Hope you are all doing alright! Here's another chapter. I wasn't feeling super well, so this might need to be revised later if it turns out to be total garbage. Let me know your thoughts on it... But anyway, thank you so much for all the comments! They really do make my day!

DS2010: They really are like two different people. Palpatine has mutilated and twisted Anakin's mind so much his dark side has basically taken on an entire other persona.

Guest: We're finally getting there! Eventually everything is going to work out... hopefully. Everyone is finally starting to show their true colors. It just took some time to start breaking down all those walls.

It was days before Anakin and Vader reunited again. Obi Wan had gotten progressively better as he was allowed to leave the room. Sometimes Cody took him to the greenhouse to work, especially on the days when Obi Wan seemed restless and twitchy. Other days they simply walked around. Once Cody had taken him to the cruiser archives, which contained a plethora of Holobooks for him to read. Cody amusedly allowed him to take a couple back to the room with him, stating that it was beneficial for his sanity to keep the general entertained. Obi Wan had scoffed and made a glib remark about how little trouble he was. Cody's expression still made him laugh under his breath.

Vader, however, had been getting progressively more unstable. Anakin and Vader were locked in a battle of wills that left Anakin's body as collateral damage. Little to no sleep, small meals, and near-constant mental fights left Anakin in sour spirits.

"Nice to see you again, Anakin."

"Kriff you too, Kenobi." Anakin replied rudely. He was making his way toward his bed for an hour or so of sleep to satisfy the wavering force within him and hopefully let him go another couple days. "Didn't think you'd still be up."

"I am."

"Obviously."

Obi-Wan looked at him with eyes that always saw too much, more than Anakin wanted. He felt vulnerable and exposed under Kenobi's scrutinizing glare.

"The question is why are you still up, when you most certainly shouldn't be."

"Holy karking sithspit! It's none of your business! And I'm taking care of it."

Obi Wan looked unimpressed. "Da was nopa Do insult. Uba Winkee. Ta Doe force can't Jeeska Uba Koona."

"Hagwa."

"Jee'm Chuba Du Bargon foo Uba, Padawan."

"Hagwa- just stop!"

"Back to Basic are we?" Obi Wan replied, his crisp Corasanti accent finally suiting the language.

"Obi Wan-" Anakin sighed, trying to keep Vader's flaring temper under of control. "I'm tired, please just drop it."

"I'm sure you are. You certainly look it, and I'll happily stop bothering you when you tell me what you've been doing."

Anakin growled, and Obi-Wan could hear the silent threat in his voice.

"I have duties that the Emperor requires of me."

Obi-Wan shuddered to think of what that meant.

"That's not an answer."

"We've been arguing. He wants me to kill them and I disagree." Anakin stated flatly, but his force signature was all over the place, fluctuating painfully between light and darkness. It was the perfect balance between torture and relief, burning rage and cold indifference. Obi Wan could feel the conflict beating at his padawan like a wave upon the rocks.

"And?" Obi Wan prodded gently, cautiously. He didn't want to cause any additional pain, but sometimes it was unavoidable.

"He wants you to watch, to suffer."

"Perhaps, but he wants to hurt you more."

Anakin's yellow-green eyes sharpened dangerously, briefly meeting his eyes again before looking away again.

"He could hurt me or the clones at any time. He wants to make you do it, because he knows it will hurt you most."

"I'm not that weak."

"But you are human."

"Which is a synonym for weakness."

Obi Wan grabbed his chin, tenderly maneuvering it so Anakin had too look at him. It was uncomfortable for Obi Wan to be so blatantly caring, but he figured that Anakin was suffering, and it was something he might be able to do to help ease that, even for a moment. Anakin closed his eyes at the touch and Obi Wan felt the conflict in him wilt for the moment. When he opened his eyes, they were green again.

"It's not weakness to care about people, Anakin." Obi Wan chided.

"I don't want to care anymore. I'm tired." Anakin whispered, as though this was a dirty secret. "I just want to be numb again, but I don't want him to take over."

"I know."

"I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt Cody, or Waxer, or Fives, or Kix, or Boil, or Wooley, or Echo, or Jesse or any of the clones. I just- I have too. Do you understand? I have to hurt them."

Obi Wan looked at him sadly, releasing his grip so Anakin could finally look away. He started clawing at his head and hair as if he could wipe Palpatine's mind games away. "I know. I don't condone it and I certainly don't want you to hurt us. But I understand why. I think the clones understand why as well. The Force knows how many times they've had to drag you to this very room after hours spent with Palpatine dissecting your mind."

"Master." Anakin breathed, almost sounding like a whimper. "He's coming back and I can't stop him."

Indeed, even though Obi Wan was getting better at the force, he had let himself become too focused on Anakin, not noticing the resurgence of the dark side swelling up inside his padawan. He could feel the rage and bloodlust that accompanied Vader, the willingness to be the Emperors guard dog, so long as the Emperor provided enough victims to bite. He could feel Anakin's underlying fear, terrified that he was going to be trapped inside his own body, nothing more that a shell to host Palatines monster. Fear that he might not come out again, that every time he lost or faded to Vader would be the last time that he was able to bring himself back out again.

"It's going to be alright, Anakin." Obi-Wan lied, because he didn't know if it was truly going to ever be alright.

He shook his head.

"Its too much." He gasped as the darkness welled again, making him feel as though he couldn't breathe. "I need- it has to come out."

Obi Wan flinched. "Control, Anakin. You'll hurt yourself if you don't-"

He shook his head again, "I can't."

The room blew up and Obi Wan felt a spike of violence in the force that made his mind blank and breathing falter. Everything went white.

Approximate Translations of the Huttese:

That was not your best insult. You should sleep, you're tired. The force can't sustain you forever.

Don't

This isn't a bargain, padawan.