Episode 3 Chapter 2

What Dreams May Come

Disclaimer: The characters belong to Joss Wheedon and George Lucas. The overall story belongs to Lucas and Lucas Arts. Certain scenes were pulled from the novelization by Mathew Stover and modified for the purpose of this story.

As always, a great big thank you goes out to my three betas- Fallenstar2, ShadowMaster, and Winterd.

Previously On Revenge of the Witch

"We've reached a decision on your request to be reinstated to the Jedi Order, Buffy," Mace said, interrupting their banter.

"The decision was most difficult, considering the circumstances of your leaving," the hologram of Ki-Adi-Mundi continued. "Not only did you abandon the Order while on a mission for the Republic, but you also allowed your personal feelings to cloud your judgment.

"How do you figure that?" Buffy demanded, her voice suddenly hard.

"You were to be married, Buffy," Master Aayla Secura interjected, not unsympathetically. "You had a child. These things are against the code."

"I wasn't a member of the Order when I did these things," Buffy replied, coolly yet calmly. "I considered all of this before I made my decision. And when I decided that I wanted to spend my life with Jacen, I tendered my resignation. And no," she said, cutting off Mace before he could speak, "this isn't something that I plan to do often. What I had with Jacenit was special. And I thought long and hard about my decision."

"Do you think you would make the same decision again?" Obi-Wan asked. Buffy shook her head.

"No," she said definitively. "There was only one Jacen. Nobody could replace him."

There was a pause as all of the Masters looked to one another. Finally, Mace spoke.

"We've all thought long and hard about this, Buffy. And while some of us were disappointed that you decided to leave the Order in the first place, we could all agree that you respected the Order enough to resign and, by proxy, respect the code. That, coupled with what happened today- we saw holorecordings of what happened in the archives, and witnessed both your restraint in dealing with Darth Traya, as well as your apparent mastery of the Force- we have agreed to welcome you back to the Jedi Order."

Buffy sighed in relief. Guess I won't be bunking with Padmé. She thought wryly. But before she could thank her former Master, his next words brought her up sort.

Mace gestured to the empty chair next to Obi-Wan. "Take your seat, Master Skywalker."

Buffy blinked. Then what her former Master said sunk in, and she began to shake her head in denial.

"Whoa - wait, what? Are you guys nuts? Taking me back is one thing - promoting me is another."

"We are at war, Buffy," Mace said simply. "You have fought wars in the past, against foes as dark as this mysterious Dark Lord of the Sith. Your mastery over the Force has grown strong. We need your experience on this Council."

"I'm not Council material!" Buffy retorted. "Hell, the last Council I worked for fired me!" Well, this was sort of half-true…

"I thought you quit?" Obi-Wan retorted, amusedly. His slight smirk disappeared as she turned her wrath upon him.

"That's not the point! I'm not management material!"

"Another reason, there is," Yoda interrupted, looking at the Slayer. "Your brother."

"Anakin?"

"Dark and troubled, his thoughts have been of late. And keen has been Chancellor Palpatine's interest in him."

Buffy's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"The Chancellor has always had an interest in Anakin's development, Buffy. You know that," Mace replied. "But as of late, he has increasingly pushed for Anakin to be given more responsibilities, even be put in total command of his own legion. That, coupled with his increasing push to gain total control over the government - there are rumors now that he's looking to pass another amendment to give him or a representative of him a seat on this Council."

"Why we need you on this Council, that is," Yoda concluded. "To watch over your brother and to keep in check the Chancellor."

Buffy looked around helplessly at the other Masters, looking for a way out. Seeing nothing but bemusement at her slightly panicked expression, she sighed in defeat and took the proffered seat next to Obi-Wan.

Anakin lurched upright in bed, gasping, staring blindly into alien darkness.

How she had screamed for him—how she had begged for him, how her strength had failed on that alien table… How at the last she could only whimper, Anakin, I'm sorry. I love you. I love you—thundered inside his head, the only sounds he heard was the jackhammer-like pounding of his heart.

Only a few hours ago, Padmé had made him the happiest man in the galaxy when she told him in the shadows of the Senate that she was pregnant. He was going to be a father. He, who had never known his own father, would soon be helping his wife raise their first child.

How quickly those happy feelings could turn to terror.

His human hand grasped the silken sheets gathered round his waist. After a few moments, he finally he remembered where he was.

