About this fic: This fic begins with my own rendition of the events of Revenge of the Sith, with the characters and some of the story elements being the same. The events of TPM and AotC have not been altered. The events branch off into a complete AU after the end of RotS.

Summary: We all know the story of Darth Vader, who was once the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker. What would happen if Anakin was never seduced by the Dark Side, and the Skywalker family was never separated? How would the galaxy fare if the Jedi Purge never took place, and the Order reforms to become an active force for Light?

AN 1: Normal font -Signifies events as they transpire.

Italics - Signify thoughts/flashbacks

Bold/Bold Italics - Signify thoughts in a flashback(It's not too complicated, you'll see. :P)

AN 2: This is my first attempt at putting my thoughts to words, so pardon me if you find it to be crude, but I hope you don't.

Disclaimer: The Force does not belong to me, just flows through. Neither do lightsabers, sadly.

Edit 1(29/07/17): Beta credits to anand891996. Thanks, git.

Chapter 1:

Turmoil.

Anger, despair, fear and hatred welled up inside Anakin Skywalker, clouding his ability to think clearly, as he walked in through the now-empty Jedi Council chamber door. Anger, at the way the Jedi Council had refused him the title of 'Master' without even a second thought. Despair and fear, at what would happen if the dreams he'd been having were to come true. If he were to lose...her. Finally hatred, at the way he'd been betrayed by the one he thought of as his friend and mentor. Apparently, no one did anything without an ulterior motive anymore. Trust was suddenly hard to come by, even though he was surrounded by a Temple-full of beings that were supposed to promote the very same sentiment.

Everything had been alright till those dreams had started. Bloody Force visions. The apparently sentient metaphysical concept seemed to have decided that it would make his life a giant headache. Given the really weird circumstances of his birth, he might even go as far as saying he had Daddy issues.

He thought back to the conversation he'd had with Grand Master Yoda a few weeks ago, about the very same dreams, as he made to seat himself on his Council chair.

"Train yourself to let go of all that you fear to lose.", the Grand Master had said, but how could he? This was about Padme's life, damn it!

The Supreme Chancellor had said something about being able to influence the Midichlorians to prevent others from dying...

Anakin shook his head and stood up. No, the Chancellor was a Sith Lord, a master at manipulating people, abstaining them from thinking clearly. The possibility of more power and being able to save Padme was lucrative, but the cost was too much, and he didn't even know if the Chancellor could live up to his claims. Defecting from the Order that had given him the chance at a new life when he'd been a slave in a desert planet was too abhorrent an idea. Of course, the Order was not impeccable, either. Bound by completely archaic ideals and governed by conceited fools, no less, but at least they had provided him with a new home and trained him to face his fears and stand up to those who wronged not just him, but the galaxy at large.

Anakin sighed and turned his face towards the Coruscant skyline. The setting sun seemed to set the entire duracrete and steel landscape ablaze. He turned his gaze towards the cluster of towers where the Senators lived. Where Padme lived. He couldn't lose her, not now, not ever. Especially not after the recent development. He let his thoughts drift back to their reunion, after the mission to rescue the Chancellor.

XXXXXXXXXX

Anakin walked into the Senate building along with Senator Bail Organa, who seemed exceedingly unperturbed compared to all the other Senators who were positively gushing with appreciation at the Chancellor's rescue at his hands. The Alderaanian Senator was more concerned about the continuation of the war irrespective of Count Dooku's capture, and he voiced his thoughts out loud. Granted, that Organa had some very useful insights as to what the continuation of war meant to the Galaxy, but Anakin's mind wasn't in the conversation. He was finally back on Coruscant after so long, and he was in the Senate Tower, which meant Padme was somewhere nearby..

Anakin drew in on the Force to enhance his sensory cognition and felt around for the aura of his beloved. Surprisingly, he didn't have to look far. She was standing behind one of the massive pillars to the side of the Senate Tower main hall, down which Anakin was currently walking, and was apparently aware of his presence. He mentally smiled at the perceivable elation in her feelings on sighting him.

