Disclaimer: For hiring an actor with an annoying dot on his head that has provided us with three movies of entertainment, go George! Ewan McGregor rocks…. Oh, and for the disturbing lyrics witnessed in Chapter 9, thank you Nine Inch Nails and Trent Reznor (Snape).
Authors' Note- Alright, sorry for the lengthy delay, but Christmas and finals are not a good combination if you want to get something posted. Special tribute to second period, a free hour that is responsible (in all its boringness) for the birth of this story, and which will be sorely missed…. Hot pretzels.
Thanks to: QueenMeep- That means so much to us that you would take the time to go out of your way and respond. Thanks for all the positive feedback! KillinBuddy- So, do you get 'Bob has little fishes,' yet? LESS THAN JAKE KICKS ASS!Those wonderfully entertaining lyrics from an inside joke worthy experience, were from the song 'The Collector.' MercutioArcher- We don't want to finish it either, which is why we need ideas for other stories! Sorry we made you choke. Lauren in particular has a special talent for that. ShadowCaster360- OMG! We love cheesecake! And D.C. is weird…. Anyway, uh, where were you born? You know, just out of curiosity. Do you have tea in the afternoon? Ideas would be great, farewell to you too! Princess-Aiel- We hope you found your brain medicine, and we hope that this break has given you time to recover! padmenaberrie32- Glad you liked it. Some people just don't understand Star Wars. SabeTyran- We bow down to your review! Geez, thanks! Of course, we're both very sorry for almost killing you. Lauren especially does have that tendency. swiftykenobi- Total genius of my buddy Kaely! Those pink candles … you gotta love them. Rono- Yeah, we were kinda worried at first when you didn't review! Glad to see you're back! We can't pick our favorite either … you're the best! Jedi X-man Serena Kenobi- We're glad it made you laugh. I'll give you one guess- Don't care, good day.
An Unexpected Guest
Chapter 10
I have pursued Obi-wan down blank corridor after blank corridor and still he has not tired, not slipped up, not provided any opportunity for me to succeed in killing him. It's so like him to be so good at this, even after hacking up mouthfuls of phlegm which he promptly and disgustingly spits on the ground at my feet in an obvious attempt to make me gag (or just slip in). It somehow doesn't surprise me to find him nowhere in sight now when I follow him into one of the many seemingly pointless rooms aboard the Death Star. As always, it is unhelpfully dark in this room and I decide to keep to the numerous shadows in hopes that if I can't see Obi-wan, he can't see me either.
After several long minutes of skulking around corners and tip-toeing rather loudly through the dark, I spy movement ahead of me. Obi-wan shifts uncomfortably in his current stance, his back toward me and his figure silhouetted against an immense circular window that appears to look out over nothing. I pause before approaching him, surprised by how meditative he looks at the moment – the moment before I will kill him. I sneak as quietly as possible, every second bringing me closer to achieving my goal….
"I can hear you, Anakin," he says suddenly without turning. I stop in my tracks as he continues, "If you plan to sneak up on someone, I'd hold your breath next time."
I don't say anything, but grumble slightly at my stupidity and my cacophonous breathing. Slowly I approach him, not bothering to try and engage him in battle, and taking advantage of the momentary lapse in running and jumping and fighting. I stand beside him, and it is a moment before I realize he is unarmed, his lightsaber clipped safely at his belt. Now is the time and I know it. If ever I was to kill Obi-wan Kenobi, this was my chance. Something stops me though. For some inexplicable reason, I can't move my arm to strike the final blow. I shut off my saber, for the time-being of course, and stare at him in pensive silence.
"That was probably a really stupid move. You do know that, don't you?" Obi-wan says slowly.
"Yeah, I do."
He sighs, deeply, heavily, tiredly. "Why couldn't you trust me, Anakin?"
The question doesn't even surprise me for some reason. It's as if I always knew he was going to ask it, bringing out my doubts, my fears, and my mistakes. Still, all I can manage to say is a rather unintelligent, "What?"
"I would have trusted you with my life, and I often did. Was it at least worth it?" He turns toward me and I can't help but notice a certain sort of pleading shadow in his eyes.
It makes me uncomfortable.
"Was, er, what worth it?"
"This," he exclaims in a simple word that stings far more than it should. "All of this and all that you left. Betraying a family that you knew for more than half of your life to destroy a family that you hadn't even created yet."
I want to protest, I want to come back with accusations of the Jedi Order betraying me. I want to scream at Obi-wan for having the nerve to lecture me yet again, about something that he couldn't ever possibly understand. But the words won't come this time. I know enough to know now what I have lost, and his question is not a lecture, it's just a question, one that I don't have an answer for just yet.
He stares at me for a moment longer and then seems to almost stare past me, his eyes widening as he swiftly draws his lightsaber. Thinking that he has suddenly decided to pick up the battle once more, I re-ignite my blade as well. It appears however, that a fight with me is not what Obi-wan is seeking at the moment. After a few prolonged seconds of nothing happening, I turn in search for some reason for his behavior and finally spot a clone – one clone – standing some distance behind me.
