Work Text:
The dry leaves under Cody made for a surprisingly soft deathbed.
The ground was slowly soaking through with both Obi-Wan’s and his own blood, flowing and dripping from their endless wounds.
Cody knew this was the end. Knew no one would reach them in time. Their wounds would kill them even with a medic.
It was okay.
A few shinies had been separated by the droids, cut off from the rest of the troops. Obi-Wan had rushed to their aid, Cody close behind him as always. The shinies had gotten away, they had made sure of that. But there were just too many droids, pushing in and pushing in.
And in the end, even after they defeated them, Obi-Wan cutting them down while Cody shot them, their enemy had pulled through, wounding both of them too greatly.
Cody had lost his helmet somewhere further up the hill, but it didn’t matter, he didn’t need it. Besides, it meant he had an uninterrupted view of the forest around him—of the trees above him—as they lay there on their backs in the shade of the trees, slowly, surely dying.
“I’m sorry, Cody.”
“What for, General?”
“That I couldn’t give you a life outside of war after all.”
They had talked about it a few times. Of what Cody wanted to do after the war, of what Obi-Wan would do. Cody had jokingly said he’d need to survive the war for that. Obi-Wan had grown serious then, promising he’d make sure Cody would be able to see it, see the peace he had brought to the galaxy.
Cody looked over, studying Obi-Wan’s face for a long few moments. He had grown so used to it, grown used to looking up at it, to reading all the tiny twitches and microexpressions Obi-Wan unconsciously made, to searching for the shock of red hair in the chaos of a battle.
He looked back up to the tree crowns, watching their blurry branches move in the slight breeze.
The shouts and blaster fire that battles carried with them seemed far away now. Moving into the background, mixing into the wind and getting carried away.
“That’s alright.”
Obi-Wan coughed wetly, collecting himself briefly before he spoke up once more “It’s unfair. You gave so much, and now your life as well.”
They laid there, on the blood-soaked ground, the smell of charred meat and hot metal surrounding them, listening to the rustle of leaves as Cody thought of an answer.
“It is, but I still enjoyed my time.”
Cody could see Obi-Wan move his arm slightly out of the corner of his eye. Could see him struggle. Until, finally, after seconds-minutes-hours-years Obi-Wan took Cody’s hand in his, squeezing a bit.
“I wish I could have shown you the galaxy, there are such amazing places. I wish you could have seen it in peaceful times.”
Cody squeezed his hand back, murmuring into the wind, “I wish so too.”
The blaster fire sounded even further away now. If it was because his time was running out and his body was slowly shutting down, or because they had actually strayed farther away, Cody couldn’t tell. It didn’t matter either, it was too late. And oddly, Cody felt at peace, felt maybe not content but the closest he could feel to it. He slowly, painfully turned his head to look at Obi-Wan. Blood was slowly oozing from a wound down his temple, into his hair, staining Obi-Wan’s greying temples redder than they ever were. There was a curl of blood red hair sticking to Obi-Wan’s forehead and Cody wanted to tuck it back into place. Wanted to, but knew he couldn’t move. Tears were starting to run down Obi-Wan’s face, dripping from his eyes over his ever present crow’s feet, slipping down to his sweaty bloody hair. Those too, Cody wanted to wipe away, but still couldn’t move. Couldn’t reach over. Simply couldn’t, no matter how desperately he longed to.
“In the next life, Obi-Wan. I’ll find you in the next life.”
A small smile stretched over Obi-Wan’s lips. Cody had always loved his smiles.
Obi-Wan coughed once more.
“I’ll wait for you, my dear.”
Cody tried to squeeze Obi-Wan’s hand again, wanted the contact, the comfort, but all his body could manage was a little twitch of his fingers.
He couldn’t hear the blaster fire at all now. He wondered if their bodies would be found. What would happen to his body? He knew what would happen to Obi-Wan’s. The Jedi would take his body back to their temple, bury him with his family, where he belonged.
Cody wanted them to take him too, wanted the peaceful atmosphere the temple always carried for his own eternity.
He looked up at the trees for the last time, up at the deep green spots he knew were leaves. But his vision was swimming. He wished it wasn’t. He wished he could see the sky through them, see the endlessness of space, the soft blue light of hyperspace. He wished he could keep his eyes open, but they felt so impossibly heavy.
It was okay.
“I love you, Cody.” His voice was cracking, breaking as he murmured what Cody knew were his last words.
His own voice was barely more than a whisper, and it took all the strength he had left to speak his answer in a no-less-cracking voice “I love you too, Obi-Wan.”
It was over.