A/N: This is a full universe genderbend with the sole exception being Shmi Skywalker.
She had given birth to twins. Obi-Wan had been there, Obi-Wan was always there, whether she liked it or not. The only person who wasn't there, the only one who ought to have been, was her husband. Their marriage was still secret, for now, but the presence of the children certainly complicated things. They had tried to be so careful, but even the best laid plans can go awry. Which was why she was here now, cradling her babies in her arms with a mercifully silent Obi-Wan sitting nearby.
Such things happened at the Jedi Temple, not often, but from time to time they did. It was frowned upon for Jedi to have children, but not completely unheard of. Anakin lay back against her pillows as she watched her babies sleep. She didn't want to catch Obi-Wan's eye. She knew her former Master was disappointed and disapproving of her. Obi-Wan had high expectations for Anakin, and Anakin never seemed to be able to live up to them. She sometimes wished that her old Master would just stop expecting anything from her, it would certainly be easier to avoid disappointment that way.
"Anakin," Obi-Wan eventually started, her voice was grave. Anakin had hoped that if she could avoid eye contact for long enough that maybe Obi-Wan would just give up, but she hadn't. Obi-Wan could be very stubborn at times. Obi-Wan took a breath and started again, "Anakin, you are at a crossroads here, I hope you realize that."
Anakin kept her eyes downcast as she nodded somberly. She tried to seem ashamed of herself, but in reality she wasn't, and she knew that her true feelings were obvious to Obi-Wan. While the timing of her pregnancy could have been better, she didn't regret it for an instant.
"You will be expected to make a decision, not yet, but soon. I suggest that you take some time in the coming days and seek guidance from the Force. This decision should not be taken lightly." Obi-Wan was giving Anakin a searching look, one which Anakin was trying to avoid at all costs. She knew her former Master was trying to figure her out, trying to gauge what her choice would be.
"I understand that, Obi-Wan." Anakin tried to remain noncommittal.
"If you choose to forego your attachments and relationship with the father, and rededicate yourself to the Order, then your life as a Jedi can proceed more or less uninterrupted." The tone of Obi-Wan's voice left no doubt in Anakin's mind as to which path Obi-Wan hoped Anakin would take.
"Obi-Wan-" Anakin tried to cut in, but Obi-Wan raised her hand and continued.
"If you wish to continue your relationship with the father," Anakin was pretty sure that Obi-Wan had a more than good idea of who he was, "then it is only fair that you leave the Order. Either way you choose, down the road a little lies another choice. If your children are Force sensitive, you and the father will have to decide if they will be trained as Jedi."
Silence lapsed between them. Anakin felt like she was under a microscope as Obi-Wan continued to observe her closely. Anakin wasn't even sure what she wanted to say, or if she wanted to say anything at all. She glanced down at her sleeping babies and tried to imagine them as Jedi, tried to imagine herself there with them, a Jedi as well. Somehow, she couldn't muster the image, it seemed too fantastical.
"Obi-Wan," she said, "I would like to meditate on this in private, I'll let you know what I decide when I've had some time to think."
Obi-Wan nodded and rose. As she stood by the door she turned to Anakin and said, "Anakin, I hope you will make the right decision, you are needed far more than you realize."
Neither Anakin nor Obi-Wan had mentioned the impending choice since that day. Anakin recovered from childbirth and was tasked with light-duty assignments. The Clone Wars still marched on though the galaxy paying little heed to the fact that she had just given birth. In short order Obi-Wan was sent to the front as the fighting intensified, and she and Anakin didn't cross paths much in the following weeks after the children were born.
In the three months between the revelation of Anakin's pregnancy and the birth of her children the war had taken a sour turn against the Republic. System after system fell to the Separatists as Countess Dooku and General Grievous began a new offensive that started to turn the tide against the Republic. They were even making incursions against Core worlds that had previously been thought safe.
Chancellor Palpatine had repeatedly asked that Anakin be sent to the front since the beginning of the new Separatist offensive, but the Jedi Council had insisted that Anakin was where she could serve the Jedi best. No one outside the Temple was to know about her recent pregnancy and childbirth. Palpatine had insisted that the war effort needed its greatest hero, but her appeals to Yoda and Mace Windu fell upon deaf ears.
In the weeks following the birth of the twins, Anakin could see that things continued to go poorly for the Republic. She knew why, too. Her absence from the war over the last months had been a blow to their momentum and with the new defeats many systems were becoming demoralized. Guilt over the countless losses gnawed at her. There seemed to be a little voice telling her that all of this could have been prevented if only she had been there. In the last months before giving birth she'd also started to be overcome by terrible dreams foretelling of pain and loss. They were unclear, but reminded her of the dreams she used to have about her mother, except this time the pain was multiplied. Even now, weeks later, they teased at her in her sleep. A sense of doom overshadowed her waking hours.
