Chapter Ten

Broken skies
Heartaches that flowers won't mend
Say goodbye, knowing that this is the end
Tender dream, shadows fall
Love too sweet to recall
Dry your eyes, face the dawn
Life will go on
Life will go on
All day long, I thought that we still had a chance
Letting go, this is the end of romance
Broken heart,
Find your way
Make it through just this day
Face the world on your own
Life will go on
Life will go on
There'll be blue skies
There'll be true love
Someday, I'll hold you again
There'll be blue skies
In a better world, darling
Tender dream
Shadows fall
Love too sweet to recall
Dry your eyes, face the dawn
Life will go on
Life will go on
Broken heart,
Find your way
Make it through just this day
Face the world on your own
Life will go on
Life will go on
Life Will Go On (Chris Isaak, Always Got Tonight)

Yoda was leading him away from the archive bank, where he'd just finished recalibrating the retreat code, when Obi-Wan stopped and glanced over his shoulder. He had a sick feeling in his heart that eh didn't want to believe, but…

"Wait, Master… There is something I must know…" He said, going over to the security holograms.

"If into the security recordings you go, only pain will you find," Yoda warned him.

"I must know the truth, Master," Obi-Wan told him painfully. Pressing the buttons, he fast forwarded through the images, until he stopped on one of Anakin slaughtering all the Jedi…younglings included.

"It can't be…it can't be…" He whimpered. He could only watch as Anakin surveyed the damage, and the Sith Lord entered. Anakin turned to Darth Sidious, and knelt before him. The words were lost as he pressed the button that would stop the scenes. Turning back to Yoda, tears well up in his eyes. "I can't watch any more."

"Destroy the Sith, we must," Yoda told him, tapping his gimer stick on the floor. Obi-Wan looked at him in horror.

"Send me to fight the Emperor," he beseeched the old Master. "I will not kill Anakin."

"To fight this Lord Sidious, strong enough you are not."

"He is my…brother…I cannot do it." Obi-Wan shook his head. He'd almost said 'lover', but stopped himself in time.

"Twisted by the dark side, young Skywalker has become. The man who trained you, gone he is. Consumed by Darth Vader."

"How could it have come to this?" Yoda shook his head. "I do not know where the Emperor has sent him. I don't know where to look!"

"Use your feelings, Obi-Wan, and find him you will. Visit the new Emperor, my task is. May the Force be with you," Yoda said forcefully, knowing very well that this could be the last time he'd see Obi-Wan.

"May the Force be with you, Master Yoda."

Despite the heat of the Mustafar system, Anakin had to suppress a shiver. His dream…his nightmare burned vividly in his mind, as the lava flowed around the ashen shore. It didn't matter, though, what nightmares he had. He was selling his soul to save Obi-Wan…it had to work. He had to believe it would work!

Entering the Separatist compound, he was greeted congenially by San Hill. It didn't take long to close the blast doors…after that it was all clean up.

"Well done, Lord Vader," Darth Sidious congratulated him, once Nute Gunray and his cronies were dead. "Now, contact the Trade Federation ships and order that all droid armies be shut down now."

"Very good, my lord," Anakin droned, though a beeping instrument signaled an incoming ship. The shape and size indicated a Starfighter…a Jedi Interceptor…but, that would mean…Obi-Wan! All thoughts of droid armies chased themselves out of his mind, as he trotted to go meet his younger lover on the landing strip. Obi-Wan ran to him the moment the ramp was down far enough to let him off the ship.

"Please, Master…Anakin…tell me this is not real," he begged, looking into his eyes, searching. He found only Sith taint waiting for him, but the glimpse was brief. The blonde man embraced him quickly enough, obscuring his vision.

"I had to save you," he mumbled into his hair. "I couldn't bear to watch you die…this is the only way. I'm willing to do it, for you."

Obi-Wan shook his head in disbelief.

"I didn't want to believe it…I couldn't, but now…you are not my Master. You are not the Anakin I love," he stated and stepped back, activating his light saber. "I will fight to regain him."

Anakin's eyebrows furrowed in shock, and he took an unsteady step back, drawing his own hilt to his gloved hand with the Force.

"It's too late now," he informed Obi-Wan, his voice dangerously soft. "Anakin is dead. I've sold my soul for you… Don't you dare turn against me, after that!"

"I am not turning against you, I am fighting for you," he said again. "Darkness has replaced what I saw, what he saw…I will not let you fall this way."

"Far too late for that, young one." Anakin's tone was almost nostalgic, and his light saber flashed to life, to block the blow Obi-Wan launched at him now.

The sabers twirled and clashed, as the Jedi and the Sith met their combat in a shower of sparks and lava. Finally, they faced each other down on a dirt bank, just as Anakin remembered. His light saber still hummed merrily in his hand, as the dark side morphed his perception, and he watched Obi-Wan with merciless gold eyes.

"Why! Why are you doing this, Master?" Obi-Wan demanded, tears filling his eyes, more from sorrow than the ash and smoke that filled the air.

"I'm doing this for us. It's the only way we can be together," Anakin replied calmly.

"You're tearing us apart!" Obi-Wan corrected, shaking his head violently.

"The Council would never allow it."

"Be damned the Council!" The brunette yelled.

"The Order is your life—"

"No! You are my life!"

Anakin shook his head slightly, looking away.

"Only due to Qui-Gon." Had his first love not requested it on his deathbed, Anakin wouldn't have considered taking the overage boy on. "Only due to the Jedi." His eyes flashed back again. "Do not try to disillusion me with your pretty lies, Padawan. I have seen through the lies of the Jedi. I do not fear the dark side as you do!"

Obi-Wan fell to his knees in front of Anakin, staring up at him, as his tears fell down. Dispassion fled to fear, as the scene clicked in Anakin's clouded mind. He shook his head more hysterically now. No…no…it was happening…it couldn't happen now! Not now!

"Please, Anakin…Master, don't go where I can't follow… I cannot fall, but I can't let you fall alone, either…" He brought his light saber to his chest, right over his heart. "I love you…"

He activated the light saber.

"No!" The shriek tore itself from his throat, without his bidding, and the great Anakin Skywalker collapsed to the ground, gathering the dying boy into his arms. "No…" He repeated, his own tears falling now. "No, no, no…" But, Obi-Wan was already cooling. There was no way to save a dead man. The river stone Qui-Gon had given to him, and then he had given to Obi-Wan slipped from the younger man's now limp fingers, rolling down through the ash.

A burst of chaos broke out in his mind, and he gathered his Padawan up. He couldn't do this… He couldn't watch another love die, and just go on without him! He didn't feel the heat of the lava, when he jumped into the molten lake. He didn't feel the pain of flesh being burned away, as he died. He felt only calm…the ultimate calm of death and the Force.

Warmth enveloped him. No, this was not the warmth of the lava, as it burned away their flesh and bones, just as fire always did for true Jedi funerals. No, this warmth came from the Force that surrounded them. When Anakin opened his eyes, he could feel tears gathering.

Qui-Gon stood before him, just as he had before the incident on Naboo. Anakin opened his mouth, to start to say that he had failed him miserably – he had failed everyone – but Qui-Gon just took him into his arms, and held him.

"I am proud of you, Ani," he stated simply, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. When he pulled away and rested his head on Anakin's, the latter could see over his shoulder. Obi-Wan gave him a smile, and slowly faded away. This was what they all wanted, after all.

Happiness.