One Path Chapter 49--Betrayal
Title:Betrayal
Author: Lionchilde
Summary: "You're a Sith Lord!"
Rating: PG
Length: Around 2500 words
Category: Gen
Pairings/Characters: Obidala mentioned, Chapter's from Anakin and Padme's POV.
A/N: One Path Chapter 49. Set during an alternate RotS.
Betrayal
Padme didn't worry when she arrived home to an empty apartment. After all, she had asked Anakin to keep her son with him. She did, however, begin to worry when more than hour passed with no sign of them. Dinner sat waiting on the table, but there were neither hungry boys to eat it nor any word as to where they might be.
She called the temple, and her transmission was answered by a Padawan she didn't recognize--a boy who could not have been more than twelve. He told her politely that her son was in the command center with Master Windu.
"Oh, dear," said Threepio beside her.
Artoo, whom Anakin had left to "keep her company" yesterday, gave a worried tootle of agreement.
"What is he doing down there?" she asked.
"I don't know, m'lady," the boy replied honestly. "Master Windu called for Anakin earlier and he took your son down with him. Then he left again."
"Left?" Padme's eyes widened in alarm. "To go where?"
"I don't know," the boy shrugged apologetically.
Icy fear began to close around Padme's heart. She didn't need him to tell her. Something was happening on Utapau. Something was wrong. She had been feeling it for hours, although until now it had been only a vague foreboding, a sense of impending danger.
"Can you put me through to Master Windu?" she asked.
"I'll try, m'lady," the Padawan dipped his head in acknowledgement.
"Thank you," Padme nodded.
The view screen in front of her went fuzzy with blue and white static, and she waited in tense silence for several minutes before it cleared into an image of Jedi Command. Master Windu stood there, alone except for her son, as indomitable as ever to Padme's eyes. She frowned at the sight of Ani in Jedi robes, then realized--Anakin would have had nothing to change him into this morning. What else would he be wearing?
"Mom, guess what?" he said before the Jedi had finished opening his mouth. Mace gave him a startled look and then lapsed into ponderous silence, watching the exchange.
Ani's childish excitement eased Padme's worry and she let the frown fade into a tender smile. "What?"
"Dad found General Grievous! They're fighting right now on Utapau!" he grinned.
Padme firmly kept her smile in place. "Well, that's good news. Where is your Uncle Anakin?"
Ani lowered his eyes briefly. "He went to tell Palpatine. He's supposed to come back soon and tell us what Palpatine said."
"I see," Padme said carefully.
"I'm sure that Anakin will return very shortly, m'lady," Mace spoke up.
"And then he'll have a report to give?" Padme's tone hardened ever so slightly.
The Jedi inclined his head.
"It is late, Master Windu," she said, keeping her tone respectful but subtly allowing the warmth to seep away. "My son should be having dinner and getting ready for bed soon."
"Aww, Mom…" Ani protested.
"We are short-staffed here at the moment," Mace replied, showing no reaction to the boy's outburst. "I had planned to allow Anakin to bring your son home when he had finished his report, but if you would prefer not to wait that long, I can have one of the older students bring him now."
"No…!" pleaded Ani. "Please, Master Windu, I have to stay 'til we hear about my dad!"
"Your father trusts in the Force, young Kenobi. So should you," Mace replied. Then he looked back at Padme. "M'lady?"
"It's quite all right, Master Windu. If you are short-staffed, I'll come for him myself," Padme said equitably.
"But Mom! You don't understand. I hafta be here. Uncle Anakin has to bring me home!" Ani insisted. His tone changed. It lost the little boy's petulance, becoming at once quietly determined and faintly ominous. His mother frowned. She felt again that something was wrong. Something was very wrong. She could also feel an undercurrent of fear in her son that hadn't been there a moment before. You don't understand was an argument that Padme simply never allowed, and her son knew it. He had been taught by both parents, but especially by Padme, that this was a strong-arm tactic, and if there was something she didn't understand, his job was to explain it. Yet he didn't--perhaps because he couldn't…?
Windu frowned in response to the boy's statement. "Why, Anakin?"
"Dunno, Master Windu. He just does. I promised Dad…" Ani trailed off, frowning deeply as he considered how to explain.
