Alright, I finally updated! It may be a bit unprofessional to say so, but I honestly think this chapter is a turd. I may have written myself into a corner with the last one, and this one took so long to just get out that i want it done and gone so i can move on. I may go back an add more details to the interesting parts; I'm not too experienced with writing action sequences yet, and as I said, I just want this chapter out.
As always, thank you so much for reading! Constructive criticism is always appreciated, so don't be shy to let me know how I can make this story better to read!
It was madness. The temple halls had never been so crowded or so loud, Obi-Wan mused. Without preamble or explanation, hordes of panicked citizens began flooding into the temple. From the disembodied voices among the crowd, Obi-Wan (who just happened to be pacing about the atrium) had extrapolated that something bad had happened. Acolytes had begun herding the crowd into smaller groups, while padawans in the distant halls began poking their heads out from their study rooms.
He could see the frenzy of panic on their faces. It was the same face he had seen on countless other beings all around the galaxy since his promotion to General. However, he wasn't used to seeing it on Coruscant. This was quite concerning. With an unconscious frown, the master Jedi turned away from the din and headed towards the stairs to the temple's main level. Surely, the Council would be convening soon. Briskly, Obi Wan ascended the carpeted marble staircase and the commotion behind him began to fade. He could faintly make out the voices of his fellow Knights among the people, and admired their readiness for such an event.
It was no new phenomenon for people to congregate in the Jedi temple, but Obi-Wan knew that it never occurred without some kind of disaster. What concerned him more than that possibility was that the Force bestowed no warning if such was the case. For something to happen in such a close proximity without so much as a tremor in the Force was... odd. With this in mind, he quickened his pace up the grand stairs, using the Force to slow his breathing and calm his mind. Every mystery had an answer.
He now noticed that Jedi of all ages were rushing towards the atrium, all wearing the same look of worry and confusion. Several were charging down the very staircase he climbed. Intermittent voices called, "What's going on?" and "To the entrance", and the cacophony now sounded from either side of the temple. Obi-Wan again quickened his pace, and the staircase suddenly seemed much longer than he remembered. A few seconds which seemed like minutes passed, but Obi-Wan reached the top, and now fully bounded down the pristine hall towards the council chamber. The emptiness of the hallway gave another prickling sense of foreboding. He did not bother to gracefully slow his entrance to the chamber, where he found every seat but his occupied. The masters were silent, as if waiting for his arrival, but a quiet unrest was visible on their faces. Even Master Plo Koon, whose non-human face was hard to read on a good day, seemed somewhat grim.
"Master Kenobi, please sit," Mace Windu said curtly. "Your celerity is very opportune." Obi-Wan did as he was bade by his superior, but as he alighted into his seat, he suddenly wondered why his fellow masters seemed as if they had been sitting in conference long before his arrival. Such a detail was pushed to the side of his mind, however, considering the commotion below them.
"It seems as if there has been an attack. Or, a few coordinated attacks, to be precise." Master Mundi provided, sensing Obi-Wan's confusion.
"Attacks? What do you mean?" Obi-Wan asked. That sure did explain the influx of civilians, but left a pestering doubt about the lack of Force warning.
"We know little, for they happened only minutes ago," Master Koon inserted, "Several explosions in seemingly random locations around the city."
A silence hung over the room. None seemed inclined to speak, Obi-Wan noticed, so he allowed himself to ask: "Separatists?"
"We have no way of knowing." Windu immediately answered. "From what we can see from here, they are too random to constitute any kind of planning."
Obi-Wan shifted his legs in his seat, trying to understand what that might imply. "Then who? Why?" he pondered aloud. Another tense silence ensued.
"Know, we do not." Master Yoda sighed.
