Chapter Text
The easy part, Obi-Wan decided, as the shuttle rose steadily into atmo and away from the dangers of the Inquisitors, had been the rescue.
Oh, it had gone horribly at almost every possible turn, and it had definitely aged him a further twenty years, he was sure, but, in the end, he’d gotten Leia to safety, and the shuttle was on its way to Alderaan to deliver her to her parents.
The hard part, was of course, her parentage. Not the Organas - Obi-Wan had always known they would care for her to the best of their ability, and they had. So much so that they’d managed to bully him out of hiding to rescue her. No. Not the Organas.
Anakin.
The moment he’d felt their bond connect with a shudder, a terror like he’d never known settled into his bones, managing to drown the grief and mourning and even the guilt , so powerful that it left him shaking where he leaned against the shuttle wall, his eyes wide as he realised just how badly he’d fucked up as he felt Anakin’s attention settle on him, cold and full of hatred and single minded focus and-
Obi-Wan struggled to breathe. Anakin was alive , and now his attention was fixed on him , and- he had to get Leia back to her parents. Had to lead Anakin away, far away, had to put as much of the galaxy between the twins and himself as he possibly could, so that Anakin would not find them.
“Who is Anakin?” Leia asked, but Obi-Wan barely heard her over the roaring of his own pulse in his ears as he stumbled across the shuttle to the control panel. The moment they were out of range of Daiyu’s gravitational well, he sent them into hyperspace, then pulled out his comm, calling Bail with anxious shaking in his fingers.
“Obi-Wan! Did you-“
“How far away are you from Daiyu?” Obi-Wan asked, his voice edged and frantic.
“Only half a system away, waiting on you. Why?”
“Give me your coordinates,” he demanded, already preparing to alter their course. “I need to get Leia to you as quickly as possible and go.”
“You found her! Is she-“
“He’s alive, Bail.” Obi-Wan didn’t have time to feel guilty for cutting Bail off again. “He’s alive, and now he knows I am, too. You need to take her and go , so I can lead him away.”
Even through the flickering holo, Obi-Wan could see the exact moment where Bail registered the true danger his daughter was in. “I’m sending you my coordinates now,” he said, and sure enough, a moment later, Obi-Wan’s comm pinged. He quickly transferred the coordinates over to the control panel of the shuttle, dropping out of hyperspace for barely a minute to alter their course before jumping again. A moment of silence passed between them. “Obi-Wan, you know we can offer you protection.”
“I know you can,” Obi-Wan answered, shaking his head. “But I cannot put you or your family at risk. Now that he knows I’m alive… Bail, I can’t even go back to Tatooine . I can’t risk leading him to-” He cut himself off, this time, his eyes flicking to Leia. She was incredibly intelligent for her age, and powerful in the Force, if in a vastly different way to himself and to her sire. But, she was still just a child, and he couldn’t reveal too much in her presence. She was far too young for such a burden. “I have to lead him away,” he continued, his voice quiet. “As far away as I can get before he inevitably catches up to me. I’m sorry, my friend.”
Bail looked like he wanted to argue, but the pain in his eyes when he looked past Obi-Wan, to his daughter, told him that his friend knew Obi-Wan was right. They couldn’t risk Luke and Leia’s safety just to try and help him. It wasn’t - he wasn’t worth risking their lives. His eyes shifted to Breha, who stood fast beside her husband, shoulders set in determination. He could see that this pained her, too, but he was thankful that her expression didn’t waver the way Bail’s did. Unlike her husband, Breha would not hesitate to abandon Obi-Wan to protect their daughter, and Obi-Wan had never been more thankful for the woman’s presence than he was in that moment.
“I should be with you within the hour,” he told them, reading off the shuttle’s ETA.
“We will be waiting,” Breha replied when it seemed her husband could not. Obi-Wan nodded, again thankful, and shut off his comm, ending the call. Closing his eyes, he let out a shuddering breath, only to startle when Leia tugged at his sleeve.
“Who is Anakin?” She asked again, and Obi-Wan’s heart constricted. Anakin…only one of the bravest Jedi there ever was. The Hero With No Fear. My Padawan…My son…
“…I’m afraid that is a question I will have to leave for your parents to answer, my dear,” he told her quietly, unable to meet her eyes.
