"Master, what have I done?"

"Oh, Anakin…" The look in his eye told him he didn't have an answer for him. How could he? What could Obi-Wan say to make him feel any better?

"The things I did, I can never make them up. I'm so sorry."

"Anakin…" Obi-Wan said with dejection eyes.

"What do I do, master?"

They stood in silence for neither knew how long until Obi-Wan said, "Get up, Anakin."

He looked at his old friend, confused, "What?"

"That's what you need to do. Get up."

"But…"

"Just do it, Anakin." Anakin, with his one leg, stood up with the help of his old friend. Obi-Wan took him inside and sat him next to the chest he was afraid to open.

The kettle began to screech, and smoke came out from its top to indicate it was ready. Obi-Wan used the force and placed it on the floor.

He looked back at Anakin, who still had tears running down his face.

"I was so blind by the fact to save Padme that I fed into Palpatine's lies. I'm such an idiot." He was too afraid to look up at his old master, afraid of what his eyes might say to him.

Obi-Wan placed his hand onto Anakin's metallic shoulder, causing Anakin to unintentionally look up at his old friend. It was just as he thought. His eyes were angry. "What is it, master?"

His eyes narrowed a bit, then relaxed. "Nothing." He wasn't too sure it was nothing. "We need to fix you up, Anakin. I'll head into town and grab some materials to fix you up."

"I can come to," Anakin said.

"No," he shouted. He looked back onto Anakin, sighing. "I mean, you're in no condition to move. You should stay here and rest."

"I suppose you're right, master."

"Just get some rest. I'll be back soon."

Obi-Wan left out of the destroyed entryway that had broken during their fight. He heard Obi-Wan whistle, silence for a few minutes, then the sounds of hooves getting closer and closer until they eventually got further away, and he couldn't hear them anymore.

He was alone and afraid.

He coughed. It felt like he was getting a cold.

Anakin looked down onto his broken body. He hated it. He hated what he had become. "A Sith," he said, snarling at the words Sith. "How could I?" He buried his head into his hands.

It was his fault he was like this, no one else's. It was his fault Padme was dead, not Obi-Wan's. He who marched into the Jedi Temple with the 501st and slaughtered younglings.

Just the thought of that alone made him want to puke. "How could I commit such atrocities?" he asked himself, begging for an answer that did not come.

He felt lightheaded.

Then on came the feeling of being too heavy and hot. It was like he couldn't breathe, like water was collecting in his lungs blocking air from reaching him and the rest of his body.

His suit's internal readings, though it was damaged, said he was still receiving air.

Sweat beads began to form on his pale white skin, and his breathing was sharp, quick breaths. Each breath he took felt like a knife stabbing him in his chest.

Force choke was the first thought he had when trying to describe what was going on. His hands navigated to his neck as everything started to go black inch by inch.

"Obi…Wan."

A loud thump came when his body hit the floor.


Obi-Wan rode atop of his Bantha. He had acquired him when a Tuskan Raider was beating it with a long thick rope. Obi-Wan couldn't just stand by and watch it happen, so he intervened, rescuing Nalu from his abuser.

At least he could save someone in time.

His apology didn't matter now; it didn't. It was too late.


He opened his eyes and saw nothing but unending blackness. "Where am I? Obi-Wan, are you here?"

"You must choose!"

"Huh?" It sounded like an echo in the distance.

"Don't listen to him, Anakin!"

An apparition of the night before Order 66 appeared, when he, Windu, and the Chancellor were fighting.

"He must stand trial!"

Mace Windu's purple lightsaber was blinded by the Emperor's lightning.

"Don't let him kill me."

Anakin tried to move, but his feet stood in their exact place. "I can change it!" he screamed. "Please, let me change it!"

"He's too dangerous to be kept alive."

"I'm too weak. Don't kill me, please."

"It's not the Jedi way. He must live!"

Windu gave Anakin a vexed look, his eyes turning a slight yellow.

"Please don't."

"I need him!"

Windu raised his blade, and with one last look, he moved his blade to strike down the Supreme Chancellor.

"Noooo," Anakin's blue lightsaber hacked off Windu's hand.

Windu screamed, shouting as his lightsaber fell to the depths of Coruscant. He looked at his now severed hand, looking back onto the now revealed Sith Lord and Anakin Skywalker.

