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It had only been a standard day, but Obi-Wan and Anakin had been subjected to 24 hours of hell. Or, well, Obi-Wan had been subjected to 24 hours of hell. Anakin just had to watch – a different kind of hell on its own.
They had been given a moment of reprieve, though it was tainted by the knowledge that it could, no, would end at any moment. Only the sound of Obi-Wan’s raspy breathing could be heard in their cell.
“Ahsoka will find us,” Anakin said, more to himself than to Obi-Wan. “Or Cody. Or Rex. Or the Council. The Council will send someone to search for us and they’ll find us and bring us home.”
Obi-Wan hummed and leaned back against the cold wall. When Anakin turned to look at him, he was reminded of everything his Master had just been through. Purple bruises bloomed on his face and only one of his blue eyes remained visible — the other swollen shut from blow after blow.
“You can’t go on like this,” Anakin said softly.
“Maybe. Maybe not. I’m tougher than I look.”
“You don’t have to tell me that. But look at you. This is all my fault. He only captured us because I am—”
“Anakin, stop. None of this is your fault.”
“If I wasn’t—” Anakin started.
“But you are,” Obi-Wan finished. “You are and nothing will ever change that.”
“I know,” Anakin said bitterly.
Obi-Wan gave him a sympathetic look. “If I could have borne the weight of it for you, I would have. You know I would have. But I’m not the Chosen One. You are. You must stay true to the light side of the Force.”
“Master, what if I just-”
“No Anakin,” Obi-Wan said sharply. “Don’t even think about trying it.”
“But you’ll die,” Anakin said, hoping that Obi-Wan would just see reason for a moment.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Of course it matters. You’re not going to last another round of this, no matter how tough you say you are,” Anakin said, trying his best to keep his anger at bay.
“If I do not make it, then that is the will of the Force. Embracing the dark side will not stop it and will solve nothing. I would not have you destroy yourself for me.” He said it like he wasn’t the one being destroyed in the name of Anakin’s prophesied destiny .
Anakin huffed. He did not want to talk about this anymore.
They sat in tense silence together. Tense because they knew Dooku would be back sooner rather than later. Tense because they knew Obi-Wan truly would not survive another round of torture. Tense because they did not know what Anakin would do when that happened.
There was nothing and everything left to be said between them. So much that had never been confessed. So much that was already known. It all overlapped and they both knew it. So they waited. Obi-Wan shifted uncomfortably against the wall and pulled on his cuffs every few minutes. Normally Anakin was the restless one, but he was not the one who had been tortured over the course of the past twenty-four hours. Obi-Wan shifted again.
“Just lean on me,” Anakin finally said.
“What?”
“Just lean on me. I’m softer than the wall.”
Obi-Wan stared at him for a moment before shuffling his way over to Anakin and leaning on his side. It was not much, but it was the only comfort Anakin could offer. Obi-Wan seemed grateful for it all the same.
The comfort was not to last.
Footsteps, authoritative and sure, stalked through the hallway before ending in front of their cell.
“How quaint.”
“What do you want, Dooku?” Anakin growled.
“You. Both of you really, but your Master has made it very clear that he will not be turned. Foolish. But you . You have so much potential.”
“I will not join you.”
“And yet you are always hanging on the precipice of darkness.”
“You cannot turn me.”
“Maybe. But he can,” Dooku said nodding his head to Obi-Wan. “Tell me, Skywalker. How much more do you think he can take?”
With that, the ray shield fell away. Guards came into the cell and unchained Obi-Wan from the wall. They dragged him outside of the cell and into the corridor. The ray shield reactivated, and Anakin and Obi-Wan were separated again.
“No!” Anakin shouted.
Obi-Wan lay in a boneless heap on the ground. Even if there was any fight left in him, it would not have mattered. His body had taken too much.
Dooku struck Obi-Wan with a bolt of Force lightning and his whole body stiffened and shook at the sudden jolt.
