Chapter 2

Star Wars and all its characters are not mine. They belong to George Lucas. His, not mine. Don't sue me.

Obi-Wan walked past the cockpit as he made his way towards the sounds of flying objects shattering against the wall. Threepio started following him.

"Oh Master Kenobi! Master Ani is acting quite strange. Do you need-"

"No Threepio. Stay here, and keep the ship headed towards Polis Massa." Obi-Wan continued his swift walking. The screaming had been reduced to tired, frustrated moans.

"I do say, everyone is certainly acting strange around here," Threepio commented to R2D2 as he rolled around the corner.

Obi-Wan opened the door and quietly walked in, ignoring the equipment that flew past him. He waited a few moments until Anakin had grown tired and stopped throwing things to speak. "Anakin," he said quietly and very, very gently.

Anakin eyes darted towards Obi-Wan, growing hateful and angry. "You!" His mechanical and human hand both formed into shaking fists. "You did this to me!"

Obi-Wan was silent. He had not really thought about what to say to Anakin when this time came. The only thing he could get out was, "I'm so sorry, Anakin."

"Sorry? You're not sorry! You wanted to make me a freak!" Anakin screamed. He began hurling more objects at Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan dodged them. Though Anakin was powerful, he was still injured, and so his aim was off, thankfully.

"Anakin, listen to me for one-"

"Why would I listen to you!" Anakin yelled. "All you ever did was lecture me! You took my love, my life…you took everything away from me!"

"That's not true, Anakin!" Obi-Wan argued. "Who took away your life and love, Anakin? Me? What exactly did I do to deprive you of those things?"

"You…you…"

"By turning to the Dark Side you took your own life away!" Obi-Wan said strongly. How could Anakin be blaming him for all of this? "You turned Padmé against you because of what you've-"

"Shut up!" Anakin roared. His hand reached out and clutched at the air. Obi-Wan felt the Dark Side of the Force fill the room, then home in on his throat. Anakin's hold lifted him off the floor and slammed him back into the wall. Anakin's eyes suddenly filled with satisfaction as Obi-Wan tried to gasp for air.

"You know, Master," he sneered. "I never realized how easily I could kill you. All I ever had to do was squeeze…harder." With that word he clasped his hand tighter, strengthening his grip in the Force. Obi-Wan's vision began to gray out, and Anakin's triumphant speech became slurred ramblings. Still, he fought, trying to gasp for air.

He barely heard Anakin's snarl of frustration, as if it were far away instead of only ten feet away from him.

"Aren't you dead yet?" Anakin growled, slamming Obi-Wan several times into the wall.

Obi-Wan scarcely felt it. He had a sudden realization come over his hazy thoughts; he was going to die. Here, now. Killed by the man he had tried to save from himself. Obi-Wan knew that he would never win the battle to live.

Padmé awoke to shouting, snarling, and lots and lots of loud, sickening thuds coming from the back part of the ship. She instantly recognized Anakin's voice, and got up as quickly as she could. She had to go to him; she was his wife.

Padmé walked down the hallway, holding her swollen stomach. She didn't when exactly her child was coming, but she knew it would be soon. And though she still loved Anakin and was not afraid of him, she hoped he wouldn't harm her again, for their baby's sake.

Padmé opened the door to find Obi-Wan's limp body hanging in the air, lifted by the Force…and Anakin's hand. "Anakin!" she screamed. Anakin turned his head towards the sound of her voice, but did not let go of Obi-Wan.

"Anakin let go of him!" she pleaded. Padmé didn't know what to do. She could not even begin to convince Anakin to do something when his mind was set, especially now. "Anakin, please…" she cried. "You'll kill him!"

"Good!" Anakin yelled. "I want him die!"

Padmé was shaken by his words, though she had heard them before. His anger had complete control of him. Padmé hobbled over to where Anakin lay and desperately tried to uncurl his fist and force his hand down onto his bed. She didn't know anything about the Force, but maybe it would break his concentration on Obi-Wan's throat. She finally managed to shove his arm down and then strapped it down to the bed. Anakin screamed in protest and thrashed about, but his absorption in killing Obi-Wan had been broken. Padmé heard the man fall to the floor behind her.

Padmé once again shuffled as quickly as she could over to Obi-Wan, who was thankfully very close to the door. She slipped her arms around his body and carefully dragged him out of the room, then flipped around and closed and locked the door just in time to hear a large object collide with Anakin's side of the door.

Padmé leaned down to place her hand on Obi-Wan's chest. She had not realized how worried she had been until she let out a sigh of relief that he was still alive. She did not know how long Obi-Wan had been hanging choking in the air, but if it had been enough to make him black out, it could have also been enough to kill him. Padmé leaned against the wall in her relief of getting out of a rather sticky situation and also in exhaustion. It wasn't that Obi-Wan was unbelievably heavy to drag, but she just wasn't up to it. She was barely up to walking around the ship. "Threepio!" Padmé called weakly, knowing she would need help to get Obi-Wan off the floor and out of the hallway.

"Yes, Miss Padmé?" came Threepio's cheerful, mechanical voice as he walked down the hallway. "Oh my!" he exclaimed as he saw Obi-Wan on the floor and Padmé about to join him there. "What-?"

"Threepio," Padmé said tiredly. "Can you please help me get him into my room?"

"Certainly," said the droid a little curtly. He was getting slightly annoyed that the two supposedly "friendly" humans on this ship that he was supposed to get along with were interrupting him. Nevertheless, Threepio still assisted his mistress in moving the unconscious Jedi Master to a better location than the floor.

