A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far Away

Chapter 160

"Chancellor? What are you doing?" her voice was fearful, and her expression was obviously terrified.

"Luna, get out of here!!" Anakin tried to yell as he struggled to push himself to his feet. His voice came out in a rasp even as Sidious used the Force to shove him back to the floor.

"You...." Sidious hissed, striding towards the girl. Luna began to back down the hall, not taking her eyes off the Sith as her hand went the the lightsaber on her hip. "You ruined everything."

Anakin pushed himself back up, gritting his teeth as a wave of dizziness crashed over him. He let out a low groan as he reached for his lightsaber, pain running up his body. Anakin was forced to stop moving to allow time for the nausea to disappear. Distantly he heard a lightsaber activating from the other room.

No, no, no, Anakin thought to himself. There was no way Luna would be able to last even ten seconds with Sidious.

Anakin forced himself to his feet, only to stumble, painful feedback streaming in from all of his nerves.

"Careful!" a girl's voice cried, accompanied by two hands that helped Anakin regain his balance. He looked down to find concerned midnight blue eyes looking up at him.

"What—?" Anakin started glancing from Luna to the hall.

"Mace will be able to last for a few minutes. You didn't think I was stupid enough to come alone, did you?"

Anakin could only let out a breath of relief as he pulled Luna to his chest, before realizing that she had said a few minutes.

"He can't...."

"Not alone," Luna responded, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, I should have sent Mace over sooner. I should have known Sidious would be too much for you on your own. Even Vader didn't have a prayer after Mustifare."

Anakin just took a deep, painful breath, mainly ignoring Luna's words, before moving forward, doing his best to not put any weight on Luna as he drew on the Force for temporary relief.

"What are you doing?" she asked as she moved with him, incase he needed any support.

"I'm going to help Windu," he muttered.

"You're hurt." Anakin gave her a look. "You're in no shape to fight Sidious!"

"And it's not getting better the longer we wait. Stay here out of sight. Master Windu and I will deal with Sidious."

"But—"

"No buts," Anakin told her firmly before letting go of her and moving forward on his own, trying not to wince at the movement. He glanced back once to make sure Luna was doing what he had asked before continuing down the hall and to the other room where he could hear the sound of lightsabers clashing. He made it to the other room just in time to hear the sound of glass shattering.

Red and purple blades were dancing back and forth. Anakin just blinked for a few moments, trying to focus. The Korun Master appeared to be fighting a living shadow that was attempting to consume him. Purple fire surrounded Windu making it appear as though there were dozens of lightsabers under the Jedi's control while the blur of red and the shadow that must have been Sidious surrounded him. The glass shattering had been the sound of the now broken widow turning into a million pieces.

And Anakin, while he could not really see any part of the battle, everything was moving too fast to track, could feel it rolling through the Force.

And he could feel the darkness radiating from both beings. There was no Jedi restraint in this battle. Mace and Sidious were in a pure loop of dark energy. Sidious let out and directed the darkness that the Jedi captured and channeled right back at the Sith.