MUSTAFAR WAS A small, firey planet that looked uninhabitable despite the breathable atmosphere. It was riddled with volcanoes and lava rivers, and the entire planet looked as if it was made of ash and fire.
Obi-Wan hated it immediately.
"Why would anyone want to come here, even if there is a Separatists base of operations here?" Obi-Wan asked distastefully, setting the ship down on a landing platform.
"This place reminds me of the Son's area on Mortis," Anakin said. "Lava-filled and hostile."
"Perfect place for the Sith, right?" Obi-Wan said, rolling his eyes.
"Far from it. I think I prefer Korriban or Ziost to this place," Anakin muttered.
"At least neither of those was covered in volcanoes," Obi-Wan replied. "Now, come on, let's kill these Separatists already."
"Aren't we going to wait for Ahsoka?" Anakin asked.
"She's never been one for mass murder," Obi-Wan replied. "She'll probably be glad she missed it. Anyway, the only thing we really need her for at this point is to help kill Palpatine."
"Right. Okay, then, let's go," Anakin said, standing.
Obi-Wan caught his arm as he started to walk past.
"I love you," he said.
"I know," Anakin replied. "Why are you telling me again?"
"In case we don't survive this," Obi-Wan said. "We know how strong Palpatine is. He'll be hard to kill, and if he takes us with him..."
"In that case," Anakin said. Obi-Wan wondered what he meant for a moment before Anakin answered his question by kissing him, passionate and deep and desperate and hungry and perfect in the way only Anakin's kisses were.
"Come on," Anakin said when he pulled back.
Obi-Wan just nodded, not trusting himself to speak.
The two of them pulled up their hoods and exited the ship, heading into the Separatist base.
"Welcome, Lord Vader, Lord Avenger," Viceroy Nute Gunray said. "We've been expecting you."
The two Sith exchanged a look and used the Force to close the doors in the room, trapping the confused Separatists inside.
Anakin and Obi-Wan ignited their lightsabers. Nute and the others panicked. The droids at the controls and the guards grabbed their weapons, but it was too late. They were cut down in a flash. The Separatists banged on the doors, and Nute and Rune Haako fled under a table.
Anakin and Obi-Wan, stone-faced, moved through the room like two Grim Reapers. Bodies dropped everywhere. Screams were cut short as the head of the Banking Clan died. It was chaos, and it was perfect.
Then Poggle the Lesser lost his head; Wat Tambor, Shu Mai, and the rest of the Separatists ran into the conference room.
"They can't hide, and they can't escape," muttered Obi-Wan. "So why are they running?"
"Because they're a bunch of pathetic cowards," sneered Anakin. "Let's go finish them."
The two Sith advanced into the conference room, cutting down droids and Separatists alike in the hallway. They closed the door back to the main control room behind them, too.
Rune Haako tried to run, but was trapped by a dead-end as Anakin advanced. Obi-Wan moved off to start killing the rest of them.
"Stop! Enough, this is not right!" Rune Haako cried, cowering before Anakin's lightsaber.
Rune was cut down. Nute Gunray crawled out from under the table and opened the main door, allowing destroyer droids to enter. Wat Tambor was cut down by Obi-Wan's lightsaber, along with Shu Mai. The destroyer droids appeared in the doorway and started blasting away, causing total destruction. When the firing died down, Anakin and Obi-Wan were gone. Blown away? the remaining Separatist -- Nute Gunray -- wondered.
No. Anakin dropped from the ceiling behind the two droids, Obi-Wan doing the same, and both cut them to pieces before the droids know what hit them.
At last, they turned on Nute Gunray. He was the last of the Separatists.
"The war is over. Lord Sidious promised us peace...we only want..." Nute tried to plead.
He was cut down by Anakin's lightsaber in midsentence.
"He was the last of them," Anakin said. "We're done. They're all dead. Now we just have to wait for Ahsoka and Palpatine."
