~Padme's POV~

They remained in total silence for a moment more after Anakin left, then Padme turned, haltingly, to examine the room where they were being imprisoned again. So this was where you learned to be the man that I love, in this room, she thought, delicately walking over to touch the counter.

"Well," she decided softly, heart in her throat. "It does us no good to sit around brooding. Come along, let's clean up a bit before your father comes…Home," she said softly, remembering the wistful affection in Anakin's eyes as he had gazed around at the place where he had learned the ways of the Jedi.

"I saved it for you," Padme shivered when she remembered what Sidious had said. He had saved it for twelve years. How had he known that Anakin would be back eventually?

And why would he reserve a room so chock-full of happy memories and wonderful times for the day when Anakin did come? What game are you playing at, Sith? She wondered.

Shaking her head, her worry for Anakin and the twins getting the best of her, she dug around in the kitchen cabinets. Come on, Obi-wan you neat freak, I know you must have stockpiles of rags and cleaning supplies in here somewhere.

"Luke, go tidy up all those droid parts in there. Don't move anything major, just…Straighten up. Leia, remake Obi-wan's bed please. Just how it was before," she instructed the troops over her shoulder as she dug out a small bottle of dusted cleaner and an old rag that still smelled of vanilla and tea.

"As you say," Luke responded, sounding a bit shaky as he vanished into the other room. Leia did not answer, merely trotted off to do her bidding.

Padme sighed as she stood and started cleaning the countertops, dusting the crevices and corners with a reverent delicateness.

The small chore of cleaning helped her to keep a steady head as she reviewed over the current dilemma with detachment. Not only did she have to worry about Anakin and her family, but the rebels too.

She knew the Council would take over in her place for the moment being, but finding and saving her would become their first priority. Would they do something foolish to rescue her?

And what if they decided to attack the Death Star or some other risky exploit that the Rebels were not prepared for? Shantra and Onega should be able to… Was Shantra even alive? Had Vader killed her after they were captured?

Then there was the matter of the other Sith and the Dark Side. Padme knew that it tried to tempt its victims using their deepest fears and insecurities. Would it drive Luke and Leia mad?

Were they ready to handle the strain? Anakin had said that there was still Light, hidden underneath the darkness, but what good would that do? And where had the Light come from? Had it indeed just stuck to the Temple after the Sith attacked, or was there some other reason?

These questions will drive me mad. I have to find a way to get some information, she thought with frustration. One of the primes things Padme hated above all was not knowing. She hated that feeling of helplessness, of not being able to do a thing because she did not know what to do to help. Force, it was infuriating. How could anyone live in ignorance?

Suddenly, Luke walked back into the room. "Someone's coming," he reported briskly as he stared at the door. Padme tensed as Leia also exited the other room, taking up position by her brother. Where they there to take her children as well, knowing that Anakin was not around to stop them?

Her heart skipped a beat and she had to swallow panic. Was it the other Sith that had come to taunt or hurt them just for the fun of it? She knew that such things were common sport to the murderous lot. "Get behind me," she ordered her children. Just because she was not a Force sensitive did not mean that she would not defend Luke and Leia with her life if necessary.

"But…" Leia began, only to be silenced by Padme's stern eyes as she heard the ray shield on the other side of the door disengage. Unhappily, the proud twelve year olds took up position behind their weaponless mother, waiting for the enemy to emerge.

He did not keep them waiting long. Padme inhaled sharply, instantly recognizing Starkiller as he stepped into the room, burning yellow eyes glaring down at Padme and the Twins with almost boredom, as if they were no more than rather tedious and disgusting spiders. He stood proud before them by the door. He scowled at her defiant snarl, obviously unimpressed.

He took a few quick glances around the room, as if securing the perimeter, before nodding and stepping out of the way to allow a second person into the frame.

Padme watched, warily as a wiry frame of a Togruta, obviously slave by the scars of beatings on her bare arms, stepped into the room, head bowed and eyes downcast.

Her long, graceful blue and white head tails dripping down to her waist as she silently carried a basket of simple foodstuffs over to the small cooling unity and began stuffing the things inside. Padme felt the hairs at the back of her neck stand up.

