#and i freaking saw anakin from clone wars

[lxlypctter]

i have formed an unhealthy attachment to anakin skywalker in the past 5 days and i don't know how my life is supposed to continue especially considering i've known all along that he becomes darth vader

[barmadumet]

Ahsoka Episode 5 Spoilers Below!

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Okay, I’m going to do something I never do, and I don’t think ever have done – I’m going to do the “take” thing – put my opinion online. I don’t like to do this, because I feel like there is ALWAYS someone opposed, and I just don’t want any bad energy revolving around my beloved escape from reality.

For the last twenty-two hours, I have been profusely hitting the ❤️­s on other posts, jumping up and down and hugging people, and basically just doing the equivalent of shouting, “ANAKIN!!!” but I’ve yet to really try to discuss Episode 5, because, quite frankly, it’s just been too freaking emotional for me! I have all these feelings that I don’t know how to sort out, and I've honestly felt like I could burst into tears at any given moment, all day long. I went through this with the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, and I remember I felt literally insane for a WHILE. Perhaps, I should’ve written something like this back then – writing is my outlet, after all.

So, here we go. . . I don’t have many followers, and I know many people won’t read this, but I just need to get it out!

A couple of weeks ago, my dear friend, Wibz asked me, “What kind of story do you like? What kind of fic do you like to read?” I replied sappy, mushy, hurt/comfort, of course. I told her I like dialogue – dealing with emotional ups and downs - HEALING. I told her I liked fix-its and time travel, and I specifically said I like seeing into ‘what could’ve been’ scenarios, and I mentioned by name the movie, “It’s A Wonderful Life.” And the thing I really love about that movie is the ability to visit the past. I like stories that take us back – and not just as a flashback, but a present character being able to look at their past and reflect. You probably know where this is going by now, but the way we finally got our long-awaited Clone Wars ‘flashback’ couldn’t have been more perfect in my opinion.

And the thing that has made me the most emotional through all of this was simply seeing that first battle in live action. I will admit, upon viewing the first two episodes of Ahsoka, I felt the show might’ve been better presented in Rebels animation. Well, I can now, happily admit I was wrong.

We saw the brutal beginnings of the Clone Wars at the Battle of Geonosis in Attack of the Clones, and we see the heart-breaking conclusion and the end of the war in Revenge of the Sith. My personal opinion is that we have been very fortunate to get a great show about the time in between, however; being short, animated (directed at a younger audience) episodes, there are emotional aspects that are rushed through and not fully explored. If you’ve read my insanely long fix-it fic, then you know that it carries through these Clone Wars episodes that I love so very much, BUT in writing it my own way, I was able to put in all the drama I wanted to see – the breakdowns, the tears, a deeper look into the trauma of fighting in a war. And yes, there have been some amazing Star Wars novels that do this, but again, seeing it in live action. . . seeing just how young Ahsoka really was, seeing her mourn the injured and deceased clones. Having her and Anakin address the fragility of life and getting to hear that conversation about it. . . Now the viewing audience has a grasp on just how bleak this time period was. I didn’t know how bad I needed to see this – a human turned Togruta actor conveying those destroyed expressions and defeated body language. The impact was more than I expected, and it wouldn’t have been the same in animation.

The other super tear-jerky part for me was the theme of ‘Live or Die’ ‘Fight or Die’ . . .I can’t let myself get into too much detail about this, but if you know me, and you know my story, then you know. Great. I’m crying again 🤷🏻‍♀️ This was just such a powerful message for ANYONE struggling in any aspect of their life, and it sincerely helped me to rise another day, and will be a continued reminder, probably for a while.

You all know how much I love Anakin (and Obi-Wan), and so much of the hype is revolved around his character right now, but this personal journey we find Ahsoka on is truly beautiful to me. I was honestly uneasy about the way Ahsoka was portrayed, thus far, in our other series. She didn’t feel like Ahsoka to me. I accepted and understood that her character had been through much in her short life, and that much time had passed since we last saw her and she would've evolved, but overall, I honestly (😬) didn’t much enjoy what we got of her in live action. I kept my expectations for this show at the minimum. I try not to predict what might happen in canon Star Wars, because I never want to set myself up for disappointment. I strive to go in with an open mind and a clear head and just enjoy the show. But I’ll admit, I was hopeful for Ahsoka’s character development in this. . . and so far, I find myself satisfied. It has now been acknowledged how severely Anakin’s turn impacted her – that was a necessity in my opinion, because of course it did. And it’s still unfathomable to me, but I feel like we got to witness her getting her closure with Anakin 😭 At the end of episode 5, I was finally getting the Ahsoka vibes I was longing for. And let’s not ignore just how ’Ahsoka’ she was in the past scenes with Anakin! I was in awe of how her different animated fighting stances over the years translated into live action. It was her! And this is probably a great time to also mention: that was Anakin, too! In the beginning, we saw him on that World Between Worlds walkway training Ahsoka – the orchestrated footwork, the lack of aggression . . . It felt like the Anakin we see in the lightsaber kata training video Ahsoka watches in Rebels! We have not seen this in live action! We have not seen Anakin as a Master to an apprentice! 🥹 And again, I didn’t know how bad I needed that. Later, when we are taken back onto that WBW walkway, we see him fighting like we’ve seen in Revenge of the Sith. It’s Vader! And he’s so pissed and intends to kill! I won’t spend too much time gushing the way most already have – the Sith eyes, the flawless ROTS attire we already loved given back to us, and the Clone Wars look brought to life. . . the hair 😍 Just seeing him, Hayden Anakin, fight in a Clone Wars battle in live action! So strong and mighty 💪🏻 with such determination and sensitivity. . . with just the right amount of cockiness 😉 He’s perfection. And I think this is noncontroversial opinion everyone would agree with lol.  

And maybe you do or don’t agree with this part, but I feel Anakin’s appearance was 💯 open to interpretation, and I think that’s GREAT. This character means so much to so many people, and there is never a way to satisfy everyone when it comes to storytelling. Everyone had/has different opinions of how this should’ve been handled. Was Anakin a Force ghost? Was the entire encounter all in Ahsoka’s head? Was Anakin something else entirely? Was he Vader? Maybe you have an answer to this question and you are certain in your theory – that’s awesome. I think that’s the way it should be. We get to “make things the way we want them to be” WITH CANON! 👏🏻 I am not yet certain of what my own theory is. I’ve watched it four times, and I am still processing it all. One thing for sure, I’m glad the WBW was involved. Again, if you know of my preferred way to ‘fix-it’ then you know what that means to me 🥰

I think I’m done 🫣 I just needed to release these feelings! And I feel we are so blessed. I still can’t believe this really happened. And I am so thankful to get to share in the joy with all of you 💖 Okay! I think I’m ready to talk now if y’all want to talk! 🤭

[theworstcreature]

HOLY SHIT HOLY FUCKING SHIT MY PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANDWERED AND I AM FREAKING THE HELL OUT RIGJT NOW YOU GUYS DONT UNDERTAND MAJOR FUCJING AHSOKA SPOIKERS AHEAD

GUYS WE GOT THE FUCKING CLONE WARS FLASHBACKS IM PHYSICALLY ILL WE GOT TJE SIEGE OF MANDALORE IVE BEEN NEEDING TO SEE IT IN LIVE ACTUON EVER SINCE I FIRST SAW IT OMG THIS IS SO IMPORTANT TO ME ALSO REXARONI MY BELOVED CLONE CAPTIAN I LOVE YOU AND YOUR LIKE 20 SECS OF SCREENTIME SO MUCH I DESPRATELY NEEDED TO SEE YOU ALSO ANAKIN WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK

ALSO WE GOT MORE FUCKING PURGILS!!!!!!!!

I will legally adopt jacen like this kid is growing on me

This episode hurt me in like 20 different ways btw <3

Also: CLONES CLONES CLONES CLONES CLONES CLONES CLO-

Also they said it was one of her first missions during like the first flashback but that outfit was from like s3????? Honestly I hope the reason is bc putting a child in a tube top and well just that entire s1 outfit is weird and not bc it was just a costuming error

On a similar note, ANAKINS CLONE WARS ARMOR LOOKED SO GOOD?!?!?!?! LIKE-

Also I LOVE Hera so much like she’s so mother

Anyways in other news: NEW AHSOKA OUTFIT NEW AHSOKA OUTFIT IT LOOKS SO GOOD YOU GUYS I ADORE IT IT LOOKS SO COMFY I WANNA COSPLAY SO BADDDDDDDDDDDD

so anyways how’s your Tuesday evening going?

[questforgalas]

I’ve had some (a lot) of wine, so here’s a quick rant on why I freaking love Ahsoka and Rey as a 31 year old female Star Wars fan who’s loved Star Wars since 1991 aka when the phantom menace came out

I didn’t discover The Clone Wars until 2019, so Rey was my first discovery in 2015 when the promotions, and most importantly, the movie posters for The Force Awakens started. We were going to see some movie as a family, and as I waited for people to get snacks, I wandered toward our theatre and saw a poster that caught my eye. It wasn’t that it was a Star Wars poster that caught my eye, it was who the main figure on the poster was

Is that? Is that a woman? A woman in the center?? A woman bringing your eye to its attention? On a Star Wars poster??? Don’t get me wrong, I’d loved Star Wars for so long to this point, but to me, the Jedi were THE heroes. I loved jedi. I’m not shy about Obi-Wan’s impact on my life. And I was a prequel baby! Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme were my trio. And the OGs only had Luke as the force sensitive, but I remember even that young thinking “but why wasn’t Leia?”. And even so, each female of the trios wasn’t center stage on a poster, they weren’t the main story. So enter 24 year old me, mesmerized by The Force Awakens poster. Holy shit, a woman is THE protagonist in Star Wars. I almost started crying right there in the theatre

Cut to actually watching The Force Awakens. She’s curious, she’s compassionate, she doesn’t take bullshit, she knows her flaws and weaknesses, she’s strong without sacrificing femininity. My god, was I crying mid way through the movie watching her. She’s funny! She’s witty! She’s all of this and not a hard edge. She’s force sensitive??? And has a speaking role?????? Yeah, crazy concept to me at the time.

Cut to 2019. I find The Clone Wars. Oh. My. God.

Was Ahsoka an annoying bratty teenager? Yes, 100%. She was supposed to be 14!!! Was she the female example of the Jedi and what they truly stood for and their moral judgements and reflected exactly what Anakin could have been if he had opened himself up to his flaws and accepted them for who he is instead of hiding them? Was she THE example next to Obi-Wan of goodness while bringing some sass and seeing the cracks of the galaxy and learning from her arrogance to be humbled and trying to save what good there is left? Yes. Yes she was

When I tell you Ahsoka’s character arc had me clutching my heart when she left the order. I was so proud of her. So so proud. Of course I wanted her to stay but my god, that moment. That moment is everything. As a female Star Wars fan who sometimes sits there and takes shit from people in a circle that’s supposed to believe in her, to watch Ahsoka, AHSOKA, walk away from the Jedi order. WOOOO BABY.

So yeah, Ahsoka and Rey are so so important to me. I love Obi-Wan and I love Rex and I love Crosshair, but if I didn’t have the Ahsoka’s and Rey’s in this franchise, I really don’t know if I’d be as enthusiastically involved as I am, if at all. I love those two

Gushing over

[sleepyandunmotivated]

Continuation of watching Star Wars with my non Star Wars friend, this time, episode 3, revenge of the sith

- “is Star Wars the first to do this paragraph thingy?”

- “so the War is still going?”

- “why’d they even make the clones from Jude?” I respond jango “yeah, jango”

- “oh no, they just decapitated him”

- “he’s got precision” hits obi wan’s ship on accident “oh never mind”

- she got real nervous for r2

- “if something happens to r2 then I’ll be angry”

- “a lot of these robots are smart, if they can think then isn’t it wrong to use them? So many have died and they probably didn’t want to die” she has a point

- “you’d think they would develop anti light saber technology”

- “Do it” (when Anakin is about to decapitate Dooku)

- she did change her mind though about killing Dooku

- “I think the chancellor is evil, I knew he was evil” yeah sure

- “how do they deal with air on the ships? Do they have oxygen tanks?” Valid question honestly

- “is Anakin wearing black mean he’s going to go evil?”

- “if I was evil, I would collect their light sabers too”

- “do they get unlimited light sabers or something? I feel like they throw them around a lot”

- “the people on this planet must be freaking out”

- “I still can’t believe that Anakin is a married man”

- she loves the banter between obi wan and Anakin, if she only knew what was to come

- “upgrades” to 3po

- “everyone is right there, why are they doing this here?”

- gasped when padme said she was pregnant

- “this man is on the verge of death” (to grevious)

- oh god guys, she asked if chancellor palpatine’s child will become Vader or a Anakin’s child, this is going to be a ride

- “he has small nipples”

- “is he going to murder his child?”

- “how are they sleeping together? Don’t the servants know” I did explain how loyal padme’s handmaidens are super loyal to her

- “aw, she still has the necklace”

- “this is not what I expected”

- “I don’t trust him” (to palpatine)

- you know, on a personal note, I feel like had the Jedi just told Anakin that he would not be on the council then things would’ve went better

- we talked about this and how they approached this wrong and she said she didn’t trust him even more

- “this is becoming too much”

- “he probably just wants padme to call him master”

- “obi wan saw a pregnant padme and didn’t question it? Doesn’t he suspect?”

- “he’s a lot skinnier than I thought” (about grievous)

- “this man has asthma” (again grievous)

- “why can’t the Jedi just kill all of the bad guys?”

- “I like the sounds that thing makes” the yips

- “What’s the point of getting these crystallized things if they drop them all the time?”

- “I don’t like this guy, what’s his name— palpatine. I don’t trust him. He’s evil”

- “how many siths are there?” I did explain the way siths work

- “his insides are visible”

- “they could use Anakin even if they don’t trust him, he’s still skilled”

- “is darth Vader anakin’s father? When does he come into play”

- “they all kind of suck” (all the Jedi fighting palpatine)

- “just stab him. Just do it” (to windu)

- “Anakin no”

- “he’s definitely evil now”

- “no!” When Anakin was named darth Vader, she looked at me and back at the screen. The reaction was very much worth it

- “I’m done with Star Wars, this is dumb. It can’t be. No.”

- “Obi is going to be so sad”

- “what’s order 66?”

- “is obi wan dead?”

- “what’s order 66?”

- “why did she fall like that?”

- “is he going to kill all the kids? He won’t, right?”

- “padme you fool, I told you”

- “I knew the clone dudes were evil” don’t worry, we will watch the clones wars after where she will get emotionally attached to them and cry

- “why did the clones follow the order? Were they programmed? We’re they just acting friendly?”

- “he did not kill the padawans” and then she went into how sad that they were hiding and came out because they trusted him

- “what’s the name of the Jedi dude? The one died in the first movie?” I answer “quigon, yeah. He put so much faith in Anakin”

- “you lied to me. Anakin isn’t troubled. He’s bad. No redemption unless he saves yoda or something”

- “padme should’ve known when he killed those people with the women and children, what were they called,” I tell her the tusken raiders “yeah, them.”

- “you know he could, he’s literally killed children before”

- “this is baloney and I don’t like baloney anymore”

- “bruh, he did this for her and he attacked her”

- “I kind of wanted his lightsaber to be red”

- “yoda just waddles in”

- “he saw that coming, he put his hands up. I saw that coming”

*going to be honest, I put my phone down because I had to watch the lightsaber duel between obi wan and Anakin but I’ll write down some details I remember

- commented on how padme was really just left up there

- complimented the visual effects and the choreography for the obi wan vs Anakin duel

- freaked out about yoda a bit and called bail a real homie

- was shocked that there were twins but was weirded out that everyone was just watching her give birth

- laughed when Vader yelled “no” and questioned the chancellors lie

- said that Luke definitely got the short of end of the stick while leia is living the high life

- explained to me how quigon had too much faith

- she was confused about the republic vs separatist politics I explained how basically both sides lost

Overall: she felt extremely betrayed. I honestly can’t wait to show her all the different versions and perspectives of order 66 that Star Wars loves to show

Next one is the clone wars movie

[firealder2005]

Whumpcember 2022 Day. 10 “I WON’T LEAVE YOU”

Featuring: Ahsoka Tano & Luke Skywalker!....and angst. and no comfort, only hurt. it’s disney canon compliant, so....ya know...not my fault all these characters are probs dead if they in Luke’s Order....

just a fair warning lol

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43503735

Enjoy!

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Ahsoka Tano wasn’t surprised when she found out Anakin and Padme had a child - two children, actually. She and Rex had a laugh over it after he told her the news.

What she was surprised about, however, was just how alike both Luke and Leia were to their parents.

