"Been able to rest, have you Skywalker?" inquired Yoda as Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka walked into the Jedi Council chamber. Anakin had decided that maybe having Ahsoka there would be the best option, despite thinking otherwise the previous day.
"Honestly, no, Master," Anakin admitted, "my thoughts were too…chaotic for me to rest, however I was able to meditate, which offered some respite."
"Glad I am to hear this. Concerned we all are, for your wellbeing."
Anakin blinked, not expecting Yoda to express this level of concern, although perhaps he should have. He remembered Yoda resting his hand supportively on Anakin's arm, only the previous day, "I…thank you."
"Information you have for us?" Yoda prompted.
Anakin nodded, handing over the datapad, "these are the names of Palpatine's supporters, those who have the most to lose should he be defeated."
Mace Windu looked at the names, "I don't see Count Dooku or General Grevious on here?"
Anakin cringed. He'd somehow forgotten about them, and the rest of the Separatist leaders. Also, he needed to tell them about Maul, as much as it would hurt Obi-Wan.
"That was my error," Anakin apologised with a bow, "by the time things…came to a head last time I lived through the Clone Wars, and Sideous played his hand, both Dooku and Grevious had already been defeated, or were very close to being defeated, I'm not quite sure when exactly Obi-Wan killed Grevious in relation to when Order 66 happened. I killed the other leaders of the Separatists after I'd dealt with the immediate threat of the Jedi. They had all been sent to a single location to away instruction by Sideous, and he sent me to kill them all."
"Take place where, this confrontation did?"
Anakin swallowed, "Mustafar," he replied.
"Great discomfort, this place brings you?"
"It…it was a place that changed me…considerably," Anakin admitted. He felt Obi-Wan take his shoulder reassuringly, and Ahsoka was sending waves of comfort through their bond.
"Changed…how so. Fallen already you had, yes?"
"Yes," Anakin replied, "Mustafar…Mustafar was where Obi-Wan caught up with me. It was where…it was where I thought I'd killed the one I'd fallen to save…it was where…it was where I felt as if the greatest betrayals took place."
"Fought your former master, you did?"
"Yes."
"Victorious were you?"
"No. Obi-Wan had the higher ground. I…I tried to take it, and he cut me down. I fell, near the lava…close enough for what was left of my body to…to burn. Obi-Wan…couldn't finish it, so he left me there. Palpatine found me and brought me back to Coruscant."
"Severe your injuries were?"
"I lost both legs and my remaining arm," Anakin tried to pretend he was issuing just another report to the council, not relaying his own injures, although the memories were creeping back. He could feel the pain of burning, of the long surgeries and treatments that followed, the intense agony that he'd lived with persistently for the rest of his life.
"I…my lungs were badly damaged, I could only breath freely in my specialised hyperbaric chamber, and even then for only short periods of time. I could no longer eat or drink independently, I received all nutrients through tubing. I had deep burns to over 90 percent of my body."
The Jedi council was quiet for a moment, exchanging horrified glances with one another.
"Unpleasant this sounds," Yoda offered eventually.
"I was in constant agony," Anakin admitted, "I used the pain to channel the dark side and make myself stronger."
"After fallen you had, feel about yourself, how did you?"
"I hated myself. It…didn't take me long to realise that by my own actions I'd condemned myself to a life that I thought I'd escaped when I was nine years old."
"Slavery?" Mace Windu offered, his fingers laced together thoughtfully.
Anakin nodded, "I was the second most powerful individual in the galaxy, but…but it felt the same as it did back on Tattooine."
"Discuss this at more length we will," Yoda promised solemnly, "two groups of names, you have presented. The other group with Senator Organa, and others, on it, what significance are they?"
"Those names are the founding…and leading members of a group that eventually became known as the Rebel Alliance. They were the ones who will, with the downfall of Sideous, dismantle the Empire. They are allies of the Jedi, or will be. I know that multiple Jedi were members of the alliance. Or at least, I suspect they were. I know that there were at least two that were heavily involved, one from the Rebellions formation, and another who got involved in the latter years of the Empire."
