Anakin woke up slowly that morning, and he felt...sore. That was weird, he didn't feel like he had exerted himself yesterday. He sat up slowly, despite his aching body, and he groaned as he shifted to an upright position. He was going to have to take it easy today.

He closed his eyes and rested, not moving for a few moments. There was something about the air that was different, Anakin could feel it. It was fresh, and new-well, no, not new, but...rejuvenated, as if it had been healed or brought back to life. He had noticed that the air around the Temple had been very tense and humid, but he didn't think it was that bad. Now that it was gone, the change was obvious.

The sun was already streaming in through his window. Anakin stood up and looked out of it, and he marveled at the sunrise off in the distance. It had been a while since he had been able to appreciate these small things, like the colors that the clouds turned in the early mornings. It was as if he hadn't even seen the sunrise for months, like it didn't even exist. Like someone had hidden it from him.

Anakin stared back at his mattress. What had he dreamt, what had he seen during his sleep that had put him so at peace? He racked his brain, trying to remember what had happened, but nothing turned up. He couldn't remember a single person, place, or thing that he had seen during the night.

Was it possible? For once, had Anakin only seen a dream? Not a vision, not a nightmare, but just an ordinary dream? Apparently, miracles were possible.

Anakin walked out of his quarters down to the meal room. Tons of Jedi were already preparing for the morning meal, and Younglings were running around, playing some chasing game. This alone was a new development; the Temple hadn't been so joyous, so carefree in months, maybe even years. Anakin didn't remember the last time he had seen Younglings playing.

The doors behind Anakin opened again, Caleb Dume nearly bumped into his back. "Oh, sorry Master Skywalker!"

"It's all right, Caleb," Anakin assured him, turning to face him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he told the Knight. He looked around at the meal hall. "Something is different today. The shadow is gone."

Anakin narrowed his eyes at the Padawan. "The shadow?"

"From my visions. Well, mine, and the Younglings."

"Which ones?"

"The six Younglings who lost their memory, right over there." Caleb pointed, and Anakin followed his finger. He saw Katooni, Pedro, Zatt, Byph, Ganodi, and Gungi all sitting and talking, huddled in a tight circle.

"They remembered overnight," Caleb said lowly, "so I think it's safe to talk about it. They're waiting to talk to Master Ti, but she's in a Council Meeting. Master Depa is too."

"This early?" Anakin looked around, and sure enough, no Jedi Masters were in the meal hall. "What was so important that they needed to have a meeting first thing in the morning?"

"Probably whatever Master Ti and the Younglings saw that was so important that they lost their memory. They think since they remember that Shaak Ti remembers, too, but they haven't seen her yet. They've been talking all morning."

It checked out. What had happened during the night that had caused this change?

Anakin and Caleb went to get their breakfast, but no sooner had they separated and sat down than the doors opened again, and who else but Shaak Ti appeared in the doorway. The room fell silent, but the six Younglings jumped up and strained their necks to see her.

"Anakin Skywalker," she spoke into the echoey room. "The Jedi Council requests your presence."

Anakin didn't move, but seconds later, the entire room cheered, and the six Younglings darted forward to greet Shaak properly for the first time in weeks. She knelt down to them and spoke quietly in their ear, before turning to the other Jedi that had come up to welcome her back.

Taking his food with him (he hadn't grabbed much), Anakin slipped out of the meal hall and smiled. Nothing united the Jedi more than the return of one of their own. Shaak would be pelted with welcomes for hours, if not days.

He finished the last of his roll and brushed the crumbs from his robes. He buzzed the door for the Council room, and it opened before him. Anakin walked to the middle of the room and stood still.

The environment was completely different. The discord had been replaced with harmony once more. The divide was no more, the tensions had disappeared, more or less.

Yoda spoke first. "This morning, a package, we received." He lifted the box to Anakin, and he peered inside. Palpatine's lightsabers were resting inside, and Anakin didn't need to feel for who the owner was. He knew they were his.

"The Chancellor was a Jedi?" Anakin asked, his memory of the previous night rushing back to him.

"No," Master Windu corrected. He nodded to the Chosen One, and he picked them up to ignite them. As familiar as they felt, something inside of them scared him, and when he ignited them, the scarlet blades stunned him to silence.

"Palpatine was Darth Sideous the whole time," explained Luminara, glancing at her friend's absent chair. "We just met with Shaak Ti. When she and the Younglings had their vision they saw the truth, that the Chancellor was a part of the Sith. That was why their memory was removed, and why Master Ti lost her mind."

"Palpatine removed it?"

"Yes," Yoda answered, somewhat grimly. "Further investigation, we must conduct, but plotted against the Jedi Order, we believe he may have."

One of Anakin's dreams came rushing back to him. "I had a vision not long ago. There was a man poisoning a river, but he was killed and his blood purified the water. I didn't understand it then, but now..."

"Many things have come to light in the Dark Lord's death," Obi-Wan explained. "Many of us have had our visions blocked for some time now. Without the presence of the Chancellor, they have all seemed to clear up."

