17

The lightsabers clashed together, hissing and popping. The blue beams were identical. The handles were slightly different. Their wielders were completely opposite.

Both fought for what they believed in.

And neither of them knew how it got to this point.

Anakin drove Obi-Wan back, playing the strengths of his Form V style against the weaknesses of Obi-Wan's Form III. Channeling his anger he bore down on his former master with raw strength. Anger gave him power. Anger was power. He ducked down, intending to cut the Master's legs out from under him.

At the last second, Obi-Wan anticipated the move and blocked Anakin's blade. Anakin darted to the side and took a step back. He paused for a second.

Carefully, Obi-Wan eyed Anakin, giving his lightsaber a twirl with a flick of his wrist. Once more he saw the Knight's intent before he acted. He stepped back.

At the same time, Anakin took a step backwards. He then hurled himself forward in a spin. He whirled around, a complete turn, and swung at Obi-Wan. The Master blocked him. Obi-Wan moved to make an attack. Deftly Anakin dodged it, stepping to the side.

The lightsabers continued to flash as the two Jedi performed a complicated dance of swings, slashes, cuts, and parries. Defensive, Obi-Wan kept the twin blue blade from contacting his body. There was still time to bring Anakin back.

Obi-Wan did not care about anything else in the galaxy. His brother was here – right here before him – and despite the flashing lightsabers he would not accept losing Anakin.

Anakin was young. Raw power corrupted the young. Obi-Wan understood this; it was his job to keep it from ruining Anakin. Determined to succeede, he Force leaped over Anakin.

In mid-air, he brought his saber down to prevent Anakin from splitting him in half. Through the Force, he felt the young Jedi's confusion.

Obi-Wan never jumped. He always fought straight on.

As he landed Anakin whirled around to face him. A bitter scowl rested on his face, with his lips pursed tight. He paused, a millisecond of hesitation, figuring out how to best attack now. Perhaps the two Jedi did not know everything about each other.

Obviously not, Obi-Wan thought wryly. If we did…

We would not be here. It was not an arguable point.

Frustrated that he had been bested, Obi-Wan could feel each of Anakin's emotions through the Force, Anakin sent a large rock hurtling at Obi-Wan's chest. Obi-Wan easily dropped and rolled away from the incoming missile.

Anakin loved to throw things when irritated in a duel. At least here the solid lava restricted his opprotunities. Standing again, Obi-Wan glanced at Anakin.

The grip on his lightsaber was so tight that his knuckles were white. His boots fell heavily on the solidified lava. His face showed nothing – except for his eyes. The warm blue eyes were gone. The redness made Obi-Wan want to scratch his eyes to relive the burning itch that Anakin must be enduring. But now that growing change that scared Obi-Wan the most: yellow, a bright and deadly color.

Eyes of a Sith.

Obi-Wan was loosing. Every second drew Anakin farther away, deeper into the dark side. Not even Mace Windu had been able to turn Anakin away from the anger. Yoda probably could not do it. For attempting this, Obi-Wan would be declared officially insane by any other Jedi.

But he kept fighting.

And found the exact thing he fought for: hesitation.

Anakin was not completely gone. Focusing hard enough, Obi-Wan could feel ghostly traces of him in the Force. In the duel he could see it in swings and cuts that went awry, attacks that were sloppy.

Thinking that allowing Anakin to burn himself out was the best way to win him back, Obi-Wan maintained his defensive stance. That was the problem with the dark side – Anakin had to stay angry to draw its power, and the appearance of winning the duel could cool his temper.

So Obi-Wan let Anakin direct the battle. The young man's stamina showed no signs of dying. Lifting his hands up so his saber hilt was over his head, he brought the weapon down so hard that Obi-Wan's wrists and elbows screamed in protest at the shock of impact.

The hissing blue blades strained against each other. Neither one gave way. Both of their weilders drew on the Force to shove the other away.

Energy building between them, the Force crackled. The power massed between him and Anakin was about to break loose. It exploded – a shockwave knocked both Jedi to the ground. The two spacecraft shuddered on their landing struts.

Getting up, Anakin shook his saber hand. The blue blade bounced then went steady as Anakin's grip tightened. Taking a couple steps at full tilt, he launched himself into the air and flipped so that when he landed he would be right on Obi-Wan's chest.

Rolling over, Obi-Wan clambered to his feet, ready to face Anakin. Anakin landed and swung wildly, hoping to hit Obi-Wan anywhere.

A vacuum began to form in the Force. Obi-Wan found it increasingly harder to find the light side that he served. Reaching out he found only the blackness that Anakin radiated. Obi-Wan knew this was because his former apprentice was becoming angrier that the duel was not ending.