Yet there was something about the way she carried herself, about the way she kept her shoulders locked straight and walked with an easy, confident gait despite her initial signs of domesticity, there was something about the way the very air around her just screamed of wisdom, inner dignity and strength that was familiar

She heard Luke and Leia gasp in unison behind her as Starkiller closed the door, crossing his arms as he took up stance as bodyguard in the room, his eyes never moving from her and the twins.

The girl-or woman, it looked like, she was a good two inches taller than Padme, even barefooted as she was-did not react to the Twin's gasps, though she did cock her head to the sound in just a way that said it all.

Padme's knees buckled beneath her. "Them, in my mind. The others are alive. I know they are, and they are suffering." Anakin's voice wavered in her mind. She opened her mouth to call out, to say something, but her voice lodged unmoving in her throat.

It couldn't be. They were dead. She was dead, there was absolutely no plausible way Sidious would have spared even a single one. After seven long years… It just couldn't beForce, don't break my heart this way. Don't make me hope for so much to fail so hard.

"Soka?" Leia whispered, Padme heard the tears of hope-or shock-in her voice. The woman seemed to notice them then, and the long forgotten nickname must have roused her from her stupor. Padme observed, speechless, as her head snapped up and large azure eyes sparkled at them from underneath thick black lashes.

Despite the obvious effects age and suffering had wrought on the young woman's face, she was still gorgeous, and those eyes, along with pertly set lips, were so distinctive and familiar to her that there was no mistake of who they were facing.

Ahsoka Tano.

Padme's own shock reflected in Ahsoka's eyes and face. Padme's legs buckled from beneath her and she had to fight against the impulse to faint dead away. "P-Padme?" Ahsoka asked softly. Her voice had not changed much, perhaps deepened a bit more, her Lekku had grown much longer, almost down to her waist.

Padme shook her head slowly and finally willed her feet to move forward. Tears stung at her eyes. Her heart hammered in her ears. She had dreamed of Ahsoka too, had heard her voice in her mind so many nights, and woken up with tears on her face, "A-Ahsoka?" she stammered in reply as Ahsoka slowly stood to her feet, watching Padme move slowly towards her as if in a trance.

Padme, herself, felt as if she were wading through the deepest depths of the sea, trapped in a dream so real she would surely wake in the morning to find tears on her cheeks again.

After seven years, after how many times I've dreamed of them, it can't be real, she thought blearily as her legs brought her to trembling halt before this replica of a girl who once used to be her own daughter. Luke and Leia stood where they were, transfixed, paralyzed by shock.

Padme reached up, hesitantly, not fully aware of what she was doing or what had begun happening, to caress Ahsoka's cheek with her fingers. The skin underneath was warm and hard, it was throbbing with blood, with life, with love, and the tear that ran into her fingers was solidly liquid. It was real. She was real. "Ahsoka," Padme breathed.

Then, sudden, eviscerating, boiling joy ransacked her heart with magnificent beams of light over a plain humbled by grief, but never again whole. "AHSOKA!" Padme screamed, this time meaning it as she threw her arms around the much older version of her friend.

Ahsoka held unto her as tightly as if she suspected Padme might turn into thin air at any moment. "Padme," she mumbled incredulously, as the two women hugged each other tight.

"Padme...Force, how are you…? What are you…?" Padme released her friend. Ahsoka was touching her, hands skimming lightly over her arms, her chest, her face and shoulders, eyes wide and tear-filled as she looked her over, still caught in a web of disbelief.

Padme grabbed her wrists, grinning, understanding the incredulity in Ahsoka's eyes. With exquisite care, noting how fragile the bones beneath her fingers felt, she pulled Ahsoka's hands forward and, quivering with suppressed sobs, gently placed them on her chest where beneath the pads a heart beat strong and true. Where life and realness pulsed as proof of existence.

Ahsoka looked up at her with wide eyes, feeling the heart. "PADME!" and Padme grinned as suddenly she found herself spun around in a tight hug that left her breathless with giddy laughter.

