"They are on their way to you now, Obi-Wan… you must leave!" Bail was speaking to him via hologram from his personal senatorial office. "Anakin Skywalker and two clone troopers. They know!"

"Thank you, Senator…"

"Good luck!" Bail ended the transmission, wisely keeping it brief.

Clearly Bail assumed that Obi-Wan would make a run for it. He had no intention of doing that.

He knew Padme and the Delegation met with the Chancellor today. Had it truly gone so badly? And Anakin arresting Padme—with a clone guard? Something was out of place. All of this felt wrong.

It was admirable for Bail to try to warn him, and Obi-Wan would always remember it. This was not a time to run—not from his former padawan. So, Obi-Wan would wait. If they were coming directly from the Senate building, then it would not be long before they arrived.

Perhaps this would have been as good a time as any to get anxious, but that was not his way. He went to the small balcony that adjoined the lobby, the half circle space at the uppermost floor, and he leaned calmly on its railing to look out over the city in the twilight. The rivers of vehicles and the endless sea of architecture was soothing. He had known this city his entire life, though he knew it much better from the point of view of the Jedi Temple.

There were a lot of things that were once familiar to him, that were like home, but had faded into feeling more like strange dreams. And now one those things was on its way to arrest him.

He could feel Anakin before he even reached the door. The pressure of a storm cloud, the trembling energy of a coiled spring. It was Anakin, alright.

The door opened and Obi-Wan didn't bother to move from where he was. He was comfortable and he wasn't afraid.

"Wait out here…" he heard Anakin's voice, and the bootsteps of troopers faded away. Anakin was coming in alone… Well, without his soldiers, anyway. Padme was with him.

He sensed fear and confusion from her, she must not have known if he was still there or not. Anakin knew, and it was Anakin who made a straight line for the balcony. Obi-Wan turned to greet him with a sad smile.

Anakin had been frowning, but it smoothed, just a little when they were able to see each other at last.

"Hello, Anakin," Obi-Wan said amiably.

"Traitor." Anakin choked out the word, and even through the thick layers of his Jedi robes and tabard, his chest could be seen rising and falling heavily. He was practically suffocating on his own emotions. Clearly he had made no improvement in controlling them.

"I am sorry that I escaped you at Renoss," Obi-Wan spoke genuinely, his voice low and calm to counter the churning passions from his friend. "I did what I had to…"

"You did what you had to…" Anakin repeated slowly. "…to have her."

Still, Anakin's reality orbited Padme Amidala.

"My actions have been for the Republic."

"And your actions have dragged her into the mud as well! You once lectured me to let her go if I loved her… I did let her go. I suffered every day—every hour—since then, but I stayed away. And now, I know you just wanted to keep her away from me!"

"Anakin!" Padme appeared from behind him, stepping out onto the balcony, gripping one side of her senatorial skirts so that it didn't impair her steps. She stood between the two men. "Please, just listen… No one else was keeping us apart. I made that choice for myself."

She successfully pulled his burrowing gaze away from Obi-Wan, his eyes softening at the mere sight of her, though the frown was still there.

"I know I have a lot to prove to you…" Anakin's voice was small when he spoke to her. "Things are going to change, Padme…. The Jedi won't be able to take control of the Senate, like they hoped they would. We know where General Grievous is. When he's dead, the war will be over… The peace that you've been wanting all these years, I am going to bring that for you. Not him. Everything Obi-Wan has done with that data disk, leaving the Order, becoming a fugitive… He's just prolonging the war! He is continuing the chaos and undoing everything you've worked for! Only I can bring peace to the galaxy for you…"

Padme didn't flinch away as Anakin approached, her head high, but her eyes gentle. "It's not all up to you, Anakin…"

"Isn't it?" his vision seemed to be tunneled towards her. "The prophecy says that I'll bring balance and peace… And I will, you'll see…"

Anakin was stepping closer to her, his flesh hand reaching desperately towards her, and something spiked in Obi-Wan, a burst of what could only have been anger. It was not just a reaction to the young Jedi getting close to her, but towards the frightening tone of resolve in every syllable that Anakin uttered. The way Anakin's voice seemed to develop layers of ferocity.