"Let's go back to the ship," Obi-Wan said, noticing something out the control center window. "Someone's here, and it's not Ahsoka or Palpatine."
The two Sith sliced their way through the doors, not bothering to open them, seeing as nothing else alive would come here anyway. Reaching the entrance to the landing platfrom, Obi-Wan got a closer look at the ship: a Naboo royal cruiser. The same J-type 327 Nubian as the one they'd first landed on Tatooine with all those years ago, incidentally.
"Padme?" Anakin said, glancing curiously at Obi-Wan.
"Looks like it," Obi-Wan agreed. "Let's go find out what she wants."
The pair walked out to the landing platform. Padme ducked out of her ship to meet them.
"What are you doing here?" Anakin asked.
"More importantly, how did you find us?" Obi-Wan added.
"M...someone told me they'd heard you two talking about leaving for Mustafar," Padme said, perhaps a little too quickly. Obi-Wan wondered what it was that she'd started to say before improvising. Maybe she couldn't pronounce the name and didn't want to make a fool of herself.
Or maybe she was hiding something.
Anakin had obviously seen that she was lying as well, but neither of them made a move. Not yet.
"Are you aware of the Jedi's treason?" Anakin asked.
"I can't believe the Jedi --" and though the Sith weren't aware, when Padme said 'theJedi', she meant Maul -- "would do such a thing. Who sent you here?"
"Our Master," Obi-Wan answered. "Chancellor -- well, he's Emperor Palpatine now, isn't he?"
"You mean Palpatine can use the Force?" Padme asked, sounding genuinely surprised.
"Yes. He bravely held his own against four Jedi, punishing all of them for their crimes in the most final way possible," Anakin said.
Padme gasped. "He...he killed them?"
Obi-Wan felt Anakin shift uncomfortably beside him. "Er...yes, Padme, he killed them, but he was protecting himself and us!"
"Who did he kill?" Padme demanded. "Who were the four Jedi who went in to supposedly kill him?"
Anakin appeared a little startled by the ferocity of her tone. "Uh...Agen Kolar, Saesee Tiin, Kit Fisto, and Mace Windu," Anakin said. "Why?"
Padme let out a small cry. "Mace? He killed Mace?"
"Yes, Padme, Anakin just told you that," Obi-Wan said, growing irritated. "Where's Ahsoka?"
"Behind you." Ahsoka's voice came from behind the two Sith, and they spun around, looking to find her standing behind them with a hand on her hip, looking rather irritated herself.
"I trust the clones didn't give you too much trouble, Snips?" Anakin asked.
"Not once I showed them my blades."
"Wait," Padme said, causing the Sith to look back at her. "How are you three alive?"
The Sith had no way of knowing she was pretending as they'd done for most of their lives. Ahsoka, on the other hand, did, and went along with it.
"Oh, Padme, I thought you knew," Ahsoka said. "We're not Jedi."
"Snips..." Anakin's tone was warning, but Ahsoka's glare silenced him.
"She's going to find out anyway, Skyguy. Might as well tell her now," Ahsoka reasoned. Obi-Wan's nagging suspicion about her loyalties grew -- the Ahsoka he had gotten used to was bored by everything. After the fall of Barriss Offee to the Dark Side (Anakin and Obi-Wan had secretly freed her from prison and she'd gone on to work in the shadows as a Dark Jedi), however, Ahsoka had become a little more lively and acted strange around the Sith.
"Go on, then," Anakin relented.
"If you're not Jedi, then what are you?" Padme asked, fear in her voice.
"What are we, she asks?" Anakin chuckled.
"Yes! What are you, if not honorable, respectable Jedi?" Padme demanded.
Obi-Wan exchanged a three-way glance with Anakin and Ahsoka.
"Sith," he said, his voice cold. The three of them activated their lightsabers, four red blades appearing out of nowhere. Padme actually stepped back in shock.
"No," she breathed.
