Anakin stood in the council chambers, the entire council reconvened.
Except Depa, who recently stepped down for obvious reasons.
The recent situation of being framed was exhausting, Anakin felt more tired now than ever.
Obi-Wan had so much hurt in his eyes.
"Anakin, I'm so sorry."
Plo Koon spoke next, words and tone soft-spoken, but highly genuine as always.
"You have our most humble apologies Skywalker, the council was wrong to accuse you."
Shadday was next, and Anakin could tell she felt genuinely sorry.
"I am...sorry, Skywalker, I was such a fool. I should never have been so sure of myself."
Mira came after, the togruta Jedi master also sounding genuine in her apology.
"I can say the same. I am quite a disgrace to this order, and I call myself a master and high council member."
Mace nodded.
"I trust those of you who didn't believe in Skywalker have seen the error in your ways, and will not make such mistakes again."
Eeth spoke next, and Anakin felt a bit surprised to hear him say what he did next.
"You need not to worry about me on that, I think my time on this council has seen its end."
Kit nodded in agreement, but Anakin felt so much guilt from the nautolan Jedi master, as he said nothing. His usual smile no longer present.
Ki-Adi was the only one Anakin felt no guilt from, and that kind of ticked him off, but didn't surprise him in truth.
"We were quite wrong in how we handled this situation."
Shaak Ti raised a brow at the cerean Jedi master's statement.
"That's all you have to say for yourself?"
Ki-Adi just nodded, and Obi-Wan rolled his eyes.
"I'm not surprised in the slightest."
Yoda tapped his cane on the floor, getting everyone's attention.
"Wrong, this council was. Worried about bias towards Skywalker, I was. Yet biased against him, the majority of the council was, including myself. Failed as the grandmaster of the order, I have. Failed in the training of young Skywalker, I have."
Plo spoke up.
"Anakin, you fought your hardest in your struggle to prove your innocence."
Mace nodded in agreement.
"This has all been the true sign of a Jedi master."
Anakin was stunned, master Windu was offering him the rank of master? This was beyond belief.
Yoda then looked to Anakin with slightly pleading eyes.
"Back into the order, with the rank of master, you may come."
Obi-Wan looked to him, a slight smile on his face.
"The council is asking you back Anakin, Ahsoka and I, are asking you back."
He got up from his seat, and held Anakin's lightsaber out to him.
Anakin was conflicted.
So, he did something logical for a change, and closed his eyes, and let the force flow through him for a few minutes.
Opening them again, he knew what the force needed him to do.
He looked at the lightsaber, his lightsaber, in Obi-Wan's hand.
Before reaching out and making Obi-Wan close his hand, lightsaber still encased in his grip.
Anakin looked at him sadly, Obi-Wan just looked utterly confused.
Until the fateful choice was made.
"I'm sorry Obi-Wan..."
He shook his head.
"But I'm not coming back."
He looked to the other councilors, while all seemed surprised, only Obi-Wan, Plo, Shaak Ti, Elizabeth, and surprisingly Mace, looked devastated, while Yoda did too, but Anakin wasn't sure if he felt genuinely sorry for Anakin's whole situation, or just sorry that he hadn't made the right call.
Anakin turned and slowly walked out of the council chambers, all of them watching on.
Shadday and Mira didn't know Anakin much personally, nor did Eeth or Kit, but they all felt all the more guilty.
Shaak Ti had always had Anakin's back in the order, from the time he was merely a youngling. She and master Kelleran Beq would constantly check in on him and Obi-Wan, and never tolerated the other younglings or the instructors bullying him.
She was always there in case he needed someone, anyone else, she dare say she developed a pretty good friendship with the young Jedi knight, but now he was leaving.
Plo Koon sighed silently, as he himself was fond of Skywalker. Sure he was unorthodox, very, but he always held a deep care for others. Silently he realized Dooku had been right all those years ago when he said the council was flawed.
Mace Windu found he too was saddened, maybe not as much, but to a higher degree then some. He had come to a new understanding of Skywalker recently, despite the fact he might not always see eye to eye with him. But he didn't blame Anakin for making that choice.
