Two Halfs of One Warrior • Obikin/Vaderwan One-Shots

There Comes a Time When Both Sides Consider Themselves Beaten

• Summary: Two Senators from opposing sides talk about how much they missed what they used to be.

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“You know what,” Obi-Wan said suddenly, looking the screen with his hands clasped behind his back, “it is quite funny.”

He could feel Skywalker’s eyes boring into the back of his head. He was probably scowling – or trying to, at least. It always ended up more of a pout than anything else. It was quite adorable, and Kenobi knew if he told the senator so, he’d get to see his even more adorable snarl. It used to get him an eye roll and a smile, but those days felt so long ago, now.

“I’m sure you think our chancellor being kidnapped by one of your generals is hilarious,” Skywalker spat.

Smiling to himself, Obi-Wan shrugged. “It is a nice surprise, to be sure,” he conceded. He did hate Chancellor Palpatine. Obi-Wan had tried to keep Stewjon neutral for as long as possible, but Palpatine’s continuous acquisition of unchecked power left him uneasy. He was not as strong-willed as his dear friend Satine; Obi-Wan felt that at this point, neutrality was akin to indecision, to inaction.

But of course, joining the side of the Separatists automatically made him the villain. He wasn’t fond of them either, but at least they weren’t headed by a dictator. Couldn’t the Republic see the dangerous man they’d given unlimited power was? Couldn’t they see that with Palpatine as their leader, they were not, could not be the heroes of this story?

(Could anyone, anymore?)

“Ah, then it must be the fact that you and I were put in the same bunker,” Skywalker guessed. Scoffing, “I’m sure that soon enough, I’ll be going crazy enough to find the humor in it, too.”

Turning around with a grin, Obi-Wan looked down at Skywalker, who’d taken purchase on the floor near the locked door (and was, as he’d suspected, pouting). The bunker at the Senate Building was drab, especially compared to the other rooms throughout the structure. The walls were bare and grey and thick, thick enough no blasters would pose a threat. Only one wall was different from the other, taken up by a large screen showing what was going on outside. Blasters, lightsabers, tanks, droids, clones, Jedi – it looked like the apocalypse.

When the battle had broken out on Coruscant’s surface, a handful of senators had been in the building, negotiating terms of surrender as many Separatist leaders found themselves trapped throughout the Outer Rim. They had been shuffled down until they were underground, where they were corralled into the bunkers and locked in. And it was quite funny that Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker, the Tatooine senator that hated Separatists – especially Obi-Wan, it seemed at times – with great vehemence, were put into a bunker of their own.

“While that is indeed ironic, that’s not what I find funny,” Obi-Wan shook his head.

That adorable snarl took over Skywalker’s face. “Just spit it out already, Kenobi.” He spat his name like it left a foul taste in his mouth. It made Obi-Wan’s smile falter; Anakin used to say his name – his first name – with a smile, like it was his favorite word in the galaxy. This war had changed so many things, ruining them to the point where Obi-Wan lost any hope things could ever be as they once were.

And maybe that was a good thing. Who should want the galaxy to return to its old ways, what with the way people profited off getting innocents hooked on spice and trafficking others into slavery? Things should change after this was all over.

It’s just that- well, Obi-Wan had thought, had hoped that there were some things that would never, could never change. But the fact that Anakin could barely even look at him told him that had been a lie.