The Fires of Mustafar
[Main Battles are CH 3-5, if you just want action]
"I have failed you Anakin, I have failed you." Obi-Wan says, sweating, gripping his lightsaber.
"I should've known the Jedi were plotting to take over!" Anakin rebutts, his hair blowing in the hot winds of Mustafar.
"Anakin, Chancellor Palpatine is evil!" Obi-Wan shouts.
"From my point of view the Jedi are evil." Anakin knows Palpatine isn't a saint, but he's certainly the lesser of two evils. Once lingering doubts, his hatred of the Jedi has become an unwavering obsession.
"Well then you are lost!" Obi-Wan's voice pounds in the air. In rage, Anakin charges and they both break into another duel. The planet collapsing around them, they dived from platform to platform, clashing their blue sabers in violent light. The battle is intense, electric, going on for what felt like hours but were mere minutes. The planet crumbles around them and at every moment, they get closer to their end.
Anakin lunges forward, narrowly missing as Obi-Wan backflips out of the way onto the blackened riverbed behind. Obi-Wan's feet make a thud against the landmass, it is hot and unstable, but it is safe ground for now.
Anakin knows this, but does not care. He stands on his small robotic platform, its heatshield being plucked away with every second it looms over the river of lava. A mountain falls in the distance, along with the facility they brought their struggle earlier in the fight. The mountain peak crashes down into the lava, causing the burning liquid to form tidal-like waves. Anakin sees the blistering damage; charred rocks, spikes of metal and scorching lava coming towards him at an increasing rate. In his arrogance, he does not care. Kenobi is all that matters now.
"It's over, Anakin. I have the high ground!" Obi-Wan shouts, pleading.
Anakin looks to Obi-Wan again, he has no choice but to attempt a jump.
Anakin, eager to prove himself the better, even now, threatens his master.
"You underestimate my power!"
Obi-Wan senses it. Anakin has demonstrated that he is the better fighter, but this will kill him.
"Don't try it!" Obi-Wan warns Anakin with prevailing compassion.
Anakin tenses his legs, ready to pounce onto the landmass. He is unsure how he will execute the move, but the platform he stands on begins to shake and he must trust in the abilities that have saved him countless times before. Despite his anxiety about his next move, Anakin convinces himself that Obi-Wan's pleas for him to stop are a ruse. A sickening Jedi trick. He'll pay for that.
Anakin clenches his saber, and he fills his lungs with searing air. He's about to burst into a comet of rage.
But then, something freezes him in place.
"Padme needs you, Anakin..." Obi-Wan screams.
Anakin and Obi-Wan turn to see the debris join the river of lava, rushing towards a shaking Anakin. His legs tremble at hearing his wife's name. But it wasn't just his wife, but the lives of his unborn children.
Anakin glimpses down to the molten firestorm at his feet. He feels Padme's presence. She is still alive. He still has time to save her. He flashes back to a better time, a time years ago on Naboo. Padme and Anakin embrace each-other on the grass plains of her home planet, the lush waterfalls brushing up against his skin, cooling him. Her touch soothing him. The vision they had for the world.
Anakin looked Obi-Wan in the eye. He feels his throat swollen, from either ash or guilt. He cannot speak, but tears stream down his crimson face.
"Anakin...That wave of lava is coming in, and that platform cannot hold you forever. Stop this madness."
"What do you expect of me Obi-Wan? That I throw my weapon into the river, so you can kill me? You give me no choice." Anakin thinks about jumping again, but his vision starts to clear. His advanced precognition gives him a sense of danger. Everytime he visualizes jumping for Obi-Wan, he sees himself on fire…fire all around him, he tries to crawl back up but he has lost most of his limbs…Everytime he jumps, he dies...
Obi-Wan feels sadness. Ashamed that Anakin has convinced himself that Obi-Wan would murder him in cold blood.
"Throw me your saber. Then make your way to me."
Anakin holds his saber still. The conflict swells within him.
"So you can assassinate me? Like Windu tried with the Chancellor."