Obi-Wan could only look around the chamber. He, Masters Windu, Koon, and Yoda were present physically. Master Gallia was in her seat through hologram, presumably somewhere en route to her deployment on Fellucia, and Master Mundi was likewise projected. The remaining seats were empty. A sudden reminder of the events only a day before stuck Obi-Wan, who sank just a bit deeper into his seat. So little time had passed that the reality of Palpatine's demise and its consequences, not to mention its implications, had hit the Jedi once again. Windu, the sole survivor of the Masters who had confronted the late Chancellor, looked noticeably worse for wear.
"Those of the Knights that are present, as well as acolytes, are tending to those who have congregated here. We await a report from Jocasta Nu, but until then we have no information on this new development." said Master Windu.
"And what of... previous developments?" Obi-Wan asked tentatively. Member of the Council though he was, he was not yet aware of anything they planned to do about the whole debacle concerning Palpatine. Certainly some disaster was afoot at the moment, but something much larger had happened only yesterday night. Could they possibly be related?
"The death and discovery of Chancellor Palpatine's identity is still fresh, and is very delicate. Grand Master Yoda and I are still deciding on which course of action to take." Master Windu replied, "The report should be made via the HoloNet this evening."
"But didn't you say you were still deciding on a course of action?" Obi-Wan inquired.
"The official report has been given, though how we will proceed is still unclear. Especially when other...matters," Windu gestured outward towards the frenzied city, "keep germinating."
Obi-Wan was startled by the nonchalance with which he spoke of the report on Palpatine.
"Why were we not consulted on a report from the Jedi Council?" he asked, an edge of disbelief in his voice. Or was is frustration? Windu, however, seemed unfazed. And Yoda had yet to weigh in...
"Master Obi-Wan..." Yoda began, a sigh upon his shoulders. However, he would never finish the sentence. A great commotion through the Force interrupted every Council member's concentration.
The sudden jump and scowls by his fellow Jedi did not escape Obi-Wan's notice. It was as if they had dreaded the sudden interruption in the flow of the Force. The very presence of Anakin Skywalker.
It was undoubtedly him. His Force signature was like a great whirlwind, or a sudden ignition of flame and warmth. The other Masters seemed not so much surprised as annoyed by his sudden appearance. Not that such a thing was new...
Words weren't bandied as they all silently left the chamber; all thought of their very important conversation was interrupted.
Obi-Wan, who hadn't quite unseated himself, followed his companions out of the chamber and into the great staircase, as if a silent agreement had been made to simply observe what this additional new development brought. A certain tension had also resounded through the Force that made Obi-Wan less than comfortable, but he suspected it wasn't for the same reason the other Masters felt so.
Obi-Wan immediately spotted him from at least a hundred meters away in his spot beside the staircase railing. Anakin had always had quite a way of being distinctive in all ways possible.
He could be easily spotted at the front of a small procession of other people, and his gait suggested that he was quite frustrated. Even the Masters who weren't his direct teacher knew how to identify the certain tension in his shoulders and speed of his walk as a portent of strife. The man was somehow even more unhappy than he was when he stormed out the previous day, and only Obi-Wan noticed Padme Amidala hobbling behind him. Considering Anakin's hawk-like set of gaze and defensive posture before the Senator, Obi-Wan assumed something had happened to his wife. Things were about to get very dicey.
"I will speak see what is going on," Obi-Wan volunteered, slowly making his way down the stairs. He knew when Anakin was angry, and didn't trust the others to deal with him... negotiably. They didn't voice any objections.
The temple was in a state of disarray like Anakin had never seen. The front doors were fully opened, and a great crowd was slowly being divided into groups and ferried about in the great atrium. At least thousands of beings had fled to the temple for protection, but a strange gap seemed to open itself before him as he stalked in before his group. Anakin rapidly surveyed the state of the place; the halls which had once seemed so immense in his youth were now crowded with countless strange faces. Faces that shared a similar expression of panic. Of fear.
As he made his impatient walk further into the temple, the gap around him seemed to increase as if these people could sense his malcontent and wished to be further out of his way. Good. Padme, Organa, and the guards followed closely behind, though only Padme seemed comfortable being anywhere near him. This detail pleased Anakin.
