A/N Hey guys, its me. Life has been busy. No time to write hardly ever (tear). But, hopefully I will find more time and I will do it only for my beloved readers. So here it is teh sequal you've been waiting for. The sequal to in the area between darkness and seduction. This is for Siri T.

Space is cold. Like the ice that forms like a crystal around my heart. Which is strange because the ice should have melted. Coming from a desert planet like I did, you'd think the ice would melt. But this is a different kind of cold. You cannot escape where you come from, no matter how much you may wish to. I cannot escape the haunting memories of my old planet home . But home is such a meaningless word to me now. Full of death and sorrow. Home to me is the place where you don't belong. Kind of like the memories in my mind. Except I can only wish they didn't belong. Actually, they belong all too well.

As a slave, we had toys. Watto was better than most owners but he wasn't perfect. I was still whipped when I did something wrong and I still had to watch my mother suffer.

Cracking whips and harsh voices became my constant playthings, or more like Wattos. And I had hardly any friends or companions on the coarse and rough desert planet. Fist fights with others is the back alley became a daily chore. And I was good at it. Oh, I was so good. Stronger than any other kid in the group. Smarter. But I was held back, even then. I didn't like it but than again I didn't mind. After all, it was my mother who was holding me back. The same one I had to hide the scars from. My mother.

Mother. I remember the death and destruction that haunts Tatooine like a black hole, creating a void in the force. But this isn't just any empty vacuum of space, no. This is the dark side. It stinks of rotting death and pain. As cold and empty as interstellar space. And I created it.

I created it when I slaughtered those children, their mothers, their fathers. Stealing the breaths of the newborn babies in their cribs. I created it when I gave in to my anger, my hatred. I chose it. I gave into it. As uncontrollable as it was, I did it. And so began the degradation of Anakin Skywalker. And it all started when I went to save my mother.

Space is cold, like the dark side. It takes everything away from you. It steals your warmth until it is only a memory and the only thing you are left with is the scorching heat. And oh how it burns. Burns so hot, it is indistinguishable from cold. And the dark side is just like Tatooine. Just like the desert. Just like my home, which means so little to me. For now, my home is just a memory painted crimson like the guilt on my conscious for all the world to see as the holonet mocks me.

Hero with no fear. Hero with no fear. Hero with no fear.

It is an endless litany of praise to a hero of the damned. I cannot accept the lie. I would if I could. But I can only accept it for so long. And the truth just adds onto the weight of my overburdened conscious. Because I am not without fear. And I am no hero. If it weren't for my love, I would probably be a Sith. He was the only one who ever cared. The only one who ever stopped me. But even he, I was starting to doubt.

He had been distant lately. Sneaky and untrustworthy. Of course, he always added the touch that made it his. His sneakiness. Who would have known? Is this what family was?

I wish I could escape these thoughts, these feelings. This feeling of imminent destruction. But as the ship flies itself closer to the haunted planet, I can feel the thrum of the dark side beating in my pulse. Harder. Harder. Harder. Driving me to the brink of insanity with it's pulsating madness.
And I cannot escape it as I loom closer for all the evidence is here. Even from far away, I can feel it. All of it. And it still comes back to haunt me even after all this time.

My head begins to pound with the tone of my racing painful thoughts. Droplets of sweat break out on my forehead and my neck as I feel my palms go cold. The temperature is switching from the heat to ice ever second. And I feel dizzy as we near the planet.

But I would push on. I would make it through the memories. Through the pain. I had to. Because I was going to this planet of horror and nightmares to save one of the only people who would make it all worth it in the end. Because on this planet was someone so infinitely precious to my heart that I would die for her. I would face my nightmares for her. I would come back to this planet torture for her. I was going to save my apprentice.

I was going to save Ahsoka.

It feels so eerie. To be coming back here for the same reason I came back here last time. To save the life force of someone that I love with all my heart.

The last time I came here, my mission did nothing. Absolutely nothing. Some would say I gained a family. No. I was just some drudged up lost past that they didn't approve of. Some would say I gained the comfort of seeing my mother before she passed. It did nothing to comfort me. The proof of my failure now lay six feet buried under the sand and wrapped in cloth as the bugs feasted upon her flesh. Under a stone lay the body of my mother. Shmi Skywalker. The mother I had failed to save. I would not fail again. I wouldn't. I couldn't. Not this time.

Hero with no fear.

I would believe the seductive lie. I would push on. I would make it in time. I would save her. I had no choice. I had to. And besides, it was so much easier to believe the lie. Just for now.

"We are now approaching Tatooine."

The crisp clear sexy voice of my lover rang out strong through the ships interior hull. Straight through the comm speaker aboard the ship and straight through my heart. But not nearly as painful as a blaster bullet. I looked in his direction from the pilot seat I was sitting in, which no one had the guts to fight with me over. Not today.

His auburn hair, a stark contrast to mine, was cleanly cut and brushed back out of the way. His tunics provided modesty in every sense of the word but only I knew of the joys that lay beneath. Especially in his heart. I was the only one allowed in. I ran my hand through my scraggly unkempt blond hair. Normally, the sight of him would be a balm to any pain. Normally I'd give up my pilots seat and we'd be in the back. Normally, but not today. Today was different. Dust devils whirred and spat air around this ships underbelly as the ship made its landing. The council stood and began to exit, but I stayed put in the pilots seat, stubbornly refusing to move. Why couldn't I drive my own speeder?

The crisp clear sexy tones of Obi-wan's soothing voice rang out behind me. He laid a muscular calloused tender hand upon my shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

That hand. So amazing. It could wield a lightsaber with abnormal grace. It could carry me to the brink of pleasure time and again. It could roughly snap a neck in half. It could also lay upon my shoulder in a gesture of comfort much needed in times of turmoil.

"Anakin, don't worry. We will find her. I promise."

But what condition will she be in when we do?

"Can I take my own speeder?"

"Anakin, the council is coming with us to comfort you in this time of need. Would you so easily desert your comfort?"

Well with comfort like that, who needed pain? They sure had done a bang up job of helping me cope so far. Chastising me for losing my apprentice when there was nothing I could do. They never said sorry or anything. There was no sympathy to be found. And after chastising me, they didn't talk to me for the rest of the ride. The worst part was that the whole time, Obi-wan just sat there testing the controls.

He didn't look at me. He didn't look at the council. He didn't say anything! How could I trust him to watch my back? So much for love.

I knew what the councils real intentions were. They wanted to see me crack. To test me like an experiment. They wanted to place more barriers in my mind. But I would not let them control me or hold me back. Not this time. I decided not to think about it. I stood up, exited the ship, got in the speeder, and didn't say a word to anyone. Under different circumstances, Mace Windu would be proud. But why was it still so cold?

A/N Please review and tell me what you thought! Just click on that little blue link at the bottom. Thanks guys! I'd be nothing without you!