Zelina spun sharply to face Obi-Wan and Padme, one finger already thrusting out in the direction of the landing pad they had arrived on. "Get her out of here!" Zelina demanded sharply.

Zelina's own intent was clear in her posture and reflected in her eyes, an intent that had Obi-Wan stepping forward to refuse. "No, you're going to need me here—"

Zelina grasped Obi-Wan's arm tightly, locking her gaze with his own. "We're not going to put Padme and her baby in harm's way—I won't have it. Get her out of here, she's your priority. I'll make do," she ground out, giving Obi-Wan a light shove so he would get Padme off Mustafar in their small window of time. There were multiple ships, which means Palpatine was expecting trouble—Obi-Wan needed to keep Padme safe and protect her from any other threats. If Palpatine brought clone troops, then Obi-Wan was the best choice for a defender, since he was the Soresu master.

Obi-Wan's expression was hesitant, even as he backstepped and gently placed a hand on Padme's shoulder to lead her out of the facility. Zelina watched them go, Anakin coming to stand beside her.

"Go with them," Anakin said firmly, drawing his cloak around himself.

Zelina shook her head. "I'm staying right with you until you're...well, until you're you again." Zelina shook herself out of her temporary stupor and refocused on the present instead of the door Padme and Obi-Wan had disappeared out of, turning to face Anakin and placing her hands on his upper arms. "I'm not asking you to be perfect, or to fix everything, and I'm not going to force your hand; but, Anakin...no matter what you decide...I'm staying right here with you. I made promises, and I intend to see them through...to the very end."

Anakin's hand seized her arm in a vice grip. "I spared you once, I can't step in again. Leave. Now."

Zelina refused to be moved. "No. Whatever happens next, we're facing it together."

"This isn't the time for heroics, Zelina."

"You're right, it's time for you to get back on track, to make the right choice. Anakin, please—"

"Well, well...what have we here?"

Zelina froze at the new voice, both of their grips tightening marginally on each other as they registered that their brief time was already up. Zelina hoped that perhaps Obi-Wan and Padme had made it to the ship without any troubles considering how fast Palpatine had descended on her and Anakin. Maybe they hadn't made it to the ship itself yet, but as long as they managed to stay ahead of whoever had been in the second ship...Zelina would be okay.

Zelina turned just enough to see who had entered the room—from a door other than the one Obi-Wan and Padme had disappeared out of, Zelina noted with relief—remaining fixed in place because of the vice grips that she and Anakin had on one another. She didn't need to look to confirm the owner of the voice—it was a very distinct voice, and one that was ingrained into her soul right over the definition of hate, especially with recent events.

She hadn't expected what she saw standing in the doorway.

The figure in the black robes wasn't the Palpatine that she was used to dealing with face-to-face. This being was shriveled with sagging skin and gnarled fingers, an exterior to match the foul soul Zelina had always suspected was being hidden within. Still, he walked with a grace that defied his warped features, and the reminder of Anakin's story that stated Palpatine had killed all the Jedi Masters who had gone to arrest him except Windu, who'd been killed when Anakin disarmed him, made her wary. Zelina bristled at Palpatine's presence on an ingrained instinct, her hatred of the man piercing into the room like a thrusting blade even as she carefully put the dark emotion on a leash, lest it control her or provide Palpatine with an avenue to manipulate her.

Despite Anakin's wish to the contrary, they were in the final round, now. Palpatine wouldn't let her leave Mustafar alive now that they were in the same room, and Zelina wasn't about to leave Palpatine and Anakin together so the Sith could tear down the progress Zelina, Padme, and Obi-Wan had just made. She was going to get Anakin back if she had to pry him from Sidious' twisted, dead fingers herself.

"I must say I shouldn't be surprised that you've survived—you've proven to be annoyingly difficult to kill over the years," Sidious sneered. Zelina's eyebrows raised marginally at the proclamation, and she carefully pulled herself free from Anakin's suddenly still grip.

"Oh, so you're admitting you've tried to kill me before?" Zelina challenged. Palpatine was quick to smooth over his statement in front of Anakin.

"Oh, never outright, no...though I might have pushed some pieces around," he said evasively.

Zelina snorted—it was good enough as a confirmation for her, but she wasn't exactly in the mood for games, either. "Please, isn't it a little late in the game to be trying to save face around Anakin despite how much you hate me? Besides, it seems we're showing true faces now."

