Imagine surviving the war only to lose most of the people closest to you.
The Woman that once upon a time held your heart in her hands.
The Girl that you loved like a daughter and whose death would ultimately lead to you losing your only brother.
•
In this universe, the river of time flows differently. Each step, each choice, and each poignant moment in its stream drift slightly off course.
It starts like this:
When Ahsoka and Bo-Katan ask the Jedi Order for aid in freeing Mandalore from Darth Maul's grasp and finally putting an end to the former Sith's reign, Obi-Wan does not ignore their call for help. Satine's ghost still haunts his nightmares, and it's the look on her sister's face, along with the redheads snarling accusations and Ahsoka's distant demeanor, that cause his typically composed exterior to splinter.
Through the cracks in his shields, a presence slips in – wild and tumultuous, yet practically radiant in its brilliance.
Days, months, weeks and even years later Obi-Wan will wish he'd taken a little longer to cradle her presence close.
It ends like this:
Anakin with Windu on the Invisible Hand. A incapacitated Sith in custody and another, more vile, more cunning, more sinister, choosing the wrong moment to reveal himself. A twist of fate. A long lost friend showing signs of old loyalty. Lightning. Screams. Hurt and Betrayal. The Chosen One as he was meant to be without terrors of the night influencing his most damning decision. Red clashing with purple, with blue. Red, blue, purple, blue, red, purple— A head rolls. The cackling stops.
For a moment, Peace.
A bond, frail at the edges but oh so resilient, crafted amidst blaster fire and silly nicknames and bets made on the battlefield, breaks—
Anakin screams.
•
On Mandalore the last chess piece falls with a Padawans last sacrifice.
First, Maul taunts. Maul laughs. Maul feeds on rage, on grief and hurt and terror, terror, terror. He's stronger here. Less controlled too, but while his greed costs him his head, his strength costs Obi-Wan the centerpiece of his lineage.
Obi-Wan holds his daughter as she bleeds out in his arms. His shoulders shake but he does not cry. His eyes burn but he does not weep. His lips twitch but he does not sob. He holds Ahsoka much the same way he held Satine only months before.
“No, not you too.”
Something flickers inside his mind, once, twice. It grows ever dimmer and Ahsoka's grip on his shoulder, ever weaker. A feeble voice inside his mind, It's okay. It doesn't hurt. I'll be okay, Master.
But this time no reassurance, no hand to his cheek, no last confession, nothing, will temper the anger slowly rising in tandem with his grief. He needs a medic. He needs a medic, now. Where's —
Cody!
Obi-Wan doesn't like the expression on the face of his slowly approaching Commander. The furrow of his brow, the emotion in his eyes. He doesn't like that Cody has taken off his helmet and reaches out to hold Obi-Wan by his shoulder as if he knows Obi-Wan needs the physical support, as if Ahsoka is going to —
“Master—”
Obi-Wan turns his eyes back on his Grandpadawan. Hers are barely open, her lips smeared with blood. Obi-Wans eyes catch on the red trailing down her chin and the length of her throat.
Ahsoka catches his eyes and smiles. She tugs on their bond the way she had always done before a battle, up until her last assignment on Caito Neimodia.
She tugs once, twice, three times. His heart squeezes painfully in his chest. He tugs back three times.
He does cry then. For the life she will never have. For the peace she will never experience. For the war she fought and whose final victory she will never reap. For the girl he learned to love as his own.
And even in her last moment, even in pain, even after Hurt and Miscommunication, and Betrayal born out of insecurity and misjudgment, she still worries for others first. For him.
You're safe. You're all sa—
He shushes her. Tired amusement tingles across their bond.
Then,
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale.
You are forgiven, Obi-Wan.
Exhale. The light winks out and as their bond shatters his last remaining one pulls tight with white hot agony.
Cody is all that keeps Obi-Wan upright right then and there.
•
The war is over. They won. So many dead. His lineage torn asunder.
Ahsoka is dead. Anakin won't speak to him. Qui-Gon is dead. Dooku is imprisoned.
Here the river of time finds a stream parallel to the one we know.
Obi-Wan and Yoda at the end of things.
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