"I hope you know that I'm not calling you Master," Anakin said sourly as he followed Obi-Wan to a large ditch at the edge of a park filled with children running to and fro.

Anakin didn't think it was such a good idea to train so close to people who didn't know what a Jedi was, but Obi-Wan insisted that Anakin needed to get used to using his powers under different circumstances again. "Besides," He'd said as they'd gotten into his truck, "It's California. Californians see weird things all the time." Whatever that was supposed to mean.

Now Obi-Wan just smiled. "Oh Anakin, I've missed our training sessions." He said dryly as they dropped into the concrete space. Anakin wrinkled his nose at the trash and murky puddles of mysterious liquid were on the floor of the ditch. This was not at all an ideal place to train, but Anakin supposed that even in his galaxy, no Jedi after his transformation into Darth Vader had an ideal place to train either. Briefly he wondered how Luke had received his training.

Obi-Wan found a relatively dry, clear area and sat down, cross legged. He motioned in front of him. "Sit."

Anakin hesitated. "We're not starting on Form 1?" It was usually the first thing Younglings learned when they started their training.

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. "You were Darth Vader not too long ago. You were a master of the Lightsaber. Are you telling me in the week you've been here, you've completely lost that ability?"

Anakin scowled. "No."

"Good. I won't make you call me Master, but I do ask that you make an effort to trust me. Now, sit." He motioned at the spot on the ground again, and this time Anakin sat.

It had been a week since he arrived in this world. Already he was adjusting quickly to the differences of this world—at least physically. He had figured out how to use his motorcycle (which was one of his favorite possessions), he had unpacked what little he owned in his bedroom, and he was finding the school work to be rather easy. This world may have been more advanced in some things, but his galaxy was more advanced in many other ways, so even this world's advanced technology was rather simple for him to grasp.

However, that meant that he finished his work early. Both Mindy and Padme, much further along in school than he was, were constantly busy in the evenings. He had occupied his time with spending time with his mother, something that he had greatly desired for so long, but today she was supposed to head back home. He didn't want her to go, not only because he felt that one week was too short of time to be with her after so many years of being separated, but also because he knew that he wouldn't have anything to do after finishing his school work. He would either have to find something to do, or he would be left alone with his thoughts—and he was not adjusted emotionally.

He hoped he found something to do very quickly.

Although his mother was leaving today, Obi-Wan was staying. He had told his mother that he was staying to help Anakin with his memories, but Anakin knew the truth. Obi-Wan was staying to reteach him how to use the Force again.

Anakin knew that he needed to learn to use the Force again, but he hated that he would have to train with Obi-Wan again. It wasn't because Obi-Wan was still an enemy to him—honestly, Anakin still wasn't sure what Obi-Wan was to him. He just hated being so vulnerable, so open to criticism and judgement. To successfully create a Master-Padawan relationship, the Padawan needed to let the Master in completely. Anakin was not yet in a good place to let Obi-Wan in fully. He was sure that if Obi-Wan saw the extent of his inner turmoil, he would change his mind and turn his back on Anakin.

Anakin really didn't feel like getting into another battle with his former friend.

"Now," Obi-Wan began, his hands on his knees, "As I said, you don't have issues with your fighting technique. What you do need improvement on, and honestly, what you've always needed improvement on, is your control. So today, we're going to meditate."

Already Anakin was inwardly groaning (he didn't dare to do so outwardly, as he knew Obi-Wan wouldn't appreciate it). He had always hated meditation. It wasn't because it was boring—it was actually quite the opposite. Meditation forced you to look inward, to attempt to find inner peace. Anakin had never fully been able to achieve inner peace due to the multiple fears and warring emotions he had always felt. He had never explained that in full to Obi-Wan, but Obi-Wan always knew that Anakin avoided meditation when possible.

"What are your concerns, Anakin?" Obi-Wan's voice reached him, pulling him out of his inner despair. He looked upon Anakin with that patient look he always had, but this time Anakin could see the concern in his eyes. This time, Obi-Wan had an idea of just how broken Anakin was. "We can't keep secrets from each other this time. You need to tell me when you are concerned about something."

