A/N: Hi again! I've had this idea to write the retrospective of Anakin's fall to the dark side for a while. Originally, I was only going to write it from Obi-Wan's perspective but then I thought it would be better to write from Padmé and Ahsoka's perspectives too as they were just as close to Anakin as Obi-Wan was. I got the idea after listening to the beginning of Ed Sheeran's I See Fire which I thought fit perfectly for the Mustafar setting in Revenge of the Sith where Obi-Wan and Anakin duel it out. This piece is a little bit rushed as I wanted to get it finished plus there are tons of errors which I haven't fixed 'cause it's nearing midnight here in Australia and I want to go to sleep. So I leave you with, I See Fire.
I See Fire
Oh, misty eye of the mountain below
Keep careful watch of my brothers' souls
And should the sky be filled with fire and smoke
Keep watching over Durin's sons
I See Fire – Ed Sheeran (From "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug")
Padmé
She'd always believed in love. Now, she didn't know what to believe.
Sitting in the co-pilot's seat of her Naboo cruiser on the way to Mustafar, Padmé could only replay Obi-Wan's revelation over and over in her head. She could think of nothing else. She begged. No. She was praying that what Obi-Wan had told her was nothing more then a practical joke.
Looking over at how at peace 3PO seemed to be in the pilot's seat, Padmé continued to stare out windscreen of the cruiser. Absently, she placed a hand over her swollen stomach as she felt her baby kick.
It was a funny thing. She and Anakin had never spoken about having a family but then one thing led to another and now, she was carrying their first child. She loved her child with every fibre of her being and knew Anakin did too. She still remembered the look of joy that had crossed his face when she had told him of her pregnancy. She remembered how he had sprouted out names for the baby and even going as far as to provide the definitions of what they meant.
Padmé smiled as she recalled the names they had chosen. Luke, if the baby was a boy and Leia, if it was a girl. She could almost see a blonde haired, blue eyed little boy running around the cockpit of the ship. Her eyes closed for a moment. She could see a little girl who looked just like her running around the apartment with her chestnut hair in braids.
She had seen the darkness within Anakin before but she had thought it would go away. She knew Anakin had a tortured past when it came to slavers, hutts and creatures that enjoyed nothing more then to hurt people who had done nothing to them. Having seen Anakin breakdown after the death of his mother, Padmé had come to realise that Anakin had been a tortured soul, one that needed to be reassured that everything was okay.
Married life hadn't been what Padmé had expected it to be. She had friends and colleagues who got to see their spouses everyday. Padmé hadn't been so lucky. She was lucky if she got to see Anakin every couple of months. Life as a secret wife to a famed Jedi Knight wasn't always the greatest. She constantly feared that Anakin would return to her in a body bag. She knew that he was in good hands with Obi-Wan but since his return after the Outer Rim Sieges, he had distanced himself from everyone, even Obi-Wan.
Mourning had become a common occurrence with Anakin over the last year and a bit. Losing Ahsoka still played on the young Jedi's mind and Padmé knew better then to interrupt her husband's phase of mourning for the loss of his Padawan.
Padmé herself had come accustomed to having the teenager around. She had fought so hard to clear Ahsoka of the charges that were piled up against the girl's name. Padmé had been able to have Ahsoka's charges dropped but only after Anakin had hunted down the real culprit with the assistance of an unusual ally: Asajj Ventress.
Tears threatened to spill over but Padmé wiped them away. Not knowing who was telling her truth was tearing her apart. She loved and adored Anakin but Obi-Wan was their friend. They had known him a long time and trusted him. They should have told him about their marriage earlier. Now, Obi-Wan knew it felt a little bit easier but Anakin wasn't going to be happy that his best friend knew.
I cannot believe anything until I hear what Anakin has to say. Padmé thought to herself. She had to keep an open mind. Maybe Obi-Wan had seen wrong and Anakin hadn't committed those vulgar crimes against the Order. Maybe it was just a major misunderstanding. It never hurt to check. That was what being a politician was all about: checking the facts before drawing conclusions or at least, that's what Padmé had once believed. She had believed the Jedi had done the same but now, they were no more. They had been wiped out, destroyed.
She physically felt sick. She had hoped this was all a nightmare and that she would wake up. But she realised very quickly that this wasn't a dream. She had seen the smoking rising from the Jedi Temple. She had sat in the senate when Palpatine had declared the Jedi enemies and that he was reorganising the Republic into the first Galactic Empire.
"This is how liberty dies… with thunderous applause."
A nagging feeling entered Padmé's stomach. She had a feeling she would not see the next day. Why she thought this she wasn't sure but all that she needed to do now, was to find Anakin and question him about what the hell was going on. She wanted to cry and fall at Anakin's feet, begging to know that none of Obi-Wan's allegations against him were true. From what she had come to observe about the twisting manner of the Dark Side was that its enforcers were smooth liars. They could get away with pretty much any lie they spoke. If Palpatine could get away with hiding his true identity then Anakin could get away with lying about the slaughtering of innocent children.
