Favorless

Chapter 2 - Arrival

Author's Note: Yes, I know Obi-Wan and the Jedi as a group aren't being very nice to Anakin, but in their defense, he's a Sith apprentice. I'm sure you know how wary the Jedi are of Sith. xP It's like they  have tunnel vision when it comes to them, and yeah, maybe it's for a good reason, but still. :)

~ Amina Gila

It's been a year since Anakin was last on Coruscant, when Sidious finished his first term as Chancellor. The city looks every bit the way it did when Anakin left, but being able to feel nothing here is jarring. For all he knows, everyone could be dead, and he wouldn't know. He can only rely on what he can see, not the gaping emptiness.

The pounding in his head is only worse now, too. Are Force restraints supposed to hurt this much? Or is it just that Anakin is literally half-Force – based on what his master told him once – and being cut off from the Force would probably hurt him a lot more? He can't really tell if it's hurting Sidious or not.

His master's expression is as impassive as ever.

He can't help remembering when he first came here when he was nine, though. His mother had been shot by Tuskens only weeks before. Everything had been little but a blur after that, until Maul had found. He'd... killed Watto, and took Anakin to Coruscant, to Sidious. Sidious freed him, even if he doesn't think he has any idea what that meant any more than he ever has. (Though Sidious always feeds him and doesn't beat him the way Watto did, so maybe that's – that's always what it meant, so he doesn't know why he often feels like it was supposed to mean something more.)

Anakin doesn't know the details of what happened to Maul, but there was a... battle on Naboo and he was killed there, by the Jedi. The Trade Federation ended up winning, anyway, taking over the planet.

The shuttle lands in the Jedi Temple hangar, and they're escorted right to the... Council chambers?

Anakin doesn't even know why they haven't killed them yet, but he expected to be taken to the prison levels – they have that, right? – not to meet the Council.

What, is this some kind of fancy execution? It isn't like he knows enough about the Jedi to be able to tell what they're planning. All he knows is that he doesn't like this.

It's unsettling to be in the center of the twelve Jedi Masters, when he can feel their eyes on him. Well, he can't actually feel it, and that's half the problem. But whatever happens to him and his master next is entirely on them, and he hates feeling this... helpless. Even if he's used to it.

"The Senate will hear of this," Sidious tells them, mildly. It's not legal what they did, Anakin is certain. Being a Sith isn't illegal.

"Being a Sith is far from your only crime," Windu replies, coldly.

What do they know? What are they referring to, anyway?

"A proposal to make to you, we have," the small green creature at the front of the room – Yoda – says. Proposal? They brought them all the way here to... offer them something? Whatever that could be, Anakin's certain it's something in the Jedi's favor.

"You have sensed the growing disturbance in the Force, haven't you?" Windu asks.

Of course, Anakin has. He doubts any Force user hasn't, but he doesn't see how that's relevant to them. He stays quiet, though, waiting for his master to speak.

"The disturbance connected with the unknown Force wielder?" Sidious inquires, sounding decidedly uninterested.

They've all heard the rumors on the holonews, about a mysterious Force wielder who no one's ever seen, that's been slaughtering people senselessly everywhere it goes. There's no sense or anything behind the attack, but Anakin noticed a wrongness growing in the Force from right before the rumors first surfaced.