Chapter 9; The son of rage and love
Author:Hyyp chick
Pairing:Obi/ani
Rating:R
Disclaimer:My imagination's twisted version of George Lucas' utter brilliance (grovel, grovel)
Summary:Just when everything starts to go right Anakin's world falls apart. Again. He is called upon to make some questionable choices.
Warnings:Character death(s)
It was a cool fresh morning in the lake country of Naboo. The sun was bright but not hot and danced dazzlingly over the still waters. A slight breeze chilled the air and the day smelt of the blossoms that adorned the spring time trees there.
Padme was breaking the silence with a soft tune on the balcony of her bedroom, her son in the cradle at her side, her daughter in her arms. Whatever her relationship with their father had become she blessed it every time she looked at her beautiful twins. They were so innocent and so loving, she wished endlessly that Anakin still possessed these traits.
Approximately six weeks previously things had reached a head between them and neither she nor Anakin could face the lying any more. She had been the one to start by apologising resentfully for her entrapment of Anakin, duly noting that she loved him but it was painfully obvious that he would never love her. Anakin responded by telling her why. He was and always had been in love with Obi-wan. Padme took a few minutes to assimilate this new information before sighing with a heavy heart and admitting that it actually explained a lot about their relationship. Anakin had thereafter poured his heart out to her, confessing his passionate forays with his Master and their deep and sensual commitment of love to one another. It resonated hollowly against the woman he had been shagging for a year, the mother of his children, but it was the truth and they both deserved it. Anakin meant it. Padme finally understood what could bring a man to the very depths of depression and self abuse when surrounded by the beauty and tranquility of Naboo and resigned herself to her fate, her curtailed role in Anakin's life, and offered her help to reunite the star-crossed lovers as soon as it could be done.
Anakin, for his part, had apologised for his lies and deceit and professed his deep paternal love for the children they shared. He had spent agonising days quitting his vile addictions to pull himself back to something that resembled Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One, Hero with no Fear. He had moved into a spare bedroom and no longer felt sick from the pit of his stomach when he lay down to sleep or woke from his slumber because his every sense could now be filled with the intense intoxication that was his Obi-wan.
He had left the house before sun break this morning, as he did every morning, to cross the sparsely inhabited expense of land to reach the woodland that lay beyond the great lakes. Here, amongst the trees, with the water of a stream trickling over the stones, he would unsheathe his 'saber and practice his art. Here in fact he would practice all the arts of the Jedi, including meditation, a craft he had never really mastered until now. But in the woods, with the trees and the birds, he found it endlessly easier and somewhat advantageous to his well being. Obi-wan had been right. Not that that in itself was surprising Obi-wan was always right. He would laugh if he could see Anakin meditate, properly with no involvement of a sexual fantasy, and tell his Padawan he was getting old, growing up. Anakin smiled. He was growing up.
It was as Anakin swished and punched his lightsaber into the air around him that he felt a tremor in the Force. Well less like a tremor and more like the whole Force itself, it hit his stomach like a star destroyer had impaled him upon itself and he choked up on the sensation. Something was very, very wrong. He deactivated the 'saber and hooked it back on to his belt before starting back to Padme's house with a sprint. Anakin was normally an athletic Jedi but near on a year out of action coupled with his depressive decline and drug abuse had left his muscles weak and unable to cope with the demands he made on them. More than once he had to stop momentarily to collect himself.
He arrived at the house to see blaster fire on the walls and the door wide open. He shouted Padme's name desperately as he dashed through the rooms. His voice seemed to echo in the silence that met him. Then he stopped suddenly, gripped with fear.
Silence.
No baby's cry.
He frantically leapt up the stairs three at a time and rushed into the babies' room but there was no sign of them. He crossed the landing and entered Padme's room. The nets from the bay windows were billowing in from the outside and he could feel the terror that awaited him on the other side. He walked slowly, steeling himself, for what would greet him on the balcony.
