Chapter Text
The moment he gives in isn’t special. It just is .
He falls to his knees, lightsaber falling from his grip. The cold mud soaks his knees, but he doesn’t make any move to get up.
His men are gone. All dead around him. Every single clone. Only Anakin remains.
The sky is dark with smoke and storm clouds are coming in. Rain begins to fall. But the Knight doesn’t move. But suddenly he throws back his head and screams .
The Force explodes out of him. A star gone supernova. He drops his indestructible shields and let his presence overwhelm the planet. Tears stream down his face, mixing with the rain.
And he screams in agony .
He just can’t anymore. He can’t do it.
His mother died in his arms.
Padme left him.
Ahsoka left him.
Obi-Wan betrayed him.
Fives was murdered in front of him.
And the every single clone who had fought in this battle was dead. Friends. Brothers who had his back more than any Jedi had ever.
The Force that emanates from him, destroys everything on the planet. Any remaining Separatist strongholds are blown apart by the pain in Anakin’s heart.
His body is in ruins. Two blaster shots had made it through his armor. Breaking ribs, but he’d fought on, relying on the force to get through the battle. But that was before the separatists released the bombers that they weren’t supposed to have. Decimating Anakin’s legion. He’d only had time to barely shield himself. Bomb after bomb after bomb had dropped. Destroying everything.
This had been a trap. They had destroyed their own forces as well. They’d been trying to kill Anakin. And failed. And had killed everyone who Anakin had fought and bled beside for the last two years.
Smoke rose from the rotting battlefield, the smell was insufferable. But Anakin couldn’t get up. He was too far gone. His mind in tatters, his body close to giving in. Exhaustion weighing him down.
He screamed until his voice gave out. His throat raw and bloody and felt like glass scratching.
He gasped for breath as he sobbed. Death ringing in the force. Mocking him with his failure.
He was never enough. He gave everything he had and it wasn’t enough.
He didn’t know how long he stayed there. His knees were numb from the cold. The pain was an afterthought now.
The Force was silent.
And for the first time, Anakin felt nothing.
A numbness spread from his chest throughout his body until there was nothing but an empty brokenness.
He stared down at a helmet with painted Jag eyes without weren’t really seeing.
He stayed like that as the smoke cleared and the sun set and rose again he didn’t know how many times.
“Anakin.” The accented voice filtered through his head quietly. Someone knelt in front of him, and took his face in their hands.
Anakin didn’t fight it. He let them raise his head and met the concerned eyes of his Master. Anakin didn’t respond. Didn’t even react. He didn’t know how to. What do you say to Someone you failed repeatedly until you couldn’t go on anymore?
“Anakin, can you stand?” His voice was soft. As if he thought if he spoke too loud Anakin would fall over. But Anakin couldn’t feel his legs. They’d gone numb so long ago. Anakin looked down. He tries to stand but he’d forgotten about his broken ankle. And his legs were stiff and numb from one position for so long.
He can’t. Can’t even stand.
Another failure . Anakin adds in his head.
Obi-Wan puts one arm around Anakin’s shoulders and another under his knees and lifts him up. Anakin doesn’t make a sound and goes limp in Obi-Wan’s arms. Head resting on Obi-Wan’s chest. He keeps his eyes open and watches as they pass the clones of the 212th and the 187th look around with horror. Master Mace Windu is waiting in the ship as Obi-Wan carries Anakin up the ramp. Anakin doesn’t think they speak, but he’s not sure.
He doesn’t really hear anything. The world is quiet. He hears nothing but the thump of Obi-Wan’s heart against his ear.
Obi-Wan lays him down on a medical bed and Kix immediately starts giving him anesthetics. Anakin just lies there and stares up at the white ceiling, a tear slides down his face, until his eyes close for first time in days to give way to sleep.
………………………………………………………………….
Obi-Wan was worried. Scratch that, he was terrified. The ship couldn’t go fast enough.
Anakin needed him.
He could feel it in his bones.
His Padawan had gone radio silent three days ago. And on the first day, the Force bond with Anakin had exploded in a wave of panic and agony before going completely silent. Not blocked. Or broken. Just silent. Quiet.
Obi-Wan had immediately requested to check up on it, but he’d been refused until he was done with his battle. And then him and Mace had gone to the last known location of Anakin’s Battalion. Upon arriving out of hyperspace, Obi-Wan felt it immediately. The death. It permeated the planet so thickly that it made Obi-Wan sick. But he could sense Anakin down there. They quickly made their way down the planet. The ride down was quiet. The Clones sensing something was wrong from Obi-Wan and Mace’s stoic behavior.
When the doors opened, Obi-Wan stepped out into a horror.
Bodies were everywhere. Burned, blown apart. Skeletons. Mace nudged Obi-Wan and when he finally looked up and away from the bodies he saw Mace looking off into the distance at something. Obi-Wan turned and looked and saw something far off, a person. Kneeling.
Anakin.
The only alive signature on the planet.
Obi-Wan ran. Trying not to trip on bodies of men he’d fought closely with before.
When he finally got Anakin, he stopped.
Anakin’s back was to him. His head bowed. He was a filthy mess, dirt and ash coated on him as well as what looked like dried blood.
And when Obi-Wan reached out to the force he realized that Anakin’s shields were completely gone. There was nothing protecting him.
But there wasn’t anything to protect. He couldn’t sense anything from Anakin other than he was right in front of him.
“Anakin? Are you alright?” He asked.
Nothing.
Not even a twitch in the force.
“Anakin, what happened.” Nothing again. Obi-Wan walked around to face and Anakin and knelt down in front of him.
“Anakin! Please answer me. Anakin.” Obi-Wan carefully pulled Anakin’s head up. His face was more dirty than the rest of him. But Obi-Wan disregarded that when Anakin met his eyes.
There was an emptiness there that terrified Obi-Wan to his core. He still didn’t acknowledge that Obi-Wan was there. He tried to corral his fear and asked. “Anakin, can you stand?”
Still no answer, not even a flicker in the force. But Anakin did try to stand. He failed, barely moving at all. Obi-Wan quickly moved to pick him up. And when he did, he realized why he couldn’t stand.
Blaster bolts riddled his armor, his ankle looked deformed, definitely broken badly.
Anakin was limp in his arms. And lighter than he was supposed to be.
Obi-Wan carried him to the ship as fast as he could and stood with him in his arms as they were taken back to the cruiser.
“He alright?” Mace whispered.
“I don’t know. He won’t say anything.” As soon as the ship landed, he was out and heading towards the med bay. Kix was waiting for him when he got there and followed into the room as Obi-Wan layed Anakin on the bed.
His eyes were still opened. Wide and unseeing. A single tear slid down the side of his face. Still nothing in the force or their bond. Even as Obi-Wan nudged it. Kix gave him anesthesia and soon, Anakin’s eyes slowly closed.
“Alright, General. I need to get to work.” Kix said not unkindly. Obi-Wan nodded and walked backwards out the door. Watching his Padawan. His poor Padawan. The door closed and Obi-Wan sank hard into the chair in the hall. Windu came along and joined him. And for awhile they sat there, and waited.
“What happened down there?” Obi-Wan asked.
“I don’t know, Obi-Wan.” Mace sighed. “But nothing good.”