( closed ) is anybody out there out there

[facultative]

Who: Anakin Skywalker (facultative) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (jedies)
What: Anakin's free of Maul and he thinks Obi-Wan is mad at him
When: Sometime in the second half of the month
Where: the Kenobi house for wayward Jedi

Content Warnings: n/a

[Anakin returns in much the same fashion that he had left, without any warning or sign. It's a dark day as it had been for every other day this month, but there's a lightness to his steps that had been absent for a while. It had been an indescribable feeling to have the weight of his bond with Maul lifted. He'd struggled and now he could look back and see how much he had taken without breaking. He survived and he hadn't given in. Things could be better, he could do better.

He goes into every room as if exploring, but he's really only looking for one person. When he does find him, there's no greeting or words exchanged. Anakin goes right up to him and wraps his arms around Obi-Wan. Only then does he speak, his words muffled slightly against the older man's robes.]

It's gone.

[He trusts that whatever Obi-Wans personal feelings, he wouldn't pull away right now. And then hopefully Anakin can cajole forgiveness while Obi-Wan was stuck here.]

Comments

[facultative]

[He conflates the vision he had on Coruscant to the one he had in the dream world. There was enough overlap between the two to make him believe they were an extension of the same.]

It did. I even saw this place before we went through the door.

[There's one detail he can't confirm that until either of them live through it. But those were just words and doesn't change the fact that everything else he knows will or has happened.]

That's why I knew that you'd walk away before anyone said anything.

[jedies]

[ obi-wan shakes his head, his stance firm. ]

No, Anakin. Think back carefully. Were they truly the same?

[facultative]

[He can't see the point of this and it frustrates him.]

What does it matter? We know it happens.

I know it, they know it. What's the point in pretending like it isn't while waiting for me to snap?

[jedies]

It's not all about what happens. It's equally important to know what led up to it.

[facultative]

Why? It won't change anything.

[It won't do anything for everyone who has to suffer. This was it.]

[jedies]

It may not. But the truth still matters, Anakin.

Do you want your truth to be in the control of someone else?

[facultative]

He already gets everything from me. What's one more?

[jedies]

Do you want to give him everything then?

[facultative]

[He glances away.]

It doesn't matter what I want.

[The knowledge that their worlds will be unaffected by their presence here had seemed like an opportunity to find answers, but it turned to become a noose around his neck.]

[jedies]

[ he repeats himself, steady. ]

Do you want to give him everything? Is this what you want your family to see you as?

[facultative]

No.

But maybe they should.

[jedies]

That's their decision to make.

But you can't keep avoiding making your own.

[facultative]

You're the one trying to pretend everything won't happen.

[He knows he's not dealing with it particularly well, but at least he accepts that its happened.]

[jedies]

That's not what I'm doing. I'm trying to encourage you to move forward.

Without pretending. With the full truth.

[facultative]

[He looks at him like he's said something absurd.]

How could I possibly move on from this?

[jedies]

That's what living is, Anakin.

It's about moving forward.

[facultative]

This isn't living.

[jedies]

You're not a child anymore, Anakin.

You have to decide things for yourself. If you want to remain like this, you can. No one will stop you. Not even me.

[facultative]

I know I'm not!

But that doesn't change that nothing I do here matters. That is my destiny and I can't pretend its not and just move on.

[jedies]

Anakin, what we do here still matters. It may not change the galaxy, but we still have our lives.

We're still responsible for them.

[facultative]

[How could it matter when everything he learnt here would be wiped clean eventually?

Or worse, know and still choose to do those same things.]

For how long?

She went back. She didn't get a choice.

[jedies]

So you'll choose to forget her?

Dismiss what she had with us? The care, the time?

Do they become meaningless simply because they aren't here anymore?

[ a beat. ]

She never wanted that for you.

[facultative]

She didn't know what I'd become either.

[She saw a glimpse of it, but she never found on the whole extent of it.]

[jedies]

You cannot put that on her shoulders.