He was right. He had always been right, but he was even more so now. Anakin took a deep breath. "I'm worried that I won't be able to achieve peace. I have…even more demons to battle than I did before."

Obi-Wan nodded thoughtfully. "I don't expect you to achieve that peace for a long time. I have a theory that what is holding you back from your ability to use the Force is your inability to reach inner peace. We have a lot of work to do. What I want you to focus on today as you meditate, though, is trying to identify what your major obstacles are that are blocking the Force. What is it that you need to come to terms with first?"

Anakin winced. There were so many things, so many awful things, but the major ones? Those were the ones he worried would break him. "And do I have to tell you what those are when I find them?"

He already knew the answer before Obi-Wan said it. "Yes. If I am to know how to help you, I have to know what it is we're up against. I know that's hard, but for this to work, you have to do it."

This time, Anakin did groan. "I'll try."

Obi-Wan's lips curled upwards into a sad smile. "Do or do not. There is no try."

Yoda's words. Even in death, Yoda was still influencing his training.

So Anakin closed his eyes, settling in rather uncomfortably into his meditative state. He focused on the Force that he could still feel within himself, trying to pull it out of the inner depths of his soul. It didn't budge.

After about ten minutes of trying to absorb himself into the Force, Anakin sighed in frustration. "Nothing's happening," He snapped, "This isn't going to work."

Obi-Wan continued to gaze at him with absolute patience. "Because you aren't trusting yourself." He said simply. "I see now that the self-doubt Luke has came from you."

Anakin opened his eyes, perking a bit in curiosity. "Luke had self-doubt?"

Obi-Wan nodded. "Yes. He often doubted his ability to use the Force during his training."

Anakin realized something then: Obi-Wan may have hidden Luke and Leia from him, but he was still a connection to the children he had lost. "Could you…tell me more about Luke?"

Obi-Wan paused, thinking over how the information would affect Anakin's training. Finally he nodded. "I'll tell you more about him when you successfully find the obstacle to your Force through meditation."

Groaning, Anakin closed his eyes again. This time, he focused on breathing deeply, in and out, concentrating on the Force within. He could feel it, a ball of energy, slumbering within his breast, waiting to be released. Instead of trying to force it to come out, Anakin instead focused on spreading that energy throughout his body.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the Force began to spread. It hummed through his veins, making his body feel warm despite the cool breeze hitting his face. He felt it reach his mind, where images began to replay through it: memories, worries, things spoken and things unspoken, all flooded through his head.

It wasn't long before the images that haunted him began to run through his head. Instinctively, he wanted to pull away.

"Don't fight it," Obi-Wan's voice, far away, said. He was right: Anakin had to do this. He mentally pushed himself onward, facing the memories.

He saw the millions of people he hurt. Many people he had never actually met, but he could feel their presence.

He saw Mace Windu, ever stern when it came to anything Anakin was involved in, being thrown by Palpatine's lightning from the window after Anakin had sliced his hand off. Anakin had only meant to do it to make Mace see sense in what he was doing—Yes, Palpatine deserved death, but he also deserved a trial. Anakin may have had selfish reasons for wanting Palpatine to continue to live, but he hadn't been wrong when he'd said it wasn't the Jedi way to kill him. Still, Anakin hadn't stopped Palpatine from killing him.

The image moved on. Obviously, despite Anakin's guilt, this wasn't what was stopping him from using the Force.

He saw himself turn to the Dark Side. He saw the self-loathing as he did it, his sole purpose to save his wife…

Then he was Force choking Padme.

The image caused his entire body to shudder in revulsion, and he began to withdraw from the image. "Anakin, face it." Obi-Wan's voice kept him grounded, and hesitantly Anakin continued to meditate, the images continuing. He saw the vision the Force had shown him before he'd come to this world, of Padme having their babies, pleading for Obi-Wan to see the good in Anakin as she died.

He saw her funeral. She was beautiful in her midnight blue down, her hair spread out around her, white flowers cascading across her coffin.

In her hands, the necklace he'd made for her.

Then she was before him again in her PJ's, asking him questions, unable to remember who he was or what he'd done to her.

