Battering down the iron walkways like clashing Titans, each man was determined to get the better of the other. Anakin's attacks came on like a hailstorm, wild, fueled by fear. His saber struck with a rapidity that knew no tire. Obi wan, ever the master, found himself parrying each strike with equal rapidity, aided in no small part by the instinct which comes from experience. Equal in strength and skill, master and padawan moved like a whirlwind, yet each seemed unmovable as stone.

"I have failed you Anakin!" was the master's cry as their blades locked in a struggle which neither seemed destined to win, "I have failed you."

Even as he fought for his life, his mind was consumed by his every failure. He'd failed his master who with his dying wish entrusted to him the little slave boy from Tatooine, only for Obi wan to fail him as well. For the padawan was gone, replaced by the fiery eyes of a man he could not recognize, and the mind warped where he had failed to form it in the ways of the light.

Anakin seemed not to hear, a shadow passed over his face; tears spilled like acid from the tortured eyes, penetrating some distance Obi-wan could not behold. Hands beginning to tremble with exhaustion tightened on his blade's hilt and he launched at his master with renewed vigor, though his brow was dappled with sweat,

"I hate you!" he screamed in anguish

Jedi were not supposed to form attachments, but the brief speech made his weary hands slip, and perhaps he was not as alert as he should have been as he searched the eyes of his padawan for any sign of the little boy from Tatooine. Try as he might to follow the code, he cared about that boy, he wanted him back.

Seizing his chance Anakin delivered a sweeping kick, and before his master could react the blade was knocked from his hands as he was thrown against the iron railing.

"Anakin" Obi-wan held up his hands placatingly but the boy did not blink once at his plea. Obi Wan ducked as the apprentice's blade came slicing into the steel floor where he'd stood seconds earlier. There was no chance to think after that. He vaulted over Anakin's head, catching his blade in the process, and landed on a long steel pipe. The shielding was still intact, and as long as he kept his balance the searing magma could not burn him.

However, balancing was proving harder by the second, for Anakin leapt on seconds after, and the pipe shook dangerously, as if it might snap at any moment. Anakin did not seem to care; the moment he'd found his footing he charged recklessly ahead. Obi-wan knew the pipe would not hold the both of them running at that speed, and crouching low, jumped again, drawing strength from the force, for already he grew tired from the constant battering.

There was a thin landing below, just large enough for him to get his bearings before Anakin could rush him again. He had maybe a second, but he took it to close his eyes, to reach out to the force,

"Why?" he whispered

"Why Anakin?"

But he received no answer.

A sudden clang rang in his ears; his eyes snapped open, and he sprang forward to find Anakin clinging to the narrow landing and scrambling for a grip on the rough steel ledge as the magma roared below, surging upward as if demanding its next victim. He must have missed the ledge in his jump and just barely been able to catch on to its side.

He looked like a frightened womprat, scratching for a grip even as the rest of his body pulled him down. It made Obi-wan want to reach down and help him, remembering the stubborn padawan he'd been just three years ago. He knelt, beside the ledge, unsure f what to do, for when he'd begun fighting Anakin he'd never anticipated this far ahead, he hadn't anticipated fighting at all. He'd gone out for a rescue, expecting the worst, which it seemed to have come to, but it was a different sort of worse than he'd expected. This was the worse he'd avoided thinking about, a clear sign that his attachment was too great, but it was true all the same.

"How well would you sleep knowing I failed you?"

The night Anakin had asked him he hadn't wanted to answer

"Not very well I'd imagine,"

And he hadn't ever since, it haunted him to imagine it, yet once it was presented to him he couldn't get it out of his mind.

"Luckily that isn't true and never will be,"

He'd said that so certainly, as if saying it would make it true. Yet here he was, watching his padawan struggle helplessly as he pondered the impossible question.

He looked into his eyes, dazzling gold, and he knew he could not help him.

The diseased mind, the obsidian falls, it was a story told on Mortis

Mortis

Yes, he remembered now, and all the agony of soul flooded back to him in one heartbreaking rush.

