~I awake as the ship now makes its decent into Mustafar's atmosphere, having fallen asleep while I sat thinking, the exhaustion from my battles having finally caught up with me. I sense Anakin's presence or what's left of it, the darkness inside of him is eating him alive. I have now but to wait until the ship has landed, then I shall make my move.~
Padme sits staring blankly at the volcanic planet below them as her ship slowly makes its way towards one of the landing platforms, the red glow penetrating her very soul, as though this planet somehow knows her fear and her worry about Anakin, about what Obi Wan has told her. She knows he would not lie, but perhaps he could've been deceived.
The ship lands and C-3PO turns to face Padme, "Do you wish to go out there alone? This planet doesn't look entirely stable."
She gives him a sideways glance and nods slowly, "I must speak with Ani. I must know the truth."
Obi Wan chooses this moment to reveal himself to Padme, and to give her some last-minute advice. He cannot let her go into this without truly knowing what danger she is putting herself in. He slowly steps out of the shadows, hoping not to startle her too badly, "I've already told you the truth Padme. Why can't you trust me?"
Padme jumps and turns around looking frightened and angry, "How dare you! How dare you sneak onto my ship! How dare you make me bring you here so you can kill him! How could you?! He's your friend!" She gets to her feet, sobbing, and slaps him hard across the face, wanting to hurt him, to stop him from taking her Ani away from her.
Obi Wan looks shocked and steps away from her, taking a deep breath. He lets it out in a long sigh and strokes his beard sadly before speaking, "He's so much more than my friend. I will not kill him Padme.. It was never my intention to do so.. I can save him.. I can.. It will take a long time. and it will be very difficult, but you must trust me Padme. You must!"
Padme shakes her head, tears now blurring her vision, "Why should I trust you over Ani? Why?! I MUST speak with him Obi Wan. I must know the truth for myself."
He gulps softly, his eyes filling with tears. He fears just allowing her to be close to Anakin now without him there to protect her, but he knows he must, Padme will fight him until the end unless she sees the truth of this for herself.
He gazes out through the window and sees Anakin's figure approaching, closely followed by R2-D2, "Very well.. If you must Padme. I will not stop you. and I will not interfere. perhaps you can talk some sense into him. but if it comes down to the very worst of it. he might hurt you Padme. or even kill you. Please. be careful. Don't do anything foolish. I shall keep an eye on you.
If it appears you are in danger I will intervene. but if that does happen, you HAVE to run Padme. you'll have to get back on this ship and get out of here. You must not worry about me. and you must not worry about him. I will not kill him Padme, and I will not let him kill me. I give you my word. It may be a very long time before we get to truly speak again, and no matter what you hear, you must remember that I will not betray you, and I am not lying to you. Do you understand?"
"I understand.." She takes a deep breath, tears still stinging her eyes and nods to him as she gets to her feet. Somehow she knew he was telling the truth, Obi Wan's eyes had never lied to her before, and she knew they weren't lying now. "I will go and speak with him."
He bows gently to her and steps back out of the way, watching as she heads towards the door, hoping all would go well. It was still possible that her love alone might save Anakin, and if that was the case, he was more than willing to let it happen.
Padme runs down the ramp to greet Anakin, throwing her arms around him and hugging him close to herself. "Oh Anakin! I was so worried about you. Obi Wan told me terrible things."
Anakin glares into her eyes and pulls away somewhat from the embrace. "What things?! What lies has he been spreading now?"
"He said you've turned to the dark side.. He said he saw a hologram of you killing younglings!"
"And do you believe that Padme? Obi Wan is trying to turn you against me! He's jealous of what we have together! He's jealous of you!"
She shakes her head, staring pleadingly into his eyes. "He loves you Anakin! I love you. Come to your senses! Please. come away with me to Naboo. We can raise our baby together and forget about this war."
He narrows his eyes and shakes his head. "There is no war anymore Padme. I have brought peace to the galaxy, and I've done it all for you! To protect you, because I love you. We don't have to run away anymore. The galaxy belongs to me now. We can rule it together!"
"I don't believe what I'm hearing! Anakin.. What about Chancellor Palpatine? Obi Wan says he's a Sith Lord! Anakin. the Jedi are all but destroyed. there's no one left that can defeat him!"
