Without The Force ~Obi-Wan Kenobi x Reader~

28- ...A window opens

"We still don't know who is orchestrating this Separatist movement" Anakin says.

You and Obi-Wan share a glance.

"Am I wrong?" Anakin looks at the two of you. You cough.

"Actually," Obi-Wan can't seem to find the words. Unless you outright admitted to what you did, there wasn't really a gentle way to put it. 

Anakin smirked. He seemed to read it in Obi-Wan's eyes, but he also knew not to ask questions he didn't need the answers to. "Who is it then?" He says, and you and Obi-Wan visibly relax.

It's a hard story to tell, especially when you know you have to omit some parts, but those parts are equally important, aren't they? It's like walking a tightrope, but Anakin's clever eyes are hard to hide from, and they narrow when you lie, as if he can tell precisely which words are untruthful.

"Long story short," You say, "I have their address."

You know the depths. But as you walk to the house, with Obi-Wan and Anakin trailing behind, you start to wonder if you really do. This is your home, where you were born and raised, but after the time away it feels wrong. You're leading Jedi to the home of a separatist, fully intending on capturing them, taking them away and presenting them in front of the senate for treason. They'll be found guilty, you can feel it in your bones. Even if strings must be pulled, they will be found guilty, that is already set in stone and you haven't even arrived at their house yet. It feels wrong, like betrayal, as if you yourself are committing treason. The Jedi behind you are disguised, hoods pulled up, eyes trained on the floor to avoid looking at anyone directly. You can't see their lightsabres, but you know they're there, and that they know how to use them- they're willing to use them.

The air is stuffy, green smoke plays in the light. You feel ashamed, in your new clothes, having been living in luxury just days ago, like a traitor to where you were born. Was it fate? You thought it had to be, as you locked eyes with someone you recognised, but could not name. You did nothing special, nothing extraordinary. It had all happened because...

...because you had helped a Jedi find his lightsabre. 

You hadn't even known what it was. You thought the man was crazy, and you recall only following after him because it would be amusing to watch. Was that fate? That you had been in that bar at that time, that he had chosen the same one? Had some divine being placed you there, Jedi, thief and you. You turned to look over your shoulder, and saw Obi-Wan already looking at you. Your face grew hot, to know he had been watching you. Half-daydreaming, you almost miss the turning, but remember at just the last moment and turn onto a different street. 

It's hard, trying to focus on the streets, dark and looming and full of people. You press on, weaving past a group of people, they're laughing and drinking. The smell of sweat and alcohol is strong and acidic, it's unfamiliar to you now and you have to adjust all over again. Checking behind you, you make sure Anakin and Obi-Wan made it through without losing sight of you. It's dangerous, you know that. It only takes one person to recognise them, and a fight was sure to break out. All three of you saw the crowds, yelling and cheering, desperate for freedom from the rancid depths. The Jedi were seen as oppressors, enforcers of not peace, but suffering. You glared at someone who stared for just a little too long and hoped it was enough to get them to avert their gaze. With no vehicles, you wandered onto the road, cobbled and slick with dark and greasy fluids that came from somewhere. The people thinned out in the road, no groups lingering outside bars, no flocks of swaying drunkards to fight through. You focused on speeding up, wanting all this over with already. The longer it took, the more doubt wormed in your gut, the more you longed to turn back and insist you let them get on with whatever they're doing. You catch sight of a poster and feel the itch to give up grow stronger. Was it really so wrong to want change? You look around, was it really so bad to want to leave a place like this?