The two Jedi Starfighters landed outside the humble moisture farm that was the Lars Homestead. Obi-Wan opened up his cockpit and stepped out of his starfighter while Anakin decided to jump out of his with a somersault as was his preferred way of exiting his starfighter. Obi-Wan shook his head as he folded his arms in his cloak over his chest. Anakin just stared at three grave stones that were off to the side. Obi-Wan knew that Anakin's mother was buried there and he felt sympathy for his 'brother'. As though sensing Obi-Wan's eyes on him, Anakin looked at him.
"You're here sooner than we expected," Owen Lars said stepping out of the doorway that led inside to the Lars home. He looked the same as he did two years prior when he and Anakin met for the first time. He looked from Anakin to the other jedi. "You must be Master Kenobi," he said. "We were about to sit down for our evening meal. After you've parked your ships in the garage, you can come down and eat."
"Your hospitality is gratefully appreciated," Obi-Wan said offering a bow. "Come, Anakin, let us get our ships out from the open."
"Of course, Master," Anakin said and turned to his ship. He raised his right hand and lifted his ship with the force moving it towards the garage.
"Anakin. What have I told you about showing off," Obi-Wan said seeing Owen's bewildered expression.
"I'm not showing off, Obi-Wan, just moving my ship," Anakin said as his ship made it into the garage where it sat next to a speeder. "Would you like for me to move yours as well, Master?" Anakin asked politely.
"No, that's quite alright, Anakin. I'll move it myself," Obi-Wan said extending his right hand where he moved his ship into the garage next to Anakin's.
Both jedi turned to see Owen staring with his mouth open. Obi-Wan and Anakin shared a look before they waved their hands over Owen's shocked expression. Owen instantly snapped out of his momentarily shocked state and closed his mouth. He shook his head.
"You're going to have to get used to us using the force while we're here Owen," Anakin said.
"I hope that we don't have to stand out here forever," Obi-Wan said.
"Of course, come right in," Owen said turning and going back inside. Both jedi picked up their bags and followed Owen inside.
Once they reached inside they were greeted by Cliegg Lars in his hoverchair and Beru Whitesun. "Anakin, it's nice to see you again, Son. Master Kenobi, it's an honer to host you in my house. Beru has prepared a room for the both of you, you can put your stuff in there.
"Thank you," Anakin said bowing.
"I'll show you to your room," Beru said and walked past the two jedi to show them where they would be sleeping. Obi-Wan bowed to Cliegg before he and Anakin followed Beru down a hall. "I'm afraid that you'll both be sharing this room, there's two beds in here and it's very comfortable," Beru told them.
When Anakin stepped into the room, he closed his eyes seeing a vision of his mother. Her very presence was so vivid in this room. He felt her warmth spread through him and he basked in it.
"Anakin, are you alright?" Obi-Wan asked bringing Anakin out of the spell he was in.
Anakin opened his eyes. "My mother stayed in this room," he said.
Beru looked startled for a moment. "Well, yes. This was her room before she and Cliegg wed. How would you know that?" she said.
"I can feel her," Anakin said and closed his eyes again trying to envision her in this room. I love you Ani. I believe in you. He barely heard the words whispered so softly into his subconscious. He opened his eyes again to find that Beru had left. Obi-Wan had already set his bag on the bed to his left and was putting a few spare sets of jedi robes away.
"How long do you plan on staying here?" Obi-Wan asked sensing Anakin's return to reality.
"I don't know. Hopefully not for long. We're needed on Coruscant more than we are here or in the war," Anakin told him.
"We're needed just as much in this war than we are anywhere else, Anakin. We're jedi. We're the ones who have to maintain the peace," Obi-Wan told him.
"The focus is not out here in space. Our focus, the jedi's focus is on Coruscant. He never leaves Coruscant," Anakin said.
"What are you talking about, Anakin?" Obi-Wan asked crossing his arms. Anakin knew something more than he was letting on.
Anakin looked at Obi-Wan and back to the door. He wasn't sure how much he should tell Obi-Wan or what he should tell him. Would he believe him? He'd think he was nuts.
"Anakin, We are not leaving this room until you tell me what is going on," Obi-Wan told him sternly.
Anakin looked back to Obi-Wan and he knew that he had to tell him something. "Darth Sidious is on Coruscant as we speak. He's always been on Coruscant, right under our noses," he told him.
Obi-Wan looked incredulously at him. "Are you sure?" he asked him.
Anakin nodded. "Very. He has plans much bigger than what we can imagine. He plans to take over. This war is just an illusion act," he told him.
"How do you know this? There's more, I can sense it, Anakin. What else are you not telling me?" Obi-Wan asked.
"We should join the others, the meal is ready," Anakin said dropping the subject.
Obi-Wan knew that he wouldn't get any more out of him at the moment. But he had time to get Anakin to tell him everything. What else were they going to do here on this desolate planet? Why Master Yoda had picked this planet was beyond him. "Alright, then we shouldn't be rude to our hosts while we're here," he said and the two jedi left the guest room.
They met up with the Lars family in the dining room just as Beru put the meal on the table. Anakin's eyes lit up as he saw one of his mothers famous meals. Bantha chowder. Beru saw this and beamed.
"Shmi taught me how to make this among other things," she said. "I hope it's to your approval. I don't know how my cooking compares to hers."
"I'll be an excellent judge for you," Anakin said earning a stern look from Obi-Wan but he only winked at his former master, something that Obi-Wan hated sometimes. He could hear Obi-Wan's thought loud and clear. He was thinking over what Anakin had told him. If only her knew everything. The two jedi took their seats as everyone else did. Anakin was the first to dish himself out a bowl of bantha chowder and took a taste, slowly savoring it, eyes closed as he was deep in thought.
Owen paid no attention as to whether Anakin Skywalker approved of Beru's cooking or not as he dished himself out a bowl of the chowder and began eating it. Cliegg however waited to hear of Anakin's approval or not. Obi-Wan just rolled his eyes as he too dished out a bowl of chowder and ate it slowly and civilized. Beru however waited anxiously hoping to gain the young jedi's approval. Finally Anakin opened his eyes as he swallowed. He grinned at Beru.