"Yes," Anakin countered.
"Why?" Padme cried.
"Because, Padme," Obi-Wan said. "The Jedi were weak. The Dark Side holds power beyond belief. And when Palpatine comes here, he'll get a taste of what the Dark Side really is when we kill him and take the galaxy for ourselves."
"W-what?" Padme stuttered.
"You could join us," Anakin offered. "We're more powerful than Palpatine. We're going to kill him, and then the four of us can rule the galaxy! Make things the way we want them to be, instead of controlled by the evil Jedi!"
"Evil?" Padme echoed, tears streaming down her face now. "Anakin, Obi-Wan, the Jedi were the good guys! You're on the wrong side of this war!"
"The war is over, Padme!" Obi-Wan said. "The Jedi were traitors, and now they're gone. Except for Maul and the few who managed to escape Order 66. Maul, I'm going to hunt down and kill personally. The others I don't give a damn about as long as they get obliterated."
At the mention of Maul's name, Padme's face grew white. "You're going to kill Maul?"
"Aha," Obi-Wan said smoothly. "That's who told you we were here. Question is, how did he know? He was offworld when Order 66 happened."
"We have a spy," Anakin said, anger flaring. "And if Padme won't join us by choice..."
Anakin Force-choked her.
"...We'll either kill her or force her to join us," Obi-Wan completed, his eyes gleaming with evil pleasure.
"Stop!" Ahsoka shouted. "Let her go!"
"Ah," Obi-Wan said, motioning with his hand for Anakin to let Padme go; the Senator crumpled, unconscious. "So you're the spy. Tell me, how long have you been working for the Jedi?"
"Since Barriss," Ahsoka growled.
"I see," Obi-Wan said, his voice dangerously calm.
"Traitor," hissed Anakin.
Just then, they saw Palpatine's ship flying in to a different landing pad.
"We'll settle this later," Obi-Wan threatened. "We have an Emperor to murder."
The three of them waited. Anakin carried the unconscious Padme into Obi-Wan's ship and put her in a Force-induced sleep to make sure she stayed unconscious until the two new Emperors returned to Coruscant.
"Lord Vader, Lord Avenger, Apprentice Snips," Palpatine greeted in his usual drawling voice.
"Ahsoka Tano," the Sith-turned-Grey-Jedi growled. "My name is Ahsoka Tano."
"She turned, Master." Anakin spat the word like it was poison on his tongue.
"...Ah," Palpatine said, curiosity thinly veiled in his tone.
Obi-Wan activated his lightsaber. Anakin and Ahsoka did the same.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Palpatine exclaimed. His clone escort readied their guns, but no one saw Ahsoka launch herself into the air and land behind them, cutting them down before they could do more than that.
"You made power sound so appealing, Master," Anakin said, starting to cirlce him. Obi-Wan and Ahsoka joined in.
"So we decided we wanted more," Obi-Wan continued. "We decided we wanted it all."
"So we made a plan," Ahsoka picked up, "back when I still worked for you and your evil ways. We made a plan to kill you when the time was right and take the galaxy for ourselves."
"But then Ahsoka defected and turned Jedi on us," Anakin said. "So we had to revise that plan a little. We're still killing you...but then we're killing her and the child, too."
"You wouldn't," Ahsoka hissed.
"We would," Obi-Wan assured her. "But we need you to help us kill him first."
"Why?" Palpatine asked, gazing in turn at each of them, fear showing on his hideously scarred face.
"We told you," Anakin said, "we want the galaxy to obey our will, not yours. You were going to kill one of us anyway, and neither of us could live without the other. There can only be two, remember? Anyway, we wanted power. So we're taking it from the most powerful person in the galaxy: you."
"I have a bad feeling about this," muttered Palpatine, almost inaudibly, flicking his lightsaber out of his sleeve.
"There's a reason for that," Ahsoka spat.
