Anakin didn't know how a Sith Lord was supposed to act, so he pulled on the incredibly brief memory he had of Darth Maul and just…said nothing.

At all.

Even though he wanted to ask what he was supposed to do about a lightsaber since Dooku made him leave his behind. Even though he wanted to know where they were going and where Palpatine was and what exactly was Sith training. Even though he wanted to ask why they had targeted his mother and killed Obi-Wan and why in the galaxy they were so bent on Anakin being a Sith.

Anakin just crossed his arms, dwelt on how angry he was that Obi-Wan had been murdered (even though that was the exact opposite of what his masters and his therapist had told him to do), and obeyed Dooku. Followed him into his solar sailor. Sat in the tiny bedroom that more resembled a cell. Ate a ration bar.

Then finally, disembarked into an abandoned factory in The Works on Coruscant.

And there, standing at the bottom of the ramp, was Palpatine, or rather, Darth Sidious, cloaked and radiating evil.

Perfect.

Anakin could do this. He had put so much work into his saber fighting and convinced so many different masters to teach him their techniques that Obi-Wan said he might even rival Master Yoda (he still hadn't convinced Yoda himself to spar with him, but that wasn't for lack of trying).

"My new apprentice," Sidious said. "Come, kneel before me, and pledge your devotion."

Anakin stalked down the ramp and knelt. "I pledge myself to your teachings."

"Good. Good. Henceforth you shall be known as Darth…Vader," Sidious said.

Anakin allowed himself one small smile. He centered himself in the Force, yanked Dooku's saber off his belt, and charged at Sidious.

A brilliant red blade met the one in his hands. Palpatine blocked Anakin with one lightsaber and tossed another to Dooku.

And the fight began.

Obi-Wan's heart slammed against his chest. This was all his fault. He'd managed to get kidnapped by Dooku, and, because of that, Anakin was in his clutches.

In the clutches of the Sith. Because Dooku was a Sith, and he was working for another Sith Lord.

His padawan was in danger and it was all his fault.

"I can't even feel Anakin in the Force," Obi-Wan lamented, staring out at the swirling of hyperspace in the cockpit window. He and Siri had argued heatedly on what they ought to do, but Siri had won, so off to Coruscant they went to tell Master Yoda what happened and ask him what in the galaxy they did next.

"Good," Siri said. "He's following his teachings. The less the Sith can feel from him, the safer he'll be."

"What if he's already dead?" Obi-Wan asked. "He is the Chosen One. His very existence is a threat to the Sith."

"If they wanted him dead, they wouldn't have concocted this elaborate plot to lure Anakin here. They just would have tried to kill him," Siri said. "This is all calculated to get something from him."

Something. Which probably meant torture. "This is all my fault."

"No, it isn't." Siri turned to him and rested her hand on his. "This is the fault of the Sith. You didn't do anything wrong."

The ship lurched as it fell out of hyperspace. Coruscant loomed in the viewport. And finally, Obi-Wan could feel something from the Force other than emptiness.

"There!" He pointed to a section of the planet that held mostly abandoned factories. "We need to go there."

"What…?" Siri glanced over, but must have decided not to argue, because she just shook her head. "Okay. If you say so." She pushed the controls down and the ship plunged toward the Works.

Almost immediately, Anakin realized he had bitten off more than he could chew. Perhaps if he had been fighting just Dooku or just Palpatine he would have been able to win the fight. But, as it was, he could barely keep the flashing red blades away from his face and limbs, and the two Sith kept pushing him back and back until soon Anakin would be trapped between them and the wall. There was only one recourse he had.

He gathered the Force around him and leaped, pouring all of his desperation and strength into going as high above them as he could. He sailed easily over their heads and came down behind them. One quick slash to Dooku's shoulder left his right arm dangling, but Anakin didn't have time to revel in his success, because Palpatine was on him like a mynock out of hell, lightsaber pressing down and blue sparks flitting between his fingers.

Dooku roared, his lightsaber falling to the ground. Anakin spared a second to grab the saber and arm himself with two. But a second was enough to give Palpatine an opening. Instead of the lightsaber he was expecting to plunge into his gut, the blue sparks on Palpatine's fingers turned into lightning that seized up Anakin with agonizing pain. He flew back with a cry, crashing into the rocky wall of the hanger and falling to the floor. Smoke rose off his clothes.

By some miracle, the two lightsabers were still tight in Anakin's hands, though the blades were deactivated.

"Did you really think you could defeat me?" Palpatine cooed, stalking forward. "Poor, foolish child. You are going to be my apprentice. You can learn to surrender to me the easy way…or the hard way."

Dooku, swearing quietly to himself, kept his hand clamped on his shoulder as his face went whiter and whiter. He was just a shade away from collapsing. He shouldn't be a threat anymore. Not like Palpatine—like Sidious—was.

Anakin activated the two red blades and painfully, slowly climbed to his feet again. "I am a slow learner." And he charged at Palpatine again.

Obi-Wan held Anakin's lightsaber tight in his hands. If Anakin got hurt or, Force forbid, killed, because Obi-Wan had been too foolish and weak to fight off Dooku… "Can't this speeder go any faster?"

