Chapter 15

Anger was nothing unfamiliar to Ahsoka. Outsiders thought of the Jedi as cold, calculating, unfeeling machines who pushed down all their emotions, but that statement couldn't be further from the truth. Ahsoka knew her anger well in all its shapes and colors and she wanted to paint it all over Anakin.

With another cry, she threw herself at Obi-Wan, who had no trouble at all deflecting her attack. He raised his brow at her, and Ahsoka noticed his attempt at reaching out to her. She deflected his strike and his kindness at the same time, frustrating building up, causing her to stumble and make a fatal mistake. Were they not training, Ahsoka could have very neatly impaled herself on her teacher's blade. She'd have to be more careful of that for sure.

"What's troubling you?" Obi-Wan asked and turned off his lightsaber, clipping it to his belt again. It looked different from his previous lightsaber, more sturdy to hold onto somehow. Perhaps his mechanical hand, gloved or not, just didn't carry the weapon as well. Maybe he should invest in a magnet, make the blade stick to it.

"Nothing," Ahsoka replied, her lie so awful that Obi-Wan didn't even dignify it with a proper reaction. He just stared at her blank-faced, waiting for her to elaborate.

Urgh. Why did he have to be so annoying?

"It's Anakin. He's keeping me away."

And it hurt. Worse than anything else in her life, the emptiness, the hollow where a star should shine, was bothering her. "How do we fix it?"

"With time," Obi-Wan told her. "Time and patience."

"And if that doesn't work out?" Ahsoka disliked feeling insecure, questioning herself and her relationships with her family, but the current situation, the war, left her with nothing but time to worry.

"If it doesn't, we'll think of something different. And if nothing works out, you can always start teasing him about his crush again."

Obi-Wan still wore his blank expression, but it didn't take much for it to crack, and the two of them laughed until their ribs hurt.

They'd be alright again.

X

"So this is the Sith apprentice?" Shmi asked, narrowly avoiding losing her arm to the young woman they were fighting. "She's got fire; I like her. Have you thought about taking a new Padawan?"

"I am not taking on another student. I've raised more than enough."

Dooku had asked Shmi to lead his troops while he dealt with Ventress, not to leave his troops in the hands of her son while helping him fight. He didn't need a partner to take on Ventress. She was smart, strong, and had a lot of potential, yes, but her training was far from finished and in another life—

"But you are considering it," Shmi pointed out.

"Yes," Dooku admitted, blocking one of Ventress's strikes and sending her flying over the edge of the skyscraper. "If she survives and wants to do better."

Dragging himself out of the dark he had hardly even noticed slowly engulfing him had been the most difficult task he'd ever submitted himself to. Ventress was using the dark actively, purposefully. She had decided on this path and thought it was the correct one.

Dooku didn't know if there was any saving from that, but he had to try.

"Ani's calling in," Shmi said suddenly. "The western border is secure. Low casualties, but he did trash your transport ship."

Begging the ever-silent Force for patience and understanding, Dooku closed his eyes and counted his breaths. He wondered where the youngest members of his lineage had gotten their destructive tendencies from. It certainly wasn't him.

"They should give Anakin his own ship to demolish," Dooku commented, falling back into Makashi's defensive stance when he sensed Ventress approach. Smart girl, she was almost as good as a trained Shadow when it came to masking her presence.

"They will as soon as he has settled," Shmi said. "Now, do you think a sleep suggestion will work on your Padawan?"

"She's not my—" Dooku cut himself off. Skywalkers, nothing but trouble.

X

"And? What do you think, Captain?"

Rex stared at the Jedi standing above him. Blaster shots flickered past him, seemingly deflecting on their own. He thought of the tales of the storm guardians and deep-sea deities fighting each other, reshaping Kamino in their image as all sentients were forced to hide and watch as their plant was forever changed.

These deities were entirely removed from mortal concerns, and much like them, Skywalker had soared through the air, decimating their enemy like they were nothing, breaking apart the earth, static cracking from all the energy buzzing around him.

He was terrifying.

Rex swallowed. "Looks like you beat them."

Skywalker's smile was somewhere between bloodthirsty and adoring, gruesome victories won too easily. On Kamino, the thought that one Jedi was worth an entire battalion had seemed almost a bit outlandish, but now Rex could see it.

And if it was this Jedi, he wouldn't mind serving with him.

X

One moment everything was silent, then Obi-Wan's mind fractured into a thousand impressions. Over a decade ago, he had spent months recovering from it, but after years of sharing his life with Anakin, it didn't take him longer than a second. Qui-Gon had been in the middle of assigning him his battalion, and he hadn't even taken notice of Obi-Wan's changed senses. Without another word, nearly bursting from the energy, Obi-Wan broke into a sprint.

This time, Obi-Wan wasn't overwhelmed, thought he'd found what he had been missing all his life. He thought he was experiencing a homecoming. When Anakin crashed into him, it sent them both toppling over, not because Obi-wan was surprised, but because Anakin was much taller than Obi-Wan and cared little for taking that into consideration.

"Hello, dear one," Obi-Wan greeted him again, grinning so hard his cheeks hurt.

Anakin's elbows dug painfully into his sides and he suspected that his robes would be wet from tears when they separated, but Obi-Wan couldn't recall ever having been more comfortable. Flowers grew and bloomed again, springtime rushing in, chasing away the cold. Obi-Wan breathed in Anakin's scent, and his heart settled.

"I missed you," Anakin mumbled. "I missed you so, so much. It hurt."

"I know, but I'm here," Obi-Wan replied, mechanical hand treading through Anakin's hair. He couldn't feel its texture, his limb being without any sense besides pressure, but he needn't touch Anakin to know he was there. "I told you before, I'm never leaving you."

They'd always been connected, always would be.

"I'm sorry," Anakin continued. "So kriffing sorry. I didn't mean to push you away. I didn't want you to get hurt for my mistakes. I was just trying to protect you—"

"I know, Anakin. It's alright."

Anakin raised his head, looked directly into Obi-Wan's soul, walking past old memories to cradle that one spark that made Obi-Wan his counterpart, his anchor.

"It's not," Anakin argued. "I should have known better. You taught me to be better and see past my fears. I don't want to disappoint you, Master."

"You won't." Obi-Wan didn't even have to think twice about it. He knew this as well as he knew the insides of this temple, the path that connected his mind to Anakin's.

There was no way that Anakin could ever disappoint him when he loved him so.

"You might, however, disappoint Ahsoka if we don't greet her quickly."

Anakin tilted his head, confusion apparent. "Isn't she in class?"

"Obi-Wan snorted. "If you assume that your future Padawan will have the patience to wait when her future Master hasn't been anywhere near the Temple in two months, you are mistaken."

Anakin winced, then let out a small laugh. "Yeah, you're right—"

Before he could even finish his sentence, never mind get off Obi-Wan, the third member of their lineage raced at them, loudly protesting, cursing, and demanding until she was wrapped up in Anakin's coat and had elicited a promise or two.

When Qui-Gon finally caught up to Obi-Wan, he only took one look at them before sighing and muttering something about reassignments.

Obi-Wan didn't envy him for his position on the Council in the slightest.