I was working on one of my longer fics when this idea popped into my head. The other fic of mine briefly flirts with a somewhat similar scenario, but ultimately goes in a much less dark direction.

This one… doesn't.

Image credit goes to renny08 from deviantart.


"I wish I stayed on Coruscant," Anakin grumbles as the varactyl bounds up the narrow ledge at a frightening speed. He's sitting in the saddle behind Obi-Wan, gripping his tunics in a terrified death grip. The saddle rocks violently as the giant lizard runs, and he half expects to fall off at any second.

Obi-Wan's answer is unintelligible over the wind rushing past their ears, but he sounds amused.

Despite the terror of the ride, Anakin feels a hint of triumph. The mission was a success. General Grievous is dead, his mutilated remains lying near his abandoned starfighter. The war could be over soon.

That's when he feels it. Something terrible coming.

"What the-" Anakin exclaims as he sees the anti-aircraft round flying at them.

They desperately throw themselves out of the way just in time. There's an explosion of noise and light, flying chunks of rock and scales and gore, and then they're falling.

Even with the Force, the impact with the water feels like hitting concrete. It takes Anakin a moment to regain his bearings. He finds himself deep underwater, at first not quite sure which way is up, at least fifteen meters under the surface. His boots and lightsaber are pulling him down, threatening to drown him. The gory remains of the dead lizard float on the surface far above him, a large dark shadow slowly turning the water red.

He spots Obi-Wan in the murky water a few meters below him. He seems to be struggling, panicking, trying to swim up but not getting any closer to the surface. Anakin grabs his arm and kicks hard, slowly pulling them both upwards.

Their heads break through the surface inside a cave system. They hold onto the nearest rocks, coughing.

They drag themselves onto dry land, and Anakin feels a paralyzing wave of horror wash over him. He can now see why Obi-Wan struggled to swim so much. His leg is badly broken, a shard of bone jutting out through the bloodied fabric.

Anakin stares, frozen. He doesn't even know how it happened. Was he struck by the rocks blasted apart by the explosion? Or did he hit a rock jutting out of the water when he fell?

Doesn't matter. Just as deadly either way.

Obi-Wan goes pale when he sees the injury.

"Anakin, I… You have to continue alone. I'd slow you down."

"No." Never.

" Anakin -"

"We can still make it," Anakin replies stubbornly. All they need to do is get to a ship, any ship, and they'll be safe.

Anakin slings Obi-Wan's arm over his shoulders and drags him to his feet.

Their progress is slow. Obi-Wan is not a large man, but he's still heavy, and supporting most of his weight is sapping Anakin's energy fast.

It doesn't matter, though. They can make it. They have to make it.

Obi-Wan never makes a sound, but Anakin can feel him flinch badly with every step. Anakin can't even imagine the agony he must be in, and he's guiltily glad for that.

A rock slips from under Anakin's foot, and he doesn't regain his balance fast enough. They both crash to the ground. Obi-Wan screams , so loudly and full of absolute agony that Anakin's heart breaks. He's curled up on the ground, holding his leg, shaking uncontrollably and retching. When he slowly regains some control of himself and sits up, there are streaks of tears on his temples.

"I'm fine," he mumbles hoarsely. "Let's go."

He tries to sling his arm over Anakin's shoulders again, but Anakin doesn't let him.

"No, Master. This is kriffing torture. I'll have to carry you."

" No! That will… that will slow us down even more." He tries his best reassuring smile. "I'll be fine, Anakin."

Reluctantly, Anakin helps him to his feet and they set off again. It is faster this way, when Anakin doesn't have to carry all of his weight, but Anakin still feels horrible.

"Probe!" Obi-Wan hisses urgently.

They duck behind a pile of boulders just in time. A moment later, a search probe slowly floats by. It doesn't see them.

They wait until it's far away, and set off again.


Ten minutes later, they sit in a cave, Anakin panting heavily and trying to catch his breath. He's getting tired quicker than he expected. They can't rest for long, though. They have to keep moving.

"Anakin…" Obi-Wan sits slumped against a cave wall, eyes squeezed shut in pain, his broken leg stretched out in front of him. "We won't… make it at this pace. I'm slowing you down. The clones… they'll catch up to us."

"Then we'll die together."

Anakin could imagine worse ways to go.

"No. You have to survive. You have to save Ahsoka, if she's still alive. You have to send a message to the other survivors and tell them to hide. That's an order , Anakin."

Neither of them sees the second search probe until it's too late.

