Title: Death of Heroes
Author: Firnuial
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or such, they belong to George Lucas. I am also not making any money off of this, it is purely for fun.
Timeframe: ROTS
Characters: Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Everything right became wrong, and truths turned to lies. Love became hate, and all that could have been was burned to ashes on the pyre of his soul. In a battle of brother against brother only one will die, but both will cease to live. AU. Character death.
Dedicated to Alasse Melwasul (earello), my best friend, for many reasons, the larger ones being as follows:
For being my best friend in the first place.
+ Because who else would I dedicate anything to?
+ For being a good, patient beta-reader.
+ For... sort of... keeping me inspired, though I do think she was rather bored of my stories.
+ For putting up with my pointless drabbles and insanity.
Hannen lle, mellon man nin.
Part I: Through the Eyes of Flame
Point of View: Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker
"This is the end for you, my Master. I wish it were otherwise," I nearly growl it out, letting my hatred seep into the words; my anger contradicted what I had said but I didn't care. I couldn't care. This will be your end because I do want to kill you, Obi-Wan. I can feel it as easily as I can feel your despair, your hopelessness. Despair more, Kenobi, it makes me stronger, more focused on your doom and not my own. It makes this insatiable darkness more powerful, more powerful then you could ever hope to be.
I'm glaring at you now, willing you to feel my hate, to know that you caused it, but you are immune to it. I give you one last chance to show me you were sorry, but again you ignore it; and whatever remnant of your Apprentice's soul that has managed to survive this far, to hope, is burning away with the knowledge that you will never care. You are a fool, Obi-Wan, like the rest of your beloved Jedi. But they are all dead now, just as you soon will be.
My thoughts of the ill-fated Jedi Order are interrupted as you suddenly spring from the small metal platform hovering only feet above the molten stream of lava. I can only smirk as I circle back to see you standing there all high and mighty, looking all the Jedi and none of the man, upon the scorched bank.
You are more ignorant then I had first thought, Obi-Wan. Of all the blind Jedi fools, I would have thought that you, at least, would not underestimate the power of the Chosen One.
Power that you held back and stifled, fearing what it could become.
What I have become.
You fear me, Obi-Wan. Because everything you have tried so hard to hold back within me has now broken free. Free from the lies, the meaningless rules…free from you.
"It's over, Anakin! I have the high ground!" You scream this as you land on the high bank, thinking that you have finally won our battle. I sneer as you shake your head sadly, brokenly. Do you really think that you can stop me, Jedi? After all the 'powerful' Knights I have killed? The 'mighty' Masters, with their 'innocent' Apprentices? No Jedi is innocent; they are all murderers that use 'justice' as an excuse to slaughter those whom they see as threats.
The Jedi were a relentless disease, one that I have eliminated without mercy, despite their weak attempts at salvation.
"You underestimate my power!" I retort, gathering the Dark Side to me as I prepare for the jump that will end your useless life.
You abandoned me, Obi-Wan. Did you think you would just get away with it? That you could turn your back on me and that I would accept it? That I would bow my head and do my duty to the Order? I am the Chosen One. I am more powerful then any Jedi. More powerful then the 'wise' Yoda, who could not even begin to foresee what I have now become. More powerful than any other being in the galaxy and, more importantly, more powerful then you.
"Don't try it," I dimly hear you say, and is that desperation in your voice? Why? Because you don't want to kill me? You don't want to kill your beloved Padawan?
Your Padawan is dead! You killed him, Kenobi! You killed him with your own indifference and lack of emotion! He died because of you! And now I will avenge his death. I am already hurtling toward you as you say the words, as you bring up your lightsaber to block me.
Because you think that I will land in front of you. Why? Do you think I can't go farther than you? Or is it because you think that Anakin is too honourable to stab his opponent's back? It doesn't matter anymore, Jedi, because Anakin is dead.
I land behind you, but you're too slow for me. You haven't even turned around. For a moment I think of allowing you to face me again, to finish the duel fairly. But I am no longer who you once knew, Kenobi. I am no longer a weak young Jedi hoping for your approval.
Smirking, I drive my lightsaber into your heart, just as you are beginning to turn around. I always wondered if you did have a heart, Obi-Wan, because you never opened it to me. You never even let me see it. But I suppose you did, because I heard the gasp you let out as your lightsaber dropped to the black ground. As your knees crumpled from beneath you and you fell, pain-stricken face turned toward me.
I laugh, and the sound is mirthless even to my ears, but I don't care. You've driven me to this, Kenobi, this madness, this hate.
This is my revenge.