It was insane. Sometimes she’ll look at Leia and see that set in her jaw that Anakin had when he was firing himself up for an argument. She’ll see Luke frown, and suddenly she’s looking at Padme’s thoughtful expression as she contemplates how to solve a problem.

It made her heart ache as much as it made her smile.

She remembered quite vividly the last time she had spoken to Anakin Skywalker - and the last time Darth Vader was in his stead.

The former she wished good luck too, but the latter tried to kill her.

She had left her master, her friend, her brother behind and that tore her apart. And when she saw him again…what he had become…

Even though he had tried to kill her, had refused to see the help she was offering, she had been determined to not make that same mistake again.

That she wouldn’t leave him, not again.

Technically, she had left him, but she held no ill-will towards Ezra - he had done it to save her life after all, and she was no good to anyone dead.

This time, however, now that she knew, really knew, Anakin’s children, she was determined to fulfill that promise she had failed to keep with their father.

She won’t leave them.

Not this time, and not ever.

I promise.

LINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAKLINE BREAK

A light breeze blew against Luke’s weathered face as he gazed over the waters of Ahch-To.

He never thought he would one day find the birthplace of the Jedi, but find it he did.

It was safe, hiding his presence as well as Dagobah had hidden Master Yoda’s, which was useful, since he was the only survivor of the Jedi Order.

He closed his eyes, feeling his heart pound at the sheer number of students, friends, and family he had lost when his own nephew burnt his life’s work to the ground.

The younglings that he taught himself, who were so bright, so eager to learn of the mystical Force that ran through everything, that they would one day learn how to wield for good and justice.

The padawans, who trained so hard, who tripped over themselves to impress him whenever he sat in on their classes, who did dare-devil, adrenaline-rushed things that made the older learners freak out.

The masters who had battled their own darkness, conquered it, and found peace with their Order.

Reva, who had confided her sheer volume of hatred towards Luke’s own father for murdering her friends when they were all just children, but had stopped herself from taking her rage and vengeance out on Luke himself when he was merely ten years old.

(And wasn’t that something? Luke could hardly remember his life on Tatooine, let alone a moment when he had been unconscious! Too much had happened. Too much had been lost.)

(And it still hurts to think of his beloved aunt and uncle’s burnt bodies left to rot by the Empire.)

Cal Kestis, another Order 66 survivor, who had brought learning of other cultures of the Force into the Jedi Order by way of his wife, the Nightsister Merrin, who taught the padawans about Nightsister magic and The Father, The Daughter, and The Son.

She and Ahsoka had many conversations about the Ones, and Merrin had been very interested that Ahsoka had met them years ago during the Clone Wars, alongside Obi-Wan and Anakin - and the two of them had put their heads together to find out what all three Ones being gone now meant for the Force.

Luke wryly smiled as he recalled passionate debates the Nightsister had also gotten into about the Force with his good friend Lor San Tekka, a member of the Church of the Force and very knowledgeable of the Whills.

Who knew there had been so many different practices of the Force, besides his own chosen path of the Jedi, and the one of the Sith?

There was yet so much Luke didn’t know of the Force, and it was likely he never will find it all.

But the Jedi Grandmaster would admit that the one he had learned from the most was his father’s old padawan, Ahsoka Tano.

Luke and Ahsoka had shared many conversations about the Old Jedi Order, their teaching, their doctrine, and their political stances, trying to see where it all went wrong.

Ahsoka had been a great help. She had seen with her own eyes just how distant the Jedi had become from the galaxy at large - being seen as nothing more than mystics who rarely left their Temple.

And how that affected even the people who needed the most help who lived right under their noses.

Luke leaned forward, elbows on his knees, as he watched the double suns begin to set.

He wished she was here, to help him see what to do, where he had gone wrong.

He had learned so much from Ahsoka…and now she was gone.

[the-firebird69]

Watch "X-Men: Apocalypse | Teaser Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX" on YouTube

He'll arrise shortly, and yes is a possessed BjA. He demands from us to be able to inhabit the body of Tommy f and request is far too much and he wants all his stuff and all his clothes instantly in order to defeat his enemies and control the planet and we refuse to do it I would refuse to cater to him at all anymore due to his definite danger to our son and our people and is insulin attitude and demeanor is a constant insult. Will vanquish him here and he will be destroyed fully in the Star wars movie. He becomes Darth Vader and is killed in combat and replaced by Stan. Is Vader and he is part robotic and he lost the battle the fight with Luke Skywalker and was electrified when throwing Biden into the power source and his equipment failed. And it says no he died before that and he was in a battle with Luke Skywalker and he was defeated and they showed him defecating him severed his arm. Ok. You survived it but he did move on and crashed as Anakin Skywalker on Titan and there he lost his life in mortal engines run over by his own machine

He dies doing that not soon after this movie which begins shortly and he finds Tomorrowland and so forth beforehand but it isn't long and this movie triggers that to happen. He is exposed for what he plans to do to our son and by what he's trying to do to Tommy f and there are many others who are exposed by what he does and he tries it this evening

Tommy f is captured by another party and in tuned with flesh eating scarabs which are large and they're normal size are just full sized. And the people who entombed him are not his own clothes they are Trump's people who murdered him for his crimes and he is taken out of the tomb and his brain is eating already and he becomes the mummy and undead and is utterly destroyed in the desert. It is a huge huge film and a huge event that's happening shortly where is the clones are not losing yet no they are everybody is fighting them and defeating them and their blockade will fall soon they'll feel but Tommy f is killed because the trumps are almost gone

The ships backed off the Midwest but are still in space and are in a precarious position as the launch time approaches they are told to relocate or be destroyed and we have issued at several times and they are not moving. We're looking at a launch window of 11:00 p.m. tonight to 2:00 a.m. tomorrow morning and if they do not follow instructions they will be destroyed

Gu Oya

I've never been insulted by this in my life and it is terrible these people are horrible horrible people and he's enduring things that we should not have expected him to and he told us that too. He said I'm not very old and these people are out of line constantly and I have hope but boy they're nasty pile of crap. And I seen here now and I wish to free him from these morons because it is more difficult than I thought it would be we're going to send in troops now. They are extremely racist there is absolutely nothing it would stop me from killing every single one of them if I was in his position. I just see what he's saying they're horrifyingly evil too each and every one of them is talking shop right out of their mouths like it doesn't matter at all they're horrifically disfigured it's what he was saying they need to die now so I'm sitting in tons of units to kill them. She doesn't know who that is and our son does not I told her that the clones are the ones who are destroying the warlock areas and he started flipping out so you can't tell her that and so she said he can't tell me that and it's starting to freak out so what exactly you guys planning on doing and he wrote down what you think you cannot find and it was awful cuz they all started threatening her and this was about a week ago. It's Mary and she's been threatened like madness and she saw it happening and said he told me and I told you and you guys did nothing and said we were fighting it and they were fighting below and were defeated they tried to cap them off and they dug around and they were defeated he said why are we isolated like that and people can't live with you guys but really it was a plan and it was stopped by Tommy f and she got really mad and said we're stupid and she lost it and really she's now insane and is looking for a fight from anyone. Even a son and she said no you curse me to know is this is so he says so what didn't make it happen cuz it's no happens to you guys smile said you're actually right and use this a chance to change history and she said I couldn't change it and now you die she tried to harm him two or three times in the store but she had no weapon and he stood up next to her is getting something and she's saying something and he said excuse me and she is mumbling something and stop talking and left what she was saying is I'm going to fry you you stupid b**** and he said I think you got the wrong number she looks back and says I think so too and left and didn't try anything no it's in the parking lot trying to hit him with it emitter it didn't work and she looked right at it and it fried her in her ear and it was her inner ear and she drove off and smashed into a truck and it killed her instantly and it crushed her skull and she's dead and I don't feel bad at all in a distance and he was 20 ft away and he didn't even feel it and it didn't work the window was closed and now that's how it goes

[commanderfoxdeservesbetter]

Hi, this might be kinda vague but like, what are your favorite Fox headcanons?

I’m so sorry for the late message 😭 but yesss I love this ask. Favorite Fox headcanons of mine are:

Fox goes to therapy

After the war, Fox needed to wear glsses because of how messed up his eyes were from the constant shifts and lack of sleep

Fox and Cody are best friends on Kamino

Thorn and Fox are best friends on Coruscant

Thorn and Cody have beef with each other because they think the other is stealing the best friend position when in reality, Fox considers them both as his best friends

Fox is originally left-handed but with the Kaminoans’ training, he never knew

Him and Cody once tried to run off Kamino but Alpha-17 caught them before they succeeded

He thinks all of Cody’s complaints about Obi-Wan and Anakin are just an exaggeration till he met Anakin

He truly thinks Anakin and Rex are a thing which he complains to Cody about because why does Rex have such bad taste??

He also thinks Anakin is Palps’ sugar baby so that doesn’t help their case

Fox and Thorn have created elaborate schemes to sabotage Anakin’s meetings with Palps so that their “relationship” will fail

Fox once dyed Thorn’s hair green as a prank

Fox can beat Cody in any fight as long as it’s fair but the minute shots are called to use dirty tactics, he loses within 5 minutes because Cody does not hold back on hair pulling, biting or crotch-kicks

Fox is scared of Bacara and Neyo

Not because they’re mean but because Fox once caught them fighting their Alpha and they were both bloody and bruised and laughing during the round

They still lost the round but Fox saw how at ease they were with the Alpha than with any of the other CCs

Fox is Cody’s twin - they share the title of oldest Vod but actually don’t know who is the oldest between them

Fox likes to annoy Cody and even employs the help of Rex, Anakin, Boil, Waxer, Thorn and several other Commanders to do so

He once did a prank (with the help of the Jedi) that the clones weren’t made from Jango Fett’s DNA but rather Cad Bane’s

He had Cody freaking out to why the clones looked like Cad Bane for two weeks before the jig was up

When fighting Wolffe, he will bite

He steals food from all the Commanders when they meet up

He has a favorite gun

Conveniently, it was originally Ponds’ but he stole it when Ponds was looking since it was one of the newer updates at the time

He’s good friends with Bail and has an underground black market for the GAR

Well, technically it’s Cody who’s in charge of it but he’ll pretend to be Cody to get stuff from the market

He goes undercover quite a lot

He did once as a civilian helping on a campaign with the 212th and made sure to annoy Cody as much as he could without giving away his position

He got shot in the shoulder once on a mission which is how he met Vos who found him

Fox and Quinlan have drinking competitions

Quinlan once stole all of Fox’s pillows and Fox put out an arrest for him due to that

Fox had blackout missions due to Palps constantly turning on his chip

He loses the person he used to be as the war goes on, to the point where Cody has a hard time hanging around him because he’s not the same

He is very pragmatic to the point where he is unlikable by the end of the war

His therapy sessions is mainly him trying to regain and focus back on emotions versus shutting them out and not feeling anything

He turns to Cody to be his conscience since he barely trusts himself to make the right decisions

Fox is afraid to be left alone for too long in fear that he will be abandoned again

Fox doesn’t talk much after the war nor does he play any pranks

My all time favorite Headcanon is Fox never dying but he has to learn how to live not only with himself, but in the world again

These are some of my favorite headcanons about Fox. I might add to this later

[ayo-cowbelly]

theres so many time travel fics where luke, rey, hell, even revan or some other Wise Jedi Pupil time travels to the clone wars. but i wanna see everyone in the original trilogy crew EXCEPT luke (or any jedi) show up on coruscant in the middle of TCW like “what in the back to the future is this shit”

think leia, han, chewie, and lando just fucking around trying to keep the world from going to shit

and theres SO MUCH CHAOS.

leia’s trying to bullshit her way through why she looks so much like padme, with anakins temper, but is also weirdly, intimately familiar with alderaan and its customs

even though bail organa has no idea who this spicy feral politician child is or why she started crying when she first saw him

leia also probably has to be physically restrained the first time she sees anakin

han somehow gets tangled up with Young Boba Fett and that’s a whole issue- theres lot of explosions

(he probably stops that whole deal with the child trafficking and gets a reward from the republic or smth, which he wont stop talking about)

chewie finds ahsoka, somehow, and she recognizes him and is like “YOOO WHAT UP ITS MY HUNGER GAMES BUDDY”

and chewie is now hanging out with a teenager who thinks they met last week when really for him it was like 20 years ago.

this is how they meet up with the jedi and co.

and its awkward

leia is standing there seething, things floating in the air around her and she wont stop giving anakin the stink eye

while han (who is currently trying to mingle with the young version of that old dude luke was super attached to, so please dont ruin it, leia) just fake laughs and wraps his arm around her and whispers sweet nothings in her ear

chewie is having a blast freaking out the clones by just randomly roaring in their ears as they walk by

rex is ready to curl up in a ball because now his ship is even more chaotic

lando flirts with every jedi he meets Just Because

they tagged along to fight w the clones and jedi in a battle because what else do they have to do

and everyone is expecting them to all get killed because, i mean, have you met them?

and this little ragtag group ends up CARRYING the battle and its over very quickly

they decided to use Espionage and Sneaking to break into the separatist base and destroy it

chewie probably vaulted leia over a wall and she just fucked shit up

later, anakin offhandedly mentions palpatine and leia blurts out “if i see that old raisin, its on sight” and everyone is like o.O

luke is in the future wondering how THE FUCK hes supposed to fix this

[phoenixyfriend]

Anakin Assists the Jedi Council While On Medical Leave

AU brainstormed primarily by @atagotiak, @gelpenss, and myself.

Basically, a fix-it based in Anakin getting a peek into the daily life on the Council early, and accidentally Figuring Some Shit Out along the way, mostly because Palps Fucks Up.

So, Anakin gets injured in a way that limits him to Coruscant for a few weeks. He can still walk and talk, but he can't fight. The specific injury doesn't matter, just this:

Anakin runs errands on behalf of the council and sits in on meetings to take minutes as a "you're on medical leave but we need all hands on deck, congrats you get to be the secretary until we can send you on stabbing missions again" thing.

Also, there just aren't a whole lot of people with Anakin's clearance level. They had to send out Stass Allie to handle the mission that was originally next on Anakin's roster, and Anakin's the most convenient person to substitute into her position.

He's not super happy about this but he can more or less understand the point of it. Given that he gets antsy about needing to fight almost immediately, he can acknowledge the worth of having something useful to do, if only as the person who's writing down who says what and making sure everyone has the right file on hand.

(Besides, Obi-Wan jokes in a way that Anakin thinks might be encouraging, this is good practice if Anakin ever wants to be on the High Council himself!)

(This is a very helpful conversation.)

BASICALLY, Anakin is resigned to this but agrees because "Usually we have Master Allie handle this but we need her running that mission that was originally set for the 501st, so you get to fill in for her until you can switch back. Think of it as training for eventual mastery or admin or--listen, we're just really stretched thin."

Here's the key thing, though: Anakin isn't supposed to leave the Temple, for medical reasons, so Palpatine doesn't know Anakin is sitting in on Council meetings. They haven't met up since Anakin's last surgery, and because [muffled hand-wave reason] he didn't find out another way, like Anakin comming him or the Council giving him the heads-up about the change in attendance.

It's fine. He's just taking notes and doing preparatory research, he has the clearance, the Chancellor likes him anyway. Hell, they'd have had someone's Padawan doing this, before the war increased the necessary clearance levels. They'll toss in a quick message in the brief they send to Palps that he never reads anyway, and that's really all they need to do. Skywalker's getting some rounded experience and this way the medics won't be freaking out about him stressing his heart after getting electrocuted by trying to spar too early.

Palpatine doesn't talk directly to the Council, he just sends a recording the first time Anakin is there. It's a bit weird, but nothing goes wrong. Anakin's off-screen from whatever device they use to send a response, since he's not technically a member, just assisting for a bit on the part of Master Allie's duties that he's actually allowed to touch (and not the bits that are getting added to Mace, Plo, and Shaak's stuff).

The first four or so meetings are like that. Anakin starts having a bit of sympathy for the Council as he sees how many things they want to do that are hampered by the need for Senatorial approval, things that he would also want to do and didn't think required this much red tape.

About a week in, still mostly recordings with Anakin just sitting on the side playing paralegal, the wheel of fortune turns a few pegs.

Palpatine hands over a an order on the range of injury that a soldier should be treated for, "to ensure that republic resources aren't being wasted on clones that, while expensive, would actually be cheaper to replace than repair."

Oh, he dresses it up in prettier language than that. Anakin doesn't process it as such first.

The Chancellor manages to couch his phrasing in "prioritizing resources for taxpaying republic citizens and employees of the GAR," which... well.

The natborn commissioned officers pay taxes. The Jedi are employees. The clones are neither, because they're slaves.

