A/N: Hello hello!
I thought of this idea in the middle of the night last night, and it wouldn't leave me alone until it was completely written, so.
Anyways, this one's really dark and sad, so prepare yourself.
Enjoy!
The Temple was burning.
As Obi-Wan approached one of the side entrances, he felt death ringing into the Force, the Temple's usually soothing presence a rictus of agony and loss.
Obi-Wan kept himself pressed into the shadows, carefully eyeing the blue-and-white clone troopers stalking about the Temple's perimeter, scanning for intruders.
This was his home, and these were Anakin's men walking blankly around.
The fact that this was Anakin's men made worry claw up his chest into his throat. Obi-Wan did not know where Anakin was, let alone if he survived. He knew that Anakin was supposed to be on Coruscant, and if his men were now in the Temple, that could only mean one thing.
The 501st had somehow infiltrated the Temple to murder their General, and they succeeded.
Anakin was dead.
Closing his eyes, Obi-Wan forced himself to take a few deep breaths to control himself. There would be time to mourn later, once he completes his mission and reunites with Master Yoda, who was probably still in hyperspace.
The original plan was to wait for Master Yoda to arrive, but upon realizing that Jedi were dying and dying by the second on Coruscant, Obi-Wan decided that he needed to act, before it was too late.
He would find Master Yoda afterwards, he was sure of it.
Obi-Wan opened his eyes and looked towards the entrance, studying the troopers who paced nearby, scanning for unwanted intruders.
A few robed bodies littered their feet, likely Jedi who were outside the Temple, trying to come home, as the security beacon was set to recall any Jedi to Coruscant.
It was clear that it was a trap set by the Sith, and Obi-Wan would have to go into the Temple and reconfigure the beacon to call the Jedi away from the Temple. Otherwise, everyone would try to come home, only to be immediately massacred by the very men they trusted.
With cold hands, Obi-Wan pulled his hood over his face and waited, deciding it was better to enter the Temple undetected than to be spotted and forced to fight.
The troopers could easily call reinforcements, after all, and Obi-Wan was sure he could not fight against too many of them at once.
Not like this.
A simple distraction with the Force set the troopers turning towards the opposite direction, and Obi-Wan moved quietly past them, slipping into the Temple through the entrance and taking a deep breath as its massive door closed behind him.
The Temple's corridors were cold.
Shuddering, Obi-Wan pulled his robe around himself, tentatively reaching out into the Force.
A swirl of coiling darkness met his touch, and he retreated, gritting his teeth at the sensation.
There was so much death, enough to make him want to stop in his tracks and fall, letting the darkness overwhelm him. He was only a flickering light in a sea of oppressive darkness, after all.
It would be so easy to give up, to allow the Sith to reign free.
Shaking his head, Obi-Wan turned towards the Northwest Tower and walked quietly. Running would generate sound, and sound would mean discovery—he could not afford discovery.
As he traversed the corridors of his destroyed home, he spotted the bodies of younglings and Padawans, along with the occasional Knight or Master, laying on the ground, as though discarded. He ached to kneel down and mourn all of them, but he pressed onwards, raw grief gathering deep in his chest.
Obi-Wan debated taking a roundabout route to the central security station, but then he decided that the less he wandered around the Temple, the better. If he covered more ground, there was a higher chance that he would be spotted.
Every so often, he would overhear the murmuring of troopers as they walked about the Temple's corridors, kicking bodies to the side, as though they never cared about the Jedi at all.
Obi-Wan's heart leapt to his chest, aching from the sight of the men who betrayed all of them so brutally. He reeled from Cody's betrayal, from the death and loss of everyone he ever cared about.
Anakin was dead. For all Obi-Wan knew, he and Yoda were the only ones who survived. Mandalore was gripped in the throes of war, and Ahsoka was there with her own men. He'd tried to contact her after he left Utapau, but he was met with terrible silence.
For all he knew, he had just failed Ahsoka again, in an even worse way than before. She felt a sort of duty to fight Maul because of him.
And now, it was likely that Ahsoka's men shot her down, just like the clones shot down Jedi all over the galaxy. Sure, Ahsoka was no longer in the Order, but would that be enough to protect her from the attack?
As the troopers turned away, Obi-Wan slipped past them, turning into the corridor. As he walked past the Archives, however, he saw a tall, dark figure inside. The figure wore Jedi robes, dark ones, familiar ones.
