A/N: Hey everyone. Hope you all had a gr8 halloween, I know I did...I GOT EPISODE 3 ON DVD! WOO HOO! I watched it all last night and I still get chills everytime. In celebration of this I decided to post a little earlier than I planned. Oh and in response to Wokette's reveiw, is anyone else confused by whats happening. If so let me know in the reveiw and i'll post it on here. :-)

Hopeless4life - lol, so you want me to update? If you dont wanna cry, then dont read. I gave it to my mate and she cried too so...yeah. Here's the dreaded chapter! xx

porcelainangel - Thanks again for your fantastic comments and i am so pleased you are enjoying this as much as it seems I am having writing it. Hope you continue to like what you read. xx

sewardsfolly - well, i continued. Now what you gonna do? lol. Glad your enjoying, I promise to update on Thursday.

WoketteUK - I answered your question in an e-mail as you know. I have just written a chapter with another Ani/Obi arguement/tantrum although on a much deadlier scale. However thats not tilll later. Enjoy this chapter! xx

Poet317 - lol, sorry I apparently stole your department but my dark is different to yours. This isn't self inflicted! lol Read your other fan fic and well done, hope you continue reading this, I would love to have more reveiws from you!

Slowly, I am eased back into consciousness, breaking free from the gentle sleeping suggestion Obi-Wan so kindly bestowed upon me. I can still feel the dark cloud surrounding me, and something around my neck and on my face makes that all too real experience of suffocating come flooding back.

I start to panic. Where is Obi-wan? I need him. I need him to help me fight, I have nothing left to fight with. With the damn forcedampner on my wrist I feel weaker...more vunerable. I weakly cry out his name, trying to fight the thing around my neck. True to his word, he is here. A hand lays itself gently on my shoulder and I hear his voice as I open my eyes.

"Anakin, calm down. It's only a breathing tube. I'm here, relax."

Looking into his calming eyes, I eventuallysettle and take in my surroundings again. The past hours all seemed like one big blur...one terrifying blur. The last thing I can remember is calling out Padme's name...calling to her to save me. I look hurridly to my side, and relax again as I see her leant, head resting on folded arms, on the bed. I gaze steadily at her for a while, glad that she is here, but also worried about the impression it would give Obi-Wan. I look to him now, and realize he is still seated in his chair next to my bed, wide awake and alert, smiling at me, tilting his head in deference to my uncanny ability to keep on surviving.

But inside, I hate to even look at him,the reminder of my burning anger and stupidityglaring at me from his cheek. I shift around uncomfortably, looking back down at the sheets.But his hand quickly finds my human one, and gives it a gentle, reassuring squeeze,all his thoughts of our argument dulled to a small bruise and a faint memory, placed into the depths of the mind to be dealt with another day. Somehow to him, my near death experience makes my temper-tantrum seem very obsolete. He speaks softly to me, not wanting to make more noise than neccesary.

"How do you feel?"

I start to respond, but am hlated as a tingling sensation drives up my throat and I retch. But without anything in my stomach to bring up, it just results in a heavy spasm of harrowing coughs, startling Padme awake. She instantly rises from her seat and rubs my back soothingly, while Obi-Wan gently slips a couple of ice chips into my mouth, which I suck on gratefully, feeling the cold numbing the pain in my throat. After a while, I can just about talk again.

"Well Master….Just about everything hurts, and my life…is a mess…so I'm great thanks."

They both smile at me, pleased that I'm feeling well enough to bring back the old sarcasm, even if it is the truth.

Padme now gently leans me back against the pillows and goes to take my hand again, but I quickly pull it away, giving a fleeting glance at Obi-Wan, not in the mood to get caught in our little love affair, but also not well enough to enjoy having her fuss over me either.

She looks down on me, the confusion evident in her eyes, which I respond to by turning away. She can't be thinking straight, there is nothing I would rather do than sweep her into my arms and kiss the life out of her right now, but with Obi-wan still here and watching over me, it just wasn't possible. I realise now how hard this is going to be to keep a strong relationship and still carry on our daily routines as though nothing is happening, but something insidereminds me that I dont care. That all the suffering I have been through and continue to go through was for her, to save her, to keep her with me in the first place.I hear the healer come into the room, and watch as she talks grimly to Obi-Wan before heading over to me.

"Well Skywalker, I can't say you haven't given us a fright over the past couple of hours. Now, I just need to do a routine examination to check up on everything, could you lean forward for me please."

