Anakin POV
I was walking through the temple headed to the Council, when someone came up behind me. Sensing them in the Force, I wield around one hand on my lightsaber, ready for the attacker.
"Whoa! Easy there, Skyguy. It's just us," said Ahsoka, smiling. Rex was behind her. She had on tan legging and a pink top that said "wife", and he had on some Bermuda shorts and a white shirt that said "husband."
"What are you doing here?" I said relaxing.
"The better question is why do we find out that our best friends are attacked in the middle of the night from Lee of all people? You should have contacted us!" demanded Ahsoka.
"Snips, it just happened last night, and everyone is fine. Padme took the kids to Qui-Gon and my mom's place while our place is being cleaned up. I am reporting to the Council about what to do about the Sith Lord, it's nothing important."
"Sith?!" asked Ahsoka.
"It was a Sith Lord, sir? Lee did not say that!" said Rex.
"So Lee called you?" I said. "I am going to kill him. You should be on your honeymoon."
"We can go on a second honeymoon in a year from now, after we deal with the Sith. Are we going to track them? What do we do?"
"I don't know," I said. "I am going to the council to find out."
"Well let's go," she said, and marched towards the Jedi Temple.
I raised an eyebrow at Rex, and he shrugged.
"Don't look at me," he said. "She has been acting like that since the wedding."
"Silent, the attacker has been," said Master Yoda. "Difficult to probe his mind, it is."
"While we were fighting," I said. "He said he wanted my children to train them as Sith and that he was acting alone, but I am not sure I believe him. I am almost positive Sidious is behind this."
"What makes you say that?" asked Shaak Ti.
"Anakin visited the prison before the Senate transferred Sidious to Belsavis," said Obi-Wan. "He threatened the babies. This was before Padme had the children."
"A reckless decision that was, Chosen One," said Master Yoda.
"Yes Master. I regret it now," I said.
"During this visit, he said he would come after the children?" asked Depa.
"He said Padme would have trouble during labor, which she did, and that he can do nothing to my family. I am not sure I believe it. The Sith said he was acting on its own accord, but Palpatine could have orchestrated it. I put nothing past him."
"It is possible that your time in servitude to the Emperor and your anger as a result from that could be warping your vision," said Ki-Adi-Mundi.
"Forgiven Palpatine, you still have not," said Master Yoda.
Forgiveness! How can they preach forgiveness when they did not know what that monster had done. I remembered how he electrocuted me for not finishing jobs leaving me gasping for breath, and how he ordered for them to make my suit in an awkward and uncomfortable manner making it hard to walk, keeping me in pain all the time. Then there was the fact that he lied to me about the death of Padme, my reason for existence. No! I had not forgiven that creep and I never would.
I said nothing, knowing that if I dared speak, they would put me on probation again. Instead, I did the visual imaging that Depa taught me. Naboo, the balcony where Padme and I got married, that overlooks the lake. Padme's dress, her hair, my hand running down her arm lightly, ignoring that I was not supposed to do that, then finally, her lips on mine, that wonderful feeling of elation before she pulled away from me.
"Anakin," said Depa, "Are you with us?"
I snapped back to reality. They needed me to feign humility if I was going to talk my way out of this. "Forgiveness is still difficult for me Master because of the pain the Dark Side caused. I am asking for your patience. When I went to Palpatine in anger, I recognized that was a lapse in judgement, and I do not want to repeat it again."
When I looked around the room there were a few nods. Obi-Wan and Depa were smiling their approval. Only Windu did not look happy about my apology. "Hey, I can still sell poodoo to these people," I mused, and tried not to grin.
"We will see how you progress, Skywalker," said Windu. He did not buy a word I just said.
I bowed my head.
"We are missing the point," said Obi-Wan. "The Sith are out to hurt the Skywalkers. Any Skywalker, now apparently. Something drastic is necessary."
"Could they go to Naboo?" said Agen Trebor.
"No," said Anakin. "I can protect my family. I want to take the fight to them, but we have no clue who sent the assassin. There are hundreds of Sith, some of whom work for Sidious and some of whom despise Sidious. There is no way of knowing unless we can compel this new guy to talk."
"How do we propose we do that?" asked Strass Allie.
"His name is Maul," said Obi-Wan. "He is a Dathormanian Zabak. The Nightsisters on Darthomir took him as an infant to be raised until he was about the age of a Padawan learner. Darth Sidious, or Palpatine, whichever you prefer, then took him to the Mustafar system for further training. He has gone on many small assignments, but his first major assignment was to assassinate Queen Amidala during the Blockasion of Naboo by the Trade Federation in 32 BBY. There, he killed Qui-Gon Jinn, and then I killed him. Once he entered the Force, he betrayed the Sith and became an assassin for hire. According to him, the Sith contacted him to kidnap Jinn and Ashla because they are the children of the chosen one, but he refuses to say who."
"How do you know all of this?" I asked.
"This is the man who killed my master, who was the only source of family I had for a long time. I might have gotten obsessed."
"Ya think?" I asked.
"Okay," said Windu. "The Skywalkers will stay here until the Sith make their next play. Until then, we need to guard them. I suggest Tano, Kenobi, and Skywalker, guard the younglings, and Yoda and I will meditate to try to reveal who sent this assassin."
We were all in agreement, it was a decent plan. We bowed and left.