Anakin's light-duty assignment was driving her stir-crazy. She was working the communications hub at the Temple helping to coordinate Republic attacks throughout the galaxy. Her strategies had proved vital in more than a few situations, but being so far from the action – and helpless to respond with any actual aid when things started to go poorly – was a kind of torture. It was now almost six months since she had been the cockpit of a fighter or even set foot outside the Temple other than her secret assignations with Padmé. Standing at the comm hub she reviewed the data projected before her.
"Okay, Master Fisto this will be risky, but I know it'll work. Deploy all fighters to the right. Don't split them. Focus in on the shield deflectors, it should take one good pass of concentrated fire to disable them, then you can bring the cruiser around and shoot it out of the sky."
"Are you sure about this? If you have misjudged my forces will be weakened." Master Fisto was generally pretty cautious when it came to space battles, she preferred to be on the ground, or even better, in the water.
"I'm sure, Master Fisto. This will work."
"I trust your intuition, I will be in touch again shortly." Master Kit Fisto's blue-tinged hologram flicked out, Anakin would know soon enough if she had been successful. The waiting was the worst part for her, so much could go wrong in an instant and if she wasn't present at the battle to adapt, her strategic skills weren't really worth anything.
Anakin looked at the transmission terminal, it was empty and quiet, but her senses tingled. Something was up. Something nagged at her in the Force. A second later a Code 1 emergency transmission flared on the terminal. A clone, an ARC trooper, bloomed into life in front of her, the small blue figure was urgent as she gave her report.
"Code 1, Code 1, Coruscant has been breached and Chancellor Palpatine has been kidnapped. Repeat, Coruscant has been breached and Chancellor Palpatine has been kidnapped. Current whereabouts of the Chancellor is believed to be the stateroom of General Grievous' flagship, the Invisible Hand. All Jedi are asked to muster for the defense of the planet and the recovery of the Chancellor. End transmission."
Anakin looked up from the terminal and punched in the code to transmit to the Temple as a whole and all Jedi within a certain range from her comm. "This is General Skywalker, all Jedi and GAR personnel: Coruscant is under attack, scramble the fighters. Chancellor Palpatine has been abducted and is aboard Invisible Hand. All Jedi are ordered to board the ship and extract the Chancellor if possible." As she finished she was already racing towards the hangars at a flat run. She knew they didn't have any time to lose.
The sleek Jedi fighter rose into the Coruscant sky. For probably the first time in centuries there wasn't any traffic in the airlanes. People had fled the vulnerable air, and now the sky was growing thick with fighters and warships. It had been too long since Anakin had flown. Holding the controls now was like breathing again for the first time in months. She pointed the nose of her fighter at the sky and let loose on the throttle.
Her fighter skipped through the air as dozens of others followed her lead. Some of the other small fightercraft were piloted by clones, others were flown by Jedi and senior Padawans, all of them aimed at one target: the Invisible Hand.
In just minutes they were engaged with the enemy. Droid controlled ships of every description filled the sky like stars. Anakin plunged into the thick of the Separatists, peppering the cluster of Sep ships with her lasers sending them scattering in all directions. She weaved her way through the enemy, gaining on the Invisible Hand with every swerve.
Her headset crackled and a familiar voice came through. "Anakin? Is that you?"
"Obi-Wan," Anakin flipped her fighter to the left to strafe a group of enemy spacecraft, all while looping toward the Invisible Hand. She couldn't see Obi-Wan's ship directly in front of her, but she knew her former Master was nearby. "Obi-Wan, cover me."
Anakin didn't need to know exactly where Obi-Wan was, or what she was doing. When it came to moments like this, the trust between them was absolute. Anakin needed cover, Obi-Wan would give it to her. As much as she might complain about hating flying, Obi-Wan was a keen pilot and one that Anakin preferred to have in the sky with her during battles.
It was only a matter of seconds before Obi-Wan and Anakin were flying side by side. Their ships moved in sync. They were in their element and at their best when they were like this. They let the Fore flow through them, and enemy fighters melted away before them. If Anakin twitched right, Obi-Wan matched her seamlessly. If Anakin spiraled down, Obi-Wan followed suit. In tandem and in harmony. Anakin had missed this during their months apart. As much as she and Obi-Wan had butted heads over the years, the bond of trust between them was unbreakable. She knew her Master would always be there for her just as she would always be there for her Master. They were one with each other and with the Force.