"You've done a fine job. However I'm always going to partial to my mom's cooking. I could give you some little hints here and there that my mother probably didn't tell you," Anakin said.
Obi-Wan looked at Anakin in surprise. "Since when do you cook?" he asked.
"My mother taught me," Anakin said proudly. "It's not my fault that I was never allowed into the kitchen at the temple."
"Maybe it was your constant pranks that made people weary of you going near their food, force knows that putting up a force field up around all the toilets in the temple made the entire order willing to not put anything past you," Obi-Wan told him.
"I was ten! I thought it was funny at the time," Anakin defended himself.
"That's no excuse, Anakin," Obi-Wan told him.
"New topic please, I don't want any arguing at my table," Cliegg said.
"We're not arguing," both jedi said at the same time.
"Dad, the evaporators are on the fritz again. I don't know what to do with them this time," Owen said changing the topic.
"Why don't you let me take a look at them. I'm pretty handy at mechanics," Anakin offered.
"That's very generous of you, Anakin. Owen you can show him where the controls are tomorrow," Cliegg said.
Owen stared at his bowl of chowder. He would rather screw nails into his toes than work with Anakin Skywalker, but he didn't voice it. Instead he replied with "Yes, Dad." he felt Beru's hand on his arm in a soothing gesture and he let thoughts of their upcoming wedding sooth him over. He waited until this meal was over as Anakin Skywalker talked. The jedi just seemed to enjoy the attention. The selfish jerk.
----------------------------------------------------
Anakin stood in front of the mirror in his and Obi-Wan's adjourning refresher. He had just finished getting himself cleaned up after working on his starfighter all night long. Trouble was with working on a starfighter was the amount of grease and fuel that he would get covered with. So now he was just finishing cleaning himself off. Now he just had to get rid of the stubble that had grown during the night. He was never growing a beard like Obi-Wan had. He however did plan on growing his hair out. He knew that he was never cutting his hair again. He could just imagine Padme running her hand's through his hair as he loved to do with hers. She knew this, that's why when she didn't have to go into the senate and they were alone, she left her hair down. Lost in his musings, he made the mistake of nicking himself. "Sithspawn!" he cursed as the nick stung.
"Anakin!"
Anakin quickly turned around. His eyes surveying his surroundings, finding no one there. He was imagining things. Just being on Tatooine, was making him hear things. He turned back to the mirror and nicked himself when he saw the face of his mother in the mirror behind him. Again he turned around finding that he was alone. He was defenantly imagining things. How could his mother retain her identity when she wasn't force sensitive? Even with the living force it was impossible. Without further incident he finished shaving and returned the the room that he and Obi-Wan was sharing and set about his normal morning routine. Settling himself on the floor, he brought his knees up and crossed his arms over his chest and did fifty sit ups before doing fifty push ups. In the middle of his morning workout, there was a knock on the door followed by Beru coming in with a clean set of towels.
Anakin promptly stood up when she entered. "I was just bringing in some clean towels," she said an blushed. Anakin quickly looked down at his bare chest and promptly threw on his robe. "Breakfast should be ready soon," she told him.
"That's alright, I usually don't eat breakfast," he told her and took out a power bar from his bag. "I much prefer these," she said peeling back the wrapper and taking a bite.
Beru frowned. "That's not much of a breakfast," she told him.
"I don't really need big meals. I mostly survive of food rations. With constantly being on the battle field and all," he told her.
"Well while you're hear, I'd much rather see you eat more that rations. I'm sure Shmi would agree," Beru told him.
"I don't disagree with you. If my mother was here, she'd strap me to a seat at the table and force me to eat even if mean shoving the food in my mouth," he told her.
"I could very well do that you know. Just because you're bigger than me and a jedi doesn't mean anything," she told him.
Anakin laughed. "I'm sure," he said. "Very well, I'll see about eating decently," he said. He knew that if Padme was here, she'd do the very same thing.
"Well, I'll just leave these towels with you and I hope to see you sit down with the rest of us for breakfast," she said and left.
Shortly after she left Obi-Wan woke up from his sound sleep across the room. He checked the crono and groaned. "I've slept in, why didn't you wake me?" he said.
"You seemed peaceful, Master," Anakin told him and finished getting dressed. "Besides, when was the last time you've actually slept in?"
"When I was a padawan. Force knows, I've always had to wake up early to find out what you were up to this time. You've never given me a moments rest," Obi-Wan told him.
Anakin grinned. "But you like me anyway, Master," he said.
"You grew on me," Obi-Wan grumbled.
Anakin wrapped up his power bar to save the rest of it for later and put it away in one of the pouches on his utility belt. He was going to have to keep his word to Beru and eat something more sustainable. "We should join the others for the morning meal. I'm guessing that we'll have to get used to something other than rations for the time being," he said.
"Good, I've been waiting for a more filling meal away from those awful rations," Obi-Wan said pulling on his boots and cloak.
"They're not that bad," Anakin told him. Obi-Wan just shook his head at him as they left the room.
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After breakfast Owen showed Anakin to the controls to the evaporators. Anakin had retrieved his old toolbox from his starfighter earlier so that he could actually do some work. Owen looked down at the rather old tools and then picked up one of the torches which Anakin quickly snatched out of his hands. "Hey, I was just looking!" Owen said.
"Nobody touches my tools but me," Anakin told him tightly.
"Those tools are rather old, are you sure they still work?" Owen asked eying the tools.
"They work just fine. I keep up their maintenance rigorously," Anakin told him flatly.
"Why don't you just buy new tools? I'm sure a new set would work out better," Owen said. He wasn't so sure about how well those tells would work too well. He didn't want to risk having Skywalker using faulty tools and damaging the evaporators even more.
"I'm not buying new tools," Anakin told him defiantly and then added quietly, "My mother bought these tools."
