Betrayal at Mustafar (Star Wars)

Padme:

Anakin, don't let this be true, I think as I see him rush to meet my ship.

Please, don't let it be true, let Obi-Wan be a liar, I pray, already knowing that Obi-Wan would never lie to me.

Without a word to C-3P0, I leave the ship. I pass a storage cabinet, and for an instant, a brief instant, I smell Obi-Wan. His spicy, earthy smell, mixed with the smell of cleanliness. I almost turn back, I almost open the door, I almost look to see if Obi-Wan would truly betray me like that.

But he wouldn't. He would never lie, he would never turn traitor.

And as I run down the landing ramp into Anakin's arms, I pray that Obi-Wan is wrong.

Please, let him be wrong.

But I remember the way Anakin smelled the last time I saw him. There was something metallically wrong in his scent, but it was like perfume to me, seeing him alive again. It didn't bother me, and I almost didn't notice the cruelty in his voice that he tried to hide from me.

"Padmé, I saw your ship," Anakin says softly, embracing me tightly, too tightly.

''Please, don't let that be the cruelty I sensed in you last time, love. Please just let that be pure longing''.

"Oh, Anakin!" I say aloud, my voice filled with the pain and worry that has been haunting me since I last saw him. I breathe in Anakin's scent, relaxing for a moment, feeling safe, but that metallic smell is there, stronger than ever, and I pull back.

"It's all right. You're safe now," Anakin says gently, concealing that anger I feel inside him. "Why are you out here?" His voice is harsher, more wary, more guarded than I remember.

Please let it all turn out all right, I think. "I was so worried about you. Obi-Wan told me terrible things."

Instantly I can see that something is wrong. His voice is guarded, carefully emotionless. "What things?"

''Anakin, please, let it be lies. Let you still be the man I love, the man I married. Please.'' My voice is hurried, panicked. "That you had turned to the dark side…that you had killed younglings." If he really killed them, if he can return to the Anakin I married, will he one day kill our child?

But I can tell that everything that Obi-Wan told me is true as Anakin pulls back, his eyes flashing, his face gentle. "Obi-Wan is trying to turn you against me."

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">''But why would he want to do that? He is like your brother, he is like family to you, to us. Don't be lying to me, Anakin. Don't, please.''

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"He cares about us."

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"Us?" Anakin's voice is angry, and he isn't making an effort to disguise it.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">Oh gods, no. Anakin, no. No! "He knows."

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"Is Obi-Wan going to protect you? He can't- he can't help you. He's not strong enough."

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">''What are you talking about? When did power become so important to you, Anakin? Was it that time you told me about not being the Jedi you should be? No. Was it when you tried to save your mother? It was before that, wasn't it. It was when you first had those dreams of grandeur, of saving all the slaves on Tatooine. Anakin, you don't need to be more powerful. You have my love- isn't that enough?'' "Anakin, all I want is your love." It is all I have ever wanted.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"Love won't save you, Padmé. Only my new powers can do that," Anakin says. There is a growing darkness in his voice. It threatens me. He is falling. How could I have been so blind?

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"At what cost? You're a good person, Anakin. Don't do this." ''Not to me. Not to Obi-Wan. Not to all of us who have loved you. Not to the galaxy.''

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"I won't lose you the way I lost my mother!" Is that why you are doing this, Anakin? "I've become more powerful than any Jedi has ever dreamed of, and I've done it for you." ''For me? I don't want your power. I just want your love, I just want us to be happy, to raise our child on Naboo.''

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"Come away with me. Help me raise our child. Leave everything else behind while we still can," I say, my eyes filling with tears. ''Anakin, abandon this dream of power. Come back to me.''

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">Anakin's features are lit by the lava thundering far below us. "Don't you see, we don't have to run away anymore. I have brought peace to the Republic. I am more powerful than the Chancellor. I can overthrow him, and together you and I can rule the galaxy. Make things the way we want them to be." ''Oh, Anakin. What are you saying? Do you even know how far you've twisted? That time on Naboo when you said that a dictatorship would work, did you already have plans for this? Just come back, love me again, Anakin. Not power.''

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">The tears are spilling over my eyelids now. "I can't believe what I'm hearing. Obi-Wan was right. You've changed." Oh, why couldn't Obi-Wan have been lying, just this once?

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">There is no compassion, no love in Anakin's voice anymore. It has been seared away by the furnace of anger smoldering within him. "I don't want to hear anymore about Obi-Wan. The Jedi turned against me. Don't you turn against me." ''No, Anakin. Don't let that be a real threat I hear in your voice. You know I would never betray you. I still love you. Come back.''

