A/N: Well well well look who it is... me! The author! Still alive and pointedly not abandoning this story. Seriously, I'm not. Although a hiatus as long as this certainly makes it look like I am. Confession time: I got sucked so far into the Marvel fandom I had no way of coming out of it. Not saying I wasn't a fan before but let's be honest here, Infinity War got me fucked up. Then Endgame did even MORE damage.

ANYWAY, I am here and I managed to get this chapter out through lots of blood sweat and tears. 

And trust me... there may be tears at the end of this one (haha oops don't hate me). I did make myself sad when writing and editing (haha double oops).

Okay, since it's been a while (understatement) I am going to do a previously on!

PREVIOUSLY ON AMONG THE STARS:

Azel and Obi-Wan enjoyed an almost kiss on Alderaan, and Obi-Wan almost confessed that he knows about Azels mom and what happened with Arrin. Azel had another Force-vision with Vader and found out that he has Arrin. She makes a deal that she will hand herself over if he releases Arrin. She goes behind Obi-Wans back to do so. They dance together, she steals his comlink and ends up having a long overdue conversation with Han (aww :') ) that only confirms Vader wasn't lying and does, in fact, have Arrin hostage. She starts to doubt Obi-Wan because he knew about it but wants to protect him from Vader all the same. She steals Anakins lightsaber and leaves.....

And Chapter 17 begins!

--

Obi-Wan knows something is wrong the moment Azel turns her back on him and rushes out of the ballroom.

He waits until she is out of sight before he begins to pursue her, except Hankly, the blasted man that couldn't stop talking about his estranged wife, decides to approach him at that moment.

"Obi-Wan! We never finished our discussion earlier."

And by earlier he means before Azel arrived and Obi-Wan was able to excuse himself from the dreadfully boring conversation.

"Actually, now really isn't a good time--"

"Nonsense! No time like the present! Come, come! I must tell you about Darla."

Hankly takes Obi-Wan by the shoulders and steers him over to the bar. The stench of alcohol is radiating off the man and Obi-Wan wants nothing more than to pull away and run for the hills, but instead, he is ever the polite citizen and allows the man to seat him at the bar.

Hankly orders them both a drink.

"Er, just water for me," Obi-Wan tells the bartender before he can leave.

"Don't listen to him, mate! We're at a party, you gotta--"

"Water for him too," Obi-Wan tells the man, and with one look at Obi-Wan's companion, he concedes and gets two glasses of water.

"You're no fun," Hankly slumps in his chair. It took only a second of pouting before Hankly went on a rant about his wife once more. Obi-Wan withheld a sigh and tried to listen to the man's words but his mind wasn't having any of it. It's too focused on what Azel could be doing and if she's alright. He senses something wrong in the Force--something to do with Azel--something that Obi-Wan has to stop.

But as Hankly continues on his rant, with a heavy hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder as if he could sense the Jedis desire to leave, he knows whatever is wrong will have to wait just a while longer.

--

Borrowing a ship from the port was a lot easier than Azel anticipated. Apparently, knowing the Queen and Senator of the planet has its perks. If only getting a ship on Tatooine was just as easy.

A little flirting here—oh you're just the cutest!— a little name dropping there—Senator Organa has sent me himself to retain a ship—and getting off Alderaan went from being one of the most difficult objectives to one of the easiest.

The irony isn't lost on her.

She is positive that the Senator will be alerted to her leaving, and therefore Obi-Wan, but she doesn't care about them knowing she is gone, she cares about getting away fast enough to not get caught, stopped, or most importantly, followed.

Now that she is leaving the atmosphere, she has to input the coordinates for her destination.

Mustafar, her mind helpfully supplies. She isn't sure how the name registers in her head considering she's never heard of the planet before—only seen it in visions and memories that are not her own. Somehow, thinking about the planet suddenly clicks its name into place, like it's been there all along. Azel knows she didn't know its name a day ago, so it must have been something Vader did in their recent encounter.

The thought unsettles her.

After finding the planet on the map, she makes the appropriate calculations for a jump to light speed. As it turns out, Mustafar isn't all that far away from Alderaan and will take only an hour to arrive.

