Updateness!
This is a fun, stuff happens, chapter. I hope y'all like it!
Chapter 5
Mustafar
The Wingjewel touched down gracefully on a landing pad on Mustafar. Obi-wan glanced out the viewport. It was still a hellish place. Obi-wan shuddered to think that Anakin, the other Anakin, had lived here for a month.
No. There was no other Anakin. There was Darth Vader and there was Anakin. Because of some anomaly in the Force, the man he knew had been returned to him. The man he had fought here one month ago had died. The Emperor had resurrected him somehow, but that creature, that Sith was no longer Anakin.
Obi-wan. Anakin felt the presence again, this time much stronger. Obi-wan was here. He raced to the command console in the conference room and brought up a current schematic of the facility. A ship had just touched down on a landing pad not far from where he was. He didn’t recognize the design, but I wasn’t a facility ship and it wasn’t a Republic ship. He took his chances and headed towards hope.
Obi-wan saw Anakin’s form moving towards him, though he was still far away. What would he think? He had been pulled here, but from where? Did he know about Padmé? Obi-wan paused. Did he even know about the twins? How young an Anakin was he? He banished the thoughts. Doubt was a dangerous thing to get caught up in. He didn’t need doubt; he needed to focus on hope.
When the two met up, they stood in silence for some time. Anakin was never one for hysterical shows of emotion, but the look on his face confused Obi-wan. Doubt? His face was riddled with uncertainty. His face was uncertain.
“Anakin, it’s me.” Obi-wan finally said. He had the scar over his eye and didn’t have the braid of a padawan so this Anakin was recent enough to know of Padmé.
“Master,” Anakin said at last. His voice was raw from the heat and sulfurous fumes of Mustafar. He didn’t say another word as Anakin passed out, unable to keep his strength any longer.
They were not far from the ship. Obi-wan was able to carry Anakin back to the small vessel. Budo was waiting by the hatch.
“He needs immediate attention,” Obi-wan said. “We must leave for Tatooine as soon as possible.”
Budo took a step closer to him. “Why go to Tatooine when I have everything I need here?” he said, his voice subtly different.
Obi-wan’s eyes grew wide. No.
The Rodian pulled a metal device from his sleeve. A lightsaber.
Obi-wan relaxed somewhat. “You’re a Jedi. I’m sorry, my name isn’t-”
“Ben? Yes I know.” His form shimmered and faded as he spoke. “I must say you were much more trusting than I expected.” The image of the Rodian captain vanished, replaced by a tall, elegant looking man with short dark hair, dressed completely in black.
Obi-wan set Anakin down gently. “I don’t know you,” he said, drawing out his own lightsaber.
“In that, you are right, Jedi. We come from different times.” His voice was accented strangely, familiar, yet completely alien.
“I suppose now we must fight now, ending in the death of one of us.” Obi-wan said levelly.
“While that is possible, I would much rather it didn’t end in death.”
“A strange thing for a Sith lord to say.”
“How clever of you to guess. Yes, you are right about me. My name is Darth Andrian, lord of the Sith.”
“Oh I’m a lot more clever than you think,” Obi-wan said. “I know something you don’t.”
“An unsurprising statement.” Andrian intoned.
“Your time traveling ship is disrupting the flow of time, causing anomalies.”
“Of course it is.” Andrian replied blandly.
“You can pretend to not believe me, that’s all right with me. The truth has much more power than a false barrier.”
“Your words mean nothing, Jedi. I am here for the Chosen One. You are simply an obstacle to be removed.”
“Well I hope you’ll understand if this obstacle decides to fight back.” Obi-wan began to move towards Anakin.
Without warning, Andrian raised his right hand, sending an arc of powerful electricity towards Obi-wan. Unfazed, Obi-wan raised his lightsaber and caught the bolt of lighting in his lightsaber, the crackling energy harmlessly dissipating into the energy blade.
“In your time, that may be a clever ploy, but it’s worn rather thin nowadays.”
“Oh that wasn’t meant to harm you.” Andrian replied calmly. “It was just a distraction.”
A terrifying roar turned Obi-wan’s head. A large support beam was crashing down towards him, the metal tearing and screaming like a wounded rancor. Obi-wan leapt out of the way, using the Force to propel him along. The massive beam barely missed Andrian’s ship before flipping end over end into the fiery river below, sending up a column of hissing lava.
Andrian calmly picked up Anakin’s limp form and began to carry him back to the ship of the Rodian captian, if he did, in fact, exist.
He was taking Anakin.
For an instant, Obi-wan’s emotions overwhelmed him and he leapt to his feet. As he ran, full tilt, towards Andrian, however, he calmed himself and ignited his lightsaber.
The ship’s entrance hatch closed just as Obi-wan reached it. In a fluid motion, he sliced through the thin outer hull, and began cutting through the inner hull. The ship’s engines roared to life, nearly deafening Obi-wan but he kept cutting. The ship couldn’t leave the atmosphere with a hull breach.
