Chapter Three:

Hisashi dreamt he was crouched inside a metal trunk.

This dream felt entirely too real, from the poky bit digging into his back to the tears staining his cheeks. Almost like his old visions of his wife's death in childbirth. This must be another Force premonition. But why did he have the tiny body of a child?

His younger brother loomed over him, strangely tall from a child's perspective. Kazuki had giant bags around his eyes and his hands shook as he pushed the child deeper into the trunk. "No matter what happens, you must remain silent." He coughed. Blood trickled down his chin. He looked so deathly he might faint at any moment.

This was what happened to the reckless fool when he left his big brother's protection. (Hisashi conveniently ignored how their fight on Mustafar had been responsible for the worst of those internal injuries. Was it his fault his rebellious younger brother decided to breathe in so many volcanic fumes when he could have sensibly surrendered?) If this was a vision of the future, then hopefully it would reveal something about Kazuki's location.

"But what will happen to you—?" a child's voice protested. It came from Hisashi's lips—no, from the body he was temporarily seeing through.

"Please, you have to be quiet." Kazuki slammed down the trunk lid and locked it.

The child pressed his eye to the keyhole. Together, he and Hisashi watched as an explosion blew the door backward. The Tusken Raiders poured in.

An itching, uncharacteristic fear formed inside Hisashi. A callback to his distant childhood, when those brown masks had foretold certain death. He had a bad feeling he knew where this vision was going. He told himself he could still stop this from happening. But he'd foretold Inko's death, and he hadn't been able to save her.

Kazuki ignited his lightsaber. He tried to say something, but these intruders hadn't come to talk. They attacked in a swarm. Kazuki met them in a dizzying flash of blows and parries. He'd always been exceptional with a lightsaber, in contrast to his weak Force abilities.

Using the doorway as a bottleneck, Kazuki was barely able to hold them off. Briefly, the attack faltered. Then a cough shook his body. Blood poured from his mouth. He slipped down to one knee.

A Tusken Raider bashed him over the head.

The child clamped a hand over his mouth to stop a cry. Silent tears poured down his cheeks.

Something was strange about this Force vision. Everything felt so much more vivid than his previous ones. His broken bond with his brother screamed in pain. The Force had gone insane around him, raging against what was happening.

Then and there, Hisashi realized this wasn't a vision of the future. This was happening right now. His younger brother was going to die. (Going to die because of the injuries Hisashi had inflicted on Mustafar…)

Hisashi's horror and fury rose up in a soundless wail. It mingled with the child's terror. The boy opened his mouth to scream.

As soon as the smallest sound emerged, Hisashi felt a tightening in his throat (the child's throat). Just the lightest of pressures. Blood dripped from Kazuki's forehead as he stared intently at the trunk. He'd used the Force to stop the child from making noise.

A Tusken Raider lifted Kazuki off the floor. He dragged his knife down the Jedi's cheek, removing a patch of skin. But not deep enough to kill. They were going to torture his little brother to death.

Hisashi went insane, desperate to break out of this vision and wake up. Deep down, he knew he was too far from Tatooine to arrive in time. But he didn't care. He had to try.

No matter how he kicked and screamed against the tide of the Force, he couldn't return to his own body. He couldn't even close the child's eyes. He had no choice but to watch as his baby brother was skinned alive.

The child's Force presence was an insane mess of grief and fear. Their pain fed on each other, mingling their minds even closer together. Despite Kazuki's suffering, the Jedi kept up his hold on the Force until the very end of his life, forcing the child to remain silent.

The body on the floor stopped its last twitching. Hisashi screamed, Kazuki! at the same time the child screamed Uncle!

This shut Hisashi up as he realized precisely who this child must be. He could barely wrap his mind around the cruelty of learning his son was alive at the same time he'd been forced to watch his brother die.

Then the Tusken Raiders approached the trunk, and he realized it could get even worse.

Though the raiders strained their arms, they couldn't open the lid. They grunted at each other as they used a knife to try to force the lock.

Hisashi trembled in a state of absolute terror, begging inside his own head as he'd never once begged out loud.

One Tusken Raider kicked the trunk. Pain lanced through his son's arm as he was thrown into the wall. An involuntary sound started to emerge from his throat.

