"Obi-Wan... May the Force be with you."

"Goodbye, old friend. May the Force be with you."

That was all. Such a simple exchange. One that they'd parted with countless times in the thirteen years they'd known each other. It had gotten to the point where it was instinctual, words that slipped out without thought. The words had been a novelty when he was nine and able to say them for the first time as a padawan. A Jedi Knight now, Anakin wished that he had said something more profound that one time. Instead he had simply watched Obi-Wan walk down the ramp towards his starfighter, not knowing it would be the last time they would meet.

Originally, Anakin's frustration had been directed at the Jedi Council for not sending him after General Grievous. Of all the Jedi, he believed himself to be the strongest, the most able. He could not imagine how he would have had any difficulty defeating the durasteel monstrosity. Anakin was now enraged at them for sending Obi-Wan to Utapau alone. That decision had led to Obi-Wan's death. Even knowing how well the two men worked together, they had been split up. That they were the most effective team was not a fiction made up by the HoloNet. Anakin and Obi-Wan. Kenobi and Skywalker. The Negotiator and the Hero With No Fear. There had been a reason they were always sent on missions together, even after Anakin had been granted his knighthood. Each of those reasons had been ignored in favour of Anakin's staying behind to spy on the Supreme Chancellor.

It was pure and utter madness. After all of the horrors that Obi-Wan had survived during the war, he was killed just when it was almost over. Because Anakin hadn't been with him.

"It is most unfortunate," Palpatine sighed as he crossed over to where Anakin was kneeling on the floor. The young Jedi Knight had fallen to his knees the instant he had seen the recording, unable to banish the image from his mind. Over and again in his mind he could only see Obi-Wan receiving a blaster bolt to the chest and falling down into a deep, water-filled crater. "That your dear friend should be betrayed in such a way..."

"Do not speak of Obi-Wan as though you knew him," Anakin growled, rising finally to his feet. "Not to me who knew him best."

There was something in Palpatine's eyes that didn't sit well with Anakin. A darkness that hadn't been there before. For the briefest of seconds the colour of Palpatine's eyes appeared to shift, perhaps a mere trick of the lighting as the sun set on the distant horizon. It was equally possible, though, that it had been a real phenomenon. However, it was gone so fast that Anakin couldn't be certain of what he saw.

"I assure you, Anakin, that I did not mean to offend," Palpatine was quick to apologize. "Unfortunate, however, that the Council chose to send Master Kenobi after Grievous alone when you would have certainly been a better choice."

"The Council did what they thought was best," Anakin forced out, not having the energy to defend the Jedi Council to Palpatine.

Less than an hour before Obi-Wan had been fine. He had been alive. Anakin had witnessed the transmission from Utapau himself. Obi-Wan had General Grievous and the two had just engaged. Inconceivably, during the time between Master Windu ordering him to inform the Chancellor of these events and his arrival at Palpatine's office, Obi-Wan had been killed. Obi-Wan was an excellent swordsman, however, against a being wielding four lightsabers his talents had been pushed to their limits. And all that it had taken to bring him down was a stray blaster bolt. That someone so powerful, someone that Anakin loved so dearly, could be killed with such ease fueled Anakin's rage. It coiled tightly in the pit of his stomach begging to be released so that Obi-Wan could be avenged.

"It is a shame that the Council is so set on denying my opinions as out of hand," Palpatine said absently. "Had you been allowed to accompany your former master you could have snatched him from death. Instead the Council kept you behind to spy upon me. It hardly seems worth poor General Kenobi's life."

Clenching prosthetic hand into a tight fist, Anakin listened to the sound of the small gears grinding against each other. "The Council did what they thought was best."

"Even so, the Council holds you back. I can see this even if you cannot," Palpatine insisted as he came over to where Anakin sat slumped upon the floor. "They know that you could easily access powers far greater than their own and for that they fear you."

Still on the ground, Anakin tilted his head back so that he could look up at Palpatine's face. He attempted a glare at the much older man, but all expression dropped from his features as he noticed something behind the Chancellor's shoulder. Bolting to his feet, Anakin stalked towards the window wall that looked out over Coruscant. On the side of a large building across the way there was a silent HoloNet broadcast being shown.

Once again Anakin dropped to his knees as he witnessed his beloved master's death in large, vivid colour.

The HoloNet feed offered more details than the small hologram had. There had been a look of such concentration on Obi-Wan's face, his lips held in a tight line and his eyebrows furrowed slightly. A glancing blow he received to his left shoulder. The one he offered in return. The few longer strands of hair falling into his eyes. The light flaring as his nostrils when one of his attacks was blocked. And that look of utter shock when he was hit by a blaster bolt from a higher trajectory.

"Vile Sith-spawn reporters," Anakin growled, slamming the palm of his mechanical hand against the glass. "How could they get footage like that so soon? Or at all?"