Watching him struggle for words, Padme bit her lip. Windu closed his eyes, and she wasn't sure whether he was searching for an answer or waiting for one. She did understand enough of the Jedi mindset after five years of marriage to Obi Wan to know that the Master wouldn't speak until she did. Even then, he might offer an opinion--and she had a strong feeling that she knew exactly what that opinion would be--but the decision would be hers.
"All right," she said quietly. "But, please, Mace. As soon as Anakin returns, send them to me."
***
"You," Anakin's voice was cold. There was no conscious decision, no moment when he called the light saber from his belt. It was simply there, in his hand, and the blue blade flowed elegantly to life, ending just beyond the Sith Lord's throat. "It's you. It's been you all along!"
"Anakin, if one is to understand the great mystery, one must study all its aspects, not just the dogmatic, narrow view of the Jedi. If you wish to become a complete and wise leader, you must embrace a larger view of the Force. Be careful of the Jedi. They fear you. In time they will destroy you. Let me train you," Darth Sidious offered.
"I won't be a pawn in your political game. The Jedi are my family," Anakin said. "Obi Wan Kenobi is my brother."
"Your mother was your family, Anakin. She's dead now. You failed her because the Jedi wouldn't let you go to her in time--Obi Wan wouldn't let you. You knew it was wrong then, and you still do now. Listen to me. Don't continue to be a pawn of the Jedi Council! Ever since I've known you, you've been searching for a life greater than that of an ordinary Jedi … a life of significance, of conscience. Commit to that life. I know you burn for greater power than any Jedi can wield. Give yourself permission to gain that power, and allow yourself license to use it. You have dreamt of leaving the Jedi Order, I know you have. You have dreamt of making Padme's family your own," Sidious said.
"Obi Wan is my friend!" Anakin repeated, but the blade began to waver.
"He doesn't love you. He never has. He has lied to you, time and again. He cares only for the orders of the Jedi council. He can't save Padme, either. He's going to let her die. Will you?"
"Never!" Anakin swore.
"Do you remember that myth I told you of, The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?" the Sith asked
It took a moment for Anakin's befuddled mind to even comprehend the words. The myth--Palpatine had told him about it at the opera house--directly influence the midi-chlorians to create life; with such knowledge, to maintain life in someone already living would seem a small matter…
"Yes," he said hoarsely. "Yes, I remember."
"It's no mere myth, my boy," smiled Sidious.
Anakin swallowed.
"Darth Plagueis was real," Sidious assured him.
Anakin barely force a strangled whisper past his lips. "Real... ?"
"Darth Plagueis was my Master. He taught me the key to his power," Sidious said with casual disdain. "Before I killed him. Only through me can you achieve a power greater than any Jedi. Learn to know the Dark Side of the Force, Anakin, and you will be able to save Padme from certain death. Who will she love then?"
"Obi Wan…is my friend," Anakin said for third time. The last time. The words were a talisman against the darkness of his own secret desires, and the power of that talisman was fading.
"You can have every one of your dreams. Turn aside from the lies of the Jedi, and follow the truth of yourself. Leave them. Join me on the path of true power. Be my friend, Anakin. Be my student. My apprentice," Sidious offered calmly.
"NO!" with the surge of anger came clarity, pushing back the haze around him, steadying the trembling in his hand.
"Are you going to kill me?" Sidious asked, though he seemed to be more intrigued than concerned.
"I would certainly like to," replied Anakin through clenched teeth.
"I know you would. I can feel your anger. It gives you focus, makes you stronger. But what, exactly, are you going to kill me for, my boy?" Sidious inquired.
"You're a Sith Lord!" Anakin roared.
"I am," Sidious agreed. "I am also your friend."
The blue blade wavered again, just a bit.
"I am also the man who has always been here for you. I am the man you have never needed to lie to. I am the man who wants nothing from you but that you follow your conscience. If that conscience requires you to commit murder, simply over a... philosophical difference... I will not resist. When I told you that you can have anything you want, did you think I was excluding my life?" asked Sidious gently.
Anakin felt tears burn in his eyes. The floor beneath his feet seemed to soften, sucking him down like quicksand, and his anger melted, leaving only confusion, pain. "You--you won't even fight--?"