Probably he frames it as the employees thing, very much the kinda language that sounds halfway ok unless you’re fluent in political bullshit.

And Anakin is really confused at first about why the council is upset by the order because, okay, he would PREFER to be able to use medical supplies on refugees when possible, but he understands prioritizing the soldiers?

He just looks up, totally lost, when someone groans and goes, "That's the third time this year, is he trying to get us all killed?"

And it vibes as such a genuine, aggrieved, sad reaction that Anakin is completely blindsided because it's not the sarcastic, petty resentment he kind of expected? It's just... desperate depression.

And someone gently has to explain that this is the third time they've had resources restricted to only GAR employees and that it's a polite way of saying "prioritize natborn officers, stop wasting resources on clones, we can replace them easier."

Or maybe he doesn't ask, because he's just there to take notes, not argue, and he can see the masters drawing up a response that amounts to "We would like to remind you that our soldiers do not fall into that classification, and to limit their access to our medical supplies is liable to cause a loss of life that we find unreasonably high. Please see the annotations attached to adjust wording so that the clones may receive the same level of care."

Anakin's internally just like "Yeah, that's phrased nice and addresses the main problem, Palpatine will obviously agree and change it!"

And then he comes in the next day and the response comes in and it's just dripping condescension about considering the clones actual people.

"This is why we can't use the bacta tanks on clones anymore, just the patches. We could use them at first, we had a few of the CCs get through fatal injuries with them, but they cut that off and said we could only use the tanks on Jedi and non-clone officers a few months ago. The Banking Clans keep tightening their belts on the army, and the Chancellor insists we put citizens first, and the clones aren't citizens. We've been arguing back as much as we can, but he keeps going on about the economy and we can't... we just can't, Skywalker. We're trying to save as many of our men as we can, but..."

Something like "Allocation of resources reiterated, the Kaminoans have assured the senate that the Jedi are far from exhausting the resources ordered."

And Anakin's like. He can't blame the council for lying about Palpatine's past or future actions. He just saw Palpatine's actions. Those actions were to order people under his control to throw away lives he saw as replaceable commodities.

These are his friends' lives.

His soldiers are being thrown away by a man in a tower that he trusted.

And then that man has the gall to suggest it's the council's fault.

Palpatine is good at what he does, especially in public, he dresses it up in flowery language and everything, but Anakin's just like "Those are my FRIENDS and also this is??? How slavers talked about their property on Tatooine???? FRIENDPATINE, WHAT THE FUCK."

Anakin can be passive aggressive sometimes as well as outright aggressive. So if he brings up the guidelines and why they make him upset in general terms, and Palpatine says something about how he’s sad the council doesn’t care about the clones...

Anakin, internally, having just watched the council scramble to save as many clones as possible within the guidelines that Palps handed down: Uh-huh.

(Anakin is just the gay horror teeth gif from queer eye.)

Just. “Yeah, funny you say that, Palpatine! Because as I remember, you told the council not to waste more resources than necessary while Mace Windu was arguing to expand the treatment range!”

Palps doesn't even have time to salvage the situation or attack Anakin because Anakin just bulldoze rants for fifteen minutes and then storms out.

Anakin... maybe does a little treason and gets a copy of the orders so he can ask Padme "Hey, can you explain the politics of this?" and doesn't tell her who wrote it so she isn't biased (he tells her that this is why he's not sharing the author's/speaker's name), and just lets Padme pick apart all the 'this is a nice way of saying they don't view the clones as people' details.

Alternately, someone on the Council sees Anakin dithering and manages to get him to admit that he's not great at political language and wants to ask someone to help him understand the full implications. The person--Mace? let's go with Mace--is aware that Anakin is on good terms with Senator Amidala, if not necessarily aware of the depth of said relationship. Mace points out that he's probably going to be seeing her soon just because he usually does and, as a Senator, she can get easy access to these sessions since they're not about specific missions, just allocation of resources, etc. It's not an optimal solution, but she's got a bit more free time than anyone else Anakin knows with the clearance levels, like Order members that are actively involved in the war effort.

Anakin dithers and panics and Mace, trying to be helpful, tells him that plenty of Jedi have made friends among the Senate over the years, didn't you know Qui-Gon Jinn was a personal friend of Former Chancellor Valorum?

At any rate, Anakin goes to Padme and asks her to explain it to him, because she knows how to phrase things so he gets it.

Anakin has to have her pause and he goes outside and destroys some things halfway through.

(Anakin maybe thinks back to the times Padmé or Obi-Wan were really obviously frustrated and when he asked, they said stuff like “I can’t stand Palpatine rn, sorry Anakin I know he’s important to you and you don’t want to talk about politics, let’s just talk about something else.”)

(Obi-Wan: I don’t trust Palpatine Anakin: you just don’t like politicians in general Obi-Wan: yes that is also true)

(Obi-Wan does like Bail and Padme but he does also talk a bit about how politicians generally aren’t to be trusted.)

[obiwanobi]

Catch me thinking about sith Anakin who got in a fight w/ Palps (did Palps cross a line? Did Anakin decide he had nothing to lose? Idk), barely managed to win and is now seriously hurting and a little freaked out winding up outside Obi-wan's quarters and Obi-wan doesn't have time to draw his saber let alone figure out how a sith lord managed to get so far into the jedi temple unnoticed and Force is that blood? before Anakin's passing out with only a murmered request for help.

LISTEN you can’t keep sending me perfect prompts, how do you know I can’t resist bloody men on their knees begging for salvation, how do you know me so well??? anyway here’s 2.3k of always-a-sith!Anakin who could have been the new ruler of the empire but said ‘no thanks, this is too much responsibility, I would like to be pampered by my favourite jedi now’ (with a bit of Ahsoka as Obi-Wan’s padawan!)

 He didn’t mean to kill him.

Well, not at first.

He didn’t mean to kill Sidious, but pulling his lightsaber from his lifeless corpse only felt like complete satisfaction. A weight on his shoulders he didn't know he carried disappeared, letting him stand up above the body of his master— former master, and gaze upon what was left of him. A shapeless form on the ground. A dark cape around an old man playing at being a god. A begging mess of futile promises when he realised it was the end for him.  

As mindless fury leaves him, his ragged breathing slows down and his fist unclenches around his saber. Sidious is dead. Now that the adrenaline rush is gone, his knees start shaking. His Master is dead. His face is wet with sweat and blood and tears. Dead and now Anakin has no one.

And then...  And then fear.

"You know," Ahsoka groans as the water starts boiling, "I don't understand how you got your reputation of Cool Jedi Master. Other padawans think I'm lying when I tell them you wear the ugliest slippers at home and gets excited by new tisanes."

"You gifted me those slippers."

"As a joke. And you still wear them."

"I'm not going to throw away perfectly good slippers." Obi-Wan wiggles his toes under the red and yellow fuzzy monstrosities, just to see his padawan rolls her eyes. "And they're really comfortable."

"So you're just going to stay there, then? Your whole battalion is out celebrating our first day of leave since forever, but you prefer to drink your tea alone and go to bed at 22:00?"

"No one wants an authority figure around when they're letting loose and celebrating, Ahsoka," Obi-Wan says, pouring hot water in his cup. He raises the kettle towards his padawan as a question, to which she shakes her head. "I thought you would be happy to see me putting sleep before work for once."

"I am, Master, but I thought it could be..." She trails off, fidgeting with the hilt of her sabers. For once, she looks like a typical padawan, just like he was at her age, dying to enjoy one night away from the temple and any kind of responsibilities.

"It's alright my dear," he sighs, "you can join them if you want."

Ahsoka suddenly perks up. "I can?"

"If you're old enough to be sent to the front, I think you can handle yourself for one night on Coruscant."

"Thank you Master! I promise I'll be careful and not come back too late!"

"You do that, and-- wait, Ahsoka," he adds as she's already halfway through the door, "make sure to stay around Cody! And no alcohol of any kind! And don't lose your lightsaber at sabacc again!"

"That was you!" she yells from the end of the corridor, "don't worry, I'll be fine! Don't wait for me to go to bed! Goodnight Master!"

Obi-Wan smiles, blowing on his cup. He already sent a message to Cody earlier to keep an eye on her, so he knows she's in good hands.

He has his herbal tea, his ugly slippers, no reports to read or write, and no immediate Separatist menace to plan for. For once, a perfectly good night to catch up on sleep and meditation.

So, of course, something has to be wrong.

The Force is bright. The Force is lighter than it has ever been for the past few years.

And Obi-Wan can't understand why.  

It's not just him that can feel it: Ahsoka has acted chipper since, more like the teenager she is, laughing with the clones and playfully teasing him the whole fly back to Coruscant. The temple has felt livelier than ever when they arrived, Jedi from all ages going about their day with a new spring in their step, greeting each other warmly in the corridors. Even Master Yoda has taken a few minutes during their Council meeting to note the shift in the Force. No Master could pinpoint the origin of this change, but all agreed that something good happened somewhere in the galaxy, and they were just feeling ripples of the effect in the Force.

Still now, the whole temple feels a bit more like it used to, before the war, and all Jedi are a bit happier without knowing why.

Only Obi-Wan feels like a noose tightening around him. Whatever it is, it's slowing making its way around his presence in the Force. Focusing on him and him alone. Doesn't matter how much Obi-Wan tries to hide himself, it's getting closer and never slowing down or losing interest.

Needless to say, Obi-Wan has a bad feeling about this.

But after almost three years of war, sullen faces and grim expressions, he doesn't feel like dampening the sudden good mood around the Temple just with a few words. He can probably deal with whatever it is by himself.

His tisane is cold when he finally emerges from his meditation. Nothing is clearer than when he started: the Force is deaf to his questions and inquiries, still light as a breeze. An airy unconcern for his restlessness. And yet, a thick pressure still looms around him, getting heavier each passing second now.

His fingers start pulling on his collar.

The clock on the wall indicates that he lied to Ahsoka when he said he was going to bed at a respectable time today. No diurnal Jedi would still be up right now, but he still considers going out to knock at Mace's door. Narrowed eyes and a very long sigh will be his first answer, but Obi-Wan knows that Mace would never refuse to hear him out. Yes, he finally decides when the pressure seems to creep even closer to him, it's worth waking up Mace.

He opens his door, wondering if he should take his robe with him, and instantly stops walking.

There, in the empty corridor of the Jedi Temple, at his door and on his knees, is a Sith. He knows it's a Sith only because he recognises this specific mass of hair, the large shoulders, the dishevelled dark robe. He knows it's a Sith because he has crossed path with this one enough times on the battlefield to recognise him anywhere. Outside of it a few times too. He isn't sure it's a Sith when the Sith raises his head up, bloody and bruised face torn in an agonizing expression, and his eyes are blue.

"I— I didn't know where to go," Darth Vader says quietly, with the kind of voice expected from a lost child. It gives Obi-Wan a second shock to hear his voice, making his presence suddenly real. "You said... You said if I ever wanted to, if I needed help one day, you would— I could—"

Obi-Wan remembers it. He remembers all the times he offered his help. His pleas for him to stop the violence, the appeals to reason, the multiple suggestions of a gentler path. His hand continuously outreached but never taken. He remembers the burning gold of the Sith's eyes too, and his black cape floating above the dead clones at his feet.

His laughter the first time Obi-Wan brought up the idea of lowering their blades and talking around a cup of tea. His sneer the third time Obi-Wan tried to change his misconceptions about the Jedi Order and play-flirt with him in the same breath. The silence the fifth time Obi-Wan asked him his name, his real name, the one a parent gave him.

The tears the last time he gave it to him.

"And you're always trying to save me," Vader adds more forcefully now, like the words anger him, "you're always here, showing up almost every time I'm sent somewhere with your stupid smile and stupid words, and you're always nice, and... and teasing, and disappointed when I kill someone, like you expect me to be better, and I don't understand you, but..."

Vader raises his hand towards him, and it's only this sudden move that shakes Obi-Wan out of his stupor. Before the Sith can touch his leg, Obi-Wan calls his lightsaber to him, ignites it in one fluid motion, half-expecting Vader to be up and swaying his saber in his face by now. But the Sith is still on his knees, and it's only now that the blue light of his blade is above him that Obi-Wan realises the state he's in. His face isn't the only thing bruised and battered: his dark tunic is stained with blood and ripped in more than one place, one of his arms is bent in an unnatural way, and it looks like a cut above his hairline is still bleeding, making his curls stick to his face in a mess of wet hair and burned skin.

"Vader," Obi-Wan says slowly, when his thoughts finally regain a semblance of coherence. A rapid investigation through the Force assures him that no other enemy is around and the calm and quiet of the night in the Temple isn't a prequel for a storm. "How did you get in here? What are you doing here? How—"

Vader's hand, stuck in the space between them, reaches once again for Obi-Wan. Foolishly, Obi-Wan lets him. His fingers twist themselves in the fabric of his pants.

"He made me killed them all.” Vader wobbles on his knees for a second, the hand on Obi-Wan's leg gripping it tighter. “No platoons, no battle droids. Just me. He sent me to the power station and I cut through them so easily, so quickly, they didn't even fight back, and I didn't think that..." he trails off, panting. "Until.... until I saw the electro-whips." 

"Are you talking about Naphtla?" he asks when Vader doesn't seem to be able to continue.

Naphtla. Outer Rim. Barely on the Republic radar until this afternoon, when nearby troops answered a distress signal and found a hidden Separatist power station operated by slaves. A third of them were dead, killed only a few hours before, and the survivors turned to the Republic for immediate support. Slaughtered like animals, the rescue team reported to the Council only a few hours ago, by one single man wielding a red lightsaber. According to witnesses, the darksider cut through the slaves like bantha butter, killing everyone in his path without discrimination, until he stopped for no apparent reason and abruptly left.

"You were the one who killed the people at the station there," Obi-Wan realises out loud, horrified, "the slaves from Zygerria."

Vader snaps his head up and his fingers tighten painfully around Obi-Wan's knee. "I DIDN'T KNOW!"

All Obi-Wan's senses and logical thoughts urge him to back out, put an end to this nonsensical charade, raise his lightsaber between them, get away from the dark, hungry void Vader generates in the Force.

But his eyes are looking up to him. Gripping his gaze with the same intensity as his hand on his leg. Bloodied face and pleading, on his knees. Full of tears.

Obi-Wan doesn't push Vader's hand away.

"I didn't know they were slaves, I didn't!"

"Vader."

"He never said! He sent me without telling him, he knows I don't—" A small noise sounding suspiciously like a sob swallows the rest of his words.

"Vader, who sent—"

"When I came back," he tries again, quieter. Obi-Wan opens his mouth to ask about this he, but Vader's head lolls for a second, too heavy to support, before butting gently against Obi-Wan's leg. Vader makes no effort to move, content to stay there, and after a second, a small, almost timid nuzzle against his thigh sends a series of shivers through Obi-Wan's spine. It shuts him up instantly. "When I came back, he looked at me for so, so long, before saying that he knew, he knew I was going to fail, that I was... just like them after all, and that I could never... And I was so mad, so angry at him, so I... I..."

The last words are muffled by the fabric Vader clings to. Hides into. There's blood on Obi-Wan's pants now.

"What have you done, Vader?" Obi-Wan asks, softer than he intended. "Vader," he asks again when no reply comes, without success. The hand not holding his lightsaber moves, hesitates for a moment, then settles lightly on Vader's hair, mindful not to touch any open wounds. His fingers nudge him to tip his head back, gently, carefully, and settle on his cheek to hold his face up, looking at him. "Anakin." His name, his true name, makes him blink a few times. "Anakin, what have you done?"

"I killed him," he finally admits, barely audible. He looks exhausted, more like a child in need of rest than ever.

"Who did you kill?"

"My master."

"Dooku? You killed Dooku?"

"No," Vader— Anakin frowns, like Obi-Wan should know better. "Sidious."

It's a bit much to process in one day. Another Sith Lord, Vader's master, concealed and kept a secret, now dead, killed by his apprentice —and does that make Vader the ruling Sith Lord now? Do Sith have rulers?— the lightness in the Force the same day, a half-dead Vader begging for help in the middle of the night in the Jedi Temple, and all of that while Obi-Wan is still wearing his ugly slippers.

He's so glad he sent Ahsoka away for the night.

Anakin doesn't let him time to feel the migraine coming.

"I can't do it, I can't be my master, I can't— and Dooku hates me, he will never help me, even if I let him have it all, he will never..." Vader seems to run out of steam, and lets his eyes close as his head falls once again against Obi-Wan's thigh. Closer. "You said you could help me. You said I could come to you at any time. You said you would always be there if I didn't want to... do this, anymore."

"I did," Obi-Wan assures him, his hand lightly petting his hair again.

Anakin lets out a long breath. His fingers tighten on the fabric of Obi-Wan's pants, loosen, and tighten again.

