One Path Chapter 55--You and I Will Be Together
Title: You and I Will Be Together
Author: Lionchilde
Summary: "We're always together. You were with me on Naboo when I fought the one who killed Qui-Gon. It was my love for you that helped me put aside my fear and anger. It gave me focus," he said.
Rating: PG
Length: Around 2400 words
Category: Gen
Pairings/Characters: Obidala
A/N: One Path Chapter 55. Set during an alternate RotS.
You and I Will Be Together
With their son asleep, Padme and Obi Wan sank wearily onto the other side of the bed. Bail and Yoda had gone to the ship's bridge, taking the droids with them to give the Kenobis some much-needed privacy. He slipped his right arm around her, pulling her gently against his side, and she simply leaned into the hug for a while. Then he withdrew and began to massage her lower back. She closed her eyes gratefully.
"I was so worried about you," she murmured.
He kissed the nape of her neck, eliciting a light shiver. "I'm all right."
"For how long?" she asked.
"Padme, until the possible becomes…"
"Then distract me," she cut him off tiredly. "Please."
He sighed against her skin. "I need focus right now. I need clarity. Yoda and I may be the only ones left who can stop the Sith."
Her throat tightened and warm tears slid down her cheeks. "I know. I'm sorry."
"Whatever happens, we'll face it together," he promised.
"Even the Sith?"
"We're always together. You were with me on Naboo when I fought the one who killed Qui-Gon. It was my love for you that helped me put aside my fear and anger. It gave me focus," he said.
"What do you mean?" she frowned.
"When I saw Qui-Gon fall, I gave in to my anger and attacked the Sith. He pushed me off the platform where we were fighting, and I ended up hanging on to a maintenance rung while my lightsaber went clattering away. I couldn't grab it; I couldn't use the Force to jump back up--until I realized that if I didn't, there would be no one left to keep him from killing you," he explained.
"You never told me that," she said.
"It's…not exactly my favorite moment to talk about," he murmured.
She smiled sadly. "Well, thank you for telling me now."
He nodded and started to say something else, but the door chime interrupted him. He pulled reluctantly away from her neck and sat up. "Come in."
As the door slid open, they both rose, moving to meet Yoda and Bail, who stepped back to allow them into the hall. He kept his arm firmly around her, and Padme leaned on him more than she physically needed to. Bail waited until the door was firmly closed behind them to keep from disturbing Ani, but Padme didn't think their voices could wake the boy yet.
"I've just been summoned back to Coruscant by Mas Amedda; Palpatine has called the Senate into Extraordinary Session. Attendance is required," he said.
"Ah. It's clear what this will be about," said Obi Wan.
"Mas Amedda will have contacted me as well; they'll know I'm gone," Padme said.
"I am," Bail said slowly, "concerned it might be a trap."
"Unlikely this is," Yoda disagreed. "Unknown, is the purpose of your sudden departure from the capital; dead, young Obi Wan and I are both presumed to be."
"And Palpatine won't be moving against the Senate as a whole. At least, not yet; he'll need the illusion of democracy to keep the individual star systems in line. He won't risk a general uprising," added Obi Wan.
"Still, Padme should stay here…" Bail began.
"No," she insisted. "Palpatine knows that I'm alive. If I don't appear in the Senate, it will be clear to him that Obi Wan is alive as well."
"But you said yourself, he will already know that you were gone," Obi Wan shook his head.
"I was out trying to find my son," she said firmly. "Threepio and Artoo came with me because I was too distraught to wait for my security guards. Palpatine may well suspect something more, but he won't be able to prove it. If I'm questioned, I can say I had nothing to do with your so-called Jedi rebellion."
"And Ani?" Bail questioned.
"Let him stay here for now," she said. "He'll be safe. Let them--let them think he did die in the Temple."
Obi Wan took her by the shoulders, gently turning her to face him. "Padme, if you're wrong…"
She gave a soft smile. He had no Jedi wisdom now, only the devotion of the man she loved--the man whom she knew would still do his duty. Her hand rose gently to his cheek. "Then I will still have given you the time you need. Time enough to shut down the beacon in the temple and get our son far away from Coruscant."
