Obi-Wan opened his eyes to the sound of saber grinding against saber, the sweating and panting face of Anakin below. For once in the whole battle, and for the first time Obi-Wan had ever seen him, Anakin looked scared. His eyes had been stripped of the hatred and rage that had endured for the whole of the battle, but now had been replaced by pure terror and fear as he looked up into Obi-Wan's own. Obi-Wan saw his throat distinctively gulps he looked into his own, a lump nervously moving down the surface of Anakin's throat. His breath came in short, gasping intervals. His chest heaving up and down, it was as if he had been deprived of all the dark side and the powers he had possessed and was like a child again, back when they had found him on Tatooine. Just a pure, innocent child, oblivious to the world around him.
Obi-Wan was greeted by an alarming sense of not shock or frustration, but a strange feeling of relief. He hesitated, wondering why he was feeling what he did even though the answer was staring at him straight in the face.
It was that moment of hesitation that gave Anakin the chance to flip onto his feet and restart the battle. Obi-Wan softly cursed to himself and regained his balance. He set his composure to start the fight again but then they both heard it- the mighty creak of the building swaying from side to side, and then fall. They both lost their sense of balance and were hurled onto the floor where the crumbling building slid their bodies violently to the left. Obi-Wan heard the soft thump as Anakin's head hit the bottom of a table somewhere, and he quickly got up and ran out of the room.
He was met by the sight of a set of narrow pipes, the walls around them crumbling into the lava below. On the other side of them lay safety, and the only way he could go. He took a step onto the metal and almost fell as he distinctly sensed the shaking and tremor beneath his feet.
Glancing one last look at the swaying, collapsing building behind him, his face hardened. Anakin was nowhere in sight, and time was running short. Half-worried, half-relieved he wearily caught his balance on the pipes and steadied himself. It's for the best, Obi-Wan thought to himself. At least it wasn't me who…who… he couldn't continue. Gingerly he stepped over the bridge, being careful to keep his centre of balance intact at all times.
He had taken his first step onto the other side when he heard the deafening crunch of the building crumpling from the heat behind him. Obi-Wan turned around just in time to see the magnificent infrastructure fall helplessly into the lava below, emitting a low, painful groan. Well that's it then, Obi-Wan thought. If he wasn't crushed to death the lava will have him. The glow of his lightsaber faded and he pocketed it, slowly walking away heavy-hearted.
Anakin stirred, moaning softly. His eyes struggled to open and his head was pounding viciously. Where am I? he thought groggily to himself, though he was dreading the answer. Although he could barely open his eyes he the stench of burning metal lingered strong in the air and he knew wherever he was, whatever was happening he had to get out of there, and fast.
He staggered blindly, his hands waving around frantically as he tried to find the door. His whole body was swaying with the impact of the falling body and his whole body was aching painfully. His fingers groped around wildly, finally grasping some part of the burnt door or other, and he yelped in pain, letting go of the burning metal. His glove was singed and he felt the heat breeze over his metallic left arm. Smoke was flowing into his nostrils, his throat clogging up, every breath he took used up an enormous amount of effort, and he was already weak…
Then the room gave an almighty jolt, and Anakin was flung through the open doorway and out into the air. He gulped, gasping for oxygen and he found he was finally able to open his eyes again. He was flying through the air, right in the middle of the crumbling building he had just been in, now engulfed in flames; underneath him were a set of shaky, narrow pipes and on the other side was safety. And he was dangling in mid-air in the centre of it all, with perhaps 3 seconds to decide what to do before he fell to his death. Then he spotted it, a large cable, dangling from the top of the building on the other side. It was swinging back and forth, but would he have time?
He was falling before he could decide and saw the cable was as far away from him as possible. He saw the pipes below, the lava bubbling dangerously not a few metres below. He knew he couldn't balance on it, especially from a landing like this and besides the pipes would be hazardously overheated. It was lose-lose situation.
Then he saw the cable bounding back towards him, safety rushing towards him to save him from his doom. But it was too late- he was already seconds within hitting the lava…he had lost. He had failed the sith, failed himself…and not even at the hands of a saberduel but from his own land! The land he had conquered himself, dominated! He was worthless. It was better this way. On his last glance at the advancing cable, he thought he saw a glint of gold shining, like a last hope. But he must've been hallucinating-the only colors that existed on this planet were the fiery reds, yellows and oranges of lava and charcoal black of metal. He closed his eyes as he felt the first heatwaves of lava whip maliciously at his hair.
Xxnikegoddess: sorry its quite short today, but wanted to try and keep the 'suspense' up hehe…see if you can guess the next part, there's a sentence in the last part which gives a clue…till next update J R&R please and check out my new story, mission impossible: skywalker house hotel. Thanks for the reviews so far, I really appreciate them--