She added the last part with a condescending smirk, pleased to see the irritation flash across Palpatine's face at her jab. Palpatine was too much of a politician for the simple remark about his appearance to goad him into compromising himself, though. Palpatine wasn't going to attack until he was ready, or it benefited him in some way...or at least he felt it wasn't going to hurt his hold on Anakin too much.

"What are you even doing here, Du'ahn. Surely you know that Anakin is beyond your reach, now? Isn't it time you let go, like the Jedi were always teaching you? Time you let him and his wife live in peace instead of clinging to someone who isn't yours?" Palpatine said in an almost disinterested voice.

Zelina's expression solidified into an icy glare as he cut right to the manipulation and twisted words, a sneer curling her lips as he dared to try and turn Zelina's feelings around as something for Anakin to view as dangerous.

Now she was getting an inkling of where he'd gotten that idea Zelina might want Padme dead in the first place.

"I'm not trying to take him from anyone but you, Palpatine. You're the leech, trying to use him to build your Empire, making him promises that you have no intention of keeping."

Palpatine had the audacity to layer his sagging face into a look of mock disbelief. "I want nothing more than to help his wife, and I have every intention of doing what I can to save her. Your intentions...aren't so clear."

Zelina had to restrain the urge to snort in derision again. "On the contrary, I have every reason to want Padme to live. You on the other hand, well, you have plenty of reasons to want her dead, and your track record conflicts with that saintly proclamation of yours."

Palpatine hummed in bitter amusement, coming to a stop a few paces in front of Zelina—which was much closer that she was comfortable with him beings. She wasn't comfortable with him being in the room period, but now he was considerably closer, and Zelina had to fight the instinct to bolt, her sense of danger steadily growing as if she wasn't already aware of her current situation.

"We can stand here till Mustafar hardens and dies arguing over whose intentions are what they seem, or we can get to the heart of the matter. You are a Jedi, little Du'ahn, which makes you a traitor to the Republic—a traitor that Lord Vader has been tasked with promptly exterminating."

The end of his proclamation held the undertone of a sharp warning, as if to let Anakin know that he was displeased that Zelina was still alive and had not been killed—yet—by Anakin. As much as Zelina had the instinct to turn and glance at her fallen friend standing behind her, especially after his statement that he couldn't protect her twice, Zelina resisted, keeping her eyes forward as a show of trust.

"Wrong—I'm not a Jedi. Not really. The only reason I have a price over my head is because I'm the constant lynchpin of your plans, right Palpatine? Besides...I'm one of Anakin's strongest supporters. I put him above everything, including the Republic...and I've known him far longer than you. Though I'm not going to pretend I know his every move and thought, or try to predict what he'll do or what he'll choose." Now she glanced back at him, managing to catch his flickering gaze momentarily. "That's his choice, and no one can really speak for Anakin except him."

Palpatine ignored her heartfelt words that were more directed at Anakin than Palpatine, putting on a thoughtful expression. "I don't recall you ever leaving or being thrown out of the Order...which I'm afraid means that you are very much so a Jedi, and thereby an enemy of the Republic. You're the enemy of the very system that he's fought for, a threat to his wife, and not even a real friend, considering the secrets your willing to keep from him."

"It's not a republic anymore—you've completely destroyed the Republic and already announced it as reorganized into an Empire, remember?" Zelina shot back acerbically. "And I'm not about to defend my loyalty to Anakin from you—Anakin knows me, he knows better, and I don't have to prove myself to you, just him—which I have done time and time again."

Though Anakin has been doubting you recently thanks to Palpatine...

No, now's not the time to have those thoughts. Focus, and trust him. He knows you won't lift a finger to harm him, he knows he can trust you by now, he knows, don't worry about that, focus on Palpatine.

"Lord Vader," Palpatine said coolly. "She is a traitor to the Republic. You know what must be done."

"I've betrayed no one, especially not Anakin," Zelina hissed.

"It is a simple matter, a choice between your wife and her life. Which one means more to you, Lord Vader? You need me to save your wife, and she won't rest until she sees me dead—which would mean you lose your only means to save Padme."

"If she could be turned..." Anakin started to say hesitantly, but Zelina cut him off. She could feel the storm of emotions raging within him, the war that she had whipped up with Padme and Obi-Wan, especially now that Palpatine was here to try and pull on Anakin's strings once more. His inner conflict was ignited once more, and he was unsure which side he stood on now that both were being called into question.

"No. I'm content with where I am in the Force right now, and I refuse to bend the knee to Palpatine. Not that he doesn't want it, either. If I was returned I'd be unrestrained by my morals, and impossible for him to control because of how much I hate him. I'd be more of a threat to him on the dark side than I am even now," Zelina said calmly, staring down Palpatine.