She watches the stars zoom by and kicks her feet up on the dash. Now all she has to do it wait.

—

"You won't get away with this!"

Arrin struggles against the bonds holding his hands together and the two stormtroopers on either side of him with death grips on each of his biceps.

Krennic is actively ignoring him, focusing only on the controls before him and making Arrin more frustrated by the minute.

"Hey! Snowflake! I'm talking to you!"

Fed up with the taunts, Krennic sighs and turns towards his captive. Without giving him a second glance, he gestures to one of the stormtroopers and the guy on his right shuffles for a moment before shoving something dry and soft into his mouth. He tries to spit it out but it sticks to his lips and tongue and is too deep in his mouth for it to be even the slightest bit effective. Arrin mutters and grumbles to himself around the cloth knowing it will be no use to attempt speaking now.

Krennic played with the controls and after a moment, a hologram of a hooded head popped up before him. Arrin knows exactly who it was without having ever seen his face before. Chills ran up his spine and he stopped struggling to stare at the emperors' hologram.

"My lord," Krennic greets and kneels before the hologram.

"Krennic," he replies in a raspy voice. "I suspect you've completed your task?"

"Yes, my lord." Krennic doesn't rise from his kneeled position or bother to look up at him, but when the emperor doesn't speak Krennic peaks up and adds, "I have learned much about the girl, and have apprehended someone important to her."

The grin that made its way onto his wrinkly mouth makes Arrin grimace. "Very good, Krennic. I'll have you meet Lord Vader and me on Mustafar. It won't be long before the girl will be coming to us, and we have a little surprise for her when she does."

"Yes, my Lord."

At that, the hologram disappears and Krennic stands up to his full height. He turns around to look at Arrin and his two guards.

"Lock him up."

The stormtroopers lift a struggling Arrin to his feet and pull him down the hallway and out of sight. It's not a far distance to the cells, but Arrin struggles the whole way until he is thrust through a doorway and falls to the floor. When he lifts himself up and looks over his shoulder, the door is closed and latching into place.

Arrin pulls the cloth from his mouth and throws it to the floor. They might have him, but he sure as hell won't make it easy on them. He can only hope that Azel doesn't do anything stupid like show up.

—

Mustafar is not as hot as in her dreams, it's hotter.

Azel lands her ship on one of the available platforms hovering over the river of lava. She gave herself only a moment to calm her racing heart before stepping out of the ship and walk the long path to the main building sitting at the edge of a great lavafall. It's a massive structure with several smaller compounds branching off of it, connected by sky bridges similar to the one she is on now. It's enough to make Azel feel small and insignificant against its looming shadows.

Distracted by the architecture, Azel barely has time to realize she is being watched. At the end of the pathway stands an all too familiar figure.

Darth Vader is everything from her temple vision and more. His presence is all-consuming in darkness and she feels his eyes staring directly at her as if he is a predator waiting to pounce.

Azel doesn't let this deter her as she makes her way down the walkway and closer towards her potential mistake. It feels as though she is walking for hours instead of seconds like she is balancing on a tightrope that could snap at any moment; her heart pounds in her chest with blood rushing full of anxiety and fear but doesn't allow it to show. They are feelings she needs to hide behind her walls, feelings she needs to release to the Force. But kriff it is easier said than done, especially when approaching a threat.

Azel stops a safe distance away from Vader and waits for him to make a move. He is alone, which surprises Azel to no end. She fully expected a cavalry of stormtroopers to lead her to a prison cell or the emperor himself, but instead, only Vader stands. She isn't sure if that's a relief or something to be offended by. Surely she is more threatening than that.

When minutes pass and Vader doesn't say anything--only the sound of his respirator is audible--Azel grows annoyed.

"Where's Arrin?"

Maybe it's stupid to put the ball in his court like that, but damn if she is just going to stand here and have a staring contest with black orbs and suffocate herself with air hot enough to leave ashy residue on her exposed skin.

"Follow me," he says and turns on his heel, black cape billowing behind him adding a dramatic flair to his walk.