The younglings.
When Obi-Wan had told her that he had seen on the Jedi Temple security holograms, Padmé had gone into total shock. There was no way that her sweet, loving husband would slaughter innocent children. He loved children. He had practically raised Ahsoka into the warrior she had become before her departure from the Jedi Order.
Padmé looked down at her hands to see that they were shaking violently. She closed her fingers, but it did not work. Her worry over Anakin had overtaken her will to think straight. She couldn't make any conclusions until she had heard what Anakin had to say.
On the monitor in front of her, there was flashing indicating they were approaching the atmosphere of Mustafar. With a heavy sigh, Padmé leaned back in her chair. She needed to do this. She needed to find out if Obi-Wan had been lying to her. She needed her husband to return to her. She needed her child's father to see their child born and raised in a loving home. She wasn't doing this for her family. She was doing this for all the lost souls that had been lost because of what Palpatine had created. The Clone Wars had been lost before it had even began as its instigator had been right under everybody's noses and no one had noticed until the last minute and even the Jedi had been powerless to stop him.
Even in death, Padmé wasn't going to go down without a fight.
Obi-Wan
Watching over Luke felt like torture. The boy had so many qualities of Anakin's that it made Obi-Wan to breakdown into tears. It had been fifteen years since that fateful day on Mustafar. It was also the day that Obi-Wan had lost two of his best friends. Anakin had been lost days before to a man who now ruled the galaxy with an iron fist and Padmé had been lost in childbirth. She wouldn't have been able to cope with raising two children by herself while knowing their father had becoming some evil warlord.
Owen had been specific when he had said that he didn't want the former Jedi Master near his nephew. Obi-Wan had respected that but had continued to watch Luke from a distance. Everything the boy did reminded him of Anakin. The boy even looked liked Anakin had fifteen. Blue eyes and dirty blonde hair. Though, the only difference was, Luke almost always wore cream or white, which wasn't the greatest when it came to the dirty and desert sand. Upon becoming a Jedi, Anakin had gone from cream robes as a child to brown and black robes as a teenager.
Obi-Wan had overheard things from conversations between Beru and Owen about how Luke was becoming too much like his father. Even from a distance, Obi-Wan knew they had every right to be worried about their nephew.
They might have met Anakin but they had never truly known him the way Obi-Wan had.
The man Obi-Wan had once known had been kind, opinionated, a little brash, stubborn and was known for his temper and his fierce loyalty and it appeared that Anakin's son was just like him.
The one thing the boy didn't seem to have was his father's temper. He had inherited his mother's temperament. Obi-Wan wondered how much Luke's sister was like their parents.
There was no doubt in Obi-Wan's mind that Anakin would have adored Luke and Leia. He'd always had a soft spot for girls. Obi-Wan had guessed that Anakin's time teaching Ahsoka had given him perspective at what parenthood could have been like.
Whenever Obi-Wan closed his eyes, he could see the lava banks of Mustafar. If he concentrated really carefully, he could hear the sound of mechanical structures and the flowing of the lava rushing down lava-falls. He could even hear the distant clashing of lightsabres. He pulled out of the memory has quickly as he had been pulled in.
Anakin would have been proud to see that his son had become a pilot and a mechanic and he would have been proud to see that Leia had followed in Padmé's footsteps and become a politician, despite his supposed dislike of them.
Obi-Wan found himself smiling at the idea. He had not smiled in a very long time. The only joy he had had in the last fifteen years had been watching over Luke. He even found himself wondering what Leia was doing. There was no doubt in his mind that she was giving all her male colleagues a run for their credits. Obi-Wan smirked. Like mother, like daughter. Padmé would have been proud.
There was no doubt in Obi-Wan's mind that Anakin would have made joke after joke about it, saying that his little girl was going to outdo her mother.
The agony of losing Anakin sometimes became too much for Obi-Wan and he often found himself curled up in a foetal position either on his makeshift bed or the floor of his shack. He would often have flashes of the events that transpired those fateful few days. He thought back to the moment when he had stashed Anakin's lightsabre in a crate and then pushed the box out of reach and sight. It had been painful enough having to pick the weapon up in the first place from beside his former best friend and brother's ghastly remains of a body. Having seen holo-photos of badly burnt bodies, Obi-Wan had hoped he wouldn't have to see one but he had been gravely mistaken. He knew now that there was nothing worse then seeing someone he loved and admired being burnt alive.
The sounds of Anakin's screams of pain and pure hatred washed over Obi-Wan and it made him feel weak and helpless as Anakin would have felt as the lava of Mustafar had lapped at his skin and clothes, burning him to virtually nothing of the man he had once been.