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"I don't know you anymore, Anakin," I say, emotion filling my voice, and I know my words are true. Did I ever truly know you, Anakin? "Anakin, you're breaking my heart. You're going down a path I cannot follow." And he is breaking my heart. ''It hurts so much. Anakin, you still can come back. Be the father of our child, live with us, be happy again.''

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">Anakin is no longer looking at me, but over my shoulder. "Because of Obi-Wan."

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">I don't even notice that it isn't a question. ''Anakin, come back! ''"Because of what you've done, what you plan to do. Stop, stop now. Come back! I love you." My voice is dying off, and my face is soaked. Anakin, don't do this to me.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"LIAR!" Anakin screams, the anger inside showing on his face, his hatred directed towards me.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">I turn around. Oh, gods, no. How could you betray me like this, Obi-Wan? There he is, standing solemnly at the top of the landing ramp. "No!"

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"You brought him here to kill me! You've betrayed me! You're with him!"

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">''Anakin, please, don't think that. I don't want you dead- I could never live without you! Obi-Wan betrayed me, I'm not betraying you! And I will never, never, turn against you.'' "No, Anakin. I-"

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">And then suddenly I am in the air, and I can't breathe. ''What is happening? ''I meet Anakin's eyes as his fist tightens. ''He's betraying me! Why would he kill me? Why would he sacrifice his love, our love for each other?'' <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">And everything goes black.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">Obi-Wan:

I can't believe what I'm seeing<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">, I think as I watch Anakin start to Force-choke Padmé. "Let her go, Anakin," I say as I walk down the boarding ramp of Padmé's Naboo star skiff. Anakin's fist is tightening, he isn't listening to me. ''Don't fall, Anakin. Please, don't kill the woman you love, don't sink so far. Stop now! Do you have no concerns for your wife, for your future child?''<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;"> <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"Let her go!" I order, desperate to save Padmé's life by distracting Anakin, and to my relief, Anakin unclenches his fist and Padmé's body crumples to the ground.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"You turned her against me!" Anakin, my former, eager, innocent, apprentice accuses.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">''How can you believe such lies? ''"You have done that yourself," I say, my voice hard, but barely concealing my sorrow that I have to see Anakin this way.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"You will not take her from me!" Anakin shouts as he throws off his cloak. ''Anakin, why would I ever want to take Padmé from you? Where did you get this notion that she is your material possession?''

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"Your lust for power has already done that," I say, regretfully, but I know my words are true. As I speak, I throw off my cloak. "You have allowed this Dark Lord to twist your mind until now…" I hesitate, for it hurts me to continue. "…until now, you have become the very thing you swore to destroy."

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">We circle each other, and I can see the rage burning in his eyes. I reach Padmé and quickly check her for a pulse- thankfully, there is one, but it's faint. Anakin… How could you have done this?

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"Don't lecture me, Obi-Wan. I see through the lies of the Jedi," he says, his eyes flaming, and his face a mask of rage. "I do not fear the dark side as you do. I have brought peace, justice, freedom, and security to my new Empire." ''What are you saying? What happened to believing in democracy?''

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"Your new Empire?" I demand, horrified.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"Don't make me kill you," Anakin says. I don't know him anymore. ''How could you have fallen this far without me noticing? Without any other Jedi noticing?''

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">I try to convince him that what he is now serving is wrong, ''it's so wrong, Anakin. Just come back. "Anakin, my allegiance is to the Republic… to democracy''!"

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">Anakin has turned away from me, facing some distant vision that only he can see. "If you're not with me, then you're my enemy," he says, his voice a low rumbling thunder.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">Regretfully, I steel myself for what must come. "Only a Sith Lord deals in absolutes." My voice is resigned now.Anakin, don't make me do this. "I will do what I must." And I ignite my lightsaber.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"You will try," Anakin says, and then ignites his own lightsaber as he backflips to the air. Our lightsabers meet and clash, sending up sparks in every direction.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">As we fight, I remember….

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"Qui-Gon's in trouble! He says to take off!" cried an anxious little nine-year old boy dressed in peasant clothing who had just rushed onto our ship.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">''As the ship lifted off the ground, the boarding ramp still lowered, I looked out the nearest viewport anxiously. "There!" I cried as I saw my master's green lightsaber blade flash. I felt a sudden sinking feeling in my stomach as a red blade became visible as well. We flew over the battle and Qui-Gon leaped up onto the boarding ramp. I mentally cheered, but suddenly stopped when the attacker followed him. Qui-Gon forced the black-robed attacker off the ramp and it began to close.''

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">''Quickly, I rushed to the ramp to find Qui-Gon lying on the ground, breathing heavily. To my surprise, the little boy has rushed out of the cockpit and knelt down besides my master. Who in the Galaxy is he? I asked myself as the boy asked Qui-Gon, "Are you all right?"''

