Anakin watched his Master as the color bled from his face. "It… It wasn't real, it was a vision," Obi-wan insisted, the warring conflict between what he wanted to believe, and reality, tearing him apart from the inside. A whirlwind of emotion carried in his aura, unlike what Anakin had ever seen in him.

Anakin might have questioned what burdened the man, but he felt the unmistakable surge of passion flare from his Master's core. He saw a flash of the thing that tormented him. It brought a sudden fierce blush into his cheeks, and uncertainty into his heart.

"What are you talking about, Master?" Anakin asked, trying to swallow the shy fear that gripped him. Obi-wan had thought it all a vision, the night he had tasted him. Anakin could feel the truth of it broadcasting loudly from the storm that raged in his aura.

To Obi-wan, it wasn't real. Just a vision, a dream. A place to do and feel, unrestrained by reality. So he had done the things he wanted to do, acted on the desires he would have never given any credence to. To Obi-wan, it had never happened. Because he would never do such a thing. How could he?

But he did. His Master had kissed him, touched him so softly, made him feel things that one one had ever made him feel. To him, it never happened. Somehow that hurt Anakin more than anything else, more than the Sith that had held him down with his Master's body, more than all the beatings he had ever received in his entire life.

"Nothing… It's nothing." Obi-wan said dismissively as he pressed forwards through the brush hastily, as if to leave his demons behind.

But it wasn't nothing. Anakin trailed after his Master with a few stray, silent tears falling down his face. His Master's words echoed on loop in his mind.

It's nothing.

It was everything.

It was a collection of firsts that would never be replaced. They had been squandered, used up and thrown away. They didn't mean anything. First kiss, first time someone felt inside of him, spilled inside of him. First time someone removed his clothes, touched him so intimately.

First time someone had held him down and forced themselves on him. But not the first time he was made to feel pain for the pleasure of another, nor the first time he cried at the hands of an abuser. Nor did he sense it would be the last.

But for all of it, he felt alone, betrayed. Obi-wan said it was nothing. That was far from the truth.

Damn the Sith, damn this entire planet, Anakin thought, giving a heaving sigh as he continued to press on through the darkness towards their transport. Before they had set foot on Kraysiss Two, their relationship had been rocky. Although for all of their problems they had shared what might be called, a typical bond between Padawan and Master. Now what existed between them was becoming a tangled up mess of emotions, of things that should have never happened, things that he wanted so badly to understand.

….

Obi-wan felt the world around him spin. His Padawan looked back at him with concern. It made him feel sick with shame and dread. Had he? No, he would never, never ever hurt Anakin in such a way.

But they boy's aura turned and receded inwards. There was something written across his face that Obi-wan felt even more horrified for perceiving. Obi-wan felt as if the ground had given way beneath him, as if he were in an unrestrained freefall, everything he thought he knew about himself unraveling under his skin.

He wanted to ask, he needed to know. But right now it wouldn't change a thing, not in the moment. Possibly, it would only make things so much worse. Besides, it had to be all false. He wasn't capable of such atrocities, it wasn't in him. That's why his palms were sweating, shaking as he thought about it. It was the reason why his stomach felt full of lead, his heart swollen, choking on adrenaline.

Obi-wan took a deep breath and pressed on, keeping his feet marching, one after the other towards the transport. Only a few hours away now, not too long. They would leave all of this behind them, never speak of it. Never think of it. If only he could keep it all from his mind.

Those things he had done in the freedom of his vision, they weren't real. But they would haunt him, just like they did now. Tainting his world, tainting how he saw the innocent soul he had been charged to teach and protect.

His shoulders tensed as whispers sounded in the distance, ones he was sure only he could hear. They were taunting him, judging him, perhaps they were only in his head. Maybe he was going mad. Maybe they just needed to leave, and everything would return to normal.

Choosing to believe the latter, he kicked up the pace into a brisk walk as they tread through the brush, hour after hour. He was fueled by his own horror, his own fear, as he tried to leave his own shameful thoughts behind him.

Finally, the cold air of night began to grow warm and tepid with the approaching sunrise. The demons that chanted and whispered dissolved into silence. With it, Obi-wan breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps they were terrified of the light that would grace the crust of the cursed world for hours at a time. They were afraid of the light, like children afraid of the dark, afraid of the monsters that would hide beyond sight.

As the light grew brighter, illuminating all around them in its dusky orange glow, Obi-wan felt himself like that child, afraid of the dark. Because here, there were monsters just beyond sight. Some of them were never to be seen, some of them were ghastly to lay eyes on. And some lived inside oneself in pictures, sounds, vivid experiences that would be better left forgotten.

