Chapter Eleven: Fateful Decisions

Harry walked into Palpatine's office and stood next to Mace. The two of them were flanked by Kit Fisto and Eeth Koth, and all four Jedi were blocking the door so the Sith Lord in front of them couldn't escape.

Harry winced as his scar gave a vicious twinge, being this close to Sidious was giving him a major headache. Growling inwardly he tightened his mental shields and forced the pain away, not willing to let anyone in the room, and especially not Sidious, know how he was feeling.

Sidious looked at them and smirked. "I take it General Grievous has been destroyed, given that four Jedi Masters are paying me a visit. You're here much sooner than expected."

All the Jedi narrowed their eyes and Mace then replied, "In the name of the Galactic Senate of the Republic, you are under arrest Chancellor."

Sidious stood up slowly. His face twisted briefly and an expression of hate twisted it but then he relaxed. In a deliberate tone he stated, "Really. Tell me, how can you arrest me in the Senate's name when I AM the Senate?"

Mace smirked. "Not yet. And you won't be, because the Senate will be deciding your fate, not looking to you to lead it."

Sidious growled and then whispered, "It's treason then" before a lightsaber shot into his hand. Harry had half a second to process the fact that Sidious had a weapon before the Sith landed in front of the Jedi wall.

Kit died when Sidious used a fencing type of move and thrust his weapon through his heart. Eeth Koth tried taking off his head but got cut in half for the trouble. That left just Mace and Harry alone to face the most dangerous opponent they'd ever faced.

Mace was worried. Outwardly he didn't show it and was cool and calm as he and Harry fought together like the seasoned team they were, but he couldn't help knowing that in the matter of fighting Dark Lords, Harry was more experienced than he was. He blocked a slash to his middle and then let out a silent cheer as Harry kicked Palpatine in the head.

Palpatine staggered backwards and then rounded on the Jedi that had dared to assault him. Harry drew him away from Mace, fighting Sidious easily but not letting his guard down for an instant. Although Harry was the better fighter, Sidious was using the Dark Side to help him and the Force was confused and clouded in the room, as Light and Dark fought each other.

Mace came up behind Sidious and attempted to skewer him through the heart. In response, Sidious let out a blast of Force lightning that sent Mace flying through the air, hitting the wall and ending up rather dazed on the floor. Having taken one opponent out he turned back to Harry and continued his attack, helped by the fact that Harry had stopped upon seeing his friend and mentor be taken down with seeming ease. Shaking his head, Harry deftly sidestepped to avoid the Sith Lord's latest move and growled. Sidious smirked. "What's the matter Potter? Only just realizing that I'm too strong for you? Too bad you won't be around to see me finally claim what is mine!"

"What would that be?" Harry snarled his eyes flashing in a way that those who truly knew him, knew was a warning sign. Sidious smiled unpleasantly and then said, "Why, the Chosen One of course. I'll finally get my hands on Skywalker and you won't be able to do a thing to stop me."

"Over my dead body" Harry snarled, before he kicked Sidious in the side and drove the older man a few steps back. Drawing his wand Harry cast a rapid series of spells, designed to incapacitate and hurt Sidious. He was working up the nerve to cast the Avada Kedavra curse, as a way to end the fight, when a blast of Force lightning caught him off guard. Unable to block it he fell to one knee, groaning as the electricity washed over him.

Sidious looked at Harry in satisfaction. 'Finally, I'll have Potter out of my way and Anakin will be mine. He won't resist, he wants the power, I just have to de-brainwash him first.'

Ending the torture Sidious walked round Harry and then said conversationally, "You really have been quite annoying you know. First you disable and kill Maul, and then you stand in my way of getting to know Anakin. Now, you continually try to prevent me from having him. I wouldn't be doing this to you if you would just stay out of my way."

Harry spat a bit of blood out of his mouth, as well as a tooth. He looked up with an insolent grin and then replied, "Glad to be of service. You really should have talked to Voldemort before trying to take me on, you would have found out some interesting facts about me."

Sidious glared at him. "Who is Voldemort and why should I have talked to him?" he snarled. Harry shrugged and then looked upwards before saying, "Voldemort? Would you mind telling this idiot that his grand plans aren't going to work?"

Sidious looked at Harry and shook his head. 'It's no fun to torture an insane opponent' he thought before stepping back in shock as a ghostly apparition formed between him and Harry.

