He was floating, bobbing up and down slowly. It was extremely calming. Soothing. As much as he wanted to relax, there was a niggling of doubt in the back of his mind. It kept him from simply allowing himself to slip back into that welcoming haze. When he realized just what it was, Obi-Wan reached out, searching for that comforting hum that was Anakin's presence. Obi-Wan's eyes shot open when he encountered only nothingness.
For the first time Obi-Wan realized that what he was floating in was indeed liquid.
ANAKIN! Obi-Wan screamed silently as he began thrashing about in his watery prison. Anakin, where are you? Anakin!
It was a tube that he was in. Obi-Wan pounded his fists against the glass walls, hoping to break them so that he could escape. He had to find Anakin. The last thing he could remember was them being fired upon by those white armoured soldiers. If Anakin had been killed...
Anakin!
Then, suddenly, Anakin was there. He was hazy, the glass between them, but there was no mistaking his identity. Obi-Wan pressed his right hand against the glass, trying to reach the younger man. On the opposite side of the glass, Anakin touched his palm to Obi-Wan's. Even though he couldn't physically feel him, Obi-Wan was comforted by his presence. He tried to speak, but there was something lodged in his throat preventing him. Without thought, Obi-wan lifted his left hand to the breathing apparatus he could feel stretching his mouth wide. Breathing in a final, deep lungful of air, Obi-Wan pulled.
There was a pounding on the glass. Obi-Wan only dimly registered that it was Anakin's right hand making the noise. Holding his gaze on Anakin's wavering countenance, Obi-Wan continued to pull. Obi-Wan's eyes widened at the painful drag in his throat the act created, but he would not be deterred.
His vision began to waver and he was having difficulty breathing before he had the tube even halfway out. And Anakin was screaming. Through the liquid and glass that separated them, Obi-Wan could see him screaming even if he couldn't hear the words. Obi-Wan's actions were cut short by a sudden upward momentum. With both hands he scrabbled at the glass, trying to grasp at Anakin, not caring that it was a futile act.
Anakin scrambled up the small set of stairs to the platform where Obi-Wan would end up now that he had been released from the bacta tank. Anakin had never seen anyone react like that upon waking in the tank. Obi-Wan had been frantic and Anakin feared for him when he began to remove the breathing tube. He hadn't thought that Obi-Wan would be so disoriented. Obi-Wan was supposed to have come back to awareness slowly, be relaxed. He wasn't supposed to have been trying to punch his way free of it.
"... Anakin..."
When he reached the top of the stairs, Obi-Wan had been fully removed from the bacta tank. The copper-haired man was lying curled on his side, weakly coughing up the fluid he'd swallowed in his attempt to get the breathing tube out. Anakin rushed forward, immediately gathering Obi-Wan into his arms.
"Relax, Obi-Wan," Anakin murmured into Obi-Wan's soaked hair. "You're all right. You were in a bacta tank. They had to put you in there after you got shot. But you're okay now."
Still coughing, Obi-Wan clutched weakly at Anakin's left arm which was draped across his stomach. He was mumbling nonsense in between coughs, his eyelids fluttering. Anakin tried to listen, to figure out just what it was Obi-Wan was saying, but the words were too garbled to understand.
"He needs more rest," the medical droid informed Anakin. "Master Kenobi woke up sooner than we'd expected."
"Can I take him back to our rooms?" Anakin was undeterred when the droid responded in the negative. "But I'm certain that Master Kenobi will recover better in our rooms. It'll be more familiar to him and that's what he needs right now."
"Agree with young Skywalker do I."
Anakin twisted his head about, staring at Yoda who was hovering just above the level of the platform on his hoverchair. He bowed his head respectfully. "Thank you, Master Yoda."
"Anakin," Obi-Wan whispered, his grip tightening around Anakin's forearm for a brief moment. There was panic in Obi-Wan's voice, fear that Anakin had hoped to never hear again.
"I'm right here," Anakin assured him, turning back to peer down at him with what he hoped was a comforting smile. "I'm not going anywhere."
Obi-Wan didn't look the least bit assured by that. He had his upper lip trapped between his teeth as he stared up at Anakin, brows furrowed slightly. "The hum is gone. I can't hear you."
Anakin squeezed his eyes shut tight. He'd fought Master Yoda the entire way back to Coruscant, pleading for him to not put the Force inhibitor back on Obi-Wan. He couldn't stand the nothingness his bond with Obi-Wan evaporated into when it was on. It wasn't only for his own sake that he wanted the inhibitor left off. He'd wanted Obi-Wan to have at least that one small comfort when he woke. Anakin was fairly certain that was why Obi-Wan had reacted so violently in the bacta tank. Anakin knew full well how frightening it was to suddenly be without that bond, to expect to feel someone else's presence and experience only a void. He'd been fully coherent when the bond had been severed the first time and it had still pained. Obi-Wan had been unconscious as a result of the blaster shot and had woken without the one comforting presence he knew.
"Remove the collar you may," Yoda assented in response to the unasked question. "However, calm Obi-Wan must remain till more control he learns."
