Spoilers: Still no new spoilers.

Disclaimer: *imitating Palpatine* Star Wars, like this story, is now...mine. *cackles* (I only wish!)

A/N: As always, thank you to everyone who is reading, and especially, everyone who's reviewed.

Slipping Into Darkness

Chapter 10

No… Anakin repeated the word over and over again in his mind. No… How had this happened? He hadn't joined Sidious. He planned to kill him. Why then, was his destiny unchanged? Why? Anakin stumbled back and fell into a nearby chair that had somehow remained upright. He noted absently that his saber had slipped from his fingers, but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore. Though he had changed the way things had happened, the outcome was the same. Yoda's words of warning repeated in his mind: Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.

He was lost. He was destined to destroy everything that he touched, leaving only suffering in his wake.

Why is this happening? Anakin cried wordlessly.

Why couldn't he change the future? Even after everything he had seen, even with the weight of all his guilt, it hadn't been enough. He had still fallen. A wave of unbelievable dread swept through him, and suddenly, he understood. A conclusion had come from deep within himself, born of fear and self-reproach, but Anakin found that he did not have the will to fight against it. He allowed the thought to surface, claiming it as truth and the reason for his failure: Palpatine was not the real enemy of the Light…he was.

All of Anakin's guilt rose within him, crashing over him like a tidal wave, scorching his soul, scarring him, and convicting him that he had reached the right conclusion. He was the danger the galaxy faced. He was the true threat.

Memories flooded through him. He had always carried darkness within himself, even from the earliest days of his life. He had always known it was there, but he had simply refused to acknowledge it. However, there had been countless times he had failed to contain it. Each incident spoke of the darkness he carried, but rather than face the truth, he had tried to justify his actions. The rage he felt at having been a slave was right, for slavery was evil. The anger he felt when the Jedi initially refused to train him was valid because their reasons were unfair. The enemies he had killed had deserved to die, and drawing upon his fury for strength had been necessary in the heat of a battle.

Now, though, Anakin could see his crimes for what they were. They demonstrated the blackness of his spirit. He had once thought that he could keep the darkness back, held in check by the walls of his will. And in the beginning, he had been able to do just that. How often had he had pushed the monster in his spirit back into its prison? There were too many times to count. But, no matter how far he strayed, he had always returned to the Light.

Then…his mother. The cruelty of her captors and the injustice of her death had filled him with such rage that nothing could have denied him vengeance. And indeed, he had made the Tuskens suffer for what they had done to her. He had drawn upon all his fury, no longer resisting his black emotions. He had killed them, every single one of them, and had told himself that they deserved their fate.

But afterwards, when Anakin had tried to put the monster back in its cage, he found that the bars were broken. His ability to fight the darkness inside himself had been destroyed that night. He had tried to rebuild the prison, tried desperately to cling to all the goodness around him, but he had felt his grip loosening. He was sinking as surely as if he were in quicksand, and the horrors he had seen in the war had only served to pull him further into the depths.

Still, Anakin had refused to truly acknowledge his darkness until the vision had forced him to confront it…or, so he had thought. Only now did he really understand. A weight of profound sadness settled into his spirit. He was everything that he had been fighting against: he was the darkness.

For an instant, Anakin felt a gentle warmth sweep through him, as though the Force itself were trying to comfort him, but he refused to accept it. He did not belong to the Light, and so did not deserve to feel its peace. However, the brief touch upon his spirit had been enough to draw him from his self-contempt.

Anakin forced his eyes open. He dreaded once again seeing himself with the flame-colored irises of the Sith, but to his great relief, his normal blue gaze was now reflected on the shard. He drew a grateful breath, but this brief calm ended as he felt the darkness swell.

Anakin leapt to his feet. Once he had seen what he was becoming, he had ended his onslaught on Palpatine. Unfortunately, the pause in the battle had allowed the Sith Lord time to recover. In a blur of motion, the Dark Lord called his lightsaber from the debris and used it to cut the wire that bound his wrists. Then, he used the Force to free himself from the wire around his neck and dropped to the floor with cat-like grace.

"You were unwise to lower your defenses," Palpatine said, then attacked. Never before had Anakin ever seen him move so swiftly. The battle had already been the most intense Anakin had ever fought, but this was far more powerful. Now, the Sith was drawing upon all of his fury and the full extent of his Dark Side abilities.

Anakin had barely had time to realize that his saber still lay on the floor when he felt the Sith's crimson blade burn deeply into his lower right side. The Dark Lord continued his stroke, sweeping his weapon from the top of Anakin's hip to just underneath his arm. Anakin cried out in incredible agony, then fell to the floor.

Palpatine stood over him, his blade pointed at Anakin's throat.

"You could have beaten me," the Sith hissed, "but you did not because you are weak. I could have taught you strength."

Anakin couldn't answer. The pain he felt from his side was too great. Each breath came as a desperate gasp. At once, he knew that without treatment the wound would be lethal, though he guessed that Sidious would kill him before his injuries did.

