Finally chapter five is finished! ( well, no shit, or else it wouldn't be up here, right? LOL). Sorry, I endured mega writer's block on this one about halfway through the chapter, and started writing something else to take my mind off of it! I hope you'll all check out THAT fic once it's published as well - "The Movie Fic". Pure fluff, because Liana and Temple Mistress dared me…. Great friends, eh?

REVIEWERS! I adore all of you!

Alchemy Dream: No, even though that song could easily apply to both of our Jedi men, it's probably not the best soundtrack for this fic, eh? I usually listen to the Hannibal soundtrack, actually… delightfully angsty! I'm thrilled that the descriptions sweep you away… can you tell that I'm first and foremost a visual artist! (high five) And don't worry about the pace of your reviews… they go no slower than my updating of the chapters!

Anliya: Glad that you came back to give the fic a try! I know, I'm a whore for clifhangar-endings! It makes it more interesting anyways, right? Er..I hope so?

White Destiny: OKOKOK! Here it is, you don't have to tie me up! That would make it

a little hard to type anyways, wouldn't it? Ha ha!

Liana-chan: Glad to see you joining the community of authors on here! And thank you SO much for talking me through my growly writers-block phase on this with unhelpful reminders of senior English!

TEMPLE MISTRESS: What can I say? In the words of the loverly god of Hotness, EMcG: "fucking brilliant". You really are!


Chapter 5: Come What May

"Suddenly my life doesn't seem such a waste…it all revolves around you."
From Moulin Rouge

Dooku dusted his hands together disdainfully, returning his lightsabre to his belt and eyeing the collapsed form of the Jedi Knight. Really. A little Force suggestion and these new Jedi lost complete control over themselves, seeing exactly what their enemies told them to see. No wonder the Republic was falling apart, under the guidance of these incompetents.

The nebulous mirage he'd created of the Skywalker boy hadn't even been that realistic. It hadn't needed to be, apparently, he had felt that last rush of anguish from Kenobi before the thanatizine had fully taken hold. Remarkable what ridiculous reactions this emotion of love provoked….

Dooku hoped that Asajj had done her job properly, dropping the Force-inhibiting shield she was maintaining long enough for the Skywalker boy to sense his Master's despair. It would make Skywalker that much more aggressive when he descended to Veenat-III.

It would make him that much more vulnerable.

He snapped his fingers idly at two battle-droids, standing attentively nearby.

"Take him."

----

"Right where I left you." Anakin couldn't keep the relief from his voice as the small cruiser he and Obi-Wan had piloted to Veenat-III came into view. For some reason, he had felt this terrible premonition about the ship – as though it would be gone when he got there, stranding him and his Master in this Force-forsaken quadrant of the galaxy. They had left it on the far side of the planet from where the Separatist ship had been lying in wait, hoping to escape detection. Apparently the ship had been far enough away that no battle droids from the enemy cruiser had picked it up on their sensors. When Anakin got Obi-Wan back safe and sound, he would be able to say a smug "I told you so".

Adaavi didn't seem at all relieved to see the ship, however. Anakin could feel her tenseness through the Force, a distracting flitter around the edges of his perception, eating away at his focus and concentration. He reached out along the lines of his Force-bond to Obi-Wan, feeling yet again that strange, muffled sensation, as though a porous wall separated the two of them, muting and distorting any attempts at communication.

With a low growl, he pushed against that barrier, exerting more of his will, more power against the obstruction. He could feel it starting to give, feel the faintest whisper of Obi-Wan's thoughts.

Fear.

Desperation.

PAIN!

A sudden crack of blasterfire and the ship hewed sharply to the left.

"Bloody Sith hell!" Anakin yelled, caught off guard. Damn damn damn! He had been too occupied with trying to find Obi-Wan to focus on the world around him…his Master would never let him live this one down if he found out. But what in the Sith was a droid fighter doing on this side of the planet? And all alone?

Behind him, Adaavi opened her eyes, a faint gleam twinkling in their dark depths.

"R2! Try to lock on to it. I'm going to hit the Sith-cursed thing with everything we've got." Anakin snapped his fighter into a steep rolling dive, hearing a low moan from Adaavi behind him. Ignoring that distraction, he tore after the small battle droid, whose only intent now seemed to be escape.

"Oh no you don't," Anakin growled, lining up the small ship in his scopes.

"Look out!" Adaavi screamed from behind him. Startled, he yanked on the steering column, sending his fighter tumbling through space. A stream of particle beams lanced across the space where they had been only moments before.