"You called Potter?" Voldemort said lazily. Harry smirked. "Yes I did. The idiot behind you is Darth Sidious, and he seems intent on taking over the galaxy. He doesn't seem to understand why his plans keep failing."

Voldemort examined the Sith Lord before shrugging. "Darth Sidious I presume" he said. Sidious nodded, too shocked to speak. "I am Lord Voldemort, or should I say, I am the former Lord Voldemort. I tried taking over Earth when I was alive, and Potter here kept standing in my way too."

"So how did you deal with him" Sidious growled. Voldemort shrugged again. "I didn't. I made the mistake of messing with his friends and family and now look where I am. Dead. My advice is go take over somewhere far far away from Potter if you want to live."

Sidious snarled. "I've put far too much effort into my plans to have them ruined by one overly nosy, pushy, interfering JEDI!" With that he turned the full power of his Dark Side abilities on Harry who just barely had time to roll out of the way of the first blast of Force lightning.

Rolling to his feet, Harry caught the second blast on his lightsaber blade, and it was a really interesting effect, seeing the blue lightning playing around the silver blade. Now it was a battle of wills and Harry was winning. The lightning rebounded on its caster and Sidious started to fry. When he finally stopped casting, Harry lowered his lightsaber a bit but didn't let go of it.

"Oh very well done" Voldemort commented from behind him. Harry sighed. "Why are you still here Tom?" he asked. Voldemort silently appeared beside him and then said, "I wanted to see the outcome of the battle."

Harry snorted before leaping away as Sidious proved he wasn't spent after all and lunged at him with his lightsaber activated once more. The battle was going ill for Harry as Sidious kept distracting him from fighting with random blasts of Force lightning. Finally Harry was sent flying against the wall and hit the back of his head hard. Dazed, he looked up as Sidious walked closer to him, rolling Harry's lightsaber out of reach. He was just about to kill him when a purple blade gave him a rather close haircut.

Whirling round he saw Mace standing behind him, blade raised and ready to fight once more. Ignoring Harry for the moment Sidious attacked Mace, while Harry recovered. It didn't take long before Sidious found himself at the mercy of both Jedi, the purple and silver blades crossed at his throat. He leaned his head back and yelled, "GUARDS!"

The red robed guards that were his personal bodyguards came rushing into the room. Harry and Mace exchanged a glance as Sidious drove them back with more Force lightning attacks. The guards quickly surrounded them and started attacking with their large weapons. Harry ducked one attack, and killed the guard next to him, while Mace took on two at once and won. They were almost finished with the guards when Sidious decided to enter the fray once more. This time he had the advantage as his opponents were more tired than he was, despite the help from the Force. Even so, two to one odds wasn't good, especially when the two were two of the best Jedi in the Order. Sidious threw Harry out of the way with a bit of help from the Dark Side and then sliced off Mace's right hand. As Mace screamed in pain, Sidious was knocked to the ground by a vicious kick from Harry. Mace walked backwards a bit, knowing that he wasn't going to be much help to Harry now. Harry kept Sidious at bay and hissed, "Go now. Healers will be waiting, they set everything up yesterday!"

"Are you sure Harry? I don't like leaving you here alone" Mace hissed back, groaning as he accidentally bumped his injured arm. Harry glared at him. "I took down Voldemort, and Dooku, and Maul. I'll be fine, and if not, well I'm not the one that's prophesied to destroy him am I."

Mace nodded before holding the portkey in his good hand and whispering, "Sanctuary." As he disappeared, the last thing he saw was Sidious renewing his attack on Harry, via more Force lightning.

"And now, to bring Skywalker to me" Sidious said almost cheerfully. Harry looked up at his nemesis from his position by the now open gap where the window used to be and spat, "He'll never come!" Sidious raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yes he will. He'd do anything for his beloved "father." He will come in order to save you from death."

Harry closed his eyes, it was true. Anakin wouldn't allow anyone to hurt him, not if he could prevent it. Opening his eyes again he growled, "If he does come I'll take great pleasure in watching him kick your ass into the nearest black hole you scheming, manipulative bastard!"

Harry glared at Sidious and then he had an idea. Drawing his wand he transfigured the nearby debris into a large cobra.

