Episode 3 Chapter 6

Confrontations

Anakin sighed as he entered Padmé's apartment. It had been a very trying day and he was still trying to wrap his head around what the Chancellor had told him at the opera. As he walked into the bedroom, Padmé noticed his discomfort.

"Ani, what's wrong?" she asked, rising from the bed and moving behind her husband. She slid her arms around his waist as he shrugged off his heavy robes. "What's troubling you?"

"The Chancellor's men have found General Grievous. Tomorrow, I'll inform the Council."

"That's wonderful!" Padmé exclaimed. "With Grievous defeated, the war will be over."

"And we can finally be together," Anakin finished, smiling slightly as he turned in his wife's arms and planted a gentle kiss on her lips. Padmé noticed his still distant expression and frowned.

"But you're still troubled," she said. "Ani…"

"It's nothing," Anakin assured her. "I just have a lot on my mind right now. Let's go to bed, Padmé." He cut her off before she could press further. "The best thing for me right now is for you to hold me in your arms."

Several hours later, Padmé was awoken by a persistent ringing noise. It took a few moments for her to realize the ringing was her door chime. Grumbling softly about the lack of privacy afforded to senators, she quietly rose from the bed and wrapped her robe around her. Quickly she made her way to the door and jabbed the panel beside it, opening the door. She gasped as she saw who stood just outside.

"Master Skywalker!" she exclaimed, loud enough so that her voice carried into her bedroom and alerted her sleeping husband. "What can I do for you this late in the evening?"

"Oh, not much," Buffy responded evenly. "Just thought I'd pay you a visit. After all, you're family now."

Padmé's voice hitched as a very un-lady-like thought flitted through her mind.

Oh shit…

Out loud, she merely said, "I don't know what…"

"Cut the crap, Padmé. I'm here to see your husband."

"I'm here."

Buffy looked past Padmé to see her brother make his way down from the bedroom. The Slayer glanced at the stricken Senator, who sighed in resignation before standing aside and letting her through.

"Anakin."

Her brother nodded in greeting. "Buffy. I knew you'd find out sooner or later. Though actually, I thought it'd be a bit sooner."

Buffy said nothing as she stalked towards her brother. She stopped in front of him for a moment, looking deep into his eyes as if looking for something. Then, without warning, her hand shot out -

… And grasped his ear, twisting it viciously.

"OW! Buffy!" Anakin practically shrieked as Buffy dragged her younger brother, by his ear, to the balcony.

"Wuh duh ma huh ta duh fung-kwong duh wai-shung doh!" she growled as she pushed him into the rail. "I cannot believe this… BELIEVE you!"

"Buffy, wait…"

"You got married! The most momentous, most important day of your life… and you did it behind my back! I cannot believe you! How could you not include me in on this?"

"Wait," Anakin interrupted, trying to sort though his confusion. "You're not mad at me for breaking the code, you're mad at me for not telling you I was going to break the code?"

"Oh, fuck the code," Buffy said with a dismissive gesture. "I've never liked that stupid code - thought it created more problems than it solved. And if I held that against you, I'd be the biggest hypocrite in the galaxy." Her tone softened as she gently placed her hand on his cheek. "I'm pissed that you didn't trust me enough to tell me. You should know I'd never put the Order ahead of you."

Anakin lowered his head in shame. "I'm sorry, Buffy. I wanted to tell you, but then you were trapped on Corellia…and when you came back…"

"When I came back, and you heard what happened, you thought I would be upset," Buffy finished. "Anakin, I was able to give it all up because I was trapped there. If I hadn't been, things may have been very different. But you…" Buffy paused. "How long have you been married, anyhow?"

"We got married when I escorted Padmé back to Naboo after Geonosis." He replied. "A little over three years now. And she's pregnant…"

Buffy squealed with delight. "Oh! Congrats, little bro…" she trailed off at the pained expression on his face. "Ani, what's wrong?"

The young Jedi sucked in a shuddering breath, then turned and placed his hands on the railing of the balcony. "I had a vision of her, Buffy. Of her dying in childbirth."