"I won't sacrifice you and the twins!" he said vehemently.
"I know you won't," she nodded. "And I love you. I always have."
***
"If into the security recordings you go, only pain will you find, Obi Wan," Yoda told him quietly.
"Master Yoda, I must know the truth!" he insisted.
Yoda bowed his head in troubled acquiescence, and Obi Wan turned, his fingers sure and steady as he keyed up the internal security scans. Five years could not erase a lifetime in this place, a lifetime with these people--his family--the codes were burned into his flesh, part of him as surely as these people had been. He began to wish they weren't.
"It can't be," he breathed, shaking his head in vehement denial. "It can't be."
Yet it was. This was what his feelings had whispered to him aboard the Tantive IV. This was the pain he had seen--felt--destroying his son. It was destroying both of his sons. Tears welled in his eyes, but still he watched as the boy he had taught, his friend, his brother, the son who had stood with him through every trial of his life since Qui-Gon's death, cut down the last of the Jedi and then move on to slaughtering children.
"No," he managed say as little Ani ran out from behind the refuge of Yoda's chair in the Council Chamber, his hand outstretched to save a little girl who was already dead. "Oh, no."
"Uncle Anakin, what are you doing?"
"Ani--"
Was it pain he heard? Regret? Oh, please…
Anakin turned the lightsaber off.
Both Obi Wan and Yoda gasped. Obi Wan struggled to breathe. Please.
Slowly, Anakin's hand moved to his belt, where he removed the hilt of a second lightsaber and laid it in his nephew's hands. Ani stared at it, swallowed, and closed his eyes in horror.
"Get out of here. Run, Ani!" his uncle commanded.
"Wh-what?" the boy stammered.
"Back to your mother. Tell her to wait for me. Don't go with anyone else. Sidious knows what she and Organa are planning. Go!" he waved furiously toward the door.
"No!"
Obi Wan could barely stand to watch as his son held out a hand to the killer, still trusting, still believing in the Hero Without Fear.
"You take me. You can still take me home!"
"I can't. I'll come later, before I leave for Mustafar. Ani, go. Leave!" ordered Anakin.
"Uncle Anakin, please. I want to help you!"
The words stabbed through Obi Wan's heart. They burned and twisted more painfully than the blue blade of Anakin's lightsaber would have. Then he heard:
"It's too late for me. RUN!"
He continued to watch as the Dark Side consumed what had been left of his friend. He watched the carnage end then saw a black robed figure enter the Temple and glide over to Anakin, surveying the death and destruction. Anakin knelt.
"The traitors have been destroyed, Lord Sidious. And the archives are secured. Our ancient holocrons are again in the hands of the Sith."
The holocrons. Sith holocrons locked in the Temple archives--accessible only those who had been granted the rank of Master by the Jedi Council. Could Anakin have believed that the forbidden knowledge stored there might…
…save Padme…
I'd give anything, his own voice echoed. Had that really only been a few nights ago?
Oh, Padme. I'd give anything!
And he meant it.
Give anything. Even his own life.
But not take! Not exchange so many innocent lives for even the hope of saving her!
…and yet…
And yet!
He had spared their son.
"Good... good. Together, we shall master every secret of the Force. You have done well, my new apprentice. Do you feel your power growing?"
"Yes, my Master."
"Lord Vader, your skills are unmatched by any Sith before you. Go forth, my boy. Go forth, and bring peace to our Empire."
"I can't watch anymore," he forced out, fumbling to shut the recording off. He wished he could burn it out of his mind. Agonized, he leaned on the console in front of him, but found his arms wouldn't bear the weight of his body. His knees buckled under him and clung to the console, as helpless in his own grief as Ani had been aboard the Tantive.
"Warned, you were," said Yoda, his tone as cold and flat as a stone.
Oh, he had been warned, all right. The Council had all warned him, years ago, when he and Qui-Gon had first brought Anakin from Tatooine. He hadn't listened. He'd been too concerned with keeping his word to his Master, and then with his own attachment to Anakin. He should have been the one to die--not the entire Jedi Order--not for his mistake. He should have been executed on Geonosis.
