Surprises: The Price of Freedom
After a visit from a late friend, Anakin Skywalker contemplates on his future as a Jedi. While the Chosen One makes his decision, his wife, Padmé Amidala, and best friend, Obi-Wan Kenobi deal with the consequences of their actions and recent events. Tensions begin to arise in the Jedi Order when the Council considers making changes to the Jedi Order.
**One does not need to read its prequels Surprises: Free, Surprises: Unimaginable, or Surprises to understand. Though I do recommend it. The main things you need to know is that this is a Revenge of the Sith alternate universe and Palpatine is dead.
The main characters are Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. There will also be some appearances by the Naberries, including Ruwee, Jobal, Darred, and Sola. Also Jedi Masters Yoda, Mace Windu, and the Jedi Order. Members of the Senate, including Bail Organa and Mon Mothma.
Genres are drama, romance, hurt/comfort, angst, and family.
This story will be rated T for Teen. It's not going to be as dark as The Supreme Commander and the Grand Vizier, but just a head's up. The biggest reason is that I may have some brief sex scenes Anakin and Padmé later.
Thank you to the Kinetic Violinist for going over this story a long, long time ago.
This chapter takes place six weeks after Surprises and Surprises: Unimaginable. Also, we finally get to see Anakin's point-of-view of what happened the night Palpatine died.
Chapter One
Visions of the Past
Naboo
Lake Country
Inside the walls of Varykino, the home of the Naberries, Anakin Skywalker quickly and quietly tiptoed to the doorway of the light green nursery. He peaked in. Looking towards the twin cribs, he sensed neither Luke nor Leia would be up for hours.
He tiptoed back to his and his wife's chambers. Lying on her side of the bed under the covers, her eyes were closed. Tired from the night before with the twins.
With her eyes closed and head still on the pillow. Her glorious hair fanned out all over the soft pillow, his wife Padmé asked, "Where are you going?"
Anakin stopped dead in his tracks. Like a child that had just been caught. This was one of those times where Anakin was certain his wife had Jedi powers.
"I...was going out to the meadow to mediate." It wasn't exactly a lie.
Under the covers, Padmé quietly wondered why Anakin was going out there to meditate. Why, he had been meditating more and more lately. Which was good, since he was a Jedi and it to relax him. Sometimes. Though it was odd at the same time too. Anakin normally worked on his ship, the droids, or something else that was mechanical if he performed the Jedi art. Lately he had simply meditated out on the balcony. No droids or anything mechanical. Sitting down. Legs crossed. Also, why now? To get away from the twins? To concentrate more? She would have given this more thought, but was too exhausted. "Just be back before sundown," she yawned. Padmé eyes were still sealed shut. "My parents are coming for dinner."
Anakin gave a single nod with his head. "I will. I promise." He almost took a step forward, but took a step back. Several steps. To the bedside of his wife. His Angel. He bent over and kissed her cheek.
Padmé smiled, "Love you." She buried her head against her pillow.
"I love you too. Bye," he said and quietly raced out the door.
Anakin climbed out of the gondola and tied the craft to a nearby tree trunk. It was the same island and meadow he and Padmé shared a picnic on years earlier. He thought a place with such a memory would help him concentrate and put his mind at ease. Also, he found it less distracting. The droids R2-D2 or C-3PO, his in-laws, especially his nieces, and most of all his nearly six week old children Luke and Leia were keeping him busy. Though at time was nice. Taking his mind off recent events and the impending future.
Anakin sat down.
He breathed in...and out.
In and out.
Crossed his legs on the ground.
In... Out...
Typically Anakin preferred to tinker with droids and his starships while meditating. A form of Moving Meditation. Today he decided to empty his mind. Something he normally didn't do very well, or could rarely do at all. Meditation of Emptiness was normally Obi-Wan's thing. Perhaps he could figure out what he had felt in the Force recently.
At time, it seemed...dare he say, familiar?
...in...out...
At times it had almost seemed like someone was calling him through the Force...
Anakin now realized his initial thought was correct.
Mediation was a bad idea, but it was too late now. Anakin was far too deep in mediation now.
Images.