"Oh, Ani…"

"I'm not going to let it happen, Buffy. I've been looking into ways to stop it…"

Buffy breath hitched. "Looking into what, Ani?"

Ani didn't look at Buffy; he just kept looking out at the towering city before him - a grand monument to mechanization. "Willow was able to save my mother, Buffy. But she had a power that was far greater than mine." He turned quickly to face his sister. "If I can find a way to become as powerful as her, I could save-"

For a moment, Anakin thought he had entered hyperspace. When he regained his senses, however, he was sprawled on the floor; and he realized the spinning stars he was seeing were caused by Buffy's fist impacting with his jaw. He looked up at his sister in shock.

"Gwai-gwai long duh dong!" he exclaimed, even as Padmé came running.

"Buffy, what-"

"Gwon nee tze-jee duh shr," she snapped at her sister-in-law. Looking back at Anakin, she scowled. The Jedi scowled right back.

"Don't talk to my wife like-"

"BEE-jway," she snapped. "Do you have any freaking idea what you are doing? The forces you're messing with? Do you?" she stood over her brother, glaring down at him like the ancient gods on high. "Guess what, junior. I've had dreams, too. Do you want to know what are in my dreams? Death. Destruction. You in a dark corridor, being seduced to the Dark Side by some mysterious figure. You under a red moon, killing a Sith assassin in rage. You, going through the Temple, killing Jedi, Younglings… you, in a black suit, under a mask, killing Jedi far into the future. That's what I see. And now I learn the reason you go nuts is because you're too stupid to ask me for help!"

She reached down with her mechanical arm and grasped his night shirt, than hauled him back to his feet. The strength behind the pull suggested to Anakin that Buffy could have easily lifted him off of the ground, had he not been so tall. "You see this arm, Anakin? This is what the Dark Side does. It doesn't give life. It destroys it. Willow's last, selfless act was to heal mom enough to save her life. That wasn't the Dark Side, Ani. That was love.

"You know about my dreams, Ani. You know I get them to prevent things from happening." She let go of his tunic then reached up with her flesh hand and stroked her brother's cheek. "I won't lose you to this, Ani. I refuse to lose you to this."

Anakin looked to his sister with an anguished face. "I…I don't know what to do, Buffy…. I'm so lost…." Finally, all of the fear, the anger, the frustration that had been building over the past three years burst like a damn and Anakin collapsed into his sister's arms, crying.

A few minutes and many tears later, Anakin was sitting on the sofa, Buffy beside him with a comforting arm on his shoulder. Padmé came out of the kitchenette with a glass of blue milk she had had specially imported for her husband.

"Here, drink this," she directed Anakin, handing him the glass which he downed rapidly. He handed the empty glass back to Padmé with a soft 'thank you' and then put his head in his hands.

"Ani, what's going on?" she asked as she sat down next to him and took his hand in hers.

"I've just been so…lost," he repeated. "Nothing makes sense anymore. The Council doesn't trust me and then they ask me to do things that they've taught me my whole life were wrong. Obi-Wan sides with them over me; I've learned thins that make me question everything I believe in… I just don't know what to believe in anymore."

"It'll be okay, Ani." Padmé said soothingly. "We'll figure this out. Together."

"How can we do that if you die, Padmé?"

"She's not going to die, Ani," Buffy said with finality. "That's the one thing that I haven't seen."

"You can't see everything," Anakin pointed out.

"No, but I know that everything's connected," Buffy shot back. "My visions have focused on you. I bet if I help you, Padmé will be fine."

"I don't follow…"

"You ever heard of a self-fulfilling prophesy?" Buffy asked, cutting him off. "Simply put - YOU are the reason behind the prophecy. Hypothetically - you turn to the Dark Side for help and, in your zeal to keep Padmé alive, you kill her. Then I have to take you down."

Anakin looked indignant. "I would never-"

"No, you will never," Buffy interjected. She pulled out a small piece of flimsipast. "This is an all-access pass to the Archives. You're too much like me, Ani - you won't stop searching for ways to help Padmé until you're sure you've found everything. So I'm giving this to you. Look up the healing arts - with your power, I think you could do wonders if you took the time to learn them. And look into the Dark Side - I want you to see what really happens to people who dip into that power. And I only want two things in return."

