I'm sorry it has taken me so long to update! Things are kind of crazy right now. This chapter is a pretty long one, but I evilly end it with a cliffhanger! I can't thank you all enough for your incredible reviews. They always give me a major energy boost!

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Padme sat beside Bail Organa in the packed senate chamber. A disfigured Palpatine was selling everyone the biggest, most vile pack of lies she had ever heard in her life. And most of the people were eating it up!

"The Jedi attacked me and tried to usurp my position…"

Bail leaned down to Padme and whispered, "Don't believe a word of it."

Padme gave him a bleak look. "I don't. I know the Jedi better than that."

"We shall create a great new Empire…"

Padme felt sick. Everything she had ever believed in and worked for was disintegrating. She looked around numbly as the place erupted in cheers. "So this is how liberty dies – to thunderous applause."

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Obi-Wan's knees buckled as he turned off the security holoimage. He had just witnessed the young man he loved slaughter children! He had watched as his former padawan bowed to a Sith and called him 'Master!'" If only he had taken the time to talk with Anakin before leaving for Utapau! If only…

"Blame yourself for this, you must not." Yoda studied his companion with sad eyes. "Stop the Sith, we must."

"Then send me to kill the master."

"Strong enough to kill the master, you are not."

"I can't kill Anakin! He's like my brother!"

"The boy you trained, gone he is." Yoda started to hobble through the doorway. "Consumed by Darth Vader."

"I don't know where he is. How will I find him?"

"Use your feelings, Obi-Wan, and find him you will." Yoda cast one last sad glance at his young companion before heading out to confront Darth Sidious.

Obi-Wan let the Force flow through him. He let it sweep away the maelstrom of emotions that were threatening to overwhelm him. He would have to keep a clear head in order to do his duty. Padme! He quickly got up and strode through the door. SHE would lead him to Anakin.

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As Padme walked from her bedroom, she could hear C3PO speaking to someone. Relief and joy flooded through her as she entered her living area. "Obi-Wan!" She ran to him and threw herself into his arms. "You're alive! Oh, thank the Force!" Padme sobbed out her relief in the crook of his shoulder.

"Yes, I'm okay." Obi-Wan stroked her hair as she cried.

"I thought you were dead," Padme's muffled voice said. She looked up and touched Obi-Wan's face, still trying to be sure she wasn't seeing an illusion. "Anakin said…"

Obi-Wan's jaw tightened. "When was Anakin here?"

"A few hours ago. He said horrible things about the Jedi! He was like a whole different person."

"That's because he is." Obi-Wan wiped the remnants of Padme's tears off her face. "Let's sit down." He took a deep breath as they sat on the sofa. "I just came from the Temple." Obi-Wan was glad that Padme was tightly clasping his hands. Otherwise, he knew they would be shaking. "There was no one left alive."

Padme's throat constricted in horror. The words spoken by her husband and Palpatine of a crushed rebellion replayed in her mind. "Not even the children?"

"No one." Obi-Wan struggled to keep his voice steady. "I watched some of the footage from the security cameras. Anakin is the one who led the clone troopers into the Temple. I saw him…kill the younglings." He choked on his last words.

"But Anakin couldn't…"

"He isn't Anakin anymore!" Obi-Wan's eyes glittered with unshed tears. "He's a Sith!"

"He's…he's turned to the Dark Side?" Padme thought back to her conversation with Yoda about Count Dooku.

"Yes. Palpatine is Darth Sidious, the Sith master we've been looking for this whole time."

"This whole time the Republic has been led by a Sith?"

Obi-Wan nodded his head. "Everything, including the war, has been carefully orchestrated by him to destroy the Jedi Order and take control of the galaxy."

"Then he's succeeded. I just came from the senate. He's officially labeled all Jedi as traitors. He has reorganized the Republic into an Empire and appointed himself Emperor." Padme searched Obi-Wan's eyes. "Why weren't the Jedi able to sense his true identity?" There was no accusation in her voice, merely the desire to understand.

Obi-Wan looked down at their hands. "He used the Dark Side to cloud our senses. Ever since the Battle of Naboo, we could feel the power of the Dark Side growing. The darkness started to close off our connection to the Light and limit our abilities."

Obi-Wan looked up at Padme, a trace of anger in his eyes. "Everything we did played right into Palpatine's hands. He manipulated Anakin from the beginning – preparing the Chosen One to be his apprentice."

"Are there ANY other Jedi left alive?"

"Yoda is alive. As for anyone else…" Obi-Wan shrugged his shoulders in despair. "Only if they managed to escape their clone troopers, as I did."

Padme struggled to get her mind around the scope of this destruction. "I'm so glad Yoda is alive, at least."

"He's gone to confront Palpatine." Obi-Wan looked at Padme solemnly. "Do you know where Anakin is?"

The meaning of the questioned dawned on Padme. "You plan on killing him, don't you?" The words came out harsher than she had intended.

