#brot3

“oh, we still have a few hours,” obi-wan replies. he’s better at sounding restrained, if only because he had to excuse himself to laugh ten minutes ago. ahsoka bets that he’s going to need to take another break at least an hour from now.

“okay, so,” anakin says loudly, and ahsoka and obi-wan obediently turn their attention back to the third member of their silly party.

anakin’s crouched on the dirt, drawing very pointedly with his fingers. “so the way the universe was created was—”

“oh, this ought to be good.”

“shHhHHHhhHh!”

ahsoka wipes the bit of spit off her knee. “sorry about that skyguy,” she says sweetly, patting her master’s elbow. “master kenobi?”

“yes, young one?”

“let’s hear what master skywalker has to say about…” ahsoka looks at anakin.

anakin looks blankly at ahsoka.

“the creation of the universe?” ahsoka prompts.

immediately, anakin’s face brightens. “oh! oh, yeah…yeah, that. i was talking about that. right.”

obi-wan sits down on anakin’s other side. his lips had been twitching for quite some time, and now he pushes his hand up to his mouth, probably to keep from laughing. ahsoka’s trying very hard not to look at him right now, because she knows that if he starts laughing, then she might start laughing, which will just confuse anakin more—and goodness knows he’s already confused. that’s what…whatever gas they walked through would do to a person, ahsoka guesses.

“so…” anakin picks up ahsoka’s wrist.

“yes?” ahsoka asks.

“so it’s like…this is…the sun,” anakin says emphatically.

“but how was the sun here before the univ—”

“shHHhHHhHhHHH!” anakin repeats, pushing his hand over obi-wan’s mouth. “shHhHH, you need to listen.”

“i’m listening,” obi-wan says, voice muffled through anakin’s mouth.

“good,” anakin says. he lowers his hand, turning back to ahsoka. “so, the sun…it’s big. it’s big, and there’s these…these…” he looks around, confused, then snatches up obi-wan’s wrist (“oh, hello there”). “so like, the cows…the cows get really big, right? so big that a bunch of…”

anakin sticks up his boot (“oh, gross,” ahsoka comments). “spaceshipslike…see them. and then they steal the cows because—because they need the cows to—”

“why would they abduct cows?” obi-wan interrupts.

“shHHHHHHHHH!”

“they duct the cows to, like…” anakin drops obi-wan and ahsoka’s hands. they both let them fall to their laps with a short thump. “like, they feed the already really big cows to like…like, make gas. because gas is how the universe was created.”

anakin says this last part triumphantly, slapping his hands against the ground. he shoves the dirt up to his palms. “see? that’s how. the really big sun—”

“and the cows,” ahsoka supplies.

“and the ship,” obi-wan adds.

“and gas,” anakin says triumphantly.

they all contemplate this for a second.

“sounds about right,” obi-wan says. “what’s next, anakin?”

Ahsoka glanced at the chronometer. Ten minutes. She had ten minutes to find Obi-Wan, get him safely back to medbay, and hopefully persuade his medication-addled mind to not say a single thing to Anakin—

Ahsoka stopped in the hallway, breathing in. This was just like when she lost her lightsaber, wasn’t it? Or—close to finding her lightsaber. Her lightsaber didn’t actually grow a pair of legs and walk away though. And her lightsaber at least wasn’t sentient.

Focus, Ahsoka chided. Focus, focus, focus…

Ahsoka breathed in. Anakin and Obi-Wan always felt similar in the Force, both of them warm and golden and oddly bright—Anakin more like a sun, Obi-Wan always more like the stars, not that Ahsoka would ever tell either of them that. She wasn’t sure whether she’d just inflate their egos (Anakin, more likely) or make them feel embarrassed (Obi-Wan, definitely).

Ahsoka found Anakin right away—he was still in the briefing room, good, but Obi-Wan…

Ahsoka opened her eyes. Oh no.

She ran through the hall, nearly crashing into some other poor troopers. “Sorry!” she yelled over her shoulder as she scrambled around the corner. She didn’t know Obi-Wan could move that fast when he was on meds—

Ahsoka crashed promptly into something hard and fell backwards, her elbows colliding against the hard ground.

“Ahsoka?”

Ahsoka looked up, rubbing her forehead. “Rex,” she said, relieved. “Have you seen Obi-Wan?”

Rex frowned. “I thought he was resting?”

“He’s supposed to be,” Ahsoka said. Taking Rex’s hand, she added, “He’s heading to the debrief room. And we need to get him before—”

“The general finds out,” Rex finished grimly. “How much time do we have?”

“Uh…” Ahsoka thought about how much time it would take to drag Obi-Wan back to medbay. She swallowed. “Not a lot.”

“No time to waste then,” Rex said.

“Nope.”

The two of them hurried down the rest of the hallway. Ahsoka was glad that Rex was at her side—if anything, he could at least distract Anakin if he came out of the debrief room early…oh boy, Ahsoka hoped that Anakin wouldn’t get out early. She hadn’t bothered accounting for that in her estimation of time left—

“There!” Ahsoka cried, pointing up ahead. Sure enough, Obi-Wan was leaning against the wall, his steps staggered and uneven as he got closer and closer to the debrief room—

“Master Kenobi!” Ahsoka shouted, diving forward.

“’soka?” Obi-Wan mumbled, turning around—just as the debrief doors opened.

Ahsoka grabbed Obi-Wan’s arm just as Anakin stepped out. Rex collided into Ahsoka’s back, holding her steady by the shoulders. Obi-Wan just hummed, looking between Ahsoka and Anakin with a distant warmth that would have been funny if Anakin wasn’t staring at the three of them.

“So,” Anakin said, “anyone want to explain?”

“Um…”

“Anakin!” Obi-Wan said happily. He detangled himself out of Ahsoka’s grip, patting Anakin’s shoulder. “Anakin, been looking for you…”

“Uh-huh,” Anakin replied. He leaned forward, narrowing his eyes. “How’re you feeling, old man?”

Obi-Wan hummed. “Fine,” he said, waving his hand. “Absolutely fine.” He pointed at himself—a bacta patch was still obviously stuck to his collarbone, and everyone winced at the sudden jerk of his limbs. “Look—look, it’s not that bad. Do you see? Of course you can see. Good eyesight. Pilot eyesight. Flying eyesight—”

“Ahsoka,” Anakin said, smiling politely at Obi-Wan, “explain.”

“Uh…” Ahsoka rubbed the back of her neck. “Before you yell at me—”

“Now why would I yell at you, my Padawan?” Anakin asked, still smiling at Obi-Wan. “When I told you specifically—”

“With all due respect, sir,” Rex interrupted, “we did find the general in quick time, and General Kenobi moves quickly.”

Anakin looked at Rex, who straightened.

“I see,” Anakin said shortly. As Obi-Wan started to slide away, Anakin’s arm shot out, grabbing Obi-Wan by the collar. “And where do you think you’re going?”

“Hm…” Obi-Wan turned lazily to Anakin. “Out? Away? Away, I think I would like to go away now…”

“Back to medbay, you mean,” Anakin muttered. He looked at Ahsoka and Rex pointedly.

Ahsoka smiled weakly. “We did try,” she said.

“Uh-huh,” Anakin repeated. With a sigh, he dragged Obi-Wan’s arm around his shoulders. “Come on—you’re helping me secure him.”

Ahsoka nodded. “Right behind you, Skyguy.”

“You too Rex,” Anakin said over his shoulder.