Chapter 5
"You've grown old," Anakin noted, his lips churning. It would have been bold to refer to it as a smile.
"Anakin, what are you doing here?" Obi-Wan asked, his voice almost high-pitched.
Anakin frowned. "I was in the Council Chambers one second then I woke up on the Princess's vessel the next."
"But you're dead. What happened?"
"Time travel, I think." Anakin fought the urge to shift as shock flared off of Obi-Wan, followed by an instant surge of trepidation. He added with no small amount of venom, "Master Windu went to ask the Chancellor to relinquish his emergency powers..."
Obi-Wan looked at him reluctantly and reached out in his direction through the Force. Their bond rekindled. Obi-Wan seemed to be probing him. Anakin allowed him.
Eventually, he answered... "He'd failed."
"How?"
"The Dark Side spread far and between-beyond what we'd expected."
There was something Anakin was missing, he felt. Obi-Wan almost looked terrified at seeing him. It was possible that he'd found out about Padmé afterward, or maybe his former Padawan, apparently dead, coming to his doorstep, youthful, could be terrifying. Hell, Anakin might have reacted the same. But he'd stopped trusting him long ago. Knowing Obi-Wan, he'd always hidden secrets from him. He and the Council.
"What happened to you?" He inquired.
"I had to go underground," the older man replied.
"You? Hiding?" he asked, though his tone carried no humor. "That's unlike you."
Obi-Wan didn't rise to the bait. It slightly hurt Anakin. "We don't always have a choice."
"Of course." Deciding to try again later, Anakin glanced around their rocky, desolate atmosphere as he strolled. "Why did you come out here out of all places? There are so many planets…"
"I had no choice..." Pain came across Obi-Wan's face now. "I'll make us some tea."
Anakin flanked him as they moved into a small sitting room. There wasn't much to see, just some accommodations and furniture that looked a lot like Obi-Wan's old room back in the Jedi Temple. The old man was eyeing him. Anakin knew from the past that Obi-Wan preferred a professional type of fortitude. Cody, too. Anakin and Rex never cared for such dignities.
And then, the same sensation from earlier came to him. Something was luring him.
He instinctively followed the surge through the Force. A small wooden box on a shelf...
He gripped the box and began to open it. Obi-Wan, coming out of his kitchen with three mugs and finished tea on a plate, looked. "Anakin—"
But Anakin was already opening the lid. He reached his hand in, his fingers engulfing around cold metal, and produced a very familiar lightsaber hilt.
His own...
"My... lightsaber..."
'Master Skywalker, there are too many of them. What are we going to do?'
'WHY DO THIS TO US?!'
'PLEASE SPARE ME! I-I DON'T WANT TO DIE!'
'Help me, Master Skywalke- ahhhhh!'
Anakin closed his eyes as the voice thrummed through his head. He could spot it now. A blue lightsaber cutting through the lives of so many, overwhelming darkness...
"What happened?" He asked hoarsely. Receiving no response, he couldn't help falling into hysteria. "Obi-Wan, you're scaring me! What happened?!"
"Vader did..." Obi-Wan answered solemnly. "He not only slaughtered the Jedi but used your lightsaber to kill everyone inside of the Jedi Temple."
"Cin Drallig..." The Battle Master of the Jedi Order wouldn't be cut down so easily. Surely! RIGHT?!
"He stood no chance, Anakin..."
"What about Shaak Ti?" She rivaled Master Windu before. Just how powerful was Vader?!
"I didn't find her body after the purge."
"But Chancellor Palpatine..." Anakin's face screwed up in horror.
A glint passed through Obi-Wan's expression. "The Chancellor deceived you. He'd fooled you into thinking you were his friend." Obi-Wan answered.
Anakin's anger became numb again, his head shooting to the ground. "Why would he do this?!"
"I was there. I saw it, Anakin..."
"I thought that the Chancellor was a good friend." Betrayal shot through him. "He wanted me to join him..."
"You refused. Vader killed you some time afterwards."
Anakin grimaced.
The Jedi Order, for all intents and purposes, was gone. As far as they were aware, the remnants of it were the two people in this room. Anakin pleaded with the Force, begging to return to his time. But the Force was adamant. Anakin was stuck here, possibly forever. No chance of living a carefree life. Just further pain and destruction.
Even after? What? Nineteen years, Obi-Wan grieved the Jedi Order, utterly destroyed by the loss, of the esteemed ascendancy that he'd worked so hard for. That was what bothered him at the end. He didn't have it within him to mourn the destruction of the institution that had lost sight of what it was supposed to be. That had allowed corruption and slavery to grow rampant throughout the galaxy right in plain daylight. He couldn't find it in himself to feel sympathy for the Order that had him abandon his mother to being tortured and massacred by savages. Faked Obi-Wan's death in a display of complete cruelty and disregard for his feelings. Turned their backs on Ahsoka without hesitation. Demanded he allow his wife to die.
Anakin found that he possessed no grief for the loss of the institution that he served for over a decade. One that disregarded him and his loyalty in arrogance. That didn't trust him to lead the campaign to Utapau.
