Choices
Author: LVB
Disclaimer: LucasFilm Ltd owns it all. I'm just borrowing.
Summary: He has to choose who to save- his master, his apprentice, or the woman that haunts his dreams every night. Obi-Wan vignette
Spoilers: RotS and Secrets of the Jedi.
A/N: I've been churning out such randomness! I hope I do this justice :) Oh, and if anyone is interested in checking fic nominations in the fanfic awards for EU stories and Slash stories, please let me know!
The hot sands brushed forcefully against his face. He closed his eyes and let the beginning of the sandstorm touch him. He hadn't been here for long in reality, but in his mind it felt like years. Decades, even. He had a purpose here in the wastelands of Tatooine. His job was to look out for young Luke.
Word had come to him that the Lars' had decided to retain Luke's heritage for him. They decided not to claim him as their own, but give him a small glimmer of hope about his past. He was to be Luke Skywalker. He had accepted their decision. He hadn't liked it, but in all reality, the word of a young moisture farmer named Skywalker probably wouldn't reach the ears of Vader and the Emperor.
Nor would they catch wind of a sassy little princess named Organa, he assumed. Nevertheless, they were still protected. Safe. Hidden. A sigh escaped his chapped lips as he gazed out across the desert.
Never in his life had he stayed on a planet quite like Tatooine before. On his previous visit, he had remained in the Naboo aircraft. It was on that fateful visit that his master had met Anakin. It was a day Obi-Wan long remembered. Sheltering his eyes, he turned to retreat back into his dwellings.
He lived simply, much like at the now-massacred Jedi temple. His meagre possessions only ensured his survival. He didn't have comfort. He didn't deserve comfort. He had accepted his fate shortly after Anakin's son had been born. Leia would lead a happy, rich life. But Luke would face the same harsh realities his father had. But Obi-Wan would be there with him, on the sidelines.
He sighed as he once again descended into a nightmarish sleep. Every night since his exile, the dreams had come.
He stood on Mustafar once again. The searing hot lava spilled around him, but did not touch him. He was reaching for Anakin, but instead found an empty threat of hatred. His padawan's limbless body burnt again. And again.
He travelled a little further back now. This time, he looked down into his arms. Beautiful, blonde hair covered them. But there was blood. Lots of blood. Siri looked at him in the eyes. Her last words to him- "You worry too much," He was frozen, and then she became dead weight again. And again.
Finally, his nightmare would come to the moment he had destroyed Darth Maul. His rage had run through the Force, allowing him to kill the Sith apprentice. He looks down at his Master and hears his dying words echo in his ears. Train the boy, again. And again.
Then, a new turn arose tonight. Suddenly, all three stood side by side at the end of a lightsaber. Save me, their eyes all begged to him.
Obi-Wan felt his own anguish pouring out of him. Could he save them? They had never been like this in his dreams- even in death. They had never begged. They had never been weak. They had always died the way they lived. But now, they all stood, silently begging him to choose.
Choose which one to save. But he couldn't. Who would he choose?
Would it be his Master, who had taken him on and taught him everything he knew?
Would it be his fellow Jedi, who had shown him to open his heart?
Would it be his apprentice, who had shown him the unconditional love of a brother?
How could he choose?
But in the end, he didn't have to. The searing blue lightsaber struck and all three of them went hurtling towards the ground. Their bodies slowly disintegrated. And with horror, Obi-Wan looked at the man who wielded the weapon.
It was himself.
Startled awake from the dream, he wiped the sweat away from his forehead. He hadn't been able to choose, so in the end he had destroyed them. In the end, he had failed. Again.
But the next morning, Obi-Wan smiled as he watched the young Luke Skywalker take his first steps across a sandy desert. He knew that maybe, this choice would be the correct one.
This choice would be his redemption.