Where Light Flickers And...
Palpatine sat at his desk, cloaked in a black, black hood covering his head but not hiding the yellow glow of his eyes. The scarring was ugly and dramatic, almost theatrical. A small corner of Obi-Wan's mind wondered if he'd enjoyed whatever it was that caused all that physical twisting. The outer shell finally manifested the ugly pillar of Darkness that was on the inside.
Obi-Wan and Anakin stood shoulder to shoulder. Nobody moved.
Palpatine smiled.
"I see you brought Master Kenobi with you. Tell me, is he a peace offering?"
Anakin swirled in darkness. "I'm not you're apprentice."
"Perhaps not yet," Palpatine conceded. "But you will be soon enough."
"Never."
The denial only made Palpatine's smile widen. His gaze shifted a few minor degrees to regard Obi-Wan. "What say you, Master Kenobi? Dull as your abilities are I'm sure you can see how much better suited he is for the Darkside."
In this, at least, Obi-Wan could give an honest answer: "The Darkside suits no one. It can only bring tragedy."
"Ah, yes; such a Jedi answer. Oh, but I forget, there aren't any more Jedi."
That hurt, but Obi-Wan was a cup drinking of the Force, it washed away.
"Two Jedi are here," Obi-Wan said softly, his voice hard.
"Ah, but there you are wrong," Palpatine answered, leaning back in his chair and grinning with unadulterated satisfaction. "We have one Jedi with us - who will die shortly, I assure you - and one half made Sith."
"Liar." Anakin hissed.
The Sith only tilted his head lightly to on side. "Am I? Do you not see happening within you what I have foreseen for years? What I have cultivated for over a decade? What I have planned from the very start when I killed my master? Plageus always was too trusting."
"You were my mentor!" Anakin roared, his anger overtaking him. Obi-Wan grabbed his arm, muscles taught under his hand, and the Jedi master could see the red bleeding into his eyes again. "I trusted you! I went to you with everything! I looked up to you!"
"And well you should," Palpatine said. No, Obi-Wan decided, this was no Palpatine; that was only his exterior, the veneer that covered the Sith's true identity. This was Sidious, all masks ripped away. "Look at what I have given you."
"What you've taken from me!"
"What I've freed you from," Sidious corrected. "Look around you my boy. The Jedi are no longer here to constrain you with their hand-me-down rules of a bygone era. You no longer have to fear their disapproval of your marriage. Oh, Master Kenobi, did you know of it? Perhaps I haven't saved you from all reproach yet. But then, you can finish the job any time you wish."
"He already knows everything," Anakin hissed, blue returning to his eyes. "And he hasn't done anything to betray me!"
"My dear boy, I've only given you what you wanted. Tell me, what else do you want? A planet? A podracer? A branch of government? The emperor's seat itself? I will give it all to you; you need only ask."
"What I want is to kriffing kill you for what you've done." His eyes were red again.
"Then by all means, do so," Sidious said with poise and oily grace. "I am unarmed. Strike me down and your journey to the Darkside will be complete."
Only when Anakin's lightsaber ignited did Obi-Wan step forward, firmly planting himself in between the two. Dangerous as it might have been, Obi-Wan kept his back to Anakin and turned all his focus onto Sidious. "You are quite skilled in dun moch," he said in low tones, none of his normal cordiality present in his voice. "But no one will be turning today."
Sidious only smiled again. "And this is why you will fail. Young Skywalker was right about you; you're only holding him back. Look at what you're doing right now, standing in front of him like that. You've been holding him back from his true potential for years."
Obi-Wan knew for a fact that that wasn't true. The only thing holding Anakin back from his true potential was Anakin himself; until he could admit that he was afraid of loss, until he could accept that people died not matter what one did to prevent it, until he could move on from his mother's death, he would continue to be hampered by his fears. He knew it with such certainty that the barb did nothing to him, it washed over him and away, into the Force where it could do no harm. Anakin, he thought, sending it through the bond, we have to have him start the fight. Anakin? Can you hear me?
