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It happens on a transport on the way back from a mission, whatever it is. Obi-Wan feels the Force slowly, sluggishly, coalescing into something. A pressure is building in the hold of the transport he and his Padawan are riding in. Obi-Wan tenses as it becomes an uncomfortable, suffocating feeling in the Force.
“Master-” Anakin starts, in a too late warning.
He’s cut off as the feeling snaps sharply. Obi-Wan is unaffected by it, unharmed, but Anakin collapses to the floor violently.
“Padawan!” Obi-Wan cries in alarm, bending down to check him over.
Anakin jolts at his touch, waking up from brief unconsciousness. Realising he'd lost consciousness in the first place stirs anxiety in Obi-Wan's gut.
“Anakin are you alright?” Obi-Wan asks, feeling the currents of the Force around him. Checking him over.
Nothing seems amiss, as if whatever strange Force incident that just occurred never even happened.
“Fine Master.” Anakin says in a placid tone of voice that sounds just a bit off.
-
Obi-Wan marches him straight to the Halls of Healing when they arrive at the Temple a few hours later. He doesn’t hover, because it would be unbecoming of a Jedi Knight and indicative of an attachment to his Padawan that Obi-Wan doesn’t have. That he’s trying not to have.
The healers deem Anakin healthy. They tell Obi-Wan there’s nothing wrong with him. And it doesn’t kill his concerns at all. He knows they’ve missed something, whatever it is.
Over the next several days Obi-Wan notices Anakin sneaks out almost every night. Which is much more than usual. His Padawan does sneak out, but he averages his illicit night excursions out of the Jedi Temple at about once a month usually. Infrequently enough that he probably thinks Obi-Wan doesn’t notice. He does, but after a bit of snooping he’d discovered Anakin was pod-racing on the lower levels. Illegal, certainly, but far from the worst thing he could be doing down there. And not nearly as unbecoming of a Jedi as some of the things Obi-Wan had feared he might be doing. So he'd left it alone. Because Anakin is a stubborn little brat, and sometimes Obi-Wan has to give him an inch or Anakin will beat his way into the mile.
The difference in the week after his collapse isn’t just that Anakin disappears so frequently, or even that he goes off in the middle of the day, it’s that he’s not pod-racing. Obi-Wan doesn’t actually know what he’s doing because Anakin takes great care to completely disappear the second he leaves the Temple. Even more strangely, Obi-Wan finds him the Archives twice within the week, and he isn’t there because of an assignment of Obi-Wan’s. It’s concerning. But Obi-Wan doesn’t know what any of it means. At the end of the week he’s ready to confront his Padawan on all the strange behaviour. He sits himself on the couch in their quarters with a holobook and waits for Anakin to return from his latest excursion. He'd left to parts unknown just after the morning meal.
Obi-Wan straightens as Anakin steps into their quarters some hours later.
“And where have you been since this morning exactly?” Obi-Wan asks him sharply.
He expects Anakin to bristle, to get defensive and start arguing. That’s what should happen. Anakin’s shoulders just sag. That’s his only visible reaction.
After a beat Anakin silently steps over to where Obi-Wan is sitting and holds out a closed hand. He opens it to reveal a datastick. Obi-Wan takes it, gaze flicking between the stick and Anakin’s unreadable expression.
“And what is this?” He asks.
“It’s for the Council.”
“It’s for the-” Obi-Wan raises an eyebrow, “What is it?”
Anakin breaks the eye contact, looking away.
“The Chancellor has requested a meeting with me, I have to go. Take that to the Council when you hear- You’ll know when. It won’t be long.”
Anakin turns away from him and starts walking back to the door.
“Anakin stop! Explain yourself Padawan. What’s on this? Why are you giving it to me to give to the Council? I can forbid you from going to meet the Chancellor if I have to. But I’d prefer not to treat you like a child, unless you act like one.” Obi-Wan snaps crisply. It’s ungainly to have to treat his senior Padawan this way, but Anakin has always been difficult beyond words.
Anakin pauses, turning back towards him. Obi-Wan catches an expression on his Padawan’s face that turns his stomach to lead. Anakin looks resigned, like he’s mourned the consequences of something terrible already and accepted them. It’s an expression Obi-Wan has only had the displeasure of seeing on Anakin’s face a few times now. On missions that have ended up going disastrously.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry Master. You’ll understand once the Council looks at what’s on the stick. You can’t stop me going to see the Chancellor.”
Then Anakin walks out of the door and with it, their quarters. Obi-Wan is up and chasing him without a thought.
“Anakin you will listen to me. This is not the moment to disobey, you will not like what-”
Anakin isn’t listening, he’s walking with purpose towards something. Obi-Wan realises it isn’t an exit though. Unerringly Anakin manages to find Master Windu in the halls quite quickly, like he knew where he’d be. He comes to a stop in front of him, sensing something amiss Master Windu stops as well. Obi-Wan finally has the chance to catch up to them, putting a firm hand on Anakin’s shoulder and squeezing hard.
“Anakin-”
“Before the Master of the Order and my Master, I renounce my Oaths to the Jedi Order.” The words are so shocking, so terrible, Obi-Wan can’t process them.
Anakin shrugs his hand off his shoulder. Lightning fast he has his lightsaber lit in his hand and he sheers off his Padawan brain with it. Obi-Wan can do nothing but gasp in shock. He watches it fall to the floor. Anakin doesn’t bother to catch it. He isn’t looking at Obi-Wan either. He’s looking at Windu’s stern face. He powers down his saber and clips it back to his belt.