"I should have let them shoot me!" he declared.
"What?" Yoda asked.
"No," he realized. "That was already too late--it was already too late at Geonosis. The Zabrak, on Naboo--I should have died there. Before I ever brought him here! I would have, if--"
"Stop this, you will!" commanded Yoda, stepping forward to jab Obi Wan with his gimer stick. The sharp jolt hin his side made him gasp, and he reflexively straightened as the Master went on, "Make a Jedi fall, one cannot; beyond even Lord Sidious, this is. Chose this, Skywalker did."
Obi Wan hung his head. "And I'm afraid I know why."
"Why? Why matters not. There is no why. There is only a Lord of the Sith, and his apprentice. Two Sith," Yoda leaned toward him intimately, his tone softening very slightly. "And two Jedi."
He gaped, "No, Master--"
"Ah!" Yoda held up a hand for silence. Then he spun around, his cane banging rhythmically against the floor as he moved away. "Come! Come, come! Something for you, I have."
Obi Wan closed his eyes for a long moment, gathering his strength. Then, he followed his friend and teacher up the hall. He wasn't entirely sure where they were going until they arrived at Yoda's quarters. Following the Master inside, he found, remarkably, that the room had been untouched. The taint of the Dark Side was everywhere, even here, but if there was one place in the Jedi Temple where the Force still ran pure, it was here--this room which had been the home of Yoda for more than nine centuries.
There was a growing tightness in his throat as Yoda led him to a dust covered trunk. The lid moved back, and his vision swam as he saw the familiar brown fabric of his own robes rise out of the shadows.
"Master Yoda, I'm a married man. My family is everything to me. I cannot wear those," he said.
"Wore the robes, Skywalker did, and betrayed and murdered his fellow Jedi. Took them off, did you, and yet always have you honored what I taught you. Always have you honored the Jedi Way and your Master Qui-Gon. Jedi you are, Obi Wan, whether robes you wear or not," said Yoda.
He inhaled deeply, gathering his turmoil and grief, all his pain and unrealized hopes for the future. He gathered within himself his entire life and slowly breathed out again, releasing all he was to the Force, letting the Force define him. Empty of self, he inclined his head. Yoda was right. Whatever else he was, he had never stopped being a Jedi.
"Kneel," Yoda murmured.
Head still bowed, he obeyed, dropping onto one knee before the Master. There was little time for ceremony. The clones would be returning, and the two of them could not be discovered here. He heard the snap-hiss of Yoda's lightsaber, felt its humming warmth pass over him, from right shoulder to left.
"Obi Wan Kenobi, on behalf of Council and by the will of the Force, dub thee I do, Jedi…Knight of the Republic."
He slowly rose, and a motion of Yoda's arm sent his robes gently sailing from the trunk to his arms. As he accepted them, Yoda returned his lightsaber to his belt and then looked grimly at Obi Wan. "Destroy the Sith we must!" he declared.
"Send me to kill the Emperor," Obi Wan pleaded. "I will not kill Anakin."
"To fight this Lord Sidious, strong enough, you are not," Yoda said bluntly. "Die you will, and painfully."
"He is like my brother. I cannot do it," insisted Obi Wan.
"Twisted by the dark side, young Skywalker has become. The boy you trained, gone he is . Consumed by Darth Vader," pronounced Yoda.
"But, Master, he--he did spare my son. Perhaps…perhaps he is not yet lost," ventured Obi Wan.
"What remained of Skywalker then, destroyed by now has been. Destroyed by his own obsession. Out of his misery you must put him," said Yoda.
"How could it have come to this?" Obi Wan asked raggedly.
"To question, no time there is," Yoda replied. "To visit our new Emperor, my job will be."
"Palpatine faced Mace and Agen and Kit and Saesee-four of the greatest swordsmen our Order has ever produced. By himself. Even both of us together wouldn't have a chance," Obi Wan said.
"True," Yoda nodded grimly. "But both of us apart, a chance we might create."
"I must see to Padme before I go," Obi Wan murmured.
"Yes," agreed Yoda. "Safe, she and your children must be. Go quickly, and may the Force be with you."