There was no response.
Obi-Wan didn't outwardly react; indeed he countered Sidious' ineffectual jibe by saying, "Anakin is the only one who can decide his true potential." He mentally, however, was redoubling his efforts to contact his partner. All he could hear was black, all he could feel was pain, and he could sense his bond being congested with anger, anger, ANGER as it flooded through his brain.
Sidious seemed to be enjoying the show, there was a low chuckle that wafted from his lips. "Look at him, young Skywalker," he said, directing his gaze to the tower of fury behind Obi-Wan. "He's breaking his bond with you as we speak, trying to hide from the truth I'm telling."
"Liar!"
Anakin leapt over Obi-Wan's head, blue lightsaber flashing, and landed on the emperor's desk; he raised his blade over his head, preparing for a sweeping arc, and Obi-Wan found himself lifting a hand and pulling his partner back with a jerk of the Force.
Orange eyes swirled to face him. "What are you doing?" he demanded.
Obi-Wan could feel more of the bond shatter, Anakin's roiling, raging, overwhelming anger clogging and narrowing the bond, breaking off entire branches of roots in their minds.
"Please, not in anger," Obi-Wan whispered in reply, even then trying to force his way through all the pain and rage and confusion to show Anakin what was happening, what Sidious was doing, what was breaking. It hurt, his brain was roaring in his skull; and he thought his nerves were on fire with the heat of Anakin's emotions. He tried to reach out to them and release them to the Force, as his dear former Padawan had done for him when he had returned from Rattatak. The bond was no longer strong enough to do it, however, and all he could sense was more rage.
Something must have worked, however, because the eyes dulled, not quite to blue but an iron gray.
Sidious was still smiling at his desk. "It would seem, Master Kenobi, that so long as you live you will prevent my apprentice from reaching his full potential. So be it."
Quicker than thought, Sidious had a red lightsaber in his hand and was leaping over his desk to the two of them. Luckily for Obi-Wan, he did not need to think, he only needed the Force. His own lightsaber ignited and came up in an instinctive block before he had even really processed what was happening. He gave ground quickly, backing up and up and up as Sidious pressed a furious assault. Some of the moves he had seen before in the duel with Dooku, others were completely new to him and Obi-Wan was hard pressed to fully track and catalogue the moves he was seeing. It would be a long battle indeed before Sidious tired enough to make a mistake. Dooku, even in his eighties, could handle a protracted battle with the Force, he could only guess what Sidious was capable of.
Anakin was chasing after them, blue lightsaber swinging up and down as he pumped his arms and his legs to keep up. Sparks and burns flashed left and right, bits of wall falling away or furniture flying apart in multiple pieces. The lights overhead exploded as the intense energy of the lightsabers struck, putting the room in darkness save for the late evening sky behind Sidious, an orange flame making all parties stark silhouettes.
Obi-Wan deflected, thrust and parried, hacked and slashed, striked and stabbed; giving ground physically even as he refused to give ground mentally. His head throbbed and ached but he ignored it all, determined to do his duty. His mental focus was entirely on blocking and observing and analyzing Sidious while his emotional focus was trying to spear its way to Anakin, to reach his partner's inner core and stroke it, let him know it was alright, that it would be okay, that he was there for him.
He couldn't do it.
He couldn't do it.
Anakin finally caught up and slashed his lightsaber down, a vicious Djem So move that Obi-Wan knew from experience was backed up with the Force, adding speed and momentum to the swing. Sidious flicked it aside like it was nothing before mimicking the move on Obi-Wan, the blow of lightsaber and lightsaber shaking all the way up to the Jedi's shoulders. He bent backwards nearly parallel to the ground to avoid an additional horizontal slash, and the Force sent him spinning to the side in order to avoid the abrupt change in direction of Sidious' blade, having only just enough time to block the next blow. Anakin was working feverishly, trying to get in between Sidious and Obi-Wan, to defend his partner and attack his nemesis at the same time.