He half-turned and glanced at the spot on the bed next to him, feeling the body next to him. With the slow rise and fall of her chest, she was fast asleep. He reached out with his hand, hovering over her eyes with their half-moon lashes framing those delicate orbs. She was smiling slightly, with that glorious hair fanning across the pillows. He felt his own lips twist into a bittersweet smile and felt his stomach soar for a moment before the grief of what he had just seen returned to him. He turned away from her, buried his face in his hands and sobbed.

The tears that ran between his fingers then were tears of gratitude.

She was alive and she was with him.

In silence so deep he could hear the whirring of the electro-drivers in his mechanical hand, he disentangled himself from the sheets and got up.

Through the closet, a long curving sweep of stairs led to the veranda that overlooked Padmé's private landing deck. Leaning on the night-chilled rail, Anakin stared out upon the endless nightscape of Coruscant. Hours after the battle had ended parts of the city were still burning.

Coruscant at night had always been an endless galaxy of light, shining from trillions of windows in billions of buildings that reached kilometers into the sky, with navigation lights and advertising and the infinite streams of speeders' running lights coursing the rivers of traffic lanes overhead. But tonight, local power outages had swallowed ragged swaths of the city into vast nebulae of darkness, broken only by the malignant red-dwarf glares of innumerable fires.

Anakin didn't know how long he stood there, staring. The city looked like he felt. Damaged. Broken in battle.

Stained with darkness.

Even as part of his mind dwelled on his dream, another part thought of what he had done that day. He had defeated Count Dooku, true. But in doing so, he had found himself giving in to the dark urges once again. It was something he had found easier to do over the past few years, especially when he had thought Buffy to be dead. It was a rush, the power he felt. But afterwards, all he could feel was the shame of his weakness.

And then Buffy came back. And he found a whole new reason to feel shame.

She moved more quietly than the smoky breeze, but he felt her approach.

She took a place beside him at the railing and laid her soft human hand along the back of his hard mechanical one. And she simply stood with him, staring silently out across the city that had become her second home. Waiting patiently for him to tell her what was wrong and trusting that he would.

He could feel her patience and her trust. He was so grateful for both that tears welled once more. He had to blink out at the burning night and blink again to keep those fresh tears from spilling over onto his cheeks. He put his flesh hand on top of hers and held it gently until he could let himself speak. "It was a dream," he said finally.

"Bad?" she asked. Anakin nodded.

"It was—like the ones I used to have." He couldn't look at her. "About my mother."

Padmè nodded slowly, accepting his explanation. "And?"

"And—" He looked down at her small, slim fingers, and he slipped his between them, clasping their two hands into a knot of prayer. "It was about you."

Now she turned aside, leaning once more upon the rail and star­ing out into the night. In the slowly pulsing rose-glow of the distant fires she was more beautiful than he had ever seen her. "All right," she said softly. "It was about me."

When Anakin could finally make himself tell her, his voice was raw and hoarse as though he'd been shouting all day. "It was... about you dying," he said. "I couldn't stand it. I can't stand it." He couldn't look at her. He looked at the city, at the deck, at the stars and he found no place he could bear to see. All he could do was close his eyes. "You're going to die in childbirth."

Padmè blinked. "Oh," was all she said.

She had only a few months left to live. They had only a few months left to love each other. She would never see their child. After a moment, the touch of her hand to his cheek brought his eyes open again, and he found her gazing up at him calmly. "And the baby?"

He shook his head. "I don't know."

She nodded and pulled away, drifting toward one of the ve­randa chairs. She lowered herself into it and stared down at her hands, clasped together in her lap. He couldn't take it. He couldn't watch her be calm and ac­cepting about her own death. He came to her side and knelt.

"It won't happen, Padmé. I won't let it. I've done it before- I helped stop my mother from dying. I swear to you - this dream will not become real."

She nodded. "I didn't think it would."

He blinked. "You didn't?"

"This is Coruscant, Ani, not Tatooine. Women don't die in childbirth on Coruscant—not even the people in the lower levels. And I have a top-flight medical droid, who assures me I am in perfect health. Your dream must have been... some kind of metaphor or something."

"I—my dreams are literal, Padmé. I wouldn't know a metaphor if it bit me. And I couldn't see the place you were in you might not even be on Coruscant..."

