Chapter Twenty-Eight
Anakin could feel the darkness surging through him as he rode the lift up to the floor where the Chancellor's office was. Lightsaber in hand, he gripped the hilt tightly as he strode through the massive corridors. He had walked this route countless times over the past decade, but never with this end in mine. Palpatine would die today, that much was certain. Anakin wasn't concerned about the consequences at this point; all he knew was that the monstrous Sith would pay for what he had inflicted up on Padmé. The thought of her now only served to augment the rage he felt. The image of her face, bruised and battered, the waves of fear he felt emanating from her….if anything happens to her or the twins because of this…Anakin had never felt such rage, and he gripped his weapon tighter in his hand as he approached the large suite of offices.
The door slid open, and Anakin was struck with a powerful surge of darkness. He was struck by something else: death. He heard the sound of lightsabers clashing and ran into the main office, nearly tripping over the dead bodies in the doorway. At the large window on the other side of the room, signs of a monumental struggle were evident by the broken glass everywhere. Palpatine, who had evidently lost his weapon, lay on the floor before the window, his arms raised in a gesture of supplication.
"Anakin!" Palpatine cried upon seeing his apprentice. "The Jedi have turned against me! They're trying to kill me!"
Mace Windu stood with the blade of his lightsaber pointed at the Chancellor, whose face was now grotesquely deformed, his eyes a sickening hue of yellow.
"He killed all of those men, Anakin," Windu said calmly. "He's a Sith, just as you told us."
Palpatine turned his yellow eyes back to Anakin, realizing at once that he had been betrayed. "You traitor!" He hissed. "You betrayed me after everything I did for you!!"
"You did nothing for me," Anakin retorted angrily, brandishing his own weapon threateningly. "You used me, you lied to me, and you took away the very things I loved the most! And now you sent your henchmen to kill my wife!" he shouted accusingly, taking a step closer to Palpatine.
"She is untrustworthy," Palpatine retorted, trying desperately to save his own skin. "She has outlasted her usefulness, as have you," he added lifting a hand and sending a bolt of blue energy across the room. Anakin deflected it with his lightsaber, and sent it back to the Sith.
"Let's end this," Windu said, stepping closer and lifting his saber. "The Sith will never return to the galaxy," he told Palpatine. "Your reign has ended before it began."
Palpatine did not reply, but merely sent another bolt of energy at the Jedi, sending him staggering backwards as he fought to contain the Sith lightning with his lightsaber. Anakin could see that Windu was losing the battle, and lifted his own hand to his former master, blasting him with his own brand of lethal Sith energy. Palpatine was shocked by this, and tried to turn against his young apprentice again; but Anakin was too strong. He advanced upon the weakening old man, the dark power he wielded filling the room.
"It is over, Master," Anakin said acrimoniously as he and Windu advanced upon him.
"No, please!" Palpatine pleaded, holding his hands up. "Don't kill me!"
"We won't be fooled by your tricks, Chancellor," Windu told him contemptuously.
Anakin shook his head. "We're not fools," he retorted. "To think we can trust the Sith." In his mind Anakin could see the old man preparing for another assault, and moved quickly, slicing through both the old man's wrists with his saber. Palpatine screamed in agony and fury.
"Do it, Anakin," Windu said. "Finish it."
Anakin nodded, bringing his lightsaber to the throat of the Sith. "Chancellor Palpatine, you are hereby sentenced to die on the charges of treason, murder and conspiracy to incite war," he said.
"You have no right to execute me!" Palpatine shrieked. "You are nothing, Skywalker!"
"That's where you're wrong, Chancellor," Windu replied, looking at Anakin. "He is the Chosen One."
Anakin was surprised by Windu's declaration, and it empowered him. He brought his lightsaber up and in one fluid movement sliced off the Sith's head. He dropped his lightsaber to the floor, looking at the carnage before him.
"You did the right thing," Windu said. "He was too dangerous to be left alive."
Anakin nodded. "I know it," he said. He turned to the Jedi Master. "Did you mean what you said about me? About me being the Chosen One?"
Windu nodded. "Yes," he replied. "I wouldn't have said it otherwise. I never thought much of you, Skywalker, you know that. But you've proven through your actions recently that there is more to you than I gave you credit for. You saved the galaxy from a terrible fate, and I am grateful to you on its behalf."
Anakin was taken aback by the man's words. "I did it to save Padmé," he told him. "To save our children from a galaxy controlled by the likes of him. I would do anything to prevent that."
"Of course," he said. "Is your wife safe?"
"Obi-Wan is with her," Anakin replied. "I need to go to her, I'm worried about the twins."
Windu's eyes widened. "Twins?"
Anakin nodded. "Yes, we're expecting twins."
