A/N: So I know Anakin seems a little… more like Anakin rather than Vader right now, but that's kind of the point and I'm warning you both of them *will* be much, much darker in later chapters so please keep reading and REVIEW! I love to see them, and I promise I will 99% of the time respond to you if you do 3 Again, Bless Cassi's soul for beta'ing this for me especially after I teased her mercilessly with snippets while I was writing it and she was sending me texts saying "ASGHFJKSL GIVE ME THE CHAPTER NOW!" And I couldn't because my internet was out yesterday :P


"Is… Is he dead?" Regina asked quietly, moving out of her shocked stance and leaning over the king's body warily.

"No, but that can be easily arranged." Anakin said derisively, glaring down at the man igniting his lightsaber.

"Give it to me." Regina whispered, now eerily calm. She stuck out her hand for him to hand her his weapon. He paused, unsure of whether or not she was serious. Finally, he handed it to her, knowing that giving her some satisfaction of her-almost-rapist's death was the least he could do.

She took the humming red blade slowly with both hands holding it upside down, and taking a deep breath she let out a yell of hate and stabbed it downwards into the man's chest grinning with pleasure, almost insanely.

"Whoa, whoa! Easy! You're gonna go through the floor there," Anakin said quickly as she put more force than necessary, causing herself to fall forward. She just grinned hatefully and let him take the lightsaber out of her hands.

"Come on, we gotta get out of here," Anakin said shutting off the weapon and holding a hand out to her.

"Where are we going?" Regina asked finally coming out of her dark high.

"I'm taking you away from this place. You'll be safer with me on my ship." He said peering out the door, before motioning her to follow him.

"Wait—What? Why? What about my father?" Regina asked confusedly, following him hurriedly down the empty corridor.

"Regina there's no time! We have to leave now," he said firmly.

"How did you even find me? Do I know you?" She asked again.

"My master, he knew you were going to be here, you're incredibly powerful Regina. The Force is strong with you. I've been sent to rescue you and bring you back to train you." He said matter-of-factly, pulling her along behind him, before skidding to a stop at the castle wall.

"Me? Powerful? I've only done magic once! And it was nothing powerful," she replied slightly disbelieving.

"How many guards are there down there patrolling?" Anakin asked her. "No, no… Don't look. Think, use your feelings. How many people do you sense down below us?" He asked, using this moment as an opportunity for her first lesson.

She chewed on her lip, thinking, "I don't know… Four?" She said.

"Come on, you're guessing. Focus, reach out and count the life forms. They will be individual signals in a fog. You can single them out, count them. Use your instincts." He said patiently. He sounded like Obi-Wan…

"Three... I count… three." She said closing her eyes and focusing.

"Good!" He said, giving her a reckless smile. "Alright, now comes the fun part. Do you know how to use one of those?" He asked her, indicating the guard's swords that hung from their waists as the patrolled beneath them.

"My dad used to give me fencing lessons when I was younger," She nodded. "But, I don't have a sword." She said pointedly.

He pulled out the spare lightsaber he'd brought with him tucked into the small of his back. He had a knack for losing them. "Here, it won't feel as natural to you, but it will get the job done. Just be extremely careful Regina, these blades will cut through almost anything in the universe like it was air. Do not let the blade touch you or you will be very, very sorry." He said warningly, flexing his robotic hand almost instinctively.

She nodded, taking the hilt of the lightsaber gingerly.

Anakin pulled out his comm. device, "Commander, I need you to send Vargas down with a two man fighter. He can fly the TIE fighter back and I'll pilot the one he brings back with the queen. Hurry! We're going to be causing a little mayhem here." He said with a chuckle.

"Right away, my Lord. Do you need reinforcements?" The commander responded immediately.

"No, I've got some reinforcements," he said giving a wink to Regina who blushed. She looked around worriedly, looking for any sign of her father.

