Entry tags:

50episodes, fanfic

FIC: The Battle - Obi-Wan - PG
TITLE: The Battle
AUTHOR: agentj / agentjedi
CHALLENGE: 50episodes
CLAIM: Obi-Wan Kenobi
TABLE/PROMPT: 3; #46 Sleep
RATING: PG
DATE WRITTEN: a few paragraphs in 2005 or 2006, rest August 2007
TIMEFRAME: Between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope
SUMMARY: Obi-Wan remembers the last of Anakin Skywalker.
CONTENT WARNING: violence
WORD COUNT: 689

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The air was heavy with the heat, pungent with the smell of sulphur. Bitter taste of metal clung in my mouth as I stretched out my senses to the dark crevices of the droid factory. Heaviness wore on me like a wet cloak.

Why, Anakin? Why?!

My mind screamed it over and over. The sight of the bodies strewn across the Temple floor haunted me. And the children.... The children....

My ruminations nearly cost me my life. A flash of blue like lightning caught my attention, and with the full force of his power, the man who was once my padawan learner dealt a blow that I blocked with nary a moment to spare. The blow shuddered down my arms and nearly broke me in two. The glow of his sabre eerily illuminated his face. And those eyes....

Parry, thrust, block, feint. I had once fought back-to-back with this man as my comrade, but never had I felt his power tainted with such viciousness. His newly unleashed dark power clawed and railed against me, leaving such devastation in its wake. I had fought for my life many more times than I could count as a Jedi. Against him, I fought for my very soul.

Qui-Gon. Master. Help me.

The last time I faced a Sith demon, I had lost more than my master. I lost my composure, and anger fuelled my actions. My youth gave me power to press back the vile creature. It was arrogance that nearly cost me my life. Facing my destiny, I had found strength in my training and understood what it meant to be a Jedi. Hanging above the unfathomable Abaddon, I let go my anger, my hate, my yearning. The Force filled the emptiness within me, and I rose to my feet, cutting the Zabrak in two, sending him to the hells that created him.

I find it impossible to empty myself now.

The blows Anakin delivered to my ears burned me more than the spray of lava across my face, deeper than the ignited blade of a lightsabre.

Oh, Anakin. You were a brother to me. How many times had you spoken your love for me? How often did you say I was like a father to you? How could Master Yoda send me here to face this...?

I kept giving you ground. You kept filling it with your rage. You were right, Anakin. This was a fight I knew I could not win. Whether I saved you or I saved myself, I alone had to face the empty void that was once my life.

Truth. Justice. The Jedi Order. The Force.

I kept running until there was nowhere left to run. I spied a slippery slope, its black shore deceptively solid. I made my stand.

In a rush, the man who will forever haunt my dreams leapt over me. I stabbed at him, taking his legs out from under him. As his howl filled my ears, he fell to the burning ash, reaching for a hold that would never be his. I took the last of his flesh limbs from him. His powerful mechanical arm clawed at the shifting ash beneath him, and it dragged him down to the fiery river below.

"Obi-Wan...!"

Words spewed from my mouth. Words of passion, words of regret, words of anguish, words I can never take back.

What have I done?!

I watched him slip away in the quicksand, fire engulfing his body, his words echoing in my ears: "I hate you!"

Even as the words registered, all I felt was nothing.

With a start, I awake, my body drenched in sweat. My ragged breathing audible, I let the nightmare wash over me.

Slowly the lightheadedness dissipates, and my eyes adjust to the bright light streaming in from the shutters. I draw back the covers and make my way to the 'fresher, my body heavy in memories.

There is no mirror, nothing to remind me of the passage of time, yet I know it has passed—too much of it. I wipe the grit and sweat from my brow and steel myself for another day.

( Other scenes from Obi-Wan Kenobi's life. )