Vader leads her inside where luckily there is air conditioning. The facility is lively with stormtroopers and military personnel. None of them give the duo a second glance as they make their way through the large first room. The corridors and hallways are not as packed, with only a few passing by and a lone security droid wandering about. It's surprisingly well-lit considering the floors, walls, and ceilings all match the same shining black.

They make a few more twists and turns before they stop in front of an elevator lift. A black-gloved hand presses the button for 'up' and the two of them wait side-by-side until it arrives.

"Are you taking me to him?" Azel asks impatiently.

The doors open and Vader moves inside, Azel follows. When the doors close again and Vader presses another button she is ready to burst with anxiety.

"What, nothing to say? This is what you wanted! I'd at least expect a hello, but noo it's all 'come with me' and dramatic cape flair."

Vader still says nothing. The breathing through his respirator is consistent though, and the only indication that someone is even alive inside that thing.

It takes the elevator coming to stop before she hears, "Hello," from him. The doors open and he is walking out. 

Huh, Vaders got jokes.

It's sad to think that they would've had fun growing up together.

Outside the elevator, she finds they're outside again and standing across from an observational deck. Its theme is consistent with the rest of the decor, black on black on black.

Vader shoves her forward and Azel realizes with a start that the bridge has no railings. Though it is wide enough that she and Vader can comfortably walk beside one another, she feels her hands prickle with sweat from being up so high and close to the edge. She can see the river far beneath them, the height doing very little to quell the temperature, and on the horizon are mountainous ranges of black ash mountains with bright spots of lava pools and rivers flowing down them.

Making it across the bridge without trouble, they walk through an open entryway into a small control room. There are grates on the floor with smoke rising from a select few, some lining the walls locking in control panels, and in the center is a massive circular hole leading kriff knows where. On the opposite side of the hole stands someone that makes her freeze. She's never seen anyone make their robes look like they're consuming all the light around them, like the black holes her mother told her about when she was little. The air seems to gravitate towards him and stay in orbit around him. The Force pulses with a dark energy that Azel has only felt little tingles of a few times in her life, most of which are from dealing with the suited man beside her. She feels the weight of it everywhere, settling in her bones and on her shoulders with a heaviness that makes her feel powerless.

There is only one person in the galaxy that could achieve such a thing.

The emperor.

She didn't realize she stopped breathing until Vader nudges her forward and everything seems to come back into focus. She hadn't noticed she zoned in on the emperor, or that he has zoned in on her too. Despite the warmth of the air, Azel fights back a shiver and clenches her trembling fingers.

Azel stops before the large hole in the floor and glances down to see it's not a pit of endless falling but merely a six or seven-foot drop. She tries not to let her confusion show and looks up to the black blob.

"I thought you'd be taller," she mutters without thinking. Granted, sarcasm has always been a form of defense for her, especially in serious situations much like this one. It's something she and Arrin have always had in common. It's something she can see Obi-Wan looking absolutely appalled about.

Azel can see the sneer on the pale lips of the emperor just barely hidden beneath the hood. "Don't let appearances fool you," he states with a wet crackly voice, and nothing like she would have imagined. Just then, the emperor moves, and in an instant he is flying, not jumping, flying over the gaping hole and standing before her with only a foot between them. If that wasn't startling enough, then him looking at her with yellowish-orange pits for eyes would certainly do it.

Azel doesn't let her fear show and asks with much more confidence than she feels, "Where is Arrin?"

With a heavy sigh like she is inconveniencing him, the emperor waves his hand and the door to her left slides open.

There, in handcuffs and flanked by two stormtroopers, is Arrin. He looks exhausted. His hair is in disarray, there is a cut above his left eyebrow, his tunic is torn underneath his jacket, and dirt and ash are covering his skin and clothing.

He meets her gaze and she sees his disapproval instantly, whereas her eyes reflect her relief more than regret. She would never regret saving his life.

"Let him go," she demands without taking her eyes off him. Arrin stares. She looks back at Vader. "That's what we agreed. You let him go and you can have me."

"No!" Arrin shouts and struggles against the stormtroopers holding him. He falls to his knees and only stops fighting when one of them points their gun at his head.

