Futures Past

Chapter 25- Truth

A.N: Man, this is it, the big one. I'm prepared for loadsa angry flames from the mindless A/A shippers, but what the hey, I've managed thus far, bring it on if you wanna! From now on things will get really interesting, after all, Anakin is slowly but surely being turned, and well after this chapter… well you'll see! Hope y'all enjoy it, but first (I know, I know, I like being suspenseful!) we'll go to the reviews!

REALbluelightsabre: Ah, I am not saying that Anakin wasn't curious, but wouldn't ya think, someone as headstrong as Anakin would probably think more in the now, act first ask questions later type frame of mind? Plus y'know, not many people would question Palpy when they hero-worship him like Ani seems to, or is my way of thinking anyway. It will probably be explored more in later chaps anyway. Thankfully, I never saw those Yoda adverts (or at least I don't remember them!) but you're right, Yoda does know all and he totally rules (just see my story AGONY YODA *plug*) anyway, you'll just have to see if Obi Wan or Yoda finds out, because we all know about a certain infamous lightsabre battle that takes place in Episode 3….

Kathryn Riddle: Now, with the headache, as with the vision, I see a bond between the three of them, as they are all linked to each other –lovers, bonded, y'know- so I want to focus on that bond and try and use it for all three of them, it will be explored in later chapters anyway, as there have been hints of it through the whole story really. Anyway, I'm glad you liked it, thanks for the reviews!

*Mystic_87*: *blushes* Aww, thank you *cries* they like me, they really like me?! Okay enough of the Oscar speech here, I am sooo incredibly flattered that not only did you read it cover to cover you might say (which in itself is quite amazing to me- why on earth would you want to?!) but that you actually consider it that good, if my story was used for episode three, there would be a whooole lot of Ani/Ami shippers after my blood I can tell you (like there aren't already?!) but thank you! I do think that George Lucas really needs someone to help him write the Episode 3 script cause lets face it he's a bit sucky at the romance! But that's not what we're talking about here! Virtual computer hugs to you, if I had a reader of the month, it would probably have been you (I still can't believe you read it all!?!) I'm glad that you can recognise the faults in the fic too (cause if people said it was perfect my head wouldn't be able to fit in my room!) So thanks for reading (IT ALL!) and reviewing, I hope you like the next chapters too!

VTEEN: Oh you're damn right it'll happen. Do not despair, it is all for the best, and this chapter should meet standard requirements of Obidalaness (if this one doesn't then the next one certainly will) and more Obidalaness on the way, thanks for the review!

Ells: I make no promises, but the original trilogy will be more or less unharmed, and as I enjoy writing lots of angst, (and we know how it all must end) this will definitely not be what could be considered a 'happy' ending, depending on your definition. I definitely want it to be believable and I recognise the limitations of the pairing, so I'll try and please as many people as possible while in the realms of possibility, but of course it will be very Obidala flavoured, as I think it is quite a reasonable way of sending Anakin to the dark side, but I don't want to mess with anything major I shouldn't imagine, I hope you like the rest, it will be interesting to hear what you think of later chaps. Thanks for the review.

Jedi Svuem: I am very glad that you took a chance and read my story, and I am even gladder (is that a word, my dictionary seems to think so) that you enjoyed it and have an open mind. I myself do read A/A stories on occasion and most of them are very well written, so it is good that even though we can all differ in opinion, we can still enjoy others' work. Don't worry about the length of your review, I very much enjoy reading long/detailed/informative reviews, (as long as they aren't flames 'cause then I just get bored!) it is always very helpful to hear what other peoples views are and what they like about the story, it gives me more scope for improvement. I would rather like to read your story, maybe at some point you could email/review me with a link or something? Thank you for your compliments, I try to write the emotions as realistically given the situations as possible, and its good to know I'm getting them right ^^ thanks for the review!

Okay I think that's enough for now, thanks to all my great reviewers I appreciate and love you all! Now get ready for our feature presentation!

