Poof has a love-hate relationship with the Saga. On the one hand, it’s where he has his shinning moments as a Jedi Knight on the Jedi Council. On the other hand, he dies during the Saga era, and that wasn’t much fun at all.
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Author Topic: COMPLETE! / Keep Falling Down / AU...Anakin, Obi, Padmé
agentj 
Registered: Dec '04
39835_Anakin and Obi-wan
Date Posted: 4/9/05 9:35pm Subject: RE: Apr 9...Keep Falling Down AU...Anakin, Obi, Padme...part 5...SPOILERS - Date Edited: 8/16/05 10:37pm (4 edits total) Edited By: agentj
PART 5 - Don't Try to Fight

Anakin looked down at his wife's worry-lined face and considered what to say. How could he possibly tell her that he had foreseen her death? How could he explain the evil vision of his life as a Sith Lord? Their children stolen away from them? A Republic in ruin? His life in shambles, filled with longing, death and destruction?

No, Anakin could not tell Padmé these things.

"I'm leaving the Order," he said at last.

"Oh, Ani...!" Padmé sighed with sadness. Her hand caressed his cheek.

Anakin's eyes closed and he leaned in to her, cherishing what might well be their last touch. That, too, was something he could not tell her. So a lie to protect the lies seemed to be the only solution.

Padmé pressed herself to his chest. "You shouldn't have to give up what you love to be with the ones you love."

With bitter resolution, Anakin agreed.

"Anakin," Obi-Wan's voice spoke softly from the door frame, interrupting their embrace. "The Council is waiting for us."

Anakin's hands traced along Padmé's arms as he backed away from her. He loved her. He would always love her until the end of time. Words failed to connect to the truths welling in his heart. They held hands at arm's length as he memorised the moment.

"Come back to me as soon as you can, Anakin," she pleaded her request.

"Of course, I will," he lied.

Their eyes met, and the light in Padmé's eyes died when she saw the coldness lurking behind Anakin's façade. Trying to hide his bitterness, Anakin let her go and turned away, following Obi-Wan out into the corridor.

"Still making promises you cannot keep?" said Obi-Wan quietly.

"You don't need to remind me," Anakin snarled softly.

Anakin glanced at the man walking beside him. As if feeling his gaze, Obi-Wan looked up, concern and worry clearly written in the older Jedi's eyes. Anakin glanced away, and they continued their journey in silence.

Anakin felt Obi-Wan's concern like soft whispers in the Force. Once, they were friends, very close. Even after his Knighthood, the Council had placed them together on missions, recognising the two's ability to work in tandem. Obi-Wan had been the closest thing Anakin had ever known to a father, and now that they were equals, Anakin finally realised the respect Obi-Wan had for him as a fellow Jedi.

Just a few days before, the two of them were laughing and joking. Anakin felt they were inseparable. Then yesterday happened. His friend, Palpatine, his enemy, Sidious, had become one person. He had faced the man and made a decision that had changed the course of the galaxy.

Only he hadn't made it. This Dark Vision was maddening. His memories returned time and again to it; its realness affected how he thought and felt.

Like how he felt about his mentor, Obi-Wan.

When had things gone so horribly wrong?

Anakin remembered the Dark Vision in perfect clarity.

Padmé had come to warn him. Obi-Wan was looking for him.

"Obi-Wan is alive?" Anakin, now appointed Sith Lord Darth Vader by Palpatine, asked incredulously.

He had his answer momentarily when he felt his former master's presence lurking in the shadows. Igniting his lightsabre, Anakin lunged at the apparition, sparks flying as his blade slashed at a durasteel support, revealing Obi-Wan's hiding place.

Padmé had betrayed him.

With all the power the Dark Side could muster, Anakin reached out his hand toward Padmé and closed it in a fist, lifting her with his power, crushing her delicately perfect neck.

Anakin caught a flash of blue in his peripheral vision, distracting his concentration. Anakin turned his attention to it, lifting his sabre to meet it. He found himself blade-to-blade with Obi-Wan.