Anakin was staring at the flimsiplast in something akin to awe, and then looked back to her sister. "What do you want from me?"

"First - you never, EVER cut me out of the loop like this again. Something big happens - you tell me. You need help? You ask me. You're my brother, Ani. You come first for me, you got it?"

"Yes."

"Good. Second, and most important - you never, EVER, use the Dark Side. I want you to swear to me, Ani. I've lost my birth mother. I lost my sister. I even lost Willow, but I'll be damned if I lose you. Swear to me, Anakin."

Anakin looked closely at his sister, and he was shocked by what he saw. Because deep in her eyes, he saw the one thing he had never seen in her before.

Fear.

She was afraid. For him. Of losing him. Of losing her family - the only family she had left.

"I swear to you, Buffy. I won't fall to the Dark side," he said after a moment. Anakin sighed in relief as he felt a great burden lift off of his chest. He was going to be okay. Padmé was going to be okay. They would get through this.

Somehow.

Meanwhile, a dark-robed figure stood in the Chancellor's office, looking down over the city. His city. A symbol of his Republic and, if all went according to plan, his empire. Suddenly he felt something through the Force, something that caused him to frown.

"Something vexing thee?" a slightly mocking voice asked. He didn't look over as Darth Traya, Dark Lady of the Sith, moved to stand beside him.

Darth Sidious, also known as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, sneered. "I sense something in the Force. It would appear that our plan to lure young Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side has failed."

"You mean your plan to turn Anakin has failed miserably," she smirked as the all powerful Sith Lord actually growled at her. "Never fear, My Lord," she continued smoothly. "I assure you, my plan will not fail."

"You are sure?"

"Positive. My compulsion spell is unbreakable. And the longer he is under it, the deeper into the Dark Side he will fall, until he is so far under, he calls you Master willingly."

"That is something he would have been doing if that damnable sister had been eliminated."

This time, Traya scowled. "That was unforeseeable. The damnable woman has a unique ability to cheat death. She should have died in orbit of Corellia. And when I found out she was still alive on the planet's surface, she should have died with her new 'family'."

"She should have died in the hangar on Geonosis."

"I never expected her to be able to deflect my lightening, let alone absorb it like she did. It was a miracle she only lost her arm."

"Her sway over the boy is considerable," Sidious remarked. "She needs to be eliminated for any plan to turn him to work."

"She does not need to be destroyed; merely distracted," Traya replied. "The Council will see to that. They will certainly send her after Grievous. And the insult of the Council giving this assignment to his sister will be a nice catalyst for little Ani." She smiled cruelly. "It will make it easy to turn him."

Sidious nodded. "What of our other project?"

Now Traya shuffled nervously. "Ah, that would be a 'good news, bad news' report."

"Speak."

"The good news is that the test has been successful," Traya smiled proudly. "The body was younger and healthier than the owner's original body, able to withstand the rigors of the rite. And the blending of the called soul was seamless. He was as he originally was, before he was cut down."

"So, we have done it," Sidious smiled. "We have found a way to cheat death."

Traya shrugged. "More like we've found a way back from death. You would still have to die… or at the very least, separate your spirit from your body."

"That can be accomplished easily, for a Sith," Sidious replied. "What of the bad news?"

"He would not turn," Traya explained. "I spent the past two years trying and nothing would work. So I ordered his execution."

"And he escaped," Sidious surmised and Traya nodded. "It makes little difference. Soon the war will be over and the Jedi will be hunted down and eliminated."

Traya nodded, and then turned to look out upon the city. "By your command, my Master."

TBC…..

A/N: Yeah, it's a bit late. But whatcha gonna do? Anyhoo, The next chapter's almost complete, and I'm two up on 'Light Brigade'. And now I'm putting the call out for an unusual request- does anybody know where I can find some good, LONG, Stargate SG-1/Star War's crossovers? I read a really good one over at Wormhole Crossings, but I've seen hide nor hair of any more. Also- Harry Potter/SG-1 crossovers; I'm looking for those, too.

As always, a special thanks to my beta's Winterd and Fallenstar2.