"Somehow myself survived the night and entered with the day, that it be saved the saved suffice without the formula. Henceforth I take my living place as one commuted led, a candidate for morning chance but dated with the dead."

-Emily Dickinson

Twelve years after the rise of the Empire:

~Anakin's POV~

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" The small crowd somehow managed to roar with the voice of thousands, happily, as Luke and Leia Skywalker leaned forward to blow out the candles shining on their humble cake.

Anakin Skywalker, a now thirty-five-year-old father, leaned against the wall towards the back of the meager house. He had learned through hard wisdom over the years that being in Padme's way while she was taking pictures was not a good idea.

Now, he chuckled softly as Padme jostled and shoved the others out of her way so that she could get every angle of the twins while they cut their cake, eliciting small chuckles and good-natured teasing. Anakin patted the saber hidden at his hip, reflecting that later, he would give Luke and Leia their real present. They were ready for it.

The Twins were twelve-year-olds, as of today. It was a fact Anakin was still trying to wrap around his mind. It seemed as if only yesterday they had been born in The Twilight, held securely in Padme's arms. Nava, Intrepid and Ahsoka by her side. Padme herself was thirty-nine. If Ahsoka were here now she would be twenty-three…

Anakin shook his head, dispensing of those thoughts. Even after all this time, it was still too painful to think about for too long. His heart still bled for them, but the past was the past, and he knew that his family would not want him to indulge in grief for their sakes. Still… Seven years. It had been seven years since the death of the Jedi Order.

And every morning Anakin still woke up, hoping that all of it had been a dream. That maybe he would walk into the kitchen and see Obi-wan cooking breakfast back in their house on Biyalia, or even in the space station where they had made their home after Biyalia was destroyed.

Clones and volunteers would be filing about, swarming the kitchen and overall being a menace to the family, but an accepted and amusing part of the day. Nava would be boiling water for tea at the counter, chatting away with Padme cheerily.

Rex would waltz in with Cody, Luke and Leia on his heels, once more bragging about the Twins. Ahsoka and Lux would walk in, still talking with their spy networks through their comm. links busily. Intrepid would walk in after them, a data pad in her hands as she scanned a new mission briefing.

And yet every morning Anakin woke up to find that this familiar and longed for panorama had been the real dream all along, and always, always his cheeks were wet as he sat up in bed.

Seven years was a long time to grieve, where it should not have been. From what information Anakin had managed to glean about grief over the years under Jedi tutelage where grief was hidden, but not unheard of, was that eventually, it settled, did not go away, but became easier to bear.

Yet for all his trying…It was just as heart wrenching as it had been that day over five years ago.

"Anakin! What are you doing back here? Go get some cake before it's all taken!" Beru laughed as she walked past him, carrying the wobbling pile of dirty dishes from their celebration. He smiled gently, glad of the interruption from his contemplation.

Her long and dust-caked russet hair was tied into a neat bun behind her head, yet her face glowed with cheer. It was not often they had guests. And though the family was the farthest thing from rich, she had worn her best dress for the occasion, and content shined in her bright eyes.

Anakin took some of the stack from her obligingly. "I think it's too late for that Beru," he pointed out to his always kind sister-in-law, jerking his head to the now empty of crumb or frosting cake pan. Beru laughed and shook her head.

"You should still try to have some fun! Owen, come get your stepbrother to lighten up!" she called to Anakin's stepbrother, who turned to cast him an inquisitive look.

Anakin and the surviving members of his family had taken refuge with Anakin's Tatooine half family, who generously and eagerly had accepted them into their home.

Anakin had never considered himself farmer material, but Owen had showed him that he at least had a green thumb, if only it was a slightly tinted green thumb. He grinned at his brother as Owen walked over. "Can you believe they're twelve already?" Owen asked with a wistful sigh.

Anakin shook his head. "I don't know whoever gave them permission to go and grow. We're getting old, Owen," he told his brother ruefully. Owen laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. "Maybe you are, stepbrother, but I am the picture of youth, thank you," Anakin snorted dubiously and followed Beru into the kitchen with his dishes.

Though Owen naturally had a baby face, the years of hardship due to farming had taken its long overdue toll, and wrinkles rested on the edges of his stepbrother's eyes. Anakin, too, had aged, though according to Padme not by much.

