A/N:For those of you wondering about the Force vision Kevin had in the previous chapter, I thought it was clear enough what it meant; looking back, though, I realize I was probably a bit too vague, so once we get to the final battle I'll reveal the full meaning.

Disney owns Star Wars. All hail the New Or—er, Trilogy.

The Negotiator arrived on Coruscant the next day, and in Anakin's mind it was none too soon; he had felt rather restless and anxious the whole way back from Kamino. Normally, he would go straight to Padme, but even her support could only help him so much when things went wrong. Thankfully, Chancellor Palpatine was always there to lend an ear, and he found that his conversations with the man often calmed his fears and worries with regards to events like the one involving Kenobi's apprentice in a way that his secret wife couldn't. Kevin wasn't his padawan, but the boy meant quite a bit to both Obi-Wan and Ahsoka—and he himself had spent enough time helping him train to grow somewhat attached as well. Padme, Chancellor Palpatine, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, Kevin... in Anakin's mind, they constituted the family he never knew; an injury to any one of them was an injury to him.

He paused at the emotions that last thought gave him. Anger is a tool of the Dark Side. There is no emotion, there is peace...

Anakin had found himself more self-aware regarding his emotions since the conversation with Obi-Wan over Padme; having his elder-brother-in-all-but-name share in the burden of keeping his secret took a lot of pressure off his mind, giving him time to stop and think without having that burden weighing him down constantly. And with that self-awareness came more self-control. Trust in the Force. Kevin isn't dead, he's just missing. Obi-Wan still feels the bond, and if he says Kevin's alive then he's alive...

Even with that reassuring thought, though, Anakin still felt the need to converse with the Chancellor. The moment the ship landed, he headed straight for the hangar where his starfighter lay; he'd bring it back to the Temple hangar once he was done at the Senate building. He approached the fighter in a hurry, only to see Obi-Wan kneeling next to R2 before standing up to greet him while the droid in question boarded.

"Anakin, we need to talk."

"Can it wait? I have to meet with Chancellor Palpatine—"

"It's Palpatine himself that I want to talk about, Anakin."

The tone of voice struck Anakin as strange. "What about him?"

"I... Force, this is going to be difficult..." Kenobi paused, shaking his head. For a moment, he thought he heard Obi-Wan mutter something about being unable to talk. "Anakin... don't trust Palpatine."

"What?" The words he'd just heard took him completely by surprise. "What are you talking about?"

"It's... complicated. I have a bad feeling about the man; do you remember my report after the First Battle of Geonosis?"

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with—"

"Dooku claimed that there was a Sith Lord in the Senate, directing everything. If he was telling the truth..."

"Dooku is a traitor and a liar. Why should we believe anything he said? He's the real threat!"

"It's not just Dooku," replied Kenobi. "recall the incident on Alderaan; according to Kevin, Ahsoka, and Padme, Aurra Sing claimed that there were individuals on Coruscant who desired this war. If Dooku was correct, a Sith Lord in the Senate would absolutely fall into that category."

"Obi-Wan, that's stretching and you know it."

"Think about it! There are always two Sith: a master and an apprentice. Dooku was Ventress' master, but who was his?"

"I don't want to hear any more about it, Obi-Wan! Chancellor Palpatine is NOT a Sith Lord! He's the closest thing to a father that I've ever had—"

"Anakin."

That tone stopped him in his tracks; he had not heard Obi-Wan use it since his days as the man's padawan. It wasn't a command, nor a warning, simply a firm request to stop and listen; the old Anakin would have responded with a huff and only partially obeyed. Now, though, he found himself genuinely pausing to hear.

"Anakin, I know how much he means to you. I know how much you respect him. But... just promise me you'll at least think about it. If I'm right, you're in danger every time you meet with him; right now, I have enough on my mind with Kevin without having to worry about you as well."