"Hi!" she agreed as Ahsoka set her down again, Padme's hand flew to cup the dirt smudged cheek immediately, an urgent need to touch being established between them.

Ahsoka's grabbed her other hand in both of hers, eyes frantically searching Padme's as if she needed to reassure herself that Padme was whole and unharmed.

"I…I mean I can't believe this," Ahsoka breathed, stuttering, eyes darting to take in every minute detail. "We had heard you were captured but we didn't believe it…Didn't think it could be true…Are you alright?" She finished the first full sentence they had spoken to one another in seven years. Padme laughed. Same old Ahsoka! "Fine," she breathed.

"Ahsoka?" said person looked over Padme's shoulders, and her Lekku paled to a lighter shade at seeing the twins. "Luke? Leia?" She gasped. Her speaking their names broke the trance. Slow grins spreading over both faces, the twins erupted with a burst of speed, both ramming into Ahsoka at the same time like two nav-trains colliding with a wall.

Padme laughed as Ahsoka stumbled backwards, collapsing on the ground in the grip of two excited twelve year olds who had missed their older sister with a feverish need.

"Twins? Is that you? Force, is it you? Luke, Leia?" Ahsoka gasped from the ground, hands flying to touch faces, arms and shoulders with shock. "Soka!" was the unified response.

Shaking her head vigorously, Ahsoka suddenly grinned, tears streaking down her face as she grabbed both in a shattering hug. "Twins!" She squealed. "Force, twins, look at you! You've gotten so big! How ya been, huh?" she demanded, standing hurriedly to take one hand from each grinning child.

"Ahsoka, we got your lightsabers!" Leia burst out panting. For a minute Ahsoka's brow creased as if she had never heard the word before, but then her smile only grew.

"Oh! My sabers! Well, I meant for you to have them, of course," she agreed, as if this piece of news was old but filled her with pride anyway. Suddenly, breaking into their joyous reunion, Starkiller cleared his throat.

"Ahsoka," he said softly. He jerked his head towards the door behind him. "We have to go," he told her pointedly. Ahsoka's face fell, but she nodded. "Yes, yes you're right," she mumbled ruefully.

Padme grabbed Ahsoka's arm quickly, desperate for her to stay. Her children likewise tightened their grips on her waist. "Will you be alright with him?" Padme demanded, glaring at Starkiller, ready to tear out his eyes if he attempted to hurt Ahsoka.

Her friend chuckled softly. "Don't worry, we have an… Alliance. He won't hurt me. Force, Padme, I'm so glad to see you, all of you, but I must leave now…" Ahsoka gently pried Luke and Leia's hands from her waist, eyes shining. Her voice had cracked on the last word. Padme did not relinquish her grip on her arm. "The others?" her voice cracked as she nearly begged Ahsoka for information.

She was rewarded with a blazing smile. "They're alive. We are all alive. Listen, I'll try to bring the others here tonight but I have to go now," she repeated, grabbing Padme's hand in her own. Padme nodded; tears of sorrow now in her eyes as she quickly kissed Ahsoka's knuckles.

"Go then. But come back as soon as you can. Anakin will want to see you," she reminded her urgently. Ahsoka's eyes widened further. "Anakin is here too?" she gasped. "My queen," Starkiller glanced at the door once more, nervously. "Starry, can't you see I'm trying to have a kriffing moment? Be patient," Ahsoka snapped back at him.

Padme chuckled brokenly. Same old Ahsoka. Luke and Leia, as well, grinned. Ahsoka grinned back, a bit unsurely, and gave her a last nod before she turned and swiftly vanished out of the door, Starkiller on her heels. The door clicked shut, and the ray shield buzzed back to life on the other side. They were alone, and prisoners still.

They remained in a total silence for a moment more after Ahsoka left before Padme turned, haltingly, to the twins. They gazed up at her mournfully for a moment before joy once more overcame them. "THEY'RE ALIVE!" The three of them exploded in unison. Then, animated with giddy delight, they linked hands and danced in a childish circle.