His skin had darkened a bit from exposure to sun, the scar over his left eye dulled further, his azure eyes had darkened with hardship, sparkled with added wisdom, and he no longer had the soft innocent look about him, but other than that she assured him he could still be a twenty-five year old. He didn't feel twenty five, but force, neither did he feel thirty.

Then again, he didn't feel as much as he had used too.

Anakin brushed a hand against his chin; he needed to shave again, soon. He had attempted to grow a beard once, while Padme, the twins and Beru were out in Mos Eisley bartering. It had been an experiment, really.

Once it had fattened out to a neat fluff on his chin, he had finally allowed himself to look in the mirror, smiling at the thought of Padme's face when she saw it…And broke down into sobs at the face, which was too horrendously, agonizingly close to another's familiar features for him to bear.

He had sheared it off, and never tried to grow a beard since.

Handing Beru the rest of her stack, he walked back into the main room and smiled as he noticed the twelve year olds talking and laughing with the few neighborhood friends they had managed to make.

Only a few people in the room knew that Luke and Leia were Force sensitive. That their mother was the new leader of the Rebel Alliance, that their father was the last Jedi Knight in the galaxy, that they were all destined for much greater things than being farmers.

Anakin smiled as Shantra Pallas assisted Padme in taking pictures, the two women fussing and cooing over the embarrassed twins in the mindset of mothers. Once, during every birthday, this job would fall solely to Nava Venerate to help Padme fuss. Yet those times were long gone.

"Father! Mother's embarrassing us!" Luke begged for assistance. Anakin chuckled happily and crossed his arms. "Padme, you're embarrassing my children," he scolded, to the crowd's amusement.

Padme Amidala, still glowing with the health and beauty of an angel, turned to give him a mock glare. There were lines beneath her dark chocolate eyes, being leader of the Rebel Alliance left one with an aching apprehension against sleep. They were always at risk of being caught by the stormtroopers that patrolled every planet. Once, those men had been his soldiers, his friends…

Now they were traitors, lower than the sand that covered all of Tatooine. He despised them with a hatred that was hard to ignore whenever he saw the gleam of their white armor in the unforgiving sun.

That time was gone, and Anakin found he ached for it as well as he ached for the people that had been present in it.

Yet there was no going back. Keep your mind in the here and now where it belongs, he told him firmly. He was Jedi, the last Jedi in the galaxy actually, he had no time for regrets, no time to grieve what was past. He had only time to balance out a better future. "They are her children and she will mortify them at will, thank you clueless male," Shantra informed him huffily, in Padme's defense. The old nickname inspired laughter from the others as Anakin raised his palms in surrender and nodded.

"Sorry, guys," he told Luke and Leia. "But what can I say? I'm outnumbered," he apologized with a teasing smile. "We shall be brave, father," Luke intoned gravely, expression somber. The crowd collapsed into peals of laughter as Padme rolled her eyes. Anakin chuckled softly.

Despite the fact that he loathed Tatooine for it's continued reminders of his childhood, Luke and Leia thrived here, having inherited Padme's ability to adapt to any environment or circumstance easily.

Their quick humor and ready smiles were rare on a planet where everyone seemed to suffer, where greed and malice were fast-growing weeds. He was proud of his children. Already, they were naturally ahead of what they should have been with their Jedi training.

Force skills, memory, lightsaber training, even diplomacy skills they were strikingly accelerating in, faster than even Anakin had at their age. His chest swelled with pride to see them now, each catering to their various guests with the fluttering generosity that he had always struggled to instill in them. He was well aware that they sometimes snuck food and other supplies to the slaves still present in the city.

Not that he didn't, too, but they need not know that.

He crossed his arms as Padme finally relented her teasing, leaving the rest in the capable hands of Shantra as she walked towards, him a smile plastered on her face. Anakin watched her, his own heart lifting, as it always did when she grabbed his hand.

"They're not babies anymore, Ani," Padme whispered softly when he kissed her forehead. She was just so beautiful, inside and out. He wished he could give her a better life. Wished he could treat her like the queen she would always be in his heart, in reality.

Anakin nodded sadly and peered at his children with melancholy. Force, where had the time gone? What happened to those tiny bodies that had once been so small he could hold them in one arm? What happened to smiling faces and curious eyes that knew not pain or anguish?

"Soon Luke will be into girls and Leia will bring a nice boy home," Padme sniffled, blinking rapidly to clear her eyes of the tears that had formed. Anakin watched her tenderly. He had his own opinions on this boy nonsense Padme seemed so excited about.

