Hello there! I'm back! Yes, my GCSE exams are over! This chapter is lenghtly since I feel I should give you that after leaving you hanging for a while. To let you know, sadly our ride is coming to and end. We have one more chapter left after this and then BAM its over. But... there will be a sequel. :) There is a poll on my profile whether or not to write the sequel as a seperate story or just continue by merging the sequel with this one but still as a seperate story. If you want to vote then please do either by the poll in my profile or by review. Anyway, hope you enjoy this slice of Love and War! :)

Chapter 25. The choices we make.

The first feeling inside Obi-Wan that made its self abundantly known was the tight coiling his gut made upon the sight his eyes beheld him with as Satine writhed within Vizsla's iron grip, and he felt the coil happen again, more tightly, as his sharp eyes flickered directly to the tyrant's fingers as they dug further into Satine's arm, making her wince from the sharp pain that must have entered her.

The second feeling was a cold numbness that overtook him, and he felt devoid of any other feeling but anger and hate, no matter how much he tried to pull himself away from the feelings.

And the penumbra of emotions that he felt roiling through him came from his attachment to the woman he loved so dearly standing not so many feet before him. Whatever happened next would be his actions in his final trial.

"Let her go, Vizsla," the Jedi Master ordered, the authority cutting into his voice like a scythe.

Vizsla made no move to oblige. He didn't even speak. He looked like a statue.

"Let. Her. Go." This time Obi-Wan felt his anger rising, boiling over him and encasing him like molten lava.

'There must be a way in which I can alter this vision,' Obi-Wan calculated the odds of success, his mind unravelling numerous outcomes to this. 'Even if it comes down to an undesirable ending for me, if she is safe then that's all that matters.'

"As you wish, Kenobi," Vizsla's silky voice sang mockingly through the air vibrating air between them, the tension between them both as potent as they were very prepared to pounce at one another.

Anakin's sapphire eyes glanced nervously between the two as Vizsla slowly extended his arm outwards, shepherding Satine forwards like a sheep to a farmer. The Jedi Knight's attention constantly wavered to Vizsla's steely eyes, however, noticing the small flashes they gave and minute twitches. Being more attuned to the Force, the energy called these things to him like a guide, and on most occasions he followed. And it was hence this warning, that he picked up the other man's intentions before he had even began to initiate them.

With an outstretched hand and a ferocious cry, he yelled, "Obi-Wan look out!"

Obi-Wan whipped his head around and quickly glanced at Anakin with now electric blue eyes as all in one fluid motion Vizsla had shoved Satine forwards, causing the petite woman to stumble clumsily forward like a drunk and for him to latch into his blaster that rested securely on his right hip. Obi-Wan, expecting something like this to happen, leapt through the air, landing directly in front of Satine and igniting his lightsaber, the brilliant blue blade flashing as he spun the ancient weapon in front of him, deflecting the sanguine blaster bolt that was originally destined to tear through Satine.

Instantly chaos ensued as Vizsla and his men began to retrace their steps backwards, however, to his dismay, they were about to be cut off by the clones.

"Troopers! Block their escape!" Anakin bellowed, igniting his own blue blade and glancing at Ahsoka beside him as she ignited her two Emerald sabers with two rhythmic snap hisses as her face instantly took on a hard, stony expression. Anakin smirked. Battle had toughened her up not only in her snappy quips, but both mentally and psychically. She, like them all, was both a tangent mixture of both Jedi and warrior.

As he twirled his lightsaber in a deadly manner of swirls, slashes and arcs, Anakin's now flashing eyes imminently locked onto the clones for a few seconds as they teetered forwards quickly in their bred military fashion and circled the large doors, blocking anyone's escape before they poured rapid fire onto the unsuspecting Death Watch troops, several of them going down dead before they could even stop their pounding steps of cowardly retreat and raise their blasters an inch.

"Master!" Ahsoka's voice bellowed out to his ears as her Emerald blade flashed green in front of his face, slashing down to the centre of his torso where the thrumming blade was quick enough to deflect a blaster bolt.

