Series Title: The Conversation
Title: Part Five, D
Rated: G
Disclaimer: I do not own these guys. They are all GL's.
Summary: Anakin Skywalker finds Obi-Wan and Sidious' tenacious hold upon life is discovered.
Reminder THIS IS A SLASH STORY. I'm not making you read it, so you keep your flames to yourself.

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Obi-Wan sighed as he opened his eyes. Under normal circumstances, such a small amount of communication should not have left him feeling weaker than a kitten. But these were hardly what one could call normal circumstances. It was quite obvious to him that Anakin was interferring with the very nature of the Force in his attemtps to find and help him.

Glancing over at the bed where the young boy - for he could not think of him as a man - rested fitfully, he couldn't help the softening in his eyes. As much as everything he heard Jacen tell him repulsed him, he could not stop feeling sorry for the boy.

Obviously, the legacy of the Skywalker family was quite harsher than anyone believed.

Somehow, that potential to slip into the shadows ensnared them all at one point. Could there be more to this than just having an extra-ordinary amount of Force sensitivity? Could Sidious have been honestly giving them real facts when he spoke of Anakin's birth? Was it possible that it was through a Sith Lord's manipulations that Anakin had been conceived? Was that why his beloved seemed so torn at times? Why he felt more than beings did? And if Sidious' words were the truth, was the Force trying to right the wrong by getting rid of the wrongly born family for all that they were loved?

Everything within Obi-Wan shuddered away from such a thought.

Not only did it contradict what he knew of the Force, it left him with several unanswerable questions. If this was truth - that the Force was trying to purge the error, where did that leave a man like him? As he'd been born to be Guardian to the Chosen of the Jedi, his parentage had been slightly more unsual than Anakin's. As he'd learned from Revan, Obi-Wan was a Force Light.

A gasping cry of anguish caught his ear and he turned towards the young man on the too large bed. Tears streamed down his face and he seemed to be mouthing words that Obi-Wan could not understand. Not for the first time did he wish that he could do more than just offer a listening ear to Jacen for what the boy needed was a comfort that he simply could not offer for it was not within his power.

Jacen's eyes slowly fluttered open and he stared at him. Really stared at him, confused and startled. It was almost as though he couldn't comprehend who Obi-Wan was, or even what he was. What reason he was there - and then memory returned to him. For a brief moment, there was lucidity and truth in his eyes and they widened in horrified awe. It was as though he was seeing - truly seeing - for the first time what he had wrought with his impulsive choice.

Then they were shuttered and he closed them, uselessly turning away from Obi-Wan's look for it rested upon him anyway. Rising after a moment of tossing and turning, unable to contain his restless energy, he began to pace the room.

"I know what you want," he began conversationally, as though this was an every day occurrence. "You want to leave me alone."

"I see no reason to stay where I have no actual use to anyone," he conceded, warily watching him. "There is nothing that I can do for you other than be a confessor. And you have little need of that, Jacen. You already know what you should."

That strange feeling of knowing what was wrong was back - stronger than ever and it ate away at his consciousness. Staring at the bundle of dark energy he had become, he recalled the feel of Asajj Ventress when she was nervously anticipating a message from Dooku. The boy reeked of the Force's darker aspects, something he made no effort to hide nor contain.

"Oh, yes. Use," the way he said reminded Obi-Wan of the way one would utter a curse. The word was spat out in the space between them and he met the Master's eyes, defiantly. "Use - what a pitiful word. What a pitiful way to live one's life. I cannot understand why you always strove to be of use. There's always been something sharper, something much more to you than being a loyal lapdog to the Jedi Order, to the Republic.

"And yet, to be of some worth always, always pervaded your thoughts and actions. It was always something that you strove for, wasted your talents chasing after such a futile dream. And even now, you still chase after it. You still wish to be of some use, to be valued, even though you are dead. You would have been more useful to us during the war, the invasion." His voice was bitter, biting.

"Do you have any idea what we suffered because we did not understand what was happening to us? You would have better served us had you not failed my grandfather," he snarled, whirling away again, his steps angry and jerky as he moved.

Then he stumbled back, shaking under some strain. Trembling uncontrollably - the boy was in immense pain. Pain of body and soul, mind and heart. Fighting a war within himself that he could not win, could not understand. Hands fisted in his hair, he knelt on the ground, pulling and ripping out clumps of his hair.