Feverishly, former master and padawan fought. This was no sparing match with quick feints and unveiled smiles; there were no jests, only harsh taunts, vicious lashes of barbed tongues. All of his pent-up rage and frustration poured out of Anakin, and it was all Obi-Wan could to hold his own against his younger and stronger pupil.

Anakin pushed against Obi-Wan's defences, the older man giving ground, unable to do what he was sent to do—destroy the Dark Sith Lord. Finally, the older Jedi tricked the Sith Lord to a steep slope, and Anakin lost his footing on the soft lava sand. As Anakin leapt overhead, Obi-Wan took the tactical advantage. With tears in his eyes, his blue blade flashed, taking Anakin's limbs one-by-one from him.

Falling into the ash, Anakin felt the superheated cinders burning at the edges of his cloak as he desperately held to the shifting black sand beneath his artificial arm's grip.

Anakin felt his hand slip, flames licking at his hair. Toxic fumes burned his lungs. He choked out, "Obi-Wan—!" He desperately called out through their bond, crying for his master's hand.

It was too late. The bond had been severed.

"You were the Chosen One!" Obi-Wan screamed down at him, his hands balled to fists around both their lightsabres, one in each hand. "It was said you would destroy the Sith, not join them! It was you who would bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness!"

Anakin could no longer hear above the roar of spewing lava around him. A burst of searing hot molten metal hit Anakin's flesh. He burst into flame.

"I hate you!" He screamed at his adversary, the Dark Side carrying his words where sound could not.

Whatever was left of the man known as Anakin Skywalker died that day.

Anakin didn't even try to push away the Dark Vision any more. The memory of his searing flesh, the anguish of betrayal, were all too real. As real as his footfalls along the long dark corridors of the Jedi Temple, as real as the breath in and out of his lungs. As real as Obi-Wan beside him now.

Balling his hands to fists, Anakin stopped in mid-stride. He loved Padmé, but she had betrayed him. Obi-Wan was his brother, his father, his master, but Anakin hated him.

Obi-Wan glanced back, seeing Anakin's conflict written on his face. Gently, he reminded, "The Council is waiting for us—"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Anakin barked.

Feeling the darkness spiraling around him, Anakin drew it to himself almost gleefully. With all the anger and anguish within him, Anakin howled as he whirled away from Obi-Wan and struck his power like a fist against the marbled hall staircase. The column trembled and cracked from the base. The floor shook beneath their feet.

A youngling clan was coming out from under the archway when Anakin's Dark Force fist struck it. Shrill screams pierced his ears as the children recoiled in pain and fear.

Anakin glared down at the children, seeing himself reflected in their eyes.

A blonde boy with electric blue eyes stared back.

Shock shivered down Anakin's spine as he thought of another boy, yet unborn.

Luke.

Obi-Wan reached out a hand to the children, trying to send a calm reassurance to them. "It's going to be all right—"

Anakin turned on his heel and fled down the long hallway.

"Anakin!" Obi-Wan shouted, following. The Jedi Master's heart beat heavily against his chest as he ran to catch up with his former apprentice. "Anakin!"

With inhuman abruptness, Anakin whirled to face his former master, and in a deep, dark voice, projected, "Anakin is dead!"

Obi-Wan stopped where he stood, pulling back from the cold energy emanating from Anakin. Blood roared in his ears, the sound repeating over and over again, You failed. You failed. You failed.

Sinking to his knees, Anakin spoke aloud his own mantra. "He's dead.... I'm dead...."

With palms held open, Obi-Wan stood there before Anakin, unable to reach out, but unable to leave. A contingent of Jedi was running from both sides of the hallway, converging on them.


For the second time today, Anakin found himself before the Council. Although unshackled, Anakin felt he might as well have come before them as a common criminal. He had tapped into the Darkness and used its power within the Temple walls. The last time these hallowed halls had felt the power of the Dark Side was over a millennium ago when the Sith seized the Temple and nearly wiped out the Jedi.

