Chapter Nineteen
"You had one job."
Obi-Wan heaved a longsuffering sigh at Anakin's disgruntled grumble and pinched the bridge of his nose as if he felt a migraine beginning to brew. "Yes, Anakin. So, you've been reminding me incessantly for the better part of an entire day! Is it possible that you'll let it go soon?"
Anakin crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall to regard Obi-Wan with a flat expression. "Nah. Not likely."
He was irritated for a host of reasons. First, they had been in Mandalorian custody for more than 24 hours already. Anakin had barely slept in all that time. Second, had Obi-Wan not decided to go rogue and speak to the Duchess Satine again before Padmé had reached out to her, it was unlikely they would be in their current predicament at all. And third, in that 25-hour period, he hadn't been given an opportunity to speak to Padmé once. After what happened to her father, Anakin did not relish the idea of causing her even more grief.
Both he and Ahsoka were taken by surprise when Satine's guards had arrived in the middle of the night to place them under arrest. They had been adamant that some sort of mistake had been made right up until the moment they were thrown into their cell and found Obi-Wan already confined there. Since then, they had been given no updates regarding the reason for their arrest, no information related to the pending charges, nor did they have any idea how long they were going to be held. The uncertainty was beginning to make Anakin a little stir crazy.
"Isn't it customary to allow one personal call in these situations?" he muttered as he fell into yet another round of pacing, "Padmé must be going out of her mind."
Ahsoka reached out to snag hold of his forearm, momentarily stilling his restless circling. "I'm sure the Duchess will inform her of what's happened," she said, "Besides, it's not like she can hold us in here indefinitely. Right?"
"That depends on what Obi-Wan said to her," Anakin retorted with pointed glare directed at Obi-Wan.
"I've already told you that I said nothing to warrant being thrown in here like common rabble!" Obi-Wan flared in return.
"That's certainly a matter of opinion."
The droll observation caught the three by the surprise and they automatically snapped to attention, not having sensed the approach. They each stiffened in expectation when the Duchess of Mandalore stepped into view, her chin raised haughtily, her expression regal and remote. She was flanked by two guards. It was readily apparent that she had not come to pay them a social visit. Obi-Wan, Ahsoka and Anakin regarded her warily from behind the shimmery blue plasma barrier of their holding cell, each filled with dread over the possibility that she had finally come to pronounce their sentence or worse…banish them from the planet.
"You're being released," she announced, "I do expect that you will not impose upon my good will any further and will leave Mandalore without delay."
Although Anakin had been ready to climb the walls with his eagerness to get out of there only seconds before, the fact that his freedom also meant that the Duchess would be immediately ousting him from Mandalore caused him to balk in protest. "Leave? But…but nothing has been settled," he protested, "Please, you must hear me out first, milady!"
He wanted to argue further, but just as he started to do so, his senses suddenly prickled with a familiar presence, and Anakin completely forgot what he intended to say. A cold shiver of pure dread snaked down his back and that was well before Padmé materialized at Satine's side. Anakin almost groaned his dismay aloud when he saw her standing there.
"It's been already settled, Anakin," she murmured, "The Duchess has made her decision and we should respect her wishes."
Anakin barely processed her diplomatic words because he couldn't hear past the fact that she was standing there at all, couldn't hear anything beyond the blood roaring violently in his ears. As always, there had been a spurt of sheer, reflexive joy when he'd first laid eyes on Padmé, the instinctive happiness that always overwhelmed him whenever he was in her presence, but that feeling was quickly squelched by crippling fear over the many ways her presence on Mandalore could go sideways. And with that fear also came blinding anger. Not just anger, though. Anakin was livid.
Before he had left Naboo, he had tried to impress upon Padmé the potential danger she faced without coming right out and telling her that he'd foreseen her death. She had already been dealing with enough and he hadn't wanted to cause her further stress. He had been trying not to stress as well. The one thing that had provided him with peace of mind was that she had promised him that she would remain on Naboo indefinitely under protective detail until Maul and Savage were apprehended. That was the only thing keeping him together. And yet, here she was not on Naboo and not flanked by a single one of his agents either.
In all the years that he and Padmé had been together, Anakin could recall very few times when he had been genuinely angry with her. Often, he was the one who had found himself needing to make amends for some colossal misstep that needed her forgiveness, and not the other way around. She had reminded him often that she wasn't perfect but, in his estimation, she was inarguably close. Certainly, Padmé had never infuriated him to the point where he almost wanted to shake her senseless. Anakin would have even believed that the potential was altogether impossible…until now.