She looked away. "I had been thinking—about going some­where... somewhere else. Having the baby in secret to protect you. So you can stay in the Order."

"I don't want to stay in the Order!" He took her face between his palms so that she had to look into his eyes, so that she had to see how much he meant every word he said. "Don't pro­tect me. I don't need it. We have to start thinking, right now, about how we can protect you. Because all I want is for us to be together."

"And we will be," she said. "But there must be more to your dream than death in childbirth. That doesn't make any sense."

"I know. But I can't begin to guess what it might be. It's too—I can't even think about it, Padmé. I'll go crazy. What are we going to do?"

She kissed the palm of his hand of flesh. "We're going to do what you told me, when I asked you the same question this after­noon. We're going to be happy together."

"But we—we can't just... wait. I can't. I have to do some­thing."

"Of course you do." She smiled fondly. "That's who you are. That's what being a hero is. What about Obi-Wan? Or Buffy?"

He frowned. "What about them?"

"You told me once that he is as wise as Yoda and as powerful as Mace Windu. And Buffy is your sister - she would help you no matter what. Couldn't they help us?"

"No." Anakin's chest clenched like a fist squeezing his heart. "I can't—I'd have to tell them"

"Obi-Wan's your best friend, Ani. He must suspect already."

"It's one thing to have him suspect. It's something else to shove it in his face. He's still on the Council. He'd have to report me. And Buffy..." his voice trailed off for a moment, before he found the strength to carry on. "Buffy went through the same thing we are going through, with one difference - she chose to leave the Order beforehand. What would she think of me, hiding in all of this secrecy? And…"

"And what? Is there something you haven't told me?"

He turned away. "I'm not sure they're on my side."

"Your side? Anakin, what are you saying?"

"They're on the Jedi Council, Padmé. I know my name has come up for Mastery—I'm more powerful than any Jedi Master alive. But someone is blocking me. Obi-Wan could tell me who, and why... but he doesn't. I'm not sure he even stands up for me with them. And now my sister has been appointed to the Council…"

"Jealousy doesn't become you, Anakin." Padmé reprimanded softly. "Remember- she has been a Jedi Knight longer than you. As for Obi-Wan blocking you- I just can't believe that."

"It has nothing to do with believing," he murmured, his tone soft and bitter. "It's the truth."

"There must be some reason, then. Anakin, Obi-Wan's your best friend, your mentor. He loves you."

"Maybe he does. But I don't think he trusts me." His eyes went as bleak as the empty night. "And I'm not sure we can trust him."

"Anakin!" She clutched at his arm. "What would make you say that?"

"None of them trust me, Padmé. None of them. You know what I feel, when they look at me?"

"Anakin—"

He turned to her, and everything in him ached. He wanted to cry and he wanted to rage and he wanted to make his rage a weapon that would cut himself free forever. "Fear," he said. "I feel their fear. And for nothing?"

He could show them something, though. He could show them a reason for their fear. He could show them what he'd discovered within himself in the General's Quarters on Invisible Hand. What he had discovered in that ruined temple on Yavin IV.

Something of it must have risen on his face, because he saw a flicker of doubt shadow her eyes, just for a second, just a flash, but still it burned into him like a lightsaber and he shuddered. His shudder turned into a shiver that became shaking, and he gathered her to his chest and buried his face in her hair, and the strong sweet warmth of her cooled him. Just enough.

"Padmé," he murmured, "Oh, Padmé, I'm so sorry. Forget I said anything. None of that matters now. I'll be gone from the Order soon—because I will not let you go away to have our baby in some alien place. I will not let you face my dream alone. I will be there for you, Padmé. Always. No matter what."

"I know it, Ani. I know." She pulled gently away and looked up at him. Tears sparkled like red gems in the firelight. "Come upstairs, Anakin," she said. "The night's getting cold. Come up to our bed."

"All right. All right." He found that he could breathe again, and his shaking had stilled. "Just—" He put his arm around her shoulders so that he didn't have to meet her eyes. "Just don't say anything to Obi-Wan or Buffy, all right?"

Padmé sighed, then nodded. "All right. I won't say anything."

