The Chosen One(s) | Anakin Skywalker x Reader

Chapter 69 - Choose the Light

*A/N - Who's ready to bring balance to the force?*

Anakin's POV:

I lay paralyzed on the bed. Chaos booms outside the room. Blasters fire, echoing like thunder. The hum of lightsabers cut through air and flesh. The screams—force, the death curdling screaming. Jedi are dying in the halls they once trained in, betrayed by the Clones they trusted. Padawans are crying out for Masters who will never come. The Temple, my home, is soaked in blood and smoke.

I squeeze my eyes shut. It's everywhere. Pain. Betrayal. Death.

Get up. My inner war general roars— the voice that carried me through every battlefield. Get up, Skywalker. Fight. You've killed before—thousands during this war. This is no different. You're just fighting for a different side now.

No. It is different. My hands shake. My heart is racing, but not from fear—from something deeper. Something breaking.

"I am... disappointed."

His voice cuts through the air like a blade, curling around me with venom. Palpatine steps from the shadows, his hood drawn low, his eyes gleaming with fire.

"You disobeyed me." His tone is measured, deadly. "You defied me."

The younglings, I realize. He knows I couldn't do it.

"I—" My throat closes. I can't form the words. "They're children."

"Children who will grow into Jedi," he spits, his voice rising. "Children who will rise against us! Do you not see? Their very existence is a threat!"

"I won't kill them," I say, and though my voice shakes, the words are firm. "I can't."

For a moment after I say it, there is silence. And then—

Lightning.

It rips through me before I can even brace— no warning— searing my chest, tearing a scream from my lungs. My knees buckle as fire claws through every nerve. The stench of my own burning flesh fills the air.

"Mercy is weakness!" Palpatine shrieks, his face contorted with rage as he pours more power into me. My body convulses, pinned by the current. "You dare betray me? You dare waste the gift I have offered you?"

"Please—!" I gasp, but the word is swallowed by pain. My fingers claw at the ground, nails scraping stone.

The lightning cuts off, leaving me crumpled on the floor. My chest is badly burned, scorched black where the bolts struck. Every breath that follows feels like knives in my lungs.

Palpatine leans closer, his voice low and poisonous. "If you want the power to save her... prove it. Rise, Lord Vader. Rise, and show me you are not weak."

I can barely move. My muscles tremble as I push against the floor, dragging myself upright. My vision swims, but I meet his eyes.

"Go," he commands, pointing toward the Temple corridors. "The Jedi still fight. Kill them. All of them. Or lose her."

The words cut deeper than the lightning. My mind fills with her face—Y/N, soft and luminous, slipping away from me. Every hesitation feels like death creeping closer to her.

I ignite my saber. The blue glow stains my trembling hands. My chest burns, my soul screams, but I step forward.

I don't want this.

You must.

I don't want to kill them.

She will die if you don't.