"I think Anakin would rather keep her locked in a tower before he willingly let her bring a boy home," Owen observed as he walked past, caring in the boxes of small and poorly wrapped but heartfelt presents from their friends inside of the small room.

"Owen, you read my mind," Anakin agreed. Padme, though, hadn't been listening. She sighed as he wrapped an arm around her waist and rested his chin on her head, inhaling the sweet scent that she carried naturally.

After all this time away from her beloved home planet, she still smelled like the field where they had first fallen in love, like the veranda where they had shared their first kiss. The memories made him smile happily. He had never been so grateful to anyone ever before. Padme had not only given him her love, but a family to top it. A family he loved seeing grow and outreach, sad as it may have been to know time had passed him by.

"Then they'll go to college. A good, privately owned college not one of these star-forsaken Sidious institutes," Padme went on lamentably. Anakin nodded in agreement, basking in her scent. "Oh, Ani, why can't they be babies anymore? I used to rock them to sleep at night and they didn't have a care in the universe but to figure out how to blow up blenders," Anakin laughed at those memories.

"Are you sure you want to go back to the days of blender bombs?" he asked impishly. Padme gave it a second of thought. "Well, maybe not that far," she conceded to Anakin's amusement.

Luke and one of his friends Lunar spoke quietly, probably scheming on their future as Anakin used to do with his friends. What they were going to do, the planets they would see, the pod-races they would win.

Light and Peace knew what their future would hold; just as he had been so sure of it when he was their age, but they could still dream for a more peaceful existence. Padme huffed beneath him.

He could feel her breathing, her back against his chest. Slowly, in and out, in and out. He marveled at the incredible talents of the human body. How could something so simple as lungs, heart, brain and veins support such an amazing soul?

How could they be essential to a life so beautiful? They were luminous beings, not gross matter, but the gross matter certainly was at fault for keeping the luminous being where it's brightness could spread such love. He sighed contentedly.

Suddenly, the warm joy mixed with bittersweet content around Padme dropped into longing. She leaned her head against his chest and looked up at him with dark brown eyes. "It's going to be time soon, Ani," she muttered forlornly, eyes dark with foreboding, haunted with a mother's worry.

Anakin nodded solemnly. "In a few years, maybe when they turn sixteen or seventeen," he agreed softly, glancing round to make sure no one was listening to their conversation.

Padme looked back at the twins, and Anakin knew that she felt the same as he did. How could these two children, mere babies a few years earlier, help defeat the Sith Empire where an entire Order had failed?

Why did it have to be his children that helped bring balance to the Force?

Anakin huffed, sorry that he had been the one to bring this burden upon them, that because they were force sensitive they now shared his horrid destiny. But it was the will of the Force, the only way to free the galaxy, the only way to make sure the Jedi and their lives had not gone in vain. Both of them knew this. All of them knew it intimately. Grief taught its own tales.

Padme sighed and nodded. "Nava would be so proud of them," she glanced up at him, a poignant smile playing around her lips. "And you," she whispered. Anakin smiled back. He was not the only one who thought of them. "Sadness ill becomes you," he told her softly, hoping to steer her thoughts away from painful things this day. What was the past was the past.

"Especially this day. Save it for later. For the moment, Shantra turn up the music!" he called over to his friend, who grinned and hurried to comply. Anakin let go of Padme, instead bowing to her low, hand sweeping the ground. "May I have this dance, my angel?" he asked as the music blared into existence, gently waving the memories of sorrow away for another time.

Music did that. Padme giggled and curtsied. "It would be my pleasure, my Knight," she said softly. Then, listening to the rhythm of the music, letting it cleanse his soul temporarily of the burdens and shackles of anguish placed on it, he whisked her away.

Later:

Evening had befallen the Tatooine desert by the time all of their guests vanished back to their own homes with leisurely congratulations and cheery goodbyes. Anakin stood outside out of the small clay house of Beru and Owen, his face turned to the setting suns.

The twin orbs set together in unison, gravitationally preordained to accompany one another across the sky and beyond, yet never colliding, always in tune and balance. Anakin inhaled deeply, and almost coughed when sand was suddenly lodged in his throat and lungs.

Well, I should know better by now, he thought as he thumped his chest to dislodge the tiny particles. There was sand everywhere, and despite the fact that sand could be as beautiful as water, still and reflective even of the suns setting above, also adopting the brilliants hues of orange and yellow, blue and purple, it still irritated him.