"Fight you?" the Sith looked up at him, aghast. "But what will happen when you kill me? What will happen to the Republic?" His tone was gently reasonable. "What will happen to Padme?"
"Padme..."
"When I die, my knowledge dies with me. Unless, that is, I have the opportunity to teach it... to my apprentice..." Sidious let the statement trail off, continuing to watch him.
Anakin's vision swam.
"I..." the whisper came, raw with pain and despair, bleeding, suffering. "I don't know what to do..."
"Anakin," Sidious said kindly, "Why are you so angry with me? What have I done to you?"
"You've been lying to me my whole life!" Anakin almost screamed.
The Sith Lord's voice remained steady and calm--kind--the same voice he had known since coming to Coruscant at the age of nine. "What else was I to do? Corruption had made the Republic a cancer in the body of the galaxy, and no one could burn it out; not the judicials, not the Senate, not even the Jedi Order itself. I was the only man strong and skilled enough for this task. I was the only man who dared even attempt it. Without my small deception, how should I have cured the Republic? Had I revealed myself to you, or to anyone else, the Jedi would have hunted me down and murdered me without trial--very much as you nearly did, only a moment ago. And after all, Anakin, you are the last person who truly should be angry with someone for keeping a secret."
He couldn't muster an objection. There wasn't one, really. Not with this man, who knew every secret he had. He stood there, numb, and forced himself to continue holding the lightsaber at his friend's throat. The Sith continued.
"If only you could know how I have longed to tell you. All these years--since the very day we met. I have watched over you, waiting as you grew in strength and wisdom, biding my time until now, today, when you are finally ready to understand who you truly are--to understand your true place in galactic history."
"The Chosen One," Anakin mumbled.
"Exactly, my boy. Exactly. You are the Chosen One. Chosen by me," Sidious replied, with a careful gesture toward the window behind his desk. "Look out there, Anakin. A trillion beings on this planet alone--in the galaxy as a whole, uncounted quadrillions--and of them all, I have chosen you, Anakin Skywalker, to be the heir to my power. To all that I am."
"But that's not... that's not the prophecy. That's not the prophecy of the Chosen One," Anakin stammered.
"Is this such a problem for you? Is not your quest to find a way to cancel fate--to save Padme?"
"I--" Anakin's hand trembled. The lightsaber he was holding somehow clicked off.
"Do you think the Sith did not know of the Chosen One? Do you think we would simply sleep while it came to pass?" Sidious laughed softly.
"You mean--" he broke off, still confused.
"This is what you must understand. This Jedi submission to fate... this is not the way of the Sith, Anakin. It is not my way. It's not your way. It has never been. It need never be," Sidious promised.
"I am not on your side," Anakin told him. "I am not evil."
Who said anything about evil? I am bringing peace to the galaxy. Is that evil? I am offering you the power to save Padme. Is that evil? Have I attacked you? Drugged you? Are you being tortured? My boy, I am asking you. I am asking you to do the right thing. Turn your back on treason. On all those who would harm the Republic. I'm asking you to do exactly what you have sworn to do: bring peace and justice to the galaxy. And save Padme, of course--haven't you sworn to protect her, too...?"
The question struck at Anakin like the Tusken whip that had once lashed his mother's back. He inhaled sharply and squared his shoulders. "I am going to turn you over to the Jedi Council."
"Of course you should. But you're not sure of their intentions, are you? What if I am right and they are plotting to take over the Republic? Let me ask you one more question. When they come to execute me, will that be justice? Will they be bringing peace?"
"They won't--they wouldn't--!" insisted Anakin, backing toward the door.
"Well, of course I hope you're correct, Anakin. You'll forgive me if I don't share your blind loyalty to your comrades. I suppose it does indeed come down, in the end, to a question of loyalty," Sidious said thoughtfully. "That's what you must ask yourself, my boy. Whether your loyalty is to the Jedi, or to the Republic."
"It's not--it's not like that!" Anakin kept going.
Sidious replied with a gentle shrug. "Perhaps not. Perhaps it's simply a question of whether you love Obi Wan more than you love his wife."
"I will find a way, Ani," Anakin's own words echoed through his mind. "Whatever I have to do, I swear to you, I won't let her die."
He turned and left without another word.
