Chapter Eleven – Darkness
Author's Note: I'm feeling better now – the problem with that being that now I have to work really hard to catch up on all the work I've missed rather than write fan-fiction… so this has taken a while…
Lady Sidious – Thank you, I really wasn't sure if the poem would work. But if it made you cry…
Arielofwater – Why not? I want Palpy and I'm younger than Anakin!
Anglachel – Mwahaha! (Tries to push you off the edge of your seat)
Lady Vader 2884 – Cake? Mmmm…
Spelljammer – The poem is Mine! Mine! All MINE! Not Anakin's… but it is written form his POV.
Maelicia – They're not sleeping together yet… poor Ani's in shock about Palpy coming out of the closet with his Sith Lord persona.
LL – It's ALL part of the great (possibly good) plot! Obi is in on it!
Blodeuedd – An octopus through a grinder? Well, I'm flattered, I think. I've said before that I view this fan-fiction as a sort of elaborate farce. I'm tricking you guys into taking it seriously.
Ziggy – Right, not content with Anakin's emotional trauma, I feel the need to start on Palpatine's. It's gonna get messy. Definitely a tragedy… from a certain point of view.
Agny – I'm answering all I can! In terms of the last chapter I wanted to emphasize how fast and uncontrollable everything feels for Anakin. He doesn't have time for angst –he's too stunned – it comes after, I think.
Kittenmommy – I'm SO flattered by your praise! You're, like, THE Kittenmommy and you're asking about MY health and praising MY story. (faints.)
Screaming Ferret – I have spent YEARS loving Palpatine. YEARS before I even considered writing. Now, I feel I know him well enough to get his dialog pretty well. All bow to the inner fan girl!
Disclaimer: No, I do not own Star Wars – if I did, I… Wait, thinking about that is simply unbearable! George Lucas is the Master and Owner.
Anakin woke up in Palpatine's bedroom, staring up at the red vision that eventually congealed into that black figure. Fate – the master of all.
Everything fitted neatly into place, like a Jedi logic puzzle. Bile rose in Anakin's mouth, it was a Sith logic puzzle. Thousands of lives, an intergalactic war, all for… Palpatine? Was Naboo even innocent? Had everything been manipulated?
But you said… came a voice in Anakin's aching head, you thought nothing else mattered except Palpatine… Now you find out he thinks the same thing. Can you blame him?
"Anakin…" that silken voice purred, "Anakin, the Sith believe that the universe begins with the self, so that if you control yourself you can control the universe." A soft hand reached over to touch Anakin's rough cheek. Palpatine chuckled, "You cannot control your emotions. You can use your feelings – but you cannot discipline them. That is your weakness."
Anakin sat up to stare at the relaxed figure sitting on the edge of the bed. Palpatine's robe was a dark red and it seemed to bleach his pasty face of colour, except for his tight, pink mouth.
"And you?" Anakin asked angrily. "I'm starting to wonder whether you have any emotion at all!" Anakin could still feel the ocean of the Chancellor's power, but it had frozen over.
Those droopy blue eyes stared at the frustrated Anakin, like those of a wise lizard. "Oh yes, I have emotions. Of course I do. I just don't keep them on show, unless it suits me," he licked his lips. "Anakin, you will never have true power until you can keep your emotions locked inside their furnace and wait. You have great strength – but it is the fiery passion of a rogue Jedi – not the cold efficiency of a Sith."
"You're not my Master!" Anakin snapped, flinging the covers aside and striding across the room. It was night and air-traffic seemed to swim across the black Coruscant sky like fluorescent fish.
"You think not?" said Palpatine with that same infuriating calm. The Chancellor slowly stood up and walked over to Anakin, stopping right in front of him. "I have been your Master for longer than you can remember… from the beginning I controlled your destiny. It is my will that governs you, even if you do not intend that it is so." Those pale lips curled in contempt and Palpatine turned away.
"Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design. Everything!"