"They're alive! They're alive! They're all alive!" they chanted, laughing hysterically and dancing without control as tear ran down their faces. The seven-year long nightmare was over.


~Anakin's POV~

Anakin followed Sidious and Vader through the tattered remains of the Jedi Temple. Inside of his chest, his heart wept for the destruction wrought on a once peaceful and beautiful building. The Jedi temple had stood for almost millennia, never having been touched by Darkness since its construction, Anakin had known that much from what little Obi-wan had managed to get him to study.

Now it was the Sith's land.

"Where are you taking me?" He asked Sidious quietly; when he noticed that they were taking a turn into what used to be the Archives. The hundreds of shelves were empty of any and all knowledge, everything the Jedi had ever known, everything that had ever been catalogued was gone.

Anakin had never been the scholarly type, but he had always felt a secret love for the Archives, for the pure fact that it had been here where Obi-wan first taught him to read.

The Archives had been a room of knowledge and wisdom, protected unfalteringly by Madame Nu, where generations of Jedi had come to read on the generations before them.

Where Anakin had first learned that his teacher wasn't always so critical, where council reports and mission records were put on file. The Archives had been essential to the Order, if not overly loved by Anakin. Now, it was gone.

You've demolished Ilum, the Archives, taken our Temple, he thought cynically to Sidious' back. You don't even realize what you've destroyed, the beauty and culture here that you burned. You don't understand just what you've done to yourself, what a disservice you've brought on the galaxy.

It had been a place of quiet, so different from Watto's shop. He remembered being very small, very afraid of his new surroundings, and asking Obi-wan where the information detailing pod-racing was.

He had spent the next two days sitting inside of an alcove with his teacher as Obi-wan taught him to read with those same books. "You'll be a fast learner, Anakin…" quickly, he looked away from the shattered remains of that serene spot. He glanced at the vaults to the Holocrons, to see the diamond shaped crystal orbs still glinting inside of their respective containers.

The soft blue glow around them had darkened into a blood maroon, the whisperings of younglings in their beds everywhere tainted until it was the screams of mothers as those same children were ripped from their arms and brought to the Sith. The Dark servants had access to every force sensitive born child in the galaxy. He shook his head mournfully.

"Tell me, young Skywalker," came the calm reply from Sidious. "Did you know that beneath the Jedi Temple there are hundreds of miles of solid iron and crystal, formed for centuries beneath the mountain the Temple rests upon?" Sidious asked him conversationally. Anakin recalled Master Gallia having said something about that when she taught one of his classes, but the memory was faint.

"Yes," he responded instead of elaborating the rest of this. Sidious merely nodded, silently giving his answer. Anakin saw the fanatic yellow eyes sweep the Archives. "So many secrets," he mumbled. "Not even I knew about the mines until we went through these Archives. How many other mysteries lurk within these walls, hmm?" He looked at Anakin as if he should know.

Even if I did I wouldn't tell you. Anakin looked away, instead trying to re-imagine the shelves full, standing upright instead of broken, and lying discarded across the floors. He tried to imagine Madame Jocasta right around the corner, ready to wittingly obliterate anyone's pride with the sharp burn of her tongue.

There will always be peace in the end, he reminded himself slowly when he noticed a small, shriveled bone on the ground. He knew, from painful experience, that it was one of the bones in a child's arm. So this place is now a graveyard, his heart twisted in his chest, a lump gathered in his throat while his stomach rebelled against the image.

Madame Jocasta would be most displeased, he thought sadistically, wondering where the body of that stout scholar was. He hoped that she had at least been allowed to die within the Archives, so that she would rest amongst the troves of knowledge she had so loved.

"We're going to the mines," he stated after a moment of silence. He knew Sidious was gloating, in that eerily silent way of his. He wanted Anakin to look around and see what had become of the temple, see how powerful the Sith had become off the spoils of others. Anakin had never considered the Jedi Temple home; that was always Padme's suite in the Senate Building, or before that, Obi-wan's quarters.

