They are surrounded.

Obi-Wan looks quickly at the circle of clones surrounding him, and he pulls himself to his feet, ignoring the agony that slams into him at the movement. Anakin will be here any minute now; he is sure of it. He focuses, gathering the Force around him, and ignites his lightsaber.

Cody sees him, but he doesn't say anything. His commander knows that Obi-Wan has little choice now. They can't let the Geonosians overcome them. They just need to hold on, just a little bit longer.

With that thought, Obi-Wan moves. He lets himself forget about the pain, about the fact that he can feel the damage inside of him, and that breathing, let alone moving, is more difficult than it should be.

He does it anyway, because what other choice does he have?

Anakin, hurry, Obi-Wan thinks, leaping forward to deflect as many blaster bolts as he can, to protect his men from as many Geonosians as he can.

It doesn't take long for him to realize that his lungs are burning and that no matter how much he tries to channel the Force, the pain surpasses it and floods into him, overwhelming him.

He stumbles, wrapping a hand around his middle, though moving his arm that way seemed to remind him that his shoulder is not quite…in the spot where it's supposed to be. His movements are slow and sluggish, and he can barely hear the sound of his men over the blood rushing in his ears, let alone the sound of blasterfire.

The Force is there, and that's all he needs.

At some point he coughs, feeling blood trickle out of his mouth. He barely has time to wipe it away, and the Force is tense, almost shaking inside of him. Obi-Wan tries to open himself up more to it, tries to let it guide him, but his body can only take so much.

He pauses, and in that moment, a single blaster bolt slips past his guard into his chest. Obi-Wan stumbles back with a gasp. The Force screams, and he must have made some sort of sound, because suddenly a clone is standing next to him, trying to guard him from the Geonosians.

Obi-Wan deflects another two blaster bolts before he sees the bombers in the distance. He breathes out, in a sort of twisted relief, before the Force slips out of his grasp and he slips and falls gratefully out of consciousness.

"Get a medic here, now!" someone cries out, far away.

Anakin runs, feeling the Force twist and cry. Ahsoka is running next to him, though he doesn't know if she can feel exactly what is going on. Oh, he knows she was worried about Obi-Wan earlier, and surely she can feel the agony in the Force right now, but…

He sees a crowd of clones near one of the gunships, and once Cody spots him, he gestures, and the clones move out of the way.

Obi-Wan lies on the ground, propped up by one of the 212th clones, completely still.

"Master Kenobi!" Ahsoka shouts, and she immediately runs over to help.

Anakin finds himself standing still, frozen to the ground. The sun is burning onto him relentlessly, he's completely covered in dust and engine oil, they're in the middle of a campaign and the mission is not even over yet, but Anakin forgets all of that in an instant.

"He's not waking up!" Ahsoka cries out to him.

Anakin stumbles forward and collapses on his knees in front of Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan looks terrible; he's almost completely soaked with blood and engine oil, and there's a hole in the center of his chest. Obi-Wan's chest plate armor didn't seem to do much to protect him from the blast. The armor is cracked, revealing the mess of blood seeping slowly out of the wound.

"Obi-Wan," he whispers, reaching out to him in the Force.

Almost on command, Obi-Wan's eyes open. "Ah—" he manages, and he clenches his jaw and squeezes his eyes closed. "Anakin."

The Force sobs mournfully.

"I'm here, and so is Ahsoka," Anakin says, and he grabs Obi-Wan's hand gently. Ahsoka does the same with Obi-Wan's other hand. "The medics, they're coming. Just hold on for—"

"The m—" Obi-Wan coughs and jerks, lips bloodied. "Mission?" he asks.

"I will take care of it, Master Kenobi."

Master Mundi is standing behind Anakin. He can feel him in the Force, his acceptance. There is grim determination in his eyes, but there is also grief and sadness.

No. Anakin won't accept it. Not like this.

"G-good," Obi-Wan sighs, and his eyes close again. After a few moments, he opens them again and looks directly at Anakin and then Ahsoka. "St-stay together," he says then, eyes shining. "After I…"

"Don't say things like that, Obi-Wan," Anakin replies, tightening his grip on Obi-Wan's hand, trying to ground him somehow. "You're going to be fine."

Obi-Wan smiles gently. "P-proud of you, Anakin," he whispers, then Anakin feels Obi-Wan's hand loosen in his and feels the Force shatter around him.

"No!" Anakin cries. He barely sees the clone medics run over and check Obi-Wan. He sees Helix shake his head gently before stepping away. The Force howls and howls and Anakin screams along with it. Ahsoka is shaking next to him, sobbing more than he's ever seen her cry before.

Anakin doesn't remember exactly how long he kneels there, next to Obi-Wan, waiting for him to wake up again. He doesn't remember when Ahsoka finally gets up and walks away to help Master Mundi take the factory with most of the clones. He doesn't remember when the tight circle of clones around them loosens, leaving Rex and Cody standing behind him, waiting.

Anakin does remember the agony that rolls through the Force as it cries out in the wake of loss. He remembers the searing pain in his mind of a shattered bond. Most of all, he remembers the smile that graces Obi-Wan's face, even now.

"I'm sorry," he whispers, though he knows that Obi-Wan will never hear him say it.

A/N: I had a lot of feelings about this episode in general, so I figured now's a good time to write another Obi-Wan deathfic!

(Also I wrote this in present tense instead of past because...it fit better, I guess. Let me know if I goofed up my tenses anywhere!)

Thank you for reading and please leave a review :)