"You're the only one I trust," the Sith quietly tells the Jedi, and it's the saddest thing Obi-Wan has ever heard.

[yellowocaballero]

AU of Roleswap AU: Cody's First and Final Choice

Obi-Wan was staring very intently at the churning blue river running underneath the gorge, wondering if he would die when he jumped down it or if it would simply be very cool, when Cody accepted the transmission.

He felt something spike in the Force, like a hot knife pressing through skin, before Cody’s comm rang again. Obi-Wan relaxed when he saw that it was Master Anakin, making some curt commands to Cody before his holoimage vanished into dust. Cody was standing very straight. Boga began lowing.

He listened with half an ear as Cody made some more calls. A lot more calls - he heard Pond’s name somewhere in there, along with Bly and Wolffe and Fox. Definitely Wolffe - Obi-Wan rolled his eyes when he heard a lot of loud cursing from Wolffe before the call ended.

What was happening?

The rabbit hole is growing increasingly deeper and I am giving increasingly less fucks, so here's an AU of an AU. For this one, I'd even say that you don't need to have read the original - the premise is only that Obi-Wan is Anakin's padawan and that Cody ended up half-raising him. I have four other stories in this AU, all of which are much longer than this, and I'll probably post them in the upcoming week.

Hey, do you remember how the Order 66 chips didn't exist in the original movies? The Clone Wars cartoon made them up.

So if the chips didn't exist...what would that look like?

11k of bad parenting under the cut.

Obi-Wan was staring very intently at the churning blue river running underneath the gorge, wondering if he would die when he jumped down it or if it would simply be very cool, when Cody accepted the transmission.

He turned only long enough to see if it was Master Qui-Gon - it wasn’t, otherwise Cody would have opened the call with a ‘where the kriff are you’ instead of some sort of greeting - before turning back to the gorge. He probably could. Rex would help him. Master Anakin would throw him, and it would be very funny. Master Qui-Gon would also think it’s very funny, but he wouldn’t help him. Cody was probably the only one who both did not think it would be funny and would also actively try and stop them. Cody was a buzzkill.

He felt something spike in the Force, like a hot knife pressing through skin, before Cody’s comm rang again. Obi-Wan relaxed when he saw that it was Master Anakin, making some curt commands to Cody before his holoimage vanished into dust. Cody was standing very straight. Boga began lowing.

He listened with half an ear as Cody made some more calls. A lot more calls - he heard Pond’s name somewhere in there, along with Bly and Wolffe and Fox. Definitely Wolffe - Obi-Wan rolled his eyes when he heard a lot of loud cursing from Wolffe before the call ended.

Suddenly, Obi-Wan heard a great echo of armor rustling. Every 212th man who survived the land battle - easily over 200, maybe closer to 300 - was moving simultaneously, all closing in around Cody. It almost felt like a rush, although it didn’t look like that at all.

Were they debriefing without him? Like he was a freaking fourteen year old? Obi-Wan jogged up to the group until he reached the fringes, pushing gently at the mass of plastoid armor. Something strange was beginning to boil up in the Force, but with long ease of practice Obi-Wan pushed it aside. If you listened to the Force all day nothing ever got done.

Boga began crying again, with short and mournful howls.

The trooper - Klick - turned around to look at him. He didn’t have to look down anymore. They were almost of an equal height, the top of Ben’s head finally reaching their noses. It was both very satisfying and a little weird.

“Are we pulling out?”

But Klick just looked at him. There was…something weird…

“Commander.”

The troopers parted instantly to let Cody through, and Obi-Wan immediately relaxed. The bad feeling in the Force dissipated in seconds, even though Boga was still crying her head off. The sound echoed through the canyon, oddly in tune with the beat of Obi-Wan’s heart.

At some point Cody had put his bucket back on, and Obi-Wan watched as Cody moved to stand in front of him. A little closer than usual - he almost bent over before thinking better of it, abruptly remembering that he could meet Obi-Wan’s eyes straight on.

“Commander,” Cody repeated. He fell abruptly silent - not as if he was trying to think of something to say, but as if he couldn’t get anything else out. Finally, he said, “There’s been a new development. We must return to Coruscant immediately.”

What? “But what about Master Qui-Gon?” Obi-Wan asked, alarmed. “We just captured this sector, we can’t leave immediately!”

“Your master has requested your presence on Coruscant,” Cody repeated. Something was wrong with his voice, and Obi-Wan cautiously reached out to the Force. “We must return to Coruscant immediately.”

“Well, Master can just wait,” Obi-Wan said, miffed. He crossed his arms, letting the wind whip harsh dust onto his tunic. He had lost the robe during the fight. For once, Cody hadn’t picked it up after him. “Not everything is as important as he thinks it is.”

Cody just stared at him. Obi-Wan looked around. All of the 212th were staring at him, or whispering amongst themselves in low voices. It made his skin prickle. Or maybe something else was making his skin prickle.

For a second, Obi-Wan thought Cody was going to press the issue. Master Anakin wasn’t automatically Cody’s commanding officer on the field, even when Master Qui-Gon was gone - if Obi-Wan was leant to the 212th then that was him, which was complicated when Master Anakin was there telling him what to do - but he had always obeyed Master Anakin before. Every clone did, even the ones unattached to him. He had a powerful personality.

But Cody just knelt down instead, putting himself underneath Obi-Wan’s confused eyesight. He looked up at him, and there was a strange tint of marvel amidst his durasteel presence. He stared at Obi-Wan for another few seconds, the obscure aura of marvel and wonder blossoming until Obi-Wan’s breath caught, before he reached out and grabbed Obi-Wan’s forearms.

“Obi-Wan. I need you to be brave right now, okay?”

“I am fifteen years old -”

“I know,” Cody said wryly. It was only then that Obi-Wan realized that Cody had called him by his name. He never did that. “But I’m going to need something from you now, okay? Can you do that?”

Something cold pricked down Obi-Wan’s neck. Some of the troopers were looking away. “Yeah? Of course. Are we still going to go swimming later?”

“Sure,” Cody said. “We can go swimming later.” He stayed silent for another long moment before seeming to compose himself. “From this moment on, until we rendezvous with your master, I need you to obey me as your CO in battle.”

Obi-Wan stiffened. That meant no questions, no arguments, and ‘hopping to it’. “Yes, sir!”

“Good. Give me your lightsaber.”

Obi-Wan unbuckled his lightsaber and passed it to him. From the way Cody knelt in front of him, the moment almost felt like something else - like he was some sort of royalty passing on a weapon to a knight or something, like in the books he used to read as kids. Grandmaster’s voice rang in his ears - your weapon’s your life, stop making Cody always go fetch it for you.

Cody released his forearms, leaving them sticky in the heat, before straightening and tucking the lightsaber onto his empty clip. “We’re marching back to the ship. Lieutenant Wooley, coordinate with Lieutenant Crys on departure. Troops, move out. Obi-Wan, I’ll need your blasters and your vibroblade too.”

They moved out, Obi-Wan removing his weapons as they went.

The ship was ready to fly when they arrived, the engines churning and spitting into the thin atmo. Cody stuck close to Obi-Wan the entire time, hovering at his elbow in a classic anxious Cody maneuver. Obi-Wan followed the men onto the transport, jostled slightly in the commotion, when he stopped short.

A hammer rapped in Obi-Wan’s skull. Sharply and politely: a one-two knock.

Obi-Wan twisted around. “Something’s going to happen.”

Near him, Wooley cursed.

The hammer hit Obi-Wan’s skull - cruelly and insistently, an invader striving to destroy your home. “Something’s going to happen! Cody -”

“Longshot, the cuffs.”

Firm hands wrestled his hands down from his head and clasped something cool on his wrists, and a very familiar pressure and weight settled onto Obi-Wan’s wrists. The feeling went away, and he opened his eyes to see that Longshot had locked him into Force inhibitor cuffs.

He looked up at Cody, confused beyond measure. The knocking had gone away, but he was left standing in a void so heavy it pressed down at his shoulders and sucked down at his stomach. They were painful and uncomfortable and anxiety inducing and, after a few hours in your prison cell, torturous.

To his eternal embarrassment, Obi-Wan found himself saying in a small voice, “Cody?”

“No questions,” Cody said, gently pushing him up the ramp, and Obi-Wan closed his mouth abruptly. Cody had given him very explicit orders. This was a disgusting lack of discipline.

Obi-Wan swore to himself that he’d uphold the highest standards of discipline. As befitting a Jedi and a Commander of the finest army in the Republic. So he walked in lock-step with the men, and sat down at the wall benches as a small group of clones stayed outside the transport and whispered furiously between themselves. Without the Force he couldn’t make out their words. He caught something about “at least we -” before Wooley barked a command at them and they broke up. In the background, Boga was howling. Obi-Wan craned his head, trying to see out and see what was happening with Boga.

“For twice born god’s sake,” Cody snapped, with harshness Obi-Wan rarely heard from him, “will someone shut the animal up?”

The bridge closed. Obi-Wan might have heard a blaster bolt outside, but it was hard to tell. Boga cried, and Obi-Wan didn’t hear if she cried again.

Cody buckled Obi-Wan’s harnesses for him, since it was a little difficult to do the matter cuffed, and Obi-Wan watched with exasperation as he triple checked the thing. He would do that when Obi-Wan was thirteen, triple check his work and redo it as if he couldn’t buckle his own harness correctly. In retrospect, he couldn’t. No wonder they all thought he was incompetent for months on months.

The transport was dead silent as they took off. Unusually, nobody took off their helmets or started chatting. They just sat in silence, staring at the floor or at the ceiling or exchanging glances with each other. Obi-Wan thought wistfully of Boga. She was a very good girl. Maybe the fallen soldier transport could -

Obi-Wan jolted, turning to Cody. “We didn’t pack up the fallen!”

They always did that, or they left people on the ground to take care of it. But Cody just tilted his helmet to Obi-Wan before looking away. “Silence the rest of the trip, men.”

Obi-Wan fell silent, hurt. He’d ask later. Right now, the important thing was discipline.

When they reached the ship Obi-Wan found it weirdly busy. They were pulling out of a captured planet to rendezvous at Coruscant, there shouldn’t be this much to do. But everybody was walking sharply in twos, murmuring in low voices, or talking into their comms. They all looked up and stared as Obi-Wan and Cody walked by. Obi-Wan found himself shrinking against Cody. Way to ask about the cuffs, guys.

When they reached the bridge they met Boil standing at the entryway, arms folded. Three other troopers were standing behind him, hissing furiously at him, but he ignored all of them to stare dead straight at Cody. Almost imperceptibly, Cody sighed.

“Sir,” Boil said frostily.

“Get back to your post.”

“Sir.” Boil’s helmet tilted to the confused Obi-Wan before looking back at Cody. “This is my conscientious objection. I refuse.”

“Good for you,” Cody said dully. Obi-Wan was slowing, and Cody gently put a hand on his back to push him forward. “Get back to your post. We’re joining with the 501st after their mission.”

“Go to fucking hell, sir!”

Obi-Wan gasped. Wow! Go Boil! But also - what?

But Cody didn’t react. He just stopped them both in front of Boil, who was still blocking the entryway. Rubbernecking clones milled about behind him. “I didn’t hear that. Get back to your post. That’s my final warning.”

“I’m not participating in this.” Boil’s voice was drawn harsh and tight, firm as a coil. “You can all do whatever the fuck you want. I’m not doing it.”

“Um.” Obi-Wan figured that discipline could take a back seat for right now. He looked at Cody. “Are you mutinying? If you’re mutinying you can tell me.”

“We’re not mutinying.”

“I’m mutinying,” Boil spat. “You’re all fucking droids. Waxer would never go along with this.”

“Good thing Waxer’s dead,” Cody said blandly. Obi-Wan gasped. “On second thought, I’m taking Obi-Wan to his room. Someone find Gregor. He didn’t report in. Gearshift, Peel, go ahead of us. Barlex and Crys.”

Then Cody firmly changed their direction, and set off down the hall much faster than they had approached. Obi-Wan heard a distant thud and a grunt, but when he tried to turn around Cody just put a hand on the back of his neck in warning.

They walked the familiar path to Obi-Wan’s room, and he already resigned himself to being shuffled off while everybody else dealt with all the action. He’d have to call Quinlan and see what was going on. He just needed to talk to somebody, at this point. The Force was so empty and cold. It made Obi-Wan feel so empty and cold inside. He needed just a little warmth. But he wasn’t seeing any warmth on this Star Destroyer.

When they got to Obi-Wan’s officer cabin Cody stopped short. He looked at Obi-Wan, who gave him the most unimpressed look physically possible. Sassy looks were still undisciplined, but they tended to go unremarked upon if the officer was being stupid enough. Hardcase used to pull faces behind Master Anakin’s back just to make Obi-Wan laugh. Man, had Echo upbraided him for that. Fives had called him a moron, with that particular insulting-fond way Fives always has.

“Give me your comm.”

With far more hesitation than his weapons, Obi-Wan slowly unbuckled his comm and handed it to Cody. He hooked it to the back of his belt without looking.

“Okay.” Cody knocked on the door, and to Obi-Wan’s alarm he saw Gearshift and Peel emerge. Was that his stuff? Were they stealing his stuff? “Stay in here until I call for you. Gearshift and Peel are guarding your door.”

“You are imprisoning me,” Obi-Wan said. His head felt light and fuzzy, as if he wasn’t in his body. Most of that had to be the Force cuffs, but - hey, they had put fucking Force Cuffs on him! What! “You are putting me in a cell.”

“If I was putting you in a cell you’d be able to tell,” Cody said dryly. He put a hand on Obi-Wan’s back, but when Obi-Wan shook it off he carefully retreated. “Don’t try to escape, we can’t spare the men to chase after you right now and we’ll have to put you in a real cell. I’ll be back.”

“What, next to Boil?” Obi-Wan cried, voice hitching higher and higher. “What’s happening? Boil wouldn’t betray you, why are you hurting him?”

“You have to be brave, Obi-Wan,” Cody said, and Obi-Wan quieted.

He let them put him in his room. It felt different - partly due to the Force, partly due to the fact that they had confiscated a mysterious assortment of his things, partly because he was now locked inside. This was kind of like being grounded, except way weirder.

The minutes stretched on. He took inventory of what they’d taken. Anything with HoloNet access, which Obi-Wan carefully stored away in a mental file. Any weapons or anything that could be used to fiddle a lock or act as a weapon, which was a very comprehensive assessment and ended up taking out a disturbing variety of the things in his room. It took even more time to realize that they had sealed the room - they had triple bolted the ventilator cover shaft. Who did that?

Anybody who knew Obi-Wan, for one. So much for not being in a cell.

Obi-Wan lay on his bed, mind buzzing with a million thoughts before he brushed them aside. He wondered if they were really rendezvousing with Master Anakin, or if that had been a lie to get him on the ship. Not that he cared or anything, he just really wanted to know. Were they going to kidnap Master Anakin too? Good kriffing luck. Obi-Wan would have to be sure that Master Anakin didn’t injure anyone, he always got worked up in the middle of a fight…

Obi-Wan knocked politely on the door.

Gearshift opened it, standing at the entryway with his rifle on the ground. “What is it?”

“Are you sure you’re not mutinying?” Obi-Wan asked. “Because I thought I’d made it abundantly clear that I’d be on that boat with you all. Seriously, do you need a plant? Mole? I have some other padawans I can call up who’d help.”

Gearshift stared at him. Beside him, Peel slumped against the wall.

Finally, Gearshift said, “Thanks for the…offer, but we’re alright. Worry about yourself first for once, Obi-Wan.”

Of course, that cinched it. Cody was one thing, but the rest would never call him Obi-Wan. Especially at a time like this.

“For what it’s worth,” Obi-Wan said firmly, “it’s the right thing to do. Don’t feel guilty. I’ll talk to Boil for you if you want!”

Under his breath, Peel muttered, “Glad to see we’re all on the same page.”

Gearshift kicked him before closing the door.

The trip back to Coruscant only took around five hours, but it felt like weeks. There was nothing to do or read. Obi-Wan didn’t have anything to do besides lie on bed and stare at the ceiling in severe psychic discomfort. He reached out into the Force again and again but he found nothing. Did the nothing have a different quality than usual…?

Usual. Obi-Wan had a usual about being kidnapped, although this probably didn’t really count as a kidnapping. More like…oblique and enforced grounding.

