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Chapter 9
A whirlwind of images flashed through Anakin's mind like a Holo broadcast gone awry and he lacked the controls to turn it off. He watched them behind his eyes as he always did. His failures. His poor choices. His miserable existence. He watched his entire life play out three and a half times before he felt the quiver in the Force, and by the time he watched himself die, he could sense the dark side coiling around him.
"They abandoned you to die with me," arose the tenderly warm voice of the Chancellor—of Darth Sidious, "didn't they, son?"
Anakin straightened but kept his back turned to Sidious. He could not bear to see his face in the glaring white lights surrounding them on all sides, could not stand to see what he imagined to be the pale face of death that the Sith Lord wore in his future memories.
Not even a kilometer from them, the main reactor that powered nearly all of Coruscant's essential functions stood stark white against a grim and hazy sky. The facility had several reactors housed in individual towers, with an enormous compound between them. It was the strongest reactor, the most likely to successfully obliterate them from existence.
"I am so sorry, my boy." Sidious approached. His slow, unthreatening steps tapped against the ferrocrete yard. His cloak rustled softly and produced the sound of a gentle breeze through leaves. "I told you, didn't I? They don't trust you. They don't care for you. When given the opportunity, they will discard you. But even though you have set a trap for me, still I have come for you. I will never abandon you."
So he knew it was a trap. Normally, it might put Anakin on guard, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He sucked in a breath.
"I seem to recall you abandoning me for my own son." He turned one foot so that he could at least see Sidious' shifting form out of the corner of his eye. The Sith Lord had wound himself in a black cloak, and shadows encased him in darkness, the lights at his back.
"You and I both know that you had similar thoughts about me at that time," Sidious said without condemnation. His voice remained as gentle and fatherly as ever. "We were in a poor place, you and I. But it doesn't have to be that way this time." He extended a hand to Anakin, though the lights bleached the skin. "Remember, Anakin. When even your Master left you to burn and to perish on Mustafar, I came for you. I rescued you. Even in that broken body that lacked control of the Force, lacked your former agility and prowess, I did not leave you. And I never will."
Anakin stared through him. Thousands of other images played before his eyes and distracted him from the man standing directly in front of him.
"You came for me because you had no other options at the time." His voice sounded dead even to his own ears.
"From a certain point of view," Sidious said, and the words prickled in Anakin's memory. "You see yourself as expendable and so believe others view you the same way. The Jedi taught you that." He huffed and pulled back his shoulders as though indignant, but somehow Anakin couldn't believe the gesture. "Tell my, my boy. How many times have the Jedi raced to recover one of their own, like Kenobi, at great cost to the Order. And yet, when you were the one in need… where were they?"
Anakin could hear the smile on Sidious' lips. And his chest ached because the words were true.
"That's right." Sidious cooed, as though talking to a cute pet right before smothering it to put it out of its misery. "They sent your Master to kill you, and he left you burning in lava."
"I deserved what happened to me, and much, much more." Anakin stared at his black boots, at the scuffed ferrocrete under his feet. And above it all, he saw black sand on fire, his flesh on fire. He managed to lift his face and found Sidious again. By second nature, he slid his lightsaber from his belt and let it ignite. "Just as you deserve what happened to you."
"My boy, you are not well," Sidious said, again gentle, fatherly. His hands remained where Anakin could see them, his fingers entwined loosely in front of him. "You don't appear to have slept in a long while. Now is not the time to make rash decisions."
"We did not create peace," Anakin murmured.
"We can do things differently."
"We did not free slaves." Anakin took a step towards him.
"We have a second chance, the ability to create a new future." Sidious held his ground and kept his hands visible.
"Power is the only thing we gained, and we didn't use it for anything."
"Everything can change," Sidious assured him, with so much conviction in his voice that for a fraction of an instant, Anakin wanted to believe him.
Because Anakin had nothing else to believe in. The visions came to a jarring halt, but not on any future event. No, he saw the past. Saw his mother at the table as they shared a meal with their strange new companions: a queen, a Jedi, and a Gungan. Anakin had wanted to help—he'd always only wanted to help, because that's what his mother had taught him. And somewhere along the way, he had lost it, had lost her, had lost himself.
"We did nothing," he said, and he found Sidious' eyes under the shadows of the hood. "And my mother would hate me."
"You are tired, son. Don't do anything rash." Sidious' hands slid into the folds of his cloak.
"I am not your son."