It was doomed to failure, Sidious would have none of it and knocked him aside with the Force.
Instinctively, Obi-Wan reached out to catch his friend even as he gave yet more ground in his defensive style, trying to find any repetition of pattern. He did not recognize the style. A door was suddenly behind him, and Obi-Wan found himself leaving the emperor's office, fighting in the narrow confines of a hallway. It had done his own master in, but he would be damned if it did him in, and Obi-Wan gave more ground, reaching out for Anakin and begging that he could be heard.
Anakin! Like with Dooku!
He waited, hoping to see Anakin reach up and take over, have him be the offensive while Obi-Wan covered for them both. He waited and waited, even as he gave yet more ground, circling around the Convocation Chamber's perimeter hallways.
Their blades locked for a brief moment, and Sidious gave a low, evil chuckle. "He can no longer hear you, Master Kenobi. It is only a matter of time. I have foreseen it."
It struck much too close to home, Obi-Wan was hearing his worst fear from Sidious' mouth, and even though he knew it was nothing more than dun moch, he could not deny the tiny sliver of fear in him that was growing by the second.
Anakin suddenly appeared out of nowhere, bowling into both combatants and knocking all three of them over. Obi-Wan tumbled and rolled to his feet. Blood was trickling down from somewhere in his hairline, and he wiped it from his eyes as he watched Anakin, yellow eyed Anakin, engage Sidious in battle.
In one terrifying moment, Obi-Wan saw the very nature of Anakin's vision come true. He saw himself with Padme, in labor and denying with everything that she was that Anakin had turned, the truth crushing her so utterly that she died in birth, and he saw only a hollow existence after that. He had to stop it. He had to stop it.
The two combatants pushed through a door and into the Convocation Chamber, the senatorial pods spread out in all their splendor, the damage they had seen previously comparatively light. Obi-Wan followed, plotting. In his mind's eye, he could see the lower levels of the Naboo hangar, the tattooed Zabrack as he led Qui-Gon and he into his trap. Sidious was doing exactly the same thing, leaving Anakin into the worst of traps. This wouldn't lead to death like with his master; this would lead to a Fall. He was running against time, and he was determined to make the outcome different. If this was a ploy, a game to play on Anakin's anger and force him to turn, then Sidious wanted to do one of two things: gall Anakin, as he had done with the dun moch, or hurt Obi-Wan, as he had done with the furious attack. The lightsaber combat was a problem as well, Obi-Wan had to do something to minimize the pieces of the equation.
Anakin pressed his assault, shouting epitaphs of betrayal and cries of retribution through the cadence of lightsabers sparking against each other. Sidious could only laugh, which made Anakin even angrier.
Obi-Wan blinked, recognizing a pattern of movements, and paused after landing on a senatorial pod, watching. There, then that, then... yes. Obi-Wan saw a complete kata, and from there his mind deduced the major forms of Sidious' style of combat. He could fight the Sith.
The question then became if he could fight Anakin. His friend, his partner, his brother, was oblivious to all that was around him. He was utterly surrounded by his anger and would not stand for one to stand in the way of his bitter perusal of revenge.
Still, he had to try.
It was his duty. Both his duties.
Obi-Wan leapt forward and fell in step with Anakin's Djem So, circling around and defending both himself and Anakin while the other took the offensive. This was why they were such a good team, they could both play to their strengths and cover their weaknesses. Obi-Wan fought with everything that he was, looking at the moves, watching as Sidious worked his way through his cycles. He doubted Anakin even realized the patterns, just acting and reacting to the Living Force as was his wont. Could he even feel the Living Force, dark as he was right now? The thought made Obi-Wan shiver and his pushed it aside. He would have to time this right.
