A/N: So. My personal situation will make my updating a little spotty. But it will (hopefully) also make my writing better. ;-)

Onze: Necrophobia

Anakin felt the death of the Mandalorian in the Force. It thrummed in his ears, the extinguishing of another soul. And he again felt the oncoming presence of four identical minds: the clones. Anger brushed him again, and he grimaced, continued walking. Not far ahead, he could sense Padme. Standing in his way were a group of presences - and one of them was Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Vader stirred, as he had not done for some time. Now - vengeance at last.

Anakin nodded. He will suffer as she and I have suffered.

Vader: Slow.

Anakin: Painful.

The Dark Side now rushed into him as rage began to rise in his gut. It filled him with a burning need for blood, a lust for death almost as strong as his desire for his wife. He was close now, and he drew upon more and more of the Force, sucking in so that it whirled around him like a planet rotates around a star.

Or, perhaps more like a black hole.

His saber shot into his hand, gleaming blue, sizzling plasma. His mechanical hand clenched the grip so tightly that the servomotors whined and hissed. And then, gulping all of the Force that he could contain, he lunged around the corner and -

- Obi-Wan instantly attacked. Instinct charged his nerves, and he brought his blade down with the force of a falling weight. Anakin lurched aside and caught it - just barely - and slid aside. He sent a thrust in his ex-master's direction, then bounded off of one of the walls and spun, throwing a kick in Obi-Wan's direction. The Jedi ducked it, lunged forward, right in Anakin's face, their blades snapping blue fire in all directions.

Obi-Wan ducked low, spun, throwing a foot at Anakin. The young man jumped it, swung down. His blade whizzed through air and sprayed sparks across the floor. Obi-Wan charged him again, his shoulder slamming into Anakin's gut. Anakin spun, throwing Obi-Wan off, slid to one side, impossibly smooth, impossibly fast. Now Obi-Wan stood between Anakin and the huge blast door at the end of the chamber.

Behind the Jedi Master, security raised their weapons, suddenly unsure. With Obi-Wan between them and their target, accuracy would be a problem - let alone the difficulty of fratricide. But Obi-Wan could barely sense the Force, and thus, he could not know of his mistake. He acted purely on the emotions that were fighting within him now: frustration, sorrow, pain. He launched a flurry of blows that Anakin parried with infuriating ease, then paused as Skywalker broke off. "Obi-Wan!" the young man said, grinning. "It is good to see you again."

The Jedi Master wiped sweat from his brow, tried to think of some kind of response. Finally: "Anakin - you have no chance. Even if you defeat me, you know as well as I do that the men behind me could easily shoot you to pieces." He paused and readied himself for inevitable battle, even as he tried to stave it off with his words. "Do not do this. Lay down your lightsaber, and you will live."

Anakin shot the Jedi a look. Without meaning to, Obi-Wan had touched on the raw nerve.

"I do not want to live," he replied, stiffening, face dimming. "A life without my love is not life to me."

Obi-Wan kept his mouth a thin line. Anakin had now just touched on something Obi-Wan had considered during his stint as a Padawan, during his relationship with Siri Tachi, and now, during his three-year exile: love. Where did this most noble of human emotions fit within the Jedi Order? It was obviously part of the Light; Obi-Wan had considered it long and hard, but had come to the conclusion that love was a non-sensitive creature's connection to the Light. But now - hearing the pain in Anakin's voice, he suddenly realized that Anakin was being driven by two vast motors: love, and hatred.

Balance.

The thought struck him between the eyes. Anakin was teetering between both sides of the Force. Pierced between two daggers, each deadly in their own right.

It distracted him.

And thus, he was utterly, ridiculously unprepared when Anakin unleashed the power of the Force, of the Dark Side, within him. The results...

Obi-Wan stared as a liquid wave of pure energy ripped itself from Anakin's half-open mouth, his nose, his staring eyes, and absolutely scorched the passage, blazing like a tunnel of fire directly at Obi-Wan. This wasn't Sith lightning. 'Lightning' was an inadequate descriptor for the incandescent supernova of diamond-pure rage that burned the senses and razed the flesh.

And it was coming right for him.