Author: Lionchilde
Summary: "We're always together. You were with me on Naboo when I fought the one who killed Qui-Gon. It was my love for you that helped me put aside my fear and anger. It gave me focus," he said.
Rating: PG
Length: Around 2400 words
Category: Gen
Pairings/Characters: Obidala
A/N: One Path Chapter 55. Set during an alternate RotS.
You and I Will Be Together
With their son asleep, Padme and Obi Wan sank wearily onto the other side of the bed. Bail and Yoda had gone to the ship's bridge, taking the droids with them to give the Kenobis some much-needed privacy. He slipped his right arm around her, pulling her gently against his side, and she simply leaned into the hug for a while. Then he withdrew and began to massage her lower back. She closed her eyes gratefully.
"I was so worried about you," she murmured.
He kissed the nape of her neck, eliciting a light shiver. "I'm all right."
"For how long?" she asked.
"Padme, until the possible becomes…"
"Then distract me," she cut him off tiredly. "Please."
He sighed against her skin. "I need focus right now. I need clarity. Yoda and I may be the only ones left who can stop the Sith."
Her throat tightened and warm tears slid down her cheeks. "I know. I'm sorry."
"Whatever happens, we'll face it together," he promised.
"Even the Sith?"
"We're always together. You were with me on Naboo when I fought the one who killed Qui-Gon. It was my love for you that helped me put aside my fear and anger. It gave me focus," he said.
"What do you mean?" she frowned.
"When I saw Qui-Gon fall, I gave in to my anger and attacked the Sith. He pushed me off the platform where we were fighting, and I ended up hanging on to a maintenance rung while my lightsaber went clattering away. I couldn't grab it; I couldn't use the Force to jump back up--until I realized that if I didn't, there would be no one left to keep him from killing you," he explained.
"You never told me that," she said.
"It's…not exactly my favorite moment to talk about," he murmured.
She smiled sadly. "Well, thank you for telling me now."
He nodded and started to say something else, but the door chime interrupted him. He pulled reluctantly away from her neck and sat up. "Come in."
As the door slid open, they both rose, moving to meet Yoda and Bail, who stepped back to allow them into the hall. He kept his arm firmly around her, and Padme leaned on him more than she physically needed to. Bail waited until the door was firmly closed behind them to keep from disturbing Ani, but Padme didn't think their voices could wake the boy yet.
"I've just been summoned back to Coruscant by Mas Amedda; Palpatine has called the Senate into Extraordinary Session. Attendance is required," he said.
"Ah. It's clear what this will be about," said Obi Wan.
"Mas Amedda will have contacted me as well; they'll know I'm gone," Padme said.
"I am," Bail said slowly, "concerned it might be a trap."
"Unlikely this is," Yoda disagreed. "Unknown, is the purpose of your sudden departure from the capital; dead, young Obi Wan and I are both presumed to be."
"And Palpatine won't be moving against the Senate as a whole. At least, not yet; he'll need the illusion of democracy to keep the individual star systems in line. He won't risk a general uprising," added Obi Wan.
"Still, Padme should stay here…" Bail began.
"No," she insisted. "Palpatine knows that I'm alive. If I don't appear in the Senate, it will be clear to him that Obi Wan is alive as well."
"But you said yourself, he will already know that you were gone," Obi Wan shook his head.
"I was out trying to find my son," she said firmly. "Threepio and Artoo came with me because I was too distraught to wait for my security guards. Palpatine may well suspect something more, but he won't be able to prove it. If I'm questioned, I can say I had nothing to do with your so-called Jedi rebellion."
"And Ani?" Bail questioned.
"Let him stay here for now," she said. "He'll be safe. Let them--let them think he did die in the Temple."
Obi Wan took her by the shoulders, gently turning her to face him. "Padme, if you're wrong…"
She gave a soft smile. He had no Jedi wisdom now, only the devotion of the man she loved--the man whom she knew would still do his duty. Her hand rose gently to his cheek. "Then I will still have given you the time you need. Time enough to shut down the beacon in the temple and get our son far away from Coruscant."