Anakin glanced over his shoulder. Two Jedi flanked him, their finely-tuned senses trained on him. The Council was so complacent. How did they think two meagre Jedi could guard him?

Go away, Anakin commanded his Dark thoughts. I'm not listening. But he was listening and had been listening for a long time. Even before the Dark Vision, Anakin had heeded the call of anger and hate, borne out of his fear. The Darkness felt him on its doorstep, and was calling his name. How could he resist the call of such an intimate friend?

I will resist. I must, Anakin vowed.

For Padmé and their unborn children.

His escorts guided him to the centre of the circle, Obi-Wan following to join him. Anakin met Mace's gaze. Despite the calm exterior of Mace and the rest of the Jedi, the air was charged with cautious energy.

"The healers have finished examining Senator Amidala," Mace explained matter-of-factly. He raised the arm he had propped on his chair and waved it, palm up. "They find no signs of injury nor illness."

Yoda continued, "Why think you harm shall come to her? Hmm?"

"I told you, Master," Anakin replied, his voice controlled, his lips pressed tight.

"Ah, yes, your vision," Yoda nodded solemnly and tapped his gimmer stick at the base of his chair as he contemplated how to continue. Looking up, he pointed at Anakin. "Through the Force, past and future you may see, but be wary the credence you place on them."

"Visions may come in dreams," Mace added coolly, "but Jedi are still women and men, too. Sometimes a dream is just a dream."

"Aaah! Yes!" Anakin's voice raked over his words like durasteel pulled along transmorphic shielding. Anakin whirled on the Council members, the flaps of his tunic flying. Accusatory sarcasm dripped from his words as he continued, "It's only sleep. It's just a dream." Anakin now faced the man standing beside him—his former master, Obi-Wan. "And dreams pass in time," Anakin mimicked the older man, icy shards of long-held anger openly exposed in his eyes.

Obi-Wan's eyes widened. Anakin had fumed in front of the Council before, but with a sharp word from one of the Masters, a quick glance from Obi-Wan, and Anakin would duck his head and recoil to some place else, some place more peaceful, Obi-Wan had hoped. Now he finally understood. Anakin had simply reacted like a defeated slave, holding the pain of anger inside, letting it fester like an untreated infection. The dam he had created held too much, and now it was breaking.

The taller man pressed his presence against the Jedi Master, breathing hotly down his neck. Obi-Wan stood calmly, very still, like prey trapped under a predator's paw. The rest of the Jedi felt the Force energy shift, dark tendrils clinging to Anakin. "I'm so sick of you! All of you!" he barked, tossing a dark glare over the serenely quiet Masters around him.

"Anakin—" Obi-Wan spoke calmly, raising his hand to place on Anakin's shoulder.

"No!" Anakin shrugged him off. "You tell me what to do, what to think! How to eat and how to sleep! You tell me I'm the Chosen One, yet you tell me to follow your lead! Enough!" The last word rose to the rafters, echoing with the power of the Force Anakin placed in it.

Silence followed, Anakin's ragged breathing the only sound. He closed his eyes, his brow furrowing in dismay. This would do Padmé no good. Nor him. Anakin slowed his breathing and released his frustration to the void.

Reopening his eyes, Anakin took a step toward Mace Windu and drew his sabre. Suddenly the whole room was ablaze in the fading light of Coruscant as ten Jedi leapt to their feet and lightsabres came to life. Anakin paused a moment, staring down the defensive posture of Mace's lavender blade. Placing his palm up, Anakin fell to one knee and bowed his head.

Lifting his sabre to the Jedi Master before him, Anakin spoke, "I am unworthy of this weapon; take it from me."

Mace's dark eyes flickered up to meet Obi-Wan's—confusion in the dark man's gaze, sadness in the other's. Deactivating his blade, Mace returned it to his belt, and then with reluctance, took the sabre offered to him.

