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Anakin hopped out his starfighter. His boots collided with the ground and made a dull "thump." Mustafar's gravitational field was slightly stronger than what he was used to. Nevertheless, his lithe body moved with the surety and agility he had always possessed. "R-2," he said as a gush of blazing volcanic wind blew past them, "stay with the ship." He didn't want R-2 to be present while he performed his duties. It was silly, after all, it was only a droid. A droid made of metal and chips and such. A droid who had seen a lot of battles in its little lifetime. Nevertheless, he didn't like the idea. He didn't want R-2 to see him kill in cold blood.

He quietly pulled his hood over his head, concealing his features, especially his scorching bright eyes.

"Welcome, Lord Vader. We've been expecting you." Nute Gunray declared as he appeared in the control center.

Anakin raised a hand, and all the exits sealed on their own. A disquieting silence dawned on the Separatists. Anakin drew out his lightsaber with deadly purpose in his eyes. It flashed coldly as he cut down the Separatists and their droids. He let his hatred of them flown smoothly through his veins. The Dark Side was indeed more powerful than anything he had experienced.

"The war is over. Lord Sidious promised us peace… we only want…" Nute Gunray choked and pleaded before he, too, was slain.

In order to have peace throughout the galaxy, Lord Sidious had said, all factions and rebellions must be subdued. With a unifying voice of the empire, under the direction of an emperor, only then, will the Galaxy experience long-lasting peace. Not only the Jedi, the Separatists, but even the Senate itself must be purged of its "impurities." With you by my side, my child, we shall achieve true greatness.

Bail Organa had never liked Coruscant. It was so unlike the lush green Alderaan that he was used to. Even after living there for years due to his senatorial duties, he still despised the gloom and pollution of the planet city. Today, the gloom was even more prominent. "This is a black day for us all," he murmured to himself. He and his squadron of Alderaan guards were zipping pass the Coruscant streets in their ship. He was risking his political position and his own life by doing this. The Jedi were in grave trouble. The Republic was no more. Behind it all was the man the whole Galaxy had bowed to and respected for more than a decade.

Palpatine was hardly a man to be trusted like all politicians, he knew. However, unlike all politicians, he had managed to bring about a sweeping and lasting change. Even the most ambitious of senators would only think in the social context they were all born into— a republic, a loose confederation of planets and star systems. Even the most autocratic of politicians would shudder before the idea of an empire and emperor. Nonetheless, Palpatine was no ordinary politician.

Bail did not pretend to understand the ins and outs of the Force, the Jedi, or the Sith. Nevertheless, he knew the Jedi had always protected the Galaxy and its lifeforms, regardless of species. What he had seen from the Sith had only been death and brutal takeovers.

The destruction of the Jedi and the military "protection" of the Senate were enough to convince him. It is not like Finn, he thought as they drew closer to their destination. It is not like her at all. While they were at the Academy, she had always been the soft-spoken, quiet girl, with a wryly sense of humor and a strong sense of right and wrong. A bit insubordinate at times, but a talented commander. She cannot possibly be supporting this, he thought grimly. Nonetheless, he knew better. As the Captain of the senatorial security teams, she was her father's right hand. By defending him and carrying out his wishes, she had managed to help him assumed his imperial powers and intimidate more than just a dozen senators into submission. By supporting the right side, at the right time, she had elevated herself from a nameless lieutenant to the second-in-command of the most powerful man in the Galaxy.

During the times of grasping for power, it is extraordinary to see how people's true selves are revealed, he remarked dismally to himself.

Obi-Wan heard the zapping sounds of Force fields collision and a dull metallic clink. His shackles had fallen to the ground. Rubbing his free wrists, he regarded Finn with bewilderment in his eyes. He caught his lightsaber that she threw to him in midair. It would have hit him squarely if he hadn't caught it inches in front of his face. She turned herself away, purposely to avoid eye contact. She walked away from him to one of the Jedi starfighters, lowered the shield and began programming the navigation system. "You have to get out of here," she said dryly as her long fingers danced over the buttons and symbols.