"No Jedi on this list, there are."
"I left them off. Ahsoka is one of them."
Anakin felt Ahsoka shift behind him, and glanced over his shoulder to check on his Padawan.
"Me?" Ahsoka questioned.
"Yeah, you Snips. Like you were ever going to take something like the Empire without fighting back, despite everything else that had happened." Anakin told her proudly. Ahsoka smiled back at him, although it was weaker than normal. Maybe having her in the room while he'd discussed his injuries hadn't been such a good idea. It was still early in the Clone Wars, and Anakin had forgotten how painfully young she was.
"Know some of these names I do, but not others." Yoda observed. "This Han Solo for one."
"At this point he would be little more than a boy," Anakin replied, "He was from Corellia. From what information I could find about him he would be about ten or eleven years old now."
"Of course," Yoda nodded, "Strange it must be for you to consider that those that were once adults are now but children."
"Or not even born yet," Anakin nodded, thinking of Luke and Leia.
Yoda nodded, "helpful these will be, Allies, I fear, the Jedi Council will need.
"I also plan to transfer a recent graduate from the Military Academy onto the Resolute. He was by far the most competent office I worked with while leading the Navy of the Empire."
Mace Windu leaned forward, "Can he be trusted?"
"I believe so," Anakin nodded.
"I have a question, if I may," interjected Plo Koon.
Everyone in the room redirected their attention to the Kel Dor Master.
"Of course, Master Koon," invited Yoda
"Yesterday you spoke of having fallen and being a Sith for many years prior to your death and then…coming back in time, Knight Skywalker, but yet I cannot sense the Dark Side in you at all. Yes, you are suffering, undoubtedly troubled by the memories you carry, but you are certainly not a Sith at the moment. I am aware that Dark Side shrouds and conceals everything, and what you have had to say about the identity of the Sith Lord makes this all the more apparent. I suppose what I am trying to say is…was it coming back in time that caused you to return to the light, or did this happen prior to your death and becoming one with the Force?"
"An excellent question this is," Yoda nodded in agreement, as did various other members of the council.
"I…I returned to the light prior to my death."
A murmur went around the Jedi Council chamber, "there have not been many cases of someone who has fallen, especially for such a long period of time, returning to the light," observed Mace Windu.
Yoda nodded, "True this is. Not unheard of, but very rare. Only a couple of times in all Jedi history this has happened, and not for many, many years."
Anakin blinked in surprise. He didn't know that. The Jedi discouraged learning about those who had fallen to the dark side of the force, other than to use them as examples of what not to do, and Sideous had never mentioned any Sith turning back to the light, not that Anakin really expected him to. Sideous had Anakin right where he wanted him, why would he introduce the idea of Jedi who turned back to the light.
"I'm not the first?"
"No, but first in my lifetime you have been. Not very often now does something happen which I have not witnessed before," Yoda chuckled
"How did you come back?"
Anakin hesitated before replying. This was getting into risky territory, "I…I suppose, the same way I ended up falling," he admitted, his brow furrowing a little as he really thought about it, "I was trying to save someone who I loved."
"A powerful emotion love is, capable of many things, both good and bad," agreed Yoda.
"I…Sideous wanted to force the one I loved to fall, to kill me and to succeed me in my place at Sideous' side," Anakin elaborated, "I knew what sort of life my…the one I loved would live. It would destroy him. He was so bright, like a sun, and Sideous would break him. He turned Sideous down though, he was stronger than I was, threw his Lightsabre to the side. Sideous was furious and hit him with lightning. He…he was begging me for help and…and I knew that returning to the light was the only thing I could do to save him."
"Were you able to?" Plo Koon asked.
Anakin frowned, drawn form his own turbulent memories and thoughts by the Master's question, "Sorry?"
"Were you able to save him?"
"Yes." Anakin nodded, "I was able to save him, and he saved me. He held me in his arms as I died."
"Know the cause of your death, do you?"
