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Chapter Six: Same Face, Different Soul

Coruscant, Four Years Ago…

Anakin felt the anger coursing through him as he mediated. After another argument with Obi-Wan and the Council, he had been sent to mediate, a punishment for the padawan. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not push his emotions away, his anger and disappointment towards the Council and the Order dominating his thoughts. It was their fault for all of the deaths of the innocents lost on Raxus. For the orphaning of so many children by not stopping the regimes that were so willing to do anything to consolidate their power. Anakin opened his eyes and glared at the wall, willing his ability in the Force to not damage anything in the room. It wouldn't help anything. The disappointment he felt slowly began to overpower his anger: those he had held so highly had proven to be anything but what they said to be. He needed to leave. Remove himself from the politically controlled design of the Jedi Order. He stood up and quickly packed what little objects he owned; his spare robes, a spare cloak, spare boots, little figurines he had carved himself. He wouldn't be coming back to the place he had thought he could call home.

Pulling on the black cloak, he snuck out into the deserted halls of the Temple. No one was awake at this hour, leaving Anakin free to make his way through the Temple so he could move out onto the streets of Coruscant. Darkness covered the streets, the fog at one of its highest during the night. He pulled his inner tunic over his mouth as he moved, hiding in the shadows from the older Jedi who were patrolling the grounds. He watched as they made small talk, making their way along the grounds. They didn't noticed Anakin using the Force to conceal himself in the shadows, his dark robes adding to his attempts. The sixteen-year-old frowned as he felt a disturbance through the Force, making him look back up at the part of the Temple where the Jedi resided; they realised he was gone. The Jedi who had been patrolling rushed back to the residential area of the Temple.

"Move, Anakin," he muttered to himself, pushing himself from the wall and racing quickly towards the outer wall. He could hear the shouting, the search beginning for him. But he had made his choice, willing himself to rid himself of the pain and anger and hate he had begun to feel within the confines of the Order. Maybe, in time, he would understand the actions of the Council. But for now, he would make his own choices, follow his own code. Maybe a new order was needed to save the galaxy from itself…

Naboo, Present Day…

Anakin followed Padmé up the stairs leading into Varykino, carrying the heavier of her bags, despite her insistence to carry them herself. He watched as the caretaker, Paddy, greeted the young Senator with an old friendly smile. The former Jedi couldn't help but feel out of place in the serene beauty that covered the surroundings of the retreat.

"Padmé, it's so good to see you safe," he greeted with a tender smile as the young Senator hug him in greeting.

"Hello, Paddy. It's good to be here again," she answered with a smile.

Paddy stepped back and took in Anakin's appearance. "And who may this be, milady?" he asked politely.

"This is Anakin Skywalker. An old friend of mine who has been appointed as my personal bodyguard for the foreseeable future," Padmé answered honestly.

"The little boy who saved us ten years ago," Paddy added as realisation hit him. "It is an honour to meet you, sir," he addressed the younger man.

"No need for formalities," Anakin replied, pushing his hood down. "I'm happy to help in whatever way I can."

"You're a hero here, Anakin. You should be addressed as such," Paddy replied, looking shocked at the modest reply from the young man.

Anakin smiled and tilted his head. "Honestly, I prefer peace and quiet over recognition," he admitted. "Working from the shadows to protect is more productive than working in the light," he added.

Padmé looked back at Anakin, surprise clouding her thoughts. But then again, he was still that ten-year-old boy who had once know nothing of greed, wanting to help complete strangers who had been stranded on the outer rim territory on Tatoonine.

"That is very honourable of you, Anakin," Paddy responded. "We owe you many thanks for helping Padmé get home safe."

Anakin's smile grew. "She has a bad habit of making herself a target," he agreed, making Paddy grin while Padmé snort in indignation.

"I do not!" she protested, glaring at the two smiling men. "Just because I chose to speak out does not mean I make myself a target."

"Of course not, milady," Anakin responded with a smirk before turning his head back to Paddy. "Where do you want me to carry the bags?"

"Follow me," Paddy answered, grinning at the frustrated but fond glare from Padmé.

People were passing through the little street. Old men were sunning themselves, women gossiping, kids playing. Anakin, Padmé and R2 turned onto a side street. Anakin was dressed as he always was; in a black, sleeveless hooded robe, his hood pulled up as he walked with the Senator. Padmé wore a beautiful simple dress. She stopped, beaming as she looked up at a terrace house.

"There's my house," she stated with a happy smile. She started forward while Anakin hung back, his red tinted blue eyes flickering around his surroundings. "What? Don't say you're shy!" she teased, making him smirk up at her.