His fingers pressed into his scalp, scrapping against it. Blood broke free under his constant attacks, trickling down the pale face. To Obi-Wan's perception, it was like he was trying to claw free of his own skin in an endeavor to succeed at ridding himself of this war - or kill himself in the attempt.

The words he cried out then were startling, surprising. Confusing in light of his actions, his previous words. "Make it stop, Master Kenobi! Just make it stop and go away!"

"Make what stop?" he asked, almost pleaded to know. Obi-Wan couldn't figure out what had just happened - Jacen sounded like such a child now. There was a sense of innocence that had not been inside of him before. Gone was the proudly defiant adult who spoke angrily of the perceived failures of Obi-Wan and the other Jedi. In his place was a child, just a small boy who couldn't save himself from his own night terrors.

"Him. Please, just shut him up. I can't do it anymore. He won't listen to me. The words he speaks, his voice, is just too loud and hateful." His eyes flashed over to where he waited, a quiet desperation within them. "Stop him."

"Who?" Obi-Wan pleaded, rising at last to wrap the shaking boy into an embrace.

Jacen latched onto him, desperately clinging to him. Tears ran down his cheeks as he cried despairingly, "Sidious. He's here. He's always been here."

Instinctively, Obi-Wan's arms tightened about him, as though doing so could keep Sidious away from Jacen. Would prevent the Sith Lord from haunting the boy, from taking over his mind - his soul - again. It was a futile attempt and Obi-Wan knew it - admitted it. Quietly, he rocked the boy back and forth, trying to calm him even as he told him, "Jacen, I am not the one who can do that. That power and strength is not mine. It never has been. You need your grandfather. You need Anakin."

Jacen curled tighter into him, breathing in the unique scent of peace that bathed Obi-Wan so completely. It seemed foreign to think of it as a separate thing. It seemed as though peace could not be truly experienced until this man brought it to you. "I can't," he whispered, a sound so broken it tore into Obi-Wan's soul. "After what I did to you, he would never help me."

Though he partially agreed for he knew there was truth in his words, Obi-Wan also knew that he was not enough to help this tortured young man escape Sidious' grasp. It was something of a miracle he'd managed to make it this far without suffering more grievously. Without completely losing himself to Sidious and his poison - but it was not enough and the boy had already accepted that this was so. "Jacen, I wish that I could say that you are wrong - but I cannot. But this I do know - Anakin is the only one who can save you from Sidious."

A bitter, hollow chuckle escaped the trembling boy, his grip even more desperate. He moved in closer - as though he was trying to crawl inside Obi-Wan's skin. "Am I to trust my fate to a man who will hate me on sight for taking you from his side?"

"No. You are to trust the man who has defeated Sidious before. You are to trust the man who has been where you are - is the only one who can understand your confusion. For all my empathy, I cannot understand nor help you like he can. If you cannot bring yourself to trust in him, trust in me. Anakin can be…impetuous and scarily decisive about his own beliefs but he is unswervingly loyal to those he calls friend and family. He would never deny help to one who needs it."

Jacen wanted to believe him. With all his soul, he wanted to believe him. But…but...that was always the silent condition that thrummed in his veins.

Obi-Wan felt the change in him and quickly backed away as the boy looked at him, pure malevolence in his eyes. "So kind of you to try to gain an escape by clouding my mind. Do you honestly think that your Jedi tricks would work upon me?"

"I used no tricks on him - or you. That is not my way as you know full well, Sidious."

The lips thinned and the eyes narrowed, "So, the boy told you."

"You knew that he eventually would," Obi-Wan replied, arms crossing his chest as though it was of no significance to him that he stood in the presence of the Sith Lord who had robbed the Galaxy of its rightful heritage and path. As though standing in the same room with the man who had destroyed his beloved was not killing him.

"I did not know," he testily replied. "Stop trying to outwit me, you worthless Jedi scum, I am far more than you will ever be."

"And yet, you have to steal another's life in order to continue to live while I continue to do so without having to resort to common thievery," Obi-Wan pointed out.

"Thievery? I am merely making use of a body that would have wasted away under the Jedi influence. Now, this boy is living a much better life."

"Better how? By being a slave to your whims? By hiding away from his family? No matter how you dress it up, you are only a thief and shall never have what you want. You know this full well."

"Shut up."

