Certainty

Split Decision

I neither own these characters or the literary universe in which they live, though there are a few new faces and places that are of my own design. I neither make nor intend to make any profit off of this writing, but indeed I expect to die poor, clutching a legal pad and pen to my chest, a half written chapter scribbled on the fading yellow page.

No betas, therefore, all errors are my own.

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It is not supposed to be like this. No, not like this. None of this is supposed to happen. Nothing about this is right. Nothing about this makes sense. It simply is not supposed to be like this. The Chosen One is not supposed to be dying...

Except that the Chosen One is dying...

And it is all Obi-Wan's fault...

*** Two weeks earlier***

"Sir, we've got to get out of here now!" Captain Rex yells over the constant barrage of blaster fire. Anakin deflects the incoming blasts from an approaching super droid before slicing it into three distinct pieces. He moves on to his next target while yelling back at Rex.

"Prep the ship! I'll contact Obi-Wan!" he replies as he blocks four more blasts. Anakin takes a moment and falls into cover behind one of the hanger's support pillars. He taps his comm. link.

"Obi-Wan, where are you?"

"I... I'm in the east corridor... I seemed to have picked up a few friends along the way to the rendezvous. Not to worry though... I won't be late," Obi-Wan answers over the comm. Anakin can hear the sounds of battle over Obi-Wan's transmission, but he isn't concerned. He knows that if his former master needed help he would have asked for it. Instead, Anakin focuses on the present and the present requires that he gets his men on the shuttle before the whole factory explodes and collapses on top of them.

"On the shuttle troopers, double time! Move it!" Anakin barks as he and Rex provide his unit with cover. Once everyone is on aboard, Rex starts his own backwards walk up the ramp still firing his dual pistols at the few remaining battle droids. Suddenly, both Anakin and Rex are knocked off their feet as a massive explosion violently rocks the factory.

"It's the generator, sir!" Rex yells as he gets to his feet. "This whole place is going up any second!"

Anakin rises as well occasionally blocking blasts from three or four still functioning droids. He activates his Jedi wrist comm.

"Master, where are you?" he yells as another explosion rockets through the increasingly fragile structure. "Master!" Anakin yells again, but his only response is static. Finally, Obi-Wan's familiar voice comes over the link.

"Anakin! I'm cut off from the hanger!" he yells, his thick Coruscanti accent giving his speech a dignified quality that belied its urgency. 

Obi-Wan is still talking, but Anakin cannot make out what he is saying over the sound of two more explosions followed by the groans of overly taxed durasteel. Anakin doesn't even try to understand what his former master is saying.

"Master, stay where you are. I'm coming for you!"

"No!" Obi-Wan yells. "There isn't any time! Get your men out of here! That is an order!" he yells, desperation nearly dripping off his words, but Obi-Wan's plea/demand falls on deaf ears. Anakin is already moving down the ramp.

"General Skywalker, we must leave," Rex says holstering his pistols as the last droid falls.

"Rex, take the shuttle and get out of here. I'm going to find Obi-Wan."