Sidious smiled with an evil grin and shouted, "Unlimited power!"

"No, please, don't make me relive through this again." He fell to the floor crying, "I don't want to go through this again."

The apparition disappeared in front of him like water evaporating.

"I'm so sorry." His cries broke the silence that ensued right after. He was alone, and he believed that's how he should remain for the rest of his life. Broken, sad, alone.

"You're late again."

No.

"Padme, I'm so sorry. We didn't predict the outer rim sieges lasting this long.

Not her. Anyone but her.

"That's why they call it a siege, Anakin."

Her hands covered that little bump on her stomach. How could he have not noticed it before? "My child, my wife, both dead…"

"I love you, Ani."

"I love you too."

He smiled; that's how he wanted his life to be, with his wife and child.

They both disappeared slowly, their smile the last thing to go.

"She always had a beautiful smile," he said.

"You're breaking my heart."

His stomach dropped to the floor, his heart beating faster than before. "No, not this." He was scared to turn around, to see what he was hiding from. "I don't want to relive this. Anything but this."


No one was out of their house when Obi-Wan arrived at Mos Espa. He only saw the lights of the guards patrolling the streets.

He mounted his Bantha at a hitching post that was right outside of town. The other Bantha's were already fast asleep as their owners were inside their homes.

He walked down the street to Watto's junkyard, which was conveniently placed in the middle of town. Watto was always willing to do business no matter what time of day, if you had the right price that was.

The streets were deserted at this time of night, the cantina's closed, and not even the homeless dared to sleep outside. It felt like a ghost town. If Obi-Wan didn't know better, he would think this place was abandoned.

He went up to Watto's door and knocked. After a few moments, he knocked again, and after a few minutes, he figured he wasn't home.

Three guards turned down the street Kenobi was on. Kenobi walked up to them, giving off that warm smile of his.

"Excuse me?"

The guards turned. "Can we help you?" one of them asked.

"Yes, I'm looking for the Toydarian Watto. He doesn't seem to be home. Do any of you know where he is?" The guards all took nervous glances at each other. "Is… is something the matter?"

"Watto is dead."

Obi-Wan widened his eyes, "Dead? Who killed him?"

"A machine in black." Anakin. "That's what the witnesses say." Anakin, come on. "We're currently on the lookout for him, but it's not safe for you to be walking about at this time. You should head home."

Obi-Wan looked at them, then at the door to Watto's Junkyard, then said. "Oh, thank you, gentlemen. I shall be on my way then."

He walked off, seemingly to the guards towards the edge of town where his mount was, but when he turned the corner, he jumped onto the roof of the nearby building. Anakin, he thought, shaking his head. Why do you always have to make everything so complicated?


"Padme, I'm sorry!"

"Let her go, Anakin. Let her go."

He released his grip, watching as Padme's body fell to the floor.

"My baby…"

"You turned her against me!"

"I was such an idiot. I did that myself."

"You did that yourself.

"Why didn't I listen to him? Why?"


When the guards turned the corner, Obi-Wan came out of hiding and walked up Watto's door. He grabbed his lightsaber, almost igniting it but stopping himself as he realized cutting the door down would get the Empire's attention, but he had a better idea.

He looked around, the street was empty, and jumped onto the roof to Watto's junkyard. There were antennas on the roof for communication, dead bugs, spider webs, and feces. A lot of feces. "Does no one ever clean this place?" Obi-Wan grimaced.

He jumped down into the junkyard. It was full of podracers, blown up starships, and even a few republic fighters. Obi-Wan saw R4 units, broken protocol droids, and a bunch of B1 battle droids. "When I thought the war was over, it comes right back to haunt me," he sighed.

Anakin was missing an arm, a leg, and his face mask was damaged. Maybe he could find something to fix that, but it wasn't a priority.

Obi-Wan stared onto the endless piles of junk Watto had acquired. "Where do I even start?"


"I should be dead," Anakin cried. "Let me die."

"Then die." Vader appeared before him but not the Vader in the suit, the Vader before Mustafar. His eyes were pure yellow, and his charred skin had been replaced by his old skin complexation, with hands and feet, and he had the look of evil written all over his face. "Die, you pathetic fool."

