...The Clone Wars Era...
He couldn't breathe. The darkness was too engulfing that it strangled him like a Force-choke would. He felt the hold around his throat get tighter and tighter until Anakin thought he might die from lack of oxygen. Despite everything though, he could still make out the muffled words throughout the chaos around him. One was a female voice and the other was a male's. The female voice sounded scared and frightened, yet the man's voice sent chills radiating down his spine because it seemed so evil. They were not speaking words—or words he could understand—but Anakin knew the girl was in danger.
Suddenly the snap-hiss of a lightsaber could be heard along with the ominous red glow. Screams of fright, terror and mercy followed. Anakin's heart dropped as each scream faded into nothingness, symbolising they all died violently.
Now the red lightsaber was targeted at him, though with much hesitation. It looked like the person wielding the sabre didn't want to attack and kill him, though if they didn't, the deprivation of air would.
He struggled with the invisible hold, and tried to fight against it, but not before the crimson sabre was thrown into his chest, leaving a gaping hole in his abdomen, and the inability to breathe once again.
Anakin woke, gasping for air, as the Force-hold seemed to disintegrate, as well as the darkness and the lightsaber. His own dormitory in the Jedi Temple came into view. He still breathed heavily, as if the oxygen would be taken away, like in his dream.
He looked down at his flesh arm, when he realised it was coated with scarlet blood. Dread filled his features, because it was bleeding since he had driven his own fingernails so deep into his palm. The mechanical hand was on the verge of being crushed by itself.
He felt an arm around his shoulder, and on instinct reach for his sabre, but the sound of the person's voice stopped him. "Master, are you alright?"
...19 Years Later...
The TIE fighters roared across Tatooine's desert villages and cloudless sky, destroying chunks of the ground with each explosion they dropped, sand flying everywhere. All the mix-species villagers scrambled for their families, other loved ones or belongings and possessions. It was completely chaos as the stormtroopers started scavenging through the huts, shooting down any villagers who fought back, or disobeyed.
A small group of people crowded beside their own hut, taking cover from the TIEs and the Empire's stormtroopers.
"We have to make a run for the Hope." A man's voice broke through the air. It was the only one that wasn't screaming in terror. It sounded stern, ordering, but calm, like he had been in this situation many times before. The man was Anakin Skywalker, who shouted over the bombs just missing their small hut with Padmé Amidala Skywalker, Luke Skywalker and Leia Skywalker beside him. Their faces were fierce, slightly angry as the Empire had finally found their whereabouts. "We have to go! Now! Or the Empire will destroy us completely!"
"But we can't just run! We must stay and fight!" Leia protested. She didn't like the idea of escaping and leaving Tatooine. This was her home for all her life, and she can't just let it burn to the ground. Her friends lived here. Her people lived here. She lived here, and it just didn't seem right to abandoned everything because the Empire forced her to.
Anakin sensed her feelings underneath her face of bravado; hint of fear, but not much. "We can't fight if we're dead." Someone extremely important once told him that 'suicide is not the Jedi way', and fighting in this fight would definitely insure death. There's a difference between standing up for what you believe in, and dying for what you believe in. "The stormtroopers outnumber us." Anakin reasoned with her. "We'll be shot dead immediately." To be honest, he didn't want to leave either, but they had no choice.
She shot back a glance of defiance. "But isn't this what we have been training for—what you have been training us for?" She snapped back. She was always pretty feisty and it made Anakin think of himself at her age. "This is our chance!"
Anakin would say something back, to prove her point wrong, but technically she was right. The twins were trained in lightsaber combat as well as the ways of the Force to fight and defend.
Another explosion rattled the ground, nearly throwing them across the land. "We can't stay here much longer or we'll die!" This time it was her brother, Luke, who spoke up.
"No, I'm not running away like a coward!"
"It's not running away; it's staying alive!"
Leia's face still stood with stubbornness, though Luke's word seemed to have some effect.
The family (including the reluctant Leia) ran towards the ship called the Hope which was an old freighter designed for cargo. Anakin doubted it could withstand much laser fire and cope in high speed get-aways, though it will have to do. He had taught both his children to fly it just as well as he could, so hopefully they wouldn't end up blasted into smithereens. Both Anakin and Padmé knew that one day the Empire would find them, so it was necessary to make something as useless as the Hope become literally their only hope in a time like this. Tinkering and many, many upgrades did help it, though.
Anakin jumped into the pilot seat, with Luke as his co-pilot like many times they had practiced before. Luke was an outstanding pilot just like his father before him, so it was an unspoken rule that father and son would be the Skywalkers who piloted.
As they lifted off, one last explosion exploded on Tatooine's surface, and this time it was their home that got hit. Both anger and sadness washed over Anakin. He knew this day would come. No one could hide from the Empire forever. The Skywalkers had been lucky to last this long compared to other Jedi who hid, but now their luck had finally ran out.
With engines roaring, the ship blasted itself into the sky, leaving dust and sand particles springing into the dense air. Almost instantly three of the five TIE fighter pilots were chasing them down, forbidding the family from leaving the planet.
