"Are you going to kill me?" came the Chancellor's voice. Anakin stared at the back of his head.
His lightsaber quivered inches from the nape of Palpatine's neck. They circled each other warily in the wide corridor between the Chancellor's small private gray office and his grand public one, done in shades of red. No, the Sith lord's offices, Anakin thought, feeling sick to his stomach.
What am I going to do?
A thousand thoughts overwhelmed him. If Palpatine were Darth Sidious, and Count Dooku was his apprentice, then -- then -- the war --
Anakin saw it all, hundreds of Jedi dead, millions of people killed. The destruction on Kashyyk, the suffering on so many Outer Rim worlds, the deaths of so many right here on Coruscant, only days ago. It all poured over him in seconds.
But -- General Grievous had kidnapped Palpatine! How? It couldn't be true.
And then Anakin remembered the expression on Palpatine's face. Calm, imperious, self-satisfied.
"Kill him. Kill him now." The tone rang in his head.
The stricken look as Dooku turned to Palpatine, then Anakin --
Had he even turned on his own apprentice? Oh, worse -- had he set that up, to kill his own apprentice?
And all Anakin and Obi-Wan had gone through to rescue him! How torn Anakin had been at the very thought that one silver hair on that noble head should be harmed --
Anakin's stomach turned.
The look on Palpatine's face as he said it-- "The only way to save your wife from certain death." Had Anakin actually seen a smile?
Thirteen years flashed through Anakin's brain. The drinks, the chess games, the dinners, the talks, the companionship --
Out of the entire galaxy, only two souls knew about Anakin and the Sand People. Padme ... and Palpatine. Anakin had loved him. Anakin had trusted him.
How could Palpatine be doing this to him?
He felt the tears start. The trembling seized him, backing him away.
"I -- I can't. I can't --"
Palpatine turned to face him, held out one hand. His expression was indecipherable. Concern pursed the lips, pleading, even, but something else knitted the brows. Consternation, perhaps?
Anakin cried out from his very heart. "How could you do this to me?"
And the next instant his lightsaber was back on his belt, and he was running. Blind, tortured running, he knew not where.
A million still-lifes of their friendship flew through his head. His breath hurt in his lungs. No, no, no.
The corridors of the Senate Office Building streamed past, people stopping and staring in strobe flashes. He stopped on a landing platform and bent to catch his breath.
He had to talk to someone. But Obi-Wan wasn't here, nor Master Yoda.
He stopped cold. He couldn't go to the Jedi Temple at all.
If he did, they would kill Palpatine.
And what about Padme?
For a wild moment Anakin wanted to run to her, to tell her. Help me, help me decide what to do--
But he knew he couldn't. If he told her, she'd go straight to the Jedi herself.
She'd kill herself, if she knew. And their baby.
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Midnight in the Garden
Fanfiction#1 Darth Sidious 4 weeks. A fateful sequence of events the night General Grievous is defeated gives Anakin the chance to avoid destroying the Republic, save Padme's life, and possibly even ... redeem Palpatine? Yes, this is the 2005 Palpatine redemp...
