Why Anakin is No Longer Allowed to Mentor

12. Plans Are Set

Anakin kept having nightmares of Padme dying, however the visions weren't being completely blocked like before.

Ever since he visited the Sith shrine, he had been able to get more of the visions than before. Specifically the details that had been more or less left out when he was strictly a Jedi.

Every time he saw Padme die in his dreams, it was always alone in the room. And his more recent visions showed Obi-Wan looking incredibly sad about something and for some reason Bail Organa as well. He could just vaguely make out Yoda's ears over the wall.

He knew there was no way in hell he would leave Padme alone, particularly when she was giving birth to his children.

Which begged the question, where was he? Why wasn't he in the vision as well?

In order to keep up appearances, Anakin pretended to ask advice from Palpatine directly...and had his suspicion confirmed. Palpatine with the Sith the Jedi Council was looking for. Hearing him talk about Darth Plagius and how Sith techniques would be able to save his wife, Anakin knew that the man before him was even more full of shit than Anakin himself.

Rather than dismiss Palpatine out of hand, Anakin played along. Right up to the point where Palpatine attempted to 'force' the Order to upgrade Anakin's status to Jedi Master, as opposed to a Knight.

Anakin knew it wouldn't work. They were too stiff and unbending over the rules, and he had spent the past year and a half deliberately pissing them off for his own amusement.

However there was one Master he knew he needed to speak to. Somehow he had the feeling Yoda would understand if he explained things to him. Besides, the green gnome was always hiding his secret amusement at Anakin's antics and was likely the one who knew where to find the other opening to the shrine so he could lead the padawans out safely.

Anakin managed to corner Yoda alone a few hours later.

"Change the Council's decision, I cannot. Unready, you are."

"I'm not going to bother changing their mind. I knew it wasn't possible anyway," said Anakin flatly. Now he had Yoda's attention. "Palpatine is the Sith Master that the Order was looking for, and he's about to make his move against us soon."

"Sure of this, you are?"

"He openly mentioned someone named Darth Plagius and said that if I wanted to save someone important to me, the only way to do it was to either become a master or join the Sith," said Anakin bluntly. "Frankly, I get the feeling he's more full of shit than me about to spread another rumor."

"More than friends with Senator Amidala, you are," said Yoda calmly.

"She's my wife and she's almost due," said Anakin. He ran his hand through his hair in frustration at this whole mess. "Look, I have a plan to at least protect the padawans and younglings from this mess, though I cant guarantee they'll survive. Since Palpatine wants me to become a Sith and will likely attempt to break me by having me kill them to prove myself, I need your help in insuring they escape without notice."

"What assistance would you need?" asked Yoda. He wasn't claiming Anakin was lying, which was nice. But even he could sense the dark side was about to make a major play soon.

"I need the access codes to the Sith shrine under the temple," said Anakin without hesitation. "I have a path mostly clear to some contacts that can get them off-world, but I need the codes so no one outside realizes what I'm doing."

Any amusement in Yoda's features disappeared in an instant.

"Know of the shrine, how do you?" he asked seriously.

Anakin gave a rather detailed description of the interior, something only Yoda was old enough to remember even briefly.

Yoda looked at him with uncharacteristic seriousness.

"Dangerous, the dark side is," said Yoda.

"And yet it doesn't know what to make of the chaos side," said Anakin without thinking.

"Chaos side?" repeated Yoda.

"Someone who is neither Jedi nor Sith, but a hybrid of both and unfettered by either order," said Anakin grinning. "With how often I end up in chaos, it was the natural fit for a new Order."

Yoda made an unsubtle snort.

"Far too true, that is. Most likely to end up knee deep in trouble, you are."

The green gnome seemed to come to a conclusion.

"Help you, I will in protecting the younglings and padawans."

The relief on Anakin's face was obvious. He really didn't want to cut open a hole in every door just to get to the access point of the shrine. He didn't want to give Palpatine a clear idea of where to go in order to properly access it, and once the kids were clear he was going to block it up so thoroughly it would take forever for him to get into it.