Owen nodded in understanding. He knew that Anakin had grieved his mother's death. But he wasn't sure if his grieving was tinged with guilt over abandoning her for a fools dream or for real loss. But Owen knew that him and his father had truly grieved over Shmi's death. After all Shmi was as close to a mother to Owen while she was alive. But whether she had loved him as a son he didn't know. After all, everything he did for her was thrown in his face every time she would mention 'her Ani'. How she held the son that abandoned her in slavery as he left for some grand adventurous life in such high esteem was beyond him. He never even made contact with his own mother. Why couldn't she see that her precious Ani had left her without a second thought? Why couldn't she accept him as he had accepted her.
"Already I see the problem. Some time back, someone botched up the mechanics. Give me a day or two and I'll have this thing as good as new," Anakin said through his close examination of the evaporator system.
"What are you talking about?" Owen demanded. He had been working on these evaporators his whole life. How can this jedi know what exactly was wrong with it when he knew nothing about it?!
Anakin pointed to a mechanism within the controls. "You see this plug here, it's back wards. And then there's the wiring, it's all wrong. And that's only the beginning. I'm surprised this thing even works at all!" he said.
"Now wait a second. How would you know how evaporators work? I've been working on these for almost twenty years! You don't know what you're talking about." Owen said on the defensive.
Anakin gave him a look that said that he was a bit blind. "I've been working on every kind of mechanics since I was three. I pretty much know what I'm talking about," he said.
Owen laughed. "That's rich. There is no why that you could have been working on mechanics at three years of age," he said.
Anakin frowned. He could feel the animosity radiating off of Owen. Animosity towards him. But Anakin couldn't think of a thing that he could have done to earn such animosity. "What exactly do you have against me, Owen?" he asked.
"I don't have anything against you, Skywalker," Owen lied.
Anakin's frown deepened. "You're lying. I can feel the animosity you have towards me. The problem is that I haven't done anything to earn it," he said.
Owen decided that lying wasn't an option to a jedi. This was his chance to put the arrogant jedi in his place. He was going to take it. "If you must know, I don't particularly hold people who abandon their mothers in high esteem," he said.
If looks would kill, the one that Anakin gave Owen should have disintegrated him. While the look on Anakin's face sent chills up Owen's spine, he decided not to let the jedi know this. Finally Anakin spoke. "I didn't abandon my mother, Owen. I can assure you. Apparently you don't have your facts right. It was my mother who gave me up. She pushed me to go with jedi master Qui-Gon Jinn. She gave me up so that I would know a life away from slavery. I honored my mothers wishes by leaving even though it pained me to leave her behind," he said calmly. But he was anything but calm. He was angry that this man who knew next to nothing about him accused him of abandoning his mother.
Owen refused to back down from the taller jedi. He pressed on despite the drop in temperature. "Call it what you will Skywalker, but you never made an attempt to contact her, when she needed you the most, you weren't around. Face the facts, you had left her to suffer while you enjoyed flying in the stars," he said.
That was it. He had pushed to far and now Anakin had grabbed him by the throat and slammed him hard against the wall. His face only inches away from Owens. "You know nothing! I was forbidden by the council to come looking for my mother when I sensed her pain. I would have been here sooner if not for the damned rules! The point of the matter is that I did come," Anakin told him.
"Yes, but you were too late! And she died! You could have saved her, but you didn't!" Owen said.
Owen's words had sunk into Anakin's own guilt. They cut deep, opening up the old wound that was first cut as he held his mother's broken body in his arms. As he heard her last words to him as her life slipped away. Anakin released his grip on Owen and stepped back. Without a word, he picked up his tools and stalked away.
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Anakin set his tools down in the room he was sharing with Obi-Wan. He then picked up piece of rock and threw it across the room where it crashed into a ceramic vase, shattering it beyond repair. He then sank down to his knees and placed his head into his hands. He took a deep breath and bowed his head. He refused to cry. He refused to let his negative feelings to take control. Owen's words had truly gotten to him. He tried to tell himself that he had done what his mother had wanted him to do. Hadn't she told him to not look back? Hadn't he honored her wishes? She wanted him to have a life of freedom. She wanted him to have what she couldn't give him. He couldn't have failed her. Her last words were to tell him that she was proud of him and that she loved him. But he had failed her. He didn't save her. He let his duties as a jedi take first place over his duties as a son. For that he couldn't forgive himself. At first he had blamed Obi-Wan and the council for his mother's death. But that went away when he realized that it was all his fault. He knew that she was suffering. He knew and he didn't do anything about it.
"Anakin, are you alright?"
Anakin stood up at Obi-Wan's voice. He put up his mask and turned to face Obi-Wan. "I'm fine," he said.
"Bantha poodoo. Something is bothering you and I demand to know what it is," Obi-Wan said. A sudden look of understand washed over him. "This is about your mother," he said.
"What makes you say that?" Anakin asked him turning away.
"Because I know you Anakin. I know how close you were to her. If I could change things. We could have defied the council and looked for Shmi together, had I not dismissed your dreams. I know that you must blame me for that much," Obi-Wan said.
"I don't blame you Obi-Wan. What's done is done. We can't undo the past, so why bother revisiting it?" Anakin said.
"Okay. We wont talk about it. But there's something else that you need to talk about, I can sense it," Obi-Wan said.
Anakin sat down on the bed he was supposed to sleep in. he knew that he wanted to tell Obi-Wan about him and Padme and this was the perfect time. Obi-Wan was well away from the council so that they can't sense his reaction. "Actually, there is something that I want to talk to you about," he said. "You'll probably want to sit down for it," he added.
"Why do I get the feeling that you did something you're not supposed to do?" Obi-Wan asked sitting down.
"Probably because I did," Anakin told him.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Obi-Wan grumbled. "Okay, spill. I'm sure that it can't be that bad," he said.
"I'm married," Anakin said deciding that by dropping the bomb first was the best way to go about it.
Obi-Wan's eyes grew as his jaw dropped. No. Anakin didn't just say that. He was hearing things. "What!" he nearly screamed.