Squeezing his eyes shut to banish the sour tears, Obi-Wan's mind became racked with guilt. I am so sorry Anakin. I should have seen the signs. I should have helped you with your visions of your mother's death. I shouldn't have agreed with the council on everything. I should have stood up for Ahsoka when she was framed. I am sorry!
He turned his back on his viewing of Luke and headed home where he could be alone with his thoughts of his long lost best friend who was more machine then man.
Ahsoka
Leaving the Jedi Order had been one of the hardest decisions Ahsoka had ever had to make. It had been the only home (and family) she had known but after the way they had abandoned her when Barriss had framed her for the bombing of the Jedi Temple hangar, she had felt she needed to get away and it was a good thing she had. Leaving had saved her life from being slaughtered by the man she had once called a friend: Anakin Skywalker.
Making her way through the halls of the Ghost she felt hollow and drained of energy. She had only just recovered from blacking out after having sensed Vader's Force presence. She activated the door controls to a room, not caring where she was headed.
The door closed behind her and looked around, not really seeing. The room seemed empty other then the double bed. The walls were bare of any posters or artwork. Ahsoka got the feeling this room was Kanan's. He must have left it bare to resemble the room he would have had in the Jedi Temple back on Coruscant.
Ahsoka had learned a far bit about Kanan. He was a couple of years younger then her and had been fourteen when Order 66 had been issued. He had even seen his master gunned down by their squadron of clones. She had just been glad she hadn't been around to see the clones the Jedi had fought side by side gun down their commanders. She had learned that a few of the clones she had been close to had found out that they had protocol chips lodged in their brains which made them follow orders without hesitation. They had had them removed and had fled before Order 66 had gone down.
Thinking of Order 66 made her think of Anakin. She had heard stories that the 501st Clone Battalion had marched on the Jedi Temple and had slaughtered every Jedi inside. She had had to listen to several people tell the story before she had had actually believed it. Before the mass slaughter had began, she had gotten an encrypted message from Rex telling her that he and two other clones, Wolffe and Gregor had deserted their ranks because they knew something was going to happen and that their fellow clones would be involved. This had been a surprise as Rex was fiercely loyal to Anakin and would follow his orders without much hesitation. Thinking back, Ahsoka remembered that Rex had mentioned that the leader of the 501st was then Commander Appo. He hadn't mentiond why Ahsoka had a feeling she knew Rex had been right to leave his rank as Captain and the as the leader of the 501st behind.
Collapsing to her knees, Ahsoka cried out in agony as hot, angry tears flowed down her face. Her throat became thick with emotion and it was getting hard to breath. The feeling took her back to when she and Barriss had been trapped under rubble. Barriss. She was the whole reason why she had left the Jedi Order to begin with. She had long let go of all the hate she had harvested towards the Mirian and anyone else that was involved.
Her body shook as her grief overtook her. Her nails dug into her arms as she held herself. She leaned over, her forehead touching the durasteel floor. It was cool against her skin but it wasn't enough to conceal her heartbreak. Anakin had meant the world to her. She could remember every single joke and laugh they had shared in the two years they known each other. They had shared jokes about Obi-Wan and anyone who was out to get them. Anakin had even had entrusted her with 'keeping an eye' on Senator Amidala for him. Ahsoka knew they were old friends but she hadn't realised just how close they had been.
She thought back all the conversations she and Anakin had had and how he use to talk about her so openly. He had practically idolised her despite the fact she was a politician. At the time, Ahsoka had assumed Anakin saw her as a really good friend but as time went on, she saw Anakin's change in personality every time Padmé had become involved in one of their missions. He would ignore protocol and any orders that were given just to ensure her safety. Then, there were the looks that he would share with her. Anakin had thought no one had noticed the looks but Ahsoka certainly had. At first, she had thought nothing of it but then; she often noticed that he would leave the Temple at odd hours.
How had she known this? She often had to use the fresher or get a drink of water and she had seen him sneak off. She had followed him once and she had gotten as far as the Senate Apartment Complex and realised that he had snuck off to be with Padmé. She had pieced the rest together. She had wanted to speak up and say something to him but she hadn't. She had too much respect for him and Padmé to ruin their happiness. She knew she had done the wrong thing in snooping on her master's private life but she was curious. Anakin had often commented that life would be boring without her curiosity. Rex and Obi-Wan had laughed in agreement. They would normally just roll their eyes and shake their heads before walking away.
Typical Anakin and Ahsoka banter.
Through her tears, Ahsoka found the courage to smile. The times she had spent with Anakin had been some of the best of her life. She had found a friend in him. A mentor. Even a big brother. Now he was gone. Reduced to a soulless, merciless assassin who felt nothing for those he tortured or killed.
At that moment, Ahsoka made a vow. She would fight. She would fight for her fallen Jedi brethren. She would fight for Obi-Wan. She would fight for Padmé. She would fight for Leia. She would fight for Anakin. She would even fight for herself.