Padme closed her eyes and she laid back on the hot baked sand of the arena, her open wounds dripping with sticky grit covered blood. Her body throbbed, and her mind ached...but never before in her whole life had she seemed so happy...even if a battle was talking place just around them.

Obi-Wan had saved her.

Now he laid upon her, his now longer hair getting in his wide worried green eyes as he bend his head down, his heart pounding the whole time and kissed the woman he loved.

Padme felt his dried crack lips rest on hers, just the feeling and warmth between them...together at last from so many lost years.

She thought her heart might explode.

He then brought his head up a little, and stared down at her tanned glowing face, so many different mixes of coffee cream and burnt roses in her lips. He felt as if everything was now blocked out of his mind...just as if he was in a meditative state. The blasts and screams around them seemed just to be low voices as they locked eyes again and smiled.

They loved each other.

Just then there was another blast, this time much louder, making the two of them jump a bit, Obi-Wan rolled the two of them over to his side and held her body tight as they watched another set of droids get blasted away.

Obi-Wan stood up in a flash, and took Padme's hand...he then grabbed his lightsaber, as she took another laser gun, and they backed up against each other as they fought.

It seemed hopeless, as they fought against the never ending lines of droids.

Obi-Wan caught a glimpse of Master Mace killing Jango Fett once and for all, he watched as his helmet covered head rolled across the sand.

Mace ran towards them and swung his lightsaber to reflect the laser blasts being shot towards them.

Padme seemed to be taking care of herself as she blasted away, having the best aim out of them all.

"Someone's got to shut down these droids!"

"Don't worry! It's being -- taken care of!"

The moment he said that all of the droids stopped dead in their tracks.

Silence filled the arena as the Jedi backed up into a small circle and looked around.

Then Count Dooku's voice rang through the sky from his box higher up in the stands, he stood there with a set look upon his face.

"You have fought gallantly. Worthy of recognition in the history archives of the Jedi Order. Now it is finished." "Surrender - and your lives will be spared."

"We will not be hostages for you to barter with Dooku!"

Mace screamed back.

The twenty or so Jedi stood there, exhausted and dripping with sweat from the blasting heat.

Padme stood, her gun lowered a bit as she scanned the empty stands...she then returned to the ground and saw Anakin only a few feet away, he locked eyes with her and she looked away as she stood closer to Obi-Wan.

They had shared a special time together, and she was glad he was there for her when she needed him the most. And even if she felt a strange band of feelings for him deep down inside she was scared of him...this was a time were his heart was hurting the most, and before they were lead out into the area she said such a stupid thing, which she kicked herself for even saying in the first place.

She said she did have an odd set of feelings for him, and how she did wish they could be more...and they kissed again.

Why would she say such things if she wasn't sure she loved him?

She was so stupid.

But then again she thought she was going to die, and just looking at his kind dark eyes, and feelings his lips press against hers it reminded her of her first and only love.

Now she knew what she had started.

"Then, I'm sorry, old friend. You will have to be destroyed."

Just then there was a shaking in the sky, Padme was the first to look up.

Ships.

"LOOK!"

She pointed and everyone turned looking at the six gun ships that were slowly descending towards them.

Once landed they saw clone troopers pour out and start firing at the now working droids as they raised their guns again and the blasts came again with great force.

Yoda was there.

Everyone ran full speed into the different ships, Obi-Wan took her hand and they rushed towards the closest one, before it shook and started up towards the sky again.

Anakin was there to.

He looked at Padme.

"Are you all right?"

She made sure her back was almost pressed up against the side of Obi-Wan as he used his lightsaber along with the others to reflect the laser blasts.

She wouldn't let him see that she was hurt.

"I'm fine."

He met her with a look that broke her heart, and just then they Jedi faced the ship again as they flew past the many deserts, watching the battle below.

Their ship blasted away many of the fuel cells on the planet, and with full speed they started to chase Count Dooku.