"To hell with the political protocol nonsense. This is more important.", Anakin thought, as he excused himself from Organa's presence and rushed to where Padme was. Hidden from the view of the rest of the Main Hall, she jumped into his arms, wrapped her hands behind his neck and her lips rushed up to meet his.

"Oh, it's been far too long", Anakin giddily thought to himself. They stayed that way for almost a minute, while Anakin enveloped her aura in his, letting her soak in his happiness, while he assuaged her worries. He basked in her presence, which he found so thoroughly comforting, ever since they'd confessed their love for each other. Still, there was a small prickle of emotions that emanated from her every few seconds, suggesting something on her mind. He'd let her bring it up on her own, though.

"Oh Anakin, you've been gone for almost two months, with next to no communication as to your well-being! I had to wait for the official report every week to know what was going on! You have no idea how worried I was, especially with all those rumours about your death flying around!"

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't do anything about it, sweetheart. The Outer Rim sieges were just one disaster piled on the other. We managed to pull through in the end, but during, there was barely any time for us Jedi to sit back at the command center. And with all the communications between Coruscant and the Outer Rim being monitored on all Jedi and Republic comm frequencies, I had no chance to talk to you.", Anakin sighed, and looked into her eyes.

"And no, nothing the Seperatists have invented has any chance of harming me in any way. Not while I have you to return to.", he said with a smile.

Her fears abated, she buried himself in his embrace yet again, drawing comfort from his presence. It was then that Anakin noticed that the tiny emotional surge he'd felt earlier was distinct in comparison to the rest of her aura. Almost like, another presence..

Anakin's eyes widened with realization.

XXXXXXXXXX

That day had been one of the happiest of his life, as far as he could remember. Padme had given him that, and she was to be the mother of his children. No, he couldn't go on without her, that much was clear. He loved her too much to let her go, irrespective of what Yoda had said. He was not like the other Jedi Knights. Hell, even the troops under him expected him to act unconventionally. The Clone Captain under his command, Rex, had even attained his own rebellious streak, making use of unpredictable methods, if he thought it would meet the end goals easily or at lesser troop cost. Anakin wasn't like the other "ideal" Jedi in most ways. No, he was different, and he'd find his own way out of this mess.

That damned Palpatine. A Sith Lord masquerading as the Supreme Chancellor, no less, right under the eyes of the Jedi, all the while masterminding both sides of the war, he was indeed powerful to have been able to put up this deception for so long. For all his faults, Yoda had been right about one thing: The Dark Side did cloud everything. Layering his deception with promises of unfathomable power seemed exactly the kind of cliche one would expect from a vile person like Palpatine. No, Anakin was supposed to be powerful and a force for Light. He couldn't give in to becoming a tool in such obvious ploys at power grabbing. He'd had his doubts, ever since their conversation after Anakin had "rescued" Palpatine, aboard Grievous' ship.

There was something very large at play here. Something to do with him, Palpatine, the Republic and the Jedi Order. Still, even with all that power at his disposal, the man didn't strike him to be very bright. Palpatine's claims that the Jedi Order wanted power and to take over the Republic was such an obvious and terrible try at making him switch sides that Anakin wondered exactly how Palpatine had managed to stay his deception from getting discovered for so long. Smarts like that, he might as well have a billboard light up over him saying "Wanna be a Sith like me?" every time he tried to tell Anakin about some convoluted plot the Jedi had apparently cooked up to get Palpatine overthrown. Anakin wondered if that man had even tried to plan the subtleties for his "Mission: Power Grab". Or, if that mission was ever his original idea. Probably not.

Just like that time aboard Grievous's destroyer. That mission had started it all. Anakin's doubts, the dreams and Palpatine's attempts at "slyly" converting him.

