Chapter Twelve: Repercussions

Once Sidious had finished giving his orders to Vader, Harry silently flew out the window and landed on an abandoned landing platform nearby, transforming back slowly. The Force lightning had weakened him enough that the transformation was slower than usual but still possible. In order to heal fully, Harry would have to be in a healing trance that night and there was a good chance that he would be ordered into a bacta tank as soon as he reached Yavin 4.

'First though, I have to stop the destruction of the Order and save Anakin. Why oh why couldn't he do as he was told!' Harry thought as he took his comlink out of its pouch on his belt.

Tahl took the call that was coming in, the blinking red light marking it as urgent. "Yes Harry" she said, upon identifying who it was. Harry spoke only one word.

"Evacuate!"

Tahl rocked backwards in her chair. "You're sure?" she hissed. Harry growled and replied, "YES! Every second we waste is vital. Get the younglings out of that building, and everyone else as well. Palpatine is sending clones to the Temple right now, with orders to kill every Jedi in the building."

Tahl cut the connection and pressed the button that would sound the general alarm throughout the Temple. With that done she looked out the window and saw a tall figure leading thousands of clone troops towards the Temple. A few minutes later an explosion told her that the front door was wide open. Gathering all sensitive current information she locked everything else down, and set a delayed timer to wipe the hard drives. She had back up copies in her safe, which she opened now. With the back up copies safely in her pockets she joined the orderly rush to the safety of the older Temple rooms, and the Portkeys that would take them all to safety.

In the Council chamber, Damien had fallen asleep but he was woken by the explosion. Blinking sleepily he heard the door open and a group of young Padawans ran in. Shivering, they crouched behind the chairs, their eyes wide and scared.

Damien frowned before realizing that the attack that his master had feared must be happening. Taking a swift look out the door he saw the clones flooding through the corridors and knew that the route to the Portkeys was now cut off. Thinking quickly he shut the doors again and jammed them, locking him and the Padawans in. He hoped the clones couldn't get through the doors otherwise they'd all be dead.

Sinking onto the floor he tried calming the frightened children down, while pushing aside the little voice that insisted that he was a child too. It worked and soon they were all just waiting for it to be safe to go outside the room again. Damien couldn't help wondering why the initiates weren't taken to the Portkey room and was told that their caretaker was killed by the clones and that they'd taken a wrong turn on their panicked flight from the danger.

15 minutes later Damien's head shot up as he recognized a familiar presence outside the door. Turning to the children he said, "Don't worry, Knight Skywalker is outside, he'll help us." He looked back towards the door just as it hissed open and Darth Vader walked through it.

Anakin was having a really bad night. He was locked inside his own mind and Darth Vader was happily directing the clones to kill any Jedi that were visible. Fortunately, over ¾ of the Jedi Order had managed to get to safety so it was only the stragglers that were left. Even worse was the knowledge that the Jedi that were killed would die thinking that he had betrayed them.

Vader had gone to check the Council chamber and Anakin was praying that it would be empty. His hopes were dashed when a group of young Padawans rose up from behind the chairs. One walked forward and the innocent question of "What are we going to do?" nearly broke Anakin's heart as he watched Vader unhook his lightsaber from his belt.

The activation of the blue blade and the realization of what was about to happen had Anakin fighting furiously to get out of his mental prison. He couldn't sit by and watch as Vader used his body to murder young, innocent children, he just couldn't! Worse was about to come though, as Vader brought the lightsaber down towards the first child, it was blocked by a green blade.

Damien stood between Vader and the Padawans, his eyes fixed on the Sith Lord. When he spoke his voice had only the barest quiver of fear in it. "I don't know who you are but you're not my brother. Leave now!"

Vader laughed cruelly. "And just what are you going to do about it boy?" he sneered. Damien disengaged his blade and then took a fighting stance, still protecting the children. Vader raised an eyebrow. "Brave of you. Before you die I want to tell you something. You're correct when you say that I'm not Anakin Skywalker. I'm Darth Vader, and I'm just using his body for a bit. He's still here, trapped in his mind, and can't get out. He's going absolutely crazy too, trying to stop me from hurting you and the rest of these traitors. What will it do to him I wonder, if I were to kill you?"