Buffy and Obi-Wan sat beside Mace Windu while they watched Yoda scan the report. Here in Yoda's simple living space within the Jedi Temple, every softly curving pod chair and knurled organi­form table hummed with gentle, comforting power: the same warm strength that Obi-Wan remembered enfolding him even as an infant. These chambers had been Yoda's home for more than eight hundred years. Everything within them echoed with the harmonic resonance of Yoda's calm wisdom, tuned through cen­turies of his touch. To sit within Yoda's chambers was to inhale serenity; to Obi-Wan, this was a great gift in these troubled times.

But when Yoda looked at them through the translucent shimmer of the holoprojected report on the contents of the lat­est amendment to the Security Act, his eyes were anything but calm: they had gone narrow and cold, and his ears had flattened back along his skull.

"This report—from where does it come?"

"The Jedi still have friends in the Senate," Mace Windu replied in his grim monotone, "for now."

"When presented this amendment is, passed it will be?"

Mace nodded. "My source expects passage by acclamation. Overwhelming passage. Perhaps as early as this afternoon."

"The Chancellor's goal in this—unclear to me it is," Yoda said slowly. "Thoug nominally in command of the Council, the Senate may place him, the Jedi he cannot control. Moral, our au­thority has always been; much more than merely legal. Simply follow orders, Jedi do not!"

"I don't think he intends to control the Jedi," Mace said. "By placing the Jedi Council under the control of the Office of the Supreme Chancellor, this amendment will give him the con­stitutional authority to disband the Order itself."

"Surely you cannot believe this is his intention."

"His intention?" Buffy said darkly. "Maybe not. But his in­tentions are irrelevant; all that matters now is the intent of the Sith Lord who has the government in his grip. And the Order may be all that stands between him and galactic domina­tion. What do you think he will do?"

"Authority to disband the Jedi, the Senate would never grant," Yoda replied, blinking at her.

"The Senate will vote to grant exactly that. This afternoon."

"The implications of this, they must not comprehend!"

"It no longer matters what they comprehend," Mace said.

"They know where the power is," Buffy noted darkly.

"But even disbanded, even without legal authority, still Jedi we would be," Yoda said, the pride evident in his voice. "Jedi Knights served the Force long before there was a Galactic Republic, and serve it we will when this Republic is but dust."

"Yeah, and as soon as he disbands the Order, what's to stop him from declaring the Jedi to be enemies of the state?" Buffy mused. "He could order the execution of every Jedi alive and it would be within his rights."

"Master Yoda, that day may be coming sooner than any of us think. That day may be today." Mace shot a frustrated look at Obi-Wan, who picked up his cue smoothly.

"We don't know what the Sith Lord's plans may be," Obi-Wan said, "but we can be certain that Palpatine is not to be trusted. Not anymore. This draft resolution is not the product of some overzealous Senator. We may be sure Palpatine wrote it himself and passed it along to someone he controls—to make it-look like the Senate is once more 'forcing him to reluctantly ac­cept extra powers in the name of security.' We are afraid that they will continue to do so until one day he's 'forced to reluctantly ac­cept' dictatorship for life!"

"And I'm sure that's in everyone's best interest," Buffy mumbled under her breath.

"I am convinced this is the next step in a plot aimed directly at the heart of the Jedi," Mace said. "This is a move toward our de­struction. The dark side of the Force surrounds the Chancellor."

Obi-Wan added, "As it has surrounded and cloaked the Sep­aratists since even before the war began. If the Chancellor is being influenced through the dark side, this whole war may have been, from the beginning, a plot by the Sith to destroy the Jedi Order."

"Speculation!" Yoda thumped the floor with his gimer stick, making his hoverchair bob gently. "On theories such as these we cannot rely. Proof' we need. Proof!"

"Proof may be a luxury we cannot afford." A dangerous light had entered Mace Windu's eyes. "We must be ready to act!"

"Act?" Obi-Wan asked mildly.

"He cannot be allowed to move against the Order. He can­not be allowed to prolong the war needlessly. Too many Jedi have died already. He is dismantling the Republic itself! I have seen life outside the Republic; so have you, Obi-Wan. Slavery. Torture. Endless war." Mace's face darkened with the same distant, haunted shadow Obi-Wan had seen him wear the day before. "I have seen it in Nar Shaddaa, and I saw it on Haruun Kal. I saw what it did to Depa, and to Sora Bulq. Whatever its flaws, the Republic is our sole hope for justice and for peace. It is our only defense against the dark. Palpatine may be about to do what the Separatists can­not: bring down the Republic. If he tries, he must be removed from office."