Anakin blew out a small whistle as he returned his attention towards the heated battle, eyes sharp on the bolts desired to riddle him with smouldering holes and calculating his next steps to proceed forwards and achieve victory. "Thanks, 'Soka."

Ahsoka grinned toothily, catching breath and expressing her amusement as she continued whipping the blades before her, the advantage of two lightsabers with the rapidly rising padawan showing her worthiness of becoming a fully-fledged Knight. "Always in time to save your life."

Anakin smiled as his mind briefly flashed back to the moment the AAT blithered a circle of droidekas that he had been standing helplessly within six months ago.

His sly smile remained plastered on to his face as he continued to send the spiralling bolts back towards their enemies, hitting several of them in a matter of seconds, allowing them to step forwards and gain more ground.

Obi-Wan sent a surge of Force energy towards Vizsla, knocking him off his feet and sending him tumbling helplessly to the ground, the intervention allowed the Jedi Master to grab Satine's hand, haul her up and launch himself away with her all in one movement. The dashed towards a relatively unscathed pillar and turned the corner behind it.

Satine panted breathlessly as her hands and head lay upon the Jedi's firm chest, keeping her eyes low and trying to find a rhythmic heartbeat again as her head was constantly rising and falling with Obi-Wan's chest as he too attempted to gain a steady breathing pattern again. His back was leaning against the pillar tightly, trying to melt his and Satine's body into it like they would be invisible towards the naked eye.

The breathless and rightful Duchess tilted her head upwards and found her eyes connecting instantly with Obi-Wan's. She felt her gaze locked onto his, unable to tear her crystalline eyes away from his storm grey. She noticed the small change of emotion that made his eyes darken to an electric, misty blue. Everything around them seemed obsolete; the shouts and cries of men around them as they fought, the explosions of blaster fire and the remote thrumming of a pulsing lightsaber blade.

The two found themselves leaning slowly towards each other, lips moving closer together, closing the distance between them.

A faint whistling shot through the air between them as a crimson blaster bolt exploded beside Obi-Wan's head leaving a smouldering and smoking black wound in the wall, and the Jedi turned his eyes towards a Death Watch trooper. Immediately Obi-Wan recognised the insignia of a flying creature upon a grey cape and his eyes narrowed. The man who had tried to put a hole in his head was Thorn.

In a flash, Obi-Wan spun Satine behind him as he removed himself off the wall and flicked his wrist. Thorn seemed unfazed for a moment, before his knees buckled beneath him and his body collapsed to the floor in a colossal heap, his armoured head detaching its self from its body and rolling once along the debris-covered marble floor.

The Jedi and his love shared a brief glance before moving again.

"Anakin Skywalker…" a silky voice cooed his name as the young Jedi Knight slowly turned around after disposing of the remaining troops firing at him and Ahsoka.

Asajj Ventress sauntered before the Master and Padawan duo, swaying her hips elegantly like a dancer. Her icy eyes were flashing dangerously as she stared at Anakin. "And his little, obnoxious pet."

A low, feral growl erupted out of Ahsoka's throat as she gazed daggers at the Sith Apprentice.

"Ventress," Anakin snarled quietly, eyes narrowing to near slits.

Ventress smiled coyly as her hands glided down herself to wrap her fingers around her twin lightsabers, detaching them from her belt as she formed an x over her chest and ignited them, the red beams illuminating her like fire before she hurled herself towards the two jedi with a guttural yell.

The Jedi pair raised their lightsabers in time to block the blows aimed for them and adjusted their steps as they pushed her off of them before engaging the woman again, blue, red and Emerald flashing before them as they danced in the deadly game they were playing.

Ventress slashed vertically at Ahsoka who leapt backwards before leaping almost instantaneously forwards again to her previous space and launching a flurry of attacks with her lightsaber, trying to knock a blade out of Ventress hand as she sent thrusting motions towards the mad Sith witch with her shoto.

Ventress blocked the blows easily, cackling madly as she did so and throwing her head back. Ahsoka ground her teeth tighter and leapt over Ventress' head, somersaulting as she did so and landing on her feet behind her.

