Chapter 1
"It's over Anakin, I have the high ground!"
Obi-Wan Kenobi grinned down from his position on top of a walkway, which was only a few feet off the ground.
"What a stupid thing to say" Anakin Skywalker thought, as he stared up at his master from his position on the floor of the training room. "Does he really think that something as simple as "taking the high ground" is enough to gain an unbeatable advantage against a Jedi?"
Anakin slowly raised his hand and pointed his palm at Obi-Wan. His master's demeanour was still unchanged despite this, which Anakin had counted on. He'd surprised Obi-Wan with his skills in the past and he knew he could do so again.
"That's not going to help you" Obi-Wan called down. "I already told you the fight is over, sometimes you just have to accept that."
Anakin ignored the taunts and closed his eyes so he could focus. He took a deep breath and took in his surroundings. Obi-Wan's words that he repeated to him each day rang through his head. He had to take in the force that both surrounded him and was within him. Then, he had to channel it and push it through his hand.
"There it is," he thought, as he felt pressure begin to circle around his palm. "Now, I just need to force it out a little more and-"
Anakin suddenly felt an incredible pain in his stomach, quickly followed by a hard push that sent him crashing in to the ground. It was enough to take the breath out of him for a moment. As he staggered back to his feet, he could hear Obi-Wan's restrained chuckling above him.
"You're about ten years too early to be trying something like that against me my young Padawan" he said. "Your three years of Jedi training doesn't quite match up to my standards."
Anakin muttered several curses under his breath. He did respect Obi-Wan for the great Jedi he was, but sometimes it was just plain infuriating to be his student. Everything was either the most serious matter in the galaxy or just one big joke. Annoyingly, it appeared that Obi-Wan had chosen the latter attitude for this exercise. He stood up there with a carefree expression plastered across his face and not a single hint of breathlessness in his breathing. Meanwhile, Anakin felt ready to pass out from tiredness.
"If you can jump that high, then so can I" Anakin said defiantly, as he walked towards the walkway and activated his lightsaber. "That should take away your high ground."
Obi-Wan stared back at him for a moment, tilting his head slightly like a confused Bantha. Then he closed his eyes and grinned while he ran his hands through his hair, which had been getting progressively longer.
"Okay then, give it a try," he said, as he re-activated his own lightsaber. "Lets see this jump of your then."
Anakin was somewhat surprised by the response. Usually, Obi-Wan would have some condescending remark about why he was such a fool. What was he trying to do?
"Come on then, I haven't got all day" Obi-Wan said. "If you were fighting a Sith Lord he'd have called a whole battalion of droids to attack you by now."
Deciding to take his chances, Anakin dashed forwards towards Obi-Wan. The added adrenaline rushing around his system made it easier to push the force towards his feet. When he was only a few feet from the walkway, he bent his knees and pushed off hard from the ground. He was aiming to land behind Obi-Wan while facing him, meaning he'd have to perform a flip in mid air.
As he passed just over Obi-Wan's head, he noticed the blue lightsaber swinging towards his legs. To his horror, Anakin realised that he couldn't move them out of the way quicker than Obi-Wan could swing.
"Shit! There's nothing I can do!"
His heart jumped into his mouth as he felt the warmness of the laser at it singed his pants leg. With only milliseconds left before he lost his leg, Obi-Wan's lightsaber disappeared. In the confusion that followed, Anakin forgot to focus on his landing and subsequently overshot the walkway and landed hard on his back on the metal floor.
"So, what just happened there?" Obi-Wan asked, appearing by Anakin's side in an instant.
"You tricked me" Anakin spat, as he felt his face blush red in embarrassment.
"Only to teach you an important lesson," Obi-Wan replied calmly. "Well, several important lessons actually."
Anakin rolled his eyes. Obi-Wan had a tendency to get carried away with his pearls of wisdom and Anakin felt a particularly long one on the way.
"What you just did was very rash, did you even consider the implications of doing that?" Obi-Wan said.
