For The Blood We Spill

Chapter 19 - Mending

Author's Note: Enjoy this final chapter! There will be an epilogue next week to tie everything else up. ^-^

 ~ Amina Gila

Anakin opens his eyes to see the familiar walls inside the Halls of Healing at the Jedi Temple. He struggles to remember how he got there. He can't – can't remember. The last thing he remembers is going to confront Dooku. He remembers Dooku telling them that if he dies, the Separatist forces would fire on Coruscant. After that... it's all a blank to him, just like it was after he fought Sidious. Presumably, he must have done something similar, drawn on the Force until he collapsed.

"Anakin?"

He turns toward Obi-Wan's voice, feeling relief wash over him, nearly drowning him, when he sees his former master there. He'd been so worried about Obi-Wan when he joined Dooku, and he'd been afraid of what the Jedi would do if they knew what he'd chosen. That he's here must mean that they're still allowing him to walk free.

Words get stuck in his throat when he tries to speak, and Obi-Wan reaches for water, helping him sit up a little and drink some. "You've been in a coma for almost a week," Obi-Wan tells him, not quite meeting his eyes as he puts the glass down, his hands shaking minutely. "Senator Amidala and Ahsoka were here for a while, but they just left a couple hours ago to get some rest. The healers weren't sure when you'd wake up."

"What – what happened?" Anakin asks, frowning. "Dooku? I don't – the last thing I remember, I was there, at the Senate, confronting him. After that... there's nothing."

Obi-Wan's lips press together, and he glances towards the screens which are monitoring Anakin's readings. "You drew on the Force, destroyed the droids in the Senate," he answers, "And then, you somehow destroyed four of the Separatist cruisers orbiting over Coruscant. I've never seen anything like it. No one has. Dooku was arrested. Tarkin – I – I killed him, when he tried to kill you."

Anakin touches his head, feeling the throbbing in it. "I don't remember that." But it sounds right. It rings with rightness in the Force. It happened. He just... can't remember.

"You nearly died." And oh, that explains Obi-Wan's attitude, the thinly veiled aggression and anger just beneath the surface. He was scared, and he hides it with anger.

"Master," Anakin says, reaching out to catch his hand and squeeze it, his voice gentling. "Obi-Wan, I'm okay. It's over now."

Obi-Wan, instead of pulling his hand away like he often does when Anakin expresses affection physically, tightens his grip. "You died, Anakin," he murmurs, shaking his head. "Your heart stopped. You – scared everyone. You almost didn't make it." He hesitates. "I – I was able to restart your heart with Force lightning."

Huh. He pokes at his former master through their bond, feeling the cool chilliness of his Force presence, the sharp iciness of it. He's still Dark, just maybe not as much as it was before, when Anakin went to confront, and stop, Dooku at the Senate. "I'm okay," he repeats, because he doesn't know what else to say. He'd known he could die when he went in, and he hasn't wanted to, but it had to be done, for the good of the galaxy, for his family, people he loves and would die to protect.

Obi-Wan's jaw clenches, blue-gray eyes stormy. "Did you want to die?" he asks bluntly, and Anakin flinches slightly at the question. It's a fair one, given what he's done, given the depression he's been going through for months, but it still... It stings a little.

He doesn't even need to think of the answer, though. "Not anymore," he answers softly.

He had wanted to die, though, for so long, and he – it changed slowly, gradually, especially after he left the Order. Being free from the pressure and expectations did wonders for his mind. It helped him more than he'd even dreamed. The only thing holding him back was Obi-Wan. He didn't know if his once master cared, how much he cared, rather, because he always has known Obi-Wan was... fond of him. But fondness isn't the same as love, and all he'd ever wanted was for Obi-Wan to care. And then they were captured by Dooku and everything came undone.