Obi-Wan absent-mindedly ranked his kidnappings. Citadel at the bottom. No doubt. Dooku was probably right above that one. The top was definitely that one time with Hondo - where he had drugged Master Qui-Gon and Master Anakin’s cups and ended up chaining them together with Dooku and made them escape together, it was super funny. He and Cody were just fine, mostly because Cody never let Obi-Wan drink unsecured food, so they ended up hanging out with Hondo the whole time. They had watched the security footage of the prison cell together and listened to his whole lineage bickering awfully and endlessly, complete with Obi-Wan’s helpful gossip. Cody was not happy about the whole thing, but he had definitely snuck a copy of the tapes. Obi-Wan had lost a lot of respect for adults other than Cody that day. Obi-Wan was losing a lot of respect for adults right now.

For some reason, Obi-Wan reached into himself and found a deep and burning wish. Although he did not know why, although he had far more important wishes to make and more reliable people to choose, Obi-Wan found himself wishing with every ounce of his body and soul that Hondo was here now. Just for a laugh.

Finally, finally, Obi-Wan felt themselves jump out of hyperspace. He counted down the exact fifty minutes it took from hyperspace to planetside docking, staring fixedly at his desk clock, but he still jolted when somebody knocked sharply at his door.

Of course, it was Cody again. Obi-Wan had spent six hours working up anger and righteousness and eloquent demands for answers, but at the sight of Cody standing in his doorway he felt it drain from his body.

And instead of proud proclamations, all Obi-Wan could say was, “You look tired.”

Cody stared at him yet again, for the now familiar long beats of silence, before he stepped back and gestured Obi-Wan forward.

Every trooper was marching off the ship with them. That wasn’t normal either - normally everybody only left if there was a shore leave, and not even then. But they were all neatly marching out in straight and unending lines, and Obi-Wan had to stare at them for a few seconds before he realized that there was something else wrong.

They were all fully armed.

A cold stone dropped in Obi-Wan’s gut and didn’t stop sinking.

Transports were already waiting for them in the ship bay, and Cody wasted no time in packing him into a ground transport. He only got to look around the ship bay for a few minutes, but he recognized a lot more troopers than the 212th. It didn’t look like they were rendezvousing with Master at all. It looked like a trooper from every battalion was on Coruscant.

Obi-Wan should have known better. He shouldn’t have done anything without looking for an opening. But he couldn’t find any openings, and he couldn’t see any possible way to wriggle out of this. He wasn’t a fresh padawan, he didn’t run from a fight just because he was terrified. He should have bided his time, waited -

But the minute he stepped onto the transport, the second he realized it was a tank class only used for occupied planets, he bolted.

He misjudged his speed and mobility without the Force. He always did. Everything was always slower, as if he was wading through molasses. Obi-Wan thought that adrenaline would do the rest - or, maybe, he thought that he was strong even without the Force - but it didn’t even come close.

Gunner grabbed him, before even Cody could. Obi-Wan wrestled in his arms, moved by pure panic, but when a knee slammed into his gut he lost all breath. He fell to the floor, wheezing, as angry voices immediately started snapping above his head.

“ - insane? His master wants him untouched!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I panicked!” Cold gloves grabbed at Obi-Wan’s collar, tugging him up, and Obi-Wan thrashed in the grip. “Commander, are you okay -”

“You panicked?” Cody snarled. It was the special kind of angry he only got when he was stressed out of his mind. “A clone trooper panicked intercepting one teenager? Did you sleep through the nonviolent apprehending lessons?”

“C’mon, Marshal Commander, it’s not just one -”

“Give me him and get back in line.”

The hands passed him back to Cody, and he would have thrashed in the grip if he wasn’t too out of breath. Everything was so difficult with the cuffs, even breathing or moving. Cody practically had to push him into the transport - the tank - and steer him into a seat. Within seconds the tank began rattling and jumping and they were off.

Obi-Wan watched as Cody did up his harness again, this time far more unnecessarily. Cody’s hands were trembling. Just for a few seconds. When the clone trooper next to them turned his head and saw it, Cody’s hands stopped shaking and he quickly finished the job.

The troopers maintained their silence, this time fully kitted up with artillery and weapons. Their rifles shook in their racks, the stocks clanging as they bumped up against each other. Cody typed on his wristcomm constantly, bucket tilted in the specific gesture that always meant he was sending internal communications to the other troopers.

Reed exhaled heavily, looking around the room. “Well! I don’t know about you guys, but kriffing finally, right?”

The other troopers immediately burst into synchronized bitching, like they often did with Reed.

“This isn’t the time!”

“Oh, real tasteful Reed!”

“Are you serious? With the Commander in the car?”

“Hey, we’re doing the Commander a favor,” Reed protested, gesturing loosely at a frozen Obi-Wan. “He’s gonna be way better off! We’re all going to be better off!”

“We can celebrate later,” Cody panned. “Quiet in the transport.”

There were no windows in the back of the transport, so when they rattled to a stop Obi-Wan didn’t know where they were. Everybody stood up as the hatch ground and rumbled downwards, arranging themselves in exit formation as Cody silently undid Obi-Wan’s harness. It was awkward with the cuffs. Cody’s hands were shaking much harder this time, but nobody was looking.

Rumba, at the back of the line, looked backwards at Obi-Wan.

“You’re better off without them,” he said.

And then he turned his back on Obi-Wan, marching out the transport with everybody else. Cody didn’t push him forward, and Obi-Wan’s feet were frozen to the floor, and neither of them moved.

They stood there in silence alone in the transport. All Obi-Wan could hear was the harsh intake and exhale of his own breaths, playing out every trick in the book he knew to keep himself calm. All he needed was that battle calm. Obi-Wan was always calm in a dangerous situation. He never lost his head, and he never panicked or got scared.

It was probably the cuffs. Or maybe it was because Obi-Wan’s body couldn’t discern if this was a dangerous situation or not. How could it be scary if Cody was right behind him?

Finally, Cody rattled out a deep breath. He moved to stand in front of Obi-Wan, and Obi-Wan watched in surprise as he reached up and unlatched his helmet. He knelt in front of him again, and this time he didn’t look anything like a knight. He looked as if he was ready for Obi-Wan to execute him, one clean lightsaber through the neck, or as if he was asking for forgiveness in the ancient Mandalorian way.

Obi-Wan was right. He really did look tired.

“Obi-Wan,” Cody breathed. He took Obi-Wan’s hands in his, squeezing tightly. It was awkward through the cuffs, his hands an unnatural distance apart. The glove was warm, almost hot, and Obi-Wan wondered which of them were running a fever. “Cyar’ika. You - you’re beautiful, you know that? Cyare. You’ve grown so tall, and you’re only going to get taller. You’ve become so brave and strong. I feel so lucky just looking at you.”

To Obi-Wan’s horror, he felt hot tears pricking at his eyes. “Cody, you’re scaring me.”

“I know, I know. I just needed to tell you.” Cody inhaled and exhaled harshly, another long silence, but Obi-Wan could see his face now. Something awful was passing through his expression, and the silence was so he could school it back into something remotely neutral. “Obi-Wan, once we leave this transport I cannot be your Cody anymore. And you can’t be my comma - my Obi-Wan any more. Do you understand?”

“No, I don’t,” Obi-Wan said, voice rising upwards in fear. “What’s -”

“Listen to me! We don’t have much time.” Cody shook his wrists a little, and Obi-Wan fell silent. “I have to leave Cody behind now. That means we are nothing to each other. You don’t talk to me. You don’t show favoritism towards me -”

“Cody -”

“I said quiet,” Cody said harshly, and Obi-Wan shut up again. “You have been stripped of your rank and position. You are a civilian. Your war is over, Obi-Wan. Mine is not. You will still see me. I will still be here. But if you look for Cody, you will not find him. I will not help you. Once you leave this transport, you are on your own. Nod if you understand.” Obi-Wan nodded dumbly - a lie, how could he possibly understand that? - but Cody’s expression gentled. He released one of Obi-Wan’s hands, and reached up to gently run a hand through his hair. “He’ll take care of you. You’ll be safe. You’ll be the safest damn kid in Coruscant. He’s taking you away from me, but…but you’ll be safe. That’s the important thing. I can’t be selfish now. I’ve been so selfish, cyar’ika, but we have to be brave now.”

Cody stood up, armor rattling, and before Obi-Wan could react he put a hand on the back of Obi-Wan’s neck. Obi-Wan’s heart jumped, but all that Cody did was gently press his forehead against Obi-Wan’s. Obi-Wan felt the sweat on his face, heard three deep breaths, but before he could reach up Cody had already moved away.

He reached for Obi-Wan’s lightsaber, easily flipping it into his hand. “Stay still, now.”

He ignited the lightsaber. Obi-Wan froze, cringing backwards, and he tried to step away. But Cody just caught his collar, yanking him in. “Stay still or your face will be burned off.”

Cody raised the lightsaber to his face. Obi-Wan froze, and he couldn’t have moved even if he wanted to. The bright and hissing blue took up his entire field of vision, and Obi-Wan screwed his eyes tight. He felt a sharp tug at his temple, and he fought to keep his head straight.

A burning smell hit his nose hard, and Obi-Wan instantly recognized it as the stench of burned hair. He heard the buzz of the lightsaber deactivating, and he opened his eyes to see a hand in front of him. It was holding his padawan braid, draped long and limp in his palm.

“He won’t want you wearing it. Take it.” Obi-Wan didn’t move. “Take it.”

But Obi-Wan just shook his head, and he reached out to fold Cody’s fingers over the braid. He pushed it towards him, ignoring his look of surprise. “You earned it.”

Cody stared down at the long braid, expression lost, before slowly tucking it back into his belt. He stood back, clipping the lightsaber back onto his belt next to it - everything that made Obi-Wan a Jedi, confiscated - and schooled his expression.

“Your master’s waiting outside. Let’s go.” Obi-Wan clenched his jaw. “Reply affirmative.”

“Fuck you,” Obi-Wan whispered.

“Say it, Obi-Wan.”

Obi-Wan clenched his jaw together.

“Say it.”

It hurt. But it all hurt.

“Yes, CC-2224.”

Cody led them out of the transport, Obi-Wan following on his heels.

Cody and Obi-Wan stayed behind.

They were at the Jedi Temple. Obi-Wan fought his shock. They were standing in the giant pavilion in front of the Temple, all beautifully carved ancient duracrete (“It’s called concrete,” Obi-Wan would snootily inform everyone who didn’t care). It didn’t seem so big now. It was packed with troopers, and Obi-Wan realized with a start that they were all 501st. It should have been so surprising. He was being brought to his master.

His master. Maybe he was being held captive. The clones had gone turncoat and pledged allegiance to the Sith or something, because - because - because -

Master stood in front of the Temple doors. Clone after clone were marching inside the Temple, 501st blue after 501st blue disappearing into the depths. Master was talking with Captain Nemo, who stood stiffly at attention.

He turned around as Cody and Obi-Wan approached. For a second - just one - Obi-Wan felt pure and complete relief at the sight of his master.

He didn’t look good. The opposite of Cody - strung out and wired, but as if he was running a desperate fever. His hood obscured most of it, but Obi-Wan could see curls slicked by sweat pasted to his neck. His skin was reddish, hot to the touch, and his eyes were a sickly yellow.

But he brightened when he saw Obi-Wan, waving Captain Nemo off and walking forward. His lightsaber was lit by his side, a softly humming blue, as the men marched behind him. He wasn’t captured or restrained or anything. He was just standing there, lightsaber by his side.

“Master!” Obi-Wan cried. He wanted to surge forward, but something kept his feet locked to the ground. “Master, what’s happening!”

Master walked forward, an odd cousin of a grin stretching on his face. “Obi-Wan! Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be okay.”

“Okay?” Obi-Wan screeched. “What is happening!”

“I’m here to save you, Obi-Wan,” Master said, approaching Obi-Wan and Cody. He was practically dripping with sweat, and every word held unshakable conviction. “The Republic and the Jedi have put you in danger, tried to kill you. The Chancellor and I are here to protect you. Go back to the Twilight , I’ll explain everything later.”

“You’ll explain everything now!” Obi-Wan screamed. “The clones are occupying Coruscant! What’s happening to the Temple -”

“I’m taking care of it,” Master swore. His eyes were alight with the same righteous fire that burned behind his words. “They didn’t let me protect you before, but I’m protecting you now. I’m taking everything I deserve. What we deserve. Padme and you and the baby. I’ll provide for all of you.”

“The baby,” Obi-Wan repeated, lips numb.

Master approached him, standing as close as Cody had only a minute ago, towering tall over him. “I love you, Obi-Wan,” Master Anakin whispered. He reached out a shaking hand and ran it through Obi-Wan’s hair. It was almost dripping with sweat, overheated with fever. Cody didn’t move. “You’re not like the rest of them. You never abandoned me or told me I wasn’t good enough. I’m doing this for you, understand? For our family. Don’t you want that, Obi-Wan? You want that.”

Somehow, the only thought that could hang desperately in Obi-Wan’s mind was: but I just lost my family.

Maybe it was that thought, as empty and cold as their master-padawan bond stood. Or maybe it was something else, something that Obi-Wan couldn’t discern without the Force. But Master’s eyes snapped to Cody for the first time, eyes narrowing.

“Do you have something you want to say, Cody?”

Far differently than he had ever said it to Qui-Gon or Anakin, Cody said, “No, Lord Vader.”

Lord Vader.

But that’s not his name, Obi-Wan thought hysterically. That’s not his name. Did they leave Anakin Skywalker behind in that transport too? Were everybody’s names piled on that durasteel floor, trampled under a hundred boots?

Lord Vader.

“You’ve always been really uppity,” Master said, a gleeful smile stretching across his face. “You always thought you were better than me, didn’t you?”

“No, my lord.”

“Liar,” Master said, easy as anything. “Well, you’re not. The powerful rule in this galaxy, and the weak like you serve them. If you didn’t want to be a servant you shouldn’t have been weak. It’s your own fault.”

“As you say, my lord.”

Master turned on a dime - from smug to snarling. He strode forward, lightsaber twirling in his hand, and pressed it against Cody’s neck. The vulcanized rubber of the body glove began to sear, the stench of burned rubber filling the air.

“You’re still making fun of me!” Master yelled. “You still think you’re better than me! You’re a real piece of shit, you know that?”

Obi-Wan tensed, ready to jump in and protect him, protect someone - but Cody’s words echoed in his head. And the faint, almost imperceptible tap of a gloved index finger against a thigh. Hold.

So this is what he had meant. They were on their own now.

Master snarled at him, yellow eyes glinting sickly in the harsh daylight. “Do you know what happened to your General, Cody?” Cody paused just a beat too long, and Master smiled again. “He was a traitor. He and Mace Windu tried to assassinate the Chancellor. Like filthy traitor cowards. And I - and I helped - and I helped the Chancellor k - k - kill them!” He was breathing hot and heavy, his powerful and empathetic words undercut by the way his tongue froze over the confession. “What do you think of that, Marshal Commander? What’s your opinion on the fate of your precious General?”

Cody didn’t pause. “I’m disappointed I didn’t get to do it.”

Obi-Wan made a wounded noise.

Master’s eyes flickered to Obi-Wan, the half-grin rising higher on his face. “Yeah, baby. Your clone’s a real monster, isn’t he?” He stepped away from them, turning around to call to his troops “The Chancellor promised me you’d all be loyal to me, but I’m not seeing much loyalty. Are any more of you having second thoughts?” The 501st stood stiffly and silently, and Master twirled his lightsaber in his hand. “Good. Fives, Tup, to me.”

Obi-Wan backed up, but Cody grabbed his arm. Obi-Wan tugged at it, half-heartedly and weakly, as Five and Tup broke from formation and stood in front of Master, saluting.

“Sir!”

“Take him back to the ship,” Master said. “We’re rendezvousing on Mustafar. Make sure he doesn’t see this. Obi-Wan, follow the soldiers.”

“Yes, my lord!”

And Master turned away, cloak billowing as he followed his men into the heart of the Jedi Temple, leaving Obi-Wan alone. Hemmed in by all sides.

He felt dizzy. Weak. It was the cuffs, just the cuffs. If he just got the cuffs off, then he’d be fine. He’d be okay. He wouldn’t be scared if they could just get the cuffs off.

“We’ll take him from here,” Tup said. They stood strangely and rigidly in front of Cody, an unnaturally large distance between them.

But Cody didn’t move, and he didn’t release his grip. “Lord Vader requested that I see his brother to the Twilight.”

“Lord Vader requested that we escort him to the Twilight,” Fives said, perfectly bland but perfectly unimpressed.

“Then I understand he asked all three of us.”

The clones stood in a detente. Obi-Wan pulled frantically on Cody’s grip, trying to beat his hands against the armor but finding it almost impossible because of the cuffs.

Blaster bolts echoed from within the Temple. A scream ripped itself from Obi-Wan’s throat.

“Let’s just go,” Tup said.

