Chapter 10 – Duel of Fates
Author's Note: No regrets. *evil cackling*
To Guest (1): I'm glad that Luke's losing his temper makes sense to you! ^-^ And yeah, Palpatine really does just make you want to punch him sometimes. Lol.
To Guest (2): You should be nervous. ;) I would like to think that the twist in this chapter is very unexpected... unless you look back at the previous chapters to see all the buildup. Lotta love dramatic irony! It makes me so happy to hear how much you and your sister are enjoying this story! :D
Thank y'all so much for reading and reviewing! 💖💖💖
~ Amina Gila
Shock and betrayal aren't nearly enough to cover how Anakin is feeling right now. Truthfully, he has no idea how he's feeling, but the hurt of this cuts him to the core. This was the one person he trusted unconditionally, and he's a Sith. A traitor. Evil. Everything he once thought Palpatine, of all people, could never be.
He doesn't understand it, and his pain quickly morphs to rage – it's easier to hold onto. He has been this entire time, he realizes. How did the Council see this when Anakin didn't? How could he have been so foolish? How... how? None of this makes sense, but the crushing betrayal stands out over everything else.
And it makes him angry. He doesn't give trust easily, but when he does, he'll do anything for them, and he expects the same in return – not the same, but he expects their loyalty.
Palpatine is a Sith, the very thing Anakin has been said to destroy for years, and he became a Jedi years ago. Part of him wants to do it right now, right here, but despite the pain of the betrayal and the rage tearing him apart, he recognizes that this is his friend, and it's still the Chancellor and that would be treason, and –
Luke's lightsaber hisses to life suddenly, his rage flaring into the Force, and he lunges towards the Sith. Even through his tumultuous emotions, Anakin is about to realize this is the stupidest thing he could have done. "No, wait!" he calls, but it's too late.
Palpatine ducks aside as Luke's lightsaber slashes through where he was a moment before. Anakin thought that would be enough to make his son stop, but he doesn't. He keeps going – he's clearly determined to end this now. Luke doesn't understand the concept of treason, Anakin remembers with a jolt. He's not at fault for this.
It's when Palpatine withdraws his own lightsaber, the red blade hissing to life that Anakin realizes he has no choice. He must protect Luke at any cost. He moves forwards, lightsaber in hand to stand next to his son.
"There is no need for it to come to this," Palpatine admonishes. Once, it would've made him feel guilty – and maybe it still does, a little bit, but Anakin reminds himself again with a certainty that this man betrayed him. He's a Sith. He's – he's evil.
"You knew it would be," Anakin replies bitterly as they slowly circle each other, lightsabers raised. "From the moment I became a Jedi, you knew. What did you want with me?"
"You have always been different, Anakin. You were meant for more."
"You never cared," he accuses, and it feels like that knowledge is crushing him. It's strangling him, ripping him apart and leaving nothing behind. "Sith do not care. They do not..."
"I think, perhaps, I am the only person who cared for you." His gaze turns to Luke. "Except your son."
"You lie," Luke snarls. "My father has a family."
"Where?" he asks. "Among the Jedi? His padawan abandoned him, and his wife will die. Your mother will die, Luke, unless you are able to save her."
Anakin closes his eyes, breathing in and out, struggling to find calm. "No," he grits out. "No, she will not, she can't!"
"You feel it, don't you?" he asks. He sounds sympathetic, but Anakin can't trust that anymore. He never will again. "Your only hopes of saving her is through the Dark Side, and I cannot do this alone."
"Father, he's distracting you," Luke warns, "And he's lying. He only cares about turning you."
Suddenly, everything falls into place. "You knew, didn't you." It's not a question – Anakin already knows the answer to it, and it leaves him feeling strangely numb. Luke knew about it all this time, and he never told him. Did he tell anyone? Does the Council know?
Luke goes for Sidious again, and Anakin joins him, ignoring the way unease and guilt and fear are tearing him apart from the inside out. He knows how foolish this is – he rushed into fighting Dooku so many times, and they should have told the Council instead of acting on it themselves, but what else can he do now? They've passed the point of no return.
