A/N: Grey, you've been right on track with the Force sensitivity! I'm afraid this is the last chapter Obi-Wan will have the Force in!
"Obi-Wan, move!"
A spiked leg came plummeting down where Obi-Wan had stood seconds before. Anakin sliced through the leg, narrowly missing the barbed tail that flicked towards him as he did so. The Lylek howled. It was forced to lean towards the right to compensate for its missing leg, but it was still making its way towards Anakin and Obi-Wan, flicking his tentacles back and forth along with its tail.
Obi-Wan's lightsaber hissed to life besides him. "Their tails have poisoned barbs."
"So, do you want the tentacles or tail? I'll flip you for it?"
"Now is hardly the time for that."
"Fine. You get the tentacles. I'll get the tail."
Anakin leapt forward, using the Force to propel him above the Lylek's head. The tail came whipping up toward him and Anakin twisted midair, slicing nearly through the end of the tail, sending the poisonous barbs flying into the sand. A tentacle came flailing up, whipping Anakin across the face and sending him flying to the ground. His back slammed into a rock, knocking the wind out of him. He could feel blood dripping down his face, possibly from a broken nose, and his back didn't feel like it was in much better shape.
He felt Obi-Wan searching for him in the Force, checking that he was okay.
Anakin!
I'm alright. Just – give me a moment."
Anakin! Tentacle!
Anakin rolled out of the way, his back screaming in protest, reaching for the hilt of his lightsaber. It wasn't there. Kriff. Obi-Wan is going to kill me.
At least it wasn't your fault this time.
Obi-Wan rolled underneath the Lylek, slashing and cutting at the remaining legs and tentacles. Anakin was crawling across the sand, hoping to find his lightsaber. He couldn't calm himself enough to find it through the Force. He was already trying to avoid the Lyleks' still barbed, still lethal body parts scattered about. Between that, the burning rage of the dying Lylek, Obi-Wan's motions, controlled and calculated, and the blood still pouring down his face, Anakin could not pull together the focus needed to find his hilt in the dark.
He could practically hear Obi-Wan sighting through the Force. About three meters to your left, Anakin. Clear your thoughts and con –
Their Force-bond snapped. Obi-Wan's presence in Anakin's mind vanished. Anakin could still sense him, but he no longer felt unique. His Force-signature felt like every other non-Force user in the galaxy. His presence was dulled, no longer the bright beacon in Anakin's mind. Obi-Wan was alive, uninjured, but was no longer able to attach himself to the Force.
"Anakin! Anakin!" Obi-Wan was panicking. Anakin's presence in his mind had vanished. It had been there, the warm, comforting – tinged with pain at present – and now it was an empty void. Force-bonds were only broken through death. But Anakin couldn't be dead. The Lylek was dead, all of its parts were motionless or strewn across the ground. So what happened to Anakin? Was there something else lurking around? Another Lylek? Or worse? He reached out to the Force, trying desperately to sense any nearby threats. The Force was silent. No. How could he lose this sense? In the middle of a desert, a broken sand speeder, creatures crawling underneath the sand, a wounded or possible dead Anakin, and he couldn't sense any of it? This couldn't be happening. He had never been without the Force in a situation like this. What was he going to do?
Anakin, meanwhile, was desperately calling Obi-Wan's name, trying to pull him out of the reverie. Obi-Wan's shields were completely gone and Anakin could feel panic taking over.
"Obi-Wan! Obi-Wan!" He finally, finally found his lightsaber and the glow allowed him enough light to see Obi-Wan racing towards him.
"I lost the Force. Anakin – I can't – I can't be a Jedi. I can't sense anything. You or life forms or…I can't harness it. It isn't – it doesn't exist anymore!"
"Shh. Obi-Wan, everything will be fine." He pressed a kiss into the back of Obi-Wan's head and slowly led him towards the town. Anakin's nose and back were still throbbing, but he kept a tight arm around Obi-Wan's waist. If there was danger, Anakin would be the only one now who could sense it.
Anakin knew everything was most certainly not fine. They would have to return to the Temple. Obi-Wan – every Jedi – could not fight the same without the Force. Jedi were trained to use the Force in everything. The Force guided them to see their surroundings, connect with beings, sense danger and attacks. Without the Force, wielding lightsabers was a much more crude, imprecise weapon; it was why only Force-sensitives normally wielded such a weapon. A true Jedi danced and flowed in motion of a battle, taking in their opponents and their surroundings and letting the Force guide all their movements. Obi-Wan was a supreme fighter, but without the Force, his fighting skills wouldn't be the same.
The pair of the managed to stagger into their ship. Anakin had R2 set the course back to Courscant – noting a bit apprehensively that Obi-Wan didn't argue with him.
"Anakin, you're bleeding."
"Oh, just my nose. I thought it might be broken, but I think it's fine."
"And your back?"
"Just sore."
Obi-Wan looked at him with distrust. "At least let me take a look at it?"
Anakin nodded and followed Obi-Wan to his quarters. Obi-Wan lightly cleaned the blood off Anakin's face, poking and prodding his nose to ensure it wasn't broken. His back was another matter. Obi-Wan pulled off Anakin's torn tunic and knew immediately something was wrong by Anakin's wince as the fabric pulled away from his skin. There was a ragged wound where he had fallen onto the rock. The wound was narrow, but long. Clearly Anakin had fallen and then slid down, letting the rock slice through a good portion of his back. Obi-Wan cleaned it with bacta and bandaged it as best he could.
"I would have a Healer take a look at it, Anakin. It is a bit deep."
"I'll have Bant take a look at it when – when we return."
"I do not blame you, Anakin. It is the right thing for you to do. I am far more of a liability now. You will be much more successful completing the mission on your own."
"I don't plan on just dropping you off at the Temple and leaving you, Obi-Wan."
"Do not feel obligated to care for me, Anakin. You have far more important things to do."
Anakin pulled Obi-Wan down on the bed so they were laying next to each other. "I have nothing more important than you." Anakin informed him, leaning closer to kiss him. "But between finding the antidote or staying with you….I don't know what I should do."
"Trust your instinct, Anakin. I will be fine no matter what you choose. Don't worry."
But Anakin did worry. He always worried. If no antidote was found, then Obi-Wan was trapped in a hellish future. But how could he leave Obi-Wan alone as he suffered?
A/N: Much more Obi-Wan angst ahead in future chapters! Will Anakin leave him or stay with him? And how quickly will he give away him and Anakin...because having no shields and being surrounded by Jedi is always a recipe for disaster.