Here's the new version of the first chapter. I tried to take y'all's suggestions with the whole situation and Anakin's reaction, but it still seems a little stiff to me in places. Working on chapter 3 right now, it should be up in a few days.

Let me know what y'all think.

Chapter 1:

Choose

"Only I can help you save her, Anakin!"

"Anakin! Help!"

"The chancellor is evil, Anakin!"

Voices of those he loved, trusted, and sought guidance from filled his head as he sat in the Jedi temple council chamber. The pressure of his decision pressed on him like the weight of a thousand worlds. Was the Chancellor telling the truth? Could he save Padme? Were the Jedi really evil, or was that just another ploy to clutter his mind? Was Mace right and they needed to do whatever necessary to remove Palpatine from power? There was only one way for him to find out; he had to get to the Chancellor's office chambers as quickly as possible.

Anakin took off down the vast hallways of the Jedi Temple to his speeder that was waiting for him off the balcony railing. Speeding off towards the direction of the Senate building, he thought back to Padme and their unborn child. The choice he made could either save her, or doom her to the very fate his dream foretold for them. Anakin wished Obi-Wan was here, he always knew how to guide Anakin in the right direction, but now this choice was his, and his alone. He parked his speeder off the nearest Senate building landing platform and raced towards the Chancellor's office.

When Anakin arrive he was welcomed by an overwhelming sight. Mace had the Chancellor pinned down against the window frame with his purple blade pointed at his throat. "You are under arrest, my Lord," Mace said. Catching sight of Anakin to his side, Mace raised a hand in a gesture to warn him to stay back.

"Anakin, I told you it would come to this! I was right, the Jedi are taking over!" Palpatine cried from the floor. From Anakin's view it very much looked that way, with Mace towering over the unarmed Chancellor.

"The oppression of the Sith will never return! You have lost." Mace declared as he inched the tip of his lightsaber closer to the Chancellor's neck.

"No…, no..., no! You have lost!" Palpatine shouted. Anakin watched as the Sith Lord's hands shot forward, lightning shooting out of his fingers towards Mace Windu. The blue lightning raced across Anakin's line of sight. He turned just in time to see Mace raise his lightsaber to block the lethal strike.

"He is the traitor, Anakin!" Mace yelled as he used all of his energy to block the force lightning.

"I have the power to save the one you love!" Palpatine shouted at him. "Choose!"

"Don't listen to him Anakin!" Mace responded forcefully, trying to get him to listen to reason.

"Don't let him kill me!" Palpatine pleaded as he stopped shooting lightning from his fingers, feigning weakness. "I can't hold it any longer. I-I can't….too weak. Anakin! Help me!"

A million thoughts whirled around in Anakin's head. He had no idea which side to believe. How could he make such a decision, not knowing which one was right and which one was wrong? One false move could result in Padme's death, and perhaps even the death of their child. His thoughts were interrupted when Mace regained his footing.

"I'm going to end this, once and for all!" Mace declared, moving his lightsaber back to point at the Chancellor

"You can't. He must stand trial." Anakin said. He couldn't choose one side or another right now, too much was at stake. He figured the best way to handle it was for him to stand in the middle, to walk the unseen line between light and dark. For once, we would follow the Jedi Code without question, just like how Obi-Wan had tried to get him to do for so long.

"He has control of the Senate and the Courts, he's too dangerous to be left alive!" Mace argued, pushing closer to the Sith Lord.

"It's not the Jedi way. He must live!" Anakin said, grasping for any sense of reason he could hold on to, but it gradually got harder and harder the longer he stood there. Finally, the only thought left that made sense to him came to the surface. "I need him!"

That last phrase seemed to catch Mace off guard, but he didn't turn from the threat of the Sith Lord in front of him. "Why do you need him?"

The question struck Anakin hard, and he struggled with how to answer. So much for following the Jedi Code in a time of doubt. Swallowing hard, he faced Windu, "He can help me save Padme. I had a vision…, she was dying," Anakin said quietly.

"Anakin, Padme has no reason to die! He placed that vision in your head!" Mace said, gesturing to Anakin. "The more you believe in it and rely on him, the closer the vision is to coming true!"

"Master, you don't understand!" Anakin said desperately. "I can't let Padme have the possibility of dying! The Chancellor said he knew a way to save Padme that the Jedi didn't."

"Anakin," Windu said sternly. "You need to learn to accept death, it is going to happen to everyone eventually, but even when they pass, they are still here. They become one with the Force. You would be fighting nature if you were to somehow reverse an already foretold death."

"But Master, I...I can't live without her," Anakin said.

"Think about this Skywalker," Mace said. "Has Padme been showing any signs of weakness? Is she truly in any immediate danger?"

"No, but-" Anakin started.

"But nothing," Mace said sternly. "She won't die. That was just your own hidden fears manifesting themselves. Sith Lords draw their power from the fear and anger and hate of others. That's how the Chancellor knew about your situation and manipulated you because of it. He felt your fear for Padme. He is the Sith Lord we've been looking for! We can't let him survive!"

The words hit Anakin like a blaster shot to the head. The man he had trusted since he was nine years old had only been looking for ways to use him? He had told him of his mother's death and how he had slaughtered all of the Tusken Raiders responsible. He had hinted to him about his relationship with Padme. He had constantly told him how irritated he was with the council, and with Obi-Wan. Each time he spoke to the Chancellor he felt that he was actually being listened to and cared for, but now he realized only half of that was the truth.