Leia frowned at him, her little hand tightening its grip on his sleeve for a moment before letting go and taking half a step back. “That’s not an answer,” she responded with frustration, and Obi-Wan let out a quiet breath.
“It is not my place to tell you.” When she looked like she was going to start arguing, he tiredly held up a hand to stop her. “Please, Leia,” he said softly. “Don’t ask this of me.”
He couldn’t look at her any longer, but he felt in the Force the moment she decided to take pity on him and cease her interrogation. She made her way back to the other side of the empty cargo shuttle, and sat down on the floor, leaning her back against the wall. It only took the poor girl about five minutes before she passed out.
A few minutes later, Obi-Wan noticed she was shivering, and shrugged off his robe, crouching down in front of her to gently wrap it around her shoulders to keep her warm. When she still seemed cold, he settled down beside her, letting her lean into his warmth. She curled her little fist into his sleeve again, and Obi-Wan swallowed thickly. Oh, how he’d longed for this. He’d spent the past ten years watching her brother from afar, longing to hold him and spend time with him, but never permitted to do so. His uncle had made it clearer than crystal, he didn’t want Obi-Wan to have anything to do with Luke. Was unhappy that the boy even knew he existed.
With a soft exhale, Obi-Wan brushed a few strands of hair away from her eyes, tucking them behind her ear. He knew, had the circumstances been different, that Bail and Breha would not have denied him access to their daughter. To…to his granddaughter. Knew that if Anakin weren’t hunting them this very moment, that if he asked, they would allow him to stay, and watch his granddaughter grow up, not just from afar, but with her . Would allow him to get to know her, to…to bond with her. He suspected, even now, that if he were to only ask, they would not deny him.
A tear slid down his cheek, unbidden, but Obi-Wan made no move to wipe it away. He allowed himself to mourn for the bond he would never be able to cultivate, the future he would never get to have with her, because it would endanger her, and Obi-Wan would rather die than ever allow harm to befall her that he could prevent. Even if it meant never seeing her again…
And he knew, after this hour was up, and she was back with her parents, he wouldn’t. Even now, he could feel Anakin at the edge of his consciousness, trying to strongarm his way through Obi-Wan’s mental shields to find him. To follow him. And Obi-Wan, exhausted and weary and out of practice as he was, knew how couldn’t hold up against the barrage forever. Knew that eventually, Anakin would find a crack in his walls, and break his way through. Obi-Wan couldn’t stay with her, and he couldn’t go back to Luke. He would have to trust that Owen and Beru, Bail and Breha, would protect their children. Would keep them safe from the Darkness that nipped at Obi-Wan’s heels, ready to strike.
To keep them safe, he had to lead that darkness far, far away. Keep its attention elsewhere, so that the children could survive. Could grow and flourish into something light and beautiful, all the things their father had once been, but had abandoned. Even if it tore at his very soul, Obi-Wan couldn’t stay with them.
Far too soon and yet not soon enough, the console of the shuttle let out a series of beeps, letting him know that it was time to drop out of hyperspace. Reluctant, Obi-Wan carefully pried himself away from Leia, waking her in the process. He carefully set her back against the wall as he got to his feet. Moments later, they dropped back into realspace. Obi-Wan directed the shuttle down to the mostly uninhabited moon where Leia’s parents were waiting for them, bringing them down beside their spacecraft. The moment the door to the shuttle slid open, Leia was leaping out of the vessel and into her mother’s open arms. Breha hushed her distraught child gently, and Obi-Wan watched, stepping out of the shuttle but not any closer.
Bail closed the distance between them, setting a hand on his shoulder and gripping it tightly. “Thank you, my friend,” he said gravely. “There are no words to express my gratitude to you.”
“None are needed,” he assured the Alderaanian senator. A moment passed between them, and Obi-Wan didn’t want to end it, but they didn’t have time to linger. “You should get her home,” he said lowly, setting a hand on Bail’s arm. “I’ll lead Anakin away.” The hand on his shoulder squeezed tighter.
“Stay safe, my friend,” Bail pleaded, and Obi-Wan nodded slightly.
“I’ll do my best,” he promised, knowing that was the best he could do. Regretfully, the four said their goodbyes, each one of the Organas wrapping Obi-Wan in a hug before stepping back.
“Thank you for saving me,” Leia murmured softly as she let him go, pulling off the robe he had wrapped around her and giving it back to him. Obi-Wan gave her a soft smile, and shrugged it back over his shoulders.