"He's on his way now my lord." Commander Cody said. Anakin pocketed the comm. device and turned to Regina.

"Alright milady, this is where the fun begins. Do you trust me?" He asked her, looking her in the eye.

"Uhh, I guess?" She said not really sure, still looking for her father.

"He'll be alright you know," Anakin said quietly, knowing what she was feeling. "I was much younger than you when I left my mother to begin my training."

"A-and she was alright?" Regina asked nervously, looking back to meet his gaze.

Anakin sighed, "No... she wasn't, but that was because I wasn't strong enough to save her. Your father isn't in any danger from these people. He'll be okay, I can feel it," He said avoiding her gaze.

Regina took a deep breath before nodding. She had to get out of here, and if any harm came to her father she would avenge him, she swore it.

"So now what Sky—whatever your name is…" She asked, shaking off her nerves with a sassy remark.

"Skywalker, but you might only want to call me that when we're alone. That's not really my name anymore. Most people call me by my more colorful moniker, Darth Vader." He said, giving her a crooked smile that she quickly returned. "First, I'm going to jump the wall then you're going to jump, and I'll be waiting to catch you, I promise." He said.

"Are you out of your mind? I'm not jumping from this height!" She yelped as she peered over the castle wall.

"Regina, you've got to trust me, we're running out of time!" Anakin said hurriedly as he heard footsteps fast approaching.

"Hngggghh," She moaned looking over the wall once again, knowing she really had no choice now.

"I'll catch you, I swear on my life I will." He said squeezing her bare shoulder gently.

"It's not your life I'm concerned with Skytalker," she grumbled, giving him an eye roll.

"Skywalker," he corrected her with just as much sass, before giving her a wicked grin and hopping the wall.

She watched him slip silently through the night air before doing a flip and landing gracefully on his feet.

"Show off…" she muttered. She pulled up the hem of her satin sleeveless night gown and climbed semi-lady-like onto the ledge, still holding the borrowed lightsaber.

"Oh my god… I'm going to die," She whimpered as she looked down for a split second to where Anakin stood waiting for her. She paused before crying out as the guards burst onto the terrace where she stood. She didn't even think about it as she jumped, shrieking as she fell, before she felt herself slowing and land gracefully into Anakin's waiting arms.

"Wow, you sure do know how to sweep a girl off her feet don't you?" She asked, breathing heavily, looking up at the guards who were yelling above them.

"Oh, you have no idea Your Majesty," he teased her, before setting her down on her feet gently. "Come on, we gotta hurry. My fighter's just through these woods," he said pointing to the right of them.

She nodded taking his hand and running to keep up with his fast pace. They raced through the woods around the castle as they heard noise coming from behind them.

They skidded to a stop as he ignited his lightsaber as a creature bolted out in front of them.

"No! Don't hurt her!" Regina cried. "It's just a unicorn, it won't hurt us!" She said, yanking his hand down as the creature reared up in front of them at the sight of his glowing weapon.

"Come on! They're right behind us!" She hissed, yanking on him again, pulling him around the horse.

He deactivated his lightsaber and followed her, still eying the beast warily.

They finally reached the clearing near the castle where his fighter was sitting.

"Dammit, where is he?" Anakin swore as he looked around the massive clearing next to the castle for the second ship.

"Where is who?" Regina asked looking behind them as the guards trampled through the forest behind them.

"One of my men was supposed to bring a two-seater for us, this one is only a one man fighter," Anakin said, swearing again under his breath.

"Well they are right behind us, so you have a plan B?" Regina hissed.

"Yep, you still got that lightsaber I gave you?" He said with a defiant glare towards the oncoming guards.

"Yes?" She said hesitantly. He couldn't possibly think the two of them could fight off all those guards. They were incredibly outnumbered, and she was in a white satin nightgown…

"Alright, remember, use your feelings. Anticipate their movements. You should be okay if you've ever had any kind of training. These weapons will slice right through their swords and bodies easily. Do not hesitate. Show no mercy," he said sternly. Igniting his weapon, he took a stance in front of the ship.

