Taking a deep breath as he rested his hand on the door, Anakin glanced behind him once more for strength before he left the room, the image of a sleeping and comfortable Obi-Wan helping him step outside into the dim hallway.

Just as he had expected since sensing their unique auras, Cody and Rex were waiting for him, both sitting on a crate with their knees knocking together, Rex with his head tilted back against the wall and Cody with his elbows on his knees, head low.

The noise of the door opening however had them both sitting straight, looking at Anakin with searching, worried eyes and in Cody’s case, raw anger.

But Anakin had expected that ever since they returned to the mansion they had been given for the karking charity ball, since hearing Cody’s short, angry little orders to his men, getting the guards set up around the mansion they were using so no one but Jedi or troopers could get in, Anakin’s arm wrapped around Obi-Wan’s slumped shoulders.

He was just grateful both commander and captain had understood that the Jedi needed time to themselves, that they had waited out here as Anakin had sat with Obi-Wan and held the other, as much for his own sake as Obi-Wan.

Able to feel both troopers outside as he pressed his face to Obi-Wan’s neck and rocked the slightly shaking Jedi master.

He had honestly known the moment he told Cody to stop Obi-Wan from going with the Senator that the troopers would want answers, answers to one of the most well kept secrets of the Jedi order that only members knew.

Knew and swore each others to secret on, for their own comfort and sanity.

If the entire galaxy had known just how little control the Jedi had when it came to the government they served…

Anakin knew that there would be even less respect, even in places where Jedi weren’t actively despised or watched with wary interest.

And yet Anakin didn’t know how to start as he stared at the two men, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot as he peered at the troopers.

Finally, Cody got to his feet, glancing to the closed door first then up to Anakin. “There’s a room down the hall, its sound proof, looks like a meeting room.” He informed Anakin quietly.

Swallowing thickly, unbidden memories rising, Anakin gave a short nod and marched down the hall, Cody and Rex catching up quickly with the former moving into the lead.

It was a nice enough office, dimly lit with a couch against the corner, an imitation wooden desk in the middle with a fancy looking chair behind it, paintings on the wall of landscapes and fake bookshelves that were suppose to give the impression of being real and therefore expensive, the air slightly stale but Anakin didn’t mind, it made him relax.

Rex instantly moved to the bookshelf, likely noticing something not quite right, tapping his gloved fingertips against the fake book spines before turning with a bewildered look on his face.

Anakin shrugged, moving to sit down on the desk while crossing his arm over his chest. He didn’t get it either.

Real books were worth a ton, the temple had a few and so did Obi-Wan actually, gifts throughout his life, it was why Anakin identified them as fake instantly. Real books had a… smell to them, it would have been in the office along with the staleness.

It was a smell he associated with Obi-Wan by now, the safety of their quarters and the quiet knowledge that no one would get them in their temple. The books and his teas.

Cody, clearly restless, was pacing back and forth, his helmet thumping quietly against his thigh from his belt as he glanced to Anakin, waiting but not asking outright.

Letting Anakin find the words to explain the things he doesn’t want to, what feels like a betrayal to the other Jedi if he speaks about it.

But this is their troopers, troopers who fought with them and not against them.

Who might be able to help them, just like Cody did tonight.

Running his flesh fingers through his hair, Anakin let out a shuddering breath as he let that thought power him through. “…We can’t say no,” He finally stated quietly, feeling Rex’s full attention turn to him and Cody pause, the man staring at the floor but no longer moving. “I don’t know how it came to be, I’m no history buff but Jedi can’t say no to a Senator of the Republic, somehow, our servitude to the Republic has been… twisted into a place where we aren’t allowed to say no.” Anakin is grateful that he can’t see Rex face in that moment, that Cody isn’t looking at him.

But the feel of the troopers horror and the burning rage that is building in them is enough, their anger shouldn’t make him relax and yet…

“We… there’s so few rules in place and we can’t fight either, the Senate has too much power over the Jedi, can take away so much from us,” Anakin admitted, shame and tiredness rising in him, memories flashing. “Nothing permanent and no one under the age of twenty, its to give Jedi padawans time to find… someone, to avoid a Senator being their first and all padawans are warned at sixteen, its why some leave then.”

Anakin, due to the war, had rarely been called to the temple due to that, having turned twenty the year of the war.

But Obi-Wan?

Obi-Wan had been so popular, well known and beautiful as a young man, the young Jedi becoming defined and well known after the Naboo invasion. Normally Senators only came over Jedi occasionally and learned the names of certain ones, so they weren’t called too often.

But if they got famous in the Senate, if they were council members…

Hell, even Mace Windu was called often, though a tired Obi-Wan had once explained that it was a power move for most Senators that called on Mace, a powerful man like Mace Windu, having him on his knees in front of them, degrading him in some manner.

There were quite a few Senators that got off on power apparently.

He remembered bitterly how happy Obi-Wan was to find out the Chancellor was on ‘their’ side, that he spoke to Anakin like a person, spoke to him with warmth and treated Obi-Wan kindly.

Only for both of their hearts to burn when Anakin recognized grooming tactics from his lessons by Master Luminara in the temple, her quiet, steady words in his mind as Palpatine hand rested chillingly on Anakin’s shoulder, his words praising and yet isolating at the same time.

He remembered the look of utter defeat on Obi-Wan’s face after that, Obi-Wan returning from Senator Faraway, the collar of his tunic pulled up high and yet Anakin still able to spot the darkening redness on the pale skin.

That day, something in Anakin had broken, seeing the expression on his mentors face too alike something he had seen on his mother’s face.

He just hoped that he wasn’t making a mistake in informing the commander and captain, Cody once more pacing, his heels pounding the duracrete as Anakin wrapped his arms tightly around himself once more.