This chapter is especially dark as it contains self-harm and violence! Please take care!


Chapter 25

Since there was nothing he could do, Obi-Wan sat down on the floor, fiddling with the cuffs around his wrists. Sitting here like this - it reminded him of the past.

Past missions - Anakin, sometimes Ahsoka, at his side. Under other circumstances, his cell door would have been opened long ago - Anakin would make a joke about his clumsiness; they'd leave together.

These were ghosts of his past. Nothing more than memories that had turned to ash, leaving a bitter taste in Obi-Wan's mouth. Again he wondered if what had happened was his own fault, if he had deserved it. Maybe he really should have just become a farmer then.

He shifted again so that he had the wall at his back and continued with staring into nothingness. What was the purpose of all this?

Something heavy started gripping his heart and before he could stop himself, he found himself turning around - and smashing his forehead against the wall.

Obi-Wan didn't stop when the mild headache from before turned into a pain that threatened to overwhelm him. He didn't stop when a steady flow of thick blood started dripping down his face, making the air smell of iron.

"Obi-Wan."

He laughed when he heard the voice and slumped his head against the wall. "Go away."

„Padawan, please."

„… you're dead," he croaked, whipping his head around, even though he knew he would not be able to see anything.

„I am merely one with the Force."

„There is no Force for me," Obi-Wan grounded out, turning away again, „… now leave."

„Please don't do this."

„Or what?", he snapped, „… got another kid for me to train?"

„I'm sorry," Qui-Gon said quietly, „I never meant to do this to you."

Tears welled in Obi-Wan's eyes. „… and still you left," he breathed, „.. where were you when I needed you?"

Silence.

„I guessed so much," he mumbled to himself, letting hot tears drop onto the cold metal floor, „Now go back to your precious Chosen One."

„Pada-."

„No," Obi-Wan interrupted him, „…Don't call me that. We both know that you didn't want me."

„That's not true."

Closing his eyes, he let the pain wash over him. "Then why didn't you ever show me? ...Why did you just throw me away for a child you didn't even know? Was even one 'I'm proud of you' too much to ask?"

"I didn't know what to do."

Obi-Wan laughed hollowly. "Get out of here now."

A moment ticked by and for a second he thought that Qui-Gon had finally left him.

"Just hold on, Obi-Wan...you're not alone."

Just then his cell door was ripped open, and the muzzle of a blaster was pressed against the back of his head.

"Come on, get up," a male voice barked frantically. Obi-Wan could barely hear him over the blearing alarm.

When he didn't move, an arm looped around his neck, pulling him up in a headlock. The blaster never left his head.

"Arrik!" hissed a familiar voice, "What are you doing?"

The mother. Ten.

"If he's our ticket out of here, I will gladly take it," Arrik gritted out coolly, tightening his hold on Obi-Wan.

"Mom, I'm scared...," piped up a small voice, which Obi-Wan assumed belonged to her son.

She quietly soothed her son, before turning to his attacker. "This is not how we do things!" she argued, "He doesn't deserve to be here any more than we do."

"Maybe that's not how you do things," growled Arrik in response, „But he's the reason we're here in the first place so he will get us out as well."

Obi-Wan kept his silence as Arrik whirled him around and pushed him forward with a slap of his blaster. He might as well just shoot him. It wouldn't make a difference.

It wasn't long until they encountered the first group of droids. Immediately Arrik again put his arm around his neck and pulled him back, pressing the blaster tightly against his skull. „One step closer and I'll kill him," he threatened.

Blood trickled down his chin and then continued to trail further down his neck, before stopping on Arrik's arm. The man didn't even flinch.

„Release Subject Thirteen," ordered one of the droids mechanically.

Interesting. They really are only concerned about me.

„You will let us leave," negotiated Arrik, „Then you can have him."

Obi-Wan would have liked to laugh. The man was a poor excuse of a negotiator.

He was pulled forward again, the arm around his neck almost cutting off his air supply. Metallic footsteps ahead told him that the droids were letting them pass before they went after them, their blasters probably always trained at them.

These droids are more intelligent than the standard Separatist droids.

An airlock opened somewhere above him. He heard someone climbing a ladder. Probably Ten and her son.

When the sound died away, he was suddenly let go and pushed forward. "Come on, climb the ladder," stressed Arrik, accentuating his point pushing the blaster into his back.