Obi-Wan took a deep breath. He pushed out beyond the thick darkness formed by Anakin. Instantly he was bathed in the brightness of the light – and pulled as much of it as possible towards him. Anakin drove Obi-Wan back, herding him close to his starfighter.

Knowing what Anakin planned to do, Obi-Wan jumped. Heavily he landed on the other side of the starfighter. He stopped, taking the brief lapse to catch his breath. Barely too short, he tried to glance over the top of the fighter. Glancing below it, he could see Anakin standing opposite him.

That's odd; usually he's never still, Obi-Wan thought to himself. He pondered this for another second –

A lightsaber almost came down on top of his head.

"Blazes!" he exclaimed after hopping out of the way and deflecting Anakin's lightsaber away.

A solid thud on the other side of the ship caught his attention. Turning around, he could see Anakin's head – he was standing on the wing of the fighter. Anakin reached his right hand out, and his lightsaber flew to it. Obi-Wan brought his saber over his head. It connected with Anakin's as he flipped off the fighter and back to the ground. Anakin bore down on Obi-Wan, eyes glowering.

"At least your aim is improving." The words came out of Obi-Wan's mouth from reflex. It was a comment that at any other time he would have said intentionally and one that Anakin would have laughed at.

Except that a grinding moan came from Anakin's chest. His eyes closed and he swung at Obi-Wan. "Don't try to bring things back to the way they were."

"Things only have only gone this way because of your actions. You brought yourself to this point. And you can bring yourself back from it."

Anakin shook his head. "I don't want that life anymore. I have nothing left from it. Could you live like that, a half life, an empty one?"

Those words made Obi-Wan stop for a second. They were so calculated. And when he really thought about it, they almost made sense.

Almost.

"I'm a Jedi. As long as I live the life of a Jedi and serve the Force, I have nothing else to want," he finally answered, finding his resolve in the Force. He would not let himself be bested by Anakin's words, the way Anakin had been by Palpatine's. "You're a Jedi too. I know that at one time that was how you wanted to live. Except that you could not let go of the your attachments the way a Jedi should!"

"You failed to teach me that lesson," Anakin growled.

"Only because you failed to learn it!"

"Don't you turn this around on me! It's your fault, Obi-Wan. You failed!"

Anakin took a swing at him, a haphazard and sloppy one to merely prove his point. Obi-Wan lazily deflected it, taking that single instant to understand that on a certain level Anakin spoke words of truth.

His apprentice had turned into the ultimate Jedi failure.

"You're right Anakin. I never intended for you to turn like this. I have failed you!"

Obi-Wan hoped those words would placate Anakin enough that this insane duel could end. It only infuriated him more. Anakin took a deep breath and the Jedi Master felt the dark power increase. He defended himself against a mad storm of fury moving so fast it was beyond comprehension. Just when he expected to have a lightsaber swing at him to behead him, a foot came out of nowhere and knocked him to the ground.

Having come to realize the full extent of their flaws, both the Jedi stood at a turning point. When they thought about it, in the back of their minds where everything passed in slow motion, they didn't even understand how it came to this. But now one thing was certain.

It was more than a lightsaber duel.

It was physical.

It was personal.

Anakin watched Obi-Wan get back up to his feet. He almost felt sorry for Obi-Wan, for what he had done to his former master. His eyes closed as he gave his head a shake.

Opening them he saw clearly. He knew he could not kill Obi-Wan.

"Obi-Wan…" he began with a weak gasp. He was not able to finish for Obi-Wan took advantage of his pause and attacked.

Help me, Anakin finished in his mind just as Obi-Wan feinted to the left and swung back to take off Anakin's right hand.

Obi-Wan never attacked.

Tapping the new reserve of anger, Anakin forgot any feelings of empathy he might have had for his master and wanted nothing of his help. The only goal, no matter how Obi-Wan talked of turning Anakin back, was to kill him. There was no doubt. Obi-Wan had given up on him completely.

Just like everyone else.

Furious, Anakin stumbled to his left, making Obi-Wan's saber swing wide. He took enough time to regain his balance and threw all he had at Obi-Wan.

Once again they dueled faster than any two Jedi before them. The lightsabers flashed and danced. Moving so fast, it was impossible to tell which saber belonged to which Jedi.

Anakin let his anger grow out of control, using it to tap into the Force.

Love was nothing compared to anger. The light side was nothing compared to the dark.

He glared at Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan was a fool if he thought he could have turned Anakin away from the dark. At a time, years ago, it might have been possible to save him.

But now he was a different person.

Obi-Wan turned me into this. It's because of him that I'm here.

Just a few months ago, the man had been his brother. Now he hated him more than any other being in the galaxy.

Anakin sank into the Force, controlling it with his every thought. Obi-Wan's intentions glared through the Force, enabling him to defeat every attack.