Vader doesn't get the chance to speak as the emperor hums and says, "so be it. Release the prisoner outside her ship."

The stormtroopers force him to stand and begin moving towards the only exit in the circular room.

"No!" Arrin struggles against his bindings. "Azel don't trust them! Don't! You need to run!" Arrin is pushed forward, closer to the door, closer to her. "Don't listen to them!"

"Take my ship and get out of here."

"No, Azelynn...."

"For Han, please," she whispers and takes his hand. Their eyes meet briefly and she squeezes his hand before he is jerked away from her by the stormtroopers. Arrin goes willingly and keeps looking over his shoulder back at her. She watches him go until he is in the elevator and out of sight.

Azel closes her eyes and breathes deeply before she turns her attention back to the emperor before her.

"What now?"

She can see him smirk from beneath his hood. "Come with me."

He leads, and the two Skywalkers follow.

--

He guides them in silence, but they don't go far. They take a flight of stairs—hidden behind the elevator—up one floor and to a large room. The bridge of the whole station. The emperor clears it free of stormtroopers with a quiet and authoritative leave us and then it's just the three of them surrounded by control panels and large windows overlooking the lava planet.

Azel moves closer to the windows and sees her ship and Arrin. The stormtroopers throw him down in front of the ship before turning around and leaving. Arrin stays on the ground to wipe a hand over his face before he peers up and sees her.

They hold each other's gaze long enough for Azel to give him a slight nod of her head and a sad smile. Arrin stands up, very clearly not approving but still turns around and gets on her ship. Azel releases a breath.

"How did you figure out who I am?" She finds herself asking. The question comes unbidden from her mouth, but the more she thinks on it the more she doesn't understand how they could possibly know who she is.

"There are a great many things about the Force that can't be learned through the ways of the Jedi. Only through the dark side are you able to obtain the ability to see things as simple as a familiar Force Signature."

Azel turns around and glares at him. "You're lying. Obi-Wan could see through my signature and he never studied the dark side."

Not entirely true, they had to do a Midichlorian test to know for sure but potato potahto. He put two and two together after the fact.

"Obi-Wan is not to be trusted," Vader chimes in. "He withheld many things about the Force from me."

"With good reason, look where you ended up."

Vader clenches his hands at his sides.

"Fine, so you could see me from across the galaxy," she tells the emperor. She turns back to Vader, "and you could tell from our joint visions?"

"Not right away, but I was soon able to see the blood in your veins is that of a Skywalker."

How? How come it took a test for Yoda and Obi-Wan to be sure but not Vader and the emperor? Perhaps it really is a trait of the dark side...

"The Jedi are not to be trusted." The emperor states. "Even now, you are doubting Kenobis teachings."

Azel shook her head. How could he possibly know that? My shields are up and locked tight. "What do you want from me? To join you? To kill me?"

"No, we don't want to kill you," he states just as beeping sounds from a screen to his right. He moves towards it, and a smile with rotten teeth appear behind his hood. "But we will if we have to."

That makes Azel gulp and she resists running to the door. She needs to make sure Arrin is gone before she pulls anything he would describe as 'reckless', which happens to be just about every idea Azel has right now.

She looks over her shoulder and sees the ship is still there, but it is accompanied by another and her heart nearly drops to her stomach when she sees none other than Obi-Wan and Arrin conversing. Her eyes widen as stormtroopers come rushing towards them and Obi-Wan pulls out his lightsaber to take them out effortlessly. He says something to Arrin before he rushes towards the building and Arrin stares after him.

No. Nonononono. She left him to protect him, not for him to come after her! She was smart! There is no way he could have found her!

"Well Lord Vader, it looks like you get what you have wanted all along--"

Azel growls and pulls out the lightsaber she has on her belt. She briefly wonders why no one bothered to frisk her.

They really don't think I'm a threat.

The weapon ignites and it's loud in the big empty room, echoing against the concrete walls and filling the space with more than just the noise.

"We had an agreement," she growls at Vader. "You chose to have me--"

"I said I'd rather have Obi-Wan, my Master wanted you."

