The Chancellor was a Sith Lord. The Chancellor was the Sith Lord. Anakin had never been close to the Chancellor, he'd only talked to the man a handful of times, but still.

Anakin focused on keeping his breathing steady as Windu laid out the charges and placed Palpatine- no Sidious, under arrest.

Why couldn't Obi-Wan be here? Obi-Wan would be great at this sort of thing- with his super calm looking face and his-

Anakin gasped as his vision tunneled. Luke took a blaster bolt through the side, and before Anakin's son was even fully dead Anakin's vision was yanked away towards Leia, who'd taken a bolt through the heart. She died almost instantly.

Padme was next. She was pregnant- and they shot her- and she fell- and her head cracked against the floor of their kitchen-

Anakin fell out of the visions gasping. His family- his babies- Padme had been pregnant- Luke and Leia-

Bile rose in Anakin's throat. He swallowed it back. He couldn't- there was something-

"Anakin," A familiar voice said, somehow cutting through everything the other Jedi had been saying, "I, Sheev Palpatine, claim you as my son."

The bond snapped into place. It needed no confirmation.

It was different than all of his other bonds. The one to his mother had been a constraint, yes, but it had been a loving one. The bond to Obi-Wan was much the same. Padme's bond had been one of equality, and the children's bonds had allowed for loving direction.

This- this felt heavier than any chains Anakin had ever seen. It felt like cords knotted through his mind. It felt-

"Anakin," Sidious said, "Kill the Jedi."

And he did.

…-…

He came to himself in the temple, in a room full of children. He felt sick. He felt that he should be covered in blood, though lightsaber wounds do not bleed.

You should probably be nice to them. Obi-Wan had said. Be nice to them.

Killing them would not be nice.

The bonds in his mind fought- tearing against each other.

Sidious's bond was stronger.

But Anakin wanted to follow Obi-Wan. He wanted to.

Obi-Wan's bond had given him a fighting chance. He was going to take it.

The children were talking.

"So many of them."

"All dying."

"Where is everyone?"

"Why are they attacking us?"

"What are we supposed to do?"

It was nice to respond to people's questions. So he needed to respond to these children. "Come here." Anakin said. His voice came out as a hoarse whisper. His throat felt raw, like he'd been screaming for hours.

The children came, gathering around him.

"I need you all to stay together." Anakin said, "One group. Focus as hard as you can on the clones not seeing you- not seeing any of you. And run. I'll help you."

The children nodded and let him organize them with the oldest around the edges and the youngest towards the middle.

He knelt as they began their sprint.

His mind was fraying apart, gray spots forming in his vision as he closed his eyes tightly.

He focused on the Clone Troopers. Look away, he whispered the words to the clones who would be in the children's way. Look away.

The force wrapped itself around the children as they focused on not being seen. But now- even with his eyes closed Anakin could see the grey streaming forward across his mind.

It was almost a relief to be able to lose himself again. It didn't hurt so much when he didn't have to choose. When he didn't have a choice.

…-…

"Come with me." Sidious said. He smiled slightly to himself as Vader obeyed. Vader- not Anakin, because the boy was his and no child of his would have a name like Anakin.

Really, having a child in the clans, and an extremely powerful force sensitive one at that- was beyond lucky.

Not that anything to do with Vader's conception had anything to do with luck.

But this- this was too perfect. Vader was the perfect tool, crafted to fit Sidious' hands alone.

Sidious wasn't quite sure how aware Vader was at this point. He could follow orders, even complicated ones, or ones than required interpretation- and he seemed to follow the spirit rather than the letter of Sidious' decrees. Which was convenient.

All of the pieces were falling together. There was only one more thing he needed to do tonight.

There was an unfortunate amount of Jedi who'd made it out of the night alive. Two of them- Sidious wasn't quite sure who yet- would arrive, and they would try to kill Sidious. Had he been alone, their plan might have been a good one.

With Vader by his side though?

Sidious smiled again.