𝗙𝗔𝗨𝗟𝗧𝗦 | anakin skywalker

✰ 61: fear in your eyes

Obi-Wan and Akya took to a civilian cruiser, piloted by the latter, and set course for the Mustafar system. Akya had convinced Obi-Wan to let her get out first, that perhaps Anakin could be reasoned with easier if he thought it was just her. She knew he didn't trust Obi-Wan right now, and he wouldn't when he heard what the Jedi Master had to say. Akya decided it was better for her to speak with him alone, and for Obi-Wan to wait a little while.

Mustafar had a familiar warmth to it. Not a good familiar— it felt like a bad dream, like some kind of made up planet used to scare kids into never going far from home. But the lava-strewn planet was very real.

Akya landed the ship on a platform not far from one of the lava refineries. She assumed Anakin saw the ship on a scanner and knew it was her, because she saw him running onto the balcony across from her as their ship lowered down. Once he confirmed it was her, he ran down towards the landing platform.

Akya opened the hatch to the transport and stepped down to meet her husband. What if all the things Obi-Wan had said weren't true? What if Anakin really had ended the war? Upon seeing him, Akya began running, and Anakin's arms opened for her. She fell into them easily, like she had so many times. Only now, he felt different. Even on this warm planet, there was something cold about his embrace. "I saw your ship," Anakin said softly. They broke apart, but Anakin kept his hands on his wife waist, and hers on his upper arm. "What are you doing out here?" he finished. He'd asked her to wait for him. She hadn't obliged.

"I worried about you," Akya replied. "Master Obi-Wan told me terrible things."

Anakin furrowed his brows. "What things?"

"He said you've turned to the dark side," she said. Anakin looked down. "That you... killed younglings."

"Obi-Wan is trying to turn you against me," said Anakin.

"He cares about us."

"Us?"

"He knows," she replied, her hands still firm on his upper arms. She couldn't let him go. She couldn't. "He wants to help you. I want to help you. All I want is your love."

Anakin shook his head. He gave a slight smile. This was one unlike Akya had ever seen before, one so sinister that it scared her. "Love won't save you, Akya. Only my new powers can do that."

"New powers?" she said. "At what cost, Anakin? You're a good person! Don't do this," she pleaded.

"I won't lose you the way I lost my mother," he said, the smile fading away again. "I am becoming more powerful than any Jedi has ever dreamed of." Now she was truly afraid of what he had become. "And I'm doing it for you. To protect you."

She was losing him. "Anakin, please," she said, pulling him closer, placing a hand behind his neck. "Come away with me. Help me raise our child. We can go far away from here. Be no one again. Remember?"

"Don't you see?" Anakin said, that smile gracing his face once again. "We don't have to run away anymore." He seemed to be ignoring the fear in his wife's eyes. "I have brought peace to the Republic. I am more powerful than the chancellor. I— I can overthrow him." His convincing wasn't working. Akya took a step away, finally letting go. "And together, you and I can rule the galaxy, make things the way we want them to be!" She couldn't look at him anymore, and yet, she had to. She was scared that if she took her eyes off him for even a moment, his eyes would turn yellow, and he would be fully consumed by the dark side.

Akya shook her head. "I can feel you, Anakin," she said. "The dark side of the Force surrounds you. You're lost."

The sinister smile faded away again. "I taught you to use the Force!" he said back, his tone rising. "There is nothing you know that I don't. I'm not lost. Everything is clear."

"Obi-Wan was right," said Akya. "You have turned."

"I don't want to hear any more about Obi-Wan," said Anakin, pointing a finger at her. She took another step away from him. "The rest of the Jedi turned against me. Don't you turn against me."

Akya couldn't take this. "I don't know you anymore," she said. "Anakin, I feel your anger. You're going down a path I can't follow."

"Because of Obi-Wan?"

"Because of what you've done. What you plan to do." Anakin took a slow, deep breath, then looked somewhere far behind Akya. "Stop now, Anakin. Come back." But his attention was already elsewhere, on the ship behind them where Obi-Wan stood. "I love you!" she said, as a final plead.

"Liar!" Anakin yelled back, causing her to stumble at the tone of his voice. She looked behind her at Obi-Wan, who began walking down the ramp toward them.

"No," said Akya, backing away as Anakin's angry stare was directed at her. There was no emotion left in his eyes.  She couldn't see that storm-blue anymore.  Not under all this red. 

"You're with him!" Anakin shouted, looking from Akya to her master.  He took a couple more steps towards her. "You brought him here to kill me."

"No—" But Akya's desperate words were cut short by an invisible grip to her neck, cutting off air flow.  She put her hands to her neck, but there was no way to pry off his grip. "Anakin, please," she said, her voice hoarse and weak.  "Please."

"Let her go, Anakin," she heard Obi-Wan demand.

He did not let go. 

"Please, Ani," she said, her vision clouding with tears.

"Let her go," Obi-Wan repeated, taking more steps toward them.

Anakin did as he asked, but without good intentions— once he saw Akya's grip on her own neck loosen, he let her go, and she fell to the ground, unconscious.  She was motionless.  She didn't look like she was breathing, and her hands laid at her side as if she were simply asleep.  A still tear ran down her cheek and onto the ground.

— ★ ✰ ☆ —

Anakin stared down at the girl for another moment. She had betrayed him, just like everyone else had. She has never acted like this before, and yet, somehow, this moment was familiar to him. He looked at his wife lying on the floor, and his eyes widened. He lowered his hand and took a step back. He then put his other hand over his mouth, nearly stumbling backward from the quickness of his steps.  His knees buckled underneath him. He had seen this before.  In his nightmares.

His voice was a breathy whisper. The emotion came back into his eyes, and they began to fill with tears.

"What have I done?"

a.n.:

the Thursday to end all Thursdays.

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molly