"We are almost there, Obi-Wan," Siri said. "Just take some deep breaths. All we have is your feelings, anyway. They could be enhanced by anxiety. Anakin is a strong, capable young man who has been trained really well. He can handle himself."

"I hope so." Obi-Wan could feel the beat of tension between him and Anakin, the screaming of the Force that if he wasn't quick enough, everything in the galaxy would collapse.

Anakin was just a few kilometers away in a building Obi-Wan could already see. Now if only he could get there before the impending doom that pounded in his very soul erupted and destroyed everything.

Exhaustion dragged at Anakin's muscles. An aching pain shook his body with tremors. Every flash of the lightsaber, every tendril of lightning he blocked was barely not the blow that killed him.

He shouldn't have done this. He wasn't prepared for this. He wasn't strong enough or wise enough to defeat the Sith that had engineered the attack on Naboo, the one that had attacked his mother and ordered Obi-Wan's death.

He couldn't do this. Anakin Skywalker, because of his foolishness and his hubris, was going to die.

But he didn't have another option but to fight. He was a Skywalker and he never gave up.

"I can feel the anger swelling within you," Palpatine purred. "Give into your anger, use the Dark Side, strike me down with all of your hatred."

"Yeah, how has that worked out for you?" Anakin asked. "You ruling the galaxy, got everything you've ever wanted? Are you happy?" Are you happy, Anakin? Mom always asked. Whenever he complained about rough things about the Temple, whenever he had trouble adjusting to the rules or giving in when he wanted to hold on, that was what she asked.

Are you happy? As if it was the only thing that was important.

And he always was. So everything was alright.

Palpatine just scoffed. "Happiness? The Dark Side of the Force is an avenue to many things far beyond what you Jedi consider happiness. You have no idea what you could experience if you just gave in."

"So…no," Anakin said. "You're not." Not that it really mattered in the end, since he couldn't give in whatever happened, but…it made fighting off his fury easier.

Unlimited power? The ability to control the galaxy? Whatever he wanted?

What he wanted was to protect his family. And he had already failed in that with Obi-Wan. Nothing could bring him back, not even the Dark Side.

"Obi-Wan's dead because of you," Anakin said. "My mother could have been killed because of you." All he wanted was to give into his anger. But if this…this kriffing liar thought it was a good idea, that automatically made it a terrible one. "I will never, ever do what you say." Deep breaths, stay calm, hold onto the Force, and let go. That was what Master Yoda had said. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't control everything.

He'd heard too many horror stories from Master Yoda to fall in that tantalizing trap. It was a common lure, the diminutive green Jedi had said, with those who held strong ties to the Force and those Force users who had been through slavery, either in childhood or later in life. Master Yoda had, thanks to a few disastrous missions in his very much younger years, been through both.

He had told him, when Anakin had been brave enough to share his struggles, ones he had never told anyone about before, that the need for control was a compensation for the lack of control he had previously experienced. That anger was a common weapon of grief. That strong emotions were natural and lashing out common.

And that all it did was create more angry people that lashed out at other angry people that spread misery further and further until no one was safe.

So Anakin swallowed his anger. It clouded his powers and his strength in the Force. He dug deep, held tight to his memories of his mother and Obi-Wan exhorting him to release his anger, and pushed Palpatine back with his two red lightsabers.

"You are never going to rule the galaxy. And you are never going to turn me," Anakin said. "Oh, and by the way? Your little plan to make me your apprentice? It sucks. Never going to get off the ground. You should have sticked to stalking me when I was nine. Maybe then you would have gotten somewhere that wasn't as pathetic as this."

Palpatine snarled. He slashed at Anakin's head over and over, so furious that he was actually starting to lose control. A sloppy strike there, an open flank there.

And all it took was one second of lost concentration for Anakin to strike.

Palpatine slashed at Anakin's legs, snarling, "You have no idea the opportunity I'm giving you. You won't get this again." He focused on Anakin's eyes instead of their blades, as if trying to drive in "good sense" with his yellow eyes. The strength in the Sith's blade weakened.

Anakin brought one of the blades up and drove it straight into Sidious's heart. "I'm counting on it."

"Anakin, watch out!" a glorious, beautiful voice, one that Anakin shouldn't have ever heard again, shouted.

He froze, barely able to believe himself. His heart hammering, he slowly turned.

Dooku collapsed to the ground, a brilliant blue blade buried in his chest. A vibroblade was clutched in his hand. He was only a few feet from Anakin.

And there Obi-Wan stood. Alive.

He was alive, and Sidious and Dooku were dead. And Anakin hadn't given into his anger.

"Master!" Anakin ran forward and wrapped his surrogate father in a massive hug. "I thought you were dead."

Obi-Wan patted his back. "Everything's alright, padawan. I'm alright."

Anakin wasn't sure if he should crow that his master was alive, rage at Palpatine or the galaxy, or break down into tears he hadn't truly shed in years. "I killed Palpatine. He's Sidious. He's a Sith Lord."