"How would you feel if I turned into a major disappointment?"

"It's not the same,"

It wasn't the same at all, and it wasn't fair. That he should have had to make this decision.

"You were my brother Anakin," he spoke with quiet anguish, the repressed pain in his voice seemed to catch Anakin's attention, even as he struggled for his life. His golden eyes flickered.

"I loved you," he couldn't hold back a sob and turned to hide his face.

He felt now that the force had answered him

Why Anakin?

Because you loved him.

Obi-wan Kenobi was doomed to lose all that he loved.

Only this time he would not stay and watch, as another life was cruelly ripped from him. The slipping fingers would give out in time, but he would not be there. He would go find Ahsoka. He did not know what he would tell her.

A hand grasped at his boot as he turned away, he froze in his tracks,

"Help me,"

Obi-wan looked back, he knew what master Windu, or Master Yoda would have done, but he looked back.

And found the eyes of his padawan flashing through,

Blue

Gold

The voice had come from somewhere deep inside, where the boy from Tatooine was fighting for control,

"Help me Master, please!" his fingers had lost their grip on Obi-wan's boot, red and sore from holding on they slipped.

His mechanical hand was left to clamp the edge, but it hadn't a good grip, and the steel edge was slowly sliding out of its grasp. Obi-wan knew what he ought to do, and he knew what was right. He wondered if this really was the will of the force, and he wondered if he should.. if he could deny it.

Anakin's hand slipped, his eyes were blue and frightened as the day he'd left his mother.

When Anakin's hand slipped, Obi-wan was there to catch it.

He clasped it firm and tight in one hand while holding on to the landing with the other. He wasn't sure why he though he'd be able to hold up two men, when Anakin couldn't hold up himself. But he hadn't thought, not really. He'd changed his mind in a split second without thinking through just how he'd do it. Perhaps this was punishment for his defiance, perhaps he would die too.

He was beginning to lose his grip when he heard Anakin's scream,

"Anakin?" he cried through gritted teeth and strengthened his grip as much as he could. His eyes snapped downward to the boy, hanging precariously close to the molten waves.

"Anakin!' he cried as the realization struck him too late. The heat from the lava flow proved too great, and Anakin, dangling just below the shield, screamed as a sudden burst of flame consumed his leg.

With a desperate burst of energy Obi-wan dragged himself up. His arm ached like it might tear off, but through sheer force of will he pulled Anakin up onto the landing. He sat up, exhausted, and beat out the flames which were quickly subdued within the confines of the shields., then collapsed beside his padawan on the coarse steel walkway. He wasn't sure where he'd found the strength, but Qui-Gon came to mind, and he wondered…

Anakin sat up beside him, glancing around frantically, he was not threatening, his eyes were blue as the sea, but stormy as Kamino. He still seemed confused, and frightened. He was in pain, yet he didn't seem to notice the terrible burns running down his legs. He looked at Obi-wan, but seemed to see beyond him, his eyes were unfocused, and moved about, their gaze landing on thin air

"Master," he whispered, as if begging for help.

"Anakin what—" Obi Wan sat up but was cut off as Anakin threw his arms around him and buried his face in his shoulder.

Obi-wan wrapped his arms around the robed figure, though he'd grown taller and stronger, he still seemed so small sometimes. Explanations could wait. They were okay right now, and that was all that mattered.

"Master…" Anakin trailed off; he went limp.

"Anakin?" Obi-wan cried. He held the boy by the shoulders. His eyelids had drooped shut; he was unconscious. Obi-wan looked him up and down and realized the boy had pushed himself to his breaking point.

He reached out to Ahsoka. He could sense that she was awake now, if a little groggy, and that she would come for them. Obi-wan could sense Anakin again, which meant Ahsoka would too.

He took off his toxin filter, careful to take a deep breath beforehand, and held it against Anakin's face, alternating, until a rescue party arrived. In his turn he breathed a sigh of relief. The worst was over