"I never said the Order was perfect Anakin. It was no secret that it had many flaws. But that doesn't matter now." Obi-Wan gripped his beard "And you think I would assassinate you? That's not the Jedi way, it's never been my way."
"You're just like him! Admit it. You came here to kill me!"
Obi-Wan stopped. He runs his hand over his forehead. A part of him knew he was right. He gulps.
"When I saw the things you did at the Temple." Obi-Wan shook his head, face in despair, unable to utter the details of what he saw on the holotapes. "I couldn't believe it was you. You were like a brother to me…Anakin. I didn't want this, but you left me no choice."
The platform shakes beneath him, and his legs begin to swelter from the heat.
Obi-Wan takes a few steps back, disengaging his saber in the process.
"But perhaps there is another way. I don't know if there's still some good in you. I don't know if you could ever forgive me for failing you. But this isn't about you and me."
Anakin can see the logic in that, although he is sure he could beat Obi-Wan once he makes it onto land. But Anakin is curious to see Obi-Wan justify his side. After that, Anakin is certain to finish Obi-Wan off once and for all.
Anakin leaps onto the landmass, his feet touch down but quickly fall from under him. He struggles to keep his footing but the ground slides from out beneath him. Trying to right himself, he tips his center of gravity back and forth until he completely loses his balance. Anakin expects a fiery demise, and his arms flail in a panic.
Suddenly he stops and feels something pulling on his mechanical arm. Looking up, his eyes meet a panicked Obi-Wan, who holds him in place. Anakin's fiery yellow eyes meet Obi-Wan's, both glazed in tears from the sooty air. Obi-Wan pulls Anakin up by the hand he had once lost when they both fought Dooku, side by side as brothers. It is brief, but for Anakin, this exchange seems to last forever. Anakin has his other hand tightly gripping the lightsaber, his finger hovering over the hilt's ignition button. Obi-Wan is so preoccupied with holding Anakin up, he wouldn't even notice it before it was too late.
But Obi-Wan has had plenty of opportunities himself to end the fight here whilst his adversary was helpless. He could have pushed Anakin's platform down. He could have even thrown lava at him. And both opportunities would have left Anakin nowhere to go but down into the fiery river below. Even now, Obi-Wan does not let go, and Anakin does not ignite his blade.
Anakin digs his feet in the ground, and is hoisted up by Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan takes a few paces uphill, waiting for Anakin at a safe distance.
Anakin looks up at Obi-Wan, unsure of what to feel anymore. They walk on together.
"After we help Padme, Palpatine has to be stopped." Obi-Wan admits, beginning the dialogue.
"He is my mentor now. He won't hold me back this time."
"I never held you back by choice, the council felt you was too unstable." Obi-Wan defended himself.
"They were afraid of my power." Anakin spat.
Obi-Wan paused, and nodded. "Yes, you are right. They were afraid of your power. You were the strongest of us. A proud warrior, both strong and wise…."
Anakin recounts fighting side by side with Obi-Wan again. And the last time they parted ways as allies. The soft hand on Anakin's shoulder as he apologized for his arrogance. And the way his Master accepted him back.
"...And a good friend…" Obi-Wan gulps.
"Palpatine will teach me how to save her, I can save Padme." Anakin said, desperately.
"Palpatine can teach you much that the Jedi can't. He is more knowledgeable of the dark side than anyone of our time. But there is another option."
Anakin, intrigued, humoured him. "What is the other option you speak of?"
"We consult Master Yoda. You leave with me, we save Padme together. The Order has fallen, but we can still repair the damage."
"You plan on building a new Jedi Order?" Anakin didn't hide his contempt.
Anakin and Obi-Wan maintain a few feets distance from each-other, and now stop their walk at the base of the hill to face one-another.
"It won't be the world you envisioned. You won't get to rule the Galaxy. But Padme will live, and...there's a chance-"
"A chance of what?"
"A chance... I can bring you back…"
"Back to the weak person I once was. I've grown far beyond that Obi-Wan." Anakin boldly states, with some confidence.
