It was only his Jedi reflexes, or perhaps it was some part memory, that enabled him to block the incoming strike. The sulfurous gases burned his eyes, and the intense heat made breathing difficult, but even the rumblings of the volcano could not block out the venomous words.
"You are jealous of me! It's your fault that Padmé left; you just couldn't handle the fact that I had someone in my life that truly loved me!" Anakin yelled, his words punctuated by the swift flashes of his azure lightsaber.
"Anakin," Obi-Wan began, his voice cracking not so much from the sulfur fumes, but rather from the sudden onslaught of emotion. He had known that repeating this day would be difficult, but he had never imagined just how horrible it would really be.
"Shut up!" Anakin hissed, interrupting before Obi-Wan could finish. "I am so tired of your lies, and your lessons and lectures. You think you know so much? You think that you and the rest of your kind are the greatest thing this galaxy has ever seen? Well, let me tell you; you and the rest of the Jedi are ancient history. You are all dead; you just don't know it yet."
"Padawan, I…"
"I am not your Padawan! Even when I let you call me that, I was always superior to you. I know what it means to live, I know what love is and what life is; you know nothing of the sort!" Anakin continued to advance, pushing the other Jedi farther and farther toward the edge of the volcanic rupture. The heat was intensifying and the ground became more pocketed and unstable underfoot. "You took me from my mother, and then you wouldn't let me go to her even when I knew she was dying. Now you are trying to do the same thing with Padmé. I can't just sit back and allow you to do this again, Mas…" The words stopped, as Anakin realized what he had almost said.
His eyes blurring from more than just the deadly fumes, Obi-Wan reconsidered his plans, and realized there was only one way to get through to Anakin before it was too late. "You're right," he whispered, lowering his own blade and taking a step back from his enraged apprentice.
"What did you say?" Anakin growled, his blue eyes still blazing with anger, but now showing signs of confusion as well.
"I said that you're right," Obi-Wan replied, his accent deepening as it always did when he actually allowed his emotions free reign. Recognizing that fact, Anakin remained silent, even lowering his own blade to hear the other man out. "I should have forced the Council to allow you to go to your Mother, or I should have insisted that she accompany us from Tatooine in the first place. It was wrong to try to break that bond, and it cost you too much."
Stunned speechless, Anakin took a step back from Obi-Wan, leaning heavily against the pocked wall as if all of the fight had drained out of him. His eyes showed a stunned comprehension that gave Obi-Wan the courage to continue.
"What you have with Padmé is not wrong, and the Order is wrong to try to prohibit something so important as love. What is love, if not a logical extension of the compassion we strive for everyday? Though our work may threaten those we have attachments too, it is not right to prohibit something so natural and so… human," Obi-Wan stated softly, his voice only hitching slightly. "Love and attachment are not bad, but if we do things that hurt others in the name of love, then perhaps it is not really love."
"I love Padmé!" Anakin argued, but the threat was gone from his voice. He instead sounded more like the lost little boy who's nightmares Obi-Wan had once soothed.
"But would she approve of some of the things you have done, supposedly to protect her?" Obi-Wan asked, daring to take a step toward his apprentice.
"I had to, I couldn't allow those men to live after what they had tried to do to her! Her life would have always been in danger as long as they still lived."
"You allowed your love for her to turn into anger against anyone who would dare to hurt her," Obi-Wan corrected. "And that has lead you dangerously close to the Darkside. Do you think that Padmé would've left you simply for trying to protect her? Is her love for you really that weak?"
"She… is afraid of me," Anakin admitted softly, his lightsaber switching off as he released his grip on the activation switch. Obi-Wan, in turn, deactivated his own blade and reattached it to his belt.
"It is not too late, Anakin," he said gently as he closed the remaining distance between the two. "She loves you… and so do I."
At Obi-Wan's admission, Anakin's head snapped up, his blue eyes wide. Smiling softly, Obi-Wan chuckled. "You really didn't think that you could consider me as your father-figure without me having some kind of feelings in return, now did you?"
"But, but…" Anakin stuttered, "you are a Jedi. You aren't allowed to love."
"You are a Jedi as well," Obi-Wan pointed out, "and that hasn't seemed to stop you from feeling." Putting his hand around Anakin's shoulder, Obi-Wan began to lead the younger man back the way they had come; away from the fiery destiny that had once claimed both of them. "As a matter of fact," Obi-Wan began, gracing his apprentice with a self-deprecating smile, "there was once a time I left the Jedi Order for a woman… well, actually I guess a girl, to be specific."
"You left the Jedi!" Anakin exclaimed, as he allowed his Master to lead him gently from the blazing hell of the volcanic rupture. A sudden ominous rumble, however, cut off his further comment. Fate, it seemed, was unwilling to allow her sacrifice to pass so simply. As the two Jedi immediately froze in place, the rumble grew and the sound of splitting rock began to deafen them.
"Go Anakin!" Obi-Wan yelled as he pushed his apprentice in front of him, urging him to flee before the rapidly approaching crack in the rock. The fiery split gaped like a smile looking straight into hell, and despite their Force-enhanced speed, it continued to gain on the two Jedi.
Unwilling to lose his apprentice again to the blazing depths, Obi-Wan continued to push Anakin ahead of him, unaware of the diverging crack that had begun to spread in their path. It was only as Anakin let out a shout and stumbled to a halt, that the elder Jedi realized how well and truly trapped they were. Rapidly studying their surroundings, Obi-Wan realized that their only hope lay in retreat. Though the path back was dangerous, there was still enough of a footpath, despite the newest crack, to allow the two Jedi to pass.
