Summery : Five years after Mustafar, Darth Vader is but a shadow of the powerful Sith Lord he should be. To the point where the emperor must use the apprentice bond to force Vader to act. But why?

Chalk it up to two undaunted women who will not let even death stop them from saving the soul of the man they both loved.

Force-Speech

*Thoughts*

Disclaimer - I neither own copyright or receive money for anything. I write to improve my ability and for enjoyment.

We all need something to fight for:

Chapter Three: The regretful hermit

Obi-wan Kenobi sighed and stretched his stiffing limbs as he brought himself out of his evening meditation. *I'm getting old* he thought ruefully. Then he shook his head. *More likely then not, I've been neglecting my practice again. Blast! Inexcusable Kenobi and you know it!* After all, he was still in his prime was he not? Still the years of solitude had taken their toll on him. It had taken him three years to perfect the ability to speak with his former master, the deceased's Jedi Knight, Qui-gon Jinn. At first it was difficult to accept such an outrageous idea, even in the Force.

Then he had to deal with the agonizing feelings of failure that Qui-gon's visits first brought. His master attached no blame to Obi-wan, indeed he felt that he'd been wrong to place such a burden on the newly-fledged Jedi Knight. Yet Obi-wan could not shake his own regrets over what happened. Especially since Qui-gon still insisted that Anakin was indeed the Chosen One. Which brought an automatic reply from Obi-wan that "Anakin is dead, master. Only Darth Vader remains." Qui-gon left the topic alone mercifully enough after a while.

Yet the last time he had brought it up and Obi-wan had snapped his reply, the glowing form just shook his head. He lives on, Obi-wan. If only in the dreams that use to torment him. Kenobi had been incensed at that reply. It had taken him a while to finally figure out what his former master meant, and even now he wasn't certain of the answer. Because if his guess was right, then facing those consequences would be too devastating. For Anakin had always had dreams. Prophetic dreams that always came true in the worst way.

The first had been the nightmares about his mother. A solid month had gone by with Anakin waking up half the temple with his agitation. It was with relief that Obi-wan had accepted the assignment to guard the Senator from Naboo. It wasn't till he found out that Padme was the senator in question that he started to worry. With good reason as it turned out. But the nightmares had continued to plague Anakin to the point that Padme had agreed to go to Tatooine to find out what was happening.

And the dreams that Obi-wan dismissed had come true indeed. Anakin never spoke of what had happened on his home-world, but it left its mark on him. The next set of dreams came about concerning Anakin's own padawan who was looking forward to knighthood at that point. She only had one last mission to undertake. Yet Anakin became very reluctant to let Ashoka go on that mission, arguing and pleading with her by turns. When Obi-wan wrung the confession of nightmares out of Anakin, it was the last straw. The council itself intervened and Anakin was not allowed to say goodbye to his padawan. A fact that he bitterly resented when it was reported that her convoy had been attacked and all on board killed.

Did Anakin have another nightmare, this one about his wife? Obi-wan doubted he would ever know. Certainly his former padawan would have known not to come to him, for he had dismissed every other nightmare vision that the young man had ever had. In light of that idea, what happened on Mustafar was almost unbearable.

*'The Negotiator' they called me. Hmph, so much for such as that!* was Obi-wan's last thought as he fell asleep.