Hey!

Here's the last part of Chapter 28. Anakin is reaching his goal.

Hope you enjoy this!

Chapter 28 c/

It looked like any other underdeveloped forest planet.

And yet….

Even from his cockpit, Darth Vader could feel the Force literally blazing there like nowhere else.

He would've even appreciated the beauty of its lakes if he wasn't already very frustrated.

It turned out Arbra was even closer to Naboo than Yoda's muddy planet was.

All this way to Alderaan to discover that Obi-Wan had been right beside him all along.

The irony would've made him laugh in other times but now it downright irritated him. He had only resisted the urge to drop on Naboo on his way at the realization Obi-Wan could flee anytime. Not to mention that perspective of so many Jedi gathering in one place.

A quick holo communication to Padmé while he was in hyperspace had done nothing to alleviate his fears. She had looked happy and peaceful and even though he had loved seeing her like that, he couldn't help but wonder what she was hiding from him.

Always… the doubts… the suspicion…

Would they ever stop?

He had only been able to muster a tight smile at her and not many words were exchanged, to her obvious disappointment. He was too wound up with energy and his own need to hide her Bail Organa's arrest for now to say much.

But everyone there was fine. Everything would be even better soon.

Refocusing on the forest below, he stretched out his senses carefully and sensed the Jedi camp almost right away.

All too easy.

This was a bright and beautiful day.

The young woman grinned as she drew back the heavy curtains in her children's room. Squinting at the bright sunlight, Padmé felt a rush of adrenaline shoot through her. And not because there was something important to be done in the Imperial Senate. Or because Anakin was touching her.

No.

Because a new day was here and she felt very much alive.

And hopeful.

She had lost this sensation so long ago and it was like rediscovering to breathe after her long coma. Nothing could possibly go wrong with such a beautiful landscape in front of her.

"See! A brand new day!" Padmé cooed to her children. Artoo beeped his way in. "Hello, Artoo!" She addressed him as enthusiastically.

The droid replied with an unenthusiastic beep.

"Stop arguing with Threepio!" She advised with a bright smile. "I don't think he's good to you, you know…"

Turning away, she picked up Luke who looked a little bit more awake than his sister who was turning away from the sun sleepily.

"Hello, my beautiful boy!"

Luke only cuddled close to her in his always so calm demeanor.

A few handmaidens were standing in silence in the back of the room but they didn't even register in Padmé's mind. Even they couldn't annoy her in a day like this.

The little droid was beeping again though.

"Artoo, I'm not Anakin, you know I don't understand a thing of what you're saying without Threepio. I'll activate him in a minute, I promise."

Kissing the crown of Luke's blond hair, she reached the adjoining bathroom to prepare him for the day.

Obi-Wan Kenobi paced the floor of the power source cavern in nervousness.

"What is it, Obi-Wan?"

The unexpected question stopped Obi-Wan's pacing immediately. Stroking his beard, he stood there silently for a while.

"There's a disturbance in the Force," he finally said quietly.

Sitting on the dusty floor, Barriss Offee's eyes strayed on the geometrical power rods out of habit.

"Same as what you felt… that day?"

He shook his head impatiently.

What he felt then was still haunting him. It had felt like someone was snuffing out the last candle in the night, shutting out all the light efficiently.

It had felt like death.

Vader.

He was closer. He could feel it.

"I think we should move. Away from here."

That got Barriss on her feet immediately.

"But why? Is it….?"

She didn't dare voice Anakin's new name aloud and he couldn't blame her.

"Maybe," he sighed deeply. "I'm no longer connected to An-Vader the way I used to be but I can feel the dark side surrounding him." His eyes bore into the younger Jedi's. "I felt it the day I fought him. And I can feel it now. It might be a matter of hours now and I can no longer ignore it."

"The dark side is powerful in this place," Barriss tried, more to reassure herself than anything.

"The light side here is just as powerful, you know that, Barriss, this is why the Jedi chose this planet in the first place," he explained as gently as he could muster. "It far outweighs any dark side."

