Chapter Text
Alone in the Chamber of the Jedi Council, Anakin Skywalker stood quietly, his emotions wild. There was no one with the young man at this time of turmoil and distraught building in his heart.
But he knew what he wanted. The Jedi had never trusted him the moment he came to Coruscant as a nine-year-old boy. They'd judged his attachment to his mother, refusing to allow him to save her-even when he'd borderline pleaded to go to Tatooine to do something, anything...
Palpatine, on the other hand, had never lied to him except for what he may have known. He had never led him astray. The man was a Sith Lord, but there was surely some sincerity between the two. He did sure as hell tell him some truths about the Jedi, some truths Anakin would have defended adamantly so long ago.
He couldn't go through the pain of losing someone else he'd cared about.
A part of him died with his mother. A part of him that would never be restored. It would have been one thing if she'd died of natural causes, but she was taken from him so cruelly by savages.
He had been selfless for so long, staying loyal to the Jedi Code, and what did that cost him? His mother, so many friends throughout the Clone Wars, parts of himself poisoned...
He couldn't do it anymore.
He just couldn't.
A new determination shot through him at that moment, and Anakin Skywalker turned, tears burning in his eyes. He had to go... stop Windu. He couldn't allow him to kill Palpatine.
To take the one who may hold the key to Anakin's dilemmas away from him.
'But what about Obi-Wan?'
That voice caused Anakin to stop and think once more.
How could he do that to Obi-Wan?
Betray him?
Betray what Qui-Gon warned him not to?
'Always remember, your focus determines your reality.'
Anakin's thoughts dwelt, as he paced around, hands flexing into fists as he stared out at the window, jaw trembling, tears shooting down his face as nightfall arrived, fully eclipsing the sun.
If his wife survived, would she hate him for what he had done?
He would have to burn a bridge; give himself over to the Sith and violate everything she'd believed in.
'To be angry is to be human.' Those were words she'd told him 3 years ago, and they had never been able to leave his mind. He'd killed an entire population of Tuskens, and it didn't bring his mother back. Padmé was able to forgive him that time. Surely, with the possibility of her and their children dying, she would...
She wouldn't.
Somewhere in him knew that she had her snapping points too.
He'd all but witnessed some of her former friends becoming political enemies of hers in the Senate.
If Padmé found out that he'd sacrifice his soul, then she would...
But he would...
But he couldn't...
But his...
But...
Anakin's head ached, and he reached up, grabbing it as he lurched forward.
Pain suddenly extended from afar. And the power of the Force... it all shot through him. Images flashed across his vision. Across the galaxy, thousands of screams reverberated, accompanied by the sounds of blaster bolts.
It ranged from those he'd known to others he had only met in passing.
And it all came back.
Back into the safety of the Jedi Temple, the home belonging to the ones who stood as defenders of peace and justice in the galaxy for thousands of generations.
Screams echoed all over the Academy.
'What the kark is happening?!'
Anakin charged through the Temple, his eyes wide as he eventually spotted a little boy being lifted by a Clone Trooper, clad in blue. The man's emotions were cold, focused on the objective of killing. His blaster rifle primed against the boy's head before the shot went off.
"What are you doing?!"
Seeing that the man didn't stop - strange, none of them were shooting at him, even though they'd spotted him - the Jedi Knight had no other choice but toss his cerulean lightsaber through the chest of the individual trooper, dropping him onto the ground. Pulling the hilt back into his hand, the Jedi Knight was then bombarded with a volley of blaster bolts. Blue blaster bolts, not red ones. And it was only then that part of him recognized who he was fighting. His own men were firing at him, their blasters unleashing what hell they could against him.
He'd recollected all of the Clones that have been stationed around Coruscant lately. It was so agonizingly obvious now that this had been planned for some time. Yet none of them had seen it, not even him... the blind fool that he was.
