IX. Dreams Pass In Time.
He was early. He was not supposed to meet Palpatine for another two hours but he managed to give the old blowhards at the Temple the slip. He hadn't told anyone at the Temple of his suspicions about the Chancellor. It was more important now to get away and find out once and for all how to save his wife from death...his child from death...the secret of Darth Plagueis the Wise. Perhaps if he arrived earlier he could learn even more about this secret and others.
Parking his speedbike nearer to the back, he dismounted and wheeled around to the front entering through the main awning. Smiling a casual thanks at the woman at the kiosk, his senses in the Force picked up something terribly wrong: there was a fight going on far above him. Someone was attacking the Chancellor! Running to the nearest open lift he Force pushed everyone inside out of the way and cut into the control panel with his lightsaber. Ripping out two wires, he crossed them-immediately the lift accelerated and headed straight for the top.
As the door to the lift opened, Anakin threw his shields up to their maximum height, slipping past the clone guards and the secretary unnoticed. He opened the glass door. Beyond he heard the unmistakeable clashing of blades heavily engaged in combat. He crouched down. Aligned with the wall he ignited his saber but as he was about to go in, he halted-there was something about this particular battle that, according to the Force, deserved listening to. He tried to move forward, but was physically rooted to the spot.
There were scorch marks on the red walls, and upon closer inspection, blood. At least three Jedi were already dead-Anakin recognized the empty, dead stares of Kit Fisto and Agen Kolar. Saesee Tiin appeared to be sliced in half lengthwise.
"Master Jedi, you have no place here. The Force is strong with you, Windu, but it is worthless to attempt to destroy me!" the Stih parried his red blade as a violet one thrust upward.
"You can do no more harm to anyone anymore, Sith. I will not allow your Darkness to harm another Being in this galaxy again. The Jedi shall prevail!"
Anakin watched. His experience and his fears screamed at him to jump in and stop this, but no matter how hard he tried the Force planted his feet to the spot. He extinguished his saber, and tried to move forward. It was not good enough. The Force wanted him to stay, whether he willed it or not.
Windu side jumped Sidious and brought his blade crashing down furiously first from the left, then right. Furiously they both twisted, turned, and jumped. Sidious's black cloak swirling behind him. Windu summersaulted over a desk and in a bold swoop disarmed his opponent.
"The Jedi are a dying race! I am the law now and you, arrogant whelp, shall be the first in line to know its wrath!"
Summoning up great strength, Sidious raised his arms high in the air and from his fingertips flashed a brilliant display of Force lightning. Rapidly Windu responded: Using his blade he channeled all the dark energy in, like a battery, and prepared for a massive vaapaad lightning storm. There was a pause. The light of the room grew brighter. Sidious force grabbed his saber as the energy redirected back, snarling. As the two blades came crashing down, Anakin gasped slightly at Sidious's appearance: a visage made haggard by the concentration of pure hate, anger, and rage likely coursing through him for decades.
"You have no apprentice, Sidious, nobody to do your dirty work; an end shall come to your madness. Surrender now and I shall let you live."
"Pathetic simpleton! I only allow those to live whom I deem worthy!"
And then it happened. Sidious's rage exploded and quickly he disarmed Windu, knocking him off his feet and disarming him. Before Windu could counter he was lifted four feet into the air. Palpatine shocked him with lightning in large, powerful bursts.
"It is only a matter of time before I have you all. There shall be no need for balance to the Force when I have the Light made to kneel before the Dark. "
Sidious shocked Windu, making tears of pain crack the corners of his eyes his head and neck cracking back like a bullwhip. The Sith paused. His voice escaped from behind yellowed, crooked teeth, and it was low...and deadly.
"Your Chosen One is very strong with the Force indeed-and easily influenced when his passions are aroused. I have been awaiting his submission to my will for fifteen years, and he shall make the ultimate weapon for my rule. Love," he sneered, "so useful when it can make a man murder his own wife..."
Weak from pain, Windu's eyes shot open at this realization. Slowly with the Force, Sidious raised him again, carefully close, to make sure Windu's eyes never left his. The yellow eyes burned with hungry malice.
"Ohh, you were unaware? He has practically begged me to help him save his precious Amidala from death; that little bitch of his will finally be out of my way once I have him under my control. Oh yes, Darth Plagueis the Wise knew the secret, but he did not know not to tell his apprentice...this lightsaber I carry was his and unlike him I shall live forever; It shall be a great honor to pass it on to your young Knight...and destroy the Jedi with it!"
With a final burst, Sidious shocked him with lightning, pushing him hard enough to send him crashing through the window where he fell down, down, down into the depths of Coruscant.
After his horror faded, Anakin's face contorted with anger. He'd been manipulated since childhood by this man. Since he was an innocent little boy. All this time telling him how wonderful he was; all this time pretending to be a friend. All this time building him up with one hand and destroying everything else he loved with the other. He stayed there, if only for a moment, taking it all in, watching Sidious dump the bodies of the Jedi out the window, lifting them with the the Force. Calmly he commed for the repair of the window, with only the hollowness in his eyes to betray him. "Young Skywalker shall make a most excellent apprentice indeed," his thoughts broadcasted, "once his wife and offspring are disposed of, I shall be invincible..."
Anakin got to his feet, slowly opening the door. As if on cue, Sidious changed his whole visage back to the genial one of a Chancellor. Only now, more than ever before in any meeting between the two men, Anakin noticed a slight flicker of a greedy leer in Palpatine's eyes. And he realized it had been there since the first day they met.