"We are the last ones, Obi-Wan." The yellow eyes of the Sith stared, ever unflinching, into his former master's. "You, me, and Darth Sidious. It doesn't have to be this way."
"You killed them, Anakin. You slaughtered them like we cut down the droids in the Clone Wars. Do you think I can forgive that?" The blue lightsaber ignited, while Padmé stood between them.
"I'm not asking for your forgiveness, brother." The words stung, and they shocked Obi-Wan into a short silence. "I'm begging you for help. I don't want to fight you. Do you think I want to be the only one left with Palpatine, to be his puppet and servant? I was a slave once, a long time ago, and I don't want to go back!" Anakin still hadn't drawn his own weapon, though his former teacher continued to draw closer.
"And what will you do then, Anakin? Kill me, like the rest, so you can rule in Palpatine's place?"
"NO!" The former Jedi roared, shocking his friend. "I don't want to rule!"
Padmé stepped aside as Obi-Wan walked past her, horror in her eyes...but she couldn't look away. She knew that Anakin deserved to die, but that didn't mean that he would! She loved him, and he was one of the most famous heroes in the galaxy! Obi-Wan wouldn't really fight him, would he?
"Then what is it that you want, Anakin? I want to hear it. Really, I do. What could be so important that you would turn to the Dark Side of the Force to achieve it?"
Anakin was silent for several moments, his eyes closed and his head bowed. When he opened them again, Obi-Wan could have sworn that he saw flecks of blue that crept back into the orbs...he convinced himself it was just a trick of the light, that his memories were making a mockery of him.
"...I'll start at the beginning, if that's alright. Jedi always like getting the full story, don't they?"
He took a breath, inwardly sighing as Obi-Wan deactivated his lightsaber.
"Do you remember when I told you, before the Clone Wars, that I was having visions? Of Padmé, first, and then my mother? Every time I've had them, what's happened has come to pass. Padmé became beautiful, and we fell in love, and even now she's about to give birth to my children. My mother was in pain, captured by slavers...and she died in my arms, just as I foresaw. A few months ago, I began having visions of Padmé's death after giving birth to twins."
He paused for a few moments, allowing the words to sink in, and watched as molten lava shot up several yards to his side.
"I wanted, desperately, to change that. I love her, Obi-Wan. I don't want her to die. I went to Palpatine, and he told me that learning the powers of the Dark Side would be able to save her; he told me about a Sith Lord who was so strong in the Force that he could live forever, and how his apprentice had killed him in his sleep to take that ability away. He showed me powers that no Jedi could dream of, and let me use my emotions to fuel the strength of the Force that flowed inside of me. I thought that I would be able to save her...but I was wrong. The Dark Side only destroys or helps to destroy. I'll say it again: I won't ask for your forgiveness, brother. I only want your help in destroying Palpatine."
"Alright, Anakin, that's enough." The lightsaber blazed once again, blue and intense; Anakin locked eyes with his wife, commanding her not to interfere. He had earned what was coming, and didn't hold very many regrets.
He closed his eyes as the saber flew across, and thought he'd died when he heard silence...only for another plume of magma to launch high into the air, with a roar that shocked his eyes open.
"I accept that your intentions were pure, though I can't forgive you for what you've done. You will answer for it, one day."
"Of course I will, friend. The Force knows all, and nothing can hide from it. But that's for later, after all of this is done. Right now-"
"Yes, I know. Your wife and children come first. Follow me, then."
The quiet of the room was punctuated by infantile wailing, and Anakin smiled. Padmé was alive; he had prevented her death, one way or another, and she was sleeping in her bed.
"It's time." He said, to no one in particular. "Stay here, Obi-Wan."
"No, Anakin, it's too dangerous. You're a powerful warrior, and strong in the Force, but Palpatine has been training in the Dark Side for longer than the two of us have been alive...combined, probably. I can't let you go alone."
"You have to. If I don't come back, my son and daughter will need someone who can teach them the way of the Force. Someone who's strong, who can teach them what they'll need to know so that the Jedi and the Sith can be revived as they should have been: brethren orders who simply interpreted the Force differently."
Before Obi-Wan could retort, Anakin turned around and took a small ship from the docking bay; it reminded him of his podracer, back on Tatooine, with the way it was designed for piloting. Engines on both sides, fast enough to be useful in short-term space travel, but prone to malfunctioning with the slightest inconvenience.
It was a good thing, then, that he was the best damned pilot in the whole of the galaxy. He'd moved through a few asteroid clusters, passed by a meteor, and clung to the side of Palpatine's great warship; the tricky part was working without blasters or missiles on the small craft, and instead using his lightsaber to puncture a hole in the top. A miniature air tank was placed inside of his mouth, though he was inside of the ship's atmosphere bubble, and he gave a sigh of relief as his form fell into a corridor.
