Anakin took Padme back to their apartment where R2-D2 and C-3PO cared for her whilst Anakin informed Palpatine of their success. Then he collected the hundreds of sabers together and tied them into a bundle, ready to hand over when he next saw Palpatine.

He came back a while later to find Padme fast asleep on the sofa with her shoulder bandaged. She was wearing one of her beautiful silken nightgowns, so Anakin handed her torn tunic to Threepio to get fixed, whilst he sat next to her, pulling out a mass of metal lumps, crystals, wires and other necessary items needed to make a lightsaber. He set about making Padme one so that when she woke up, he could begin her training.

He was so engrossed in building and tinkering with the various wires and other components that he didn't notice Obi-Wan's starship silently pull up outside the window and hover there for a while before taking off again and dissaperaring into the heavy traffic.

Artoo rolled up to Anakin a little later with a message from Commander Cody. Anakin flicked a switch and a hologram of the clone appeared.

"Master Skywalker, we were unable to contact Lord Sidious, so we are requesting that you pass this message on for us. General Kenobi has been succesfully destroyed and I have word from the planets Felucia, Endor and Dantooine who have also succesfully assasinated their Jedi aswell. We are awaiting the Lord's commands now." the hologram of the clone said, then shut down. Anakin sighed.

In a way he was grateful of the news. It meant he didn't have to deal with Obi-Wan himself, which was something he had been dreading because he wasn't sure he would be able to bring himself to kill his former master.

But at the same time, he also felt sadness at the loss of his former friend, mentor and the closest thing he had to a father or brother. Still, it had happened now, and Anakin couldn't change the past, so there was nothing he could do but carry on with his life.

As Artoo rolled off to deliver the message to Palpatine, Padme began to stir and Anakin decided that now would not be a good time to inform her of Obi-Wan's death. It might make her change her mind and take her away from him. After all, whilst he was sure that what they were doing wasthe right thing and that this is what he wanted, he could still feel that she was undecided and wasn't really sure if she had done the right thing. He would make sure that she felt it was the right thing to do, even if it meant lying to her about Obi-Wan. After all, he didn't want to lose her. he loved her, and whilst she was with him, he wa sure that no harm would come to her. He and the Emperor...the Emperor, it was the first time Anakin had called him that since he had dissolved the Republic into an Empire...could save her with their combined power, Palpatine's cunning and Anakin's strength and knowledge of the Force.

"What's going on Ani?" she asked, sitting up on the couch and watching him as he tinkered with the half built saber.

"I'm building you a lightsaber," he said. "What colour do you want it to be?"

"Aren't they supposed to be red for the Sith?" she asked, watching as he expertly connected wires.

"Yeah, I kinda forgot," he admitted, joining the two halves together just to make sure that they did actually fit.

"So how long was I asleep?"

"A couple of hours...but you didn't miss much," Anakin added when he saw her open her mouth to speak. She closed her mouth again, satisfied and then saw the bundle of sabers in the corner.

"Was there really that many?" she asked, pointing at the pile.

"Yup, and Commander Logan informed me that he has a few more for the collection. Apparently there was a group of about ten or so Jedi hiding in a secret underground lair that I didn't even know existed."

He finished aligning the special crystals just right, fixed the saber together and flicked a switch. A red blade ignited from the handle and glowed vividly infront of him. Anakin felt proud of his achievement. He had built lightsabers many times before, usually because he was careless enough to destroy or lose the last one, but this one was extra special for many reasons.

It was for Padme, meaning that it had to be perfect, but it was also different to the Jedi weapon that he had, because this was made using synthetic Sith crystals, not the traditional or natural Jedi crystals. It had taken him ages to align the crystals just right so that the saber didn't detonate when he flicked the switch.

"Cool." Padme couldn't contain her excitement as he de-activated it and handed it to her. She flicked the switch herself and spun the saber around a little, getting a feel for it. Then she de-activated it and looked at the handle. It was like Anakin's, only darker and more...sinister. Anakin's saber was a shining silver, but her's was a deadly black.

"This is just like yours," she noted and Anakin nodded.

"I didn't want you to feel different...and besides, I find this this shape works very well," he noted and Padme nodded. She had seen Anakin use his saber with deadly skill and knew that the shape he had built it to, aided greatly in his success with it.

"Ready to begin training?" he asked and she eagerly nodded, jumping up and taking the robes that Threepio was holding out for her, all repaired and ready for her to wear again.