"Is the desolation of Renoss the kind of peace that you intend to bring?" Obi-Wan's vocals were hard as he too took a step forward.

Anakin's eyes flashed to him over Padme's head. Obi-Wan felt it before he even saw Anakin's arm raise over Padme's shoulder, an overbearing thrum deep down to his core and then the pinching of his trachea. His feet were off the ground.

"Anakin, stop!" Padme screamed.

Obi-Wan's vision was bleary, but he could still see the terror on her face. Obi-Wan was unarmed—with any weapon at least. The Force that Anakin was using was impossibly strong, and not just because Obi-Wan may have been rusty. He kicked a little, gagging for air. Padme was still screaming at Anakin, but Obi-Wan wasn't about to wait and hope she could stop him. And even as Obi-Wan gasped for air, he knew his apprentice well. He was not paying attention.

He splayed the fingers of own shaking hand and called upon the Force. From within the lobby of the apartment, he levitated a small vase from one of the tables and flung it at Anakin's head. The clay object (which was probably priceless) shattered into a million pieces that sprayed around Anakin's head. It was more than enough to break his concentration, and Obi-Wan dropped. But not on the balcony. He barely grabbed hold of the railing, his body hanging over the expanse of the city below.

While Anakin was shaking the shards of pottery from his hair, Obi-Wan was pulling himself back over the side of the balcony. Though Obi-Wan was managing quite well, in spite of the heart-stopping drop, Padme was there taking his arm and pulling him to safety. As soon as he was back on solid ground, he breathed out, his cheeks puffing.

"Are you alright?" Padme whispered, shaking all over.

Humiliated, but not harmed…" his voice came out coarser than he wished, the simple act of speaking painful thanks to the bruise in his throat.

He had to gently pull her hand from his face, her show of affection was unintentionally cruel to Anakin. But when Obi-Wan looked to his former apprentice, Anakin was not even looking at them, his hand was on his head, his usually tall posture nearly doubled over. He seemed to struggle to breathe, as if his very skull was ready to split open. Obi-Wan knew it wasn't from the vase—Anakin's head was much too hard and had been struck with much larger objects.

His pain was deeper than that. The rage that had made him attack was spiraling into confusion. Obi-Wan could feel the conflict of emotions that were churning so violently in him, conflict that Anakin was struggling to balance.

"I'm sorry…" Anakin breathed hoarsely. "I'm sorry, I don't know what's happening to me…"

Obi-Wan gently peeled himself from Padme's possessive grip to approach his old friend. Even as he still practiced control of his own emotions, his heart ached to see Anakin in so much pain. Pain that he was in no small part responsible for.

"I can help you… if you'll let me…"

Anakin finally looked at him, his hand lowering from its shield on his head. "You already left me behind. I don't need you anymore…" The terrified rattle in his voice did not match the words.

"No…" Obi-Wan said quietly. "But perhaps I'm the one who needed you. We were a good team, weren't we?"

"We were…" Anakin said flatly, his gaze flickering to Padme for a moment before locking onto Obi-Wan. "We were a good team while the illusion lasted. Before I learned about all the lies, from you and the Jedi. All I had left was the Chancellor, he is the only one who has ever been honest with me and never held me back. He never abandoned me. Everything he's ever told me about you has been true." Slowly, his spine was straightening and he forced his chin up, as if it took all of his strength, his cheeks wet but his eyes hard set. "I've done just fine without you, Master. I've gotten more powerful without your help. I've won battle after battle without you. I killed Count Dooku without you. I don't need you."

