~Bruck's POV~

He was not going to let this go. Bruck paced in front of his prisoner. Obi-wan watched him with eyes that Bruck suspected were ready for anything other than what Bruck was planning.

Bruck glanced down at him every once in awhile. It was impossible, but the arrogant barve was on his knees, which Bruck should have shattered after a second embarrassment.

Obi-wan had merely let the droids drag him out of his cell, his face passive. Bruck had not broken him. Not yet, but he intended too.

Torah was not there, though Obi-wan seemed more afraid of her than Bruck himself. He would use that to his advantage later.

She was getting ready; she had told him. He had not bothered to ask for what. He already knew. He glanced at the giant screen that took up half of the frontal planning center. He was waiting for the picture.

He glanced back down at his prisoner, whose arms were chained behind him and his force signature weak but pulsing with waiting anger and desperation. He did not expect what Bruck was about to do.

"You're proud of yourself, aren't you?" Bruck suddenly felt the need to ask. Obi-wan, as expected, did not answer. "You always were, when you beat me in class," he glared down at his feared opponent.

"You'd smile at me like you did not mean it, but I knew you were bragging. I could feel it. And you'd bring it up when I found you alone, too. Do you remember that? When I'd lure you with Bant?" Obi-wan's eyes flickered with the memory.

His eyes were so easy to read. He could make a wall of glass in front of them, as all Jedi could, but glass was see through, as Bruck had learned.

It did not matter; the color-changing things would no longer mock him. Bruck intended to make them one color. Gray, with whitish film, actually.

"You'd always say it. Are you mad about today in class, Bruck? What do you want, Bruck, for me to lose? But you knew what I wanted, what I needed," he growled.

Obi-wan blinked. "I was a child," anger somehow made its way through his control. "Yes, a manipulating, conniving, horrible child," Bruck agreed, his voice low.

He turned around briskly before Obi-wan could retort. He smiled; the picture was up.

It was a picture of Skywalker's cruiser, The Resolute. He stepped out of the way to allow Obi-wan to see. Obi-wan's eyes settled on the picture boredily, but Bruck saw the flash of recognition in his eyes. Of all ships, he would recognize that one before all else.

The Jedi frowned at the screen. "What…?" He began confusedly but warily.

"Anakin's cruiser is currently just above the atmosphere of this planet. The camp they have established near a Sith barricade was attacked a week ago. Anakin defeated the Sith, and is currently aboard The Resolute with his troops, reporting," Bruck said calmly. Obi-wan's eyes flickered again.

"You could not possibly know that," he spat as his eyes narrowed dangerously. Bruck smiled, so his theory had been correct. Obi-wan was attached to the man, just like Qui-gon.

"Don't you remember what I said on the last planet? They can make very small droids nowadays," he replied with a small, mildly innocent shrug.

Obi-wan's breath hitched. "What… Bruck, what… How…?" His question went unanswered. "I told you someone would die," Bruck interrupted darkly.

Obi-wan's narrowed eyes widened, and Bruck saw a flash of terror. Then the terror vanished behind a steel wall of expressionless.

"Bruck," despite that, Obi-wan was talking just a bit too fast and a bit too breathlessly. "Listen to me. There are good men aboard that cruiser, honorable men, Bruck. Do not kill them because of my folly. Do what you wish with me, take my life, but leave them alone," he tried to negotiate. Bruck merely smiled and held up a small blue remote.

"They make bombs, too, you know, in those little droids. What do you think will happen if I detonate a hundred at once?" the memory of the forest burning crossed Obi-wan's eyes. "Let them go, Bruck," he was getting nervous now, and the terse fear in his voice was tightly controlled.

"Take me, but let them go," his voice was a whisper. Bruck yawned. "Stop!" Obi-wan gasped desperately just as Bruck's thumb twitched. Now plain, desperate fear and wild hope had etched themselves across every thread in Obi-wan's expression.

"Don't do it, Bruck. I won't try to escape again, in that you have my word. You'll be able to torture me forever, and I won't lift a finger to stop you. But only if you'll spare them," his ploy might have worked had Bruck not heard the desperation in his voice.

He pressed down on the button, and the ship in the picture exploded, Bruck heard Obi-wan gasp softly behind him, and knew what he was waiting for-and urgently hoping against.

He was waiting for his bond with Skywalker to break. Only then would he be convinced. Bruck grinned and opened himself up to the force.

Hesitantly, he crept up to Obi-wan's mental shields. They were fully opened, vulnerable and exposed for Bruck's taking. Obi-wan was so occupied waiting for the bond to break that he had not noticed the intrusion.

Bruck smiled and crept inside of his enemy's mind. He could feel Obi-wan's hope, like a ray of blinding light that protected him, that shielded him against everything and all things.

Soon, Bruck would break that which made the perfect Jedi impenetrable. He would take away his hope.

Digging further into Obi-wan, he found the large, thick and wide chord that was his bond with Anakin. Bruck gasped when he felt the emotions drifting off that bond.

Concern, stress and affection came from Anakin's side, but from Obi-wan he felt terror, hope and a pure love that he doubted could be broken.

