September 4th, One month post Galactic Empire
Two more weeks had past. The universe beyond diaper changes and Anakin continued to evolve, not stopping for them. Darth Vader had been declared a traitor for abandoning his post. Darth Brutus now stood as second in command. Though, nobody knew what he really looked like, he wore a black mask and walked around with black armor that was reminiscent to a clone trooper's. He was taking over Vader's job of annihilating every Jedi and keeping everyone in line.
Mia didn't have time to worry about masked murders. Anakin was trying enough. Sometimes, when he slept dreamlessly, Mia couldn't get him out of bed. Other times, after nightmares, she couldn't convince him to sleep. Getting him to eat was a challenge, bathe was almost impossible. For the most part, Mia was the only one taking care of Leia.
She walked into the kitchen, half dragging Anakin, who had barely gotten out of bed, and sat him on a chair. Next she put a cup of coffee and some breakfast in front of him. He didn't respond.
"I'm tired of it Anakin!" She nearly shouted.
He looked up in surprise, his blue eyes widening slightly. He'd seen Mia raise her voice a handful of times but she never shouted.
"You need to pull yourself together, for Leia's sake. She'd already a month old. In six or eight months, she'll be talking! What are you going to say when she asks you why you won't get out of bed? Or why you look like you haven't eaten in months? Or why you stink to high heaven?" Mia demanded.
Anakin opened his mouth to say something, say anything but the words weren't forthcoming.
"Sitting around won't help anything. You barely go to work and sooner or later, your boss will fire you. Then we won't be able to afford food. You behavior hasn't helped anything," She told him matter-of-factly.
He hung his head in shame, knowing she was right about anything.
"You need to support Leia, you need to find Luke and bring him home. You need to make sure they are safe and sound!" Mia told him in a quiet, calm voice.
"Your right," Anakin said finally.
"And?" Mia demanded expectantly.
He stared at her, not quite sure what she was asking if him. Through the numbness that seemed to take over his life he recognized this plan was still half baked and it needed working on. They needed a good plan, goals. Anakin thought on this for a few minutes before answering Mia.
"And I'm going to eat, go take a shower, go to work, and when I get back, I will play with Leia and when she is asleep, I will work on finding Luke," He declared.
"That's exactly what I wanted to hear," Mia replied, smiling.
She turned to go and check on Leia, leaving Anakin to contemplate all she'd said. Mia sighed, thankful that tactic had worked and praying to the Force it wasn't necessary again.
After breakfast, Anakin went and showered, realizing he really did smell. Truthfully he had little motivation to do anything, his only motivation being that he really did not want Mia yell at him again. Anakin lacked the motivation to do a lot of things, things he could do. It was a simple matter of finding the right motivator.
Mia was sitting in the living room, feeding Leia formula, when Anakin went to work. He bent down and kissed Leia's head.
"I'll see you tonight Leia," He whispered to her. He turned to Mia, actually managing to smile as signed: "Thank you Mia, I needed to hear that."
"Anytime Skywalker," Mia replied in sign language, a smirk pulling on her lips.
September 4th, One month post Galactic Empire
Darth Brutus groaned and slipped out of the heavy armor he wore everywhere. Next came the annoying and necessary mask. The young man preferred anonymity. It was an added bonus the mask created a more intimidating impression on people than the face of a twenty-something year old man. In his quarters he was free and there were orders that absolutely nobody was to disturb him or enter his quarters under any reason.
He glared at the data pad sitting on the coffee table next to some cold and stale coffee from this morning. Darth Brutus was making headway in reading all the Jedi files but after a while they all began to look the same. Here and there you caught a file of a Jedi who did something significant or caused a lot of trouble in their childhood and apparently the Jedi recording all these incidents loved to tell stories.
Settling down on the couch Darth Brutus continued his research on the hunted. Boring file after boring file about boring Jedi who did little with their lives, what a tedious process to read. Finally, he came across a name of a much more interesting Jedi Knight.
Mialera Rosslyn
Darth Brutus slowly read through the file. It started off with the account of how she came to the Jedi Temple. Apparently Master Jinn and Padawan Kenobi went to Alderaan to take care of some diplomatic issue. While staying at the palace they met a young girl, Mialera, and her mother. The girl was deaf and Force sensitive and the mother was sick. The mother died quite shortly after and they took the girl to see if she could be trained in the ways of the Force. At the time young Mia was three and the next five years recorded her progress in using the Force to listen to the world around her as well as her studies. After that there were numerous records of mischief this young girl caused with another Padawan, Anakin Skywalker.