*

Anakin rushed though the corridors at a quick walk, hoping to get back to his dormitory before anymore questions were asked, when he heard taps and footsteps advancing down the hall from where he was headed. He saw Obi Wan turn the corner and turned on his heel, trying to avoid being caught by his former Master.

"Anakin!" Anakin sighed, he knew there was no way he could pretend he hadn't heard so fixed on a smile and spun round to face Obi Wan, who was advancing on him, a walking stick helping support him.

"Master." Anakin nodded.

"Where have you been?"

"Just sparring in the training area Master, like I said I would."

"That's strange, the training area is in the opposite direction from where you came from just now. And Master Yoda said he just saw you coming from the direction of the entrance."

Anakin's smiled flickered as he realised his mistake and inwardly scolded himself. Obi Wan regarded him carefully, sensing his unease, and realising how like Chancellor Palpatine the boy had just looked with his fixed smile and ready excuse.

"Because you know Anakin, that you are not allowed out of the Temple without the permission of one of he council members or at least having informed someone, it is in the rules of the Temple. And new Jedi Knights are under very close scrutiny from the council for the first few weeks of their appointment, it wouldn't do to be getting into trouble so soon. So are you willing to tell me where you went or perhaps you would prefer an audience with Master Windu or Master Yoda?" Obi Wan looked kindly at his former Padawan, who was looking rather like the proverbial Bantha in the Speeder's headlights.

"Actually, I was at the senate, in a meeting with Chancellor Palpatine." Anakin said, rather importantly.

Obi Wan was slightly thrown by this comment. "And…why pray tell were you visiting the Chancellor Anakin?"

"That is not your concern anymore Obi Wan, what we discussed was a private matter of state, you don't need to pay any mind to it. If you'll excuse me." And Anakin nodded to his former Master and strode off, feeling rather pleased with how he'd turned the encounter around.

Obi Wan sighed and shook his head, he had a feeling Palpatine and Anakin could be a dangerous mix, he just wished he knew what the Chancellor's vested interest in Anakin was, and how he could curtail their 'private meetings'.

Already the Force was healing his wounds, and after conducting a holo-meeting with Viceroy Organa, explaining why their last meetings had all seemed to end up cancelled and organising certain matters, Obi Wan knew that tomorrow he would be on his way to war. He knew what he had to do.

*

Sabé was furious. She didn't know who exactly to be furious with, but she was furious nonetheless. Padmé had been taken ill while she was away for no reason, and then felt fine, there was no possible explanation, but Sabé was sure the Senator was horribly ill and just hiding it so that she wouldn't worry. She insisted on giving Padmé some Hypnocanes anyway, and was furious with Dormé for not contacting her. So when there was a knock on the door a little later, and she was still furious, she decided that she could be furious to this new victim too.

Palming open the door she glared out at the visitor, which just happened to be Obi Wan.

"Oh you." She said, not very pleasantly.

"Yes. Hello Sabé. I need to talk to Senator Amidala."

"Well you can't. The Senator has requested not to be disturbed and she was rather ill a little while ago so visitors are not a good idea."

"Is she alright?" Obi Wan asked, concerned.

Sabé regarded him curiously. "…She'll be fine."

"Please, Sabé. I really need to see her, its rather important. I'm going to the Wars tomorrow, and there's something I really must speak with her about."

Sabé scrutinized Obi Wan closely for a moment before relenting.

"Fine, but be quick, and if she doesn't want you in there, I will personally come in and remove you myself."

Obi Wan nodded, and giving Sabé a wide berth he entered Padmé's lavish apartment, leaning slightly on his walking stick, wary of his injured chest.

"She's in the bedroom." Dormé said quietly from the sofa she sat daintily upon, playing some form of card game with Versé.

Obi Wan nodded his thanks and taking a deep breath, went into Padmé's room.

Versé and Dormé turned to Sabé.

"You didn't have to be so rude you know. He is a Jedi Knight." Versé said accusingly.

