-Wan squeezed his eyes shut and inhaled deeply. "Go. Yes, we need to go. Where are we going to go?"
"I'll figure that out once we get back to my ship," Anakin assured him, nodding his head briefly. "We'll go somewhere safe. Somewhere that you can get better."
"What about you?" Obi-Wan protested, pulling back so that he could see Anakin's eyes. "You're arm. We have to do something about your arm. There has to be some way to fix it."
A smile curved the corners of Anakin's lips as he leaned forward to press a kiss to Obi-Wan's forehead. We'll fix my arm too. Don't worry. Everything will be all right in a little while."
There was a second series of beeps, more insistent than the last ones.
"We're coming, Artoo," Anakin assured the small droid as he pulled away from Obi-Wan. He didn't move far, his hand still resting on Obi-Wan's arm.
As Anakin started towards the doorway, his hand slid down to grasp Obi-Wan's. Obi-Wan shifted their grip, folding his fingers through Anakin's and squeezing. That he was nervous was a vast understatement. They had no weapons, Obi-Wan himself still only wearing trousers and a pair of boots, both of them were injured, and their only protection was what the small astromech droid could offer. Oddly enough, Obi-Wan felt familiar in the situation.
With each step, Obi-Wan could feel a thick, dark tentacle poking at his brain. As it attempted to probe deeper into his mind, a pain built at the base of his skull. There was a sudden stab and Obi-Wan stumbled, dropping to his knees despite Anakin's best attempt to keep him on his feet. Both of his hands went up to hold his head, the fingers of his right hand still twined with Anakin's.
Almost as soon as they'd left the cell, Anakin could feel Dooku's presence. The former Jedi was some distance away, obviously attempting to stall them as he sent troops after them. By simply strengthening his mental shields, Anakin was able to block all but a small trickle of Dooku's probing. He had not realized Obi-Wan's plight until the older man stumbled to his knees, clutching at his head.
"Obi-Wan," Anakin cried as he dropped to his knees in front of his master.
Scooting forward, Anakin attempted to draw the other man into his arms, guiding him with the stump that had been his right arm and a few subtle nudges of the Force. Reaching out through the Force, he latched onto their training bond, using it to anchor himself to Obi-Wan's mind. Acting purely on instinct, Anakin attempted to use his own abilities to help shore up the barriers around Obi-Wan's mind to keep Dooku out.
"Focus on me," Anakin murmured as he curled his upper body over Obi-Wan's hunched form. "You can feel me and hear my voice. Just focus on that and push everything else away. Focus on me."
As he spoke, Anakin could feel Dooku's presence fading not only from Obi-Wan's mind, but from his own as well. The count appeared distracted and Anakin planned to take full advantage of that distraction so that he and Obi-Wan would have time to escape.
Obi-Wan mumbled something against Anakin's stomach that he couldn't hear, his left arm moving to snake around the younger man's waist. His other hand still clutched Anakin's tightly. The two men stayed crouched together in the corridor for several minutes, R2-D2 standing guard, while Obi-Wan tried to regain his center. Anakin kept himself attuned to the area around them, making sure that no one was in the immediate vicinity.
There was a warm, pleasant humming in his mind. He'd been aware of Obi-Wan's presence in his mind since he was nine, but this was something more. Anakin could almost physically feel the tentative caress from Obi-Wan's mind. The trail of their bond was much more substantial than it had been only minutes before.
"We need to get moving again," Anakin prodded, nuzzling his face against the back of Obi-Wan's neck.
It took a little bit more coaxing, but Anakin was able to urge Obi-Wan to his feet. The older man was pale, his body still trembling slightly from the invasion into his mind. Anakin kept an arm around Obi-Wan's waist, supporting him as they made their way through the corridors towards what Anakin hoped was an exit and his starfighter.
Slowly, with each step he took, Obi-Wan began to rely less and less on Anakin's support. Anakin could feel the strength returning to his master. Even so, Obi-Wan did not pull away. He stayed close to Anakin, hopefully taking the same comfort from Anakin's presence as Anakin did from his. Though he had tried not to, during their latest separation Anakin had been unable to keep his thoughts from straying into darker territory. He had feared at times that he would not see Obi-Wan again. That Obi-Wan had been taken from him permanently. Anakin had tried his best not to succumb to his doubts, knowing that they led to the Dark Side. With Obi-Wan now returned to him, Anakin could easily release those fears into the Force as he had been taught.
In the corridor behind the grand veranda overlooking the execution arena Count Dooku was pacing. The guards that he had sent to retrieve Kenobi had returned with glazed expressions to inform him that the Jedi had informed them that he had other business to attend to and needed to leave.
"So you allowed him to simply leave?" Dooku ground out, keeping his face expressionless.
"Yes, my lord. It was what he requested."