Obi-Wan swallowed thickly and felt for the ladder until one of his hands came to grasp a rung. As he took the first step up, a strange feeling spread through his back. Grimacing, he stopped for a second.

His back didn't feel right.

"Hey, keep climbing!" shouted Arrik from below, and Obi-Wan took his arm up in a gesture of surrender before returning it to the steel bars of the ladder. He continued climbing and his back gradually got worse.

What had started as an uncomfortable pressure now turned into a sharp pain that stole his breath. His legs suddenly didn't comply properly and he lost his footing, skidding down at least four of the steps. Obi-Wan gasped as he caught himself with his shackled hands, panic washing over him.

Against his better judgement, he somehow managed to slam his feet back onto the ladder and continued with his tedious task of going up. He already felt the breeze of fresh air when a pair of arms helped him with getting up the last bit.

As soon as he was out of the airlock, the pain exploded in his back.

Obi-Wan let out a guttural scream as he collapsed to the ground, vainly trying to put a hand to his back. It felt like someone had crushed the bones and torn the muscles in his lower half.

„Mom, what is wrong with him?", he heard the kid ask in a panic and a second later hands were on his shoulders, trying to ground him.

„Obi-Wan, hey… try to breathe," the mother tried and he absently wondered how she even got to know his name, „… we're almost out, just hold on."

He could barely hear as all noise was drowned out by the buzzing that had taken residence in his ears. Ten moved her hands to cradle his head instead as he writhed on the floor but that didn't help him. His breath came in short gasps as he fought to get the much needed air into his lungs.

As Arrik ascended the ladder, the man apparently hesitated for a moment before quietly ordering Ten to help getting him up. Hands moved to hook underneath his armpits and began to pull him. Obi-Wan wailed as something shifted again in his back and his legs uselessly dragged over the floor as they made their way towards what Obi-Wan guessed must be a ship.

„Set him down again," breathed Arrik again, for once handling him with a resemblance of gentleness as he guided him down to the floor, „Get the ship ready."

Obi-Wan heard someone stopping hard. „We are not taking him with us?", Ten asked shocked.

Arrik swallowed hard. „We can't, Lyn," he said quietly, letting his hand rest on Obi-Wan's shoulder, „They would continue to hunt us down."

„They will hunt us either way!," she yelled back.

The other man kept his cool. „No, they won't," he explained calmly, as if he wasn't about to sign Obi-Wan's fate, „They always only needed a jedi… and they have one with him."

„… you're cruel."

„No, I am not. Think of your son… and now prepare the ship."

A moment of silence ticked by before Obi-Wan heard footsteps on metal – the ship's ramp. Lyn had left. The hand on his shoulder tightened.

„I don't hate you, Kenobi…," Arrik suddenly murmured, „But I hope you understand my decision…"

Obi-Wan pulled in another labored breath. „… please kill me…"

The hand on his shoulder fell away, taking the small piece of comfort he had clung to away. „I can't… I'm sorry."

Arrik's boots squeaked as he stood up and finally ran up the ramp as well. A second later the engines behind Obi-Wan fired up and he futilely clawed at the muddy ground to pull himself forward.

But it was no use. The ship's ramp closed with a hiss and with a loud burst the ship ascended up into the atmosphere.

He had no tears left. Defeated he let his head flop onto the ground, barely noticing how a fresh trail of blood made its way into his eye. The liquid awoke an all-familiar sting but it was nothing in comparison to the havoc that had been caused in the rest of his body.

„Enjoying some fresh air?", Arbor asked nonchalantly when she found him. She stopped somewhere in front of him. „It truly is a beautiful day today… a pity that you can't see it."

Her droids soon joined her, blocking the few sunrays that had found their way onto Obi-Wan's face. „Should we go after the other prisoners?"

„No," the scientist chuckled, „I have what I need. And they won't get far with that ship either way… now bring him back to the lab."

Without so much as a warning, Obi-Wan was hoisted up and he would have screamed again in pain but all he could muster was a weak croak. They mercilessly dragged him back down into the complex and deposited him on a hard metal table. He twitched involuntarily as they unshackled his hands only to fasten them to the table again.

More straps were then pulled tight over his head, torso and legs, aggravating the device in his back.

Obi-Wan wished that that thing would just take the sensation in his legs away. But there was no mercy for him.

Electrodes were again fastened to his head, before a warm hand trailed down his bare chest and then cam to rest on one of his knees.

„Make sure he's not running away again," Arbor ordered as she gave his leg a short squeeze.