Ventress, aware of the rising heat in the three's deadly dance, jumped back away from the two Jedi slightly who turned to face her, blade pointed towards her in a defensive manner as she slammed the two butt ends of her lightsabers together and formed a staff. She twizzled the staff in her hands eloquently before leaping forwards again and attacking, Anakin leaping over her this time and blocking any blows that came towards him from the use of Ventress' front ferociously attacking Ahsoka and trying to find a weak point to expose.

As if his wish had been granted, Ventress was too intent on murdering his Ahsoka, Anakin quickly sent a swift kick to Ventress back, exploiting her weak point and causing the woman to stumble forwards, staff still in hand. Ahsoka seized the opportunity and, in a flash of superior speed, brought her blade up and slashed through the centre of Ventress' staff, effectively rendering the two lightsabers from connecting again through the rest of the battle.

The Togrutan Padawan then used a subtle nudge of the Force to spin the dazed Sith Apprentice around so she faced Anakin as he soon sent his blade slashing across him and watching as the blazing blade severed through the flesh and bone of Ventress' right hand. Whilst she screamed a guttural yell of agony as her ice eyes stared in horror at the charred stub of her wrist, Anakin swiftly kicked her remaining lightsaber out of her left hand and ignored the clatter it made as it skidded along the floor. His eyes were only focused on Ventress now kneeling before him as her body convulsed in quakes of trembles of pain as she groaned.

Ahsoka panted behind her, lightsabers still pointed towards Ventress. Her eyes briefly glanced at Anakin, trying to gauge a reaction out of him but failed as he continued to stare at Ventress. Ahsoka tried to read the message his eyes were conveying, as if two sides of the man before her were discussing how to deal with Ventress. She swore once she saw the question of killing her. Surely he wouldn't would he? It wasn't the Jedi way.

"Master?" the Togruta asked slowly, her eyes glistening with questions of what just went on inside the mind of Anakin Skywalker.

He appeared to have snapped out of his dream as he turned his attention to her quickly. Nothing more was spoken between them.

Cody groaned in frustration as he fired rapidly at the troops trying to kill him and his brothers. His head was lowered down next to his blaster propping up against the roof of a chunk of debris from a half collapsed pillar as his eyes stared straight down the length of his blaster and through the small hedges on it that served as his target recital.

A pain-filled cry came from his side of the battleground as he hastily turned his head for his brown eyes still upon the sight of Sonny who was lying motionless on the ground, arm bent above his head and on the floor and a black hole burnt onto the armour at his upper chest on his right side. He stared in horror as he then witnessed Jax rushing to Sonny and kneeling beside him, checking his vitals before turning to him.

"Commander he needs atten-" his pleas were cut off as a blaster bolt struck him in the head, and his body collapsed lifelessly to the ground beside Sonny.

The cool running of a single tear slipped over the lid of Cody's eye and slipped down his cheek as he gazed longingly at the two brothers for a few endless moments, trying to pull them away from heaven and will the life back into them. Knowing that they were both lost and swallowing the sob in his throat down to his stomach, he turned his attention back to the battle, shooting down his adversaries whilst grieving inside for his lost brothers.

A blaster struck next to him, exploding in small sparks as it grazed the steel of the door he was planted in front of. 'Argh, we need back up…'

Just then the doors burst open, causing Cody to quickly spin his head around and raise his blaster defensively in front of him, expecting more troopers to storm in and kill them. However, he lowered his weapon when six citizens wandered in, fierce looks of determination on their faces and hands clutching at blasters. One, a tall, broad man with the muscular build of a brute had a blaster holstered at his side and his fists clenched tightly in front of him in a defensive stance. Clearly the man relied on brute strength.

The other five citizens, still armed with their blasters, quickly disposed of the shocked Death Watch mercenaries in a few sudden shots.

Cody looked at them quizzically. For average citizens they each had a heart of a lion.

"Thank you for the assistance, but for your own safety, I advise that you remove yourselves from the premises."

The largest of the group, the muscular one, smirked at him before replying. "It looked like our entrance has just guaranteed your own safety, mate." Cody detected the arrogance in his statement easily and frowned beneath his helmet.