XXXXXXXXXX

Anakin opened the hatch of his Jedi Starfighter and Force leaped out, igniting his lightsaber, as it skidded to a rest in the hangar of Grievous's ship, while Obi-Wan Kenobi's starfighter just plowed through a couple of droids, having lost a wing, costing his starfighter it's stability and aerodynamics, in their attempt to get into the Separatist command ship. There were just a few dozen battle droids there, apparently gawking with confusion at someone's nerve to directly attack the command ship with a two-man team. Well, he'd use their overconfidence against them, and after all, they were no ordinary two-man team, Anakin thought with a smile.

Jedi General Anakin Skywalker and High Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi had just infiltrated the Seperatist command ship, before the opponent could even think of locking down the Hangar bay doors.

Anakin's flip carried him over a Battle droid and he severed it's head as he went, before landing right in front of a group of clankers, as the clones had come to call them. He landed in a crouch and slashed the legs of the two in front of him, before reversing his swing and slicing the blade through their torsos. The remaining three managed to squeeze of a bolt from their blasters, before he deftly flicked his saber in an arc and reflected the bolts right back at their heads. The droids collapsed faster than they could've said "Roger". Using the Force to fuel his movements, Anakin ran towards the remaining droids while swiftly reflecting all bolts fired upon him back to their owners. The next two groups fell quickly under his Djem-So style lightsaber movements, and then rolled behind the last two droids in front of him and slashed their bodies in half. One last droid stood a few meters behind him and sprayed a few shots in his general direction. Anakin lazily flicked his saber behind him, reflecting the shot headed for his back, effectively dispatching the droid without so much as a glance. It's head popped off faster than it's system could register surprise. Being Force-sensitive definitely had it's perks.

Anakin turned and surveyed the scene. Obi-Wan stood about 20 paces to his left, having turned about two dozen droids to scrap, without having suffered even a scratch. How anyone considered these to be a suitable competitor to the Clone Army of the Republic, he'd never know. Grievous probably had a Bantha for a technical advisor.

"All right over there, old man? Need to catch a break before we head over to get the Chancellor?" Anakin smirked.

"Took out more droids than you, and not even out of breath, Anakin." Obi-Wan smiled. "Get R2 to check for the Chancellor's location."

"R2! You heard the old man!"

A flurry of whistles and beeps later, R2-D2, astromech extraordinaire, had connected to the Ship's system from a port and was projecting a hologram with a path to the Chancellor's position highlighted. Well, this was where the fun began.

"At the top of the Command Tower. Pretty sure they'd expect us to take a 'Kill-box' up, and on top of that, I sense an ambush. Any ideas?".

"Well, then, let's spring our own ambush.", Obi-Wan smirked. The elevator was the most obvious trap, but Anakin had seen how smart these people were. Apparently the idea that someone could see through their plans never occurred to them.

"R2, shut off the cameras in the corridor leading out of the hangar bay to the elevator shafts. Pretty sure they're stupid enough to wait for us to call an elevator." Turning to Obi-Wan, he said "Hop on to the top of one as it goes up and break and enter at the top."

"Sounds good. Anakin, usual formation. They corridor's bound to have droids. And take different elevators up. Let's show them who they're messing with."

Without another word, they sped off. The usual formation had Obi-Wan taking the front and effectively scouting, while Anakin brought up the rear, while being as inconspicuous about his presence. Obi-Wan's mastery of the Soresu lightsaber form ensured that he'd be able to hold off any troops that he met, without expending much energy, while waiting for Anakin to catch up. Also, it negated most ambushes, as Anakin would follow without revealing his presence. Wouldn't be much of an ambush if the ambushers themselves got sprung upon.

Obi-Wan jogged up the corridor, easily reflecting shots and slicing through any droid that was malfunctioning enough to get close to a Jedi with a lightsaber. He reached the elevator shaft and turned around, the sound of metal rolling on metal reaching his ears.

"Destroyers. Great." Two Droidekas, or Destroyers as the Clones had coined them, rolled up and disentangled, throwing up a deflector shield. The shield negated any chance for Obi-Wan to take them out by reflecting their shots right back at them, so he'd just have to hold out against their barrage till Anakin showed up.