That sends a shiver down Azels spine but she doesn't let it show. Her panic is rising and with it, her shields are loosening. She reaches out for Obi-Wan, to figure out where in the compound he is.

He's not far, his signature is as composed as ever, but Azel knows him well enough to know he is hiding his worry beneath his shields. Without realizing it, she connects with him and her distress is sent between the two of them. It was an accident; if anything she wanted to hide so he isn't led straight to the enemy, but her fear is evident and the one person she has grown to rely on is Obi-Wan.

His signature changes, but it's still... beneath his shields? It's a weird feeling, nothing she has ever experienced before, and nothing like reaching out to feel the life forms around her. No, this is something deeper, something specific to just she and Obi-Wan.

He is sending her reassurance, he is trying to project that he is coming, that he is here to save her. She doesn't know how that is possible but somehow she latches onto this connection and tells him to run, run and get out of here, that it is a trap.

This whole time it's been a trap.

They knew he would come after her. They knew that if Obi-Wan had come instead, she would have followed. And they both fell for it. They should've done this together, she has never felt more angry with herself. She hates herself for such ignorance. She thought she was protecting him, but instead, she doomed them both.

She should've stayed, she should've planned better with Obi-Wan by her side. They could've saved Arrin together, they could've--

Stop. It's Obi-Wan breaking through her panic. She sent all her regrets through the... the bond they're sharing. She feels a soothing emotion that only Obi-Wan can give her. He's closer now and gaining.

I'm sorry, she sends to him.

She is brought back to the present by Vader. She doesn't realize her eyes are closed until she opens them and sees Vader at the controls and the emperor staring at her with a smile on his lips.

"I can feel the Force building around you. You are strong," he tells her. "Like a Force user of many decades, but reckless enough to prove otherwise."

Why does everyone think I'm reckless? Oh right, she is standing off with two sith lords as a brand new Jedi who has never held a lightsaber before.

Azel grits her teeth and raises her weapon higher and holds it between the two of them.

"Yes, use your hate," the emperor says. "It makes you powerful."

"It is ready my Master," Vader says.

"What is ready?" Azel asks and tightens her grip on the weapon.

Before either of them could answer, Obi-Wan enters the room escorted by five stormtroopers.

He is brought before them and forced to his knees. One of the stormtroopers hands Vader his lightsaber.

Yup, I'm definitely not a threat to them. That's rude.

"Ah, Master Kenobi," the emperor begins. "Very nice of you to join us. We have been waiting a long time for this."

Obi-Wan meets Azels gaze and she doesn't bother to hide her fear. She doesn't know what they have planned for him but Azel will be damned if she lets them touch a hair on his head.

Vader is staring daggers into Obi-Wan, well, what Azel imagines as daggers from behind his mask.

"This was the plan all along," Azel finds herself saying aloud. "Get one of us here, and the other will come running. It was just easier to start with me because I'm still learning about the Force." Which makes me vulnerable, she doesn't say.

"Yes, it was Lord Vaders idea to lure at least one of you here. Dare I say it worked quite nicely. I wasn't sure a Jedi would be foolish enough to fall into a trap, but that is the legacy of the Jedi," he sighs, "arrogance."

"Funny, I could say the same for the Sith." Azel remarks and that earns a glare from both Sith and a pleading one from Obi-Wan.

Don't test them, it says.

Where's the fun in that? She quips. Interesting how she feels stronger with Obi-Wan nearby, despite their predicament.

"I'm going to prepare the room," Vader says and promptly nods at the stormtroopers who pull Obi-Wan up and towards the exit.

"Like hell!" Azel yells and throws her lightsaber at one of the stormtroopers. It pierces through its back and stays there until it falls to the ground in a pile of black and white and the weapon deactivates upon impact. The other stormtroopers have turned around to aim at her. Obi-Wan is staring in surprise but still held in the enemies grasp.

"You're not going anywhere with him," she growls.

The emperor laughs, he downright laughs. It's a pure cackle that sends a chill down Azels spine. It seems to surprise Vader too because he looks over at his Master.