After that, Obi-Wan began undertaking his best rabid loth-wolf impression. He pulled, yanked, yelled, and kicked as hard as he could. It was pretty hard, and by the time they reached the edge of the pavilion he had managed to sock a good one in Tup’s jaw.

“Aren’t you glad there’s three of us now?” Cody asked.

“Okay, that’s it.” Fives stepped up to Obi-Wan, who may or may not have been screaming, and cleanly backhanded him across the face.

Obi-Wan yelled again, crumpling in Cody’s grip. Fives grabbed his shirt, keeping him upright as Obi-Wan snarled at him.

“Listen to me,” Fives said lowly, “and look around. What do you see?”

Of course, the answer to that was obvious. They were hemmed in on every side in every direction by clones. Marching, talking into comms, directing in tanks. There was screaming in the distance. From every direction. Obi-Wan turned back to Fives, and he knew horror was blossoming over his face. The sight of one of his best friends, a sight that always meant an ally at your back and rumpled hair, brought no relief.

“That’s right,” Fives said, in response to the look on Obi-Wan’s face. “You get away from all three of us and you’re running straight into the arms of someone else who will get you to Lord Vader’s ship. So stop making this hard and get with the program.”

“Lord Vader didn’t want him harmed,” Cody said, voice wound tight as a coil.

“But he was resisting arrest,” Fives drawled, dripping mockery. “We can do whatever we want if they’re resisting arrest.”

“Are you having fun -”

“Let’s just get going,” Tup said.

They got going, Obi-Wan dragging his heels the entire time. Cody and Fives dropped behind to have a hissed argument, roughly depositing Obi-Wan into Tup’s custody.

“I hate you,” Obi-Wan hissed.

Tup didn’t respond.

“I hate you. I hate you. I hate you.”

But Tup didn’t respond, and eventually Obi-Wan stopped trying.

In the end, it shouldn’t have been a surprise. He was eventually dragged to the Jedi ship loading bay - the same one where transports could drop things off and load up, the same one which was not usually locked down by almost fifty clones. It was ridiculous. What were they all doing in the Temple? Was Master taking it hostage? Was he going to try and kill Grandmaster Yoda or something? Why? What was the point?

Master had gone…he had turned…he had to have joined the Separatists. Or something. The war was almost over. Maybe - maybe there was - something.

The Jedi had turned traitor? But they hadn’t. Wouldn’t Obi-Wan know? Had they kept it from him? They had plotted to attack the Chancellor? Why would they do that? Why would Master kill - kill - kill -

“Is Master Qui-Gon dead?” Obi-Wan asked. He meant for the question to be loud and forceful, but it came out shamefully small instead.

Cody didn’t look back. “The traitor was executed.”

Rage burned so hot in Obi-Wan’s chest it exploded, bursting apart into a single sentence screamed at the top of his lungs.

“I hate you!”

“Oh, look,” Tup said, “the ship.”

Obi-Wan’s throat was hoarse, and the comforting sight of the Twilight turned into a looming giant. Fives was coordinating something with the dozens of troopers in the one loading bay - that was the kind of secure and lockdown building protocol overkill they had only ever used on Christophsis - and he almost couldn’t scream at the top of his lungs anymore.

He had never screeched at Cody like that. But he had never hated Cody either.

Dementedly, the Twilight was the same as ever. The stray lugnut wedged between two panels was still there. The loose shreds of leather from Master’s stray fidgeting were still lying around the pilot’s chair, casually discarded as they were ripped up. Obi-Wan’s goddamn fucking homework was still at the nav station.

His homework, Obi-Wan thought stupidly as Tup extended his cuffs and fixed them to one of the grip bars above the nav station. He was able to sit down in the chair as the clones took the seats further back, staring dumbly at his homework. Astronav. Quinlan’s notes were scribbled on it, transmitted from his own. Since you have no time to study, I thought this might help…don’t tell anyone, they’ll think I’m a nerd like you…

When he turned around, letting the chair spin with him, he saw all three clones sitting at the chairs in tense and wired exhaustion. Fives removed his helmet, setting it down on the seat next to him as Tup inclined his head. Probably receiving internal communication from the other clones.

“Bly’s rogue.”

“Wow, really?” Fives asked, with pure fakey surprise. “What a shock! Who could have guessed!”

“I mean, you never know,” Tup said, removing his own helmet and dropping it onto the seat next to him. “Cody’s here.”

Cody was leaning back on his chair, helmet tipped on the wall and staring up at the ceiling. His arms were folded, for all appearances sleeping at his seat. Not that he ever did. “Shut up.”

“I mean, he wasn’t fucking his command,” Fives said easily, “ ‘least I hope not. Anybody else think that was kriffing weird, by the way? Playing happy families with your command? I tried telling him it was sadistic but he just smashed a bottle over my head.”

“Yeah,” Tup said, staring at Cody, “who would ever -”

“We lost the Wolfpack,” Cody said, talking over him. “Another surprise. Obviously.” Tup and Fives snorted. “I think we kept most of the rest. Lost Boil and Gregor on my end. What about the 501st?”

“Not anymore,” Tup said, almost cheerfully. “It was all cold feet, anyway. We’ve been preparing for this for years. Didn’t know it was going to be like this, but it’s nice to finally achieve your mission. You know?”

Cody detached his helmet, showing his bare face. It was a blank, expressionless mask, with nothing shining through except deep-set eyes and exhaustion. “Yes, it feels wonderful to finally enact our life’s purpose: the hideously convoluted deep cover assasination plot.”

Obi-Wan muffled a scream.

All three troopers stopped talking. Fives craned his head to look at him, even as Cody rubbed at the bridge of his nose.

“Did nobody tell you, my lord?” He looked at Cody. “You didn’t tell him.”

“I was a bit busy trying to avoid getting my ear bitten off.”

“Whatever. It’s fucking stupid anyway.” Fives leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. He looked at Obi-Wan, expression somehow mocking. Obi-Wan wasn’t sure what he was mocking. “As it turns out, the secret clone army designed only for murder death comissioned by a shadowy figure that pretended to be the Jedi yet obviously was not…was a secret Sith plot. Surprise! Big old Sith plot all along.”

“But not Lord Vader’s Sith plot, right?” Tup asked Fives. “We’re all but weapons in the hands of Lord Vader, but I don’t think he…personally…you know…”

“Lord Vader is our reason for life and we’re honored to die for him,” Fives agreed, “but no, he is absolutely just winging this.”

“You double crossed us,” Obi-Wan rasped. His voice was torn up and destroyed from the screaming. “So now what? You imprison every Jedi?”

Silence stretched over the ship.

Fives looked at Cody. “You didn’t tell him.”

“Tell me what?” Obi-Wan yelled.

“I think Lord Vader deserves the honor of letting him know,” Cody said blandly. “So they can celebrate their victory together.”

Both 501st men nodded, as if it was coherent logic at all.

Tup craned his head back, smiling reassuringly at Obi-Wan. It made him feel sick. “There’s no need for concern, my lord. Everything’s going to be alright. I know it’s scary now, but once the world galaxy’s razed we can help build the new one.” Obi-Wan gaped silently as Tup continued talking. “No more Jedi placing little kids on the battlefield. No more Republic’s bloated body standing in the way of progress. No more Separatists! The war is over. Now that the entire galaxy’s unified, we will have absolute peace.”

“Dozens of gods, you sound like the shinies,” Fives said, staring unimpressed at an offended Tup. “All they do is spout dumb Kamino Imperial propaganda. I swear the Empire’s going to be just as useless as the Republic.”

“The Empire’s not going to have any Jedi,” Tup said waspishly, “so it’s already better.”

“True.” Fives grunted. “Finally. No more traitors.”

“Nothing standing in the way of the glorious Empire,” Tup agreed.

“Whoo,” Cody said.

“Typical 212th,” Tup told Cody. “You gotta start showing a little more enthusiasm. You’re already on thin ice with Lord Vader.”

“Watch it, Lieutenant. I still outrank you.”

“Yeah, for how long?” Tup mocked. Cody’s eye twitched. “Lord Vader’s going to reward our 501st dedication. You 212th never had that. I think we’re finally going to get some respect around here.”

“You’re brainwashed,” Obi-Wan said, lightheaded. He pulled at his cuffs, but he could barely move. “The Sith did something to you - to all of you. You don’t really believe all of this…”

For the first time, Cody turned to look at him. His eyes were utterly dead, but were drilling in intently on Obi-Wan. “The 501st are uniquely loyal to Darth Vader. They are very adherent to the Sith’s mission of peace and order. It gives them the strength necessary for the hard jobs.”

“Like what’s going on now,” Obi-Wan said. Nausea crept up his throat, bringing with it a realization that he forced himself to swallow down. “At the Temple.”

Cody didn’t look away. “Yes, my lord.”

“Why are you calling me that?” Obi-Wan yelled hoarsely. “I’m not your lord! I’m a Jedi, I’m a Jedi padawan!”

“You’re the honorable brother of our Lord Vader.” Cody rubbed at a small patch of his temple in thought - exactly where Obi-Wan’s braid used to be. “When the Jedi betrayed the Republic, you and your family remained loyal.”

“It’s true,” Tup said empathetically. Fives rolled his eyes. “The lord’s a 501st man. He was the student of Lord Vader, he’s always been more than those weakling Jedi. He was always closer to a brother than anything.”

“I’m a Jedi!”

“And what did they ever do for you?” Cody snapped. “They’re traitors and thieves. They’re so high on their righteous, moralistic importance that they don’t recognize that their ancient Order is a corrupt, broken system. They’re monsters who put children on a battlefield with only a sword to protect themselves. They kept us captive servants for years. I’d call this our revenge.”

“I hate you,” Obi-Wan whispered.

But Cody’s expression just hardened. “Hate me if you like, my lord. But I’m a loyal soldier of the Empire, and I always have been. And you’d best shape up and find your loyalty soon, or Lord Vader will find another traitor in his family.”

“I’m going to kill you,” Obi-Wan breathed. He looked between all three clones frantically, his breath coming in quicker and quicker hitches. “You were - you were just pretending - this whole time, you were -”

Tup just looked at him, expression blank. It sent Obi-Wan’s skin crawling. “Of course not. You think we could hide something like this from the Jedi?” Obi-Wan had, in fact, been wondering how the fuck they could hide this from the Jedi. “We obey orders. They tell us to fight for the GAR, we do our best. They tell us to respect and give our loyalty to the Jedi, we do that. They tell us the Jedi are traitors, they’re traitors now. Sorry, my lord, but you can’t really understand.”

“Life as a soldier’s just doing what you’re told.” Fives rolled his eyes, one arm thrown over the back of the chair. It was hard to catch, but if you knew Fives you could hear the subtle hard edge of mockery and bitterness in his words. Obi-Wan’s friend was always bitter. “We’re good soldiers.”

“And good soldiers follow orders,” Cody muttered.

“I am going to kill all of you,” Obi-Wan said distantly. “You’re dead. You’re not my friends. You’re aruetii. Hut’tuun fucking - you’re hut’tuun! All of you!”

“And on that delightful note,” Cody said, slapping his thighs and standing up. “I have to return to my men. Lord Vader would give me a hard time if he found me here. Will you two be alright?”

“Worry about yourself,” Fives said blandly. He shot Cody an indecipherable look as Cody fixed his helmet back on. “We had a pool on if you’d defect or not. Order 66 isn’t getting as many as it should, you know.”

“Is that so.”

“A lot of Jedi are ‘escaping’.” Fives said, voice adding air quotes to the word. “Especially the baby traitors, for whatever reason. More than we anticipated. Fox is going to open up an investigation, but it’d be impossible to tell who missed accidentally and who missed accidentally-on-purpose.”

“Yeah,” Tup said. “If everybody knew Bly was going to go rogue, why didn’t anybody stop it?”

“Maybe they trusted their leadership,” Cody snapped, and Fives and Tup fell into embarrassed silence. “I’ve given everything I have to this army. I’m in far too deep to back out now, so don’t insinuate my disloyalty again. Are we clear?” Fives and Tup mumbled something. “Good. Have fun explaining to Lord Vader the cut on his face, Fives.”

“He fell,” Fives said, but for the first time he looked a little anxious. “Will he really…”

“I’m telling him you beat me,” Obi-Wan said.

“Don’t you dare.”

“I’m telling your Sith Master that you beat up his brother.”

“Shut up, Commander!”

“Make me,” Obi-Wan taunted. Anger was good. Anger wasn’t fear. “Give me something else you’ll have to explain to your Sith fuckhead. You’ll get what’s coming to you.”

“If he gives you any more shit then stun him.” Cody looked at Obi-Wan, and he stubbornly tilted his jaw up in defiance. “That won’t leave a mark.” He unclipped Obi-Wan’s lightsaber from his belt, holding Obi-Wan’s life in his hands, before casually dropping it in the mesh basket attached to the wall next to the door. He pointedly zipped up the basket. “This is for Lord Vader. Don’t let the lord grab it.”

“The last thing you’re going to see is me,” Obi-Wan hissed. His heart churned in his chest, pure rage spitting in his stomach. “The last thing you’re ever going to see is me chopping your fucking head off. And I’ll drop you into the hands of the ten thousand gods of a traitor’s punishment.”

“Looking forward to it,” Cody said blandly, before he exited the ship.

Tup looked at Obi-Wan, pointing at himself. “Am I going to Mandalorian hell too?”

“You aren’t a Mandalorian,” Obi-Wan said, and that shut him up.

They sat in silence after that.

For some reason, Obi-Wan found himself wondering if they really were traitors after all. They hadn’t turned on the Republic for greed or selfishness. They had never been loyal to the Republic; had never truly been a part of it. They said it themselves: true disloyalty would have been defecting from their Empire, whatever that was, and saving a Jedi’s life. And nobody who saved the life of the Jedi who loved them would ever meet the gods of a traitor’s punishment.

It wasn’t as if Obi-Wan even cared about betraying the Republic. The Republic had fucked both the Jedi and the clones over, and Obi-Wan had secretly wanted the Jedi to strike back against the Republic too. As if he was supposed to be proud and willing to fight a war he had been drafted into as a kid? Play with fire and you get burned, and the Republic’s arrogant belief that they could control sentient beings and force them to fight their wars was like trying to contain a wildfire.

But the Jedi didn’t deserve this. They frustrated him, and there was a cold stone of bitterness lodged in his heart, but most of them had shown nothing but devotion to their clones. They hadn’t chosen this either. Obi-Wan had thought that maybe they were suffering together.

Maybe it was just the fact that they had betrayed him. Obi-Wan, who would have never betrayed them in a million years. Who would die for them. Who’d follow Cody to the ends of the galaxy and back again.

He didn’t know what Master wanted with him. He had been rambling, pushed and desperate. A family. They’d be happy. Him and Padme and the baby…

Obi-Wan was no longer a padawan, but a brother. Maybe that was what Master wanted, what he had sacrificed everything for. The right to steal a family.

Thinking about it like that, Master Falling - and the Chancellor, maybe? - almost made sense. Almost. Not really. Not at all.

Thoughts crowded into his head, but they couldn’t penetrate. The Chancellor and the Empire and the Sith and the Republic and whatever was happening to the Jedi right now - he couldn’t think about any of it. It all melted away in his brain, useless words and thoughts transformed into the only thing that the cuffs would let him feel.

Hate. Hate. Hate.

The Force was cold and empty. Obi-Wan was alone, a gaping black void in the Force left to shiver in the cold. Obi-Wan needed something warm. The hate kept him warm.

“I swear, Fives, sometimes you don’t even act like a 501st man.”

“Because you all get so sycophantic sometimes,” Fives complained, slouching in his seat. “I fucking hate the Republic and Jedi as much as the next guy -”

“The next guy who was on Umbara,” Tup noted wryly.

(“You’re strong with the Force, padawan. Have a little more faith in yourself.”

“I’m not. I’m average. I have to work five times as hard as everyone else. I hate it.”

“Jedi do not hate. You’re just frustrated. That’s alright. Your hard work is your virtue. When the Force fails you, that will remain.”)

“Which is you, so shut it. All I’m saying is that it’s all the same. Republic, Empire. Jedi, Sith. Whatever.” Fived sighed gustily, staring at the ceiling. “Either one of them giving us a paycheck?”

“You and your paychecks,” Tup said, somewhat derogatory. “And your dumb time off! That shit’s for natborns. Get your head in the game, man. The Empire’s not going to be as lenient as the Jedi. You gotta shape up.”

(“I thought the Force never failed a Jedi.”

“Well, sometimes the Force helps those who help themselves.”)

Obi-Wan focused.

He breathed in and out. It only took a few seconds to slide into the battle calm this time, and he felt his fear and anguish and hate melt away. The cuffs cut him off from the Force, inscribed with ancient runes that carried the ghost of Sith magics. Apparently there were only a few craftsmen in the galaxy who could make these - the last deposits of ancient secrets.

