Disclaimer: Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and the Star Wars Universe and characters are the creation of George Lucas and Lucas Films and the intellectual property of its creator and the Disney corporation. This fan work is not intended to infringe on the copyright holder to publish or profit from their intellectually property. Any request for removal will be respected. Dialogue from the movie are quoted in the story below.

I Didn't Actually Come Here to Free Slaves

"Let her go, Anakin! Let her go!" Obi Wan yelled, as he watched his former apprentice choking the life out Padme—the woman he was supposed to love, the woman who was carrying Anakin's very own child.

"You turned her against me!" Anakin replied as Padme slumped to the ground, thankfully only unconscious.

It was good that his former padawan had turned his newfound darkness, his hate away from the senator, but the emotion was still displaced. If there was any chance for redemption for his student, he would need to be shown the truth of the path he had started upon. Anakin needed to be shown that he himself was to blame for the misery he was experiencing, and that he rest of the Republic was soon to feel.

"You have done that yourself," Obi Wan retorted sharply. Step by step, the brown robed Jedi strode towards his wayward friend.

Upon closer inspection, Obi Wan could see the visible changes in Anakin's visage. His once bright and lustrous eyes were now a sickly yellow, his skin had taken on a feverish pallor. The black robe he was dressed in matched the spirit inside the man.

"You will not take her from me!" Anakin cried out, exhibiting an irrational jealousy and possessiveness over the woman he had just been choking to death moments ago.

"Your anger and lust for power have already done that. You have allowed this Dark Lord to twist your mind. Until now, you have become the very thing you swore to destroy."

Darth Sidious, what a fitting name for a Sith lord who had spun lies and deception enough to ensnare the entire galaxy in a civil war, destroy the Jedi order in one fell swoop, and twist the one thought to be the prophesied messiah of the Force into this blind and raving madman Obi Wan saw before him. The Dark Lord of the Sith had thoroughly corrupted Anakin. How had it come to this? How had he not seen this coming?

"Don't lecture me, Obi-Wan. I see through the lies of the Jedi. I do not fear the Dark Side as you do! I have brought peace, freedom, justice and security to my new Empire."

"My new empire?!" Obi Wan shook his head at the degree of delusion his former padawan was under. Just weeks ago, his protégé had been a warrior of light, one of the most effective agents of order, piercing through the layers of deception darkness that had been woven around the galaxy. Now he was the epitome of that very darkness.

"Don't make me kill you," Anakin said, voice cold. There was little true mercy or friendship left there. The possibility that the man who had once been Anakin would not actually try to slay him was all but non-existent, hinging on a rabid fantasy in which Obi-wan knelt at his former apprentice's feet and joined him in his madness.

Obi Wan made one final attempt to save his former apprentice. "Anakin, my allegiance is to the Republic, to Democracy!" If Anakin could see through his own self-deception, then perhaps he might manage to fight his way out of the darkness he had surrounded himself with.

"If you are not with me, then you are my enemy," Anakin said, grimly.

"Only a Sith deals in absolutes like that," Obi Wan sighed, and hung his head. He had failed. There would be no redemption for his apprentice. He had failed as a master. Failed as a friend. Failed in his mission to redeem the young man he had essentially raised since the age of eight. All as Yoda had foreseen. "I will do as I must," Obi Wan said resignedly and reached into his robes.

"You will try," Anakin said, prepared to ignite his lightsaber and end his former master's life.

But Obi Wan Kenobi did not draw out his lightsaber. Instead, he withdrew a small, black device about the size of his thumb.

"What is that?" Anakin demanded contemptuously.

"You should never have betrayed the Jedi Order, Anakin," Obi Wan said with a sigh. "We gave you everything, and you stabbed us in the back. You were a slave on Tatooine, and we brought you to the Jedi Temple, giving you opportunities no other slave could imagine."

"Former slave," Obi Wan growled. "I'm a person!"

Obi Wan heaved a deep sigh and shook his head. "Do you remember, Anakin, when Master Qui-gon told you that you were free?"

"Of course, I remember!" Anakin snarled. "Don't try to use Master Qui-gon's memory against me!"

"Do you remember when he brought you to Watto and they deactivated the slave transmitter?"

"Of course!"

"Do you remember how he took you to the Hutt's slave market and had the explosive device implanted in your skull removed?"

Anakin frowned, his brow furrowed. "What? That's a lie! That never happened!"

"I know," Obi Wan said. "Qui-gon was murdered by a Sith before he could ever get around to that. A pity for you. Jedi don't own property, Anakin. You know that. It all belongs to the Jedi Order."

"What are you talking about?" Anakin demanded. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"When Qui-gon won you from Watto, he never owned you. Your official ownership was transferred to the Order, not him personally." Obi Wan said. "Usually, it is standard practice for any slaves who join the Order to be officially freed and their implants removed. But then, Yoda had foreseen great danger in training you as a Jedi."

"My transmitter is deactivated!"

"When Yoda and I went back to the Jedi Temple, which you had attacked, we recalibrated the message sent out to the scattered Jedi. And we reactivated your slave chip."

Anakin's eyes went wide, he threw out a single hand in protest. "NOOOOO!"

Obi Wan pressed the button.