The young woman was grasping at straws but she wouldn't panic. He knew this and that was why he had chosen to tell her everything.

"The very few people knowing the existence of our camp are trustworthy people."

"But no one can resist the kind of mind probes Vader uses, especially when they're no Jedi," Obi-Wan replies darkly.

Barriss took a deep breath and slowly nodded.

"What are we waiting for, then?"

He smirked.

They started ascending the stairs leading to the surface.

And everything changed abruptly.

Noises erupted above. Above him, Barriss' body stilled.

Obi-Wan's blood turned to ice.

He knew those screams.

They were the screams of the dying and agonizing. They were the sound of chaos and hell.

He had been too late.

"Force! Force…"

It took him a while to realize that the fiercely whispered words were coming from Barriss whose hands were clutching the bars so tight she had stopped moving.

"Barriss…"

He moved closer as the sounds of fighting and yells could still be heard from the outside.

"We have to go up…" he whispered. "We can't stay here; you know we can't. We have to help them."

A sob erupted from Barriss' chest.

"I couldn't save anyone… I couldn't-" she choked on the words. "Oh, please, not again…"

He sighed, feeling death and emptiness slowly filling that part of his Force awareness that was quickly dimming to nothing.

"Stay down there, then," he whispered, moving his way past her carefully.

"Obi-Wan!" Her hand shot out and gripped his leg tightly. From where he was, she looked like a child.

But he had no time for that.

"Quick!" He urged her, turning away from her without another word and ascending the stairs as fast as he could.

His mechanical hand urged him on.

Behind him, he could feel Barriss straining to catch up with him, renewed resolution obviously filling her.

He would allow himself a smile for that later.

When he reached the surface, alit lightsaber already in hand, he could only see chaos and dead Jedi on the cold floor. In the distance, a blue lightsaber was dancing in the air, mercilessly cutting off two Jedi's heads. Force lightning flew past flesh fingertips to hit Padawans whose lightsaber fell to the floor as yells of agony were taken out of their mouth.

"Anakin!"

He hadn't meant to call him this way but the words had flown past his lips before he knew it.

The carnage stopped and Obi-Wan watched as several older Jedis fled while some took the opportunity to take their weapons again, ready to attack the Sith.

Vader was there, in the distance, smirking.

"Don't call me that."

"Stop this," Obi-Wan said calmly. "You came here for me, didn't you?"

He took several steps to join him near the camp. Several Padawans were watching them, knees pressed to their chests, eyes widened in fear.

"Let them go…" he whispered as he reached Vader, whose blue sword was still alit.

Obi-Wan could almost see the blood on this Jedi weapon.

Vader laughed, that laughter Obi-Wan never knew and which froze him to the core.

"Let go of the last Jedi in the whole Empire?"

"But look at them!" Obi-Wan let out between clenched teeth, gesturing towards the terrified padawans between them. He felt himself so close to the edge, the old feeling he had when Qui-Gon died in his arms hitting him in full vengeance.

He would not heed to those feelings. He would not.

"They're children, for Force's sake! You've got children of your own!"

That wiped Vader's smirk out of his face in a second.

Obi-Wan only realized his mistake when he found himself projected several feet away, collapsing against a tree. He groaned painfully.

"Obi-Wan!"

Barriss' voice sounded from far away and he watched, his head still spinning as he sat up, as Vader stopped to a halt upon seeing her.

"Barriss."

"Anakin, please…" she started to whisper.

But Vader recovered his composure quickly enough.

"Guess I didn't do my job well that night," he uttered through clenched teeth," first all those padawans, now, you. Tell me, Barriss…" He whispered, coming closer to the young Jedi.

Obi-Wan struggled to get up, an uneasy feeling coming into him.

"How did you escape?"

The young woman was no longer moving, a resigned look on her face as the Sith towered over her.

"Did you let your comrades die? You fled, didn't you?"

She looked down.

"I hate cowards even more than I hate your lot," Vader barked.

"You were once a Jedi, like us," Barriss Offee looked up defiantly. "You were the best Jedi," she added wistfully. "And you betrayed us."