"Truth hurt?" he queried, leaning back to stare at him curiously. "All that you have ever gained or won has been on someone else's merits. Rarely have they been something that you have done yourself for you are a coward."

"I said," he said through gritted teeth, "Shut up."

"A thief and a coward, not much of a life if you ask me."

Lightening flew from Jacen's hands, electrifying the air about Obi-Wan. Thousands of pinpricks of pain smashed into the Jedi but he held firm, only letting a tiny grimace of pain show upon his face. "And now you hide from the truth. Tell me, Sidious, if the Sith Lords are so powerful, why do they fear the truth so much? Why do they fear the light? Surely it cannot be because they know the truth. That the light will cast out all darkness in the end no matter how strong that darkness may seem."

"Do you never listen?" he asked, intensifying his attack.

"When there is something worth listening to, I would. But you words are merely repetitious and hold no meaning for me," he replied, jerking. Not for the first time did he wish that his incorporeal form was immune to this kind of attack. Without conscious thought, he reached out and found a crack in Sidious' shields to the outside world. Anakin! The mental call pierced through the fog that clouded the Force and Obi-Wan hoped it would be enough.

***

Anakin looked at Tahiri and shook his head, dismissing the girl from his presence. "You cannot be of any help to me. Why is it that every single Jedi in this New Order is as ineffectual as the Old Jedi were?"

"We are trying," Luke defended himself, rather softly. He was still reeling from the sudden appearance of Zenoma Sekot. The planet was peacefully orbiting the world - because his father had reached out into the Force and asked it to come to him. Such an act was startling to say the least.

With every moment spent in his father's presence, he was beginning to understand one simple truth - he was incredibly powerful. Far more powerful than he had seemed in life. In the back of his mind, he wondered just how powerful his father would have been had he not been hurt in the battle with Ben.

If he had not been a Sith and just lived in the light, would he have been this strong? Would he have been even stronger? "It's not as easy as it looks, father. Don't you remember anything from working in the Empire? From trying to build it up from the remains of the Republic? How much you had to do before you could do something?"

"No," he baldly said. "For one thing, Sidious almost had the Empire in place when the fall came. As for my own tasks, I did what I normally did. If I wanted something done and I was blocked, I turned it over to my secretary. Or I killed the obstacle. It didn't matter which it was as long as I finished my task. Of course, Sidious frowned on killing to many people."

"Sidious was against killing?" Leia asked skeptically. "That doesn't sound like him. Was it not he who authorized the Jedi Purge?"

"He didn't mind killing - as long as it did not cost him time, money, or his own forces to fill the gap left behind. He really did not care to lose his own advantage that way," Anakin shrugged, almost carelessly as he answered her queries. Really, dredging up such memories was not fun. Not only that, it did not bring him any closer to finding Obi-Wan.

Mara Jade snorted, "Sounds like him, Vader."

His eyes rolled slowly towards her and he walked over, towering over her. With a control he was surprised he still had, he said, "That name is no longer my own. I am Anakin - you would do well to remember that Mara Jade Skywalker for I know the truth of you and what lies you have told in order to assuage your own conscience. I know that you refuse to fully accept any culpability in what you did for Sidious - and that it is weakening you. You do not even understand why this would be so, but I do."

"You have no right to judge me for my actions, Vader. I am living a good life - there was no death bed conversion to the light for me."

"Ah, but because of who I am and what I have done, I do have the right to judge you," he softly corrected her. "I know what it is like to serve under Sidious, what his teaching demands were. I know what it's like to have thousands of lives in my hands and make the decision on whether they should live or die. I understand what it is like to have power, influence, wealth, all at my fingertips - all of it just waiting for me to make the decision of what to do with it. Further more, I understand in a way that you do not just what it means to really choose for love. You did not choose for yourself. That choice was thrust upon you."

Anakin.

The faint call came and Anakin instantly dove into the Force, following the call with all that he was. In the room, the others were forgotten as they saw his face go blank, slack. His body became stiller than they'd ever seen it - yet, there was a sense that he was more active in that moment than they could possibly guess.

A shout of triumphant laughter escaped him with a beaming smile. "Obi-Wan Kenobi, only you would be so bold."

"What is it?" Leia asked curiously.

"I know where he is - and I am going to get him. Thank you for your…attempts to help me. I do appreciate them," he bowed.