His son is impressive for having hardly received any training, but at this rate, he's going to end up dead. They both will. Palpatine – or Sidious – is a deadly fighter, a true force to be reckoned with. He moves in a deadly blur, constantly in motion. Anakin has never seen anything like it, and he doesn't know how to counter it. He throws everything he has into the fight, but he's distracted, and it's showing.
Luke is angry, and his anger is fueling him. It feels very... personal to him, and he's not stopping. He's not going to stop, which means Anakin can't, either.
Sidious's fighting style is deadly, and it's all they can do to avoid being killed. The way he twists his lightsaber makes it embarrassingly simple for him to parry both their blades at once. Sidious backs away from them, back into his office, which gives them slightly more room. Anakin follows, ignoring how part of his mind is screaming from the sheer wrongness of it.
He should have suspected it was a trick yet again, but he's still not expecting it when the Force wraps around his neck, slamming him against the wall. From the flare of fear and pain in the Force, the same is happening to Luke, and it makes Anakin's own anger burn. Palpatine clearly has no qualms about hurting his family. He doesn't know why he'd hoped he would – he's a Sith, after all. Sith do not care. They cannot.
He should've stopped Luke from attacking him, something. Luke can't die here. He can't.
The grip lets up suddenly, dropping him to the floor. He lands awkwardly on his hands and knees, gasping for air. For the first time, Anakin senses the Chancellor's true presence. It's dark enough to make his skin crawl, and he's standing right next to Anakin. Anakin stills instantly, suddenly remembering the times he fought Dooku and what always happened then. He hates feeling so vulnerable, and the power difference here, in this moment, is so glaringly obvious. Anakin knows instinctively there is no way for him to come out on top of this fight.
"I will give you what you desire. A home. A family. Do you truly wish to dispose of your only chance to save Padme?"
He keeps his gaze down on the floor, suddenly fighting the urge to cry. He doesn't know what to do. Palpatine is promising him what he needs. He can't let her die, but – but he doesn't know what was supposed to happen and if the twins survived or not. He knows, without a doubt, that he would rather they live than her, but he will not give up hope for all of them. He needs to save all of them, no matter what the cost is. He can't fail his family again.
"I understand this is a difficult decision," he continues, "But I know you will make the right choice."
Anakin finally looks up to Luke, who's watching the Sith with a mixture of horror and rage. His son looks at him when he feels his gaze, and they share a moment of silent communication. He sees everything: his child's blind love for him and his own willingness to sacrifice everything for him. Anything to make sure he's safe. He can see how his son is afraid of losing him to the darkness, but how can Anakin risk losing him, failing him, too?
He doesn't know what's right from wrong anymore. The Jedi... he doesn't know! They would say to kill Palpatine, and – and technically, Anakin should do that and be done with it, finish the job once and for all, but it's not so simple. He doesn't know if he can even if he tried, and more lives are at stake here. His entire family is at stake here, and the thought of living without them, of spending the rest of his life knowing he had the ability to save them, and he chose not to, chose to selfishly stick to his own beliefs paralyzes him with fear. He can't do that. He can't, no matter what it is Sidious is asking.
"I –"
"No!" Luke snaps, jolting to his feet. "Father, he's using you!"
"And the Jedi aren't?" Palpatine asks, sounding faintly amused. "You know very little about what we speak. It would be best for you to stay out of this."
Luke lifts a nearby statute with the Force, throwing it at him. The Sith side steps, but it gives Anakin the opportunity to push himself back to his feet. At this rate, he's not certain Sidious won't kill Luke, anyway. Sidious raises his hands, about to unleash an onslaught of lightning on him, and that's all it takes for Anakin to move in front of him, lightsaber raised to block it.
When the lightning finally lets up, and Anakin tries not to think too hard about how someone he once called his friend is using it on them, he notices, maybe for the first time, that Sidious actually seems... angry. The sight is enough to make his skin crawl – he's seen that look before, but it's never been directed at him and neither did he know Palpatine was a Sith.