"I may have underestimated you, girl, but your powers are no match for that of a Sith." The emperor nods his head and the stormtroopers begin moving with Obi-Wan again. He struggles in their grasp but stops once a blaster is held to his head.

Azel is quick. She summons both her thrown lightsaber and the one that was confiscated from Obi-Wan into her hands. She ignites them at once and clashes them together menacingly. "I said, you're not going anywhere with him."

The emperor nods his head at Vader who leads the group out of the room. Before Azel could react, the emperor is standing before her with a glittering weapon in his hand.

Oh, shit.

When he ignites it, she could hear Obi-Wan start yelling and fighting back.

"No Azelynn! Stop! Let her go!"

His screams are muffled the further away he gets, and more so when he is out of sight. Leaving Azel with the emperor standing before her and poised for a fight.

She stares into the pit of his hood and almost feels herself get sucked into the abyss. She once heard an expression that if you stare into an abyss it can stare back into you and she knows this is exactly what they had meant. She tightens the grip on her weapons.

"Move," she growls and by the creator, if Obi-Wan or Arrin could see her now they would have a coronary. One does not simply tell the emperor to move.

And yet, she did exactly that.

Obi-Wan is my priority (a fleeting curiosity makes her wonder when in time that occurred), and I will not let them touch him.

It's like everything is suddenly zeroed in on Obi-Wan. Every thought, every reaction to an action, it is all to get Obi-Wan out of there.

"I feel your emotions. They betray you. They make you weak, and now you will either bow before me or parish like your beloved Jedi."

Like a trigger, Azel reacts by swigging both her weapons at him. A voice in her head that sounds suspiciously like Obi-Wan informs her that this is exactly what the emperor wants, but she doesn't care.

The sooner she can get out of here the sooner she can go after Obi-Wan and get them out.

The emperor parries her attack, his red lightsaber clashes with her two blue ones making a sharp noise only a lightsaber can make. Azel stumbles, not quite used to using this weapon—let alone two—and is pushed back from the emperor, effectively knocking her to the floor.

Great start, Skywalker.

Azel is up quickly and the emperor is laughing again the bastard!

"Again," he says to her. "Use your anger, feel it flow through you and strike!"

He comes at her and Azel dodges the attack. She swings out to swipe at his back but he is fast and their sabers meet again in a flash of red and blue light.

Azel swings her second lightsaber at his legs but he manages to catch that too, but she utilizes that moment to swing at his head, which he ducks down to avoid.

It continues on like this, and Azel gets the sickening feeling that he is going easy on her. That alone manages to piss her off.

"Alright enough!" She yells and saunters back. They had migrated towards the elevator, her back is to it now and she is sweating and out of breath and the blasted emperor doesn't even look winded. His hood hadn't moved an inch. Is the damn thing attached to his skin?

Said man sighs patronizingly. "You still have much to learn. Only through me can you achieve such knowledge—"

"Okay, let me stop you right there. I don't care about your blasted dark side or the power it holds, I hardly care about the light side. I only began learning of the Force for one reason only--"

The emperor hums, "ah yes. Your mother."

Azel stiffens.

"What?" She blurts.

"Your fear dwells on your Jedi, but it also dwells on your mother and it has for quite some time."

How could he possibly—

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't lie," he snaps. "You have spent many years without her and wasted many more trying to find her.

"I can tell you where she is."

Azel stiffens. "You're lying."

"She was married," he begins, "she was sold off and the man who bought her married her. She was happy from what I learned of your brother. There was an attack on their farm, sand people as it were, she was taken. Anakin learned this and went after her, he found her and she died in his arms."

Azel is still, the only sound in the room is the humming of their lightsabers, but she can hardly hear them over the pounding of her heart.

He's lying, he is absolutely lying. How could he know? Even if Vader slash Anakin knew something, this is the emperor. He's lying.

"I assure you dear, this is no lie."

Azel raises her lightsabers, her eyes beginning to glisten. "Prove it."

"Her grave is on Tatooine. Naturally, if you don't wish to wait so long you can ask Vader, or even your pet Jedi, assuming he's still... thawed."