Many Jedi Knights and even a few senior Padawans could be seen guiding refugees to different corners of the temple, exactly as protocol had dictated. In times of conflict, the Jedi Temple was a sort of undesignated haven for the Coruscanti people, and Anakin knew that while the underlings sorted out the people, the Masters would be in an emergency congregation inside their chamber. That was his destination, though he had to sort out his wife's temporary stay.
Crossing through the atrium, Anakin approached the nearest attendant, beckoning his wife and the others to follow as he did so. With a hasty and unceremonious interruption, he approached the padawan, a young woman, and spoke:
"I need you to see that these refugees are looked after." The young woman seemed quite affronted with this interruption to her already stressful duty, until a flash of recognition in her eyes left her flabbergasted.
"Knight Skywalker-!"
""Please," Anakin stressed impatiently," Just take the Senator and her guards to my quarters. Not anywhere else, not mixed with any others, just straight to my quarters. Is that clear?"
The girl seemed quite overwhelmed- perhaps as if she meant to say something else, but thought against it.
"Yes, Master Skywalker." she conceded. Even the refugees she had been gathering seemed to fall silent in Anakin's presence.
"Thank you." Anakin said. Turning to Padme, he could only offer an apologetic expression.
"Padme, go to my room, station your guards, and just stay there. Don't leave, don't ask about me, just don't do anything until I come and get you. Okay?"
"Ani, what about you? Where are you going?" Padme asked.
"Just a quick conversation, and then I'm getting you out of here- someplace safe. I'll collect you as soon as I can." he replied, allowing his hands to find her arms in a comforting gesture. He noticed the padawan's curiousity at the sight, but ignored it. That would all come out later, when it mattered.
"Fine. Just don't get into any trouble, Ani." Padme allowed. She didn't like being treated like cargo, but Anakin's sour mood was only brought on by a fear of her safety. Though he could be overprotective, the situation at hand for once justified his worrying. Besides, he did say "please" for once.
With that, Anakin nodded to the padawan, and stalked off towards his target. It gave him the faintest feeling of nostalgia, like when he used to nod in approval to Ahsoka on their missions together. Where was she now? At least if she were here, he could have asked her to guard Padme. The brash girl would have preferred to tag along with him, but she never let him down when he really needed her. With the familiar sight of the temple around him, he could almost imagine seeing his former student amidst the confusion, trying to do her best to do what's right.
Shaking such thoughts from his mind, Anakin bounded on towards the staircase that led to the Council chamber. Talking to the Jedi was absolutely the last thing he wanted to do, but he knew when something was amiss, and they had to have some answers. To be honest, he wasn't quite sure where else to go when such a situation came up.
His reverie, however, was interrupted by yet another familiar sight. Meters before him, away from the din and clutter of the mass of beings, Obi-Wan stood before him upon the great staircase with the same knowing half smirk. The immediate comfort Anakin felt from the sight was replaced with suspicion and apprehension when the details of the last fourty-eight hours settled in again.
"Anakin," was all he said. Without pretense, without expectation, his former master simply greeted him. It was a little disarming, as Obi-Wan was wont to be.
"Obi-Wan," Anakin replied, shifting into an agitated stance. It suddenly occurred to him that he hadn't completely thought out what he had planned to say to the Council.
"I'm glad to see you again, though I can't say I like the circumstances." Obi-Wan said calmly. Anakin could tell that he was in Negotiator mode.
"Obi-Wan, spare me the formalities. I need to speak with the Masters. Now."
"I am one of them, as you know. What is going on? Are you okay?" he asked with genuine concern.