Their lightsabers start clashing again in a deadly blur of green, blue, and red. Luke is a fast learner, and he's clearly inherited Anakin's speed, but he's not skilled. He's quite sloppy, and his stance is off which gives him so many openings that he goes down fast when Sidious Force-kicks him into the wall.
Anakin expected the Sith to continue fighting, but instead, he steps back and extinguishes his lightsaber. The Force flares in warning, and Anakin braces himself for something but instead of a Force-attack, his lightsaber is ripped out of his hands and flung across the floor. Sidious shouldn't have been able to do that – his hand is metal. It's not easy to move with the Force. It takes immense concentration.
"I tire of this," he says lowly, and the Force wraps around Anakin, holding him firmly in place. He could/ and would, have fought against it, except Sidious doesn't give him that chance. "You were once always loyal, my boy. I see your loyalties have changed as fast as those of your master's."
It cuts through him sharper than a blade – that is not something they ever speak of. "We don't speak of this," he argues, tears burning his eyes. He still remembers acutely the pain of everything Obi-Wan did to him that day. He still remembers what it felt like when his master's fist slammed into his face repeatedly as he tried in vain to fight him off.
"This," he replies coldly, and it sends a shiver down Anakin's spine, "Is a betrayal. It is the same as what you did to your padawan." His eyes have burned gold now, and Anakin remembers with a jolt seeing Ahsoka like that, her skin darkened as the Son possessed her body.
"Stop it," he whispers. He remembers with vivid clarity how he chased her down because the Council ordered him to. He told himself it was what he needed to do, but was it?
"I gave you a choice," Sidious continues, "A choice to save your wife. You failed to save your mother, your master, and twice, your padawan. Now, you turn your back on the remainder of your family."
He tries not to let the words affect him, but he fails at that, just like he does at everything else. The Sith knows all his insecurities, because Anakin told him. Because they were friends once. He can't hold back the first wave of tears when they come, and struggles to ignore how humiliating it is.
"I gave you what no one else would," the Sith continues. "I gave you constant, unwavering support when you had none." Anakin can't tell if he's moving closer or if he's talking louder. "I truly believed you were not included in the Jedi's plot, but now I see you will choose them over your own family. Tell me, Anakin, how do you repay betrayal and treason?"
"Death," he whispers, tears flowing freely.
"And yet, I have no intent on ending your life."
He wants to disappear or curl up in a ball and cry and block out the Sith's voice, but he can't move at all. He needs it to stop. He wants all of this to stop, but it won't. It never does. The child in him wants to hide, to beg for forgiveness, and he thinks he may have, anyway, if a sudden jolt of lightning hadn't suddenly struck him then. The unbearable agony of it consumes all his senses, blocking out everything else.
"You are my... friend," Sidious continues, letting it up briefly. "I had no desire to do this to you."
He doesn't have the strength to try responding, not that he knows what to say, anyway. Instead, he curls in on himself, gasping raggedly. He just wants this to be over, but it's not going to be, and he has no idea if they'll even be able to get out of here. Logically, he knows he should just start talking, say something, anything, but words escape him. The Force whispers in warning again, and he inhales sharply, bracing himself for more.
"Stop!" Luke yells sharply, his voice betraying his fear.
Anakin dares to glance up through his tears for the first time and immediately regrets it – the calculating look on Sidious' face makes his skin crawl. He's planning something... something. He looks away just as quickly, right before another blast of lightning strikes him. It's more painful than the last, or maybe it's just that everything already hurts so much.
He can't stop himself from screaming, and he doesn't care to try, anyway.
By the time it finally lets up, his vision is going dark around the edges, pain whiting out everything else. He rolls onto his back, gasping. He hears lightsabers and somehow manages to pull his eyes open. Sidious and Luke are fighting, now.
"Yes," Sidious gloats. "Use your anger, boy. Use your hate. It is the only way you will be able to destroy me."
Anakin's head is throbbing painfully, and his heart is racing. He needs to get up, anyway, to help Luke. His son is using the Dark Side, and he's not stopping. This, Anakin knows beyond the shadow of a doubt, is going to end very badly.
