Purging the Darkness: Part I

By: KaNugget

Summary: Did Anakin really have to join the Dark Side in order to bring balance to the Force? Or could he, with the help of his children, find another way?

Rating: T to be safe.

Disclaimer: Star Wars is owned by George Lucas and Lucasflims Ltd.

A/N: I wrote this story 2 years ago when I was 17, about half a year after I wrote my first novel. It's the longest piece of fanfiction (almost 25k) I have ever written and I put a lot of heart in soul into so I hope you enjoy.

A/N2: The beginning of this chapter takes place during Episode III and then completely changes from there. Yes that means in this universe the better Episodes IV-VI don't exist but I kept many elements from the original in. This is a rewrite for Anakin, in the hope of making him a better person (and character :p).

Anakin sat in the Jedi Council Chambers waiting for the Jedi Masters to return. Master Windu did not trust him and therefore would not allow him to accompany Jedi to arrest Chancellor Palpatine. Windu's mistrust was not what hurt the most, though. What hurt the most was how correct he was. Anakin was confused, and his presence would only get in the way.

Anakin breathed in and out, trying to calm himself down. He thought about Padmé, about their child, about his vision. Suddenly he could hear the voice of Palpatine in his head, "You know, don't you, if the Jedi destroy me any chance of saving her will be lost." Anakin breathed again. Inside his head he could see the vision. His wife's screaming, her dying, it all felt too real. He couldn't just sit by and let it happen.

He stood up and ran to the hanger bay. He found the closest speeder and raced off to the Senate building. He entered the Chancellor's office just in time to see Windu win the fight. "You," Windu said, "are under arrest, Milord."

Palpatine, who was leaning against a wall next to the broken window, turned to Anakin and pleaded with him for help.

"You old fool!" Windu said, "The oppression of the Sith will never return. Your plot to regain control of the Senate is over. You have lost."

"No! No! No! You have lost!" Palpatine used force lighting on Windu, who blocked with his lightsaber. A blue light surged throughout the room and Anakin looked away as his long time friend became disfigured while he lost energy.

The Master and the Chancellor argued, calling each other traders.

"Help me!" the Chancellor pleaded, "Don't let him kill me. I can't hold on any longer." From what Anakin could tell the Chancellor was too weak to continue the use of his force power. With a lightsaber held in front of his face the Chancellor was defenseless.

"You Sith disease!" Windu sneered, "I am going to end this once and for all."

The Chancellor pleaded with Anakin to save him, and Anakin pleaded with Windu. But Windu knew the Chancellor was too powerful. Windu had to do what must be done and decided he would suffer the consequences from the Senate later.

Anakin couldn't let Windu kill his wife's last chance, though. As Windu rose his lightsaber above his head Anakin screamed for him to stop. He would not. Through instinct Anakin intervened and cut off the Jedi Master's hand. He looked at Anakin for a moment in shock, before Palpatine used another burst of energy to fling Windu out the building. Anakin could hear his screams as he fell.

"What have I done?" he asked himself.

"You are fulfilling your destiny, Anakin," the Chancellor said, "Become my apprentice. Learn to use the dark side of the Force."

"Never," Anakin yelled. He felt his anger flow through him and attack the Sith Lord. Palpatine was caught off guard, thinking he had already persuaded the young, naïve Knight. After a slice from Anakin's lightsaber Palpatine's head was flung out the window. Anakin collapsed on his knees in too much shock to comprehend the situation.

"What have I done?" he repeated.

After a few minutes some clone troopers entered the chamber. Palpatine had to have called for them when the Jedi first arrived. They walked in and surveyed the room. "What happened here, General?" one of them asked.

Anakin stood up and looked around. Truthfully wasn't quite sure what had happened. It had all gone by so fast. He looked around the room to take in the surrounding. Palpatine's headless body was in front of him. By the door laid the body of three Jedi Masters. Like Palpatine, Kit Fisto was headless. His head had rolled near the desk and Anakin noted Fisto's signature smile on the decapitated head.

"General?" the clone trooper repeated.

Anakin just looked at him with a blank stare.

After the clones had surveyed the scene and watched the surveillance they decided to take Anakin into custody. Anakin didn't fight back; he didn't have the emotional capability to. Anakin wasn't being charged with anything, the clones just thought it was best for the Jedi Council to decide what to do because they were next in command after Palpatine. The Council would access the situation.

