A/N: I wanted to showcase Obi Wan's thoughts more in this chapter and do a little more justice to the pain he must have felt when he realized his former Padawan turned to the Dark Side. I also wanted Obi Wan to question things he didn't in ROTS. Obi Wan always appeared to me as a very thorough investigator. Maybe if he had stopped and thought WHY Anakin would do this it could have prevented the tragic battle on Mustafar.

Chapter 4

Jedi Temple

As Obi Wan and Yoda entered the temple to survey the damage, they could feel the temple vibrate with the screams of terror echoing through the Force. Gone was the laughter of the younglings that use to run down the halls. The emptiness that was left was like a vacuum sucking all joy and peace into a black hole. All that was left was the coldness as a shadow bounced off each cold, still body taunting them as it slithered across the floor.

In horror, Obi Wan watched the recorded surveillance footage on the holoscan in the main holocomm center. Each time he watched it, he refused to believe what he saw. There was Anakin dueling with Master Drallig while holding a padawan. He watched Anakin strike a fatal blow against the Jedi. There must be a mistake. Maybe a changeling? He couldn't tear his eyes away as Anakin knelt before Darth Sidious pledging himself as Darth Vader.

How could this have happened? In the last decade and a half, Obi Wan had spent more time with Anakin than anyone else. How had he not seen Anakin's fall to the Dark side? Sure, Anakin was impulse and emotional, but he had faith that Anakin would not give in to his anger. Should Obi Wan had reigned Anakin's weakness in tighter? Obi Wan trusted the prophesy that Anakin would be the one to bring balance. Was he not good enough as a teacher? He had failed his former Padawan.

He hit repeat again. Master Qui Gon…you were so wrong. Maybe he should have listened to the Jedi Council's concerns about Anakin instead of keeping the promise to his Master to train the boy. Perhaps this could have been prevented. He wasn't Master Qui Gon and this was proof that he couldn't follow in his Master's footsteps. He couldn't finish the work Master Qui Gon had started in Anakin.

He hit repeat again. Each time he felt another searing stab in his heart. As he breathed, his lungs burned as if he was sucking in poison. He wanted to die right there. Melt into nothing and disappear into oblivion and forgotten. His brother. His best friend. He had loved him. He had an attachment to him. In doing so he broke the Jedi code. He allowed his Padawan to fall to the Dark side because he was too attached to him.

He pushed the button again. In the distance, he could hear Yoda's voice pleading for him to stop. He couldn't pull his eyes away from the screen as he simultaneously wished the feed would somehow change and prove it wasn't Anakin but he also wanted it to burn the images into the back of his retinas, blinding him as punishment for his failure.

Master Yoda nudged him with his stick, "Mindful of your feelings you must be. The truth you must accept."

Obi Wan pulled himself away from the holoscan, shutting it off, in doing so, sealing Anakin's fate. "Master Yoda, there must be another way?"

Yoda shook his head, "Once down the path to the Dark side, forever consumed they will be. Is lost your student. Remains only Darth Vader. Confront him you must."

All of his Jedi training and hours of meditation couldn't prepare him for this. Obi Wan pleaded, "I can't do it, Master Yoda. I can't kill him."

Master Yoda was disappointed in Obi Wan. Perhaps he wasn't as disciplined as he thought. "Your destiny he is. Walk away you may not."

Obi Wan squeezed his eyes shut. The images from the holoscan playing in his mind again. "I don't even know where to find him. He could be anywhere."

"Trust your feelings you must. Find him you will. Now, go I will to face Darth Sidious. Victory we hope to salvage from this loss." Master Yoda bowed to Obi Wan. "May the force be with you."

Padmé's apartment.

Obi Wan found an open window into Padmé's apartment. He couldn't risk going through the front door given the Jedi manhunt going on. It was oddly quiet. Security was minimal. He knew Anakin constantly requested Padmé to keep tight security in her apartment. So this was very unusual. It appeared no one was home. Not even the droids. He started in the empty living room hoping to find some clue. His focus was else where as his thoughts went back to Anakin.

Master Yoda believed that once a person was lost to the Dark side, they could never return. Death was the only solution for a Sith. Obi Wan wasn't sure if he could believe that. If he wanted to believe that. There must be some good left in Anakin. He had to understand why Anakin chose this path; maybe then he can understand where everything went wrong.

He didn't reveal to Master Yoda a deep, weighty secret that he knew. That Anakin knew love. Obi Wan would be a dense fool if he didn't notice what was going on between Anakin and Padmé. The joy of each other's presence was basically screaming in the Force. The panic and worry Anakin had any time Padmé was involved in anything, remotely, dangerous were as evident as the longing looks they gave each other. Obi Wan turned a blinded eye for his best friend. At the time, it seemed to help Anakin focus better. Each time they were back on Coruscant, he appeared to be in a much better mood. Whenever they ran into Padmé, off world, Anakin would disappear for a while only to return with a much too satisfied smile on his face. But it was more than that, Anakin was calmer, and he seemed more at peace. So Obi Wan looked the other way.