You are still staring at me, as if searching for your beloved Padawan in my tainted eyes. I continue laughing as you realize that the man you once knew is truly gone. "Did I not tell you, Master?" I say quietly, giving you a malicious grin, my words laced with hatred so intense it made the flames of Mustafar seem dull and cold. "Anakin Skywalker died. You abandoned him, so he gave himself up to the darkness that beckoned. He gave his soul to me," my laughter grows as your eyes widen in sudden understanding, sudden guilt. It took you long enough to feel guilty, Jedi. Not that it matters anymore. Not that anything matters.
My laughter dies suddenly as I lift your body up, almost cradling it with the Dark Side. My power flows through you as if you weren't even there, and I can feel you shudder as it courses through your veins.
And still, you don't give up. I can hear your whisper; I can hear it through all of the flames I have surrounded myself with. "I love you, brother," you say, and there is such grief in your words; I can feel it break over me like a wave.
Why can't you just give up, Kenobi? Why can't you just accept that your brother is dead? With an anguished yell, I cast your body to the river of lava, watching with grim satisfaction as you drown it in, slowly consumed by the fire until not even your ashes will remain to be swept over the roaring falls.
I hate you, Obi-Wan. I hate you for what you've driven me to. How you pushed me away and expected me to be alright. You fool. You abandoned me! You left me to wither away in darkness. To be burned by my own rage. So you could do your duty. What duty is there now, Kenobi? I've destroyed your duty! So that maybe you'd realize that I was worth something to you. But apparently I was wrong. I am nothing in your eyes, and that will never change. And so now you have become nothing in mine. I killed your precious Jedi Order to free you! And you scorn me for it! How dare you? I saved you, and in return you turned away from me!
So now I have returned the favour, my former Master. I have betrayed you, just as you did to me. Only I had mercy enough to end your sorry life, while you left me to be consumed by my own shadows.
This planet is your pyre, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and it is alight with my hatred for you. So burn, you pathetic fool; burn with what remains of your ignorant Apprentice. Burn with whatever is left of your pointless democracy! Burn with your idiotic ideals of peace! Burn with your duty and your cold heart! Burn in the same Hell you have doomed me to live in! I hate you, Obi-Wan!
In my mental anguish, the words are wretched from my lips, tearing at my throat like the very flames I had started; of hate and of fire…of pain. "I hate you!" I scream at the place where you disappeared, again and again, each time burning my lungs until I could no longer speak, until my throat was so raw I could scarcely breathe.
Tears were flowing from my eyes as the harsh, smoky atmosphere burned them, though the burning sensation was weak and irrelevant compared to my hatred for you pathetic Jedi scum, finally put out of your misery.
Because the weak fool Anakin Skywalker is dead and I, Darth Vader, the Lord of the Sith, have risen in his place.
Because I am the Chosen One, and this is the destiny I choose.
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Part II: The Path to Dead Stars
Point of View: Obi-Wan Kenobi
"This is the end for you, my Master. I wish it were otherwise." You hiss the words like an animal, only a shadow of who you used to be.
You were a hero; your name was recognized throughout the galaxy as invincible, unbeatable.
You were the most powerful Jedi that had ever existed.
You were my former Apprentice... my dearest comrade.
You were my best friend.
But now...now you are nothing.
You are not invincible.
You are not a Jedi, not a savior.
You are a Sith.
A murderer.
The other man, the man I loved as a brother, is dead. Or dying. You, the infallible hero, have fallen to your own darkness. You have been consumed by a fire so intense that it has burned the very heart that created it. But even though you have turned into something so wrong, so corrupt, so... impossible, I still love you. But how could I not?
I break from my thoughts and leap from the small platform hovering inches above the lava as I only barely dodge another of your attacks.
The Force is nearly screaming to me that my emotions will destroy me; that my attachment to you will only lead to my death. But I no longer care about what the Force wants me to do. Of what the Force thinks is my destiny. I followed the almighty Force for over thirty-five years, and this is what it leads me to. This is what all of my sacrifices have come to, my blind obedience to the Jedi Council.
This! This betrayal... this heartbreak.
This Hell.
"It's over, Anakin! I have the high ground." My voice comes out strong though I feel anything but, standing here on this black riverbank of ash. For I am nearly begging you to stop now, to come back to the Light; break free from this madness that has controlled us all for so long.
I don't want to kill you, Anakin. I'm not sure I even can. I make an attempt to compose myself, if only for a moment. What end can come of this, my brother? Only despair, only suffering. I can't walk away from this, I can't let you live to bring pain and terror to the galaxy. But I cannot kill you, Anakin. I can't kill you just as much as I can't turn my back on all that you have become. So what is left, my brother? The Force holds no answers for me now, none that I want to see.
None that I can bring myself to see.
