Disclaimer: Star Wars and all its characters belong to George Lucas.
Author's Note: This story was written before the release of Attack of the Clones.
Choices
By Torny
Anakin Skywalker stared out the window of a building on Coruscant. The window gave him an excellent view of the Jedi Temple where he had lived and trained for over a decade. Anakin's eyes focused on the middle spire where he knew an emergency meeting of the Council was taking place. He smiled at the irony; the Jedi Council was desperately searching for him all over the galaxy, not realizing that he was only a few miles away. Anakin guessed that they were sending out a team of Knights to track him down.
With Obi-Wan at its head, he thought. Palpatine is right. They are pathetic.
It had been several weeks since Anakin had chosen to apprentice himself to Palpatine. Chosen to embrace the Dark Side. He had his doubts. But most of them had been erased completely when he had begun to realize what hypocrites the Jedi were, how foolish he had been to idolize them as a child. The Jedi claimed to be the champions of peace and justice in the galaxy, yet they let cruelty run rampant. They sat in their great Temple and meditated on problems instead of solving them. While they had insisted that he stay at the Temple and complete his training, they had allowed his mother to languish in slavery.
His mother. A tear slid down Anakin's face as he thought of Shmi. The Jedi had refused to let him go to her, even after he'd begun having terrifying visions of her in danger. Desperate, he had stolen a ship and blasted off to Tatooine, determined to rescue Shmi even if it meant expulsion from the Jedi Order or even his death. Only to find her dying. Anakin had arrived mere hours too late. Hours! The young man sighed and wiped the tear away with a gloved hand. He knew he would never have recovered if it wasn't for his wife, Padme. Her love and compassion had guided him through the worst of it.
As the shock and horror of losing Shmi had faded, anger had taken its place. Anger at the Jedi. Their rigid uncompromising rules had killed his mother. They had left her in slavery because it suited them. Because they would rather she be there than with her son, influencing him, distracting him from his training. Anakin recalled that most Jedi were taken at infancy, never allowed to know their families, to feel the special love that can only come from a parent.
No wonder they are so cold.
As Anakin realized that he could have saved his mother, another thought came to him.
How many others? How many others have died because the Jedi were too set in their ways to even lift a finger to help them?
The thought was chilling. The Jedi had refused his pleas to rescue his mother because they feared that he would give in to his emotions and turn to the Dark Side.
But the Dark Side could have saved her. The Dark Side could have saved them all.
If Anakin had ignored the orders of the Council, if he had given in to his emotions and let the Dark Side guide him, he would be with his mother know. Eating dinner with her, telling her about his day, laughing, smiling, feeling her love for him. Instead of standing at a cold window agonizing over the choices he had made.
Frustrated and upset, Anakin had gone to Chancellor Palpatine, with whom he had confided in for the last few years. As the two of them talked, everything had suddenly clicked into place. It was as if he had been blind and could now see. The Jedi had become stagnant, corrupt. Like the Republic, which had allowed Naboo to be blockaded so many years ago and preferred to debate endlessly until the problem exploded in their faces rather than take action. Palpatine had shared with Anakin his dreams of replacing the Republic with a new system, a strong system, one that would not let such tragedies continue. Did the Jedi need removal as well?
Anakin believed so. The Jedi would let the galaxy collapse into decay rather than compromise their rules. So when Palpatine had offered to show Anakin a new way, a way that would bring order and justice to the galaxy, Anakin had accepted. By becoming Palpatine's apprentice, by standing and fighting by his side, Anakin believed he could do good. By embracing the Dark Side he could act, solve problems instead of debating them with reluctant superiors. No one would ever again need to suffer as he had. Now Anakin Skywalker had a purpose.
Anakin's thoughts went back to Padme. His wife. His angel. What would she think of his actions? Would she join him, stand by his side as he stood by Palpatine's, or would she fight him? Anakin truly believed that if he could just talk to her, explain what was happening and why he needed to do what he was doing, then she would understand. She would not abandon him as the Jedi had. Padme had seen firsthand the ineffectiveness of the Republic. How could she not understand?
Anakin knew one thing: he needed her. He needed her to be by his side, to support him, to love him. When he was without her he felt as if someone had ripped away part of his soul. Anakin prayed intensely that his angel would understand.
Anakin Skywalker glanced once more at the Jedi Temple, then walked away towards his new life, thinking only one thing.
I hope I'm right.
FIN
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