And as he looked at her, seeing her beauty, seeing her as she was all those years ago, untouched by untold pain, Anakin thought one word:

Unworthy.

He was unworthy of her. She would never forgive him. Part of him wanted to confess to her what he'd done, but he knew that even if she did believe him, she would turn away in revulsion.

He didn't deserve her.

The pain of those images caused such intensity that he cried out, the Force leaving the rest of his body abruptly, settling back to the slumber within his chest.

He opened his eyes, breathing hard, sweat running down his skin. His stomach turned, and again he felt the urge to throw up, if only to make himself feel better. He knew it wouldn't do anything, so this time he forced the feeling to go away.

"What did you see?" Obi-Wan asked, and Anakin could hear the hopefulness in his voice.

He swallowed hard again, forcing himself to calm his racing heart. "I saw myself…" he didn't want to say it. He couldn't.

"You need to tell me Anakin," Obi-Wan encouraged.

Anakin closed his eyes again. "I saw myself ch-choke Padme." He said in a whisper. "I saw…I saw her die. I saw how she begged you to see the good in me. I saw us reunited here in this world, where she's so innocent and beautiful and alive and…" He put his head in his hands. "I don't deserve her Obi-Wan. I know that the Force wants me to reconcile with her, but I can't. I'm afraid that if I do tell her, and by some miracle she remembers, she'll not only hate me, she'll be repulsed by me. I'm afraid of that, but I know I don't deserve anything else. And I hate myself because of it, because I know I'm going to lose her and there's nothing I can do to stop it."

Obi-Wan was silent for a long time. Anakin wasn't sure if he was waiting for him to calm down, or he was trying to think of something to say, but by the time Anakin had controlled his breathing, Obi-Wan said, "It sounds like the major thing that keeps holding you back, both here and back in our Galaxy, is the fear of losing the one you love most. It's an understandable thing. But it was your fear of losing her that caused you to lose her in the first place, Anakin." Anakin met Obi-Wan's serious, ice blue eyes. "You need to let go of your fear of losing her if you want to not only use the Force again, but fully reunite with her as well."

Anakin was almost afraid to ask, but he had to. "Do you think that's possible?"

Obi-Wan frowned in thought. "Anything is possible, Anakin. I can't say for sure, since only Padme can ultimately decide. You already know that nursing that fear will only be sure to make you lose her. So why don't you work on going down a different path this time?"

"Easier said than done," Anakin grumbled.

"This is true," Obi-Wan nodded before he stood up, brushing the dirt off of himself. "Well, I think that's enough for today. Good work, Anakin."

Anakin stood and began to follow Obi-Wan out of the ditch. "You promised to tell me something about Luke," he reminded him after they'd climbed out and were headed to the truck.

"I did, didn't I?" Obi-Wan sighed, thinking. "Okay. I'll tell you one story for today. You'll get another story next time we train, got it?" Anakin nodded, knowing there was no way he would talk Obi-Wan out of it even though Anakin wanted to know everything there was to know about his son. "When Luke was six, Owen lost a screw driver. The screw driver was needed to put back together farm equipment, and Owen couldn't complete his work without it. Owen had Luke help him look for the screw driver, but after an hour of searching, they were unable to find it. Finally, Luke did what was instinctual for him: he used the Force.

"As soon as he used it, he ended up finding it under the couch in the living room. Luke was excited by what he'd done, and he proudly explained what happened to Owen. Owen was always terrified of Luke's potential—he didn't want him to become…" Obi-Wan trailed off. Anakin didn't need to hear the rest of that sentence to know what Obi-Wan meant: Owen was terrified Luke would become a Sith, like his father. "Anyway, Owen got angry with Luke and insisted that Luke must have found it because he put it under the couch in the first place. Eventually, Luke stopped insisting that something had led him to it, and learned not to use the Force."

It was obvious to Anakin that Luke was skilled in the Force even from a young age. It was something that filled him with a sense of pride—but for Owen to react that way? Sure, Anakin understood Owen's reasoning behind it. But the Force wasn't just some random ability that could be ignored like the ability to paint. The Force was literally a part of who Luke was, and to encourage him to ignore something so vital to his identity for so long… Anakin had to ignore the wave of anger that threatened to overwhelm him.

