Chapter Text
The desert called. Endless sand in every direction. The beating sun. The howling dry wind.
Yet something tugged at his gut, like a candle in the darkness all around him.
No, wait, that wasn't right. It was day, bright and searing day in the desert. Why was it dark? Why was it cold? That didn't make sense.
His feet carried him steadily onward. Farther into the nothingness. Closer to the tug and pull of light.
Out of the sand, a being emerged. Two beings, in fact. A low squat orange and white flat-topped astromech that had seen better decades and an unconscious teenage boy with a lightsaber sitting just beyond his grasp.
Foolish to be out here alone .
The boy blinked awake and rolled over slightly. Blue hair and clear blue eyes stared at him a moment before passing out again.
Old Ben Kenobi bent down over the young unconscious Ezra Bridger and hefted the concerning light youth into his arms. They'd need to find shelter if he wanted to make sure the boy lived.
Obi-Wan Kenobi bolted upright in his bed. He gasped as his mind tried to comprehend what he'd seen.
That- that hadn't been a vision. He had his fair share before, and this lacked a vision's cloudiness.
It hadn't quite been a dream either. He could still recall it in perfect detail, which he often couldn't with dreams. No, no, this had been a memory. Just not his.
He slowly got to his feet, head still pounding. He- he had been on Tatooine in the memory-dream. But he had been older, far older.
And the Force, the Force, had felt so cold. And yet the desert had been so hot, but the flickering lights in the darkness had been so bright and lonely.
Teenager Ezra Bridger's face flashed in his mind and propelled Obi-Wan to his feet. Ezra was the key to whatever he'd seen. His mind produced the vision of himself but white, hardened, and old and then unaided the hiss of an artificial breather. Obi-Wan shoved the sound away.
He checked his chrono as he dressed. It was early but not too early to possibly be up. Obi-Wan inhaled slowly and continuously let his anxiety from the dream go.
He needed to meditate. To try and untangle even a fraction of all the chaos in his head from yesterday's meeting. And he definitely needed out of his quarters.
Slipping his boots on, he exited his room and made his way down the halls that were a dusty blue as the morning light came into the Room of a Thousand Fountains. The sound of rushing water and whispering leaves calmed him instantly. For as long as he could remember, this place had always brought him peace.
He let his feet carry him on instinct deeper into the maze of trees and waterfalls until he finally came to a quiet secluded area perfect for meditation. Only to find it already occupied.
Ezra Bridger looked up at him serenely as he came into the clearing, "Good morning Master Obi-Wan."
Obi-Wan suddenly wondered if his instinctual need to meditate here now hadn't been instinct at all but the Force guiding him. "Good morning Knight Bridger."
Bridger beamed at the title, "Did your former padawan find you last night? He said he was going to."
Obi-Wan chuckled, recalling Anakin and Ahsoka tumbling into his quarters last night arguing about something he still wasn't clear on, "Yes. Am I to assume he visited you also?"
Ezra chuckled, "Yes. Quite a confident one he is."
Obi-Wan winced at that. His mind supplied the many moments he'd seen Anakin jump into situations with confidence. Obi-Wan had no clue where it came from. Confidence in his abilities and strength. Confidence that was going to get him killed. "Apologies if he barged in on you last night. He was quite impressed with you."
Ezra hummed, tilting his head up to the vaulted ceiling above, obscured by the trees as he stayed seated in meditation, "That's not why you're here wanting to speak to me, though, is it?"
Obi-Wan sighed heavily and didn't bother asking how this enigma of a young man knew that off the bat, "No, it's not."
He slowly sank to sit across from Ezra in a classic meditation formation. So many things to ask. The dream. The dark presence from Ezra's memories. The adult version of his grand padawan he'd glimpsed. So many things and yet none he could bring himself to say.
"I had a dream last night." Obi-Wan tried, "Or a memory. I'm not sure."
"What of?" Ezra asked, eyes closed, face tilted upwards. He sounded like a serene old master, not an unpredictable young knight.
Obi-Wan found himself answering on instinct, "Of a desert. I, I was called out to it. And I found an old orange astromech and you."
"Mhhh." Ezra hummed, face betraying nothing, "Anything else?"
"You were younger. Your hair was short then. You were unconscious. I remember you waking for a moment and then picking you up. And then I woke up." Obi-Wan recalled watching Ezra carefully, "That was me, wasn't it?"
Ezra opened his eyes, still staring at the ceiling, before slowly looking over at him, "Yes. It was. You were older then."
