Disclaimer: Star Wars brings in tons of money and as I have not seen a single cent of that money, I am not George Lucas and therefore don't own Star Wars. And sadly, that means I don't own Obi-Wan either.

Summary: The second story in the Jedi Trials series. Obi-Wan's been captured, Qui-Gon's left the Jedi Order, and Anakin must learn to trust his new Master. The Republic is on the brink of war and only Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and Anakin can save the galaxy.

Author's Notes: Here's the battle you've all been waiting for! What will happen? Will the Jedi win? Will the Separatists take over Coruscant? Those questions will be answered in this chapter. Enjoy!

Torture and Death

By Kekelina

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Chapter Nineteen: A Hopeless Battle

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Anakin's Starfighter rocked from side-to-side harshly as he struggled to dodge the rapid blaster fire. He cursed the droids and gripped the ship's controls tightly with a grunt.

Coruscant was being invaded.

By whom? Who could produce such a massive army of battle droids and super battle droids? Who in the galaxy had that kind of funding and material? He hadn't seen such a sea of droids since the Battle of Naboo over ten years ago. Even as he flew over them now, he saw no end in sight.

The streets of Coruscant below were a wash of beige metal and red blaster fire. Everywhere he turned, there was chaos. Civilians cried out in terror as droids fired upon them without mercy. Children ran as fast as their little legs would allow them. Parents scooped up their babies hurriedly and hid them behind buildings, not caring what happened to themselves, but making sure that their children were safe.

A young boy ran down the street, jumping over obstacles, his sister's hand held tightly in his own. Their faces held looks of unadulterated terror, but they didn't scream as blaster shots flew around them. One of blasters hit the sister in the back, and she fell to the ground without a sound. The young boy stopped suddenly as her hand slipped out of his, and rage filled his eyes as he glared at the two droids that had shot his sister. Crying out in agony and anger, he rushed towards the droids with a large durasteel pipe, swinging it wildly. The boy fell to the ground five seconds later.

Anakin forced himself to look away as another blaster shot rocked the ship. R4 screeched, and Anakin nodded hurriedly. "I know! I know!" he yelled back at the astromech droid. Gripping the controls even tighter than before, he pushed the trigger and watched with a small sense of satisfaction as droids fell. But that satisfaction disappeared and was replaced with worry when he noticed a group of Jedi and Senators on the ground, fighting for their lives, Padme and Yoda leading the way.

Blue, green, and purple lightsabers blazed to life and immediately began cutting down droids. The many colors became simple a blur in the battlefield as they blocked blaster fire from the right and the left. The Senators, though they had no Jedi weapons, fired back at the droids with blasters, taking down some of the droids that the Jedi could not reach.

Anakin took a deep breath and released his fear into the Force. Although Padme was his friend and he still had a small amount of feelings for her, it would do neither of them any good for him to worry. Worrying would only distract him. He had to be calm and focused. This was a mission he needed to complete. There were people below him dying; he had to help them. He could let nothing stop him from that objective.

Taking another calming breath, he slowed his ship and began to descend to the ground. R4 beeped his objection, but Anakin only shrugged as he maneuvered the Starfighter to an area filled with broken droid parts and set it down.

Anakin jumped out of the ship and activated his crystal lightsaber with a snap-hiss. Giving himself but a moment to look around at the war-torn environment, he cut down the nearest droid with great ease. Blaster fire blazed around him, some coming close enough to singe his Jedi robes. He easily blocked the fatal shots with a flick of his wrist.

Whatever he had thought it would be like on the ground when he was in his Starfighter, it wasn't like this. The noise of blasters and screaming never stopped. Warmth rushed past him as energy bolts flew crazily in the air. Droid parts littered the ground and caused running civilians to trip and fall. This wasn't chaos; this was insanity. The calm world he had known was now just a mess of noise and death.

The Jedi were horribly outnumbered. Anakin had seen that fact from the moment this battle began. Whomever had planned the invasion had planned it well. The Jedi simply didn't have enough numbers to engage the droids in battle.

Thankfully for the Jedi, droids couldn't think.

