Balance and Victory: A Star Wars Alternate Universe [COMPLETED!]

Chapter 32

The forest was pitch black except for the red glow of a Sith's lightsaber, the air was silent except for that sinister chuckle, and the Force was still except for the unforgettable presence of Darth Sidious.

I'm dead for sure this time, Anakin realized. What else could Sidious possibly want? Surely he had given up hope of convincing Anakin to become his apprentice. Sidious had left him alive last time, and quite on purpose. He probably wouldn't be so merciful again.

There would be no running away from this. If Sidious had found him already, trying to hide would only delay the inevitable.

The red light from his lightsaber was just enough to reveal his grim smirk from underneath his hood. "I have one question for you, Anakin. What have you accomplished since I last saw you? Oh, I already know the answer. Nothing. Absolutely nothing."

"My accomplishments are none of your business," Anakin retorted, reaching for his lightsaber.

Sidious went on as if he hadn't heard him. "You have done nothing but run. Run from your true self. Tried to hide who you really are, because you fear the Dark Side! And now you are little more than an empty shell, who is incapable of saving your wife and children, and your pathetic Rebel fleet.... And yourself."

Anakin barely had time to activate his lightsaber before Sidious lunged at him, and their fight began.

Just like last time, Sidious' strokes were fast and complex and difficult to keep up with. It almost felt like there were four Sith in his place instead of one; first he appeared in front of Anakin, then behind him, then to his left, all within milliseconds.

Was this as powerful as the Emperor got? Or was he holding himself back?

Maybe, Anakin thought, the Dark Side can help me here.

But which was worse? To die and abandon his family, or to live only through the power of the Dark Side?

That decision would have to be made quickly. He could not keep this up forever.

And using the Dark Side would be so easy... The passion and energy required to activate it was right there, bottled up and ready to release. Anakin vividly recalled the raw power of the Dark Side, the adrenaline rush, the mental clarity. Last time, it had saved his life and enabled him to save Leia, when he had been so close to death. One thing was certain: the Dark Side really worked.

Just thinking about it was pushing him over the edge. The Dark Side was taking over his mind once again... maybe it would be futile to resist.

As the fight went on, an image came to his mind. One of Ahsoka in her home on Shili, surrounded by her brightly colored walls and dim lamps and shimmering jewelry. "There is a middle ground in the Force," she said.

But what did that mean? Surely there were only two sides of the Force. The Light, which was weak, and the Dark, which was evil.

No, there had to be a third option: both the Jedi and the Sith were wrong. What if the Light Side and the Dark Side were meant to work together?

As Sidious came down with a particularly heavy lightsaber stroke, Anakin became aware of a whole new dimension of the Force: one of the Light Side and Dark Side existing together, not separately. Allowing both sides to mix felt energizing, but stable. The Dark Side gave him the strength to block Sidious' powerful blow, and the Light Side kept his movements grounded and precise.

From there, the fight went in a completely different direction. Sidious was no longer gaining ground. Anakin was on the offense. The Emperor's moves were no longer so hard to predict. If he randomly appeared somewhere, Anakin was already there, ready with an offensive stroke.