"I won't sacrifice you and the twins!" he said vehemently.
"I know you won't," she nodded. "And I love you. I always have."
***
"If into the security recordings you go, only pain will you find, Obi Wan," Yoda told him quietly.
"Master Yoda, I must know the truth!" he insisted.
Yoda bowed his head in troubled acquiescence, and Obi Wan turned, his fingers sure and steady as he keyed up the internal security scans. Five years could not erase a lifetime in this place, a lifetime with these people--his family--the codes were burned into his flesh, part of him as surely as these people had been. He began to wish they weren't.
"It can't be," he breathed, shaking his head in vehement denial. "It can't be."
Yet it was. This was what his feelings had whispered to him aboard the Tantive IV. This was the pain he had seen--felt--destroying his son. It was destroying both of his sons. Tears welled in his eyes, but still he watched as the boy he had taught, his friend, his brother, the son who had stood with him through every trial of his life since Qui-Gon's death, cut down the last of the Jedi and then move on to slaughtering children.
"No," he managed say as little Ani ran out from behind the refuge of Yoda's chair in the Council Chamber, his hand outstretched to save a little girl who was already dead. "Oh, no."
"Uncle Anakin, what are you doing?"
"Ani--"
Was it pain he heard? Regret? Oh, please…
Anakin turned the lightsaber off.
Both Obi Wan and Yoda gasped. Obi Wan struggled to breathe. Please.
Slowly, Anakin's hand moved to his belt, where he removed the hilt of a second lightsaber and laid it in his nephew's hands. Ani stared at it, swallowed, and closed his eyes in horror.
"Get out of here. Run, Ani!" his uncle commanded.
"Wh-what?" the boy stammered.
"Back to your mother. Tell her to wait for me. Don't go with anyone else. Sidious knows what she and Organa are planning. Go!" he waved furiously toward the door.
"No!"
Obi Wan could barely stand to watch as his son held out a hand to the killer, still trusting, still believing in the Hero Without Fear.
"You take me. You can still take me home!"
"I can't. I'll come later, before I leave for Mustafar. Ani, go. Leave!" ordered Anakin.
"Uncle Anakin, please. I want to help you!"
The words stabbed through Obi Wan's heart. They burned and twisted more painfully than the blue blade of Anakin's lightsaber would have. Then he heard:
"It's too late for me. RUN!"
He continued to watch as the Dark Side consumed what had been left of his friend. He watched the carnage end then saw a black robed figure enter the Temple and glide over to Anakin, surveying the death and destruction. Anakin knelt.
"The traitors have been destroyed, Lord Sidious. And the archives are secured. Our ancient holocrons are again in the hands of the Sith."
The holocrons. Sith holocrons locked in the Temple archives--accessible only those who had been granted the rank of Master by the Jedi Council. Could Anakin have believed that the forbidden knowledge stored there might…
…save Padme…
I'd give anything, his own voice echoed. Had that really only been a few nights ago?
Oh, Padme. I'd give anything!
And he meant it.
Give anything. Even his own life.
But not take! Not exchange so many innocent lives for even the hope of saving her!
…and yet…
And yet!
He had spared their son.
"Good... good. Together, we shall master every secret of the Force. You have done well, my new apprentice. Do you feel your power growing?"
"Yes, my Master."
"Lord Vader, your skills are unmatched by any Sith before you. Go forth, my boy. Go forth, and bring peace to our Empire."
"I can't watch anymore," he forced out, fumbling to shut the recording off. He wished he could burn it out of his mind. Agonized, he leaned on the console in front of him, but found his arms wouldn't bear the weight of his body. His knees buckled under him and clung to the console, as helpless in his own grief as Ani had been aboard the Tantive.
"Warned, you were," said Yoda, his tone as cold and flat as a stone.
Oh, he had been warned, all right. The Council had all warned him, years ago, when he and Qui-Gon had first brought Anakin from Tatooine. He hadn't listened. He'd been too concerned with keeping his word to his Master, and then with his own attachment to Anakin. He should have been the one to die--not the entire Jedi Order--not for his mistake. He should have been executed on Geonosis.
