The Edge of the Universe

XLI

Obi-wan's POV

"How much of that did you see?" Anakin asked in a shaky voice.

"All of it," I replied quietly.

There was more silence and I took a deep breath and tried to clear the images from my mind.

"Anakin, that wasn't you. You've never done any of that in this life, Darth Vader is an entirely different person from you," I said finally.

"I know, but it could have happened, it almost did happen," he replied.

I sighed and met Anakin's dark blue eyes for the first time.

"Qui-Gon used to say, don't dwell on the past, your history can't be erased, but your future has yet to be written. Make the most of what's going to happen instead of worrying about what you can't change and what could have happened," I said, "Right now, Darth Vader does not exist and there's no point thinking about what you could have changed in that life, just focus on the one your living now. In this life, we do not fight on Mustafar and I know that we never will. Darth Sidious has been playing with everyone since he became the Chancellor and especially you, but you made the right choice and you know that you did,"

There was more silence between us and Anakin looked down at the ground.

"Do you trust me?" Anakin asked suddenly.

"Yes, I've trusted you ever since we went on our first mission together and I still trust you with my life and nothing has ever changed that. I'd follow you to the edge of the universe with no question," I replied immediately.

I felt his guilt disappear and our force bond grew stronger and shone brighter, I knew Anakin trusted me with his life as well. We sat in silence for a bit longer until I finally sighed as looked up at the sky which was turning into morning.

"We should get back before Ahsoka begins looking for us," I suggested.

Anakin nodded and got to his feet before pulling me up, we walked through the forest and found our way back to our small camp where Ahsoka and Rex were still sleeping. I reached out with the force and tried to find any other life forms around us and that's when I felt one far away, it wasn't close enough for me to distinguish if it was an animal or a person. 

"I felt a life form quite far away but it's too far away for me to tell if it's an animal or person, can you try?" I asked.

Anakin nodded and I felt the force calm down silently as he reached out to see what it was and after a few minutes, he nodded.

"It's a person but they're not a human," Anakin replied.

"Is everything alright Master?" Ahsoka said sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"Everythings fine, sorry I woke you," 

"It's fine Master, did you two find someone that can get us off this planet?" she asked standing up now.

"Hopefully, we don't know if they'll help us but we found a life form," I explained.

She nodded and yawned while Rex slowly began to wake up.

"When we get there, I'll do the talking, this may be our only chance at getting home," I said.

"Are you saying I can't negotiate with people?" Anakin asked.

"No, it's just my way is more likely to succeed," 

Anakin pretended to be offended and I rolled my eyes. He and Ahsoka began talking and Rex finally stood up and stretched as I filled him in on what was going on.