"I know, and I'm so proud of you," Obi-Wan said.

Those words, words Anakin had craved for so long for a father to say to him, completely broke him. He wasn't sure if he was sobbing or screaming in rage, but either way, it felt refreshing.

An undetermined amount of time later…

"Why are we here? You hate politicians and you hate parties," Anakin said.

"You killed the chancellor of the Republic, one who was secretly a Sith and trying to plunge the galaxy into war," Obi-Wan said. "And you broke the encryption on his files which exposed a lot of horrible secrets. The Senate wants to thank you for everything you've done."

Anakin rolled his eyes. "Couldn't they have thanked me with a massive ship or a fancy vacation instead?" He would much rather be swoop racing than schmoozing with the politicians.

He jumped away from the lumbering blue Twi'lek senator and cast a glance back as if to say See what I mean? Sure, he had unlocked the docs that told all about Palpatine's secret clone army and the planet-killer weapon he wanted to build and the corrupted system he manipulated and exacerbated to drive hundreds of systems to the brink of leaving the Republic and starting a war, but… Anakin was still a Jedi Padawan and a nineteen year old man who did things instead of talking about them and he would rather be doing a thousand other things than listening to people he barely knew thank him for almost getting his mother and his master killed just for being exceptionally gifted with the Force and labeled the Chosen One.

Obi-Wan chuckled. "You talk all the time about how everyone should recognize how talented you are and what an exceptional Jedi you are, and now that they are recognizing you for your talent, you're not happy?"

Anakin shook his head. "I'm going to get more food." Food made everything better.

He threaded through the crowd, only able to see the piles of food. His stomach growled ferociously. Two plates clearly hadn't been enough to satiate his appetite.

A warm body bumped into his arm. A second later, a cold drink soaked his robes.

"Oh, I am so sorry! I should have been more careful. I can…" A slender hand dabbed at his robes with a napkin. Painted nails...an elaborate headdress…

"Padmé?" Anakin stammered. "Padmé Amidala?" His mouth went dry and his mind went blank. He had had a puppy love for her at age nine, boldly declared that he would one day marry her. To her face! In Watto's shop! And then he hadn't seen her in ten years and…

Well, the little kid's crush clearly hadn't completely abandoned him. And it was a whole lot more than a crush now.

"And you're Anakin! I still thought of you as that little boy from Tatooine, but then all this news dropped and…" Padmé dabbed furiously at his robes. "I'm sorry, I've never done this to someone before. I should have been more careful."

"No, no, it was my fault, I was all focused on the food." Then Anakin's mouth spoke without permission from his brain. "I should have been more focused on you." He immediately mentally smacked himself. Why would he say that? That was too forward! That was bordering on creepy! That wasn't smooth and suave and debonair. It was just foolish.

Padmé laughed. "How could you when you didn't even know I was here? Oh, is that Obi-Wan Kenobi?"

"Hmm?" Anakin followed her gaze. "Oh, yeah."

Obi-Wan was still in his pressed beige robes, despite the fact that Siri had tried to tell him that parties required other kinds of clothes than Jedi robes. She herself had come in her preferred red jumpsuit, which she claimed was classy and fit into every occasion, not like beige boringness.

Obi-Wan was scowling at the entire room. Siri grabbed his arm and planted a kiss on his cheek. The scowl melted into a smile.

"Oh! He's…" Padmé said. "But…I thought Jedi weren't…"

"Yeah, they changed that rule a few years ago," Anakin said. "Jedi can get married now. That's Obi-Wan's wife."

"Oh! Oh, wow," Padmé said.

Anakin nodded. And again, his mouth spoke without his brain's permission. "I could say the same thing about you."

Padmé laughed. "You've certainly grown up from the boy I remember."

"You too," Anakin said. "Grown more beautiful, I mean. For a senator, I mean." He swallowed, grimacing. He was really bad at this.

Yet it somehow made Padmé laugh again. "Thank you." She shook her head. "I can't believe you killed the chancellor!" Her smile faded. "I can't believe he was a Sith lord. I feel like such a fool. I'm the reason he had such a position of power. If I hadn't listened to his lies and called Valorum into question like he wanted me to… I pride myself on bringing a voice of reason to this place, but all I did was give a psychopath an avenue to power."

"Hey, he fooled everyone, not just you," Anakin said. "The only reason I found out was because he told me. You're not a fool, you just didn't expect your senator to be a Sith lord. I mean, why would you? None of us did and we're Jedi, we're trained to look out for Sith. Hey, just be glad it's over, okay?"

"Yeah," Padmé said. "And now you're a hero!"

Anakin's face was hot. "I…I guess I am." He scratched the back of his head. "I…I'm glad we bumped into each other."

"Me too." Padmé's smile lit up his heart. "You shouldn't be such a stranger, you know. We don't need to wait ten years before seeing each other again."

"Oh, believe me, I won't," Anakin said. He squeezed his eyes shut. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

When he opened his eyes, Padmé was gone.

But somehow he knew, deep inside, that she wouldn't be gone for long.