"I will be as rude as I want, turning up unannounced, coming in and disturbing the Senator like this, these Jedi have no manners."

"But he seems very…nice." Dormé offered, and was met with a scowl from the- evidently- still furious Sabé.

As Obi Wan entered the room he saw Padmé standing silently at the window, her back to him. She wore a long blue dress with wide sleeves and a golden belt, and a hand was pressed up against the glass, almost longingly.

Obi Wan cleared his throat.

"Milady, I just wanted to inform you. I'm…I'm leaving for the Galactic Armies tomorrow, I did not wish for us to part on less than amicable terms, considering I might…" He trailed off, Padmé still stood unmoving at the large window, regarding the busy Coruscant skyline, with all the transports whizzing past.

Obi Wan approached her slowly, reaching out his spare hand to touch her shoulder, then thinking against it withdrew it and ran a hand through his fiery hair instead.

"Why?" She said, rather hollowly. "Why did you want to inform me? I thought you did not care about my feelings, or that is how it would seem."

"How can you say that?" Obi Wan asked, taken aback. "If anything your feelings were the first things I thought of."

"Are you sure they were not your own Obi Wan? My feelings seemed to be the last thing on your mind back at the Temple." She turned to face him, her eyes were slightly red, but they were also cold towards him, devoid of their usual spark, her face was a mask, the one she used to wear when she was Queen.

"Padmé please, don't make this harder than it already is."

"Who is making things hard Obi Wan, I am saying my mind, as you did. What do you care if we part as friends when you refuse my feelings as well as your own, deny everything, as if we were nothing."

"Padmé please." Obi Wan's eyes were tempestuous and full of pain. "Please, do not make me feel worse about what I have to do."

"You do not have to! You are taking the easy road, the cowards way out, I never pictured you to be the type to do that Obi Wan, but I suppose I was mistaken, you are a coward. I have nothing else to say to you." She turned back to the window.

"Padmé please!" Obi Wan grabbed her shoulder and pulled her round to face him, he knew instantly he shouldn't have, he felt the spark of his touch on her, and he withdrew his hand instantly, as if he had been burnt.

"Padmé." He began, his voice shaking more than he would've liked. "You are making this too difficult on me. You have no idea what you do to me, and it kills me Padmé, not to be able to admit the feelings or urges I have when I am near you, it is all I can do to fight them, I cannot do this to you or to myself, it is too dangerous, I cannot risk it." His voice was barely more than a whisper now as their fiery gazes met.

"Where is the danger Obi Wan?"

"Because…because when I am with you, I feel things, things a Jedi should not feel, I should not feel, because kissing you makes me feel powerful and strong, as if I can do anything, and it will lead me to destruction, there is passion, and raw emotions that I cannot feel, I will not feel."

"Why?" Padmé asked, tears in her eyes.

"Because it will lead me to the dark side."

"How, how can love-"

"It just can. Already, when I see you with Anakin I feel jealousy, anger, hate even… and those emotions are forbidden of the Jedi, because they will lead me to darkness, and I will not be able to escape it, because I know that you will always be there in my heart and mind, and knowing it will never work, how I can never have you, how I can never feel those things, it will devour me. I will not give myself to the dark side, and I will not love you, because if I did and I knew I could have you for eternity and have no worries or fears, then I would gladly give myself to the dark side to experience it. I can be easily tempted by you or with you Padmé. And that is something I will never give in to. But you would make me. That is why." Obi Wan's breathing was ragged and his eyes were downcast, he had just admitted his greatest fear to her, he did not know whether it would hurt her or help her understand, but he knew she would realise how great this burden was now.

Padmé smiled thinly, and took Obi Wan's face in her hands.