He was on a speeder, racing ahead of them.

Then their ship was struck, it shook and Padme felt her body fall backwards, she let out a scream and then fell almost twenty or so feet on to the soft sand of the desert hills.

She blacked out.

"PADME!"

Anakin screamed, Obi-Wan's eyes bugged out as he looked out the door of the ship and saw her tiny body just laying there.

"Oh dear God no."

His heart almost stopped, then he focused his thoughts and knew what to do.

"Padme." He said low in his thoughts. "Padme...are you there?"

He then felt something...she was still alive, a little bruised up, but alive.

He smiled as he turned and told the pilot to increase their speed, he knew Padme was all right and once they found Count Dooku, they would go back and get here.

In fact where she laid, might the be the safest place on his planet right now.

"LOWER THE SHIP!"

"No! We have to go after Dooku."

"LAND THIS SHIP!"

Obi-Wan then saw a flash before his eyes, his padawan was in love with the woman his heart belonged to.

How could this be?

He thought it was just a harmless crush, but the flash of feelings that came across Anakin's eyes scared him.

This love for her was so strong, it even meant death.

Part of him was worried and guilty, the other was angry that this had happened.

"Don't let your personal feelings get in the way. We've got a job to do!"

He had to scream over the screaming winds outside of the ship.

"No, I can't leave her!"

Obi-Wan then grabbed Anakin by the shoulders and shook him, anger in his eyes.

"Do you know what the order will do to you? She's fine look!"

He pointed and even if her body was now getting smaller and smaller you could still see movement in her legs.

Anakin took a deep breath, like a wild animal he looked at Obi-Wan.

"What do you think Padme would do if she were in your place?"

Anakin locked eyes with Obi-Wan and sighed.

"Keep going."

His voice lowered and he took a step away from Obi-Wan and turned, looking out at Padme's small shape.

Obi-Wan watched him, knowing just now how he felt about Padme.

It scared him, he saw anger in his young padawan, such anger that could be a path to the dark side.

But he knew if Padme wasn't all right and he wouldn't have been able to reach her with his thoughts, he would have been the first to jump out on to the sand himself.

Love...how could this be?

In another ship Yoda felt it to...three different kinds of love clashing at the same time.

Soon they arrived in the hanger, and felt Dooku all around them as they walked slowly into the center of the dim lit room and saw him standing there, his eyes fixed on the two.

He was a Sith now, and the danger seemed to float around his very own being.

"We move in together -- you slowly on the..."

"No, I'm taking him now!"

Anakin lit up his lightsaber and raced towards him as Obi-Wan screamed for him.

But it was to late, Dooku used his powers to hurled Anakin across the room, slamming him against the opposite wall.

Obi-Wan watched as his padawan slumped against the wall semiconscious.

He cursed himself for not being a better teacher, he saw the anger in Anakin's eyes on the ship.

It was Padme, she was blocking his thoughts and he was acting worst then ever...he shouldn't have taken such a risk...he could have gotten himself killed.

Dooku smiled looking down at Anakin's body and then at Obi-Wan.

Hate, anger, and power raced back and forth in his black eyes.

Obi-Wan then lifted his lightsaber, the bright blue sword lighting up across his eyes as Dooku lit his, a flash of red...almost like blood.

They circled each other, thoughts being blocked as they looked at each other.

"I have spent the last ten years learning to use the power of the Dark Side. It gives me infinitely greater power."

"You will have to prove it."

Obi-Wan then came in fast, swinging his sword, Dooku raised his and both went back and forth, Obi-Wan jumped up and spun against the floor as they darted back and forth like two find swordsmen, until they crossed again.

"Grand Master Kenobi, you disappoint me. Yoda holds you in such high esteem."

They then crashed the lightsabers again and they hit each other with great force.

"Surely you can do better?"

