Down the Wrong Path - Chapter 8
until dawn and beyond
His nose tickled. He brushed at it and rolled to his side, clinging to the comfort of sleep. Now his beard tickled. He scratched it, struggling to hold onto sleep. If this was a dream, by stars he didn't want it to end. He didn't even mind anymore that he couldn't feel the Force. Perhaps that was a blessing. He had slept so peacefully, deep and undisturbed. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept so well. Definitely not since the war started. But it was even further back than that.
Since Darth Maul killed Qui-Gon, he felt haunted. His entire time since then, all the time spent training Anakin, had been under an uneasy cloud of the rage he'd felt watching Maul slaughter his master. Rage that had then served him to a point, but in the end was not enough. Rage he was not supposed to have, and had worked so hard to control. But it lingered in his memory, waiting for him to slip.
The tickling moved to his ear. Obi-Wan let himself enjoy the sensation, smiling. Persistent young one.
In a flash, he grabbed Anakin's playful hand and pulled, twisting himself so that Anakin was on top of him. The Jedi Master held the younger man tightly around the waist. He slowly opened his eyes, smiling broadly at Anakin's wiggling in a vain attempt to get free. Wiggling that spread more pleasure into him, and only made the Master hold his Padawan closer.
"What have I told you, my very young friend, about waking me unless it's important?"
"And my fulfilling your every fantasy isn't important?" Anakin purred, focusing his wiggling to Obi-Wan's lower half.
Obi-Wan groaned, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. The comfort of sleep held no pleasure like what Anakin was tempting him with. He was passed being simply aroused. From the moment Anakin had picked him up in his arms last night and fled into the forest with them both, he had been in arousal overdrive. Since then, it had just been one constant state of readiness, erupted by just the simplest touch. And Anakin was definitely doing more than the simplest touch with his own groin.
"Oh, Anakin, by stars, you will be the death of me."
Anakin started nuzzling his neck, grazing his nose up and down Obi-Wan's beard.
"Would it be a good death?"
Obi-Wan stretched his neck, allowing him more access.
"If it is the will of the Force, then I think I could live with it. But three times, Anakin. Isn't that enough? Shouldn't we be going?"
"Never enough," Anakin purred into his neck. "I could do this until dawn, and beyond."
Beyond? A cloud flickered over the warm rising sun, cooling his body, and darkening his eyes. Beyond this dawn was another day. One in which they would surely have to find the squad, before the Council fretted long enough to send in a search party. Beyond this dawn was a return to their real lives, where the war raged and demanded their time and bodies to the service of the Republic. Beyond this dawn there would be General Kenobi and Commander Skywalker, Jedi Knights with a professional if brotherly relationship. Nothing more. Beyond this dawn, no longer under the cover of night, they would not be together, not like they had been, had for so long wanted to be. With the sun rising, chasing away the mist of night, so to was their dream evaporating before it could even fully materialize.
The cloud left the sun, but not Obi-Wan's heart.
Anakin stopped his administrations as Obi-Wan's smile fell.
"What's wrong? Did I do something wrong?"
Obi-Wan refocused on him. On the scar that could not mar his chiseled features. On the light in his eyes. On the way his dirty blonde hair hung down to frame his face. Focus on the moment, on the living Force. The advice from so long ago rattled around in his head, and he tried desperately to hold onto it. But it was slippery, it wouldn't stay put. The future, what was going to happen next, made it impossible to live in this moment and cherish it for as long as it lasted. If he couldn't have Anakin forever, what good was being taunted with this momentary pleasure?
Obi-Wan traced his boy's cheek to chin. Anakin purred, leaning into the caress. His boy. But for how long?
"A credit for your thoughts?"
Obi-Wan sighed, removing his hand to Anakin's whimpering displeasure. He pushed himself up on his elbows. Anakin refused to relinquish his spot over Obi-Wan's pelvis as he sunk into a pout.
"You're displeased."
"Not displeased, Ani," he reassured the young man. "I could never be displeased when we are in this position."
Anakin's smile returned and he slid his hands up Obi-Wan's chest. In a snap, Obi-Wan sat up fully and caught Anakin's hands in his.
"But think, Ani, what's going to happen to us when we leave this place?"
His brow furrowed. "What are you talking about?"
"We can't stay here, Anakin. We have to go back, to the squad, to the war, to Coruscant."
Anakin shook his head, a playful smile lapping at his lips. "We don't have to go anywhere, Obi."