"They are a unique breed," Palpatine confirmed, coming to stand next to Anakin.

Anakin watched as twice more Obi-Wan's death was displayed on the HoloNet bulletin. It was intercut with clips of the two of them on other missions. At the end, underneath a still frame of them laughing at some comment Anakin couldn't remember, was the caption, "Why were they separated?"

"Why indeed?" Palpatine murmured, turning away from the window.

Anakin remained where he was, only dropping back to sit on his heels, keeping his gaze on the image until it faded away. "I know there are things about the Force the Council isn't telling me."

"They see your future," the Chancellor said, his chair creaking slightly as he sat down. "They know your power will be too strong to control. I have sources that tell me they were displeased with Master Kenobi's refusal to keep your power in check."

"They would never do that!" Anakin shouted, rising to his feet as he whirled around on Palpatine. "They wouldn't kill Obi-Wan!"

"Yet the Council senses, as do many others, that there is more that lies between you than mere friendship. Master Kenobi himself once nearly succumbed to the Dark Side of the Force. It is likely they feared to loose one or both of you to the Dark Side if you were left unchecked."

"That is no reason to kill Obi-Wan."

Palpatine sighed deeply, linking his fingers together over his stomach. "Even now you cannot see through the fog of lies the Jedi have created around you. Let me help you know subtletiesties of the Force."

Anakin furrowed his brows. "How do you know the ways of the Force?"

Nothing had seemed real since he'd entered Palpatine's office. Anakin had tried reaching out through the Force to feel Obi-Wan and each time had found nothing. Where he been able to sense Obi-Wan for the past thirteen years there was only silence. It left Anakin feeling hollow. Obi-Wan had been the one constant thing in his life, a title even his wife could not hold claim to. Without Obi-Wan, Anakin felt lost. Completely adrift.

"Anakin, if one is to understand a great mystery, one must study all its aspects, not just the dogmatic, narrow view of the Jedi. If you wish to become a complete and wise leader, you must embrace a larger view of the Force. Do not be so quick to dismiss the Dark Side. Let me train you."

Anakin tensed, uncertain.

"Only through me can you achieve a power greater than any Jedi," Palpatine continued earnestly, rising from his seat to join Anakin in centerntre of the office. "Learn to know the Dark Side of the Force, Anakin, and you will be able to save your wife from certain death... As you could not save your lover."

Anakin turned his head sharply towards Palpatine. "What did you say?"

"Use my knowledge, I beg you."

All at once everything clicked into place and Anakin took a step back, igniting his lightsaber. "You're the Sith Lord!"

He didn't hear anything that tumbled past Palpatine's lips then, his mind too consumed by chaos. Obi-Wan telling him what he'd learned on Geonosis all those years ago, his murder of Dooku, Grievous... All along it had been Palpatine holding Grievous' leash and it was that durasteel monstrosity that had just killed Obi-Wan.

"It's your fault that Obi-Wan's dead," Anakin ground out, tears stinging his eyes.

Palpatine appeared instantly contrite. "Oh no, my dear boy, never. I would never hurt someone so close to you. No, Grievous was never supposed to kill Master Kenobi. Master Kenobi wasn't even supposed to be there."

"So it was me you meant to kill?"

"Anakin, my dear boy, I--"

"Stop calling me that!" Anakin shouted, jerking his lightsaber so that the tip was just under the politician's jaw. "How can I believe anything you say when you're the one who took Obi-Wan from me?"

"I am your friend, Anakin. I have always been your friend," Palpatine insisted, keeping completely still as Anakin refused to lower his blade.

Anakin deactivated his lightsaber, lowering it to his side. "I'm going to turn you over to the Jedi Council and let them decide what to do with you."

"Do you really trust the intentions of the Council?"

"More than I trust you," Anakin hissed, turning his back on Palpatine and stalking towards the door.

When he reached the door he heard Palpatine's voice once again. "The power of the Dark Side can save Padmé. Do not let her die as Obi-Wan did."

Anakin blocked out the words as best as he was able. Anakin didn't want to believe that Palpatine was capable of such an act. The Chancellor had been his friend since he had first come to Coruscant, always wiling to offer praise or act as a confessor for Anakin to unburden himself to. Never once had he thought that Palpatine would betray him.

As he navigated his way across the cityscape back towards the Jedi Temple, Anakin's mind drifted. It still did not seem entirely real that Obi-Wan could be dead. Anakin wasn't certain that it ever would. He could still feel Obi-Wan's touch upon his skin and the pleasant ache that accompanied their lovemaking.

insert flashback sex scene

Anakin swiped at the few tears that dripped past his lashes, scowling at his weakness. Palpatine had betrayed him. He had caused Obi-Wan's death and needed to suffer the consequences. Anakin meant to bring hell down upon his head to pay him back for taking Obi-Wan from him.