darkforcerising | OPEN POST

"If you're dead, then you won't be able to talk at all." And then it wouldn't matter because what could Anakin do at that point? He didn't know.

Anakin had a point.

It was a point Obi-Wan hated, but it was a point and there was only so far denial and stubbornness could carry him. He was already fighting off shock - it was trying to shut his circulatory system down. This didn't have to be this hard.

He was just terrified of something happening to Anakin while he was out.

Bright, clear, unshielded and unfiltered fear that he - had to put aside if he was going to stay alive long enough to do anything for Anakin, at any point.

"You'd better be here when I come back around."

He shifted his grip on Anakin's wrist clumsily, so he could clearly feel Anakin's pulse. That was what he used as a focal point when he closed his eyes and let himself drop.

His pulse gradually stopped being thready and became steady, if slower than it would have been in a normal state of awareness. His breathing followed a similar pattern. He gave Anakin's wrist a gentle squeeze, sent one final brush of light and wordless reassurance and then -

Dropped.

Well, well beyond awareness of anything - pain, Anakin, sound, contact through the force, anything.

He did not, however, unlock his hand from around Anakin's wrist.

Anakin didn't move from Obi-Wan's side while they were in hyperspace. Those few hours seemed so long and so short at the same time. Obi-Wan needed help as soon as possible, but even with this advanced technology, they could only go so fast. But if a few hours was all he had left with Obi-Wan, that was so unfairly short.

He hated his inability to tell time.

Eventually-suddenly- the ship dropped out of hyperspace and he heard Goose communicating with the other ship to verify their identity. Soon, they would begin docking.

"Obi-Wan," Anakin said, even though he knew just saying his name wouldn't wake the man. He reached into the Force to nudge him, shove him, grab him and bring him back. Obi-Wan, come back to me.

No one, absolutely no one in the entire galaxy, could have pulled Obi-Wan out of that trance. It had nothing to do with power, it was wholly based on the fact that Anakin was intimately familiar, known, and loved enough that even with as little awareness as he had at the start-

He gravitated toward Anakin's presence within the force, and followed the pull back to consciousness.

He was badly disoriented when he came up - not sure what or how or why - but even disoriented and with eyes glassy from (now at least better controlled) pain, he immediately gravitated physically toward Anakin. Let go of his wrist and tangled his fingers in Anakin's hair.

"Anakin." He knew other words. Had other questions like 'are we out of hyperspace?' and 'how long' and - He couldn't get them in proper order yet. Anakin's name? That was easy.

Anakin huffed out a breath that felt like he'd been holding it the whole time Obi-Wan was under. Even if he knew the man was not out in the clear yet. Just hearing him- seeing him back was overwhelming his feelings. He wiped his eyes on his sleeve and then grabbed Obi-Wan's hand to kiss it.

"We're out of hyperspace, and in a docking sequence," he said, then waited for Obi-Wan to process that.

He tugged his hand free and frowned faintly, lifting his hand to swipe his thumb over Anakin's cheek.

"It's okay" Don't cry.

He'd given into instinct once. It seemed determined to take over again now - just slip away and back down away from pain and injury and impairment. Except that meant leaving Anakin, and staying with him was far more powerful, at least at the moment.

"You should help me get up before they board. We need to keep you safe."

“We need to get you medical care,” Anakin corrected. “I’ll be fine.”

It was with hesitation that he added, “You need to let them detain me.” Anakin saw this as the only way for this to go smoothly- as smoothly as was possible. Obi-Wan’s health was his first priority.

It was probably Anakin's best, only, chance to get Obi-Wan to agree to this. Not because he was talking sense, but because Obi-Wan was disoriented, groggy and in pain.

In that state, he defaulted to believing what Anakin told him.

Because he trusted Anakin.

And Anakin hadn't presented it as an option or question.

"This feels like a bad idea."

“You have to let them control the situation. I’m a threat whether you say I am or not because they don’t know the truth. And we can’t tell them the truth if they’re afraid.”

He sat up.

“Think about how hard it was to get through to me when I was afraid. We need to help them feel safe.” And he tried to send as much reassurance through the Force as he could, to help Obi-Wan not feel afraid about this choice. How much of his first life had been unfairly filled with fear, even after he was taken in by the Jedi? Palpatine knew it and used it to abuse him and had taken away his one chance at feeling safe. How much pain would have the Galaxy escaped if he had felt safe?

“I promise I’ll be okay.”

If he were truly capable of grasping that entire line of reasoning, he wouldn't need medical care nearly as badly as he did.

As it stood, he understood enough to understand the general themes, and to feel a profound amount of pride and sense of how very much this man was not the one who had become Vader.

No part of him liked this. He still accepted the reassurance.

"I love you." With you'd better be underlying it in the force. Not quite playful, but just that... edge of fear and worry that would not be soothed. Not an unwillingness to let go, but fear for Anakin.

Then he struggled his way to sitting up, mostly because Anakin had.

Edited 2020-01-26 05:00 (UTC)

Despite how serious this all was, Anakin couldn't help but but give Obi-Wan a smile.