But for some reason, thoughts of his own end didn't bother him. In fact the opposite was true: he would welcome death. Perhaps, he thought, the loss of his life would be a blessing, because when he died, he would take all of his darkness with him.

"Yes," the Sith said, drawing Anakin from his thoughts, "only now, at the end, do you understand."

What did he mean? Anakin's confusion registered on his face and in the Force. The Dark Lord smiled and moved his saber closer to Anakin's throat, forcing him to tilt his head back. Anakin winced as his side protested the action.

"Don't you see?" the Sith continued. "They call you the 'Chosen One,' but have you never wondered whom you were chose by?"

Anakin inhaled sharply.

"What are you…?" he began, but Palpatine interrupted him.

"You," he said pointedly, "are the 'Chosen One' of the Dark Side. Chosen to be its champion, chosen to destroy the Jedi Order."

"No…no…that's impossible!" Anakin cried.

He carried darkness, yes, but surely this couldn't be true. His sole reason for being could not be to…

"Don't act so surprised, boy. You have already come to this conclusion yourself."

All strength fled. Anakin tried to deny the Sith's words, but to him, they held too much truth. They resonated deep within his spirit, affirming every thought of self-condemnation.

"However, you haven chosen to refuse your place at my side," the Sith said, deactivating his saber. "And for that, young Jedi, you will die a slow and painful death."

Sidious raised his hands, and Anakin braced himself for what he knew was coming.

As the Dark Side lightning coursed through his body, Anakin screamed. He had experienced Force lightning before, when he faced Count Dooku in the Battle of Geonosis, but this was infinitely more powerful. And, with the first bolt that struck him, his wounded side ignited in fiery agony. The earlier blow to his shoulder and the injuries inflicted upon his back by the vase also re-awoke under the torment.

Palpatine stopped the onslaught, savoring the young Jedi's pain, yet, Anakin made no move to resist. He didn't have the will to. Why should he? If he were truly chosen to destroy the Jedi as the champion of the Dark Side, than the galaxy would only benefit from his death. Many lives would be spared if his were lost.

"Will you not even fight me, pathetic Jedi?" Sidious taunted. Then, after a moment, the Dark Lord laughed. "Ah," he sneered, "I understand. You will not fight me because you fear your destiny. You fear your own power. How ridiculous."

He accentuated the comment with yet another bolt of lightning, and again, Anakin cried out in pain. But the young Jedi wasn't surprised that the Sith knew what was on his heart. He was too exhausted in both body and mind to shield his thoughts. One thought in particular refused to be silenced: the only way he could save everyone he loved was to allow himself to die. If he were dead, he could never hurt them.

If it were possible, Sidious' laughter increased.

"I wonder what that feeble Order of yours would think of you, 'Chosen One', if they understood who you really are? And your wife…would she still love you if she knew the truth? I doubt it. She would despise you. "

Padmé…that thought made Anakin hesitate. For once, he did not focus on the Sith's words, but instead on his earlier threat. Palpatine had said that when Anakin was dead, he would execute Padmé and take their child.

"Oh yes, the child." Sidious scoffed, still reading his thoughts. "The child will be no better than you. Its destiny lies with me. Your family belongs to me. Forever."

But could that be the worst fate his family would face? What if Anakin carried a greater darkness than Sidious did? Then his family would surely be lost to evil. With a chill of horror, Anakin realized another, more likely, possibility. They would be dead, killed by Anakin's own hand, for surely when had Padmé died in his vision, their baby had as well. He wouldn't take the chance of that happening now.

"You cannot reject the darkness, young Skywalker. You can only submit to it," Sidious said coldly.

He was right, Anakin knew. Allowing himself to die was the only way he could stop the darkness he carried from devouring the galaxy. A wave of profound sadness swept through him as he realized the implication of his thoughts.

When he died, Sidious would try to take his child, and being a Sith was not what Anakin wanted for his son or daughter. But at least the baby would live. At least it would have a chance to fight the darkness, perhaps even defeat it. After all, Padmé was pure light. If the baby had inherited its mother's goodness, then it would never fall to the Dark Side, no matter what Sidious did. It would never fail as its father had.

And Palpatine was underestimating Padmé. She would not give up without a fight. After all, she had defeated the Trade Federation and saved her world when she was a fourteen-year-old queen. She had bravely fought many battles, and Anakin had no doubt that she could face Palpatine. If anything, her husband's death would give her the chance to continue living.

Still, thinking of leaving her alone to face such danger caused Anakin far more pain than the Force lightning ever could, yet he knew he had no choice. This was the only way he could save her and his child from the greatest danger of all: himself.

So, Anakin closed his eyes, and tried to calm his mind. Palpatine was going to kill him, and Anakin wasn't going to stop him.

TBC

A/N: The next part will be up on Thursday.

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