Anakin woke alone as the morning sunlight intruded into the bedroom through shades that hadn't been completely closed the night before. Running his flesh hand over the empty side of the bed, he realized he'd been alone a while; there was no lingering body heat left behind from Obi-Wan's departure. Summoning a silk robe from the well hidden closet he had left open the previous night, he wrapped it around himself, and padded out barefoot, searching for his Master.
He found him in front of the huge picture window, staring out into the sunrise, wearing only the black pants he had been wearing the night before.
"What's wrong?" he asked, seeing the tension in the smaller man's shoulders.
"I'm not sure, there's a vague sense of danger, just at the edge of my senses, but I can't tell who is in danger, I've been stood here the last two hours trying to narrow it down."
Anakin closed his eyes, concentrating on centering himself, before reaching out into the Force, searching for whatever his Master was sensing, Obi-Wan had much better perception and finer control, and was a natural precognitive, where others had to work at it, if they could do it at all, but sometimes, raw power could get answers where finesse failed.
"I feel it," he murmured, and a moment later, he felt Obi-Wan's mind focus on his, using his own skills to sharpen Anakin's sheer power, while at the same time, throwing up a powerful shield to stop Palpatine sensing them.
They broke connection a few moments later, two pairs of yellow eyes meeting in unhappy shock.
"Well, that complicates things a little, he must have a source inside the rebel fleet, to enable him to get Luke's name so fast, he'll want him Anakin, you know that, don't you," Obi-Wan sighed as his eyes faded back to grey.
"I know, and he will likely want to send me to get him, under orders to turn him or kill him. What now?"
"Now, we are out of time to wait and plan our movements carefully, he will have to be destroyed now, and instead of running around behind the scenes to persuade the rebellion to ally with us, we will have to hammer out a cease fire with them, once we have taken control of the Empire."
"What about Luke?"
"I will have to go and try to persuade Yoda to go to him and teach him."
"Yoda will kill you if you reveal you are Sith, and he'll want to know why you're not training Luke, why you faked your death, if you don't reveal it."
"He is proclaimed to be the wisest Jedi of our age, or at least he was while the Jedi actually existed, I can only hope he will at least be willing to listen to reason."
"And if not, I'll be there to back you up?"
"No, Anakin, you will remain on Coruscant, I will have more chance of persuading him to listen to me if you are not there, and I will have other tasks in mind for you."
"Such as?" Anakin asked, knowing that he didn't sound best pleased.
"You will need to make a start on bringing the Imperial forces into line, they already see you as their commander anyway, you have all of the necessary codes, you will be best placed to carry out that task."
"All right, I don't like the idea of you facing him without backup, but all right. When do we go after Palpatine?"
"As soon as we can, you're sure he'll send you after Luke?"
"Unless he just wants him dead, not turned, yes. If he doesn't care about trying to turn him, then he'll just send a Hand, one of his assassins."
"We can't chance waiting until he next summons you then, we go now."
"Yes Master," Anakin said tightly.
"We can do this Ani, as long as we fight together, we can do this, just like we did with every other enemy we faced."
"I know we can Master," Anakin whispered, and Obi-Wan turned, pulling him into an embrace.
/x/
Palpatine scowled darkly as Darth Vader entered his throne room, his black cloak swirling around him.
"I did not summon you, my apprentice. You were ordered to remain in your residence until I required your presence," he snarled.
"Ah, but you are not my Master, so I do not feel the need to obey your commands when my true Master countermands you."
"You seek to renounce me; after all I have done for you, keeping you alive after your precious Jedi Master left you to die in the furnace of Mustapha? Giving you position, and power?"
"You have never been my Master, there has only ever been one true Master for me, there will only ever be one true Master for me, and that is not you." Anakin snorted, reaching up to switch off the respirator, pleased to see surprise turn to shock as he then took off the helmet and mask, allowing them to drop to the floor.
"You were saying, about keeping me alive?" Anakin mocked.
"No, that isn't possible, I know you never went anywhere near Kamino, you never had a chance to get your injuries seen to by the cloners. H0w, how have you done this thing?"
"My Master saw what was to come in time to make arrangements; you might say he preempted you, if you foresaw Mustapha at all, that is."
"WHO?" Palpatine screamed in anger.
The chamber door slid open once more, and a black cloaked figure glided into the room, hood pulled low over his face, and unlit lightsaber held loosely in his hand.
"My Master," Anakin said, turning to Obi-Wan and bowing his head, he wouldn't risk kneeling to him, not with Palpatine in striking distance, but the reverence in his tone was glaringly obvious, especially to Palpatine, who had never heard such a tone directed his way.
Obi-Wan reached up with his free hand to unclasp the cloak, throwing it off in one smooth motion.
"No, you told me you killed him, you told me he was finally dead…you hate him, hate the Jedi," Palpatine ranted.
"There are no Jedi here, Palpatine," Obi-Wan said icily, allowing the Darkness to cradle him as he lit his lightsaber, followed a beat later by Anakin.