"Just when the war started I had gotten married," Anakin told him.
Yup, Obi-Wan had heard him right. "Do I even have to guess who you're married to?" he groaned. "It's Senator Amidala isn't it?" Anakin met his eyes at that and Obi-Wan knew it to be true. "Oh, Anakin you have no idea what kind of trouble you had gotten yourself into this time," he groaned. He rubbed his forehead with his hand and sighed. "I knew that you were carrying on with her, I just didn't think you'd actually marry her! Do you realize what will happen if the council found out?"
"Well I'd hope that Master Yoda would come to my defense since he's given his blessing and all," Anakin said offhandedly.
That did it, Obi-Wan was truly in shock. "You're lying!" he said. "There is no way that Master Yoda would agree to this," he said.
"Ask him yourself. Qui-Gon convinced him to give his blessing. For some odd reason, Qui-Gon keeps tabs on me and helps me out sometimes," Anakin said.
"Anakin. Qui-Gon is dead. I was there. There is no way that you can be communicating with him," Obi-Wan said tiredly.
"I can tell you why he hasn't spoken to you yet. You're in denial about the living force," Anakin told him.
"Anakin, we've been through this. The living force hasn't been prooven to exist," Obi-Wan told him.
"And I've told you that the council is wrong about many things. Just because something hasn't been prooven, doesn't mean it isn't real. I've seen the living force in action. It exists," Anakin told him.
"When have you seen the living force?" Obi-Wan asked him skeptically.
"Umm, well. I use it!" Anakin said and mentally smacked himself. Great answer Skywalker!
"You use it?" Obi-Wan said slowly. "Anakin have you lost it?"
"I hope not. I don't want to see what I could do if I went crazy," Anakin said nonchalantly.
"That's not funny, Anakin," Obi-Wan said flatly.
"I'm not trying to be funny."
Obi-Wan sighed. "What am I going to do with you?" he said shaking his head. "The council can't find out about your marriage to Senator Amidala. You'd be thrown out of the order. I don't want to see that happen. I only wish I was as bold as you," he said.
At his last words, Anakin's eye opened up wider. "How so?" he asked and then thought of something. "You love someone too, don't you?" he said coming to a conclusion.
"That was a long time ago," Obi-Wan told him.
"What happened?" Anakin asked him.
"Nothing happened. We just decided not to explore our feelings, that's all," Obi-Wan said.
"That's a load of rubbish. It's foolish to deny your feelings and shove them aside, they're what keeps us human. Anger, Hatred, fear. They're said to lead to the dark side. But what about love, joy and hope? How could such powerful emotions be wrong. The sith know nothing of them. They know nothing but Anger and hatred. They thrive on it, draw power from it. But the best counter agents against anger and hate are love, compassion, happiness and hope. I use them all. My power draws from all the good emotions I have inside of me. The order teaches you indifference, I disagree. To defeat anger and hatred, you need to know love and joy. The order should teach us how to control our emotions, not shove them aside," Anakin told him.
Obi-Wan didn't know what to say to that. He had never heard Anakin speak of this. However he couldn't disagree with him. How could he when Anakin was right? "I can see that you've had a lot of time to think of this," he said.
"It's all I can ever think about sometimes," Anakin confessed. "If only the council would understand my reasoning and we were not at war, I could live my life away from the shadows, maybe have a real family with Padme. These thoughts are what keeps me going. I look for the end of this war where we can all live in peace. Where I'm no longer needed in battle. I could resign from the order if that is what it takes for me to live without fear of someone finding out. I don't fear what happens to me so much as what happens to the people I care about."
"I wish that things could be so easy, but they're not Anakin. Even if we did defeat Darth Sidious, there is still the republic to fix. The war wont be truly over for a long time. It's been forming even before Qui-Gon's death. We have no way of knowing whatever outcome this war has on the galaxy and we're no where close to ending the war," Obi-Wan said.
Anakin frowned. He knew that it wasn't going to be easy. But all he had was two years. That's all the jedi council of the force would allow him. It's as if they wanted him to fail. But if that was so then why give him this chance at all? He knew why. Qui-Gon had fought for it. Qui-Gon believed in him. He had to hold onto that. He had to hold onto sheer determination to ending this war. He now knew the worst outcome. An outcome he had created. Well he had the power to tip the scale didn't he? He was determined that Vader would never exist. He was going to stick to that even if it meant his dying. Vader was never going to rise.
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Anakin ran through the smoke filled temple every once and a while stopping at the fallen jedi only to find that they were already dead. He had to move quickly if he were to save them! All around him he could hear the firing of blasters as the clones took down the jedi. With the jedi spread so far apart, they were powerless to stop this threat to their home. He shuddered as he felt more lives being torn apart. Why couldn't he stop it? There was still time. He had to get to the younglings! More smoke filled his vision and he stopped just as a piece of the ceiling came down in front of him in flames. That way was now out. Frantically he looked around for another way. He found it. He had used this secret pathway all too many times before. He quietly slipped through the passage. He ignited his lightsaber using the blade to light his way through the dark tunnel. He had to hurry. He had to save them! The pathway grew narrower the higher he climbed, but he pressed on. Just a few more steps and he'd be out of the passage. He manged to get out unnoticed and quickly ran to the turbo lift. As soon as the doors opened, he jumped in, he pressed the code clearance in for the high council chambers. He only hoped that he wasn't too late. Finally the doors to the lift opened and he stepped into the seemingly empty council chambers. They were here and they were hiding. Finally one, a boy with blond hair reminding Anakin a lot of himself when he was that age, came out from his hiding place.
Master Skywalker, there's so many of them, what should we do?" the boy asked fearfully.
Anakin pulled the boy close to him. "It's okay, I wont let them harm you," he reassured the child. He would protect these children with his life. The monster will not harm them. Anakin sensed him coming closer. He knew where they were. The child could sense it too as he clung to him. Anakin rubbed the child's arm in assurance. The monster will not harm them! Finally he bent down to the child. "Go back to your hiding place and don't move or make a sound, okay," he told the child who nodded fearfully at Anakin before going back to his hiding place.