Memories of things he didn't want to see, feel, or think raced through him. They swept through him like the rare rainstorms on Tatooine. The rare storms that occurred every thirty or more years storms on Tatooine They would attack the desert world without warning. Catching any being- any poor pitiful creature in its path completely off guard. Many would be swallowed up the waves of water instantly. Never to be seen again.
Anakin hoped this wasn't the same thing...
Anakin's expressionless face changed.
Stress spread across his body.
His muscles tightened.
His body was no longer relaxed, but as tense as the first night he dreamt of Padmé's death.
Because of the face he saw...
That face.
The face of that man. The friend. The mentor...the father figure to him, he had long realized, was nothing but a face. An illusion. A mask...
A man he never should have trusted. This man had Qui-Gon killed. He almost had Padmé killed and who knows what else he had done.
The words, "Be careful of the Jedi, Anakin," thundered in Anakin's ears. "They don't trust you Anakin."
No, they didn't. Well, maybe Obi-Wan and a few others, but definitely not Masters Windu and Yoda.
"In time, they will destroy you."
Perhaps.
First they were going to take away all his hard work. Followed by the possibility of his children.
If he didn't destroy them first.
...or himself.
"Let me show you the true nature of the Force."
The true nature?
Whatever that meant.
It was probably just another lie.
Right?
"Only through me can you achieve a power greater than any Jedi. Learn to know the Dark Side of the Force and you will be able to save your wife from certain death."
Clearly he was wrong. Padmé was fine. She was alive.
And nothing would ever happen to her.
Anakin remembered igniting his lightsaber. "You're the Sith Lord!"
The one they had been searching for all this time.
What happened after that, Anakin still wasn't quite certain.
"Are you going to kill me?" Palpatine- Sidious said with his back to Anakin.
"I would certainly like to you!" Anakin remembered growling.
As Palpatine- the mask said, "I know you would. I can feel your anger." As he went on to say, "It gives you focus. Makes you stronger‑"
Anakin didn't really know what came over him. It was like a...like a dream. But nothing like the ones he normally experienced. His dreams always felt...real.
This...this didn't.
Anakin then heard another voice, "Do not listen to him," said a voice. Not friendly, but not unfriendly. The voice was so quick, Anakin didn't have to register who the voice belonged to, or if he ever heard the voice before. Yet, somehow it seemed familiar. "Do not hesitate," the voice barked. "Kill him now!" It then snapped.
A rod of blue plasma suddenly lunged into the mask's back as he ended the word "stronger". Into his heart or where one was supposed to be.
When he woke from "the dream" and realized what happened, Anakin collapsed onto his knees. He may have even cried "What have I done?" His chest tightened. He panted. Ran his fingers through his hair.
What had he done? What happened?
Why did he listen to the strange voice?
Why?
Why did he...trust the voice?
Not only had he killed- murdered Palpatine. The Chancellor, the man who held the Galactic Republic with his bare hands, but also the Republic. But more importantly, he had just killed Padmé.
Padmé!
Anakin felt the voice come again. He closed his eyes. Tears formed as he heard, "Your wife will be fine. She will live...
"For now."
To this day, Anakin still didn't know if that voice- any of it was real or if it was all in his head. His doubts.
Before Anakin could process what he just heard or if he believed anything it said, Master Windu and two or three other Jedi Masters rushed in sometime later. Anakin didn't remember which of the Masters were there. It wasn't the only thing Anakin couldn't recall. Apparently Anakin's comm had gone off and the private channel to the Chancellor's had gone off several times as well. Anakin hadn't heard them. The shadow hadn't either, nor wouldn't anymore.
One of them called out his name as he exited the office.
"Anakin?" Possibly Master Saesee Tiin?
Another said, "Let him go."
Anakin remembered the rest all too well. He raced out of the office, doing his best to make his way past the HoloNet droids that were already asking if Chancellor Palpatine was alright. Anakin wondered if the droids were Force sensitive.
Anakin stumbled into the turbolift. He made his way through the Senate Office Building. A few beings- politicians and other aristocrats- asked if he was alright. He was sweaty and, by the way he was walking, he looked drunk. Not of alcohol, but of pain, betrayal, lies, and confusion.