“No!” Anakin screamed again.
Even if he could not see what was happening before him, Anakin could feel his bond with Obi-Wan weakening.
“Wait!” Anakin shouted. “You’re killing him!”
“Precisely.”
“No, please!” Anakin begged. “He’s your Grandpadawan. He has to mean something to you.” Anakin knew he was pulling at strings, but Dooku paused and hope soared in Anakin’s chest. The lightning dissipated from Dooku’s hold. He gave Anakin a withering stare so cold it made him shiver.
“This disappointment means nothing to me.”
Dooku resumed his dark administrations.
“No!” Anakin shouted again, his throat raw.
Obi-Wan seized on the ground. Dooku stopped striking him with lightning. Obi-Wan lay twitching and gasping. Helpless.
“Only the dark side can save him,” Dooku taunted. “You could save him.”
“Anakin…” Obi-Wan panted. “Don’t. I would rather...” He did not possess the strength to finish the sentence.
Anakin looked at Obi-Wan’s desperate, pleading eyes. Those eyes did not plead for life or salvation. They pleaded for Anakin to remain where he was – tethered to the light.
Dooku unleashed more lightning on Obi-Wan. His body seized up on the ground.
“He’s dying, Chosen One ,” Dooku taunted. Anakin could feel darkness swirling inside of him.
Rage simmered just beneath his skin, begging to be called upon, to be used against his adversaries – against Dooku.
“Anakin, no ,” Obi-Wan said weakly. Anakin heard it for what it was: a dying wish.
Anakin knew there was no saving Obi-Wan now. He sensed it.
Anakin pulled all the way on his chains and knelt beside the ray shield. Obi-Wan was just on the other side. A hairsbreadth away. So close, and yet, impossible to reach.
“Do not call upon the dark. Do not seek vengeance. Not for me,” Obi-Wan pleaded, shaking his head vigorously.
“Master, please ,” Anakin said. “I have to do something.”
“Not this, Anakin,” he whispered. “Not this.”
“Master,” Anakin said, his voice cracking.
“Bring… balance… Promise me,” Obi-Wan whispered. It was barely audible over the hum of the ray shield between them, but Anakin understood. He felt Obi-Wan slipping away – their bond degrading from a durasteel cable to a woven rope, to a small string, to a thread until finally there was nothing to bind them at all.
Anakin was untethered.
A deep sorrow clawed at his chest and climbed up his throat until Anakin was screaming Obi-Wan’s name.
Dooku stood there, staring at Anakin in his grief.
“Your master is gone,” Dooku said. “What are you going to do now?”
The dark temptation remained. Oh how easy it would be to embrace it, but the memory of Obi-Wan’s pleading eyes had a stronger pull on him. Anakin could not call upon the dark. He could not, would not , betray his master like that. Not now. Not ever. He would not fall.
So he rose.
Light outshone the darkness inside of him, burning him up from the inside like a fever, but he was not ill. He was not dying. No, Anakin had never been more alive.
Anakin looked down at the Force-suppressing cuffs binding his wrists. With a blink of his eyes, the cuffs fell away, clattering to the floor in a heap of shattered metal. The burning inside of him intensified.
If a light was to be snuffed out by shadow, then the shadow had to be eliminated. After all, Anakin was to bring balance.
He was born for this.
The ray shield separating Anakin from Obi-Wan and their Sith captor had seemed impenetrable until now. Now, Anakin thought it looked rather vulnerable. He raised his hands and pulled . The plasma flickered and dissolved. Now nothing separated Anakin from the Sith.
Lightning flashed in Dooku’s eyes and began to spark from his fingers, but Anakin flattened his palms towards him and the lightning vanished. Dooku’s eyes widened. Anakin called upon the Force, and Dooku’s saber was drawn to his hand. He was going to finish this and he was going to finish this now.
He swung the saber. A flurry of red splashed before him.
A Sith and a Jedi lay at his feet.
The prophecy was complete.