"Am I okay!? I know you've seen the explosions around the city. You're a smart man, Obi-Wan, and you must have noticed they seemed aimed towards the Senate. Towards Padme. I've come to hear what they know about it. And don't think I've forgotten about Palpatine." Anakin demanded. His frustration was already beginning to culminate. "It seems a little convenient that such a thing would happen the day after Palpatine was destroyed. Don't you think, Obi-Wan?"
"Anakin, what are you saying?" Obi-Wan asked. Surely, he was going to do the usual routine: asking questions until the subject lost focus and opened up to questions of his own. But Anakin would not fall for it.
"Don't play dumb with me, Obi-Wan! I want proof that the Jedi aren't involved, and I want to know that they aren't going to lie about Palpatine!"
"Do you really think the Jedi to be that deceitful?"
"I don't know what to believe anymore! You have sensed how they feel about Palpatine being a Sith, and you know that I'm not crazy to be acting this way! Get out of my way and wake up, Obi-Wan! These people aren't who we thought they were, I'm sure of it!" Anakin was now really losing his patience. He began pacing sideways, as if Obi-Wan was a great wall before him. The Masters were undoubtedly at the top of that staircase, and he wanted answers now.
"Anakin, I-"
"They are liars!" Anakin exploded. "Tell me, Obi-Wan, what are they going to say about the Chancellor's Sith identity? What half-truth are they going to spin about the explosions just now!? What excuse are they going to choose for me leaving the Order?"
"Anakin, you were married to Padme for years! You told no one! You have broken the Code, and you lied! Don't you blame others for your doings!" Obi-Wan returned. It was rather unlike him to lose his temper, especially in a battle of words.
"They didn't know about that until after they decided to cover up the fact that a Sith lord was masquerading as our leader!" Anakin continued, undisturbed by Obi-Wan's uncharacteristic anger. In fact, he gestured about the temple so that as many people could hear him say the words "Sith" and "leader" were heard by any who might be paying attention amidst the din of the temple. Before Obi-Wan could reply, another familiar voice sounded from above.
"That's enough, Skywalker!"
Mace Windu saw fit to join the conversation. The other masters were now slowly coming down the staircase, though a distance behind. Anakin broke his stare into his former Master and regained his composure.
"Master Windu. You must know why I'm here, so let's not waste any time." he spoke curtly. He shifted his balance and seemed somewhat calmer, but anyone who knew him was well aware that he always became calm before things got ugly.
"You have a lot of nerve to be making such demands when you are no longer a Jedi. You left so early yesterday that we didn't have a chance to formally excommunicate you." Windu hardened his gaze and set his jaw. Was he enjoying this little speech? He certainly seemed emboldened as he slowly descending the stairs- literally condescending to Anakin for one last time. "It is with this in mind that I will decline to answer your questions. The report will be broadcast tonight; you can watch it with the rest of the free citizens of the Republic." he continued, halting his sure pace between Anakin and Obi-Wan.
Anakin choked down a burst of indignation and quelled a smart remark. Instead, he called on the Force for calm and searched for words. After a visible effort, he calmly replied, "I am still a general of the Republic Army. I demand to know information regarding my commander in chief. And speaking of commanders," Anakin said, "Where is Master Yoda? I should think I would at least be able to speak to him, considering my role in destroying a Sith. We need not pretend to tolerate one another anymore, Mace, so I'm going to just speak to your superior." A small smirk forced its way to Anakin's face as be brushed by Windu, intent for the council chamber. The Masters ahead of him seemed uncomfortable as he approached.
"Ah. About that..." Windu replied. Anakin halted in place, allowing his head to turn back. Windu crossed his arms and continued.
"You are no longer a general of the Galactic Republic Army. Effective immediately upon your excommunication, you are stripped of all rank and responsibility you once held, and no longer have clearance in military areas."
Anakin's Force signature immediately erupted with vehement fury. He now turned to fully face Windu, his eyes like lasers. Obi-Wan was stupefied by this announcement, mouth agape. Windu, however, wasn't finished speaking.
"Furthermore, Grand Master Yoda has resigned from his position."