Damien growled and then replied, "I'm sure he'd forgive me if I were to rough you up a bit. You're not getting these kids, or me."

Vader laughed again and then swiftly attacked. Damien retreated, blocking just as swiftly. He'd sparred with Anakin before but this was faster, more brutal and certainly more lethal. A spinning kick caught him in the head and he went down hard. While he lay there, trying to bring the world back into focus, he heard the screams of the younglings as Vader killed them.

Inside his mind, Anakin was indeed going crazy. He knew he'd never be able to look at the surviving younglings again without the memory of this night playing before his eyes. Then there was Damien. He admired the kid's guts in standing up to Vader but if Damien didn't run soon then he would go the way of the younglings.

'And then Harry really would kill me' he thought in despair just before he felt the impact of a body with his own. Pressure round his throat told Anakin that Damien had jumped on his back and was attempting to strangle Vader into unconsciousness.

"Nice thought brother but I don't think it's going to work" he muttered to himself just before Vader sent Damien flying again. As Damien shakily rose again he looked round the room. The younglings were dead, and Damien now knew that he couldn't free his brother on his own. He needed Harry.

Before the attack had started, Lily and Ginny, accompanied by James and Snape had gone to Padme's apartment to see how she was doing. It was now almost a week since her due date but the twins were showing no sign of wanting to come out any time soon. They were seated comfortably on the couches when a sudden flickering caught Snape's eye.

"Look" he said, his gaze fixed on the Jedi temple. The rest of the small group rose and watched in despair and horror as the Jedi Temple started to burn. Padme broke down in tears until Ginny reminded her of the emergency plans. This didn't make her feel much better though, and none of the group was happy. Ginny in particular was nearly frantic over Tamsin's safety, so she was relieved when her comlink beeped and a message appeared.

"Portkeys successful. Younglings safe and asleep."

That meant that the plan to evacuate the Jedi Order's youngest members first, including Tamsin, went off as planned. Now Ginny could only hope that Harry had survived.

Damien was facing Vader in the Council chamber. If he had to die, he would at least leave the Sith a reminder to never mess with a Jedi, and especially not one who was a Potter. Running towards the Sith, he slid on his back between Vader's legs and at the last second he thrust both his booted feet upwards. The boot heels caught their intended target perfectly and Vader proved that he was at least still human enough to feel pain. He crumpled to the ground in agony as his balls violently protested their rough treatment and Damien took the opportunity presented to him and ran for his life.

Dodging the clone troopers who were looking round for more targets, and ignoring the dead Jedi on the floor, although it was difficult, the Padawan took a left turn at top speed and ran for the landing platform. Shouts of "Get him" and "Shoot him!" rang out behind him, and blaster bolts sizzled past him as he used the Force to duck and dodge the deadly bolts. As he ran out onto the platform he saw Bail Organa's speeder just setting down and the Senator getting out of it. Putting on a burst of speed he jumped over the top of the four clones that were talking to Bail, absorbed the landing in a roll, before turning and killing the clones. As blaster bolts continued to come at him, Damien deflected those he could and dodged those he couldn't. He backed up and backed up until Bail pulled him into the seat of his speeder and took off.

"Thanks" Damien muttered. Bail nodded. "Don't mention it. I know the Jedi would never do what the Chancellor is saying they have. This is an utter catastrophe."

Damien nodded cautiously before asking, "Um, Senator, where are we going?" Bail smiled slightly and replied, "We're going to my ship, we'll try and see if any Jedi that were out in the field survived. Then we'll go to that retreat Harry mentioned and reunite you with the rest of the Order."

Damien nodded again. "What about my Master, do you know what happened to him?" he asked in a small voice. Bail shook his head. In a gentle tone he said, "I'm afraid not Damien. What I do know is this, if he had died, you would have known it. Harry's not one to go down without a fight."

Just then Damien's comlink rang and he answered it half fearfully. Bail smiled in genuine delight as a familiar voice came through loud and clear.

"Damien, where are you?" Harry enquired. He needed to know if his Padawan was safe. Damien's shoulders slumped in relief and he replied, "I'm with Senator Organa Master, he rescued me from the Temple landing platform."

There was a brief silence before, "What the hell were you doing there, you were supposed to take a Portkey to Yavin 4!"

