Chapter Text
Obi-Wan’s knees bled against the jagged stones beneath them staining the dust red .
The sharp edges of the rocks were surprisingly grounding, he noted bitterly as he shifted slightly to try and arrange his limbs in a less painful position.
Obi-Wan held back a strained hiss as he felt a stone dig deeper into whatever was left of the skin on his kneecap.
Kriff.
What little of the Force he could still grapple with felt clouded, exhaustion nipping at the edges of his consciousness. Perhaps he hadn’t realized just how much he relied on the Force for his own stability.
It was his own fault.
He’d been distracted by something– a thing he couldn’t quite remember now with the fog that had settled over him. Distraction had never treated him well in the past, and it certainly did not now.
Somewhere to the left, Ventress paced with her lightsaber thrown behind her shoulder casually. She smiled the way she always did, eyes glimmering with sick enjoyment before a hint of disappointment crossed her face. “I thought you were better than this, Kenobi. Now look at you.”
She scoffed at him where he knelt before her and clicked her tongue against the top of her mouth.
Though Obi-Wan’s head was still– somehow– upright, his body sagged underneath his weight as if it were melting slowly into the ground. He could barely control the burden of his limbs where they laid idly by his sides.
It was alarmingly unusual to feel, well… drained .
Sure, there had been moments during the war where he had certainly overextended himself, but never like this .
What is wrong with me?
It almost felt like force-exhaustion, it was so close. The shuddering edges of his vision, the disconnect, the burning of his muscles down his sides and up his arms.
Yet, something– something else was off .
His stomach rolled as the thought crossed his mind.
Then, his throat tightened, just enough that a small wheeze pressed through his lips.
Not good.
He attempted to slow the rapid beats of his heart, trying his best to not let the wheezing spiral out of control.
With another gasping breath, and a moment of self-control, Obi-Wan searched the horizon for a flash of white and orange. Cody was around somewhere, and if Obi-Wan silently twitched his fingers in a snapping motion, a signal for help, Cody would be on his way.
He had never used it before, but now was as good of a time as ever.
Eyes catching on what he thought was Cody’s bucket in the distance, he used the minimal strength he had left, and snapped his fingers again.
Once more.
Twice.
Then, with a silent hope, waited.
Cody watched with breath held tightly in his lungs; his heart was beating twice as fast as it should have been.
He had been the one watching.
He looked on helplessly as Obi-Wan took a visibly dangerous leap from one cliff towards another.
It was daring, even for a Jedi, to attempt such a great distance and steep drop. Cody certainly wished Obi-Wan had at least hesitated. He had been fending off attacks from various groups of battle droids single-handedly for hours.
Then– Ventress .
Cody could tell from the look on his face that whatever energy Obi-Wan had left was fading fast. Ventress was just as strong as him, and nearly as skilled with her two lightsabers slicing effortlessly through the air.
Force-exhaustion, his brain reminded him eerily. I seemingly looked like that. It had happened once before when Ventress had been present. It seemed like she repelled Obi-Wan, her very presence depleting him of all the energy he had left. Obi-Wan hadn’t explained it, but something was off .
Ventress was strong, but certainly not strong enough to bring Obi-Wan Kenobi to his knees, Cody was sure of that.
“General, do you need back up?” Cody had asked, trying to not let his worry tint his tone.
“Not—” There was a grunt, then hitched breathing as Cody watched Obi-Wan’s lightsaber clash with both glowing red ones. “Not quite yet,” Obi-Wan continued, “I appreciate your concern – but I’m fine.” His words were spoken through his teeth and in a very concerning way if Cody had anything to say about it.
Obi-Wan certainly didn’t look fine – he looked ill . Almost blue in the face, eyes seemingly watery and forehead dripping with sweat.
He had looked ill since his lightsaber first clashed with the fiery red ones Ventress had led with.
It was almost as if she was a poison .
Cody pushed the thought away violently attempting to keep his rage from boiling over.
He shook his head and glanced back up at the cliff watching as Ventress pushed forward, lightsabers colliding relentlessly against Obi-Wan’s lone blue one. Her stance was strong, a smile still ominously painted across her face as she pushed him even closer to the jagged edge of the cliff. Obi-Wan’s heel barely brushed the edge, and it seemed as if he had no choice but to fall, or attempt something equally dangerous in an attempt to save himself.
Obi-Wan jumped.
Cody watched, mouth ajar and heart in his stomach. He held his breath.
Obi-Wan landed heavily on the very edge of the cliff. Intermixed with the bits of rubble that fell, was Obi-Wan’s lightsaber, which clattered unceremoniously on the ground near where Cody stood. The glowing blade disappeared as it rolled to a stop in the dust.
Cody barely paused to note that Obi-Wan was still alive, struggling to his feet, before searching through the pounds of dust and rocks. For a moment, Cody wished he was able to throw it back up toward him. The cliff was too tall for anyone but a Jedi to do it, so with a sigh of frustration, he attached it to his own belt.
Obi-Wan was certainly not useless without his lightsaber and his hand-to-hand combat skills were superior in comparison to anything Cody had seen before, but the Force wasn’t enough to protect him from the immense power of Ventress.
