Prologue

"If you run, I will let you live."

Bruised and bloodied, he ran. Coward, his brazen mind scolded him. Dead men can't save the world, the more reasonable voice countered.

Why had this happened? Where had he gone wrong? He was the "chosen one". This wasn't supposed to happen. Not like this.

The ground crumbled beneath his feet, as he staggered across the plain. Despite the promise that running would spare his life, he knew better. Assassins were would soon be tracking him..

His mind reeled, recalling the events that had brought him to this.

"I should kill you now! I will kill you now!" he had bellowed, holding the glowing blue blade to Palpatine's throat.

Palpatine was frighteningly calm, "Why?"

"You're a SITH LORD!"

"I am," he said simply. "but I am your friend."

From that moment on, the daze he had lived in for the past week thickened. Palpatine spun a confusing picture. His friend and mentor was a Sith Lord. Suddenly there was no black and white. Palpatine was the Enemy, but he was also the only one that could hold the Republic together, and, more importantly, he was the only one that could save Padmé.

Memory blurred then. He remembered stumbling into the temple. He remembered telling Mace Windu about Palpatine. He remember watching the Masters leave to arrest the Sith, to arrest Palpatine, his friend. His thoughts had spun then, reeling and confusing. He felt sick. He felt lost. Only one thing in life had ever been certain, Padmé. If he lost her . . .

That's when he'd made a choice. Taking up his speeder, he'd hurried to the Chancellor. What was waiting for him in Palpatine's office nearly made him retch. Three masters were dead, strewn across the floor.

Against the backdrop of the huge window, Mace was battling Palpatine. And Palpatine- there was . . . lightening coming from his fingers. Mace was bending it back to him, burning the Sith's face. What was this power?

"Anakin!" Palpatine called. "Anakin, he's killing me!"

"Anakin," Mace called, "You are the chosen one. It is your destiny to defeat him. Strike him down!"

"No," Anakin stammered. "We have to arrest him. He has to go to trail."

Mace shook his head, "He controls the courts, we have to kill him now."

"It's an assassination!" Palpatine shouted, "Kill the traitor, Anakin. Kill him! I'm weakening. I can't hold on."

"You Sith disease-" Mace snarled.

"I'm weakening Anakin," Palpatine called, "save me."

"Stop, Mace!" Anakin shouted. "I need him. I need him to save Padmé!"

In the heat of battle, Mace didn't think all the way through that statement. All he heard was Sith and save, in the same sentence. "You think a Sith is capable of saving life! Anakin, Think! They can only destroy it!"

Anakin stood frozen. A simple truth had paralyzed the "Hero without Fear." How could he have been so blind? How could he have considered-

Palpatine had felt the doubt in Anakin, and he suddenly roared to life. With strength Mace had doubted the Sith had, Palpatine sent another wave of lightening, knocking the saber from Mace and sending him flying to his death through the shattered window.

"NO!" Anakin cried out. "What have I done! I could have saved him!"

"FOOL!" Palpatine roared. "You will die."

Lightening shot out toward Anakin, but his reflexes brought his blade up to deflect it. Anakin couldn't even recall having ignited it. The battle when on and on, Palpatine would stop at nothing to destroy him.

Anakin had tried to escape down a turbo lift, but Palpatine had pursued. In the underbelly of abandoned tunnels beneath the city, Anakin and Palpatine fought. The "chosen one" battled not for the fate of the universe, but for his own life.

Then it happened, a blast of pain shot through him, as the Sith Lord struck him with the lightening. Anakin couldn't feel his feet against the ground. Then, feeling the wall slam hard against his back, he understood why. Palpatine had thrown him back. Now lying crumpled against the wall, there was no escape.

Palpatine unleashed his fury, and with every blast of lightening, Anakin felt the life draining out of him. He gritted his teeth and tried to find his strength, but it was gone.

Suddenly, everything stopped. Anakin thought maybe he was dead, until a dry voice said, "If you run, I will let you live."

Now, lost somewhere in the tunnels, Anakin collapsed, falling back against the cold wall with no strength left. He wouldn't make it another step. He was gasping for breath and willing the pain to subside. He closed his eyes and listened, trying to hear if he had been followed. He considered stretching out through the force, but that would only betray his location to anyone that might be hunting him.

After what seemed like hours, he tried to get up, only to wince in pain. He had to get out of there. Gazing down the way he had come, he saw only shadows. He tried once again to rise but couldn't. Looking down the path before him, he saw nothing but darkness. He couldn't escape it.