**w**
He's throwing everything he has into this. Perhaps they should have told the Council about this before Luke attacked the Sith but seeing how he was talking to Anakin made something in him snap. He still feels sick – beyond sick – at seeing how Sidious was treating him. What's worse is that it was working, and Luke realizes then that the only reason his father didn't Fall was because he was there. He can't let it be for naught, and he knows he doesn't stand a chance against the Sith. He doesn't know what else to do, though, and the only thought filling his mind right now is how desperately he wants to end this Sith. Killing him doesn't feel like it'd be enough. Luke doesn't even know what it would take to kill him. Stab him? Behead him? Both? If it takes that and kicking the pieces out the window, he's fine with it.
"No." Anakin's voice draws their attention to him, if only briefly. His body is still smoking, and he seems to be making a failed attempt to stand. The sight floods Luke with another surge of icy rage, and he's too furious to remember the many times Ben and Yoda had told him over and over not to use the Dark Side. "Luke, no. I am willing to sacrifice myself – I told you. I will do it."
Luke realizes with mounting horror what his father is saying. He's willing to embrace the Dark Side now, and Luke doesn't even fully understand what this is about using it to save Padme. Anakin never told him about it. Was he afraid to? He should have. If he had, they'd never be in this situation.
"No," Luke argues furiously. "Don't do this. I have seen what will happen if you Fall."
For a moment, Anakin stills. Maybe Luke should've chosen his words better, but he doesn't take the time to think about it. He can't. He's not thinking clearly at all right now, and that's bad, but he can't help it.
"I have to," Anakin whispers, "For my family." He sounds as if he's trying to convince himself more than Luke.
The Sith turns, looking down at him.
"I will do it. Just help me save her."
"What assurance is there you will not betray me?" Sidious asks. Seeing him being so manipulative is what makes Luke realize how all this happened – he isn't even surprised Anakin Fell anymore. "I already gave you a choice."
He can't outright attack Sidious again. It won't get anywhere. Now that he thinks about it, there isn't much he can do. The Sith is bent on getting a new apprentice, and... a sudden idea forms in his mind. It's crazy, but it's the best spur-of-the-moment thing Luke can come up with. He knows Ben and Yoda would be so disappointed with him, but he's disappointed with them, too. "No," Luke replies firmly. He lowers his lightsaber but doesn't extinguish it – he knows the Sith could attach him again any moment. "I will. You will not hurt my father like that again."
For a moment, everything goes completely still.
"Luke," Anakin objects, eyes wide. His voice is shaking slightly. "Please don't do this. It's my duty. She's my wife."
"And you," Luke answers without once looking away from Palpatine, "Are my father." He could have said more, but he doesn't want to divulge this information to Sidious. "You can't raise me if you're a Sith." He won't betray Leia's existence.
"No," Anakin protests. "You can't!"
"Think," Palpatine chides, and the urge to commit graphic murder sprouts to life again, though he quells it viciously. "Think of what you are asking of him, Anakin. To allow the death of his mother? Perhaps another sibling."
"How do you know?" Anakin demands, tensing up immediately.
"The Dark Side offers a far expanded view of the Force, one the Jedi cannot see."
Luke feels sick doing this, but it's only temporary. It's to ensure Anakin makes it out alive and in one piece, because he doesn't see another way. He can already see it now, how Anakin from this state could have been broken and tortured and remade into what everyone knew Vader as. "Then teach me," he requests, "Teach me what I need to know to save my mother."
"Good," Palpatine purrs. "Then pledge yourself to me."
How is this supposed to work? What is he expected to do? Luke doesn't know, but he can... guess, to a point. He lowers himself to his knees in front of Palpatine, trying to ignore how much it makes his skin crawl. "I pledge myself to your teachings, to the ways of the Sith," he says, the words feeling like ash in his mouth. He can't believe things have come to this, but it's all he can do. He can't let his father Fall. He tries not to let himself feel Anakin's horror as he watches from the side. Luke tries not to focus on it.
"Good," Sidious says again, a dark and sinister undertone in his voice that's never there when he speaks as Palpatine, "The Force is strong with you. A powerful Sith you will become. Henceforth, you shall be known as Darth... Sicarius."