Anakin focused on the hum of his lightsaber and let the Force fill him. It screamed warning after warning to him as he blocked blaster fire with ease and attacked droid after droid. His lightsaber never stopped moving. He became encased in a blur of blue; droids groaned as he cut through their power packs, and they dropped to the ground.

He gathered the Force around him and called it to his hand as he sent two droids flying backwards and smashing into other droids behind them. Anakin had never felt so powerful before. It was like he could actually see the Force around him and grab hold of it. It filled every cell in his body. It gave him focus, told him of danger. It moved his lightsaber, not him. Was this what his Masters had been trying to teach him all these years? Was this what he was supposed to achieve before he became a Knight?

He blocked another bolt of blaster fire and gaze evenly at the droid that had fired it. Bending his knees and calling even more of the Force around him, he jumped up and somersaulted behind the droid, cutting it and another in half with one smooth stroke from his lightsaber.

He glanced at another Jedi Knight in his vicinity and as he did, he noticed a droid sneaking up behind the Knight, ready to shoot him in the back. The distance between him and the droid was too far for him to get rid of the threat himself, so he called out to the other Jedi.

"Watch out!"

The other Jedi turned not a moment too soon and blocked the bolt with his emerald lightsaber. He shot a grin towards Anakin, and then they both continued their fight against the droids around them.

The Force screamed at him and Anakin looked to his right to find a droid pointing a blaster at him. Anakin leapt in the air and kicked the droid with the heel of his black boot, knocking it to the ground.

Sweat dripped from his forehead as he twirled his lightsaber around and cut down a couple of droids. He could feel his muscles beginning to tire, but the Force urged him to go on, to continue to fight. It gave him strength and kept his grip firmly on his lightsaber. He knew that whatever happened this day, the Force would be with him and the other Jedi. They would not give up democracy without a fight!

He slashed another droid and found himself staring at yet another droid. A lightsaber whirled around a few steps behind the droid, and an idea popped into Anakin's head. Adopting a fearsome glare, he rushed at the droid, lightsaber held high. The droid let out a fearful noise and ran backwards, only to meet his fate at the hand of Bant's lightsaber.

Bant took one amused glance at her apprentice and shook her head. Anakin smiled and shrugged. Rapid blaster fire came from behind him, and Anakin turned around quickly to find himself face-to-face with a Super Battle Droid.

Anakin stared at the droid for a moment in mild shock, then quickly blocked the blaster bolts and directed them back at the droid. The droid shuddered as it was hit repeatedly with its own fire and fell to the ground in a smoking metal hunk.

Would this never end?

Anakin twirled his lightsaber around elegantly, slashing two more battle droids and a Super Battle Droid as he did. He pushed a stray hair out of his eyes and sighed, wishing that this could all be over. Why would anybody do this? Didn't they realize they were killing people? Or did they just not care? Anakin had often wondered that question on difficult missions filled with suffering and death. Was the galaxy really so cruel? Why did the Force allow these things to happen?

A horrid cough broke Anakin's concentration on the droids before him. He spun around, taking another droid down, and found himself staring at a fearsome thing. It had the body of a droid, but it was much taller. It had real eyes and a heart and lungs… A cyborg. Anakin involuntarily shuddered.

Cyborgs, while they may have appeared to droids, were actually half-droid, half-living. They could think and speak for themselves, and they were also much harder to kill than living beings. This particular cyborg also happened to be carrying a lightsaber and was locked in a deadly duel with Bant.

Anakin's heart leapt to his throat. Anakin could see the strain on her face, and through their new bond he could feel her desperation and fatigue. She was fighting back with all she had, but was it enough? Anakin wasn't about to find out.

He rushed towards the dueling pair, slicing everything that got in his way. Blaster fire echoed around him, singeing his robes. He gathered the Force and pushed a Super Battle Droid out of the way, but the droid continued to fire erratically as it flew through the air, and Anakin, bent on reaching his Master before it was too late, was hit in the shoulder.

Anakin stumbled and fell.

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Qui-Gon was pacing back and forth when pain surged from Anakin's end of the their training bond. Anakin had been shielding his emotions quite well, but Qui-Gon had still felt them throughout the battle. The pain caught him off guard, and he sat down in shock.