"Milady, there is little I am shy about," he replied but was unable to continue when, suddenly, there are shouts from two little girls who ran from the house. They come running towards Padmé.

"Aunt Padmé! Aunt Padmé!" they shouted in unison as they rushed towards her.

"Ryoo! Pooja!" Padmé exclaimed, crouching down to embrace her two nieces. "I'm so happy to see you!" she continued, pressing loving kisses to their cheeks before standing once more, noticing her nieces eyeball Anakin. "This is Anakin," she introduced with a smile. "Anakin, this is Ryoo and Pooja."

Anakin smiled as he greeted the girls who replied shyly. Before noticing the astrodroid behind the two adults. "R2!" they exclaimed, racing towards the droid and hugging him. R2 whistled and beeped, making Padmé laugh at the sight.

Smiling, the two adults begun to move towards the house while the girls stayed outside to play with R2. Padmé and Anakin were greeted by her father, Ruwee Naberrie, who hugged and kissed his daughter, shaking Anakin's hand before leading them to the dinner room. They entered the room just as Padmé's older sister, Sola, entered in from the kitchen carrying a big bowl of food.

"They're eating over at Jev Narran's later, mom," Sola shouted over her shoulder, referring to her own daughters. "They just had a snack. They'll be fine." Sola put the bowl down on the table before turning to look at her father, her sister and Anakin.

"Anakin, this is my sister, Sola," Padmé introduced with a slight smile.

"Hello, Anakin," Sola greeted.

"Hello," Anakin replied politely with a nod of his head.

Sola sat down as her mother, Jobal, entered with another heaped bowl of steaming food. "You're just in time for dinner," Jobal announced. "I hope you're hungry, Anakin."

"A little," he replied, staying polite in the childhood home of his employer/friend.

Padmé scoffed. "He's being polite, mom," she answered. "We're starving."

Ruwee grinned. "You came to the right place at the right time," he stated as he sat down. "Sit down, son," he instructed, gesturing towards the chair beside him. Padmé sat between her mother and Anakin while Sola was seated across from her sister.

Jobal started passing the food while she turned to address her youngest daughter. "Honey, it's so good to see you safe," she started. "We were so worried," she added.

Padmé shout her mother a dirty look while Ruwee smiled as he watched.

"Dear..." he warned, noticing the argumentative look on his youngest daughter's face.

Jobal noticed too. "I know, I know... But I had to say it. Now it's done," she stated.

"Well, this is exciting!" Sola exclaimed, changing the subject. "Do you know, Anakin, you're the first boyfriend my sister's ever brought home?" she asked with a look of mischief on her face.

Anakin raised an eyebrow, not sure of what to say to that. At the same time, Padmé rolled her eyes and replied, "Sola! He isn't my boyfriend! He's a bodyguard assigned by the Security Chief to protect me."

"A bodyguard?!" Jobal exclaimed, shock and worry lacing her tone. "Oh, Padmé! They didn't tell us it was that serious!"

"It's not, mom, I promise," Padmé replied, glancing at her mother. "Anyway, Anakin's a friend. I've known him for years. Remember that little boy who was with the Jedi during the blockade crisis?" she asked. When they nodded, she gestured at Anakin's quiet form. "Well, he grew up."

Anakin noticed the looks he was getting but kept eating, preferring not to be the centre of attention.

"Honey, when are you going to settle down?" Jobal asked instead, noticing that Anakin was uncomfortable with the attention focused on him. "Haven't you had enough of that life? I certainly have!"

"Mom, I'm not in any danger," Padmé denied.

Ruwee turned to Anakin with a raised eyebrow. "Is she?"

Anakin could feel all eyes on him. "To an extent, she is. I'm only here as a precaution," he half-lied. The relief from Padmé was obvious.

Dinner passed with little more commotion. Ruwee requested Anakin's company as he walked around the gardens. "Sometimes I wish I'd travelled more..." Ruwee started as he inspected some of the flowers in the garden. "But I must say, I'm happy here."

"Padmé tells me you teach at the university," Anakin stated, his hands folded over the small of his back.

"Yes," Ruwee nodded. "Before that, I was a builder. I also worked for the refugee relief movement, when I was very young."

While Ruwee and Anakin walked about the garden, Padmé, Sola and Jobal cleared the table. And Padmé was subjected to more teasing from her older sister.

"Why haven't you told us about him?" Sola asked, watching her sister with a teasing smirk.

"What's there to talk about? He's just a boy," Padmé retorted, feeling uncomfortable at the questioning from her sister.