"There is no choice," Palpatine said pointedly.

"Actually, there is," Zelina returned harshly. "You're just intent on robbing him of his choice. Why don't you stop hiding behind Anakin and face me yourself, you coward, if you really want me dead so badly."

The moment the words left her lips, Zelina regretted them. Anakin was at conflict with himself, and had yet to decide where he stood, so she couldn't count on him as a support. Not to mention, Obi-Wan had disappeared with Padme to get her to safety, which meant that Zelina was completely alone if she was to face Palpatine. She knew her abilities were advanced, she knew she had potential and power that almost reached Anakin's abilities, but she also knew herself well enough to know that Sidious was likely out of her league. She might be able to hold her own, but there was no way she would win on her own.

But she was not going to give Palpatine the chance to goad Anakin into killing her—she wouldn't have it.

Palpatine's eyes glinted at her bold challenge. "Quite the daring move, child. You might want to rethink that statement before you get yourself into trouble. There's no one to save you this time."

No, there's really not. I'm not about to get a Force Luke assist, and Anakin's as still as ever behind me, and Obi-Wan's busy with the other priority. It's just me...

Zelina drew herself up to her full height. She was done avoiding the conflicts, of sidestepping and trying to find alternatives or altogether ignoring the personal conflicts. This wasn't going to be another time she backed down and tried to re-evaluate. It was about time she stood up and called Palpatine out, time she planted herself in place and announced I will not be moved to the Sith Lord that had been slowly trying to tear down their lives for years now. Besides, this way, perhaps she could force Anakin's hand, perhaps, if the confrontation came to bear, he'd finally make his choice.

She just hoped that they had swayed him enough that his choice would be one that was in her favor.

"I'm not asking for a savior. I'm calling you out. You're a fraud and a serpent. I said I was done standing on the sidelines, and I meant it. I will not join your cause, and I will not stand by any longer while you try to manipulate and control Anakin." Her hands twitched towards her lightsaber, not yet grabbing it despite her instincts screaming at her to do so because she did not want to be the aggressor any more than she already was. Sidious was going to be the first one to draw blood, not her. It would just be another weapon in her arsenal.

"Your arrogance is your downfall, child—just as it was Master Yoda's."

Zelina didn't have time for the last part of Palpatine's statement to kick in before the Sith Lord launched himself at her with a furious howl, Zelina barely having time to activate her own blade to stay the deadly red lightsaber that now hummed inches from her face. She now had a good look at the Sith Lord's deformed features with his close proximity, but as intrigued as she was to know what had caused the sudden deterioration of Palpatine's appearance, her mind was quickly yanked away from any idle thoughts as she forced herself to find her battle's center. Adrenaline rushed through her veins as she tapped into the Force, letting it sharpen her senses to a razor's edge and strengthen her beyond her physical limitations.

This was a fight that was going to require everything she had if she was going to last long enough for the fight to not be pointless.

Sidious was pressing back against the blade with a demented cackle, trying to break past Zelina's hurried defense, but she planted her feet and held her ground, taking a slow breath and momentarily closing her eyes in the face of his madness and delving into the center of her being. Words spoken by Luke in one of her more potent visions not too long ago ghosted to the front of her mind.

Thank you...for helping me...

Oh, this isn't me...it's all you. I'm just helping you tap into your potential...

With Luke's help, she'd redirected missiles, sent a shockwave that ripped apart a platform, and even absorbed the energy of an entire lightsaber blade being shoved towards her chest. It hadn't even been Luke doing it, or the combined effort of two Jedi—Luke hadn't really been there. He'd been a vision. A vision that had expressly told her that everything she did in those moments when he appeared to help her had come from her own potential. Those were all abilities within her reach as she was now without any help. She could absorb a lightsaber and send explosive shockwaves, could rip missiles out of the sky and send them crashing into new targets. She would hold her own against Palpatine.

What are you prepared to do?

Fight.

Zelina opened her eyes again with a sudden surge of newfound strength and determination, activating her other blade and forcing Palpatine to step back to avoid a swipe at his abdomen from her green lightsaber, a snarl twisting the Sith Lord's already marred features. She took the opportunity to take a step forward of her own, to advance the playing field away from Anakin, deeper into the room, though Palpatine's retreat had only been momentary, and didn't give her much room to move before he leapt upon her again.