Obi-Wan had once watched an old Jedi in the Temple make them. It was one of their many field trips, where they would learn all about every one of the hundred jobs people had in the Temple that kept their life running. They would visit the Corp, too, and talk with exaggerated excitement about the life of a farmer. Obi-Wan’s crechemates had pushed him, whispering mockeries about how he should go join them.

The old Jedi, bent with age with silvery-white fur, had showed them how the cuffs were made. They took a big piece of metal and used a vibrohammer to flatten it out, letting the vibrations stretch out the metal into a thin sheet. They inscribed the runes into the inside of the cuffs, then folded over the sheet so the runes were hidden inside. Then they would wrap it around a cylindrical piece of durasteel and use the vibrohammer again to beat them into shape. Finally, they would weld the pieces together with an electrotorch. The electric and locking mechanisms were added by an electrical engineer elsewhere in the Temple.

Obi-Wan saw it all in his mind’s eye. He took a deep breath, exhaled gently, and closed his eyes. He tried stretching out his awareness only to find it absent. He tried again. He reached deeper. He tried again. He reached deeper. He tried again.

(“You have a unique connection with the Unifying Force. You call loudly, deep within yourself, and the Force answers. I believe it’s due to your strong convictions.”

“Convictions?”

“You love very deeply, padawan,” Qui-Gon said. “Don’t lose that.”)

The Unifying Force, where Qui-Gon had returned to, drifted into his hand. Just a strand. A glimmer of light, curled inside his heart that loved too much. It was all he needed.

He reached out inside the cuffs, imagining the long and neat lines of runes running up and down the hidden interior. He knew distantly that he was sweating with the strain, but he could barely tell. His entire focus was on the cuffs and the Sith runes.

Obi-Wan used the single thread of Unifying Force he could glean and used it to cut a notch into one of the runes.

The cuffs deactivated.

A wrecking ball slammed into Obi-Wan’s mind. He screamed, with a strength and volume he didn’t know he could still summon. He heard the rustling of armor, but not footsteps. He couldn’t pay attention. The Force had exploded back into life around him, and it was screeching.

No. It was dying.

It sounded like Obi-Wan’s small noise of pain when he learned that Master Qui-Gon was dead, and that Master Anakin had killed him. It sounded like Cody saying that he wanted to do it. It felt like Cody telling him that he didn’t love him anymore. It felt like holding Mail as he died. It felt like Oya exploding in front of him. It felt like a stray limb, rolling on the ground. It felt like Master Anakin breaking a vase because he was angry and making Obi-Wan cry. It felt like being told that no master had wanted to train him, and they were sending him away. It felt like stepping on Christophsis to see two faces and hundreds of faces that did not want him.

It felt like a thousand voices crying out, before silence. And Obi-Wan was alone. Almost alone. Alone. Alone. Alone. Alone -

“Maybe we should stun him -”

“He’s just upset, asshole!” Distantly, Obi-Wan felt a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, Commander. Don’t cry. What did I say? Everything’s going to be just fine for you. Do you want Cody?”

“We can’t just grab Cody and calm him down anymore,” Fives said, sounding far away and muffled. “Congratulations. We had one thing for ourselves, that we could actually be proud of, and we’re giving him away.”

“He wasn’t ours,” Tup snapped. “At least he’s away from the Jedi now.”

“You know what, man? You’re right. As always. You think the Jedi were bad? Just wait ‘til you see the Empire!”

The Force rushed into Obi-Wan, and he moved.

It only took three smooth motions. The cuffs exploded, shards of metal flying everywhere and cutting up Obi-Wan’s robes and skin. He leapt off the chair, vision still obscured by dark spots, but he didn’t have to look to know exactly where Tup’s blaster was.

Obi-Wan grabbed the blaster, and with the unnatural speed and strength afforded by the overwhelming power of the Force, shot clean through Tup’s skull.

Fives was drawing his firearm, but it took only a fraction of a second for Obi-Wan to change targets and shoot him too. He went down clean, crumpling on the ground just as Tup had done. Obi-Wan felt them die: a little candle, snuffed out.

Obi-Wan locked the blaster and stuffed it in his pants. He ran over to the cockpit, automatically moving at the fastest pace he could in preparing the ship for flight. He ignored most of the pre-flight checks (“If you’re setting off in a hurry, just worry about these three - the rest are for when you don’t have bigger problems!”), instead slamming the switches and grabbing the controls and pushing them hard for sedentary take-off.

As the ship whirred and ground into action, Obi-Wan took a second to adjust the settings on the pilot’s chair so he could see the controls better. The chair was set for somebody much taller than him.

Out of the dash window, he could see clones yelling and waving their arms at him. He saw it as they realized that it wasn’t Tup or Fives at the helm: that it was Obi-Wan, who was already pushing the ship into the air. He jolted as the ship left the ground, and the ship radio immediately began beeping with incoming calls. He reached over and switched it off before unplugging it.

The ship jumped into the air, and Obi-Wan pushed them forwards. He heard the whirr of ships behind him as they sprang into motion, but he pushed them away into a corner of his awareness. He focused on piloting - on escaping the winding and claustrophobic skyscrapers.

He reached upwards, windows and buildings flying by so quickly they were nothing but grey smears. This port wasn’t designed for immediate hyperspace jump, and Obi-Wan had to escape the range of the skyscrapers or he’d be stuck jumping into the middle of an apartment complex.

The familiar burn of ship artillery discharge whizzed past him, and Obi-Wan risked a glance at the radar. Three bogeys advancing fast. The Twilight could outrun them, but -

Obi-Wan cursed and banked hard as a missile shot towards him. He let the ship drop, watching the missile crash and explode into a building - that undoubtedly had people inside - before reigniting the thrusters and jumping higher.

Higher, and higher, and higher. Obi-Wan was almost off his chair with the effort, the harness straining to hold him as he tried to dodge enemy fire in a narrow corridor hemmed in by buildings. They undoubtedly already had somebody headed to intercept him above the buildings, and Obi-Wan fired up his guns.

There. A ship came into view, guns whirring and sparking. Obi-Wan didn’t hesitate: the minute he saw it he fired, watching the bolt puncture the wing and send it spinning. He had only just gone back to the controls when he felt a hard impact to his left, banking the ship sharply right. Familiar impact sirens sounded, echoing around his ear, and Obi-Wan glanced at the internal diagnostics to see that they had lost a wing.

The back of the ship jolted forward, sending Obi-Wan almost crashing into the console, and the readout informed him that the back engine was damaged. It wasn’t going to hold on. Down a wing and an engine in a ship as small as the Twilight, he had barely seconds before he fell. He’d be dead in the water.

He’d killed Fives and Tup for nothing. Great.

But the Twilight lurched onwards, as indomitable as its owner, and Obi-Wan exploded into the clear blue sky above Coruscant. For just a second, he saw it - saw all of it. All of Coruscant below him, unending and arching, a pincushion boasting millions of needles jabbed straight into its center. It was a beautiful sight that somehow tasted violent: as if it had been stabbed a million times, and was crying out for help.

Obi-Wan slammed the Twilight’s specially modified button, colloquially referred to as the ‘Jinn Button’ - for fast getaways where you needed to be anywhere else but here, it computed a random hyperspace coordinate that wouldn’t kill you and got you there fast. Master Qui-Gon swore by its mystical efficacy. Master Anakin swore by how it got you out of a jam in a second.

The ship jumped into hyperspace, screeching and rattling apart as its engine bravely roared and then died, the stars smearing as Obi-Wan rattled in his seat.

They didn’t jump out of hyperspace so much as fell. The ship’s sensors screeched louder, new alarms buzzing, and the ship auto-ejected itself out of hyperspace. They screeched to a halt somewhere in space, nothing and nowhere, only endless black surrounding them.

Obi-Wan thumped the console, flipping through every readout and checking the damage. Dead in the water. Life support still active, which was always pleasant. The emergency beacon was still active. Far from the worst situation he’d been in. Turn on the emergency beacon to a GAR frequency, have the closest Star Destroyer pick them up, he and Master would get bitched at by whatever poor Jedi had to turn off-course to help them -

Obi-Wan pulled up the settings for the emergency beacon, and without really thinking about it he changed the frequencies. No vessel over five inhabitants should receive it now. When they stopped to investigate and/or capture him, he’d kill them and take their ship. Small ship to small ship emergency beacons were the exact kind that pirates used to piggyback onto and use to hunt, but somehow Obi-Wan had bigger problems.

He unbuckled his harness and stumbled forward to where Fives and Tup lay. They looked like any other dead clone, in the end.

Obi-Wan knew the Sith. He knew Anakin Skywalker. If they had let him escape, they would have been executed summarily. It was now or later. He had no choice.

A small, nasty voice in his head whispered - he didn’t have to escape. Master wouldn’t have hurt him. He’d probably live a life in luxury. As the brother of Darth Vader.

But that was a little incompatible with revenge.

Obi-Wan knelt down next to Fives, brushing a hand over his forehead and closing his eyes. That was better. He said two quick verses of liturgy, a Manadlorian goodbye to soldiers marching far away.

Was this where he swore revenge? He felt like he ought to. When this happened in the Mandalorian operas, they always sang an eight minute oath about how they would dedicate the rest of their lives to their burning revenge.

But something in Obi-Wan just couldn’t. He had already won over these two. Someday, he would win against Cody, or whatever was left of Cody. He should swear revenge on the Empire, on everything that used to be the GAR - but he was tired, and he wanted to rest.

Obi-Wan lay down next to Fives’ body, and finally let the immeasurable psychic agony of ten thousand dead force him unconscious.

**********

“- now this definitely isn’t a yacht.”

“Captain, it’s Anakin Skywalker’s ship, we gotta get outta -”

“Yes, yes, but do you see Anakin Skywalker? No? All I see is - oh.”

“...is he dead?”

“That moving chest is a human breathing, my dear. Now hurry up. Get back to the ship and tell Zell that we’re blasting this thing to smithereens. Don’t so much as leave a recognizable corpse in atmo. And we ought to leave now, because I highly suspect a certain Sith is wondering where his ship is.”

“Why we fucking ‘round with the Sith, boss - hey, that’s a fuckin’ lightsaber! Score!”

“Take it. I suspect he’ll want it back. Don’t whine, hop to it.”

A rough, pebbled hand shook Obi-Wan’s shoulder, and a familiar voice whispered in his ear. “No time for crying and whining, Obi-Wan. It’s time for action. Let’s get out of here before we all get in some unique trouble.”

Obi-Wan rattled a harsh breath.

“...alright, just this once.” Hondo leaned down and carefully picked up Obi-Wan, throwing him over his shoulder in a rescue carry. “I don’t actually know if you can move or not…let us be off! About step, now!”

“Not Obi-Wan,” Obi-Wan muttered. “Not…”

And, with those final funeral rites, he slipped back into unconsciousness.

[fellthemarvelous]

Ranting because of toxic people in fandom

You know, I'm pretty chill most of the time. I like to let people do what they do, but right now I'm just annoyed.

For the love of god, if you don't like a goddamn ship, that's fine. I couldn't give two shits if someone doesn't like my preferred ships. The problem I have is the people who try to police the fandom, who bully others for shipping something they consider problematic.

You think you're doing something, but you're actually just making fandom a toxic and unpleasant place.

I know comprehension is difficult for some of you, but let us look at some facts:

1) What a person chooses to ship has absolutely zero effect on you personally. You're choosing to take offense because you've somehow decided something that is absolutely none of your business is your business.

2) Learn to separate fiction from reality. Just because someone likes a certain ship doesn't mean they support pedophilia/incest/whatever. You putting those labels on the people who do is not only insulting but also extremely hurtful. As someone who was sexually assaulted repeatedly when I was five years old, I know what's right and what's wrong. You need to think because you start throwing these buzzwords out, and you literally don't even care about what you're doing to the person behind the screen. You are not special. You are not right even if you think you are.

3) You're literally not going to change anyone's minds. All you're doing is creating a hostile environment. Mind your own fucking business and focus more on what you love instead of what you think it's okay to abuse other people over. If you love abusing and gaslighting people, then perhaps you should question why you feel the need to act as if you're somehow superior. Newsflash, you're not. You're nothing more than a jerk.

4) I'm not a fan of some of these "problematic" ships, but I don't feel the need to attack people because, once again, this is fiction. Get your narcissistic, attention-seeking behavior away from everyone else. It's literally not harming anyone. At all. You're just looking for a reason to be big-time offended because you're somehow lacking something else in your life, and I'm fairly certain most of you wouldn't have the courage to say this shit to someone's face. Just because you think these ships are problematic doesn't mean they are.

5) Let's take a minute to look at Rexsoka (because I happen to like that ship). You're getting bent out of shape and acting like Ahsoka is 14 throughout all of Star Wars. Maybe this hasn't occurred to you, but Ahsoka ages. Like we literally see her in her 30s in Rebels. I didn't even consider shipping it until I saw the last four episodes of Clone Wars. If you're going to freak out over the age difference between Ahsoka and Rex, let's try to remember that Anakin is five years younger than Padme. (My mom was nine years younger than my dad and they were married for 42 years before she passed away.)

Like just leave people alone. Let them like what they like. This isn't a difficult fucking concept. If they're two consenting adults, then stop getting bent out of shape. You honestly look like a damn fool to those of us with comprehension skills and who understand the passage of time.

Block me if you want. I honestly don't care. I've been put through the ringer on Twitter over this and at this point and all I have to say is fuck your fake ass, performative activism. You wanna be a hero, try helping those who are actually dealing with these issues in real life.

If this offends you, don't even come at me. Just get over yourself and block me. I'm normally a very nice person with endless amounts of patience, but I've had enough of watching others get bullied over something that is 100% harmless and not doing anything to the way you are able to live your life. You're looking for a reason to bully someone. That is it. Go away. Like all these people who enjoy these ships do not give a single fuck about your opinion because they still enjoy what they enjoy anyway. Most of the time you just make them like their ship even more.

TL;DR - Get a life and leave others alone.

[dexters-bluemilkshakes]

i made “the 501st go to target” , “the disaster lineage goes to target” and “The Clone Wars Squad ™️ (+Satine) Goes To Target” and now i give you: The Rebels Go To Target

hera: got to relax for once. she found some magazines and read them in the asiles while drinking a coffee. she got the newest additions to book series she likes and bought a few DVDs for her and Kanan’s few and far between “date nights.” she bought chopper a cat toy.

kanan: does the shopping. finds all the groceries/ food staples that they are running low on. also buys plain clothing/ accessories to be used in disguises. he grabs many packs of hair ties because ezra and sabine were tired of him stealing theirs. when both he and hera were done shopping they walked around the store, hand in hand, chuckling when they heard laughing and screaming and everything in between from their kids, and were very thankful zeb drew the short straw.

ezra: mr.kleptomaniac steals little trinkets and whatnot by putting them his pockets or by making it look like it was already his. He is pretty smug about it at first but sabine saw the whole thing and a few days later let’s it slip that ezra shop lifted in a half-successful attempt to get the heat off of her for smth dumb she did. ezra sheepishly returned/ paid for all the items while a stern hera stood behind him. zeb could. not. stop. laughing. zeb got in trouble later bc he was supposed to be watching ezra.

sabine: ogled over the hair dye, graphic tees, and art supplies. Despite them not having spray paints, she finds a lot of different materials she’s never had the chance to use, or just materials most people wouldn’t think to put in a piece. she re-stocks on snacks and her preferred hair dyes/ purple shampoo/ products. it’s going to be a long time before they come back here.

zeb: was the Designated Parent for the day. He had to make sure Chopper didn’t destroy the whole store, make sure ezra didn’t steal anything (he failed miserably at that), and make sure sabine didn’t paint anything. he also had to make sure kanan and hera didn’t do the smooches in a quiet corner. (he failed even worse at that) he was very frazzled but during his running around the store he found a really nice pair of boots. he also jump scared ezra like three times and made weird noises in neighboring aisles to try and freak ezra out. ezra insisted it didn’t (it did).

chopper: pinched people’s legs while hiding under clothing display tables. eventually zeb put him in time out and he had to spend the next 10 minutes walking in (grumbly) silence with zeb until he could continue his chaos. repeat cycle. hera gave chopper the cat toy and that kept him very occupied for a while. despite his insistence that he doesn’t care for it, he now refuses to shut down without it nearby.

rex: ezra tried to get him to lift him into the ball crate. rex said no. (ahsoka then looked away for like five seconds and rex threw ezra in the pit with no hesitation. ahsoka saw and immediately face palmed.) he walked around with ahsoka, and they reminisced about all the times they came here with their friends during the rare downtime they got during the war. oh! there’s where fives managed to slip and bring down a shelf. oh! there’s where padmé and anakin were caught holding hands. oh! that’s the hair product obi-wan insisted he never used but he did. oh! there’s where this person and this person and this person and he and she and they and

they’re all gone.

ahsoka and rex tried not to cry.