They brought Anakin to the Jedi Temple Detention Center because it was the only place on Coruscant that could hold a Jedi. The information they had was very circumstantial, and the only eyewitness they had, Anakin, was acting like a mute.

The situation still hadn't dawn on him. He walked over to the sleep couch and laid down, but could not fall asleep. He kept seeing Palpatine's head as it detached. Inside his mind Anakin imagined the head speaking to him, tell him how Padmé was going to die now. When Anakin finally did fall asleep he had his nightmare again.

The next morning Anakin met with Yoda and Shaak Ti in Yoda's quarters. They each sat on their own chair. Yoda's whole body fit on his, while Shaak Ti sat cross-legged and Anakin let his legs drape over the chair.

"We looked at the surveillance," Shaak Ti's voice was sharp and accusing, "Care to explain why you cut off Master Windu's hand?"

Anakin didn't even have the emotional strength to glare at Shaak Ti. She had always doubted him, but was she right to?

"I arrived to the scene after Master Windu had already subdued Chancellor Palpatine," Anakin explained. After a night's sleep, and an awful one at that, he was capable of speaking, but his shock and horror still stilted his words. "I didn't fully comprehend the situation…and even though I knew the Chancellor was a Sith…to me…he just looked like a defenseless old man…My judgment was clouded…When Master Windu prepared for a killing blow my…protector instincts got the best of me…I couldn't let him harm the Chancellor."

"Your vision, clouded it was, by attachments. Forbid them, we do, for this reason," Yoda said.

Anakin sighed. He looked down at his feet, unable to look at the masters. His error in judgment had cost a Jedi's life and he knew it was wrong. But that was not all that had affected him.

"He was my friend," Anakin said. He knew the words only backed up what Yoda has said, but he couldn't lie. Anakin looked back up and revealed a little more truth. "He offered me power. I wanted it."

"But you resisted," Shaak Ti added with a smile. It was strange to see her smile. She was always so stern with Anakin.

"Resist the dark side, you did," Yoda agreed, "But confusion, I still feel in you."

"The recent event…are confusing," Anakin said.

"It may seem confusing now, Anakin, but you just need some time," Shaak Ti said. "Palpatine tricked you, tried to use you. But you overcame him You killed the last Sith. You fulfilled the prophecy. You truly are the Chosen One."

Anakin tilted his head to the side as he considered that. He hadn't realized that before. Before he was ashamed of his actions; he had killed a good companion. But Palpatine was a Sith Lord. He had used and manipulated Anakin, trying to convince him to give up everything he believed in for a power trip. Would he have really been willing to trade the light inside himself to save Padmé? No, she wouldn't have wanted him to do that. He would find another way to save his wife, and their child would be born in a peaceful galaxy made of the light side.

"Your dying friend, Palpatine it was?" Yoda asked, remembering the vision Anakin had told him about. He wrongly took Anakin's silence as a yes. "Let go, you have."

Anakin breathed in and out. "Master Windu died because of me." He may have killed a Sith, but there was no need for Windu to die. Anakin had to accept full responsibility for that.

Yoda simply shrugged off what Anakin said, though. "Made, mistakes are," Yoda said, "A journey, life is. One with the Force, Master Windu is now."

"You weren't the one you threw Master Windu out the window," Shaak Ti said. "The one to blame for his death is now dead. He tricked you, Anakin. It wasn't your fault."

"Master Yoda," Anakin said slowly making up his words as he went along, "I need to take sometime off. The war has been hard on me and I need sometime to think." Anakin paused. It wasn't a complete lie; Anakin did need time to think. "I think I need to temporary leave the Jedi order to do so." So what if he did it while on Naboo with Padmé and the baby.

"Take all the time you need," Shaak Ti said, "But please return soon…Master Skywalker."

Anakin's head snapped up so fast that he almost pulled something. He saw a small smirk on the Togruta's lips. He turned his head to Yoda who nodded. "Thank you, Masters," he said, barely able to contain his excitement. It was strange how he was receiving the rank of Master by aiding in the death of the Master who denied it from him. Of course Anakin would never voice that notion, or even let on that he felt guilty over Windu's death, in fear that they might reconsider.

Anakin, beaming, stood up and practically skipped out of the room.

A few minutes later another Master, the one who just returned from Utapau, entered the room. "Masters?" Obi-Wan asked, "Why is Anakin prancing down the hallway?"

A/N: Thank you for reading. Please review! :D