All the same, his gut still clenched, his heart wrenched and his stomach rebelled against the intentional slaughter of innocent lives, and the destruction of a peaceful place of learning. Underneath the grime and blood slated on the floors, the Jedi's symbol winked at him, almost as if it were sharing a private joke. Look deeper, Anakin.

As if seeing that insignia had summoned it, he felt for the Light that he knew hid beneath the dark (did Sidious know it? Could he too sense the Light Side just beneath the shroud of the Dark?) and was surprised to find that it had gotten stronger. Whatever the source of Light was, they were nearing it.

The force tickled at the back of his awareness, a slight flutter of intuition that was more along the lines of the Unifying Force. He tensed, wondering what was going to happen, where the Light was coming from.

It was… So stifled he couldn't sense any details. Garbled, like a static laden transmission, but he could feel it there, nudging at him, tugging lightly. Something was about to happen.

With Sidious and Vader escorting him, he wasn't so sure he liked that idea. Finally, they came to the very back wall of the extensive enclosure that used to be the archives. Anakin looked at a set of doors that he knew for a fact had not been there before.

"I asked you, once, long ago, to join me Anakin," Darth Sidious said softly, turning Anakin's attention away from the door as Vader touched in the pass code.

Anakin determined to learn that pass code as soon as he could. "Do you remember my words? I asked: If I were as evil as you believe all Sith to be, why would I listen to you as well as I did? Why would I sympathize with you? Why would I understand you?" Yes, Anakin remembered.

The night of the Last Battles, where the council's plan to exterminate the Sith had gone horribly wrong. It seemed as if it had been thousands of years before when in all truth it had merely been twelve. They had underestimated Sidious's cunning back then. Anakin knew better now.

"I remember," he agreed darkly. "And my answer remains the same. I am Jedi. You won't turn me to the Dark Side," he replied coldly. The doors opened, Vader stepped aside and bowed mockingly at the waist.

"After you," he said, gesturing into the dark plain. Anakin's stomach roiled. But before he could move forward, Sidious placed a hand on his shoulder, halting him, touching him.

"Before you go in there, my boy," he began, with the Chancellor's quiet and serene voice, the voice of a man Anakin had believed his only true friend. That had been long ago, and a time far away. "Let me tell you something," the Sith paused for dramatic effect, lowering his voice to a casual tone while golden eyes burrowed into Anakin's head.

"I am a man who gets what he wants, Anakin. Maybe not when I want it, but I do get it eventually. I had a vision the night you were born, and I saw you bow your obeisance to me. Your fall is preordained, young one," Anakin's jaw clenched. He swirled to face Sidious.

"Then you also must have seen your death," he hissed. Sidious did not seem at all worried. "Oh, I did," he cackled. "And it was by your hand, your hand which held a red lightsaber. The Jedi are not the only ones with a prophecy, Anakin. The Sith have one as well, older, and greater. You were born to bring balance," Sidious's mouth stretched into a wry grin. A shiver ran down Anakin's spine. Sidious thought he was the Chosen One of a Sith prophecy?

Am I?

Anakin closed his eyes, shutting the image of Sidious and his reveling face from his mind. He wrestled with the rage that had been steaming inside of him since their capture days earlier. Don't give in. Your anger makes him stronger. Your fear gives him strength, he schooled himself once more creating a facial façade of indifference.

He opened his eyes again, and saw them blaze back at him from Sidious's pupils. "You must know by now," he whispered softly, trembling with the strife to remain calm, to not reach out and strangle Sidious with his bare hands now. Even if Vader or the Stormtroopers did not kill him, he would have been acting out of anger, revenge. He would have let Sidious win.

That was not an option. "I will never join the Dark Side willingly," he growled to him. Then he swirled on his heel, having nothing more to say. He heard the Sith chuckling sympathetically behind him.

"Oh, I think you will, Anakin. You won't have a choice," Sidious laughed as Anakin walked into the darkness. The first thing Anakin heard when he emerged on the other side of the door was the echoing clank of pick-axes and shovels, the creaks of wheels being dragged away.