"Now, Garen," a blonde man warned in an authoritative tone, placing a hand on the man's forearm. Garen nodded silently and turned his attention to the battle scarred room.

"There's general Skywaker!" a raven haired woman called, pointing a finger at the Jedi Knight before shouting his name. "General Skywalker! General!"

The Jedi Knight lifted his sandy head upwards and took in the sight of them before rushing up to them. The urgency in his tone was palpable. "What's going on? Are you all right?"

"Yes, General Skywalker," the blonde man replied, stepping forwards to stand in front of the taller and broader man. "We're fine. When the Death Watch came we figured that a spy must have followed us as we all escorted General Kenobi to safety. They sieged us. We did our best to defend but we were clearly outnumbered. We were rendered unconscious and when we came to we noticed the Duchess was missing as well as all of you. We figured that you'd all be here."

"Especially when the smoke billowed out from the palace," Halla added.

"So we thought we'd join," Garen said merrily, a smirk curling the corners of his lips. "We can't let you have allof the fun."

Anakin returned the smile briefly and nodded his assertiveness. "All right, well our troops numbers are dwindling," at this his eyes averted to the two lifeless corpses of Sonny and Jax before Anakin turned his eyes to Cody and nodded, eyes shining mourning. "and we need you guys to help them hold out this area. Watch your backs in case any of them try to come in behind you."

They all nodded and watched as Anakin leapt back into battle.

Obi-Wan swung his blade at anyone who came near him. Preserving the life of Satine mattered the most to him, and he was determined to see that objective through. His mind was so focused on the here and now as he slashed through yet another trooper with bravado that was too much to handle as he tried to grab the Jedi only to have his chest slashed wide open the wound cauterizing immediately and burning a crisp orange.

Obi-Wan paused with Satine in hand as he finished off the circle of mercenaries around them.

His eyes swept across the room, drinking in the sight of corpses, debris, scorch marks and those who remained. He briefly settled his eyes on Anakin and Ahsoka, battling on near an unconscious Ventress whom he noted was missing a hand, and the clones, Cody most notably and the Mandalorian rebels.

Then, a small click followed by a repetitive beeping filled his ears as his enhanced senses screamed at him to take evade the threat. Looking down, his eyes settled on a thermal detonator lying before his feet. Before he even comprehended on which direction he was going, his pushed Satine away to a safe distance with a surge of the Force and leapt himself away from the threat, the explosion carrying him a few extra feet through the air. Obi-Wan, in a split second, soon began experiencing the exhilarating feeling of free-falling, which was wonderful, even for a Force sensitive, however, self- preservation kicked in as his hand aimlessly snatched out in the open air and latched around onto a banister on a balcony below the floor where the battle was situated.

The sudden halt caused him to grunt at the pull that ran up his right arm and side as he hung there helplessly. Swinging his left arm up, he latched his left hand onto the railing too, and after taking a deep breath, he hurled himself up with the use of the Force, jumping back up and flipping through the open window, landing in a crouch on the balls of his feet, hands out before him and planted firmly on the floor, steadying him.

He paused for a few moments to catch his breath before looking up, anger instantly overriding him at the sight of Vizsla. He then noticed that the sounds of a raging battle had died. There was no blaster fire being exchanged. No crashing of debris or yells of angered voices. Not even the sound of a lightsaber was humming through the air. The only audible sounds were that of breathing and Obi-Wan's own heartbeat beating frantically in his ears.

Vizsla held a blaster up at him, the nozzle pointed directly for his head, and Obi-Wan slowly outstretched his fingers of his hands to his sides, praying his lightsaber was next to him.

"I wouldn't do that," Vizsla ordered quietly, the blaster remaining pointed towards Obi-Wan. "Not unless you want a hole in that pretty face of yours." So his lightsaber was beside him. Good to know. The fact that Vizsla had told him not to move an inch clarified that it was.

"It's over, Kenobi."

Obi-Wan closed his eyes and sighed, trying to stretch out to the Force. It offered him no comfort for his aching heart and anger crawling its way through him. 'Force do not forsake me…'

"You're right," he tilted his head back to stare at Vizsla and upon the sight of the monster he felt himself slip once more. The anger rose for what the monster had subjected him to for weeks. For what he had done to Satine. That was worst of his atrocities. He swore he would never touch her. His self-made promise was broken, and he hated himself for it. 'It's not going to happen again!'