And suddenly Anakin saw Palpatine's weakness, the hairline crack in the perfect construct that had the potential to become such a gaping hole. Vanity – Palpatine was a creature of pride. So are you, said that inner voice, but the Chancellor was different. He remembered the expression on Palpatine's face when the droids dressed him – the man saw the universe like that.
"Even our love?" asked Anakin. "Was that planned too?"
Palpatine paused, his delicate hands up as if gently probing the air. "No…" he murmured thoughtfully, "that was unexpected…"
Anakin started forward, gripping Palpatine by the shoulders. "Do you love me at all?" he almost yelled, voice gathering volume like a snowball. "You're like some machine, all wiring and wheels… are you even human!"
The Chancellor closed his eyes and a tiny shiver ran through him, barely perceptible under his heavy robes. "…Yes…" he said almost inaudibly.
"Then how do you do this!"
Palpatine looked up at Anakin, but his pale blue eyes seemed distant, almost as if he was reciting some lesson learnt long ago.
"The Sith - unlike the Jedi who generate light - do not create darkness. We use the darkness that has been there since before the universe spun into existence. That is why two Sith are far more potent than a thousand Jedi, because darkness is so much more vast than the largest sun. All stars die… but the darkness will always exist."
"I'm talking about you!" Anakin said angrily, "How do you justify it!"
Palpatine laughed. It was a high ringing laugh that, to Anakin, sounded slightly unhinged. "Oh, Anakin!" he continued to laugh, leaning forward so that his breath stroked Anakin's neck, "you can be so stupid sometimes it really is amazing… The question," he said almost grandly, "is how you justify it. How do you justify the loss of one life in your cause? Tell me that, and I will tell you how I justify the death of thousands."
Padmé, Anakin thought, how do I justify Padmé? "She… she betrayed me," he said feebly.
"Did she care about you?" asked Palpatine pointedly.
"No… she betrayed my trust."
"Exactly, Anakin exactly, and it is always in the fundamental nature of beings to do such things. That is why I do not care for the millions – they do not care for me either. Each, in his or her secret heart, is just as selfish as the next. I look out there," he waved a pale hand, "and I see a black mist of life – thin in some places, but oh, so much deeper in others. It is the simple truth that beings are evil. It is the light that is unnatural."
Now Anakin shivered, how could Palpatine actually believe that… it was monstrous.
"There's good in everyone," Anakin said simply. "You just have to look."
"But that's the point, Anakin," said Palpatine, shaking his white head, "you don't have to look for evil. You don't see the darkness between the glows of the lamps because it's always there."
"I… how did you become like this!"
Palpatine eased himself into Anakin's embrace. "By the same long road as you, Anakin," he explained patiently, "pain, suffering… death. My mother… she…" But his voice stopped and his lips pressed together, reinforcing the lines around his mouth.
"Your mother…?" Anakin echoed, curious.
"It is no longer of any consequence," said Palpatine firmly. "She died, as did my father. I was apprenticed to Darth Plagueis at a very early age and so began my journey to my eventual destiny. It matters no longer."
"But it does!" said Anakin passionately. "It matters that you knew love! Have you ever truly known what it is to love?"
"If, by love, you mean the sentimental drivel one finds in stories, then no," Palpatine snorted. "Real love is seldom without self-interest, like anything else. I assure you I have experienced much in my lifetime."
"But don't you see that's not love?" Anakin continued. "I love you! I would die for you… It's pure, without anything else! Just love."
The Chancellor pushed Anakin away. "Just love? Child, there is no such thing." He stepped back, eyes once again fixed on some horizon Anakin couldn't see, "There is no such thing…" he repeated, his heavy, dark, red robes whispering softly as he quit the room.
"Are you sure we did the right thing?" Obi-Wan asked, rubbing his chin. "It's risky."
"You must have faith in the Council's decision, Obi-Wan," said Mace Windu calmly. "Anakin's own conflict is resolved. But he can still help us."
"Palpatine no longer trusts the Jedi – how do you know he won't block this scheme?"
"The Supreme Chancellor loves power. He is in love with his power over the Chosen one. So he will see no danger from that direction. Anakin will help us."
Will he, won't he? Who can say? Leave a review and I might tell you!