Elizabeth just stared out the window, having considered Anakin a good friend since the Battle of Christophsis, she knew Depa did too. Anakin's choice only disillusioned her from the rest of the council (minus those who had sided with Anakin).
Then Obi-Wan just stared in utter shock, not believing his ears.
Anakin was leaving, his brother was leaving.
The boy he'd grown such a strong attachment to since the time after the Battle of Naboo.
The boy he trained and practically raised for over ten years now.
The young man who'd become Ahsoka's master...and had yet to fully complete her training.
Was leaving.
He started to follow Anakin, but Plo placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.
After Anakin left the chambers and the doors were closed, they stood silently for a moment.
Until Plo spoke again, voice full of remorse, which Obi-Wan didn't get considering the Kel-Dor master hadn't done anything wrong here.
"Anakin has made his choice. Now, his path is his own to decide."
Obi-Wan only acknowledged with a single tear trailing down his face.
He stared at Anakin's lightsaber, still in his hand.
"Gone..."
None of them had ever heard Obi-Wan sound so...
Shattered.
...
Which made the councilors feel all the more worse.
.
.
.
Anakin sighed as he walked towards the steps leading down and away from the temple.
"Master!"
Kriff, why Ahsoka? Why now?
"Master wait! I need to talk to you!"
He stopped, hearing her footsteps slow down.
He turned around to look at her.
She looked just as devastated as he knew Obi-Wan currently felt.
"Why...are you doing this?" She asked.
Anakin shook his head.
"The majority of the council didn't trust me, so how can I trust myself?"
"I trust you. Master Obi-Wan trust you. Master Plo trust you. Barriss trust you. For force sake, Barriss went through all that bantha fodder and ultimately uncovered it was Flora to begin with." She pointed out.
Not that he didn't appreciate the help from Barriss and Nahdar, it wasn't that.
"I know snips, but this isn't about them, rather it's about me. If I can't trust myself, how can I be the best Jedi possible?"
"Because, Skyguy, you already are."
...
This was only making it hurt even more.
He could only imagine how the 501st was going to react to this.
"Not quite snips."
He turned his head away to hide the tears threatening to spill out.
"Master, you are making a mistake. The Jedi are your life, the only thing you've ever really known."
"And yet most of the order didn't hesitate to turn against me." He replied a bit bitterly, though it wasn't directed at her.
He'd heard from Barriss already.
According to her, Luminara believed him.
As did Depa Billaba, Aayla Secura, Quinlan Vos, Ima-Gun-Di (whom he ironically didn't really know very much), Yaddle, Oppo Rancisis, Nicholas Kota (though he'd been unaware that his Padawan was the true culprit), Bultar Swan, Koffi Arana, Melik Galerha, Feral Opress, Kelleran Beq, Jocasta Nu, then a few other Jedi, including the council members who'd voted him innocent (plus Elizabeth who'd abstained), then Barriss and Nahdar themselves.
Though others, like Saesee Tiin, Coleman KCAJ, and Cin Drallig had been quick to side against him based on circumstantial evidence.
Which only shook his faith in the order all the more.
He sighed.
"Besides, this is something I have to figure out on my own. Without the 501st, without the council..."
He gave her a regretful look.
"And without you, Padme, or Obi-Wan."
He turned around.
Ahsoka shook her head, never had she seen her master's faith so shaken.
"I get how you feel Skyguy. I understand wanting to walk away from the order."
Anakin turned his head to the side, enough to look at her one last time.
"I know."
With that he walked away, and down the temple steps, and Anakin Skywalker left the Jedi order.
Leaving several devastated people in his wake.
.
.
.
Ahsoka had wasted no time.
She immediately stormed through the temple, anger clear on her face.
A more silent fury, one far more deadly.
She didn't spend those small amounts of time with master Ti without picking up some of her elder Togruta's ways.
Barriss had seen her, though she too was so silently furious and saddened that she didn't really even acknowledge her best friend at the moment.
She also saw Knight Nicholas Kota, though he gave her a quick glance before speed walking away.
Ahsoka felt bad for him, being Flora's master, or well, former master.