Anakin, his heart suddenly thumping in his chest from the adrenaline shock of the force basically shaking him with its alert, paled as he tasted dust lodged in his nose and throat, making him cough.

The same coughs resounded from beneath, with more vigor. He gagged as the dry particles settled on his uvula and into his lungs with disconcerting ease, staring into the dimness of a spiraling staircase surrounded by circular walls of rock, as if he were inside a tower.

Down the stairs there was a reddish gold glow pervading from whatever awaited at the bottom, the reflections of fire clear in the way hunched shadows stretched over the stone.

The Force washed through him with warning.

Someone below gasped in pain as the crack of a whip echoed back to him, the exact sound from Anakin's vision. "Force, no," he mumbled, trying to ignore the voice deep inside that told him exactly what he was going to see down there.

"I suggest you go on," Vader groaned, impatient as ever, from behind him. Anakin was not given a chance to answer before the villain shoved him from behind.

Stumbling, he allowed his legs to thunder him down the few dozen steps as fast as they were able until he came upon a metal deck that circled the room, providing a perfect view of what was happening beneath it.

Anakin staggered forward and grasped the railing, his eyes skimming the enormous cavern underneath them, breath coming in shallow gasps as he gawked in horror at the slaves mining the iron and crystals from the rock with mere pick-axes and shovels.

"No," he whispered, clenching the railing so hard his fists turned white. "No!" he cried again, hoarsely, his arms trembling, eyes wide and desperate. This can't be happening. This isn't real.

At the sound of his voice echoing off the hollow walls, the slaves, and the Sith slave drivers watching their progress, looked up. As one, the Jedi imprisoned below inhaled sharply, eyes widening to see him there.

Their shock whiplashed Anakin in the force. Anakin's eyes scoped the room to lock with the dark brown eyes of Mace Windu. From Mace his eyes swept across the room to take in the sights of Kit Fisto, Shaak Ti, Feo Kink, Geneva Fleeter, Raavi Uniper, Luminara Unduli, Jinx Zadya…

All there, all alive. The Jedi Order was alive…And they were slaves.

Slaves to the Empire.

Anakin swallowed the bile that threatened to sneak its way up his throat. They were being forced to mine the iron and crystal. Now he knew where the Light that hid underneath the dark was coming from. It was coming from the Jedi still here.

"Get back to work, you useless dogs!" Deathdera suddenly screeched with a crack of her whip against Luminara's back. The other Sith shouted similar things with the same motion. Pain flashed in the force as the Jedi inhaled more dust into their lungs and arched against the strikes.

Quickly, without saying a word, they returned to work, keeping their heads down. Fury threatened to throttle him. He closed his eyes for a moment to keep back the rush of tears.

"Let them go, Sidious," he ground out between clenched teeth. "I'm afraid not, my friend," Sidious said from behind, closer to Anakin than he had initially believed. He did not open his eyes. He did not want to accept the truth. His vision had been right.

Anakin had never before wished so feverishly to have been wrong.

"It's me you want. Why do you have to torture them, too?" he hissed. "Slavery is hardly torture, Anakin. Don't be so melodramatic," sniffed the Sith king. Says the slave driver, Anakin observed.

"And besides, it's not every day one triumphs over the Jedi Order," he could feel the smirk aimed at his back. "I wanted to celebrate my victory, to bask in the aftermath to all my years of hard planning …Then there's also another reason," of course there was. There always was.

"I wanted them to be here for you, Anakin. I knew that either one day I'd find you, and then you would see the truth, or you'd come looking for them, and see it that way," he explained.

Anakin could feel his jaw aching from how hard he was clenching it. I swear you'll pay for this, he swore wrathfully against Sidious and even the force itself. You'll pay for what you've done to them, to me! The metal underneath his fingers started to give.

But he sighed, shoulders slumping. As much as he wanted to kill Sidious, he dared not. Not now. "What do you want, Sith?" he asked softly. "Ah...So we get to the crux of the discussion," Sidious observed with hauteur.