Vader's nostrils flared.

His eyes turned cold and Obi-Wan knew what was coming before the Sith even made a move. Lightning hit Barriss square in the chest and she fell to her knees, screaming in pain.

Several Jedi ran towards them in response, Jedi weapon in their hands. Obi-Wan leapt to his feet and put his lightsaber between Barriss and Vader in one swift move. Immediately, Vader stopped his Force lightning and smirked.

"This is between us…" Obi-Wan whispered, stepping back and watching as Vader lightened his sword. "Don't intervene!" The Jedi Master advised to his brethren.

"Long time no see, Obi-Wan…" Vader murmured as if to himself. And at that, he turned off his lightsaber and put it back on his belt.

If he hadn't known better, Obi-Wan would've started to hope.

Hope Qui-Gon had been right and he could bring Anakin back.

But Obi-Wan knew better.

The man in front of him was evil.

And this man wouldn't stop until he was sure there was no longer any suffering he could provoke.

Vader smirked and looked around, crossing his arms. Obi-Wan stayed alert, his weapon still firmly in hand, ready for anything.

"Had a hard time finding you, you know."

"I should hope so," Obi-Wan responded, watching out of the corner of his eye as several Jedi took Barriss' unconscious body out of the way.

"Well, if I'm being honest with you, Obi-Wan… It wasn't that hard. Bail Organa gave it to me on a silver plate."

The Master didn't respond, starting to see where Vader was going with this.

"I didn't torture him or anything… He just gave me the planet. Just like that. Like the coward he is."

"Bail Organa is much braver than you'll ever be, Vader," the Jedi spat.

"Is it that hard to believe one of your friends could betray you, Obi-Wan?"

In his former apprentice blue eyes, he could only read evilness. No yellow eyes like last time, but cold blue ones, which reached deeper into his soul. Taunting, searching for weaknesses.

Like a real Sith.

When Obi-Wan didn't take the hint, Vader visibly turned to another target.

"Nice place, here… Much better than your earlier muddy planet, right?"

Obi-Wan felt his blood freeze inside his veins.

"What have you done?" he could only whisper.

But Vader only smirked and turned to his former fellows who were standing in silence at a good distance around them.

"Your all-mighty Master Yoda joined the Force!" He turned back to Obi-Wan triumphantly. "Do you realize it now, Obi-Wan? No one can stand against me… I killed Sidious and Yoda very, very easily. And you think you have a chance, you and your pitiful little band of survivors? How is that mechanical hand doing by the way?"

Obi-Wan didn't recognize his own voice as he launched forward with a cry.

At last.

Vader let his laughter resonate in the very silent forest as Obi-Wan launched forward. His own lightsaber had sprung in his hand easily enough, effortlessly parrying one of Obi-Wan's thrusts. They moved into a well-known dance, one very different from the last though, for his former Master was now playing according to his rules.

He wanted to know and see how strong his Master really was, with the dark side closer than it ever was for the obnoxiously perfect Jedi. He wanted to beat him at his full potential and that included the dark side. Not a dying green Master, not an old man, his Master, the one who taught him everything, he wanted to beat him before slaughtering all his remaining companions. He wanted to beat him after showing him his darker side.

Oh, glorious day.

Obi-Wan's thrusts were more efficient and precise and he met them with equal force, jumping and projecting the Force on him. His former Master reacted as forcefully though, surprising him. His attempt at throwing Force lightning were averted too and Vader felt an eyebrow rise at the new challenge presented to him. How long had it been since he had felt challenged?

Far too long.

He wanted to savour his victory.

Their swords clashed forward, and separated, a halo of blue light covering their faces, as both the Sith and Jedi twirled their swords forward, dodging trees, and Jedis watching in spite of themselves. Vader moved forward more aggressively, slashing through a trunk, a smirk playing on his face.

"How does it feel like, Obi-Wan?" he asked conversationally as the older Jedi panted at the physical exertion, parrying his nearly overwhelming and faster thrusts with feverish clashes of his own sword.

Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes, elegantly flipping high in the air to come down…

… behind him.

But Vader had already sensed his move and calmly parried the thrust meant for his waist.

Their swords clashed forcefully, neither giving in and their eyes boring into one another.

"How does it feel like?" he repeated. "The dark side, flowing inside your veins?"

Obi-Wan's eyes widened and he stepped back, giving another hard thrust with his lightsaber, electricity flashing in the air.

"It doesn't work with me, Vader…"

Vader laughed heartily.

"Be honest with yourself and allow it to really flow through you. You'd get more of a chance to beat me… or maybe you'd like to end up like Yoda and all your fellow companions who died impaled on this lightsaber…"

This did the trick as the Jedi became even more aggressive, twirling around like Anakin hadn't seen him do in years.

Reaching into himself, Vader wondered for the first time if he wasn't looking for something else than a good fight in this taunting…

Something like….

He didn't let himself finish that thought.

One thrust went through Obi-Wan's suit but the Jedi didn't relent, his teeth clenched in pain and moving forward. They were going deeper into the forest, and Vader could only see a few Jedi vaguely attempting to follow them in the distance. The sun was becoming more and more distant, hidden by the tree leaves, the sounds more and more muffled.

Vader frowned, trying to keep his mind on the fight, his moves automatically matching Obi-Wan's but not quite anticipating them anymore…

The blue light around their faces turned to smoke, pervading his senses and he watched, flabbergasted as the trees started to burn. Everything burned and smoke hid the sun from his eyelids.

Anakin felt himself fall to his knees, his hands raised in protection against the fire around him.

Babies cried in the distance.

And he was no longer in the forest.

He was standing in the Palace corridor.

"Anakin!"

Padmé's voice came from behind him, muffled, as he felt himself cough and choke with the smoke.

"Anakin, please!"

He couldn't move.

The Palace was burning from the inside out, walls crumbling.

And then a yell froze his insides.

"Luke! Luke! "

He couldn't breathe…. His hands reached his throat and he blinked back tears, smoke blinding him.

Flesh fingers managed to touch his throat to stop the coughing but he could reach nothing with his right hand.

His vision refocused on his gloved hand.

The smoke dissipated and he could hear bird cries around him and loud breathing above him, trees covering his vision, one hand around his throat, and the other resembling nothing but cut off wires hanging in an ugly fashion.

Anakin blinked and realized he was shivering, cold sweat glued to his suit.

His lightsaber was lying on the grass in the distance, his gloved hand still holding it.

Looking down, he finally realized there was a blue sword hovering next to his chest, at the hollow of his neck, ready to strike him down.

Above him, Obi-Wan was standing, his lightsaber in his hand, a very grave expression on his face.

Anakin was still panting, unshed tears falling on his cheeks, both at the vision and the obvious humiliation.

"I don't know what happened to you, Vader," Obi-Wan said with no hint of emotion in his voice, "but I know I won't be sorry to finally restore balance to the Force."

Anakin coughed and struggled to get his bearings again.

"Obi-Wan…" He whispered, his throat still constricted with imaginary smoke.

The Jedi's gaze was hard and unforgiving.

The young Sith closed his eyes and swallowed against his very instincts, his ego and a myriad of emotions he still felt bubbling inside him. He only focused on the urgency he felt in his guts.

"I had a vision… Obi-Wan, I saw-"

"I don't care. I'm going to do what I should've done more than a year ago."

"Listen to me!" He cried out, feeling panic starting to rise inside him.

Not panic at his own death. Panic that Obi-Wan would kill him here, in that deserted forest while Padmé and his children choked to their deaths.

The now very familiar voice whispered in the dark recesses of his mind.

I deserve that fate but they don't.

"They're going to die, Obi-Wan!"

The Jedi only raised one eyebrow, his fingers moving around the lightsaber hilt restlessly.

"Who?" he asked finally.

"Padmé… My children… They're going to die on Naboo, in the Palace- something-"

Obi-Wan bent down slightly and his gaze was so cold even Anakin shuddered.