Anakin deactivated the lightsabers. He had been the closest to the Palpatine, so if the Council had been clouded and messed with, what had Sideous done to him?

"There are many questions," Depa Billaba concluded, "questions that need answering. One of the first concerns the Inquisitor from last night."

Oh no. I killed her. She was right.

"You said you killed her by the jail, but her body has not turned up yet. Do you know where she might be?"

Anakin nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

"Find her, you must," Yoda commanded him. "If lives, she does, then invite her as a friend, you may. If lives, she does not, then bring her to us. Right what we have wronged, we must."

Anakin nodded, bowed, and left the room without another word. As he walked to one of the hangars of the Jedi Temple, his mind raced, comprehending what he had just heard and seen.

Palpatine was Sideous. Anakin had held his lightsaber, red Sith lightsabers, in his hands. All this time, so many years without a single doubt about his loyalty, but now it was clear as day. Palpatine had been the Dark Lord all along, which meant that he had controlled both sides of the war. He had ordered the Jedi and the Clones, and the Sith and the droids. It was all a play to get power, just like the Sister had said.

The Sister. Oh, Mortis, Anakin had messed up. All this time, she really was trying to help him, to help the Jedi, and she had even killed the person who was destroying them, but what had he done? He had killed her and insulted her pretty badly while he was at it. If only he had known. She had tried to tell him, on Corellia, and even on Xlenia, three months ago, but he hadn't listened. He recalled the message she had sent with him on her first mission:

"You can tell the Council that the Sith are tired of waiting for surrender. Mark my words, Skywalker. Within months, your precious Chancellor will have no choice but to bow to Darth Sideous."

How had he missed that? Anakin wanted to blame it on the shadow that had fallen on the Temple, but deep down he knew it was his fault for not noticing it sooner. The Sith were tired of waiting for surrender, and they had taken offensive action to speed up the process. Three months after that mission, the Chancellor was supposed to be 'kidnapped' so he could be taken to 'Darth Sideous' when in reality, he was Darth Sideous. How many other hints had he missed in the past three months?

He thought back to Corellia. The whole time, he realized, she was talking about killing the Chancellor. She basically told me that it was going to happen. I didn't listen. The whole time, she was clueing me in, trying to tell me. Even the Father tried to tell me, and I still didn't listen!

Anakin really felt like a fool now. He had been given hints every step of the way, and he managed to ignore every single one of them. The Sister had even tried to prove it by explaining why she wanted to kill him so badly. She had told him her story and gave perfectly legitimate reasons why Pal-no. Why Sideous ought to die.

Now, the Sister was dead. Because of him. He had killed her, by throwing her down that shaft. Anakin walked into the smallest hangar, where speeders were kept. He had watched her fall down the shaft by the jail.

He had watched her fall...down the shaft...by the jail.

Anakin couldn't breathe.

The shaft by the jail.

He sank to his knees, clinging to the seat of the speeder he was standing by.

The shaft by the jail.

The Sister had betrayed the Chancellor.

The banter on Corellia.

The warnings, the clues.

The lightsaber.

The flying.

The thread.

Ahsoka

No. No, no, no, nonononono.

Anakin doubled over on his knees, clutching his racing heart and trying to breathe normally. What had he done? No, Ahsoka wasn't the Inquisitor. He had decided that she wasn't the Inquisitor.

But what if she is? What if she WAS?

He had thrown the Sister down the same shaft that Ahsoka had jumped down just over a year ago. How did he miss that? How did he not remember?

Because I had fallen last night, he realized. I had turned to the Dark Side, Sideous had turned me. What have I done?

How could he know? How could he know the truth? What if the Inquisitor was dead, and now he would never know? How could he know?

Anakin finally pulled himself to his feet, using the speeder to balance himself. He walked slowly over to a cabinet, opened it, and searched for something, anything that could help him.

His eyes fell on an ordinary DNA scanner linked to the Republic database. He picked it up carefully as if it might explode in his hands. Ahsoka's DNA was still in the Republic's system. If he found her or found blood that she had spilled the night before, he would know.

He would know. After a year of not knowing where his Padawan was, he would finally know. He should have been excited, or at least grateful for a chance to find her, but he hadn't imagined it like this. He was looking for a dead woman, not a live one. Instead of hope, Anakin was plagued with anxiety and started to panic. He never thought he would say this, but for once in his life, he did NOT want to find Ahsoka Tano. Not now, not for this, not today. It was almost enough to make him back out of the mission and let someone else find the Inquisitor's body.

But if he didn't go, he might not ever get an answer. If he found DNA and it wasn't hers, then she still had a chance to be alive. He had to know. There wasn't a choice.

So he hopped onto the speeder, a bag strapped to his back with only the scanner inside. He drove out to the shaft from the night before and started spiraling down to the Lower Levels, and he began to search for any sign of the Sister.

What have I done?