Words Left Unsaid

Being an Additional, Fulfilling Chapter According to the Events of

Star Wars: Episode III

(Beginning upon the planet of Mustafar after the fateful duel)

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"I HATE YOU!" The cutting, vengeful cry tore from the body of the maimed youth like thunder, and in his flashing eyes blazed the very thing he professed. Its horrible power rolled across the torn, desolate land, plunging deeper than a knife, more poisonous than death. And then came the answer; not filled with wrath or triumph, not gloating, satisfied or even relieved. Instead, the soft, sorrowful cry betrayed exactly the opposite, the one thing in the galaxy that was more powerful than hate.

"You were my brother, Anakin," Obi-Wan Kenobi wept. "I loved you."

Anakin simply roared in delirious fury, clawing at the volcanic earth with his single remaining limb; the mechanical arm that replaced the one Count Dooku had cut off. But Obi-Wan---Obi-Wan had, just mere moments ago, with a single stroke of his sapphire lightsaber, removed both of Anakin's legs and his other arm. As soon as he had done it, Obi-Wan screwed his eyes closed and felt as if he might be sick. His heart churning utter torment, he had staggered backward, hardly in control of his legs. And now, from barely twenty feet away, the former mentor could do nothing but stand there, staring in blank horror at the monster he used to call his friend.

And then Anakin caught on fire. In an eyeblink, the flames consumed him, and he began to scream. Something within Obi-Wan finally snapped. He could not be here for one more instant.

With a slightly shaking hand, his vision blurred, he reached down and managed to take up Anakin's lightsaber. Anakin's wailing escalated, driving Obi-Wan away with its grating, terrible tones. Obi-Wan turned and, step by agonizing step, began to walk away---then he started to run.

When he was far enough that the sound of falling lava drowned out Anakin's cries, Obi-Wan slowed to a weary halt near a small cave. Closing his eyes, he pressed his forehead against the cool, black stone. His breathing quickened and, finally, tears came. Weakly, he turned around and allowed the rock to bear some of his weight, but his heart was so heavy that he could not stand. He slid down and sat heavily on the rocky earth. His head hung back and his face turned up toward the sky. His eyes drifted closed again and the tears ran down as his soul cried out silently in the deep but dignified anguish of a Jedi master.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVV

For what seemed like an eternity, Obi-Wan Kenobi could not think or feel. He simply sat there in shock, staring up at the clouded sky tinted red from the upheaval that was happening below.

But then he blinked, though he knew not why, and came slightly back to reality. His old battle instincts, stubbornly present, reminded him that it was not safe to sit here, unguarded.

Reluctant and tired, he forced himself to his feet and left the cave. He trudged on and on, back toward the landing platform where all this had begun. At last, his breath coming in rasps from the foul air, he climbed a small knoll and spotted Senator Amidala's ship, the shining metal glinting in the hellish light. As he stood upon this hill, catching his breath, the hot wind blew his hair and dried his sweaty brow.

At the sight of the senator's ship, Obi-Wan's heart squeezed and his senses rushed back to him as he remembered the dark scene that had occurred near it.

Upon landing on Mustafar, Obi-Wan had descended the ramp of the ship to be stricken by the sight of Anakin strangling Padme so tightly that he had nearly lifted her off her feet. Then she had collapsed like a rag doll and remained dreadfully motionless. Obi-Wan had commanded Anakin to release her, but Obi-Wan had gotten the feeling that Anakin had only done so because trying to split his concentration between killing Padme and killing Obi-Wan would have been too difficult.

Killing Padme...

That was the action that had, at last, rocked Obi-Wan to his foundations. He had known for years how much Anakin had loved Padme---but in that moment of reckless passion, Anakin had been trying to murder her and her babies because she stood in his way. It was absolutely inconceivable.

Verbally, Obi-Wan had then fenced with Anakin, trying to gather his own senses, control his own fears and attempt to take advantage of Anakin's senseless rage in order to protect Padme. He had also been struggling desperately to conjure up a way of saving his former apprentice. He simply would not believe that his friend could be so easily deceived and lost.

Obi-Wan had maneuvered Anakin directly away from the fallen senator, and then, when Anakin arrogantly turned his back on Obi-Wan to further rant and accuse, the Jedi master had reached down to the pallid young woman and put his fingertips to her throat to see if she still lived.

