Chapter 4: Terror of the Past, Vision of the Future

They landed in a clearing near some of the largest Massassi Temple's on Yavin IV. Obi-Wan gazed at the temple area and felt the old stains of darkness there though it certainly was not as strong as what he had felt when they had traveled to Korriban ten years previously. Owen Lars began pulling out supplies.

"So where do we go now?" Kenobi turned around him breaking his concentration.

"Let's go to that set of ruins, it'll provide us with good shelter from the elements and we can lay low there. They moved there. Padmé and Anakin stayed close together. This was the first time he felt fear exuding from her. The two of them lingered to the edge of the forest and then Anakin left her with Owen. He followed Kenobi up the side of small set of ruins.

"What do you think?"

"You were right." Anakin smirked.

"That's not like you to give me credit so easily." Kenobi hit his arm hard. Then he grew serious.

"It was dangerous to come here."

"You sense it too?"

"Exar Kun's spirit is alive and well." He pointed to the dark citadel and an ominous statue several miles away. "That's his resting place if you could call it that."

"I heard all the stories about him Ben. They say he was one of the most powerful and intelligent Jedi that ever lived." Kenobi nodded his head.

"He refused to surrender…refused to be taken alive. His downfall is instructive for all of us. It's not getting angry or feeling unbridled emotions…these alone do not lead a Jedi down the dark path. It's giving in to temptation, reaching to the darkness time and again for strength in a battle. Kun's talents bred in him an arrogance but also a sense of curiosity which led him to Korriban's temples and ruined valleys."

"You've been there."

"I have. And I pray that the Force never requires me to go back to that place again. Even the strongest Jedi Knight should never go there unless it's absolutely necessary."

"Ventriss has no choice but to make her move here if she wants to take on the mantle of a Sith Lord." Kenobi nodded his head in agreement.

"Which is going to make her and Fett more dangerous to handle…she will want to prove herself to her master."

"Maul." Anakin said the name without batting an eye. He believed in his master's keen sense of intuition. "If he is alive, things just a got a lot more dangerous." Kenobi nodded his head.

"That's not are only problem. While we were making our way here I received a brief holo from Dooku."

"And?"

"We have more to be concerned about than the Sith Lords running rampant…it appears that Sidious is developing superweapons and that might be what sent so many tremors through the Force…" Anakin's eyes widened as he took in what Obi-Wan was saying.

"Do you think that Ackbar and the others are safe?" Kenobi shut his eyes trying to sense how the battle had ended.

"I am not sure." Anakin felt a whispering rustling through the trees.

"There's something about this place. It's not cold Ben." Obi-Wan looked up at his apprentice seeing him gazing toward the largest temple. "The Force is strong here."

"What do you see?" He closed his eyes. Almost as suddenly as he felt the Force calling out to him. Anakin was assaulted with a powerful vision.

"By the Force," was all he was able to get out as he fell down to his knees. Kenobi moved closely to him. He opened his eyes and saw Padmé running up to him. She smiled at him. Then the visions came at him quickly. He remembered falling down to the ground softly… Padmé and Ben were trying to wake him up.

"Anakin…"

"Yes."

Then there was silence. The images were dark at first…but then he saw them with clarity. It felt like it lasted for an hour. There were disembodied voices that rang out clearly through his mind.

"You can't win…" It was an older man facing down a black warrior. But who the two men were escaped him. Their lightsabers clashed against a gray background. Then the darkness returned. He found himself in a metallic room buffeted by winds and a slight breeze. The smell of singed flesh and metal hung in the air.

"You've learned much young one…" There was a youthful Jedi with his lightsaber held proudly before him. The black warrior from before appeared again, almost beckoning and taunting the younger man—what was he tempting the boy with? Unlimited power? Total dominance of the galaxy? The bitter fruit of truth? What truth? What was all of this pointing too?

His vision went black again. Then he saw the same young boy from before—he was dressed in black. He seemed older, somewhat familiar. Standing next to him was a girl of similar age. They were talking in a wooded area—but what they said was unintelligible to Anakin. He could hear the distant sound of Ewoks singing and drums resounding through the forests.