That is– whatever access to the Force he still had left . Increasingly, Obi-Wan was looking unstable on his feet, boots scuffing against the dirt and arm movements more uncoordinated than Cody had ever seen before.
Cody could see that he had used whatever strength he had left in his body to throw Ventress towards a pile of sharp stones. She caught herself, skidding to a stop on one knee with a nasty snarl painted across her features.
It hadn’t been enough, and Obi-Wan seemed to realize this as a grimace spread across his face seconds later.
Cody fumbled for his commlink hoping Anakin was on the other end while he watched Obi-Wan’s shoulder sink in defeat.
Ventress recovered quickly, her identifying smirk never leaving her face. She held her hand in the air, reaching with the Force to encapsulate Obi-Wan’s bare neck. She pushed him violently into the ground, forced him to his knees, and thrust him into the sharp gravel below.
A small, desperate cry escaped Obi-Wan’s lips before he steeled his face as best he could. Cody knew that look, the one that Obi-Wan wore so well even in the face of pain and torture.
Cody knew that he ground his teeth together and bit his tongue.
Now, Cody was left to watch as Ventress kept him bowed before her.
“You’re weak -- weaker than I remember.” She sneered as she paced in a circle around his form. She twirled her lightsaber with ease as she paced.
Obi-Wan did not appear to be listening to her as his eyes seemingly traced over the horizon, scanning for something. Anything.
Cody attempted to follow his line of vision, but nothing caught his eye.
Suddenly, Obi-Wan’s bloodshot eyes locked on his bucket, and the hand dangling by his side curled upward.
Then, he snapped once.
Then again.
Cody’s heart skipped a beat, breath held tightly in his chest.
It was the sign. The one they had agreed on a year before. The one he thought they would never have to use.
Help.
Overwhelmed by the sudden gravity of the situation unfolding before him, Cody’s skin tingled and he was unable to wrangle his thoughts into some useful form of action.
Think, Cody, think.
Taking a deep breath, he commed Anakin again, fingers trembling around the commlink.
C’mon Skywalker, let’s get the show on the road, he thought as he
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, his comm crackled alive. “Looks like Obi-Wan needs saving… yet, again.” Cody could hear Ahsoka giggling in the background.
“He’s not… stop joking around. He’s losing energy. Distract her, and I will come grab him.” Cody hated Skywalker’s propensity to use sarcasm as a coping mechanism.
Cody began his assent up the far side of the short cliff. He tried to be quiet even as his feet slipped over the loose rocks. He positioned himself behind a shield of stacked rocks as he awaited Skywalker’s distraction methods.
If Obi-Wan could sweet-talk his way out of any situation, Anakin could insult his way to victory just as well.
Cody counted under his breath slowly as if it were the only way to keep his heart from beating out of his chest.
One one-thousand, two one-thousand....
A minute passed, and achingly so. Obi-Wan was still perched on his knees; Cody could see the blood beginning to stain the fabric of his pants. Cody’s stomach sunk as he felt Obi-Wan’s gaze fall upon him. His eyes were pleading with Cody; the Commander could not tell if he was pleading with Cody to come save him or pleading with him to stay far away.
“I’m heading in.” The comm came only a split second before Skywalker launched himself onto the cliff; in one hand he held his lightsaber, in the other, Ahsoka’s. He landed cleanly with a smirk painted across his features and his hands already twirling his own lightsaber. Cody didn’t wait for the battling to begin before his legs carried him over the dusty cliff towards Obi-Wan’s bowing form.
Obi-Wan’s head hung low as his fingers dug into the dust. He looked up as Cody knelt in the dirt. “Do you have it?” He asked numbly and swallowed thickly as he closed his eyes. Sweat beads continued to roll down his forehead, off of his chin, and down into the dirt. He looked worse up close, his skin nearly translucent and his eyes watery yet dim. Cody hesitantly looked down at the lightsaber he gripped in his hand.
“This?” Cody said, not yet willing to hand it over. “Let’s see if you can stand first.”
It could have been a joke, but as soon as Obi-Wan attempted to push himself to his feet, the look on his face told another story. A small, restrained noise emerged from the back of his throat as his bloodied knees peeled off the dusty ground.
Cody held out his arm, hoping Obi-Wan would be able to pull himself the rest of the way to his feet.
Instead, Obi-Wan let out a heavy breath, closed his eyes, and held still for a long few moments.
“Do you…?” Cody started to ask, but Obi-Wan shook his head.
“Apologies Cody, just needed a moment.” Obi-Wan attempted a smile, but it just appeared to be a shaky attempt at a frown.
Obi-Wan looked away and grimaced hard as he wrenched himself the rest of the way to his feet. Without looking back towards Cody, he held out a trembling hand.
Against his better judgment, Cody gently placed the lightsaber into Obi-Wan’s hand.
“Let’s get out of here.” Obi-Wan said after another pause. He glanced at Cody, offering another watery smile.
“More than happy to, Sir.” Cody murmured and braced himself.