The silence hang in the air between them for a time; after what seemed a brief eternity, Anakin wordlessly hopped into the starfighter and took off for the Senate building. The journey from the dock to the Senate building was rather short, even when going through traffic the usual way without using a starship to land at the private docks there, usually only taking about five standard minutes. This time, though, Anakin found himself almost absent-mindedly flying around the entire district again and again, desperate to shake the alien thoughts from his head. Meditation didn't come as easily to him as it did to other Jedi. As such, he found other ways to clear his mind; aside from messing around with machinery, flying was one of the only things that seemed to work for him. This time, though, he found that nothing could stop Kenobi's words from running through his mind again and again.

"Dooku claimed there was a Sith Lord in the Senate, directing everything..."

He laughed nervously. That was just paranoia, wasn't it? After all, psychological warfare was one of Dooku's specialties. Then again, Obi-Wan never fell for those sort of tactics. In all the time he had known Kenobi, not once had he ever struck Anakin as paranoid or easily manipulated...

"Aurra Sing claimed that there were individuals on Coruscant who desired this war. If Dooku was correct, a Sith Lord in the Senate would absolutely fall into that category."

Anakin still wasn't convinced, but he could at least see the logic in that statement. The war certainly seemed to drag on and on, and sometimes it felt like Dooku knew what the Republic forces were going to do long before he should have—but then again, the Force granted precognition to those particularly attuned to it. That could easily explain it. Besides, what would a Sith have to gain by continuing the war... unless they were playing both sides...

He shook his head. No, not the Chancellor. Obi-Wan was wrong. He had to be.

The soul-searching went on for almost an hour before he finally turned toward the Senate building. After landing at the private docks and showing his credentials—though they were hardly more than a formality at this point considering his fame as "The Hero Without Fear"—he made his way toward the Chancellor's office, unaware of R2 disembarking after him.

After my vision, I had wanted to run straight back to the breach and return to the galaxy; instead, I found myself taking care of the blaster-induced graze on my shoulder (thankfully, my medkit came with me through the breach) before helping Ms. Madison clean up the mess made by my fight with Bane and his accomplices, which altogether took most of the day. The rest of the orphanage was one more thing to deal with; not all of them knew me, but almost all of them immediately realized that a freaking Jedi Padawan was in their midst, and that's when the questions started. I couldn't begin to answer them all, particularly when I noticed that a couple of the smaller kids seemed slightly Force-attuned, though not quite Force-sensitive; considering my vision, I knew that would change eventually. By the time it was over, day had given way to night; as such, I decided to spend one last night in my room before embarking on my mission.

At first light, I had a quick breakfast, said goodbye to Ms. Madison, and left for the abandoned playground where the breach was. When I arrived, I stretched my feelings out toward the breach in hopes of figuring out exactly what I was supposed to do to get back to the galaxy; to my surprise, the breach seemed to "shift" every couple of milliseconds, cycling between two separate exit locations; one was on some odd planet, in the belly of what was undoubtedly a Separatist research facility... and the other was in mid-air, in the Coruscant skyline, with speeders, ships, and freighters of all shapes and sizes speeding below.

Since the former was out of the question, I would have to brave the latter. Which would require using several Force abilities at once: telekinesis to control and slow my fall so that I could find a speeder or something to land on without being hit by one on the way down, force-precognition and force-enhanced reflexes to navigate and tell me which way to fall using said telekinesis, force-enhanced durability to ensure that once I landed I wouldn't break every bone in my body, and finally using the Force to "anchor" myself to whatever speeder or ship I landed on. And that wasn't including the use of the Force to open the breach or the force-enhanced reflexes and speed necessary to leap through right as the Coruscant exit came up so I didn't strand myself on a Separatist world.

No pressure.

I took a deep breath, centered myself, placed my trust in the Force... and leapt.

The instant Anakin left, Kenobi sensed that it was time to reveal all to the Council; at first, he wondered why it would allow him to tell the Council everything but only allow him to give a general warning to Anakin, but further reflection—and his own intuition—told him that Anakin would be better served by uncovering the truth for himself. As such, he called for an emergency Council meeting; thankfully, the entire Council happened to be on Coruscant at the time, which would hopefully prevent their most powerful members from falling prey to Order 66. Unfortunately, not all of them were easily convinced by his story.

"I promise you, it's all true. Every word."

