Part XIV

It was an odd thing to wake with someone wrapped around him. The last time anyone had shared his bed was the day before his old life had fallen apart. The day he had helped to destroy the Jedi Order, and he and Obi-Wan had fought. Strange that it should be Obi-Wan sharing his bed. Obi-Wan and Luke. Had anyone been looking in on the scene they would have assumed them all to be a family. Instead they were enemies with a temporary peace being held for the sake of the little boy lying between them.

"Do you need anything before I head out?"

Startled, Anakin's eyes shot open. He had thought Obi-Wan still abed because his Force signature was so close. Instead, Obi-Wan was fully dressed and sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I'm going out to look for the necessary parts to repair you and am not certain when I'll be back," Obi-Wan explained as he rose from the bed. "Luke cane handle small tasks, but it would be best to take care of more pressing matters before I leave."

Anakin immediately shook his head, not even pausing to consider any needs his body might have. He would not be any more indebted to Obi-Wan than he already was. He also didn't want Obi-Wan to see him so vulnerable. Bad enough that the older man had already saved his life.

"I'll be fine," he ground out when Obi-Wan showed no signs of leaving. "The sooner you can repair me, the better."

"Impatient as always, I see," Obi-Wan mused, a slight smile curving his lips. "I shall return shortly."

Anakin kept his eyes glued to Obi-Wan as he left the room. It angered him that he had to purse his lips to keep from calling after the other man. He was virtually defenseless because he was unable to move and that made him incredibly uneasy. Anakin wanted to be able to defend himself and Luke, but knew that there was very little he could do if any of Sidious' lackeys managed to track them to Endor. Anakin himself still could not believe that he had killed the Emperor. He had come to distrust the man over recent months, but he had never thought that he would be the one to end Sidious' life.

"Daddy says i's not nice t' think loud," Luke mumbled as he began shifting about restlessly.

Anakin was momentarily startled and glanced down at Luke in surprise. The little boy never opened his eyes, but gave a contented sigh and drifted back to sleep. It was mind boggling just how unruffled Luke was about everything that had gone on in the past few days. He was not yet even four and should have been far more unsettled by what was going on around him. He had been kidnapped and forced to flee his home, yet Luke was as relaxed and carefree as he had been when Anakin had first seen him on the Water Moon.

"Papa, please," Luke whimpered pathetically, cracking an eye open while he pouted at Anakin. "Too early for loud thinking. I's sleepy."

For several minutes, Anakin laid there silently, watching his son as he slept. Luke didn't seem to care that his body was mostly made of durasteel, winding his small limbs around him as he slept. That, more than anything, helped lure Anakin into a peaceful state of mind and eventually into sleep.

It took Obi-Wan longer than he'd expected to find the necessary pieces he would need to repair Anakin's limbs. Or at least get it functioning enough so that Anakin would be able to get it working to his own specifications. For the first few months that Anakin had the prosthetic on his right arm, Obi-Wan could recall him tinkering with it almost daily, modifying the mechanics of it until he was satisfied. Obi-Wan had merely watched, amused, while Anakin worked one-handed on a task that would have been far easier with two. However, he couldn't fault Anakin all the time he'd spent working on the mechanical limb because his ability with his lightsaber hadn't suffered the way Obi-Wan had seen other's over the years.

Knowing that they were still in danger, even with Sidious dead, Obi-Wan felt naked without his lightsaber hanging at his hip. The weight of Vader's felt awkward even though there was very little difference between Vader and Anakin's. The weight of it felt heavier than the components that made it up. Obi-Wan hoped that he would be able to retrieve their lightsabers from his and Luke's old home on the Watery Moon. How long they would be forced to remain in their current location was a mystery. Obi-Wan doubted that much effort would be put into finding them for a while as the leaders of Sidious' empire had more dire things to concern themselves with. Almost since the formation of the Galactic Empire, Obi-Wan had heard rumblings of rebellions. As soon as it was even rumoured that Sidious was dead Obi-Wan was fairly certain that those rebels would try to restore the Republic. Sadly, though, Obi-Wan could not take part. Luke's safety and Anakin's sanity were far more important.

As Obi-Wan came near the cottage he, Luke and Anakin were currently residing in, he wasn't entirely surprised to find Luke seated on the front steps drawing pictures in the dirt. Even if Anakin had told the boy to stay inside, Luke would have simply snuck outside when Anakin was otherwise occupied because the boy didn't like staying indoors when there were new places for him to see. A trait he had inherited from his father.

"Hi, Daddy!" Luke chirped when he caught sight of Obi-Wan. The stick was completely forgotten as he bounded down the path to inspect the packages Obi-Wan was carrying. "Whacha got?"

Instead of answering, Obi-Wan merely arched an eyebrow. "And just what are you doing outside?"

"Papa's talkin' wif the Blue Man," Luke shrugged absently. "Whacha got, Daddy?"

Though there were likely men who would disagree with him, Qui-Gon firmly believed that Anakin had fulfilled his destiny as the Chosen One. Anakin had destroyed the Sith just as he had been meant to do. The consequences of all that had resulted from it were regrettable, but it did not take away from the fact that the Sith had been destroyed.