"It is!"

With that, he snatched his hands out and called upon the Force for his lightsaber. It landed in his right hand and he felt the energy and familiarity flow through him as the metal cylinder connected with the skin of his hand. Instantly, he ignited the blade with a snap hiss and flew towards him in one great leap.

When he was about to slash open Vizsla's chest, he felt a great amount of energy smash into his side, and before he could comprehend the cause and why, he once again experienced the thrill of freefalling before colliding into a wall, back and head cracking off the walls hard surface before lazily slipping down it.

However he was still conscious, he didn't know exactly, but he shook himself out of the fog that had clouded his mind and raised his aching head to level his gaze with Anakin's who had his hand held out before him.

A growl rose in Obi-Wan's throat. "What are you doing?"

Anakin lowered his hand and stepped forwards, a plain mask of impassiveness was on his face, however, betrayed his emotions inside. "Master please stop and think about what you are doing?" the young Jedi implored.

Obi-Wan shook his head solemnly. "I'm sorry, but you don't know half of the terrible things he has done."

"I know he hurt you," Anakin's voice wavered. "I know he hurt Satine and has hurt many people. This population for that matter. But you're looking to kill him."

"He's too dangerous to be kept alive!" Obi-Wan rebuked.

"It's not the Jedi way!" Anakin yelled, hoping to knock some coherent sense into his best friend. 'Please, Obi-Wan don't do this…'

"I'm doing it to protect everyone! To protect Satine!"

"And do you think she'd want you to kill him? You'd become a murderer."

"We became murderers when we entered this war," Obi-Wan whispered sorrowfully. "We've helped in the destruction of civilisations, even if indirectly." He shook his head. "We can never wipe the blood off our hands. I'm doing this to save countless lives," he looked up to Vizsla and felt the burning hatred quench his calmness again. "And by doing so is to kill him!" he spat.

Obi-Wan heard the soft footsteps in front of him and looked up to see Anakin standing a little closer, hand on his lightsaber hilt. He bowed his head again, trying to fight off the darkness threatening to take hold of him.

"Then I will stop you," Anakin's voice was cold and harsh, all friendliness void now of a strong man.

And then it happened. The darkness took a hold. Preyed on his weakness as his defences cracked yet again. Now he felt betrayed. His best friend would not help him accomplish something that will save lives, only condemn. Obi-Wan had sold his sold his soul to make good on this day happen. Now it was being prevented. That made anyone here now against him a threat.

His head shot up, and once beautiful stormy eyes has twisted into a gruelling and sickly amber, yellow and red mixing together like a disgusting substance that now made Obi-Wan's eyes look like fire. "You can't!" he roared as he sprang up and bounded towards Anakin, snatching his lightsaber and igniting it, pointing it towards a stunned Anakin's heart. He landed before him and swung back, and as he was about to deliver the blow to an unprepared Skywalker.

A single sound, that which he had feared all throughout the battle erupted from thin air. The Jedi Master slowly turned his auburn head around towards where the sound had come from. He felt sick to his stomach at the sight.

Satine stood hunched slightly, hands covering her stomach. Crimson blood slowly seeped through the crevasses between her fingers, and her breathing was laboured. She looked over to Obi-Wan with glassy, pain-filled eyes, and collapsed to the ground.

The Jedi Master was by her side in an instant, lightsaber carelessly thrown away from him in horror as he skidded next to her and kneeled down, hands shaking as thy hovered over her, daring not to touch her to cause her more pain. Finally, he couldn't bare it and gently, slipping a hand under her upper back and wrapping the other one around her waist, he gently lifted her up to him so she was half laying on him. Tears spilled over his eyes and ran like rivers down his cheeks as he stared at her, a finger of one hand floating down her cheek.

"Obi-Wan…" she whispered his name breathlessly.

"Don't do this to me," he whispered mournfully. "Don't leave me."

"I… don't know if… I can h…hold on."