"I love you, too." He should have said it sooner, but better late than never.

He stood up, back away from the entrance to the room, but still in plain sight.

"They have to see me."

Vibrations in the floors and walls told them the ship had landed. Goose rolled past to get to the hatch.

He couldn't quite understand why this felt like he was saying good-bye to Anakin forever. He trusted Bail and his men to at least not execute Anakin on sight, and certainly they weren't going to torture him.

He still felt like he was never going to see Anakin again.

He got to his feet at the sound of voices and footsteps against the deck. He made it exactly three steps before, with absolutely beautiful timing, his head swam, the floor seemed to lurch and he passed out cold.

It took him more than a day to wake up, and the moment he even began to regain consciousness he knew that he'd been sedated - and the effects were lingering. His shields were shot, he couldn't focus on anything including the force, and while he was definitely in pain it felt far away.

He could also tell that something had been done for his broken shoulder and the wound across his torso had been cleaned - thoroughly and including of dead tissue and burnt fibers - and then treated again .

He blinked his eyes open slowly, stared for a moment at the IV running into one arm and then focused behind that hand to the man who was sitting there. "Where's Anakin?" Also : "Hello, Bail."

He was slurring like crazy.

Edited 2020-01-26 05:57 (UTC)

"Obi-Wan, don't-" was all Anakin could get out before his wonderful, stubborn lover stood up and faceplanted. Way to make this look better, Obi-Wan. All he could do was hold up his hands when everyone spilled in to help Obi-Wan and Bail recognised who he was.

"Just help him," Anakin said when the blasters were leveled him. He didn't get any more information as he let them lead him away.

***

Bail was sitting in a chair in the same recovery room Obi-Wan was put after his wounds were attended to. He'd not been here long, he'd spent the day taking care of Senate business from his private quarters of the ship. As long as he was told Obi-Wan was still unconscious, he would work. But when they informed him that Obi-Wan showed signs of regaining consciousness, he came to the room to wait. He was utilized his time well, trying to decide if he understood reality anymore.

He couldn't decide if he had he left all of that back on Zigoola.

When Obi-Wan stirred and said hello, he stood up and approached.

"Welcome back, my friend." He reached down and touched Obi-Wan's hand.

He turned his hand over and grasped Bail's hand, warmly but fairly weakly and briefly. "We meet under the best circumstances."

He shifted his legs, awkwardly and patted the edge of his bed. "You're enormous even when I'm standing. Sit down before we add a sprained neck to the list of things wrong with me." Comfortable with Bail? Entirely. This informal? Blame the drugs.

He needed to figure out where Anakin was, but Anakin had been right. Bail needed to feel safe and that couldn't happen without understanding.

"Saving you from yourself is my specialty." And Bail took a seat on the bed.

"How are you feeling?" He was not going to touch any of his conundrums until he knew Obi-Wan was well enough to talk.

That was a very general question that would have required a very complicated answer, so he opted instead to answer the important part of things.

"Coherent enough and awake enough." For this conversation. "First: Thank you. Second: Anakin is not Vader, and Vader has never been who he is. I will explain further but you need to tell me where he is and that he is in one piece."

Bail wondered at Jedi obstinance not for the first time in hs life, and he was sure he would encounter it again if he kept maintaining contact with them.

He sighed, seeing the need to be diplomatic. "The man that was with you, you call him... Anakin?" Bail had seen many things in his time. Obviously cloning was his first guess. But Anakin Skywalker was now Darth Vader, and Bail was one of the very few people in the galaxy who knew this.

And before Obi-Wan could argue further, Bail included. "He is in one piece. We have him in a room like this one." With guards was surely implied. "But you really need to give me more information than that." Bail looked gravely serious. This wouldn't just involve him, it involved his family.

"I know."

It was Bail's family - including Leia. It was also his planet and his people, though of course he does not know that, yet. He is not looking forward to delivering that news.

He also didn't think 'the force dropped him in my living room was a good opening'.

"He is... older than Vader. His life was entirely separate from him and his experiences - but he has all of Vader's knowledge and memories of events both past and future. He is how we have been as successful as we have been, to date. Every move, every bit of intelligence has come from him. That is the basic principal upon what the entire rest of this conversation rests, and what you need to understand before we can go further."

A year ago, even a few months ago, before Palpatine's coup, Bail would have accepted that answer despite how many holes it left in his understanding. Circumstances being what they were, him balancing a public image that supported Palpatine while he plotted and ran a rebellion behind the scenes, meant he no longer had the luxury of just trusting everything he heard and letting be unexamined.

"How is this possible? Is he a clone?" If this man was older, him being a clone wouldn't make sense. Bail was trying to understand. He really did want to trust his friend, Obi-Wan, but he had to be cautious.

"How are you sure he isn't some... part of Palpatine's schemes?" And Bail was also trying hard to not be upset about this. Obi-Wan's good intentions meant something to him, but rebellions were dangerous enterprises. Keeping information from him could be fatal. "Did he do this to you?"