"Back to the spirited young boy me and Qui-Gon found on Tatooine. The boy that built droids for fun and the only human podracer to win Boonta Eve. The boy who went across the Galaxy to protect his mother and comforted her when she was dying. The boy I raised into a young man that seduced a senator and saved me three times."
Anakin's rage dissipated. He only felt sorrow. Anakin felt a tug from his conscience, the light called his name. He looked at Obi-Wan.
"Remember. That fourth time didn't count. It's still three times….Anakin..." Obi-Wan said with a nostalgic half-smirk, seeing Anakin come back ever so slowly.
"That name is a burden. It hasn't any meaning for me anymore" Anakin shook his head.
"Yes. I know….Darth Vader….Palpatine has made you a slave once again. Turned you into something you're not. The Anakin I knew would have never killed unarmed combatants and trusted friends."
"Don't give me your notions of Justice. Windu, and the others, were too dangerous to be left alive." Anakin repeated what Palpatine had said after his duel with Dooku. Then, he realized Windu had said the exact same thing.
"And Palpatine isn't? Open your eyes. There were certainly some bad seeds but what threat did the Jedi trainees pose to your master's grand scheme?"
"The Chancellor believes fully in his plan. He believes in me. Once Padme is safe, he foresees me ruling the Galaxy." He said, unconvincingly.
"You and I know he would never let that happen. He saw a damaged, confused and angry young man and twisted his mind. He has asked things of you…" Obi-Wan closed his eyes in pain. "Things that I can't imagine…" Then, Obi-Wan's voice trembled, he held his mouth as if choking. "Those younglings…-"
Anakin gulped. This was the final test of Anakin's mental strength. Before now Anakin had barely had time to feel the gravity of what he did. It was one mission after another, his focus only on the attainment of power. The feeling of unlimited power - to change the galaxy for the better and the protection of Padme. He tried to open his mouth and argue as before…But there was no argument to be had. Now Anakin felt their screams. He felt their pain, he fell to one knee.. Drained of all might, he leaned on a boulder for support, his lightsaber slipped out of his lifeless hand.
"I did what I had to…" Anakin mourned. He looked as a ghost would upon discovering their own corpse.
Obi-Wan came over to Anakin.
"Master Yoda commanded me to confront you, Anakin. I told him I couldn't bring myself to kill you. And still, here you are. I didn't know what to expect when I arrived. I hadn't thought this through, but there's always another way."
Anakin looked to Obi-Wan, his face saturated in tears. His eyes, bloodshot and childlike. "I'm so lost Master…I am being torn apart." Finally Anakin broke. Obi-Wan felt like joining Anakin in a state of pity and depression. But then he realised that he had called him Master again, which gave him the glimmer of hope needed.
"It wasn't you who did all those things…"
"But it was me. I killed all those people. I betrayed and murdered my mentors and students…Those weren't sandpeople this time, they were my friends." Anakin cried. He looked at his glinting saber. It was like staring Sidious in the face. Now Anakin's hatred came back, he tried to stand.
Obi-Wan helped Anakin up. "You can still amend this."
Anakin picked up his lightsaber and went to throw it into the river of lava. But Obi-Wan stopped him.
"We still have much work to be done."
"The Chancellor." Anakin said with determination.
Obi-Wan calmed Anakin, standing in front of him. He placed his hand on his shoulder, gripping Anakin stiffly.
"I overheard you talking to Padme. You said you were planning to overthrow him."
"Yes, he feels he has complete control of me. Now I think of it, it's sickening." Anakin said in disgust.
"Let's hope he doesn't sense your change of heart. But first…" Obi-Wan says.
Anakin felt a shift in the force. Closeby.
"Did you feel that?" Obi-Wan said to Anakin. Anakin nodded.
Without a moment's hesitation they began running back to the landing pad. They sprinted as fast as possible across the uneven ground, some of which was on the verge of collapsing. They finally reached the landing pad. That was where they found Padme.
"I can't lose her like I lost my mother. I can't."