"Thank you," Anakin managed, swinging out of the uncontrolled dive with practised ease.

"Loz noy jitat," she cursed in response, whispering it like a prayer. (1)

Anakin let out a slow breath letting go of his corporeal perceptions in favour of the Force that flowed beyond them. Letting go of everything else, until he felt only the ship, the engines, the controls, the cannons. His mind spread out, encompassing the untrained knot in the Force that was Adaavi, the void of space between him and the droid ship, the ship itself.

And he knew where to strike.

Pushing the rear thrusters to full until the gages before his eyes ran into the 'danger' zone, until the durasteel components shrieked under the enormous stress and Adaavi began muttering prayers to some alien God, Anakin forced his small vessel after the droid fighter.

"Come on…" he pushed harder, scraping every last ounce of speed from the shuddering durasteel craft.

"You're going to kill us!" Adaavi shrieked.

"Come on…."

As he shot by underneath the enemy craft, Anakin released two thermal charges, moving swiftly out of their range before they could lock on to his craft.

The droid ship didn't even try to escape, but launched another wave of particle beams after the retreating Delta-7. Abused as the craft already was, Anakin couldn't dodge every missile – some impacted along the fuselage and wings, making R2 shriek in pitiful protest.

Then there was only a burst of brilliant orange light.

Anakin raised his gloved right hand to shield the glare from his eyes. He wanted to see the cursed thing burn, to witness the fiery death of this droid who had dared to attack him – who would keep him from rescuing Obi-Wan immediately.

Obi-Wan…. Anakin felt his heart constrict painfully at the thought of his Master. He had felt those raw emotions from the older Knight so clearly, enough to know that Obi-Wan was all alone and suffering on that fucking piece of rock.

Now there was nothing, he sensed nothing, felt nothing!

No. He would know if Obi-Wan was dead. He had known after Jabiim that his Master was still alive; he knew it the same way now. Without thought or emotion, without any consideration of factual evidence. He just knew.

Obi-Wan was alive. Alive, but in great need of his friend and apprentice.

"Damage, R2?" Anakin swallowed heavily, blinking the faint sting of tears from his eyes. He had done what was necessary to keep himself and Adaavi alive… but he had seriously damaged his fighter in the attempt, damaged their only remaining form of transport. Rescue would have to wait on repairs.

And every second he spent away from his Master, their connection muffled, tore a little more at his heart.

Numbers and figures scrolled across the screen, R2's excited bleeping high-pitched in his ears. Right wing engine damaged, forward thrusters showing severe signs of strain. Most of the harm beyond that was purely superficial. Anakin breathed a sigh of relief. He had planned on landing their interstellar cruiser on the face of that damn planet, if it meant he would reach Obi-Wan more quickly… but his Master would never have forgiven him for placing a Jedi's life over the life of their charge, Adaavi.

"Remind me… never to fly with you…ever again," the woman muttered from behind him, sounding as though she was about to be sick.

She sounded like Obi-Wan….

Hitting the autopilot controls and slumping back exhausted into his seat; Anakin let his eyes fall closed. "Take us back to the ship, R2."

----

Asajj Ventress watched the inferno consume the single droid fighter with a measure of irritation. She had alerted the damn thing, given it the coordinates of that Skywalker boy's Delta-7, and yet it had failed to do any substantial damage whatsoever. Ah, well, the repairs would still take some amount of time to complete, before the boy could go and mount a rescue of his beloved Master.

Ventress wanted to scream at the thought. Every time she pictured that Jedi, with his gingery hair and superior smile, a black tide of rage swamped her thoughts, threatening to tear her apart. She hated Obi-Wan Kenobi. She hated him. He was weak, worthless, and pitiful. A false Jedi. And yet he lived where her Master had died.

The one man who had cared about her in her entire life – a mentor, a father – killed by an uprising of worthless peasants.

And the Jedi Order hadn't lifted a finger to save him. To save her.

Obi-Wan Kenobi represented everything that had gone wrong in her life. A paragon of the corrupted Jedi Order that had abandoned her Master; the reason she had failed on her mission to Cestus and disappointed her new Master. He had defeated her, and it rankled. Worse still, he had taken her dead Master's lightsabre from her; the only proof she had that the happier times in her life weren't just a dream.

It was unforgettable, unforgivable, that he would steal her most prized possession and then dare to pity her. Obi-Wan was a thief and a liar – like all Jedi were in the end. He was a thorn in her mind, a splinter that was driving her mad.