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">''Qui-Gon nodded, to our relief and then brushed his cape off as he sat up. "I think so. That was a surprise I won't soon forget." ''A surprise? It was an ambush!

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"''What sort of creature was it?" I asked, my voice filled with concern.''

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"''I'm not sure," Qui-Gon said, and for a moment we did not speak, sensing the danger that this unknown attacker promised. "Whoever or whatever he was, he was trained in the Jedi arts." ''The Jedi arts? We've never taught anyone to attack with that kind of anger.'' "My guess is he was after the queen." ''But do you really believe that, Master?

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"''Do you think he'll follow us?" the boy asked, his voice carrying a tremor of fear.''

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">''Qui-Gon decided to avoid the question. "We'll be safe enough once we're in hyperspace. But I have no doubt he knows our destination. If he found us once, he can find us again." ''Master, you're truly frightened by this, aren't you?

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"''What are we going to do?" the boy asked persistently. Why did he care?''

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"''We will be patient," Qui-Gon declared. "Anakin Skywalker, meet Obi-Wan Kenobi." So this was the boy my master had picked up…''

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">I am brought back to the present when the lava-collector arm that Anakin and I are fighting on breaks off. Desperately, we cling on for dear life as Anakin tries to slash at my ankles as lava splashes around us. I notice we are getting close to a lava fall, and manage to swing onto a worker's shielded platform as the collector arm starts to go over.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">Anakin, how could I have failed you so badly? I ask myself as the arm goes over the edge. And then out of the twisted, flaming metal flies Anakin. He lands on a collector droid, and balances there precariously before slashing out at me with his lightsaber. ''Why have you done this Anakin? Why?''

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"I have failed you, Anakin," I say. "I have failed you." My eyes summon tears at this statement, but the lava evaporates them before they have a chance to fall.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">Anakin's eyes are emotionless- except for the hatred that will flame in them until the day he dies. "I should have know the Jedi were plotting to take over." ''Take over? We serve democracy, the Force. We don't want to rule the galaxy!''

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"From the Sith! Anakin, Chancellor Palpatine is evil!" ''You saw it. You were there when he was almost "assassinated."'' "From my point of view, the Jedi are evil!" ''How could we have not seen Palpatine twisting you from the moment he met you, Anakin? How could we all have failed you so greatly.''

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"Then you are lost!" I say, finally, truly finally, letting the truth sink in. This man in front of me is no longer the man I helped to become a great Jedi.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"This is the end for you, my master." Anakin says, before leaping onto my platform. As we spar once more, I remember…

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">''Master Yoda's gimer stick tapped the floor as he paced back and forth. "Confer on you the level of Jedi Knight, the Council does." My jubilation quickly dispersed when I remembered that Qui-Gon was not there to celebrate with me. "But agree with you taking this boy as your Padawan learner, the Council does not."''

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">Please, Master Yoda. I must obey my master's last wish. ''I argue with Master Yoda, and he relents. "Agree with you, the Council does. Trained, the boy shall be." And then, just like that, I was Anakin's Jedi Master.''

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">I see an opportunity to jump onto safe ground, and take it. Anakin's eyes are furious, and he tenses for the jump. "It's over, Anakin. I have the high ground," I say. ''How did we come to this? How did we ever manage to stoop so low as to become enemies?''

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"You underestimate my power!" cries Anakin, the voice of the Dark Side itself.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">''Oh, gods, no. Don't try it Anakin. ''"Don't try it." But Anakin does, and I chop off his legs and his left arm, and his mangled body rolls to the edge of the embankment, just above the lava. It is a horrible sight to see. And so ends the life of Anakin Skywalker, I think, but then remember that it ended when he swore to be Darth Vader. And so,I correct myself, ends the life of Darth Vader.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"You were the Chosen One!" I cry as he tries to climb up the slope with the aid of his mechanical hand. "It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them! Bring balance to the Force, not Darkness!" ''For now the Force has fallen under the tyranny of the Sith once more, and with it, the galaxy. ''I pick up Anakin's lightsaber from where it is fallen and then turn around to look at my fallen apprentice once more.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">"I hate you!" he screams, his voice twisted and evil, no longer even resembling the voice of my friend.

<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">Tears are streaming out of my eyes, but the heat dries them in their tracks once more. "You were my brother, Anakin," I say, my emotions plain for all to hear in my voice. "I loved you."

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana;line-height:16px;text-align:left;">And Anakin is suddenly engulfed in flames. I turn, I leave, I can't watch as the man I helped to grow into a Jedi Knight burns to his death.