“My lightsaber will be returned to the Order within the hour also. But I cannot surrender it now.” Anakin informs Windu.
“Anakin-” Obi-Wan is interrupted by Windu.
“And why not?” Master Windu asks, expression revealing nothing of what he is feeling.
“There is one thing I must do, if you have ever had an ounce of faith in me, I hope you will trust this now.” Without another words Anakin walks away. Windu doesn’t stop him.
Obi-Wan goes to follow but Anakin pauses and lifts a hand.
“Don’t follow me Obi-Wan. You have a message to deliver. You’ll know when.”
“Anakin what does that mean? Why?” Obi-Wan begs. He can’t make sense of any of this.
Anakin hadn’t come to him with these kinds of doubts, had never discussed leaving the Order, not since he was twelve anyway. Obi-Wan shouldn’t have been blindsided like this. Why didn’t he know this was coming? His padawan just repudiated himself and Obi-Wan had no idea it was going to happen.
“The Order will have no part.” Anakin whispers it, but it’s loud enough to carry. Obi-Wan hears it. Windu must hear it.
Anakin walks away, and this time Obi-Wan doesn’t stop him. Because it’s already too late. The singed hair at his ear and the braid left carelessly on the floor prove that.
Obi-Wan is trying to meditate in the gardens forty minutes later on what’s just transpired when he is called to stand in front of an emergency session of the Council. His feet carry him quickly, feeling the weight of something big chasing at his shadow.
“Masters.” Obi-Wan greets the fully assembled and harried looking Council with a shaky breath and a stiff bow.
“Obi-Wan,” Windu answers, “You have been brought before this Council so that we may inform you that Anakin Skywalker has been arrested for assassinating the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic.”
“What?” Obi-Wan asks, disbelievingly.
“The Jedi Order was informed fifteen minutes ago of the arrest that took place in the Chancellor’s office as we are always informed when a Jedi is arrested. We have just updated the Senate Guard with the news that Anakin is no longer a Jedi, as he had chosen to leave the Order this very day.”
Obi-Wan feels like he’s in some kind of nightmare he can’t escape. Nothing makes any sense to him. Everything is falling apart around him and he has no time to process any of it. To find his own inner peace. He takes a deep breath and centres himself as best he can.
“I believe that is my sign.” He says with a blink.
“Sign?” Master Ti repeats.
Obi-Wan brings a hand forward and uncurls it, revealing the datastick.
“Before- before he renounced the Order Anakin handed me this and said to give it to the Council when it… became obvious to do so.” Obi-Wan informs them.
Windu levitates it out of his hand, bringing it to himself. At the same moment Yoda levitates a holoprojector into Windu’s hand. Windu inserts the stick and levitates it towards the centre of the room. Obi-Wan hastily steps out of the centre of the space and back towards the doors. He watches with trepidation as a hologram of his apprentice appears at full height.
Anakin is standing with his hands behind his back, with a familiar confidence in his stance. He’s facing partially away from Obi-Wan, looking towards where Windu is seated.
“Masters of the Council,” The hologram starts, “This datastick contains all of the evidence I have been able to collect about the Sith Lord and Master we have been searching for since the blockade of Naboo and the reveal of the Sith’s return.”
Council members glance at each other and murmur. Obi-Wan’s eyes are glued to the distorted blue visage of Anakin.
“The Sith, Darth Sidious, is Sheev Palpatine.” Anakin’s recording continues.
It pauses then, frozen as the Council chamber erupts into shouts of “Impossible!” and “That’s preposterous!” and general clamour Obi-Wan can’t pick out.
The crack of Yoda’s gimer stick against the smooth floor silences the room.
“Listen to the rest of this recording, we will.” He says in a tone that leaves no room for argument.
Windu un-pauses the recording a moment later.
“Hardly believable I know. You can study the evidence and draw your own conclusions on it. I cannot, will not, allow this man to remain in control of the Republic a moment longer. He has plans to plunge us into war with the amassing Separatist movement and then destroy the Jedi Order and turn the Republic into an Empire. I will not let it come to pass. How I know this…” Anakin’s shoulders droop, “How I know this is a question I cannot answer for you. But the Order will not be implicated in his death. Not as an organisation, at least. This is why I will have by now left the Order. This way I am acting as a lone rogue element. Someone with Jedi training, but not under Jedi orders.”
Anakin’s hologram turns then, impossibly meeting Obi-Wan’s eyes somehow.
“For that I am sorry Master, Obi-Wan.” Oh Padawan, Obi-Wan thinks sadly.
Anakin returns to his original position, looking generally in the direction of the councillors.
“If I may speak out of turn Masters, I would urge you to use caution. The public should be made aware of Palpatine’s treachery. But all too easily they can and will see this as the Order assassinating a figurehead in a bid to seize power if the information is shared poorly,” Anakin breathes in slowly, “I do not expect to escape a life sentence or execution for this so… Goodbye Masters. Goodbye Obi-Wan.” The transmission cuts out.
Everyone is silent, Obi-Wan stands motionless staring at where the hologram of his Padawan was a moment ago. Obi-Wan thinks, I wish this were a nightmare I could wake up from.
The energy in the room is subdued.
“Obi-Wan.” Windu addresses him.
Obi-Wan straightens and meets his gaze.
“We must review the information Anakin has given us. You are dismissed.” The words are said with a finality that Obi-Wan can’t argue with. Even if he were like Qui-Gon and argued with the Council. He doesn’t. He leaves.
Obi-Wan walks away and tries to figure out how he’s going to pull himself together after his life has fallen to pieces so quickly.