Forcing himself to remain objective, Obi-wan pulled the small map readout from his tunic, still seeing no promise of where their transport ought to have been, though they were nearing the landing zone quickly. Anakin, who had been silent, his aura shrunken, piped up.

"Master, I see it!" Anakin called out happily. It warmed Obi-wan's heart to hear joy in his voice once more. Softly glinting through the trees in the space of the small field just beyond lie their transport settled just as they had left it. "Finally, we're getting out of here," Anakin said, his voice ever colored with relief.

Obi-wan quickened his pace to meet up with Anakin who sprinted past him, a lively spring in his step as he did. Perhaps stirred by breaking out into a jog his body hadn't been ready for, Obi-wan's shoulder lit up with bright bain that stilled his breath for a moment. As quickly as he could, he walked out into the clearing as the ramp to their ship descended, the autopilot cycling the lift sequence as it had been programmed to do.

Anakin cast his bag to the floor of the small transport, Obi-wan doing the same only a few paces behind him. He could see the determination and purpose in his Padawan's body language, a huge improvement to his spirits as of late.

Quickly the two of them climbed into the cockpit, a small dome enclosure with only enough space for two. Disengaging the autopilot, Obi-wan gripped the controls. The cold metal of the yolk felt foreign and refreshing under his soiled hands. Suddenly he became too aware of how badly he needed a shower and fresh clothes.

All things in good time, he thought. He could hardly be so distracted with trivialities when they still had yet to take off and get away from the place that had caused the both of them so much distress.

"Anakin, get ahold of the temple, let them know we were forced to abandon the mission and that we need assistance right away." Obi-wan ordered as he switched on the thrusters, the small craft making a shaky liftoff from the grassy field below.

"Way ahead of you Master," Anakin said, looking intensely at the com controls, quickly re-configuring the transmitter and tuning it to reach deep space. Anakin was always useful in a pinch, he always did his best work under pressure.

Obi-wan smiled, glancing quickly in Anakin's direction before he forced his stare straight forward again. He was proud of him, for everything he had been through, for how strong he was. But still the raw image of him unclothed and writhing flashed in his mind, wiping the smile off Obi-wan's face, making him sick.

Better to stay focused, everything else could wait till after. After they put as much distance as possible between themselves and Kraysiss two. Hopefully with it, those damning thoughts would fade.

"Something's not right," Anakin said, his voice warbling from the turbulence of low atmospheric flight.

Obi-wan felt his mind go foggy, his hands loosening on the yolk. He wanted to ask what was wrong, but Anakin continued on.

"There must be something wrong with the antena, if we circle back and land I can take a look at it." Anakin said, turning to his Master.

Obi-wan saw him in his peripheral vision, which began to grow dark as his skin became chilled. "No," he said, straining with effort to command his lips to move, to keep his hands gripping the yolk. "We can't…"

We don't have time to stop, we need to get as far away from here as we can, Obi-wan thought, his lips failing to continue as even his own cognizance began to dim. He strained against the darkness that swam over his consciousness, but was powerless against it as everything went black.

….

"No. We can't," Obi-wan said, as Anakin continued to study the com panel, hoping he had been wrong, but knowing he wasn't.

Anakin's focus was shaken as the ship dipped slightly towards the planet below. He looked over to see his master slacking at the controls, his body slumped over to the side. His eyes trailed off aimless and empty. His aura inverted, making way for the dark presence to take hold of him again.

Anakin's stomach sank as he looked out the wide viewscreen before them, seeing the Sith temple rising ahead. They were supposed to be climbing in orbit, but the ship hadn't risen fast enough to keep far enough away from the temple. They were too close, and his Master was gone.

With quick reflexes Anakin moved to take hold of the yolk. All they needed was to get far enough away, then his Master would come back to him. He took the steel in his hands, wrenching back on the controls as their ship made a sharp upward turn. The thrust tore mercilessly at his shoulder as he reached across, all of his strength focused on pulling out of the atmosphere.

The Sith regained control of his Master's body too soon. His Master's hands slammed the yolk back down harshly. Anakin fought against him, every bit of will and force he could employ contending against his Master's strength, and the force prowess of the Sith that inhabited his body.

