Master Yoda submerged his consciousness deeper into his Force meditation. While Anakin and Obi-Wan searched for the Sith Lord, the diminutive Jedi searched for the means to end his reign of darkness.
The elder Jedi Master had been most disturbed when it was revealed that the Sith Lord was behind the sinister events that had been happening around them. The Jedi Master had heard echoes in the Force from fallen Jedi of the past, but had never realized it was possible for any being to manipulate the present from beyond the grave. As he had done for all of his nine hundred years, the elder Jedi had learned something new about the Force. Unfortunately, he now needed a solution to this new problem before things became much worse.
During his meditation, Yoda silently asked the Force to answer the riddle of how to destroy the Sith. However, no answers were revealed. As a result, the Jedi Master focused his concentration deeper into the Force before repeating his question. After fifty tries of this, Yoda considered ending his meditation and conducting more research of the ancient Jedi holocrons. However, before the Jedi Master could act on this thought, a bright flicker in the Force caught his attention.
Yoda directed his attention to the bright flicker. It was not anything substantial, but a bright piece of the Force. Yoda also noticed that an equal darker portion of the Force was attached to it. The Jedi Master found this to be a curious anomaly and decided to ask his question one more time. As the Jedi finished his silent query a series of bright flickers flashed through the Force, illuminating the mystical energy field. Next to each bright spot was an equal sized dark spot. Another question came to Yoda in response, but before he could voice it, the voices of several long dead Jedi spoke, "Bring balance to the Force."
In response, Master Yoda was startled out of his meditation and his eyes snapped open in the small chamber he was in. His face was turned towards a nearby window that provided a view of the great expanse of the Coruscant cityscape. However, the Jedi's attention was not focused on goings on of the city planet. Instead, the Jedi was pondering what he had just discovered.
Within the Force, Master Yoda had seen both light and dark aspects. With his knowledge of Jedi and Sith, the Jedi Master assumed that these were the good and evil or Jedi and Sith Force presences of those that had become one with the Force. The Jedi had also noticed that for every dark portion of the Force, there was an equal sized light portion connected to it. Therefore, the Force was in balance of light and dark Force energy. With this piece of logic rationalized, Master Yoda remained silent and closed his eyes as he considered the rest. The Jedi did not reenter his meditation, but kept his eyes closed to remain focused on his current thoughts.
Suddenly Yoda opened his eyes again as a realization occurred to him. Before Senator Amidala was kidnapped, he had sensed an ever-growing dark presence in the Force, which had now been identified as Sidious. Something in the Force must have allowed the Sith Lord to regroup its Force presence to further wreak havoc on the land of the living. In confirmation of this thought, Yoda heard, "Balance," echo through the Force.
The diminutive Jedi nodded in response, the answer to his question was balance. All the Force presences Master Yoda had seen in his meditation had been balanced. There was an equal amount of light and dark energy. The light side suppressed the dark side of the Force. The Jedi Master realized that this meant that the only rational explanation for the Sith Lord's return was a Force imbalance. When Anakin had destroyed his former Master all months ago, there was not a strong enough light side presence to counter the Sith's. As a result, the Sith Lord had been able to return.
Repeating his logic several times, Master Yoda felt this was the best plausible explanation for everything that had happened over the last few months. However, now the diminutive Jedi needed to consider how to bring the Force back into balance.
Anakin and Obi-Wan cloaked themselves with the Force as they entered the Senate building. They did not want to alert the Sith Lord they were aware of him and were on his trail. As they ran to a nearby stairwell towards the basement, Obi-Wan made a hurried transmission to Master Yoda.
"Master, we have found the Sith Lord. He is in the Senate building." Obi-Wan stated.
"Certain are you?" Master Yoda asked, the Force had given him a cryptic answer in how to defeat the Sith Lord and the diminutive Jedi was still trying to decipher it.
"Yes Master. We felt him. We are on our way to face him." Obi-Wan replied.
"Careful you must be." Yoda warned. "Dangerous the Sith is. Wait for me and join you, I will."
"No! Padmé is in danger now." Anakin called back as he heard Master Yoda's words. He was not about to waste any more time in rescuing his beloved wife.
"Wait Anakin." Obi-Wan stated as he slowed his pace and stalled his pursuit. He gestured for the younger Jedi to pause for a moment as well. "Master, have you found a way to defeat the Sith?" Obi-Wan directed his attention back to the comlink in his hand.
"An answer, my meditation has revealed. Balance the Force we must."
"But how?" Anakin asked with exasperation and he rolled his eyes in a show of his frustration.
"Unsure, but tread carefully we should or all will be lost." Master Yoda responded calmly. "Join you soon, I will." Then without any further delay, Master Yoda ended the transmission to join up with the two other Jedi.
"I do not have time for this!" Anakin stated with irritation.
"Anakin, we should not rush into this. Master Yoda is right this is dangerous. You killed the Sith Lord once, yet he has returned, we must act carefully."
"Fine, you can wait here for Master Yoda, I am going to find Padmé." Anakin stated firmly before he turned towards the stairwell and disappeared down it.
