After my first story, which was pretty dark, I wanted to do something different this time. A simple, heartwarming story, about how it would be if everything went right…

Yeah, just kidding.

There will be many heartwarming moments in this story, but… there will be a few DARK ones, too.

Cover picture credit goes to javvie from deviantart.

The Supreme Chancellor's formerly luxurious office was almost unrecognizable. The wide window was shattered, many of the ornamental statues broken. The air was thick with the smell of ozone and burned flesh; the red carpet covered in broken glass, corpses and severed limbs.

Out of the twelve Jedi who had arrived to confront Darth Sidious, only four were still alive. The rest of them were already lying dead on the floor; some of their bodies missing heads and limbs, others twisted into grotesque positions. The large room was alight with dancing flashes of blue, green and red.

Darth Sidious stepped over Saesee Tiin's corpse and swung his crimson blade in a wide arc, separating Agen Kolar's right hand and head from his body with a single strike. The Jedi Master's severed head rolled across the carpeted floor, an expression of surprise still on its face. Only the last three Jedi were left now. Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Nautolan Jedi Master Kit Fisto.

Palpatine raised his hands, cackling madly; the shattered glass rose into the air and flew towards the last three enemies like a shimmering, deadly curtain. Obi-Wan dove behind one of the low chairs, dragging Anakin down with him. Kit Fisto tried to use the Force to shield himself, but he was standing too close to Palpatine to react in time. Countless shards of glass pierced his chest, arms and neck. Palpatine didn't bother to finish him off. He was going to bleed out in a few seconds anyway.

Anakin and Obi-Wan leapt back to their feet, attacking Sidious as one.

Such a pity, Sidious thought, admiring the sheer power and fury behind Skywalker's blows. The boy would have been an excellent apprentice; if not for the meddling of another person in this room, who was soon going to die, slowly and painfully. Skywalker would have to die, too; at this point, it was clear that the boy had no intentions of joining him. It was a waste, but one Sidious could live with. The boy would have been a valuable servant, but nothing more than that.

The battle was becoming more and more intense by the second, forcing Sidious to focus on here and now. When the fight started, it was almost laughably easy; these twelve pathetic bastards who came to arrest him were very far from the best the Order had to offer. They were very clearly not used to fighting as a group against a single opponent. It was ridiculously easy for Sidious to keep side-stepping, moving across the room and occasionally leaping over the Jedi's heads, making them constantly get in each other's way. He cut through them like butter.

It was almost sad, really. The best fighters of the Order were all far away, fighting pointless battles on remote planets; exactly where the Supreme Chancellor Palpatine had sent them. One did not become the most powerful being in the galaxy by leaving things to chance, after all.

But now that only Skywalker and Kenobi remained, and they no longer had to worry about colliding with the other idiots, the fight was unexpectedly becoming actually dangerous. They never got into each other's way, not even once. In fact, they worked together with disturbing efficiency. They almost always attacked at the same time, forcing Sidious to twist his blade into awkward positions to block both of their strikes at once.

That was enough, Sidious decided. Play time was over. It was time to end this.

Skywalker and Kenobi made yet another of those annoying simultaneous attacks; to his horror, Sidious realized that it was physically impossible to move his blade fast enough to block both strikes at once. He had to use the Force to just barely stop Kenobi's blade mere centimeters from his face.

That had been entirely too close.

And before Sidious could regain his balance, Skywalker hurled a large, heavy statue at his head. The sheer power behind the throw was frightening. Only a desperate whirl to the side saved the Sith Lord from getting his neck broken right there and then.

For the first time since the fight began, Darth Sidious realized that he was sweating heavily, and not only because of the physical exertion. These clowns might – just possibly – actually be able to beat him.

Sidious leapt over their heads, landing on the opposite side of the office in a desperate attempt to regain his composure. The situation looked dire, but he still had one last trick up his sleeve. Nothing leveled the playing field like a quick burst of Force lightning-

But that would require a moment of concentration, and Skywalker and Kenobi just refused to give him that. They were all over him, raining blows upon him so fast that he no longer even dared to attack; all he could was block while almost running backwards to avoid being hit.

Sidious's back touched something unexpected – a wall. Merely blocking their attacks had taken up so much of Sidious's concentration the he didn't even realize that they had been pushing him into a corner.

Skywalker and Kenobi attacked him as one again, impossibly fast; Sidious only barely blocked Kenobi's stab aimed at his head, and brought his blade down to deflect Skywalker's low strike at his legs-

A split second too late.