Anakin waited in front of those doors. He was coming closer. He was going to kill them! No! Anakin wont let him! Anakin wont let him hurt them. He'll stop the monster from hurting these children! Finally the doors opened reveling the black cloaked figure of the new sith lord. Anakin gripped his lightsaber firmly in his hand and the sith lord scrutinized him from under his hood. The sith gripping his own lightsaber, a blood red one. The mark of a sith. Finally slowly, the sith looked Anakin straight in the eyes smirking at him. Anakin found himself staring into his own face. But it wasn't his. This face had sith yellow eyes!
No! he destroyed him once before, he'll destroy him once again! Somehow he had to get him away from the younglings. Coming to a decision, he moved into position gripping his lightsaber in his hands firmly. "You will not harm them, Vader. You'll have to get through me before you touch them," he said determinedly.
Vader laughed evilly. "Fool. You cannot stop me. It's pointless to fight me. You cannot fight your destiny!"
"I choose my own destiny and mine is not yours!" Anakin said.
"You're a fool. You have no idea of the power the dark side has to offer!" Vader said and effortlessly force pushed Anakin across the chamber, his lightsaber flying out of his hands and clattering across the chamber. Vader took quick strides towards him before he spied the boy. The same one who clung to Anakin moments before. Vader smirked at him as he pulled the boy out of his hiding place by his collar. The boy put up a good fight, but Vader was stronger and he brought his blade up to the boy.
"No!!!!!!!" Anakin screamed.
Anakin shot up in bed. It was the dream again! But it had gone further this time. He quickly glanced across the room. Obi-Wan was still sleeping soundly. Anakin envied him and his ability to sleep so deeply and not have to worry about what he would see once he entered deep slumber. Rarely did Anakin let himself sleep deep enough. Because if he didn't succumb into a deep sleep, he wouldn't have the visions. Deciding that he wouldn't get anymore sleep that night, Anakin threw the covers off of himself and walked across the room and into the refresher where he splashed water on his face.
"Get a grip Skywalker. It's only a dream. It means nothing," he told himself and took a look at his own reflection sighing with relief that he saw blue eyes staring at himself in the mirror and not sith yellow. "I don't know what I'm afraid of. I'm not going to turn to the dark side. It's calling means little," he muttered. "Think about Padme, Luke and Leia. Think of how much you can hurt them by answering Sidious' calls. Think of the trap. To be a sith means to be a slave," he told himself. He closed his eyes calling on the force to calm him. He listened to Master Yoda's teachings. As he cleared his mind, he felt it's strength was over him. In moments he was calm, he had put the dream aside. He opened his eyes and jumped. He saw her again! She was standing right behind him smiling at him. Anakin turned around sharply expecting to see nothing and backed up against the sink. She was standing before him as he remembered her.
She reached out a hand to him and caressed his cheek with her palm. Anakin didn't want to close his eyes for fear that she would disappear. "Oh my Ani. My handsome son," she said smiling.
Anakin lifted his flesh hand up to touch the hand she was using to caress his cheek and found that she was real. He could feel her warm skin beneath his hand. "Mom?" he breathed.
"I love you so much, Ani. I'm so proud of you," she said fondly.
Anakin couldn't fight the tears that came. She was here with him. He had dreamed of this moment for such a long time. Never had he imagined that he would see her again or hear her speak again. The pain of her dying in his arms was still fresh. He prayed to the force to let this be real. "Stay with me Mom," he begged her. His voice was strangled as he pleaded with her. He couldn't bare to loose her again.
"Oh Ani, I never left you. I never will, I promise," she said wiping away his tears.
Anakin longed to reach out for her. To wrap his arms around her and never let her go, but he was frozen in place. All he could do was stare at her. He held her hand in place as it rested against his cheek. He knew this moment would pass. He knew that she would be gone again. His hand tightened around hers. "I'm sorry. I failed to save you. I wasn't strong enough," he told her.
She smiled sadly at him. "Oh Ani. You have nothing to be sorry about. Nothing at all," she told him gently. She then pressed a kiss to his forehead as she had done many times when he was a child. "I love you," she told him. And as soon as she had appeared she was gone.
Alone once again, Anakin sank to the floor and hugged his knees close to himself and rested his head against them. That was how Obi-Wan had found him when he finally did wake up.
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"I cannot believe you are dragging me to force knows what!" Obi-Wan muttered. "Why can't we just have a quiet evening?"
"I'm bored," Anakin told him as he pulled on his cloak. He clipped his single bladed lightsaber to his belt and tucked his other one into the sleeve of his tunic.
"Are you expecting trouble?" Obi-Wan asked.
"A jedi is never caught without his or her lightsaber," Anakin replied grinning at Obi-Wan. Anakin didn't show it, but he was anxious to get off of the homestead and do some roaming. Normally while on Coruscant, he would don a disguise and enter a bar to do some people watching, earning a sense of freedom away from who he was. He had very little luck here of that.
Obi-Wan shook his head. "The only reason I'm joining you is to keep you out of trouble. Something I know you'll just attract anyway," he said.
"What can I say, it's me! Where Anakin Skywalker goes trouble is sure to follow," Anakin said sarcastically. "It's always been that way," he added dreadfully.
"Maybe you just create trouble for yourself," Obi-Wan suggested.
"Na! That's not it," Anakin said dismissively. "Ready? I'd like to reach Mos Eisley before sun down," he said.
Obi-Wan sighed. "I'm ready," he said.
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By the time they had reached Mos Eisley, Obi-Wan was already green from all of Anakin's fast maneuvers. "I'm never riding in a speeder that you're piloting again!" Obi-Wan exclaimed using to force to calm his stomach.
"You know that it would have taken us longer if we did things your way," Anakin pointed out.
"So to save time, you'd risk suicide?!" Obi-Wan asked alarmed.
"Quite whining Master, it doesn't become you," Anakin said as the stepped out of the speeder with Obi-Wan in tow.