One by one, the men collapsed onto the floor. Shouts and running Clones rushed through the corridors. He darted to the noise, only finding a squadron of Clones shooting down Padawans, their bodies collapsing at once. Younglings running around following suit.
Anakin yanked at them through the Force, the Dragon in his chest building as he lifted them up into the air, slamming them against the wall, crushing their bodies even with their molten armor. When one bolt flew at him, he deflected it back, dropping the trooper who fired. The rest turned their attention to their General, yet Anakin no longer relied on his defense, his anger having reached a snapping point at this mass betrayal.
He'd fought and trained with them for years, and they'd dared shoot at him!
'They will pay for it with their lives!'
Anakin attacked, slicing through them as if they were nothing, their arms and legs dropping onto the shiny floor of the Jedi Temple.
His friendship with the Clones didn't matter anymore. Perhaps, it never did. The Dragon purred in delight, tasting the death and suffering of everyone inside, indulging in the Clones who attempted to put up resistance.
Throughout it all, at one point, he raised his hood over his head.
Anakin made it to the Jedi beacon room and activated the recording, staring around anxiously as the device illuminated blue in front of him.
"This is Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker. The Jedi Order is under attack. Clone Troopers have marched through the Temple intending to kill everyone in sight, from the oldest Master to the youngest one. They're no longer our reliable allies and must be treated as such.
Further, Chancellor Palpatine is the Sith Lord we've been looking for. Masters Windu, Tiin, Kolar, and Fisto attempted to arrest him, but the Chancellor seemed to have overpowered them. This message is a warning and a reminder for any surviving Jedi: do not return to the Temple. That time has passed. And our future remains uncertain. We will each be challenged, but one day, we will be able to fight back.
May the Force be with us all."
Anakin knew that he shouldn't mid-battle.
Ding.
Ding.
It wasn't right, and yet he had to reach the ones he loved. He'd tried a four-way communication at first. But Obi-Wan and Ahsoka didn't pick up.
But thankfully, Padmé did. His beautiful wife, smiling.
Anakin forced down the regret in his heart and shouted, "Padmé! The Jedi Temple is under attack by the Clones! The Chancellor is a Sith! You must leave immediately! Get off Coruscant!"
"Wha... Anakin?!" His wife startled.
"Now's not the time!" Anakin shouted. "Leave, Padmé, please leave. Take our child and go underground if you have to! Palpatine will target you first chance he gets to get to me!"
Would he?
Well, since Anakin hadn't joined him yet, it was likely...
"But Ani..." She gasped.
"You must leave Coruscant now, Padmé." If she were there in the flesh, Anakin would have kissed her, silencing any protest. "You and our child are at risk! I will try to make my way back to you, my love, but... please!"
He held her stare, her beautiful brown eyes staring at him, before she nodded. "Alright, Ani, but... stay safe for me. For the child." She rubbed her belly.
"I will," Anakin promised.
He heard the sound of lightsaber slicing, feeling a newfound dark presence. He dashed down to the direction of it, hearing screams and... betrayal.
His face sharpened, his eyes slowly dawning the pure, unadulterated hatred as he moved down into the direction of it. He'd felt the cold movements of the Clones down the halls, the crying of babies in their cribs as they were cruelly silenced, imagining his own child for a moment in a similar position.
Finally, a possibility that Anakin hadn't even thought about before struck him, almost stilling him.
'Would Palpatine do that to my children if I do indeed join him?'
Anakin had a food for thought, bringing a small rage inside of him. He'd wanted to so badly convince himself that things would be different between them. 'Palpatine loves me. He cares about me.'
He continued moving in the First Knowledge Quarter, lightsaber prepared for the inevitable. He found decapitated Clones and troopers. His lightsaber was activated, prepared for the inevitable. A dozen dead Clone Troopers, along with lifeless Temple Guards and Jedi brutes, were about. But judging by the number of armored pieces that were scattered across the room, he could tell that this was a Jedi's handiwork.