Was he…? No, the bond was still there. It had not been snapped. But Anakin had been injured; Qui-Gon was sure of it. This was getting out of hand. He never should've brought the droids to Coruscant. He shouldn't have listened to Dooku.

Why had he listened to Dooku?

Qui-Gon stood up suddenly and strode over to the holoprojector. He punched in General Grievous's frequency. He would end this right now. Nobody else would be injured or killed under his command.

A fuzzy blue holo of Grievous appeared. Qui-Gon's heart leapt to his throat when he saw the blue lightsaber in the cyborg's hand. Grievous was slaughtering Jedi when Qui-Gon had told him not to. He was disobeying a direct command. If only Qui-Gon had realized that sooner. Perhaps the poor Jedi whose lightsaber now belonged to the General would still be alive.

"What is it?" Grievous's voice crackled.

Qui-Gon's expression hardened as he looked at the General. This had gone far enough. "Retreat…now."

"But we are winning!" Grievous argued.

"Now."

Grievous coughed as he eyed the ex-Jedi evenly. Qui-Gon stared right back at him. "As you wish," he sneered.

The transmission cut out.

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Grievous marched angrily onto the ship. Qui-Gon was waiting for him, and his face was covered in the passive Jedi mask he used frequently. Qui-Gon wasn't stupid. He had seen the look in the General's eyes as he had agreed to retreat. He hadn't agreed because he wanted to obey Qui-Gon, he had retreated so he could come back to the ship and destroy Qui-Gon. The Force had warned him of this betrayal.

He was waiting for him.

"You fool," Grievous wheezed as he barged into the observation room where Qui-Gon was standing calmly. "We were about to take control!"

"I gave you a command," Qui-Gon replied. "I ordered you to make sure not a single Jedi was killed."

Grievous hissed at Qui-Gon. "We should've never trusted you to lead the battle." Grievous ignited his new possession. "Jedi scum."

With Force-enhanced speed, Qui-Gon called an electrostaff to him and lit it. Grievous cackled. "Do you honestly think you can beat me with that?"

"With the Force as my ally," Qui-Gon replied, "yes."

"Today…you will die."

Grievous lunged at Qui-Gon.

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Anakin kicked a droid head and watched it sail across the sky. It was over; finally, the battle was finished. It should've been a time of celebration, but Anakin knew that many lives had been lost.

Jedi, Senators, and innocent bystanders had all been killed in this attack against the Senate. Blaster marks covered the surrounding buildings. The cries of families weeping for dead loved ones filled the air. Many brave people had been killed trying to protect their beloved Republic.

Why had they retreated? The Jedi had been horribly outnumbered. If the droid army hadn't retreated, they would've taken over the Senate and the Republic. Anakin shuddered at the thought. This was obviously a deed of the Separatists. To be under their rule…well, Anakin didn't want to dwell on it.

With a sigh, Anakin bent down and picked up a small cylinder which he knew was actually the hilt of a lightsaber. Anakin struggled to release the sadness he felt into the Force. The Jedi were his family, and many of his brothers and sisters had been slaughtered today.

It wasn't fair.

"It usually isn't."

Anakin spun around quickly and saw Bant smiling sadly at him. His cheeks tinged red when he realized that in his grief, he had allowed his shields to slip and let her read his thoughts. He quickly tightened them and then looked up at her.

"Are you all right?" he asked, changing the subject.

She nodded, and her silver eyes filled with concern when she saw his shoulder. He shook his head before she could say anything. "Don't worry; it's not bad. It just needs some bacta."

Sadly, she walked over to him and took the lightsaber hilt out of his hand. She examined it and ran her hand over the smooth metal. He saw her blink back tears.

"Do you know whose it is?" Anakin asked quietly.

After a moment of thought, she shook her head. "No, but that doesn't make the loss any less painful."

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The Other Author's Notes: Well, the next chapter's the last chapter of Torture and Death. Chapter twenty will wrap up Obi-Wan's tale for this story, but don't worry, there will be plenty of all your favorite characters in Jedi Trials III. Don't forget to review!