The three attacked without further ado. Palpatine reacted swiftly, but even he was no match for the two Sith and the Grey Jedi. He'd trained them too well, and they wanted the power too badly.
It was a fast and furious battle. Despite Palpatine having only one lightsaber, he fended off the three of them relatively well, holding his own. But Anakin and Obi-Wan were determined to control the galaxy, and Ahsoka just wanted Palpatine dead.
So, bit by bit, the three of them broke through his defenses.
Ahsoka managed to cut off one of Palpatine's arms, causing the latter to howl in pain. While he was distracted, Anakin sliced off the other arm, causing Palpatine's lightsaber to fall to the ground along with the arm.
Now, with no arms and no weapons, Palpatine was literally defenseless. He tried to back away, but Obi-Wan was there, cutting him in half.
Ahsoka ended up with her lightsabers at Palpatine's throat while Anakin held him in midair with the Force, choking him at the same time.
"All of us?" Ahsoka asked.
"Alright," Obi-Wan allowed. "I stab, you slice, Anakin snaps his neck."
"That works for me," Anakin said.
"Three...two...one...you're dead, Palpatine!"
Obi-Wan plunged his lightsaber through Palpatine's heart as Anakin snapped his neck and then Ahsoka drew her lightsabers through his throat, just to make sure he was really dead.
"We should make sure he's really dead," Anakin mused.
"Skyguy, I think he's dead," Ahsoka said, raising an eyebrow. "We only cut off all his limbs, snapped his neck, cut off his head, and stabbed him through the heart. I think he's dead."
"Still, it can't hurt to make absolutely sure," Obi-Wan said. "Throw the pieces into the lava river?"
"You read my mind," Anakin said with a slightly maniacal grin that only endeared him to Obi-Wan even more.
Both Sith used the Force to lift the severed pieces of Palpatine's body into the air and throw them into the lava river below them. They watched as the dead man caught fire, then eventually sank underneath the lava.
"He won't rest in peace," Anakin said without a trace of sorrow in his voice.
"Now we have to decide what to do with Ahsoka," Obi-Wan said, reaching for Anakin's hand.
"Good question," Anakin said. "We could kill her, but after that, I'm not entirely sure I want to."
"What if we stranded her here?" Obi-Wan suggested. "She could just die in childbirth, or she would die anyway without food, so..."
"That's actually not a bad idea," Anakin said, nodding slowly.
"Then let's do it and get off this rock," Obi-Wan muttered. "Before Padme wakes up."
The pair of Sith turned back to Ahsoka.
"I heard you plotting what to do with me," she said. "What's stopping me from just jumping in my ship and flying away?"
"What ship?" Anakin asked, using the Force to fire the Avenger's guns and blow up Ahsoka's ship.
"Don't forget Palpatine's," Obi-Wan reminded him. Anakin blew that one up, too.
"And Padme's."
Threepio stumbled out of Padme's ship right as Anakin fired the guns. "Oh, my!" the golden droid shouted as the ship exploded behind him. "Master Anakin, Master Obi-Wan, what is this?"
"They're evil, Threepio," Ahsoka said, her voice flat.
"Let's go," Anakin said. "Leave Threepio here too."
The two Sith boarded their ship and took off before Ahsoka could make a move.
"Let's go home, love," Anakin said, kissing him lightly.
"The galaxy is ours," Obi-Wan replied, intertwining his hand with Anakin's.
"Yes, it is."
They stood like that as the ship jumped to hyperspace, knowing they were the most powerful beings in the galaxy.
It really was all theirs.
------------
ok so sorry kind of a long chapter and a shitty way to end it but i want to get to the maul part and i had no idea how to end this so :I
anyway, hooray palpatine's dead and obikin rules the galaxy
next we get maul and the birth of the twins and stuff and then we're going to be going into a lot of time jumps to different stages in the empire
i know how this will end already :)
ok well thank you readers and as always please, please leave comments i need the support
~R.A. Starkiller