[It speaks to the history between them that Anakin listens as his friend carefully picks his words. Connects one thought to the next. But even watching as Obi-Wan's gaze cuts away, as he folds his arms across his chest- Anakin isn't able to meet him where he is. His weight shifts as he waits, but the disagreement is there from the very beginning.]
I know it seems like the simplest solution, but we've never seen it be just one person.
[Anakin makes it sound like a reminder because for him it is. Its history they've been present for, seen with their own eyes.]
Every time there's been a Separatist plot or Sith intervention, there've always been people on the other side who said yes. Because they were too cowardly to stand against them or because they were greedy for more.
[ How he wishes Anakin were right; because this is how he thought things were working, too. But the truth is so much more insidious. He tucks his hands behind his elbows, into his armpits, folding his arms tightly to his chest as though to keep the cold at bay. The night is warm. ]
When I was captured on Geonosis [ This is not new information, because when he told it to the Council he told it to Anakin, too; but it also seems like ancient history after years of war. ] Count Dooku told me the Republic was under the control of a Dark Lord of the Sith. A man called Darth Sidious.
I thought he was lying.
[ The weight after that sentence speaks for itself. ]
I know.[This doesn't throw him entirely. They've spoken about it before, and Dooku's- Lord Tyranus's involvement with creating the clone army has come to light between them.
Anakin's arms come up, crossing over his chest at the mention of Geonosis. Geonosis and the few days before it are still a wound inside of him, memories he won't come near enough to touch. It leaves his thoughts to land only on Dooku himself, a man Anakin had killed only hours before arriving on this train.] He told me the war started Naboo and that the Sith control everything.
But he's never told us the truth. If Dooku had his way we'd all give into the dark side.
[ Obi-Wan watches him for a long moment, unmoving save for the subtle movement of his gaze moving across Anakin's expression. After all, he had thought exactly the same as Anakin is saying right now. ]
Whatever his intentions... in this, he was telling the truth.
[ He can sense it, the pressure against an unbroken bond; and Obi-Wan knows his only reluctance comes from his deep desire to protect Anakin's happiness. He shakes his head, apologetic: ]
He has planned all of this from the start, Anakin. The Separatists, the Clone Army... all of it. He played both sides of the war until... until he could reveal himself as the Chancellor, and become Emperor of the Galactic Empire.
[His first instinct is outright denial- and though Anakin doesn't lurch away, his rejection of this as fact is clear all over his face. He knows the Chancellor, that's impossible. Anakin would know, and if he was a Sith lord he would never let-]
Obi-Wan- [He pleads, shoulders sagging] That doesn't make any sense. Played both sides of the war? How? He's been a friend of the Council for years, Count Dooku captured him more than once!
[ He glances at Anakin after the truth hits, can see the denial and disbelief, but as Anakin begs his name he glances away again, shaking his head. The truth is out, now, he cannot soften the blow. ]
I... I wish I could answer that. I still cannot understand how he could have cloaked his presence from every Jedi. From you.
[ Anakin was so strong in the Force, and they had been good friends. The Anakin he knew would have told Obi-Wan. Was Palpatine that powerful? But he must have been. The chill crawls down his spine again. Look at everything else Palpatine had done. Obi-Wan adjusts the fold of his arms and squints at his former Padawan. ]
And yet when I look back on it... the intel he gave us, the emergency powers... the interest he had in the Council and...
[ Obi-Wan abruptly stops as he feels like he has swallowed ice, and it locks the words and you in his throat. ]
Anakin shakes his head as if he could somehow see clearer for it, but it feels too absurd to him. The Chancellor only became the Chancellor because he was elected- and this is the man who had advised Padmé and kept his counsel and had explained the depths of corruption on Corusant to him in the first place. How can he make these things compatible?] If he was the Sith lord then why would he want Dooku dead? If they were allies then why tell me to kill him?
[ This revelation is jarring. He knew Anakin killed Dooku, but he had assumed it was a natural course of the battle; not that Palpatine had intervened somehow. Obi-Wan inhales. Pauses. ]
He knows that goes against our code. Why would he ask that of you?
[Anakin straightens the way he would when called to attention back home, or the way he'd prepare to face the council. But the beat of hesitation that precedes his reply speaks volumes in and of itself. Anakin knows it was wrong. He knew it then, he knows it now. That strange hollow place remains inside of him.]
[ Anakin is right, but the circumstances... that is what made it wrong. Obi-Wan doesn't need to have all the context to understand, because the gravity of it is in the pause before Anakin speaks. But that isn't the point; Palpatine had been manipulating all of them for years into doing as they were told. Anakin had simply been the most vulnerable of them.
But that's what I'm saying- [Agony doesn't ripple through him, they're long, deep frissons through rock that come crumbling down.] The Chancellor has wanted us to stop the Separatists from the beginning. He's always wanted to stop Dooku, and he's always been a friend to me. To both of us!
[As soon as the last words leave his mouth the uncertainty is there. The doubt that he's told the truth. Anakin visibly hesitates, and then, unable to make the lie feel true, he shakes his head. His voice is quiet, the sharing of a secret.]
Obi-Wan, are you sure you aren't mistaken? Did you see this Darth Sidious with your own eyes?
