Way of the Sith

Chapter 11 - Unmasked

Author's Note: Fun fact. Originally, chapter 10 was going to be the ending, but it was too depressing, so you get this, too. :) xD

~ Amina Gila

Anakin may have been planning to keep silent before, but especially after what happened with Padme, he doesn't know that he can. His loyalties to his master and to her and the Republic are tearing him apart, and he doesn't know what to do. Obi-Wan obviously trusts that he won't tell the Council, but... he's not his Obi-Wan anymore.

And they technically destroyed the Republic. Anakin himself doesn't know that he's against the idea of an Empire – with the Senate, he doesn't understand how they get anything done, simply because they don't – but it's... they've destroyed Padme's entire political career. He can't just do nothing about that. And with a Sith the head of the Empire... He can't keep silent. No matter what he decides, he's certain he's going to regret it, and he doesn't know what to do.

If he can't go to Obi-Wan for advice – which obviously he can't – there's really only one other person he can go to. Going there still feels like a betrayal but staying quiet is no less of one. What if people are hurt and he had the chance to stop it, but didn't? This is what the master who raised him would have wanted, isn't it?

(What if the Jedi decide to kill the Sith, Obi-Wan included?)

"Troubled, you are," Yoda observes, as Anakin settles across from him in his quarters.

"Yes, Master," he acknowledges. Now that he's here, there's no backing out. He can only hope this isn't a mistake. His guilt swells instantly, as he thinks of what he'll have to say now. That he knew this all along and said nothing. "I – I should have come to you on this sooner," he begins.

"On what, hmmm?" Yoda prompts.

Anakin doesn't know what the Jedi are going to do to him, either, for keeping this a secret, but... "More happened on... Mustafar than we informed the Council," he begins finally, past his hammering heart. This – it could be disastrous.

"Questioned this, I did," Yoda replies, and he sounds... not-so pleased, but waits for him to continue.

"The Sith, they – merged Obi-Wan's mind with his Sith counterpart. He... Fell, Master. He told me to conceal it, and I – did. I apologize for my deceit." He draws in a breath, trying to control himself.

"Working with the Sith, he has been?" Yoda asks.

Anakin nods. "But they – they do not want to fight with the Jedi," he adds, hastily, "I did not believe them at first, but they are... insistent that they do not. They want to restore peace to the galaxy, and they have. But... the Empress is not Senator Amidala. It's – that universe's version of her. They have her somewhere else where she is safe, but... I do not know what to do. They are Sith, but they have done nothing to give us a reason to fight them. The Sith are too strong for us to take action against regardless, and they all protect each other above all else."

Yoda taps his stick on the floor. "Told me this before you should have, but not too late, it is."

"What will you do, Master?" Anakin asks, warily. It feels like what he did was a betrayal, but not telling on them wasn't any better. He doesn't know what's right anymore. (He just wants Obi-Wan back.)

"Meditate on this, I must," the Grandmaster replies.

The instant urge to defend his master rises, if nothing just to make sure that they won't decide to imprison him or worse. "Obi-Wan still remembers his life here. He is – not lost to the Dark Side. He is... using it far less than he did in that time."