Eclipse

Chapter 8- When Theories Become Facts

  He watched the steady rise and fall of his old Padawan's chest from the uncomfortable seat across from his bed in deafening silence. 

Anakin was unconventional in his own styles as a Jedi, possessions being one of them. Whether it be a person that he deeply cared for, or items more than a lightsaber, he was in possession of them. 

Obi-Wan wondered if that had anything to do with his apprentice's latest horrific episode, or perhaps it was irrelevant and his mind was hunting for excuses. 

It was likely the later. 

Growing up as a slave gave Anakin an intense desire for possessions, and Obi-Wan, being the compassionate Jedi he was, allowed him that small solace. A few posters hung from the modernly relaxing walls, (Which Anakin had scoffed and deemed bland.) Disassembled droid parts, a bunch of other parts Obi-Wan couldn't identify, and even parts of mechanisms that he was pretty sure Anakin had stolen from his room lay, scattered haphazardly across the tiles. 

Obi-Wan spent countless times here, in his precise position, beside his supine apprentice. If the boy was ill, he sat diligently beside him, gingerly moving his growing adolescent locks from his squinting ocean eyes. If it was injury, he would find himself doing the same, perhaps reading a news article while he waited for his friend to make his journey back into the land of the living, only to be rewarded with a smirk and shinning blue eyes. Somehow, each time, that was enough.

"It takes more than a lucky blastershot to take me out." He smiled then... bright and reckless, glowing with youth as he met his brothers worried blue-grey eyes. "Your stuck with me master."

He fondly remember rolling his eyes and replying with a playful, "Yes Padawan, you'll certainly be the death of me." Then Anakin would laugh, lighthearted and cheery even while he was stuck under the scrutiny of the temple healers. With that, Obi-Wan would spend the remainder of his Padawan's convalescence jesting, and stroking his hair back comfortingly... 

Obi-Wan was clasping his hands tightly together now for a reason.  

The bemused Jedi master's eyes eventually lost interest of the room, and his gaze fell upon his sleeping comrade. He guessed he looked at least... semi-peaceful. His eyebrows seemed to be always furrowed in concern or frustration. Even in unconsciousness, he never did look tranquil. Though what cut Obi-Wan was the feeble moans that would emanate from him occasionally. It hurt him to see the boy he raised so conflicted. It was a sentiment he could compare to a father's concern for their son. 

Still, none of his internal, inane cogitations could truly distract from the most looming of thoughts. He tried, no one could say he didn't. But there was no point in trying, as Master Yoda said. Do or do not, there is no try. There is no success in trying. 

His words were proving to be annoyingly true once more. 

Utapau continued to occupy his thoughts, despite his fruitless attempts to trick his own mind into ignorance. Despite his attempt to believe he had never seen the corruption of molten lava setting fire to a vast ocean, he knew the truth. His analytical mind was much to intelligent for an idiotic ruse. 

And oh, that analytical mind could remember... 

Seconds after the yellow died away, and the blue he grew to know closed up, he had called the troops into the next room to take he and Anakin away into the monochrome safeness of a medbay. As he followed the stretcher, he refused to look back at the broken, sparking skeletal structure that was once a fearsome monster. The gaping hole in the cyborgs mechanical chest would forever be a hole in his own. 

Anakin may as well have stabbed them both. 

He vowed he would never return to that wretched planet, a filthy reminder where the Jedi code was desecrated, and his brother was nearly lost. He also knew that Anakin held the same resentment for Tatooine. It was the bane of his existence, that dust ball. He never did understand it, he had told the boy to take a breath and release his acrimony into the force. It was just a planet.