Pain. That was all Vader could feel. Terrible Pain.

His left arm severed, his legs burning in the lava, he was helpless. Obi-Wan… he had done this to him. His former Master was now staring at him, likely in shock for what he had done to his apprentice.

Vader let out another moan. Trying desperately to claw his way up with one remaining hand, the mechanical one, it seemed hopeless. The volcanic ash gave way under his hand's strength, and sent him rolling further down the beach.

"You were the Chosen One! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them!"

He gazed up at Obi-Wan. Was it he who had spoken? Vader couldn't tell. The roar of lava behind him was growing stronger. Much further down the hill, and he might roll into it…

No. That wasn't possible. He was Darth Vader. He was the Chosen One, invincible. And yet, Obi-Wan had managed to remove three of his limbs. Limbs that had rolled down the slope, and were now burning in the lava.

Vader lowered his gaze, still moaning. He was a failure, a Sith for half a day, and defeated in combat by his former master. Sidious better start looking for a new apprentice, he thought, because I doubt I'm going to be around much longer.

"It was you who would bring balance to the force, not leave it in darkness!"

Looking up, Vader was sure that this time it was Obi-Wan. Rage clouding his vision, he snapped. "I hate you!" he shouted, trying once again to crawl up the bank, to destroy his former master.

With the same results as before, he slid back on the ash. "You were my brother Anakin! I loved you… but I could not save you." Kenobi continued. Vader kept trying, sliding further and further down the black beach.

Then, with one gust of wind, it was over. A small amount of lava slid up the bank, just enough to spark a fire.

And it did.

Starting with his severed legs, it spread up his body. Vader was completely engulfed. The pain was worse than anything he had ever imagined.

It burned for minutes, yet seemed like days. His clothing melted onto his skin, and his skin melted away. In agony, he gazed up at Obi-Wan.

He was staring at Vader in shock, appalled by what he had caused. Vader was losing his vocal cords, and his voice rough and jagged, he rasped, "Obi-Wan…"

Obi-Wan, hearing his voice, removed all expression from his face. Turning around, he slowly walked up the beach slope, picking up Vader's lightsaber as he went. Vader, watching him go, felt the fire extinguish itself. That was a stroke of luck for him, at last.

With a soft groan he lowered his head, succumbing to his wounds. Minutes passed. Falling unconscious, he could see two things, both of great significance.

One, a silver ship, Nubian, lifting up from the landing pad. That silver ship contained his love, the one reason he now had to try living. It lifted up, past the stars, heading off to the east. Escaping his sight, he turned to the other point of interest.

A Neimoidian shuttle, landing on another landing platform, protected by a squad of Vulture droids. Strange, since he had confirmed that the Confederate Council had all been destroyed. As the shuttle lifted off, he noticed something else.

A battle, up in space. He could barely make out the ring shape of a Lucrehulk battling with the Imperator he had arrived in.

His damaged body aside, he had a sudden, inexplicable, bad feeling about that shuttle.

"General, we have detected a Republic cruiser in orbit of Mustafar. Imperator-class," the Muun captain spoke.

Having just exited hyperspace, the Independence was hovering on the edge of the system, observing the Republic ship in orbit of the planet.

Though I suppose it's an Imperial ship now, Grievous mused.

Having tracked his starfighter to a remote region of space halfway to Mustafar, the trail had vanished. However, at that point, a new ship had been detected, a Correlian corvette, heading in the direction of the core worlds. At that point, there were... complications. During the weeks since Grievous's near death experience, the corvette had intersected with several dozen other ships, and Kenobi could be on any one of them.

Of course, if he was still alive.

There was no guarantee that Kenobi had survived, or stolen his starfighter. It could have been some runaway, trying to escape Utapau for some unexplained reason. But Grievous was willing to bet that Kenobi was the one who had taken the shuttle. He knew how hard the Jedi was to kill.

Grievous had then decided to investigate Mustafar, and see if CIS council was really dead, or if it was just Imperial propaganda. And now here they were. But to get to the surface to confirm the survival or death of the council, they had to get past the Imperator in orbit.

Grievous to the captain's report, "Is the Independence able to destroy it? We need to reach the surface."

The Independence, a Lucrehulk carrier, was a veteran of many campaigns. First produced on Geonosis a week after the war began, it had been to many of the major conflicts throughout the war.

From the Second Battle of Geonosis to Umbara and on to Coruscant, it had taken it's fair share of beatings. It had also dished them out.

Led by the Muun captain Den Rise, the vessel was rumored to have single-handedly defended one of the Geonosian moons from a squad of Venators.

And it was these feats that made the Independance catch Grievous's eye.

After the Invisible Hand was destroyed at the Battle of Coruscant, Grievous had taken the Independence as his personal flagship. Having it heavily modified after his arrival on Utapau, it now had much larger hangers and far more turbolaser batteries.

"Unknown, sir." the thin captain replied, "If we can catch it with it's shields down, we stand a good chance."