"Well, if you die and they die too, we might bring peace back to the galaxy."

Anakin's insides clenched in fury.

"You can hate me all you want," he spat, "but they're innocent in all this!"

Anakin felt the seconds tick by, the Force and time moving intrinsically out of his reach, the smoke covering his vision.

Obi-Wan held his life in his hands.

So he laid himself on the cold ground of Arbra, at the feet of the Jedi he hated.

"My visions always come true…" and he realized he was crying now, ignoring Obi-Wan's scorn and everything around them, "My, my- mother, Padmé… almost dying in childbirth… They all came true… They're going to die, my children… my wife…"

"Everything dies sooner or later, I thought you saw to that yourself," only came the cold response.

"Please… please… I'm begging you, Obi-Wan."

And he looked up and into his former Master's cold eyes, his own blue eyes and whole being pleading.

"I am begging you…" he repeated, hating every single word he uttered but feeling like nothing at the moment. "Let me save them."

The Jedi's eyes flickered with very slight doubt, but doubt nonetheless.

"And you will come back and haunt us and destroy us all," he only murmured.

"I'll do whatever you want…" Anakin whispered and suddenly an old image flashed through him.

Of him on his knees in front of Sidious.

Begging for Padmé's life.

The irony wasn't lost on him. He was still nothing without her in the end.

"You want me to believe you'll stop pursuing us if I let you go? I'm not that naïve," Obi-Wan spat. "There is only one way to get rid of you and I'll make sure you'll die, Vader."

The lightsaber was now hovering closer to the Sith's throat.

Anakin chuckled bitterly, feeling the heat of the sword getting closer to his skin.

"What is so different about you then, Obi-Wan? Aren't you exactly like me in the end?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You are forgoing the Jedi principles," Anakin felt himself choke up unexpectedly. "Jedi don't kill unarmed prisoners. Even Sith."

Silence.

"How dare you teach me anything about the Jedi principles?" Obi-Wan exploded. "You killed them all! You betrayed us!"

Anakin was growing desperate.

The hauting images of his vision started going through his broken mind repeatedly and he felt cold sweat on his face, his breathing getting more and more erratic.

They are going to die... Padmé, Leia, Luke...

All of them... dead...

"Where's your compassion?" He whispered, forcing himself to look into the Jedi's enraged eyes.

The lightsaber only seemed to come closer.

"Are you teaching me something about compassion?" only came the icy response. "How many of your brethren did you massacre? How many children and innocent people died because of you?"

Obi-Wan was reeling from disgust.

Anakin felt hope vanish.

Only resignation came.

"You are exactly like me..." the young Sith murmured.

For once, he let the little voice he hated so much speak up. Only then did he let it be acknowledged.

His eyes locked with Obi-Wan's.

And the admission came in spite of himself.

"Don't stoop to my level."

Obi-Wan didn't say anything but his grip on his lightsaber faltered.

There was a long silence.

The long silence stretched and Obi-Wan could see Anakin, no, Vader, growing restless below him.

A new set of conflicting emotions -something a Jedi should never ever feel- made their way into him. He could hear and feel the sincerity in Anakin's words, see the change in the Sith demeanor, something that came painfully closer to his former apprentice, and he briefly thought of two innocent children dying. But he also could see the galaxy being a safer place. He could feel the twirl of a dark energy surrounding him, urging him to give in.

He wanted to get rid of the dark side because he could only feel how it all surrounded Anakin, infecting all those around him. It would infect his children too, one day. Sooner or later.

He would destroy the galaxy with it.

What was the sacrifice of two children compared to the whole galaxy's fate resting on his shoulders?

Obi-Wan…

Don't…

Obi-Wan squeezed his eyes shut against his former Master's voice and his grip on his lightsaber faltered.

Vader could have taken advantage of this to kill him.

For the first time since the beginning, Obi-Wan realized Vader could have distracted him enough with Force lightning to leave.

The man in front of him was scared to death. Panicked.

This wasn't the Emperor, Dark Lord of the Sith, begging him to spare him.