"You have achieved far more than I could have ever dreamed you would," Qui-Gon enthused, smiling fondly at Anakin. "You are truly a great Jedi."

Anakin snorted, the sound harsh in the peaceful setting. "I haven't been a Jedi for a long time, something I'm sure you're quite aware of, so quit trying to placate me. I am a Sith. I pledged myself to Sidious and became Darth Vader."

"You are not wholly the monster Sidious would have you believe that you are otherwise you would have allowed him to kill Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon tried to rationalize.

Though he wished it were otherwise, Anakin's sneer was hardly unexpected. "You seem to have failed to consider that I would rather claim Obi-Wan's death as my own doing rather than leave it to Sidious. Obi-Wan stole my life and I mean to see him suffer for it."

"That is only your anger speaking, Anakin. Something you have allowed to control you for far too long."

"You are certainly full of yourself," Anakin chuckled darkly, laboriously pulling himself up into a half-reclined position with his elbows. "It wouldn't surprise me if Yoda had something to do with this. That little troll has always been so determined to keep Obi-Wan and I apart. Rambling on and on about attachments when all he cared about was whether or not I played my role as the 'Chosen One.' Only Obi-wan every really cared what happened to me. It didn't matter to him if I was the Chosen One. He was happy with Anakin."

"This seems to be a great deal of emotion to expend on someone whose death you seem to be plotting."

"I wouldn't bother otherwise."

Try as he might, it was difficult for Qui-Gon to find traces of the boy he had met on Tatooine. All that had once been good about Anakin was twisted and deformed; lost amidst all the hatred that consumed him.

"I do not believe that you feel only hatred for Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon insisted, almost pleaded with the wretch trapped on the bed. "You did not kill him on the Water Moon and you did not allow Sidious to kill him. The bond between you still exists."

Qui-Gon was brought up short when a small, cubic object was launched through the space that he occupied. No longer a part of the natural world, it took Qui-Gon a moment to realize that the entire room was vibrating.

"Anakin, you must calm yourself."

"Anakin!"

Just as he had been about to enter the cabin, Obi-Wan had felt the tension swirling around Anakin begin to rise. As a result, the cabin itself began to tremble in the wake of Anakin's increasing anger. Instructing Luke to remain outside, Obi-Wan rushed towards the back bedroom where he had hoped his former padawan had been speaking calmly with his former master.

"—must calm yourself."

"Anakin!" Obi-Wan found himself shouting as he hurried through the doorway; and was genuinely surprised when the tremors seemed to cease almost immediately.

It was Qui-Gon who turned towards him, though, not Anakin. "Your arrival could not have been more opportunely timed, my dear padawan."

"He is a Jedi Master now," Anakin grumbled on his behalf. "He was a member of the Jedi Council."

"You will forgive an old man his inaccuracies," Qui-Gon demurred, glancing briefly to Anakin. "If you will recall, though, the last time I saw Obi-Wan with my living eyes, he was still under my care. As were you."

"And we are much better for you having left," Anakin scowled, the vibrations beginning once again.

"Anakin," Obi-Wan admonished, casting a reproachful look in the younger man's direction.

"It's true," Anakin insisted, shuffling about as best as he was able with only limited mobility in his limbs. "Qui-Gon only ever cared that I was the Chosen One. That's the only reason he brought me off of Tatooine. The only reason he wanted to train me was so that he could prove the Council wrong. He took me from my mother and he took you away from me."

"He did no such thing," Obi-Wan immediately corrected him, turning his full attention to Anakin.

Anakin glared briefly over Obi-Wan's shoulder, where the Force ghost of their former master hovered. "Yes, he did. You always felt guilty about how he died and kept going on about how you could never teach me as well as he would have."

It was on the tip of Obi-Wan's tongue to deny what Anakin said, but to do it would be a lie and Anakin would immediately call him on it. Anakin had always been able to tell when he was lying, even when no one else could. It was something that had alternative annoyed and amused him over the years.

"I was unprepared for to take a padawan when I first began your training, Anakin," Obi-Wan said, hoping to draw Anakin's ire from Qui-Gon. "I had no idea what I was doing and shaking such thoughts of inadequacy was something I was never quite able to do. But that is my failing, Anakin, not Qui-Gon's and most certainly not your own."

There was a stalemate, the three of them exchanging glances without any saying a word. The fire that had practically been radiating around Anakin was not quite so strong as it had been in the past. It seemed more diluted, but most definitely nowhere near the point where it would fade. When Qui-Gon faded from view, the corona of rage relaxed even further.

"Are you quite finished your tantrum?" Obi-Wan demanded once the harsh lines on Anakin's face began to soften. "I would prefer to do my work without running the risk of you throwing a fit and electrifying me while I am busy re-wiring your limbs."

"I would not hurt you."

Anakin's words came out as a hiss and Obi-Wan could not be entirely certain that the malice in his voice was not directed at him. However, when he looked directly at the man lying on the bed, there was something earnest in his eyes. Eyes that were once again far more blue than fiery yellow. It was a relief to see some of that darkness fading from Anakin. It gave him hope that his friend was not entirely lost to the darkness, that he was not doing all of this in vain.