It flies into the cave and sounds its alarm, summoning the clones towards their location. Anakin manages to chase it down and slashes it in half with his lightsaber, but it's too late. It already sent their coordinates out. The clones will be there in minutes.

Anakin stares at his former Master, his eyes wide.

"Anakin, run."

"I won't leave you behind."

"You have no choice." Obi-Wan unclips his lightsaber from his belt and hands it to Anakin, the emitter end pointed towards himself. Better a fast, clean death than being blasted to shreds.

His former pupil looks horrified. "I won't."

The Jedi Master's voice turns more gentle. "Anakin. I'm not going to survive this, you know that. I… I'd at least prefer it to be quick."

Obi-Wan leans his back against a cave wall and gives him a sad smile. His hand reaches up, his fingers gently brushing against Anakin's cheek. Goodbye. There is so much he wishes he could tell him, a proper goodbye, but there's no time for that. All he can do is give Anakin's free hand a reassuring squeeze.

The clones are almost there, Anakin can sense them. But he can't do it, he can't…

"Anakin. Please."

For the first time, Obi-Wan's voice betrays a hint of fear, but not fear of death.

Fear of slow, messy, painful death. Blaster bolts only rarely kill instantly.

Anakin closes his eyes, and presses the button.

The noise Obi-Wan makes is awful, half a choked gasp, half a cough. He shudders violently and then goes still, eyes rolling back into his head.

Just like that, it's over. Obi-Wan lies on the ground, still and quiet, eyes glazed and unfocused. The blade hums, casting cold blue light on his slack features. Anakin retracts the deadly blade with shaking hands, fighting an urge to vomit.

Obi-Wan makes a few more shuddering struggles for air, each one weaker than the last, and none of them successful. The saber had done far too much damage for that.

But he never feels any of it. To him, the end is as instant as it gets, the lights going out the moment Anakin presses the button. He never feels Anakin briefly hold him in a crushing embrace, rocking back and forth, tears already beginning to roll down his cheeks. He never feels Anakin gently lay him back down, close his eyes, smooth his hair and wipe sweat from his face with his sleeve. He never feels Anakin gently take his hands and fold them over Obi-Wan's stomach. He never hears Anakin's soft panicked sob when he hears the clones' footsteps approaching.

Anakin clips Obi-Wan's lightsaber to his own belt, just to keep something to remember him by, and runs.


CT-2224 and his squad storm into the cavern, blasters raised, ready to kill-

But there's nobody left to fight.

General Kenobi's body lies motionless on the ground. He looks oddly peaceful in death. His hair had been brushed out of his face, and arms are neatly folded over his stomach. Skywalker must have placed them that way, as a final gesture of respect.

Cody checks Kenobi's vital signs, as the protocol dictates to confirm the kill, but he's not surprised when he finds none. The Jedi's lips are bloodless, tinged with blue, and Cody feels no air moving past them. His leg is badly broken, but the small burn mark on his chest tells a clear story about what really killed him.

General Skywalker is nowhere to be seen.

It doesn't take Cody long to piece together what happened. Kenobi might have been an enemy, but the sacrifice still earns him Cody's respect, from one soldier to another.

The dead Jedi's lightsaber is missing, Skywalker must have taken it with him. After a moment of deliberation, Cody puts his flashlight on the ground next to Kenobi's hand and places the slack hand on top of it. In the darkness, it almost looks as if he's holding a lightsaber, the flashlight's narrow beam cutting through the air. It's a poor replacement for a Jedi's weapon, but it's the only thing Cody can do for him.

Cody orders his men out of the cave and tells them to blast the entrance. An avalanche of rocks collapses where the entrance once was, sealing the cave forever.

Cody turns around and leaves, his men following at his heels.

They still have another traitor to kill.


A whole night of combing the caves yields no sign of Skywalker.

When Cody receives the news that Grievous's starfighter is also missing, he's furious. Skywalker is a traitor, like his whole kind, and the Republic will not be safe until all of the traitors are dead. And the Emperor will not be happy to hear about his failure.

And yet, there is a small part of his mind, a part that is crying in horror and fighting a hopeless battle against the inhibitor chip in his brain, that secretly breathes a small sigh of relief. The part knows that it has no way to overcome the chip's influence. It had tried, and failed, no match against the carefully engineered implant that had complete control over CT-2224's brain.

And so it just curls up on itself and hopes that some part of the dead Jedi's soul might be still out there, and that somehow, he knows that his beloved former student had escaped the planet alive.


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