"The escape route was cut off by clones Master, I had to run for my life" Damien replied, a slightly sarcastic edge creeping into his tone. "Where are you?"

"Just above you" came the reply, and Damien looked up to see Harry drop neatly into the back seat of the speeder apparently having hitched a ride on another speeder above them. Master and Padawan shared a hug that was as much for reassurance that the other was alive and relatively unharmed as it was for greeting.

Harry then sat back and said, "Thank you Bail" to which he received a reply of "Don't worry about it." The three sat in silence for a few minutes before Damien said, "Master, Anakin was the one leading the attack, well it wasn't Anakin it was his body but he said he was Darth Vader. What are we going to do?"

Harry squeezed Damien's shoulder reassuringly. "I'll take care of it Damien. I need to know where he's gone in order to free him from Sidious' clutches though."

"Where do you need to go?" Bail asked. Harry thought for a moment before replying, "Senator Amidala's apartment, he may have visited her before going anywhere else." Bail nodded and changed course for Padme's apartment.

When they reached Padme's apartment they were almost knocked over by Ginny as she hugged Harry for all she was worth before hugging Damien equally hard. She let go and was immediately replaced by Lily and then James. Once they were satisfied that Harry and Damien were alive they retired to the common area and sat down.

"What happened to you?" Padme asked. Harry sighed. "Did Anakin come by here recently?" he asked. Padme nodded. "He seemed different, very distant and almost cold. Is something wrong?"

"Yeah there is. Mace, Kit Fisto, Eeth Koth and I went to arrest the Chancellor as he's the Sith Lord the Jedi have been searching for for so long. He killed Kit and Master Koth before fighting both Mace and I. The battle went on for a while, and we were winning when Sidious summoned his guards. We killed all of them, but Sidious cut one of Mace's hands off. He portkeyed out to our retreat, where hopefully he's getting healed right now. That left me against Sidious."

"I'd have liked to see that fight" Snape said, sounding almost wistful. Harry spared him a glance and said, "I can give you the memory later if you wish. Right now, what you need to know is that Sidious turned the tables on me and was about to kill me when Anakin showed up."

Damien flinched at that, and hoped that Harry had missed it. He hadn't. Raising an eyebrow Harry asked, "Do you know why he turned up at that moment Damien?"

Damien nodded. "You were in so much pain Master, I could feel it before you shut off the bond. I thought you were going to die. I asked Anakin to let me go and help you. He refused and then went himself as I said that if he didn't then I would." Looking alternately resentful and almost ashamed he muttered, "I just wanted to help."

Snape couldn't help himself, he chuckled. At the glare directed at him by Harry he snorted again and said "Sorry but it does remind me of a certain Gryffindor who would do anything to save his godfather and ended up in the middle of a trap because of it."

Harry shook his head. Turning back to Damien he said, "It's alright Damien. I'm actually grateful he showed up when he did. He fought Sidious back and was about to kill him when Sidious threw him backwards and then distracted him by dropping me out the window. I transformed into Farsight and perched in a dark corner of his office and watched the rest of the fight, not in any condition to risk transforming back and helping. Not that there was much of a fight after that unless you count the mental one."

Sighing, Harry looked towards the still burning Jedi Temple and said in a hollow tone, "Sidious tortured him and broke his mental defences. He pushed Anakin back further into his mind and locked him in it. Anakin was able to send me one message before Sidious unleashed Vader, telling me what had happened. His body might have done the deeds but it wasn't Anakin in control. His mind, and subsequently his body, is being controlled by the part of his personality that is named Darth Vader, who in turn is being controlled by Sidious."

"So what does this mean?" James asked. Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know. What I do know is that that prophecy that was given when Anakin was 15 is in the process of being fulfilled unless I miss my guess."

"Prophecy?" Padme asked. Harry smiled briefly and quoted the prophecy that had been given on Earth, several years ago.

Once the prophecy had been spoken the group sat back, most of the members frowning. "To Darkness the Chosen One will fall" Padme mused. "I suppose that means this event?"

Harry shrugged. "I believe so. Now the last part is important. It means that Anakin will come back but you and I have to be the ones to do it."