The only Jedi in the room to remain seated throughout, and one of the only two who drew no lightsabre against Anakin, Yoda sighed and bowed his head with remorse. "The deed is done. A Jedi Knight, Anakin Skywalker is no longer."

 

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I hear the other side can be quite alluring
—Lili Haydn / http://www.fanfiction.net/~agentjedi
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astarael 
Registered: Jan '05
23549_Anakin Skywalker
Date Posted: 4/10/05 12:24am Subject: RE: Apr 9...Keep Falling Down AU...Anakin, Obi, Padme...part 5...SPOILERS
Oh. My. God.

Now THAT is how you write angst. I believe that deserves a round of applause applause

I could really feel Anakin's agony over Dark Vision.

Absolutely spectacular.

 

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She doesn't really exist anymore, except every now and then and here and there, in small ways and small things. If we had not come this way, she would not have been, and now that we have passed, she will not be...
She is Astarael The Weeper -Abhosen rose
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Alethia 
Registered: Feb '05
Date Posted: 4/10/05 7:32am Subject: RE: Apr 9...Keep Falling Down AU...Anakin, Obi, Padme...part 5...SPOILERS
You made me speechless. What can I say. Awesome. Just brilliantly done. Anakin's left the Order, but I don't really think his problems are solved...

Really, I don't know what to say. That was amazing.

I'll see if later I can actually formulate more coherent thoughts to this chapter. But at the moment, the words excellent, awesom, brilliant, amazing, wonderful, etc. will have to suffice.

On another note, I just realized this morning at 3 am that the reply I wrote to your PM over a week ago didn't go through as well as a lot of my other replies to PMs and posts. *starts cursing at the computer* Sorry about that, my computer apparently has decided that sometimes it just doesn't want to post. Nice thing, it is. Just proves to me that I really need to make up my mind about what laptop I want so I can actually go out and buy it. And I'll get to re-writing a response to your PM ASAP- after I get some work on Faust done.

 

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Jen, High Scholar and Ponderer of all Things Verily Blue, and Official caller of Suz, Crusader of Heretics and Knight of the Blue 1000
Now sacrificing Movie Garfield
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leia_naberrie 
Registered: Sep '02
46312_Holiday Special: Princess Leia
Date Posted: 4/10/05 8:55am Subject: RE: Apr 9...Keep Falling Down AU...Anakin, Obi, Padme...part 5...SPOILERS
Impressive, most impressive.

Sorry, but I can't think of anything more appropriate to say! laugh

 

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Mortal Instruments {Palpatine/Padmé/Anakin}
http://boards.theforce.net/the_saga/b10476/27482874/r27847574
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astarael 
Registered: Jan '05
23549_Anakin Skywalker
Date Posted: 5/6/05 6:28pm Subject: RE: Apr 9...Keep Falling Down AU...Anakin, Obi, Padme...part 5...SPOILERS
This is in desperate need of a good upping.

You can't just leave the story there! I need to know what happens!

Anyone else in need of closure?

PLEASE UPDATE SOON!

 

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She doesn't really exist anymore, except every now and then and here and there, in small ways and small things. If we had not come this way, she would not have been, and now that we have passed, she will not be...
She is Astarael The Weeper -Abhosen rose
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The Musical Jedi 
Registered: Dec '99
46292_The Clone Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi
Date Posted: 5/9/05 10:49am Subject: RE: Apr 9...Keep Falling Down AU...Anakin, Obi, Padme...part 5...SPOILERS
"Still making promises you cannot keep?" said Obi-Wan quietly.

"You don't need to remind me," Anakin snarled softly.

I read all of this in one sitting (when I'm supposed to be getting ready to leave tongue ) and I have to say, it's amazing. However, my favorite line of the whole piece is the one above, because it just sums up the problem with Anakin. He wants to be everything to everyone, and in the end, I think he loses himself to that impulse. Anakin doesn't think he should have to give anything up, make any sacrifices.