"What!?" Obi-Wan blurted. Looking to his fellow council members, he saw no similar surprise. How much had they talked about without him? What was this insanity?
"Yoda resigned before the present council members this morning. You were not present, and we could not avail you." Mace replied, deadpanned. Somehow, Anakin was still silently fuming, but Obi-Wan looked incredulously around to his fellow council members, who nodded in corroboration to his explanation.
"Well, I guess that's only necessary. The old coot couldn't tell when a Sith was right under his nose, after all." Anakin finally said. His jaw set in a display of obvious ire.
"Master Yoda felt that his age clouded his ability to guide the Jedi in serving the Force." Windu replied with an annoying calm.
"You can't do this! You're just as bad as Palpatine!" Anakin barked, suddenly very emotional. It had all begun to crash on him. He had planned on being excommunicated. He had not planned to be stripped of his rank. He had certainly not planned on Yoda abandoning the Order. How typical of the old fool! Now the Army was losing two great generals, and the war was at a momentous breaking point. Now everything was in Windu's hands. How convenient! Exactly like Palpatine...
"Do not let your emotions cloud your judgment, Skywalker. Do not allow yourself to believe mistruths because they seem right to you." Windu scolded. Anakin was willing his body to not shake with anger, and all he could do was stare his daggers into the other man's eyes. The entire world consisted of the direct aperture of Windu and the immediate area around him.
"You are no longer welcome here, Anakin." Windu spoke forcefully but quietly. Obi-Wan seemed even more conflicted than before, but in no position to say anything. Anakin had broken a rule. He had saved the Republic from a manipulative tyrant, and this was his payment?
"Fine," he spat. Without so much as a look to the spectators gathered around, Anakin dismounted the staircase and slowly made his way towards his quarters to collect Padme. He couldn't think. He didn't know what would happen after that, or where they would go. Everything was so chaotic...
"Your lightsaber, Skywalker." Windu ground out slowly. Now Anakin stopped.
"Excuse me?" he asked venomously.
"You have been excommunicated. You must relinquish your weapon," Windu held out his hand expectantly.
The anger, the hurt, the disbelief - it all vanished immediately. Anakin merely eyed the Master's hand, then then his eyes, and then slowly unbelted his lightsaber. After a couple seconds of admiring the blade, Anakin suddenly ignited the blade with a startling snap-hiss and brandished it to his side. The Masters all startled and reached for their weapons, but only waited for Anakin to move.
"You'll have to take it from me." he growled. Windu merely raised an eyebrow.
"Anakin, what are you doing!?" Obi-Wan cried, though his voice was ignored.
"I'll tell you what, Skywalker," Windu began, "You've raised your sword against a fellow Jedi. Either surrender now and you can leave, or we will fight and you will die."
"I thought I wasn't a Jedi anymore," Anakin replied. "Are you that eager to kill me, Mace? Not that you could, but it's not very becoming of a Grand Master to pick fights."
"I'm starting nothing." Windu replied coolly. You are brandishing a weapon against an unarmed opponent. So do what you will."
Anakin's grip tightened around the hilt of his lightsaber. After a moment of thought, his arm swung almost involuntarily and was caught by his opponent's purple blade. The man expected him to attack, and Anakin wasn't one to disappoint.
Obi-Wan immediately reached for his lightsaber, as did the others, but Windu cried, "Don't! This will be settled easily."
Angered, Anakin unleashed a flurry of cross chops and spinning hacks. Windu was remaining on the defensive, and was obviously not too intent on attacking. Anakin knew the Master was an opportunist type of fighter, but his own unending offense never gave him an opening to reverse the flow of battle. Despite the weight of their robes, both men were performing many athletic spins and swings completely unhindered. The others could only watch in awe and horror.