"And the answer is always the same, my dear boy. I want you, Anakin Skywalker…Pledge yourself to me and the ways of the Dark Side. Be my apprentice. Stand at my side and take your rightful place as co-ruler of The Galactic Empire. Fulfill your destiny," Vader's force signature smoldered with jealousy and rage.

Anakin, who had been expecting such a thing, swallowed hard enough to physically feel the lump in his throat grow larger. The metal beneath his fingers snapped. "And if I refuse?" he asked huskily, already knowing the answer but needing to hear it spoken aloud.

"Then they die, of course. Every single one of them," Sidious yawned, as if it were of no great importance, as if he were not talking about killing good and innocent people, people who had had everything taken away because of Anakin and Sidious's obsession with him.

"Think of that, young Skywalker. And don't forget the others. I saved more than just a single room for you. Can you imagine the fun I might have killing say…Your old apprentice? She's grown into quite the attractive young lady," Ahsoka? She's alive? Dear force no. Not my Snips. Anakin bit his bottom lip to hold in a scream of despair. He couldn't give in, he couldn't…But force, he couldn't just let Sidious kill them!

"Or what about Master Kenobi? Some of my Sith daughters have a… Fascination with him, and I've managed to hold them off until now, but…" Sidious gave a small half shrug. Anakin shook his head slowly. No, no, no.

"What about Luke and Leia? Padme?" Somehow, Anakin managed to sound completely nonchalant, as if he could not care one way or the other, as if some part of him did not want to prostrate himself before Sidious and beg for the Jedi's release, beg for mercy…

Darth Sidious sighed as if he were being pained by an annoying child and his constant questions. "I suppose in the interest of fairness, I can be persuaded to make an exception…I will not trouble Senator Amidala, or the twins. They will stay in the Jedi quarters, unharmed…As long as you behave yourself," the warning in the last sentence struck a chord through Anakin's heart.

"What is your answer, Anakin? Do you pledge yourself to the ways of the Dark Side in exchange for the life of your friends?" Anakin's heart thudded din his chest. Force, what was the right thing to do? What should he do?

He would never be able to live with himself knowing that he had not only been the reason for seven years of toil but the unimaginable death he had envisioned for them too.

He couldn't leave them again. He would not run, not that there was any last minute escape pod to run into… But if he did eventually turn, wouldn't he just kill the Jedi himself anyway? Wouldn't that be betraying every ideal they had suffered and toiled for?

But if they died, the Light would die too. Anakin would be lonely again. He had just learned that he was not the last Jedi. He did not want to go back to the isolation of knowing that he was. I can't face this alone. I can't be the last one again.

He bit back a sob and finally opened his eyes to see Mace Windu staring up at him, his wearied and sleepless eyes wide with understanding of the deal Sidious must have given him, the conflict happening inside of Anakin at the moment…And compassion. Anakin shook his head slowly, unwilling to let that compassion die…Yet knowing that it could very well die anyway, by his own hand, sometime in the future.

Desperately, he sought guidance from a man who had once been a respected friend, who had been one of the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy. Mace's eyes, which by all rights, should have been dull and lifeless with defeat, sparkled back with the stubborn willfulness of a Jedi, with bone deep belief that no matter what happened, there would be peace in the end.

And he was gonna be there to see it.

With a single look, he conveyed all of this and more. Then, Mace gave him a single nod, and Anakin, nodding back, turned and sank to one knee before Sidious, head bowed as his heart swore that it would never betray the Light. "Yes…Master."


For those of you who are at this moment yelling: 'hey, what the heck? You said they were dead!" My answer is yes, it was my intention that you think they were dead, but no, I never actually said that they were. If you'll remember, one of the last lines in The strength of The Sacrifice was this:

"FIRE!" Sidious let his hand drop. No one cried out as the clones obeyed, and the only sound in the bridge that of Sidious's mad cackling and the hollow thump of inert bodies against the hard, cold deck.

Inert merely means motionless, and I never did specify whether the clone's blasters were set to stun or kill. That being said, I think many of you figured it out with the little clues I put in the start that the Jedi wasn't done for yet, and well done to you! Reader power. So, now that this is covered, let us continue.

~QueenYoda