"He may well be a clone, but not in the way that either of us have come to understand the word."

He still had, at best, a very slippery grasp on the force, so sitting up more for this conversation involved bracing his hands on the mattress and pushing himself back and upright. Which of course hurt both his shoulder and ... honestly everything from shoulders to hips.

He went slightly more pale and his mouth tightened but he didn't stop.

"I cannot tell you how it is possible. What and why involve more Force and faith than science and I'm not convinced you'd believe me. I can tell you how I know, though."

So many little things, now stretching back months, from that first day in his hut, but it all boiled down to this: "Vader never let go of anyone or anything he believed was his. There were reasons, but even before his fall, he was furiously insecure and possessive. After he fell he killed a woman he had loved and the mother of his children when he believed he was losing her. The man you're holding didn't do this to me - he did, however, make me allow you to take him into custody and hold him, because me getting medical treatment was his only concern. Above himself, above holding onto me, above freedom or his continued life had one of the guards been just a bit less restrained. That kind of fundamental difference cannot be feigned."

A pause and afterthought, "Sidious isn't behind this. He's suffering far too many serious losses and both he and Vader are responding with too much paranoia and fear to be in control of what is happening." That part he is less sure of - that Sidious may be aware and using this-, honestly.

His faith in Anakin though? Unshakable. He'd trusted the man before, loved him for probably a while, but now? He hasn't gone stupid or blind (he hopes), but it is a deep thing.

Edited 2020-01-26 18:27 (UTC)

No matter Bail's need for information, that didn't superceed his concern for his friend's welfare. "Easy, Obi-Wan," Bail placed a hand on the man's arm. "You don't have to push yourself."

The man had just come out of major treatment for major wounds, and here he was, trying to act like the giant gash on his torso was merely a scratch. Jedi obstinance. Jedi obstinance.

This was all a lot to take in.

"Maybe it would help if you tell me what happened to you to get these injuries- and thank you- I should have said it before, for the new information you brought us, that will be invaluable." He sighed. "I'm just finding this all so difficult to understand. But it might help if I know what happened yesterday."

"I do. This is only the beginning of what you need to understand."

He leaned back, though, into pillows and against the headboard. Closed his eyes and spared a thought to mentally curse sedation and painkillers. Useful, of course, but inconvenient when he needed to be able to think and speak.

"We... underestimated just how much security would increase as the result of our previous interference." That sounded like something he would have said in a report to the Council. It was too pretty for what happened. He snorted: "We got caught with our pants down - with the Storm Troopers, but it's also the first time I've seen more than one Inquisitor in play. I got shot in the shoulder while I was trying to handle one of them. It distracted me, my guard dropped a quarter of an inch and she took full advantage. Flaying me forced my sword arm down entirely, and Anakin... threw the Inquisitors into the Storm Troopers, shielded us from the blast, and somehow managed to light them all on very explosive fire."

He should probably pretend to be more concerned about that.

"... Light them on very explosive fire?"

The look Bail gave Obi-Wan said he was hardly comforted by that last part. But it melted away quickly, because he would rather it was Stormtroopers and Inquisitors that died instead of Obi-Wan.

"Obi-Wan," he started. "I'm very glad you survived." Not just for the rebellion. But for Obi-Wan's sake and wellbeing, too. Bail didn't want to lose more friends in this conflict.

"What am I supposed to do with this information? You want me to trust you about a man who you say has Vader's memories." He very clearly didn't say he trusted Anakin.

He stood up to start pacing, it helped with thinking.

"I trust you. But one Vader in this galaxy has already torn it apart."

But what could he do about this? He didn't have the Force like his friend did. The guard outside Anakin's room was hardly anything compared to what he'd seen Obi-Wan do with the Force. If Anakin wanted to leave, he would - and that thought was something, because the man had stayed put all day.

"Can you tell many anything more?"

"I would like you to trust my judgement regarding Anakin. Given that my trust in Vader was so complete that it wasn't until I'd seen security footage of him murdering children that I realized that anything was wrong, I certainly don't expect you to."

Trying to visually track of Bail's pacing was making him nauseated, so he stopped trying and closed his eyes. ...Or maybe it was the memory.

"Then again, maybe you'll do me the courtesy of believing that I can learn from my mistakes and that I would do anything in my power to protect you - and your family." Especially Bail's family, actually.

...They had 19 years on the Death Star. This current situation was more than enough trouble.

Bail had held Anakin Skywalker in good opinion until the man fell. Bail didn't understand everything around it, when he had no connection to the Force, it was difficult to fully grasp what had happened. He also found it hard to believe the person he'd known- the person who had saved his life on numerous occasions during the War, the person he'd seen save countless lives had turned into what he was now. Obi-Wan was not the only one who'd seen the good man Anakin Skywalker had been.

But Bail stopped short. "Does he know about Leia?" He was usually very even tempered, he was a politician and could control the measure of his voice in strained circumstances. But there might have been some fear rising in his voice there.

If he had Vader's memories...

"Does Vader know?"

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