“You are most welcome, my dear. Try not to get into any more trouble, okay?” Leia nodded fervently, but Obi-Wan could tell she would throw herself into trouble headfirst, the first chance she got. She was quite like her birth parents in that way…
At Obi-Wan’s insistence, the Organas boarded their ship and made the jump to Alderaan first. He watched the ship disappear, letting out a relieved sigh, and plotted a course in the opposite direction. The shuttle, miraculously, had a full tank of fuel, but he knew it would only get him so far. He studied the hyperlane charts for a minute, and selected a route that passed by a fuel depot, with an adjoining warehouse for cargo offload and changeover.
He made the jump.
His next fifteen hours were spent in hyperspace, curled up shivering in one corner of the shuttle. Of course, made to carry cargo and not sentients, the vessel had no temperature control. He’d tried to mediate, for a while, but that only made him even more aware of Anakin picking away at his mental shields, which, in turn, made him shiver even more. He’d debated dropping his shields, just slightly, to encourage Anakin in his chase to lead him further away from the children, but in the end, it hadn’t mattered. His once-pupil managed to put a crack in the walls around his mind, and from there, it was all but over.
He couldn’t manage to hold in a cry of pain as Anakin tore into his mind, and Obi-Wan threw his current trajectory at the forefront of his mind as a distraction while he oh so carefully tucked away the twins into the very back of his mind, locking all thoughts and memories of them away in a chest made of beskar. He then shrouded that chest with other memories, some random and useless, and others precious, memories he knew Anakin would hesitate to look at, would want to stay away from. He hid them in the darkest corner of his mind while Anakin was focussed on where he was and how to follow him, and did not dare to think of them again.
Almost as quickly as it had begun, the assault on his mind receded. Anakin had gotten what he wanted - he knew where Obi-Wan was headed. He could’ve changed course. Could’ve headed somewhere else. But he needed to get to that fuel depot, or he’d be trapped in open space, a sitting duck while Anakin closed in on him. His Fallen apprentice might know where he was headed, but he might still get there first, might still have a chance to re-fuel and be on his way before Anakin caught up.
That, of course, was nothing but wishful thinking.
~0~
He knew the moment he touched down at the depot that he wouldn’t be walking out of it with his life. Upon arrival, the whole place was almost completely abandoned, except for the single transport shuttle docked at the fueling station, no attendants in sight. The Force was tense, curled around him in warning, and Obi-Wan had to resist the urge to draw his saber.
Warily, he stepped off the cargo shuttle, glancing between the transport and the fuelling lines, and made a decision. There was no chance he’d be able to refuel the shuttle without interruption. His only hope was that there was another ship docked inside the warehouse that he could steal. It wasn’t much of an option, but it was the only one he had.
As he made his way across the open, quick and quiet but oh so exposed, he realised that he couldn’t feel Anakin at all in the Force. That confused him. The transport at the fueling station was definitely Imperial, and Obi-Wan had been certain that Anakin would hunt him personally - it seemed out of character for him to send someone else to dispose of Obi-Wan.
Small mercies , he decided, dismissing the distracting thoughts from his head as he slipped into the warehouse, waiting a moment for his eyes to adjust to the relative darkness of the unlit interior. When he could make out enough to avoid crashing into anything, he pressed forward, scanning the shadows in search of something ship-shaped. It wasn’t until he’d ventured too deep into the building to turn back, that he realised his mistake.
He heard the hum of a saber somewhere behind him, and then suddenly the Force was screaming at him, or perhaps it was he himself, as Anakin’s Force presence suddenly flared to life all around him, dark and cloying and suffocating , like sludge seeping into his skin. He whirled around, fighting for concentration as his heart hammered behind his chest, fear constricting his lungs as he ignited his saber. The crates around him glowed eerily under the blue light, but Obi-Wan’s eyes were fixed on the red blade metres in front of him, and on the hulking figure behind it.
“Anakin,” he whispered, a decade’s worth of pain and grief spilling from his lips as he uttered the name. The figure before him took a step forward, the blue and red of both their blades reflecting off of shiny black armour that seemed designed to intimidate.
“At last, we meet again,” the figure said, slowly lifting his menacing helmet from his head to reveal a pair of haunting yellow eyes that stared straight into Obi-Wan’s soul-
“My old Master.”