Skywalker's blade didn't connect with the blade of Sidious's lightsaber. It connected with the hilt. The red blade winked out of existence, and the two halves of what used to be Sidious's lightsaber tumbled to the floor.

Sidious found himself standing with his back pressed against a wall, cornered and disarmed, with two shimmering blades pointed at his neck.

This was not going according to the plan.

"It's over, Chancellor." Kenobi said coldly. The tip of his lightsaber hovered uncomfortably close to Palpatine's neck. "You have lost. Surrender now, or die."

Breathing heavily, drenched in sweat, Darth Sidious considered this for a moment.

"I surrender." He said finally.

He slowly raised his hands into the air-

And a blinding storm of lightning erupted from his fingertips, blasting Skywalker and Kenobi in the chest before they could react. They both fell to the floor, crying out in pain. Sidious made sure Skywalker got the worst of it.

The lightning stopped. Kenobi was back on feet his first, lifting his lightsaber for a killing blow. But before he could do it, an invisible hand closed around his neck and lifted him in the air. He clawed at his neck, his eyes wide, an expression of pain and fear on his face. His lightsaber fell out of his hands and landed on the carpet with a muffled thud.

Sidious's mouth twisted into a sick grin. He had to thank his late apprentice, Dooku, for giving him that idea. Probably the only useful thing that fool had ever done.

But Sidious wasn't going to repeat Dooku's mistake. He called Master Fisto's lightsaber into his hand, leapt forward and stabbed Kenobi in the chest.

"No…!" Skywalker gasped. He was still lying on the floor, incapacitated by the lightning. Sidious could have easily killed him right there and then, but he didn't. Where would be the fun in that? The horrified expression on the boy's face was just too satisfying. Oh yes, my dear would-be apprentice. This is what you get for ruining my plans.

Sidious let Kenobi's limp body fall to the ground. He wasn't dead, not yet; Sidious had intentionally missed his heart, to make sure he didn't die immediately. The injury was still fatal, but it wasn't going to be quick, or painless. Oh, no. Kenobi would have to enjoy a few truly agonizing minutes before he died. A small punishment for interfering with Sidious's plans.

Skywalker pushed himself back to his feet and attacked Sidious with a terrifying scream, hacking and slashing wildly, driving him back. He no longer seemed to care about his own defense or safety; all that mattered was to hurt Sidious as much he could…

Once again, Darth Sidious regretted what he had to do. Such power, such raw, magnificent anger… The boy was half Sith already, and he didn't even know it. He would have been perfect. What a pity.

Sidious was tempted to let Skywalker live long enough to watch Kenobi die, but it was too risky. Now that the boy was finally beginning to discover the full power of his fury, he was becoming dangerous. His technique was still sloppy at best, but the power behind every single one of his strikes was terrifying. Sidious no longer dared to block Skywalker's blows; he could only redirect them to the side.

And there was no telling what the other Jedi were up to. There could be a whole battalion of Jedi and clones on their way to kill Sidious, right now. If anyone in the Order had any brains at all, they could even try to blow up the whole building. That's what Sidious would do in their position.

He had to kill the boy and issue Order 66 as soon as possible.

Obi-Wan opened his eyes, finding himself lying half on his side, on the floor of Palpatine's office. The pain was white-hot and horrifying, much worse than anything he had ever felt before; it made it hard to even breathe. He tried to get back up, but it was instantly clear that it wasn't happening. He barely even had the strength to stay conscious, and even that was becoming worryingly difficult. Anakin was on his own.

The situation was eerily similar to the fight on Naboo thirteen years ago. Where Obi-Wan could do nothing but stand uselessly, trapped behind a force field, unable to help Qui-Gon. Just as he was unable to help Anakin now.

Another torrent of lightning shot out of Palpatine's fingertips, even more powerful than the first. This time, Anakin was ready, holding his blade in front of him in a powerful two-handed block-

The blast knocked the lightsaber out of Anakin's hands and made it explode into a thousand pieces. Obi-Wan had no idea that such a thing was even possible. Anakin screamed and collapsed to the floor as the full power of the lightning hit him in the chest.

The lightning stopped and Sidious lunged forward with a vicious snarl, raising Kit Fisto's blade for the kill.