Windu's inscrutable expression angered Anakin, but he willed himself to keep his head. This was the man that had looked down on him for his entire life; the one that wanted to deny him entry into the order. It would be a shame if Anakin played to his expectation and blindly raged about while he used his superior experience to end the duel. Though his arms threw his blade to and fro in a fluid mix of attack and defense, Anakin's mind was reined in to a placid calm.
Windu tried allowing a small - almost imperceptible - gap in his block to lure Anakin into making a cut into his left side, but Anakin knew that he had his arm ready for a wrist-turn cut that would take off an arm. Losing an arm once was enough, Anakin thought.
Anakin's avoidance of the bait seemed to surprise Windu, who was still slowly giving ground to Anakin's manic offense. Further into the hallway the duelists paced, with eyes from all around upon them. Flashes of blue and violet electrified the air. The other masters made no attempt to intervene, however, and any stray onlookers were too dumbfounded to speak. It wasn't every day non-Jedi witnessed a duel, let alone a brandished lightsaber in person.
These details were not recognized by the two combatants. Lightning fast jabs and blocks filled Anakin's consciousness, and his increasing anger fueled his strikes. Windu seemed to also become irritated at the length and intensity of the duel, and began using more acrobatic strikes. Vaulting over Anakin's head, Windu scored a hairline scratch on Anakin's robe, which was soon repaid with a full force kick to the chest. As Windu stumbled back, Anakin followed up with a leaping stab that was barely evaded. Windu used his dodging momentum to jump against a wall over Anakin again, striking out as he spun away. Anakin quickly swayed backwards to dodge and allowed himself a short moment to pace around his opponent, who likewise strafed in a deadly circle.
"This is your last chance, Skywalker. Surrender your weapon and leave in peace without return, or fall here." Windu warned.
"I'll say it again: you can take it from my cold, dead hands." Anakin seethed.
A few more tense seconds of pacing passed in silence.
"Have it your way, then."
Anakin's weapon hand twitched in anticipation; a silent nudge from the Force compelled him to forego his usual offense-as-defense strategy, and he waited for Windu to strike.
With a grunt of effort, the older master leaped at Anakin with a ferocity he had never witnessed. Though not too quick to perceive, Anakin was surprised at the force of his strike, and his lightsaber nearly bounced back into his own face when the deadlock ensued. Locked by the lightsabers' energy fields, the two men growled in effort to try to gain the upper hand, and Anakin took grim satisfaction in the knowledge that he was winning. With every second, his body pushed closer to Windu, willing his lightsaber to push the other man's blade into his neck. Veins on Windu's bare head strained, and he was locked in position lest he broke free of the deadlock. Anakin allowed himself a satisfied half grin as sweat beaded on Windu's neck from the blades' heat.
And then, the situation changed very suddenly.
Sensing that he was losing the battle, Windu did many things too quickly for Anakin to see. In the split second after he deactivated and dropped his violet lightsaber, Windu managed to catch Anakin's blade with his bare hands. A crackling energy field surrounded his palms, emitting smoke and shrieking hisses, much to Anakin's shock and amazement. Only Yoda had ever been known to have this ability! In the other half of that one second, Windu forced Anakin's blade down and away from him, causing the younger Jedi to stumble forward as his entire weight had been put into his strike. In the following second, Windu called his lightsaber back to his hand, and with the familiar snap-hiss swung the blade down to Anakin's falling body. With an adrenalin-induced turn to intercept his attacker, Anakin raised his blade defensively and caught the strike, but a flick of Windu's wrist lopped off the top end of his lightsaber, leaving a smoldering metal cylinder in his hand.
Pure fury and disbelief painted Anakin's reclining figure, and Windu pointed his blade directly at his neck.
"I warned you, Anakin. Please know that I take no pleasure in this." Windu spoke. He rose his blade to prepare for a strike (though not high enough to allow Anakin time to evade), but an ear-piercing shriek caused a minuscule hesitation.