It feels... wrong, but maybe it fits what he's becoming. He's only doing this to save Anakin, and after that – No, he better not think about this in Sidious' presence. He doesn't know if he's expected to say anything, so he stays quiet.
"Rise," Sidious instructs, and he does, maybe a little too quickly. He never, ever wants to be in that position with the Sith again. "You must fully embrace the Dark Side," he commands, "Feel your anger. Let it flow through you."
He doesn't want to do this – it's against everything he's been taught about the Force – but he has to. Luke reaches out, letting the Force in fully, drawing on all the anger and fear he's been feeling this whole time. It fills him with a rush of power, far different than the way using the Light Side does.
Luke suddenly senses something through the Force – he thinks Sidious was right about the Dark Side offering a far larger view than the Light. He senses Master Windu's approach. It sickens him to use the Force in this manner, but there is no other choice.
"The Jedi are coming," Sidious declares. He crosses the room, approaching Anakin where he still lies on the floor.
Luke's heart rate spikes, fear gripping him. "Don't hurt him."
Sidious turns to look at him for a moment, and the very move sends a chill running through him. He can only hope that his agreeing to join him will be enough to bargain with for a little while. "I will let him live," he replies, "But I cannot allow him to interfere when the Jedi arrive."
Luke can only watch as Sidious moves Anakin to a corner of the room, somewhere he'll be initially out of sight when the Jedi arrive, before withdrawing a Sith artifact – if how strong feels of the Dark Side is anything to go by. Luke has no idea what the artifact is doing to Anakin, but his father tries to flinch away from it, curling in on himself. Luke wants to stop this, needs to stop this, but he can hardly argue with Sidious about it.
For as sick as he feels, he can only be glad that Anakin is alive and will be alright once they get him away from Sidious, and at least he's not a Sith. They don't have any longer to consider it before the door opens, and Masters Windu and Shaak Ti enter, followed by two others he doesn't recognize. Luke can feel their eyes flit briefly to him, but he doesn't look at them, instead staring at unidentifiable point on the walls behind them. He has no idea where this is going to go, what's going to happen now, but there's no way the Jedi don't feel the Dark Side on him. And... if they suspect who Palpatine really is, they probably think he's been working with him this entire time.
"Master Windu," Palpatine greets smoothly, "I take it General Grievous has been destroyed then. I must say, you're here sooner than expected."
"He has been," Windu confirms, "We are here to request you immediately return your emergency powers to the Senate. The war is over."
"I am afraid that allowing elections right now would only throw the Republic into further chaos. The galaxy is too unstable right now," Palpatine replies.
"That is up to the Senate to decide," Windu retorts.
"I am the Senate."
"Not yet," the Jedi Master retaliates, "If you do not willingly return your powers to the Senate, we will have to take more drastic action to restore the Republic to a democracy." And that, Luke realizes with a jolt, is treason, or at least he thinks it is. It hardly concerns him when he's been doing it for years in his own time, but it... seems to be a big deal here. Something with serious legal ramifications.
"Are you threatening me, Master Jedi?" he asks, mildly.
"Our allegiance is to the Senate and the Republic, institutions you are no longer serving as you were elected to," Windu retorts, and his hand moves dangerously close to his lightsaber, "I request that you peacefully hand over your emergency powers and bring this conflict to an end."
"It's treason then," Palpatine hisses, standing, and lightsaber hilts appear in his hands.
The Jedi look slightly taken aback, but it's obvious they were prepared for this. As one, they all ignite their lightsabers. Windu looks like he's about to say something, but Sidious doesn't give him a chance, flipping over the desk and swinging for the first Jedi Master. He slashes him nearly in half before he can spin to block him.
Luke stands frozen, panic clawing at him. What should he do?! He knows what he ought to do, but he has to keep his father safe, and –
The other three lunge for Sidious, who spins his blade expertly between them, parrying their blows, diving forwards and impaling a second one through the chest.
"Prove your loyalty, boy," he hisses, blade moving furiously between Windu and Shaak Ti, the last ones standing.