Obi-Wan winced at her tone. He looked out towards where his speeder was parked. "I don't have a choice. The destruction and death he could bring to the galaxy is beyond imagination." He turned back to Padme with agony etched in his features. "If there was any other way…"

"I know. I'm sorry." Padme kissed Obi-Wan's hands. "But will you give me a chance to try and reach him? Maybe we can pull him back to the Light!"

"If anyone could, it would be you. I don't think he would listen to me." Obi-Wan looked away again. "I had my chance."

"What do you mean?" Padme took Obi-Wan's chin in her hand and made him look at her.

"If I would have taken the time to talk with Anakin before I left for Utapau…"

"Obi-Wan, you can't blame yourself for this! For all you know, talking with him might have made things worse!"

Obi-Wan laughed bitterly. "Worse than this?"

"You can't blame yourself for Anakin's choices! He allowed Palpatine to completely distort his views and beliefs. Anakin liked spending time with Palpatine because he told him what he wanted to hear. He stroked Anakin's ego."

"Oh, Padme! How did things go so wrong?"

Padme released Obi-Wan's hands and enveloped him in a hug. "There's still hope. You once told me that everything happens for a reason."

Obi-Wan held Padme tightly, drawing comfort from her. "Yes, I did. But that is hard to remember in the midst of a situation like this. Will you promise to remind me once in a while?"

"I promise."

Obi-Wan drew in the Force and steeled himself for what he had to do. "Where is Anakin?"

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Obi-Wan was careful to mask his Force signature as they approached Mustafar. "Padme, please remember that this isn't truly Anakin anymore. He is dangerous. If I get even the slightest hint that you are in danger, I'm making my presence known."

"I'll count on that." Padme gave Obi-Wan a hug. "But I have to at least try to reach him."

"I pray that you can." Obi-Wan kissed the top of her head.

As the ship landed on the volatile planet's surface, Padme could see Anakin running toward the landing pad. Here goes nothing. She quickly headed down the ramp and met up with her husband.

"Padme, what are you doing here?"

"I had to talk to you. I've heard that everyone in the Jedi Temple is dead! I've also heard rumors that the Emperor's new assistant led the assault." Padme eyed him pointedly.

"What are you saying, Padme?"

"Did you lead the clone troopers into the Temple?" Padme wanted to hear it from his own mouth.

Anakin paused, debating whether or not to be honest. But what was the point of lying? "Yes, the Jedi are traitors."

"How are little children traitors, Anakin?" Padme's stomach turned as she thought of the infant nursery she had visited. "How are babies traitors?"

"They would have grown into Jedi."

Padme recoiled from him. "I can't believe what I'm hearing! How could you do such a thing?"

"I did it for you!"

"WHAT?"

"I'm more powerful now than you can possibly imagine! I can keep you from dying!"

"Is that the line Palpatine sold you?"

"He knows how to stop people from dying and he's going to teach me."

"No one can stop death, not even a Sith!"

Anakin's brow knit in confusion. "How did you know…"

"Don't try and change the subject! How could you kill BABIES, Anakin?"

"I told you, I did it for you!"

Padme found it hard to keep her temper in check. "You did not! You did it for YOU! I thought you knew me well enough to know that I would rather die a thousand deaths than to have innocent children sacrificed for me! If you truly loved me, you would not have done what you did."

"But I do love you, Padme! So much that I was willing to do anything to save you!"

"That isn't love, Anakin." Tears started to slide down Padme's cheeks. "Don't you feel any remorse for the lives you took?"

Anakin's eyes turned even colder. "I did what I had to do."

"And what about our child? What kind of galaxy will it be entering into?"

"Our child will be free! We will be free! Once I've learned how to save you, I could kill the Emperor and we could rule the galaxy together!"

"Do you hear yourself? This isn't my husband talking! Come back to me, Anakin! Come back to the Light! It isn't too late!"

Anakin snorted derisively. "The Light Side is weak! I've tasted true power now!"

Padme back away. "You're going down a road I cannot follow! I will NOT serve the Empire and I certainly will not serve the Dark Side!"

Rage contorted Anakin's face. "The Jedi have turned you against me! You always take their side over mine!"

"That was your problem – you always saw things from a 'me versus them' perspective. The Jedi were never against you!"

"Yes, they were, from the very beginning!"

"No, they weren't! They never would have trained you if that were true. Obi-Wan was never against you. He loved you!"

"It always comes back to Obi-Wan! In all my time with the Jedi, that's all I heard! Obi-Wan, the perfect Jedi. Obi-Wan, the perfect master. I could never live up to him in their eyes!" The fire in Anakin's eyes died down a bit and he smiled. "But now…now I've surpassed him."

"Anakin, please! You're better than this! Turn your back to the Dark Side while you still can!"

Anakin shook his head as he closed the space between him and his wife. "We'll go back to Coruscant together. I'll keep you and our child SAFE."

Padme backed away again. "I will only join Anakin Skywalker, my husband. I will not join a Sith."

"You WILL come with me." Anakin's voice brooked no argument.

"You will not force Padme to join you, Anakin" This distinctly familiar and commanding voice came from the top of the ship's ramp.