Obi-Wan tensed slightly when the medical droid approached with a strange looking probe aimed at him. He tried to curl into himself, but Anakin wouldn't let him. At Anakin's prodding he tilted his head back, exposing his throat to the droid. Even with Anakin's comforting presence, Obi-Wan screwed his eyes shut tight as the metallic probe neared his throat. There was a faint i click /i and Obi-Wan was immediately filled by a rush of warmth.
Anakin...?
I'm right here, Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan inhaled a deep breath through his nose, a smile curving the corners of his lips. That simple nudge he could feel against his mind, the one that was Anakin, filled him with such comfort that for the moment he didn't care that he didn't know what was going on around him.
"Take Obi-Wan back to his room, you should," the croaking voice of Master Yoda said from somewhere behind Anakin. Obi-Wan could not recall ever meeting this particular Jedi, but at the moment he liked him far better than he did Master Windu. "Rest there he will before the Council you present yourselves to."
Even though he had a feeling that he'd been sleeping for quite some time, Obi-Wan was exhausted and required Anakin's help to get to his feet. He wavered slightly, his balance out of sorts, but was able to right himself after a moment. It was around then that Obi-Wan realized that he was only wearing what amounted to a white loincloth. Hardly substantial enough to be wandering the distance between where they were now and the quarters Anakin had spoken of.
Mostly likely plucking the thought from his very mind, Anakin removed his cloak and draped it over Obi-Wan's shoulders. As Anakin went to pull away, Obi-Wan reached out and grabbed hold of Anakin's gloved right hand. Muddled as his memory was of events long past, Obi-Wan knew that his memory of recent events hadn't been altered and the last time he'd been conscious Anakin had been missing his right hand at the elbow.
"Replaced, young Skywalker's hand was. Durasteel where flesh and bone once was."
Obi-Wan swiveled his head towards Master Yoda's voice, his eyes widening at the sight. He hadn't given much thought to what the mysterious Master Yoda would look like but the little green goblin creature most definitely wasn't it.
"Lighten my heart it does to see you well, Obi-Wan," Master Yoda said affectionately. "Lost to us we feared you were."
Obi-Wan could think of no response to give save a brief nod of his head.
"Leave you now, I will. Rest the both of you should and tomorrow gather the Council I will," Master Yoda informed them, turning about on his hover chair and leaving them alone on the platform with the medical droid.
Anakin doubted very much that Master Yoda had intended for them to rest together, but neither was willing to let the other out of his sight yet. They were lying tangled together beneath the sheets on Obi-Wan's bed, both of them fighting off sleep. It was the first moment of calm either of them had enjoyed in what felt like months. They laid quietly, soaking up one another's presence in the Force, feelings of safety and comfort passing between them.
"Are you really all right?" Obi-Wan whispered, the fingers of his left hand toying with the slender braid that lay between them. His eyes, however, that serene blue-grey gaze was locked on his face, searching out any hint of a lie.
"I'm really all right," Anakin confirmed, lifting his right hand to wiggle his new mechanical fingers in the small space that separated them. "The medical droids attached this yesterday while you were still in the bacta tank. I haven't had much time to test it out yet, but I'm told that it will function just as well as my own hand did."
"Can I see it?"
Obi-Wan's voice, when he'd asked the question, was hesitant. His eyes dropped from Anakin's for that brief moment, as though he didn't have the right to ask such a thing. So Anakin gave him his answer. Holding his right hand out between them, Anakin turned his arm just enough so that Obi-Wan could reach the clasps that held the glove tight around his new durasteel appendage.
With the utmost care, as though it were living flesh beneath, Obi-Wan unclasped the glove. He then slid his hand up Anakin's arm, twining their fingers together. He tightened his grip, sinking his short nails into the new leather, and pulled. Slowly, inch by inch, the durasteel skeleton that was his right forearm was exposed.
Once the glove was removed, Obi-Wan set it down on the brief bit of mattress that separated them, his eyes never straying from Anakin's right hand as he flexed it about.
"It's beautiful," Obi-Wan murmured in awe.
Still staring at it in wonderment, Obi-Wan ran his fingers along the different components, tracing the metallic bones and ligaments with wide eyes. Anakin wanted to feel self-conscious, and had before, but at that moment he could only watch Obi-Wan who was marveling at the technology like a child presented with a new toy.
With his free left hand, Anakin pressed his fingertips against the underside of Obi-Wan's jaw, feeling the heat of his skin and the pulse of his heart. It reassured him that Obi-Wan was alive. Dooku and Sidious still had to be dealt with, but at the moment there was only the two of them lying curled together on the narrow bed.
"How is it that Kenobi and Skywalker have returned to Coruscant?" Sidious demanded of the diminutive hologram of Count Dooku. "I was under the impression that Kenobi was to be killed and Skywalker left open to the influences of the Dark Side. When were those plans altered?"
"Kenobi was more tuned into the Force than we had originally assumed," Count Dooku informed his master, his head bowed respectfully. "He was able to trick his way past his guards and find his way to Skywalker. With the Jedi attacking simultaneously we did not notice their escape until things had calmed down."
Sidious glared at his apprentice, the scowl mostly obscured by his hood. "Guard the Separatist leaders then, if you can manage that much. I will handle things from here."
"As you wish, my master."
"I do wish it."