Sheev Palpatine was a very difficult man to surprise.
Still, nothing was impossible and if anyone knew that, it was most definitely him, what with all he had witnessed over his many years of life.
Upon seeing Ben and Rey's white lightsabers, he had been downright shocked. For never before had he seen a lightsaber, or rather lightsabers of such a color.
It left him wondering what it meant and why they, of all people, had them?
And then the fight had begun.
At first, he was a bit disappointed, upon realizing that while both Ben and Rey weren't terrible with lightsaber dueling, their technique definitely had a lot of room for improvement and he was sure that Anakin would probably be able to defeat them both pretty quickly. Still though, they seemed to be managing Ventress alright, even though they did appear to be on the losing end.
Then, something else had happened.
Anakin had appeared.
This was also a great surprise to Palpatine, as he had to admit that even he was unsure of the means of Anakin's appearance.
After all, Palpatine was sure that he had made sure to dispose of Rey's comlink by pickpocketing it with the force and throwing it off yonder during the crash, while simultaneously crushing the inner workings of Ben's with the force. Both tasks of which had later been attested to.
So why had Anakin appeared?
He supposed that with time he would probably find out.
Then, a third surprising thing had happened- although this surprise was a good surprise- for after Ventress had disposed of Anakin and wounded Ben enough to ground him for the rest of the battle, Rey had seemingly tapped into the dark side of the force. Most likely due to her attachment to her friend, Ben.
No one had been looking at him and so as soon as Rey tapped into the dark side, Darth Sidious had allowed a satisfied sneer to envelope his face.
Do it Rey! Kill her!
He restrained a please laugh, as his potential future apprentice delivered the final blow.
But it wasn't over yet, because Palpatine then watched as Rey, suddenly seeming to be horrified by her actions, had then almost instantaneously switched back to the light, or rather her interesting grey area that seemed to be somewhere in between, and had healed Ventress, thus saving her from certain death.
Never before had Palpatine seen a Jedi or even a force-user at tha perform such a feat. The only one who he'd ever seen utilizing such grand power was his former Master, Darth Plagueis.
He wanted that power. He needed it, because such a power was one of the only ones that he was seemingly unable to obtain. Alreadly, Palpatine knew that Anakin most definitely did not hold that power, since he had been unable to save his mother and while he was unsure of Ben for that matter, Rey had outlasted him during the fight and thus, he was also off the list.
There was more to it than that though, because when Rey had tapped into the dark side, he'd suddenly felt something that no matter how much it confused him, wouldn't go away.
For some odd reason, he felt an odd sort of kinship between Rey and himself. Like they were deeply connected… somehow.
It was at that moment that he finalized his decision that he no longer cared about Anakin or Ben or any other Jedi for that matter.
Damn the consequences.
Rey was going to be his apprentice.
And that was that.
Although, Palpatine remembered that there was still the whole Chosen One prophecy regarding Anakin. For a moment he dwelled upon that and all hope seemed lost, when suddenly he realized something that should've been obvious in the first place, since he was Darth Sidious, after all.
He'd simply off Anakin.
Palpatine let out a breath of relief. He sure did overthink things sometimes and killing Anakin surely would be far from impossible, since one of the only reasons that Anakin wasn't dead yet, was due to Palpatine's future need for him and thus the Dark Lord of the Sith's protection. Yet, now that he'd found a superior future apprentice in Rey, Anakin was useless to him.
So yes, Palpatine decided, he'd simply just have to arrange for the murder of Anakin Skywalker.
After dropping the Chancellor off at his apartment in 500 Republica, the walk back to the Temple had seemed to take an eternity.
The whole way, Rey had been helping Ventress walk, who'd been oddly silent ever since the duel had finished. Then, walking next to her, Anakin was kind enough to help Ben, despite their differences.
Furthermore though, the whole way back, Anakin had not stopped talking, as he'd continuously bombarded her with questions as to how she'd saved Ventress and so much more, barely leaving her any time for a proper response.
Rey did her best to answer his questions, such as telling him she learned how to heal as powerfully as she did from the old Jedi Texts and a bit of improvisation on her part, to which Anakin had wrinkled his nose in disgust, before proclaiming how boring those books were.
While Rey agreed with him on that, for those books most definitely were not page-turners, she wasn't entirely sure how to reply. So, Rey had simply nodded.