"Owen was a good guardian for Luke," Obi-Wan rushed, as though reason Anakin's mind. Perhaps he had. "But he was also a cautious man. Still, without his guidance, Luke may have turned into a very different person."

Anakin could only nod and say, "Thank you," in response.

They reached the truck, and Obi-Wan pulled out his keys to unlock it. "Before we go to say goodbye to your mother," Obi-Wan said, not pressing the unlock button. Anakin waited tensely for whatever Obi-Wan was going to say. "Your mother is concerned that you aren't getting all of the help you need."

"You know I don't have a problem remembering who I am." Anakin interrupted.

He nodded. "I know, and you know, but she doesn't. She is worried that you turned down Doctor Organa's orders to see a therapist."

Anakin scowled. "I don't need a shrink."

"Again, I know that. But your mother is going to keep worrying over you unless you do it." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Look, it's just once a week. I'll even pay for the visit. I just hate seeing your mother so worried."

Anakin didn't disagree. He hated seeing his mother worry as well. But a therapist? As far as he was concerned, they were just as bad as doctors. Still, if it made his mother happy…

With a resigned sigh, Anakin nodded. "Fine. But don't expect me to like it."

Obi-Wan smiled, though the smile didn't touch his eyes. "I wouldn't expect any differently."


"These dreams won't stop, and they're really starting to weird me out." Padme said as she dipped her roller into the sky blue paint. The entire living room was covered with protective plastic while she and Mindy painted the walls, and every move they made was accompanied by the loud sound of crinkling plastic.

"Why?" Mindy said, rolling her brush up the opposite wall. "I mean, they're just random images."

"Normally, I would agree with you." Padme said, turning back to her wall. "But they're so bizarre and random, I just don't know where my subconscious would have gotten them from."

"Maybe you saw something on TV once? Like in a Halloween commercial?"

Padme shook her head. "No, I don't think that's it. And it's strange, but they feel so…so real. Like they weren't from my imagination, but rather my own memories."

Mindy sighed, stopping for a second to look at Padme. "Look, they're just dreams. Weird, random dreams, but dreams nonetheless. Once I had a dream that I became the Queen of Russia and when I invited you over, you ran over my bushes with a four wheeler screaming, 'Die Commie bushes, America rocks!' At the time, the dream felt pretty real to me at the time, but unless there's something you're not telling me, that situation has never happened nor will it ever happen. It was just a bizarre dream. Your dreams are the same way, just filled with random aliens and hot men. You could totally have way worse dreams, you know."

Padme frowned. She had a point. Honestly, Padme wasn't sure why the dreams stayed with her as much as they did. Other than the first dream with the little boy, nothing significant had happened in any of her dreams.

Still…

"Let's just talk about something less dreary." Mindy said as she switched her roller brush for a regular paintbrush to get the edges of her wall.

"Like what?"

"Like," Mindy grinned, and instantly Padme regretted asking the question. "Like the party tonight at OPAL. You are going."

Padme groaned. "I can't. I have a bunch of homework this weekend. Besides, we went to a party last weekend and look how that turned out."

"Yes, I happened to hit a super hot guy, bring him home, and now he lives here. That's such a terrible thing." Padme could practically hear Mindy rolling her eyes. "You've been doing homework almost non-stop this whole week, and I have to. We need to get out of the house sometime, Padme."

Padme didn't reply—Mindy was right, and she didn't feel like admitting it out loud. She knew that she couldn't spend her whole college experience working on school work, but with the amount of it that she was assigned, it was easy to do that.

"You know," Padme could hear the mischievousness in her friend's tone, "Anakin said he'd go."

Padme tensed. "He did?" She hadn't thought to ask him about it. She'd seen him since school started, of course, but it wasn't for very long.

"Yup. I bet he would love it if you went."

Padme turned around to face her, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You haven't been feeding him stories, have you?"

Mindy pointed innocently to herself. "Who, me? Why, of course not. I just asked if he wanted to go, and then when he hesitated, I said I would convince you to go to. He was more than happy to agree after that."