Without thinking, he blurted in an infuriated hiss, "Padmé, what in the kriffing hell are you doing here? I told you to stay on Naboo!"
Padmé instantly bristled at his tone, her brows snapping together in an affronted scowl. She could count on one hand how many times Anakin had spoken to her harshly in the entire time they'd known one another. But the rarity of his reaction did little to soothe the anger she felt right then. Her cheeks reddened with embarrassment and indignation. She didn't appreciate him chastising her like a child, and she certainly didn't enjoy having an audience present while he did it. She huffed furiously, trying to maintain her composure even while drowning in mortification.
"First of all, I came here to help you!" she retorted brusquely, "Second, I don't like the way you're speaking to me right now, Anakin! Leaving you here is still an option!"
Anakin glowered at the threat but wisely refrained from saying anything further because he didn't want to fight with witnesses present any more than she did. While he and Padmé glared daggers at one another, Obi-Wan coughed and contemplated the toe of his boot with avid interest, Ahsoka fidgeted, suddenly immensely fascinated with a microscopic speck she discovered on the gleaming façade of their cell wall, and Satine pretended to be oblivious to their marital discord altogether. She waved for one of her guards to drop the plasma shield.
"You may go. I trust that you all can see your way back to your respective ships," she said, before turning to embrace Padmé, "It was good to see you again, my friend. Let's not remain strangers to one another." She spared a polite nod to Anakin, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan as well, acknowledging all three in a cordial goodbye though her eyes lingered on Obi-Wan the longest. "Safe travels to you all."
After Satine turned to take her leave, Anakin and Ahsoka cut furtive, sideways glances over at Obi-Wan in silent expectation of his response. They anticipated that he would accept her departure with his usual stoicism. However, they were both left gaping in shock when Obi-Wan called out after Satine instead and then, when she didn't stop, went dashing off after her.
Ahsoka stared after him in dumbfounded astonishment, partly because she was stunned by her master's uncharacteristic display and partly because he had left her alone with Anakin and Padmé who were quite obviously poised on the brink of a huge fight. They were glowering at each other darkly. Ahsoka did not want to be in the middle of that. Wisely then, she decided to take her leave.
"Well…I'll just…wait on the ship then…so you two can…you know…discuss your…yeah…goodbye…" she babbled uncomfortably before deftly scooting between them and scurrying out of sight without a backwards glance. Neither Padmé nor Anakin acknowledged her hasty departure.
"I demand an apology," Padmé declared angrily once they were alone, "You had no right! You humiliated me just now!"
"I'm not apologizing for anything!" he flashed back, "We had an agreement, Padmé! You went back on your word!"
"What are you talking about? I did no such thing!"
"Oh, then I guess I must be hallucinating that you're standing here right now!" Anakin bit back sarcastically, "I'm sure you know that when I asked you to speak to the Duchess on my behalf, I didn't mean for you to come here in person!"
On some rational level, Anakin recognized he was being unfair to her. She had done what any good wife in her position would have done. Under any other circumstances, he would have been ecstatic to see her. He would have greeted her with eager kisses rather than angry reproach. But Anakin couldn't forget that Maul was out there somewhere in the galaxy, waiting to strike, and as long as he was roaming free Padmé's life would remain in jeopardy.
"I want you to go home now," he declared in an implacable tone, "That's an order."
Padmé crossed her arms defiantly. "I'm not one of your agents, Anakin! You don't get to tell me what I can and cannot do!"
"As your husband, I can, and I'm ordering you to go home!"
On the rare occasions when they fought, Padmé was typically the one to maintain a level head and keep her emotions in check. Anakin was the passionate firebrand who flared and ebbed at a moment's notice, while Padmé's moments of anger tended to be colder and full of withdrawn resentment. But there were moments where Anakin could push her buttons to the point where her temper could become just as fiery as his…and this was one of those times.
"I could honestly smack you right now! Are you really going to yell at me for being here when you were just sitting in a cell not two minutes ago?" she cried in disbelief, "Your ingratitude is astounding! I'm the reason you were released, by the way! You're welcome!"
"I had it under control! I didn't need your help!"
