Archive of Our Own ^beta

He looks at the place with an empty gaze in that room where he had lost what he loved most; the walls that were once painted with small wildflowers are darkened by the pout and the crib that had been in the corner is now just a few pieces of wood that miraculously remain standing from the remains left by the fire.

The redhead just hugs the small blanket while kneeling, his eyes having stopped producing tears since that fateful day. The perfume of that piece of cloth is almost zero and her heart breaks even more knowing that she is losing what little she has left of her little one.

There are no photos, toys, clothes or blankets since the fire was responsible for eliminating any evidence of the little one's existence, gradually leading Obi-Wan to lose his sanity.

He silently gets up and lights the candles that he had left on the floor hours before, carefully and calmly while the small storm begins in the middle of the night, causing the water to begin to seep into the room and the cold to settle in little by little. bit; When he finishes, he begins to purify with incense and positions himself in the middle of that circle full of hieroglyphics before taking that book he has borrowed...

...Although the correct word would be stolen, the owner of the book, whom he had sought for help in a desperate attempt, had warned him that what she was planning was suicide, but she cared little at this point.
She just wished she could hold and kiss her baby's hair one more time.

When the watch on his wrist strikes the set time, he begins to read the writings of that yellowish book aloud and confidently without paying attention to the storm that is developing outside, that the candles begin to tinkle abruptly and the shadows that hover around him. In the corners of the room they begin to grow until they swallow all the light in the place and the only thing that allows him to see is the weak heat provided by the candles.

The place falls silent, with the only dull sound being the rain pounding outside but nothing else happens and Obi-Wan feels his hopes quickly die when he sees that there has been no change in the room.

“No, please no.” He whispers as he clutches that book tightly and his legs begin to weaken. “No, no, no.”

He falls to his knees when his eyes become cloudy because of the tears that he thought were non-existent, accumulate and shortly after he begins to cry, a few fall into that book, making the old pages rustle and threatening to leave marks on the yellowed paper before throwing it away. to the side without caring where it falls and hugs tightly the only memory he has of his baby.

In the midst of his crying, he does not realize that the candles have begun to go out one by one and therefore the shadows in the corners begin to grow and concentrate at one point in the room, taking the shape of a creature that has armor that sees. in silence to the person who has invoked it.

Obi-Wan only stops crying when he feels that blanket slipping from his fingers like sand, causing him to raise his head so quickly that he feels the slight creak in his neck that promises to be a nuisance in the near future.

His voice gets stuck in his throat when he notices that figure dressed in that dark armor, where his eyes should go are two red holes that resemble the fire of a campfire and with each breath that the newly invited guest takes he makes a sound that makes him the hair on his arms stands up.

“Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

The aforementioned freezes when he hears that voice that makes his insides rumble before that elegant and authoritative way of speaking; He is not human, he knows it because he himself has invoked him.

“Son of two nameless people, faithful servant of the Light that has given them strength… Banished for falling into your own insecurities.” That figure tells him as he walks a few steps towards the redhead.

“Mother of a fatherless son.”

"Please." He says with a hoarse voice. “Let me see my son one more time, please.”

“What would you be willing to do to see him again for just a few minutes?”

"Anything." He comments with a bit of desperation. “I just need to say goodbye to him. Please, I need his last moments not to be the pain of the fire burning his body but the warmth of my arms.”

The figure lets out a strange sound that the redhead interprets as a dry laugh. “Do you just want to say goodbye?”

He makes a slight movement of his wrist and you can see his son's small blanket in that demon's hands, realizing that his own hands are empty before turning his attention to his guest, who is walking until he is in front of the crib giving him his back and the redhead crawls a little until he can see that the guy is leaning over the remains of the crib and the blanket is nowhere to be found.

After three heartbeats, the beginning of a cry that Obi-Wan knows all too well begins to be heard, causing him to put a hand to his mouth to stifle the sound that comes from the depths of his soul and that figure takes the cry in his arms. small figure that begins to cry harder.

In silence, that demon places the little one in his mother's arms, who can only see his baby with adoration: he caresses the plump, rosy cheeks, feels the softness of the small reddish fluff that is the hair and counts the fine fingers. . before hugging him and kissing his little head.

He benevolently whispers the name of her son who has stopped crying and snuggles into his mother's arms; both redheads lost in each other's warmth and love without caring about anything outside their bubble.

Obi-Wan feels calm and at peace after a long time, and he could go on like that forever if it weren't for the fact that he feels the small weight fading and quickly turning cold.

“No, no, no, no.” He whispers in desperation as he pulls his baby with him. “I'm not ready yet, I just got it back! “You can’t do this to me!”

“You asked for the child so you could say goodbye.” It reminds him of that inhuman voice. “I have done my part.”

Obi-Wan looks helplessly at that figure before paying attention to his baby, hugging him tightly. The little boy's skin quickly begins to lose its healthy color and the happiness he had felt completely disappears.

“Please save him!”

“How can I save someone who is already dead?”

“Relive it!” He yells at her desperately. “Bring back my little one! I’ll give you anything!”

“Hmm.”

The demon does nothing for a full minute, it seems like he is a statue if it weren't for the sounds he makes when he breathes before approaching the redhead who hugs the figure of his son.

Without saying anything he snatches that bundle away and leaves Obi-Wan frozen in place once he sees the efforts to recover the little one; she cradles him without breaking eye contact with the young mother.

“I can bring your little one back. Making all of this just a nightmare…” He carefully strokes his blanket-covered head without looking at him. Concentrated only on savoring that mother's desperate face. “Watching him grow, becoming his own person, watching him start his own family…”

Obi-Wan just looks at him in silence, he can see how that demon breaks eye contact in favor of seeing his son who lies in his arms when he finishes his monologue. 