He had cut out a hole large enough for him to fit into just as the ship began to lift off the pad. Obi-wan shut down his lightsaber and furiously crawled inside as the small craft dove for the black clouds above. Andrian was standing there, calmly, as Obi-wan crawled in the rest of the way.
“You are rather persistent, aren’t you?” Andrian droned as Obi-wan got to his feet and ignited his lightsaber. “Not to worry, I have an astro droid that can repair the damage you did to my ship.”
“You can leave if you want, but Anakin stays with me.” Obi-wan said, ignoring Andrian’s verbal jabs. “So sorry you had to make the trip for nothing.” Obi-wan lunged forward.
Andrian’s lightsaber flashed to crimson life and parried Obi-wan’s attack with ease. In the dark, confined space, the two blades fought, sending a shower of sparks whenever they met with the inner hull of the ship. Obi-wan stayed low, maintaining a defensive strategy until he could make his move. The blades crossed, uncrossed and slashed at each other. Their strength was equal, but skill was not. Obi-wan was able to hold his ground, but making an offensive attack would be difficult as Andrian’s style was careful and surgical, never making any more moves than he had to. There were no added flourishes which Obi-wan could exploit.
The two blades met and Andrian forced them into a control panel next to Obi-wan which exploded into a blinding shower of sparks. Obi-wan kept his lightsaber at eye level, but for an instant, he couldn’t see Andrian and the Sith moved in.
A flash of movement off to Obi-wan’s right, caught his attention. In a fluid motion, Obi-wan tossed his lightsaber to his right, and pushed away from Andrian’s blade. The separation of Jedi and lightsaber, confused Andrian long enough for Anakin, who had been hiding in the shadows, to grab Obi-wan’s saber and slash the Sith across his chest.
The red lightsaber dropped to the deck and shut off, leaving the stunned face of Darth Andrian and the drawn face of Anakin to be illuminated in the blue glow of Obi-wan’s lightsaber. A second later, the body fell to the deck and Anakin deactivated the lightsaber.
Obi-wan got up and headed towards Anakin who, while awake, was still shaking and pale. “It’s ok.” Obi-wan said, pushing a loose strand of hair away from Anakin’s face. Despite his agony, Anakin smiled and embraced Obi-wan, saying nothing. “Sleep,” Obi-wan said simply before dashing to the cockpit to deactivate the autopilot.
Chapter 5
Mustafar
The Wingjewel touched down gracefully on a landing pad on Mustafar. Obi-wan glanced out the viewport. It was still a hellish place. Obi-wan shuddered to think that Anakin, the other Anakin, had lived here for a month.
No. There was no other Anakin. There was Darth Vader and there was Anakin. Because of some anomaly in the Force, the man he knew had been returned to him. The man he had fought here one month ago had died. The Emperor had resurrected him somehow, but that creature, that Sith was no longer Anakin.
Obi-wan. Anakin felt the presence again, this time much stronger. Obi-wan was here. He raced to the command console in the conference room and brought up a current schematic of the facility. A ship had just touched down on a landing pad not far from where he was. He didn’t recognize the design, but I wasn’t a facility ship and it wasn’t a Republic ship. He took his chances and headed towards hope.
Obi-wan saw Anakin’s form moving towards him, though he was still far away. What would he think? He had been pulled here, but from where? Did he know about Padmé? Obi-wan paused. Did he even know about the twins? How young an Anakin was he? He banished the thoughts. Doubt was a dangerous thing to get caught up in. He didn’t need doubt; he needed to focus on hope.
When the two met up, they stood in silence for some time. Anakin was never one for hysterical shows of emotion, but the look on his face confused Obi-wan. Doubt? His face was riddled with uncertainty. His face was uncertain.
“Anakin, it’s me.” Obi-wan finally said. He had the scar over his eye and didn’t have the braid of a padawan so this Anakin was recent enough to know of Padmé.
“Master,” Anakin said at last. His voice was raw from the heat and sulfurous fumes of Mustafar. He didn’t say another word as Anakin passed out, unable to keep his strength any longer.
They were not far from the ship. Obi-wan was able to carry Anakin back to the small vessel. Budo was waiting by the hatch.
“He needs immediate attention,” Obi-wan said. “We must leave for Tatooine as soon as possible.”
Budo took a step closer to him. “Why go to Tatooine when I have everything I need here?” he said, his voice subtly different.
Obi-wan’s eyes grew wide. No.
The Rodian pulled a metal device from his sleeve. A lightsaber.
Obi-wan relaxed somewhat. “You’re a Jedi. I’m sorry, my name isn’t-”
“Ben? Yes I know.” His form shimmered and faded as he spoke. “I must say you were much more trusting than I expected.” The image of the Rodian captain vanished, replaced by a tall, elegant looking man with short dark hair, dressed completely in black.
