Hey Everyone! Hope you are all doing well! I really like writing this chapter, so I hope you enjoy it! Thank you for all your comments, I really do read them and enjoy seeing them! Thanks for everything you do and lots of Love to you all - Lorna :)

DS2010: Yep! Coric knows the best way to lecture Kenobi is not to let him get more than a word or two in. Obi Wan could talk his way out of anything if you give him the opportunity, so all his close friends know that when you want to get your point across, he's got to be silent. Hope you like this next chapter!

Guest: I'm so glad you like it! I feel like Obi Wan and Anakin would be really struggling. Obi Wan is getting better surrounded by the clones, but he's still a prisoner. Vader and Obi Wan are still at odds, and while Obi Wan wants to help, he just doesn't quite know how. It's hard to help someone when you are also in need of help. The Emperor is also still constantly manipulating Anakin, so it's not as though Anakin can just suddenly use the light side, cause he would know and he would definitely not be pleased. It's a bad situation they're trying to make the best out of it. Hope you enjoy this next chapter!

Obi-Wan woke up the next morning to Cody's very worried gaze.

"General?"

Obi-Wan blinked at the commander a couple of times, trying to get his brain to focus.

"Cody?"

Relief crossed his features before Cody helped him sit up carefully.

"Vader is coming. You need to be ready."

"Anakin? Why?"

Cody grimaced. "Use the Force, give me a warning when he gets too close." He spared an anxious glance at the doorway. Obi-Wan nodded. "The Emperor has been meeting with him more and more frequently. This time, though, he wants to talk with you."

Obi Wan could tell Cody was worried about this. Terrified even. After changing his tunic, Obi Wan put a hand on Cody's shoulder.

"You're worried."

"Somebody has to be!" Cody snapped. "This isn't- the emperor is not a kind master, and he's an even crueler jailer."

Without allowing himself time to think, Obi Wan carefully wound his arms around his commander, pulling him into a tight hug. Cody had begun taking some of his armor off during the long hours he spent watching Obi Wan, which he was immensely grateful for, because for the moment it made the commander less bulky and awkward to hug. Cody froze for a moment at the unexpected contact and then returned the hug with gusto, his worry seeping into the bond like an uncomfortable truth.

"Hukaat'kama, General." Cody whispered. "Please."

"You too, Cody." Something twisted and conflicted started making its way toward them into the force. "He's coming."

Cody nodded, putting on his armor and helmet, taking a few steps back, just as a very pained Vader limped through the door. Obi-Wan noted it was the leg he nearly severed on Mustafar, and he realized with some alarm that he had never bothered to ask what had happened after he was taken in by Palpatine.

Anakin's shields were so high and tight that nothing could penetrate.

"Come, Kenobi. The Emperor wishes to speak with you."

Nodding, Obi-Wan took a few steps forward, followed by Cody, but Vader held up a hand.

"Not you, Commander. I will take him alone."

"Yes, Sir." Obi Wan was impressed how well Cody managed to push down the dread that was eating away at him. If he hadn't been so focused on the clone, Obi Wan probably wouldn't have even sensed it.

Vader didn't bother to respond, just turned and began to walk away, his limp carefully disguised. Obi-Wan followed close behind, aware that the reason he wasn't restrained on cuffed was a show of power from the Emperor. It was a sign that no matter how much power he accumulated, no matter his skills, he would never escape. Even with every odd in his favor, Obi-Wan would never win.

They stepped into a lift, and it took them where Obi-Wan expected to go, down, down, down. When Obi-Wan finally stepped out of the lift, Palpatine smiled, twisted and malformed, as Anakin knelt on the floor, head bowed in subservience.

"Welcome, Master Kenobi. It's good to see you again."

"I can't say the same, I'm afraid," Obi Wan quipped. He bit his tongue, Cody told him to watch his back; goading the most powerful man in the galaxy was certainly a poor way to do that, but he just couldn't help the comment from slipping past him.

Palpatine looked at him, his decrepit eyes widening in surprise. "Looks like your fighting spirit has returned. Goooooood. Much more satisfying to break the unbreakable."

Vader looked between Kenobi and the Emperor in silence.

"Lord Vader has been more vocal than usual. I suspect it has something to do with you."

Obi-Wan scowled. "He's your attack dog; maybe you should have been more careful teaching him who to bite."

Palpatine grinned. "You would speak about your old padawan as nothing but a beast?"

"No, Vader is all yours."

Palpatine's eyes flashed with glee. "I most certainly agree."

Vader looked down again, waiting for a command.

"Let your shields down Lord Vader. Show Kenobi your weakness, your fear. Show him the power of the dark side!"

Immediately the room was filled with an overwhelming sense of fear. Powerful, suffocating, heart-wrenching fear. Then Obi-Wan was assaulted by the anger, the sheer rage that came from being so afraid. The anger that came from dependence on Palpatine. Finally, Obi-Wan felt power fill him, and it scared him to his core. He wanted to shake it off of him, to clean himself of this feeling. This power came from having nothing left to lose, and Obi-Wan wanted nothing to do with it.

Obi-Wan wanted to speak, but he couldn't.

"How does it feel, Obi-Wan, to have your Padawan taken from you?" Palpatine taunted. "Who is your master, Lord Vader?"

"You, Master," Vader rasped.

"You are mine to command. You are mine to destroy. Your life is mine to control." Palpatine hissed.

"Yes, my master."

"You are mine to punish." Palpatine all but whispered but it reverberated throughout the room like a hideous echo.

Obi-Wan wanted to scream, but Palpatine's force prevented him.

"Yes, master." Anakin breathed.

And then all bantha poodoo broke loose.

Anakin collapsed in on himself like a black hole, his bowed head fully slumping down against his knees. He was still upright, though Obi Wan wasn't quite sure how. He started to tremble, his the whites of his eyes showing starkly as they rolled backward in his head.

"Stop!" Obi Wan shouted. Palpatine just laughed and used one of his hands to swat Obi Wan away with the Force. He collided against the wall with a painful crack. By the time he had managed to clear away the blackness encroaching on his vision and pull himself up, Anakin was convulsing on the floor, completely on his side. Obi Wan crawled toward his fallen Padawan, only stopping when Palpatine rose his hand to fling him away again.

"S-stop." He repeated, watching in horror as Anakin started gagging as he shook. Bile started leaking out of the cracks of Anakin slightly open mouth, dripping down his cheek and onto the floor. His breaths came in increasingly short and labored as though his muscles were clenching so tightly he couldn't open his mouth to force more air in or vomit out.

"Stop!" Obi-Wan whispered. "He's choking. He can't breathe."

Palpatine looked gleeful at the suffering of his enforcer. "Simple Darwinism, Kenobi."

Palpatine dove in with renewed vigor, and Anakin kept surviving, but Obi-Wan didn't know if he did. His heart stopped every time Anakin took just a fraction too long to breathe, every time his Padawan inadvertently hurt himself while thrashing.