…I swear to you…
…I love you, Uncle Anakin…
…I won't let her die…
Author: Lionchilde
Summary: "You're a Sith Lord!"
Rating: PG
Length: Around 2500 words
Category: Gen
Pairings/Characters: Obidala mentioned, Chapter's from Anakin and Padme's POV.
A/N: One Path Chapter 49. Set during an alternate RotS.
Betrayal
Padme didn't worry when she arrived home to an empty apartment. After all, she had asked Anakin to keep her son with him. She did, however, begin to worry when more than hour passed with no sign of them. Dinner sat waiting on the table, but there were neither hungry boys to eat it nor any word as to where they might be.
She called the temple, and her transmission was answered by a Padawan she didn't recognize--a boy who could not have been more than twelve. He told her politely that her son was in the command center with Master Windu.
"Oh, dear," said Threepio beside her.
Artoo, whom Anakin had left to "keep her company" yesterday, gave a worried tootle of agreement.
"What is he doing down there?" she asked.
"I don't know, m'lady," the boy replied honestly. "Master Windu called for Anakin earlier and he took your son down with him. Then he left again."
"Left?" Padme's eyes widened in alarm. "To go where?"
"I don't know," the boy shrugged apologetically.
Icy fear began to close around Padme's heart. She didn't need him to tell her. Something was happening on Utapau. Something was wrong. She had been feeling it for hours, although until now it had been only a vague foreboding, a sense of impending danger.
"Can you put me through to Master Windu?" she asked.
"I'll try, m'lady," the Padawan dipped his head in acknowledgement.
"Thank you," Padme nodded.
The view screen in front of her went fuzzy with blue and white static, and she waited in tense silence for several minutes before it cleared into an image of Jedi Command. Master Windu stood there, alone except for her son, as indomitable as ever to Padme's eyes. She frowned at the sight of Ani in Jedi robes, then realized--Anakin would have had nothing to change him into this morning. What else would he be wearing?
"Mom, guess what?" he said before the Jedi had finished opening his mouth. Mace gave him a startled look and then lapsed into ponderous silence, watching the exchange.
Ani's childish excitement eased Padme's worry and she let the frown fade into a tender smile. "What?"
"Dad found General Grievous! They're fighting right now on Utapau!" he grinned.
Padme firmly kept her smile in place. "Well, that's good news. Where is your Uncle Anakin?"
Ani lowered his eyes briefly. "He went to tell Palpatine. He's supposed to come back soon and tell us what Palpatine said."
"I see," Padme said carefully.
"I'm sure that Anakin will return very shortly, m'lady," Mace spoke up.
"And then he'll have a report to give?" Padme's tone hardened ever so slightly.
The Jedi inclined his head.
"It is late, Master Windu," she said, keeping her tone respectful but subtly allowing the warmth to seep away. "My son should be having dinner and getting ready for bed soon."
"Aww, Mom…" Ani protested.
"We are short-staffed here at the moment," Mace replied, showing no reaction to the boy's outburst. "I had planned to allow Anakin to bring your son home when he had finished his report, but if you would prefer not to wait that long, I can have one of the older students bring him now."
"No…!" pleaded Ani. "Please, Master Windu, I have to stay 'til we hear about my dad!"
"Your father trusts in the Force, young Kenobi. So should you," Mace replied. Then he looked back at Padme. "M'lady?"
"It's quite all right, Master Windu. If you are short-staffed, I'll come for him myself," Padme said equitably.
"But Mom! You don't understand. I hafta be here. Uncle Anakin has to bring me home!" Ani insisted. His tone changed. It lost the little boy's petulance, becoming at once quietly determined and faintly ominous. His mother frowned. She felt again that something was wrong. Something was very wrong. She could also feel an undercurrent of fear in her son that hadn't been there a moment before. You don't understand was an argument that Padme simply never allowed, and her son knew it. He had been taught by both parents, but especially by Padme, that this was a strong-arm tactic, and if there was something she didn't understand, his job was to explain it. Yet he didn't--perhaps because he couldn't…?
Windu frowned in response to the boy's statement. "Why, Anakin?"
"Dunno, Master Windu. He just does. I promised Dad…" Ani trailed off, frowning deeply as he considered how to explain.