"I suppose being arrested was all part of your grand plan then! Brilliant strategy! I'm sure Satine didn't see it coming!"
He made a face at her, but his sarcastic retort was halted when something else suddenly occurred to him. "Where is Luke?" He glanced around her anxiously as if he expected Luke to come toddling into view. "Please tell me you didn't bring him with you."
"I'm not a fool, Anakin!" Padmé snapped, "He's safe on Naboo with my mother! We split the guard detail. Half on them stayed on Naboo and half of them came with me."
Anakin wilted in visible relief. "Well, at least you weren't unescorted," he muttered, "But you still shouldn't have come! What if your ship had been intercepted, huh? Did you even stop and think? You can't just do whatever you want, Padmé!"
"That's very ironic coming from you!" she snorted, "Don't worry! I'm leaving, but not because you ordered me to do it but because being in your presence is the last thing I want right now!"
It was only in that moment, when she started to flounce away, that Anakin recognized he might have gone too far. He took two quick strides after her and reached out to snag hold of her forearm, pulling her back against him with a series of murmured apologies. Padmé held herself stiffly in his arms, her chest heaving with repressed anger, her hands clenched into fists as she struggled to maintain her composure. She didn't shake him off or shove him away, but it was clear from the tension in her body that she wanted to.
"Please forgive me," he pleaded softly against her ear, "I didn't mean to treat you so severely. Don't leave like this."
Padmé had never been very good at resisting him when he was sincerely contrite, but her pride also rebelled against forgiving him too easily. Consequently, she remained rigid in his embrace, deliberately flinching from his tender, apologetic kisses. "I came here to help you, Anakin," she mumbled in a suffocated tone, "and you attacked me for no reason!"
"You're right and I'm sorry."
She shrugged from his hold then and turned to face him, her countenance stony when she crossed her arms. "Not good enough. Tell me why."
"This isn't the time for you to go traipsing about the galaxy!" he said, "You don't realize how dangerous it is for you to travel out in the open this way!"
"Is this because of what happened with my father? Anakin, it's dangerous for everyone," Padmé sighed, her anger softening at last as she finally recognized why he was being so arbitrary, "You're acting as if I'm being targeted personally."
She threw out that last part carelessly, as a concern that could be easily dismissed as nothing at all, but there was something that flickered in Anakin's expression that caught her attention. Padmé noticed it then, the heaviness to his eyes and the dark smudges of fatigue beneath them that betrayed the fact he wasn't sleeping. She closed her eyes briefly and swallowed, knowing very well what that meant.
When she looked at him again, her expression was filled with resignation when she asked, "How long have you been having nightmares?"
He turned away from her when he answered, "Since Nal Hutta."
"I assume they're about me this time," she said after a beat of silence, "Otherwise, you would have told me before now."
"We had just buried Ruwee. I didn't want to burden you."
"So…what horrible thing happens this time?"
Padmé tried to squelch the fleeting flash of irritation and resentment that punctuated her question, and immediately felt guilty because she had the feelings at all. It wasn't Anakin's fault, but she couldn't deny that there was a small part of her that blamed him. She often lived in dread of his dreams and premonitions. They were like an ominous cloud that hung perpetually over their family, and she never knew when that cloud would choose to rain down thunder and hail.
As a teenage girl, she had admired and envied Anakin's ability to discern events before they happened. She had naively believed it to be an incredible gift. But now she recognized it as a curse, a barrier that would eternally impede the possibility of them ever being completely happy.
"Maul is going to come after you," Anakin told her.
"And you don't know why?"
"No, I don't. At first, I thought he was seeking revenge, but this feels different. It's almost as if he thinks he's freeing me."
"Freeing you?" she echoed with a deepening frown, "From what?"
He pivoted abruptly to face her fully then, his expression anxious, frightened and a little wild. "There's something I need to tell you," he confessed in a faltering rush of breath, "But when I do, you're going to think I'm crazy."
"Anakin, you've literally traveled through time. There's not much you can say after that to shock me."
The look he gave her following that statement made it clear that he didn't share her same confidence. Padmé tried not to be alarmed by that and, instead, nodded for him to continue. Anakin took several, steadying breaths before he finally said, "I can hear him speaking to me, Padmé. All the time."
"Hear who? Maul?"
He stepped closer to her, his voice trembling when he whispered, "No. Vader."
"Satine, please wait!"