The crib swayed gently in the breeze but the blankets were strewn across the marble floor in disarray. Padme clung to a shawl, the one she favoured to shroud Leia, but her body was lifeless. Pierced by the lasers of the guns as she'd tried in vain to defend her children. Anakin squatted on the floor, leaning his back against the window and running his fingers through his thick tussled hair. Watching her lie there pale and still the tears streamed out of him as his emotions gathered venom inside of him. His assignment had been fake, a concoction of Palpatine's to get Padme and himself out of Coruscant. But the mandate he had received from the Jedi council had been to protect her.
He had failed.
He leaned over to check her pulse but his actions were futile. She had been dead for some time. Standing furiously he turned away from the body and put his durasteel fist through the glass of the window to vent his anger, but it did nothing to relieve the pain. Turning back to Padme he scooped her delicate frame into his arms and took her into the bedroom to lay her on her bed. Her silky gown of greens and blues and pearls and glitter drifted over her perfect and beautiful form. Her long curled hair hugged her neck and shoulders. A pained expression cemented itself to her face and Anakin couldn't bear to behold it. He covered her in a blanket and left the room.
"3PO" He called gruffly from the top of the stairs. The golden droid appeared at the bottom seconds later.
"Master Anakin!" He exclaimed with a relieved tone.
Anakin descended the staircase to stand directly in front of him.
"What happened here?" He demanded.
"Oh Master Anakin it was terrible!They had blasters and they were shooting!"
"Padme is dead and the children are missing" Anakin informed him harshly, bitter that this mechanical being of his creation was perfectly unharmed when Padme had lost her life.
"I felt so, so useless..." 3PO began but Anakin interrupted abruptly.
"I want you to contact her family, let them come here and...take her away. Apologise for my failure and make a promise to them that I will avenge her death. Also excuse my absence."
"Why, where are you going Master Anakin?"
"To find Leia and Luke" Anakin asserted.
"But you don't know who has them, or where they have gone, or even if..."
"They ARE still alive!" Anakin bellowed. "And I'm going home"
"To Tatooine?"
"To Coruscant. The Chancellor may be able to help me, and Obi-wan is there, and I will solicit the council for their help if I have to"
"You would tell the Jedi council of the twins?" 3PO questioned surprised.
"I will do what I must"
Anakin waited impatiently in a plush and luxurious corridor of the grand building for an audience with Palpatine. Finally the aide bade him entrance to the suite and he dashed to meet the chancellor. Palpatine stood from his desk and came to greet Anakin with a firm, friendly handshake.
"Anakin how good to see you, good to see you" He affirmed with a warm smile.
"Padme's dead, she was killed and someone has kidnapped the twins" Anakin replied, his words tumbling out of his mouth hastily.
The chancellor coughed to clear his throat and turned aside from Anakin to gaze out of the panoramic window.
"Cut to the chase Anakin, please do" He hissed sarcastically.
"Who knew we were there?" Anakin interrogated, storming across the lush red carpet to face Palpatine. His eyes full of fire, fight, and hate. Fury, anger, and desperation drowning his aura. A murderous wrath suffocating his senses.
"Anakin...the Jedi" Palpatine answered with an air of regret in his voice. Anakin took a second to visibly process the chancellor's accusation.
"No. The Jedi didn't know Padme was pregnant" He reasoned.
"Wake up Anakin. The Jedi may not have known when you left but they have their spies. Anakin you know that the Jedi oppose the powers granted to me by a vote in the senate, don't you?"
"Of course, it is a break down of democracy and everything the Jedi stand for"
Palpatine grinned in acknowledgment.
"The Jedi believe the senate is corrupt, that I am corrupt"
"You are, you're a Sith"
"I am a politician Anakin, I just happen to have a knowledge of the Force at my disposal. I wish to change the system because this one simply doesn't work. The Jedi also want to change the system. To their advantage, for their greater power. Padme was the last of the senators that opposed the executive powers I have been granted. Who do you think disposed of all those in opposition?"
"I'm listening" Anakin spat, pacing back and forth.