Anakin moved without thinking, let some mechanical, mindless instinct take hold. He slammed into Sidious at full speed, and the Sith Lord narrowly drew and ignited a red lightsaber to fend off his attack. Anakin unleashed a flurry of swings, and Sidious deflected each with perfect precision, though Anakin managed to march him backwards towards the reactor tower. Sidious Force pushed him with the flick of his hand, barely setting Anakin off balance, but gave himself enough time to flip out of reach, closer yet to the reactor.
"The future always has a way of correcting itself," Sidious said with the slight shake of his head. "You cannot escape from your destiny, Anakin. You will wear that mask."
Anakin strode across the yard and stared at Sidious. He didn't care enough about Sidious to hate him. Anakin had been the pawn, the failure. His hatred he reserved for himself. But Sidious was a danger to others: to his family, to the Jedi, to the clones, to the weak who couldn't fight for themselves. Anakin had willingly tread upon and destroyed those same people, and so he owed it to them to set things right.
"You cannot escape who you are, Anakin."
Anakin lunged and pushed with the Force, flinging Sidious towards one of the many tower doors on the ground level. Then he swung with the full force of his weight and speed, twisting his body to add to the blow. Sidious deflected, of course, but Anakin's strike threw him off balance. Anakin gave another push with the Force, but Sidious held out his own free hand and returned the gesture. Anakin slid back several centimeters, and it was all he allowed.
Sidious jumped back again and swept his free hand through the air. Metal tore from metal in a horrible tangle of piercing screams, and part of the defensive gate around the perimeter of the reactor facility flew at them—at Anakin, because Sidious retreated. Anakin didn't have to think to react. He flicked his wrist, and the ferrocrete yard shattered, and a chunk the size of a speeder smashed the oncoming metal out of the air. They fell harmlessly aside together and burst into a pile of debris.
Sidious continued his retreat, and Anakin took a wide route to herd him towards the reactor tower.
"I feel your anger," Sidious said, his words an echo from the future. "It gives you power. Use it, Anakin! Use it to change the galaxy for the better!"
"Anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering," Anakin replied. He waved his hand, and the ferrocrete ripped apart in front of him. He hurled chunks of it at Sidious, forcing his once future master towards the tower. He spoke the familiar platitude that he had been too foolish to understand all his life. "Hate cannot make anything better."
The ground severed ahead of him, and he pulled the entire yard into the air and rained it down on Sidious' head. The Sith Lord cast many of the larger chunks aside but eventually fled into the tower. The ferrocrete slammed against the tower walls and crumbled to dust against the solid exterior. Anakin stormed through the door after Sidious.
He wouldn't risk locking down the facility without ensuring Sidious had no means to escape. He had to be certain Sidious died.
He stepped on one of many solid metal bridges that crisscrossed over the gurgling core of light energy below. The bridge snapped underneath him, and the end ahead of him dropped and took him with it. Anakin grabbed at the railing and Force jumped to the bridge directly below. Sidious waited with a sympathetic smile on his face, as if he were watching a child struggle with something difficult. Like a father looking after his son.
Anakin didn't care. He snapped both ends of their current bridge and dropped him and Sidious towards the roar of energy below. Sidious jumped, so Anakin jumped. They landed on one of the lower level bridges beneath the ground level. None of the nearby doors would lead outside.
"I have only tried to help you, Anakin, tried to help you be better," Sidious said, and he lowered his lightsaber in a declaration of peace. "The Jedi insisted on holding you back, but I have wanted you to thrive to your full potential. Surely you see that."
Anakin marched across the bridge and swung at him again, relentlessly, violently, and forced Sidious to engage him. Anakin tore that bridge from its foundations as well, and Sidious jumped to yet another lower level. Grabbing the railing as the bridge dangled, still stuck in the wall by one massive bolt, Anakin glared down at him and felt nothing. No hatred, no sorrow. Absolutely nothing.
He brought his comlink to his lips so the words rang loud and clear.
"We're inside. Do it."
At his command, red lights flashed in warning and klaxons screamed at them, inside and out, drowning out all other sounds. An automated voice boomed at them, Emergency protocol activated. Engaging meltdown systems. Evacuate immediately. Over and over again. Starting from the top of the tower, doors slammed shut to contain the impending destruction.
Immediately—the Jedi didn't waste time.
"Don't you see? Everyone has abandoned you!" Sidious stomped a foot to the floor and spoke with emotion, with conviction. "Why are you fighting for them when I am the one who has come for you to give you a place to belong?"
