By My Side

Chapter 27 - Mustafar

Author's Note: This is... one of the Darker things I've done in my life?

Warnings: Torture (just electrocution, but still), emotional abuse, emotional manipulation

~ Rivana Rita

When Anakin boards, he does it alone. He can feel Rex's unhappiness, but he knows there's no other choice. He will not put his boys in danger for him. Not when it's his fault they're all in this mess.

He's good enough at stealth that making it down to the prison levels is easy, though he suspects Sidious is intentionally letting him go there. He doesn't take the time to think of what he'll do afterwards. All that matters is the now, and that he will end this.

He can sense her presence clearly enough, and it draws him in like a beacon. She's sitting in the cell, visibly unhappy, but she brightens in the Force the moment he opens the door. "Ani!" she exclaims.

Anakin throws a glance over his shoulder before stepping inside, violently suppressing memories of being in places like this. "Are you alright?" he asks.

"Are you alone?" she responds.

"Yes, I am, but we need to get out of here. This is a trap." He senses her concern flare. "Don't worry about me," he reassures, "I'll be fine, Padme. Just go. Get to the hangar. I'll keep them off our tail."

"And leave you?" she demands incredulously.

"Please," he requests, "Trust me on this one. The Sith is after me, not you. I'll catch up."

She is not happy about it. For a moment, Anakin doesn't think she'll agree. "We'll stay together as long as we can," she decides instead.

It's fair enough, Anakin can't help admitting.

Tracking down the others who came with her is also fairly simple, since they're already here. The trick will be getting out without drawing too much attention. Predictably, they don't make it past the prison level before the doors in front of them slam shut. Sidious isn't playing, though what his game is, Anakin can't tell.

He would tell Padme everything and tell her to tell the Council if he weren't so certain Sidious would kill her for it.

He plunges his lightsaber through the door and cuts it open, Artoo trailing behind to try helping as best he can – he was the only one Anakin would risk for this mission. His droid has an inhumane survival rate that could probably rival Anakin's own.

It's easiest not to think, though Anakin knows something is about to go dreadfully wrong. He gets the distinct feeling Sidious is intentionally luring them somewhere seeing as many of the hallways have been cut off. The droids they've encountered thus far are the easy ones.

They're about halfway back to the hangar – Anakin can only hope his clones outside are doing alright, but judging from how the ship is shaking, they're the only ones having fun – when they're jumped by assassin droids.

"Run," Anakin yells to the others, taking up position behind them, lightsaber raised. "I'll catch up with you." After a moment, he adds an "I promise" just for Padme's sake – she doesn't need to worry about him.

He can only hope she'll understand that so long as they're here, they'll only serve to slow him down. They're collateral damage.

"We're not leaving without you!" Padme calls back.

"You don't have a choice!"

Around the corner, he can hear the clatter of approaching destroyer droids now. The longer they stay, the more danger they're in.