"A boy?!" exclaimed Sola. "Have you seen the way he looks at you?"

"Sola, stop it!" Padmé protested.

"It's obvious he has feelings for you. Are you saying, little baby sister, that you haven't noticed?" Sola continued, ignoring Padmé's protests.

"I'm not your baby sister, Sola. Anakin and I are friends... Our relationship is strictly professional." Padmé turned to her mother. "Mom, would you tell her to stop it?"

Sola laughed. "Well, maybe you haven't noticed the way he looks at you. I think you're afraid to."

"Cut it out," Padmé tried to snarl.

Jobal interrupted the two sisters before it turned into a fight. "Sola's just concerned... We all are."

Padmé sighed. "Oh, mom, you're impossible. What I'm doing is important," she answered.

Jobal shook her head. "You've done your service, Padmé. it's time you had a life of your own. You're missing so much!" she protested. Padmé shook her head too. When would they listen to her?

Anakin and Ruwee had begun walking in the garden again while Padmé was interrogated by her mother and sister. Ruwee stopped and faced Anakin directly. "Now tell me, son. How serious is this thing? How much danger is my daughter really in?" Ruwee asked.

Anakin mentally sighed. No point lying to the man. "There have been two attempts on her life. Chances are there'll be more. The Jedi Order is tracking down the assassins. I'm sure they'll find out who they are. This situation won't last long in my opinion," he answered diplomatically.

"I don't want anything to happen to her," Ruwee answered, looking up and spotting the girls in the kitchen window.

The former Jedi followed Ruwee's line of sight. "I promise you, I won't let anything happen to her."

Later, Anakin watched as Padmé throw some things into a bag.

"Don't worry, this won't take long," she stated, noting his tense form in her bedroom.

"Take your time. As long as we get there before dark, we'll be fine," he answered as he looked around the room while Padmé continued packing.

"I move around so much, I've never had a place of my own," she stated as she packed. "Official residences have no warmth. I feel good here. I feel at home."

Anakin smiled sadly at that. "I never had a real home," he commented. "Home was always where my mom was. Then, as I grew up and after I left the Order, all I've had was the clothes on my back, the money in my pocket and my sabers." He picked up a framed hologram as he spoke, looking over at Padmé. "Is this you?"

The hologram shows Padmé at the age of seven or eight surrounded by forty or fifty little Shadda-Bi-Boran children. Padmé held one in her arms as they all smiled at the camera.

Padmé walked over to Anakin. "That was when I went with the relief group to Shadda-Bi-Boran," she explained. "Their sun was imploding and the planet was dying. I was helping to relocate the children. See that little one I'm holding?" She smiled sadly. "His name was N'a-Kee-Tula, which means sweetheart. He was so full of life... All those kids were. I did everything I could to save him, but he died... They all did," she continued. "They were never able to adapt... To live off their native planet."

Anakin frowned and placed the hologram down, feeling her pain. He turned and picked up another hologram of Padmé at the age of ten or eleven. She was wearing official robes and standing between two robed legislators, her expression severe.

Padmé smiled ironically. "My first day as an apprentice legislator. Notice the difference?" she asked as she pulled a face.

The former Jedi grinned but said nothing. Padmé rolled her eyes before returning to packing. Anakin set the two holograms down side by side - the beaming little girl, and the stern, unsmiling adolescent. Two different sides of a woman he had always viewed as an angel as a child. It seemed like he wasn't the only one who wore a mask to hide the suffering he had seen.

"Done," Padmé announced, making Anakin look over at her. "Let's go."

Padmé watched Anakin meditate on the balcony. Despite trying to convince herself that he had simply grown up, it was hard to deny that Anakin had changed from the loving, caring young boy he had once been. He was darker, his eyes carrying the pains of his past. His body was also scarred; she noticed the wraps on his arm when he wore his uniform. But once they were off, the scars were obvious. And right now, on the balcony, Anakin wasn't wearing a top, Padmé could count every scar littering his back.

"I can feel you watching me, Milady," Anakin commented, breaking Padmé from her thoughts. "What do you want to know?"

Padmé frowned as Anakin turned to face her, his eyes dark from the thoughts that had been running through his mind. "Something has been plaguing your mind lately," she started. "What is it?"

Anakin's face darkened slightly. "A past memory. Happened over a year ago," he answered truthfully. He looked back over the lake before returning his gaze to Padmé. "I travelled to Tatoonine. To find my mother. By the time I found her, free and married with a stepson… she'd been captured by Tusken Raiders. They had tortured her…" He cut himself off with a swallow.