Anakin faced him like a child would to their mother or father, but he didn't see the boundless love they would have for their child, but instead the wrath of a home intruder.

"You killed Padme. You killed the Jedi. You killed Anakin Skywalker a long time ago. You don't deserve to live."

"I can redeem myself," Anakin said to his dark side. "I can fix it!"

"You couldn't even save your wife. How can you fix things now?"

"I…"


Obi-Wan pulled out the hand of a gray protocol droid from the junkpile he had been searching for the last five minutes, but he couldn't find the rest of the body. "A shame, I could have used its leg."

He walked on, checking the junkpile right next to it.

"Come on," he said, getting increasingly more impatient. He found nothing but wires, the arm of a super battle droid. He stopped, picturing if Anakin could use this to a purpose. "Probably not." He tossed the arm of the battle droid aside, going back to search the rest of the garbage.

An old blaster, nuts and bolts, more wires, the severed arm of a human. "An arm!" Obi-Wan threw it to the side, "Who's arm is that?" He almost let out another burst but calmed himself, closing his eyes, breathing in and out slowly, then opening them. "Disgusting."

He looked down, and a smile went on his face as he grabbed the metal sheet that was below the arm. "I can use this to repair Anakin's face."

He got up, wiping away the dirt from his clothing. He looked out onto the remaining junk, "How did Watto get anything done?" he said, turning the corner to find more piles of junk.

He stopped suddenly. He felt something… he wasn't sure what it was. Like, something calling to him—

His eyes grew suddenly, "Yoda."

He sat down, getting in a meditative posture, and closed his eyes, focusing on that feeling.

"Master Yoda, are you there? Can you hear me?"

"M-s-er Ke-bi."

"Master, the force, I can't understand what you are saying."

"Clo-ed is th force. Come to Dagobah. Bring Skywalker."

The feeling was gone as soon as it came. "Dagobah." He wasn't surprised Yoda knew about Anakin, but he wanted him to come to Dagobah; why? They were hiding. "But if Master Yoda says to come, then I shall listen." If only Anakin had done the same.

He sighed. "It's his fault," he told himself. "Why didn't he just listen to me when I told him that Palpatine was evil." He shook his head, sighing once more.

The sound of metal scraping the ground came when he took his next step. It was a droid's foot, to which droid he didn't know. He grabbed it, a gleeful smile on his face, "Finally, something goes my way."


"Do it! Kill yourself."

"But…"

"You can see Padme again. She's waiting for you." He extended his arm, and an image of Padme appeared. She was in her white gown, and her hair was braided the way he always loved. She looked at him and smiled, pulling out her arms and calling him towards her.

"Anakin, come to me," she said with a welcoming smile.

"Padme," he said, utterly broken.

"Come to me, Ani. It's time."

His lightsaber appeared next to him, the one built from Proxy's components.

"Take your blade and kill yourself. Do it!"

He grabbed it, looking at it and twirling it in his hands. Is this what he wanted? What he was supposed to do? After everything he's done, was this what he deserved? If he could see Padme again… That's all he wanted, him and Padme to be together.

He lifted the blade up to his face and pointed the emitter towards him. His finger loomed over the button.

"Do it now!"

He closed his eyes and went for it—

"Stop it, Ani!" He stopped, his finger touching the button only barely. He opened his eyes to find Padme in front of him. Not the Padme from earlier but a different one. She was in the same white gown.

"Padme?" He looked over and found the other Padme was gone.

"No! Leave now. He must end his life!"

She turned around, glared at him with the intensity of a thousand suns, and said, "Shut up," and waved her arm, causing the evil version of Anakin to disappear.

"Padme, what's going on."

She looked at him; her eyes were wide and wet. She placed her hand on his suit, "You've changed, Ani." He looked away, not able to bear to look her in the eyes anymore. "Look at me, Ani. Please."

He looked at her. She smiled, "Ani, you can't give up now."

"But the things I did."

"I know, Ani, and that's why you need to make it right."

His heart hurt, "I just don't know if I can this time."

"You can. I believe in you."

Those words, after everything, she still believed in me.

She smiled, slightly laughing, "I can hear your thoughts, Ani."

Of course, you can. He smiled.

"I love you, Ani."

"I love you too, Padme." They hugged, and she slowly disappeared from this plane of existence, and Anakin had only noticed when his body fell through where she once stood.