As much as he hated it, and yet loved it, it was time for the next round of butchery. This time, however, he would be doing it to save the life of the galaxy; Palpatine had tricked him into slaughtering innocents, in an attempt to control the galaxy, and Anakin Skywalker had ceased to exist in the minds of all but two. He was, now and forever, Darth Vader. All of the Jedi were dead, save for Obi-Wan, and the Chosen One was destined to bring balance to the Force. Many had interpreted this, including Master Yoda and the late Mace Windu, to mean that Anakin would destroy the Dark Side...but that wouldn't bring balance. Balance meant equality, or nothingness. Therefore, to be equal, there would need to be one Sith for each Jedi or none of either.
It was one of the things that Vader most regretted, now, that he would have to kill the man he'd once thought of as a mentor and friend. Palpatine had done terrible things, whether as Darth Sidious or as Chancellor, and needed to be stopped; it was a simple fact that he needed to pay for his crimes, and the red blade of Darth Vader was the long arm of the deceased law.
He'd cut through the ship with abandon, lightsaber blazing, with his only intention being to kill Palpatine and anyone who got in his way. All the while, he recited the twin mantras inside of his head...
Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.
Peace is a lie. There is only passion.
There is no emotion. There is peace.
Through passion I gain strength.
There is no ignorance. There is knowledge.
Through strength I gain power.
There is no passion. There is serenity.
Through power I gain victory.
There is no chaos. There is harmony.
Through victory my chains are broken.
There is no death. There is the Force.
The Force shall free me.
At long last, he arrived at the chamber where Palpatine was seated. The man had grown hideous, having dropped all pretense of splendor and friendliness; his face was lined with sagging flesh, full of wrinkles and creases, and his body seemed too weak to move on its own power. And yet, for all that, the young Vader knew that this would be his greatest challenge.
Darth Sidious had survived for decades, hiding from the elite forces of the Jedi who hunted him. He was a master of the Dark Side of the Force, and all its powers. It had only been Anakin Skywalker's betrayal of his identity that had led to his discovery...though he was saved by the same boy. What horrors did he know that he had yet to unleash? What could he take, from his vast stores of experience, to end the life of the newest Sith Lord?
Not that Darth Vader cared much for such thoughts. When fighting a Sith, or any wielder of the Force, you couldn't allow yourself to feel any fear. To fear something was to give it power over you, and Vader only feared for Padmé's life. In that sense, he could never allow Sidious to win this battle; the man would do his best to slaughter his apprentice's wife and children...and that was something which he wouldn't permit.
He walked in calmly, with his lightsaber sheathed and belted. His feet moved in a slow march, yellow eyes searching the room for guards or clone soldiers; finding none, he chose to continue his forward movement.
"My Emperor."
"Lord Vader...you have killed the Jedi, and the Separatist leaders. I have asked you to commit unspeakable atrocities to further your knowledge of the Dark Side and its abilities. Tell me, how is Padmé?"
"She is tired, sir. The twins have taken a toll on her body and her mind, and she has required much rest."
"Yes, it is only natural. Did you take their midi-chlorian count?"
"...no, my lord. I have not yet had the chance. After leaving her, before going to Mustafar, the twins hadn't yet been born. I used the Force to reach out to them, however, and I sensed that they are both well above the average levels of most Jedi."
"Most impressive. Now, my pupil, please answer one more question: why, in your journey to reach me, did you slay every soldier you came across? I could feel their part of the Force leave themselves..."
"They impeded me on my way to reach you." There was no guarding of words, but it was an honest answer.
"And why did you wish to reach me so hastily?"
There was no true question in those words; Sidious had survived for impossible numbers of years on his wit alone, and had played the part of a shrewd politician. He understood what had happened, and what was going to take place. The words were a mere formality, polite niceties that lingered on from his time as the Chancellor.
The jig was up, Vader knew, so he saw no point in lying.
"I came to kill you."
Neither of them drew their lightsabers, and Vader took the initiative to launch his offensive; a bolt of lightning from each finger, which Sidious absorbed before returning. A blast of the Force repulsed the electricity as Vader moved forward, raising his hand and initiating the fearsome "Force Choke" technique of the Dark Side...and Sidious brushed it aside with a wave of his hand. The elder Sith Lord lashed out, using the Force as a blade, sending Vader into the far wall with a broad gash across his chest. The former Skywalker bellowed, launching electricity through the walls at Sidious' enthroned form as he stood, and he could feel the hatred rising within him. This man had brought about the deaths of hundreds, thousands, and perhaps even millions of innocent people; the only one who could stop him from causing even more destruction, the only hope of the galaxy, was standing his ground.