The first thing she noticed about his fighting style was the speed and ferocity. Zelina could be fast herself, but Palpatine's speed was on a different level entirely. If he gained a solid hold on the offensive, she'd be hard pressed to keep up—she needed to keep him on the defensive as much as she could, and she needed to draw strength from the fact that she had something to fight for. Palpatine had his vision, his power, his new-found Empire.

Since Palpatine only had one blade, Zelina used her extra lightsaber to her advantage, wielding the second weapon not parallel with her violet lightsaber, but as it's own separate entity. She attacked from one angle with the violet and simultaneous came in from another with the green, switching tactics and moving into the next attack whenever she felt resistance on her blades.

Zelina was fighting for her life.

Palpatine's speed allowed him to keep up with Zelina's attempt to disorient and cause him to leave something open, and slowly Zelina found herself using her green blade to defend herself from Palpatine's crimson lightsaber more than she was using it to try and attack an undefended spot, since not only was she not making much visible progress with the attack, but occasionally it caused her to leave herself open, which was a weakness that Sidious was not hesitating to press the advantage of.

Zelina was fighting for Anakin's soul.

Palpatine snarled wildly, a sudden burst of furious attacks of an entirely different lightsaber style and a switch to using his other hand to wield his lightsaber throwing Zelina off for a moment, causing her to retreat a few steps as she adjusted to the switch. She was known to switch up her own style now and then, but this move told her that not only was he toying with her and figuring out the extent of her abilities, but he was just as well versed, probably more so, then Zelina in lightsaber forms, and could use both hands equally to wield his blade.

Zelina was fighting for Luke's future.

Zelina growled as well as she recovered from the initial surprise, planting her feet and ducking low to avoid a precise strike at her neck, shifting her stance into something deadlier and more recent in her lightsaber combat arsenal.

Vaapad.

Palpatine noticed the shift, and started to cackle when he recognized the stance she used.

"Only a master of Vaapad can use that form effectively against me. And you, child, are no master," Palpatine taunted.

Zelina came in close and fast for a volley of blows that she was proud to say initially put Palpatine on the defensive with the surprise intensity of the action. "I know just enough to make me dangerous," she said in a low voice, already drawing on the adrenaline coursing through her veins to fuel her attacks. She opened herself up to the Force as a whole, including outside of her innermost self, so that she could feed off of the dark energies that Palpatine was pumping into the battle like a drug, even drawing from Anakin's own conflicting emotions, though she was careful not to distract herself with trying to examine them or to cause her own drowning in the violent storm that was Anakin Skywalker when he was conflicted to this degree.

She hadn't practiced using both blades in Vaapad yet, so the green blade momentarily disappeared from her furious volley of blows, so only her purple blade sliced through the air, clashing violently against Sidious' own blade. She kept trying to expand their combat field, to perhaps push him down a hallway or out into the open air of the balcony, but he managed to push back, constantly keeping them contained in the same room.

"Now, this is familiar," Palpatine snarled as she briefly managed to lock their blades together, the Sith Lord pushing furiously against her blade as he smiled mockingly at her. Zelina blocked out his taunting the best that she could, focusing on her connection with the Force, and the trading of blows from blade to blade, back and forth, at a strength and speed she knew was slowly chipping away at her defenses, but the Vaapad allowed her to compensate, to feed off of the energy he poured into the battle on his own end in a small attempt to make up for her own shortcomings.

And if she still fell short, she could adjust again, pull out her second lightsaber to assist with the attack. But she couldn't think too far ahead at the moment or she would lose track of what was happening and give Palpatine a valuable opening that could be fatal for her.

"A purple bladed Vaapad user trying to get the best of me, not even thinking about Skywalker, not factoring him in, trusting him, thinking that they can best me..." Palpatine cackled again, madly and gleefully this time, as if he already knew the outcome. She knew he was thinking of Windu, but she was not Mace Windu. That was a strength as much as it was a weakness. "Better be careful, child..."

Zelina heard blasterfire erupt distantly from somewhere outside, and the Force spiked almost painfully through her mind as danger coiled around Obi-Wan and Padme.

How had they not made it to the ship yet? Was it being guarded? Had something complicated their escape? Had Obi-Wan considered coming back for Zelina when the fight broke out, to assist her, maybe trying to hide the Senator before something had prompted him not to race back to her? She could only hope he would focus on getting Padme out of this hot-bed of danger and not worry about her, or her fight with Palpatine really would be for naught.