He walked up behind her softly and said in an equally soft voice, "what is going on, Finn?"

"I am doing what I can to get you out of here. You are not safe here on Coruscant, the Emperor's troops are everywhere." She had finished the programming, but she did not look up.

He felt a lump in his throat, but he had to ask. "Have you really joined the Sith Lord?" She cannot be a sith. She just can't. Siths are evil. They are the Dark Side of the Force. They have no compassion, no love.

Finn hugged her arms and laughed bitterly, "Is that all you care about? Even now?" She thought about knocking him over the head and stuffing his unconscious body into the auto-piloted cruiser. Obi-Wan did not know how to answer in words, but the hurt look in his eyes was enough to make her insides turn over. "I'm sorry, Ben. I have to do this," she blinked her tears away, "and you have to leave." She looked at the cruiser's pilot control panel once again.

"Where can I go?" All the clone troopers in the Galaxy were out there looking for him.

"Dagobah," she answered automatically, "it's an uncharted and wild world few know about. You will be safe there."

"My safety is not that important—"

"It is to me!"

"I have to stop Anakin," he said decidedly.

"You can't, you don't understand the situation!" He hates me, she realized. Her heart sank. I deserve it, she told herself as hot tears rolled down her pale cheeks. "When I arrived here, I came too late," she looked him in the eye for the first time, "there were fifteen younglings and padawans, huddled together and hiding in a corner. I sent them to Dagobah, where they are safe now. Their masters refused to go, they wouldn't listen to me. They said they had to protect the Temple at all costs," she paused and exhaled, "they didn't make it. I'm sorry."

"You did what you could," he didn't mean to let his tone sound so uncomforting, but it did. She was telling him not to make any pointless sacrifices. She looked away from him once again. "And I must do what I can to stop Anakin."

"You mean to kill," she pointed it out blatantly, "is that how Jedi always do things? To kill what they cannot fix?"

Obi-Wan said evenly, "I can say the same for the Sith."

She ignored the comment, yet it pricked her on the inside. He was right. He was right on the mark, as always. "You should go to Dagobah. It's not safe for you anywhere else anymore."

"Tell me where Anakin is."

"I can't."

"Then you have truly joined the Dark Side," his voice came in a whisper, but it was forceful enough to knock Finn out of her senses.

She blinked several times, trying to recover herself. Of all the people, she had hoped he would not think that of her. True, she was not trained a Jedi. She used her emotions to call upon the Force. But she was not without her sense of right and wrong. Tyranny was wrong. Deception was wrong. Killings were wrong. She had foreseen what her father planned to do when he offered her the commission of the Captain of the Emperor's Hand. She could have refused and live out her remaining days in peace, but at what cost? To witness the decay of the Galaxy she had protected all her life as she herself slowly fade away from existence? Powerless and hopeless? She had accepted the commission, believing that in due time, with this tremendous amount of power, she would be able to stop her father. With that in mind, she had done his biddings without so much as a hassle. He was a suspicious man and she was always a good actress. Nonetheless, perhaps he had also foreseen what she planned to do. Perhaps that was why he had kept her out in the dark and took in Anakin. Once again, she was nothing but a chess piece in his grand game of politics.

But right now, she was still the Captain of the Emperor's Hand. The guards and the clone troopers still answered to her. She could still travel across the Galaxy uninhibited. It would not be long before her father decided to do away with her, she knew. But right now, more important issues occupied him. It would give her enough time to inflict some major lethal damage, if she acted fast.

"What is the Dark Side, Ben?" her tone was throaty, "my father mutilated Kyler, fueling his only son with fear and hatred, turning him into a killing machine. That is the Dark Side." He wanted to ask if then, why is she still on Sidious' side, but she continued to speak, "I have seen what the Dark Side produces, nothing but bloodshed and pain. Done by the greed and hatred of people. But the situation now is far from spiritual and idealistic. The world is a political place, Ben, and I have to be pragmatic with my moves. Anakin doesn't understand that, and that is why he has fallen to the Dark Side. But the situation is still redeemable, you know," her lips trembled, "I have to save Anakin from himself."