He hated sand. It was coarse and irritating and it got everywhere. In fact it was everywhere, and Anakin had to suppress the urge to fidget in uncomfortable aggravation. They had lived here seven years. One would think he would have adapted to his home again.

He had, in a way. Though Tatooine would always seem to have lost its splendor without Shmi. He had showed her grave to the twins, he had visited it once or twice himself, remembering that night, and all that had accompanied it. The Force circled him gently, like leaves in the wind being skittered about his body, attracted by something in a beating heart.

He opened his eyes, pulled from the sleepy beginnings of meditation to smile at Padme as she and the Twins approached. "Beru and Owen say we owe them for leaving the cleaning all up to them, but I believe they'll live," Padme reported when she joined him on his right side, where she always belonged. To his left, Luke and Leia joined him, hands folded behind their backs as somber faces, too wise for their years gazed at the sun.

Anakin patted the small package at his side, where two heavy souvenirs dangled inside of the pouch, hidden from prying eyes and blocked from force sense by his own design.

"Come on," he decided at length, when the considerable chill had begun to settle over the landscape and stars twinkled ripe in the sky, though the suns had yet to truly depart. Tatooine was not ugly by landscape, in fact many had called it's dawns and dusks and nights lovely. It was the people who had turned it ugly. They themselves had defoliated the beautiful tract.

"We're going to the rock dunes," he said over his shoulder, making his way to the speeder. Luke and Leia exchanged one glance, eyebrows cocked. Anakin would never get over how they seemed to share reactions and thoughts. He found it amazing, and intriguing.

He had even begun to think of the twin suns in the sky as Luke and Leia. "The rock dunes? They're infested with Tusken Raiders," Luke pointed out confusedly, well aware if his father's abhorrence to the small creatures. Anakin smiled gently and nodded.

"I guess you'd better extend your senses and keep an eye out then," he called as Padme took a seat next to him. Luke and Leia exchanged an amused, wondering look, young enough still to be curious and nodded before vaulting themselves into the back. Anakin, still watching the suns, led the way towards rocky dunes that jutted into the air raggedly, a place where some said the homeless made their homes as hermits.

Anakin himself had never seen one, but that meant little. Just because one did not know of it did not mean it could not exist. It only meant the knowledge was lost. The knowledge that was not lost, however, was that Tusken Raiders made their homes among the dunes. Yet that also meant that they were fairly secluded. And Anakin needed a private place to settle the prizes he had into more able hands. The time had come.

"We weren't attacked. I'm disappointed," Leia observed eyes flicking warily around the dunes when Anakin finally came to a stop. "Jedi should not look forward to a fight, Leia," Anakin scolded.

Leia, as always, seemed secretly amused at his hypocritical teachings, but merely dipped her head in acknowledgement. "As you say," she replied mildly, good humor shining in dark brown orbs.

Anakin, deciding that he really should not say more on the matter, shook his head with a smile and glance at Padme. "I think a climb is in order, if you're up to it?" He asked. Padme snorted.

"I'll beat you to the top," she challenged. Anakin narrowed his eyes, remembering that he was talking to Padme Skywalker here. "We'll see," he chuckled. "What is this about? Why are we going up to the dunes?" Luke asked as nonetheless they followed their parents up the sloped hills.

"Patience, Luke. You'll see when we get there. For now keep your senses sharp for Raiders while I beat your mother at climbing!" Anakin called. "My money's on mom!" Leia informed him teasingly. "Mine too," Luke agreed, laughing. Anakin couldn't help but chuckle.

"I'll prove you all wrong!" he shouted back down. Just as the words had come from his mouth, a slight body catapulted past him, propelled by the Force. "Hey, Luke! No fair!" Leia yelled after her brother, a half meter behind. "Cheaters! No Force use!" Padme told them both. "I'm getting too old for this!" Anakin agreed, huffing theatrically.

Luke and Leia laughed at the shenanigans of their parents, halting at the entrance of a small cave. "Is this alright, father?" Luke asked, his senses stretching to locate any hostile presences inside of the dark cave. Anakin helped Padme up and peered inside. "Perfect," he snatched something out of the bag and produced a bright lantern. "Let's go in," he said softly.

Obediently, the others followed. Anakin could sense Luke and Leia investigating the cave with the Force, as saturated in its power as one was when deep in the ocean's currents. They had finally learned to control the everlasting strands of strength, now all they had to learn was how to control their power of the Force.