Anakin hadn't flown in a while... Well not really. Nothing like this, yet the thrill of soaring through the sky sent memories coming back to his mind of the Clone War days. In the cot-pit he really felt alive, like this is where he was meant to be. His name was 'Skywalker' after all.
Anakin and Luke evaded the TIEs while Leia and Padmé were in the two gunner positions, firing. The Hope swerved beside a TIE that was shot down soon after by the Hope's old, but powerful laser cannons. Even being all these years away from a real space fight, the Hero With No Fear still outmatched the Empire's pilots.
Another rain of laser fire cascaded upon the Hope, yet the quick, skilful manoeuvres from Anakin led the TIEs missing each shot. Eventually Skywalker was using his old piloting reflexes to barrel roll across Tatooine's sky, in order to avoid the TIEs.
It was a close fight, he would say that, but Anakin was still the better flier. He soared underneath the two remaining TIEs, letting them think he was landing back onto the surface or his engines had died, but in reality, he knew that this opportunity gave Leia or Padmé to fire back... And so they did.
Together, the women shot back, using their low position to their advantage. Both twin TIE fighters exploded into a display of colourful fuel, mechanics and wires, leaving no hope for whoever imperials was inside.
"We got them!" Luke cried through the headset to his mother and sister. Anakin couldn't help the smile on his own face sensing Luke's beaming excitement and Leia's perfect pride. It felt exhilarating to become part of the fight again. Maybe ever since the Clone War he was craving for a battle, and now he finally had one. He couldn't help but think that he was born to defeat evil. First the Separatists and now the Galactic Empire.
The remaining other two TIEs were soon chasing the Hope down again, much like the three TIEs before them had. "Don't celebrate yet, Luke. Two TIEs incoming from behind." Anakin called, alerting his son, but also his wife and daughter through the headset.
From Padmé's position, she could see a TIE dodge in and out of the fire zone displayed across the gunner. She had to swerve the cannon in sync with the TIE to finally be able to land a hit, and eventually she did. It didn't explode like the rest, but the left hexagonal side caught fire, unbalanced itself, then plummeted to the ground, erupting the sand and breaking both hexagons off, until it was nothing but a round, tumbling ball.
The fifth and final pilot was that last to be taken down. Leia aimed, shot, and fired, and the TIE was vaporised. The Hope evaded the falling shrapnel in the sky, not wanting to risk what damage could do to a ship like this.
Once they were in the clear and out of Tatooine's atmosphere, no one knew how to react. The Empire was after them now (if they weren't already, that is). Shooting down five Imperials and rebelling definitely caught the Empire's attention, and it wasn't like the Skywalkers could just go into hiding again... Could they?
They all met in the cot-pit, Padmé and Leia behind Anakin and Luke. Anakin piloted out of the sector fast, because it was only a matter of time before the Imperial blockade arrived.
"What do we do now?" Luke's voice broke the steady silence, startled Anakin out of his thoughts. He didn't know that both twins seemed to look upon him, as if he had answers. In truth, he didn't really have any.
"The Empire just torched our home, Luke. What can we do?" Leia stated blankly.
For the first time in a while, Padmé's tone filled the air, full of defiance, determination and courage. "We fight," She held her head up high, as if talking to an enemy and wouldn't dare show intimidation. The show of bravery made Anakin remember the same woman all those years ago on Naboo, the Queen and then the beautiful Senator.
There was no doubt Leia liked what her mother had said, and smiled. Anakin found even himself smiling, too. His wife's words gave a sense of hope radiating between their connected bonds. Padmé couldn't sense her family, like her husband and children could sense her and each other, but this time she definitely felt the uplifting mood rise.
"So we're going to finally rebel against the Empire?" Leia cocked an eyebrow, almost in disbelief. She never knew why her parents had just been training her all this time, but maybe it was this moment that they were waiting for.
Padmé nodded. "Exactly,"
Anakin set the hyperdrive coordinates to Yavin IV—the last known location of the Rebellion base, information received from an old ally, mentor and friend.
...19 years before/Clone War Era...
"No, no no. Master, please." Ahsoka pleaded, drenched in blood, but not her own. "Please, Master, don't go." There was just so much blood. She could see him lying in her arms starting to go limp, and it made her heart drop even more. "No, Master—Anakin, you can't die."
He looked up to meet her eyes, both reflecting each other's tears. He knew his fate, and she did too. No one can survive a wound the like that.
He mumbled something hardly audible, with blood on the edges of his lips. She didn't hear what he said, but by the way his mouth move, she knew it was her name.
She felt his pule die down, and his Force-signature fade... But she couldn't let him go. She would do anything to have him live...Anything.
A/N
This was the first chapter of Serenity is Lost! It's all pretty vague so far, but we know that Anakin had some sort of dream in the past, yet 19 years later is hiding with his family on Tatooine to escape the Empire, but when the Empire came a-knockin', they were forced to escape and now are heading towards Yavin IV. But... What will the Skywalkers find on Yavin IV? Will the Empire find them? Will we find out more about what has happened to Ahsoka!?
Feedback is very much appreciated.
May the Force be with you
-CyanGalaxy