"Obviously not or I wouldn't be lying on my back right now" Anakin dead-panned.
"All right, you're obviously not in the mood so I'll just tell you this" Obi-Wan continued. "In battles with powerful opponents, every advantage that you either attain or concede can be used to devastating effect. Just make sure you remember that."
Anakin sighed and nodded his head in confirmation but in his mind he was already far away from the training room. He could practically taste his dinner in the academy lunch hall.
"All right, well not that's done lets get back to it" Obi-Wan beamed, as he jumped back up.
Anakin just shot him an exasperated look. His muscles were throbbing and his breathing laboured. The last thing he wanted to do was go through another round of helplessly being beat down by Obi-Wan.
"Oh come on" Obi-Wan laughed. "You think you can become master of the order by giving up so easily?"
Anakin smiled at Obi-Wan's lame attempt at inspiration, but he stood up anyway. Despite everything, there was part of him that didn't want to let him down.
"Fine, but when I am Grand Master, I'll remember this!"
"Don't try it."
The desperate cry brought Anakin back to reality. He wasn't a 13-year-old Padawan, training in the comfort of the Jedi Temple with his fresh-faced master. He was an apprentice of a Sith Lord, facing down an exhausted and injured former friend with the intent to kill. The security of the temple was replaced with the heat and harshness of the lava filled planet of Mustafar. Those feelings of respect had long since been quashed, taken over by a deep loathing.
"What was that?" he wondered, thinking of the memories that had flooded his mind in a moment of hesitation.
"First smart decision you've made in a long time Anakin" Obi-Wan yelled over. "Now, perhaps you'll listen to me."
Anakin drowned out the mutterings of his former teacher. He had decided he wasn't going to listen to his despicable lies any longer. He had become nothing more than his enemy when he had sided with the corruption of the Jedi and turned his darling Padme against him.
He took a moment to quickly scan his surroundings. He deduced that another battle of the force would not end well for him. If they were both pushed back like last time, Obi-Wan would land on nothing more dangerous than gravel, while he would fall in to the lava.
"You have to listen to me-"
"Shut up!" Anakin screamed back, cutting of Obi-Wan's pathetic pleas. "I don't have to listen to the deception of the Jedi anymore. I don't have to let you hold me back, stop me from attaining the true power I deserve. I don't have to pretend that I'm not with the woman I love!"
"You mean the woman you just tried to choke to death?" Obi-Wan screamed back, as tears filled his eyes.
"Don't you… Don't you dare…"
Anakin's whole body began to shake with rage. How dare he say that, what did he know? He never intended to kill her, he could feel that she was still alive, of course he could. He just had to get her to stop, just long enough so that she wouldn't be in the way. Then he would make her see sense. He just had to get rid of Obi-Wan. Get rid of the one who was always in his way, determined to ruin his life.
Before he knew it, the shaking had begun to materialise outside of his body. The lava beneath him began to act up, bubbling much more erratically. Even the edge of the cliff began to crack and fall in to the lava. This quickly spread further up the cliff, until it was right under Obi-Wan's feet. This sudden movement caused the Jedi Master to lose his footing and slip.
"Now's my chance!"
Hardly believing the good fortune, Anakin leapt from the disintegrating piece of equipment he was stood on and fell towards Obi-Wan. His lightsaber pulled back over his head, he screamed in anger as he prepared to deliver the finishing blow. However, Obi-Wan was able to regain his balance in time and just about managed to jump backwards and avoid the hit.
"All you're doing is delaying the inevitable" Anakin spat. "You will die here."
With another passionate roar, Anakin continued his assault. He didn't care about the dangers of the rising heat that threatened to burn his skin. He could barely feel the aches and pains that engulfed his limbs, which were practically begging for rest. Everything about him had become numb except for one thing. All he cared for was striking down the man before him in the most painful way he could think of.
Yet, he just wouldn't relent. Anakin could see that his former master was struggling, both his fading force signature and his tired pants attested to that but he still kept fighting. It was as if he knew where Anakin would swing before he did so, which made it all the more infuriating.