It was a daunting task, and bated several years instruction. Yet for now, they were ready for the small tokens he had yet to give them. At last, when they were deep enough into the cave where the sound would not travel outside of the circle, Anakin sat cross-legged, Padme at his side.

The twins, by custom, sat across from them. Anakin had fulfilled a childhood goal and made sure his family was not just as distant and closed as the Jedi were. This family was close, and the future Jedi Order would be just as close, just as attuned.

"This place is strong in the Force," Leia noticed thoughtfully. Anakin snickered, placing the lantern by his side to give them light. He found endless amusement in them. In the warm glow, his children's faces were illuminated. The cheerful sprightly expressions they had had with their friends had fallen away to reveal their true identities.

Solemn, impassive faces looked back at him, belied only by the compassion and curiosity sparkling in still young eyes. Anakin gulped, fighting a lump in his throat, and reached into the bag at his side to pull out two shining hilts. Luke and Leia inhaled sharply, recognition flitting through their eyes. "Soka's sabers," Luke whispered.

Anakin nodded numbly, tenderly holding the saber and shoto in his hands. "She stopped me before we ran out," Padme said softly as he handed her the shoto. Padme handled the weapon with care, a deep sense of affection for a daughter lost. Still, in their hands they held her life.

"'Give it to them when they're ready,' she said," they all lapsed into dark memories of that thoughtless moment, when all they had done was run for their lives…And the future of the galaxy.

Anakin's eyes felt wet, but he blinked the moisture away and took a shuddering breath. "And I believe you're ready," he told them honestly. Luke and Leia, whose eyes had been drawn to the sabers until now, looked up with haunted eyes.

"We…We get her sabers?" Luke faltered, the idea already forming in his mind on his face. "She wanted you to have them, Luke. It was her last gift to you," Anakin assured him kindly. He knew how much this hurt…And how much of an honor it was. "Her life," Leia whispered softly.

Anakin nodded. "Now yours," he drudged up a smile, reflecting that they were by now, past ready. He only wished he were as well. Stilling the tremble he knew was in his hands, he slowly reached out to hand Luke Ahsoka's lightsaber. Luke took it, blinking rapidly to clear the tears. The Force chimed with bittersweet approval.

"Do you remember what the lightsaber represents?" Anakin asked softly, closing the small hilt into Luke's hand. It was not the perfect fit for his small hand, calloused with hours of training with sticks, it had been made by Ahsoka for her own, but it did fit. She had, after all, been their big sister.

Luke looked into his eyes, understanding, remembering, heeding unspoken words. "The Lightsaber is for attack against the wicked, but never the innocent, kept pure at all costs. It is our lives," he said, without so much as a tremble in his voice, chip tipped with pride, even if it did quiver.

Anakin nodded and patted his own saber at his side. "And occasionally for scrapping droids," he quipped. Luke gave him a lopsided smile. Padme held the small but no less deadly weapon out for Leia. "Do you remember what the shoto represents?" She asked.

Leia nodded, taking the weapon with a small smile of sadness…and immense joy. He knew the feeling. "The shoto is for defense of the innocent, baring harm from the wicked. Kept untouched of blood or suffering no matter what. It is what duty commands," she answered in her brother's same calm, steady voice. Anakin's chest swelled, momentarily blocking out the sadness of the moment.

"Ahsoka used these weapons only as a last resort," sometimes. "And never to take another life without good reason," beyond that they were just irritating. "In defense of democracy, peace, and the honor of the Jedi Order," not so much the last as the first two, I taught her well.

"These weapons were her life, she lives on in them. Now they are yours to yield with compassion and mercy. Do you understand, my children?" he asked softly. New prizes now in hand, settled in their hands with utmost respect, Luke and Leia bowed at the waist.

"Yes, father," they said in unison. Anakin leaned back and sighed. Padme shook her head. "It just gets harder from here, doesn't it?" She asked softly. Anakin spared her a small grin.

"As usual. Why? Looking forward to it?" He teased. "As long as we don't blow up any more blenders, yes, I am," Luke and Leia laughed, and the crystals inside of the deceased sister's sabers twinkled with their joy.

First chapter up, and I hope it did justice! I tell ya everyone, this is a giant story, more like a novel really. I think I might surpass a hundred chapters this time around. Get ready for angst, sacrifice, mercy and new characters! It's good to be back...

~QueenYoda