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Title: Three
Author: Rose Aislin
Rating: PG
Category: Angst
Characters: Anakin/Vader, Padme, Obi-Wan, Luke

Disclaimer: Star Wars belongs to George Lucas and co. Not me. Wish it did, though... No money is being made off this, and the fic was written for entertainment purposes only.

Summary: For Anakin, things in life always seemed to come in three. Like life, death, and rebirth.

There were some things in life you didn't question, Anakin knew. His love for Obi-Wan was one of these. His love for Padme the second. And the terrible, tearing feeling he felt whenever parted with either one of them for any length of time the third.

Most things came in threes. Like life, death, and rebirth. Anakin had been given a new life as a Jedi, Master Qui-Gon had lost his, and Obi-Wan had been reborn from a padawan into a master. Anakin's Master.

He had found his love for Padme given new life when they met again, rushing through him with every breath. His belief that the Jedi code had to be right, was right, had died. And he had been reborn, on their wedding night, from a Jedi into a man.

He had thought that this time, these choices, would follow the same pattern of threes. He would give life to Padme and their child, the Jedi would die, and the Galaxy would be reborn into an era of peace, of safety.

But as he lay, burning, he knew that he was wrong.

Things didn't always come in threes. And yet they did.

Padme, his child, the Jedi, would die - were dying. He was dying. Palpatine, the Emperor, and his new reign were given life. And Obi-Wan was reborn once more - into a broken old man, without hope. Years that had previously seemed to pass him by crashing down onto his shoulders as he stared down at Anakin.

I loved you! he yelled.

A fiery hatred was given life within Anakin then - to have such love taken away. At the same time, his love for Obi-Wan died - and once more, he did not question it. And he was reborn, into a monster he didn't recognise any longer.

The Force grew, the Dark side being given new life. And it groaned, wailing in pain as life was taken from it. And the Galaxy was reborn, not into peace, but into pain, despair and fear.

Obi-Wan turned, shoulders sagging under the weight of newly born despair. His hope for the future, for Anakin, dying, and his very being reborn into that of someone who could not love - could only feel the slightest compassion. For to continue to love now would surely kill him. And death would not be his this time - Life, and Death, they had already happened, it was his task to be reborn once more.

The next time Anakin looked out on the world, it was to watch the pattern of three repeat itself once more.

His son - who had been dead for so long, at his hand, was given life, and with him, hope. Obi-Wan, his task fulfilled, died. And Anakin was reborn - from machine and monster to man once more.

The Anakin spoke to his son for the first time. And his heart was given life within his breast once more. He killed Luke's innocence. And Luke was reborn - from a man, a farmboy, into a Jedi.

Years later, the pattern repeated itself. Luke, his son, was given life by his father's hand. Anakin died. And the Galaxy was reborn - into peace, and hope, and joy.

His life had always happened in threes.

Always three.

Qui-Gon, Padme, Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan, Padme, Palpatine.

Padme, Luke, Leia.

Luke, Obi-Wan, Anakin.

Life, Death, and rebirth.

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