As the battle continued, Anakin noticed that his sight was deteriorating. His opponent was becoming more and more difficult to see, he was mostly concentrating on the now dull beam of blue. Although, whether it really mattered or not was unclear, as he was running on pure adrenaline and instinct at that point.
"Anakin, the lava is rising too quickly, it's engulfing all of the platforms" Obi-Wan yelled out. "If we keep this up, Padme will be-"
"I told you to shut your mouth!" Anakin screeched. "Besides, living people aren't of your concern any more."
However, as they turned another corner, Anakin was confronted with this truth. They had come full circle and were now back at the end of the walkway, only a few hundred metres from Padme. He could see that the lava was now almost level with the platform where she lay unaware of what was happening.
A flash of blue brought him back in to the moment, as Obi-Wan's lightsaber flew just past his head, cutting a small piece of his hair. He was also slow to react to the two follow up strikes, only beating them away at the last possible second.
"I'm getting sloppy," he thought. "That bastard, he lured me here on purpose to distract me. He's using her again, I can't stand for it!"
When their blades connected again, Anakin pushed down hard in order to keep them locked together. He then pushed his hand forward, only to be met by Obi-Wan doing the same. Their force pressure began to rise as they both concentrated their energy in to a very small point. It took all of Anakin's effort just to stay in the same place.
He then looked in to the eyes of Obi-Wan, now that he could see him up close. Those deep blue eyes that had once made him feel calm and safe. Now all he saw when he looked in to them was lies and betrayal. The man he once thought of as like a father had destroyed his life. No one else could ever make him feel that much pain.
Those eyes then became wide with shock as Obi-Wan's body lifted off the ground and then flew backwards. There was a satisfying crash as he landed hard on his back on the landing platform. Anakin smirked as he watched him struggle to get back to his feet.
"Now" he yelled out, "it truly is the end!"
Just as Anakin was about to begin his charge towards the platform, the lava suddenly shot up and engulfed the walkway separating them. The extreme heat of the molten rock instantly destroyed most the metal strip and swept away anything that remained.
Anakin stood there, dumbfounded. He judged the distance between where he was standing and the landing platform, which made him instantly disregard the notion of trying to jump between them. He looked around desperately trying to find another way around, but it was no good. There was only one path between the platform and it had just vanished.
As if to mock him further, Obi-Wan struggled to his feet. He too took a moment to assess the situation and seemed to come to the same conclusion. Then, to Anakin's horror, he made his way over to Padme.
"No" Anakin whispered, before raising his voice sharply. "Don't do it. Leave her alone, I won't let you take her from me!"
Desperate, Anakin stretched out his hand and begged the force to bring Padme to him. He saw her twitch slightly in response to this but that was all. He was too exhausted to do any more. He fell to his knees and tried desperately to catch his breath, as he watched Obi-Wan carry his wife in to the ship.
"I hate you!" Anakin screamed out, as tears began to well in his eyes. "You hear me Obi-Wan? Do you see what you've done to me?"
He'd hoped to see Obi-Wan be shaken by his words. He wanted to see his face fall and break down in tears. He'd expected him to at least face him. But he did not. He walked towards the ship without once breaking stride or even turning back for a look. The ship then quickly hovered off the ground before flying off in to the clouds, leaving Anakin alone on the self-destructing planet.
"There's no need to worry… We don't need to run… With my new powers… Overthrow the Emperor… Rule the galaxy."
Everything he had said to her was running through her mind. But it wasn't just his words but the way he said it. He was genuinely excited; the first time she had seen him like that since he was a child. That was what made it all the more heartbreaking. He showed no signs of remorse for what he had done, or even a notion that he had done something wrong. It was like the man she loved, whose arms had been wrapped around her just a few hours before, had disappeared completely.
"Padme" a vague voiced whispered out to her. "Hang on in there Padme."