He grabbed hold of the bond, feeling euphoric with the love coming from that age-old bond forged by trust, trials and the force. With as much strength as he could muster, he started to tear.


~Anakin's POV~

Anakin noticed the entrance of Bruck into the bond at once. The dark coming off the Sith covered the light he usually felt with Obi-wan. And besides, he gave Anakin a headache to match all headaches.

He pressed a hand to his forehead and clenched his teeth. Vaguely, he heard, from next to him, Rex ask if he was all right. Cody turned around, and then went blurry in Anakin's vision. Anakin willed them to be quiet.

What are you doing here, Sith spit? He demanded, enraged. A bond was a sacred thing, shared between master and apprentice.

It was private and pure, forged from trust and trials, to push yourself into it was to show blatant disrespect and detestation.

Also, to bring such malice and dark and …Hatred into such a chaste thing was inexcusable.

Breaking things. Let me, dear child, Bruck answered.

There was a strain in his force voice; he was obviously having trouble. Anakin gasped as a sharp pain shot from the center of his forehead to the back of his brain. Bruck was breaking the bond!

No! Anakin fought back, pulling at the bond that had been there most of his life.

Where's Obi-wan? A stupid time to ask, but….

Would not you like to know? Yield, you ignorant beast! Anakin yanked harder.

He felt something hard hit his knees as his legs gave out. Pain ricocheted in his head, bouncing from brain cell to brain cell with painful accuracy.

I won't… Let you! Get out, monster! There was a snake slithering up their bond to Anakin, a snake of darkness. The dark side was using every rift that Anakin and Obi-wan had ever had to tear them apart. Anakin cried out, agonized.

Master! NO!

Bruck was struggling, but he was also stronger than Anakin had thought. His hatred was slithering up their bond, forked tongue flickering and hot breath breathing down Anakin's neck.

Say goodbye, Chosen One!

Anakin screamed and held his head as he sank forward. A blinding white took over his sight and dots swam in front of the whiteness as Anakin felt as if his heart were being torn from his chest. He fell forward, gasping.

He felt Bruck retreat from his mind, laughing. Anakin slammed his fist down, feeling tears run down his cheeks. "No! No, no, no!" He roared, wanting to tear at his hair in grief. He had lost the fight. He had lost the bond.


~Bruck's POV~

Bruck turned around. Victory was his. He had won the bond.

Obi-wan seemed to think so anyway. He was staring at the screen, mouth agape. The ship had already blown up, and pieces of it were falling on the screen. Bruck grinned dizzily and pushed 'off' on the remote. The screen flickered black.

He looked down at Obi-wan, who met his eyes. There was no more light. The old cobalt that had once been there, blazing with defiant, stubborn hope was gone.

Now Obi-wan's eyes were a pitch black, like a starless, lightless night. As if someone had blown out the last flickering candle in his heart.

He had no more hope, no more faith or confidence. Why would he? Why should he? He had always lived for others, and now most of those others were gone. What did he have to live for now?

"They're dead," Bruck said merely, feeling the need to point this out. He wanted to note Obi-wan's reaction when he realized this. He wanted to savor the look that would flit across Obi-wan's mind when he saw what Bruck had once seen. That there was no hope.

Obi-wan stared at him for a moment, his eyes filled with watering tears. Bruck smiled and crossed his arms smugly; his mission was accomplished.

Out of the blue, though, Obi-wan let out a shriek of anguish. The shriek that a parent gave for their dead child, the shriek a brother gave for another, the shriek a best friend let out upon seeing the dead corpse of his equal.

Despite the fact that Bruck had killed many children, siblings and best friends, he had never heard the angst and rage that he heard in Obi-wan's scream. This was a scream of being shattered, of feeling the very heart and soul of yourself being ripped out.

This was the scream of waking up to see everyone you had ever loved in your life dead. This was the scream of dying inside yet still breathing on the outside.

This was the scream of knowing that there was no use in living anymore, and it was the most terrible sound in the universe.

Bruck jumped as Obi-wan fell forward, pressing his forehead to his knees. He grabbed two handfuls of his own hair despairingly, squeezing hard enough to tear.

The oldest expression, passed down through generations through repeated experiences, flitted through his mind: Fathers will tear their hair in grief for their sons.

"Anakin," Obi-wan whispered, his voice sounding of tears and unimaginable sorrow. "Force, not Anakin. Please, not my Anakin," the last time that name came out; it was a sob. Soundlessly, Obi-wan's shoulders shook with sobs.

Bruck acknowledged his racing heart. Now, there was no light in the room. Obi-wan's force signature carried no light, none at all.

It was not dark, no, Obi-wan was not angry enough yet. That would come after grief. But there was no light, no hope or pride.

Only guilt and sorrow.

Bruck watched Obi-wan weep with satisfaction and amazement. After all these years, he had found out what hundreds of people before have tried to figure out. And he was shocked that the answer was so obvious, and yet so out of the ordinary that no one had never thought of it. Obi-wan had kept his heart that well-protected.

The one and only way that you could really, completely and finally break Obi-wan Kenobi was to take away the people he loved.

Bruck had done it.


And so shatters the heart of Obi-wan Kenobi... Man, that was a fun scene to write!

~Queen Yoda