Apparently the Jedi looking for Padawans at the time were hesitant to train her and nobody chose her by her thirteenth birthday.
What a lousy thing to do, denying further training in the Force to a child because nobody took an interest in them. They had plenty of Jedi to train these master-less Padawans, a simple assignment was all that was needed. Even if they didn't, where was harm in teaching more than one?
That was a very unbecoming thought of a Sith, Darth Brutus mused in mirth.
Little Mialera was denied from the Agricorps for her disability and the Jedi were without a solution. An interesting account of a meeting with Jedi Knight Kenobi who requested to teach two Padawans side by side. Apparently this man was all about the unconventional, teaching a deaf girl to hear with the Force, taking on a Padawan days within his Knighting and requesting two Padawans. Shame Kenobi had been confirmed dead, he would have loved to read that file. The rest were accounts of missions and pranks, all involving Skywalker, the two were thick as thieves.
Darth Brutus sighed, looking up at the picture of a girl who was in her early twenties but she looked more like a teenager. There was something very familiar about her but he couldn't quite place it.
September 4th, One month post Galactic Empire
The streets of Corellia were pleasant enough. The climate was warm enough and there were worse planets to be standing on out there. Claus Greyback eyed the bar scene around him. It was filled with the typical scum: alcoholics, gamblers, thieves.
Perfect atmosphere considering who I'm meeting with, Claus thought to himself. After all, waiters at fancy restaurants might wonder what a bounty hunter was doing at their tables.
A middle aged man dressed in commoners clothing walked into the bar. His dark brown hair was slicked back and his attire assembled perfectly. His posture demanded respect. Still nobody took interest in his sudden appearance.
Jedrick Kaz eyed the bar and looked for his paying customer. He hoped this assignment would at least be fun. Perhaps he'd have to track down a criminal who'd eluded everyone else in the past. Claus always brought promising requests. His eyes caught sight of a man with just one drink on his table, his face in the shadows. Whoever this person was they hadn't brought friends and obviously didn't intend to get drunk and that just stood out. Jedrick approached this lone man and in the dimness of the lighting he recognized him.
"Claus, it's been so long," He stated, sitting down. "How've you been?"
Claus shrugged, "Not well considering I have a death warrant on my head but things could be worse," He answered dryly, taking another sip of his drink.
"Was that you being optimistic or pessimistic?" Jedrick inquired in curiosity. He always found the Jedi quite interesting, his different ways of thinking and how no problem seemed too complex for him to figure out.
"Pragmatic," Claus sighed, "I need some help."
Jedrick smiled, this he liked. Since when did the Jedi Master need anything—except maybe getting a death warrant off of his head, but that was unhelpable.
So he only requested one thing: "Please tell me it's challenging."
Claus grinned in response. "Considering how resourceful these three can be and all the others on their trail, challenging is only the beginning."
"You need a tracker," Jedrick laughed, his laugh deep and slow, like he savored every moment of it.
"I need the best," He clarified, smiling despite himself.
Jedrick smiled, "Alright, let me have it."
Claus slid one datapad containing three files inside, "Anakin Skywalker, Obi-wan Kenobi and Mialera Rosslyn."
Jedrick scoffed, "You want me to find one of the Republic's best Jedi teams?" He raised an eyebrow at that.
"You wanted a challenge," Claus challenged, leaning back in the booth with his arms crossed.
"Okay, last I checked Kenobi was dead and Skywalker was number one for the Empire's hit list," Jedrick opened Mia's file and pulled up her photo and showed it to Claus. "And need I remind you she disappeared from the headlines months before the rise of the Empire? Nobody's heard of her since."
"If you read the file you'll find she was at the Jedi Temple training a few Padawans with similar hearing impairments," Claus explained.
Jedrick took a gulp of his previously ignored drink. "So in other words she's dead along with the rest of them."
Claus sighed and shook his head. "She's still on the watch list, even after the Empire got through with the casualty lists."
Jedrick grinned. "You certainly pulled through Claus, I'll keep in contact. Shall we agree on the usual payment?"
Jedrick had caught quite a few Separatists through Claus's jobs in the last three years. Those were always fun jobs. Who knows, maybe hunting a Jedi would prove to be a new challenge.
September 17th, Six weeks post Galactic Empire
It seemed like a typical day. The days were warm and sunny but sometimes it rained, and when it rained it poured. This part of the planet seemed to be in eternal spring. Mia didn't really mind, she loved that it wasn't too cold but wasn't to hot. They also loved that the air was clear. Coruscant, being a city planet with very few, very sparse parks, was always humid and the air smelled of pollution.