Of course she did. "You need to learn to stay out of my love life." Padme said.

"Or lack of one." Mindy pointed her paint brush at her. "You need to lighten up." She flicked the paintbrush for emphasis, but as she did, extra paint still on the brush flicked off of it and splattered onto Padme, making Padme gasp in surprise. Mindy paled, her free hand going to cover her mouth. "I am so sorry. I honestly didn't mean for that to happen!"

For a moment Padme just stood there, feeling the paint splattered onto her thankfully old T-shirt and jeans. "I need to lighten up, huh?" Padme finally said, reaching down to the paint bucket to grab the other regular paint brush. "What about….you?" She flicked her paint brush at Mindy, the paint splattering right into her face.

Mindy squeaked as the paint hit her, a devious grin lighting across her face. "Oh, it's on!" She said, dipping her brush into the paint again and splattering Padme.

Both girls screeched as they began hurling paint back and forth at each other, paying no attention when the sound of the front door opening echoed throughout the house. Moments later, Anakin inched into the room, a curious look on his handsome face. "Padme? Mindy? What's…" Some of Mindy's paint missed Padme, and instead splattered across Anakin, making him break off the question.

Both girls froze, staring at Anakin in horror. Unlike the girls, Anakin was wearing a nice button up gray shirt and brand new jeans. They were not clothes they thought he would like to get ruined. But Anakin only stared at them wide-eyed, obviously not having expected to get splattered with paint, but as the shock wore off a huge smile lit his face. "Three can play at this," He said, reaching his hand into the paint and placing it on Padme's cheek.

"Anakin!" Padme cried, pretending to be appalled, but Anakin only laughed, smearing paint onto Mindy's shirt before Mindy could move out of his way.

An all-out paint war ensued between the three. They didn't care that they were ruining each other's clothes, or that they were making the plastic slick with excess paint. They laughed and shouted as they threw paint, and eventually, as that particular paint bucket began to run empty, they collapsed on the plastic floor, breathing hard.

"Well," Mindy breathed, "Welcome home Anakin."

Anakin laughed, the sound full and bright, making Padme's heart ache with…with…well, she wasn't sure. But she knew that she liked it when he laughed. It was a sound she wanted to hear more often.

Slowly, Padme got back to her feet, looking at the mess they'd made. "Well, it's a good thing we put down plenty of plastic," She said, but as she began to wonder how they were going to leave the room, the sound of the front door opening echoed through the house again. Moments later, Ben appeared at the entrance to the living room.

"Hi, O—Ben." Anakin said, a mischievious grin on his face.

Ben frowned at the mess they'd made, but Padme could see the humor in his eyes. "I can't leave you three alone for five minutes, can I?" He asked, attempting to sound scolding, but he didn't quite manage it.

"Nope," Anakin said, almost proudly.

"Well, let me get you three something to clean up with." With that, he turned and walked away, muttering something about it being typical that he was cleaning up after 'those two.' Whoever 'those two' were.


When Mindy had approached Anakin about going to a dance party, Anakin had been hesitant. He wasn't much of a dancer, and although he liked Mindy fine, he didn't know her well enough to go hang out at random parties with just her. But when Mindy had said Padme would likely go, Anakin couldn't help but say yes.

When he got to the club late that night, Anakin wished he had said no.

He had spent the rest of that afternoon helping Padme and Mindy clean up the paint mess and the finish painting the living room using another full can of paint. By the time they had finished, the sun had already set. That didn't stop the girls from getting ready for the dance, and after much mental debate over whether or not he still wanted to go, he decided to follow through and get ready. By the time he had finished, the girls had gone already in Padme's black BMW, leaving Anakin to get there on his motorcycle.

The club had been easy to find, but as he entered the smoky room packed with sweaty bodies, he wished he had known just what he was getting himself into.

There had been bars in his galaxy. There had been crazy parties. But they didn't compare to this.

The music was louder than he'd ever heard music go. His eardrums rang with the intensity of it, and the floor shook beneath him. Lights of different colors bounced around the room, making the people in the room appear almost alien as they danced to the pulsing music. He wasn't even sure the music was actual music…. Did people seriously listen to this stuff in this world?

