Chapter 25: Living two Lives
Anakin was standing in the cave once more with Bastila circling him slowly. "You are here to learn the ways of the Dark Side. You are to harness the power as well as the power of the Light Side and meld them together as one," she instructed. Nodding his head slowly. "You are also here to learn…" she started. Before Anakin could react, Bastila raised her hand and lightning shot from her fingertips and into his body, throwing him back onto the ground. "How to expect the unexpected with a Sith," she added.
Groaning a little, he felt his body jolt from the electricity still pulsing through his body. "The Sith a relentless. Once you are down they will be sure you stay down," she told him as she shot more electricity through him. Anakin cried out as he tried to move away from the pain. "Fight me Skywalker, fight me," she taunted.
Anakin winced as he tried to get up when she shocked him again. "Bastila!" he exclaimed.
"Anakin, this is just a small dose of lightning, if I was giving you the full power of it, you would be dead," she answered.
"Will you give me a chance to even attempt to block an attack?" he demanded.
"Sidious and Demonia won't give you a chance to block an attack," she replied.
She threw another series of bolts at him, but Anakin rolled out of the way in time. "A Sith isn't like anything you fought before, Anakin," she told him. She held her hand up and lightning went straight for him. This time, Anakin held his hands up in attempt to block the attack. "Now, you have this," she said with a grin. Anakin fought against letting the lightning hit him when his throat suddenly constricted. "A Sith will wait until you are distracted for the kill," she told him.
Anakin coughed as he backed up a little. "You have to keep your mind open, expect the unexpected," she told him. She let him go and the young man held his throat. "The Sith will do more than temptation to bring you to the Dark Side, they will use torture," she told him.
Trying to catch his breath, Anakin lifted his head when she was suddenly in front of him. "They will attack where it hurts you most," she told him. Before Anakin could react, she pressed her hand against his forehead. "They will show you what you fear the most," she told him.
Suddenly, he heard the twins screaming for him to help them followed by Padmé and Shmi's screams of pain. The sounds were echoing in his head. Anakin struggled against her power. "Stop!" he snapped.
"Fight against it Anakin!" she snapped.
The screams became louder. "Sidious and Demonia will only laugh when they hit your weak spot. You can't let your family become your weakness but your strength," she told him. Anakin struggled against the power pulsing through his head. "Don't let the power of the Dark Side control you, you must control it," she instructed. She could feel him struggling against the control she had over him. "Defend yourself against what you are seeing," she told him.
Anakin closed his eyes as he tried to concentrate over the screams in his head. "I'll bring you back," Padmé's voice suddenly broke through the screaming.
"You are strong enough," Shmi's words echoed through his head.
He suddenly saw the smiling faces of his children which made him fight harder against the torture Bastila was trying to do to him. Letting out a shout, he held his hands up and threw Bastila backwards. Moving quickly, she was able to land on her feet so she wouldn't' land on her front. "Calm yourself Anakin," she told him when she saw him shaking.
Collapsing to his knees, he was breathing heavily to catch his breath. Walking over, she rested her hand on his shoulder. "You have done well today," she told him. Smiling, they finished the training for the day before Anakin went to meditate to regain his strength.
Back at the Skywalker hovel, Padmé was humming to herself as she was making a small snack for the twins. Hearing giggling, she walked over to see what they were doing when she found the twins sitting across from each other with their hands up. Their toys were floating between them, making them laugh at the little game they were playing together. "Hi you two," she said with a smile. The twins looked up and the toys dropped to the floor.
"Hi mama," they said in unison.
"Mama has a snack for you," she stated as she wiped her hands on the rag she had.
"Yay!" the twins exclaimed as they got up and ran to the kitchen.
"No running!" she called out as she followed them out of the playroom.
Shaking her head slowly, she went to join them in the kitchen when she heard footsteps coming down the stone steps. Looking over, she was surprised to see her husband entering their home. "Anakin, you're home early," she said with a pleasant smile.
"Yeah, finished training early," he replied, wincing a little.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"Yes, as I said this training is harsher than usual training," he replied.
"Here, how about I take a look to see how badly hurt you are before you see the twins?" she asked.
Smiling, he followed his wife to their room. Removing his tunic, Padmé gasped to see his back covered in scrapes and bruises. "What happened?" she exclaimed softly.
"They're from the training," he answered.
Getting up, Padmé went into the fresher and came back out with some bacta to take care of the cuts on his back. "Is this how it's going to be? Coming home beaten up everyday?" she asked.
"Until I can harness the power, yes," he replied, letting out a sigh.
"I don't like this Anakin," she told him.
Anakin let out a sigh. "I know, but I'll be alright. I've come home with worse," he pointed out.