"The Force is strong in my family…"

"Who said that? What is all this?" The darkness consumed him…multiple images, exploding ships, a war on an ice world he couldn't quite place, more explosions, the voices of thousands of people rang out through his head. Then it stopped. He found himself in a snow-filled forest. He saw a man on the ground. And another man, dressed in black…but young in appearance using the Force to pull a lightsaber toward him. It passed right by him to another person, it was a girl who looked scared and amazed all at once as the hilt came to rest in her hand. Anakin recognized the lightsaber. It was the one he had built as part of his training.

Then the scene shifted. The darkly clothed man raised his red lightsaber clashing with the blue lightsaber held by the same young girl. She couldn't have been more than nineteen years old. They struggled mightily with their blades. Then he finally could make out what the younger man was saying to her.

"You need a teacher! I can show you the ways of the Force." The girl closed her eyes upon hearing it.

"The Force." She opened her eyes and pushed him back fighting him tenaciously. She was striking him blow for blow before they made it back to a clearing and grasped each other's wrists—each of them struggling to gain the upper hand. It felt as if they were warring sides of the same family. Who were these people? What possibly could connect them and their fates to him? Then the scene disappeared. He found himself cheering for the girl but crying in his heart for the boy even though he knew none of them.

"What is this? Is this some trick of the Dark Side?" A neutral voice, the one that had called to him before spoke out.

"It is not a trick Anakin Skywalker." He found himself breathing deeply.

"I can't make sense of any this."

"Nor are you meant to…."

"What am I seeing? Is it the future? The past? The present?"

"It is not for you to know any of these things."

"Then what I am to learn."

"Guard the Force within you son of Shmi." The voice knew his mother. Anakin realized that it was the Force itself speaking to him. He felt tears falling down his cheeks.

"What am I to do? Tell me…"

"Your destiny is to bring balance to the Force. But it is not yours alone to carry, it is not your burden alone. Always your family will have the responsibility of balancing the Force across the galaxy and within themselves." He wanted to ask more. A part of him knew what he had seen had not yet happened. But before he could open his mouth he felt himself returning to the real world and opening his eyes.

Sidious felt a powerful tremor in the Force. It commanded his attention as he sat alone in the darkness contemplating the defeat of the Separatist fleet and the destruction of the prototype weapon by Ackbar and Windu's combined force of clone troopers and the Republican navy. Someone had just been given a powerful vision by the Force. He did not know what the vision contained but it sent powerful tremors that boded poorly for his plans. Perhaps this had something to do with the defeat of his fleet. It disturbed him that they successfully destroyed the capital ship carrying a superlaser—one capable of destroying ships and even planets. He was waiting for Maul to check-in. His apprentice was late as he entered the door.

"I told you to come immediately."

"And I did."

"You lie terribly Maul, be mindful of whom you are dealing with." Maul bowed his head low feigning obeisance. Sidious saw right through his charade and the younger man refused to contain his anger for much longer.

"Why didn't you inform me of the Death Star plans? When were you going to fill me in on the stolen cache of Kyber crystals?"

"It was of no concern to you. You should be satisfied with following your instructions to the letter and knowing whatever I deem fit to tell you." At this Maul's lost his temper. He used the Force to throw a large crate across the room shattering it against the wall. Then he grunted as he ignited his lightsaber and lunged for Sidious's neck. Sidious ignited his blade and blocked it as Maul spoke with a furious tenor.

"Do you take me for a fool? Did you really think it would escape my attention that you started training a Nightsister?" Sidious did not answer him. He extinguished his blade and sat back down waiting for his apprentice to relax. Maul waited there a few moments before turning off his blade as his master spoke.

"And did you believe I would not sense your meeting with her on Tatooine?" Maul remained silent. "The Rule of Two may be breaking but it is not gone yet Maul. Nor will I stand for you attempting to train her behind my back!" Sidious's eyes had a menacing glow to them. But Maul refused to back down.

"Her loyalty is with me now."