Palpatine stared at the two crimson blades, and two pairs of coldly determined yellow eyes, and rage consumed him.
"Do you really think a pair of fallen Jedi can defeat a true Sith?" he shrieked, his lightsaber appearing in his hand as if from nowhere, instantly lit.
The two of them smoothly stepped away from one another, forcing Palpatine to choose one or the other of them as his target. As they had thought he would when they decided to stick to the tried and tested method of making their opponent angry enough with them to make him sloppy, careless, Palpatine's rage made him focus on Obi-Wan, who had been a bane to him for a long time, and had also it seemed denied him the apprentice he had thought his for 20 years. He lunged wildly at Obi-Wan, swinging his lightsaber in an attempt to separate his head from his shoulders, but at the last instant, altering the swing to try to bisect his torso instead. Obi-Wan easily deflected the rather obvious move, and his free hand came up between them; Palpatine braced for the Force push he was expecting, forgetting that this was no Jedi he was faced with, and he was in no way prepared to block the Force lightning that poured into his chest, he staggered two paces backward, impaling himself on Anakin's waiting lightsaber before he even sensed that the younger man was behind him.
"You should have learned from the mistakes of your minions in the past, Palpatine, and then you might have had a chance of making this a worthwhile fight," Obi-Wan said simply as Anakin twisted his lightsaber before jerking it free.
Palpatine crumpled to the floor with a grunt as his lightsaber was pulled from his grip to land neatly in Anakin's hand.
"He will betray you too," Palpatine wheezed, glaring at Obi-Wan as his life ebbed, but Obi-Wan just laughed at him, and Palpatine's last sight before he died was of Obi-Wan pulling Anakin's head down to kiss him soundly.
"The Red Guard has to go, they're too deeply tied to him," Obi-Wan murmured when he broke the kiss.
"And the clones?"
"Hopefully, we can simply rescind the order to kill any Jedi they encounter, now that Palpatine is gone. We can't afford to go around slaughtering the majority of our army while the rebellion is still a threat."
"I'll go to the barracks and start dealing with the Red Guard then, please be careful, Master."
"You too, my Anakin."
Obi-Wan watched as Anakin picked up the helmet and mask of his alter ego, sighing as he put them back on, but it would enable him to get close to the Guard, so that he could kill them with minimal risk to himself. When Anakin was gone, he stepped past the cooling body on the floor, entering Palpatine's private office cautiously, half expecting an ambush, but nothing happened, so he went to the desk and started to go through his files.
/x/
Obi-Wan brought his ship into orbit around Dagobah, looking down at the unimpressive looking planet. Anakin had still been protesting him going alone right up until the moment he went into hyperspace, upset that he hadn't even been willing to take a couple of clone troopers, who had proven to be still willing to follow Obi-Wan and Anakin, whichever side they happened to be on, once order 66 had been revoked.
He could sense Yoda down there, so he was fairly certain that Yoda could also sense Obi-Wan close by, but he wasn't sure if Yoda could feel his Darkness or not; he would soon find out, he supposed. Turning his attention back to his controls, Obi-Wan started to guide the ship down close to where he could feel Yoda's presence, searching with the Force for a fairly stable place to land.
He disembarked as soon as he landed, clipping his lightsaber to his belt as he jumped down to the marshy ground. He had been considering leaving it behind, but despite the fact that leaving it might make Yoda less likely to attack before hearing him out, he refused to be unarmed in the event Yoda wouldn't listen, he didn't think that the ancient Jedi would attack an unarmed man, but he wasn't willing to bet his life on it. Picking a direction he started to walk, letting the Force guide his feet around the dangerous areas of ground, knowing that there was no point in seeking Yoda, Yoda would find him, when he was good and ready.
"A long way from Tatooine you are, Obi-Wan."
"Yes, well I needed to talk with you, and it was best done in person."
"Talk, or kill?"
"Why would I wish to kill you?"
"Wish to kill all Jedi, do you not, Sith?"
"I would have thought you would be the last person to jump to conclusions Yoda. If I wanted you dead, I would not need to bother coming here to see to it in person, you have no way off this world unless myself or Bail Organa arranges for a ship to come for you, and Organa is dead, so no other living soul knew where you were. I came to talk to you, nothing more sinister than that."
"Heartbroken Qui-Gon would be, to know you of all people fell to the dark side, thought more of you I did, thought you would follow your Padawan into the Dark I did not," Yoda said sourly, finally appearing out of the trees, his stick thumping into the ground.
"I did not follow Anakin, he followed me, as a good apprentice should, and Qui-Gon knew what I was, he knew the moment I started studying the true nature of the Sith, but the Force guided him, assured him that I was on the path that I was meant to follow, the path toward Balance. Do you really think he would have asked me to take Anakin as my apprentice if he didn't think I was doing what was needful? Even if you do not believe he always knew, I fought and defeated the creature that murdered him, I held my dying father in my arms; do you imagine he could not see what color my eyes were?"