His smile gave away. He wanted more time with her.

Everything began to shake; the ground below him began to crumble, revealing a white light when he fell through. He tried to scream, but nothing came out as he fell at an unknown speed.

He woke up. He was on the floor of the broken hut. He got up, sitting in the chair Obi-Wan had left him in. It was much more challenging with one leg. "My head hurts," he said.

He looked over at his lightsaber.

"No more." He extended his hand and grabbed his lightsaber, looking at it once more, and crushing it. Bits and pieces of Proxy's dismembered body fell to the floor to reveal the crystal.

He hated it. The red, how it represented his hatred, he hated to see it.

He squeezed it, and to his surprise, it broke into dust.

"What?" he said. He stared at it long, confused. "How?"

"It's what happens when someone from the dark side comes back to the light."

Anakin turned to see Obi-Wan standing at the door. "I don't, I don't understand, master."

Obi-Wan laid down his rucksack onto the table. "A Sith's crystal uses the users' anger to power itself; it harnesses the users' anger. During the bleeding process, the crystal and its user become one. Remember Anakin, in a way, the crystals are alive." Anakin remembered when Yoda used to tell him that when he went to Ilum for the gathering as a padawan. "They call to us because they are connected to us, just like the Sith are connected to their crystal, but the Sith turn their crystals into something that's it's not supposed to be, causing it to destroy itself to become a Sith's weapon.

"If the user turns back to the light, the crystal has nothing to harness on and can no longer sustain itself to keep it alive."

"So, the crystal dies?"

"In a sense, yes."

"I see…" He looked down at the red dust in his hand for a moment then let it go, both Obi-Wan and Anakin watching as it fell to the floor. "I need a new weapon."

Obi-Wan smiled, "I can help with that."


Obi-Wan brought the chest to Anakin, the chest he was afraid to open. He opened, inspecting the one item he kept inside it for a final time, then handed it to his old padawan.

"My lightsaber," Anakin said.


"I can't believe you kept it." He grabbed it, inspect each grove as if he hadn't seen it in years. It was shiny and had no markings to indicate it had ever been used. "You cleaned it."

"Of course, I did."

"Why?"

Obi-Wan tilted his head, though he did not know he was doing it. "Excuse me?"

"Why did you keep it?"

"I uh—" Obi-Wan averted his eyes, looking down onto the floor, then saying, "Let's get you fixed up."

He walked up to the table, opening the rucksack he had brought and taking out his findings.

Anakin went back to his lightsaber. He had so many memories with it, so many victories, and so much blood.

He sighed, "I will fix it."

"What was that?" his master asked.

"Nothing, master."

He went to ignite it, hovering over the button. He was scared. What if it found him not worthy to wield anymore, but then Padme's voice echoed in his head. I believe in you. It made him smile. He forced away his fears and ignited his blade. The intense blue light shined throughout the entire room, and blue was all that could be seen from an outsider's perspective.

"I missed you."

"I am glad you have, now put it away. I need to fix you up."

The blue receded back inside the casing, and Anakin put it on the table. Obi-Wan grabbed a melder and lifted Anakin's foot, aligning the droid's foot with his broken one. "I'm not as good as you, Anakin, so it might be a crude job."

"Thank you, master."

Obi-Wan started up the melder, a flame coming out of it to indicate it was melding the two metal pieces together. His heart palpitated as he glared onto Obi-Wan as he repaired his foot. He would look away, glance at Obi-Wan, then away to the side every few seconds. He was tapping the desk, and he didn't notice he was until Obi-Wan said it was blocking him from concentrating. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he opened his mouth to speak multiple times but stopped himself every single time.

"Anakin, I can sense your unease. What's wrong?"

"Nothing, master."

"If you say so."

He was silent, then said, "Master?"

"Yes, Anakin?"

"I'm sorr—"

"You don't have to say you're sorry. I know you are."

"But master—"

"Anakin," he snapped. "You don't need to say anything. I know what you want to say. It's okay." Anakin didn't reply. "It wouldn't fix anything anyway," he mumbled under his breath.

He didn't know if Obi-Wan wanted him to hear it or not, but he guessed it didn't matter. Either way, it hurt.

"There, give me your hand."

"It wouldn't fix anything." He was sure he meant for him to hear it.