"What are you planning to do?" he frowned. The Jedi Code dictated that anyone who stepped into the Dark Side was gone forever. Then it dawned on him. "You can't, you'll get yourself killed."

"That would be a small price to pay." She smiled bitterly, "after all, I should have stopped the situation before it got to this point. I have to try to help Anakin. I understand how he feels. If I don't try to redeem him, no one will. If I can't redeem him, I can still save the Galaxy. Do you understand what I have to do?" Her large grey eyes bored into his with a mixture of pain and hope.

He swallowed hard, "That's suicide. I can't let you do that."

"It's called sacrifice, Ben, and you have been doing it all your life. If there is anyone capable to understand it, it's you, Ben. You have to understand that killing him won't bring the dead Jedi back. A new order will have to be built and you have a responsibility to stay alive for it. I couldn't stop the Old Order from collapsing, but I'm doing what I can for the new."

Is that why she has joined the Sith? If she couldn't beat them, she joined them? She joined them so she could, in turn, bring forth their own downfall? Her notion was noble, but at what cost? She was taking too heavy a burden onto her thin shoulders. Maybe she was even more idealistic than him.

"Finn—" he began. He could use cold reason to talk her out of this insane plan. But when she turned her lovely face toward him, he couldn't help but to embrace her.

"I'm sorry for everything," she mumbled into his chest.

"Sshhh, it's alright" he rocked her slowly, "I love you." He kissed her pale curls and pressed his forehead onto hers. He realized that the emotional shield she had erected had disappeared. As if suddenly flicking on a light switch, a surge of Finn's emotions washed over him like a warm liquid. There was love. It made him smile. But fear and determination were also hovering in the background.

"I won't let anything happen to you." She caressed his features softly with her fingertips. "Ben, there's something I need to tell you."

"What is it?" she felt so warm and soft against him. He had missed her terribly while he was away.

Then she changed her mind quickly and decided it was not the right time, "nothing." She would tell him later, if she had the chance.

He thought he knew what she meant to say, "I won't go to Dagobah without you."

"I can't," she kissed him softly then released him, but he still hanged onto her thin waist. They should be angry at each other for their stubbornness, but neither had the heart to do so. The two lovers pressed against each other intimately, lost in their reverie.

"General Kenobi!" a familiar voice called from down the hall, accompanied by the footsteps of a dozen men. That snapped the lovers back into reality. By instinct, they stepped hastily away from each other. "You," Bail Organa said with surprise. He recovered himself quickly, seeing that Obi-Wan was unhurt and seemed quite well. "Leave the Jedi alone."

Finn casually glanced at his guards, all of whom raised their blasters, aiming straight at her. The coolness of her expressions rather unnerved the die-hard soldiers. She had been in worse situations before. "Senator Organa, I do not wish to fight you." She sent a mental note to forbid Obi-Wan from interfering. He was puzzled, no doubt, but he complied. Their paths would divide from here.

He stated authoritatively, "It does not seem that you have a choice, Captain Palpatine."

In a familiar tone, she said the phrase that he only knew too well. She had said it to him many times when they were children. In a gym, or on the practice field. However, it lacked the smirk that usually accompanied the remark. "Bring it on, Organa!" She switched on her lightsaber, Force projected herself into the air, and acrobatically twirled herself midair. She managed to avoid the blaster shots and knocked the guards against the platform wall. Stunned and confused, it was long before the guards recovered themselves. By then, the imperial captain was already gone.

"There is no need to go after her," Obi-Wan put a hand in front of Senator Organa's chest. He turned to look at the Jedi starfighter Finn had programmed for him. She knew very well that he would not hide at a time like this, anymore than she would. But she would not let him come with her, anymore than he would. His insistence would only inhibit both of their missions, as common a goal as they had. He pressed down with his index finger, reset the navigation program back to manual pilot, all the while, asking, "Senator Organa, there is a group of children I wonder if you could protect?"

"There are Jedi younglings who survived?" he considered for a moment, "yes, I'd be honored."

"Have you heard of a system named Dagobah?"

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