Groaning I lean forward again, hating the pain that flashes across my abdomen as it complains about the irregular use. Obi-Wan moves forward and supports me, understanding what I have been through and while I don't necessarily need to be held up, just having him there bracing me helps.

"Alright, I'm just going to check your breathing, make sure its somewhere near stable. If you could breathe in for me and hold it."

I do so, shuddering as the cold metal of the scanner touches my hot back.

"Alright well done. And now right out for me."

Again I oblige, but arch my back and yell as a wave of pain shoots through my chest. She gently sinks me back against the pillows, and applies a gentle pressure to my chest, watching the scanner intently. Eventually she removes it and adjusts the oxygen flow of the breathing tubes.

"Well Anakin it seems you are patching up pretty well considering. Your temperature seems to be returning to somewhere near normal and your chest seems to be improving. Your lungs are fine, you just have a small amount of bruising to your ribs which could have been caused by a sudden impact. Your temperature could be due to a virus introduced through a burn. That has now hopefully been rectified and your chest should return to normal within a couple of hours at the rate you're going. Which brings me onto the next stage of the healing process."

Padme now breaks her gaze away from me and turns to frown at the healer.

"You can't mean…."

"Yes senator I do. You see Anakin, while there is some deliberation over how well you are, I can see from these results that there is nothing to prevent you starting your Physiotherapy to enable you to use your replacement arm."

The shock must have been evident on my face as she instantly went on to explain the reasons why such a drastic leap needs to be taken. Not that I listen anyway.

She wants to put me through another couple of weeks of hell after the past couple of hours in which I felt like I had travelled a thousand years in the belly of the Sarlacc, a dreaded creature that inhabits Tatooine, one Watto used to threaten me with when I was younger. I can't believe what I had just heard and look over to Obi-Wan for some support, begging him to reason with this crazed lunatic who seemed to enjoy giving me bad news or keeping me on so many drugs I don't know which way is left and which is right. But he just stands there by the doorway, stroking his beard, looking down at the floor. Even Padme looks uncomfortable when I turn my pleading gaze to her and it is then I realize exactly whose side they are really on.

I watch as the healer leaves, and I feel the dark cloud start to build up again within me. I feel the dragon uncoil from behind its warm nesting place in my furnace heart, and start to snap and hiss, injecting venom into my thoughts. I realise where I am headed again, and I don't care. I don't even try to resist its inviting tentacles of death. I just want it to kill me, to spare me the torture and agony that I am bound to go through for the rest of my life. One day, everyone would be snatched away from me, like my mother was. One day, there will be no one left to comfort me or hold me as I cry, and I just don't want to have to go through that.

I close my eyes and sink back against the pillows, waiting for death to embrace me. I can feel Obi-Wan's force presence hurrying near me, he is calling to me, telling me to fight, but I don't. Instead I block out his presence, I break my connection with him and everything is quiet, save a whisper. A familiar voice calls out to me, and I choke as I realise who it is..

Mom?

Her ghostly image walks through the bank of black cloud, making it cower at her feet, staying back from her radiating light. Her soft voice reaches me, like a gentle breeze whistling through my ears. She reaches out and takes my hand gently in hers.

Anakin, sweetheart, it's not your time. You need to live your life as a Jedi, to continue to make me proud.

But I can't do it alone Mom. I can't do it without you. I wanted to come back and free you…I wanted to make you proud of me Mom.

But you already have my son. You released me from my painful life and now I can follow you wherever you go, and you have helped so many others across the galaxy to be free from suffering, how can I be anything but proud of that? You will never be alone. I promise.

I miss you Mom.

Just look inside your heart and you will find me. I live in you Anakin. Whenever you need me, just call and I'll be there, always.

But I need you here Mum, I want you here with me!

Ani, you cannot stop change.

Suddenly, I am jerked away from her, a strong presence is pulling me back, breaking me away from her tender hold. I can see her fading again, and I cry out to her, screaming for her in my mind. But a new voice fills the silence now...a cold, rasping voice, speaking words that seemed to make too much sense.

Anakin...you can be with her...all you need to do is stop fighting...stop letting Obi-Wan fight your battles. There is more than one way to escape from him and be with your mother...just think.

And suddenly the path is clear...the dark makes a new path for me, and shows me how to escape...in a blur of rain, lightning and blue energy. I slowly pull myself back...knowing now exactly what I have to do to escape the traitors...