Thread: On the Rise (SevenxSaynotozydrate)

Obi-Wan was watching his student, his ward, his - partner - stalk towards him like a wild cat, dressed all in black, pure sinew and rage. He had seen it before, of course, even when he had first met Anakin Skywalker as a young and idealistic nine year old, he had known there was something dark in him - but Qui-Gon Jinn's enthusiasm had led him to hesitantly take the boy under his wing. Back then, he had only just finished his own apprenticeship - he had been a boy himself. But responsibility and determination had made Obi-Wan Kenobi rise in the ranks and gain knowledge and skill faster than any Jedi before him, had made him a part of the council only shortly after losing his braid. Had made him a Master not so long after Anakin had lost his own braid. It hadn't been so long ago, when that darkness had seemed just a speck - it was one that Obi-Wan had worried about from time to time, when he saw the gleam in Anakin's eyes, had even woken up at night, mortified by dreams that his apprentice had done terrible things. He had tried to keep Anakin from that path, had tried to press the Jedi code to him as a safety net, to keep him safe from his own darkness - but he hadn't been able to, couldn't stop the emotion that had already built inside of Anakin from his youth. He couldn't help him surpass the trauma, or help him cope. Obi-Wan Kenobi blamed himself for this, even though Master Yoda had told him not to, had told him there was ultimately nothing he could have done to stop this, but he just couldn't buy it - after all, he had seen the darkness. He just hadn't been able to stop it. And now Anakin had that look in his eyes. I have seen the injustice of every system, of every government, Obi-Wan replied sharply, The Republic is flawed, but your Empire is a dictatorship, it seeks to hold people hostage by their own fear, it instills hatred, feeds off of anguish - your motives may have been for good, Anakin, but they've been - Obi-Wan was cut off by Anakin coming at him, a speeding force, whirling lightsabre, and Obi-Wan brought his up and around, blocking a downwards swing and deflecting one aimed to his hand. Each strike from Anakin was almost careless in his anger the way he always had been when he struck, but there was a new fury to it, a new intention and speed and strength that hadn't been there before - he was being driven by his rage now, not by discipline. Everything had been unleashed inside of Anakin Skywalker it was like facing down a tornado. But Obi-Wan held his ground he had always excelled in every skill a Jedi was meant to have, had obsessively dedicated his life to being a Jedi Knight - there was no other aspect to his life, it had been encompassed by the title. It was why he had been able to best Anakin on Mustufar, despite all of his passion and fury, because Anakin's mind had ultimately been split by emotion, Obi-Wan had coldly held his centre, even though he was watching one of the few people close to him - break down. Dissolve. Fade away. - twisted. Obi-Wan finished roughly, as they stood close, lightsabres pinned together before he shoved away to create space between them. Suddenly, he found himself thinking of his late master, and his death - would this be where it would end for one of them, would one of them fall in the Jedi temple they had grown up in? But no, then came the dark promise from Anakin, the determination not to kill him but to - save him, and Obi-Wan felt something cold and bleak claw down his spine, not fear, but something that came from pure instinct. Something that told him Anakin's darkness had gone beyond what he had even seen. Anakin wasn't aiming to kill him. He was trying to disarm him. He wanted to take him alive , and standing in the darkened temple surrounded by the memory of his fallen comrades and the knowledge of what had happened - and knowing that the empire would grow - Obi-Wan knew that he didn't want to be taken. I will not be a pawn of the empire. Obi-Wan said, parrying a strike.