Hang on in there? Why? What for? What did she have left now? The Senate had given in to a dictator, realising her worst fears in the process. Now the man she loved, the only other person in the universe she could ever love, was gone. There was nothing left for her in this life. Nothing worth living for anymore.
"Ani, what are you doing?"
"Shhh, you ask too many questions my dear Senator" Anakin teased her. "You have to trust in my judgement for now. After all, a leader that has no trust in her people is not a leader at all."
She could only smile at his attempt to be witty. It didn't quite work the way he thought he did, but she had learned to appreciate his naivety in those aspects.
"Was the blindfold necessary though?" she asked, as she cautiously continued to walk forward. "What if I just promised to close my eyes?"
"What if you just stopped asking questions?" Anakin countered playfully. "Come on, this is supposed to be a surprise. I can't give anything away."
Padme didn't like surprises; she never did even as a child. She liked being in charge of everything and knowing exactly what was going on. It was those qualities that saw her made Queen at such a young age and why there was continued admiration for her on her home planet of Nabuu years later. Suffice it to say then that things outside of her control did little more than annoy her.
"Okay, just walk forward a little more" Anakin whispered in her ear.
Still, she couldn't help but grin at that moment. Anakin had a youthful charm about him that sometimes made her feel like she was a child again. When she was with him, she no longer felt worried about the war or even the secret that they both kept. It was as if all of her problems and responsibilities disappeared in those moments.
"Okay, here we are" Anakin said, as they came to a halt. "You know, maybe we shouldn't-"
"Stop it Ani!" she giggled, as she hit him playfully. "Just take this blindfold off me!"
With no more protests, the blindfold finally came off. At first she wasn't sure what she was supposed to be looking at due to the brightness of the lights in the room. As her eyes adjusted, she noticed that they were in their apartments spare room.
"What's-"
Finally though, she noticed it. The new crib set up in the corner, the baby clothes hung up in the closet and a whole other assortment of related things.
"When did you do all this?" she asked, as she looked through several of the draws, which were filled with yet more clothes.
"Well I had a day off and you were stuck in meetings, so…" Anakin said, letting Padme finish the sentence in her mind.
"Wait, is this what I think it is" Padme said, as she picked up a small, strange shaped model from the desk.
"Oh yeah, I couldn't resist" Anakin laughed. "I found it in one of those second hand stores. It's good, I want my boy to know about pod racing from the get go."
Padme raised her eyebrows at this, a habit she'd picked up every time Anakin surprised her.
"What if we have a girl? What happens then?"
Anakin pretended to ponder the question for a moment, scrunching up his face in his mock concentration.
"Well, I guess it would have to be a pink pod then wouldn't it?"
They stayed in the room for the rest of the night, visualising their future lives as parents. They practically planned their entire lives years in to the future, right down to the little details of what school on Naboo their child would attend and where they'd go on holiday.
"Who are we kidding?" Padme sighed. "This isn't the life we can lead, Ani. You're a Jedi and you know what that means. In the current climate, I don't even know how much you'll see this child."
Anakin walked over and pulled her close to him.
"I can leave you know" he said to her. "We could run away together, start a new life somewhere peaceful."
"It's a nice thought" she sighed. "I couldn't ask you to give up your dream for me, it's not fair. Not to mention we have too many responsibilities here, both of us."
Those damn responsibilities again, there really was nowhere she could go to escape them anymore. They infected her life like a virus, spreading across everything and destroying whatever she cared about.
"I promise you, it'll all work out in the end," Anakin said, as he softly kissed the top of her head in reassurance.
Her instinct was to challenge him on that, ask him how he could just say something so vague as if it were fact. But she didn't. Something about the way he said it was so comforting that she couldn't bear to think that it wasn't true.
"Yeah" she said, smiling in spite of herself. "I'll hold you to that one."
What was that? A dream? But how, she certainly hadn't been sleeping. Besides, it felt too real to be a dream. It was as if she had been re-living that moment, as if she had been taken back in time to that day and how she felt in that moment.