Obi Wan ran his finger over a statue in Padmé's living room. Was this part of Anakin's undoing? They were stories of Jedi who fell in love that ended disastrously. A Jedi's duty was solely to the Jed Order and there was little room for anything else. The Jedi pushed, so strictly, for no attachments so that a Jedi's focus would only be where the Jedi Order wanted it to be. Obi Wan grimaced at this thought.

As he walked through Padmé's apartment, everything looked to be in its rightful place. To the casual eye, everything seemed normal. Using the force, he stretched out with his feelings. It led him to the terrace. There he felt it, powerful waves of anger and pain. He opened his eyes, trying to visualize what could have happened. There were small flints of Anakin's force signature still lingering as well as Padmé's. He couldn't find any signs of a struggle, but the dread pooled in the bottom of his stomach. He wondered if Padmé could tell the difference in Anakin's demeanor and see the Sith Lord he became. He wandered around her apartment, piecing the story the walls begged to say to him.

In Padme's bedroom, the closet was disheveled and a safe was emptied. Here in this room, he felt it more clearly: suffering, sadness, desperation.

He furrowed his brows. Anakin was definitely here. An argument had taken place. Obi Wan's force sensitivity was not as well tuned as Anakin's. He couldn't tell when the emotions occurred. If everything happened simultaneously or staggered.

He was fraught with worry at the feelings of desperation. He immediately worried about Padmé's safety. Did Anakin kidnap her? Did he lie to her? Did she try to run away? Now the situation has changed. It became direr. Does Obi Wan now have to rescue Padmé as well? Is her blood on his hands too?

The Force beckoned him to Padmé's night stand. He grabbed the holorecorder on her nightstand, here the feelings of despair radiated the strongest. Obi Wan decided to put it in his pocket, and he closed his eyes, trying to feel with the Force for anything else. His instincts told him to head to the landing pad. If Padmé ran away then her cruiser might be gone? If it's there….his heart sank…if it's there, then maybe Anakin took her as a captive.

Padmé's apartment landing pad.

Obi Wan scrolled through the datapad listing the ships docked along with the last several days of flights on the landing pad. There was no record of Padmé's cruiser leaving in the previous several days. But that wasn't the worse part, her ship was completely missing from the database. Someone took the effort to clean up any traces of her being there.

Obi Wan put his hand in his pocket, absentmindedly thumbing the holorecorder he grabbed from Padmé's apartment. He decided to pull it out and turn it on. The last transmission was from her apartment to Captain Typho. Maybe he could help Obi Wan figure things out.

He turned it on, hoping that Captain Typho would respond. To his relief, the Captain's image appeared.

Captain Typho didn't look amused as he saw the image of Obi Wan Kenobi in front of him. He crossed his arms and gave him a stern look.

"Master Kenobi, what are you doing with Senator Amidala's holorecorder?"

"Forgive me, Captain Typho. I was looking for the Senator herself and was hoping you could help me." Obi Wan asked innocently.

"Well, if you have her holorecorder I assume she didn't give it to you. That should be in her apartment, but you knew that didn't you?" Captain Typho countered.

Very little got passed Captain Typho. Obi Wan was caught breaking into Padmé's apartment. He decided that honestly was the best play in this situation.

"Listen, Captain Typho, something has happened, and I need to find Senator Amidala. I believe she might be in danger."

Captain Typho didn't relent from his current posture, not giving up any clues, "I'm sorry Master Kenobi but I can't tell you anything."

Obi Wan grimaced. He tried a different approach. "I understand, Captain Typho. By any chance…Have you see Anakin?"

There! He saw it. A quick flinch of recognition. It was only a fleeting second, but he knew that Captain Typho has seen Anakin recently. That gave Obi Wan something to go on!

Captain Typho knew his mistake. He quickly added. "Master Kenobi. I don't know what's going on. I would urge you to stop your search, but somehow I don't think you will listen. Just head my warning. It's not what you think." With that, Captain Typho disconnected.

What did he mean? Captain Typho had no idea how much danger Padmé was in! Obi Wan's worse fears have come to fruition. Anakin…no Darth Vader had Padmé. Most likely as a captive. How far did Anakin fall that he would put the one person he loved most in the world in danger. Would Obi Wan even recognize him when he meets him again?

He heard shouting from a distance. Someone must have seen him on the landing pad and tipped off the Coruscant guard. He needed to get off the planet. It was too dangerous to be here. His only lead was to find that cruiser, but where would he look? Where would Anakin have taken her? He mentally kicked himself. Darth Vader. Anakin was gone. The emotions in Padmé's apartment didn't lie. All the anger, suffering, and desperation. He was sure now that there was some sort of struggle. He had to let go of his best friend. Anakin Skywalker was gone. Only Darth Vader remained, and he had with him a hostage, Padmé, that Obi Wan needed to rescue.

Obi Wan slipped off the landing pad and went to look for a way off Coruscant. He committed to his mind that he must now hunt down the Sith Lord Darth Vader, but there was a small part of him still hopeful that Anakin was still in there somewhere.