He pressed Obi-Wan's own hands against Obi's chest, sliding forward to force the Jedi Master back to the ground. When he met little resistance from the Master, the Padawan stretched his hands above his head before lowering himself down completely on Obi-Wan, meeting him eye to eye, lips to lips.
"But the squad will be looking for us,' Obi-Wan weakly protested, barely even believing himself. "We have our responsibilities to think about. The war, the Council, the Republic."
Anakin looked around, grinning broadly. "I don't see any of them here right now."
"But we should really—"
Anakin pressed his lips to Obi-Wan's. Well, Obi-Wan thought, closing his eyes and pulling Anakin tight to his flushed chest, that's one way to end an argument. Obi-Wan opened his mouth, and Anakin seized the opportunity, plunging his tongue to do a delicious battle with Obi-Wan's. His moan was swallowed by Anakin's mouth as the young man expertly maneuvered his groin over Obi's. And there it was – he was being held captive by his lovely boy in a secluded glade on a primitive planet, and he suddenly understood how to hold on to the moment. This was the living Force. This heat that had welded him to Anakin. This heat would keep them together no matter where they were. All he had to do was touch Anakin and the world would evaporate, the future would be nothing to worry about. Being present with Anakin would capture the awareness of the present he rarely felt.
Anakin drew back, eliciting a whimper from Obi. He laid his head on Obi's bare chest, lazily running his hand up and down Obi's left arm.
"So tight, what muscles you have, what strength," he drawled, lulling Obi-Wan with the softness in his voice. His fingers lingered over the wound he'd received a few years ago from Dooku. "And scars, from being so strong. Where did you get this one?"
"You must remember."
Anakin cocked his head to the side.
"From battling Count Dooku on Geonosis, nearly three years ago."
Anakin blinked. For a moment, Obi-Wan was certain he saw no hint of recognition in the young man's eyes. Then Anakin smiled.
"Of course I remember. I just like hearing you say 'Dooku'," he replied, nuzzling Obi's ear. "The way it just rolls off your tongue."
Obi-Wan cocked an eyebrow. "Really? Count…Dooku." He rolled the name around his mouth like a draught of well-aged Corellian wine. Anakin shivered. "Dooku."
Anakin rolled back to straddle him, capturing his arms once more over Obi's head.
"I'll never join you, Dooku," Obi moaned, bucking into Anakin.
"We'll see about that, my Master."
There was a loud splash as a tree crashed into the brook, spraying them both with water.
"Get off him!"
Anakin reacted first, pulling Obi-Wan to him, which left Obi looking in the exact opposite direction from where the intruder had appeared. He twisted in Anakin's grasp, trying to see, but Ani held him firmly.
"What are you doing here?"Anakin asked, more surprised then worried. That made Obi-Wan really want to see what was going on.
"Anakin, who is it?"
"It is no one."
"I said, let him go!"
That voice…
Obi-Wan wiggled his arms between them and pushed, quickly and hard. He slipped out of Anakin's grip with a plop and fell on his back. A little bit harder than he'd anticipated. Stars dancing along the edges of his vision, he craned his head backwards to see the intruder.
And now nothing made sense.
Standing on the fallen tree was Anakin, facing off against Anakin, who remained seated next to him.
And before Obi-Wan could say anything, the Anakin on the tree launched himself at the other Anakin, lightsaber blazing brightly. In the next moment, that lightsaber sliced through his Anakin's body. Before his mind had any chance of properly processing what the hell was going on, he was holding Anakin's head in his lap while the other Anakin loomed over him, lightsaber still buzzing.
But it wasn't Anakin's head. This head had no hair, was covered in dark smooth scales, and had metal studs in the ears, nose and eyebrows.
Agape, mind refusing to work, Obi-Wan dropped the head and scrambled away from a decapitated body that was no longer Anakin's. Instead, it was most definitely a female, dressed similarly to how Eyuria had been. Her body stopped twitching by the time Obi-Wan had scrambled into the water.
A wave of nausea overtook him, sending his world into a whirlpool as vomited into the river. Everything hurt all at once. His mind was racing, his throat was burning, his heart was pounding. He threw up until the dry heaves racked his body into convulsing coughs. Absolutely nothing made sense. Nothing – nothing.
He squeezed his eyes tight and gripped his side, willing the convulsing to stop. He was barely aware when the other Anakin's – the real Anakin's? – hands gripped his sides and pulled him out of the water. He was shivering, and the world refused to stop spinning. He felt the person that appeared to be Anakin encircle him, hugging Obi-Wan back to his chest. He found himself suddenly too weak to fight off the embrace. He had to get a handle on this new reality. How he prayed his ability to use the Force would return to him at that exact moment. This was no longer a pleasurable experience, not by a freaking longshot.