(when they saw the still lingering stain from where the wolffe pack managed to burst 12 pens and get ink everywhere the tears began to fall)

ahsoka: she could hear the whispers of her friends still lingering on the shelves. she thought she saw obi wan and anakin and padmé and…

but it wasn’t them.

it’s hard going back to the places of your past when the ghosts still haunt you.

she and rex left before the rest of everyone else

all she got was a keychain of a dino that anakin swore he would get on their next visit

and he would have gotten it.

except there was no next visit.

hondo: no one knows how he got here. no one invited him. he mostly left people alone except to ask for them to pay for his things. no one did. he eventually just stole a cartful of random stuff. he got caught, so he flew away with bags of stuff falling out of his window while shouting “until next time, my friends!”. the rebels left soon after that.

kallus: (post getting stranded on a Geonosian moon w our favorite Lasat) was parent for the day with Zeb, even though he didn’t have to be. That is, until he found the hat section and spend the rest of the time admiring himself in different fedoras. he got a watch, despite never saying he needed one and no one even saw him near the watches.

bonus!

thrawn: does not shop at target. ever. but it was a late night and he desperately needed more coffee grounds so he had little choice.

tarkin: lol dude just sneered at everything and made haughty remarks about the state of the store.

he actually loved it and goes back with a black mustache taped on his lip.

[hunters-heathen]

how did you feel about the obi wan kenobi finale!!!! id love to hear ur thoughts

Let me tell you, it’s been several days (I think? Time isn’t real) and I still can’t even begin to compose my thoughts into something articulate

So instead I leave you with how I felt the entire time while watching:

Okay I lied here’s a chaotic list

Vader Vader Vader Vader Vader supremacy 🧎🏻‍♀️

I lost my marbles when Ben did his ~pose~

ThEn YoU WiLl dIe (plz just tear my heart out miss Chow)

^ he threw his whole Vadussy into that fight fr

^ he threw his whole Vadussy into that fight fr

Can we talk about how despite knowing they both live I was literally so tense the entire duel

BERU SUPREMACY she pulled out those guns and Owen said 😳 lmfaooo as you should king, she’s the top fr

^ I have a weird thing for the slight roughness/gravel in Owen’s voice though bye-

Also no freaking high ground comment??? Bye pt. 2

Vader literally getting pummeled with rocks I-

Vader wheezing

The way Anakin shown through and his face was lit with blue but then Vader came back & it was red

^ adding onto that I saw someone say how Ben had to watch his eyes turn Sith all over again and now I’m crying

^ adding onto that x2: saw comparisons about how Ahsoka opened the right, Ben opened the left, but only Luke could lift the helmet off completely and I have not stopped thinking about that since

I am not your failure, Obi-Wan

^ that’s it that’s the tweet

Then my friend is truly dead 🥲🥲🥲

Leia and Ben reunion 🥲 also I’m tired of him calling himself old / other ppl calling him that lmao (smash)

^ btw I LOVE Alderaan I wanna live there okay

I just think… I miss Padmé Amidala so much (Ben compared Leia to her parents and a homie was ~sobbing~)

Lowkey I wanted a Padmé grave visit by Vader but okay-

Also wish there were more clone wars flashbacks maybe? But I’m not one to complain, the duel flashback was far beyond what I expected ✨ plus perhaps we will get clone wars flashbacks in Ahsoka (this is really Hayden’s year, go king)

I lowkey wish Reva did have a villain arc of some sort but I’m glad they didn’t just kill her off. Mayhaps a spin-off is in order

^ on that note I’d also love to have a Vader spinoff. Or two. Or five thousand. There’s so much to do with him

Qui-Gon FREAKING JINN 🗣 love him but also all I could think about was the bts pics of Liam Neeson dressed as Qui-Gon under that umbrella lmao bye

Oh- THE BOYS HOLDING HANDS WHILE DUELING- 🗣🤌🏼

I like how Ben’s outfit at the end was like one of the ones from the comics

HELLO THERE

There’s been a lot of talk about Ben & Anakin being dyads bc of what was presented in the show and lowkey I’d be here for it

^ I think it’s an amazing and fascinating concept that wasn’t super properly touched on in the sequels so it’d be neat to see it again somewhere else as well

Ummm all I have to say in conclusion is that this show tore my heart out SO much and I literally cannot believe it’s already over. Hayden was incredible, Ewan was incredible, Vivian and Moses were incredible, ugh- I’m in love. Some shows I watch and then I’m like ‘okay I don’t think I need to revisit this’ but I’ve already watched the finale like 5 times (literally even just as background while I’m reading or something) so I’ll definitely be revisiting it

Some things could’ve been executed better, mostly the pacing and also some of the action scenes (let’s be real the Leia chase was ridiculous fkfkfk) but overall it’s been a wonderful ride and I really really am hoping for a season two or something of the sort. I’m simply not ready to let Ben go yet ✨

^^^^^ I know I have so much more to say but literally my head is so chaotic rn so this is all you’re getting 💀

[the-last-kenobi]

Obi-wan with Tampering with Food/Drink? I just wanna see everyone be super protective of this poor guy

I feel glee with all of your asks, coalmine.

Obi-Wan: *is in danger*

Everyone: 😩😡🔪

oh my god did y’all see that writer who procrastinated on an awesome prompt and then randomly decided to finish it at 3am on her birthday? I AM SO SORRY COALMINE THIS IS SO LATE

_

The Senate had decided to host a ball.

In the middle of a war that had already dragged on for two years. While people suffered and died for their causes. Using money they had refused to spend on a hundred other things, relief programs and weapons upgrade and better armor for the clones.

A ball.

“This is stupid,” Anakin ground out through a fake smile.

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan murmured, his smile much more genuine as he dipped his head and waved at a passing dignitary.

“It is,” Anakin said.

Somewhere across the enormous room, there was a swell of tittering laughter and the sound of glasses chiming. Someone very rich must have said something vaguely funny. Huzzah.

“At least you have plans and good company for the night,” Obi-Wan said out of the corner of his mouth, smiling at someone in the distance, this time with truly genuine happiness — probably Bail Organa, then. Or some other person. Who cared? The only person in this room that really mattered was Padmé.

Anakin stuttered. “Company— for the — plans? What plans? I’m not meeting anyone tonight. Straight to bed.”

“Oh yes,” said Obi-Wan, and did he just glance at Padmé dancing across the floor with one of her bodyguards disguised as a noble? “That’s all. I meant that you’d be bunking with the 212th this week instead of at the Temple, isn’t that what you told me?”

Anakin floundered for a moment. Big red alarms were going off inside his head, but he couldn’t make the freak out in his mind mesh with the image of Obi-Wan’s slight smile, the trace of amusement in his tone. Did he know? If he did was he joking about it? Did he not know? Was Anakin freaking hallucinating?

Trying not to panic, the young Knight grinned wildly at his former Master and cast about for something to say in response.

He couldn’t think of anything, but he did spot an oncoming serving droid. “Server,” he called, waving his hand at them. “Two glasses of Chandrilan champagne.” The droid gave a mechanical bow and turned on their heel to obey.

Obi-Wan raised his eyebrows, his eyes still twinkling mischievously. Maybe. “Champagne? We’re only an hour in and you don’t even like champagne.”

“No,” Anakin shrugged. “But you do. Plus it’s alcohol.”

This time Obi-Wan definitely smiled. “Thank you, Anakin,” he said fondly. He stepped a little closer and clapped his former student on the shoulder, leaning in slightly and adding in a lower tone, “Although I notice you only order me drinks when they’re free.”

Anakin laughed and shoved his hand away. “Gotta save my credits, Master. Not all of us can afford to drink pirates under the table.”

Obi-Wan laughed.

Anakin caught another glimpse of Padmé, still swirling across the floor in her bodyguard’s arms. The twinge of jealousy was difficult to ignore; it pinched, piercing his insides like a thorn he couldn’t pluck. He knew it was innocent — he was grateful it was a bodyguard they both trusted and not some sleazy politician — but he still wished he could spin his wife across the room, holding her nearer, without fear of recrimination.

Would Obi-Wan still have that teasing twinkle in his eye if he flouted his vows so publicly? Anakin couldn’t be sure. He tore his eyes away, looking for a distraction. There was Rex, along with a few other 501st brothers, standing guard from around the room, dressed in plain uniforms so they didn’t detract from the image while still providing protection. Somewhere above them, he knew, Cody and the 212th were watching more keenly.

“Ah, hello,” said Obi-Wan suddenly.

Anakin turned and saw the serving droid back again, this time with a platter bearing two flutes of sparkling pale amber, and this time bowing to Obi-Wan. Odd that they had approached him instead, but who cared? The drinks had arrived.

Obi-Wan gestured to Anakin first, but the droid remained stubbornly in front of the older Jedi.

“I thought you were the one who had a gift with droids,” Obi-Wan chuckled, and relented, taking the glass in front. The droid turned to Anakin next and he took the remaining champagne, thanking the droid and sending them on their way.

“To the Republic,” said Obi-Wan, tilting his glass towards his friend.

Anakin smirked. “To stupid parties.”

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes as they chimed their glasses together and then they both drank, sipping slowly. Anakin made a face. He really wasn’t a champagne drinker. But at least the stuff was strong, or this stuff was, not that Obi-Wan would think so. The man had insane alcohol tolerance. It was actually unfair.

“Master Kenobi,” said two voices, almost at the same time.

Anakin and Obi-Wan turned in mild surprise to see both Chancellor Palpatine and Senator Organa approaching from different directions. The two men spotted each other and looked comically perplexed, pausing in their stride, and then Palpatine laughed. “Come, Senator Organa, I’m sure Master Kenobi can handle a conversation with both of us.”

The Senator bowed, and both men smiled at Obi-Wan. The Chancellor paused to smile also at Anakin, surreptitiously patting his arm as he passed.

Anakin gratefully stayed out of the polite discourse and let his eyes drift back to his wife, her gorgeous dress hanging so flatteringly on her still more gorgeous form. He was rather excited to remove it tonight. He had told Obi-Wan, after all, that he was going straight to bed. He smiled into his champagne.

But not even visions of Padmé and his hopes for a wonderful few days ahead could drown out what happened next.

There was a strange sound, like someone trying not to cry. The Chancellor’s voice tilted sharply in a shocked question; Senator Organa abandoned formality as he cried out “Obi-Wan!” just as glass shattered.

Anakin spun around.

Obi-Wan was swaying on the spot, the champagne flute in a hundred fragments at his feet, one hand pressed to his forehead as if he were fighting off a headache, the other splayed across his chest, creeping upwards towards his throat. It hasn’t been a strangled sob — Obi-Wan was choking for air.

Chancellor Palpatine said, “Master Kenobi! Can you hear me?”

Obi-Wan did not reply.

Anakin surged forwards and pulled his Master into his arms just as Obi-Wan’s legs gave out from beneath him. He fell into his friend’s hold and Anakin sank to his knees, laying Obi-Wan’s head in his lap. When they settled on the floor, Obi-Wan’s full weight crashed into him, no strength left in him to even keep his head up.

Anakin felt sheer, cold terror sweep through him. Obi-Wan’s face had lost all color. His lips were tinted a bruise-like blue around the edges and his eyes were wide and vacant in his face, their glances vague and distant, as if he wasn’t seeing what was really around him.

When he took a breath, he wheezed, his throat straining as he tried and failed to take in air.

“Poison,” Anakin heard Bail hiss.

“Obi-Wan!” Anakin cried. He held onto him tightly. As if sheer force could keep his Master safe. “Obi-Wan! Look at me. Focus. Breathe, can you breathe?”

Obi-Wan’s eyes slid towards Anakin’s face, and for a moment there seemed to be clarity.

In that moment, Anakin saw utter confusion and fear in his Master’s eyes.

The world shrank away — there was only Anakin, clinging to Obi-Wan, trapped in a sea of meaningless noise and chaos, helpless. There was only Obi-Wan, dying in his arms —

“General!” Cody was suddenly there, in his armor but his helmet removed, kneeling beside them. He looked down at his Jedi and swallowed hard, but he put a bracing hand on Anakin’s shoulder, a familiar gesture that Anakin dimly registered as unusual for the professional Commander. “Can you help him? With the Force?” he asked.

“I— I’m trying,” Anakin stammered. And he was. His heart was galloping wildly inside his chest, but he was pulling, pulling on the Force, bending it. Shaping it. Coaxing and pleading with it, begging it to help his friend.

“Keep trying,” Cody said fiercely. “Help is coming.”

Help? Anakin thought wildly. Help? What help! No one could help, Obi-Wan was just — dying! For no reason, in his arms!

Obi-Wan’s body jerked involuntarily, almost slipping from Anakin’s hands. Anakin gasped softly and pulled him closer, and Cody reached out to steady them both, and in that moment, things seemed to — to settle, somehow.

Obi-Wan was here. Anakin had him. For now. Now counted, now mattered.

And Cody was here, too — that also mattered. Just having someone trustworthy on Obi-Wan’s other side was comforting, like having a buffer that could help stop his Master from slipping away.

And now that Anakin focused, he saw other things too.

Rex was there, standing firmly between Cody and the crowd, keeping people at bay, his voice raised commandingly. “Give them room! They need space!”

Behind Anakin he could hear Bail doing just the same thing, his mild tones just as strong, just as unyielding. “Please keep your distance! The Jedi and our troops will handle this, please, my friends.”

Padmé was rushing to them at that very moment, dropping to her knees at Obi-Wan’s feet, her skirts swirling around her in a cloud of gold. Her dark eyes fixed on Anakin for a moment, and the sheer depth of love and compassion there took his breath away far more than her appearance had. Then she looked at Obi-Wan, and her expression of worry and compassion and laser-sharp focus filled him with gratitude. She turned her head and gestured to one of her guards, issuing instructions in his ear. He turned on the spot and began shouting for the room to go on lockdown. Her hand surreptitiously caressed Anakin’s as she turned again to lean over Obi-Wan.

“The entire building has been locked down,” Rex reported a moment later.

“None of my men saw anyone entering or leaving in the last half-hour previous,” Cody added, his brows furrowed. “Whoever did this is still here. General? Is he still stable?”

Anakin’s head was clear. His heartbeat had steadied, and although fear still thrummed inside him, he had mastered it, kept it at bay.

Obi-Wan was weak and pale in his arms, his eyes half-closed, but with Anakin’s hand on his chest he was taking shallow breaths.

“For now,” Anakin said, closing his eyes in concentration. “You said… help was coming?”

“Yes,” Cody confirmed. “I sent for—”

“Move it!” bellowed a familiar voice. “Medic! Make a hole!”

The crowd, held at bay by Rex and Bail, scrambled over itself to make way for Hoop, the ferocious 212th medic. He shoved Cody unceremoniously out of the way and leaned over his General, not acknowledging anyone else in the slightest.

For some reason, Cody sitting there with a blandly unsurprised expression and Hoop busy tending to Obi-Wan was the most comforting sight imaginable. It was more comforting still when a moment later, Anakin spotted Mace Windu stalking into the room, his own Commander at his shoulder, one hand on the hilt of his saber. Windu had a reputation as stern, but Anakin knew there was nothing the man cared for more than the lives of the Jedi. His presence here meant that Anakin had nothing to worry about except the man in his arms.

He didn’t have to worry about a second attack with Rex and Cody there. He didn’t have to worry about organization or loneliness with Padmé there. He didn’t have to worry about the crowd with Bail Organa there. He didn’t have to worry about his fear and anger, his thirst for retribution, with Master Windu there. And between himself and Hoop, Anakin hoped — he knew that they didn’t have to worry about Obi-Wan either.

Anakin took a deep breath and leaned into the Force like a child leaning on a parent’s knee, feeling the power rolling over him like a tide, neither comforting nor frightening, simply there. Endlessly present. Always reliable.

Like their friends.

Like Obi-Wan.

“We can move him now,” Anakin heard Hoop saying. “General Skywalker, can you carry him?”

Anakin opened his eyes.

Obi-Wan was still limp in his arms, but he was peaceful now, and the frightening blue tint had left his lips. Anakin could feel his own power surrounding him, warming him as he slept.

“Yes,” said Anakin decisively. “Yes, I can carry him.”

He rose to his feet and walked calmly out of the room, following Hoop, holding his Master as carefully as possible.

He didn’t bother to glance back.

Anakin knew he could trust their friends to take care of everything else, and he would take care of Obi-Wan.

fin