He quickly realized he was no match, not even close. The Sith lashed out at him, sending a wall of force through his body, slamming him against the opposite end of the cockpit. Anakin's head cracked hard against the metal of the wall, breaking the skin of his temple making his focus grow hazy. The Dark One snarled in wild laughter, not even bothering to speak a word in his amusement.

Knowing it was too late to try and regain control of their ship, Anakin fumbled to strap himself into the copilots crash couch before they made impact. He closed his eyes as the ground came closer, too close. The Sith continued to laugh maniacally, perverting his Master's voice with dark, wicked intent.

The jolt of impact sent shockwaves through Anakin's body, shoving him back into the chair. The sick wrenching creak of metal amidst the roar of soil rushing against their hull vibrated through him as the straps of his harness dug into his flesh, bruising him badly. He couldn't feel much of it in the moment, but he could sense a growing list of injuries that would make it increasingly difficult to put up a fight.

The craft sank down into the terra as they slowed to a halt, the sound of forest and soil upheaval rumbling down into a silence as they stopped. In the after shock of the trauma, as he clung to consciousness with every ounce of strength, Anakin couldn't help but be surprised at how well the ship had held up.

Not wasting a moment, the Sith pulled himself together and quickly released Anakin's harness, violently dragging him up and out of the wreckage. The flaming smoldering mess of what had been their transport looked strange in the early morning's light. Anakin didn't have much time to think on it as the Sith yanked on his arm again, pulling him towards the temple that was only a handful of meters away.

A panic swept over his battered frame as Anakin pulled back against the hold the man had on him. The Sith turned to face him, his Master's lips curling into a devilish snarl as he yanked twice as hard, nearly dislocating Anakin's shoulder. "No time for games child," he growled, pulling his other fist through his hair. "Though I do wish we had more time to get to know each other," the Sith added sadistically.

Anakin dug his heels into the ground, terrified for what it would mean for his Master if they made it into the temple. Obi-wan might be lost forever. If he was, Anakin would be forced to make good on his promise. That, he wasn't prepared to do.

Unsatisfied with his resistance, the Sith took Obi-wan's lightsaber in his fist, slamming the butt of the hilt square against Anakin's already bleeding temple, knocking him out cold.

….

Anakin came to, his head pounding, his body stripped naked, shivering against the cold slab of stone beneath him. He didn't dare open his eyes, but he could feel the resonance of too much darkness beneath him, all around him, piercing his body and soul, enveloping his essence.

"How can you be so sure he's the one?" A feminine voice echoed through the large room.

"Who else would come for us if not him?" His Master's voice insisted through the strange cadence of the Sith Lord.

"What if they discovered our world by mistake? It's dangerous to even attempt this, if he isn't the one." The woman said skeptically.

"Can't you feel him? Feel how loud the force resonates within him?" The Sith Lord said, kneeling down to place a cold hand on Anakin's aching jaw. Everything hurt from the crash, from the violence that had been lashed out against him before it. "He is the vessel. I'm sure of it."

"And if not? Then you've cursed us for another thousand years."

"Everything is consistent with the prophecy, is it not?" His Master's voice said.

"I suppose." The woman said, relenting. "He's just so weak, so young. There's hardly anything remarkable about him."

"All the better for us to use him. The prophecy never spoke of such things, it's not important." His Master's voice said, calculating.

"I swear, If you are wrong, I will kill you myself once we gain our flesh form again." She added threateningly.

"You would, dear one." His Master said with a fierce, icy tone.

"I think he's awake," the woman said in a quieter voice.

A hand shook at Anakin's shoulder. Against his intentions, his body tensed tellingly. "He is," the Sith said "Now is the time. Tell the others." His Master's voice said as a hand now violently wrenched on his already injured arm causing him to cry out in pain. He could feel the tendons strained and torn from the crash, sharp and agonizing as the Sith tormented him.

"Get up," the Sith barked, forcing Anakin to his feet. Feeling too vulnerable while disrobed, he shrunk down reflexively, covering himself with his arms as well as he could. His body felt battered and exposed, making him helplessly empty. Just a child again, just a slave, as powerless as he had ever been.

Obi-wan's face twisted cunningly. "What are you trying to hide? Nothing I haven't already seen, is it?"

Anakin blushed, his chest turning to stone as he turned inwards. "So coy, don't tempt me," the Sith said as he pulled on Anakin's arm again causing him to grimace in pain. "If you survive, there will be time for the two of us later," the Sith said, his voice velvet. "I do certainly hope you survive." He added with a low chuckle as he pulled him down a dark hall. Anakin tried to resist but was too easily pushed and shoved. He was too weak to put up any meaningful resistance.