"From your memories?" Obi-Wan asked, recalling the image of himself white-haired and old from the glimpses Ezra had shown them.
"Yes. I was stupid getting drawn in by a mind game. You saved me. Your wisdom. In more ways than one." Ezra nodded solemnly, "But that's not why you're here."
Obi-Wan blinked, "Isn't it? I just had a dream of a timeline I did not experience. Your timeline. Isn't that important?"
"Yes, it is." Ezra nodded easily, "My guess is that all those you were in my timeliness will slowly gain the memories of my own now that mine is gone. But that's not why the Force brought you here to me now. Is it?" Ezra fixed him with an expectant look. Like he already knew the answer to a question, Obi-Wan hadn't even been aware he should ask.
"I don't understand," Obi-Wan admitted trying his best to understand.
"You have questions. Questions you in your heart don't want answered. Because asking them admits to yourself what you most fear." Ezra said, eyes serious and pinning Obi-Wan in place with their intensity, "But your soul yearns to know. The truth wants to be heard. That is why you're really here. Here for answers only I can give you. But the contents of which you do not want to hear."
Obi-Wan frowned, trying to figure out what to say to that insight that cut him to his core, "But if I do not want to hear it, why would I ask?"
Ezra raised an eyebrow at that, looking both amused and skeptical, "Want and need are two different things, Obi-Wan. Do you want to know, or do you need to? What does the Force say?"
Obi-Wan blinked at the words. He suddenly felt like an initiate again. Closing his eyes, he reached out in the Force for the answer.
What did he want to know? What did he need to know?
The whoosh of an artificial breather and a wave of cold answered him. A wave of familiar cold. The hiss of the breather, chilling to the sound, raspy and ominous.
"You called him Vader." Obi-Wan whispered, mind supplying the image Ezra had shown him, black mask and dark red eyes, "Who was he?"
"If you're asking me that," Ezra said patiently but gently, "You already know."
Obi-Wan wanted to flinch from the truth of the words from the truth he already knew. But there was no denying the truth, no running from what he knew. The presence of the Sith was familiar to him because it was Anakin . "But- how ?"
Ezra reached out in the Force to soothe gently, "You cannot deny you have seen it. Glimpses of his anger. Moments of his rage. He is trying, but that is not always enough."
"Where did I fail him?" Obi-Wan asked to himself as guilt began to wrap around him, "What did I do wrong?"
"You didn't." Ezra said gently, "He was poisoned long ago. Perhaps even before you ever came to him. You did nothing wrong. But you still yet might be able to fix it."
Obi-Wan looked up at the young knight quickly and could see suddenly that Ezra had seen and done more than most ever would. His eyes were old and knowing, and Obi-Wan found himself calmed by them. "How? How do I help him?"
Ezra considered for a moment, "Do not be distracted by what you saw in my timeline. That was then. This is now. He is not destined to be Sith. But he needs help, someone to come next to him and walk with him. To support him, not just teach. We always have more to learn. Teach him how to be a good person. Not just a Jedi. And if his way splits from the Jedi, support that too."
Obi-Wan nodded slowly, listening to all Ezra said and did not, "How do you know that will work?"
Ezra smiled ruefully, "Because it did for me."
Obi-Wan blinked in surprise, "What?"
Ezra gave a small shrug, and he looked down at the grass under them, picking at it, signature closed off once more, "In many ways, me and Anakin are alike. I have had my fair share of Sithly encounters. Touched the cold more than I would have liked. My master reached out for me then in unconditional support. And it saved me. Perhaps," Ezra looked up with a hopeful smile, "It can save him too."
Obi-Wan nodded slowly, "Thank you, Ezra, you've given me quite a bit to think about."
Ezra smiled softly, rising to his feet, "Of course, Master Kenobi. I'll leave you to your meditation now. But, um, how do you get out of here?"
Obi-Wan blinked and then grinned, "How did you get in here?"
Ezra smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, "I kinda got lost? I wanted to see this room. I'd heard so much about it, but then I went exploring, and well…"
Obi-Wan chuckled as Ezra trailed off, embarrassed, "Take the trail to my left all the way till you come to the purple flower bush, and go right. That should get you out."
Ezra chuckled and laughed, "Thanks."
Obi-Wan snickered softly as the young man jogged out of sight. Such an odd but profound youth. And perhaps, Obi-Wan thought, sinking into a well-earned meditation, he had a point.