With Obi-Wan at her side, Anakin made a mad dash for Invisible Hand. More than ever, time was of the essence. The Separatists might even now be extracting concessions from Palpatine. The woman was elderly and certainly wasn't going to be able to hold out against enemy torture for long. She knew they might only have minutes to do this. With Grievous it was hard to calculate what she would do. The General wasn't the type to take hostages, normally. Anakin gripped her fighter controls, the fate of the Republic was in her hands.
Anakin circled the battlefield, trying to find a way to punch into Grievous' ship. A flagship this size certainly had an array of hangars for shuttles and the like, so she coursed her way around the armored behemoth seeking an entry. She knew Obi-Wan was on her tail.
Coming around to the far side of the ship, she spotted what she was looking for. A large hangar that their small Jedi fighters could infiltrate if they got close enough. Between her ship and the hanger were what looked like hundreds of enemy crafts. Droids of every kind filled the empty space between the Invisible Hand and Anakin.
"Obi-Wan, I'm going in hot, it's the only way to get in."
"I'm right behind you."
Anakin knew she would be.
Anakin looked out over all the ships between her and her objective. "Ready, little buddy," Anakin called to Artoo. The droid warbled in the affirmative. There was a particularly thick swarm of droid fighters in front of her to her left. Freshly issued from the target hangar, they weren't yet actively engaging the Republic forces. Anakin thought that they must be running through some orientation programming. Swerving to target the cluster, Anakin decided to liven things up.
"Finger on the trigger, Master." Anakin pelted into the mix. Since she was only concerned with punching through the group, she didn't bother targeting, just causing as much damage as possible. Obi-Wan's lasers joined hers, and between the two of them they cut a violent path. Anakin heard R2-D2 squeal as an enemy laser glanced past its dome.
"It's okay, Artoo, we're almost home."
Obi-Wan's voice came sharply over the headset, "Anakin!"
Anakin didn't need to hear anything else, she abruptly jerked the fighter down, then rolled it into a spin before guiding it up again. Laser bolts surrounded her for a moment and she felt her right wing take the brunt of something, but it was too late to stop her now. She was on target and the Invisible Hand was hers.
She hit the hangar at a speed that no one should ever enter a hangar. Pulling back on the controls and with the Force, it was all she could do to prevent the ship from skidding across the floor and smashing into the far wall. Obi-Wan's ship was in a similar predicament only a millisecond behind her. The second the ship careened to an almost stop, Anakin popped the hatch and leaped from the cockpit, lightsaber in hand. R2-D2 ejected from the droid well a second later. Anakin looked around to see Obi-Wan standing near her own fighter, lightsaber humming.
Blaster bolts filled the air as the battle droids in the hanger fired at them. It was the work of a moment for the Jedi to reduce the droids to rubble.
Obi-Wan glanced at the fighters then at Anakin. It was the first time Anakin had seen the other Jedi in several months, it was good to see her again. Anakin gave her a warm smile, whatever tension that had been between them the last time they were together had evaporated.
Obi-Wan caught her eye and gave her an ironic smile. "It seems we're going to have to find another way off this ship, our fighters are a bit of a mess and it appears that this hangar is closed." Both of the fighters were more akin to wreckage than spacecraft. Obi-Wan's R2 unit was just a smoking heap of plastic.
A flare of disappointment bloomed in Anakin's chest, she really liked that fighter. Anakin looked to the emergency blast shielding that was now covering the only entrance to the hangar. She smirked at Obi-Wan, "Maybe the General will be kind enough to provide us with an alternative."
Exiting the hangar, the two of them made their way through the ship, Artoo bumping at their heels. The ship was massive but they could sense the Chancellor's presence in its upper regions. Crossing through corridors looking for the lifts a different sensation began to creep over Anakin. A familiar presence pulsed in the recesses of the ship as they made their way though the lower decks. A glance at Obi-Wan told her that her Master felt it too. Grievous was on this ship, but the sense of darkness that tugged at them was something else entirely. Cold crawled over Anakin like ghastly fingers as the two of them crept through the corridors. Anakin had felt this cold only twice before in her life. She tried to shut out the memories of those times, times she hadn't been strong enough.
"We'd best be cautious," Obi-Wan said. Anakin didn't need to ask her about what.
Invisible Hand was a droid controlled ship. Droids did everything from maintenance to flying the fighters and here on the ship knots of droids patrolled through the corridors as guards. Lightsabers in hand, Anakin and Obi-Wan finally came into the hall where the lifts were.