Padmé's cruiser

From the pilot's seat, Anakin scanned the radio chatter from the nearby planets as they headed to the planet of Wobani. Word travels fast. Even here, news about the formation of the Empire was everywhere. He would rather continue on their path and avoid all inhabited planets, but they needed to refuel and get supplies. The world was home to mostly vagrants, Anakin hoped they wouldn't run into any clone troopers, but it didn't make the planet any less dangerous.

He peeked behind him. Padmé was fast asleep in their sleeping quarters. Through the Force, he could feel she was at peace as she slept soundly. The farther away they were from Coruscant, the more it seemed Anakin's mind was clearing up. The hazy that covered his thoughts the last couple weeks seemed to have lifted. To his surprise, he was finally able to think clearly. The urgency and the dread he felt about Padmé's death seemed to be lifting as well. There was a noticeable shift in the Force, he could feel it strongly. It amazed and baffled him. Maybe Padmé was right? Perhaps this path will allow her to live? But what life will this be?

Anakin groaned and put his hands on his head as he leaned over the controls. Chancellor Palpatine will be looking for him. Darth Sidious. He had sworn himself to the Dark side and as an apprentice to Darth Sidious. That was a bond harder to break than his oath to the Jedi. The connection he had made with the Dark Lord was very faint out here. Good. Maybe he'll think I failed my mission and perished.

As they drifted further out from the core planets, he felt his old life drifting away. The weeks that lead up to the confrontation with Darth Sidious were the darkest and most desperate times of his life. After spending 5 months fighting in the Outer Rim, he was already emotionally spent from all the death and destruction. He thought it would be better once he was back on Coruscant with his wife. How wrong he was. The Jedi wanted him to spy on the Chancellor. The Chancellor didn't trust the Jedi and wanted him to spy on the Jedi. On top of everything else, he had nightmares about the one person he cared about the most. Sleep wasn't an option as he dreaded the nightmares about his wife's death; thus he was on edge from sleep deprivation. He was in an awful situation and made the worse possible decision.

Now, alone in space with his beloved, he could see things from an outside perspective. The war between the Jedi and the Sith. That's what it was really about. He couldn't bring himself to care anymore. Let them fight and destroy each other. He was tired of being either side's pawn. He should have left the Order a long time ago. He would joke with Padmé, in times of frustration, about leaving, but he wasn't really ready to pull the trigger. Maybe if he left sooner, things could have turned out differently?

He went along with the Jedi's notion he was the Chosen One in their ancient prophecy. It was a tremendous weight on his shoulders that he didn't want to bear. Being named the Hero with No Fear definitely soothed his worried ego, and it gave him more confidence that maybe he was this Chosen One. Never mind it was a lie; he was always fearful of losing the ones he loved, losing the men he commanded, and even of not living up to the Chosen One title. So he stayed in the Jedi Order out of his ambitions but also out of fear of what his life meant if he left.

Even though, deep down inside, his instincts told him he wasn't where he was supposed to be, the Jedi Order wasn't truly good for him. He wouldn't find any peace in the Order. He ignored that instinct listening to everyone else-Obi Wan, Padmé, Ahsoka that this was the will of the Force. Oh, how wrong they all were.

The hypocrisy of the Jedi Order; the benevolent, compassionate, peacekeepers who actually were a bunch of liars, arrogant, condescending fools that were so fixated on their own self righteousness that they couldn't admit they were wrong. They were callous with Anakin's blind trust in them, and it caused him to turn to the Dark side. He found compassion, understanding, and warmth from a Sith Lord. How ironic was that? It was easier for him to turn to the Dark Side than he thought. He just needed a promise to save the one person he cared for most, and he was ready to jump ship.

He looked down at his hands. He was a traitor. He killed Jedi, padawans, and younglings at the temple. The power of the Dark side grew with every kill and it thrilled him. He thought it was the power he needed to save Padmé's life. Looking back, he was drunk on that power. He would keep killing more and more as it would feed an insatiable appetite. He felt a part of him slipping away, fueled by that power, the part that cared about Padmé and wanted to save her life. He felt his ambitions growing for his new empire above all else.

That hunger was gone now. The spell was broken. Padmé's love for him brought him back from the darkness. What was left was remorse. The remorse that he would gladly burden his soul with as punishment for his foolishness. It's the least he could do for their memory. Despite how he felt about the Jedi Order, he knew this shouldn't have happened. They shouldn't have died by his hand. He would remember their names and faces and if they choose, allow them to haunt him, because he took away their right to choose their paths. That would be his final gift to the Jedi Order.

His thoughts drifted to Obi Wan. The Force was still in significant chaos most likely from Order 66 being carried out. He couldn't tell if he could feel's Obi Wan's presence or not. Did he die on Upatau at the hands of Commander Cody unbeknownst to him? He felt a stab in his heart.

"I'm sorry, my friend. May you rest in peace." Anakin whispered to himself.

Perhaps it's better if Obi Wan died then he wouldn't know what Anakin had done. He couldn't bear the thought of facing his former Master. He had disappointed him. Letting out a deep, pained sigh, he sat up in his chair, staring into the vastness of space. That life is in the past now. All that mattered to him was on this cruiser. They had to keep going. Keep moving farther and farther away from the core systems. Only then could they be free to be a family. To take on new identities and a new life.