Until the only thing she could think about was revenge. That was what drove her; that was her sole obsession. To make Obi-Wan Kenobi suffer for his crimes; the crimes of a Jedi. Of all Jedi.

And the worst thing, the most miserable failure was that she had had Obi-Wan Kenobi in her clutches, once upon a time, had taken him from Jabiim to her former home-planet of Rattatak.

And she had allowed him to escape, through her own negligence and over-confidence. She had hurt him, beaten his body, chained him and drugged him and tormented him, but it had all been for nothing! His survival was a slap in the face, an affront that could not be tolerated. Would not be tolerated.

She regretted not killing Kenobi more bitterly than anything else in her life.

Now Dooku got to have the fun, attempting to torture the Jedi Knight beyond the limits of his endurance. And while the longer Skywalker took to fix his ship meant a longer duration of suffering for Kenobi, it also meant it was more torture she was missing out on. She wanted to hear the Jedi scream.

Perhaps she could play with this one a bit, before letting him walk into Dooku's lair. Let him know exactly how much his Master was hurting. Yes… that would be delightful. Perhaps a well-timed leak in the Force-inhibiting shield she was maintaining around him that cut him off from reaching Kenobi?

Yes. She would let Skywalker feel a taste of that anguish, before striking. And when she delivered this so-called Chosen One to the Count, beaten and imprisoned, perhaps he would realize that she was a far worthier candidate for the teachings of the Sith.

----

There was no perceptible damage to the main ship, nothing that Anakin could see as they approached the docking bay. Nothing to indicate that the small droid ship had even been in the vicinity. It was mildly disconcerting… but there were more pressing issues at hand.

As the hangar doors slid shut with a deep thud, Anakin leapt from the cockpit of the Delta-7, ignoring Adaavi and R2 as he walked around the small fighter, running his left hand over the twisted metals.

"It's going to need a lot of work, R2," he muttered as the astromech trundled over to him. "Fucking Sith!" He punched the durasteel hull with his cybernetic right hand, turning away to find Adaavi staring at him.

"Come on, I'll show you around quickly," he muttered, ashamed. "R2, see what you can find out from the shipboard computer… we're going to need to improvise a bit."

He barely registered the fact that he was speaking, showing Adaavi where the 'freshers were, where she could get food, where she would sleep – Anakin's room, since it was only a two-man vessel. His mind was far away, seeking the comforting touch of Obi-Wan's thoughts. Sith, but he wouldn't care if his Master was reprimanding him for some transgression, so long as Obi-Wan was there.

"…and this is the bridge," he trailed off lamely, walking forward to press one hand against the transparent vidscreen. He could see Veenat-III below him, so close and yet still so far out of reach. He clenched his fist.

A shimmering image of himself, lying on a sandy dune, eyes staring blankly.

Dead.

Anakin blinked sharply. What in the Sith…?

"Are you all right?" Adaavi had moved closer to him, touching his arm tentatively, eyes wide.

"I….I'm fine. I just…" he shook his head, disconcerted. Had that vision been sent by the Force, a premonition of his fate should he go to Veenat-III? Anakin had never set much store by fate; he would go to Obi-Wan, whether it meant his life or not.

(Anakin….)

(Master?)

Anakin screamed as blinding pain ripped up his right arm, his right arm that wasn't real, that wasn't supposed to feel anything. It drove him to his knees; white-hot lines of pain shrieking along his nervous system, making the entire room seem to spin. His vision blurred, and for a moment, he saw his arm as it had been, skin and bone… and sheeted with blood. Blood that pooled under his fingertips, on the durasteel floor.

"What…?" he gasped.

Adaavi was smiling at him. A thin, cold smile, her face ghastly in the harsh white lights.

"What are you…?"

The annoying buzz of her uncontrolled Force-signature was gone now, replaced by a yawning black chasm that threatened to draw him in. A void that hummed and crackled angrily with all the raw power of the Dark Side.

And he knew suddenly, with a sick lurching motion in his stomach, that he had been deceived. That he and his Master had been lured in to a trap.

(Oh Force, Obi-Wan!)

Adaavi smiled at his frantic cry into the Force. "Poor little boy," she crooned malignantly, a wicked smile marring her symmetrical features. "You really think he's going to answer you? He's with my Master now."

Anakin struggled to his feet, throwing out one arm to catch himself on the computer console as his knees buckled. He couldn't think straight, his mind being drowned out by vision after vision of his Master, his Obi-Wan, being hurt, being tortured and killed.

He stumbled backwards a step as Adaavi approached him, growling low in his throat. "Who are you?"