He bided his time, waiting. He became more familiar with Sidious' patterns, he learned the logic behind the moves, the philosophy behind the style, and he waited some more. Anakin was not so patient, Obi-Wan was hard pressed to keep both of them safe from the Sith's agile and vicious attacks. He could feel small burns as blows came too close, he knew Anakin was growling over the cuts that he too was receiving.
"Master, stop getting in the way," he shouted.
"No."
"Master!"
"Whatever happens," Obi-Wan said, "I'll not leave you alone. Even if you do."
"Such sweet words," Sidious said, smiling still. He hadn't stopped. "But the truth is you want the glory of the kill for yourself."
"Shut up!" Anakin shouted. "That's not true!"
"Isn't it? Feel along your bond, Skywalker, see if I'm not telling the truth."
"You know full well the bond is almost gone," Obi-Wan said, "No doubt as you've planned."
"I haven't had to do anything, Master Kenobi. You've done it yourself. Skywalker, see if you can kill me now!"
That was when the Sith lightning erupted, arcing around Obi-Wan's lightsaber and electrocuting him. Paired with it was a mental assault, images of Qui-Gon's death, his torture on Rattatak, the loss of Siri Tachi, all of it ripped to the forefront of his mind. Agony ripped through him even as his Force empathy projected Anakin's own terror and hatred into his mind, funneling everything into a swirling hurricane of pain. He was screaming perhaps, and his body refused to listen to his commands, and suddenly he was falling and falling and falling.
A pod abruptly stopped his fall and for a few seconds it was all he could do to breathe. Everything was short-circuiting, his brain almost wasn't functioning, and his emotions were only half his. This was the problem. It always had been. Anakin never had skill in Force Empathy, he was always too absorbed in his own emotions. The only thing that ever made him think outside of himself was when Obi-Wan was hur-
The thought struck him so suddenly he almost collapsed again, but he looked up to the fight and knew what he had to do. Two deep breaths and he leapt back up into the fight, specifically he leapt right in front of Anakin's thrust.
The blue blade pierced his shoulder, through his shoulder blade and who knew what else. He could see the blue light emitting from the front, just under his collarbone, and he could feel Anakin's pulse of shock, and he saw Sidious' smile finally wipe away. Obi-Wan took his opportunity, and he swung his lightsaber with his working arm and broke the red lightsaber, splitting the hilt in two.
Pity he didn't get the hand attached to it.
"Master!"
The cry came from two voices, and suddenly Ahsoka was there, falling from above with experienced grace, both of her lightsabers ignited and ready to strike.
Sidious was quick, however, and a hand raised even as lighting erupted from it, coursing through Ahsoka who had no means of escape, gravity only bringing her closer to the pain. She was screaming, Anakin was screaming, and suddenly there was a pulse in the Force; the Sith had gathered it together to shove the Togrutan away, striking a pod a dozen meters up with such force that she dented it, rolling up and over it before disappearing behind it. Obi-Wan could still feel her surprise, her pain, and her broken bones. Only then did it dawn on him that he should have been feeling pain as well, and when he had that thought he was overwrought with it.
The Force wrapped around him, Sidious again no doubt, and Obi-Wan was flying in an opposite direction. He thought he saw blood, and that confused him because a lightsaber automatically cauterized wounds it made. Lightning hit him again, but he was in so much pain that it was hardly a blip on his radar, nor was his unceremonious crash into another pod.
He thought he saw Qui-Gon again.
But it was Anakin's face, looking over him in hysterics. His eyes were...
"... blue..."
"Obi-Wan, please! Don't try to talk!"
Obi-Wan's words came out as a hoarse rasp. He coughed and tried again. "Where's Ahsoka?"
"Right here," Anakin said, his beautiful blue eyes flicking to the side. Obi-Wan turned his head and saw the unconscious Togrutan Padawan, blood trickling down her lip. "What were you thinking! You got in the way again!"
