20 Days of Obikin Challenge Day 1: “I’ve got you. Breathe, okay? I’ve got you.”
Well lets see how many of these I can actually get out in the 20 days! This’ll be good for me. Read on AO3 or below on tumblr!
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There are times when it’s clear Anakin Skywalker isn’t completely human.
Obi-Wan’s fairly certain that the only people who have really noticed are himself, Ahsoka, and a few of the clones of the 501st. No one else gets so close to Anakin in battle, close enough to see the way his pupils blow out and his breath slows until it’s barely there and he moves like he’s only barely tethered to reality. Like with the slightest push he’d lose himself to the Force that wraps around him like a cyclone, dragging in the eyes of every creature that’s even the slightest bit sensitive.
The power he radiates is dangerous, and a bit intoxicating. It’s so easy to get caught up in his wake, dragged along into a frontal assault that by all rights should end with all of them dead but somehow never does. And then when they’re left in the smoking remains of whatever stronghold they’d been sent to take, Anakin shuts down. Stands in the middle of wreck and ruin and just…stares at something no one else can see with those dark, empty eyes, unnaturally still.
It’s not so common a thing that anyone expects it to happen. No one wants to approach him when he’s like this. No one except, of course, Obi-Wan. He picks his way through smoldering debris, puts himself in his former Padawan’s line of sight, and nudges him in the Force.
“Anakin. Anakin, come back now.”
After the first time they witness it the clones always give them a wide berth, evidently unwilling to intrude on such intimacy between their commanders. Even Ahsoka finds somewhere else to be, but Obi-Wan’s seen the way she looks at Anakin when he’s like this. She is scared, unsure what to make of her Master in this state. Jittery with those too-wide eyes on her, unwilling to meet that vacant gaze. She will only approach once Obi-Wan has his attention.
“Anakin, I’ve got you. Breathe, okay? Breathe now.”
There’s a small part of Obi-Wan that loves the feeling of Anakin’s focus in these moments. For once his Padawan is still and quiet and every bit of him is centered on Obi-Wan’s words. He does as he’s told, ribs expanding suddenly in a gasping inhale, as if he’d forgotten he needs oxygen. His pupils contract back down, blue eyes unfocused and lost until they find Obi-Wan’s face. He blinks once, twice, and now Obi-Wan reaches out to touch, both hands on Anakin’s shoulders, holding him to reality.
“I’ve got you.”
Anakin smiles, he always does, and for that briefest of moments his shields slip and there’s an instant of possessive, insistent joy that Obi-Wan never comments on. They’re both keyed up and shaking and alive and he’s not about to break the fragile balance.
Whatever Anakin is, whatever the Force has shaped into a semblance of humanity, Obi-Wan loves him, and he will always be there to bring him back.
konekorambles 