"Er, my apologies sir," the clone begins awkwardly. "I, uh, wasn't aware that you'd be using this facility at the moment."
I hardly even register a word of what he's saying. My mind is with Obi-wan, who is glaring at the clone with a seething venomous fury I would not have thought possible of him.
"That's him, Anakin," he mutters through gritted teeth. "That's the clone that killed Boga!"
"Boga?" I ask, wondering if this is some Jedi Knight that I had somehow never heard of.
"The dragon mount I acquired on Utapau when I went to kill Grievous."
"Dragon mount?"
"It was a giant lizard," Obi-wan states more simply.
"Wait, why was there a giant lizard?" I ask confused.
"Well I had to get around on that planet somehow, and giant lizards were the primary mode of transportation," he says defensively.
"So you really used a lizard? Why couldn't you just walk?"
"If you're so-" But Obi-wan is cut off when we hear the clone-trooper trying clumsily to sneak away from our argument. "And just where do you think you're going?" Obi-wan asks, staring pointedly at the clone.
"Uh … I don't want to disturb your battle with Lord Vader," the clone says nervously.
"How do you even know that this is the clone that killed, uh, that lizard thing?" I ask Obi-wan. "They all look alike!"
"I know," Obi-wan says coldly. "I just know."
"So what are you going to do to, kill him?" I ask. The clone looks frightened at my words. "A Jedi does not take revenge, Obi-wan."
He gives me a contemptuous glare, obviously annoyed by my mocking comment. For a moment it seems almost natural, almost normal between us with me irritating him for once. I can feel the shadow of a smirk cross my face, and although it's so foreign, so nearly forgotten, it also feels right in a way. I have barely enough time to process this, however, before the clone moves once more.
"Stop doing that!" Obi-wan shouts, and to my surprise he actually starts toward the clone before seemingly remembering just who exactly he is. I've never seen him this angry, and all because of a lizard?
"What is with you?" I ask to Obi-wan's back as he stiffens, still glaring at the trembling clone. He doesn't say anything and I can tell he is struggling to come to a decision, struggling to regain his Jedi composure. "Oh Force, Obi-wan just do something!"
I stride forward and, out of frustration, out of confusion, and out of some unspoken understanding that I was meant to do it all along, I bring down my saber upon the offending clone, separating his head cleanly from the rest of his body. And then Obi-wan hits me.
"Ow!" I say, rubbing the part of my arm that is still an arm. "What did you do that for?"
"You killed him!"
"Yeah, therefore helping you. I know I haven't known you for a while, but I'm pretty sure that's not how you usually show appreciation."
"But why?" Obi-wan asks skeptically, staring down at the corpse of a Jango Fett look-alike. "We're not even on the same side!"
"I don't know why!" I say. "And I thought there wasn't even supposed to be a why! There's not supposed to be an absolute side, is there Obi-wan?" I hardly know what I'm saying anymore, and even as I throw the teachings of the Jedi in his face, I myself begin to wonder why. Why do I want Obi-wan's appreciation? Why does his voice keep ringing in my head, "Was it worth it?"
"You can't just go around killing people!" he grasps desperately. "Now we're going to have a hundred angry clones after us!"
"You were totally about to kill him yourself, and it's not a hundred clones, it's a hundred drunk, party-going clones who are too afraid of me to do anything anyway!"
"You're so sure of yourself!" he snaps. "Did it ever occur to you that you can't fix everything, that you can't save everyone, that you're not all-powerful?"
And before I know it, our lightsabers are locked once more and we are fighting our way to the door, trying desperately not to trip over the nameless head (well, it may have been named by Palpatine at some point) on the floor as we go.
We continue out the room, through one of countless dark corridors, our lightsabers locked in fierce battle. Obi-wan's attacks seem to get stronger the longer we fight, and I find myself repeatedly giving up more and more ground. I cannot remember the last time I have had to work this hard, and for a moment I wonder why I can't match his strength.
As I dodge yet another one of Obi-wan's attacks, it becomes evident that neither of us is planning on giving up, or even slowing down any time soon. It seems almost pointless, like a diversion or some sort of channel for all that we've been through and all that we've done to each other. Somewhere inside I tell myself that I don't want to do this anymore, that I don't want to be this. The confusion between what I am, who I am, and every truth that my heart is telling me only makes me frustrated. I lunge toward Obi-wan and wonder idly if I can win this battle. Obi-wan blocks my attack and leads me into another one of the infinite meaningless rooms of the Death Star.
I look around for a brief second and realize that there is an enormous hole in the middle of the room. Obi-wan seems to be distracted by the hole and narrow pathways above and around it. I take this chance to try and disarm him, but unfortunately for me, he leaps away at the last second, and lands a good distance away from me.
"WAIT!" Obi-wan shouts at the top of his lungs, which causes me to stop and listen to what he has to say. "Why, Anakin, is there a GIANT HOLE in the middle of this room?" he asks. I am speechless at his question. I had never really thought about it before. "I mean really, what purpose could this possibly serve?"
"Well, it could, uh, you know," I flounder, not really sure why Palpatine would insist on having a hole.
