Nightfall on Utapau
Summary: Commander Cody is searching for Obi Wan Kenobi's body when he receives a strange message from the man himself. Despite being under the influence of the inhibitor chip, He is unable to get the Jedi's words out of his mind.
Cody sighed under the bright lights beaming down into the cavernous hole. The surface rippled below as divers waded through the water. They had been at it so long that the dry heat of the day had long since faded. In its absence a chill had taken hold, and he tried best not to shiver under the gleaming stars.
Noise enveloped the area as troopers bustled about, but Cody only had eyes for this particular spot and planned to stay rooted until they found the body.
“Sergeant, any news?” he barked into his comm.
“No sign yet, Sir. Do we need to report…”
“Just keep looking. He has to be there somewhere. It was a direct hit.” Cody growled in frustration.
“Yes, Sir.” The voice said on the other end of the comm.
Cody sighed again and removed his helmet, wiping his face.
A trilling noise sounded in one of his pouches and he pulled out the holocomm. Perhaps it was another message from Lord Sidious. Perhaps he wanted to check on his progress.
Cody stepped away from the other troopers, finding a narrow gap in the rock that would give him some cover and privacy. If he was in for disciplinary action, he didn’t need the rest of the battalion to hear it.
He pressed the button, and a figure sprang to life, but it wasn’t the Chancellor.
Obi Wan Kenobi’s form hovered in front of Cody and his eyes flashed. He started to turn back to his men when he realized that this wasn’t a live feed, but a recording.
The Jedi was in his robes, hood over his head.
“My dearest friend,” the Jedi said, pausing a moment and looking down at his hands. “It is with great sorrow that I send you this message, not because of your actions against me but because I know that you would never commit such an act and therefore, are compromised in some way.”
Cody balked and shut off the recording. He scowled as he watched his men moving around unbothered and again went to leave his hiding spot when he turned on the recording again.
“My dearest friend,” the Jedi started again, and Cody was struck by the sound of his voice. He had always found Kenobi’s voice soothing, calming and warm. He still did; despite knowing he was a traitor, and that he had to die.
“…As such, I fear we may never see each other again. Not with the same eyes. I will mourn that loss perhaps more than the others I have suffered of late. It is foolhardy for me to send this. And in your current state it is possible that you will not listen to it anyway. But selfishly, this comm is as much for me as it is for you.”
Cody’s eyebrows knitted together. He should report this. But he remained still.
“You see, my dear Commander, I have loved you since the moment we first met, all those years ago on the bridge of a shiny new venator. I fell deeper with every grazed hand, smirk, stern look and insufferable sigh. Every time you charged into battle in my defense, carried my injured body to the medbay, or returned my lightsaber with an eyeroll. I found myself dropping it on purpose, just for the chance our fingers would touch once more.
I tell you all this with no hope of reciprocity and no faith that we shall meet again. Obi Wan Kenobi will soon die, and another born in his place. But before that happens, before this light goes out, I wanted you to know that it shone for you.”
Cody huffed and shuffled his feet but was unable to look away. The Jedi had lowered his head, his stunning blue eyes seemingly glowing through the light of the holo.
“And one day, if the fog clears and you see with your own eyes once more, I invite you to find me, my love.”
Cody stood horror struck as the holo fizzled out in the palm of his hand.
“Maybe we can trace it” was the Commander’s first thought. But as he started to move towards the command center, he felt a heavy lump in his throat and a single tear track down his cheek.
He had no idea why he was crying. He wasn’t sure he’d ever cried in his life. Not even after losing brother after brother on the battlefield. He brushed the tear away angrily and threw the comm to the ground.
He could just stamp it out like it never happened. No one would ever know. But he would. He sighed and stooped down to pick it up, dusting it off and accidentally turning it on again.
“My dearest friend,” the Jedi said once more. Cody turned it off and shoved it in the pouch on his belt. He would figure out what to do with it later.
Cody woke with a start and raised his blaster. He blinked, realizing there was nothing there and collapsed back into his bunk. The snores from his brothers emanated around him.
“My dearest friend.” A warm voice said in his head.
Cody huffed and got up. Kriffin Jedi. He tried to think back to his time with Kenobi. Their mission, their downtime, their talks, but he couldn’t recall anything clearly. It was as though his memory was blurry, everything tinged with a crimson veil that refused to lift.
He grabbed his blaster and helmet and left the tent. Perhaps the cool air would help clear his mind and he could eventually get some sleep.
His feet took him to the water filled chasm. The lights remained on, and patrols lingered, just in case the Jedi managed to pull himself out of the depths.
Only Cody was aware that he already had.
He still hadn’t reported the message. His hand went to the holocomm stowed in the pouch on his belt. His fingers itched to open it, to watch it again. What was he looking for? Why did he care? Did he want to study it in a vain attempt to pinpoint the Jedi’s location? To find some clue to his whereabouts? Or was it something…else.
Cody nodded to the roving patrols and kept walking, past the command center to the thin slice between rocks he had stowed away before. He sat down on the cool ground reached in his pouch and pulled out the disk.
Something so unremarkable. Something he had used more times that he could count over the years had suddenly taken on a new light.
He took off his helmet, placing it on the ground next to him and switched it on. There was something so personal about Kenobi’s words, about his goodbye, that looking upon him with anything other than his own eyes seemed wrong.
“My dearest friend…” The Jedi was, of course, unchanged in the hours since Cody had last watched the transmission, still in the Jedi robes, the cloak over his head. Cody noticed his sad blue eyes., rimmed with tears and without knowing why, his chest tightened.
Cody had felt numb all afternoon. Stoic and steadfast, he wanted nothing more than to bring this man to justice, this traitor. But as he sat on the floor in his hideaway, he wondered why this Jedi had risked so much, just to speak to him, to tell him goodbye.
He wasn’t sure what love felt like, wasn’t sure he had ever felt it. But then, he couldn’t comprehend any emotion at the moment except perhaps rage. He knew he couldn’t have always been this way. He must have felt something at some point. He should have felt something for his brothers, his family at the very least, but when he wracked his brain, he was just…empty.
He examined every bit of Kenobi’s body language. The way his hands started clutched together and came apart as he explained his feelings. He touched the spot where his heart was before his hands reached outward as though trying to touch his Commander.
The recording ran out and Kenobi disappeared once more. Once more, a single tear fell on Cody’s cheek. This time he let it, tasting the salt on his tongue as he licked it off his lip. The blue light Kenobi had cast in the space disappeared and Cody was in the dark once more. He sighed and pressed the button again.
In the deepest recesses of Cody’s mind, in the parts he couldn’t reach, a lone thought peaked on the edge of his consciousness.
“You loved him too.” It whispered quietly, knowing it would go unheard. For now.