"You underestimate my power!" But I don't underestimate your power. How could I, Anakin? I was the one who trained you. I, of all the Jedi, know your power. But then again, I thought I knew you, too. But apparently I didn't, because the man I knew would never have let himself become the monster I see before me. How could you do this to me? You are pushing me toward a choice I do not want to make. But is it a choice that I have already made. I made it the day I took you as my Padawan. I simply don't want to live through the choice. Or rather, you live through it. Whatever is left of the young man I once knew will die with me; that I know. But I am reluctant to let it happen.
If only you would see... If I could just try... a little harder.
"Don't try it," I beg, my emotion finally creeping into my voice. "Can't you see what you've become? Anakin, please!" My pleading falls on deaf ears, however, as you leap from the platform.
Your path will put you right in front of me.
Force, Anakin, why? Why do this to me? I bring my lightsaber up, the pale blue light only barely able to cut through the red haze that has fallen around us. I raise the blade to meet yours... but there is nothing. Not entirely surprised, I realize that you have managed to land behind me, that your original path was only a feint.
And then I wonder if I had known that all along, if I had fallen for the feint willingly. If, maybe, I want to die.
Maybe I do.
I turn to meet you, but I already know that I will be too slow. This isn't the will of the Force. But it's my will. Because I can't kill you, but I can't just leave you to darkness and be expected to carry on like nothing ever happened. So I'll just leave you... at least for now.
Your lightsaber plunges into my heart just as I face you, your blue blade pulsing in the heat as my own falls from numb fingers. Pain courses throughout my entire body as my legs give way, my body falling to the ground. Force, it hurts, more then I thought it would. It burns. Not only the wound, but the thought that you killed me. Anakin, my brother. You killed me. You. No... not you. Vader. Darth Vader has killed me. My brother... my brother is lost. I look at you, hoping, but it's not your face I see. It's the face of a demon. A Sith. You're laughing a mirthless laugh, but I don't think you notice the tears that are falling down your harsh face. Those are Anakin's tears. Not yours. You have no right to them.
I... I hate you.
I feel you use the Force to lift me over the lava, but by now I'm not entirely sure. Already the world is dimming, red fading into black and then back to red again. Force, it burns. Betrayal burns. You're saying something. But I cannot make it out. The emotions are there, though, and there is only hate. Only Vader. I tried, didn't I? I tried so hard, but still I failed. And yet... you have to know. I have to let you know. But it's so hard, my breath escapes me even as I open my mouth, but I still manage the words, escaping my lips even as they die. "I love you, brother."
And I can hear you howl. But whether it is a howl of hatred from Darth Vader, or one of anguish from Anakin Skywalker, I do not know. You've already released me.
I'm falling into the sky. Or is it a river? A river of fire? I cannot tell anymore, both are burning. Like your eyes. Burning with the flames of hatred that have consumed you. The flames that you now use to destroy me. Or is it a different type of fire? But all fire is your fire, now; the fires that have unleashed themselves from your burning heart. I'm still falling. Yes, I think it is the sky, made red with your hatred...your despair. Falling, falling, past the red haze and into utter blackness. Yes, it is the sky, the silent night sky; a void where my spirit will not be out of place, lying broken amidst the shattered stars. The stars that you shattered. My stars.
I have become another darkened light, another dead star. Much like all of the fallen heroes before me. Like the fallen heroes that will come after me. But even a darkened light can be relit, for a darkened light is just that – a darkened light. But it is still a light. A dead star is still a star. And love can ignite the stars, even the dead ones. For everything does have a time to die, just as I've often told you, but even those dead have a time to live. So I will be waiting for you, Anakin. Even your burning fire of hatred and fury will eventually go out. And when it does, I can only hope that you will allow yourself to rejoin the Light.
You tore my soul in half, Anakin. You betrayed me because you could only think about yourself. Because you only cared about yourself. So even if you do redeem yourself, I do not yet know if I can readily forgive you. But I know that eventually I will, because you meant more than anything to me. You still do, whatever's left of you that Vader has not destroyed. You were my brother, Anakin, I loved you. But I could not save you, no matter how hard I tried.
Because when you had needed my support the most – when you needed me the most – I abandoned you in the name of duty to a Republic that had already fallen.
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Part III: Dark Clouds of Crystal Light
Point of View: From One Impassive
"This is the end for you, my Master. I wish it were otherwise." And a part of him did wish it were otherwise. But the rest of him... most of him, wanted the Jedi Master to die.
Sith Lords were without mercy, without pity. Without love. And Obi-Wan Kenobi knew this. But he also knew that somewhere... somewhere inside the monster was a dear comrade. A friend. What he didn't know, was if he could kill his former Padawan. If he could kill his brother.