Great job, agentj! More soon? happy

 

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Real heroes were like the characters in that man Tolkien's story, who did what they had to even if they hated it, even if it took their own lives away from them.
-- Otherland: Mountain of Black Glass, Tad Williams
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Lord help our Colts.
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astarael 
Registered: Jan '05
23549_Anakin Skywalker
Date Posted: 5/10/05 1:18am Subject: RE: Apr 9...Keep Falling Down AU...Anakin, Obi, Padme...part 5...SPOILERS
See? There are others who want you to post!

Please update soon. Suspence is all very well and good, but there's only so much of a cliffhanger I can take!

 

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She doesn't really exist anymore, except every now and then and here and there, in small ways and small things. If we had not come this way, she would not have been, and now that we have passed, she will not be...
She is Astarael The Weeper -Abhosen rose
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The Musical Jedi 
Registered: Dec '99
46292_The Clone Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi
Date Posted: 5/13/05 7:17am Subject: RE: Apr 9...Keep Falling Down AU...Anakin, Obi, Padme...part 5...SPOILERS
Bring this back up to the top. happy

 

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Real heroes were like the characters in that man Tolkien's story, who did what they had to even if they hated it, even if it took their own lives away from them.
-- Otherland: Mountain of Black Glass, Tad Williams
---
Lord help our Colts.
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agentj 
Registered: Dec '04
39835_Anakin and Obi-wan
Date Posted: 5/13/05 8:59pm Subject: RE: Apr 9...Keep Falling Down AU...Anakin, Obi, Padme...part 5...SPOILERS
*hits notification thingie* This doesn't seem to be working. If I hadn't been strolling through the pages, I wouldn't have seen that there had been replies! shock

Anyway, thank you for trying to prompt me to finish this story. The Attack of the Return of the Revenge of the Sequel Plot Bunny keeps interrupting me, and as you well know, The Musical Jedi, we've got a challenge to complete! wink Not that I'm in the mood for writing humour. tongue

I'm in a melancholy mood. Maybe I'll crack the whip on this one. mischief

 

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I hear the other side can be quite alluring
—Lili Haydn / http://www.fanfiction.net/~agentjedi
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The Musical Jedi 
Registered: Dec '99
46292_The Clone Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi
Date Posted: 5/13/05 11:21pm Subject: RE: Apr 9...Keep Falling Down AU...Anakin, Obi, Padme...part 5...SPOILERS
You and me both, agentj. Maybe I'll give being amusing a shot tomorrow.

Of course, I do have my own readers waiting. Still, they're not that persistant yet. tongue

 

-----signature-----
Real heroes were like the characters in that man Tolkien's story, who did what they had to even if they hated it, even if it took their own lives away from them.
-- Otherland: Mountain of Black Glass, Tad Williams
---
Lord help our Colts.
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Yorkshire-Gal 
Registered: Apr '05
14833_Luke, Leia, Han
Date Posted: 5/14/05 11:22am Subject: RE: Apr 9...Keep Falling Down AU...Anakin, Obi, Padme...part 5...SPOILERS
wow- i just found this and i think its brilliant please update soon!

 

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" I wasn’t elected as Queen, chosen as Senator, and married to a Jedi Knight for nothing"-Padme'Warm Breeze in the Snow Storm'
If you havent read that story, pull that finger out of your ass and do it!
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DarthBrian82 
Registered: May '05
23590_Darth Revan
Date Posted: 5/15/05 12:04am Subject: RE: Apr 9...Keep Falling Down AU...Anakin, Obi, Padme...part 5...SPOILERS
Wow I am shaking I can feel the Conflict within anakin Please update soon I need more

happy

 

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Be wary the force grows dark
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DarthBrian82 
Registered: May '05
23590_Darth Revan
Date Posted: 5/16/05 12:30pm Subject: RE: Apr 9...Keep Falling Down AU...Anakin, Obi, Padme...part 5...SPOILERS
please add me to pm list

Uppers

 

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Be wary the force grows dark
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Jedi_Tigris 
Registered: Mar '05
39836_Obi-Wan and Boga
Date Posted: 5/16/05 8:04pm Subject: RE: Apr 9...Keep Falling Down AU...Anakin, Obi, Padme...part 5...SPOILERS
Wow, this is a great story. I like the premise, and how Anakin's trying to reconcile his past/future with the present he's living in. Can't wait to see what happens next! Don't keep us hanging like this!

btw, could you pm me when you update?