Ki-Adi-Mundi scoffed at the statement. "You cannot expect us to truly believe—"

"Explain a great deal, Master Kenobi's story would; wise it would be to heed his warning."

"Even if it is true," said Adi-Mundi sceptically, "That still leaves the matter of Skywalker's gross violation of the Jedi Code to consider, although I am relieved that Master Kenobi was willing to bring that to our attention the moment he received this... information."

"Actually, I have known about his marriage for about a month as of now."

The room went silent at Kenobi's casual statement; Master Koth eventually broke the silence. "And you allowed it? The Code is very clear on the matter. Attachments are a path toward the Dark Side—"

"That is where you—all of us—are wrong, and have been wrong since the Ruusaan Reformation. I did some research on the subject; long ago, the Jedi did not have that restriction. It took a misguided decision regarding the marriage of a Master Jolee Bindo to add that to the Code; by the time of the Reformation, the reason for that decision had been forgotten like so many other things."

Adi-Mundi spoke again, his tone brooking no argument. "The Code has kept our Order safe and stable for a thousand years, Master Kenobi! To question it now—"

"Is the only thing that will save us."

Now it was Mace Windu's turn to be the source of shock and dismay; before more arguments could be made, he continued. "Master Kenobi was not the only one who discovered Skywalker's secret; in fact, Master Yoda and I have known since the day young Caller arrived."

"Agree with Master Kenobi's sentiment, we do," Yoda stated. "An inspiration to the rest of the Galaxy, we once were; but our refusal of attachment, our distance from the people, our practice of mandatory separation of force-sensitive children from their families, mistakes they were. See us as an inspiration, the Galaxy does not; to many, corrupt and arrogant we are. A boon to Palpatine's plan this view would be, if not for this change."

Windu continued where his diminutive colleague left off. "That is only part of the problem; in truth, the source of the imbalance in the Force is the Order itself. Certain emotions—and yes, this includes romantic attachment—have, in the past, anchored Jedi to the light. By denying this, by forcibly rejecting ALL emotion out of fear of the dark side, we inhibited our connection to the light. Meanwhile, the Sith have been focusing their hatred and aggression for a thousand years; as a result, we diminished the presence of the light and allowed the dark to grow in strength unchecked. In the time that would have been, the problem had grown to the point that the destruction of the Order itself became necessary to recreate the balance by the eventual destruction of the Sith as well, and the rebuilding would have been slow and treacherous indeed. If we are to reverse the process, if we are to avert the future that would have been... we must change our ways, just as the Order did when the Reformation occurred."

"With all due respect," said Kenobi, "We have no more time to debate. The fate of my former padawan can be decided later; for now, we must attend to the matter at hand. The moment Palpatine realizes that his plans have been foiled, he will undoubtedly activate Order 66; I suggest a mandatory evacuation via the Negotiator. The clones aboard my flagship have been freed from Palpatine's influence, and it has just enough room to house all of our members... as well as our holocron archives."

The silence permeating the room made clear the effect of his words; after a few more moments, Yoda spoke. "Go to the archives we shall; Master Kenobi, send an evacuation order throughout the temple you must."

R2 had a mission to accomplish. And in the little astromech droid's mind, it was about time someone asked him to do something this interesting!

The mission in question was only somewhat surprising; hacking the Senate security grid then connecting it with the public holo system was an odd choice—and for everyone but R2, an impossible task—but the very idea was fun enough that the droid didn't ask why. What surprised him was that it was Obi-Wan, not Anakin, who asked him to do it; the former had never truly spoken with him as an equal before—at least, not in the way Anakin and Senator Amidala did.

As he strolled through the halls toward the security grid, R2 beeped and whistled innocently; he still didn't understand the reason for his mission, but he assumed that it was for a prank of epic proportions, and pranks were always fun! He couldn't wait to see the results...

"Ah, Anakin, my boy! I wasn't expecting you, but in these difficult times a visit is always welcome."

The warm greeting upon entering the Supreme Chancellor's office relieved Anakin's tension somewhat; it reminded him of the many conversations held within the room, conversations that were a welcome escape from a bad day. The notion that Palpatine was a Sith Lord was unthinkable; how could such a fatherly person hide such evil?