"The lightning. When I saved my…the one I care about I absorbed the lightning he was subject to. It…it badly damaged the suit, and what was left of my body. The electrics in the breathing apparatus were destroyed, and I could sense that my remaining physical organs had been badly damaged."
"One electrocution too many?" Obi-Wan teased, trying to lighten the mood of the room, probably for Ahsoka's sake than for anyone else. It was a running joke between Anakin and his former Master of how often Anakin got electrocuted.
Several members of the council, including Mace Windu, however, looked more than a tad uncomfortable, and Anakin guessed they were imagining it.
"Thank you for answering my question, I apologise if it caused you any distress."
"After what I have done, Master Koon, my distress is the last thing the Council should be worried about."
"Wrong, you are. These events, happened, they have not," Interrupted Yoda, tapping his stick against his chair, "Distress, we do not want you to experience. A Jedi, you still are, and will remain."
"Yes Master," Anakin replied with a respectful inclination of his head.
"Now, tell us, is there any way we can prove the Chancellor's role as a Sith?"
Anakin sighed, "I don't know, he kept his cards very hidden until just when he wanted to play them. Dooku is the only one who knows his real identity, and he's not about to tell us anything. There is other information I need to give you."
"Bad news, I take it from your tone?" inquired Mace Windu. Anakin nodded.
"Unfortunately. Darth Maul is still alive."
Many of the masters around the room gasped in surprise, or otherwise physically showed their shock at the unexpected news. Even Yoda looked unsettled by Anakin's bombshell. None of their reactions were as obvious as Obi-Wan's though. He had once again positioned himself beside Anakin, and Anakin could physically feel his former Master tense, and through their bond Anakin could sense how shocked obi-Wan was.
Anakin turned to his former Master apologetically, "I'm sorry, Master, I should have said something to you earlier, but I was too focused on Sideous and…"
"Shhh, it's alright, Anakin…just…just give me a moment," Obi-Wan rested his hand reassuringly
"Maul…are you sure?"
"Yes. Due to the Sith Rule of Two Sideous no longer considers Maul to be Sith. He's dangerous now, more than he ever was before. He hates Obi-Wan, now more than ever."
"What is Maul doing currently?"
"Building his strength. He's working with his brother, Savage Opress, who he has taken as an apprentice. He'll become a Crime Lord, allying himself with crime Lords and syndicates including the Black Sun, the Hutts and the Pyke Syndicate, forming his own Criminal group, the Shadow Collective. Eventually, he will form connections with the Mandalorian Death Watch, and will be responsible for the overthrow of the New Mandalorian government, installing his own puppet government in it's place. He…um…" Anakin faded off, not sure if he should go any further in front of the Jedi Council. While he knew that eventually he would have to reveal his and Padme's secret to the council, Anakin knew that it wouldn't be right for him to reveal Obi-Wan's own romantic interlude with the Duchess of Mandalore, especially as, at this point, they hadn't seen each other since they were teenagers.
"Say no more, enough you have told us," Yoda told him reassuringly, although Anakin's mention of the Mandalorian system, specifically its government, had made Obi-Wan noticeably pale.
"This is concerning," Mace Windu announced gravely, leaning forward as he looked at the other people in the room, not just his fellow council members, but Anakin as well, 'not only do we have two Sith Lords, and an apprentice in the Chancellor, Count Dooku, and Ventress, but we have Maul and his own apprentice. Not to mention General Grevious."
"Don't forget that every single Clone could turn on us with a single command from the Chancellor," added Plo Koon solemnly.
"We need proof of the Chancellor's identity before we do anything, damning proof that we could present to the senate," Obi-Wan reasoned, "Anakin is there anything you can think of…anything at all?"
"I've been trying," Anakin replied, "At this point he kept everything very hidden, even his …"Anakin's eyes widened as it dawned on him. Sideous' greatest project, the place where Obi-Wan died, the weapon that destroyed his daughter's home world and murdered millions, the first place where he sensed Luke's presence.
The Death Star