Sidious had redirected the lightning, sending it to one side, and spat flames at Vader; the Sith had drawn his lightsaber, leaping over the blaze of destruction, and engaged his enemy in a high-speed swordfight.
Stab, sweep, slash, guard, uppercut, block, dodge. Kick, swing, thrust, parry.
They were fairly evenly matched, but Vader had an advantage that Sidious hopefully couldn't counter: Vader only had to use one hand to wield his humming lightsaber.
Any hope of pressing that to his advantage, however, was quickly dashed when Sidious had stood up and began a flurry of sword movements that his apprentice could only ever dodge, never counter or block. As Sidious knocked the younger man down, Darth Vader allowed desperation to guide him; he punched out with it, hitting the ancient Sidious with all the force of a charging podracer. The man had flown upwards, to the ceiling, but that would never be enough to finish him...so Vader decided to put his fallen enemies to good use. Igniting one lightsaber after another, he launched them after the Sith Lord he had challenged. Ten lightsabers went up, cutting and burning, and only one had come back down.
Vader had been expecting his enemy to survive, but he wouldn't have thought that the man would manage to launch more Force powers at him; this time, however, he was prepared. He absorbed and re-purposed the fire, overpowered the lightning with his own, and had pushed away the blade with a solid wall.
"You are strong, Lord Vader. The Jedi Council were fools to refuse you the rank of Master and your own seat on the Council.. You are even stronger than Master Yoda in the Force!"
"Tell me something that I don't know." Vader hissed, trying to force Sidious into the flames that were behind him.
"I am stronger than you."
That, of course, was where the older Sith was wrong. He was certainly more experienced than Vader, but there were truly none who could claim to be greater in strength than the ever-heralded Chosen One. Anakin Skywalker had left the light, becoming Darth Vader in his re-forging in the Dark Side, and now sought to exterminate the shadows from within. While his skills were more varied, and not as focused-on as Sidious' own powers of the Force, Vader had more connection to eternal energy than anyone before or after him.
The walls came in, shattering, and the shards of glass buried themselves into Darth Sidious' back. Walls of flame leaped and danced, circling around the elder and attempting to consume him. Lightning surged across the floor, through the gemstone that powered Vader's lightsaber, scorching and twisting the Sith Lord's body...yet, somehow, the man survived. Sidious slashed with his lightsaber, hoping to burn into his pupil's heart, but that was the end. Vader had ducked under the blade before cutting Sidious' arms off; after a spin, the would-be emperor had his head rent from his shoulders.
It was over, Vader knew. He had fulfilled his duty and his purpose, bringing balance to the Force. Obi-Wan and Yoda still lived, to represent and teach the next generation of Jedi, and the Sith were to be represented by Darth Vader.
He found a suit of armor that had been built for him, to be used in space or in combat. It was all in black, meant to inspire terror and fear into the hearts of his foes. Even Vader himself felt somewhat intimidated by the clothing, and he had donned it immediately.
From there, he had gone back to the space station where Padmé and Obi-Wan waited for him...it was time to rebuild the galaxy with a system that would truly work, where all people were viewed with respect and equality. They needed to make a place where another Palpatine could never be created.
He would do it. His brother and teacher, Obi-Wan would help. He would have Padmé, with Luke and Leia as well. The Jedi and the Sith would coexist, and protect the galaxy together, as they were meant to. While the Jedi chose to forego emotion and make the most tactical decisions, the Sith allowed their feelings to guide them. There was no singular correct path; not all who could be Jedi could be Sith, and the same held true in reverse. Two schools of thought, based on the same principles, which took different approaches and applications to their interpretation of the Force and its still-mysterious power.
He could see it in his mind: Yoda would lead the two schools as the Grand Master of the Force, while he and Obi-Wan would watch over their various pupils and peers as the leaders of the Jedi and the Sith.
He would throw away the darkness of his life. There was no Dark Side, or a Light Side, of the Force; there were only those who used the Force with their emotions or with their willpower. The Sith had become twisted, at some point, but he believed that the order could be redeemed. That was the whole point of this, wasn't it? He had cleansed the Sith, and would redeem them in the future.
He was the Chosen One, but nobody had told him that he'd needed to make a choice. It was like some kind of joke made in poor taste, but that was another story. He had chosen passion, and had accepted that peace was a lie. His love had given him strength. His love had given him power. His love had given him victory. Through love, his chains were broken.
By the power of love, Darth Vader had been freed.