He did not grieve its loss. Nor did he feel any elation. All he felt was... vacant. Nothing. And it bothered him. The numbness that fell around him when he'd discovered his wife was dead was stronger than the feeling of knowing that the Jedi Order was no more.
"But you were on Utapau. How could you know all of this?" he managed weakly.
"You didn't go down easily. Vader killed you after you'd survived the initial purge."
"Did he kill Padmé too? I need to know." his voice came out lowly.
Obi-Wan eyed him. "...Yes."
He collapsed onto the nearby seat, his hand shooting up to his hair.
Vader.
Vader.
Everything centered around that bloody name!
It was first the curiosity of where the kriff Vader came from. Then it was hot-white fury, knowing that the son of a bantha shattered his family and destroyed the Jedi Temple. That Sith bastard killed him before, didn't he? Well, he had another thing coming. Anakin would find Vader and make him miss whatever Hells of the Nine Corellian he came out of. The Chancellor betrayed him, too. Anakin now recognized that he was never truly a friend, that the man had been using him, fed him false promises! All of those years, he went to him, relayed into him everything that he had buried, considered his words. Hatred so potent it cut so deep, deeper than ever before, strangling his supply system. The hatred was completely and utterly suffocating.
He was doing this for revenge, there was no point in pretending otherwise, but he was tired of being the bigger person. Those FILTHY creatures must die! Vader must die! Palpatine, too! The man played him and had him put his guard down. Wait until Anakin Skywalker charged into his fancy little palace and made him live to regret the day for that betrayal.
"I'm going to kill him," Anakin vowed darkly, his hands clenched up into fists. "Both of them. They would pay for what they've done."
"Yes, they would," Obi-Wan said, cautiously. "But for now, you can't go after them. They would-"
"I know that already!" He snapped, feeling shame following. He looked up and his face and demeanor softened. "But I have no choice, Obi-Wan, I have to. Vader is my destiny. He could not hurt anyone else."
"I wish it was that easy," Obi-Wan said. "But I have another purpose for Tatooine." He glimpsed briefly at Leia.
"Artoo told me the last time he'd seen me, it was on Mustafar." Alarm and horror shot through the Force. Why?
"Yes, and that was when Vader arrived." But... how could that make sense? There was no way he would leave Coruscant and go to Mustafar for no apparent reason. "-You were lured into a trap along with the Separatists leaders, defenseless." Ah. That made sense.
But who was he to question? He'd needed to know as much as he could about Vader before he could kill him.
"How did you survive Vader?" He asked.
Obi-Wan's lips curled in silence.
Anakin tried to drink the tea. H'Kak bean tea was a fragrant orange-colored tea derived from Tatooine H'Kak beans. It was ingested for its relaxing and detoxifying effects. Anakin drank it nevertheless. Even if the taste had been nasty, the ashes in his throat threatened to make him spit out so much vomit. Knowing that his wife was mowed down, under the command of Palpatine, it burnt so many emotions inside of him.
"I fought him. He was exhausted after the fight you two had." Obi-Wan said. "Vader's arrogance caught up with him, and that blinded him in our battle. I was able to defeat him."
"I'll say you did much more than defeat him," Leia said matter-of-factly. "Did you ever see that mechanical nightmare?"
"Such is the fate for those who walk down the path of the Dark Side, Your Highness."
"The Empire's going to be coming, General Kenobi," she retorted acidly. "They are searching for the Death Star plans."
"I am aware," Obi-Wan nodded, "but there's another purpose."
"And what have you been doing here, exactly?" Anakin asked, wanting to know.
"Watching." Obi-Wan placed the mug down on the nearby table. "There's someone here who takes priority."
Anakin frowned, his lips curled. "...You're protecting something. No, protecting someone."
Obi-Wan looked absent for a moment before nodding. "The future of the Jedi Order."
"Why here?" He inquired. "There's so many planets in the Outer Rim, Obi-Wan, so many planets suiting to guard this... future of the Order. Wouldn't it have been better to select those type of planets?"
"That is true." Obi-Wan nodded slightly. "However, I know that the Empire wouldn't push for full-control of the Hutts' planets right now. Vader would never search for me out here, this far."
"Why not just train them from birth?..."
"Easier said than done," Obi-Wan said, resigned.
"Well, the Princess of Alderaan needs help," Anakin declared.
"I can't go with you to some crusade like the old days, my old friend," Obi-Wan replied with a sigh.
His eyes darkened. The Obi-Wan he knew would have never quit. "What happened to you?" He asked. "For you to have given up all hope like this?"
Obi-Wan sighed. "In our hubris, we've allowed Darth Sidious to rise to power."
"Master, you and the other Jedi told me for years acceptance is a natural part of life, and especially of being a Jedi. True Jedi would learn to eventually accept what happened and move on. That is very different from forgiveness. It's accepting that you can't change the past and dwelling on it, obsessing over it changes absolutely nothing. It will only cause you more harm than good."