"No," Obi-Wan said slowly, trying to make his mouth work. His body kept twitching, still suffering from the electrocution. He was going into shock. He fought it.
"No?"
"He's no lightsaber now," he rasped, "and you finally have a clear head."
"No I don't! Obi-Wan, what happened to the bond? I can't feel you!"
Without the bond, Obi-Wan did the only thing he could think of to reassure this man that he had known for over a decade; the man he'd raised; the man he'd fought with, fought against, adventured with; the man he knew as well as himself; the man who needed him. With great effort, through the pain and the shock, he lifted the one arm he could move and managed to toss it over Anakin's shoulder, his best approximation of a hug he could manage. And he spoke the words aloud that he always did on the bond.
"You are my brother, Anakin. I love you."
There was a moment. A moment when time didn't exist.
Tears were spilling out.
His heart was aching.
And yet, he was in this timeless, unending moment.
You are my brother, Anakin. I love you.
Two simple sentences. There was no Force behind them. No power. Obi-Wan didn't have the strength for that, injured as he was.
But there was weight to those two simple sentences. A heavy, heavy weight that smacked him straight in the face.
It wasn't just Obi-Wan that he could no longer feel. He couldn't feel Ahsoka. His Padawan had appeared out of nowhere, and he hadn't even sensed that she was coming. He couldn't feel Padme, and he could always sense her when he was on Coruscant.
In that moment, he looked at his bonds. Really looked at them.
They were broken. And for every broken piece there was a hole of Darkness. A very familiar Darkness.
... His Darkness. The fear, anger, hatred and suffering that he'd been overwhelmed by all day long had... choked the bonds. Broke the bonds. Muted the very bonds he clung to because of the reassurance they gave.
You are my brother, Anakin. I love you.
A fresh wave of tears spilled up and over, because this was all his own fault. He was so steeped in Darkness, he didn't even realize that just coming here was indulging in his own selfishness to get some sort of revenge for all the pain he'd been suffering from because a mentor that he trusted had betrayed him.
Obi-Wan had seen this.
And Obi-Wan, exceedingly selfless and stupid Obi-Wan, had done the only thing that ever broke through to him when he was this overwhelmed by what he was feeling.
He took a sobbing breath.
The bonds weren't severed yet.
He wouldn't let them be.
Ignoring Sidious, the ache of his heart, the pain of injuries, everything, he focused as he had never focused before. He flooded the bonds.
He flooded them with everything he had.
But what he had at that moment wasn't darkness.
It was love for his brother, his Padawan, his wife, his unborn child. Love, affection, adoration, admiration, respect, all the things he felt for these three precious people filled the bonds, banishing the hideous taint of Darkness, letting them shine with the love he always had for them.
The response was immediate.
Ahsoka, unconscious though she was, immediately nestled herself into the bond, taking strength from it and subconsciously responding with her own trust and belief in him.
Far above in orbit, Padme gave a great sigh of relief, though she didn't know why, as she watched the HoloNet broadcast of their battle while in the first stages of labor. Already, the birth settled into something easier than what it had been.
And Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan just smiled as their bond came back to life and feelings and thoughts were shared in that timeless instant.
He saw what Obi-Wan had seen. The danger he was in. He saw what Ahsoka had seen. The worry she had for him. He saw what Padme had seen. Her love of him.
He couldn't believe that he'd almost cut this all apart. But he had. And he flooded the bonds with his sorrow over what had happened before letting his love for them stuff the bonds to capacity and beyond once more.
"I will look after Ahsoka." Obi-Wan pulled his Padawan to him, shielding her from the vast sphere of pods with his own body, if necessary.
He rubbed tears from his eyes and pulled them both into a hug, brief as it was as time moved forward again.
"You are my brother, Obi-Wan. I love you too."
Anakin Skywalker stood and turned to face Palpatine.
And his fear.
Author's Notes: Big Grin.
Next week: Where Death is the Force