A cluster of a dozen or so battle droids were collected halfway down the hall just in front of the lift doors. Anakin would have thought that they were standing around talking to each other if that wouldn't be an absurd thing to think about such stupid killing machines.
"Artoo," said Anakin, "stay out of the way while we deal with these creeps." Anakin and Obi-Wan exchanged a glance, then Anakin sprang forward. The droids, alerted to her presence, wheeled around to fire. Anakin deflected the blaster bolts with her lightsaber while Obi-Wan thrust her hand forward and Force-pushed the droids down the hall.
The droids crashed into the ground and the Jedi charged forward. They didn't have time to waste with robots, they needed to get to the stateroom. Palpatine's life was on the line. Anakin and Obi-Wan had only just started sprinting down the hall when a barrage of lasers cut past them from behind. The two of them ducked and Obi-Wan turned and deflected the bolts coming from the rear. Anakin and Obi-Wan stood back-to-back in the hall, lightsabers humming. The squad they had pushed down just a moment ago was beginning to regain its feet. Most of them were functional to some degree. The two Jedi stood still as they were advanced on from two directions.
The lead robot of the new droid squad intoned in its nasally mechanical voice, "Surrender, Jedi."
Obi-Wan bumped her shoulder against Anakin's, a simple single.
The droid seemed confused that they hadn't answered it. "Surrender, Jedi. Right now."
Anakin and Obi-Wan sprang into action. Anakin surged forward using the Force to once again knock the squad in front of her to the ground. A second later she was in their midst slicing through the metal and plastic that made up their robotic flesh.
Once the first squad had been subdued, she turned to help Obi-Wan. Her former Master, however, didn't need any help. The second group of droids lay in a smoking heap very similar to the one Anakin had just finished making. Obi-Wan was just pulling her lightsaber clear of the droids and twirling it back to it's normal position in her hand with a familiar movement.
"Nice work, Obi-Wan."
Obi-Wan gave Anakin one of her small smiles. "You didn't do so bad either, of course, you did have my help with the first group."
Anakin smiled herself. Obi-Wan always liked to remind her that she wasn't quite as good as her Master, even though the both of them knew that wasn't true. It hadn't been true for a long time. Anakin had still been a Padawan when she had begun surpassing her Master in skill and power. Of course, Obi-Wan was always hasty to point out that the Force was not about raw power, but control. Anakin thought she had plenty of that too.
Pressing the call button for the lift they kept an ear to the ends of the hallway in case more patrols appeared. The lift doors opened and the Jedi were greeted by a volley of lasers that cut into the hall from inside the elevator. Anakin and Obi-Wan had snapped their lightsabers on in an instant, swinging them into defensive positions, but it was a surprise nonetheless. From inside the lift marched more battle droids and four MagnaGuards. Anakin jumped back into the hall to the left of the lift, Obi-Wan did the same to the right. The droids split their forces into two groups, one for each Jedi.
The droids that were bearing down on Anakin began firing on her, trying to kill her through sheer firepower. Anakin's lightsaber moved in a blur as she deflected the lasers. She saw, or sensed rather, something coming near her side and she brought her saber down, slicing through one end of an electrostaff in the nick of time. The other end was almost immediately brought around and aimed at her head. Anakin pushed the MagnaGuard away with the Force, while deflecting more bolts with her lightsaber.
The second MagnaGuard joined the fray. The lighted staff whirred much to close to her head for comfort. Anakin ducked under the staff and struck at the body of the wielder. She felt her lightsaber sink in as she made contact. The MagnaGuards were fast, but their speed was no match for the power of the Force.
Anakin had her battle rhythm now. All those months in the Temple hadn't dulled her abilities. Her lightsaber was a blur as she blocked and slashed in turns. She let the Force take over and guide her actions. Even in the midst of battle, this was when she felt the most at peace. To be one with the Force, that was the purest delight imaginable.
In just a matter of minutes Anakin had dispatched the droids. The remnants of the metal bodies lay scattered around the hallway in heaps. Anakin looked to Obi-Wan who was still struggling with one of the MagnaGuards; all the other droids seemed to have been cut down already. Leaping over the wreckage in front of her, Anakin landed in a crouch. Bringing her lightsaber up she stabbed it through center of the droid.
Obi-Wan sprang back as Anakin's blade burst through the other side of the droid torso. Anakin withdrew her blade and the MagnaGuard crumpled to the ground. Anakin grinned as she looked up at Obi-Wan who was deactivating her blade.