Azel blinked, what the fu—

Before she could reply, the building rumbles and suddenly an alarm is blaring through the entire compound. When it shakes again, Azel falls to the floor and both lightsabers switch off. In front of her, the emperor is at the controls and speaking into one of the coms. Several stormtroopers are rushing in, along with a man dressed in a generals uniform.

"Sir, someone hacked into the mainframe. The compound is taking lava."

Azel doesn't hear much else, aside from ready my ship, before she takes off running.

She's halfway towards the stairs when the emperor calls after her. "Search your feelings, Skywalker, you will find a great many of your questions answered."

Azel keeps running. Too many things are happening at once and she needs to get out of here. She needs to get back to Arrin, who is no doubt buying her time and a way out, and get Obi-Wan before Vader has his way with him.

He is wrong about her mother, that much she knows. He's just trying to get under her skin. Obi-Wan wouldn't betray her like that, he couldn't. All this time she spent looking for her mother, all this time she spent training as a Jedi, and for what? To find her mother dead? That can't be true.

Right?

Azel takes the stairs down two at a time and was about to take the elevator back down to the main floor when she hears mechanical whirring from the circular room she was in earlier. Looking towards it, she sees two stormtroopers along with Vader and Obi-Wan. Without hesitation she takes off in a sprint.

The stormtroopers are guarding the door on either side and Azel makes quick work with her lightsaber by decapitating them. It draws attention to her and she enters the room with eyes on her, the glow of blue reflecting off her features. There is one trooper holding Obi-Wan captive and he is on his knees, Vader is on the other side of the massive hole near the control panel.

"What are you doing?" She asks him, weapon still raised.

"Did he tell you about her?" Vader asks innocently.

Azel shifts uncomfortable, her grip tightens on the hilt.

"Tell me about who?"

Vader looks over at her and she swears his unmovable mask is wearing a don't play stupid expression.

"Our mother."

And just like that, the tension in the room grows to another level that Azel didn't think could exist. The alarms blaring and the humming of her blades are the only things to be heard in the otherwise silent dome-like room.

She glances over at Obi-Wan who looks tenser than she ever thought possible. He won't meet her gaze and Azel is suddenly sick with the realization.

Everything the emperor said is true, and Obi-Wan knows.

"He does," Vader confirms her question out loud. He motions for Obi-Wan to be lifted and the trooper concedes. The Jedi is forced to his feet and Azel hasn't taken her eyes off of him.

"Is it true?"

She notices Obi-Wan flinch, and he blinks slowly before he looks up with a sheepish expression.

"Azelynn—"

"You liar." She bites at him, and he flinches. Good.

"It's not what you think—"

"So you didn't know? You didn't know that my mother has been dead for years? You didn't know that your Padawan, your brother as you described, was the one to watch her die?"

Obi-Wan doesn't reply, and she's never seen such a defeated and heartbroken emotion on his face. How dare he! How dare he!

She turns to Vader. "What are you going to do?"

Her voice isn't her own, she doesn't recognize it, it's like her anger and hurt have consumed her entirely and are taking control.

If he is still... thawed. The emperor hinted.

Azel knows exactly what is about to happen, what this machine is and what Vader is about to do. 

Vader doesn't reply, he simply makes another gesture and the trooper is pushing Obi-Wan forward into the circular pit. He falls and makes an oomph sound when he lands. Azel watches, feeling her heart fall into the pit with him.

He deserves this, her mind supplies.

But you love him, another reminds her.

Obi-Wan stands up and is looking at Azel pleadingly. A tear slips down her cheek.

"Don't go down this road," Obi-Wan says to her. "Don't let your feelings consume you."

Even as he is about to be taken prisoner in carbonate, he is fighting for her.

Probably feels guilty, the evil in her mind says.

Because he loves you too, the other part says.

Azel has never felt more conflicted.

"You had no right," she says to him.

Before he could respond, before Azel could say anything more, a whooshing sound fills the air and Obi-Wan is encased in smoke.

The last thing she hears from Obi-Wan is through the Force: 

I'm sorry.

END PART TWO