At the other side of the hall was a grand room with nine pedestals on the outer perimeter and one altar at the center. Each pedestal held a holocron lit up with crimson from the inside, swirling with light. The altar at the center had glyphs etched deeply into its surface on all its sides.

As the Sith pulled him to the center altar, Anakin intensified his resistance, dragging the bare bottoms of his feet over the stone, falling to his knees as a result. Aggravated, the Sith threw him against the base of the altar, hard. Battered and feeling weaker than he otherwise might have, Anakin fought gravity to pull himself back up. He was beginning to feel the heavy effects of the multiple head injuries he had suffered, compounded by all the other injuries from the crash. His balance was skewed, his typical vigor nowhere to be found.

Anakin's stomach dropped as he looked about the room, feeling the dark energy of the place ebb into his body. Whispering voices filled the air, touched his skin, every inch of him. The Sith Lord came at him, pulling him up by a fist of his hair, bending him over the altar.

Anakin wrestled against him with every ounce of his waning strength, but was overcome by the man that held him in place, his face pressed hard against the etched glyphs of the stone slab. In a flash, the Sith pulled out the small of a crude blade, pulling it over his neck quickly, drawing a red line that spilled out onto the stone. The cut wasn't so deep as to nick his artery, but deep enough to produce a significant amount of blood that felt sickly warm as it pooled under his face and arms.

His struggle slowed as he began to feel faint, weak from the loss of blood. As his life essence dripped and poured into the sunken glyphs, the holocrons all around began to glow brightly, screaming like sirens as a rumbling filled the air. The sound of tearing, ripping flesh sounded out, filling the room with its intensity as a chilling gust of wind swept over him.

The Sith released him, allowing Anakin to collapse to the floor again as a rift opened before the altar. The holocrons rose up in the air, dancing like blood stained stars as they rushed into the void. All nine were consumed, and one by one, nine darkly robed beings stepped out of it. As the last came through, Obi-wan's body dropped limp, lifelessly on the ground beside him.

Anakin crawled closer to his Master's body as his strength faded further, curling up beside him as he held a hand to the slash on his neck to stave the bleeding. He reached for his Master's aura, feeling the man on the edge of consciousness, fighting back from the hold the Sith held over him.

….

With a gasp, Obi-wan opened his eyes. Anakin lay before him, naked, bleeding, curled up in his arms. His body began to tremble with rage, his eyes spilling silent tears as he reached out with shaky hands to touch his face. Seeing his battered Padawan teetering on the edge of death, unbeknownst to the beautiful soul that looked back at him with hope, with relief.

Anakin closed his eyes upon seeing his Master regain consciousness, allowing himself to let go. The boy had sustained several serious injuries, it was a wonder he was able to stay alert at all. Obi-wan felt his own injuries, sensing they were more serious than he could give attention to in the moment.

He didn't have time to focus on healing, not that it had done him any good ever since the Sith creature had sunken its fangs into him. Calling on the light hadn't given him a shred of advantage. Not in this place.

In this place the only thing that thrived was darkness. Such was the darkness that festered and grew, sinking its sinister tendrils into his soul. Darkness. Like the essence of the nine beings that stood just beyond Anakin's bleeding, naked body.

Obi-wan rose to stand, taking his and Anakin's sabers in hand, igniting them as he bared his teeth to the dark beings that stood hooded and obscured beneath their wrappings. He didn't so much hear the growl that ripped from his throat as he launched himself at them, as he felt the feral reverberation of it resonate in his chest. The wrathful tears welled and flowed down his face in delicate pearls as he sliced through one of the Sith before they had time to reach for their weapon.

For all of the things that had happened to Anakin, his beloved Padawan, for all the ways they had poisoned their relationship, perverted it, they would die. All of them. It felt like a justified anger, a rage that boiled over from his heart, his wounded, confused, broken heart. His anger gave him strength, flowing through his body, merging with the Sith sickness that infected his shoulder, that had spread to every part of his body and soul.

As he embraced it, somehow timed slowed around him, as he sliced through two other sith before the remaining six had time to engage their own sabers to oppose him. Obi-wan could feel some of his internal organs failing from injuries he couldn't make sense of or explain in the moment. It didn't matter.

Six red sabers blazed against him, clashing with the two blue blades he wielded. One slash, he managed to cut down three of them with inhuman speed. Only three left. Only now, their body language changed. They were fearful. They were afraid of him.