Coming to the same conclusion, Anakin turned and smiled, displaying the unusual battle humor he had acquired from his Master. "It appears that you get to lead the way this time Master."
Realizing that there was no room for Anakin to pass him, and that any aerial maneuvers were too dangerous, Obi-Wan nodded tersely. "Let's go then," he ordered, as he began to back track. The uneven ground and the narrow pathway made Force-speed impossible, but despite that, the two were able to move at a rapid pace. Obi-Wan had just sighted the hazy light of day that illuminated an exit to the surface, when the rumbling suddenly stopped. The rolling floor of the volcano ceased its dangerous dance, and Master and apprentice were again on seemingly solid ground.
Refusing to slow and desperate to reach the surface before the after-shocks could begin, Obi-Wan continued his rapid pace, hearing and feeling Anakin right at his back. "We should be able to reach the surface in only a few more minutes," Obi-Wan called over his shoulder.
"Yes Master," Anakin replied, and Obi-Wan smiled to hear the familiar joking exasperation in his apprentice's tone. From the earliest days of the apprenticeship, Obi-Wan had realized Anakin only said "Yes Master" when he was either stating the obvious, or otherwise frustrating his Padawan. It had become a running joke between the two, much to the Council's dismay.
"Do you suppose that Padmé might consider taking me back?" Anakin asked softly, his voice that once again of a young, confused, man.
"I'm sure that she would, as long as you continued to work on your anger," Obi-Wan replied, glancing over his shoulder to give his apprentice a reassuring glance. Anakin's relieved smile, drew out a return smile on the usually stern Master's face, before the expression froze.
"Master?" Anakin asked, concerned. Before he could even complete the second syllable, the ground gave way beneath him. It was only Obi-Wan's quick reflexes that enabled the older Jedi to grip Anakin's arm as he tumbled down toward the fiery pit beneath him. Superheated plumes of sulfur scalded both Master and apprentice as Obi-Wan balanced precariously on the lip of the chasm, his grip the only thing keeping Anakin from certain death.
"Hold on Anakin!" Obi-Wan shouted, as he dug the toes of his boots in and began to slowly wiggle his way back. He had drawn Anakin up to the level where the apprentice could grip the ledge for himself when the ground again cracked, almost tumbling both in.
Scrabbling for purchase, Obi-Wan stopped himself from sliding further forward. Though the majority of his upper body now hung over the edge of the chasm, the Master would not even consider releasing the deadly grip he held on his Padawan. "Can you rest any of your weight on the wall of the shaft?" Obi-Wan asked as he kept his eyes locked on Anakin's own blue gaze.
Kicking carefully, Anakin shook his head. "The lip sticks out too far. There is only a thin slab of rock that is holding us both up."
"All right," the older Jedi sighed. "We are just going to have to keep doing this the hard way then." Using his free hand, Obi-Wan braced against the uneven rock that comprised the thin ledge, pushing himself back and away from the steaming abyss, dragging Anakin along with him. When his greatest efforts only gained a few millimeters, he paused to catch his breath. "Can you use the Force to push off of the wall and swing up and over me?"
"I don't think the ledge would hold you if I tried it," Anakin admitted after considering the option. His hands and face were rapidly turning a deep red as the scalding steam attacked his exposed skin.
"I did not ask if the ledge would hold me," Obi-Wan stated pointedly. "I asked if you could do it."
"I could…" Anakin began.
Obi-Wan interrupted before his apprentice could voice any more doubts regarding the Master's own safety. "Then do it."
Biting his lip, Anakin hesitated before finally nodding. His blue eyes closed, and Obi-Wan could feel the apprentice gathering the Force to him. When the icy gaze again opened, Obi-Wan knew that Anakin was ready. "On the count of three, I want you to direct the Force to swing you away from the wall, using my arm to lever yourself up and over me. That should throw you far enough away that you will no longer be in danger."
"But Master," Anakin tried again; only to be cut off as Obi-Wan began the countdown. Realizing that he would need to concentrate to make the plan work, Anakin bit back his protests and prepared to direct the Force. As Obi-Wan reached three, he directed a powerful Force surge toward the wall he hung several meters from, using the power of the push to propel him away from it. As he began his swing away from the wall, the sudden cracking of the rock that supported the ledge his Master rested on caught his attention. More than that, the resigned look in Obi-Wan's eyes told him that his Master knew he would not survive Anakin's escape.
Making a quick decision, Anakin jerked his hand free from his Master's embrace, using the remaining Force energy to push Obi-Wan back and away from the ledge. His last glimpse was of his Master's shocked and betrayed expression, before he fell too far below the level of the floor to see any longer. He felt the Force gather around him, as Obi-Wan attempted to stop his fall and levitate him back up, but he somehow knew that even with his power as the Chosen One, nothing would stop his descent. It was almost as if this moment was fated; as if the Force had declared this as his destiny.
Reaching out to the all-encompassing power that surrounded him, Anakin was startled to find that it contained none of the dark shadows he had become used to. Instead the Force surrounding him was purely of the Light; so beautiful that he almost smiled as he felt his soul enter into it.
And on the ledge far above, the agonized scream of Obi-Wan Kenobi also reached out to the Force, the tremors it created reaching all the way to the far away Capital Planet of Coruscant.