He was touched by slight relief as he felt her pulse, but it had been flickering. The possibility of her death brought his anxiety back full-force. If she died...he would feel utterly responsible.

Battle between the master and apprentice had soon ensued. It was a terrible fight, one that should never have occurred, one that defied all logic and need---and it had ended down there on the obsidian rocks by the banks of burning magma.

Obi-Wan recalled all this in the blink of an eye as he stood within sight of Padme's ship. Taking a deep, preparatory breath, he clawed the rest of the way up the rocky, searing hill to the landing platform. His clothes torn and dirty, his hands bloodied, he finally made it to the top and dragged himself to his feet---to see that Padme was not there. The platform was empty, save for the ship. Obi-Wan jerked in consternation.

"Master Kenobi! Master Kenobi!"

Obi-Wan turned to see Padme's shining golden droid, C-3P0, clattering worriedly down the open ramp.

"Artoo and I got her on board the ship, sir. Hurry!" the droid urged. "She isn't doing well."

Obi-Wan stood still for just one moment, closing his eyes briefly and composing himself, then nodded and moved up the ramp. He paused for just a moment to place an understanding hand on Threepio's shoulder, though why he was comforting a droid he was not quite certain. Perhaps he simply needed to distract himself from the tumult in his own heart.

Swiftly, Obi-Wan then moved aft to where the bunking area was. Breathing evenly again, he pressed the door release and entered. As every hold in any Naboo ship, the room was white, clean and functional, with a hint of softness and artfulness. On a bed to his right lay Senator Amidala, dressed in a practical, sleeveless, maternity jumpsuit, her dark hair done elegantly but simply. However, her beautiful face was very pale, her eyes were closed and her brow was furrowed in distant pain.

Obi-Wan stopped for a moment on the threshold, then moved to her slowly, reaching out a hand to rest it on her bare shoulder. Her eyelids flickered and she opened them, though the light seemed to hurt her. She tensed at first, as if afraid of the Jedi uniform. But then she saw his face and sighed audibly.

"Obi-Wan," she breathed. "Is...Is Anakin all right?"

Pain shot through Obi-Wan and he could not answer her. However, there was not a need yet, for she seemed fevered and would not have heard him. Instead, he slowly stroked the back of his fingers down her soft cheek, allowing the Force to flow through him and soothe her. She turned her head toward his touch, then sighed deeply and appeared to sleep. Obi-Wan hung his head.

And then he felt it.

It nearly rocked him back on his heels and he stiffened like a board. For a heartbeat, he could not understand what it was. It roared through him like a hurricane-force gust of wind---followed by a silence and a void deeper than space. Obi-Wan screwed his eyes shut and simply stood there, fighting to absorb his pain and let it go, as the Jedi masters had taught him in his youth. But his chest constricted and his muscles clenched as if he had just been punched in the gut. It was too hard to breathe.

He gasped roughly, and tears burned his eyes.

Anakin Skywalker had just died.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

The ship had never powered down, so it was a simple task to flip it back into gear, initiate the repulsorlifts and take off from this wicked planet. Threepio sat in the copilot's chair, chattering away fussily, doubtlessly about Padme, but Obi-Wan did not hear him. He closed his eyes, facing the viewport, and covered his face with one hand, endlessly weary. His mind and body were numb.

Then Threepio's tone changed and became slightly sharper, calling Obi-Wan out of his daze.

"Look, sir. I say, look at that ship! Why would a Star Destroyer of that size be all the way out here?"

"Star Destroyer?" Obi-Wan repeated dully, peering out the front viewport. Then his eyes widened slightly and his mind sharpened as he glanced down at the sensors. "By the Force, there isn't just one of them. There are four. No...no, no, five. They've...They've surrounded the planet and..." Obi-Wan trailed off as a mountain of blackest shadow suddenly loomed over his soul. He lifted his head and tightened his jaw.

"The Emperor is here," he murmured.

"The Emperor! Oh dear, oh dear!" Threepio cried.

"Quiet," Obi-Wan snapped. "Strap yourself in."

"You're going to fight them, sir?" Threepio cried, aghast.

"No," Obi-Wan grunted, buckling his harnesses. "Not today." Taking hold of the controls, which were not so unfamiliar, he drew upon the living Force and reached out into space, flying the ship in a direct path out past the smog-filled atmosphere.