Zelina's millisecond of concentration cost her. She'd already been vulnerable in the sense that Vaapad left one open to attacks through the Force, but her Force potential and her already well-ingrained habit to draw on the Force and constantly use it to enhance her abilities had given her a cushion to fall back on. The distraction, on the other hand, gave Palpatine the opening he'd wanted, and he suddenly shoved a hand forward, sending Zelina flying backwards through the air. Transparisteel glass suddenly shattered around her, pieces slicing skin as it rained all around her through the air.

"Lest you fly out the window!" she faintly heard Sidious crow.

She wasn't paying much attention to the jest, her body already twisting in midair to seek out something to catch herself with, relying almost entirely on her Force instincts. Her hand found the railing of the walkway before she could fly over it, and she used her momentum to swing back under the railing and onto the walkway, angling herself down to the right of the window instead of back through and potentially towards an awaiting Sith Lord. The glass raked up her body, lighting random small sections of skin on fire as she slid along the walkway a short distance. Her shoto appeared to embed itself into the walkway, slowing down her slide and allowing Zelina to control her momentum enough to be on her feet by the time Palpatine leapt out the window with the air of an animal who was closing in on its prey.

Obi-Wan and Padme were in trouble somewhere behind her, but she couldn't go and help them because doing so would bring Palpatine right to them, and the entire goal of them fleeing right now was to get Padme and her child as far away from Palpatine as possible. She'd only be sabotaging her own hope.

Zelina let out a wild shout as she launched herself at Palpatine, fueling her new volley of attacks with the burning protectiveness over Anakin's family, over the unborn child who'd pled with her for years to help him, over the man she loved but could never have, over her friends who were few and far between because she did not trust easily after everything that had happened to her.

Yes, even she even drew on her pain—just a little—allowing it to tell her brain that she needed to fight for her life, that if she didn't give it her all now, she would die.

Zelina swung her lightsaber like she was going for an overhead blow, watching Palpatine shift to intercept before she cut her leap short and slammed into the ground, sending a powerful burst through the Force out in front of her that knocked him through the air and back several meters with a gargled and furious cry of surprise. Dimly Zelina noted that she could see Anakin following their battle, and she was semi-relieved to sense concern from him for her own wellbeing, though it wasn't much of a balm for her worries over her friend considering he had yet to leap in to help her in this fight.

Knowing Palpatine would recover quickly, Zelina only took a moment to adjust the length of her shoto to something closer to a full-length blade (which had been the lightsaber's original design), hoping to use the extra length to give her a bit more of an edge in the fight.

She needed every buffer she could get.

Palpatine let out an inhuman roar as he suddenly came back at her in all of his terrifying ferocity, lightsaber arching through the air almost too fast for Zelina to catch it, causing her to rapidly backtrack as she was attacked by what she could only describe as a shadow. She relied entirely on the Force alone to tell her where she should put her blade, trying to back up to someplace not as narrow as the walkway, where she felt trapped by Palpatine's attacks.

In the brief time that they were on the walkway, Zelina felt Palpatine land several hits, small but sharp and even deep cuts landing on her arms and legs, one managing to graze her torso at one point. The pain was excruciating but she forced herself to keep going, managing to open a door despite the precious morsel of attention it required for her to do so before she rapidly backed into the room. Anakin was following their destructive path, looking like he was on the brink of jumping in, and frankly, part of Zelina wished he'd just hurry up and intervene soon. She was starting to lose, as she'd predicted, and she wanted to see a resolution with Anakin before she was cut in half or something along those lines.

As they entered the large control center, Zelina noted with mild glee that there were things to throw in this room, and wasted no time in sending chairs, chunks of metal, and even corpses at Palpatine in an attempt to gain an upper hand. The Sith Lord easily cut through anything that she threw at him, but she didn't mind, because at least his lightsaber was being focused on something other than slicing her to ribbons, even if it was for a second.

Palpatine cut through the next corpse she threw at him with irritation, and Zelina suddenly found the Sith Lord directly in her face once again, snarling and furious. She had enough time to note their close proximity, even with crossed lightsabers, before she acted on a whim that, while it cost her a little, she felt gave her an upper hand immensely worth it.

Sidious counted too much on her honor as a duelist.

Before she could even register what she was doing, Zelina deactivated her lightsaber, allowing a surprised Sidious's lightsaber to sheer off a layer of skin out of the front of her shoulder, back of her hand, and around her wrist that put Zelina in excruciating pain...

...but also giving her the opportunity to reactivate her blade within his defenses and pull in, severing a hand at the wrist in the process.

