Yes, I'm back. Writer's block is gone, so I'm updating older stuff. Enjoy.

And to answer a question, no, I don't believe anyone has killed off Bant or any of Obi-Wan's friends yet in published works. This is all just my speculation.

Padme found Obi-Wan the next morning, back in his window spot. He was staring out as he usually did, but something was very different this time. The first thing she noticed was the intense look on his face, as if something had caught his attention. He was also very tense, his hands clenched into fists by his side.

She carefuly approached and stared up at him. "Obi-Wan? What is it?"

He glanced down at her quickly, then turned his attention back to the wind. "Something's wrong. I can feel it."

"Feel it how?"

"The Force has shifted. It's changed. Something's very wrong." He closed his eyes for a long time, not moving at all. Finally, some time later, his eyes snapped open. "Sithspawn!" he exclaimed.

This startled Padme. "What? What is it?"

"Literally sithspawn! Vader is here!" Obi-Wan said before leaping down from the ledge. He sidestepped Padme, who had her hand clamped over her mouth, and rushed into her bedroom. When she finally got over her shock, she followed and found him throwing things into a bag, mostly medicine and a few clothing articles. He looked up at her as he closed the bag. "We have to leave, now. If we stay, Vader will find us."

"What will he do to us?"

"He'll kill me, for sure. You, I'm not so sure about. He might keep you alive long enough to have the children, then he may kill you. Or he may keep you alive. I have no idea."

"Why would he kill you for sure?" Padme asked dumbly.

Obi-Wan looked up at her with a surprised expression. "Why do you think?" he asked angrily, more out of panic than anger. "I'm the one he hates. I represent his past. I am the Jedi he has not managed to kill yet!"

"Obi-Wan, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you angry."

He stepped toward her, holding out a hand. "It's all right. I'm just a little...panicked right now."

She nodded. "Yeah. Where will we go?"

"Luckily, the Jedi planned ahead for this," he said, stepping past her. She quickly followed him. As he walked briskly through the small hovel, he continued to speak to her. "In the event that your security here was compromised, we were to escape through a back way, only accessible to a Jedi. We're to go to the bottom of a gully, and there should be a ship there, if nothing's happened to it. We'll have to use that to get off planet and to the rendezvous point."

"I didn't know there was a back way, or a ship waiting for us."

"That's because it was a secret." He stopped in front of a wall and set the bags down. He walked closer to the wall and stuck his palm on it. "General Obi-Wan Kenobi," he said calmly. From somewhere within the wall, Padme heard a beep, then the whole wall began to rise, revealing a passage way.

"Wow," she said.

Obi-Wan shook his head. "C'mon. We don't have time to dawdle. Vader could have already sensed us." He grasped her hand and lead her into the passageway. The wall fell back into place behind them, leaving them in pitch black. It didn't seem to bother Obi-Wan, however. He seemed to know right where he was going.

Finally Padme saw a light, and knew that they were almost outside. Obi-Wan didn't slow down, he just kept tugging on her hand to go faster. Finally they reached the end of the tunnel. In front of them, spanning for miles, was nothing but red desert with jagged cliffs.

"Padme," Obi-Wan said softly. She turned to face him. He had a mixture of fear and defiance on his face. "The ship is about a mile from here. We have to get you there, no matter what."

"Obi-Wan..." she said, reading behind the lines.

"Right. If anything happens to me, don't look back. Just go. You've been in ships before, and this one is really simple to fly. It also has an autopilot, so you can't go wrong."

"I can't leave without you," she said, trying to touch his face.

He turned away. "You must. Your life, and the lives of your children, are far more important than mine." He began to walk again. "Now come. We have to get to that ship as fast as we can."

Padme fell silent as she followed the Jedi, thoughts a jumble in her mind. She felt very confused. She had thought that she and Obi-Wan had had something, but now it seemed as if he were as distant as the first time she met him, all those years ago. Then again, he was very afraid, though he wouldn't admit it. Maybe he felt that if he pushed away any excess feelings, he wouldn't make such a big impression in the Force, making it easy for Vader to find him.

After a long while, Obi-Wan touched her shoulder. "Padme." She turned to him and he pointed ahead of them. Just ahead of them was a sudden drop in the terrain. "The ship's down there. C'mon."

She followed him, and they climbed slowly down the gully. It was a slow process, especially with Padme being pregnant. They were about halfway down when Obi-Wan heard the sound of a ship flying overhead. He froze and stared up at the sky. He could now see the ship, flying towards them at an alarming speed.

"No!" he shouted to himself and frantically began scanning the cliff wall. He spotted a small fissure in the wall and pointed to it. "Padme! Get in there! Now!"

She nodded, not questioning him, and made her way to it as fast as she could. When she got to it, she squeezed inside and waited.

Obi-Wan continued to stare up at the sky as the ship neared. He knew they must have spotted him by now, because they were circling. Finally it stopped and hovered above him, the thrusters blowing sand into the Jedi's face. A rope appeared below it, and a black figure began to slide down it. Obi-Wan was reaching for his lightsaber when the figure slammed into him, knocking him from the side.

The Jedi fell a good ways before he was able to use the Force to help him grasp the wall again, and keep from splattering on the ground, which was mere feet away now. He activated his saber as he leapt to the ground. The black figure leapt after him, activating a red saber.

"I've been looking for you, old friend," a menacing mechanical voice said from behind the mask.

"How touching. And all this time I've been staying away from you," Obi-Wan answered, adopting a defensive posture.

Vader laughed. "It seems that you can't even do that right." Anger surged up it Obi-Wan, but he managed to suppress it. Vader laughed again. "I felt it, Obi-Wan. Further proof that even the last Jedi Master is not perfect."

"No one's perfect. Not even you, Anakin. You were never perfect."

Vader swung his saber threateningly. "Anakin no longer exists. A more powerful being has replaced him." Vader laughed, and Obi-Wan could almost imagine him smiling behind the mask. "I thought about asking you to join me, but I knew it was futile. You're too wrapped up in your weakling ways to change, despite any anger you may possess. You could have been a great ally."

"But you know that I would never join you. Never."

"Yes, I know you all too well. But that is in the past. This is now. And now, we will settle this. Once and for all." Vader lunged.