Obi-Wan smiled back. "Thanks for the assist."
"Anytime, Master." Hearing a warbled question, Anakin waved Artoo to join them. "Come on, but when we get to the stateroom level stay back in hallway and plug in. We'll need you to keep an eye on things." Artoo warbled back and wheeled out ahead of them.
With the hallway finally clear of foes, Anakin and Obi-Wan made for the lift and finally resumed their journey to the stateroom. Anakin felt a little jittery, as they traveled upward there was nothing to do but wait. Anakin tried to calm herself, to attune herself to the Force so that she would be ready for the next step. Depending on how things went in the next few minutes the entire war could be won or lost. The importance of the moment weighed on Anakin, she only hoped that she wasn't too late, that losing the war would not be her fault.
The lift arrived at the floor with the stateroom. Before the doors opened both of the Jedi paused and stood at the ready. This was the now or never moment. If they didn't rescue the chancellor here and now, then all was lost. Anakin caught Obi-Wan's eye, they had a moment of silent agreement. Whatever else happened, they were together on this. They were a team.
The lift door opened and they cautiously entered the corridor while Artoo carried out Anakin's previous commands. It was eerily quiet after all the action on the previous floor. The faint buzzing of the lights was the only noise. Even their footsteps were soundless on the carpeted floor. They took careful, deliberate steps towards the stateroom, all senses on high alert. Anakin could feel the Dark Side, it swirled in a cold miasma that dragged at her from the shadows. She was certain that Obi-Wan could feel it too.
Rounding a bend in the hallway, they came to the door to the stateroom.
"Don't rush in, Anakin."
Obi-Wan's warning was needless, but Anakin knew why she said it anyway. The last time the both of them had come up against Countess Dooku, both had come away with serious injuries, and Anakin had lost an arm in the process.
"I'll follow your every lead." Anakin wished Obi-Wan wouldn't always remind her of her failures. Anakin reflexively gripped her mechanical hand into a fist as the memory of their previous encounter with the Countess stung her. She had been a lot younger then, things were different now. She was more powerful now. The war had honed her abilities in a way that Obi-Wan's training never could.
Obi-Wan pressed the release for the door and it slid open without a sound. She strode into the room with Anakin just behind her. They were Jedi knights, they were here to take back the chancellor, there would be no pretext of stealth about this mission.
The chancellor sat cuffed in a chair that faced the large viewport, through which the battle that was raging over the planet could be seen. Flares of light punctuated the darkness of space as the ship-to-ship combat dragged on in the void. Descending the stairs, the two Jedi were faced by a familiar foe.
"Ah, young Kenobi, I was wondering if you would show up." Countess Dooku's voice was cultured and cold. She sounded so elegant, yet under that veneer was the fierce brutality of the Dark Side. Anakin clenched her right hand even tighter. Part of her hated how Dooku didn't even acknowledge her presence, as if Obi-Wan was the only Jedi here to stop her.
"I'm sure you know why we're here." Obi-Wan was all business, her tone was neutral, but her blue eyes were keenly focused on the countess as she and Anakin shed their flowing outer robes.
"Ah, yes, but of course you see that I cannot allow you to play the part of the Jedi hero. With victory so clearly in my grasp I cannot allow it to be taken away from me. The Separatists have won the war Kenobi, and you have lost all chance of being on the winning side." Dooku's eyes were on Obi-Wan, but Anakin was sure that she had taken in the entire scene and was preparing to strike.
"The Dark Side can never win," Obi-Wan replied, her voice cool. "You are a slave to its grip, not its master."
"Such a simple-minded outlook, always Qui-Gon was disappointed in your lack of vision. A weakness, I'm sure, you have instilled in your Padwan." The countess' eyes darted to Anakin for a brief moment, then went back to Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan glanced at Anakin too, for only an instant, but it was enough. Dooku struck. Blue Force-lightning erupted from her fingertips and hit Obi-Wan square in the chest. Obi-Wan was thrown backward and fell to the ground a smoking heap.
"Obi-Wan!" Anakin's lightsaber was in her hand so fast she didn't remember actually drawing it from her belt. The blue blade sprang to life as she squared off against her enemy. Her, alone against the countess, this was just like last time. This time it would be different. She was different. She would win, she had to. No one would save her this time, it all came down to her.
Dooku was now completely focused on Anakin. She lowered the hand she had smote Obi-Wan with and drew her own lightsaber. The light of the red blade glowed harshly against her pale, gray visage.
"Your Master can't save you now, young one."