A short chapter, yes, but an extremely pivotal one. Enjoy! And try not to hate me…
Chapter 7
Anakin awoke, and was aware of pain.
That couldn't be good. He carefully stayed still, his neck beginning to ache as his head hung limp. His breathing remained deep and even. There was a searing pain in his left arm and lower back where he'd been hit by blaster bolts, and he didn't even want to think about the line of agony painted in fire across the right side of his face. His hands were bound tightly behind his back, forcing his shoulders round at an uncomfortable angle, and he couldn't feel his fingers. It felt like he was tied to a chair. He heard breathing from his left; Clones, two of them by the sound of it. Probably flanking a door
The last thing he remembered was running from a squad of Clones and being shot in the back. Any amount of time could have passed since then, anything could have happened…which begged the question of why he was still alive. There was the faint sound of a door sliding open followed by soft footsteps muffled by carpet. Anakin managed not to tense and give himself away, but it didn't seem to help. "Oh, stop playing dead, boy, you're not fooling anyone," a familiar voice said impatiently. Anakin's head snapped up and he found himself staring at Palpatine. Or rather, Darth Sidious. There was something a little odd about his vision, and Anakin realised he couldn't open his right eye. Trying resulted in a wave of pain that threatened to make him black out. With his good eye he looked calmly up at the Sith Lord standing over him.
"Chancellor Palpatine," he said evenly; "You're looking well."
"Oh it's Emperor Palpatine now," the man replied with a smirk. Anakin didn't miss the flicker in his eyes; Sidious hadn't expected him to take this so calmly.
"Surely you mean Emperor Sidious?" Anakin played his trump card and was rewarded with a moment of shocked fury.
"Clever boy," Sidious said softly when he had regained his self-control; "I didn't expect you to work it out so quickly. But then again, you haven't been reacting at all according to my plans lately."
"Yeah, I often have that effect on people," Anakin replied flippantly; "Is there a reason for me being here, or did you just want to scold me for messing up your plans?"
Palpatine regarded him in silence for a moment, then nodded to one of the Clone Troopers. The white-armoured Clone stepped forward and cracked Anakin across the side of the head with his blaster and Anakin saw stars, the world swimming before his eye. A blinding headache was building at the base of his skull, one potentially severe enough to prevent him from focusing enough to use the Force properly.
"Now Anakin," Sidious said in a paternal tone, leaning closer; "I'm sure you appreciate how easy it would be for us to kill you. But there is the better way. Ever since you killed Dooku, I've been looking for a new apprentice. You would be more than satisfactory."
"I'd sooner die," Anakin spat. Sidious looked blank, and Anakin realized he was so rattled he'd slipped into Huttese. He repeated the sentence in Basic. Sidious gave a sly smile.
"I thought you might say that," he said smugly; "But there are other lives you value rather more highly than your own…" He waved a lazy hand and a surveillance hologram flickered into life. It was a bare prison cell, and sitting in the middle of it was Padmé, pale with fear and trembling with fury. Anakin drew in a sharp breath before he could stop himself. As he watched she drew her knees up and hugged herself, rocking gently back and forth.
Sidious walked around the chair, taking a vicious satisfaction in the pained look on Anakin's face, and leant down from behind to speak softly into the young Jedi's ear; "You can refuse to enter my service if you wish. But if you do, it will cost you her life. She will die slowly, in terrible pain, taking your unborn child with her. You will be made to watch her as she is tortured, able to do nothing, and just before she dies I will tell her that you could have saved her but chose not to."
"You bastard," Anakin whispered, unable to tear his eyes away from the sight before him.
"Now I'm not an unreasonable man," Sidious continued as if he hadn't heard; "You were always meant for the Dark Side, Anakin. Turn and she will be spared. You will have everything you desire. You will be able to openly be with your wife and child, as you always should have been. Simply bow to me, and every other sentient being in the galaxy will bow to you…"
At that moment, Anakin couldn't have framed a coherent answer even if he'd had one to give. His mind was a scrambled, dizzying mess as a minor civil war broke out between his principles and his instincts.
The problem was that no matter how hard he tried to justify either one of the paths open to him, he ran up against one of two immutable, irreconcilable facts. The first instinctive line of thought went something like; if I join him, I can save Padmé, she'll be okay… And no matter how ingenious the sophistry he came up with to justify this course of action, it invariably encountered the steel door of; but he's a Sith.
However, when he tried approaching it the other way – he's evil, he opposes everything the Jedi order stands for, he's been manipulating the Senate for years – this common sense made little headway against the deep-seated emotional reaction provoked by the simple truth; but I have to save Padmé. His thoughts were running in circles, and frankly it was starting to make him feel dizzy. But in the end, it was a simple choice. No matter what the cost, no matter what humiliation and disgust the very thought of serving the Sith lord provoked, he couldn't let Padmé die.
Anakin bowed his head, defeated. The words choked him, but he forced them out anyway for lack of any other option.
"Yes, Master."
Feedback is love
TO BE CONTINUED