"Asajj's loyalty is with no one except herself. The sooner you learn that the better you and I will be. She is a means to an end as is Jango Fett." He paused for a moment. "You really believe you can use her against me? You know what I am capable of Maul. Do not try my patience."

"How long do you think it will take the Jedi to realize that you initiated the construction of the clone army? You cannot hide that forever. I have to provide a backup strategy for myself. Ventriss is that strategy." Sidious smiled. The Sith were always conniving backstabbers to the bitter end.

"You are intelligent Maul. However, you will not do to me what I did with my master."

"Plagueis died facing down Qui-Gon Jinn on Dantooine. What are you talking about?" Sidious cackled.

"You really are a fool. He was master of life and death…one of the greatest Sith Lords the galaxy has ever known. The battle on Dantooine was a farce." He stood up and walked toward one of the large windows overlooking the industrial quarters of Coruscant. "He had the gift of astral projection…he mastered it."

"You killed him, didn't you?"

"In his sleep…he was weakened from the battle with Jinn…I took advantage of it and slew him. But his spirit remains locked up in that mausoleum on Korriban …he gave me that as his last command before unleashing me on the Republic."

"How you can be sure that wasn't another trick on his part? He was good at cheating death according to you." This scenario had actually crossed Sidious's mind.

"I would have felt his Force-signature." Maul wasn't so certain that Sidious's analysis was correct but chose to kept his judgments to himself. "Nevertheless more, I believe our bickering can be saved for a later occasion. I have another mission for you…that is if you still serve me…" Maul resigned himself to his fate for the moment.

"I do." He paused. "What's the mission?"

"Dooku is getting too close to our plans. He's already revealed far too much to our enemies in the Republic." He let out a short sigh and then continued. "My sources tell me that he will be representing most of the Separatists at the unity conference on Alderaan. If Queen Amidala survives our assassins there is no doubt he will go there immediately. You must kill him and the others there if our plans are to succeed." Maul bowed.

"As you wish, my master."

He told no one about the vision he had. It barely made any sense to him, how would they understand it? When he came too he shook it off as the tension but he knew that Ben Kenobi felt that there was something more too it. He left Owen with Ben near the temples and moved closer to Exar Kun's monument. There was a rustling behind him. It was Padmé.

"You need to learn more of how to cover your Force-signature. I felt your presence miles away." She smiled.

"I didn't want to hide." She grasped the lightsaber that had once belonged to Qui-Gon Jinn and handed it to Anakin. "I wanted to give this back to you." He pushed it back gently into her hands.

"It's yours Padmé. You need it if you are to complete your training." He felt fear exuding from her again. "Don't be scared."

"Right. Tell me you won't feel that way when someone is trying to kill you." He grabbed her hands.

"I won't allow anything to happen to you. You know this to be true, don't you?" She pulled away from him changing the subject.

"Ben thinks that you're hiding something from him. Maybe you can lie to him but you damn well won't lie to me. Not after what we've been through so far." He was taken aback by her frankness.

"What exactly do you want to know?"

"You had a vision back there, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"What did you see?"

"It's nothing." She moved close to him.

"It is something." He pulled back running right into a stone wall. Anakin couldn't escape from her hazel eyes any longer. "Tell me. You don't have to be afraid around me." He shook his head.

"Padmé I have to concentrate on protecting you…regardless of my feelings. We have to stop doing this…we just have to…" She refused to give him the out he was desperately seeking.

"Don't evade me Anakin Skywalker…don't do that to me." Something within him finally snapped. He took her in his arms and kissed her mouth softly. She leaned into him close as he held her tightly.

"You don't understand Padmé…what I saw has to do with you and me…"

"What did you see?"

"The Force…it spoke to me." He pushed some of the hair back from her face. "It told me that I was destined to bring balance but that I would never do it alone. My family was destined to shoulder this burden of balance the Light Side and the Dark Side."

"You saw the future?"

"Yes."

"Your children?" He spoke to her without thinking nodding his head affirmatively as he spoke.

"…and their children…" Her eyes widened sharply. "My family will never be free from war…the Force has shown me this." He turned his face away from her. Padmé pulled her face back toward her.