Swinging behind him with his lightsaber, Anakin took a step back. Steadily watching him, Obi-Wan did the same with his saber as he moved closer to Anakin. They turned to face either other.

At the same time both sabers swung forward. Obi-Wan swung up from the ground and Anakin brought his saber down. At the last second, Anakin arced up and Obi-Wan's danced downwards.

Both lightsabers made an incredible whooshing sound, flashing around each other in a complicated figure eight without coming into contact. Bringing their weapons out of the dance, both Jedi paused. Anakin realized they were so connected to each other that they were doing the same moves at the same time.

Disgusted, he sought some other way to gain an advantage over Obi-Wan. His right hand shook. The lightsaber in its grasp quivered. He tossed the weapon to his other hand. Lifting his right hand he reached out to the Force. With it he found Obi-Wan's throat.

And squeezed.

Anakin swallowed heavily, the satisfaction of feeling Obi-Wan's lungs be denied air giving him a clear focus. Obi-Wan's hands flew to his throat and his lighstaber switched off as it fell to the ground.

It would be over in just a few more seconds.

Obi-Wan's eyes rolled back into his head. He clawed at the invisible force holding his throat closed. Anakin smiled curiously. Deny a Jedi master air and he reacts with the same panic that any other lifeform would have. One side of Anakin's mouth turned up more and his fingertips twitched. The final push had been delivered. Obi-Wan's life had come to an end.

Snap-hiss.

A burst of power broke Anakin's hold on his former master. A blue blade of plasma hurtled towards him. Anakin dropped to the ground. He rolled away from the attack. At the same time Obi-Wan fell to his knees, gasping for air. After a few deep breaths he brought his lighstaber back to him.

Anakin had just enough time to think, He never was much for saber throwing either, before Obi-Wan jumped.

Again.

Grinding his teeth, Anakin got off the ground. He deflected the blow Obi-Wan aimed at him as he landed. His blood pounded, blocking out all other sound.

Dart. Kick. Swing.

The moves passed through Anakin's subconscious. Once more he found himself completely immersed in the duel. He was unable to focus on anything other than what his next move with his lightsaber would be.

Stab. Punch. Jump.

Sweat poured from his pores, soaking him. His eyes stung from the salty fluid dripping into them. Glancing at Obi-Wan, he could see the other Jedi was faring no better.

His eyes would not stop stinging –

All it took was the slightest pause for Anakin to brush his forehead with his upper arm. In that second, Obi-Wan saw his chance and took it. Anakin's danger sense flared and he moved his lightsaber to block Obi-Wan.

His eyes – he couldn't see – the blue blades, which one was his –

Blindly he swung –

Pain erupted in his right arm. He had no more control over his lightsaber. Dimly he heard it clatter away, and he reeled from the shock. Struggling to maintain his balance, he felt unstable as if there were no footing behind him.

His concentration broken, Anakin glanced over his shoulder. A nasty drop, on the edge of which he was teetering, met his eyes. At the bottom, the ground sloped into the flowing lava.

In a last effort he called the Force to steady him, but the Force can stop the nature of gravity only so much. With a final look of hatred at Obi-Wan he fell backwards. Anakin struggled to get some hold on the ground before he met the lava. The ground was too slick, too hot for him to grasp. The heat, the burning heat flared up to claim him.

The Prophecy was wrong.

He was not the Chosen One. Only one prophecy would come true here today – he would be incased in fire, just like that beautiful ship that he created on Zonoma Sekot so many years ago.

All those years he spent next to Obi-Wan. The vow he made to always care for his mentor, his teacher, his best friend. It wasn't Padmé he needed by his side, it was Obi-Wan. His brother.

Now his worst enemy.

He had betrayed him. He had betrayed all the Jedi, all the ones he killed. Through it all he told himself he was doing it to find Padmé, the dark one tricked him into believing it.

No.

He tricked himself.

He and the dark were one.

"Help…" he croaked, trying to look up to where he knew Obi-Wan stood. "Please…I'm your…"

Obi-Wan's words barely reached his ears, despite the fact that the Jedi Master was yelling. Pain wrenched his voice.

"I don't know you anymore. You were once my brother – but now you've killed him too."

The final words. The final betrayal.

Anakin struggled, trying in vain to bring himself away from the scalding lava. He went slack and his face pressed against the burning hot rock. Sinking into it, he no longer felt the burning heat dancing over his body. All he could see was the red of the lava, the red of the flames, the red of his anger; it made no difference, they were all the same.

He came to know the true identity of himself. He was born of the flames. Understanding in that instant how all his mistakes lead him to this point, knowing he had been wrong about so many things, he struggled to take one final look at the last person who tried to save him.

Obi-Wan left him there to die.

Completely alone, Anakin Skywalker faded into the growing blackness and let go for the final time.

To be continued...