Han smirked, "Give the old man a kiss for us, okay?"

A slow smile curled his face as he faded from sight, not seeing the way Luke blanched and stared at Han, a horrified look on his face. "What did you say?" he gasped.

Mara echoed him. An expression identical to the one on Luke's face met his, "Are you saying that Ben and Vader are…are?" she couldn't finish her words. The idea was laughable.

Insane.

It was too ludicrous to…not be the truth. Things that had seemed so odd, so out of character were suddenly making scary sense to her - including the obsessive manner in which Sidious had pursued actual evidence of Obi-Wan's death - down to the desperate hunt for his lightsaber, as though merely having that weapon would be the proof he needed that the Jedi was gone.

"You have to be mistaken, Han. My father and Ben?" Luke's eyes met his, begging him to retract his words.

"It's just an expression," he replied, not liking the way Leia was looking at him. He couldn't quite see why they were all making such a big deal of his words - he'd said even more scandalous things before.

"Han, that was in bad taste," Leia sternly rebuked him. She did not like the look that entered Mara's eyes as the shock faded away. Those green eyes had become almost cold and calculating as they processed Han's words and his own knowledge of the Old Republic. She, like Leia, knew that Han knew more than he was saying. The last thing she needed was for her sister-in-law to figure out what Luke had not.

He shrugged, "Sorry, sweetheart."

"Yeah, you're going to be even sorrier when I'm through with you," she vowed, knowing that her husband wasn't really that apologetic. It was no secret that he believed they should just tell Luke the truth and deal with the outcome. As much as she loved him, she hated how insensitive he was in regards to this one matter.

654321

Anakin burst onto the scene and slammed half of his Force weight into Jacen, watching as the boy stumbled back. Obi-Wan breathed a sigh of relief as the attack abruptly ended. "You know, I would never have thought about Tatooine," he spoke almost conversationally. His arms crossed his chest and he smiled ruefully. "I really should learn from the past. After all, that's where my son was hidden for almost twenty years. And considering how much I loathe this planet, it makes perfect sense that my Obi-Wan would've been hidden here. Sidious, how many times do you have to be killed before you stay dead?"

"Ana…Anakin?" he stammered, unwilling to believe his eyes. It couldn't be him - not here. Not now before he was ready to challenge him and reclaim all that had been taken from him by this man and his rotten family.

"Oh, never mind. I'm not really interested in listening to you blather on again."

And with no further words, he dove straight into his grandson's mind, heading towards the darkness that was Sidious.

"You know, Obi-Wan, you could've changed that Sith lightening into something else and used it against him."

"I could've, Master," he replied, acknowledging his presence.

"Then why didn't you?"

"That would've hurt Jacen - and what good would it ultimately have done? Sidious needs to be stopped and really destroyed, not merely defeated," Obi-Wan answered, watching the still body of the boy who had dropped to the ground when Anakin had jumped into him. Concern over Jacen was written on his face. For no matter what the boy had done, he was merely a pawn in Sidious' game, as everyone who attemtped to deal with the Sith was. "What are you doing here?"

"After the way you basically spelled out I am here in the sands of Tatooine, there was some question on whether or not we should take a stand in this. The Jedi Council finally decided upon the correct course of action to take and asked me to make sure that nothing too extreme occurred because of this…misadventure of yours," Qui-Gon dryly answered, arms folded across his chest.

"And they really sent you?" he skeptically asked, finally looking over at him. His green blue eyes alive with humor.

"I've become quite a model Jedi," he said, sounding offended by Obi-Wan's tone of voice and the amusement in his eyes.

"Yeah, well I have a few things to say about the model Jedi behavior," Anakin's voice announced his return. "Starting with the ridiculous rule about non-interference from us Force Spirits on down to that stupid, Sith begotten Code that should never have been resurrected by my son. But first, I have an order to fulfill. One which I look forward to very much."

He jerked a finger, subtly tugging with the Force, and Obi-Wan found himself locked into a tight embrace. They stared at each other for a moment, just breathing in each other's scent again. Though the eyes still glowed with Sith colors, Obi-Wan recognized the love and sincerity in them easily and knew his own reflected it back to Anakin.

"I missed you," Anakin said before fastening his mouth to Obi-Wan's, giving him the biggest and sloppiest, happiest kiss. Teeth clacked together as Obi-Wan gasped, in shocked delight, meeting the questing tongue eagerly.

