Chapter Text
“I wish I’d known him.”
When Obi-Wan Kenobi was just a Padawan, he’d come to a shocking conclusion. He was doomed to suffer. But he accepted his fate.
There was very little true light in his life. Except for Anakin. Anakin was bright, a little too clingy, and a gift to know. Obi-Wan had tried so hard to be a good Master for him, but he’d failed.
Nonetheless, he’d loved Anakin with his heart and soul. And he’d thought that he knew him well. He even knew his secrets in words not said as he snuck out to visit the ARC trooper and Senator Amidala.
But he’d been wrong.
When Anakin Fell… he couldn’t believe it. But, sadly… it had been true.
“He was the best star pilot in the Galaxy…”
One of Obi-Wan’s biggest breakthrough in the early years was letting Anakin fly. He’d explained the controls on his Starfighter and Anakin had zoomed up into the sky, laughing brightly over the comms and landing near-perfectly an hour later.
And, though Anakin had always been the type to lead from the front, even on ground assaults, Anakin had lead from the front.
Q
But in space? In the air? Anakin was as unstoppable as he was exuberant .
And he always won, in the air.
(Not to mention the street races Anakin had flown in as a teen that Obi-Wan definitely didn’t know about. Except for those few that he hid in the crowd and watched. Anakin usually won.)
“…And he was a cunning warrior…”
Obi-Wan and Anakin had very often gotten caught in system wars, before the Clone Wars began. They were perhaps some of the most experienced Jedi officers in the Grand Army of the Republic.
So he wasn’t exactly surprised by his elevation to the Jedi Council or Anakin’s Knighting happening even earlier that his bright (but a bit too emotional) Padawan normally could expect.
But, of course, during the time that Anakin was with Obi-Wan and the 212th, he’d become the favorite of plenty of Obi-Wan’s troops. He didn’t hesitate to sign the transfer for Torrent to become part of the 501st.
Anakin always lead from the front. He always did his paperwork early as possible, even though Obi-Wan knows he still sometimes struggles with the Aurebesh lettering.
And his plans were… insane, but they worked. The public called Anakin “The Hero With No Fear”, and Obi-Wan was proud, but it also worried him, that all this attention would go to Anakin’s head.
If only Obi-Wan himself had paid enough attention.
“…And he was a good friend.”
He was until he wasn’t and hadn’t Obi-Wan failed him first? Anakin loved until it destroyed him, and Obi-Wan had used that, carelessly.
Hardeen has broken Anakin’s trust in him. Ahsoka’s trial had taken what little trust he’d ever had in the Council. Then ARC trooper Fives had died.
Sidious had picked off everything that tethered Anakin to the Light.
And Obi-Wan hadn’t seen it— hadn’t wanted to see it, in truth.
So he’d been utterly broken when he’d discovered the truth.
And Obi-Wan swears it … he won’t fail Luke, too.