"I have never loved someone this way before."

"War is not the time for this…"

"Let me finish please…" She paused, took a breath and then continued. "If what the Force allowed you to see is true…I will stand by you. You will not have to face it alone. I promise you that." No one had ever spoken such words to him. He looked into her eyes leaned in and kissed her passionately as they held each other close.

Obi-Wan Kenobi felt the pull of the Force tugging at him. He opened his eyes. Owen was fast asleep across from him. By the opening of the Temple sat the darkly lit figure of Padmé Amidala. Where in the name of the Force was Anakin. He caught sight of him standing out by one of the towering structures looking out at the distance.

"I didn't mean to wake you," he said.

"You felt the same thing I did."

"They are here." Kenobi sighed as he moved closer to his friend.

"Where?"

"Difficult to say…she's trying to obscure her Force signature but I can feel her Ben."

"How much time do you think we have?"

"An hour at most. She's going to want to do this by Exar Kun's temple. She's stronger than the last time we met her. This is her ultimate test."

"Her master…"

"It's Maul, it's got to be."

"How can you be so sure?" He gave his master a funny look.

"Sidious didn't train her. Her fighting style doesn't match his way of doing things." Kenobi's heart sunk to his stomach.

"Now we've got to deal with three of them?"

"Maybe more. Who knows what they've been plotting over the last ten years. The Separatist mess…it's on them." They heard rustling through the trees in the distance.

"Look!" They saw in the far distance the outlines of Slave I in a small clearing.

"She's dying to do this Ben. You know it."

"Then let's give them something to fight for!" He raised up his blade as Anakin did the same. They heard the sound of a lightsaber ignited behind them. As they turned they saw Padmé with Qui-Gon Jinn's blade held tightly in her hand, next to her with two blasters at the ready was Owen Lars. The two boys from Tatooine sized each other up.

"You didn't think I was going to let you have all the fun did you Anakin?"

"No Owen, I knew you'd jump into this." His eyes met Padmé's. She smiled at him. They all turned around as the two Jedi ignited their blades and the four of them carefully made their way down to the gigantic statue of the fallen Sith Lord waiting for their enemies to strike.

It didn't take Asajj Ventriss long to make her way through the brush. Fett's helmet was off and hanging by a chord from his utility belt. He held his customized EE-3 carbine rifle close to him as they made their way from the clearing through the tree line. In the distance they saw a large faded statues surrounded by larger temples. Jango felt nervous. Not because of the mission but because of the strong feelings that he felt emanating from Ventriss. He wasn't Force-sensitive by any means, but Jango Fett knew how to read people well.

"You all right?" She said nothing as she grabbed both of her lightsabers and readied herself. "You haven't said a word to me since that run-in we had with Maul on Tatooine." She paused for a second. Ventriss really wanted to tell him many things. But she could not—not at the moment of her greatest triumph. She could taste her ascendancy into the ranks of the Sith Lords. It felt so close. Then the feelings surging through her body rose to the surface. She stopped walking and attached her sabers back on her belt.

"We should run away now. I have a bad feeling about this. I just know it."

"What's the matter Asajj?" He lowered his rifle slightly. She rubbed her stomach slightly. He noticed it for the first time. There was a bulge where previously it had been skinny. His eyes widened. The bounty hunter who struck fear into the hearts of lowly Jawas and galactic senators alike felt his eyes moisten. He wiped them as he spoke. "How long have you…"

"A few months…"

"Is it?" She smiled.

"Yes, it's yours." She paused and added another thing. "It's a boy."

"Maybe we should sit this one out." The darkness came flooding back in, and the child growing in her womb could feel it too.

"We have no choice. I will have Anakin Skywalker's head on a platter before this night is over." The redness that colored her eyes scared him, but it also gave him a sense of purpose. He would collect a bounty on these Jedi's head and leave the business for good. They would raise their child together. The boy would never know want. He had already had a name picked out—Boba.

He smiled as he put his helmet on and raised his rifle up. She gripped her blades and ignited them.