In desperation, Hisashi tried to take control of his son's voice to keep him silent. He'd moved entire Star Destroyers with less effort. Clinging to his will and his sanity with his fingernails, he barely managed to stop his son from crying out.

The same Tusken Raider rolled the trunk across the floor. Hisashi screamed in agony as they landed funny on one arm. Yet he kept their shared lips tightly closed. Their heart hammered.

It took too long before the raiders finished carrying loot from the house. As the last one left, they both counted seconds with baited breath. Finally, Hisashi released his grip. He feared he might have damaged his son's throat. He tried to reach out and speak to the boy, to offer what meager comfort he could. But the vision faded around him.

Hisashi woke up in his bedroom and screamed. The screaming didn't stop until his room had been ripped to shreds.

He stormed to the bridge of his ship. The captain looked up and fell out of his chair. No doubt the man had no idea what to make of Darth Omnus standing in his pajamas with bare feet and a look of murder on his face.

"Set course for Tatooine," Hisashi snarled.

When Hisashi tracked down his son's Force signature, the boy was still inside the same trunk. He'd curled up in a ball, his face soaked with tears. Blood dripped from a cut on his forehead and his visible skin was peppered with bruises. His left arm hung funny. Hisashi hadn't thought it possible for him to get even angrier, but he might have managed it.

Ordering his troops backward, Hisashi knelt down. "I'm here to help you."

One green eye cracked open. "Y-you are?"

"Yes, I promise. I'm your father. What's your name?"

"Izuku."

Hisashi lifted up his son and cradled him in his arms. "What a lovely name. Your mother picked it. I'm going to take you away from this horrible planet."

It wouldn't do for his dear, traumatized son to see what was about to happen on Tatooine next. Hisashi would kill every last Tusken Raider if it took him all of his immortal existence. If Emperor Mera breathed one word about bad publicity, the politician would find himself lying at the bottom of the stairs with a broken neck.

Hisashi carried his son out of the bloodstained hut. His troopers had already removed his brother's body. They stood ready to set the place ablaze. Overhead, so many Imperial ships gathered that they blocked out both suns. Hisashi would kill every resident on Tatooine, innocent or guilty, before he'd let a single target of his vengeance escape.

Izuku shifted in his arms and whimpered. His eyes looked blank. His Force signature was a red hot mess of agony.

There was nothing Hisashi could do to make this better, but installing his son as emperor might be a good start.

OMAKE TIME!

Omake: All for One Versus Anakin, Round 2

Anakin: I killed them all. They're dead, every single one of them. And not just the men, but the women and the children, too.

Hisashi: Quitter.

Anakin: Excuse me? What does that mean?

Hisashi: You heard me. Tusken Raiders murdered your mother and all you did was finish off one tribe? I'll show you how to commit a proper genocide.

Anakin: But surely there's a limit to how many innocent civilians I can individually slaughter with a lightsaber.

Hisashi: Are you a Sith or a poser? Don't you have minions to help you murder people? Failing that, can't you arrange for a war between the Hutts and the Tusken Raiders, then finish off any survivors? You didn't put in any kind of proper villainous effort into your revenge. Quitter.

#

Omake: Future Child Emperor Izuku

Izuku: No! Cancel the Death Star plans immediately! Take all that money and put it into stopping slavery in the Outer Rim!

Hisashi: Maybe I should have waited until my son turned to the Dark Side before giving him control of the galaxy. Or at least until he hit puberty and understood some hard realities.

Izuku: (Puppy Eyes TM.)

Hisashi: He's just too cute to taint with the Dark Side. Time to free some slaves.

#Credit to Goofy Boss for this omake #Knowing what Izuku went through in this story will only make Hisashi more determined to fulfil his son's every whim #The galaxy will be happier for it.

Author's Note: Both Hisashi and Izuku will need so much therapy after this one. Sadly, Hisashi decides to spread his pain around the galaxy instead.

The next AU won't be so depressing, I promise.

FYI: Despite the First's canon name being revealed in Chapter 310, I don't intend to change it in this story. I used the name Yuuto in Karma Quirk and Kazuki in the Star Wars AU because these two versions of the First aren't intended to have the exact same personality, and I think it would be counterproductive to make them both Yoichi. I've also gotten attached to the names I'm currently using. I'll use Yoichi for a third interpretation of the First in the future.