With a deep breath, she ignited her blade and nodded. She watched him twirl his lightsaber easily then give her a dark smile. He enjoyed this kind of thing, she thought, as she watched him and took a similar stance beside him.

"You're going to do great my apprentice," he said smiling at her. "Here we go…"

He twirled his lightsaber in his gloved hand enjoying the hum of the blade as it cut through the air.

He kept an eye on Regina as she gripped her lightsaber and he was surprised at how her stance was near perfect.

The guards skidded to a halt in front of them, swords drawn. Anakin let out a yell and swung his lightsaber over his head at the nearest horseman. Regina yelped as the lightsaber sliced clean through the man's body, his horse whinnying and rearing in fright. Don't hurt the horse! She thought desperately. Clearly, without her even uttering a word, he'd heard her. Just as he was about to send his red blade straight through a horses neck into another guards abdomen, he ducked and twirled before stabbing the guard through the side.

She let out a sigh of relief before she met her first attacker. He was on foot and clearly wary of the weapon she now wielded. She put on her best fight face and ducked as he swung his sword at her head, swearing she swung the lightsaber at the sword to parry him and gasped when the blade cut right through the metal and cut off the man's arm.

She instantly felt a well of pride and encouragement come from somewhere she couldn't explain and she grinned. She looked over at Anakin who was making quick work of the majority of the armed guards coming at him. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, warning her of something she couldn't see. She focused as she decapitated another guard and paused trying to place the warning she felt.

Quickly it dawned on her and she cried out, "ARCHERS!" and turned just as an arrow came right towards her back. Instinctively she swung the red blade around dissecting the arrow neatly in half.

Anakin turned around after, stabbing a wounded man on the ground. Parrying the onslaught of arrows without any effort.

"Good Call, Regina!" He yelled from across the clearing. Inching towards her as she struggled to anticipate where the next arrow would come from becoming frustrated as she missed some that came a little too close for comfort.

"Focus Regina! Take all that anger and use it!" Anakin yelled, rushing to get to her side.

Regina frowned, "I'm TRYING! There's too many!" She yelled angrily at his criticism.

"Aghhh!" Anakin groaned in exasperation, running over to her deflecting arrows one handedly.

"REGINA LEFT! LEFT!" He called, sensing the arrow that she was about to miss. He leapt in the air trying to catch the arrow before it reached her to no avail… He heard her cry of pain and rage as the arrow spliced right through her upper arm.

"FUCK!" She screamed, deactivating her lighstaber and dropping to her knees, clutching her arm.

Anakin, now in front of her and blinded by rage used the Force and ripped up the trees around the clearing knocking them over like kindling. He heard strangled cries of archers being crushed and let out a smug snort. He heard a whirring overhead and knew Vargas was arriving with their escape.

"Come on Regina," He said, not so gently pulling her up off the ground. An action he was then rewarded with a nice punch to his jaw with her uninjured arm. His head flung sideways and he clenched his teeth to avoid reacting irrationally towards her.

"FUCKING WATCH IT!" She growled loudly, "That does fucking hurt you know!" She spat, glaring at him. She grabbed the end of the arrow and broke it off biting her tongue to keep from screaming out. Anakin steadied her as she swooned a little from the pain. She gave him another glare and jerked away from him, still annoyed.

"Lord Vader, I'll take her highness if you'd like," The stormtrooper who ran over to them said gently.

Anakin, now thoroughly irritated by her attitude, yet impressed by her gumption said with a sarcastic smile, "No it's okay, I'll take her royal-pain-in-the-ass." Before offering her his hand this time instead of him leading her. She glared at him still clutching her arm and ignored his hand instead stalking over to the newly landed ship.

Anakin just shook his head and swore, still smiling… What had the Emperor got him into this time?