He was home again.

"Anakin was right?" Jacen squeaked as he stared at them, wide eyed.

"I usually am," he replied, slowly pulling back. "I was right about what?"

Obi-Wan, though he was flushed, managed to say calmly, "He means his brother. The bet," he prodded him when Anakin just stared blankly at him.

"Oh, yes. That," Anakin nodded, a wolfish smile on his face. Turning to face Jacen, the humor left it completely. "Yes, he was completely correct - and if you tell Luke before we are ready for him to know, what I did to Sidious will be something you pray for, got it?"

Jacen paled. Images flashed through his mind of the battle that had been fought between the two - and then focused on the lengths that his grandfather had gone through to completely remove Sidious from existence - including any seemingly insignificant detail. Any thoughts of deception or tricking this man died in that moment. "Yes, sir."

Anakin's lips curled up into a smile.

Or something that resembled one. "Jacen, if you think for one moment that I do not know everything about you and your actions, you would do well to think again. If not for Obi-Wan's message to me that you weren't entirely yourself, I would've killed you outright. And do not think for one moment that I am going to fade into the background quietly - I will not."

"You…You won't?"

Anakin's look was cutting, even if his voice remained calm and collected. "After the hell I went through - after the hell Obi-Wan went through - because of my fall, if you think that I will allow you to resurrect that cursed group of Force sensitives, you have another thought coming. I am through with pretending to be something I am not. The lessons of the past cannot be learned if there is no one there who can teach it."

"What do you mean?" Qui-Gon sharply asked, not sure he liked where this was going.

The look he shot him was almost pitying.

Almost. "I mean that we are not going to keep ourselves away from the New Jedi Order any longer. We are going to help. We are going to get involved. And anyone who does not agree can become energy once again." His voice was unyielding and firm, full of conviction.

Anakin knew - as he almost always did - the right course of action to take when it came to dealing with the Force. And he was as firm as stone when his course was set. "As for you, Jacen, you will remand yourself into my custody - and be thankful that I am not turning you over to your mother."

Jacen gulped, terrified at the mention of his mother. His grandfather was scary enough. But his mother had faced terrible odds-and had overcome each and every one of them. She was no shirking flower, no damsel in distress.

She may have been Leia Organa Skywalker Solo but she had earned her merits through her own actions and not someone else's. What she had achieved, she had done through her own hard work. Time and time again she had worked her ass off to save others. She had given much to help those in need, asking for nothing in return - and she would give hell to anyone who thought differently.

"Yes, sir," he whispered.

"You cannot do this, Anakin. It isn't right."

Anakin's look was shuttered as he stared at the Master Jedi, "Not right?" he questioned. "Who are you to say that my words are not right? It is the Force's true will that this be done - I am merely seeing that it will be so."

"Obi-Wan, talk some sense into the boy. Tell him that he is using the Force as an excuse to push his own agenda."

"If there is one thing I know about Anakin, it is this-he clearly hears what we do not. If he says that the Force wants us to be participants in the lives of the New Jedi, then that is what the Force wants. We are servants of the Force, we should not deny its Chosen One," he cynically added, knowing from Qui-Gon's flinch that the jab had hit home. It would be awkward for Qui-Gon to deny the words spoken for he had named Anakin the Chosen One.

Anakin smiled triumphantly, knowing that this was all he needed.

This, at last, was Obi-Wan taking a stand against the Order and the Council. Obi-Wan would be at his side. Nothing could be better than that - than knowing that Skywalker and Kenobi stood side by side once more. Together they would face the odds - and triumph. As in life, when they were united, no one stood against them long.

Taking a moment to ravish those lips he'd missed, he reluctantly released his Master to stand on his own, a goofy smile on his face when Obi-Wan held out his hand shyly. Not willing to lose this total confirmation of their unity, he grasped it tightly in his own. "We'll be back," he warned Jacen, making sure that his threat was not only implied by voice - but in his look as well. "You better call your parents - and return to Jaina that which you have taken from her. I will know if you have not."

Then they were gone.

The End

Thank you for tagging along for the ride. I certainly hope you enjoyed it. I promise, if there is more, Obi-Wan's strange status as Guardian to the Chosen One (I call him a Force Light) will be explained and play a central role in it. But as of the moment, I've got nothing. I'm all for ideas if anyone has any to share.