The Destroyers unleashed their twin blaster-cannon arms and opened fire. Obi-Wan slipped into the Soresu form he'd adapted to fight multiple ranged weapon bearing enemies and deflected all the shots focused on his person. He didn't have to hold up for long though, as Anakin walked in behind the droids and dispatched both of them with one slash of his saber.

Without waiting, both Jedi cut open a door to the shaft and jumped onto an elevator riding to the top. Anakin's elevator stopped a few floors shy of the highest floor, and without missing a stride, he fired the grappling hook attached to his belt to the roof of the shaft and reeled himself up. The elevators opened straight up into the observation deck, the lower level of which housed a single chair with a lone person upon it: Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. What kind of captors took someone hostage and left with no one behind to keep an eye on them? Apparently this was the "ambush", and by the looks of it Obi-Wan had sensed it too, if his raised eyebrow was anything to go by.

"Go and free the Chancellor. I can't sense anyone else's presence in the room, and due to our elaborate ride up the shaft, it'll take a few more minutes for the Separatists to work out what's happened. I'll keep watch here, as it's the only way up or down." Obi-Wan said.

Anakin walked up to the Chancellor and slashed off the wrist manacles with his saber.

"Chancellor, I hope you're alright? We made haste in hurrying over to rescue you."

"Yes, yes, I'm fine, Anakin. The Separatists decided I was more useful to them with all my limbs attached, apparently.", Palpatine answered.

Still, he seemed distracted and didn't have any of the urgency a hostage would display when given a chance to go free. In fact, he seemed to be expecting something, or someone, given his craning over Anakin's shoulder. Anakin ignored that as a stupid thought, and motioned towards the elevators.

"Shall we, Chancellor?"

"Of course, yes, let's go. No point in lingering here after all.."

Anakin raised a metaphorical eyebrow at that, but continued to walk towards the lifts, with the Chancellor tailing behind, apparently lost in thought.

"Anakin, one of the elevators' heading up, and I can feel a Dark presence in it." Obi-Wan shouted.

"I bet my saber it's that traitor, Dooku."

"Don't, you wouldn't do well fighting without it."

Resisting his urge to facepalm, Anakin queried "How do we handle this?"

"Hold on..", Obi-Wan said, rummaging his belt pouch.

Palpatine immediately piped up "Oh, you're no match for him, Master Kenobi! He's a Sith Lord! Anakin, you must fight him alone and kill him! Show the Jedi Order that your skills far exceed that of any normal Jedi!"

Obi-Wan turned to Palpatine with a twitch in his smile.

"Chancellor Palpatine, Sith Lords seem to be my speciality, given how Darth Maul ended up."

Palpatine clammed up, but his indignation shot up again, when Obi-Wan dropped an object he'd pulled out of his belt pouch down the shaft.

"What was that?"

"One of Commander Cody's signature EMP Grenades, with the only distinction that it affects living beings the same way as it does electronic devices."

Anakin couldn't help but give a short laugh at that. Apparently being Rex's friend meant his idiosyncrasy rubbed off on you.

xxx

Count Dooku was brimming with anticipation at this opportunity to bring down two of the Order's most powerful Jedi, and at the chance to show his Sith Master as to just how strong and reliable his apprentice was, despite his age. After this success, Lord Sidious would never question his loyalty to the Sith cause ever again, and even train him to channel the Dark Side better. All of Dooku's abilities with the Force were either purely combat oriented, or used to persuade the weak minded. He wanted to train more in the Darker arts, which might even lead him to discover the secret to immortality. And finally, when his Master least suspected it, he'd put his plans to advance Lord Bane's Rule of Two further into motion, and-

A series of clunks which sounded like an object clattering on to the top of the elevator broke the aging Count out of his musings. Dooku frowned and looked up, while at the same time the two Super Battle droids he'd brought with him queried as to the origin of the noise. Neither had any time to react when the EMP went off, the powerful electrical surge throwing the Count off the floor and back down on it, while an unintentional scream let loose from his throat.