"Removed?" Obi-Wan said. "You mean, arrested?"

"To hell with arrested. Let's kill the old bastard and be done with it." Buffy said, ignoring the glares the other three Masters sent her way.

Yoda shook his head. "To a dark place, this line of thought will lead us. Great care, we must take."

"The Republic is civilization. It's the only one we have." Mace looked deeply into Yoda's eyes and into Obi-Wan's. Obi-Wan could feel the heat in the Korun Master's gaze. "We must be prepared for radical action. It is our duty."

"But," Obi-Wan protested numbly, "you're talking about treason..."

"I'm not afraid of words, Obi-Wan! If it's treason, then so be it. I would do this right now, if I had the Council's support. The real treason," Mace said, "would be failure to act!"

"One man's treason is another's justice," Buffy noted mildly.

"Such an act, destroy the Jedi Order it could," Yoda said. "Lost the trust of the public, we have already—"

"No disrespect, Master Yoda," Mace interrupted, "but that's a politician's argument. We can't let public opinion stop us from doing what's right.''

Buffy sighed. "And here is where I reluctantly have to agree with Master Yoda, Master Windu," Buffy said, reluctance obvious in her voice. "Public opinion is key, especially if we are to survive. If the Order is so vilified in the publics eyes, if Palpatine gives the order to have us killed the public would not question the order. They will believe us to be a threat to everything they live for!"

"And convinced it is right, I am not," Yoda said severely. "Work­ing behind the scenes we should be, to uncover Lord Sidious! To move against Palpatine while the Sith still exist—this may be part of the Sith plan itself, to turn the Senate and the public against the Jedi! So, like Buffy said, we are not only disbanded, but outlawed."

Mace was half out of his pod. "To wait gives the Sith the ad­vantage—"

"Have the advantage already, they do!" Yoda jabbed at him with his gimer stick. "Increase their advantage we will, if in haste we act!"

"Masters, Masters, please," Obi-Wan said. He looked from one to the other and inclined his head respectfully. "Perhaps there is a middle way."

"Ah, of course: Kenobi the Negotiator." Mace Windu settled back into his seating pod. "I should have guessed. That is why you asked for this meeting, isn't it? To mediate our differences? If you can..."

"So sure of your skills you are?" Yoda folded his fists around the head of his stick. "Easy to negotiate, this matter is not!"

"I'll go anyway you want, Ben," Buffy said, leaning back in her chair and folding her hands behind her head. "Though, as always, I'm more open to the more violent solutions. I'm not much diplomacy-girl."

Obi-Wan sighed, then continued. "It seems to me," he said care­fully, "that Palpatine himself has given us an opening. He has said—both to you, Master Windu, and in the HoloNet address he gave following his rescue—that General Grievous is the true obstacle to peace. Let us forget about the rest of the Separatist leadership, for now. Let Nute Gunray and San Hill and the rest run wherever they like, while we put every available Jedi and all of our agents—the whole of Republic Intelligence, if we can—to work on locating Grievous himself. This will force the hand of the Sith Lord. He will know that Grievous cannot elude our full efforts for long, once we devote ourselves exclusively to his cap­ture. It will draw Sidious out; he will have to make some sort of move, if he wishes the war to continue."

"If?" Mace asked calmly. "The war has been a Sith operation from the beginning, with Dooku on one side and Sidious on the other— it has always been a plot aimed at us. At the Jedi. To bleed us dry of our youngest and best. To make us into something we were never intended to be."

"Seen glimpses of this truth, we all have," Yoda said sadly. "Our arrogance it is, which has stopped us from fully opening our eyes."

"Until now," Obi-Wan put in gently. "We understand now the goal of the Sith Lord, we know his tactics, and we know where to look for him. His actions will reveal him. He cannot es­cape us. He will not escape us."

Yoda and Mace frowned at each other for one long moment, then both of them turned to Obi-Wan and inclined their heads in mirrors of his respectful bow.

"Seen to the heart of the matter, young Kenobi has."

Mace nodded. "Yoda and I will remain on Coruscant, monitoring Palpatine's advisers and lackeys. We will move against Sidious the instant he is revealed. But who will capture Grievous? I have fought him blade-to-blade. He is more than a match for most Jedi."

