Vader had ceased caring.

He shoved Obi-Wan's body towards the edge of the lava pool, ignoring Ahsoka's screams and begging. Obi-Wan's limbs flailed limply as he pushed him. Vader was determined to burn him alive, to drown him in a sea of fire, to inflict upon him the exact pain he had put him through so many years ago.

"Open your eyes, Kenobi," he growled. "Open them and face me!"

Desperate to distract Vader and get his focus back on her, Ahsoka yelled and used the last of her strength to throw another large rock at him. Turning around, Vader stopped pushing Obi-Wan's unconscious body towards the pool of lava and began to march menacingly towards her.

Steeling herself, she took a deep breath and did not crawl away from him as he approached her.

"Have you finally realized there is no use in trying to run away from me? Or is this another futile attempt to buy yourself more time?"

Ahsoka met his gaze. She searched for traces of her brother in the dark mask.

"What would it take for you to spare him?" she asked quietly, looking over at where Obi-Wan lying, dangerously close to the edge.

"We are past the point of mercy," he growled. She sighed, defeated, and bowed her head.

"That's what I thought you would say," she replied quietly. "So, what are you planning to do with us then?"

"Traitors to the Empire must be punished." Ahsoka winced. "Both of you will be executed."

"I see," she replied slowly.

"Does the thought of your imminent death not disturb you?"

"No," she replied. "I am prepared for it."

"You are most courageous," he snarled, reaching out and closed his hands around her throat. "A shame that your bravery has led you to your end."

She closed her eyes and did not struggle. Vader's grip around her throat tightened.

In her mind, she was no longer in this miserable cavern. In her mind, she was seventeen again, receiving another lecture from her Master.

Calm down, Ahsoka. Remember, revenge is not the Jedi Way.

At the time, she had been angry with Anakin for telling her that. But now, she understood.

All the fighting, all the injuries they had inflicted upon each other...what was the point of it? As he said, all she had done was lead herself to her own death.

Killing Vader would not bring back Anakin.

I would never let anyone hurt you, Ahsoka... never.

A single tear escaped from her eye.

"Liar," she whispered.

Vader continued to watch her face as her shoulders trembled and she began to lose consciousness from the oxygen deprivation, until finally she passed out. He considered continuing to suffocate her, but instead gave up and shoved her. She fell on her side limply, her heart beating weakly. He turned around began to walk back towards Obi-Wan, who was slowly stirring.

Obi-Wan opened his eyes and blearily tried to make sense of his surroundings . Just as he sat up, Vader made a sweeping motion with his hand and he fell back, hitting his head. When he attempted to sit up again, Vader growled with annoyance and used the Force on him again.

Obi-Wan groaned loudly and Vader roughly grabbed him by the hair on the back of his head, hauling him up until they were eye to eye.

"Ten years ago, you threw me away to my death, not even caring to see if I survived," he snarled. "Now, Obi-Wan, you will watch as I throw you to the very same fire you used against me."

With that, he plunged his upper torso into the lava. Obi-Wan screamed as he felt his body rapidly catching on fire. When Vader hauled him back up, coughing and gasping for breath, all he could feel was the concentrated burns on his back and arms and the flames. He coughed again, reaching up and trying to pry the black gloved hand from his hair, but it was useless.

"Where is Ahsoka?" he panted.

"She will be joining you presently."

Obi-Wan closed his eyes and sighed.

He wondered if Qui-Gon felt this same pain, when he was stabbed through the chest and died in his arms. The shaking, the fear, the utter sense of despair.

He had tried so hard to move past it, but in the end, all he could be was the same scared boy trying to hold onto his Master. The same newly knighted Jedi who was suddenly thrust into the responsibility of caring for a child he barely knew, not knowing if he was even up for the task.

I'm sorry, Master. I understand now, why you never responded to me, Obi-Wan breathed shakily. I do not deserve your forgiveness.

Vader snarled and got ready to submerge him completely in the lava.

"Speak your last words," Vader spat. "This is your only chance."

Obi-Wan stared at him dazedly.

"Anakin..."

"That is not my name." Vader hissed, squeezing harder. Obi-Wan coughed.

"Anakin, please, you may kill me but leave Ahsoka alone."

"Funny. She requested that I spare your miserable life, too," Vader sneered. "Will the Jedi never cease with their useless bargaining?"

"I don't care if you kill me," Obi-Wan panted. "I give you my life."

"You cannot give me something that was already mine to take."

"I give you my life," Obi-Wan repeated, "To do with it whatever you please. Kill me, torture me, keep me alive so that I am forced to remember the sins of my past...I won't fight you," he panted. "But leave Ahsoka alone. She's your sister."

"What good to me is a sister who conspires against me?" Vader asked coldly.

"When I am dead," Obi-Wan panted, "Who else will you go to, when you wish to discuss the Wars? Who else can understand you, understand your past?"