"I would never let you go to the dark side, I would never even ask those things of you, if I knew how… oh Obi Wan I am not worth that. I could never be worth giving in to darkness for, you will always, always have me, without selling your soul to acquire it. I do not wish you to feel jealousy because there is nothing to feel jealous about. Do you know what it is like to be married to a man- a man, he is almost still a boy!- who when I kiss I can already feel a distance between us, and when we are out he is either too busy talking about how amazing a Jedi he will be, or being so overprotective that he treats me more as a trophy than a lover, he barely sees me unless he wants to have someone to massage his ego and that scum Palpatine manages that just fine."

"Oh Padmé, you know you are more than a trophy to him, he is obsessed with you."

"Do I want to have a relationship with someone who is obsessed rather than in love? It is barely even love, lust maybe."

"Ever since he met you he has loved you Padmé, he talked of you many times when he was training, I think he thought of little else for a time. Oh Padmé I can tell that for you and him it is destiny, and what am I? Some pathetic Jedi Knight who has fallen under your spell too. I cannot bear it."

"I do not let others decide my destiny for me, I make my own. Anakin will always have a place in my heart, but you are in my very soul. I do not have control over who I love, and by the Force Obi Wan, no-one else will decide this relationship. It will not be influenced by others, but by our hearts will our love be tested. Do not presume to tell me what is for my own good, because only I can tell that, do not do it to spare my feelings for pity's sake. What does this tell you?" She placed a hand on his chest over his heart and stared up into his grey eyes unwaveringly. She felt it hammering wildly under her touch.

"…It tells me that I love you, with every fibre of my being." Obi Wan smiled thinly.

"I thought it might." Padmé grinned and pulled Obi Wan down into a tender but powerful kiss that almost took his breath away.

"I could not bear for you to leave me without admitting your true feelings." She said.

"But I must leave you, and there is always a chance…" He left the sentence unfinished, not daring to say it.

"No, Obi Wan please don't say things like that, I could not bear it. There are so many things we haven't experienced together yet, if we were to be parted before even, being together… I could not bear it."

Obi Wan blushed and stammered. "Well actually I haven't ever… Ahem." He coughed and looked away embarrassed.

"You mean you've never, never ever!?" Padmé exclaimed as Obi Wan shook his head and blushed even more deeply.

"Well no. I've been raised as a Jedi ever since I was very young, I do not remember life outside the Temple, and although it sometimes did happen I suppose, there was… well there was no-one special to want to do it with. So no, never." He turned away from her, too embarrassed to even look at her any more.

"Well that will make it even more special." Padmé said softly, turning him back to face her. Obi Wan smiled gratefully and Padmé kissed him again, tears threatening to fall once more.

"It's not enough time." Obi Wan sighed. "Not nearly enough, tomorrow… I can barely contemplate it."

"Neither can I, it's horrible. I'll miss you so much. I never thought it would happen. Especially with you as accident prone as you are." The two both laughed at that.

"Indeed, I thought I might not even make it off Coruscant at all!"

"Maybe we could write to each other?"

"It depends, if it were to be intercepted it could put us both in danger."

Padmé nodded sadly.

"But if there is any way by the Force it will be done." Obi Wan reassured her with a smile.

"Well, I suppose we have half a day together, and the night." Padmé sighed wistfully.

"Well then we must make each second count."

*

Okay chaps, what'd you all think. I actually rather enjoyed writing this chapter, surprising isn't it? Now the million dollar question, do you think a *whispers* sex scene is in order? Reckon I'm up to writing it? I sincerely doubt it, but as you are the readers, how'd you reckon I should handle it? I'm thinking classy and tasteful, scenes cutting to sunsets, crashing waves on the beach, rain, the moon, that kinda romance drama pap? Lol, well hopefully I'll see you all next chap, don't forget to review and leave me your thoughts, it will be fluffy I reckon, just warning you in advance, OBIDALA FLUFF y'hear all you moody flamers? Feel free to barrage me with flames…nnnnnnnow! Cos I've got it all outta my system *beam* hope to see all you Obidala fans next chap, and all you flamers in hell (from heaven) yeah I know I'm taunting now! It must be all the hot chocolate! See ya all, happy holidays!

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