Obi-Wan then drew back, lifting his sword across in a clean sweep, and then taking a deep breath before getting a better hold of his lightsaber.

They raced towards each other again, but this time Dooku was to fast and in just a flash the lightsaber went against his thigh, and then his shoulder, tearing apart the cloth and making dark blood gush out in bubbles.

The pain freezes in Obi-Wan's face as he screamed and fell to the ground.

He laid there, holding his fingers against the seeping blood as he watched Anakin jump up again. He tossed Anakin his lightsaber and watched the two of them fight back and forth, sparks flaying.

For one moment he really thought Anakin was going to get the upper hand, before Dooku swung in a quick dance, and with one single chop Anakin screamed and buckled down the ground beside Obi-Wan's boots.

His face was pale and covered in sweat, his eyes rolled back into his head and blacked out from the pain.

His hand had been cut clean off.

Obi-Wan thought that this was the end, until Yoda came...

It was a fight that would go down in history, and in the end the only reason Dooku got away on his ship was because Yoda tried to save them.

The ship took off and after such a battle, Yoda sighed and took his cane after hooking his lightsaber up against his belt.

Obi-Wan panted, and then looked over at Anakin, who was barley alive. It was over for the time being.

Just then footsteps came, and Padme stopped dead in her tracks, clone troopers behind her. She looked at the two of them and then came running over.

Obi-Wan struggled to get up, helping Anakin, with his arms around his waist.

Pain shooting up and down.

"Anakin!" Padme cried as she saw the bloody stump of what used to be Anakin's hand. She helped Obi-Wan get him to his feet, before the troopers sent a medical stretcher to come down for him.

Yoda just watched.

Padme stayed close to Anakin, trying to make sure he would stay awake, and Obi-Wan still held him close, making sure he wouldn't buckle down.

Anakin's heavy eyelids looked at Padme and he mumbled her name before the stretcher came and they loaded him on to.

Obi-Wan watched Anakin get taken away as his heart broke.

If only he hadn't of fallen.

Padme watched Anakin disappear from the bunker, and then faced Obi-Wan...tears in her eyes.

"Oh Obi-Wan!"

She flung herself against his cream colored dusty Jedi clothes, now stained with dust and blood and sobbed against his chest as he held her.

Yoda nodded and started out, knowing that now wasn't a time to interfere.

Obi-Wan held her tight as she cried, and then suddenly a sharp bolting pain raced through his body like the blade of a sharpened knife piercing into the flesh. He at first tried to block away the pain as he held Padme tight in his arms.

After everything they had gone though...it had taken this much time to really know how much they cared about each other.

Anakin could have been killed, and it scared him to death.

He should have been faster, quicker, and a better fighter.

Then maybe Dooku wouldn't have gotten away, and Anakin would have been all right.

Padme kept crying, her face buried inside his shirt.

He held her, and then felt warmth underneath his fingers.

He brought his hand up, which was resting on Padme's back and saw dark dripping blood.

His eyes widened and looked down at Padme.

She was hurt.

"Let me see..."

He turned her around and saw the deep gashes in her back, seeping into the white cloth of her torn shirt. He then looked up at ramp where the troopers were walking back with Yoda and yelled to them.

"Somebody help!"

Some turned, along with Yoda as Obi-Wan looked back at her torn open back and used his good arm to rip apart some of tanned cloth around his sleeves, and press it up against her bleeding back.

The flesh around the wounds looked sore and ugly, and she turned her head a little, still crying.

"I'm so sorry Obi-Wan..."

"Shhh..." He told her, bringing her in closer so he could apply pressure against her back. He brought her in close and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

"I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you..." He whispered under his breath, shaking deep down inside.

The troopers came around them, Yoda still stood at the top of the ramp and watched the scene unfold.

They took Padme, letting her wrap her weak arms around their necks and with Obi-Wan's help was carried to a docking ship...Anakin's had just taken off.