"I have no need for the past. That is why all those who speak the name of Anakin Skywalker must die."

"Well," Obi-Wan sighed, "I suppose that means I must die, because I miss him."

Vader slapped him. Obi-Wan coughed, and sat back up.

"I have never hated you, Anakin."

"You speak lies."

"I mean it," Obi-Wan insisted. "I know that somewhere, deep inside you, there is still light. I fight with you because that is my obligation. But I love you because that is my nature."

"More lies."

"I am not. All these years, what I regretted the most is that...until the day where I was forced to raise my hand against you, I never thought to tell you that you were loved. For that, I am sorry."

"You are too late."

"I know that I am too late," Obi-Wan replied, grimacing. "You do not have to take anything that I say at face value. But...I will miss you," he muttered quietly. "I wish I could take it all back." He stared at Vader, trying to see if he was looking back at him, too. "I have wronged you."

Vader sneered. "I gave you the opportunity to beg for your life, yet all you have done is throw useless apologies at me. Do you not desire forgiveness?"

Obi-Wan shook his head. "I know that I am not worthy of any."

With that, he bowed his head and folded his trembling hands in his lap.

Vader grabbed him by the neck and tightened his fingers around his throat. Obi-Wan closed his eyes, preparing to be shoved into the lava for one final, fatal baptism.

Just then, someone called out, stopping him.

"My Lord! A moment, please!"

Vader snarled and turned around.

"WHO DARES INTERRUPT? YOU HAVE SIGNED YOUR DEATH WARRANT!"

Reva strolled out of the darkness. Obi-Wan felt a numbness settle over him. He was neither pleased nor displeased to see her. He had assumed that once she locked him in the room with Vader, she would never come back.

There must be some sort of catch, he thought faintly to himself.

"Third Sister," Vader snarled. "I specifically instructed you not to disturb me. What is the meaning of this disobedience?"

Reva strode closer, and the light illuminated her face. Next to her, struggling to escape her grip, was a small child.

Obi-Wan's heart instantly sank.

"No," he gasped, and suddenly sat up, forgetting himself. Vader immediately yanked him back down, but Obi-Wan struggled against him.

No, no, no, no, no, he wanted to cry out. Leia, why are you here? You were supposed to escape!

"We finally recovered the child," Reva announced. "What do you wish for us to do with her?"

Obi-Wan swallowed, his heart beginning to palpitate uncontrollably.

Reva smirked.

"Shall we execute them together?"

"No," Obi-Wan gasped, hyperventilating. He was sweating and shaking, his eyes wild with fear. "No, no, you can't," he stammered, losing control of his own words as they slurred all together. "Please, you can do what you want to us, please don't kill her," he sobbed. "I'll do anything, anything you want-"

Reva smirked and looked right into his eyes. "What's wrong?" she taunted him. "Earlier on, when you were in my cell, you were so full of bravado. Now look at you," she crooned, and ignited her lightsaber. Obi-Wan screamed as she grabbed Leia by the shoulder and forced her to stand still as she moved the lightsaber towards her neck. "What would happen if I cut her cute little head off, do you think? Would you beg for me to kill you so you could join her? Or would you kill yourself in a fit of grief?"

"No," Obi-Wan panicked, and to Vader's shock, he broke free of his grip and began to scramble on all fours towards her. "No, no, she's innocent, don't hurt her," he begged. "Please, she's only ten," he gasped.

In response, all Reva did was bring the lightsaber closer. Leia squeezed her eyes shut, but tears were streaming down her face. Obi-Wan desperately grabbed onto her coat with his charred hands, trying to hold onto her.

If he was paying attention, he might have felt Vader's gaze on his back, observing how he would not beg for his own life yet was reduced to kneeling and pleading on behalf of some child he had never seen before.

But Obi-Wan was not paying attention to anything else. He could only focus on the small girl in front of him, desperately trying to reach her. His body was broken and burnt, but all he cared about was saving her.

Reva laughed cruelly, bringing her lightsaber closer and closer. Leia let out a small whimper and Obi-Wan cried out mournfully as if his own heart was being ripped out, louder than when Vader had thrown him into the scalding hot lava. Tears flowed from his eyes, and he cried, cursing his inability to do anything to save her. The lightsaber inched closer and started to burn the fabric of Leia's collar.

"Stop."

Reva stopped moving. Obi-Wan panted and went silent, but his mind continued to race wildly.

"Do not kill her."

Reva turned towards Vader.

"As you wish, my Lord," she bowed, lowering her lightsaber but not letting go of Leia's shoulder. Leia shakily let out a sigh of relief, but she still winced and tears flowed down her cheek. Obi-Wan restrained himself from running to her and taking her into his arms.

"I have changed my mind," Vader announced coldly. "Send them away to be imprisoned."