Palpatine had only listened for anything that would give him an inclination towards any feelings Anakin had experienced that could lead him towards the Dark Side, towards Palpatine's side. He had listened to the despair he'd felt at his mother's death. He'd listened to the hate he had towards the Tusken Raiders. He'd listened to the fear Anakin had towards potentially losing Padme. He'd listened to the anger he'd held against the rest of the Jedi.

Anakin thought back to his vision he'd sworn he'd seen so clear before and focused on the details. He heard Padme's screaming and saw her face contort in extreme discomfort. Analyzing the situation, Anakin first focused on Padme. She was in extreme pain, which had at first worried him immensely, just like it had the first night he had dreamt it, especially when she would call out his name in desperation. Now as he looked back at it, it seemed just like any other birth he had witnessed in his many misadventures.

The one thing that tipped him off, however, was the fact that he wasn't even in the picture, it was just limited to her face. There was no way that he wouldn't be there, helping and comforting her, yet the vision showed no indication that he was. It was purely focused on Padme's face, and only hers.

A sharp realization struck him then. Palpatine had no idea what the birth would look like, or where it would take place, the only thing he could be one hundred percent sure on was the fact that Padme would be the one giving birth, and that it would hurt like hell.

Anakin felt anger at Palpatine run through his veins. "I trusted you! I thought you were the one who actually wanted to help me, but you were just using me! You used the person I loved the most against me! I was one of your little pawns! Just like Dooku and Grievous!"

At his outburst he saw Palpatine shift away from him marginally, almost as if he was afraid of what Anakin would do to him. Almost. The Sith Lord quickly regained his stature and faced the young Jedi. "You're more weak than I thought. If you won't turn, others will. I will be the Supreme Ruler of the galaxy with a legion of Dark Lords at my exposal. The Jedi will fall!"

Lightning shot out of his fingers, but this time it was pointed at both Mace Windu and Anakin. Quickly, they both raised their lightsabers to block the lethal energy. The lightning coming into contact with the Jedi's lightsabers blinded them, allowing the Chancellor to leap out of the building through the broken window and into the night of Coruscant.

"No!" Anakin yelled as soon as the lightning dissipated and saw no sign of the Sith Lord that was just in front of them a moment earlier. He raced to the edge of the window and watched the Sith Lord's retreating form land in a speeder and take off.

Behind him Mace's comlink went off. Whatever he was told, it was extremely important. Shutting it off, Mace stepped up to Anakin and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Anakin, we need to talk."

Anakin thought he knew what was coming, it was inevitable now. He had shown his extreme vulnerability he had towards Padme, practically unveiling their whole relationship they had kept secret for so long. Nodding, he turned from the broken window and followed Mace out of the office.

[Meanwhile]

Darth Sidious landed in the back seat of the speeder he had signaled to come pick him up. In the front sat two troopers, each in blue and white armor. "Are you alright, my Lord?" the pilot asked.

"Give me the comm," Sidious ordered. He took the device and patched into a frequency he had personally set up. Only a second later a hologram of another trooper popped up, Commander Cody. "It is time," the former Chancellor said. "Execute Order 66."

"Yes my Lord." the trooper replied as the comms shut off.

The Sith Lord quickly typed in another code into the comms, and shortly thereafter an image of another cloaked figure appeared in the hologram. "Gather your forces, Skywalker failed," Sidious said. "You are to meet me on Malachor where we will discuss your assignment."

The cloaked person raised its head just enough to reveal its piercing yellow eyes. "Yes, my Lord," it answered as it bowed its head slightly. Sidious shut off the comm as his speeder approached his secret hangar.

[Back to Anakin and Mace]

Anakin and Mace ran through the Jedi Temple as fast as they could. They were horrified at what they found. Bodies lay everywhere. Jedi Masters, Knights, Padawans, and younglings. All slaughtered at the hands of clone troopers. Just before they left the Senate building, Mace had messaged the Jedi at the Temple of Palpatine's betrayal, but it had been futile. Whatever Palpatine had done in his escape, it had decimated the Jedi ranks.

"Everyone's dead," Anakin said. "It's all because I couldn't see clearly."

"We can't lay blame yet, Anakin," Mace assured. "Hurry, we need to get to the council chamber. There we can warn the Jedi on other worlds, assuming it's not too late."

Anakin nodded as he followed Mace towards Jedi chamber. When Mace turned on the central comm, only a few Jedi answered. Among them being Yoda, Obi-Wan, Kit Fisto, Shaak Ti, and Luminara Unduli. "Masters, the Chancellor was the Sith Lord. He escaped, but he has ordered the clones to turn on the Jedi. You must get to safety." Anakin said.

"We know Anakin, Cody just shot me down from the sky after my fight with Grievous. I'm on my way back to Coruscant now." Obi-Wan said. "Are we all that's left?"

"From what we've heard," Mace said.

"Hmm. Thousands of Jedi in the universe, there are. Survive as well, they could," Yoda said.

Anakin listened as the other Jedi Masters pondered the rate of the Jedi survival, but his thoughts were focused elsewhere. He could see the smoke rising from the Senate building, and there were sure to be smoke rising from the Jedi Temple as well. Padme would be concerned with what had happened. He needed to return home.

"Excuse me, Masters," Anakin quickly said as he raced out the door and toward his speeder. He heard Mace call after him, but he pretended like he couldn't hear his shouts. All Anakin wanted to do was return to Padme and to make sure she was okay.

As he raced down the halls he was forced to return to the site of all the dead jedi within the Temple. He passed one young human female Jedi Knight that represented a striking resemblance to Padme. The sight of the dead female sent a painful thought to his head. What if the troopers were attacking loyal Senators? What if they had found Padme and injured her, or worse, killed her? With that last terrifying thought in mind Anakin hopped into his speeder and raced towards his wife's apartment.