The desert's sun was bright as they walked out, the evening would come soon, and a harsh wind blew across their tanned beaten faces as they helped Padme get on to the ship. She locked eyes, scared and tried ones with Obi-Wan before one of the troopers stopped Obi-Wan from coming abroad and told him there wasn't any more room.

Obi-Wan stood in the doorway of the ship, and looked over at Padme who was setting down with help from one of the clones, she looked up at him in panic.

"Obi-Wan, please come."

Obi-Wan looked at her with helpless eyes and then at the trooper who blocked his way.

"She'll be fine."

Obi-Wan looked at Padme who so desperately wanted him to come along, but he gave her a strong look and told her to stay put, and that he would be right behind her.

Tears rolled down her cheeks and Obi-Wan looked at her and tried to smile, then back at the trooper and with a put voice he told them to take good care of her.

The trooper nodded and got onboard, and Padme looked out at him.

Obi-Wan took a step back and nodded at her, and then heard the engines start up. The ship started to rise, and then in a matter of seconds took off.

Obi-Wan watched as it traveled with the other ships, and felt a deep pang of worry.

Anakin and Padme were both hurt.

His emotions started to get the best of him before he heard a voice from down below.

"Your emotions control you must."

Obi-Wan glanced down at Yoda who gave him a strong eye.

Obi-Wan was about to say something else when he noticed another gun ship start over towards the docking bay to pick up the others.

The wind blew again and Obi-Wan remembered the look in Anakin's eyes as he fought.

It was dangerous.

And he was sure that master Yoda felt his feelings towards Padme.

"I hope..."

Obi-Wan stopped mid sentence and shook inside.

The pain was coming again, this time worst then before, a deep throbbing inside his body as he felt the thin trickling bleeding from his wounds start to thicken.

He felt out of breath, he opened his mouth to gasp for air...then nothing.

He gave out a slight cry holding on to his side, and with that he fell down with a single force, and was knocked out cold.

The other troopers came running as Yoda rushed to his side.

Yoda looked down at Master Kenobi, as the troopers kneeled around him and turned him over.

He had walked in during the aftermath of his battle with Count Dooku, and his young apprentice. He knew that they were hurt...but the wounds he carried were not fatal.

He had sensed worry and feelings of the past ever since they arrived at the arena, he noticed the looks that crossed between Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Padme.

It worried him.

The three sides he had felt.

Anger, hate, and love.

He knew something, deep down inside was happening to all of them.

But what?

He knew Obi-Wan would never go against the Jedi again, after what had happened eight years ago, but he felt the strong need in Obi-Wan's thoughts to protect Padme.

It wasn't a safe path, but he knew Obi-Wan's love to Padme was pure, nothing more of what they shared together back on Naboo.

Obi-Wan was a powerful and wise Jedi, and a fine teacher...and even after all the loss he had taken during these eight long years, he knew that the Jedi Order was the most important thing to his life, and what was right for Padme.

It worried him for what he sensed in Anakin's Skywalker thoughts.

He felt the dark side everywhere.

He knew Anakin had a destiny if he was to bring balance to the force. In fact he felt Obi-Wan and Padme taking part in this balance.

But it was to early to tell.

All he knew was that feelings of love were being felt on every side, and danger was close.

He trusted Obi-Wan, and saw his pure ways as he watched Padme's ship take off.

He meant no harm...it was Anakin they would have to start to worry about.

They had both fought well, and even if Dooku did get away, he knew in good time both would be just as powerful as he now stood, eight hundred and eighty years old.

Obi-Wan had collapsed.

He now laid there, right on the outside of the bunker, as the orange sun was starting to slowly set in the pink sky, and off in the distance, battle was heared from all directions.

He laid there, not moving.

One of the troppers lifted up Obi-Wan's head a little and Yoda watched with deep concern.

Another one took off his helmet, and rested his head againt Obi-Wan's chest...he waited and then looked up at Yoda.

"He's dead."