Flickers of images smashed through Anakin's head. He winced against them, against the violence he caused in the future, against the flames that burned his skin. Sweat soaked his robes, and from out of habit, he let go of the bridge to scratch at his searing flesh. He staggered down the bridge and then leaped to Sidious' level, lightsaber swinging. Swing, deflect, parry, thrust, retreat, lunge. Anakin forced Sidious back towards the wall. They had nowhere to fall now, it was up or die.
"Anakin!" a voice screamed from above.
Anakin froze until he saw the red flash out of the corner of his eye. By instinct alone he reverse lunged and avoided losing his flesh hand to Sidious' swing. Sidious clipped the railing instead. Both he and Anakin looked up.
Obi-Wan stood on one of the ground-level bridges, hands on the railing. Sweat flattened his hair to his red face, and he wore grief and horror like a mask. Anakin recognized it as the same face he wore when he left him to die on Mustafar. When he walked away.
I loved you. But no longer.
"It seems your Master came to put an end to us," Sidious said, suddenly quiet. Anakin glared at him. The Sith Lord smiled in his twisted, demented sort of way, feral and inhuman. "You can save him… or we can all burn together."
"Anakin!" Obi-Wan jumped from his ground-level bridge and landed on another bridge still high above them.
Metal doors slammed shut throughout the tower, and the reactor's glow brightened beneath their feet. Tongues of glowing energy leaped towards them.
"What will you do, my boy?" Sidious smiled like a father, and then he waved a hand and tore the bridge out from beneath Obi-Wan's feet.
Obi-Wan jumped to a different bridge, but Sidious shot a torrent of Force lightning at him and almost caught him in the air. Obi-Wan spiraled and ignited his lightsaber to stop the attack. Anakin lunged at Sidious and grappled at his arms. They twisted around each other on the bridge, and Anakin recognized the sensation of having done this before—only with Obi-Wan, over lava, in another life he refused to live.
Anakin and Sidious pushed each other away at the same time. Anakin used the Force to rip one of the bolts out of the wall that held their bridge in place. The bridge sank and twisted, but the frame remained steady. He and Sidious staggered.
Over the screaming alarms and slamming doors, Anakin heard Obi-Wan call his name. Obi-Wan jumped down to another bridge, descending upon them.
"Save the Master who abandoned you?" Sidious asked, slowly, relishing every moment as the words dripped out of his gnarled and twisted grin. "Or kill me, the one who cared for you all these years?"
Anger stirred inside Anakin, the very thing that made the Jedi distrust him. He didn't feed it, but he didn't ignore it, either. It simply existed, and he let it. He glanced at Obi-Wan out of the corner of his eye—he'd almost reached their level—and then at Sidious and the brilliant lights dancing beneath their feet.
Anakin dove at Sidious. Their lightsabers clashed in dazzling bursts of blue and red sparks, and then their blades locked between them, both pushing against the other.
"I choose both," Anakin said.
He rammed his shoulder into Sidious and sent them both staggering towards the lopsided end of the bridge. Anakin feinted left and drew a reactionary swing from Sidious. Rather than evade, Anakin flung his own lightsaber and caught Sidious' arm in both hands. Sidious' red blade cut into Anakin's side, but Sidious halted even without Anakin's vice grip restraining him. Sidious' grin dropped, and genuine bewilderment marred his face.
Anakin yanked Sidious towards him and put the glaring red lightsaber to his back. If Sidious killed him, Obi-Wan had no reason to stay. Sidious did nothing, and Anakin caught him in a firm hold, his arms wrapped firmly around the shorter man. Anakin spun him around on the bridge and threw up his hand by instinct, by a feeling.
"Anakin, no!" Obi-Wan landed on the bridge and ran towards them.
Anakin caught him with the Force and hefted Obi-Wan off his feet. Obi-Wan wore a look of horror as he dangled in the air. Anakin moved his hand and pushed, and as he did, agonizing pain tore through his belly and overwhelmed his mind. At least, for a few moments, the visions ceased as throbbing pain took their place and provided adequate distraction. Anakin used the Force to throw Obi-Wan through one of the last remaining open doors, and it snapped shut a moment later.
"You fool." Sidious retracted his lightsaber and stumbled sideways with Anakin. Genuine disappointment poured out with his words.
A haze covered Anakin's eyes. Nevertheless, he used the Force to rip out the last bolt holding their end of the bridge to the wall. The bridge snapped and turned. All the while, Anakin kept his grip on Sidious, staggered with him, and eventually hit the railing as the bridge toppled. The reactor's core surged beneath them. Nothing stood between them and it, only an endless expanse of air.
"All hail the emperor," Anakin said, muted, and then he tipped over the railing and dragged the Sith Lord with him.