Everything about this scenario should have mortified him. Instead he felt powerful. He felt his lips curl up in a sadistic grin as he chased after the remaining three Sith that began to run from him. Stopping, he reached out, pulling them back with violent force as he drew them near to his blades. Slicing the heads clean off two, Obi-wan threw another Saber that danced in the air, rotating cleanly in crisp blue circles as it met with the neck of the last Sith. The saber returned to his hand just as gracefully.

A moment later he collapsed. His body complained, his muscles ached as if he had just spent an immense amount of energy. He looked out at his hands, nearly fully ashen, black lines running through them where his veins ought to have been. He pulled at his tunic, revealing his shoulder beneath. An empty black crater where the teeth had once sunken into him.

Feeling his life force dwindle, as well as Anakin's, Obi-wan crawled close to him again. He moved to hold the broken boy in his arms, feeling a calm sink in over him with a harrowing sadness to follow after it. Everything Anakin had been subjected to in his short life, all leading up to this.

The boy deserved so much better. From the very start, he deserved a Master who could have given him more. A Master that would have known how to handle the difficult things. A Master who would never have been so weak in the face of temptation. Perhaps the biggest regret, was how he had harmed their bond by allowing such lecherous fantasies. Their last moments together had been consumed by the wake of that allowance. And now, he would never have time to make things right.

Obi-wan held Anakin's face close, gently cradling him. A string of tortured sobs suddenly ripped from his chest as tears fell onto Anakin's short cropped hair that had become stained and matted with blood. In this place there was no light. But there was good, because Anakin was good. Though his life force continued to dwindle down steadily. Because that's what this place did. It took any good thing and destroyed it.

If Obi-wan could have felt the light flow inside him, he could have helped Anakin. But he had no such powers here. He hadn't for several days, now. Only nothing had been so detrimental as this. He had brought Anakin here. The boy had been hurt in so many ways ever since. Even if they had survived, how could he ever forgive himself? How could he look at Master Yoda and hold anything but contempt and hatred for putting Anakin here in harm's way?

Anakin was going to die in his arms, and there was nothing he could do about it. Obi-wan closed his eyes, trying to make his peace with it all. Their only transport had been destroyed. The coms had already been down before the crash, there was no way any equipment was salvageable enough for him to piece together before he died of his own internal injuries.

Obi-wan remembered holding Qui-gon as the life had left his eyes. When that final breath left him, the essence of the man he had known as Master, ceased to exist. He didn't want to have to hold Anakin as he died, too. But the thought of Anakin dying alone, with his Master already gone, seemed cruel. Anakin wouldn't want to be alone, he would want him to wait. Anakin, always hopelessly dependent.

Even now, he couldn't resent the boy for it. For everything he had seen, everything he had been through, he was strong. If only he could have served him better.

Just as Obi-wan had fully accepted their situation as irredeemably mortal, footsteps came closer, softly patting against the stone floor of the temple. His heart was afraid to hope, lest that same hope be dashed just as quickly as it was given. But as the footsteps drew near, a friendly voice sounded out.

"I've found them! Come quick, they're badly injured!" A small voice cried out. A Padawan's voice. Two Jedi Masters rushed into the temple, beholding their surroundings with reservation as they hurried over to attend to the two battered Jedi who lay strewn on the floor.

Obi-wan blinked his eyes open as one of the Jedi removed Anakin from his arms, carrying him away, out of the temple, to a transport that would take them to Coruscant. So they had been saved. They might not die, after all. Obi-wan resisted the urge to reach out for Anakin as they took him away. He honed his emotions to heed his will, to not cry out for him as he so badly wanted to.

Loss, an empty sense of what was once had, now forever absent. A hole ripped through his chest. It was all he could see, all he could feel. Why was he so inconsolable? It was shameful, the way involuntary tears streamed down his face as he looked up at the temple ceiling with willfully vacant eyes.

"Master Kenobi?" One of the Jedi called to him, trying to bring him back. Another placed hands on his shoulder, over the crater that had begun to rot through. Healing tones flooded him, wrenching every nerve they met, causing a horrible pain to shoot through his chest.

He didn't hear the scream, but he heard the echo of it resound through the temple. "Something is wrong, we've got to get him to the temple, fast." The other Jedi said with a serious tone. "I sense a ruptured spleen, who knows what else. I have no clue what this is in his shoulder."

"No time to waste, let's go then." The other Jedi said, hoisting him up. Obi-wan let out another cry of pain.

"It's alright Master Kenobi, we'll get you to the healers. Just hang in there."