"Anakin?" he breathed, and without a moment's thought, he was walking into the Archives, heart pounding in his chest.
Anakin spun around, and his eyes widened.
"You survived?" Anakin asked, voice low and hoarse. There appeared to be an unsettled sort of emotion shining in his eyes, but Obi-Wan dismissed that for the shock he was sure Anakin felt in the Force. He was sure Anakin felt the betrayal more keenly than anyone else.
"I escaped," Obi-Wan replied. "I was shot down, but I escaped."
Anakin held his unignited lightsaber in a death grip, his mech hand squeezed so tightly that the protective leather was tearing slightly at the seams.
"I see." Anakin nodded slowly.
For all that Obi-Wan wanted to reach into the Force and reassure himself with the brightness of Anakin's Force presence, Obi-Wan knew he would also easily feel the coldness of death, of the dark, pressing all around him, and…
It would be too much.
It would be better if he kept himself contained within his own Force presence—at least, until he and Anakin were away from the Temple, safe.
Or rather, away from the betrayal.
"Your men are here," Obi-Wan said, gesturing around them. "I assumed they—"
He cut himself off, voice catching in his throat.
"No, they haven't." Anakin's voice echoed oddly in the chamber, eyes glinting in the dim light.
"We need to get out of here before they do find you," Obi-Wan said, glancing back at the entrance through which he just walked. "There is a beacon in the communications center that's recalling all the Jedi here to the Temple. We must reconfigure it to tell them to stay away."
Anakin tilted his head and frowned. "In the central security station?"
Obi-Wan nodded in relief. "Yes, you know what I'm talking about, then? It's not safe here, Anakin; we must reconfigure it before anyone other Jedi get here and are shot down."
A slow nod from Anakin sent relief coursing through his veins.
"Well, let's go, then," Obi-Wan said, and he turned around to walk to the Archives' exit, trusting Anakin to follow him.
As expected, he heard Anakin's heavy footsteps approaching him, following him, but then he felt a hand reach for his left shoulder, gripping it tightly.
Frowning at the sudden, strange movement, Obi-Wan made to turn around, but before he could, pain exploded into his chest as a blue shaft of light erupted from the center of his chest. He looked down, seeing the blue lightsaber stabbed in his chest.
A cry tore itself from his lips as he realized exactly what had happened.
"Ana—" He let out a gasp, unable to speak around the lightsaber embedded in his chest.
Just as quickly as the light appeared, it disappeared. His knees buckled as his vision blurred, but he felt hands gripping his shoulders, lowering him slowly to the ground as he gasped, feeling blood dripping out of his mouth.
Obi-Wan blinked, seeing Anakin staring down at him, eyes cold.
"You—" he gasped, struggling to breathe, to form his thoughts into words.
"You would stand in the way, Obi-Wan," Anakin said, voice shaking. "I…I must save Padmé, no matter the cost."
A cough ripped through Obi-Wan's mouth, blood spraying the air. "You—cost?"
"The Sith have offered me a way to save her," Anakin explained, and he knelt down to meet Obi-Wan's eyes.
It was in that moment, in the dim light of the Archives, that Obi-Wan saw the Sith yellow flickering in Anakin's eyes.
Renewed pain coursed through him—betrayal, the wound in his chest, the loss in the Force: it all crashed down on him.
Obi-Wan's vision blurred, and he shivered, feeling everything begin to fade away—the Temple, the Archives, even Anakin.
The Force barreled its way past his carefully constructed shields, and darkness crashed into him.
There was no hope left, not unless Master Yoda found a way to do what Obi-Wan could not, and to search for any other survivors.
Hope was gone, and all that remained was betrayal.
Blinking heavily, Obi-Wan sought Anakin's eyes. He took a shuddering breath, followed by another.
"You—brother," he rasped, feeling the coldness creep up through his body and mind, robbing him of his last moments.
Anakin's eyes widened slightly in a mixture of confusion and turbulence, but Obi-Wan barely noticed it as his vision began to fade into darkness.
"Loved…you…"
And then there was just the nothingness.
A/N: Fun fact: I wrote this while listening to Jump Up, Superstar! from Super Mario Odyssey on loop, which, for those of you who don't know, is extremely upbeat and happy and fun.
Anyways, thanks for reading! Please leave a review on your way out :)