"Who are you?"
"Master, it's me," the Anakin person said, using Anakin's voice rather convincingly. But so had the other Anakin, the one that he had –
Obi-Wan felt like throwing up again, but that was nothing left. The convulsing coughs returned, which made the Anakin person hold on tighter.
"How – how do I know it's you? And not another one of those things?"
"That was a Xaantin. They appear to be shapeshifters." The Anakin wiped Obi-Wan's sweaty forehead with his sleeve. "Like the bounty hunter we chased in Coruscant. You remember, the one hired by Jango to kill Padme?"
Of course he remembered. Did this person's remembering mean this was the real Anakin Skywalker? Or did the Xaantins have the ability to read minds? Hell, was he even on Xaantiis anymore? Did those damn insects actually kill him off?
"How can I trust you?"
The Anakin sighed, loosening his hold. "Open you eyes, Obi-Wan."
The spinning world had slowed down enough that the nausea did not strike when he opened his eyes.
"Sithspawn!" he growled.
He was back in that damn metal hut!
"How is this possible?"
"The Xaantins are controllers. They were able to manipulate your mind to achieve the results they desired." Anakin got up, slowly hauling Obi-Wan to his feet. Obi-Wan clung to this Anakin as the room quivered with their movement.
"And what did they want?" he groaned, unfortunately getting very used to this unsteady feeling he had.
Anakin sucked in a growl as he led Obi-Wan to the door.
"They wanted to mate you with their females."
"Oh," he whispered, grabbing his head.
Anakin got them to the door and rested Obi against the wall. He clutched it as the room continued to quiver. The images came back of the night before he and Anakin had escaped to the glen – which had been a complete and utter lie? Before that night – had it been yesterday, really? – Eyuria had visited him. Then he dreamt about Padme, in such a vivid dream, and had awoken to – to find himself with a naked Eyuria and himself nearly so.
"It wasn't just a dream, not completely," he wondered aloud.
"Are you all right, Master?"
He couldn't look Anakin in the eyes. Maybe it hadn't actually happened, but he remembered so vividly the way Anakin felt, smelt, tasted in his embrace. Worse, he remembered how much he liked it. And how he'd never be able to get those feelings back.
Obi-Wan's eye twitched, a heat burning in his stomach, not borne of nausea, as he straightened up and grabbed the door.
The Xaantins had done this to him, and he wanted to understand why.
He wanted to make sure it would never happen again. In whatever way was necessary.
"Come, Anakin, we should find the leader to talk to," Obi-Wan said, as calmly as he could muster.
Anakin gripped his lightsaber, and grinned slightly. "For some aggressive talking?"
For once, Obi-Wan let himself agree with the mischievousness in Anakin's tone.
"If it is the will of the Force."
He opened the door, and almost immediately was hit with the Force, with his connection, as if he had just grabbed onto a power coupling with wet hands. The reawakening shot through him, making every cell in his body tingle as he could suddenly sense the world around him. The trees, the animals, the Xaantins. Everything. It was still weak, but he was no longer blind and deaf to the will of the Force. The cover to the world had been torn back, and he could once again see the truth in it.
And he could sense Anakin. Only his former Padawan's presence wasn't coming from beside him. It was coming towards him very quickly. He could feel Anakin's worry suddenly changing to relief when they connected through their bond.
And then he was there, haggard, sweaty, dirty, brandishing both his and Obi-Wan's lightsabers. He had leapt from the ground and now crouched before him, lightsabers pointed backwards, looking up at him from beneath his tousled hair. He was poised to serve. But Obi-Wan couldn't move, couldn't speak. His eyes were fixed on the real Anakin, the one he felt the bond with, the one he completely knew was the man he had trained and fought besides. And he didn't want to look to see what was at his side. He already knew it wasn't human.
Anakin slowly rose, never retreating from his fighting stance, his eyes fixed on the being at Obi-Wan's side.
"Obi-Wan, what has this Xaantin bitch done to you?"
Obi-Wan pivoted slowly and just gave up trying to make his head work for the time being.
What he saw next to him was Eyuria, with dark skin, less hair, and metal studs scattered around her face. But he saw in the eyes, it was Eyuria, in her real body. Her most certainly non-human body.
"Oh, bloody hell."