"I assume you know where we're going," Obi-Wan said as they pulled their hoods up and cloaks tighter around them.
"Well, it's not Mos Espa. But how different can each towns on Tatooine be? I mean, it's nothing but sand!" Anakin said.
"I very well know how you feel about Tatooine which is why you even suggested coming here in the first place that boggles me," Obi-Wan said.
"I needed a place to hide out for a while. Someplace where no one would think to find me. Is that a problem?" Anakin defended himself.
"What are you running from Anakin? I sense great fear in you," Obi-Wan asked.
Anakin didn't answer him. He couldn't burden Obi-Wan with Sidious' plans for him. Beside, Obi-Wan wouldn't believe him if he told him how he knew. "Look, lets just forget about the war and who we are for now. I need to be someone else tonight. Can we just do that?" Anakin asked.
Obi-Wan nodded under his hood. He sensed as much from him. "Fine. But you are going to have to tell me eventually what is going on. It's not a smart thing to do, keeping things bottled up. If you tell me what is going on, I will help you, Anakin," he paused. Having said what he needed to say, he let it go for now. "Now, what's our new identities?" he asked.
Anakin grinned. "I'm Luke, an orphan farm boy and you're Ben the hermit that lives near the jundland wasts," he said.
"Why exactly am I a hermit?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Consider it a part of a very weird dream I had," Anakin said grinning.
"I don't even want to know what goes on inside that head of yours," Obi-Wan said flatly.
They stopped outside the very cantina that Anakin had entered with Luke and Obi-Wan in the future where they met Han Solo. It wasn't as run down as it was when Anakin had approached it. "Remember we're not jedi tonight," Anakin reminded his mentor. They entered the darkened cantina which was filled with smoke and loud music blared from where a rowdy band played. The patrons within the cantina were of varies species. All of them scum, low life and villainy.
"Perfect place to hide out. I don't even want to know what the smoke is coming from," Obi-Wan said.
"Where's your sense of adventure, Ben?" Anakin asked using Obi-Wan's new alias.
"What you call adventure isn't the same as mine, Luke," Obi-Wan said grinding out Anakin's chosen alias. "By the way, Why 'Luke'?" he asked.
"I like the name," Anakin said defensively.
"How many times have you gone out disguised as someone else?" Obi-Wan asked noticing how Anakin quickly ordered his drink at the bar and expertly watched the fellow patrons without drawing attention to himself.
"I do it as often as I can. You learn different things from people. Or sometimes I make up stories to go along with someone of interest. It's quite fun sometimes," Anakin told him. He then looked around the cantina and focused on a blue female twi'lek dressed in some sort of biker garb. She was sipping a sort of green liquid, her eyes focused on a few bikers. "See her," he said nodding to the twi'lek, she's looking at the bikers wondering if one of them killed her lover," he said making up a story off of the top of his head.
Obi-Wan looked over at the female twi'lek believing that something seemed familiar about her and then she caught his eye. "Anakin, you do realize who that twi'lek is, don't you?" he asked.
Anakin had tipped his head back as he finished his alcoholic beverage in one gulp. He signaled to the bartender for a refill and turned back to Obi-Wan. "I don't know who she is and I don't care. Not tonight. I have more important things on my mind," he said.
"Anakin that's Aayla Secura! I wonder what, she's doing here," Obi-Wan said.
At the mention of the jedi's name, Anakin spit out the sip he had just taken from his second refill, spraying it over Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan frowned. "Thanks a lot!" he said wiping his face.
"Sith spawn! Out of all the places and all the nights! Why can't I ever get a break!" Anakin said banging his head on the bar.
"Quite the dramatics, I'm sure her being here has nothing to do with us," Obi-Wan told him rolling his eyes. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as Aayla sauntered over to the bar and ordered a drink. "Don't tell me that we're in trouble already," Obi-Wan whispered to her.
"You're not. Give this to Skywalker. Master Yoda felt that it would be of interest to him, that is if he's not drunk," Aayla said slipping something into Obi-Wan's pocket.
"I care hear you. Now go away, you're ruining my escape from life," Anakin muttered hunched over the bar and nursing whatever foul alcoholic beverage he had ordered this time.
Aayla raised an eyebrow at Obi-Wan questionably. Obi-Wan leaned in close to her. "He's been having a hard time lately. The eve of his mother's death, it's getting to him. He'll be fine by morning," he whispered the cover up for Anakin's behavior. Aayla nodded in understanding before paying for her drink and leaving the cantina.
"Give me another," Anakin said to the bartender.
Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow at the five scattered bottles that had suddenly appeared in front of Anakin in such a short period of time. "No, You've had enough. I'd hate to see how you'd end up if I weren't around," Obi-Wan said sternly stopping the bartender from giving Anakin another bottle.
"Spoil sport," Anakin muttered dryly and looked around. "I've had enough of this smoke, lets have a look around Mos Eisley. There are some things I'd like to see," he said paying for their drinks.
"What would Padme say if saw you drinking like you were?" Obi-Wan hissed at Anakin.
Anakin shrugged. "What? That? That was nothing. It takes a lot more for me to get drunk if that's what you're thinking. Besides, I rarely drink," he said dismissively.
"How much is too much for you then?" Obi-Wan asked him.
Anakin scratched his head. "I honestly don't know. I've never been drunk. I mean I have drank a lot before, but I've never been drunk," he said.
"Interesting," Obi-Wan said. By now the twin suns had set and it had grown quite dark. But Anakin was persistent that they stay out late. For some odd reason he wanted to be away from the Lars Homestead for a while. He guessed that it was about his mother. His guess was confirmed with Anakin's next question.
"Say you believe in the living force, better yet think back on what Qui-Gon had taught you about it. Do you think it's possible for a non force sensitive to retain their identity in the afterlife?" Anakin asked.
"It's never been theorized, why?" Obi-Wan answered.
"I've seen my mother. But not so much as a ghost but she had a body, I've felt it. She seemed so real. Like she hadn't died. If I wasn't there and felt her die, I'd have believed that she was in fact alive. Does that make me sound like I'm crazy?" Anakin said.