Luke knows what he has to do. He knows there's no chance they have at defeating Sidious here and now, and there's only one thing he can do. His blade springs to life in his hands, and he lunges forwards, crossing blades with Shaak Ti. He refuses to allow himself to think, to question what he's doing, instead reaching deeper into the Dark Side, letting himself feel all the anger, bitterness, and growing questions he's felt against the Jedi all this time. It makes it easier. They told him to kill his father, and if he'd been powerful enough, he might have, without knowing who he truly was. He won't sacrifice this version of his father for them. They definitely don't deserve it.
He's not as experienced a duelist as the Jedi Master, but he learns fast. He knows how to copy his opponents moves quickly, using them to his advantage. Sidious is busy with Windu, leaving Luke to fight the Togruta alone. She's fighting to kill, and he knows if he wants to survive this, he has too also. Shaak Ti has far more experience, but Luke is much stronger in the Force. The first slight gap in her defenses he finds, he takes to his advantage, stabbing her in the side.
She collapses to the floor with a stifled cry, and Luke stumbles back a step, breathing hard. He just... Force, what has he done? He – But he can't stop. He can't let himself think, or he's going to question his decision, and he can't do that. He has to do this. It's the only way. He knows that.
Turning away, Luke runs to help Palpatine, who's furiously dueling Windu near the window of his office. Fighting Windu is nothing like Shaak Ti. He's so much better, and he's actually able to hold his own against Sidious, even if it's with difficulty. It's something about his fighting style, Luke thinks, though he doesn't have time to analyze it right now. It's so wrong to be fighting side by side with Sidious, the person who murdered his father in his own timeline. But if he doesn't, he's going to do the same or worse to Anakin, and Luke can't let that happen. He can't.
Their blades slash into the window, and glass shatters everywhere. Windu kicks Sidious back, knocking him to the floor, his lightsaber falling from his hand. Luke parries Windu's next strike on instinct, and the Jedi Master shoves him back, eyes burning, though he says nothing. Personally, Luke thinks he looks about as angry as Luke had been when he blindly attacked Palpatine before.
Sidious lifts a hand, a blast of lightning crackling from it, striking Windu's lightsaber. The sight of it nearly makes him flinch again, remembering far too clearly when it was hitting him back in his own time, and when Sidious was using it on Anakin not even an hour ago.
He doesn't know what to do now, but he needs to end this fight. He has to show Sidious his loyalty. He doesn't know what else to do, so without thinking he throws his ignited lightsaber at Windu, trying to control its path with the Force much the way he saw Vader do the last time he fought him.
He isn't sure if Windu turned to try and block it or if it actually hit him first, but the next thing he knows, Sidious' lightning engulfs the Jedi Master, the force of it hurling him out the window, and he falls down, out of sight. Luke instantly calls his lightsaber back to him, before it can go flying out the window, too.
Sidious cackles, a sadistic glee in his eyes as he turns to Luke. "Every single Jedi is now an enemy of the Republic," he declares, "We must move quickly. The Jedi are relentless. If they are not all destroyed, it will be civil war without end."
All the Jedi...This is what happened to Anakin before, he realizes numbly. He was in this very same position that Luke is now, but to save Padme, Leia, and him. Of course, he did it, just as Luke is now. He wants this to stop, to do anything else, but there's nothing he can do. There's no way out of this, unless he wants to end up dead along with Anakin. Or leave Anakin in the hands of a Sith where he'll Fall eventually, and he can't do that.
"You are not skilled enough to survive the Temple, so I will have the clones handle it."
"What about... my father?" Luke asks, swallowing hard.
"As I said, he will live," Sidious replies, icily. Which means almost nothing. He wants to so say something else, ask him not to hurt him, maybe, but if anything, that will probably give Sidious more motivation to do so. He has very little bargaining power here, and they both know it. He can only hope that this choice will be enough to keep Anakin from following the same path.
"I want you to go to the Mustafar system," the Sith continues, "Wipe out Viceroy Gunray and all the other Separatist leaders. Once more, the Sith will rule the galaxy, and we shall have peace."
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