"Vitals stabilising" a nearby droid stated. "Heart rate returning to normal rhythm. Previous diagnosis has been revoked."
She wasn't really listening to what the droid was saying, not that she could understand the implications anyway. She felt much more calm though than she had before that "vision." Everything didn't feel quite so hopeless. Not only that, but she found it was actually easier for her to breathe as well.
"Padme!" Obi-Wan exclaimed, as he walked in. "I thought we'd lost you."
She felt a little bit guilty as she looked at Obi-Wan then. They'd known each other for more than a decade and he'd been especially important in her life over the past few years. They'd become closer than she realised, he was almost like family to her. She knew it must have been difficult for him to watch her practically giving her life away like that.
"Sorry, but I'm fine now" she replied. "Well, as fine as I can be in the circumstances at least."
"Well, you gave us quite a scare" Obi-Wan said. "Or maybe it was that damn droid just presuming things. This is why I don't like the lack of human doctors; droids can be far too vague and difficult to understand. It didn't give us a reason for why it thought you were dying or why you just suddenly seemed to recover."
Padme wondered if she should ask Obi-Wan about what she saw. He was probably the wisest person she knew; he'd likely have an answer. But, then again, she didn't want to burden him with anything else. No, it wasn't the right time to be asking questions, not just yet.
"Where are the children?" she asked, as she finally noticed the two empty cots at the foot of her bed.
"They're fine" Obi-Wan reassured her. "We had to move them to a different room. There's someone bringing them to you right now."
As if it were waiting for a cue, the door behind Obi-Wan opened and two men walked in. The first man was wearing a plain grey uniform and appeared to be a worker on whatever ship she was on. The second man she recognised right away. She'd been seeing a lot of Senator Bail Oragana recently, but he still looked to have aged a lot over the last few days. Which wasn't surprising, it was probably the most stressful time to be a Senator in the history of the Republic.
However, she wasn't really concerned with that at that second. All she cared about was the two small bundles of blankets that they were carrying in their arms.
"Sorry we kept you waiting" Bail grinned, as he bent down to hand over the baby he was carrying. "They're beautiful Padme, congratulations."
A well of emotions built up inside of her, as she placed her two children in front of her. Just seeing them filled her with so much love and joy, yet it was also tinged with regret and sorrow. She was supposed to be on her home planet right now, in the hospital by the lake where she was born. A calm and relaxing environment, with Anakin by her side. They'd be saying how Luke had Anakin's eyes or Leia had her nose. They'd laugh at the fuss Padme's parents made and joke about babysitting responsibilities. It would have been perfect. It should have been perfect.
"Don't cry Padme" Obi-Wan said sympathetically, as tears involuntarily dripped from her eyes. "You've still got so much to live for."
"I know" Padme responded, as she wiped her eyes. "It's just, despite everything, I still wish he was here Obi-Wan. I still don't want him to miss this."
For the first time in many years, Palpatine felt that he might have made a mistake. Exactly what the mistake was he wasn't sure. Was it moving the Separatists to a planet as dangerous and unstable as Mustafar? Was it not deleting the Hologram footage inside the Jedi Temple? Or was it sending Vader to kill the leaders, even though a small clone squad would have sufficed? Whatever it was, it had lead to this. This feeling of unease that he had as they hurtled towards the molten planet on the Outer Rim.
"How much longer will it take?" he asked the nearest trooper.
"I believe we will be landing within the next minute or so my Lord" he replied.
"Good, then prepare for a medical team to be deployed as soon as we land" Palpatine ordered. "We don't know what state Lord Vader will be in when we arrive, we should be prepared for the worst."
"Understood."
He thought his days of worrying about Skywalker were behind him. He had spent years increasing his influence over the boy, harnessing that deep-rooted fear and turning it in to something more. If it had been anyone else, he probably would have had him in his clutches years ago. It had even been easier to turn a Jedi Master such as Dooku. However, there had been one problem that he had not anticipated: Kenobi.