The massive Super-Battle droid, with a reinforced chassis collapsing right on top of him didn't help his already losing fight against unconsciousness either.

xxx

A disembodied shriek echoed up the elevator shaft, making both the Jedi up top chuckle.

"Isn't the elevator supposed to be sound-proof from the inside?" Obi-Wan queried.

"That's a nice set of lungs the Count's got on him. I don't suppose that would've helped Dooku's balding problem much either.." Anakin said, actually sounding impressed at his first statement's implications.

Twenty minutes later, after a jaunt down the previously-standstill elevator (Courtesy: Incredible Astromech), with a slightly smouldering Dooku, and a less-than-elated-for-some-reason Chancellor, the group stood in the Hangar, with Anakin hauling Dooku on his back.

"Well, my starfighter's wrecked. Let's find something a little more flyable than that, shall we?" Obi-Wan sighed.

As if on cue, a Droid Gunship piloted itself into the Hangar bay. It was a massive ship, with 6 turrets on it's various surfaces. The rear ramp opened, and a loud clanking sound ensued, that sounded suspiciously like footsteps.

Anakin looked at Obi-Wan morbidly. "You had to ask.."

A huge, hulking cyborg walked down the ramp of the Gunship and turned to look straight at their group. Given the Count's body being hauled like a sack of Bantha fodder, it was safe to assume that General Grievous, for it was he, was not in a happy mood. Anakin unceremoniously dumped Dooku to one side, and detached his Lightsaber. Grievous growled inhumanly and narrowed his eyes.

"We have a job to do Anakin. Try not to upset him." Obi-Wan said.

Two other droids walked down the ramp of the Gunship, each holding a staff with electromagnetic discharges at each end.

"IG-100 Magnaguards.", Anakin said, "As if the one droid wasn't enough."

"AAARGH!" Grievous yelled and charged, pulling out two lightsabers from his hip holster.

Apparently he was still touchy about the 'Droid' thing.

Anakin met Grievous' charge head on, while Obi-Wan circled around him to deal with the Magnaguards. The first droid stabbed low, and Obi-Wan vaulted over, slicing it's head off mid-leap. He then charged the other droid, which parried his slash using it's staff. Apparently it was made of Cortosis, else the saber would've melted straight through. What caught Obi-Wan off guard was another that hit his left shoulder from behind, throwing him to the floor.

"WHAT? I took off that thing's head! How is it still fighting?". Obi-Wan exclaimed silently to himself.

Obi-Wan turned that fall into a roll, and stood up to face the droids. His shoulder stung from the hit, but it didn't pose too much of a problem. He was thinking of a way to dispatch the droids quickly so that he could get back to helping Anakin, but before he could think of anything, there was a loud "Bleeeeep", and a very familiar Astromech fell from above on to the headless droid, shattering it's chassis. Before the other Magnaguard could register what had occured, R2 activated it's thrusters and shot off, and Obi-Wan closed the gap between them, following up with a mid-level slash to dispatch the droid.

"So much for expensive droid bodyguards.."

Meanwhile, Anakin and Grievous were engaged in a fierce lightsaber duel. Given that both of them favored offensive strikes, the battle would only end when one tired out or made a mistake. And Droids didn't really come with stamina issues.

Still, Anakin was a master duelist. His skills with a saber were almost unrivaled, said to be on the same level as Grand Master Yoda, and given his affinity to the Force, battle precognition came to him naturally. This led to Grievous losing one of his appendages in the duel that followed. Grievous kicked out at Anakin when his limb was severed, the latter just managing to flip out of the way. Grievous turned around to see Obi-Wan running towards him. Facing off against two seasoned Jedi, minus one appendage wasn't good odds for anybody, and Grievous knew he had to beat a hasty retreat if he wanted to live.

He pulled out a comm link.

"Command center, This is General Grievous! Vent the Hangar bay level! Also, all batteries, open fire at the nearest Republic ship!"