 

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"Who is more foolish? The fool, or the fool who follows him?" - Obi-Wan Kenobi, ANH
padawan/adoptee of Myri_Antilles happy
Battling DRL...otherwise known as college and work... plain
Please add me to your pm list when I review. Thanks!
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agentj 
Registered: Dec '04
39835_Anakin and Obi-wan
Date Posted: 5/20/05 9:11pm Subject: RE: May 20...Keep Falling Down AU...Anakin, Obi, Padme...part 6...SPOILERS - Date Edited: 8/16/05 10:37pm (3 edits total) Edited By: agentj
PART 6 - By Your Side

In the morning, Obi-Wan felt as if every bone ached in his body, an ache that was rooted in his very soul. A part of him knew this trouble with Anakin was a very long time coming, yet somehow he'd managed to ignore it, push it aside without confronting the truth.

Now it was here, and Obi-Wan was still unsure how to face it.

The Jedi Master made his way through the Temple, dwarfed by the soaring heights of the archways above him. Other figures made their way to and from various assignments, looking as miniscule as he felt.

One figure in particular captured Obi-Wan's attention. A figure dressed in white struggled her way up the long stairs leading to the upper spire that lead to the Council chambers. With one hand, the woman gripped the stair rail while the other supported her swelling belly.

"Senator!" he called out to her, dashing through the remainder of the distance to her side. "My lady!"

Padmé paused, leaning her weight upon the railing as she turned to the familiar voice. "Obi-Wan," she addressed him, slightly out of breath.

"Padmé, please," he requested, offering a hand to support her. "You should be in the medcentre."

Ignoring his efforts to get her to return to her rooms, Padmé spoke, "I asked to see Anakin this morning. I was told he was in 'temporary quarters' and was not allowed visitors. Is this true?"

Unable to look her in the eye, Obi-Wan lowered his gaze and his voice. "Yes. It's true."

"Why, Obi-Wan?" Padmé questioned. "Why is he being kept as a prisoner? What possibly could he have done—?"

"He used his power to strike out in anger, Padmé," Obi-Wan explained quietly. "He almost injured younglings."

For a brief moment, shock and disbelief flashed across her face. She frowned and shook the image from her mind. "But he didn't, did he." A statement, not a question, issued from her lips—a resolute conviction.

"No, but—"

"Obi-Wan," Padmé pleaded as she gripped his shoulder. "You of all people can't believe he is capable of doing harm to others?"

Looking her squarely in the eye, Obi-Wan soberly responded, "He does."

Her lips parted with incredulousness.

"Padmé," Obi-Wan continued, "Anakin is very powerful. He has always had an innate ability to attune himself to the Force, and...." Obi-Wan's eyes flickered guiltily as his voice lowered to a whisper. "He is a very well-trained warrior."

Padmé stared sternly at the Jedi Master for a long moment, her lips pressed tightly together. With determination lighting her eyes, she whispered back, "Surely you still remember that little boy from Tatooine, Obi-Wan."

Pain filled his eyes as he returned her gaze. "Of course I do. I look upon Anakin and wonder—'When did he grow up and become a man?' I still see that innocent heart yearning with the desire to single-handedly change the galaxy. But, Padmé, that's part of the problem."

The senator never learned how to take no for an answer. "It is also part of the solution. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You and I may be Anakin's only hope."


Anakin opened his eyes. He found himself kneeling on the cold durasteel floor of a factory. A multi-legged droid scuttled by him like some impossibly massive beetle. The sound of metal grinding against metal clamoured in the distance.