He'd only ever been openly caring and even outright fatherly to Flora, so wasn't his fault that she decided to bomb the Jedi temple, murder civilians, clones and fellow Jedi, and frame Anakin for all of it.
No, all the blame was on Flora herself.
"...the Jedi are responsible for this war. That we've so lost our way that we have become the villains of this conflict, all of us! And so my attack on the temple was an attack on what the Jedi have become, an army fighting for the dark side."
It was clear her older fellow Togruta and friend had become heavily disillusioned.
"This Republic is failing, it's only a matter of time."
...
Yet, Ahsoka found Flora was right in a way.
The Jedi had become hypocrites, most of them anyway.
Joining in on a war that they should have stayed out of.
And the corruption in the Republic Senate, well, don't even get her started there.
While Flora was right in her words, her way of taking action was entirely wrong.
In any case...
Ahsoka quickly made her way up to the council chambers.
And when the door opened, she stormed in.
The councilors had moved to their seats, but clearly weren't in the mood to leave the chambers yet.
Noticeable absences were Depa Billaba (whom Barriss told her had stepped down), Kit Fisto, and Eeth Koth.
She noticed Obi-Wan looking purely devastated, more so than her, and also completely uncomposed.
Plo Koon and Shaak Ti sat silently, just staring at the floor, oddly not even acknowledging her entry.
Only masters Yoda and Windu did.
"Pa-Ahsoka, is there something you needed?" Mace asked, though he already knew why she was here.
"How could you?"
Ki-Adi, Mira, and Shadday finally acknowledged her, looking up.
"You all just turned on him, betrayed him when he needed you most."
Ahsoka didn't believe that fully, she knew who had sided with Anakin.
"At the time the evidence seemed overwhelming." Ki-Adi replied flatly, she noted he didn't seem to really care at all.
"Oh please, you were just bending over backwards for the Senate to shiv you." Ahsoka replied very coldly as she glared at him.
"Tano, while I acknowledge we were very wrong, there is no call for that. At least, not right now." Shadday reprimanded, though drew in on herself as she felt like a hypocrite already, and she'd just started her term on the council.
Ahsoka turned her glare upon her, unimpressed.
"The moment Tarkin told you the Senate would see any move to defend him as sedition, you gave in. Tell me masters, since when did this beloved council bow down to the will of the Senate?"
No one could retort, because she was right.
Yoda specifically felt extremely ashamed.
"While right, you are. Against Skywalker, the evidence all was."
"And yet it was proven by a Jedi Knight, not even a member of the council or a master, but a Knight, that he was framed by Flora. And that all evidence was purely circumstantial. You didn't even try to look into it to determine if he was innocent or not, you just set out to find him presuming he was guilty."
"I can't..."
Everyone turned to Obi-Wan who rose, still clutching Anakin's lightsaber.
"Obi-Wan?" Mace inquired.
"Can't...have to...have to go...have to go..."
He just walked out of the chambers, door closing behind him.
"See that masters? That's your faults, you did that to him."
No one retorted again, as it was true.
Ahsoka wasn't looking at masters Plo or Ti, or even master Windu, but the rest.
She laughed bitterly.
"I feel so enlightened to know that I can count on the council to have...my...back."
.
.
.
Obi-Wan had quickly left to his chambers.
He failed to acknowledge several fellow Jedi along the way, but he didn't care right now.
After closing his door, he tossed the lightsaber into a nearby pot, before collapsing onto his bed and starting to cry.
Because Anakin was gone.
His brother was gone.
And it wasn't just the Republic Senate, or Tarkin, or even Chancellor Palpatine...
But much of the fault also stood with the Jedi council, and the order as a whole.
How could they just stab him in the back? After years of Anakin helping to fight their stupid war?
It didn't make Obi-Wan feel comfortable knowing if it were him or Ahsoka, they'd be tossed aside as well.
Not even worthy of being called junk.
All he could do was sob into his pillow as he lay on his side.
As the biggest blow to him of all, had been Anakin's decision.
*Shout out to GalacticPhoenix_ for the idea of what if Anakin made the opposite decision during the events of "When You Leave" chapter 13.