Chapter 15: So It Ends
"It's you!" Anakin sputtered. "You are the Sith Lord we've been searching for!"
Just as if Anakin had told the older man that his name was Palpatine and that he was the Chancellor, Palpatine simply nodded.
"You were the one who ordered for Padmé's assassination!"
Again, Palpatine inclined his head.
"It was you who ordered for the creation of the clone armies! You are the reason why so many Jedi have died fighting for what they believe in!"
To this outburst, Palpatine merely gave Anakin a thoughtful look.
"You were behind this entire war- you planned all this! Innocent people have died and once-thriving planets have inhabitable because of you," Anakin said brokenly, his disbelieving blue eyes filling with hot tears. He was the Chosen one and the Hero Without Fear, but at that moment, he feared.
Betrayal hurt too much.
"This was all just a big scheme to… to lure me to the Dark Side," Anakin choked, the horrors of his former friend's actions sinking in.
"Those are some pretty accusing words," Palpatine said gravely.
"They are true…"
"From your own point of view perhaps, Anakin. I know what is going through your mind."
"Keep out of it, you snake!" Anakin spat angrily.
Then, he remembered the ultimate betrayal.
Padmé.
Their baby.
The assassination attempt.
Standing up with his lightsaber confidently held in his gloved hand, Anakin hissed, "I ought to kill you."
"Anakin," Palpatine all but laughed, gesturing casually with his hand for the Jedi to sit down, "you will not kill me- it's not in your nature."
"I will kill you," came the firm reply.
Momentarily, something flickered in Palpatine's eyes as he saw that Anakin was not exaggerating this truth. "Sit down before one of us gets hurt," he said in a less friendly way, much more like a stern father than a friend.
"You will be dead."
Palpatine sighed again. "You are not thinking clearly…"
"You are wrong- I think best when under a tense situation."
A grim look overcame Palpatine's face and Anakin could clearly see the sithly side of Palpatine that the older man had so carefully hidden.
Thirteen years of training had led up to this moment, but Anakin wasn't sure if he was ready.
A battle between the darkness and light.
He watched as the older man pressed a button on the side of his chair- a recording device. "It is treason, then," Palpatine said in what seemed to be a mournful voice, but his face became increasingly distorted with hate.
"You are unarmed. By the order of the Galactic Senate," Anakin said slowly, igniting his lightsaber though his blue eyes didn't even blink, "you are under arrest, Chancellor, for treason and conspiracy to destroy the Jedi."
"I am the Senate," Palpatine snarled, his eyes turning an infernal red.
Anakin was not faced with hesitation- he lifted his blade until it was level with Palpatine's throat. "No, I shall see to it that, by the end of this very day, justice and peace are restored to the Galaxy."
"You shall do nothing to my new Empire," Palpatine sneered, glaring at Anakin from where he sat gripping the arms of his revolving chair. "Are you threatening me, Master Jedi?" A feral threat was in his tone, and Anakin did not miss it as it sent a shiver down his spine.
He was all alone.
"Your new Empire?" Anakin barked incredulously though his weapon did not waver. "And yes- I am threatening you. Step down… or die."
"So you have chosen."
The battle began. Anakin Skywalker, part of the duo that made up the invincible Skywalker and Kenobi team, was now alone in his fight against the darkness. As Palpatine ignited a red blade that had been hidden in a voluminous sleeve and hurled himself at the Jedi with an inhuman snarl, Anakin found himself not only fighting the darkness attacking him but also of that within him.
For the first time that he could remember, Anakin doubted himself.
Yet, the darkness had met its match. With each movement of his lightsaber and every parry, Anakin seemed to grow brighter in the Light, the shadows that had once clouded his being finally being subdued.
The balance was beginning,
Palpatine was surprisingly quick and, more than once, Anakin nearly lost a lip but quickly blocked the blow just in time. Around the office they fought, friend against friend, Jedi against Sith, and Light against Darkness.
With a sudden movement, Palpatine flung Anakin against he wall. The impact made a sickening sound and he felt ever inch of his fatigued body scream out in unending pain. Where his head had hit the wall, blood oozed, and for a moment, Anakin could see nothing.
Anakin, my love, you must get up and fight Padmé's angelic voice whispered in his mind, filling her husband with strength.
Though he remained otherwise motionless, Anakin opened his eyes just in time to see Palpatine's desk hurtling at him. In a burst of strength, he just barely moved out of the way in time before the desk broke under the impact and sent metal flying everywhere. Shards bit into Anakin's skin, but he was already standing, his discarded lightsaber soaring back into the Jedi's gloved hand.
Calling on the skills that had been given to him, Anakin flipped over Palpatine, blocking the Sith's never-ending attack. He remained stead with his feet firmly on the ground and unleashed such a fury of attacks as Anakin never had before. The entire Galaxy depended on him, and the young man knew it only too well. If he failed, there would be nothing to stop the Shadows.
Palpatine knew that Anakin had grown to be a better swordsman than he and, soon, he began to unleash his next evil plan. "You will never defeat me, Jedi," he spat, "so long as you do not call upon the power you carry within you."
Distracted, Anakin did not see the blade aiming for his right shoulder.
Senators passing by the Chancellor's
office paused as they head anguished screams, but after exchanging
puzzled looks, they hurried on about their business.
Screaming in languages that he was sure that he did not know, Anakin clutched at the wound from which blood was seeping. To his surprise, the Sith had momentarily ended the attack and just stood there regarding Anakin with his fiery eyes. "Anakin," Sidious rasped in a voice that wasn't his- inhuman and that of something long dead. "End this struggle and join me! Together, as Master and Apprentice, we can bring balance back to the Galaxy."
From beneath his matted hair, Anakin opened his eyes again and fixed Palpatine with a deadly look. "Never," he croaked. He lifted his blade and charged at Sidious but faltered when the other did not move.
"You are afraid."
"I am Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi Master and the Chosen One. I have dared to believe in what others did not, chosen to love those who would have been unloved, and stood up for what is right. I do not fear."
"If I die," cackled the Sith, "so does your wife and children."
Anakin took a step back.
That was all the distraction Palpatine needed. Furiously, he attacked the other man, slowly backing Anakin towards the large window. Triumphant, he soon had the Jedi lying on his back with the two blades, blue and red, pressed against this throat.
I've failed, Master Qui-Gon- please, forgive me for I am weak
"Now, Anakin, you will die."
The lightsabers flickered off but, in the next instant, an intense volley of Sith lightning shot from Sidious' fingers to Anakin's weak body.
Pain filled the young man and, as if he were outside his own body, Anakin watched himself scream and writhe in agony.
This seemed to only fuel Palpatine and he increased the pain that he was inflicting.
The last and final blast hit Anakin's face. Slowly, the left side of his once handsome face began to melt and soften, its contours shaping into something that resembled the unhuman.
As the approaching darkness of death came, Anakin whispered, "Padmé, I love…"
And it was over.
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Coming in the next chapter: Order 66 begins all over the Galaxy.