"Don't remind me," she muttered lightly, recalling of all the times during the Clone Wars he'd return home with scars from a battle.
Even now most of the scars were thin white lines. Sometimes he would be attacked when he wasn't in full armor, the only time his enemies jumped him during the war. "This is different, Anakin. This is training, I don't recall your training when you were younger being this…dangerous," she answered.
"The Dark Side of the Force is dangerous, Padmé. She's showing me of what will happen if I try to fight Sidious and Demonia now. I'd be easily defeated," he told her.
"She's showing you this by beating you up?" she demanded.
"This is training, Padmé," he answered.
"Well I don't like it," she told him.
"Bastila won't put my life in danger, she's our close friend," he answered.
Padmé let out a sigh, resting her forehead against the side of his head. "I just don't want you getting seriously injured," she whispered. Anakin closed his eyes, resting his hand over hers.
"I'll be fine," he answered softly.
Sighing, she moved her forehead to his shoulder and closed her eyes. Anakin rested his forehead against the side of her head as they sat in silence.
When Padmé finished treating his injuries, Anakin walked into the kitchen. "Daddy!" the twins exclaimed in unison.
"Hi you two," he said smiling as he embraced his children.
After kissing them both on the forehead, he had them sit back at the table. "What did mama make?" he asked.
"Pallie muffins," Luke replied, holding up a piece of muffin to his daddy.
Anakin smiled as he took a bite of the muffin. "Mm good thank you son," he commented smiling, kissing the top of his forehead.
"They're not as great as my cloudberry muffins but these are good substitutes," Padmé commented.
"What's a cwoudbawwy?" Leia asked.
"Cloudberries are very, very yummy berries that smell probably sweeter than pallies," she replied smiling.
"I want a cwoudbawwy!" Luka announced.
"Maybe someday sweetie, but we can't get cloudberries here," Padmé answered, stroking his hair.
Anakin smiled as he took his own muffin off the table. "Daddy pod waces?" the two-year-old asked.
"Sorry son, but podraces have been banned," Anakin replied.
Ever since Luke overheard Anakin and Owen talking about how he won a podrace he had been wanting to see a race. The two-year-old sighed. "How about you help daddy at the shop today?" Anakin asked. The boy's eyes lit up at the idea.
"Anakin…" Padmé started.
"I won't let him out of my sight, just trust me," Anakin answered with a smile.
"Pwease mama!" Luke insisted.
Padmé sighed, seeing that Luke was all excited about the idea of going to help Anakin at the shop made her smile. "Just be careful, please? You said yourself that Mos Espa isn't safe," she told her husband.
"He'll be fine," Anakin assured her smiling.
"Yay!" the little boy said excitedly as he crawled off his chair and crawled up into Anakin's lap.
Anakin looked over at Leia. "You can come with me tomorrow Princess," he told her smiling, "you can be mama's helper here for when grandma and Auntie Beru come." Leia's eyes lit up.
"Gamma!" Leia said excitedly.
"Your mother tends to spoil the kids when she's here," Padmé commented as she cleaned up their mess.
"Can you blame her? The twins are her first grandchildren after all," he said with a smile, "she does feel it's grandma's right to spoil them."
Padmé smiled as she put the rest of the muffins away. "Besides, I'm sure if your mom was here she'd be just as bad if not worse than my mom," he pointed out.
"This is true," she replied, laughing a little.
"Daddy…" Luke murmured, pulling on his father's hand to get him to leave.
"I'm being summoned," he told his wife chuckling.
Padmé smiled as she walked over to them. "Well, please watch out for our son? He's two and has a really, really short attention span," she told him.
"I'll keep an eye on him," he replied.
Leaning forward, he pressed his lips against hers with a smile. "Yuck!" the twins exclaimed in disgust.
"Yuck huh?" Anakin asked chuckling as he lifted Luke up and smothered his son in kisses, making the boy giggle up a storm.
Chuckling he walked over to Leia, lifting her up in his free arm and started smothering her in kisses as well while Padmé was laughing at the scene in front of her. "Dop daddy dop," Leia giggled.
"Alright, love you Princess," he told his daughter, setting her back in her seat.
"Wuv oo daddy," Leia answered.
Padmé kissed her son's cheek with a smile. "Love you Pilot," she told her son smiling.
"Wuv oo mama," Luke answered.
The twins waved at each other as Anakin and Luke left the hovel.
When they arrived at the shop, Anakin was opening things up while Luke was sitting on the counter playing with the toy ship that Anakin kept there to keep his son entertained while he was working. "Daddy wook," Luke said smiling. Anakin looked over to see his son making the ship hover in the air.