[ Did you see this Darth Sidious with your own eyes? He thinks of the Chancellor standing over Anakin, the familiar, grandfatherly sound of his voice turned from saccharine to poison, a sort of gravel he'll never be able to forget. The way Anakin bowed his head under the birth of Darth Vader.
Obi-Wan blinks back to the worried, creased expression on Anakin's face, and can't quite get the agony out of his own voice: ]
[ He can't get closer to Anakin from here, but he feels himself try. He reaches out with both hands to take up the communicator; reaches out over the tenuous stretch of their bond to splay both hands against the strength of his trembling shields, feeling the force of the hurricane behind them. ]
[ Hadn't he encouraged Anakin, now and then, to seek Palpatine's council when he himself couldn't offer an answer? Despite his distrust of him as a politician. Despite his instincts. He had encouraged Anakin right into that predator's arms. It's enough to make him want to be sick.
Anakin's despair pours over him like melting steel. He tries to catch it as he falls, regardless of the burn. ]
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a shiver goes down his spine, makes his skin break out in gooseflesh. ]
Often enough that I cannot rule out the possibility.
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What does that mean?
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Obi-Wan?
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Certain... developments have lead me to consider points of view I would previously consider impossible.
One person orchestrating something of this magnitude might seem outlandish but we have encountered it before.
[ His eyes cut away, then come back. ]
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I know it seems like the simplest solution, but we've never seen it be just one person.
[Anakin makes it sound like a reminder because for him it is. Its history they've been present for, seen with their own eyes.]
Every time there's been a Separatist plot or Sith intervention, there've always been people on the other side who said yes. Because they were too cowardly to stand against them or because they were greedy for more.
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When I was captured on Geonosis [ This is not new information, because when he told it to the Council he told it to Anakin, too; but it also seems like ancient history after years of war. ] Count Dooku told me the Republic was under the control of a Dark Lord of the Sith. A man called Darth Sidious.
I thought he was lying.
[ The weight after that sentence speaks for itself. ]
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Anakin's arms come up, crossing over his chest at the mention of Geonosis. Geonosis and the few days before it are still a wound inside of him, memories he won't come near enough to touch. It leaves his thoughts to land only on Dooku himself, a man Anakin had killed only hours before arriving on this train.] He told me the war started Naboo and that the Sith control everything.
But he's never told us the truth. If Dooku had his way we'd all give into the dark side.
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Whatever his intentions... in this, he was telling the truth.
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It's this, now, that causes Anakin's eyes to widen. That washes shock- confusion over his features.] Because you know him. You know this Sith Lord?
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Yes.
[ Finally, he cannot hold Anakin's eyes any longer and lowers his gaze. ]
In fact, we all do.
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And?
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He has planned all of this from the start, Anakin. The Separatists, the Clone Army... all of it. He played both sides of the war until... until he could reveal himself as the Chancellor, and become Emperor of the Galactic Empire.
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Obi-Wan- [He pleads, shoulders sagging] That doesn't make any sense. Played both sides of the war? How? He's been a friend of the Council for years, Count Dooku captured him more than once!
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I... I wish I could answer that. I still cannot understand how he could have cloaked his presence from every Jedi. From you.
[ Anakin was so strong in the Force, and they had been good friends. The Anakin he knew would have told Obi-Wan. Was Palpatine that powerful? But he must have been. The chill crawls down his spine again. Look at everything else Palpatine had done. Obi-Wan adjusts the fold of his arms and squints at his former Padawan. ]
And yet when I look back on it... the intel he gave us, the emergency powers... the interest he had in the Council and...
[ Obi-Wan abruptly stops as he feels like he has swallowed ice, and it locks the words and you in his throat. ]
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How?
Anakin shakes his head as if he could somehow see clearer for it, but it feels too absurd to him. The Chancellor only became the Chancellor because he was elected- and this is the man who had advised Padmé and kept his counsel and had explained the depths of corruption on Corusant to him in the first place. How can he make these things compatible?] If he was the Sith lord then why would he want Dooku dead? If they were allies then why tell me to kill him?
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He knows that goes against our code. Why would he ask that of you?
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He was too dangerous to be left alive.
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Quietly: ]
And he could have revealed who Darth Sidious was.
A tyrant... has no allies.
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[As soon as the last words leave his mouth the uncertainty is there. The doubt that he's told the truth. Anakin visibly hesitates, and then, unable to make the lie feel true, he shakes his head. His voice is quiet, the sharing of a secret.]
Obi-Wan, are you sure you aren't mistaken? Did you see this Darth Sidious with your own eyes?
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Obi-Wan blinks back to the worried, creased expression on Anakin's face, and can't quite get the agony out of his own voice: ]
I saw him.
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Obi-Wan's agony is his own]
How?
[It isn't possible. How could a universe exist where this is possible? He sinks to his knees, can't bring himself to lift his head and look back.]
What have I done?
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You didn't know, Anakin.
None of us knew.
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He's my friend- [The words are a moan. Pain, despair.]
All of these years- everything-
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[ Hadn't he encouraged Anakin, now and then, to seek Palpatine's council when he himself couldn't offer an answer? Despite his distrust of him as a politician. Despite his instincts. He had encouraged Anakin right into that predator's arms. It's enough to make him want to be sick.
Anakin's despair pours over him like melting steel. He tries to catch it as he falls, regardless of the burn. ]
I am so sorry.