"I should have let them shoot me!" he declared.
"What?" Yoda asked.
"No," he realized. "That was already too late--it was already too late at Geonosis. The Zabrak, on Naboo--I should have died there. Before I ever brought him here! I would have, if--"
"Stop this, you will!" commanded Yoda, stepping forward to jab Obi Wan with his gimer stick. The sharp jolt hin his side made him gasp, and he reflexively straightened as the Master went on, "Make a Jedi fall, one cannot; beyond even Lord Sidious, this is. Chose this, Skywalker did."
Obi Wan hung his head. "And I'm afraid I know why."
"Why? Why matters not. There is no why. There is only a Lord of the Sith, and his apprentice. Two Sith," Yoda leaned toward him intimately, his tone softening very slightly. "And two Jedi."
He gaped, "No, Master--"
"Ah!" Yoda held up a hand for silence. Then he spun around, his cane banging rhythmically against the floor as he moved away. "Come! Come, come! Something for you, I have."
Obi Wan closed his eyes for a long moment, gathering his strength. Then, he followed his friend and teacher up the hall. He wasn't entirely sure where they were going until they arrived at Yoda's quarters. Following the Master inside, he found, remarkably, that the room had been untouched. The taint of the Dark Side was everywhere, even here, but if there was one place in the Jedi Temple where the Force still ran pure, it was here--this room which had been the home of Yoda for more than nine centuries.
There was a growing tightness in his throat as Yoda led him to a dust covered trunk. The lid moved back, and his vision swam as he saw the familiar brown fabric of his own robes rise out of the shadows.
"Master Yoda, I'm a married man. My family is everything to me. I cannot wear those," he said.
"Wore the robes, Skywalker did, and betrayed and murdered his fellow Jedi. Took them off, did you, and yet always have you honored what I taught you. Always have you honored the Jedi Way and your Master Qui-Gon. Jedi you are, Obi Wan, whether robes you wear or not," said Yoda.
He inhaled deeply, gathering his turmoil and grief, all his pain and unrealized hopes for the future. He gathered within himself his entire life and slowly breathed out again, releasing all he was to the Force, letting the Force define him. Empty of self, he inclined his head. Yoda was right. Whatever else he was, he had never stopped being a Jedi.
"Kneel," Yoda murmured.
Head still bowed, he obeyed, dropping onto one knee before the Master. There was little time for ceremony. The clones would be returning, and the two of them could not be discovered here. He heard the snap-hiss of Yoda's lightsaber, felt its humming warmth pass over him, from right shoulder to left.
"Obi Wan Kenobi, on behalf of Council and by the will of the Force, dub thee I do, Jedi…Knight of the Republic."
He slowly rose, and a motion of Yoda's arm sent his robes gently sailing from the trunk to his arms. As he accepted them, Yoda returned his lightsaber to his belt and then looked grimly at Obi Wan. "Destroy the Sith we must!" he declared.
"Send me to kill the Emperor," Obi Wan pleaded. "I will not kill Anakin."
"To fight this Lord Sidious, strong enough, you are not," Yoda said bluntly. "Die you will, and painfully."
"He is like my brother. I cannot do it," insisted Obi Wan.
"Twisted by the dark side, young Skywalker has become. The boy you trained, gone he is . Consumed by Darth Vader," pronounced Yoda.
"But, Master, he--he did spare my son. Perhaps…perhaps he is not yet lost," ventured Obi Wan.
"What remained of Skywalker then, destroyed by now has been. Destroyed by his own obsession. Out of his misery you must put him," said Yoda.
"How could it have come to this?" Obi Wan asked raggedly.
"To question, no time there is," Yoda replied. "To visit our new Emperor, my job will be."
"Palpatine faced Mace and Agen and Kit and Saesee-four of the greatest swordsmen our Order has ever produced. By himself. Even both of us together wouldn't have a chance," Obi Wan said.
"True," Yoda nodded grimly. "But both of us apart, a chance we might create."
"I must see to Padme before I go," Obi Wan murmured.
"Yes," agreed Yoda. "Safe, she and your children must be. Go quickly, and may the Force be with you."