She laughed in wicked delight, her dark eyes glinting unnaturally as she called into her hands two lightsabre emitters that had been concealed in the flow of her clothing. "My dear boy, did Kenobi never tell you what I looked like? A terrible oversight on his part, wouldn't you say?"

Two crimson beams sprung to life as she spoke, and her expression hardened into one of pure loathing.

"Ventress." Anakin hissed.

Suddenly the weakness that had possessed him was gone, burned away by the fires of the rage that flooded through his body and washed his vision with red.

Asajj Ventress.

The syllables of that name were burnt into his mind, awakening a bloodlust he had not felt since he had massacred the Tusken Raiders on Tatooine. She was the one who had taken Obi-Wan from him on Jabiim, who had tried to drive them apart. He had seen the scars Obi-Wan still carried from his encounter with Ventress on Rattatak, scars that the Jedi Knight refused to talk about. Physical mementos of torture that still made Obi-Wan wake screaming in the night.

Anakin had seen the darkness in his Master's eyes if ever she was mentioned. He had heard those desperate cries.

She had hurt Obi-Wan.

And it didn't matter what he had to do, be it succumbing to the darker side of his nature, or violating the Jedi Code. He didn't care if he was expelled from the Order for murder, so long as he made this bitch scream. Until she begged him for her death. She had hurt his Obi-Wan.

And she would die for it.

Anakin flew at her, a wild yell of rage tearing lose from his throat, lightsabre already in hand. There was no room for thought or strategy, only vengeance.

Asajj Ventress smirked as she blocked that first, crazed attack. The boy was easier to provoke than she had suspected. This so-called "Hero with No Fear" had one deep, dark secret after all; one overriding dread that was so painfully easy to exploit.

It centred around Obi-Wan Kenobi. Skywalker was terrified of his Master coming to any harm.

Ventress scowled as she whirled her lightsabres, easily warding off the boy's attack with one, while seeking an opening in his movements with the other. She had been possessed of the same fear, once upon a time. But her fear had come true. Her Master had died.

Now Skywalker would endure the same thing.

Dancing back lightly, Ventress swung her left sabre in a curving arc, slashing down at the Jedi Knight's unprotected head. There was no longer any thought of keeping this whelp alive; she had seen something of herself in him, and that was intolerable. She was nothing like a Jedi. She would finish this game quickly, and take her time with Kenobi instead.

But Skywalker blocked the attack.

Startled, Ventress paused in her assault.

Anakin stood in the centre of the bridge, harsh lights glistening over the sheen of sweat that coated his forehead. His lightsabre was locked in a powerful grip over his head, blade angled down towards her. His eyes burned with the same intensity of blue as the crackling beam.

And he was smirking, well aware of the powers that he possessed, and his abilities to use them. A malicious parody of a grin, more a feral grimace than anything else.

No, this wasn't possible.

He moved like lightning, spinning the sky-blue beam to dislodge her own, lunging forward to intercept the other crimson blade. The crackle and hiss of the two meeting filled the room.

Dooku had fought this boy before. He wasn't this strong.

The blade moved faster than her eye could follow, amazingly precise, an incredibly focused flurry of motion. Ventress parried desperately, reversing the angle of her attacks at the last minute, alternating sweeping slashes of the crimson blades with sudden jabs and thrusts. But she was slowly giving ground, dodging many of the young man's strikes rather than blocking them.

Where had Skywalker gained this sudden burst of power?

Oh no. Oh Sith, no.

Skywalker was stronger now that he was fighting for a purpose. He was fighting for Obi-Wan Kenobi. There was a strange, preternatural light that suffused his features, a grim clarity in his eyes and a fluid precision in his movements.

Asajj snarled, leaping back over a console to gain a few precious seconds to recover herself. She was letting her imagination run away with her. Skywalker was just a boy. A heartsick, love-struck boy, barely even a Jedi Knight.

"Do you think you're going to be able to save him?" she snarled, using the Force to leap suddenly at the young Knight, bringing one blade over her head while sweeping the other in front of her at his waist.

He dodged left, avoiding the over-hand strike, swinging his blade in a low guard to ward off the second blade. But Ventress felt that momentary flicker of fear, of anxiety.

"I'll kill you first," Anakin snapped, swinging his blade roughly to knock hers wide, sending a Force-push at her chest to send her sprawling backwards onto the floor.

Anakin tried to block out Ventress' taunt as he moved into a lightning-fast attack. Of course he would be able to save Obi-Wan. He would not fail his Master as he had failed others in the past. As he had failed his mother….