Watching him struggle for words, Padme bit her lip. Windu closed his eyes, and she wasn't sure whether he was searching for an answer or waiting for one. She did understand enough of the Jedi mindset after five years of marriage to Obi Wan to know that the Master wouldn't speak until she did. Even then, he might offer an opinion--and she had a strong feeling that she knew exactly what that opinion would be--but the decision would be hers.
"All right," she said quietly. "But, please, Mace. As soon as Anakin returns, send them to me."
***
"You," Anakin's voice was cold. There was no conscious decision, no moment when he called the light saber from his belt. It was simply there, in his hand, and the blue blade flowed elegantly to life, ending just beyond the Sith Lord's throat. "It's you. It's been you all along!"
"Anakin, if one is to understand the great mystery, one must study all its aspects, not just the dogmatic, narrow view of the Jedi. If you wish to become a complete and wise leader, you must embrace a larger view of the Force. Be careful of the Jedi. They fear you. In time they will destroy you. Let me train you," Darth Sidious offered.
"I won't be a pawn in your political game. The Jedi are my family," Anakin said. "Obi Wan Kenobi is my brother."
"Your mother was your family, Anakin. She's dead now. You failed her because the Jedi wouldn't let you go to her in time--Obi Wan wouldn't let you. You knew it was wrong then, and you still do now. Listen to me. Don't continue to be a pawn of the Jedi Council! Ever since I've known you, you've been searching for a life greater than that of an ordinary Jedi … a life of significance, of conscience. Commit to that life. I know you burn for greater power than any Jedi can wield. Give yourself permission to gain that power, and allow yourself license to use it. You have dreamt of leaving the Jedi Order, I know you have. You have dreamt of making Padme's family your own," Sidious said.
"Obi Wan is my friend!" Anakin repeated, but the blade began to waver.
"He doesn't love you. He never has. He has lied to you, time and again. He cares only for the orders of the Jedi council. He can't save Padme, either. He's going to let her die. Will you?"
"Never!" Anakin swore.
"Do you remember that myth I told you of, The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?" the Sith asked
It took a moment for Anakin's befuddled mind to even comprehend the words. The myth--Palpatine had told him about it at the opera house--directly influence the midi-chlorians to create life; with such knowledge, to maintain life in someone already living would seem a small matter…
"Yes," he said hoarsely. "Yes, I remember."
"It's no mere myth, my boy," smiled Sidious.
Anakin swallowed.
"Darth Plagueis was real," Sidious assured him.
Anakin barely force a strangled whisper past his lips. "Real... ?"
"Darth Plagueis was my Master. He taught me the key to his power," Sidious said with casual disdain. "Before I killed him. Only through me can you achieve a power greater than any Jedi. Learn to know the Dark Side of the Force, Anakin, and you will be able to save Padme from certain death. Who will she love then?"
"Obi Wan…is my friend," Anakin said for third time. The last time. The words were a talisman against the darkness of his own secret desires, and the power of that talisman was fading.
"You can have every one of your dreams. Turn aside from the lies of the Jedi, and follow the truth of yourself. Leave them. Join me on the path of true power. Be my friend, Anakin. Be my student. My apprentice," Sidious offered calmly.
"NO!" with the surge of anger came clarity, pushing back the haze around him, steadying the trembling in his hand.
"Are you going to kill me?" Sidious asked, though he seemed to be more intrigued than concerned.
"I would certainly like to," replied Anakin through clenched teeth.
"I know you would. I can feel your anger. It gives you focus, makes you stronger. But what, exactly, are you going to kill me for, my boy?" Sidious inquired.
"You're a Sith Lord!" Anakin roared.
"I am," Sidious agreed. "I am also your friend."
The blue blade wavered again, just a bit.
"I am also the man who has always been here for you. I am the man you have never needed to lie to. I am the man who wants nothing from you but that you follow your conscience. If that conscience requires you to commit murder, simply over a... philosophical difference... I will not resist. When I told you that you can have anything you want, did you think I was excluding my life?" asked Sidious gently.
Anakin felt tears burn in his eyes. The floor beneath his feet seemed to soften, sucking him down like quicksand, and his anger melted, leaving only confusion, pain. "You--you won't even fight--?"