Once in her room, Padmé dismissed the droid and began tending to Obi-Wan. She was no healer, but she could tell he shouldn't merely be left alone on a bed. He had just been choked for one, and his left arm was bent at a place it wasn't supposed to be. Padmé knew it was broken; it didn't take a genius to figure that out.

She carefully rolled up his sleeve, wincing as Obi-Wan automatically sucked in a breath as she gently straightened his arm. "I'm sorry Obi-Wan," she murmured. Grabbing a splint from a drawer next to her, Padmé began wrapping from the top of his elbow. She could still hear Anakin having a fit in the other room, but she was too preoccupied in caring for Obi-Wan to pay much attention.

"This was my fault," Obi-Wan whispered. "I blame myself."

Padmé looked, surprised down at Obi-Wan. She hadn't known he was awake. "No," she told him. "It wasn't your fault. He got angry."

"No. I got him angry. I shouldn't have…my fault…" He sucked in another breath as Padmé touched the broken part of his arm to wrap it. Padmé tried to be gentle.

"Do you want me to stop? I will," she offered. She felt bad causing him more pain.

"No…it has to be done," Obi-Wan told her. "Wrap it a little more tightly there," he added when she was finished.

"But, that's where-"

"Precisely. That's why it needs it." Padmé looked at him as if he were crazy, but did what he said. She wrapped it more tightly around the place the bone had split. Obi-Wan didn't make a sound. When she looked up, he had shut his eyes and turned away, gritting his teeth.

"I'm so sorry Obi-Wan," she whispered. Padmé couldn't say sorry enough. She had so many things to be sorry for.

Obi-Wan turned back towards her. "You have nothing to be sorry about," he corrected her softly. "There's only one person on this ship who should be sorry. Me."

"What did you ever do?" Padmé almost laughed. "You're the one who's done everything right. Believed in the right things, stayed on the right path, done everything that you could to make everything right in this galaxy." She began to cry. "Look at Anakin and I. We married each other knowing it was wrong. He turned, knowing it was wrong. I yelled at you and deceived you to hide him, knowing it was wrong," she cried. "I can't even wrap your arm the right way!" Padmé gazed back at Obi-Wan. "How can you say you're in the wrong?"

Obi-Wan gazed back at her, his gray-blue eyes filled with concern for her. "At least you did it out of love," he said slowly. He looked away from her to stare at the ceiling. "I loved Anakin too," he said quietly. Tears began filling his eyes. "I loved him so much I was willing to look over all his faults. I ignored the fact that those faults could be dangerous to him, and the ones he loved, if used the wrong way. And that's precisely what happened. The Sith fashioned his faults into a weapon, and used it against all the ones he loved." He closed his eyes, causing the tears to spill over onto his cheeks. "That's why I blame myself."

Threepio walked into the silent room. "We are approaching Polis Massa, Miss Padmé."

"Thank you Threepio," Padmé replied without looking up. "I'll let them know we're coming. Prepare the transmission for me please."

Threepio turned and walked out to carry out his task. Padmé stayed for a short while longer. Obi-Wan was a good, close friend. She hoped that he was all right, physically and emotionally. She hoped that things could eventually go back to what they were…she secretly hoped for this, but knew it could never be. Padmé didn't know what had become of the Jedi, Anakin had turned, and evil controlled every life in existence. How could things possibly be happy again?

"Miss Padmé…?" a voice called from the cockpit. "I have prepared the transmission for you."

"That's my cue," Padmé told Obi-Wan. Padmé stood and walked out towards the cockpit. Threepio moved aside for her as she went to the communications transceiver. "Polis Massa port, this is Padmé Amidala. I ask permission to land. Skywalker and Kenobi are aboard."

"Roger that," came another voice over the line. "Permission granted. Anything else for you M'Lady?"

"I need medics to meet us as soon as we land, thank you," Padmé added in response to the receiver's question.

"Very good. We'll meet you there."

Padmé ended the transmission and sat in the pilot's seat, guiding the ship towards Polis Massa's landing bay. Below her a team of four healers and medics stood at the edge of the landing platform.

As soon as the ship touched ground, Padmé lowered the landing ramp and the waiting people came aboard. Padmé stood to meet them. One of them, clearly concerned, came over to her.

"M'Lady, you should be resting," the young woman medic said, not asking how or why the Senator was suddenly pregnant and looking very pale. Padmé shook her head.

"I'll be fine. Obi-Wan and Anakin need more help than I do."

"Where are they?"

"They're back here." Padmé began walking as fast as she could to the back recovery rooms, but stumbled a bit. The woman medic placed her hand on Padmé's shoulder and led her to the pilot's chair where she had just been sitting. "You really should rest M'Lady. We'll take care of your friends," she told Padmé gently.

"I will," Padmé replied, now wanting to rest. She was tired. So she watched from her chair as the medical team scattered throughout the ship. Then Padmé remembered Anakin. "Be careful with Anakin," she called weakly. "He's…" She hesitated. Padmé loved Anakin deeply. It hurt her to call him dangerous. "He's been a little edgy."

The last medic nodded at her that they would as he followed the others.

Two medics came out moving Obi-Wan out of the ship. Padmé sighed in relief. At least now he was in better hands than hers. Seconds later, she heard screams. Or at least, screams that were higher than they had been before. They were now trying to get Anakin out of the room, and they weren't very successful so far.