His feet were heavy as he waded through the deep sand. The twin suns beating down on him. His armor had started the chafe as his sweat itched under his blacks. The Bantha had tossed him a few kilometers back, leaving him the arduous task of continuing on foot before the desert sunset brought his inevitable death.

He was close now though, although he didn’t know how he knew. Could he sense it?

The first sun had started to disappear behind the horizon as Cody made his way to the top of a sand dune. Silhouetted against the scarlet sky was a dwelling, sand beaten and worn. He wouldn’t have been surprised if it was uninhabited, but he knew it wasn’t. Again, he was not sure how he knew.

Boyed by the promise of his destination finally within his grasp after years of desperate yearning, Cody continued on. His steps steadier, stronger than they had been before.

He reached the final peak; it was all downhill from here. Cody took off his helmet to wipe his face, noticing a figure standing outside of the dwelling for the first time. He smiled to himself, of course he knew. He’d probably known he was on his way for a while.

Cody tucked his helmet under his arm and continued on, not taking his eyes off him. He felt an invisible electricity as the man’s bright blue eyes looked into his own, even from this far away.

They were ten meters apart before the cloaked figure raised a blaster. Cody froze.

“Are you here to finish the job, my dear Commander?” Obi Wan asked, a hint of humor in his voice but steely determination in his eyes.

“I…I…came to apologize, Sir,”

Obi Wan didn’t lower the blaster and closed his eyes.

“Don’t,” Cody said and watched as Obi Wan’s eyes shot open again, “I want…I need you to trust me. Without…without looking with the force. I…” his voice trailed off. Who was he to ask such things? To set such terms? Obi Wan had every right to be cautious. Who was Cody to ask so much of him? His beloved General.

Cody’s hand went to his blaster, his hand fast as he grabbed it and threw it away into the sand. Obi Wan didn’t flinch, didn’t even move as he did so. He knew. He had to know, Cody thought.

Obi Wan finally lowered his own blaster, a wry smile covering his lips, “I always hoped you would come,” he said, turning back into the small, round dwelling, beckoning for his Commander to follow.

“Here,” Obi Wan said, shoving a cup of water into Cody’s hand as he crossed the threshold.

The first sun had escaped the line of the horizon now, buried in the sand. The second sun’s amber glow illuminated Obi Wan’s house, the white walls transformed into a golden shrine. It might as well have been for Cody. It was where he had come to find absolution anyway.

Cody watched as Obi Wan busied himself, flitting from small room to small room, avoiding eye contact as he did so. It was so unlike him, Cody thought. His General was always so direct, so sure.

As he walked back into the same room as Cody, their eyes met. The blue pools of Obi Wan’s eyes hadn’t been dried up by the desert planet he now found himself on, but the rest of him was a shadow of his former self. His skin tan and worn, the hair once so cropped and neat hung long and shaggy. The grey streaks that had been visible at the end of the war had taken over the copper hue, each color battling for supremacy.

This was Cody’s doing. Cody and the empire.

“General,” Cody said, hoping to gain his attention. He had come such a long way. So many years of searching.

“I am no longer a General, Commander.” Obi Wan said pointedly.

“And I am no longer a Commander, Sir.”

They paused and gazed at each other. “Very well, Cody.” Obi Wan said. A warm smile erupted on his face.

How many years had Obi Wan wanted to call Cody by his name in public and in private and never be able to? Cody knew it was probably as often as he had longed to call him, his Jedi, Obi Wan.

“Obi Wan, I…” Cody stumbled over his words. He’d rehearsed this so many times for so many years over and over in his head. It was the silent thought that lit him from within. The one thing that kept him going on mission after mission. It was the one thought that made him leave the empire. It was Obi Wan, the ghost of him that had done that.

Obi Wan stood in the doorway on the other side of the room. His ragged robes discarded, now clothed more casually than Cody had ever seen him, but still every bit the Jedi. Even if he wasn’t allowed to be one anymore.

“I can’t explain it. What I did. I didn’t want to; I knew it was wrong, but I still did it…I am so sorry, General. And I’m so relieved you survived,” The last sentence spilled out in a guttural sob. Cody felt the knot in his chest loosen.

He didn’t know when it happened or how but Obi Wan had crossed the distance between them quickly, his arm resting his Cody’s shoulder. “I fear we were all pawns in a game we had no hope to win, Cody. I trusted you with my life…” he paused, head lowered but eyes raised to his former Commander, “…and my heart. I have no doubt I can do so again.”

Cody would have collapsed in relief had Obi Wan not caught him. Tangled on the floor of the hovel, Obi Wan held the commander as he wept. The years of anguish and self-hatred slowly seeping out.

“Thank you for finding me,” Obi Wan whispered, cupping Cody’s face in his hands and kissing him gently on the forehead.

Torrent Trap

Anyways I’m uploading on ao3 again. Here’s a summary.

“The pleasure of your company is requested… to the joining of Obi-Wan Kenobi & Cody Fett?” Echo choked out, eyes wide.

“Our dad’s friend… and our dad’s brother…” Fives murmured.

Rex Fett pinched his brow as he shook his head. “A wedding. Because our families needed to get closer. Great.”

Cody:… I wake up at 4AM

Obiwan: …