"I will defeat him in due time Padme. I swear to you I will. I'm more powerful than he is! It was I that destroyed the Jedi, not him! Not his power, MINE!"
Padme backs away shaking her head, "Oh no! No.. Ani.. How could you?! Obi Wan was right! You have turned to the dark side.. I. I didn't want to believe this.."
Anakin glares at her and begins to move towards her, closing the gap between them, "Do you dare speak against me? I have done this FOR YOU! How could you be so ungrateful!? The Jedi were corrupt!"
"No.. No Anakin.. Chancellor Palpatine is corrupt.. and he has corrupted you! You were a good person Ani. but I. I don't know you anymore!" Tears begin to slip down her cheeks and she shakes her head in disbelief. "I love you.."
Anakin ignites his lightsaber and shakes his head, "Liar! If you loved me you'd be happy!"
R2 beeps in alarm and moves closer to Padme.
Anakin ignores him and continues to shout, "Do you have any idea what I've done for you?!"
"Anakin no! Please. The empire is corrupt! There is no longer a democracy!"
Anakin draws back his lightsaber ready to strike and begins advancing on her. "Then you're my enemy Padme! A Separatist, just like the others I came here to kill. My Master will not permit you to survive. and so I must.. I must..." He pauses looking confused. This was Padme.. He couldn't kill her.. Could he?
R2 heads up the ramp of the ship, going inside and beeping urgently for Padme to follow.
Padme begins to sob and backs away further until she's on the ramp of her ship. "How could you Ani?! How could you! I loved you! Obi Wan was right all along!"
He looks up, realizing what she'd just said, "Loved?! So now you don't love me anymore?! Is this because of Obi Wan? You can't seem to stop talking about him! I knew it! You're with him! That explains it! The baby you're carrying isn't even mine is it?! It's Obi Wan's isn't it Padme?!" He advances on her, enraged by this new thought, that perhaps the both of them had been cheating on him all along.
Padme gasps in fear and staggers away from him, falling halfway up the ramp and scrambling backwards. "No! No!"
Anakin lunges forward, only to have his lightsaber connect with Obi Wan's just inches above Padme's head.
Obi Wan gazes into Anakin's eyes, using the force to send him flying backwards away from Padme. He quickly kneels beside her to make sure she's alright. "Padme. you must go. now! Please hurry. Now you know the truth. you must flee. They will be after you, so you must get as far away as possible. get out of the Empire. hide."
"But what about you?! What's to happen here?!"
"In time you will see Padme. But you must trust me now, you must run!"
Anakin, having gotten over the shock, leaps at them in anger aiming the blade of his lightsaber directly at Obi Wan's head. Obi Wan deflects it and gets to his feet, holding him off as he looks to Padme. "RUN!"
She nods, scrambling away from them and up the ramp of the ship, hurrying inside and shouting for C-3PO to begin taking off.
As the ship rises Obi Wan kicks Anakin hard in the chest, sending him toppling off of the ramp and leaping to follow him as the ship rises further away from them, soon getting beyond their reach. He knew now that it was down to this, only him and Anakin.
Anakin gets to his feet, still brandishing his lightsaber and glaring coldly at Obi Wan. "You turned her against me! You took her from me! Even cheated on me with her!"
Obi Wan glares back and shakes his head, switching his lightsaber off but keeping the weapon at the ready. "Of the three of us, the only one cheating was you Anakin!"
Anakin snarls and holds up his lightsaber aiming it at Obi Wan's throat. "You came here to kill me! You think you can win?! Do you?! You think you can take my new empire from me?!"
"Your new empire?! Have you forgotten about the emperor?!"
"I'm more powerful than him! And I'm more powerful than you!" He presses the tip of the lightsaber against Obi Wan's throat, burning his flesh, but not pressing far enough to do any real damage. He wanted to kill him, and yet he didn't, some part of him still loved him too much to end his life.
Obi Wan shouts in pain, but doesn't draw away from the blade, allowing Anakin to continue hurting him, desperately hoping he wouldn't go any further. "Anakin come to your senses! He is the master! You are but his apprentice; it will be some time before you have the power to defeat him! Your arrogance will be your downfall!"
