Kalon - Han Solo [1]

Chapter 12 : Like I've Been Shot

"Brave of you boy," said Dooku, "but I thought you'd learnt your lesson."

"I am a slow learner," Anakin replied, pushing Dooku's saber away from you. He followed Dooku as he backed away, attacking aggressively. Tasha watched, struggling to remain conscious. Anakin was fighting with two sabers now? When did he get the other one? She watched as he blocked Dooku's attack, his right arm too far from his body, and Dooku sliced it off at the elbow.

"No! Anakin!" Tasha screamed-

The faces melted into the darkness, fading like ink dissipating into water until a new scene took hold:

Tasha could feel the heat of the lava surrounding the platform in her bones as she stared into the bloodshot golden eyes of the man she thought she knew better than she knew herself.

"Anakin!" her shout floated through the air, disconnected from her, like it had come from somewhere else and not her own mouth. Padme's body was sprawled on the ground in front of her, the slight rise and fall of her chest the only thing indicating he hadn't murdered her too. "how could you do this?!"

"What about you?!" he shouted back at her, the force of his voice making her want to shrink back into herself. No, not now, no retreat. "You've been in on their plan since the beginning! You've been plotting with them!"

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

"The Jedi tried to kill the chancellor, don't try and tell me you didn't know! It was your idea!"

"Anakin the Jedi have tried to protect the Republic, to protect democracy not some facist dictator who's managed to manipulate you and the entire galaxy so beautifully!"

"Then why've you come here to kill me, if democracy is all that matters! The war is over-"

"Anakin the wrong side has won!" Tasha could feel the hot, dry air singeing her vocal cords as she screamed at him. No backing down. Her heart felt like he was shredding it from inside her with every word. This wasn't Anakin, there was no compassion, no goodness, no . . . nothing. All she could feel from him was an angry buzz through the force, like a big ball of furious static. None of the man he was. His gaze shifted to something above Tasha's head, and the girl turned around to see Obi-wan walking down the gangplank of Padme's ship, his expression the most solemn Tasha had ever seen. Anakin's expression only grew more furious.

"I can see which side you chose," he spat at Tasha, her hand moving reflexively to her lightsaber.

"Anakin-" she felt a flicker in the force, he was still in there, the good man she cared about. Maybe. Her hand froze on the hilt of her lightsaber, and she couldn't move it, all her will wouldn't move it.

"Let her go Anakin," Obi-wan's voice was firm, strong, everything Tasha needed to be as she panicked. Her heart increased and she struggled, losing her concentration. He was going to kill her, he was going to kill her, she had to get out-

A searing pain as the lightsaber sunk into her, her mouth opening but no sound coming out. Her body sunk to the floor, released from its Force prison. Anakin stood over her, ice blue lightsaber twinkling gainst the red, the black, the swirls of colour filling her vision. A man's scream filtered through her ears as blood rushed through them, sloshing through her head. And his eyes, the look of hatred, of understanding, of disbelief at what he'd done, in those golden eyes, and everything went black-

And she was back-

Tasha panted, holding onto the doorframe of the bathroom trying to get her breath back. it felt like she'd flown through a million parsecs in a second, her heart trying to catch up with her brain.