Mia stood by the counter making dinner while Anakin sat in the living room watching the news. It was a news program that was about two weeks old talking about Darth Brutus's newest deeds and the new laws made by the Empire.
"I suppose old news is the price one must pay to be remote and safe," Anakin mused to himself.
The room flashed three times followed by the sound of the doorbell.
"I'll get it," Mia declared, leaving her post in the kitchen.
Mia opened the door and was surprised to come face to face with a middle aged couple. They both were tall and the woman was on the heavy side but judging on the young infant in her arms that was all due to the pregnancy. They were smiling and casual.
"Sorry, hope we didn't catch you off guard but noticed you're new to the neighborhood and we wanted to introduce ourselves to you," The woman spoke, her voice friendly and cheerful, "I'm Vivi Haln and this is my husband Drek."
"Um, Mia Lilkov," She stammered a reply. Mia casted a cautious glance into the house and reminded herself to call Anakin by his alias. "Anku, can you come over here."
Anakin walked up to the door hesitantly. At the sight of the seemingly harmless couple he relaxed a tad. "Hello, I'm Anku Moslov, nice to meet you," He introduced himself.
Vivi and Drek looked between the two in confusion.
"You're not married?" Drek asked tactlessly. Vivi gave her husband a sharp look at that.
Mia quirked a brow, "Uh, no, just friends," She assured them.
"It's just, I've seen you both with a little girl," He amended, looking embarrassed.
Anakin grinned, amused. "That's my daughter Leia, no Mia is a family friend."
"Where's your wife then?" Vivi asked in genuine confusion.
His amusement ended there and Anakin tried to hide his sullen nature at the reminder. "My wife died recently," He murmured sadly.
A beat of silence passed as the couple attempted to find a way to mend their blunder.
"I'm so sorry," Vivi murmured, sympathy in her eyes.
To Anakin it looked more like pity but he nodded mutely, trying to collect himself but sometimes he felt like parts of him were too shattered to ever be pulled back together.
"We won't keep you, we just wanted to meet you," Drek stated gently. "If you need anything, we're next door, stop by anytime."
After they left and Mia closed the door both breathed a sigh of relief at being alone again. Anakin spotted the small light bulb in the middle of the ceiling.
"You added a flashing doorbell," Anakin grinned, signing before pointing up at the light bulb itself.
Mia rolled her eyes at that. "I'm hearing impaired, not mechanically impaired," She reminded him, her hands moving dramatically slow with an irritated look crossing her features.
"You got somebody else to install them, didn't you?" Anakin teased her, nudging her as she walked by.
September 25th, Seven weeks post Galactic Empire
Kail is a nice tropical planet, very remote. Its biggest exports were food exports but it had little else in resources like metals or fuel. That left Kail in the shadows for the Empire. Obi-wan doubted they'd have any plans for Kail unless the Emperor developed a love for rare fruits.
Luke was restlessly sleeping. What else was new? The poor boy felt a loss and he didn't know why. Obi-wan sympathized with this. He'd felt many losses in life, most confusing was Anakin. Repeatedly Obi-wan had tried to reason his way through this but no such luck. He could claim he had no attachment to Anakin what so ever but that was obviously not the truth. Obi-wan could say that Anakin's choice to become a sith led to his end as Anakin. He had a hard time believing that, especially from himself. Logically Obi-wan should not be attached, Anakin was dead and there should be no more pain.
"How complicated," Obi-wan murmured, looking out the window if his apartment forlornly, missing the days before war when all he had to worry about was if Mia and Anakin got in trouble again.
Obi-wan ran a hand through his now short and spikey hair and rubbed his now smooth chin. That was a weird change, but nothing in comparison to the others.
He heard Luke crying and figured it was time to feed the infant. Getting up the Jedi master walked to the single bedroom he'd reserved for Luke—Obi-wan was crashing on the couch each night—and feed the child. When Luke was burped and returned to his crib with the usual childish nonsense of cooing from Obi-wan part, Obi-wan returned to the kitchen to make his own dinner.
At least Obi-wan had gained some knowledge in caring for children through his former master's punishments in disguise. The volunteer punishment worked nicely in dealing with Mia and Anakin later in life as well. Now it was making the job of raising Luke a much easier thing.
October 5th, Two months post Galactic Empire
Anakin Skywalker found himself stuck in a room shrouded in darkness. He looked around but the lighting was dim and all he could see were two shadows in the distance. That Force presence he couldn't mistake though.