He moved further and further into the damaged room and spotted more corpses of the 501st.
When he walked through the now-ruined communications center, a decapitated Clone Trooper helmet clattered across the room from out of nowhere.
Then, the sounds of swaying lightsabers caught his attention. Anakin looked up to see a human female Jedi jump into the doorway. She possessed two green lightsabers. She wore a tan skirt, with a rivaling tunic and leggings, while also wearing a burgundy armor that engulfed her supple bust, and the same pair of boots.
"Anakin?" Serra Keto asked, lowering her lightsabers at the sign of a comrade.
"Serra," Anakin nodded back. "It's good to see you alive."
"Same to you."
Anakin focused on the most important matter: "Have you found Master Drallig?"
"I have been looking for him," she said. "What's happening?"
"Chancellor Palpatine is the Sith Lord we've been looking for," Anakin answered, his teeth bared. "The Clones were his creation all along."
"Do you have a plan, Anakin?"
Anakin thought about it for a moment, "I'm going to do what I can to protect the Temple. Find Master Drallig."
Keto nodded. "May the Force be with you, Skywalker."
"And you."
'If the Temple was attacked, the Temple Guards would have already been seeking to stop it. Their inaction must mean something's up.' Anakin concluded. He knew that they took any threats seriously. Drills were the norm in his younger years.
As soon as Anakin entered the main room, usually storing most of the Temple Guards on standby, he spotted three yellow flashes. The form came in the presence of a Temple Guard, standing above corpses of others who were caught before they could even register what happened.
He struck out at both of his colleagues, dispatching both of them with ease. Impaling the first and decapitating the other, the lone Temple Guard turned to face him and preparing his yellow lightsaber.
He reached out through the Force, discovering who the interloper was.
'Palpatine had more allies than me?' An odd, jealous rage shot through Anakin.
He didn't want an explanation. He didn't care for one. Even if the traitorous Temple Guard could possibly explain his reasoning, in that moment, all he saw was an adversary. An enemy.
Tired as he was, nothing could could stop him from advancing with his already activated lightsaber on the traitor. He leapt up in the air at an inhumane speed, slamming his lightsaber down upon him. Yellow energy spun up, catching the blue blade before it could have landed. There was no mercy. As soon as he'd landed and the Guard fell back, his lightsaber caught his mask. The traitor had barely saved himself from decapitation.
Anakin stared at the Temple Guard, or a disguised Temple Guard. He didn't know. The Guard was an ashen colored Pau'an, one with two distinct crimson lines underneath his eyes and a middle-aged face. His eyes were beaming golden.
His enemy tossed the corpse of a dead Temple Guard at him, followed by a yellow lightsaber that twirled in mid-air. Anakin avoided, allowing both body and lightsaber to fly past him. Coming back in with deadly, calculated precision, he battered through his defenses. The Pau'an recoiled, evidently surprised.
His arcs grew more and more powerful, relishing every moment of it, especially when he finally broke through the Pau'an's defense, completely eviscerating the Guard and allowing him to collapse with a thud, dead before he hit the floor.
'How disappointing,' the dark voice within his head echoed. He expected much more of a performance from a Temple Guard.
Anakin continued moving through the halls, dispatching whatever Clone in his way, trying his hardest not to put faces to their helmets and focus on another truth outside of killing his own men. The entire collective branch of the Temple Guard had been wiped out, leaving the Jedi Order's security all but immobile, and providing the Clones more ground.
He didn't know why he was going back to the Council Chambers. Perhaps a feeble hope that there would be survivors in there; Masters, Knights, maybe...
Feeling the tug of life inside, he moved inside, only to find a scene that pierced his heart. Terrified and helpless was a bunch of Younglings. They gathered up around the hooded figure.
One approached him with sorrowful, hunting eyes, his voice only carrying faint relief. "Master Skywalker, there are too many of them. What are we going to do?"
