Chapter 19
But it was Anakin. He could sense it was Anakin, beneath the confusion and fear, it was still his brother.
It was Anakin who stopped Obi Wan, only to retract his own blade. "He hasn't told the entire truth. You are the prize, Obi Wan. To him I am worthless, a slave he has already beaten. But if he can make you, the best of the Jedi, turn…"
Obi Wan looked at Sidious, only now realizing the extent of the danger. In spite of all he had assumed about dark and light sides of the force, of all he thought he knew about attachment and loss, still he had fallen.
"You can't add this to the count," he quipped in relief.
For a moment, Obi Wan felt that fearsome black mask staring at him, perplexed. Then he felt Anakin's laughter through the force. For the first time, in a long time, Obi Wan truly felt hope.
Which is of course, the moment when everything changed for the worse.
"Brothers-in-arms once again?" cackled Palpatine. "Well then, you can both die together."
BREAK BREAK BREAK
He was killing him. Although Palpatine had promised them a joint death, it was Obi Wan who bore the brunt of the deadly voltage. Anakin, who remembered the agony of thinking his mentor, his father in all but blood, dead, watched in horror as Obi Wan's crumpled and screamed. For so long he had hated Obi-Wan. He had loathed the old man for a thousand slights, for leaving him burning, for not seeing his pain and trying to help him, and now…now he watched as Palpatine, who he had also hated for the past two decades, tried to destroy his old friend.
No! Palpatine must be stopped. Slowly, trying not to catch the emperor's attention, and what further proof of the evil old man's break with sanity than his sadistic glee at torturing the weary jedi. Slowly Vader picked up Palpatine.
He gripped the old man tightly, refusing to let go even when through the pain of absorbing all that electrical charge, even through the agony of sensing the life support systems in his suit begin to malfunction. He had allowed this creature to gain power and now he would destroy this threat once and for all. Moving resolutely toward the reactor shaft, he lifted his arms, prepared to hurl his master over the edge – prepared to follow him into the void and end this conflict once and for all.
BREAK BREAK BREAK
This was pain. Curled in a ball on the ground, unable to cope with a world that encompassed only agony, Obi Wan tried to move past the physical torment. Anakin needed him.
BREAK BREAK BREAK
She saw him, her husband, her beloved, her hero, about to sacrifice himself. No disguises now. She had abandoned the droid shell once she had gotten past the emperors' guards. Clinging to the shadows, she had hurried, hoping to get to Anakin in time.
There was no time. She raised her blaster and fired.
Did Palpatine gasp in surprise? She didn't care. Before she could pride herself on a well aimed shot as what was left of the emperor tumbled out of Anakin's arms, her horror grew as Anakin lost his balance and started to topple over the edge.
She ran but she knew she could never make it in time. He would fall into the reactor shaft. She would lose him. How could she lose him again?
"No! Anakin!"
BREAK BREAK BREAK
Padmé.
He had been prepared to die, been ready to plummet to his death, to let loose his connection to this world and to those he loved in the knowledge that his last actions might atone in some small part for all of his mistakes. But now he was dangling, one prosthetic hand clutched tightly to the railing clinging to life, desperate to find out if Padmé was truly there, if she was safe.
His suit was breaking down. His strength was giving out. And then he saw Obi Wan, leaning over the reactor shaft, reaching down and grabbing him by the hand.