“Are you honestly willing to pay the price?”

"Yeah."

“Your soul in exchange for your child.” He tells him. “A fair price to bring back a pure soul.”

Without saying anything, the redhead gets up and walks with his head held high until he is a few steps in front of the demon; His cheeks are dirty with salty roads from tears and his clothes are full of pout.

“I, Obi-Wan Kenobi, accept your deal Darth Vader, in exchange for the soul and resurrection of my son Cal Kenobi.”

Without saying anything, Darth Vader returns the small one but before Obi-Wan could add anything, perhaps a thank you, he feels pain in his chest where, looking down, he can see a sword of fire pierce his heart; His legs weaken and that figure draws him with him, cradling his victim as if he were a child.

The last thing he sees before closing her eyes is the room engulfed in flames and in the distance I could hear the crying of her baby that he still holds in his arms.

When he opens his eyes he stands up suddenly and realizes that he is in a room where, apart from the bed, there is a small desk along with a tiny closet; your heart is pounding and the smell of smoke invades your nose as you listen to the thunderstorm developing outside.

He hears a small cry and when he turns around she realizes that Cal is next to her with his eyes closed about to start crying when he hears the thunder that rumbles in the place.

Without wasting time, he takes her little one in her arms and calms him as he has done several times in the past, kissing his forehead and whispering little phrases, his heart beating wildly in her chest as he remembers what she had dreamed... But it wasn't a dream, she knows.

He has made a pact with a demon to bring her baby back.

He doesn't sleep all night for fear that losing his little one from sight will cause him to disappear, but the sun rises and his baby is still with him, making him sigh with relief when he sees that it wasn't a dream.

As the days go by, he realizes that the small house he had acquired is still burned, but no one has any memories of Cal's death; they only mourn the loss of their home and offer good wishes to the small family.

There is no tombstone or record of the child's death and instead there are only admissions to the hospital for both of them due to poisoning due to smoke, although in the case of Obi-Wan there is a light burn that covers one of his arms along with a small one in the middle. from his chest They had told him that it was caused by a necklace he had with him but he never wore jewelry.

Cal's eyes are no longer the honey color he was born with but had gradually changed to a blue color like the clear sky, and Obi-Wan wonders if that was a reminder of what he had done.

Everything could continue like this but the peace does not last long because little by little Obi-Wan begins to feel watched, sometimes out of the corner of his eye he can see someone nearby but when he turns around there is no one and he can even swear that he hears that breathing when he is alone with his son in his new house.

Then the disappearances began: random people who had gotten lost after going to a party, vacation, or simply heading home. At first there were small search groups but at the end of the month they ended up in the missing persons bulletin.

As the disappearances began, Obi-Wan began to notice that his body began to have finger marks adorning his arms, bruises on his ribs, and scratches on his abdomen. No matter how many times he went to the doctor, they couldn't find a solution until the same doctor declared that he was a sleepwalker and was self-harming.

The redhead only listened, annoyed, as the doctor put aside all his fears and even called him an almost crazy person who hurt himself to get attention, and he could almost assure him that he would soon start hurting the little boy if he didn't. So without waiting another second he leaves the place with his little one in his arms without knowing that he would be one of the last people to see him alive.

He was the first missing person to appear dead.

Little by little there was a new victim every so often but the authorities did not know where to start since none of them knew the other or had any relationship to connect the dots, it seemed that they were random murders.

But Obi-Wan begins to connect the dots and his hands begin to shake knowing that he is the only connection between the victims.

Each of them had had an encounter with him, but not with the people you remember fondly, but rather with people who had approached him with cruel words and kind faces before speaking evil behind his back.

He heard the small wind chimes ringing even in the absence of air that afternoon and shortly after heard his baby laugh.

“Cal, are you awake honey?” He asks as he walks towards the little boy's room, which he only uses to play since he sleeps with him every night. "Cal?"

The little boy's sing-song laugh is heard again, although he notices that small bubbles are coming out behind the open door, causing Obi-Wan's blood to run down to his feet; the child is too young to blow bubbles that he clearly didn't have at home.

He quickly reaches the door and freezes when he sees what he sees, because his little one is being carried by a man with honey blonde hair and dressed in dark clothing who is calmly blowing bubbles to Cal's delight and not like him. if it were a stranger who has entered the home.

“I've realized that waiting for your soul is a little boring.” The man says as he watches the little boy try to catch the bubbles in the air. “Though I remembered I never said your soul would be mine once you died, didn't I?”

The man turns to see him for the first time and Obi-Wan can only appreciate that the face can only be compared to the old statues carved in marble or the paintings of the fallen angel that mourn his expulsion from their home.

The man's eyes can be seen to be the same color as that demon's campfire before they turn to a blue identical to his own son's, making Obi-Wan's heart stop beating for a second.

Darth Vader only walks until he is just two steps away from Obi-Wan before grinning at him with all his teeth as he looks at the redhead.

“I come to claim your soul.” He whispers in her ear before kissing the corner of her lips. “Your life, your body and your sanity.”

When he kisses him again, his lips taste like blood but there is no trace of that liquid on Vader's face, he notices when they separate but can only smile angelically before kissing the redhead's cheek and his lips travel to Obi-Wan's ear again.

“...I come to claim my son Cal and you Obi-Wan as my wife.” The man sees the young man's face as he caressed the pale and cold cheek, who looked at him with fear. “My name is Anakin Skywalker and I am the owner of your soul in this life and the next for all eternity.”