Obi-wan set Anakin down gently. “I don’t know you,” he said, drawing out his own lightsaber.
“In that, you are right, Jedi. We come from different times.” His voice was accented strangely, familiar, yet completely alien.
“I suppose now we must fight now, ending in the death of one of us.” Obi-wan said levelly.
“While that is possible, I would much rather it didn’t end in death.”
“A strange thing for a Sith lord to say.”
“How clever of you to guess. Yes, you are right about me. My name is Darth Andrian, lord of the Sith.”
“Oh I’m a lot more clever than you think,” Obi-wan said. “I know something you don’t.”
“An unsurprising statement.” Andrian intoned.
“Your time traveling ship is disrupting the flow of time, causing anomalies.”
“Of course it is.” Andrian replied blandly.
“You can pretend to not believe me, that’s all right with me. The truth has much more power than a false barrier.”
“Your words mean nothing, Jedi. I am here for the Chosen One. You are simply an obstacle to be removed.”
“Well I hope you’ll understand if this obstacle decides to fight back.” Obi-wan began to move towards Anakin.
Without warning, Andrian raised his right hand, sending an arc of powerful electricity towards Obi-wan. Unfazed, Obi-wan raised his lightsaber and caught the bolt of lighting in his lightsaber, the crackling energy harmlessly dissipating into the energy blade.
“In your time, that may be a clever ploy, but it’s worn rather thin nowadays.”
“Oh that wasn’t meant to harm you.” Andrian replied calmly. “It was just a distraction.”
A terrifying roar turned Obi-wan’s head. A large support beam was crashing down towards him, the metal tearing and screaming like a wounded rancor. Obi-wan leapt out of the way, using the Force to propel him along. The massive beam barely missed Andrian’s ship before flipping end over end into the fiery river below, sending up a column of hissing lava.
Andrian calmly picked up Anakin’s limp form and began to carry him back to the ship of the Rodian captian, if he did, in fact, exist.
He was taking Anakin.
For an instant, Obi-wan’s emotions overwhelmed him and he leapt to his feet. As he ran, full tilt, towards Andrian, however, he calmed himself and ignited his lightsaber.
The ship’s entrance hatch closed just as Obi-wan reached it. In a fluid motion, he sliced through the thin outer hull, and began cutting through the inner hull. The ship’s engines roared to life, nearly deafening Obi-wan but he kept cutting. The ship couldn’t leave the atmosphere with a hull breach.
He had cut out a hole large enough for him to fit into just as the ship began to lift off the pad. Obi-wan shut down his lightsaber and furiously crawled inside as the small craft dove for the black clouds above. Andrian was standing there, calmly, as Obi-wan crawled in the rest of the way.
“You are rather persistent, aren’t you?” Andrian droned as Obi-wan got to his feet and ignited his lightsaber. “Not to worry, I have an astro droid that can repair the damage you did to my ship.”
“You can leave if you want, but Anakin stays with me.” Obi-wan said, ignoring Andrian’s verbal jabs. “So sorry you had to make the trip for nothing.” Obi-wan lunged forward.
Andrian’s lightsaber flashed to crimson life and parried Obi-wan’s attack with ease. In the dark, confined space, the two blades fought, sending a shower of sparks whenever they met with the inner hull of the ship. Obi-wan stayed low, maintaining a defensive strategy until he could make his move. The blades crossed, uncrossed and slashed at each other. Their strength was equal, but skill was not. Obi-wan was able to hold his ground, but making an offensive attack would be difficult as Andrian’s style was careful and surgical, never making any more moves than he had to. There were no added flourishes which Obi-wan could exploit.
The two blades met and Andrian forced them into a control panel next to Obi-wan which exploded into a blinding shower of sparks. Obi-wan kept his lightsaber at eye level, but for an instant, he couldn’t see Andrian and the Sith moved in.
A flash of movement off to Obi-wan’s right, caught his attention. In a fluid motion, Obi-wan tossed his lightsaber to his right, and pushed away from Andrian’s blade. The separation of Jedi and lightsaber, confused Andrian long enough for Anakin, who had been hiding in the shadows, to grab Obi-wan’s saber and slash the Sith across his chest.
The red lightsaber dropped to the deck and shut off, leaving the stunned face of Darth Andrian and the drawn face of Anakin to be illuminated in the blue glow of Obi-wan’s lightsaber. A second later, the body fell to the deck and Anakin deactivated the lightsaber.
Obi-wan got up and headed towards Anakin who, while awake, was still shaking and pale. “It’s ok.” Obi-wan said, pushing a loose strand of hair away from Anakin’s face. Despite his agony, Anakin smiled and embraced Obi-wan, saying nothing. “Sleep,” Obi-wan said simply before dashing to the cockpit to deactivate the autopilot.