"What if someone fell in it? Where does it even go?"
"Erm…" I say, thinking about how silly this whole conversation is.
"Why do we always fight around ridiculous obstacles? What ever happened to fighting on flat ground?"
"Well-"
"Lord Vader!" I hear a voice behind me yell. I look around to see the smiling face of Palpatine a few feet away.
"Oh boy, just when this day couldn't get any better…." I mutter sarcastically to myself.
"Ah," Obi-wan starts, "Lord Sidious, you're just in time to answer a question that has been bugging me." As I listen to Obi-wan ramble on about the safety hazards of a giant hole with no obvious purpose, a thought occurs to me.
"… this horrible thing must be breaking about every building law, not to mention health code violations-" Obi-wan continues until I cut him off.
"How the hell did you find me?" I yell at Palpatine.
"Obi-wan glares at me momentarily, as if appalled that I would interrupt him. It almost makes me laugh. Almost.
"W-what, Lord Vader?" Palpatine chokes. He seems close to tears and the sight baffles be somewhat. I've never seen him like this.
"It's a big space station," I say simply, "how did you find me?"
"The Force, duh," I barely hear Obi-wan mutter. Choosing to ignore him, I turn to Lord Sidious for his answer.
"I, er, needed to see you," he begins tentatively. "I sensed you were in danger, you know, just like on Mustafar when I ran to your side and placed my hand on your head…." He trails off with a slight, dreamy smile on his face, and out of the corner of my eye I see Obi-wan acting out my very thoughts, which is to gag uncontrollably.
"Sir," I start, "I already told you-"
"I know!" he wails, causing me to jump out of surprise. He approaches me swiftly, placing a dry, cracked hand on each of my shoulders. "But think, my apprentice, have I not given you everything? I can, and always have, offered you the galaxy, ultimate power! I know you love me! I can sense the conflict in you!"
He gazes up at me through those red eyes, that lined face, that balding head, and I stop and I think. I had always trusted this man, I had always believed in him. I betrayed my life because I believed that he could save someone else's, someone who I loved more than anything. But what has come of it? "What is worth it?" I lost everything. I lost everyone else I had ever really cared about. Padme, my child, and, looking at him now, by brother. And suddenly, after all these years, after all these questions, it's like a veil has been lifted from over my ey – er – eyeholes. There is conflict in me, but not over my sexual orientation as Palpatine seems to think.
"I have more songs!" he cries out desperately. There's this one, it's called 'Clos-.'"
"No more songs!" I blurt out, a little more harshly than I would have liked. "I'm sorry sir," I begin more quietly, gently, solemnly, "but you just don't have what I want. You never have." He drops his gaze and I know he is broken. "I can't do this anymore. I can't be this anymore." I see Obi-wan standing and gazing at me in that all-knowing, Obi-wan way. I see his pride, his sense of forgiveness, and I see that, whether by the will of the Force or the will of the man standing before me, his presence was never unexpected.
"Fine," Palpatine snaps bitterly, backing away from me. "Fine, maybe I'll just throw myself down this hole, how would that be for you?" I stare at him, utterly dumbfounded. "Would you even care? Do you even care anymore? This whole Sith thing was just a phase for you? I thought we had something, Vader!" I can tell he's hysterical now, and the sight can only be called a cross between disturbing and hilarious. "Well that's just FINE!" And before I can move, before I can even think of moving, he launches himself into the cavernous, pointless, health-hazardous hole.
A resounding screech rings in my ear – er – I guess my ears anyway, as I stare after him, numb with shock. After a long while, it seems, Obi-wan moves to stand at my side. "Well," he begins bracingly, "you did destroy the Sith, didn't you?"
I turn to him, at a complete loss for words. I have hated him for so long, been so wrong for so long. I understand now that it was never his mistake that caused me such fury, nor was it the Jedi Order's or anyone else's but my own. And with a wave as powerful as Kamino's roiling sea, I feel remorse. Sith don't feel remorse.
"I, Obi-wan, I'm … sorry."
"I know," he says quietly. He smiles, understanding in a way that I have always witnessed, but never understood myself. "So, uh, you know," he goes on awkwardly, "this is a rather large, er, hole, like I said before. We've fought around a lot of holes…."
I catch on quickly, feeling more grateful than I have ever felt before. "Yeah, probably too many…."
"Call it a truce?"
I nod, smiling with a sense of freedom and a feeling of returning to somewhere I had always belonged. Although I know Obi-wan can't see it, I know he can feel it. It is an understanding, a true, albeit unfathomable forgiveness, and a bond that only brothers can share.
Authors' note- Epilogue as soon as we can! MORE IDEAS NEEDED! Geez, come on people, we need something to get us through next semester! Hope you enjoyed, hope the ending was satisfactory, even though we fear it was a bit less humorous and a bit more to the point this time. We're planning on having some more fun with the epilogue … the true end of An Unexpected Guest. It's January, it's cold (except to those who apparently live in Australia), and a review would warm us up sufficiently, even if you're just dropping by to say how much we suck. Eat a Pearson's Salted Nut Roll, just because the name is funny, and have a great day!