"No. It doesn't make you crazy, Anakin. Your mother's death is still fresh, you're bound to have these kind of visions. It's called mourning. I went through the very same thing," Obi-Wan told him.
"I don't think that what I'm experiencing is normal," Anakin told him. He stopped himself from rubbing his temples as he felt another massive headache coming on. He tried to use to force to ease it away only that seemed to make it worse.
Obi-Wan glanced over at Anakin when he said that. He couldn't read his expression due to his hood covering his face. But he could sense what Anakin had meant by that. No. Nothing was ever normal for Anakin. His dreams in fact weren't normal. Obi-Wan wasn't stupid. He knew that Anakin had more than once purposely kept himself from sleeping normally in order to keep the visions away. The hard thing was that everything was made extra hard for Anakin due to that one ancient prophecy.
As the rounded a corner they found themselves surrounded by some sort of alien thugs. The leader walked up to them. "Skywalker is it?" he said.
"Who wants to know?" Anakin asked coolly.
The thug grinned showing gleaming green razor sharp teeth. "Someone's put a bounty for your head, jedi," he said coldly and gripped his blaster.
Anakin shared a look with Obi-Wan as the rest of the thugs all had their blasters aimed at them. "Well what did I tell you, Anakin? You just always have to attract trouble everywhere you go," Obi-Wan said and sighed.
"It is not my intention, Master," Anakin told him.
Obi-Wan sighed. "How do you suppose we'll get out of this one?" he asked dramatically.
"I don't know, twenty blasters against the two of us. Hardly seems fair," Anakin said with a heavy sigh.
"Don't make any sudden moves jedi. You'll find yourself dead if you do," the leader said.
Anakin just grinned as his and Obi-Wan's lightsabers came to life. Instantly the thugs opened fire. Anakin and Obi-Wan stood back to back as they circled and blocked the laser fire.
"This is fun!" Anakin said.
"I'm not sure that I share your idea of fun, Anakin," Obi-Wan said and blocked more fire.
"Still, I'd like to know how they knew to fins us!" Anakin said blocking more fire. The pain in his head growing more intense. Finally it began to feel as though it were going to explode! He dropped to his knees and placed his head in his hands fighting the urge to scream. It was happening again and this time it was worse.
Obi-Wan quickly glance at Anakin growing alarmed at Anakin's position on his knees, his face covered in his hands so close the ground. He shivered as he felt the pain radiating off of him until finally it passed. "Anakin! Are you alright?" he asked barely able to reach him as he was now blocking the fire for both of them. Anakin didn't answer him. But he slowly rose and Obi-Wan felt the temperature drop around him. Something was wrong. Oh terribly wrong. "Anakin?" he called out.
Anakin's right gloved hand reached out suddenly and instantly the thugs in that direction grabbed their throats gasping. Obi-Wan watched in horror as they turned red and then blue before the crunching sound of bone filled the air. Anakin didn't stop there. He had taken out the thugs that way until there was only one left. The leader. Anakin advanced on him and the thug pulled up his blaster aiming it at Anakin's heart but before he could fire the shot, the weapon was yanked out of his hands and thrown somewhere far away. Finally Anakin's right hand grabbed the thugs fat bulging throat, pushed him up against as wall and added pressure slowly. "Who put out the bounty?" Anakin demanded. But it wasn't Anakin's voice.
Obi-Wan knew that he had to stop it now! Whatever had come over Anakin wasn't something fitting of a jedi. "Anakin! Let him go! He's defenseless!" he commanded.
"That name has no meaning for me, Kenobi," Anakin said coldly. He intensified the pressure on the thug's throat and the thug gasped in pain. "I will ask you again, who put out the bounty?" he demanded.
"I...don't...know...instructions... were ...made... to... find... you... and... bring... you... to... the... Mustafar... system," the thug said gasping for breath.
"Pity that you've failed before you can collect your reward," Anakin said icily before snapping the thugs throat.
Obi-Wan looked at the crumpled body in horror. He sensed Anakin turn around to face him and he grew pale as Anakin looked at him with sith yellow eyes! He was coming towards him and he knew that he had to stop him. Calling upon the force he used it to put Anakin in a deep force induced sleep. Obi-Wan quickly caught Anakin before he fell unconscious. "Oh, Anakin, what just happened to you?" he said sadly picking up Anakin's dropped lightsaber. He hefted Anakin's limp form over his shoulder and proceeded to take him back to the speeder. What ever had killed those thugs, he knew that it wasn't Anakin.
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Anakin came too and groaned. "My head," he groaned.
"It's about time that you woke up. I had actually taken you out of the forced induced sleep hours ago," Obi-Wan said.
Anakin sat up and looked around. His was in the Lars guest room! How did her get here? What happened with the thugs? "What happened?" he asked desperately.
"You don't know?" Obi-Wan asked surprised.
"How'd I get here, what happened with the thugs?" Anakin asked frantically.
"You killed them Anakin," Obi-Wan told him.
"What?! No I couldn't have!" Anakin said sounding scared.
"Anakin I saw you choke them with the force. I saw you crush the leaders neck with your own hand!" Obi-Wan told him.
Anakin drew his knees to his chest and fisted his hands through his hair and started rocking. "No, no, no, no, no, this isn't happening," he muttered.
"Anakin, your eyes turned to sith yellow when you did that. Whatever you've been hiding you need to tell me now," Obi-Wan told him.
Anakin shook his head. "No! This isn't happening! It's gotten worse!" he muttered.
At that Obi-Wan's eyes widened. "This has happened before?" he asked. Anakin didn't say anything which gave Obi-Wan his answer. "When did it start, Anakin?" he asked.
"I couldn't. I wouldn't do those things!" Anakin muttered trying to deny it.
"Anakin I saw you!" Obi-Wan told him.
"No!" Anakin shouted.
A thought dawned on Obi-Wan. "You don't remember doing it, do you?" he asked.
"I didn't do it!" Anakin shouted.