"In that you may be right Obi Wan. I cannot overthrow him now. But I will, it won't be too long until my power exceeds his. Which is why I shall bide my time. I will do his bidding for now, but not forever. I will be the master someday." He slowly pulls the blade away from Obi Wan's throat, gazing at the smoking burnt flesh with satisfaction and yet regretting that he'd marred that beautiful skin.
Obi Wan gasps and backs away slightly, bringing his hand to his neck to feel the damage that had been done. After a moment he sighs and hangs his head, "That you may be Anakin... In time.."
"And what about you Obi Wan? What are your plans for the future? You have no future! I've destroyed all there was of your way of life! Your people are all dead. You've no one left to answer to but me!"
"You're wrong Anakin. Master Yoda still lives, and he's gone to confront your dark lord."
"Do you honestly think that concerns me? Yoda is not strong enough to beat him; surely you can sense this too. In fact if you reach out with your feelings you might sense that he's already lost the battle Obi Wan."
Obi Wan looks sorrowful as he reaches out with his feelings, only confirming what Anakin has already told him. The emperor has won, though Master Yoda is not dead, there can be no denying the fact that he has lost the battle. One tear slips down his cheek and he nods slowly. "You're right.. I've no one now but you Anakin.. just you."
"But you came here to kill me Obi Wan. I know you did. There's no way you're on my side in this! And whoever isn't with me is my enemy!"
"I never said I'd come here to kill you Anakin.. I never did."
"Then whose side are you on Obi Wan? The Jedi, or The Sith?"
"Anakin... I'm on your side.. I love you. it no longer matters to me what side you're on.. All that matters to me is being near you. You've been my brother Anakin. my lover.... my partner in everything. You mean far more to me than all of the Jedi who died today. I'm in love with you and I'll do anything to be with you."
"Then you will become a Sith? You will turn to the dark side for me? You will do my Master's bidding and become a slave to us for all eternity? Would you sacrifice your pride and your nobility so easily?"
"If that is what I must do to continue being by your side then. yes. I have no other choice."
Anakin stares at him for a moment, going over all of this in his head. No matter what the darkness inside was screaming for him to do, he still wanted his love by his side in this. He'd just never dreamed it possible. He takes a deep breath working out a course of action, "So be it. Give me your lightsaber then, I will take you to my Master. as a prisoner. You will do what I say and you will submit to him, though he may still choose to kill you. No Sith has ever trained two apprentices at once, and I doubt he will. You do this and you forfeit any control you have over your destiny. I'm giving you this last chance to fight Obi Wan."
Obi Wan gazes sadly into his eyes and holds his lightsaber out to him, allowing it to be snatched from his hand, "Then I give up my control. I am yours now; it is up to you what becomes of me."
Anakin shakes his head, "It is not up to me, it is up to my Master." He glares at Obi Wan, almost wishing it hadn't gone this way. It was true this was what he wanted, but he did not want his Master to have control of Obi Wan, he wanted him for his own, and he would try his best to get the Dark Lord to allow him some power over Obi Wan's fate.
He grabs Obi Wan roughly and pulls some binders from his belt, snapping them onto Obi Wan's wrists, rendering him helpless. "Follow me then, and do not resist, the minute you resist I'll remove your hands rather than binding them. Do you understand me?"
Obi Wan nods solemnly, "Yes I do."
Very well then, we shall now make the trip back to Coruscant. Follow me to my ship," Anakin turns and walks away, confident that Obi Wan will follow.
Obi Wan gazes after him for a moment before following, slipping away into his own mind yet again.
~I have now given myself to him. Though this was my plan, I feel a great sense of loss.. and defeat. I feel alone. To say that I am not afraid would be a lie, for my fate is now no longer my own. But I must trust in the arrogance of the Sith, for I know it will be their downfall. I will face the Dark Lord when we arrive, as his prisoner, and I will use every ounce of my courage to look into his eyes and lie to him. I must use all I know of the force to keep him from sensing it. It is this that I shall prepare myself for. I must get in. I must stay with Anakin. But above all, I must remain true to myself. Now, with the failing of Master Yoda, I am truly my only hope.~