He sensed them as soon as the monitors did: asteroids. Several of them ringed the planet, and there was one particularly large one near their trajectory that looked promising.

Obi-Wan gunned the engines, thankful for the raw power beneath the hull of this Nubian ship, and hoped against all hope that, for once, the enemy would not take notice of them.

Threepio moaned and complained and gasped the entire time, exclaiming that the Imperials were closing in and that they were going to be spotted any second---but then, that elusive gift of luck that Obi-Wan had never believed in was finally granted to him. For some reason, the Imperials were momentarily distracted from the space around them, and did not give a second glance, if even a first glance, to the little Naboo cruiser flitting off into the small asteroid field. Not yet, anyway. Obi-Wan knew that they soon would. He did not have much time.

The Jedi aimed stalwartly for the large asteroid, which soon loomed in their viewport.

"This is suicide!" Threepio yelped.

"Quiet," Obi-Wan said again, expertly maneuvering the ship into a cavernous crater. Swiftly, he flipped a few switches that attached the ship to the surface of this rock, for the asteroid did not have enough gravity to hold them there. With Jedi quickness, Obi-Wan began shutting everything down that was not essential to life, in order to avoid the sensory sweeps that the destroyers would run as a matter of routine, if nothing else.

After several minutes of clicking and beeping, the cockpit began to darken, the engines slowed and quieted, and even Threepio requested to shut down for a while so that he could "process new data." When the golden lights behind Threepio's eyes went out and the droid became still, it was utterly dark in the cockpit except for the emergency lighting on the floor near the threshold. The only sound was the nearly silent hum of the life support systems.

Sighing, Obi-Wan sank down into the pilot's seat, only then realizing that he had wounds in several places that were quite painful, and bleeding. Wincing, he decided to take care of them later and leaned back to try and rest.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Sleep would not come. The throbbing, consuming grief of Anakin's fall and death pulsed through his very blood; a dull, almost background constant, like the beating of his heart. His mind could not process how it had come to pass. Every time he wearily tried another past path, another afore-missed possibility, he would come to a dead end. He rubbed his eyes. At the moment, he could not think of anything that he personally could have done differently to change Anakin's fate. But that did not ease the pain. Not in the slightest.

What was it? Where had Anakin gone wrong? What was it that had driven him to this madness, this rash of murders, this lust for control? Obi-Wan sighed deeply, leaning back and trying to recall through the fog in his brain. During his padawanship, this had always been given to him as the best advice: review. If reviewing the current situation did not help, then review past situations that had similar characteristics. The best one he could come up with at the moment was Qui-Gon Jinn's former apprentice, Xanatos, who had gone to the dark side and then attempted several ruthless plots against his master before coming to his end. When meeting his former master in combat, Xanatos would always seem to give a reason as to why he was attacking; as if he could not help saying it; as if it was one last rationalization for the evil he was about to commit. Obi-Wan slowly breathed out. That verbal, final-cry explanation was not unique to Xanatos. Obi-Wan had seen it, and heard of it happening that way numerous other times. Perhaps Anakin had given a similar clue sometime before or during their terrible duel.

Bravely, Obi-Wan took a deep breath that he fought to steady, closed his eyes and used a Jedi technique to remember exactly what Anakin had said when Obi-Wan descended the ramp of the senator's ship.

"You're with him?" Anakin had roared at Padme. "You brought him here to kill me! He's turned you against me!"

Obi-Wan's brow furrowed as the Force allowed him to skip some of the dialogue, and it finally caused him to center on two more of Anakin's wrathful phrases:

"You've turned her against me!" he had shouted at Obi-Wan. "You will not take her from me!"

Obi-Wan's eyes snapped open. A strange, eerie, completely unfamiliar feeling crept into his gut. His eyebrows drew together.

"Padme?" he whispered, with a hint of disbelief. Confusion welled up within him again. What was clear was that, for some hidden reason, Anakin had feared to lose Padme, and apparently had wished to gain more power, initially in order to protect her. But what was not clear was why in the worlds Anakin was accusing Obi-Wan of taking Padme from him!

What would ever lead Anakin to think that?

Suddenly, one of the wounds in Obi-Wan's leg gave a violent stab of pain. He winced and hissed through his teeth.

"I must see to this." he gritted, and moved to stand to get some bandages.