"When did this start, Anakin?! You need to tell me so that I can help you!" Obi-Wan yelled at him sternly.
"You can't help me!" Anakin told him.
"When did it start?!" Obi-Wan asked again.
Anakin didn't answer him. He couldn't. He didn't understand. What was happening to him? Was his fall inevitable? No! He refused to believe that. He couldn't. He was supposed to change it!
Obi-wan suddenly didn't need an answer from Anakin to know when it had happened. Anakin had been fueled by rage so soon after it had happened. "What happened when you mother died, Anakin?" he asked. "What did you do?"
"I don't know!" Anakin yelled.
"Yes you do, Anakin. Tell me!" Obi-Wan demanded.
"I don't remember!"
"But you know what happened, Anakin. I can sense it. Tell me!"
"I killed them! I don't remember doing it! But I know I did it! One moment I was holding my mother as she died and the next I was in the middle of their camp! Their mutilated and dead bodies were everywhere! I was still holding my lightsaber. I killed them! Not just the men, but the women and the children. I slaughtered them like animals!" Anakin confessed and placed his head in his hands and shook. Why was this happening to him?
Obi-Wan felt helpless as he saw Anakin fall apart. Whatever was happening to Anakin, he had to help him through it. He couldn't stand to see him suffer like this. Obi-Wan pulled Anakin into an embrace in an attempt to comfort him. "We'll sort this out, Anakin. You need to trust me. I'll not let you suffer through this alone," he told him. He felt Anakin stiffen before he began to calm down. He knew that he had to alert the council on this. What was affecting Anakin was affecting them all. He was going to get all the help he could get for Anakin. "You'll need to rest, Anakin. I'm going to contact Master Yoda. It's time we went back to Coruscant. Only then can we get you some help," he said.
Once Anakin was calmed down enough to lay down and get some rest, only then did Obi-Wan leave the room to send a message to Master Yoda. Anakin lay in the bed curled up facing the wall. He knew that there was no way he'd be able to sleep tonight. Not after what he'd done. Then he felt as if he were not alone anymore. He didn't have to turn around to know who was there. "What do you want Owen?" he asked.
"We heard you're voices and knew that you were awake. Beru sent me in here with some food convinced that you needed to eat," Owen said walking into the room and set the tray down. He looked at the way Anakin was laying and knew that he wasn't about to face him. He sighed. "I owe you an apology, Anakin," he said.
"For what?" Anakin asked him. He still wouldn't face him.
"I was in the wrong to have said what I did the other week. I apologize," Owen said and was about to leave the room when he was called back.
"Was my mother happy?" Anakin asked him.
"She was. But I will not lie, she would have been even more happy if you were around," Owen said and was at the door when Anakin spoke next.
"You were right," Anakin told him which made Owen freeze. "I failed my mother. I knew she was suffering. I put my duties as a jedi first as I tried to convince myself that it was just a dream. I could have saved her, but I came too late. I will never forgive myself for that," he said.
This certainly wasn't what he had expected Anakin to say. He had expected for Anakin to deny that he had failed. But hearing those words out of Anakin's mouth somehow felt wrong. Then he heard him whisper.
"I miss my mom," Anakin whispered.
Owen's heart went out at hearing Anakin speak in a broken voice. He knew that Anakin had truly loved his mother as she loved him. "I know the feeling," Owen told him. "My mother died too." he continued on. "For what it's worth. The only way you could have failed her would be to wallow in self guilt," he said.
"I promised her that I would come back for her and that I would find a way to free her. I never made good on that promise," Anakin whispered.
"She was happy, Anakin. She lived eight years in freedom. And she was happy," Owen told him. He took another step towards the door before he was called back.
"Owen?"
Owen turned then. Anakin still hadn't moved. "Yes?" he asked.
"Thank you," Anakin said.
"Anytime, Anakin. If ever you need to talk about it, you know where I am," Owen told him and left the room.
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The next morning when Obi-Wan awoke, he found that Anakin was already gone. His bag had went missing. Quickly throwing the cover off of him, he quickly walked into the Lars dining room to find the Lars family eating their morning meal. But Anakin was no where insight. "Where did Anakin go?" he asked them.
"He's outside," Cliegg told him.
Obi-Wan nodded and quickly went outside searching for Anakin and when he found him, he nearly broke. Anakin was laying on top of his mother's grave. How long has he been there?
"He's been laying there since you had fallen asleep."
Obi-Wan jumped and quickly turned to his side and stared in shock. Qui-Gon was standing next to him watching Anakin sadly. "How?" he asked.
"Amazing! After all that I've taught you and you still don't believe in the living force," Qui-Gon frowned.
"Anakin's not crazy. Oh how the council would react upon hearing this!" Obi-Wan said pressing a hand to his forehead.
"Obi-Wan. Anakin needs you now more than ever. The dark side is trying to close in on him. You must help him get through this. Anakin must pull himself together or Sidious will win," Qui-Gon told him.
"How do I even begin to help him? I don't even know what is happening to him. It was so quick that dreadful transformation in Mos Eisley. I fear for him," Obi-Wan said.
"He needs to see a healer and try to talk about what is happening. I fear that there is something most deadly living inside of him. He needs to learn how to control it. Get him back to Coruscant as soon as possible. He's more in danger away from the jedi than in Sidious' grasp. As long as he's around the jedi can we keep Sidious away from him," Qui-Gon told him.
"How can we keep Anakin away from the sith lord if he's the chosen one?" Obi-Wan asked him.
"Their destinies will meet, but he's not ready for it. Help him, Obi-Wan. He needs you," Qui-Gon told him before leaving.
Obi-Wan nodded. The time to leave was now. He went back inside to retrieve his own bag before coming back outside. He knelt down next to Anakin. "Come now, Anakin, it's time for us to return home," he said helping Anakin to stand reluctantly. To his surprise, Anakin gave no response as they walked back to their starfighters.
A/N: Well I did promise a long chapter. I know many questions about what is going on with Anakin. all will be revealed in due time. Hahahaha.
Charlie.