And the dancing…he wasn't even good at his Galaxy's dances, how was he even going to attempt this?

He squinted, trying to see a familiar face in the crowd, but he could hardly tell who was who in the room. Finally he gave up, finding an empty table in the corner to sit at while he texted Padme that he was here.

While he waited for a response, he opened up the Facebook app on his phone, flipping through it. There were a bunch of notifications from people he didn't know, all asking him questions on how school was. He hadn't made any posts since he got to this world, so none of these people knew that he didn't know them anymore.

With a pang of regret, he wondered what had happened to the Anakin of this world. Had he died? Disappeared? Been placed in another world? He suddenly felt really bad about taking the place of this world's Anakin. Yet again, he had been selfish, but this time how was he supposed to know this would happen? He wondered if his mother would mourn the loss of the Anakin she knew, or if she would embrace him as her own if he told her. And how did Obi-Wan feel about it? He had clearly had a close relationship with the Anakin of this world, and now he was stuck with a very broken former Sith Lord. Somehow, Anakin doubted he was as calm as he acted.

"You made it!" He looked up to find Padme standing next to his table, a smile on her face. All doubts about being there disappeared when he saw her. She was…well, an angel.

She had straightened her hair, something he hadn't seen before, and it looked longer than it was as a result. The different lighting reflected off of the gleam in it, and she almost looked like she had a multicolored halo around her head. She wore a high necked, sleeveless black mini dress, and Anakin blushed to see so much of her bare legs (women did NOT wear that in his galaxy for the most part, but he had increasingly become aware that women here wore much different clothing). She wore black high heels, and dark red earrings dangled from her ears.

Anakin swallowed. "Yeah," he said, his voice barely being heard over the music. Well, it seemed they wouldn't be able to talk very much here.

Padme laughed and reached her hands out. "Dance with me!"

Anakin's blush deepened. Sure, he'd danced with Padme, but never in public. That was how he'd figured out that he was an awful dancer, at least compared to her. "No, I'm not a good dancer," He shouted.

"Who cares? I'm not good either!" Yeah, right. But she was taking his hand and he was allowing himself to be pulled out of his seat and back into the crowd. She led him into the center of the dance floor, under a chandelier, and stopped, turning to face him. "Don't think about it, just let the music guide you!"

Anakin's heart clenched at those words. She'd said that to him once before. Don't think about it. Let the music guide you. He watched as this Padme began to dance to the beat of the music, her body twisting and turning, and suddenly he became very aware of her curves. It was an effort not to reach out and pull her closer to him.

"Dance!" she yelled over the music again when she saw him still standing there. Hesitantly, Anakin began to dance. He glanced at the other men in the club for reference—they didn't seem to be doing anything fancy. In fact, they hardly moved at all. So Anakin followed their example, feeling totally out of his element. Needless to say, he hadn't exactly gone to a bunch of dance parties as Darth Vader.

Eventually, Anakin began to settle into a routine, slightly changing it up as different songs came on. Mindy soon joined them, in a pair of leather pants and a maroon tank top, dancing with Padme like they had done so for years. Anakin figured the girls probably had. It was odd trying to fit into their routine, knowing that he didn't exactly go with it.

Finally Padme stopped, breathing heavily. "I'm going to go get some water," she said, motioning to the counter. "I'll be back!" She didn't wait for their response before she spun on her heel and made her way over.

Anakin debated going after her, but he didn't want to feel like a lost puppy following after Padme's every move. He'd done enough of that when he was still courting her back in the old days, and though she'd found it cute, it hadn't been what had won her over.

Still, he kept his eyes on her as she approached the bar, leaning over to ask the bartender for her drink. "Just ask her out already!" Mindy shouted.

Anakin didn't take his eyes off of Padme, but he smiled bitterly. "We'll see, Mindy." He shouted back. He hated that he had to shout. Couldn't they have gone somewhere calmer?

Even if he was starting to enjoy dancing, albeit awkwardly, with Padme.

