"Obi-wan has made contact with General Grievous," Anakin told the chancellor as he entered his office days later. "It beginning to look like this war could possibly come to an end today." He sadly lowered his head.

Palpatine asked, "What is it, my friend? We should be celebrating, but I see you're upset."

"I should be there with him," he insisted.

He nodded, "Yes, I agree. It's clear to me the council doesn't appreciate your talents."

Anakin paced back and forth in front of Palpatine's new desk. "It feels like the harder I try the more I'm excluded from the council and the other jedi. I was a good padawan, I'm a good knight, a good general. I've done everything I can to help the jedi and the galaxy, but I just see this ever-growing wall standing between me and council." He added under his breath. "And then there's that persistent vision."

"What vision?"

He stopped and stared at him. "You heard that?" He nodded. "Every time I sleep-sometimes when I close my eyes longer than a second-I see Padme dying in childbirth. I don't know how to stop it. I tried to ask Obi-wan for some advice but he told me to learn to let her go. How can I? I can't even see if the baby makes it through or not." He paused. "I know there are things about the force the councilmembers aren't telling me, I can feel it."

Palpatine stood up and guided him around the room. "I can tell you this, my friend," he explained, "your intuition is correct. There is more to know about the force that they have been keeping from you."

He asked, "How do you know?"

He answered, "My mentor told me everything there is to know about the force, even the nature of the dark side."

Anakin turned and cut him off from walking any further. Did he hear him correctly? He couldn't have. The only way the chancellor could know anything about the dark side were if he was a sith lord. He stared him down to see he wasn't backing down. He hadn't misspoken. He was telling the truth.

"What are you saying?" his own harsh voice scared even himself, but he knew he couldn't let up. If Palpatine really was a sith lord, he was going to need evidence. He needed to keep him talking.

"The sun in every system is the source of all life," Palpatine explained, "the light side. This light, while warm, also gives off shadows. The dark side. In order to truly be able to harness the full power of the force, one must embrace the dark side along with the light. That is what the sith are all about, Anakin. They are complete. They see the galaxy as a whole, not like the jedi who only give you half truths and live a hollow unattached existence. The dark side is so much more than darkness, my friend, it can even prevent people from dying."

He said, "That's impossible! That goes against nature itself. No one can do that."

He continued, "As a sith you can have it all, Anakin. A wife, a child, stronger powers than any living jedi, and the significance to make meaningful change throughout the galaxy. It's all you've ever wanted, and I'm the only one who can give it to you."

Anakin lit his lightsaber and aimed it at him. "You really are a sith lord," he said, horrified. He still didn't want to believe it. All this time he had gotten close to Palpatine. He was almost like a father to him, always telling him exactly what he wanted to hear. How could this friendship have gone so wrong? Were the last 13 years all an elaborate lie leading up to this moment?

"The jedi won't let you have what you want," he insisted, "go ahead and tell them the truth-what you've been doing behind the scenes all this time-and see with your own eyes if they really are as 'selfless' and 'noble' as they claim." He could feel Anakin's anger rising.

"I am going to focus on one thing at a time," Anakin insisted, "I'm going to report you directly to the jedi council!"

Palpatine replied calmly, "Do what you must."

Anakin brought up his communicator, lightsaber still drawn and aimed at the chancellor. "Master Windu!" He begged, "Master Windu, please pick up!"

His hologram appeared on his wrist, "What is it, young Skywalker?"

"It's the chancellor, Master Windu!" Anakin exclaimed, panicked, "He's the sith lord we've been looking for!"

Shocked he could accuse the chancellor of such a thing, he said, "That's a bold accusation against the senate. You better have some evidence if you want me to believe that."

Still panicked, Anakin exclaimed, "He knows about the dark side of the force! He's using it to try to get inside my head right now! He's been swindling everyone for years! You have to believe me!"

Realizing how dire this situation was, Mace ordered, "Hold him there until I arrive! Don't let him leave, and remain calm, Anakin! I'm trusting you're correct."

Anakin insisted, "I know he's the one, Master Windu. Hurry!" They ended the transmission.