With a deep scowl and a wave of his hand, Dooku manipulated the Force, squeezing the larynx of the hapless soldier and his companion. When both men fell to the ground in lifeless heaps, Dooku turned about on his heel and stalked out onto the balcony where Nute Gunray, Po Nudo of Ando, Toonebuck Toora of Sy Myrth, Shu Mai of the Commerce Guild and the other leaders of the Separatist movement, along with the bounty hunter Jango Fett waited for the scheduled executions. An execution that, irritably enough, was to be delayed.
"What is going on here, Dooku?" the Neimoidian demanded of him, his beady eyes trained on the former Jedi. "I thought there were to be executions."
"A minor setback, Viceroy," Dooku placated him, smiling placidly at him and the others gathered on the balcony. "Give me but a short while and I will have the situation remedied."
All of the corridors looked the same. Obi-Wan could sense no difference in any of them even though the small droid appeared confident of its path. That concern was, oddly enough, only secondary in Obi-Wan's mind at the moment. What puzzled Obi-Wan more was the strange aura of peace brushing against his mind. The presence was familiar to him and it didn't take Obi-Wan long to come to the realization that it was Anakin's own consciousness he could feel weaving in and out of his own.
... find somewhere safe. We need to find somewhere that Dooku can't find us. Where we can find out what happened to Obi-Wan...
Don't forget about yourself, Anakin. You've been injured far worse than me.
Anakin stopped suddenly, twisting about and grabbing hold of Obi-Wan's shoulders. He turned both of them so that they stood face to face. The blue eyes Obi-Wan found himself gazing into were shining with an emotion that he couldn't quite place. He lowered his head, waiting for a rebuke, only to have Anakin raise his head with fingertips under his chin.
Obi-Wan?
Obi-Wan hesitated a moment, suddenly unsure. Is this not right? I did not mean to invade your thoughts. Only they were so loud...
You can hear my actual thoughts?
Well, yes. Should I not be able to?
Anakin's mouth quirked slightly before offering Obi-Wan a fond smile. There is a great deal about this mission that should not be. This, however, is more welcome than the rest.
With only Anakin's word to go by, Obi-Wan nodded his head solemnly. Their gazes held for a moment and then they were hurrying to catch up with R2-D2 who had not stopped during their brief exchange.
Something had gone amiss. Rather than feeling the demise of Obi-Wan Kenobi's Force signature and an intense rage darkening Anakin Sky walker's, Darth Sidious instead felt something quite the opposite. There was pain and suffering to be sure, but even still there was hope. Hope that should not have been there if Tyrannus was doing as he'd been ordered. The execution of young Skywalker's beloved master should have already taken place, before the boy's very eyes. Sidious wanted to ensure that his future apprentice was forever haunted by the fact that he had not been strong enough or fast enough to save his master's life.
Ten years ago just such an event had nearly presented him with a spy lurking within the meddlesome Jedi Order. Though still a padawan, Kenobi had flirted dangerously with the Dark Side of the Force. Sidious had reveled in the anger and hatred that had been rolling off the young man for far too short a time. Indoctrinated with the teachings of the Dark Side, Kenobi and Skywalker would have been formidable tools in his bid to destroy the Jedi Order and the Republic they served. Sidious had no doubt that then, as now, it would have only taken the fall of one to bring about that of the other.
"Perhaps it is just as well that Dooku didn't kill Kenobi," Sidious mused aloud as he fingered the hilt of Obi-Wan's lightsaber.
Anakin cried out as he was quite sudden shoved to the ground by Obi-Wan. Before he could even think to guess what was going on, Obi-Wan had surged forward, launching himself at a figure stepping forward from an intersecting corridor. The figure that Obi-Wan tackled to the ground seemed equally surprised and did not have time to deactivate his lightsaber. Seeing Obi-Wan reach a hand towards that deadly weapon caused a surge of panic to course through Anakin and he cried out a second time, scrambling forward as quickly as he could.
"Obi-Wan, no!"
Sensing the motivation behind Obi-Wan's actions, Master Windu deactivated the violet blade just as Obi-Wan's left hand reached for it.
Obi-Wan struggled as Anakin wound his arm around his bare torso, drawing him off of Master Windu. It would have been a difficult task if he'd had two arms, but the loss of his right arm made it that much harder. He managed with some difficulty while Obi-Wan spewed forth a series of curses in half a dozen languages, kicking out at the fallen Jedi Master.
"Obi-Wan, calm down," Anakin pleaded, holding tight to the other man as he continued to lash out and curse. "Master Windu is a friend. He doesn't mean either of us any harm."
Tensing, Obi-Wan looked up briefly at Anakin before turning a glare towards the other man. "He doesn't feel like a friend."
"He is an ally then," Anakin amended, knowing that he did not have the time to explain the complicated relationship that existed between them and Master Windu. "He will not hurt either of us."
Still uncertain, Obi-Wan nonetheless relaxed against Anakin's chest. Anakin could only imagine the sight they presented to the ever-serious Jedi Master: the Chosen One and his master, exhausted, filthy, in various states of undress, bruised, burned, battered, bloodied, and missing limbs. Given his ability in the Force, he could likely sense the increased bond between them, a solid tether joining their souls.
All things considered, Master Windu appeared to be taking it all in stride.