Those last four words cut deeper than Obi-Wan was prepared for and he could not help the almost imperceptible wince at the literal pain that it caused. It hurt. It was perhaps more true than he wanted to admit to himself, but Anakin was struggling and Obi-Wan could not turn a blind eye to the boy that he had raised—the boy that he had essentially grown up with. An Obi-Wan never liked Palpatine, especially when Anakin sung his praises.

The boy had always been at the mercy of the demons in his head, a battle that he could only fight on his own. The best that Obi-Wan had been able to do was equip him with the means to fight them. He feared it was not enough.

"I am proud of what you've accomplished, Anakin… I've followed your career closely… But I can feel there is something more. Did something happen when you fought Count Dooku?" This was a hunch, based entirely on the wave of dread when Anakin had spoken the fallen Jedi's name, something whispering in the Force.

Anakin's breathing steadied a bit, his mouth tight as he stared at his former master. But that mask of defiance cracked a little, fear showing through. "He was unarmed…"

It was against the Jedi code to kill an unarmed opponent, and he could feel the guilt weighing down on Anakin… Somehow that guilt did not seem to be attached to the act of killing.

Then Anakin smiled, almost painfully and looked to the shattered pieces of clay at his feet. "He was unarmed… literally…"

A cold weight dropped into Obi-Wan's stomach. Anakin was glad. Of course, he had destroyed a Sith and the most dangerous leader of the opposition. Count Dooku's death was not a tragedy. Anakin's part in it was, and he could practically smell that old familiar scent of charred clothes, flesh, marrow and bone from the dissevering of a lightsaber. Obi-Wan himself had cut off enough limbs to know it well.

Anakin's smile, however, was not familiar.

"I know I shouldn't have killed him when he no longer had a weapon…" Anakin said quietly. "I could have arrested him, we could have gotten more information out of him about the Separatists… That would have been the Jedi way…"

There was more that Anakin wasn't saying, it was evident in the way his flesh hand was shaking. At that moment, his commlink chirped at his belt and Anakin blinked almost confusedly as it seemed to bring him back to reality.

"And what about now?" Obi-Wan was direct. It was Anakin's choice now. "Will you follow the Jedi way and arrest me?"

"Anakin—" Padme was ready to protest, but Obi-Wan looked to her, gently shaking his head.

"Anakin, please…" Padme said quietly. "I don't believe for a moment that you've come to hurt Obi-Wan…"

Anakin took the commlink from his belt and held it to his mouth.

"Corporal…"

"Sir, have you found the traitor?"

Anakin's eyes flickered between Obi-Wan and Padme, finally settling on her. The way he looked at her, the longing in his eyes looked fatal to him.

"General Skywalker?"

Anakin's chest rose with a deep breath. "No… He's not here…" He looked right at Obi-Wan as he said it. "I-I'll be out in a moment… I'm just making my apologies to Senator Amidala…."

"Yes, sir."

He put the commlink back on his belt. Now he was calm again. The violent cycle in his mind had been broken by that interruption, but there was still something searing beneath the surface.

"You need to leave here." Anakin said shortly, staring into Obi-Wan. "Leave Coruscant. Now."

Padme was holding Obi-Wan's arm so tightly it seemed she could break it. Anakin was right, though. To stay would only endanger her further.

"I won't lie for you a second time, Master…" The words were threatening, but the anger had all but faded from Anakin's face. His eyes were pleading, begging Obi-Wan.

"I will go…" Obi-Wan said softly, reassuringly.

Anakin was stepping backward, slipping out of the sunlight of the balcony and back into the shadows of the apartment, his voice low. "I'll know if you're still here… Don't try to play me for a fool."

"You have my word." Obi-Wan hoped that still meant something. "Goodbye, my friend. May the Force be with you."

Anakin turned and stalked away, disappearing out the door to where his guards waited for him.

C-3PO finally arrived, his arms slightly akimbo, his staring round eyes looking from where Anakin departed, to the pieces of clay on the ground. "Oh my... I suppose I shall have to clean this up…. Have I missed something?"