"Anakin, wait!" Obi-Wan called out, but he knew it was no use. Anakin had set his mind to something and it was useless to dissuade him. Obi-Wan knew what was driving Anakin's actions and did not blame his friend for his rash behavior. The older Jedi only hoped that Anakin would be all right before he and Yoda joined him. With a prayer, Obi-Wan stated, "May the Force be with you," to the stairwell Anakin had just disappeared into.
Once Anakin had reached the basement, it had not taken him long to locate the hidden passageway to Sidious' hidden catacombs. A series of tiles could be lifted from the floor with the Force to reveal the entrance. The Sith Lord had used a similar hiding system for the catacombs below the Imperial Palace. As Anakin carefully crept into the secret passage, he continued to silently berate himself for not thinking about this sooner. He should have known his former master had not shared all of his secrets with him and should have thought of this sooner. He could have found Padmé months ago had he considered this.
Anakin continued his argument with himself as he stealthily ran down the semi dark corridor. There were some lights recessed into the ceiling to provide enough light to see, but not enough to fully illuminate the path he was following. He had left the entrance to the passage open for Masters Yoda and Kenobi. Part of Anakin knew that his actions were rash and he probably should have waited for the two Jedi, but Padmé had been missing for far too long for that rational argument to hold much weight with him. With the lives of his wife and unborn child on the line, Anakin was willing to take some risk in order to save them. With this logic, Anakin exonerated himself and called upon the Force to guide his steps and warn him of any possible dangers.
After a long stretch, the corridor Anakin was traveling in turned in several directions. Some led to dead ends, but with the Force as his guide, the Jedi Knight was able to avoid them. As Anakin moved forward, his heart rate accelerated from both his sprint and the anticipation that he was nearing his goal. He almost yelled in jubilation when he noticed a bright light emanating from an open room. However, he was able to maintain control of himself to prevent detection from the Sith Lord
With a burst of energy, Anakin sprinted into the room only to find it vacant. The only thing in the dreary room was a small cot that was pushed off to one side. Three doors, one to his left, right, and ahead of him were closed, and Anakin was unsure of which one to choose. As a result, Anakin decided to try all the doors until one looked promising. He first started with the door to his right. Inside Anakin found a small fresher to meet the needs of the room's occupant.
Anakin then tried the door that had originally been ahead of him. This room led to a long winding hallway similar to the one he had entered from. Anakin considered taking this hallway, but something told him he should try to other door first. Praying that his instincts were correct, Anakin opened the final door to find a brightly lit room. The room resembled a sterile medical room and Anakin decided to take a chance and step inside.
"Padmé!" Anakin shouted, when he saw his very pregnant wife lying across a medical table to one side of the room. He let his guard drop at the sight of his wife, but there was no one else in the room except her and a couple medical droids who seemed oblivious to his presence.
"Anakin!" Padmé called back at the sound of her husband's voice. She tried to sit up, but another of her contractions hit at the same time. Wincing in pain, Padmé slumped backwards. Her breathing came out in gasps as her contraction peaked.
"Angel, are you all right?" Anakin asked as he approached his wife and brushed a tendril of hair away from her face. A look of concern crossed his features as he took in Padmé's appearance. She looked tired and a light sheen of sweat had formed across her forehead. He rested his hand across her expanded abdomen and marveled at the movement he felt. His child would arrive today and feelings of pride, worry, and love filled his heart at that thought. Anakin was relieved that Padmé was safe, but he knew he needed to get her to safety before his child was born. He could not let Sidious harm them.
"Yes, Sidious…" Padmé began. She was overjoyed to see her husband, but she needed to warn him about the Sith Lord. However, before she could finish, Anakin interrupted her by placing one of his fingers to her lips.
"Shh, I will get you out of here and then I will deal with the Sith Lord." Anakin stated as he tenderly brushed the back of his hand down her face. His eyes shone with love as he looked down at Padmé. No matter what state she was in, Padmé always seemed to light up Anakin's life and nothing seemed to change in their time apart.
"Anakin…" Padmé began again. She was glad to see her husband, but he was becoming distracted by the sight of her and was not focusing on the issue at hand. The Sith Lord was dangerous and Anakin needed to be on his guard.
"I missed you." Anakin replied before Padmé could voice her concern. He then firmly pressed his lips to hers, reacquainting them from their months of separation. "I thought I lost you." He whispered as he slowly pulled back from the kiss. Nothing else seemed to matter at the moment now that he had found her. He only wished that he had found her sooner and could have been with her during her entire pregnancy. However, he was glad that he did not miss the birth of his child.
"Anakin please, Sidious…" Padmé could not finish her plea before Anakin spoke again.
"I will deal with him later. He will pay for this." The anger in Anakin's voice was evident. "Now, I need to get you out of here. This is no place for the birth of my daughter."
"Son…" Padmé corrected before wincing again as another contraction hit.
"Shh, we shall soon see." Anakin stated as he did his best to help Padmé deal with the contraction. He was not sure what to do, but he did his best to be comforting.
Once Padmé's contraction started to end, Anakin began to gather her in his arms, but before he could lift her from the medical table, Padmé shouted, "Anakin!" and a familiar snap hiss was heard behind him.
A crimson glow shone across Padmé's terrified face as Sidious spoke through the voice of Supreme Chancellor Bail Organa, "Actually my treacherous Apprentice, both you and your wife are incorrect. It is twins. A boy and a girl."