Obi-Wan sighed. "I have accepted things as they were, Anakin, but you can't just go off and kill everyone in sight. I purposely went into hiding. And for extremely good reasons. I am on Tatooine for good reason. Primarily to escape notice by the Empire, to practice into the... true meaning of the Force, and to keep an eye on and protect a boy. Moreover, if any sign of myself had been detected by the Empire, a fleet of starships would have been sent to that planet and it would have been obliterated."
Anakin couldn't argue with the logic, but it still felt empty in his opinion. Apparently, the Princess shared his opinion.
"General Kenobi... surely you could..."
"I'm afraid not, your Highness," the old man interjected, bowing his head, his eyes locked with the floor.
Silence passed...
Before something dark FLARED.
Obi-Wan seemed to have felt it as well. His eyes widened, the closest fear crossing his face. "No, no, what have you done, Anakin?"
"What?"
"What have you done?" Anakin couldn't remember if he'd ever seen his old Master being this fearful.
"I didn't do anything!" he blabbered, the frightening surge of doom surfacing.
"Anakin..." Obi-Wan started slowly. He pushed forward and gripped both of their shoulders, leading them out.
But there was no escaping the black hole.
The darkness peered closely.
"Anakin, you have to take the Princess, Artoo, and Threepio, and run!" Obi-Wan's voice rose. "Just keep running and don't look back."
This reminded him of long ago. Of when he left behind his mother. "Master, I can't leav-"
"They're matters of most importance!" That was the closest to a growl Anakin ever heard out of the old man before. "Listen to me! Listen, Anakin! For once, just bloody listen!"
He felt the nudge and did so. They spoke telepathically.
'Go to the Larses farm,' Obi-Wan said through their bond. 'Take the Princess and the boy. You can't allow any of them to fall in the grip of the Dark Side. Keep them safe. It's what Padmé would have wanted.'
'Boy? Who is this boy?'
'You'll know him when you find him. Go, and don't look back. Don't look back.'
Anakin's attention was drawn to Kenobi. He wanted to stay, to fight and scream as he poured his blows into this cause of this darkness, but he couldn't. He couldn't! What happened?! What had HE done?!
"Remember what I taught you, Anakin. Run, Anakin, run."
Anakin's hand shot to his belt instinctively, prepared to stand alongside his old Master against this rival.
Obi-Wan's eyes became desperate. "Anakin, listen! He cannot find him! Please..."
"But what about you?" Anakin asked, his eyes wrinkled at him in fear and pain.
"I'll hold him off."
Another him?!
"Him. Who's him?" Anakin pressed. He was tired of Kenobi keeping secrets! "Tell me!"
"Now is not the bloody time, you insufferable boy!" Kenobi lost his temper, shocking Anakin. He sighed, and the anger faded. "Anakin, I can't tell you what he cannot know. He's here. If you stay here, both of us will die. And so will fall the last hope. Just one time, do what I ask of you. Don't ask questions. Don't try. Just do!"
SSSHHH HOHHHHHH...
SSSHHH HOHHHHHH...
SSSHHH HOHHHHHH...
The back of Anakin's hair stood, a chillness shooting through his spine.
Drawing his own blade, Obi-Wan thumbed the activation switch, the snap-hiss echoing in the deserted sand-dune as the blue beam extended, held close to his waist. For a moment the two stood in silence, engaged in a battle of wills.
Obi-Wan's eyes bore into his with determination. Anakin felt his chest clenching. How could this happen? How could he reunite with someone of the past and have to let him go already?!
If he knew...
Was that all he was good for?
To bring pain and suffering?
The pain of what happened to his mother, the same thing about to happen to Obi-Wan...
He had to respect Obi-Wan's wishes. Whatever Obi-Wan was hiding, he just couldn't...
He couldn't stay here!
The Princess sat in the speeder's passenger seat, Artoo and Threepio following, and he clicked on the buttons-speeding down the desert, away from the invading darkness.
He spared one last glimpse in the fading form of his old Master. Skywalker watched the darkness coil and uncoil, wrapping itself like tendrils of power around the tall armored Sith across from him, the soft noise of his lightsaber the only sound, the only light in that sea of blackness.
Arthur's note: Coming into this chapter, I realize I don't want this to be one of those stories: "Read the first couple of chapters for context, then just imagine the movies we have all retained proceeding exactly as they normally do with Anakin only offering backup lines without changing anything." That's boring imo and derails the creative freedom fanfiction has.
Besides, writing this, I realized that Obi-Wan would have tried to prevent Luke and Leia from getting close to Anakin. It's somewhat understandable. The last time he'd spotted Anakin, he was in a mad tirade-killing Jedi in the Temple, including children, and choking his pregnant wife. Homicidal to the extreme. And now this Anakin pre-Knightfall pops up, still heavily conflicted between the Light and Dark Sides, to be a disaster. When a certain SOMEONE comes in proximity, Obi-Wan recognizes that Anakin is telling the truth and that he has to stay behind to stall him, allowing them to escape. He really had no choice.
May the Force be with you all always.