Anakin's face was warm. Steam vents poured out tremendous heat all around him. The smell of sulfur and rock permeated his senses.

Mustafar.

This place was forever etched in his mind as well as his soul. It was in his Dark Vision. Although he had already taken Palpatine's offer to become his second in command, and willingly went to slaughter his Jedi brothers as a Lord of the Sith, it was at Mustafar where Darth Vader was truly born.

Anakin had returned.

A piercing scream cried out in the distance.

Jumping to his feet, Anakin crossed the long hallway past the conveyors out into the open field were molten lava bubbled and burst up from a hellish pit.

The cry called out again. "Anakin!"

Shock coursed through his body as blood drained from him. His sight caught notice of a lithe figure clothed in white struggling up the rock face of a cliff.

"Padmé!" he shouted back.

Anakin gauged the distance he needed to push himself to get to her. It seemed so far away. Even with his Force abilities and Jedi training, he wasn't sure he could make it. One miscalculation would send him tumbling to his death—or worse.

Anakin ran along the crossways built up over the cliffs, trying to find a better vantage point. Padmé was alone on an island, separated from the rest of the cliffs that made up the gorge. And the tide of lava was rising.

"Padmé!" he shouted to her from her left, still too far away to make the jump under his own power. "Hold on! I'm coming!"

Anakin deduced he should be able to reach her—if only just—if he used his liquid cable launcher. Only problem was the sizzling heat. Over the lava pit, it was likely the launcher's rope would deteriorate quickly. He could certainly use it long enough to get him half-way to his destination; the Force could give him the rest. But how could he possibly get her back to safety?

Padmé screamed in surprise and terror as liquid fire licked at her boots.

Anakin decided it didn't matter—he would find a way to save her or die trying.

Reaching for his utility belt, he found his cable launcher missing. In a panic, he checked the back of his belt, too, but it was gone.

"Anakin," a deep voice spoke softly.

Whirling about, Anakin found himself face-to-face with Qui-Gon Jinn. Nestled in the crook of each arm was a sleeping child.

Anakin's eyes flickered briefly to the children, then back to the Jedi Master's face. The man was just as Anakin remembered—stalwart and tall, resolute and quietly determined. His deep blue eyes pierced Anakin's soul with a gentle caress.

"Qui-Gon?" Anakin breathed incredulously.

"Let her go, Anakin," Qui-Gon's voice was soothingly stern.

Anakin frowned and shook his head in disbelief. "No. I can't."

"You must." Qui-Gon's voice was matter-of-fact more than a command. "Let her go," he repeated.

Anakin looked again at the sleeping children nestled peacefully in the powerful man's arms. These were his own progeny, he knew. To embrace them into his life, Anakin would have to let go of his past.

He would have to let Padmé go.

Swiftly turning away from the vision of Qui-Gon, Anakin looked back at the cliff and saw—

Nothing.

Padmé was gone.

"No...," Anakin whispered, trying to will her back to existence.

But the dream was done.

Sitting up from the single cot that extended from the wall of his windowless and featureless cell, Anakin wiped the perspiration from his face and stared up at the white walls surrounding him.

With the briefest of efforts, Anakin reached out into the Force and felt the life energies of the fellow Jedi outside. Not only the guards just outside the door, but throughout the whole Temple. With a little more effort, he could reach out to touch Padmé—

But he couldn't.

Despite all the powers he had learned to harness, despite the fathomless mystery that was the Force, Anakin could do nothing to save his beloved.

Anakin clasped the hair at his temples, his whole body shuddering with an anguished sigh. He dropped to his knees on the floor. Lowering his arms to his sides, although his hands were still balled into fists, Anakin's brow creased in concentration to empty his mind. Try as he might, the serenity that should have flowed through him in meditation as Master Obi-Wan once taught him never seemed to come. Instead, Anakin's soul filled with fear, anguish and despair.

What was it that Yoda once said to him?

"Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering!"

How could he possibly let go?

Attachment is forbidden.