Reva blinked. "But, My Lord," she asked fake-meekly, "I thought they were to be executed?"

"Executing them is pointless," Vader sneered. "All of them are too eager to die. To give them death would not be sufficient enough of a punishment."

With that, he stood up and marched over, folding his hands behind his back and composing himself. He began to pace around, reflecting deeply. Reva and Leia watched him, waiting for a response.

Vader said nothing. Reva grew bored and let go of Leia, deciding she had no further use for her.

Leia breathed unsteadily. Just then, she felt someone grab her and pull her away. She blinked, surprised, then realized it was Obi-Wan. Slowly, she wrapped her short arms around his neck hugged him back, sobbing into his shoulder, holding him tight in case he tried to leave her again. Obi-Wan did not let go. He quietly stood still, letting her cry on his robes.

Reva walked over to where Ahsoka was lying and bent over, peering at her curiously. "Is she still alive?" she asked.

"Halfway," Vader replied indifferently. "Bring her too."

Reva blinked. "What, all in the same cell?" she asked incredulously.

Vader sneered. "No, they will collaborate together. Put them in separate cells, and send the girl to me later." He paused, turning to look at Leia and Obi-Wan. Both of them froze, and Leia started to tremble as Vader stared at her intently. "I wish to interrogate her," he sneered.

Leia sobbed. Obi-Wan hugged her and rubbed the back of her head, trying to think of something comforting to say, but his mind was blank.

Vader sneered, disgusted, and turned away. With nothing else to say, he simply walked out the door. Leia let out a shaky breath and buried her face in Obi-Wan's chest.

Reva waited for a few moments, until she finally had enough. "Alright, you heard Lord Vader. Scram," she said, separating them.

"No!" Leia whined, struggling and trying to reach for Obi-Wan. Reva indifferently pulled her away from him. "You said that you were going to help them!" she cried.

Reva just smirked back at her and turned away.

Obi-Wan watched wearily as Reva approached him, holding a new pair of shackles. "We meet again," she remarked. He watched her silently as she reattached them around his abused wrists. "What, no response?" she asked.

Leia glared at her. "Leave him alone," she yelled angrily. "Can't you see he's hurt?"

Reva ignored her and walked back to where Ahsoka was lying. She began to stretch a hand towards her, feeling her with the Force.

Leia screamed and ran after her. "Don't touch her!" she yelled.

"If I don't, then she'll die here," Reva replied icily. "Is that what you want?"

Leia glared at her. "No," she admitted sulkily. Reva raised both hands and lifted up Ahsoka's body using the Force.

"Alright, Princess," Reva said. "Follow me. You too, Obi-Wan," she added, kicking Obi-Wan. He did not protest, only taking the time to stand up and follow after her.

As Vader left the underground chamber, his comlink buzzed back to life.

Frowning, he hit it angrily, and a holoprojection of the Emperor greeted him sullenly.

"Vader," the Emperor said. "You have not been responding to my calls lately. I am displeased."

"My apologies, Master," Vader sneered. "I was occupied."

The Emperor paused. "This is most uncharacteristic of you. What has been keeping you?"

"It is nothing, Master."

"Then, if it is nothing, what excuse do you have for failing to respond to me?" the Emperor asked coldly. Then, suddenly his tone shifted. "Meet with me at Naboo, immediately," he commanded. "I have much to discuss with you."

Vader nodded silently.

The holoprojection ended, and Vader switched off his comlink.

As he boarded the spacecraft and commanded his generals to set a course for Naboo, his mind began to wander, thinking back on how Obi-Wan had suddenly broke down and started crying and begging the instant the Third Sister brought out the child. He did not like to think of it, but he could not help replaying the images of them clinging onto each other, making a fool of themselves, acting as if they were long lost family members that had finally been reunited.

Vader sneered, curling his lip in disgust from behind the mask.

How pathetic, he thought to himself. I sent for Obi-Wan expecting a formidable opponent. But all I found was an aging old man with an inexplicable attachment to a child he barely even knows.

As the violent, smoky red fires of Mustafar disappeared and the pristine, surreal beauty of Naboo came into view, he felt a strange ache in the place where a heart once resided.

No matter how many years passed, no matter how many times he visited it for political reasons, he would always think of her every time he set foot here.

All the promises they made. All the plans they had. All the names they had picked.

He tried to force himself to stop thinking about it, but the thoughts would not leave him. They clung onto him, invading his consciousness. In another world, he would have been a father by now, probably carrying a brat around the same age and size as the one that Obi-Wan was obsessed with.

In the back of his mind, the images of Padme and Obi-Wan and the sniveling child began to overlap. He snarled angrily, and the circuit board in front of him erupted in a shower of sparks. Some of his commanders flinched, but they immediately went back to their work, pretending not to notice what had happened.

Ignoring their questions, he strolled away, ordering the medics to prepare his bacta tank for him.

He needed time to think.