Skywalker's faith in his master was far greater than he anticipated, so much so that it regularly undid his hard work. Attempts to separate them also proved difficult, as the Jedi often insisted that they go on missions together. Now it appeared that Kenobi had foiled him one last time by denying him the prize he had worked so hard for.
"My Lord" the trooper said, returning to Palpatine's side. "We have a problem."
Palpatine frowned underneath his hood. He did not like or tolerate problems, especially those caused by incompetence. Just the mention of the word was enough to make his blood boil.
"What is it?" he snapped.
"The walkway that extends from the landing platform has been destroyed. We have no way of accessing the rest of the planet."
It was certainly an alarming piece of news. The battle between them must have been incredibly dangerous.
"Are there any other ships on the planet?"
"Only Lord Vader's cruiser has been detected."
This was becoming even more concerning. Skywalker was still on the planet and what's more he must be alone. The battle had ceased and he clearly wasn't the victor. The only problem now was whether or not he was still alive.
"Fly low around the planet" Palpatine instructed. "See whether you can locate Lord Vader and we will proceed from there."
He could sense the doubt of the troopers, but they did as they were told regardless. Whether it was because of their programming or through fear he didn't know, but regardless they were acting they way they should. Now that he had no need for a façade, he would not tolerate any more disobedience.
Luckily they had chosen a smaller ship, meaning there was not as much trouble to navigate in between the various mountains of the planet. Palpatine looked out of his window and saw the raging torrent below. The lava flow had gotten completely out of control; it would destroy all land before long. Just what exactly had happened?
"My Lord, we have found him!"
Palpatine instantly stood up and walked over to the nearest trooper. He was directed to look out of the window, which he did. There he saw Skywalker, sitting with his back to the wall. There was still some distance between them, but Palatine could not detect any significant damage to him. Although, his force signature was incredibly weak.
"Fly closer, with any luck he will still be able to make it on to the ship himself."
The ship edged towards Vader, getting as close as possible while still keeping it in one piece. They slowly opened the door, and immediately felt the heat of the planet as it rushed inside. Palpatine was surprised that Skywalker could stand to just sit out there like that.
"Lord Vader!" one of the clones shouted. "Can you make it inside yourself?"
Skywalker immediately answered by standing up and making the jump inside. Now that they were stood up close, Palpatine could get a clearer look at his apprentice. As he thought earlier, other than exhaustion and a few burns, he was mostly healthy.
"So, you survived" Palpatine said slowly. "You seem to be in some discomfort though, Lord Vader. What happened to you? And why is your force signature so faint?"
"Obi-Wan is what happened" Skywalker spat. "He must have tricked her somehow, she brought him here. I must kill him for what he has done."
Palpatine smiled to himself. It seemed that Kenobi's hold over him had finally been destroyed, replaced with a strong hatred, which would only fuel Skywalkers powers and keep him linked to the Dark Side. Things could not have gone better.
"Of course, whatever Jedi survived Order 66 must be brought to justice" Palpatine said. "We will begin an investigation-"
"No, I need to look for him myself" Skywalker snarled.
Palpatine wasn't used to being told no, especially by one of his apprentices. He didn't like it at all.
"You don't have the time to do that," Palpatine said forcefully. "You have other responsibilities now to-"
The ship began to shake. Palpatine watched in horror as Skywalker's anger began to surge and how everything around him reacted. That weak force signature suddenly became stronger than anything Palpatine had ever sensed before, it was overwhelming. At the rate he was going, the ship would be destroyed.
However, before Palpatine could react, it disappeared and Skywalker fell to the ground. He was unconscious, and his force signature returned to what it had previously been.
"Take him to the medical room" Palpatine said, as he regained his composure. "His exhaustion seems to have caught up with him, he needs rest."
He watched as the medical staff carried him away. Despite his survival, Palpatine couldn't shake his unease about Skywalker. He was certainly his most powerful apprentice by far, but that could also cause a problem. Had Skywalker already surpassed him? He decided that his apprentice must be watched closer in the future, because he was not ready to lose his power just as he became Emperor.