So I actually wrote this a few years ago and just never got around to posting it. I ADORE Revenge of the Sith; it's so tragic, especially the broken friendship between Anakin and Obi-Wan. I seriously hope that they bring at least one of them back for Episode VIII as a Force ghost, but I digress. Happy reading!

The cold dark of space is the state of his mind, and of his heart, personified. His head, bowed in some tattered form of meditation, slowly and subtly throbs with stress. He makes yet another attempt to center himself, to reach out and find the Force that has given him so much solace in the past, but he's too weary, too grieved, to even try.

Still the silver skiff plows hurriedly through the galaxy, channeling the worry that her pilot undoubtedly harbors. Dread circulates like frozen blood through every part of the ship, even through to the stark white walls of his cramped hiding place. No matter how much he wills it to slow, or how many times he tries to shake free of this nightmare, he knows that his date with destiny is barreling unmercifully nearer.

He knows what he has to do. What he has to face.

Who he has to face.

I will not kill Anakin. He is like my brother!

His words still ring in his conscience as if he had just spoken them. His heart still screams their echo. Even when the images of the newly-christened Sith Lord's atrocities parade through his mind unchecked, he still can't fathom running a saber through him. He can't imagine a fight to the death against him.

He reaches out in one final attempt to his fallen brother's signature: once radiating with audacious life, now haggard with rage, confusion, fear. The tiny connection, as quickly as it's made, is ruthlessly and violently cut off. The walls around Anakin's battered conscience shoot up, his signature bristles, and then he's gone.

His brother. His best friend.

Reality slaps him hard across the face as it whispers coldly to him:

That man no longer exists. Anakin Skywalker, the Hero With No Fear, the one you've come to love as family, is dead. That monster, whoever he is, has taken his place.

He's not coming back.

And no matter how much he wills it, he cannot ignore the truth.

If it were at all possible for the Great Negotiator to completely loose his mind, now would most definitely be the time.