"Then maybe you shouldn't send a Jedi after him," Buffy said slowly, a smile creeping across her face. "Instead, maybe you should send a Slayer…"

The next morning, a troubled Jedi found himself aimlessly walking the halls of the ancient Jedi Temple. Anakin hadn't gotten much rest last night, and had arrived much later than he had intended, missing the morning briefing. Instead of hurrying to find Obi-Wan, as he knew he should, he found himself wandering about, attempting to clear his mind and calm his spirit.

He met with very little success for either.

After about an hour, he found himself standing at the door to Master Yoda's quarters. Many a student had found themselves in the ancient Jedi's quarters at one time or another, seeking guidance from the wizened Master. Anakin never had, though - Yoda's initial hesitance to bring him and his sister into the Order had not fully mellowed over the years, especially in his case. He had always felt that Yoda never fully trusted him, maybe even actively disliked him.

And yet, on this troubled day, he found himself being welcomed into Yoda's private chambers by the Master himself, and ushered over to one of the rounded pod seats. He sat quietly and the two meditated together for a time.

"Premoni­tions... premonitions..." Yoda spoke after a time. "Deep questions they are. Sense the fu­ture, once all Jedi could; now few alone have this skill. Visions... gifts from the Force, and curses. Signposts and snares. These vi­sions of yours..."

"They are of pain …of suffering." Anakin said, then hesitantly added, "and death."

"In these troubled times, no surprise this is," Yoda replied. "Yourself you see, or someone you know? Someone close to you?"

"Yes," Anakin had replied quietly, hoping Yoda would think he was talking about Obi-Wan.

"The fear of loss is a path to the dark side, young one," Yoda said gently. "Rejoice for those who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not."

"I won't let my visions come true, Master. I won't,"Anakin said fiercely. "I prevented the vision of my mother's death…" He didn't mention the price of that victory, either.

"But had help, you did," Yoda replied calmly. "And not honest help, it was. Remember - fluid, the future is. Always in motion. And by taking action, bring about his vision, a Jedi can!"

Anakin sighed in frustration, then took a deep breath. "What must I do, Master?"

"What you fear to lose, train yourself to release," Yoda replied. "Let go of fear and loss cannot harm you."

"Yes, Master," Anakin replied, hiding his disappointment in what little the Jedi Master had to offer him. Silently, the two slipped back into meditation.

A short time later, Anakin found himself wandering again through the temple, this time in search of his Master. All the while, his thoughts were on how to stop his vision from coming to pass. Surely there must be a way…

His first thought, of course, was to go to his sister as Padmé had suggested. But again he thought of what she had just been through - she been strong enough to give up everything for her love, unlike him. And then she had lost them all. He wasn't sure what he was more afraid of - the disappointment she would feel in him or the pain he would cause her by essentially making her re-live that horrible experience. He refused to cause her any more heartbreak. He had seen her face the moment she realized that she had lost everything she believed she earned. Anakin believed that she had earned this.

His thoughts then turned to the Jedi Archives, and its vast library that encompassed the Order's entire twenty-five millennia of existence: everything from the widest-ranging cosmographical sur­veys to the intimate journals of a billion Jedi Knights. It was there Anakin hoped to find everything that was known about prophetic dreams—and everything that was known about pre­venting these prophecies from coming to pass.

The only problem with that plan was that the deepest secrets of the greatest Masters of the Force were stored in restricted holocrons; and access to those holocrons was denied to all but Jedi Masters.

And he couldn't exactly explain to the archives Master why he wanted them, so he couldn't touch them.

But Obi-Wan could. As a Master, and his friend, Anakin knew he would help him- if only he could find the right way to ask.

"You missed the report on the Outer Rim sieges," Obi-Wan greeted as Anakin entered the briefing room.

"I—was held up," Anakin said. "I have no excuse."

"In short, they are going very well," Obi-Wan replied. "But that isn't the big news.."

Anakin's brow furrowed. "What is 'the big news'?"

"Chancellor Palpatine wants to see you."

It took a few moments for the words to register in his sleep-deprived brain "Is Palpatine here?" Anakin asked. "Has something happened?"

"Quite the opposite," Obi-Wan said. "That shuttle did not bring the Chancellor. It is waiting to bring you to him."

"Waiting? For me?" Anakin frowned. "But—my beacon hasn't gone off. If the Council wanted me, why didn't they—"

"The Council," Obi-Wan said, "has not been consulted."

"I don't understand."