"I love you Ani," Padme's voice broke through the air, chilling Anakin's bones.
He attempted to say he loved her too but he was mute. Anakin attempted shouting but no sound came.
"Aren't you going to say it back?" Padme asked teasingly, flirtatiously. Anakin tried again but his voice was absent. "Well Ani?" Padme whispered.
There was sudden burst of blue violet light and a crackle that sickened Anakin. The room was ignited with Sith lightning. Tortured screams, Padme's tortured screams, echoed in the room. Standing to help her Anakin realized he was chained to the floor. He struggled, his fear palpable.
"Padmé!" He called but there was no voice to back his words up.
The second figure, the attacker, was illuminated by the lightning flying from his fingertips. Anakin stared in horror at himself.
The ground hit him hard, taking his breath away, and Anakin opened his eyes. There was no lightning, no screaming and no chains. It took a moment to realize that while struggling in his dreams he'd fallen off the bed, tangled in the sheets. He took a few minutes to breathe and just calm down.
Anakin silently thanked the Force that Mia neither heard that nor felt the disturbance in the Force.
The door opened and the young woman stepped in, rubbing her eyes. Her long wavy hair was loose and frazzled. Mia looked over at Anakin and smiled at the picture before her.
"Interesting sleeping arrangements Anakin," She teased verbally, her voice a little garbled with both deafness and exhaustion.
Spoke to soon, Anakin thought tiredly.
At work Anakin worked hard but the cloud of drowsiness pulled at him from time to time. For a moment, under the speeder, he contemplated taking a nap. There were still two more speeders to fix up and Raun was in the middle of hiring a second mechanic. Anakin perked up when he heard Raun's footsteps.
"Can I talk to you Anku?" He inquired.
Anakin rolled himself out from under the speeder and sat up as he cleaned up his hands, looking at Raun. The older man was in his early sixties with patchy salt and pepper hair and a short skinny body, his disposition kind and friendly. Raun set a bagged lunch down in Anakin's hands.
"Here's your lunch, wonderful little lady stopped by saying your forgot it," He explained with a grin on his face.
Raun took a closer look at Anakin and noticed the dark circles, hallow eyes and usual scruff.
"You been feeling alright?" Raun asked, kneeling down. "Have you been sleeping?"
Anakin sighed, "I don't get much of that lately, not since my daughter was born and my wife died."
Raun quirked a brow, "You mean that wasn't your wife?" He questioned.
Anakin sighed, sometimes he found it incredibly annoying that everyone thought Mia was his wife and more than just a friend, "Uh, no, just a childhood friend helping me get back on my feet, her name's Mia," He explained.
"And how's Leia?" Raun inquired.
"She's good, doesn't like to sleep much I guess," He shrugged.
The older man smiled, "My son was like that when he was little, they all grow out of it."
Anakin grinned and Raun left to go back to work. Setting his lunch aside Anakin got back to work himself. He sincerely hoped Leia grew out of the restless stage.
October 11th, Two months post Galactic Empire
Jedrick sat at the table of his small Corellia apartment, various papers scattered around him. Now that his previous job was completed—smuggler with a rep for short changing in need of a good laser blast through the brain—he could start Claus's little assignment. At the moment this was just assessing.
Well, Skywalker is going to have the hardest time blending in. He'd need a remote planet to hide in or a ship to jump around in, an alias and allies. His face was in the most headlines, the whole universe has to have heard of him by now. Every bounty hunter has him in mind, there's big reward money in his head.
Jedrick had considered finding Skywalker and turning him in for the reward money but he already didn't agree with the Empire and that wasn't likely to change with all the new laws being passed—restrictions on freedom, slavery and putting the needs of the people before the military.
Rosslyn will probably blend in easy enough. She's got a common last name so she could easily get away with using her real name or go down the alias road. Her face disappeared from headlines a while ago so people are forgetting her and that face you could mistake for a hundred others. She certainly knows how to get around a death penalty too.
Jedrick picked up the printed report of her incident on Halbon where she was sentenced to death.
Kenobi, if he uses his last name he should be easy to find. Unless you're on Stewjon there aren't a whole lot of them out there. He doesn't have a death warrant on his head, so he wouldn't too badly need to get an alias. I bet having the universe thinking you're dead must be nice. He's the easiest mark.
I know that it doesn't make much sense as to why Claus is even involved at all but it ties into the story down the road it is actually pretty important. Reviews make me smile :)
