Oh my gosh, guys, I'm so sorry! I was looking over what I'd already posted and realized that I had accidentally posted the wrong chapter! That being said, I realized that I also forgot to mention that this story is in fact inspired by other wonderful works. The Re-Entry series by flamethrower on Archive of Our Own, The Silent Song by Eirian Erisdar here on , and another one that I currently cannot remember the name of :) I will tell you when I find it again. But seriously, take a look at those stories, they are amazingly good, and I am incorporating many elements from all three into my own. Without further adieu, the real Chapter 3.
He knelt before Master Yoda in silence, waiting pensively for a response. After hearing Obi-Wan's tale Yoda now sat in silence, eyes closed as he thought. Finally, he sighed.
"Strange this is." One green eye opened to study him. "A vision you are sure it is not?"
Obi-Wan nodded. "Yes, Master."
Another sigh, the green eye closing, and the green master nodded. After many more long moments he opened both eyes and gazed thoughtfully at the man before him. "Heard of this before I have not, yet feel, I do, the will of the Force it is. Know, your master does not?"
"I came straight here upon awakening, Master Yoda. I have told no one else." And he couldn't help the sinking feeling that accompanied the knowledge that even the revered Yoda could not help.
Yoda must have seen it in his countenance for he said sternly, "Give up hope you must not. Paths to take there still are, choices for you to make." A bit more gently, "Been through much you have. Help us, here, now, that can—help you can."
He narrowed his eyes. "Is it wise to change things master?"
"Here for a reason, you are," the troll reasoned. "Given you a destiny, the Force has, though your choice your Fate is. Trust the will of the Force, you must."
Obi-Wan felt desperate. "But how! Master Yoda, I know how everything ends! I was there for it all; I watched the world burn." His voice caught, and when he spoke next it was a hoarse whisper. "I was killed by my own apprentice in an attempt to restore hope."
Suddenly he felt as old as he had appeared, older, his soul heavy with loss and grief, with fear and hope and isolation. He bowed his head and shoulders to the weight of a thousand worlds, and tears fell silently down his cheeks.
A gnarled, clawed finger kindly tipped his chin up till stormy grey eyes met ancient green tempered with sympathy. "Alone, you are not, Obi-Wan. Strong, you are, a beacon in the Force. Light, you spread, along with hope. Help you, I will, to bear this burden. Qui-Gon, too, and Mace Windu. Trust us, you must, to share your burden."
"...But-But I watched you all die."
Another sigh, and the hand dropped. "Tell no one else, you can. Carry on, we shall, as if nothing has changed. One thing at a time choose to change, you must. But make this decision lightly, you cannot."
He nodded, wiping tears away with one hand, and sniffed. "Of course, Master. I shall not change anything can I help it."
Yoda hmphed and tapped his gimmer stick as he walked away a few paces; a clear dismissal, but also a request for peace to ponder all he had learned. Obi-Wan had learned the old master's ways through necessity and recalled them now with fondness. He stood and exited the room.
Mace was waiting for him and was about to go in when he stayed him saying quietly, head tilted down, "He wishes to be alone right now. Master Yoda has asked not to be disturbed." Well, not in so many words, but Obi-Wan knew him well after so many years.
The other Jedi frowned but turned to walk beside him as he made his way slowly to his quarters—The quarters I still share with Qui-Gon. "You seem upset, Padawan."
Obi-Wan remembered Yoda's admission that Mace was a man who could help, so quietly, in a voice burdened with secrecy, exhaustion both mental and emotional, and a need for privacy, he told all he had told the Grand Master now to Mace who listened first with questioning inscrutability and then with pensive confusion. At the end of the tale Obi-Wan chuckled humorlessly. "And now I do not even know when I am."
The master's brow was furrowed, both lingering outside the entrance to the younger's quarters with his master, silence resting heavily over them. Eventually he looked back up at the shorter male. "I will discuss this with Yoda. Until then you should keep your head down, try to re-orient yourself, re-familiarize yourself with everything as I imagine this cannot be easy on you. Attend to your studies, speak to your master of you wish. If you don't and would like someone to talk to—I am always open to you. May the Force be with you, Kenobi."
He turned and began to walk away, so Obi-Wan opened the door with a practiced wave of his hand.
"Oh, and Kenobi?"
He turned to catch the barest of sympathetic smiles.
"Today is the first day of Valorum's second term."
Obi-Wan smiled gratefully, bowed slightly, and slipped inside.