In front of him was crouched Anakin, the boy he had trained such a long time ago.

Opening his eyes again, Obi-Wan saw a young boy looking up to him in the Sith's eyes. The boy who told him once he was his model, the one Jedi he wanted to be. Later. Much later.

He saw the right and wrong he had seen drift away a long time ago. He remembered his Master and all he taught him. He remembered, could almost hear Yoda's words from what felt like a long time ago, on Dagobah, when everything felt helpless.

- Against the dark side we all have to fight.-

He wouldn't be like Dooku.

He wouldn't be like Vader.

Even if he had to regret it the rest of his life.

With a sigh, he accepted his defeat.

"Go…" he whispered, shutting off his weapon.

There was a slight pang of pain in his former apprentice's eyes. Some flicker of recognition and even…

But Obi-Wan couldn't let himself go there.

The Sith leapt to his feet, Force-took his weapon, the gloved hand falling on the ground and Obi-Wan wondered for the smallest second if Vader wasn't going to kill him on the spot.

He was surprised to find himself half-wishing for it. As a punishment for what he had just done.
Let a Sith go.

But Vader only turned away slightly, his head bent as he put his lightsaber back to his belt.

"Do not come after us again… Not ever." Obi-Wan said, his voice low and defeated.

Vader didn't turn to him but his back stiffened.

The Jedi expected him to come back on his tearful promises now he was out of harm.

"You have my word," he only murmured.

The next second, he was running away at lightspeed.

Obi-Wan felt himself sink to the ground, closing his eyes wearily.

What had he done?

As if a word coming from a Sith meant anything.

A comforting hand settled on his shoulder and he felt unexpected tears in his shut eyes.

-You did the right thing, my apprentice.-

The presence faltered too soon.

Behind him, he could hear the voices of approaching Jedi.

Now he would have to lie to explain Vader's disappearance.

"Make him come in!"

Padmé waved to her father from behind the window. He was still standing outside the back entrance of the Palace and she smiled, securing a squirming but dressed up Luke in her embrace.

Artoo had stopped his beeping soon enough and had stayed in the children's room unexpectedly. Activating Threepio, she had left the two of them when a handmaiden had informed her father had just rung in.

She was so happy he could finally get to meet his grandchildren. She sniffed in the bright air and felt the sunshine on her shut eyelids.

Luke was starting to squirm in her arms.

Opening her eyes, she saw Threepio waltzing towards her, or rather attempting to waltz towards her.

"Miss Padmé! Your Highness!"

She smiled.

The old droid was always fretting about nothing.

"What is it again, Threepio? My father is no Minister, don't worry about all the napkins and protocol, will you?"

"Miss Padmé! Artoo-"

His next words never came to her ears for the entire world around her exploded.

Around her, the glass shattered, shards biting into her skin, the noise deafening her. She felt herself being projected to the floor, her arms automatically shielding the boy in her arms. Cries resonated in her bleeding ears, blood rushing into her brains as flames leapt at the walls. Everything moved, yells of pain filling her senses around her. She curled around Luke instinctively.

Threepio's lifeless eyes stared at her on top of fallen bricks. Smoke crushed her lungs.

Luke was crying in her arms.

Pain stabbed through her leg as she tried to move herself into a sitting position. She fell back, limp. Two tiny hands fitted into her hair as smoke clouded her eyes.

Luke stopped crying.

Feeling panic hit her chest, she tried to move around the smoke. She put her son closer to the ground where the air was still breathable.

Lifeless brown eyes stared at her in the distance.

A dead handmaiden, her feeble mind registered, a flash of Cordé's dead eyes making her feel even weaker.

There were shards of glass, cutting into her skin. Padmé coughed and coughed as smoke came into her lungs.

Luke was no longer moving.

Tears fell past her temples, mixing with blood and falling to the cold ground.

Her mind went to her daughter she had left upstairs and she felt a cry escape her chest.

Raising a finger to her temple, she saw it completely tainted with blood.

The pain in her head only registered then.

The world span around her and everything faded to black.