But Obi-Wan wasn't completely helpless, not yet. He couldn't move and most likely had only minutes left to live, but he still had the Force. He reached out and threw Sidious backwards with every bit of strength he had still left, all of it. The invisible shockwave flung the Sith Lord across half of the room and slammed him against a wall hard enough to crack it.

"Anakin!"

Obi-Wan grabbed his own lightsaber and threw it to his former Padawan. Anakin gave him a small grateful nod before turning back to face Sidious, who was already back on his feet. The battle resumed with doubled brutality.

For the first time in his life, Obi-Wan truly realized how skillful his former Padawan had become over the past three years. He'd never seen anyone fight like that. Anakin's power in the Force, as well as his sheer physical strength, was simply frightening. Obi-Wan could only thank the Force that Sidious's twisted plan for Anakin had failed.

Palpatine swung his lightsaber in a powerful two-handed blow, laughing maniacally, aiming for Anakin's neck. Anakin lifted his own blade to block…

And deactivated his lightsaber at the very last moment, dropping to one knee. The red blade flew over his head harmlessly, close enough to singe the ends of his hair. And before Sidious could stop the momentum of his swing, Anakin reactivated his lightsaber-

Right through Sidious's heart.

Time itself seemed to stop as Sidious slowly looked down at the shimmering blade sticking out of his chest, then back at Anakin with an expression of shock. Then his face twisted into a grimace of absolute hatred. He raised his hands, blue sparks appearing at his fingertips, determined to take Anakin with him in his final moments. But Anakin remembered his training too well. Without hesitation, not even the tiniest pause to savor his victory, he leapt to his feet and cut off Palpatine's head.

The Sith Lord's lifeless body crumpled to the ground, followed by his head.

It was over.

For a few seconds, Anakin just stood still, breathing heavily, staring at the defeated Sith at his feet. As if he couldn't quite believe his eyes. Then he deactivated the lightsaber and ran to Obi-Wan.

"Oh god." Anakin gasped as knelt down next to Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan almost laughed; something about his former Padawan's reaction was almost funny, in a dark, morbid way. Until now, Obi-Wan hadn't been entirely sure how bad it was, but Anakin's reaction pretty much answered that question.

"All right. Uhh. I'm going to call the Temple, they should be here in a few minutes." Anakin said, fumbling with his comlink. His voice and hands were shaking badly. "You're going to be fine. Just hold on, all right?"

Obi-Wan only gave him a faint, sad smile. Anakin had to know that it was too late for that. It was becoming really hard to breathe, Obi-Wan noticed with alarm. He tried to take deeper breaths, but it made no difference. It felt as if all oxygen had suddenly disappeared from the room. Black dots started to appear in his vision. Dimly, he could hear Anakin saying something, probably talking to someone on the comlink. Obi-Wan blinked a few times, trying to clear his vision, but it didn't help.

Anakin set the comlink down and lightly touched Obi-Wan's shoulder. "They're on their way, Master. Just… stay with me, please…" Anakin trailed off, his eyes widening in horror. Maybe he noticed how much Obi-Wan was struggling to breathe, or perhaps he could sense it in the Force.

"No…" Anakin whispered.

Obi-Wan tried to fight it, to stay awake, but he couldn't. The dark spots before his eyes were growing, and there was a ringing in his ears, getting louder. He couldn't breathe… Force, he couldn't breathe… he could feel the air going in and out, but it wasn't doing anything… no… no…

Obi-Wan caught a fleeting glimpse of Anakin's face. He'd never seen such pain and fear in someone's eyes before. No… he couldn't let it end like this. He had to at least say something.

"Anakin…" Obi-Wan managed to whisper between desperate gasps for breath.

"No, don't talk. Save your strength." Anakin whispered. A single tear fell from his eyes and rolled down his cheek.

Obi-Wan only shook his head. No. It was too late for that. There was so much he wanted to say, but there was no time. He had to choose his next words carefully, since they were very likely going to be his last.

"Anakin…" Obi-Wan said, lightly brushing his fingers against his former Padawan's cheek, wiping the tear away. Just like Qui-Gon had done, thirteen years ago. "I'm… so proud of you."

And that was it; that was all he was able to say. Just in time, too. The roar in his ears became deafening, and his vision went completely black. The last thing he heard was Anakin's terrified voice calling his name.

Don't worry, he's not dead. I'm not a complete monster ;) Originally, the end wasn't supposed to be so dramatic. I got a bit carried away and well, I just couldn't bring myself to delete all of that sweet angst :)

Please R&R!