"Nor do I," Obi-Wan replied quietly. "They simply arrived some time ago. When the deck-duty Padawans questioned them, they said the Chan­cellor has requested your presence."

"Why wouldn't he go through the Council?"

"Perhaps he has some reason to believe," Obi-Wan said care­fully, "that the Council might have resisted sending you. Perhaps he did not wish to reveal his reason for this summons. Relations between the Council and the Chancellor are... stressed."

Anakin shifted uneasily, a queasy feeling settling in his stomach. "Obi-Wan, what's going on? Something's wrong, isn't it? You know something, I can tell."

Obi-Wan sighed. "And that's why I am out here, Anakin. So I can talk to you. Privately. Not as a member of the Jedi Council—in fact, if the Council were to find out about this conversation... well, let's say, I'd rather they didn't."

"What conversation? I still don't know what's going on!"

"None of us does. Not really." Obi-Wan put a hand on Anakin's shoulder and frowned deeply into his eyes. "Anakin, you know I am your friend."

"Of course you are—"

"No. No of courses, Anakin. Nothing is of course anymore. I am your friend, and as your friend, I am asking you: be wary of Palpatine."

"What do you mean?"

"I know you are his friend. I am concerned that he may not be yours. Be careful of him, Anakin. And be careful of your own feelings."

"Careful? Don't you mean, mindful?"

Obi-Wan's frown deepened. "No. I don't. The Force grows ever darker around us, and we are all affected by it, even as we affect it. This is a dangerous time to be a Jedi. Please, Anakin— please be careful"

Anakin tried for his old rakish smile. "You worry too much."

"I have to—"

"—because I don't worry at all, right?" Anakin finished for him.

Obi-Wan's frown softened towards a smile. "Actually, I was going to say that I have to worry; because if you get hurt your sister will come after me first."

Anakin smiled, then turned and walked towards the hanger. He stopped for a moment and called back to his Master, "If you see Buffy before me, tell her I said congratulations on her promotion."

Obi-Wan smiled at his former Padawan. "I'll be sure to tell her. Just be careful."

Anakin turned around briefly, walking backwards for a few steps as he smirked at Obi-Wan. "Hey. It's me!" he quipped, spinning back around and heading into the hanger and to the waiting shuttle. Obi-Wan sighed.

"I know," he said to no one in particular. "And that's what worries me."

TBC…

I GOT A YAHOO GROUP! Check my profile for the link (My Homepage). I set it up so I approve everyone who joins, but only to keep out Spam. I'll approve everyone, no worries.

A/N: Holy Hannah! Nearly 6000 words! I was going to continue this chapter, but I decided to cut it off a little early. Therefore, we got a chapter that mostly starts setting things up for the last few chapters.

From here until around Mustafar, you will be seeing several scenes that are pretty much directly from the movie/book. I don't do this because I want to (hell, these scenes were the bane of my existence in the last two), I do this because these scenes are necessary for the plot. So if you see things that are very familiar, now you know why. However, I do promise that around Mustafar, and beyond, this story takes a sharp left into near-total originality.

And finally, some review responses. If I never responded to your personally, take hart- work has been kicking my ass. The good news is this- I have pre-written the next two chapters, and am currently working on Chapter 5, which will go indepth into Buffy's time on Corellia .

And so, a word to Wise:

Yes, I do skip around a lot. Yes, I do skip large chunks of character development. Yes, a lot of things happen off-screen. And while I'll take my share of the blame, for the most part you can thank George Lucas. You see, ten years passed between Episode 1 and 2, and an additional 3 years passed between 2 and 3. Nearly 20 years passes between 3 and 4. In deciding to stick to that structure, I've left out a lot of details- Buffy and Jacen getting together being just one of those things.

I am a very impatient author, I admit. I have key scenes in mind, and I want to get to them as soon as possible. In doing that, I tend to rush through things, and some things get left out. Now, sometime in the future, I hope to write a one or two chapter story detailing what happened to Buffy on Corellia. Additionally, what happens in the 'gap' between 3 and 4 will be explored, I promise. But that's a ways off, because I'm also working on two other stories.

Again, I want to thank all of my reviewers. I do appreciate your comments (even the negative ones- one doesn't learn without being criticized). But Wise, just one thing- while I appreciate your comments, I didn't appreciate your tone. You don't like how I'm writing this, please feel free to write your own story. I'd be happy to read and review it.