He wouldn't let that happen again.

But her words had awakened a little worm of fear that burrowed, ice cold, into his heart, undermining his confidence. He inhaled slowly, eyes riveted on his enemy's, but in his mind's eye, he summoned forth an image of his Master. Not in battle, or in the Council chambers. Not as a General of the Republic, or even as a Jedi Knight.

It was Obi-Wan, as he had been on the long voyage to Veenat-III, dozing in his chair in front of the co-pilot's controls. Expression completely relaxed and serene, long eyelashes dusting his cheeks, wholly unaware that Anakin was watching him.

The memory brought a smile to Anakin's lips, one that provoked a responding snarl from Ventress. He would not – could not – fail to rescue Obi-Wan, simply because he would allow himself to do nothing less. Obi-Wan was too important; to the Republic, to the Order…to Anakin.

(I'm coming for you, Master. I'll be there soon, I swear.)

The overwhelming sense of despair that flooded him in response to this reassurance knocked him off balance.

(Stay back Anakin. Don't come here!)

Obi-Wan sounded so afraid through their bond, so desperate. But it only strengthened Anakin's conviction that his Master had great need of him. Excruciating as it was to do so, he deliberately blocked off their bond, so that he could focus on the task at hand.

With a whirl of the blue blade, he dashed inside Ventress' guard, spinning the emitter in his right hand to cut one of the two crimson blades. His smile widened slightly as he moved back beyond her reach, deliberately goading her on. Now they were on even footing, two Master-less Jedi, one dark and one light. But he had something beyond revenge and anger to be fighting for. That was his advantage.

Deliberately, Anakin settled into a defensive posture, readying himself for her attack. He would kill her on this pass; he could see it like a premonition through the Force.

Ventress rushed at him, bringing her blade up high, screaming in fury.

Anakin dropped lower, bending his knees slightly, ready to spring upwards and sever her arms at the elbows, before swinging his blade through her neck….

(ANAKIN!)

The cry ripped through his head, tearing through his thoughts with the sheer intensity of raw anguish that it carried. Anakin heard himself screaming in incoherent reply, stumbling backwards.

Ventress' yell turned into a howl of triumph as she brought her blade down, a crimson line of fire rupturing the sterile air.

Anakin turned he head to one side, trying to avoid the blow, throwing out his left hand to hold her back. The rubicund light crept closer to face.

The sudden sensation of his bond with Obi-Wan being plunged into darkness broke his concentration, and he screamed as the sabre bit into his face. Half blind, he flung out his right hand to push her away from him.

A strangled gurgling gasp reached his ears, the red lightsabre suddenly extinguished. Anakin lurched to his feet, blinking sharply to clear his vision – he still couldn't open his right eye fully – and saw Ventress writhing on the floor. A lightsabre wound through her stomach. Anakin looked down at his own hand, clenched tightly around the hilt of his shimmering blue blade. When he had tried to push Ventress away, he had inadvertently rammed his blade through her.

He felt only a grim satisfaction at the thought, seeing the Dark Jedi woman coiled up in agony on the bleak floor.

He walked deliberately towards her pathetic form, the agony of the wound over his eye and the sudden absence of Obi-Wan making him lash out, kicking her onto her back. He smirked to see the thin tail of blood that trickled from her lips.

Pressing one boot lightly onto her stomach, over the perfectly burned circle, Anakin slowly leaned his weight forward, hearing Ventress' gasp of pain in response. "What have you done to my Master?" his voice was perfectly quiet, perfectly composed.

Ventress could feel the anxiety rolling off of him in waves. It made her laugh weakly.

"Your Master is already dead."

"You're lying!" Anakin shouted, pressing down with all his weight.

Ventress surged upwards with the Force, knocking him backwards onto the floor. Then, with a sinister smile that made Anakin's heart freeze, she sent another twinge through the Force. Anakin lunged forwards, but it hadn't been directed at him. He felt it impact on the main computer console, felt the ship shudder in response.

"NO!"

The stars spiralled towards them in long, white streaks of light, and then snapped into darkness as the ship made the jump to hyperspace.


1 Loz noy jitat - A curse ("Medstar: Intermezzo," Star Wars Insider #83). What it MEANS exactly, I can't tell you. Feel free to invent something!

Sorry I kept you all waiting so long for this one... only to give you another cliff hangar! I know, I'm just as Sithly as Dooku sometimes! Please leave me a review - they help fuel the imagination for writing more chapters! The next one will be 99 percentOBI!

Xtine