Obi-Wan shook his head. "You're not going to die. Do you understand?"

Then, Obi-Wan's entire frame stiffened. His vision had come to pass. Vizsla had shot Satine. Anger swept through him as he clenched his jaw tightly in an attempt not to yell in anguish.

One word echoed through his mind. Murderer.

He slowly put Satine, who was hanging on to life by an inch, and stood up, mechanically turning to Vizsla who looked triumphant until his gaze fell on Obi-Wan.

Vizsla saw the change in his eyes. They were no longer alive and bright. They were a cold grey and dead. Dead.

Before Vizsla could step back he felt tightness close around his throat. He raised his hands and clawed at his throat ravenously for the invisible hand that stopped his breathing and was choking the life out of him.

Obi-Wan stood there, not too far away from him, hand outstretched towards him, mimicking gripping his throat, his face expressionless.

Finally, before the darkness swirling into Vizsla's view could totally swamp him, he felt himself flying and smashing into a wall, dazing him. Everyone stared in shock at Obi-Wan, aghast to what he had just done.

Obi-Wan himself did nothing before he suddenly wavered, gripping his head in his heads and groaning. His head felt like it was splitting in half as images of what he had just done flickered through his mind's eye.

Suddenly they seized and Obi-Wan straightened himself. He stood there, mulling over what he had just done, and horror at his own actions and not being in control of himself overtook him. 'Oh Force what have I done?'He hated himself for giving himself over to the dark side, even if only for temporary. He felt tainted. He knew he would never be the same again.

Then he remembered Satine and in a flash he was beside her again, frantically running his hands over her.

"Obi…"

Without a word, Obi-Wan swiftly removed her hands from her stomach and quickly placed his own over the blaster wound, ignoring her sharp hiss of pain as he channelled any energy of the Force's power to heal her.

He felt the energy he summoned, warm and inviting pour through him to her and through their renewed bond which was hot, strong and desperate.

He felt his reserve power he had left to offer her dwindling, threatening to do damage to him. He didn't care. Giving one final push, he sent it to her before quickly retreating from her and sitting back, panting breathlessly with an agape mouth and raising his blood stained hands to eye level.

He brought them back down and looked at Satine who still lay motionless. He crawled over to her and gazed at her. Her skin had taken on a light grey appearance and Obi-Wan's heart shattered like glass.

No.

She couldn't be gone. She couldn't leave him.

He bowed his head to the ground and silently cried, not caring how vulnerable he must have looked.

Anakin and Ahsoka, along with everyone else stood off to the side, staring at the scene with aching hearts. The Master and Padawan shared a solemn look, though hope burned in Anakin's eyes. 'There's always hope!' he remembered his desperate words to the Father when asking to bring Ahsoka back from the cold clutches of death on Mortis.

Obi-Wan continued to cry, hope draining out of him. His world was collapsing around him, leaving him alone in his guilt and pain."I should have told you how much I love you. How I can't live in a world knowing that you don't exist," he whispered softly, grazing her cheek with a finger.

He looked away from her again and cried once more, his tears spilling over and dripping onto her cheeks.

It was then that a light shift of movement followed by a light cough flowed to his ears.

His entire frame stiffened abruptly as he slowly brought his head up to look at Satine.

Satine, his Satine was looking at him. Not lifelessly, but with shining eyes of happiness and love. Her skin still looked pale, but it no longer held a grey complexion. The wound on her stomach was completely healed, now leaving a faint white circle of damaged skin tissue where the blaster bolt had hit; a scar. But nevertheless she was living, breathing, looking at him, telling him how much she loved him too and couldn't live without him existing in her life.

Satine was alive.

Sorry if it feels rushed at the end, but I had spent about and hour and a half typing this out an checking it and I was getting restless, wanting to post it up for you. I hope you enjoyed it. The next update will be around soon where we'll see the outcome of things such as the battle, yes, the full aftermath of the battle has not been given yet, remember, the moment between Obi-Wan and Vizsla had it all at a stand still. So yeah, the next update will be up soon and the outcome of things will be revealed, as well as Vizsla. Hope you enjoyed! :D