Bite him he hissed to his creation, indicating Sidious as he did so. The cobra hissed an agreement and started sliding towards the Sith Lord. Sidious had heard his opponent hiss something but didn't understand it for what it was. Thus, when he heard a menacing hissing from behind him he was understandably shocked to see a large snake where previously there had been none. He didn't allow himself to be shocked for long though, and as the cobra struck at him, he sliced its head off.

Turning back to Harry, he growled and said, "Enough of this!" before casting a full strength burst of Force lightning. Harry's eyes rolled back in his head and he screamed, the pain was worse than a hundred Cruciatus curses at once. In a last act of desperation he closed the bond with Damien. Sidious might be able to hurt him but he was damned if he was going to let his Padawan experience this as well.

In the Council chamber back at the Jedi Temple, a small group had formed. Anakin had taken Damien there as soon as he'd collected him from his apartment, and the two had spent some time talking, mostly about Harry. Now the group of two had expanded to include Ginny, James, Lily and Qui-Gon. Snape was also there, having chosen that week to have another visit.

"So what was Harry like as a kid?" Damien asked. This was directed mainly at Ginny and Snape as they were the only ones of the present group that had been around Harry when he was growing up. Ginny smiled and replied, "Much like he is now really. He had less control of his temper then but his core values, those things that make him Harry Potter haven't changed. He was very awkward with girls, and didn't like praise or his fame very much. He tried to stay out of the spotlight as much as possible, with the exception of Quidditch. Why do you ask?"

Damien shrugged. "I've finished all my homework so I thought I'd do some more research, into Harry's past." The group all looked at each other with raised eyebrows and Damien huffed. "Honestly, what's so wrong with that?"

"Nothing, nothing, it's just interesting that you'd choose now to ask. Wouldn't Harry be the best person to ask?" James answered. Damien flushed slightly and wouldn't look anyone in the eye when he replied, "Well, I sorta blew that one before I even started."

At the raised eyebrows from his audience the now nearly 14 year old winced and then muttered, "I took a look in his Pensieve alright. When he yanked me out he looked torn between yelling at me and letting me off. He kept muttering something about hypocrites."

Snape snorted. "It's not surprising really." At Damien's enquiring look he said, "He could hardly yell at you when he did the same thing when he was a student."

"Let me guess, he looked in yours?" Damien asked. Snape nodded. This earned a shrug from the Padawan and a comfortable silence fell. The view from the windows was breathtaking, although Anakin's and Damien's gazes seemed fixed mostly on the Senate building in the distance.

Damien suddenly gasped and fell off the chair, curling up on the floor as he shook with pain. In an instant, Anakin was kneeling beside him, trying to hold him still. Lily and Ginny were scanning him rapidly and finding nothing really wrong apart from his head.

"What's wrong Damien?" Anakin asked urgently. He could sense that it had something to do with Harry, the remnants of his own bond with the Jedi Master were sore and painful, but he needed to know specifics.

Damien opened his eyes, and Anakin could see deep pain in them. The Padawan then clung to his older brother and whimpered, "Harry, he's in pain, so much pain. Something's wrong, he's hurt. We need to go and help him."

Anakin closed his eyes, before opening them and saying, "No Damien. We're going nowhere. Harry told us to stay here."

Damien struggled out of Anakin's grasp and stood unsteadily. "You don't understand, Palpatine is hurting him, he AAHHHH!!!"

Damien fell to the floor once again and it was only Snape's quick action that saved the Padawan from another concussion. The Potions Master gently but firmly restrained the now weakly struggling apprentice and said, "What happened?"

Damien looked round at them all, his expression scared and pained. "He, he closed the bond. He's never done that before."

The non Jedi looked to Anakin for an explanation. The Knight gestured for Snape to hand Damien to him which Snape did quickly. Anakin settled on the floor, with Damien in his lap, just holding him until Damien was calm enough to listen to him.

"Damien, if Harry's in as much pain as you say he is then he must have closed the bond to stop you from hurting as well."

Damien glared at Anakin and snapped, "I know that, but we need to go to him NOW! Before he dies!"

Anakin shook his head again. "I will repeat Damien, WE are going nowhere." Standing up, and ignoring the betrayed look in Damien's eyes, he said, "You are staying right here. I will be going to rescue Harry."

He was then almost knocked over by an enthusiastic hug from Damien. "Thank you thank you thank you" he repeated over and over. Anakin extricated himself from Damien's grasp and pushed him gently into the nearest chair.