"Look at that," Palpatine said in his slimy voice, "even when you tell them the truth, they still don't believe you. How does it feel to be questioned on every little thing you do by people who claim to trust you?"

Visibly shaking, Anakin said, "We're going to stand here in silence until the council members arrive!"

He replied, calm as ever, "Why? Are you afraid I'll make too much sense if I keep talking? As I was saying, Anakin, you don't need me to tell you that the jedi are not the noble 'good guys' they claim to be. Look at how they've treated you."

He insisted, "They've taught me everything I need to know to win against you in this exact scenario!"

"They separated you from your mother," he explained calmly, "and they left her enslaved. If they were truly the noble peacekeepers they tell everyone they are, they'd have ended slavery by now. During this entire war they've taken control of countless systems across the galaxy, yet they refuse to end the slave trade, never mind their constant meetings drawing out this war. I know you've seen their inaction with your own eyes."

Anakin shook his head silently. Palpatine could feel him slowly turning to the dark side with every word he spoke.

"I haven't lied to you, Anakin," he continued, "but the jedi council has. Remember when your friend Obi-wan faked his death and went undercover as a criminal, but no one told you? They let you wallow in your painful grief for no reason."

Anakin hesitated. He couldn't think of anything to say to that. All he could do was stare him down.

Palpatine continued, "Help me end the jedi and turn the republic into an empire, Anakin. Together we can end the slave trade, end this war, and stop the jedi from ruining more lives. I'll even help you save Padme's life."

The doors to the office finally burst open. Mace barged in first with three other masters at his side. He grabbed Anakin from behind and pulled him back. "Thank you, Anakin. Now get a call out to the rest of the council and tell them what you've discovered." He practically pushed him out the door.

"What are you going to do to the chancellor?" he asked anxiously.

Ignoring him, Mace said, "In the name of the galactic senate of the republic, Chancellor Palpatine, you are hereby under arrest for organizing crimes against the galaxy and orchestrating a hostile takeover." He drew his lightsaber. "You're coming with us."

Meanwhile Anakin turned and ran down the hall to get to a stable communication ring in order to reach the other masters quickly. He pushed the buttons to reach out to the council meeting room, but no one answered his call.

"Master Yoda?" he asked, nothing. "Master Plo? Obi-wan?!" He tried to reach everyone within the council, but no one picked up. His own personal communicator had the same problem.

"I don't believe this!" he shouted into the recording, "Can anyone hear me out there! We need help! The chancellor is Darth Sidious and he's wants to kill all the jedi!" He bashed his fists against the console, and with his power over the force it cracked across the board and smashed into several pieces. "No!" he exclaimed in anger. How was anyone going to get back to him with it broken? He tried his personal communicator again but he broke that too.

Anakin had no idea what to do next. He felt a disturbance in the force down the hallway, one of the masters had died, and then another, and soon after that a third. Anakin tried to pull himself together, but his breathing was out of control and he couldn't calm himself down.

He marched unsteadily back down the hall to the chancellor's office. His panic and fear and confusion were so overwhelming his thoughts were too chaotic to articulate. As he rounded the corner to head into the room, he narrowly dodged purple lightning as it erupted throughout the space. He fell onto his back hard and felt the electricity course through his body. It disabled his mechanical arm for a few seconds. Once he regained his strength, he sat up to see Mace and Palpatine fighting for their lives, and the other three jedi masters in pieces, littered across the floor.

"Wait!" Anakin begged, getting up and running inside, "You shouldn't kill him, Master Windu, it isn't the jedi way!"

"He's too dangerous to be kept alive!" he warned, "I told you to go and call the council!"

Anakin drew his lightsaber and said, "No one answered!" He watched as more lightning ripped across the room and Mace blocked every blow with his lightsaber.

Palpatine whined, "I'm too weak." His face contorted and twisted into a wrinkled and pitiful old man as he fought and his own lightning struck him.

Mace shouted, "He's lying! Don't believe him!"

Instead of listening, Anakin jumped between them, lightsaber drawn, and said, "Master Windu, I need him alive!"