Yoda wanted to deny his words, but he could feel that Sith or not, Obi-Wan was not shielding, and he was not lying; Qui-Gon Jinn had known his son had fallen to the dark, and he had shielded him from the eyes of the Jedi, no wonder Qui-Gon had always kept Obi-Wan so firmly in his shadow until he was powerful and skilled enough to shield himself.
"What then do you want from me?"
"Luke Skywalker must be trained as a Jedi; I would have laid the foundations for him as I was meant to on Tatooine, but his uncle would not permit any mention of Jedi around the child, let alone permit any training. Neither Anakin nor I can now guide him on the path he needs to tread, so the only options are for you to teach him, or to leave him stumbling around on his own, and hope he remains in the Light."
"You intend that the Jedi should continue to exist?"
"Yes."
"Understand, I do not," Yoda told him.
"That, Yoda, has long been the failing of the Jedi. I am returning to my ship, I'll leave you to think on young Luke. I will take off in two hours; I would very much appreciate you joining me."
Yoda watched him until he was out of sight, and then sank down on a tree stump with a sigh, not sure what to do, what to think. Obi-Wan Kenobi was a Sith, had been for a long time apparently, yet he intended to reinstate the Jedi, even going so far as to come and ask Yoda to take on the task of helping to make it happen, in effect. He was Sith, but there was none of the creeping, cloying, pervasive sense of wrongness about him. He quite obviously cared about what happened to the Skywalker boy, preferring to approach Yoda than to risk his future by trying to train him as a Jedi himself, or leaving him to his own devices, but caring was not a Sith trait.
"A conundrum, isn't he Yoda?"
Yoda looked up at the translucent blue figure leaning against a tree, arms folded.
"Know, did you, that your Padawan was Sith?"
"I knew that my son was learning the ways of the Dark side, yes. I do not believe he became fully Sith until Naboo, he could possibly have chosen either way up until that moment, but this is the path he was destined for. He and Anakin are the beginning of balance in the Force."
"The beginning only?"
"Nothing can balance when only one half is present, Yoda. Much as the old Jedi and Sith may have hated the notion, there are two sides to the Force, and both must be represented for balance to be brought about. They are the new incarnation of the Sith, now it is time to bring about the new incarnation of the Jedi. If you're going to go, to do as he asks of you, you must be prepared to accept that the way of the Jedi is going to be different, or nothing can truly change. To co-exist successfully, each side must understand the other."
"A question I must ask, Qui-Gon."
"You want to know about Xanatos, why his fall wounded me so terribly, and yet I could turn around and actively support Obi-Wan?"
"Yes."
"There is a difference between Dark, and evil, a huge difference, Anakin and Obi-Wan are Dark, but I doubt either of them has a truly malicious bone in their bodies. Xanatos, Palpatine, Maul, Dooku, Ventress and the others like them, they were evil, it was all about the power to them, they took pleasure in hurting others, they reveled in causing misery, for it added to their power, it was all about them, and no-one else."
"In the past tense you speak, for all of them?"
"They killed Palpatine; Anakin is even now weeding out those who will object to the change in management, as it were, for the Empire. When he leaves here, Obi-Wan will formally take control of the Empire, and will try to hammer out a cease fire, and then peace, with the rebellion. It isn't likely to be easy, but an end to this war is finally within reach, as long as both sides are willing to grasp that chance. You could help there too, if you decided to train the Skywalker boy, he, and his sister for that matter, are with the rebellion."
"But first, decide if I trust Obi-Wan I must."
"Yes."
Yoda nodded, and rested his chin atop his folded hands, resting on top of his stick, his forehead creasing in thought. Qui-Gon decided he had done all he could to convince the ancient Jedi master, and there was no need to stand there and watch him contemplating. Instead he vanished, appearing at the ship just as Obi-Wan reached it.
"He's thinking," Qui-Gon said, reaching out one insubstantial hand to cup Obi-Wan's cheek.
"You look tired, my child."
"I am, it doesn't matter, I'll be fine."
"You're missing Anakin," Qui-Gon said, a note of gentle teasing in his tone.
"Yes, yes I am, I never could fool you, could I?" he asked wryly.
"No, although some of your attempts to try were amusing in their own right. Coming back from a 'study session in the archives' with a blackening eye, and trying to pass it off as slipping over down there was fairly memorable, considering that by that time you were one of the most graceful and sure footed members of the order. I never did manage to find out what really happened with that one."
"Oh, that, um…we were in the lower levels, some creep decided to try it on with Siri, I decided to defend her."
"So he gave you a black eye?" Qui-Gon asked, suspecting not, a suspicion confirmed when Obi-Wan blushed scarlet, even after all this time.
"Ah, no, Siri punched me, called me a sexist pig," he admitted, making Qui-Gon laugh.
"Only you, my Obi-Wan, only you could get punched by the damsel while trying to rescue a damsel in distress," he snorted.
Obi-Wan smiled at his amusement, then sobered, looking back the way he had just come from.
"Will he come?"
"I don't know, I hope so."
"So do I," Obi-Wan sighed, climbing up the ramp into the ship.
tbc