'Just a boy; barely my age when I first came here, probably even younger than that...' the bitter thought gave way to painful memories of other children his age in his time as a slave on Tatooine, how much age hadn't mattered then, and certainly didn't now with the 501st being on the prowl to kill them...
The irony wasn't lost to Anakin.
Pushing those memories and thoughts away with effort, Anakin's face hardened. He inclined his head as faint resolve and determination rushed through him. He activated his cerulean lightsaber. The Youngling flinched back in surprise, while the others remained motionless, fearful as ever.
With only the humming sound of his weapon resonating in the air, after a few seconds, the "Hero With No Fear" stated in a voice that brook no argument:
"We fight. Everyone get into a single-file line, oldest to youngest."
"Yes, Master Skywalker!" Their jubilation and hope was clear.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps. Not too far away. The Knight tensed up and motioned for them to hide-which they did, either behind the chairs or blending into the walls. As soon as the figure entered the room, Anakin lunged, blue lightsaber poised next to the throat of the individual, only to stop in shock.
"Always quick with the reaction time, Young Skywalker," the voice was tinted with sarcasm.
"Master Ti?"
The silhouette of the red and white Togruta Jedi became more evident within the light, causing Anakin to move back.
"I'm so sor-sorr...!" Anakin didn't stutter!
"I'm not sure if I fancy getting my head chopped off by you, Anakin," the Togruta chuckled dryly but reassuringly.
Anakin released her and allowed her to move inside the Chambers, scanning and spotting the Younglings with relief dawning in her eyes.
"When the attack on the Temple began, a bunch of Jedi in the library was slaughtered. I'd feared the worst. Tera Sinube was holding them off now. All of the other Younglings I've crossed..." she told him hauntingly, "...they were gone by the time I've gotten there, Anakin."
The grimness radiated in the air.
"We have to get them out of here. This is no place for them." Receiving a nod of agreement, the young man clapped his hands together, drawing the children to him. "Everyone, come on. You're going on a field trip with Master Ti."
They began sneaking through the Temple, doing what they could to ignore the bolts that were faint, but still there. Making it to the hangar, Anakin manipulated the console's controls with the Force and finally broke into the nearby hangar. Together, with the Togruta, they'd dealt with the Clones stationed around with ease.
Fortunately, there were still several small shuttles within, including one big enough to help Anakin and Ti's charges. Although Anakin was tempted to go with them, he knew that he couldn't.
Anakin stared at the Togruta and said urgently, "Master, you have to go."
The Togruta objected, earlier hilarity gone, "What about you, Skywalker?"
"I have to stay here." Before she could open her mouth to argue, Anakin persisted. "The Younglings won't be safe with me now. I'm not taking "No" for an answer."
Ti kept staring at him for a moment before nodding. "May the Force be with you, Master Skywalker."
"May the Fo-" Before he finished what he was saying, her words registered. "But I'm not a Mast..."
"Not all of us made the choice to deny you the rank of Master," the Togruta winked.
At that knowledge, the conflicted Jedi's respect for the Master increased.
"Anakin," she said warmly, before he'd left. "Thank you for what you have done. The Jedi Order is in your debt—the whole galaxy, as well."
"Master Windu failed, Master Ti. I won't. I'm the Chosen One. My place was..." his breathing roughened, and he felt as if he was getting even sicker. "I had to be there. That's the prophecy, isn't it? I have to be there—"
"The Masters were the best of the Order, Anakin. If they failed..."
"I'm the Chosen One," he repeated stubbornly. "Prophecy can't be changed. I'll do—"
He looked at her with eyes that were dying, and a spasm of unendurable pain passed over his face. Shaak Ti reached for him, but he lurched away from her.
"Just go quickly. I'll do what I'm supposed to do," he commanded, raising his voice.
Ti looked at him solemnly but obeyed, all of the Younglings following, some bidding farewell, including the one who approached him earlier.
"Thanks, Master Skywalker."
"What's your name?" Anakin asked.