Despite Obi-Wan's plea, Satine kept up her purposeful stride, not even bothering to spare him a backwards glance. Left with no other option, he increased his efforts to catch up with her. But when he dared to reach out to catch hold of her arm to waylay her, her guards had him flat on his back with their electrified spears pointed at his face before he could make contact. Obi-Wan stared up at Satine with a despairing expression.
"Is this really necessary?" he sighed plaintively, "I only wish to talk."
She regarded him impassively for several seconds before finally inclining a nod for her guards to stand down. Obi-Wan rolled to his feet and brushed the bits of dried grass and dirt from his tunic. When he saw that Satine had made no move to dismiss her guard detail, he asked rather self-consciously, "Could we, perhaps, have this conversation in private?"
"Why is that necessary? You came to Mandalore for a purpose. That purpose is concluded. I can't imagine what else we possibly have to say to one another, Master Jedi."
"You're making a mistake," he insisted.
Satine favored him with a tight, impatient smile. "And this conversation is finished. Good day to you."
"Satine, wait!" Obi-Wan cried as she turned to walk away yet again, "Listen to me! Will you stop being so stubborn? He's going to kill you!"
That desperate revelation accomplished what nothing else had. It stopped her in her tracks. Satine slowly pivoted to face him with a stunned expression. "What are you talking about, Ben? Who do you think is going to kill me?"
"Maul," he uttered in a choked whisper, "The Sith we're hunting. He's going to kill you, and I don't want that to happen." He deflated before her, his shoulders stooped with weariness and the sheer weight of his long-internalized fears. "I can't let it happen."
The devastation on his face was plain, which was disconcerting enough given his propensity for flippancy, but it was the vulnerability that he didn't bother to hide which left Satine speechless. It was altogether a rare occurrence when Obi-Wan Kenobi would allow his feelings to be laid bare this way. Satine knew that he wasn't attempting to manipulate her. That had never been his style. He looked truly terrified and desperate in that moment. She turned to address her guards with a distracted frown.
"Leave us, please." Once they were alone, and her guards were well out of earshot, she asked, "How do you know this? Who is this Maul and why do you imagine he's after me?"
"Darth Maul is the Sith who murdered Master Qui Gon. I thought I had killed him on Naboo years ago, but I was wrong. Now he's out there filled with hatred for me and driven by his quest for vengeance."
"And you think this Maul might want to target me in order to hurt you?" she wondered aloud, not bothering to pretend that she was unaware of Obi-Wan's lingering feelings for her, "Is that what Director Skywalker saw in his vision? Is that the true reason you're here?"
"Vision?" Obi-Wan parroted with a blank frown, "What are you—? No! This is about the future. Events that will prove certain if we don't take active steps to avoid them."
"Aren't you the one who always told me that the future is not set?" she reminded him, "What happened to everything being the 'will of the Force'?"
"This is different," he argued, "You don't understand."
"Then help me understand."
Obi-Wan appeared conflicted by her insistence, as if he was internally weighing the wisdom of accepting her invitation. And then, he gently plucked her by the elbow and led her over to a cluster of trees where they could be mostly concealed from view. Just beyond them, he could see her guards repositioning themselves to keep a visual on them. They remained watchful, but they did not come any closer. Obi-Wan didn't speak again until he was sure his words would not be overheard.
"Satine, what I'm about to tell you, very few people in the galaxy know," he began cryptically, "and I'm only telling you so that you will fully grasp the gravity of our current situation. You must swear never to breathe a word of this conversation to another living soul."
"Ben, you're frightening me."
"Promise me," he insisted, "I must have your word!"
"Of course! I promise! I will not betray your trust. I never have."
Obi-Wan nodded sharply, inhaled a deep, fortifying breath, squared his shoulders and said without preamble, "Anakin is from the future."
Satine blinked at him in resounding silence. Of all the profound and ominous revelations that she had been preparing herself to hear from him, that disclosure had not been one she had ever fathomed. What was even more troubling was that he was being sincere. This wasn't some grand jest. Earnest fervor was stamped in every line of his face. He clearly believed every word. And yet, it sounded…utterly preposterous.
"Have you gone mad, Ben?" she demanded flatly.
"I know it sounds ridiculous—,"
"—it is ridiculous!"