"I admit I seem like the prime suspect and therein lies your answer. To take over the senate without losing their facade the Jedi would have to make it appear to be their only option. They would have to discredit me, or better still kill me-in their defence of course, and what better excuse than my guilt in the murders of the senators in my opposition? The Jedi needed those senators dead, Anakin, not me. It was their only card in gaining control. Padme was a dear friend of mine."
"And the children?" Anakin quizzed.
"The Force will be strong in your family Anakin. Do you think all of the younglings were simply handed over by the parents that gave birth to them and loved them? You are naive to the council's ways and its intentions Anakin"
"No, Obi-wan is a Master he wouldn't allow it" Anakin reasoned defiantly.
" The council stripped him of his rank long ago Anakin. They couldn't trust him. He would never knowingly hurt you, they knew that. They had to get rid of him".
"Where is he?" Anakin questioned desperately.
"I am afraid to tell you" Palpatine voiced regrettably.
"Where.Is.He?" Anakin punctuated demandingly, his anger undiminished. Palpatine sighed.
"I have access to the security recordings at the Temple Anakin. I'm afraid you may not like what you see".
Palpatine activated his desktop holopad and scanned it for the aforementioned recordings. As the image of Obi-wan filled the screen he beckoned Anakin to study it. Obi-wan's body looked weak and underfed. His robes were dirty and his hair was matted and untamed. His neck, wrists, and ankles were bound by Force restraints that burned the skin on point of contact and he was chained to the wall with minimal freedom to move around in the confines of his stall. There was no doubting where he was, Anakin had been there a thousand times before. The Temple holding cells. In the lower levels of the Temple in a corridor restricted to Knights and Masters, Obi-wan was captive in a room seven foot square suffering a neglect unbefitting of the Order.
Anakin moved closer to the screen as he saw something in the corner move.
"Luke?!" He exclaimed disbelievingly.
Palpatine shut off the image.
"I am sorry you had to see that Anakin. If there was anything I could have done I would have done it for you, but I have no jurisdiction over the Jedi, nothing can be done to help Obi-wan".
"Like fuck it can't!" Anakin thundered in a furious rage.
"What are you going to do?" Palpatine asked as Anakin stormed towards the door.
"Make them regret it" Came the dangerous reply.
"On your own?"
"I will do what I must to save him. Them" Anakin spoke defiantly.
"I will commission you a clone troop for your protection". Palpatine offered.
"The clones belong to the Jedi" Anakin stated.
"The clones belong to me" Palpatine corrected.
"Thank you" Anakin replied sincerely.
Obi-wan dragged himself closer to the small babes that lay helpless on the cold floor of their cell. He had been unconscious again. The pain of the restraints saw to that with some regularity. He was alone last time he remembered, although his life was a blurred vision these days, and now two children shared his confines and they were crying. He was weak but he managed to pull the babes closer to him so he could hold them comfortably. Comfort being relative to his current state. He gently stroked back the blonde hair on the boy's head in an attempt to soothe his cries, and wrapped both of them a little tighter in their shrouds to protect them from the harsh floor and chilled air. The crying subsided and they calmed and Obi-wan smiled meekly at his success. Then the boy opened his eyes and the look those oceanic orbs gave stabbed Obi-wan through his heart, twisted the knife, and then sunk it just a little deeper.
Those were Anakin's eyes.
He had seen them on an innocent 9 year old Qui-Gon had begged him to train. He had seen them on an annoyingly curious pre-pubescent child who never tired of questions. He had seen them on the petulant teenager who had grown cocky and arrogant. He had seen them on the beautiful young man who had fantasised about him in the bath tub. He had seen them on the man who taught him both how to be a lover and how to love. And he had seen them on a knight in an elevator desperate for his help. Now he saw them on that knight's son he understood why.
The child was so perfect, so innocent, so trusting. The girl too. Obi-wan drew them closer to his chest in a hopeless bid to protect them from the horrors that surrounded them.