"Stay here. I will be in enough trouble with Harry for leaving you here. He'd have my head if you followed me. Understand?" Damien nodded, and Anakin turned to the group. Looking at them he said, "Look after him for me" before concentrating hard. With a gigantic CRACK! he apparated away, landing just in Palpatine's office where Harry and Palpatine were trading insults after the latest round of torture.

Harry looked up in shock as the CRACK! of the apparition faded. He knew only one Jedi could have done that, apart from him and his suspicions were proved right when a familiar voice spoke from behind Sidious.

"Let him go!"

Sidious turned to see Anakin Skywalker standing in front of him, his eyes hard and cold, and his lightsaber already ignited. The two stood staring at one another for a few minutes before Sidious smiled.

"Good Anakin, you're here. I don't need to play with my little toy any longer. Unfortunately it's a bit broken so I'll have to dispose of it" he said before casually raising his lightsaber blade and bringing it down towards Harry's neck.

The red blade was stopped by blue as Anakin moved in a blur, levitating Harry out of harm's way and standing between him and Sidious. The Sith didn't seem fazed by this and instead started dueling Anakin, seeing how strong a fighter he was.

Harry watched in shock as Anakin dueled Sidious, hardly able to believe that Anakin had broken his word in order to save him. He was grateful for the help but really, if Anakin had brought Damien with him then he was going to kill him.

The duel was fast and vicious, but finally Anakin won. He stood above Sidious, his blade pointed at the Sith's throat. He was about to end things when Sidious lashed out with the Force, throwing Anakin backwards. The Knight immediately moved back towards him, wanting to end the fight with a minimum of bloodshed. Wasting no time, Sidious fought him back, struggling to block Anakin's lightning fast attacks. Taking advantage of a momentary stumble on Anakin's part, Sidious sent a burst of Force lightning at him and then levitated Harry's still somewhat dazed form up, ignoring the struggles that Harry made with his own Force ability, before he casually dropped him out the window.

Anakin watched with horror as Harry fell out of sight. He then shook his head as he felt a familiar wave of anger rise in him. It was familiar because it was the same wave he'd felt at 19 years old, when his mother had died. Then, he had lost control of it. Now though, he controlled the anger, let it pass through him and calmed himself again. Glaring at the Sith he growled out, "That was a large mistake you just made."

Sidious smirked. "Not really. Now you can join me, as your destiny dictates you will."

Anakin shook his head again. "Never" he snarled. Sidious smiled at him and then lashed out with Force lightning once more. This attack was more powerful and Anakin couldn't block it in time. He collapsed to the floor, feeling the electricity surging through him. Pain was all he knew for a few minutes until the attack stopped. He stiffened as he felt a foreign presence in his mind and lashed out mentally.

Sidious had used the Force lightning attacks to weaken not only Anakin's physical abilities but also his mental defences. He had succeeded in gaining entry to Anakin's mind but was now waging a mental war for control and he couldn't use a physical attack while being in his victim's mind.

Anakin shoved Sidious out with all the force he could muster but before he could rebuild the fortress walls in his mind another attack weakened him enough that Sidious re entered and this time Anakin couldn't stop him.

Fighting every step of the way, using all the mental traps and defences that he'd built in when he'd first built his shields, Anakin was shoved further and further back in his own mind, until he'd reached a small room where he stored miscellaneous memories or junk. Fortunately Anakin had put the remnants of his bond with Harry in there as well so Sidious wouldn't find it. Sidious shoved him in there and then locked the door before building a mental wall around the room so that Anakin couldn't escape. A peculiarity of the wall ensured that while Anakin couldn't influence his body in any way, he could still hear and understand everything that was going on. It was his body, but his mind was now firmly under the control of Darth Sidious. Sidious then unlocked Anakin's Dark Side and retreated from his new apprentice's mind.

"Now, you will join me and we will rule the galaxy. First though, you need a new name. From now on, you will be known as Darth Vader" Sidious pronounced. Frowning at the lack of response from his new apprentice, he asked, "Aren't you going to say something?"

To Anakin's horror, his body, under the control of the new personality in his mind that was named Darth Vader knelt and his voice said firmly, "Thank you Master. What are we going to do next?"

Neither Sidious nor Vader noticed the black falcon that was perched quietly in a dark corner of the office, listening as Sidious outlined his plan for finally bringing the galaxy under his control, plans that started with the destruction of the Jedi Order.