Mindy launched into reasons why he should ask Padme out, but he hardly heard her. As she spoke, a man approached Padme. He leaned over and said something to her and she looked at him with an exasperated look on her face as the bartender handed her the drink. The man said something again, and this time Padme shot him a glare, turning around to head back to Anakin and Mindy.

It was as she was heading back that the man made his mistake. He reached out and groped Padme.

Anakin was consumed by anger so quickly, he didn't even think. He abruptly left Mindy, pushing his way through the crowd. Padme dropped her glass, smacking the guy across the face, but that did not appease Anakin.

He couldn't think. How dare someone touch Padme that way without her permission?!

The next thing Anakin knew, he was in the guy's face, throwing a punch right into the man's jaw. The man went sprawling across the counter, scattering glasses onto the floor. People around them screamed, moving out of the way. The man tried to get back up, but Anakin was on him, punching him again.

And again.

And again.

Again.

Again.

He was out of control, some distant part of him knew that. But he had touched her inappropriately, in a way that she clearly didn't want him to.

And Anakin was going to make sure that he never even had another inappropriate thought about Padme again.

"Anakin!" Someone was yelling, but he didn't care. The guy beneath him was bloody, and already unconscious. "Anakin!" He wasn't Anakin, he was Darth Vader, why was someone calling him by his weak Jedi name? "ANAKIN!"

Anakin stopped, dropping the man from his now bloody hands. The man fell against the counter and then slumped to the floor. The club was silent. He could hear someone calling the cops.

He stared at the bloody man on the floor. He had done this. He hadn't killed the man, but he'd certainly broken his nose at least. But had he had the Force, he would have killed him. He knew that for a certainty. But even this…sure, the man had deserved the first punch. But did he deserve to be beaten to a bloody pulp?

Slowly, he turned around, afraid to see the look on Padme's face. He forced himself to look though.

She looked at him, her eyes wide, her hand outstretched hesitantly, as though she weren't sure if he was safe to touch. Mindy stood behind her, staring at the man on the floor and then narrowing her eyes at his bloody fists. "Anakin," Padme breathed, taking a step towards him.

"No," He said, shaking.

She frowned, her eyebrows knitting together. "But…"

He pushed past her, running towards the open doors. No one tried to stop him. People cleared the way as he went, staring after the man who had turned into a monster right there on the dance floor.

He raced into the parking lot, pulling out his phone as he rushed to his motorcycle. He didn't know who he was going to call, but he opened up the app at random and called.

"Hello?" Obi-Wan. Of course he'd called Obi-Wan. "Anakin?" He could hear the concern, the undeserved concern, in Obi-Wan's voice. "What's happened?"

Anakin reached his motorcycle, breathing hard. "I'm sorry," He said, his voice shaking, "But I can't train with you anymore. I'm sorry."

"Anakin, what…" Anakin disconnected the call, turning his phone off, and shoved it into his pocket before he got onto his motorcycle and sped blindly off into the night.


BAM long chapter and a cliffhanger! :D MUAHAHAHA! Because it was such a long chapter, I took an extra day writing it. Besides, last night I went to a Halloween party dressed up as a female Darth Vader and I ended up as a finalist in the costume contest! So, super fun. People were like, "So someone is excited for the new movie" and I was like, "WHAT GAVE ME AWAY?!" XD

Anyhow, Obi-Wan has narrowed Anakin's internal issues down to one major issue, but as Anakin said, it's easier to say you'll overcome an issue than to actually overcome it. But Anakin has a lot more experience now, so he will pull through and the result will be...rather surprising. There were also some cute moments between Anakin and Padme in this chapter, and a rather...explosive moment as well. Anakin will have to deal with the fallout from that next chapter, and we'll see how Padme views it as well.

Thank you so much for your reviews! I had some really good suggestions from reviewers! Trust me, I will address them all as the story progresses, but some questions may not be so easy to answer, like what happened to the Obi-Wan and the Anakin of this world. We'll explore that soon, and some other issues that arise from being thrust into our world.

Keep up the reviews! I love to read them and they certainly inspire me! Love you all lots!

Hugs and chocolate kisses,

~ Sarah