"Very well. Disengage Hyperdrive," the general commanded. "Launch group 1 fighters. And prepare me a shuttle. I'm going down to the surface."

Explosions rocked the tiny shuttle and it's Vulture droid escort. DFS-9AD continued his role of protecting Friendly Unit 1. Friendly Base 1 was taking heavy fire from Enemy Unit 1.

According to the organics, Friendly Unit 1 was high priority, and was not to be destroyed. DFS-9AD and the rest of his squad continued escorting Friendly unit 1 down to the planet.

DFS-9AD's threat indicator alert was activated. Enemy Fighter Group 4 had peeled off from the rest of the battle and began firing on Friendly Unit 1.

Flipping around, he and his squad began firing on Enemy Fighter Group 4. Several of them vanished in flashes of light, but seconds later, just as many of DFS-9AD's squad were destroyed.

Sending out a quick request of assistance, DFS-9AD dove into the fray, firing his payload of missiles at Enemy Fighter Group 4. Several of them exploded from impact, while many more were subjected to Friendly Unit Group 34, or Buzz Droids to the organics.

The rest of his squad did the same, and soon, Enemy Fighter Group 4 was no longer a threat. However, Enemy Fighter Groups 3 and 5 were now approaching.

The odds of surviving this wave of enemies was 34%. Not good odds. Friendly Fighter Groups 9 and 13 had arrived, which increased the odds of survival to 92%.

Enemy Fighter Group 5 was quickly destroyed, and 3 limped back to Enemy Base 1. The path was now clear to their target.

If DFS-9AD wasn't a droid and had a face, he would have smiled. But of course, he couldn't.

Droids can't smile.

As soon as the shuttle touched down, Grievous began walking down the landing ramp. He didn't even wait for the ramp to fully touch the platform, he just made the small leap down the remaining foot of space.

Walking across the platform, he noticed something… out of place. There were no guard droids. The council was always protected by droids. The cowardly scum hated to be left vulnerable. This didn't look good.

He glanced at his 6 Magnaguards walking down the ramp. "IG-one-oh-four, advance with your squad into the facility. Check for anything out of place," the General ordered his bodyguards. There was a quick word of acknowledgement, then they entered the door in front of him.

Following behind, he saw IG-116 raise a hand as a signal to stop. Grievous pushed through his guards, and bent over to analyze their discovery.

A basic B-1 Battle Droid, unextraordinary except for what had killed it. There was a long slash across its chest, running the length of its left hip to right shoulder.

A lightsaber.

There were only a few who wielded that weapon. The Jedi, the Sith, and Grievous himself. Grievous knew he hadn't killed that droid. Tyrannus was dead. That left the Jedi and Sidious. But the Jedi had vanished.

Perhaps a surviving Jedi had discovered the location of the bunker, and arrested the council? Unlikely. The codes were a well kept secret. Known only to the council, Grievous himself, and… Sidious.

Perhaps… Grievous thought tentatively, Sidious was the one who did this? No. He led the CIS, why would he want to capture their leadership? Unless…

Sidious had mentioned on Utapau a new apprentice. Perhaps he wasn't a member of the CIS? A double agent who had infiltrated their highest ranks? No. Grievous mentally shook himself. He was grasping now.

"Continue," he ordered his guards. Advancing through the hallways, they found several more droids like the first the found. All killed by a lightsaber. Eventually, they reached the door to the control room.

They entered. In one corner, there was an alarm going off. "You," Grievous grunted, pointing at IG-128, "Check on that."

Turning back to the rest of the room, Grievous was surprised by the sheer amount of bodies. Was that Poggle the Lesser, smashed against the wall? Further investigation revealed that it was, in fact, the Archduke of the Stalgasin Hive. A fitting end. The General thought. Squished like the bug that he is.

All of the council members had met similar deaths. Shu Mai was laying by the entrance, impaled and decapitated. Passel Argente had been bisected by the entrance to the Briefing Room. Grievous didn't bother investigating further. He knew where the rest of the council was.

However, there was something else. The walls were littered with lightsaber gashes. Someone had been dueling here.

IG-128 walked up beside him. "Sir. It appears that the facilities shields are failing. Lava breaches are imminent, followed by complete destruction of the facility."

Grievous felt his eyes widen. He bolted for the door, his Magnaguards struggling to keep up. As he reached the exterior, he noticed a silver ship, a Nubian on a platform across the facility. He made a mental note of that.

Sprinting up the ramp of the shuttle, he ordered the OOM series pilot droid to begin takeoff procedures. He watched the Kleggor Corp Mining Facility plunge into the lava below. It appeared that luck had favored them, and somehow the shield generator had compensated enough to spare the landing platforms.

His Magnaguards rushed on board. Seconds later, the ship took off, heading back towards the Independence. Off to the west, however, Grievous could see two blue clashes of light on a slope. One of them winked out, and the other one lowered.

A/N
Yes, the author's note is at the bottom this time, just to mess with you guys. The two main POV's of this chapter do link up, with the last few paragraphs of each. I hope you enjoyed, and please review if you liked it.