"NO! ANAKIN!" Padme suddenly bellowed in desperation. What the hell was she doing here!? Anakin heard his wife's plea, felt her pain, felt his own anger, his frustration, his grief, his hate, his fury! This would not end this way, not at this bastard's hands!
A ferocious bellow escaped Anakin's mouth as the blade closed down on him, and he felt the Force surge through him as he used all of its power to push Windu away from him. A loud concussion of energy shockwaved out from his hands as the force push sent Windu flying meters up and away, where his body hit the polished tile floor with a great thud. He surely wasn't dead, but the old bastard wasn't going to be happy when he woke up.
Without wasting a second, Anakin jumped to his feet and bounded towards his wife, who was in a frenzy of tears and disbelief. Behind him, he could hear the masters ignite their lightsabers. Running was of no use now; not when a Jedi wanted to catch you. With a furious defensive step in front of Padme, Anakin turned to face his former masters, whose shock and confusion mixed with real outrage.
"I suppose you have to finish the job, huh?" Anakin barked. "Is this what you are now? You thugs!" Padme grabbed his arm in fear. What the hell was she doing here, anyway? He told her to stay in his quarters! Where were the others?
None of the masters seemed to know what to say. Obi-Wan, the only one without his lightsaber ignited, said: "That's enough of this travesty. Just leave, Anakin. Leave and never come back. For your own good." His sigh of distraught forced an emptiness into Anakin's heart. The masters too, seemed to feel a pang of regret. Coming to their senses, they extinguished their lightsabers slowly.
"You are banned from Republic territory under pain of death. Leave." master Mundi sighed. Two of the others lifted Windu's unconscious body and carried him away. Anakin didn't move. Couldnt. He locked eyes with Obi-Wan, his greatest friend, and the two shared a look of hopeless defeat. Without breaking eye contact, Anakin spoke: "May the Force be with you."
It was a declaration of finality. A message solely for Obi-Wan. The man seemed to want to reply, but his voice wouldn't let him. A small tug on the back of Anakin's robe urged him to hesitantly turn around, and leave everything he ever knew. The eyes of the masters and Obi-Wan, of the dumbfounded refugees bore into his back. Padme's hand found his, and together they walked towards the great door with the fire of hundreds of stares burning behind them.
After a tense walk to the staircase outside the temple door, Anakin found Coruscant eerily silent.
Silent; a word he had forgotten every time he was on the massive city-planet. Vestiges of smoke from mostly extinguished fires still trailed from several locations, and Anakin finally turned his gaze to Padme's chocolate brown eyes, laden with worry and sadness.
"Why did you come back? Why didn't you stay in my quarters?" he finally asked.
"R2 and Bail found something," her eyes shifted about the courtyard, "something you'll want to see. I had Threepio send my ship over, the others are waiting there. We'll... discuss it there. It made us decide the temple wasn't where we wanted to be. I came back to get you and leave." she seemed reticent, so Anakin didn't push the subject. Across the courtyard, the brilliant silver sheen of Padme's Nubian cruiser reflected the warm rays like solid quicksilver. Anakin let out a deep sigh.
"I'm banished, Padme." At this, she seemed to catch in her step. "I'm stripped of all rank. I'm nothing." defeat weighed on his words. Rejection. Pain.
"We'll figure it out, love." Padme said, giving his natural hand an affectionate squeeze. She wasn't quite sure if she really believed it herself, but it had to be said. Banishment and dismissal of military position wasn't really in any of her expectations... but that didn't matter now. Even more had been added into the garbage fire of developments in just the last few hours...
A silence ensued as their last steps brought them to the entry ramp of the ship. Padme halfway led him into the meeting room as the ship took off; piloted by an assistant, Anakin assumed. Organa and Typho were waiting, and eagerly looked toward the door as the two entered.
"So, what is it that you found?" Anakin asked, sitting into a chair.
"The official report that was sent to the holonet today," Organa said. R2 accessed the Temple database while we waited for you. You're going to want to hear this..."