"Likewise, Chancellor. How are things going in the senate?"

"Not as smoothly as I would prefer," said the Chancellor. "The senate has rejected a proposal for increased anti-espionage measures. I intend to re-introduce it to the legislature, but I fear that some elements are unwilling to do what must be done to ensure victory in this war."

"You're talking about the Unrestricted Surveillance Act, right? Senator Amidala told me about that recently."

A frown crossed Palpatine's face. "Ah, yes; I admire her idealism, but I fear that liberty must sometimes be sacrificed for security."

Kenobi's words crossed Anakin's mind again. He always did propose legislation that increased the authority of the Supreme Chancellor... but that's just to win the war, isn't it? He'll give it up once the war is over... He did his best to shake the unwelcome thoughts from his head once more.

"I agree to some extent, Chancellor, but the Jedi Council doesn't like it any more than she does, and I think they have a point as well."

"I fear the Jedi may be wrong in this matter; it would not be the first time. I am surprised you place such trust in their wisdom when they restrict you to the extent that they do; surely, they must realize how powerful you are in the Force."

Palpatine's words suddenly seemed out-of-place, until Anakin realized something about them that he hadn't before. He talks about this sort of thing all the time. Distrusting the Order... implying that they're underappreciating me or holding me back. Why haven't I noticed this until now?

"I admit the Council frustrates me sometimes, but I wouldn't say they were untrustworthy. Obi-Wan's on the Council, and I trust him."

"Did you trust him with what you did on Tatooine? The incident with the Tusken Raiders and your mother?"

"Well, no, but—"

"Your actions were justified; they killed your mother, so you killed them," Palpatine interjected. "Revenge is a form of justice, but I doubt Master Kenobi would understand. He is too orthodox to comprehend such things."

"Revenge isn't the Jedi way. It's an action motivated by anger."

"But it made you powerful, did it not?"

Anakin stopped again. That's another thing he keeps talking about; Force, I never realized this before...

"Anakin? Is something the matter?"

A moment passed before the Chosen One spoke. "...Why do you keep pushing that?"

"Pushing what?"

"Anger making me stronger. You always talk about that, but only when we're alone together. Why?"

A confused expression crossed Palpatine's features. "I don't see anything strange about wanting to see you grow stronger, Anakin. You have so much potential; I hate to see it wasted. I know more about the Force than you think..."

Something clicked in Anakin's mind. Hundreds of conversations with the man passed through his head, accompanied at all times by Obi-Wan's words; slowly, a picture began to form, and one by one the puzzle pieces snapped into place.

"Obi-Wan was right..." Anakin grabbed his lightsaber, activating it and pointing it at the Chancellor. "It is you, isn't it? You're a Sith Lord!"

The fatherly demeanor that had accompanied every word and motion Palpatine made suddenly vanished, replaced with a disturbing calm. "It seems you have discovered the truth before I thought you would. So what will you do now, Anakin? Are you going to kill me?"

"I would certainly like to..." Anakin couldn't help but snarl a bit as he spoke.

"Yes... I know you would... I can feel your anger."

Palpatine's tone shook Anakin to his core; the warmth that had been there was gone, and now the man's voice carried a grave chill.

"You're right. As I said, I want to kill you... but I won't. Not unless you force me to."

The Chancellor frowned at his response. "What."

"You heard me," Anakin said, stepping back for a moment; centering himself, he brought his lightsaber into a defensive posture, pointing it up instead of toward Palpatine. "I see now. You want me, don't you? That's why you've been so nice to me, why you've tried to manipulate me. But I won't give you what you want; if you attack me, I'll defend myself—and if I have to kill you, I will. But I won't strike the first blow. I am a Jedi, now and forever."

A hidden lightsaber appeared in Palpatine's hand, followed by a flash of red. Dropping the act altogether, the man's voice changed entirely, becoming a monstrous growl with an almost demonic timbre. "So be it... Jedi."

Figuring out that conversation and finding a way for Anakin to finally wake up and smell the BS was a pain. I'm still not completely happy with it, but I think it's as good as it's going to get.