Chapter Text
They stayed in that canyon for hours, holding each other and crying.
It got dark, eventually, and they ended up making camp there. The glow of the campfire cast shadows on the canyon walls, the two men were wrapped in Obi Wan’s robe as the chill of the desert night grew colder.
Despite Obi Wan being taller, he felt small next to his commander, who had wrapped an arm around his waist as the Jedi rested his head against the clone’s shoulder.
With the exception of their first conversation, all they had said to each other was reassurances of safety and love, and even then most of that had been done with looks and hugs. Talking about Order 66 and the Empire had been avoided so far, but there was one thing that Obi Wan needed to know.
“Cody?” He murmured
“Hm, yes cyar’ika?”
“How did you end up on Tatooine?”
Growing up as Qui Gon Jinn’s Padawan had taught Obi Wan many things, one such thing was that silence was sometimes more informative and more deafening than any word could be. The silence he heard spoke of relief and great sadness.
“The last thing I remembered, when I was still myself that is, was on Utapau” the clone commander spoke softly, yet even after all those years still had his tell tale tone in his voice that he always got when he did a mission brief. Obi Wan felt his throat tighten.
“You had gone off to continue the battle, and right as I was about to signal the rest of Ghost to follow, I got a comm from the Chancellor. He activated Order 66 and for a brief moment I panicked, because I couldn’t remember what that order was, had never heard of it before.” Cody took a shaky breath inward, held it for a few moments and then released it, something his Jedi had taught him. “Then my mind went blank, and it was like I was watching something on a screen, only the screen was my own eyes. I tried, I tried to stop but nothing I did worked. It was like I was in the backseat of my own mind, and the pilot in charge was nothing more than a pre-programmed droid.”
Obi Wan shifted his body to carefully embrace Cody’s, wrapping his arms around his commander’s torso in a hug. The Jedi felt him stiffen and prepared to pull back when Cody returned the hug, resting his head on Obi Wan’s hair, which was beginning to lighten from all the exposure to sunlight.
“For over five years, maybe more, I watched myself follow orders from officers who treated me worse than even the longnecks. At least the longnecks recognized that we had a capability to learn and improve, at least-“ his commander cut himself off, and Obi Wan felt the bitter pain and anger in the Force, tempered with longing and grief.
“At least as members of the GAR, we were fed regularly. Even under the most despicable of the Jedi Generals and natborn Admirals, we were allowed to eat and sleep and get medical help. Even if some of them didn’t call us by our names, at least then we could hold our name close and call our vode by theirs. My mind was so foggy, so distorted that even the part of me that was, me, couldn’t always survive. After a while, I couldn’t remember my name. I’d heard my body be called my serial number for so long I had nearly forgotten what my name was”
“Then, one day, everything came crashing around me. The Emperor had ordered all remaining clones in service to the Empire to be decommissioned. As the drug hit my system I remembered everything. Everything I was, what I had done those past five years, and most importantly I remembered my name. I could move my body again and I fought, but I lost. I remember wondering what kind of haran I was destined for. Then I was falling, and I landed on you.” Obi Wan couldn’t name all the emotions swirling through the Force from both himself and Cody, but he could feel the undertones of sadness and hope.
“I thought my haran would be to see you, in the canyons of Utapau, forever. A reminder of my greatest regret, despite that I don’t think there was anything I could do to stop it. Then, then you woke up, and you were alive and now I’m here, and honestly general, I don’t know how I got here, but I wouldn’t change it for anything” Cody’s voice held conviction, and it made something in Obi Wan’s chest tighten.
“I’m sorry, Cody. I’m sorry I couldn’t stop whatever happened.”
Obi Wan felt Cody frown into his hair.
“General, Obi Wan, I don’t think there was anything you could do”
Silence followed Cody’s statement, before Obi Wan began to tell his side of the story.
“I managed to get out of the canyon on Utapau, and made my way to the temple on Coruscant. I arrived to find that Anakin had Fallen. Order 66, as it turns out, was an order to kill all the Jedi. Including the younglings.” Obi Wan heard Cody’s sharp intake of breath but pushed onwards. “Bail told Master Yoda and myself what had happened, how Order 66 had turned the vode into mindless soldiers, because in my mind there was, is, no way that you would follow orders to kill children unless you were completely not in control of yourself. Because no matter how loyal the 501st was to my former Padawan, I do not think they would have followed him in destroying the temple without something being wrong.” A few tears slipped down his cheeks
“I told Padmé about Anakin, what he had done. I knew about them, that they were married, they weren’t exactly subtle! She ran off to try and reason with him, and he almost choked her to death. I had to fight him, fight the monster my brother has become, and I left him to die.” The tears were freely running at this point. “I learned later that, apparently, Darth Vader survived.”
“Darth Vader is General Skywalker?!”
Obi Wan smiled sadly “No, Anakin died when he Fell, and Darth Vader is the monster that rose up to replace him.”
They stayed quiet for a few hours after that, just holding each other, until the fire died and the first of the twin suns was beginning to peak over the horizon.
Finally, Obi Wan spoke again.
“Padmé died in childbirth. Her children however, lived. Leia was adopted by Bail, and I took Luke to live with his Uncle and Aunt here on Tatooine. I watch over him now, from a distance. He looks so much like Anakin did as a child.”
The suns slowly rose in the sky, and Obi Wan finally made a move to stand up.
“Well, shall we be off then?”
“Ah, of course general, may I ask where?”
Obi Wan smiled, really smiled, and it stretched the muscles in his face in ways he hadn’t in years.
“Well, if it’s alright with you, I do have some extra space in my little hut, so long as you don’t mind sharing a bed.”
The look of shock on Cody’s face was one that Obi Wan never wanted to forget.
“I-“ he stammered
“Of course, if you accept, we’ll have to drop the ranks. The GAR has long been disbanded anyway”
Cody stood up at last, grabbing his helmet from where it had landed when he’d thrown it yesterday and tucked it under his arm in an altered state of attention. Obi Wan absently noted that they’d need to alter his armor or get a new set so that people didn’t mistake Cody for an actual stormtrooper.
Cody marched over and rested his forehead against Obi Wan’s in a keldabe kiss.
“If you’ll have me, Obi Wan, I would like that very much.” The clone murmured, sounding unsure still.
Now that wouldn’t do.
Obi Wan pulled the man forward and pressed their lips together in a chaste kiss, not deeping it until Cody made the first move, and then it was like nothing else was there, just him and Cody, his beautiful soldier's warm chapped lips against his own. After what seemed like forever, they parted for air, leaning their foreheads together in another kiss.
“Of course I’ll have you my dear, I wouldn’t have offered otherwise”
They finally left the canyon and made their way towards Obi Wan’s, towards their home, and never once did Cody’s hand leave his.
The Force shined and the winds of change began to pick up, for the galaxy wouldn’t be the same ever again.