All of their paces quickened upon the Jedi Temple coming into view, except Ventress's of course, which was pretty understandable, since she was a user of the dark side and thus an enemy of the Jedi.
As soon as Ventress was handed over to a couple other, seemingly surprised, Jedi, who'd volunteered to take her to a holding cell to await trial, Rey turned to Anakin, who was still helping Ben walk.
Poor Ben looked like he was about to pass out from the amount of pain he was in and yet, still stubborn as he was, he hadn't.
Rey pronounced her next words to Anakin with calm, crisp clarity.
"We're going to drop off Ben in the Halls of Healing and then, I want to talk to you… alone."
At first, Anakin appeared to be a bit startled by her directness, but acquiesced to her demand and helped her hand Ben over to a Jedi healer, before turning to her.
"So, what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Anakin's sharp blue eyes shone with curiosity and she noticed that at least some of the mistrust seemed to have faded. That was definitely an improvement from where things between them had been, so that was nice.
Rey shook her head. "Not here," she murmured, before gesturing at him to follow her. "Come with me, we'll talk in my quarters."
The walk back to her room wasn't too far and as soon as both she and Anakin entered, she shut the door quietly behind them, before turning her gaze upon Anakin.
"I can teach you more about how I saved Ventress, as I can tell you're curious, but before we even consider that, I have a question for you," Rey paused and her eyes stared directly into Anakin's, "how come you were there when Ventress attacked? Our comlinks were down and we were not close enough to the Jedi Temple for someone to realistically make it in time. So tell me this Master Skywalker," it felt strange calling someone who wasn't either Luke or Leia that, "why don't you trust us?"
Seemingly surprised by the accusation, Anakin was silent for a few moments, while a wild mix of emotions warred across his face.
He did not settle on the emotion that Rey'd been hoping for.
"First off that was two questions, not one," he snarked back annoyingly, "but what's it to you? Sure, I've been following you, but only because, if I'm being honest, I don't trust you or Ben entirely, just like you said. It doesn't really seem to matter why though, because I was right, as we all saw today with the whole Ventress situation. I was absolutely right in my judgement."
Rey simply arched a brow, "really? Were you? For, if I recall correctly, I was the one to defeat Ventress. Not you."
A look of anger flashed across Anakin's face, seemingly unfitting for a Jedi, "which you did by tapping into the dark side and almost killing her, if you hadn't saved her afterwards," he hissed sharply back.
A look of hurt and regret flashed across Rey's features, as she took a step back, "perhaps," she whispered back solemnly, "and while I know that my actions were unjustified, dark, misled and cruel, at least I did the right thing in the end, when it really mattered."
Slowly, the anger dissipated from Anakin's face, replaced with something more ponderous.
It really surprised Rey how many blatantly obvious mood swings Anakin had, when he was a Jedi of all things .
"I know, I know, and I… I'm sorry," Anakin replied softly back, surprising Rey. "You did do a remarkable thing in defeating Ventress, it's just, the Chancellor almost died today and I… well I consider him a…" Anakin paused, "I consider Chancellor Palpatine a friend. I'm sure you understand with how close you seem to be with Ben. So, I suppose that I just find it hard to trust him with the likes of Ben and yourself. Two people I barely even know and who we first discovered thieving," Anakin sighed, "you must understand my reservations, regarding trusting both you and Ben… still, I know deep down that your hearts seem to be in the right place. At least the force tells me so. Plus, Obi-Wan also did tell me to at least try to give you both a chance," Anakin smirked, as he seemingly brought up the memory in his head, "and in fighting Ventress, you even managed to use quick-thinking and mercy, when things got intense. So… I suppose that some of my harsh judgements could be unfounded. Perhaps… perhaps we can start over."
While she was grateful that she'd received an apology, part of Rey wondered if it was only because Anakin wanted to obtain her power of healing for his own selfish reasons. Still, this was a grand improvement and they needed Anakin on their side. So no matter the reason as to why Anakin had had a sudden change of heart, Rey supposed that it wouldn't hurt to just accept it and move on.
"Alright," Rey slowly nodded, "and I can try to help teach you, but right now I'm exhausted and I want to check up on Ben. So perhaps," she paused for a moment, seemingly deep in thought, "perhaps, I can help teach you tomorrow after I get back from guarding the Chancellor."
A smile blossomed across Anakin's face, as he gave her a sound nod.
"Deal."
Then they parted ways, with Anakin heading off to his room and Rey heading off to go check up on Ben.