Why Anakin is No Longer Allowed to Mentor

13. Rise of the Chaos Side

There were some days that it simply wasn't worth getting out of bed. Anakin took one look at the calendar and instinctively knew today was going straight to hell without being told.

Which was why he told Artoo to prepare the ship Organa had helped him acquire and to load up everything now rather than wait to the last minute. He had the feeling that he wouldn't be back to his apartment anymore, not that he particularly cared about that.

Threepio was sent on ahead as well, mostly to keep him out of trouble. HK was going to cause a commotion once Anakin gave him the signal and discreetly kidnap his wife.

He had been promised violence and an opportunity to use his blaster, so long as Padme was secured.

Sure enough, Anakin was given a rather pointed order by Palpatine to end the padawans and deal with the remaining Separatist leaders on Mustafar.

Considering he had never planned to follow through on the Sith's orders, Anakin decided to go through with his plan instead.

Seeing the clones in the Temple shooting anyone who dared to come out, Anakin used the codes Yoda had given him to bypass the security.

Unsurprisingly, the padawans had used his impromptu games of hide and seek from the master to stay safe.

"Master Anakin!" said Ahsoka.

"Gather everyone up. We're getting out of here," said Anakin.

"What's going on?" asked Ahsoka.

"Palpatine finally made his move. I don't know about the other Jedi, but we're relocating the younglings in the temple to secure locations before he kills them. The Order is going to ground until it's safe to strike back," said Anakin.

Considering Anakin had made it clear he liked the kids more than the masters, and he was the only 'adult' presence in the room with any authority, they followed him deep into the depths of the temple.

"Where is this place?" asked one brave soul.

"The temple was built over a Sith Shrine. Supposedly to deal with the dark influence...in reality they let their fears and traditions blind them to reality...case in point, the obvious Sith in the Senate. I mean really, how the hell did they miss the fact that there was one?" said Anakin to himself. He had figured it out once he realized that maybe the whole war was a set-up.

Seeing the looks he was getting, he gave them a flat look back.

"What?"

"We're going to a Sith shrine," said Ahsoka.

"Yup."

"And you're not worried about it corrupting us?"

"Being close-minded to the truth and not being open to new ideas is what screwed the Jedi over in the first place. They didn't even question why there was a clone army around for them to use, or that maybe the Sith had gotten better at hiding," said Anakin bluntly. Seeing their expressions Anakin smirked. "Which is more likely...all of you suddenly turning Sith, or following my example and causing all out chaos?"

"Chaos," said one of the older padawans grinning. "Sith sounds like too much work and none of us want to become eunuchs."

"Screw the light side, it's got too many restrictions and has its head up its ass. The dark side is too boring and far too much work...what self-respecting evil person would use politics to take over the place? Look how long it took for them to take control and how much effort it was. Let's all cause some chaos, where we get to have fun without turning into walking cliché," said Anakin passionately.

Hearing the resounding cheer of the padawans, Anakin opened the door. Caught up un causing some chaos they were oblivious to the feeling of the dark side beyond general discomfort.

To be fair, the older kids were happy to push aside the boring restrictive rules of the Order, while the younger ones were following their lead. They had always equated Anakin to 'fun' and 'interesting' over 'boring', which meant they were more than happy to follow his lead. Besides, he made it clear that he could care less if they blamed him for any mischief they caused by claiming he had told them to do it to get out of trouble.

~

Bail was good on his word...after unsuccessfully attempting to reach the temple from the front, he went into the agreed meeting point with speeders that still held diplomatic status, thus wouldn't be searched.

Needless to say the first thing the kids did was take a long shower. Anakin felt it said a lot of his parenting skills that he found the brief fights between them hilarious rather than trying to stop it.

It was as he was on his way to the port to get onto his ship that he saw something interesting. Mace Windu fighting Palpatine, in public no less.

He knew he had a moral quandary...namely whether to help either side or not.

Then he remembered something. He hated Mace and he couldn't care less about Palpatine because obviously the Sith lord had a back-up plan.

Which was why he paused his speeder long enough to do the obvious, rational choice for him.

He flipped both of them the bird before speeding off, whistling cheerfully.

Palpatine only cottoned on to Anakin's actual plan when the Separatist leaders were still alive by the end of the week and were discreetly assassinated by his new 'apprentice'...Darth Vader.

It wouldn't be for five years before that particular piece of miscommunication was cleared up between Anakin and Obi-Wan.

As it was, Anakin felt his message to the remaining Jedi was particularly blunt and to the point, if they hadn't figured out the obvious already.

The Sith Master who has been hiding has made his move. If you have any sense at all, go to ground for the foreseeable future. There is no Republic anymore.