"Oh, uh," the boy looked like he was flushing, "Sors Bandeam."
Anakin placed his hands on his shoulders. "Well, Sors, you took leadership and intuitive. You will someday be an amazing Jedi."
'Far better than myself.'
The boy shook his head, beaming at the praise, "Thank you, Master Skywalker."
And Sors joined the rest, the ramp raising.
Seconds later, the shuttle disembarked.
All of a sudden, he heard the clicking of blasters.
"Anakin Skywalker, by order of the Chancellor, you are to be spared execution and be placed under arrest for treason against the Republic." He always established a bond with all of his men. Even without needing to turn around, Anakin knew instantly it was Commander Appo.
He'd felt the shift with Appo's men after Umbara. While they'd trusted him and Ahsoka to lead them into the battlefield, the conviction wasn't as strong as it was before. There was always a silent whisper that they would be betrayed again by the Jedi. That said, this was Arrow Squadron; this ragtag group of soldiers was almost as effective as Torrent Company.
Anakin would have to be careful here.
His hand tightened over his lightsaber in his frustration. This shouldn't be happening! This was exactly why Master Windu should have brought him! He could have made a difference! The bald bastard failed, and with his failure, the entire Jedi Order and their allies followed!
"Appo-" Anakin slowly turned to the Clone who had his weapon aimed at him. Appo could have easily shot him in the back. It would have been a blow delivered to make this betrayal complete. Yet, he didn't.
"That name is against regulation," the Commander tightened his DC-15A blaster rifle, fingers on the trigger.
"That name solidifies what you became, who you were. You're more than a number or rank. You're Appo." Anakin said slowly, giving him his full attention. "You cannot deny what made you a person."
The Clone Commander sneered. "Good soldiers follow orders. Order 66 is lawful, and therefore, the Jedi must be eliminated at once." In a lower, almost regretful voice, he added: "Lay down your weapon."
"I cannot do that," Anakin said solemnly. "I do not know if I trust the Chancellor anymore." Like I can't trust any of you, was unsaid.
"So you aren't going to surrender, sir..." the Clone spoke, but there was an underlying sadness.
"You're my friend, Appo, you and the entire 501st! I don't want to hurt any of you, but this is wrong, and you know it! Look inside of you!"
Appo was silent for a moment. Anakin hoped that he had gotten through to the man, but finally, he could almost see the blink behind the helmet, and the cold response came: "Traitor."
Danger flared in the Force.
Appo pulled the trigger, the rest of his formerly loyal men following suit. Anakin yanked his blue lightsaber up, deflecting the bolts back into the Clones. Guilt and frustration tearing at his heart, the Jedi Knight continued his march to his target, raised his lightsaber over his head, and brought it down upon Appo, removing his head from his shoulders.
"The Commander's down!" Another Clone exclaimed.
The Clones scattered around, their bolts becoming more and more discombobulated. Anakin continued parrying every shot away from his person, part of him wondering what would happen to the 501st now that their leadership was in collapsation. It didn't matter now, he supposed.
The final trooper in the hall collapsed onto the ground from a slice in the abdomen. An entire company, one that Anakin had helped put together, was wiped out, taken out at the hands of the General whom they'd trusted to lead them into the battlefield.
He could feel a dark presence moving around the Temple, getting closer and closer...
"Skywalker!"
He turned to look at the one who called his name. His heart allowed a momentary sense of relief when he'd spotted the elder librarian woman, Jocasta Nu, her blue lightsaber activated.
All of a sudden, the woman was yanked down the hall. Skywalker chased on reflex, quickly running when he saw something he would never forget.
Clouded in dark black robes, the shadow stood, his hands at his sides, casually. Dark golden eyes stared at Anakin underneath the hood, his lips curled in a thin line. There was no sign of him holding the old woman in the air.
Anakin stilled, raising his blue lightsaber in front of him defiantly.
Darth Sidious was here.