Padmé frowned, already guessing what he was about to say. Slowly, she walked over to him, watching him carefully. "Ani?"

His eyes slid closed. "She died in my arms, Padmé. And I could do nothing to save her," he whispered. "I almost killed the whole tribe afterwards. Ended up killing the main torturers. Brought my mother to her husband and buried her peacefully. At least she got to see me one more time before her death."

Padmé's eyes saddened. She wrapped her arms around his waist, offering a hug. No words could take away or comfort the pain he had gone through.

Anakin wrapped his arms around Padmé, his larger form engulfing her petite body. "Thank you," he whispered into her hair. Confessing the events of his mother's death had been hard for him. But with Padmé, it had felt easier. He frowned as he pulled away slowly. "Why are you awake? It's too early for breakfast." Or to contact anyone, he mentally added.

"I'm usually awake at this time while on Coruscant. I haven't adjusted to the different time yet," she answered with an honest smile. "I thought I'd take a walk around before I found you." She raised an eyebrow with a smirk. "Why are you out here?"

"Trying to meditate before someone interrupted me," he replied with a cheeky grin.

Padmé's eyes narrowed playfully before shaking her head. "You seem happier here," she stated, noting the change in mood in the young man in front of her.

He smirked. "Naboo is a lot more peaceful than the likes of Coruscant." He tilted his head, his smirk growing. "The view isn't too bad either."

The Senator blushed deeply at the implication from her protector. "Coruscant is too industrial… Anywhere is better than the Republic's capital," she answered, looking out onto the lake. "Less fumes, less noise. You miss the peace when you're not here."

Anakin nodded in understanding. "When you travel a lot, you seem to become immune to the fumes. But the noise you can't seem to make stop. All you seem to want is peace of quietness."

"You're very different from the little boy I met on Tatooine, Ani. The light in your eyes is gone."

He smiled slightly at her words. "That little boy got hurt in a lot of ways. He had to change and grow up a lot," he eventually answered. "A lot of opinions I once had no longer exist, while some still do."

"Which ones still do?"

"You're still the only angel I remember seeing."

To answer the reviews from the previous chapter:

ReaderZJ: Sorry for the slow updates, hope to get more up soon :)

Masterbroly: Thank you – getting there. Hope this was worth the wait :)

StormGlory125: Thank you :) Embo will come into the story at some point – can't tell you exactly when because that may spoil it ;) I have a rough outline of how it will go and how it will end – I make brainstorms for all of my stories.

StormGuard: So many reviews to answer from you :) As for your recommendations, I won't say yes or no since we need to make sure others have to keep guessing :) Also, you aptly sum up my ideas of Anakin :)

acetwolf94: Thank you :) Feeling better now :)

ToInfinityMyLove: Thank you, feeling much better :) I hope I continue to give you what you like in Anakin :)

Guest: Thank you :) I'm feeling better now :) Hope this was worth the wait :)

Meydral Skirata: Thank you :) Hope this was worth the wait :)

355: Thank you, should be updating more now :) I hope this was worth the really long wait though o.o Again, sorry for this.

Jedi Master Misty Sman-Esay: Thank you :) I've gotten everything planned out with the shaping of characters. As regards to the bending of the timeline with Galen and Juno, they're no longer in the canon so I felt I needed to put them in my story. Ezra is out of timeline so but felt it would be a cool twist. Thank you, feeling a lot better now :)

Guest: Thank you :) Hope this was worth the wait :)

Animefortin95: Sorry for the wait, hope this was worth it :)

locolycan777: Thank you :) She will make a few appearances :)

Lyn79: Thank you :) I hope you enjoy the changes I have made in this :)

ahiddenmask: Thank you :) I hope I continue to feed your binging :) There will be a lot of Anidala loving; within the next three chapters ;) Hope this was worth the wait :)

sharp52092: Anakin will be a darker, more distant version of Cade. Thank you: the Naberries should have been included! :) :)

ladyw1026: Thank you :) I'm glad you understand :) The thing regarding 14 was in regards to Ahsoka, not Padmé. Sorry for the confusion. I hope this was worth the wait :)

Dault3883 Barron Backslash: Thank you :) I hope this was worth the wait :)

ILDV: Thank you :)

Jadaerys: Thank you :) I hope this was up to your expectations :) She was kind of surprised because she didn't think she'd have the chance to see them :)

SasukeShouldDie: The comment about being 14 was in regards to Ahsoka, not Padmé. Sorry for the confusion. I hope this was just as good :)