Grievous made use of the ensuing chaos to run for the corridor leading to the Command center and sealed it off, grinning madly at the apparent demise of his opponents. It meant Count Dooku's death too, but he didn't really care about that. He could modify how the events transpired later, when reporting to Lord Sidious.

Obi-Wan and Anakin just nodded at each other, grabbed the Chancellor and still-out-cold Dooku and ran aboard the Droid Gunship Grievous had arrived in, with R2 flying behind on his jets. The ramp of the HMP-classGunship was still open when the Hangar got vented, but all ships that were not one-man starfighters had a separately sealed cockpit, which meant death only if you were still in the hold when it lost atmospheric pressure. Having made it to the cockpit in time, R2 reprogrammed the flight path and details of the droid brain controlling the shipand piloted itout of the hangar bay.After transmitting codes to Republic ships proclaiming them to be allies in a ship belonging to the opposite faction, Anakin made for the surface of Coruscant, leaving it to the squadron of Clone starfighters on his tail to take care of any enemy reinforcements.

XXXXXXXXXX

Anakin hadn't made much of the Chancellor's apprehension back then, pinning it to being unable to think rationally at being held hostage. Although, now that he recollected the event as it transpired, it seemed more like Palpatine was expecting Dooku to show up and Anakin to defeat him. Obi-Wan had seen to that not occurring and Palpatine was thrown off his game. But still, to what end? What could Palpatine have hoped to gain by goading a Jedi into killing his own apprentice? The more he thought about it, the more he realised that Palpatine's endgame was twisted beyond the hope of his comprehension. He was missing quite a few details.

He'd have to get to the bottom of this quickly. Master Windu had departed from the Jedi Temple about ten minutes ago, along with a few other Masters from the Council, to apprehend the Chancellor for his crimes against the Republic. If all of this was a trap, Anakin had to make sure the Jedi weren't caught in it.

Still, Palpatine's elaborate scheme had to be in place for years before he'd even become Senator, and it seemed impossible that one person would attain such power and mastermind such a huge deception on his own. Maul, Dooku and Ventress had just been pawns the entire time, and Anakin doubted that they'd known anything pertaining to Palpatine's goals.

Anakin paced the Council chamber, wondering if somehow the Chancellor had known about his existence, and was aware as to the circumstances of his birth. It would seem so, given how much interest he'd taken in him ever since Naboo. Was that why he wanted Anakin to betray the Order and switch sides? All the not-so-subtle hinting on Palpatine's part seemed to say so.

Still, even if he got Anakin to switch sides, how did he plan to deal with the Jedi? It wasn't like they would be able to hide it anymore, and neither would they be able to fight them head on, no matter how skilled they were. There were tens of thousands of Jedi all over the galaxy, after all, fighting battles on various planets and in outer-space. The only way to be able to take all of them out would be to swiftly and simultaneously take them out in a way they would least expect. What was common to all Jedi that would lead to spontaneous extermination?

Anakin stilled, realization hitting him faster than a ship exiting Hyperspace. The Jedi were blind! Of course, this was where the Clone Army came into play! That's why it's creation had been kept secret for so long, and the Order had just accepted being made Generals of the army that had rescued them at Geonosis all those years ago! The army was comprised of Clones that were bred to follow orders, and the highest rank they recognised was that of the Supreme Chancellor!

ARC Trooper Fives. That's what his entire tirade had been about. He was going on about a chip implanted in all Clones and a plot to destroy the Jedi, and the Coruscant Guard had gunned him down before he could even utter another word.

This was it. He could feel it. He had to warn Master Windu and the others and he had to prevent the Chancellor from issuing a contingency order to the Clone army. He could not turn his back on the Jedi Order, no matter how lucrative the Sith Lord's offer seemed. It would definitely not be what Padme would want and it defied all morals that his mother had stood by, too. He couldn't betray them.

No, the dreams he'd been having were just omens and not visions of the future. The future was always in motion, and he'd see to it that Padme was in his. But first, he had to rid the galaxy of this vile and impending doom, because he was the Chosen One.

And because, without the Jedi, there could be no balance.