"Luke don't do that here son," Anakin answered, quickly taking the fighter from the air.
Luke pouted. "Why?" he asked, staring at his father quizzically. The little boy wasn't used to his father telling him he couldn't play with his toys that way.
"You can't play that game while daddy's at work. You can only play that at home," Anakin told his son.
"Why?" Luke asked.
Anakin let out a sigh, he wasn't about to tell his two-year-old that the Emperor had bounty hunters out searching for any living Jedi. "Daddy says so that's why, don't do it in daddy's shop," he instructed.
"Otay…" Luke said with a sigh as he just made the ship fly around with his hands.
Anakin kissed the top of his head and went back to getting things ready for any customer that would come in. Before he could react, Luke was suddenly attached to his leg. "What's wrong Luke?" he asked.
"What does someone have to do to get some business around here?" a voice barked from the front.
Anakin stroked his son's hair as they both walked to the front of the shop, the two-year-old gripping his father's pant leg. "What do you want?" Anakin asked, showing the man the same lack of respect. It was obvious he was a pilot and his face was deformed from what was probably a blaster blast to his face. It was no wonder Luke was terrified.
"I need a part," the pilot snapped.
Anakin stared at him as he slammed down a stack of credits. "We only accept real money here, no credits. Credits are no good here on Tatooine," he informed. The pilot muttered a few curses under his breath. "Keep in mind there's a child presence so would you mind showing some sort of respect?" he asked. The pilot glared, but then Anakin watched as his eyes went to the boy attached to his leg.
Touching his son's hair, he looked down at him. "Jori kuna nu ya wasa," Anakin instructed. (Son go to the back.) Luke looked at his father before doing as he said. "I would appreciate it if you wouldn't keep such a close eye on my son. If you are here to do business sir, then please, do business," he told the pilot.
"Fine with me," the pilot answered.
"What part do you need?" Anakin asked.
"A part for a Freighter YT-1300," the pilot replied.
Anakin's jaw locked at the type, making him breathe a little heavier. As he searched his mind, he could suddenly hear the pilot's thoughts. "Blond haired, blue eyed boy. I have a customer waiting for a slave like that," the pilot thought. The young man cleared his throat, keeping himself from killing the pilot then and there.
"I'll see what I can do," he said through his teeth.
He couldn't stand the fact that even though podracing is banned, but yet slavery seemed to be going strong. He looked towards the back of the store. "Luke, ama yako," Anakin called out. (Luke, come here.) Luke ran out of the back and followed his father to the junkyard. "Stay by me Luke, don't even look at that man," he told his son.
"He scawey," Luke said softly.
"I know he is," Anakin replied.
"How come he stawes?" Luke asked.
Anakin squatted down in front of his son. "Luke, if anyone watches you like that, you come get me alright? That's a bad man," he told his son softly.
"Bad man?" Luke asked.
Anakin nodded his head slowly. "You stay right here by me while he's here," he told his son.
"Otay," Luke replied.
Anakin sighed as he lifted his son up, having him sit on his side. Luke wrapped his arms around his father's neck as they went back into the shop with the part that the pilot was searching for.
The rest of the day went a little easier. Anakin was fixing a speeder while Luke was sitting beside him with his father's tools surrounding him. "Hey Luke about giving me the hydrospanner?" he asked. Luke looked at all the tools in front of him. He then picked up a thin tool.
"Dis one?" he asked.
Anakin smiled. "Yep that's it," he replied, taking the tool from him, "you're learning." Luke beamed, happy that he got it right. Anakin smiled at his son, messing up his hair. "You're a fast learner son, one day you'll become like me," he commented. Luke grinned happily at his father.
"I want to be just wike oo daddy," Luke answered, hugging him.
Anakin kissed his son's forehead with a smile. "We'll be a great team one day, Luke," he told his grinning son. Luke smiled as he stood up and sat in his father's lap. Smiling, Anakin put his tool down, wrapping his arms around his son.
"Daddy, how come theaw awe bad people?" Luke asked.
Sighing, Anakin rested his forehead against the top of his head. "I don't know son, a lot of lost people in the world. They're taught the wrong things," he replied.
"Why?" Luke asked.
"Sometimes Luke, there are things that we don't understand, things that can't be explained," he replied.
Luke rested his head on his father's arm. "But I promise I will never, ever let anything happen to you, your mama, or Leia," he told him softly.
"I wuv oo daddy," Luke answered.
Anakin kissed his son's temple. "I love you Luke, very, very much," he whispered. One thing was for sure, he had to stop the slave smugglers. This was the second time a smuggler had their eye on someone in his family and it was time to get to the bottom of who was part of the slavery ring and to defeat it once and for all.