That was the Golden Rule. That was the reason why Anakin shouldn't have married. That was the reason why he hadn't been allowed to return to Tatooine and find his mother in time to save her.

Attachment.

Anakin couldn't separate his feelings from his attachments. His feelings were his attachments. He was attached to his emotions as he was attached to...to...his arm.

Anakin opened his eyes and raised his mechanical arm, clenching it before him. How easily his arm had been separated from him in his impetuous attack against Dooku.

"The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."

His daughter had said that in his Vision. Now her phantom words mocked him.

The tighter he held on to Padmé, the more she seemed to slip away.

"No!" Anakin's tortured soul cried from his mouth as he doubled over and lay his head on the ground, tears falling unbidden to the floor.

Why couldn't he let go?!


Inside the Council chambers, Obi-Wan stood behind and to one side of Senator Amidala who, despite his protests to bring her case to the Council himself while she remained in the medcentre, managed to make it up the stairs and across the great hall. If the Council was to keep Anakin imprisoned, they would have to face the family he would leave behind.

"Master Windu, I don't understand," she spoke as diplomatically as she could, considering her emotional state. "If Anakin has freely left the Order, why is he being held prisoner?"

Mace looked pained to answer, but he realised only the stark truth would make the senator understand. "Senator, your...husband is undeniably strong in the Force. There is no guarantee that he would be capable of restraining himself from using his powers. He already demonstrated his inability yesterday—"

"But I know Anakin!" Padmé interrupted flustered. "He's incapable of injuring others!"

"Not anymore."

Silence hung over the Council chambers as Padmé's worried eyes pleaded with the Jedi to take back his words.

In a moment of decision, Obi-Wan licked his lips and stepped forward. "I'm afraid I have a confession to make," he announced before the Council. "I, too, have broken the Code."

Mace flashed a surprised look at Obi-Wan, then exchanged a look with Yoda. The green Jedi seemed to be the only Council member who was not the least bit stunned by Obi-Wan's proclamation. Mace returned his attention back to Obi-Wan.

Hands crossed in the edges of his cloak, Obi-Wan continued, "I have an attachment. I...I love Anakin like a brother." He looked down and swallowed. Raising his head, he met Yoda's gaze with determination and purpose. "I would sacrifice my own life for him—spend the remainder of my years watching over his children on a remote world if I had to."

Yoda's ears twitched as Obi-Wan continued.

Obi-Wan's eyes drifted out to the flowing cityscape beyond the Temple. He continued in a whisper, as if he were speaking only to himself, "Qui-Gon once told me he foresaw me becoming a great Jedi Knight. It is only now I realise—" His voice broke for a moment as he held back his emotions. "It is only now, this very moment, I realise that I would not be the Jedi I am today if it were not for Anakin."

Silence ensued as Obi-Wan's voice faded away like a wisp of breath on a chilly morning. Uncertainty tainted with guilt hung in the air between the fellow Council members.

Padmé took a step forward and broke the silence with her commanding voice. "Anakin is your brother, your friend. You filled his ears with prophecy about being chosen. You made him into your Jedi saviour—yet not one among you has shown a gram of compassion for him like Obi-Wan has!"

Yoda bowed his head, his chin resting pensively on his gimmer stick as he accepted the blame Anakin's wife placed on them. "Correct, you are," his saddened voice acknowledged. "His trust we lost with our suspicious nature. Faith in the Force—and in young Skywalker—we had not."

"It's not too late, Master Yoda!" Padmé pleaded. "Show him the faith you have in him—! Uhh!" Suddenly Padmé lurched forward, her hands clasping her abdomen.

Obi-Wan instantly bounded to her side, placing his arms around her to prevent her from falling. "Padmé?"

The senator gasped as another spasm hit her. Looking down, Obi-Wan realised Padmé's water had broken.

"We must get her to the medcentre—quickly!"

 

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I hear the other side can be quite alluring
—Lili Haydn / http://www.fanfiction.net/~agentjedi
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