Their very existence tore at Obi-wan's soul, affirming what he had always known. He wasn't good enough for Anakin. Anakin had had him and wanted more and he had chosen Padme. The Force restraints could no longer match the pain he felt in the pit of his stomach and the far reachings of his heart. If Anakin didn't love him then the restraints could knock him out as much as they cared to, it would serve to ease his new suffering.
With tears stinging his eyes and staining his face he tried to sing a soothing lullaby he held in his memory. Maybe his own mother had sung it to him. He wished he could remember her.
Some hours later the door to his cell opened and the gaunt figure of his captor appeared.
"Getting acquainted are we?" He asked with a vile grin. Obi-wan folded his arms protectively over the children.
"Why are they here? Why have you given me Anakin's children?" Obi-wan demanded to know, failing to keep the whimper of hurt from his voice.
"What makes you think they are Anakin's?"
"The boy has his eyes"
"Well their mother is dead and their father is currently employed, and in no fit state to care for two young children anyway"
"Padme is dead?"
"A necessary occurence I assure you"
"Why are you keeping me here? Why are you keeping me alive?" Obi-wan spat pathetically through bitter tears.
"I need you. Well more precisely I need Anakin. And Anakin loves you..."
"He doesn't love me. He loves Padme. These are proof".
"Proof of what? Love? No, sex? Yes. Anakin despised Padme, you on the other hand he is willing to sacrifice everything for. Which rather conveniently brings me to the purpose of my visit. Loverboy has come home and learned of the terrible fate that has entrenched you and I wanted to share with you the lengths that Anakin is willing to go to to save you. Pity he won't ever see you again after such a dedicated act but my need of both of you is soon to be fulfilled. Watch"
A holopad was placed in front of Obi-wan's prone form as he was forced to watch a play back of the Jedi Temple security recordings. Obi-wan watched as pain and grief washed his body in their thick and putrid scent. He had no tears left to cry for the catastrophe that unfolded in front of him. His boy, his love, his life striking down Jedi after Jedi after Jedi. The fitful rage growing within him with every strike. Padawans, Knights, Masters, every Jedi that crossed his path, every Jedi he found in every corner of every room, every Master, every council member, Ki-adi, Kit, Mace, even Yoda suffered the cruel, brutal and fatal blow of Skywalker's lightsaber. Obi-wan turned away as he approached a group of younglings.
"Turn it off!" He yelled with an anguished and sorrow filled cry.
"He didn't kill the children, Kenobi, did you think he would?" The shrill and piercing laughter that followed his words froze the blood in Obi-wan's veins.
"I have to be somewhere Kenobi but don't think I'm forgetting about you. Your death is imminent along with Anakin's."
"What about the children? What is their fate?"
"They are strong with the Force. I shall train Luke as my apprentice. As for Leia..." A perverse smile smothered his features. Obi-wan could have killed him just for that very thought. He huddled the bundles tighter to his body.
"Anakin will stop you" He spat.
"Didn't you see? Anakin is working for me now" Came the satisfied reply.
The door slammed shut and Obi-wan was left to languish in his hovel lamenting Anakin's self destruction.
Having disposed of any Jedi that posed a threat to him Anakin headed down to the lower levels of the Temple, to the holding cells. There were forty cells and he broke through each one in turn, his undertaking becoming more frantic with every cell that didn't house his true love.
It was on the 17th cell that he stopped and entered the room, its prisoner cowering in the opposing corner. It had a small barred window that looked out onto Coruscant. Not big enough to see out of properly but big enough to let in some light. And there were no physical restraints on the wall. He went back over the previous sixteen to confirm his suspicion and then completed his search of the other twenty three just in case. They all had windows. Obi-wan had had no window. His rage subsiding into despair he closed his eyes and tried hard to concentrate. Obi-wan was in restraints but Luke hadn't been. If he could just hook on to his signature...
...And there it was. In the building he had just stormed away from. Under the guard of a man he should never have trusted. Anakin's fury re-surged. He meant what he had said, he would do what he must to save Luke, and Leia, and Obi-wan.