Windu smiled. "They would make powerful Jedi, you know."
Anakin lifted an eyebrow. "Yes, I suppose they would. If you'll excuse me," he said, leaving the room.
Windu watched him go, and then turned back to the carnage all around him. Many Jedi were killed today, he reflected, but thousands were saved by the actions of one man, the one man the Jedi had rejected over ten years earlier. Destiny is an ironic thing sometimes, he mused as he stepped over the bodies of his fallen comrades. Ironic indeed.
Anakin headed directly for the hospital, where he assumed Obi-Wan had brought Padmé. He assumed correctly, for he found out that his wife being attended to in the emergency wing of the medical facility. Obi-Wan was waiting nearby.
"How is she?" Anakin asked Obi-Wan. "How are the twins?"
"I don't know yet," Obi-Wan said. "They won't tell me much since I'm not her husband."
Anakin frowned. "Well they'll tell me," he muttered, walking over to the nurses' station.
"I'm here to see my wife," he declared. "Where is she?"
The nurse looked up from the chart she was examining. "Her name?"
"Padmé Skywalker," Anakin said.
The nurse looked over the list of patients who had been admitted. "She is being examined by the physician right now," she replied. "You'll just have to wait."
"I will not wait," Anakin retorted angrily, leaning over the desk. "Tell me where she is now!!"
Anakin's voice was loud enough to turn a few heads, and angry enough to give the nurse pause. She looked up at him, half infuriated half terrified at the expression in his eyes.
"Anakin, calm down," Obi-Wan said calmly.
Anakin turned to see the Jedi standing behind him. "I will not calm down," he retorted. "Not until they let me see my wife!"
"Getting angry at the nurse will not speed up the process one bit," Obi-Wan replied calmly. "I know how upset you are; just try to remain calm, that's all I'm asking. They will let you see her as soon as possible, I'm sure of it."
Anakin frowned, and gave the nurse one last withering look before walking away with Obi-Wan, who was encouraged by Anakin's ability to finally see reason.
"What happened upstairs?" Obi-Wan asked, deciding to attempt a diversion.
"He's dead," Anakin replied. "He killed all the Jedi but Windu before I even got there."
Kenobi was upset by this news, and said a silent prayer for his fallen comrades. "You killed him?" he asked.
Anakin nodded. "Yes, I did," he replied. "Master Windu encouraged me to do it. We both realized he was too dangerous to leave alive."
"No doubt he was," Obi-Wan replied. "So what now?"
"I imagine the Senate will elect a new Chancellor," Anakin replied.
"No, I mean you," Obi-Wan responded. "What will you do now? The Sith is dead; what will you do with your life?"
Anakin had not given this any consideration until the question was asked. "I …I don't know," he replied at last. "All I'm focusing on right now is Padmé and the twins. I suppose whatever my destiny is will reveal itself to me sooner or later."
"Perhaps it already has," Obi-Wan commented. "The destiny of the Chosen One is rather clear, don't you think?"
For the second time in a matter of hours someone had referred to him as the Chosen One. It had been so long since he had thought of himself as anything but a Sith, that the possibility that he could be something more seemed strange and unlikely to him. Yet, part of him, a large part of him, craved something more; he was tired of being the henchman of a despot, tired of killing, tired of living life as the dark manifestation of another man's ambition.
"You have already fulfilled half of the prophecy," Obi-Wan pointed out. "You destroyed the Sith."
Anakin nodded. "Yes," he conceded. "What is the rest?"
"To bring balance to the Force," Obi-Wan replied. "And to become the greatest of all the Jedi. I think you can do that, Anakin; but it's what you want that is important."
Anakin considered this, surprised by Obi-Wan's comment. Could I be the greatest of all the Jedi? He wondered; could I even be a Jedi after all that I've done?
"All I want is for my wife and children to be happy and safe," he replied at last, looking back at the doorway that lead to the triage center. "That's all I'm focused on right now, Obi-Wan."
Obi-Wan nodded. "Of course," he said.
Anakin turned back to him. "I want to thank you for what you did for us today, Obi-Wan," he said. "You saved her life, all of their lives," he continued. "There are no words to thank you for that." He held out his hand to the Jedi, astonishing even himself with the gesture.
Obi-Wan shook his hand. "You don't need to thank me, Anakin," he said. "It is my duty as a Jedi to protect the lives of others."
Anakin nodded. "Yes, I suppose it is," he replied.
"Mr. Skywalker?"
Anakin turned around to see a physician standing behind him. "Where is my wife? I must see her."
The physician nodded. "You can see her now," he said. "Follow me."
Anakin looked back at Obi-Wan and then followed the physician out of the waiting area.