He found Padmé in the shadows of the Senate. In the jungle of columns. He held her. Kissed her. They discreetly made their way back to her apartment. They talked- well, he did most of the talking. He told her everything. She listened and was patient and wonderful. Then they made love.
Both eventually fell soundly asleep. Neither realized over a dozen HoloNet droids had followed him from his questionable exit from Palpatine's office. Each distantly hidden in the uncountable number of columns...
Like something else...
Anakin looked around. He could feel another presence in the surrounding sea of darkness.
He ignited his- he looked down at the weapon in his hand. This wasn't lightsaber.
Well, it was and it wasn't.
The hilt felt familiar but the blade was the wrong color.
It was red.
He then looked up and found the presence.
"Beware Anakin Skywalker," Said the shadow. "For the Sith shall never die! And one day you shall join us!" The shadow grew into a slender shape. Almost two meters in height. "Let me show you." The shadow spread arms that made its sleeves into black wings.
Blue eyes were replaced with glowing yellow ones.
Anakin then realized he was looking at a mirror.
The yellow eyes were his own.
"I will not fight you, father" Someone stated.
Luke?
Not only were the eyes his own, but the sleeves were making a fist.
He heard the clicking of a blaster, "Daddy! Dad, stop!"
Leia?
"Liar!" Someone screamed. "I loved you too much to see you," Cried another, angry voice. "To see what you are!"
While it was much deeper, angrier, Anakin realized it was his own.
He looked around. He couldn't find them anywhere.
At least not his children.
Padmé.
She was meters in front of him. Clawing at her throat, but there was nothing there her hands could touch.
Horrified, Anakin realized he was the one who was strangling her with his fist. He couldn't stop. Even more horrifying, he didn't want to stop. He was too enraged.
"Let her go, Anakin," Said a voice he recognized.
Obi-Wan.
His answer was a predator's snarl, over the body of his prey. "You will not take her from me!"
"Let her go!"
"Never!"
Then everything went silent.
"NO!" Anakin screamed. "What have I done?" He cried as he dropped to his knees. "What have I done?" He couldn't find Padmé, Obi-Wan, or his children. "What have I done?
"You are following your destiny, Anakin Skywalker," Said the shadow. "For you will join the Sith." The shadow turned back to look at him. Paused. "It is your destiny!" The shadow spread it arms and made its sleeves into a blood red lightsaber.
The hilt was longer, but identical to Anakin's
Then the shadow lunged at him.
Anakin's eyes shot open right as the shadow reached him. His chest heaved and gasped for air. His entire body was as cold as ice, but glazed in sweat. Anakin hadn't felt so overwhelmed in the longest time. Minus almost going out of his mind after his dreams of Padmé.
After lying there for several minutes, he finally realized he was no longer sitting crossed legged on the ground, but lying on his back on the ground.
After several long minutes, Anakin sat up. He shook his head and covered his face. Maybe his instincts were incorrect. It wouldn't be the first time. Probably not the last. After all, he had been completely and utterly blind to Palpatine for thirteen long years.
Then again, maybe he was truly losing his mind. There was no one here. Just him.
Maybe it should stay that way. Maybe it would be better for his wife and small children if he left them. Maybe if he wasn't so needy and selfish.
They would be safer.
Happier.
Anakin would never be able to hurt them.
This new vision or whatever it was- did not shrink this...this feeling he sometimes had. That he could- would somehow hurt them. It was never a vision or a dream- until now, but he couldn't shake the feeling.
What if he did?
What if he didn't...but what if I did? What if that really happened?
A few minutes later, Anakin stood up and brushed any grass off and had just taken a step to turn around when he heard a voice.
"Anakin."
But not just any voice...
Qui-Gon.
Qui-Gon! Yay!
Trivia: I had considered posting this story first, but decided to start with Surprises: Free and Surprises: Unimaginable. Which is a good thing since I've added a lot more to this story. Next, Moving Meditation is a real thing or at least in the old EU. It sounds like something Anakin would do. Finally, some of the quotes are from the Revenge of the Sith novelization and movie.
I might have gotten this up sooner, but we lost our internet last Thursday. Finally got it back today.
Please review.