"Fight you?" the Sith looked up at him, aghast. "But what will happen when you kill me? What will happen to the Republic?" His tone was gently reasonable. "What will happen to Padme?"
"Padme..."
"When I die, my knowledge dies with me. Unless, that is, I have the opportunity to teach it... to my apprentice..." Sidious let the statement trail off, continuing to watch him.
Anakin's vision swam.
"I..." the whisper came, raw with pain and despair, bleeding, suffering. "I don't know what to do..."
"Anakin," Sidious said kindly, "Why are you so angry with me? What have I done to you?"
"You've been lying to me my whole life!" Anakin almost screamed.
The Sith Lord's voice remained steady and calm--kind--the same voice he had known since coming to Coruscant at the age of nine. "What else was I to do? Corruption had made the Republic a cancer in the body of the galaxy, and no one could burn it out; not the judicials, not the Senate, not even the Jedi Order itself. I was the only man strong and skilled enough for this task. I was the only man who dared even attempt it. Without my small deception, how should I have cured the Republic? Had I revealed myself to you, or to anyone else, the Jedi would have hunted me down and murdered me without trial--very much as you nearly did, only a moment ago. And after all, Anakin, you are the last person who truly should be angry with someone for keeping a secret."
He couldn't muster an objection. There wasn't one, really. Not with this man, who knew every secret he had. He stood there, numb, and forced himself to continue holding the lightsaber at his friend's throat. The Sith continued.
"If only you could know how I have longed to tell you. All these years--since the very day we met. I have watched over you, waiting as you grew in strength and wisdom, biding my time until now, today, when you are finally ready to understand who you truly are--to understand your true place in galactic history."
"The Chosen One," Anakin mumbled.
"Exactly, my boy. Exactly. You are the Chosen One. Chosen by me," Sidious replied, with a careful gesture toward the window behind his desk. "Look out there, Anakin. A trillion beings on this planet alone--in the galaxy as a whole, uncounted quadrillions--and of them all, I have chosen you, Anakin Skywalker, to be the heir to my power. To all that I am."
"But that's not... that's not the prophecy. That's not the prophecy of the Chosen One," Anakin stammered.
"Is this such a problem for you? Is not your quest to find a way to cancel fate--to save Padme?"
"I--" Anakin's hand trembled. The lightsaber he was holding somehow clicked off.
"Do you think the Sith did not know of the Chosen One? Do you think we would simply sleep while it came to pass?" Sidious laughed softly.
"You mean--" he broke off, still confused.
"This is what you must understand. This Jedi submission to fate... this is not the way of the Sith, Anakin. It is not my way. It's not your way. It has never been. It need never be," Sidious promised.
"I am not on your side," Anakin told him. "I am not evil."
Who said anything about evil? I am bringing peace to the galaxy. Is that evil? I am offering you the power to save Padme. Is that evil? Have I attacked you? Drugged you? Are you being tortured? My boy, I am asking you. I am asking you to do the right thing. Turn your back on treason. On all those who would harm the Republic. I'm asking you to do exactly what you have sworn to do: bring peace and justice to the galaxy. And save Padme, of course--haven't you sworn to protect her, too...?"
The question struck at Anakin like the Tusken whip that had once lashed his mother's back. He inhaled sharply and squared his shoulders. "I am going to turn you over to the Jedi Council."
"Of course you should. But you're not sure of their intentions, are you? What if I am right and they are plotting to take over the Republic? Let me ask you one more question. When they come to execute me, will that be justice? Will they be bringing peace?"
"They won't--they wouldn't--!" insisted Anakin, backing toward the door.
"Well, of course I hope you're correct, Anakin. You'll forgive me if I don't share your blind loyalty to your comrades. I suppose it does indeed come down, in the end, to a question of loyalty," Sidious said thoughtfully. "That's what you must ask yourself, my boy. Whether your loyalty is to the Jedi, or to the Republic."
"It's not--it's not like that!" Anakin kept going.
Sidious replied with a gentle shrug. "Perhaps not. Perhaps it's simply a question of whether you love Obi Wan more than you love his wife."
"I will find a way, Ani," Anakin's own words echoed through his mind. "Whatever I have to do, I swear to you, I won't let her die."
He turned and left without another word.
…I swear to you…
…I love you, Uncle Anakin…
…I won't let her die…