Mace turned and tried to fight him off with his own weapon, but Anakin spun around and cut his entire left arm clean off above his shoulder into his collar bone. He fell back and dropped his lightsaber in shock.

"I'm sorry!" Anakin said in shock and horror as he kneeled beside him, "I wasn't trying to maim you! I'm so sorry!"

Mace grabbed him by his robes, pulled him in close, and demanded, "Cut him down! End his tyranny!"

"I can't," he confessed, "he's going to help me save my wife!"

Mace stared at him in shock. With his pain growing, he couldn't believe what he had heard from the young man's mouth. "What did you just say, learner?!"

Anakin added, "I'm married. I know it's against the rules and I should be expelled but-"

"Then you're lost!" Mace pushed him away and used the force to grab his lightsaber and took a swing at him. "You'll die with him!" Anakin leaned back and cut Mace across the chest before he could strike, killing him instantly.

Anakin sat back in absolute terror at the atrocity he just committed. "What have I done?!" he shouted to no one. "Master Windu!" He stared at his dead body before he turned to face the chancellor who seemed to be well recovered despite claiming how weak he was moments earlier.

"Oh Anakin," Palpatine said in his calm slimy voice, "it seems he turned on you when you told him the truth."

Anakin trembled at the sight of the Mace's dead body. "I didn't mean to kill him!" he exclaimed. He huffed shaky breaths that did nothing to calm him down.

"It was self-defense," Palpatine explained calmly, "if you hadn't killed him, he would have killed you, and all for what? Falling in love?"

Anakin finally got ahold of himself and managed to get back to his feet. Just as he stood up, another vision came to him. Unbeknownst to him, while standing behind him, Palpatine orchestrated the entire scene inside his head.

He watched himself stand before the council members and confess that not only had he formed an attachment, but he had been secretly married for years and was about to become a father. The council members were downright disgusted at this news-even Obi-wan. Yoda claimed his actions were a disgrace to the jedi. Anakin told them he understood he was going to be expelled from the order, but they insisted what he had done was too grave of a mistake to let him live. He begged for Obi-wan's help, but he claimed he was outvoted. He suddenly couldn't breathe and the image went black as his neck broke from a force choke hold.

Anakin snapped out of it with a terrified, "No!" He looked at his surroundings and remembered where he was.

"What is it?" Palpatine asked, feigning innocence.

"They're going to kill me!" He exclaimed, "The council isn't going to expel me from the order! They'll kill me if I tell them truth!" He took a deep breath and felt the knives in his lungs. "That has to be why I can't see the future no matter how much I meditate on it, because I don't have a future."

Palpatine shook his head. "You can't save your wife if you're dead," he said, "you saw what the jedi masters are going to do to you. It looks like the best course of action is a preemptive strike against all the jedi."

He wanted to disagree, but he couldn't shake what he saw in the vision. Even Obi-wan was going to want him dead. "All of them...?" he asked.

"Yes, even the younglings have been groomed under their cult-like ways," he insisted, "it's too late for them, my friend. The jedi have divided the galaxy long enough. When they're all gone no one will stand in our way. We cannot save any of them."

Anakin nodded in agreement. He repeated robotically, "It's too late for them." As he did, his eyes slowly changed from his nature blue hue to a sith gold.

Palpatine continued, "When only one person is in charge, we'll end all this nonsensical squabbling. I shall rule the united galaxy as the emperor, but the jedi will be against that idea. They'll come in here and slay you along with me. It's possible they could jump to the wrong conclusion, and kill your wife as well, pregnant or otherwise."

"We can't let them hurt her," he said.

"If we don't finish them off now it'll be too late for her," he insisted.

Anakin kneeled before him and said, "I'll do anything you ask. Please let me save Padme and the baby."

Palpatine replied, "Of course. There's nothing in the sith laws that stops you from being a husband, a father, and a sith lord." He knighted him with a lightsaber. "Welcome to the dark side, my friend. The jedi will only get in our way. You must invade the jedi temple and kill every last one, my Darth Vader."

"I will do whatever you want, my master."