"No, it's true," he insisted softly, "Anakin comes from a future where the Republic did fall and Palpatine lived and declared himself emperor. He plunged the entire galaxy into darkness. You were killed during the conflict that unfolded…along with many others. Anakin lost everything. We all did. He saw many terrible atrocities in that time, and he's devoted himself to averting those same calamities in this one."
He refrained from telling her that Anakin had committed most of those terrible atrocities as well, not because he meant to deliberately mislead her but because that part was not his truth to tell. In addition, revealing that Anakin had served as Palpatine's enforcer for the greater part of a decade would only serve to detract from the bigger issue at hand…which was that he had risked everything to change that fate. For the first time, Obi-Wan could truly appreciate why Anakin had been so single-minded in his goals when he had first returned. His determination to undo those unspeakable horrors had been the impetus behind his every action. Truthfully, it still was.
But when he told Satine that, she merely stared at him as if he had sprouted a third eye in the center of his forehead. "Do you realize how insane you sound?"
"I do. I know that! But everything I'm telling you is the truth," Obi-Wan said, "Do you want to know how we were able to end the war as quickly as we did? How we learned that Chancellor Palpatine had been the mastermind behind it all? How we knew that Maul was alive before any of this even began? Anakin. He knew everything, Satine."
Obi-Wan could tell he was starting to batter past her disbelief when she took several, staggering steps backwards. He instinctively reached out to steady her when she swayed. "How is that possible, Ben?" Satine gasped in disbelief, "What you're describing is unlike anything I've ever heard. Can a Jedi truly be that powerful that he can manipulate time itself?"
"Anakin is that powerful," Obi-Wan told her, "We still don't know the full extent of his abilities. I've never known another Force user like him."
"And he's seen this terrible future for us all?"
"Yes," Obi-Wan whispered grimly, "He's lived it."
"What does that mean? For Mandalore? For me?"
"It means you're in danger," he said, "And that Mandalore is vulnerable."
"How long do we have before this happens?"
"It's impossible to say," he replied, "This timeline has been muddied. But the last time this occurred, Maul formed an alliance with Death Watch to overthrow you. That's still a possibility. We must remain vigilant until his motives become clearer."
"You're saying too much has changed?"
Obi-Wan nodded. "In Anakin's time, the war lasted three and a half years. We didn't learn the truth about Palpatine until it was much too late, and Mandalore fell a short time before it happened."
"And you and I?" she prompted.
His eyes darkened with sorrow. "I only know what was told to me…that Maul murdered you right in front of me."
Satine shivered at his words even as she was shaking her head in denial. It was too much information to process all at once, too fantastical to conceive at all. She didn't pretend to know how to make sense of skewed timelines and altered events, but she did know that it was next to impossible to predict the future even if one had done the impossible and traveled from it. She said as much to Obi-Wan.
"I know you're concerned, but you cannot be certain that these same events will happen again. None of this sounds definitive," she argued, "Foreknowledge or not, you've become anxious over something that may not come to be!"
"I will not take that chance. I will not lose you."
"Why are you so adamant, Ben? It's been 22 years. Why does it matter? Are you merely standing on principle now?"
The question was superfluous. She already knew the answer. Satine had known with certainty when she was only sixteen years old, and she was equally certain now. But she needed to hear him say the words. After all they had been through, all they had shared, he never had. She had spent two decades waiting, and she deserved to hear them now.
He had already confided in her, a supremely ridiculous tale that he must have known she might possibly reject. Yet, he had done so anyway. There must be some level of feeling there, some innate sense of trust he must have in her to have done that. Satine saw no reason why he shouldn't commit entirely. Obi-Wan's next words to her indicated that he was inclined, albeit reluctant, to agree.
"You know it's more than principle," he insisted thickly, "I care for you, Satine."
"Is that all?" she prompted with a soft grunt of laughter, "Really? You 'care' for me, Ben? Surely you and I have reached the point where we can speak plainly to one another."
"Very well." He took hold of both her hands in his and squeezed her fingers, his frame trembling as the finally said aloud the words he had harbored in his heart since he was a sixteen-year-old boy. "I love you," he told her fervently, his voice breaking on the words, "I have always loved you. If you had asked, I would have stayed. I would have given up everything for you."
She reached out to cradle his bearded face in her hands and pressed her lips to his with a teary smile. "I've always known that," she whispered fervently, "It's why I didn't ask you…because I wanted the choice to be yours. Because I love you too."
