By My Side

Chapter 8 - Admissions

Obi-Wan can't remember the last time he'd seen Anakin sleeping so restlessly. He never usually paid attention, either, but he won't stop rolling over. He's probably dreaming again, but Obi-Wan doesn't really want to wake him up.

He wants to ask for more about this... dream, if that's really exactly what it was, but Anakin didn't want to talk about it, so Obi-Wan will give him some space. That doesn't mean he's not curious to know what could have left him so shaken up. Obi-Wan contemplates leaving again – he needs to see if he can't get a bit of something out of Ventress who has been temporarily secured, after all – but he can feel something is very wrong with Anakin right now. He's off-balance. He may not be Anakin's master anymore, he may not be obliged to care for him the way he used to, but there will always be the part of him that does.

After a moment of contemplation, Obi-Wan settles down to meditate. Echoes from the disturbance he'd felt earlier are lingering. He felt it earlier, back on Christophsis. Something about Anakin's presence is... different, somehow. He's... changed. Hardened. Darkened. A whirlwind of emotions are swirling around him, the most prominent being pain and grief and a crushing guilt. He shouldn't have had to go to Tatooine, but nothing can be done about it now. It's hardly been any time since – since his mother died. He told Obi-Wan shortly after it happened. Yoda, apparently, already knew.

He feels a pang of regret now. He knew all about Anakin's visions, but he chose to do nothing about them – not that there was much he could have done – and Shmi died because of it. Anakin never talked about it beyond telling him it happened. Obi-Wan never thought to bring it up again, but now he wonders if he should. Anakin was obviously very upset about the mission.

Obi-Wan sends a calming wave of the Force through their bond, and Anakin finally stills a little, unconsciously reaching back and clinging to his presence.

Obi-Wan slips out of his cabin not long later, fully intent on going to have a talk with Ventress. He doubts he'll be successful, but at least he needs to assure she doesn't get any ideas about escaping. He's just left Anakin's room when he spots Ahsoka talking to a nearby clone – one of the 501st that survived Teth. It seems that, at the very least, she's made friends out of the ordeal. She seems to make friends fast. That's one trait Anakin unfortunately doesn't share with her. The moment Ahsoka spots Obi-Wan, she turns to face him, looking rather gloomy. "Now what?" she asks quietly. He immediately knows she's talking about herself. Anakin had said he hadn't explained the situation to her yet.

"I spoke to Anakin," he explains. "He doesn't believe himself capable of training a Padawan alone yet, and suggested we take you together."

Ahsoka's eyes widen, her shock pouring into the Force. "Wait, really?"

Obi-Wan gives her a soft smile. This is so different from when he took Anakin as a Padawan. He hadn't chosen it, but in a way, he had chosen Ahsoka. She was supposed to be Anakin's Padawan, and even if that didn't happen in the end, he... did know there was a possibility of him taking her instead. He knew the time would come where he chose a Padawan of his own, but he never expected it to be so soon. Not during the war. He doesn't really have the time, and Ahsoka is too reckless and wild for his liking, but Anakin has primary custody of her, anyway. "Ahsoka, I am asking you to become our joint Padawan. Do you accept?"

Her Force signature swirls with a multitude of emotions – hope, gratitude, surprise, excitement, and a great deal of nervousness, but she nods anyway. "I accept. I'm honored to be your Padawan, Master Kenobi."

***

Obi-Wan is gone when Anakin jolts awake from yet another nightmare of the clones chasing Ahsoka. Why does it feel as though he's still chasing her, knowing that he'll never, ever catch up? Trying to shake those dark thoughts from mind, Anakin uses the Force to pick up his datapad from the other side of the room and sits up. He doesn't have any machines in here right now and he doesn't want to leave his room, so instead, he'll focus on some other important matters.