What he didn't know was that he had already decided.
The Jedi Master paused for a second, and then jumped from the low platform to the high hill that dipped down toward the river of molten lava. The jump was executed perfectly, and the saddened man turned around to meet the Sith Lord's gaze as he stood menacingly, still on the small metal platform; his eyes burned brighter then even the river of fire, and yet they were darker than an endless abyss.
"You underestimate my power!" the Dark Lord yelled to the Jedi, challenging him in a way words cannot express. A challenge where the ultimate end is the death of both opponents.
A suicidal murder.
"Don't try it," the Master begged, still desperately hanging on to the hope that some part of his old Apprentice remained inside the monster. His hope was not misplaced, but mistimed. There would be no redemption for Anakin Skywalker.
"Can't you see what you've become? Anakin, please!"
But it was too late; the demon had already jumped from the platform and into the air, his path taking him directly behind the Jedi. For the Sith Lord had grown bored of the pointless tricks and feints, and had decided to end the duel. End it his way, but in a way that would cleverly satisfy the ancient challenge he had issued.
Obi-Wan turned around slowly, his eyes a mixture of total resignation and endless despair as the fallen Jedi landed behind him.
A grimace on the Sith Lord's face quickly changed into a smile as he plunged his lightsaber into the heart of his opponent; it was a revenge for all of the lies he had been told, all of the truths he had been denied.
The Jedi Master gasped as he felt the blade vaporize his heart, scorching his body as well as his soul. He slowly fell to the ground, surrounded by ashes. Ashes from the planet, ashes from the dead friendship, the burned souls.
The fallen hero began laughing at the defeat of his former Master, the pride of victory feeding his connection to the Dark Side as the dying Jedi continued to gaze almost listlessly at his former friend, death slowly taking hold. The Sith Lord's laughter grew as the Jedi's life faded, and he smirked as he spoke.
"Did I not tell you, Master? Anakin Skywalker died. You abandoned him, so he gave himself up to the darkness that beckoned. He gave his soul to me!"
The last word was yelled at the unmoving Jedi as the Sith lifted a hand, effortlessly lifting the body of his former mentor as he did so. The Dark Side burned and tore at the dying man's mind as he was slowly lifted over the lava.
But even near death, the Jedi Master made one last, vain attempt to reach the man he once knew. By sheer will he made his dying body to cooperate, his mouth to move, and managed to force out three words that would have been unheard by most. But not to a Sith. And, more importantly, not to Anakin.
"I love you, brother."
But Anakin no longer had the power to save himself, to drive away the shadow that had wrapped around his soul, and the dying man's attempt to redeem him failed just as they both knew it would.
The light of Obi-Wan Kenobi faded into nothingness as quickly as his body was released into the river of fire. But the Sith's triumphant smile slowly turned into a frown of displeasure as he realized he had been cheated. He had intended to reduce the Jedi to begging, pleading for his life. But instead, the Jedi had persisted. He had continued to reach out to the small part of him that was still good. And the knowledge that it had almost worked made the Dark Lord more than furious.
It made him seethe with rage; it made his heart pulse with raw loathing.
"I hate you!" The Sith Lord screamed at the river of lava, over and over, with tears coursing down his face like the blood of a lost silver soul escaping a dead, burning star. For in the end the anguished, desperate screams faded into an almost inaudible whisper that barely left his lips before flying away with the howling wind. "I love you." They were Anakin's words; his last words before his soul was utterly banished into the darkness that consumed him. For the Sith Lord did not hear the words that Anakin had stolen from his mouth, just as he did not realize that the tears falling from his tainted eyes were tears of despair, and not of irritation; like he did not understand that his face was contorted in an expression of unbearable anguish, and not triumphant glee.
Because Darth Vader would never be able to feel anything other than hatred, or see anything but his own dark flames of rage.
Author's Note: By 'From One Impassive' I mean a neutral view of things, with eyes unclouded by emotions or points of view. This is what actually happened, regardless of what or how other characters perceived things to be.
Author's Second Note: Just in case you've noticed that during the last bit of 'The Path to Dead Stars' there was a bit too much of the whole fire and flame thing, it was intentional; I wanted to repeat that theme a lot. My intention was to make Obi-Wan sort of half delirious...
Author's Third Note: I'm hoping that you, my wonderful readers, will understand this and see it correctly despite the various twists and distortions, but if not then I will add a second chapter explaining it. Of course, I am well aware of the rules that an entire chapter can't just be an author's note (though I've seen it before), so I guess I'll write a little something somehow related to this story. Nothing long, though, you'll probably be able to view it without even scrolling down; the whole point of it will be so I can give an explanation to light the little light bulbs in your heads if they don't light by themselves...
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