So... A little backstory for this one. Obi and Ani were out in the middle of a battle, and Obi got seriously injured (how, where, why doesn't matter. Just know it was really bad). So there ya go. Okay, okay, it's not a lot of backstory. It's not even specific. But hey, I never said it was *going* to be! Use your imaginations. :D
(Written by Mirnava)
"Anakin. That spot is staring at me."
Anakin jerked awake in the seat next to his friend's bed in the healing wing of the Temple. "Obi-Wan! You're awake! How are y-" The other man was still staring at the wall at the foot of his bed. "Obi-Wan?"
"Shh!" The Jedi Master held up a silencing finger toward Anakin, his face the picture of concentration. "It's trying to tell me something," he whispered loudly.
"What is?"
"The spot." He was still trying to whisper.
"Huh? What spot?"
Obi-Wan pointed at the wall. "That one! The black spot over there!"
Anakin followed Obi-Wan's gaze to the pristinely white wall, but looking closer, he found a small black smudge, about the size of the tip of his thumb.
"Do you see it?" Obi-Wan whispered.
"Yeah, I see-"
"I can't understand it. Why can't I understand what it's saying to me?" He turned and looked at the younger man, his eyes wide and his pupils hugely dilated thanks to the amount of strong painkillers the medics had pumped into him.
"I don't know, Obi-"
"You have to help me, Ani! You have to help me understand! It's trying to tell me something!"
A small smile pulled at the corners of Anakin's mouth at hearing his childhood nickname. He reached out to lay a comforting hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder, but was childishly batted away.
"It's important, Ani!" He was getting upset now.
"Okay, well, what is it talking about?" He changed his tone to one he would use to calm a small child, and Obi-Wan seemed to respond to it.
Obi-Wan took a breath, calming a little. "I dunno. I can't understand him." Him? Anakin thought as Obi-Wan's breathing quickened again. "He's crying, Ani! Ani, help me understand! Why is he crying? Are his people gone? Did the Sep'ratists destroy his world?" Obi-Wan reached out and grasped Anakin's metal forearm, staring at him with wide, pleading eyes – ones that, to Anakin's surprise, were filling with tears. "Did I not save Splotchy's family?" he whispered.
Anakin was at a loss of what to do. Tears were rolling down his surrogate brother's cheeks now. He grasped Obi-Wan's hands – still clasped on his arm with such a desperate grip that he was glad it was not his flesh arm entrapped – and tried to comfort the elder man. He leaned forward, staring back into his old Master's eyes. "You didn't hurt Splotchy in any way, Obi-Wan." He never thought words like these would ever pass his lips, much less directed at the Jedi Master. But Obi-Wan was not convinced, so Anakin suppressed a sigh and continued. "Obi-Wan, Splotchy's family is fine, and his people are still alive. He just… heard you were hurt and came to make sure you were okay."
"Why was he crying then, Ani?"
"Because… he was worried about you." Anakin dropped his gaze to the bed. "The medics didn't know if you were going to make it, so he sat next to your bed every moment he could until you woke up, just to make sure he didn't lose you. Because he didn't know what he would do if he lost you. Life would become meaningless, not worth living without you. His brother." He looked back up at his old Master, seeing the concern in Obi-Wan's eyes gone and how much Anakin's words touched even his drugged-smeared mind clearly readable in their blue-grey depths. Anakin flushed a bit, realizing what he had just admitted.
"I didn't know Splotchy cared so much," Obi-Wan said.
Anakin rolled his eyes. "Obi-Wan, it was a metaphor. You know that," he pointed to 'Splotchy,' "is just a spot on the wall, right?"
"A… metaphor? So that… was you?" Obi-Wan's eyes grew wide as he looked at Anakin, as if he never would have thought that he cared at all.
Anakin gave a small nod, his face turning a little more red. "You had better be so drugged that you can't remember this later."
Obi-Wan flopped back onto his pillow, his voice heavy and cumbersome with impending sleep. "Splotchy is just a spot, and I'm not even allowed to remember this? Why is life so…" he sighed heavily, searching for the right word, "…complexicated?"
Anakin snorted softly, smiling as Obi-Wan's eyes closed and his grip on Anakin's arm loosened. The Knight gently placed his brother's hands back on the bed before he got up to report to the Council that Obi-Wan was going to be just fine.
….Though the next few days, before the drugs left his system, were going to be quite amusing.
Please review? You know we love them!
Oh, just to be clear, most of this is just creative writing. Neither Seren nor I have ever been medicated this heavily. It was just the last line of dialogue that prompted this.
~Mirnava