Padme took on a look of determination. "Then let's go get him back then!" she exclaimed. Harry shook his head and smiled bitterly. "If I knew where he was I'd be there now. I can get him back with your help Padme but we can't if we don't know where he is."

Padme looked undecided. "If you can't bring him back will you kill him?" she asked bluntly. Damien, who had been quiet since answering Harry's question earlier, now gasped and looked towards Harry, noticing that everyone else was as well. Harry shifted uncomfortably and then replied slowly, and with pain underlying every word, "I don't know. Logically I know that it's not Anakin I'll be facing, it'll be a Sith called Darth Vader, but emotionally, it's difficult to separate them."

He rose from the couch and looked out the window, gathering his thoughts before he turned back to face them. "If I can't bring him back then yes I will be forced to kill him. As he is now he poses a huge risk to us." Seeing Padme's pain filled gaze he sat down next to her and took her hands in his. "I promise I'll do everything within my power to bring him back. I don't want to consider the alternative either. Now, do you know where he is?"

Padme nodded slowly. "Mustafar. He's gone to Mustafar" she said. Harry nodded and stood up, gathering his robe. As he shrugged it on he turned to go and was stopped by the human wall in front of him. He glared at them and received glares in return, although Damien was giving him a nervously stubborn look.

"What do you all think you're doing?" Harry asked calmly. James and Lily shook their heads. "If you think we're going to let you go off alone you've got another think coming" James said seriously. Upon seeing Harry's glare, he matched it with one of his own. "I will not let you go off to your possible death alone Harry. I refuse to." Harry switched his gaze to Lily who nodded her head in agreement with James. Harry looked along the line of people until he came to Snape. His former Professor and tentative ally/friend merely stared at him before holding out a couple of vials.

"Pepper-Up and a general healing potion Harry. You can't go into battle as you are, you'd die within 3 seconds." Harry gave him a half hearted glare but took the potions, downing them in two gulps. He then breathed a sigh of relief as the potions worked, soothing his general aches and pains and replenishing his energy. Giving the empty vials back to Severus he smiled his thanks, getting a wordless nod in reply. Sighing he said, "I guess I can't convince you lot not to come with me can I?"

Head shaking gave him the answer and then Harry looked at Damien. "I might not be able to stop the others from accompanying me but I can prevent you at least." Damien's mouth fell open and he couldn't stop the surprised and indignant yelp of "WHAT!" escaping.

Harry narrowed his eyes. "Damien, this isn't going to be pleasant for any of us. Vader almost killed you once, I'm not going to let him have a second chance."

"What if I promised to stay on the ship?" Damien asked. Harry thought about it for a moment. "You would promise to stay on the ship and not move one step from it, no matter what happens?" he asked. Damien nodded.

"Yes Master. I want to at least be on the ship, I can't stand waiting and not knowing what's happening. Plus Anakin's going to be torn up from almost killing me and I need to be there to tell him that's its OK."

Harry smirked in amusement. "Maybe. Fine, you can come. But, if you move one step off the ship you'll be grounded till your Knighthood Trials understand?" At Damien's nod, Harry looked pointedly at the rest of the group, all of whom were trying, and failing miserably, at hiding the amused grins on their faces from Harry's last threat. James and Lily in particular were very amused as Harry sounded less like a Jedi Master and more like a parent at that point. Harry coughed to gain their attention and they parted in front of him as he lead the way to the front landing pad. Withdrawing the Marauder from its pocket inside his robes he enlarged it, earning a roll of the eyes from James and looks of shock from Padme and Bail and then opened the landing ramp.

"If everyone will kindly get on board we'll head off for Mustafar" he said, barely concealing his eagerness to get underway. He wasn't looking forward to the inevitable confrontation, as he knew that Vader would not go down without a fight and that meant a lightsaber duel. Sitting at the controls he lifted off and headed for outer space, inputting the coordinates for Mustafar before he put the ship on autopilot and headed for the common area.

As he sat and contemplated the upcoming battle he thought 'Well, it will at least be a fight to remember. Chosen One vs Chosen One, oh that is going to be interesting.'

Leaning back he closed his eyes, slipping into a meditative trance to heal the last of the wounds suffered during his fight with Sidious and to gather his strength for the most important fight of his life. One way or another, Sidious was going to pay for what he'd done.