Zelina staggered away as Sidious let loose a furious howl that rocked the room, tears stinging her eyes as her hand fluttered for the decently sized chunk of skin that had been gauged away by Sidious' lightsaber.

She couldn't focus on that right now, right now the pain would fuel an ambidextrous Sidious who could still fight with one hand.

Zelina forced the hand that wanted to grab at her sudden injury to hold a lightsaber instead, eyes watering as she tried to ignore the sensation in her shoulder, breathing shallow as she tried again to draw on the pain in order to tell her body to fight.

Sidious whipped around towards Zelina, about to descend upon her in a merciless fury of darkness, when the facility was rocked by yet another force, this time one from the physical realm that Zelina's ears were very attuned to.

An explosion.

Coming from the landing pad.

At the same time Zelina felt two presences close to her own heart suddenly snuffed dim in the Force.

Obi-Wan...

Padme...

"NO!"

Zelina's had been a gasp, but Anakin's cry was thunderous as what had happened registered in his mind as well.

Zelina's exclamation was also quickly swallowed up in a scream, as Palpatine used Zelina's costly distraction to unleash his fury upon her in the form of Sith Lightning. Part of her felt that the extent of what he unleased upon her was unrestrained, but another small and rapidly deteriorating part of her brain informed her that if it had been the full extent, she'd be dead instantly.

Close enough.

The lightning ripped through every cell in her body, lighting it aflame and burning it to a crisp. She could smell the ozone the instant the tendrils snaked across her body, and she collapsed to the floor in an uncontrollable spasm, the world evaporating into a sheet of blinding purple and white.

It might have only lasted seconds, it might have only lasted an hour, or perhaps it had been days, but the initial pain did end.

But not soon enough.

Her screams were still ringing in her ears, causing the sounds of furious shouts to echo dully in her ears. The world tilted and swam, and Zelina found the effort to breath, to collapse and fill her lungs in a cycle, too strenuous for a suddenly fried body. Her eyes rolled loosely, unseeing except for splashes of white, streaks of purple light, and darkness. Her finger twitched, and a new shot of pain ripped up her decimated nervous system.

Her hearing rang, but bursts of sound occasionally made it past the muffled underwater effect, piercing her eardrum with a shouted word in what sounded like Anakin's voice, and...the clash of lightsabers.

She had to see what was happening.

Even as she choked on her own breaths—she didn't even know how that was possible—Zelina forced her eyes to be open, to clear the spots, to erase this temporary blindness and show her what was happening.

Darkness continued to blur her vision, though when the world tilted again and she rolled lifelessly with the tilt, different blurs of color raced past her vision, and she realized her eyes were open.

But darkness was creeping into the edges of her vision...rapidly. Her strength was non-existent, and whatever part of her was left, she was channeling into this one last glimpse at reality.

Blurs took moving shapes of color, sometimes sharp and bright and stabbing, and the rest out of focus, but as her vision slipped between the two, she was able to make out a scene, pieced together in her consciousness from the brief flashes she managed to see.

Anakin...lightsaber ablaze...fighting Palpatine with a fury.

Anakin...Anakin fighting Palpatine.

Anakin...

"Ana...k..."

The words came out in a wheeze as Zelina struggled for air, hand reaching out in the general direction that she'd seen the blue glow of his lightsaber, the dark streak that was Anakin Skywalker possessed with a furious purpose. Her friend. No...no, the man she loved.

Her body wasn't responding to her command anymore. She wanted to get up, to go to him, to help, or to even call out his name, but she couldn't, she was even...even losing the energy to think, and something was ebbing out of her. Not something physical, something else, something bright and luminous.

Snippets floated towards her of a warning she had tried her best to ignore.

...You could be my protector, my guardian, my teacher, or not be there at all...

The only way I see you not being in my son's life is if you died.

...not be there at all...

The breath sighed out of her as Zelina's body went lax against the smooth durasteel floor, hand outstretched in front of her with palm open in one last desperate attempt to reach Anakin, to help him, to stop Palpatine, to stop all of this.

I'm so sorry, Luke.

Darkness encroached, pulling at her soul, tugging her away as she heard screams and lightning and lightsabers in a confusing cacophony that no longer made any sense. She could find no purchase to hold her there any longer, no foothold that allowed her to claw her way back to at least see what was happening, to see if Anakin would win, so see who would survive if not her.

Anakin...

With nothing left in her to fight, no path she could see that guided her back to the land of the living, she simply...let go.

********************************************

The End of When Darkness Falls...