Quietly, I walked with my lightsaber at attack position through my house. When I walked into the kitchen, the hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I turned around. I saw what looked to be a human-sized spider above the entryway. The creature leaped at me before I could see it and we rolled across the kitchen floor. He knocked the lightsaber out of my hand when I hit the floor. The commotion woke up the babies and I could hear them crying.
"You woke up my kids!" I said and punched the attacker in the face.
"I aim to do much more to them soon," promised the attacker in an eerie voice. Kicking me in the stomach, he sent me backwards, and I got the wind knocked out of me.
Quickly, the attacker ran towards the Ashla's room. In a desperate move, I used the Force to choke him, picking him and throwing him towards the couch in the living room. I summoned my lightsaber to my hand and ignited it.
Cutting downward to slice open his body, I demanded "Who sent you?"
He rolled away, and stumbled to his feet, igniting a double lightsaber. "No one sent me," he said. "I make my own decisions. Currently, I am in the market for an apprentice, and a young Skywalker would be an excellent choice. Think about it, the offspring of Vader, imagine the power."
Sudden dread pierced my heart. This creature wanted to train my children as a Sith! Did Palpatine send it? "You are not touching my family!" Seething, I screamed, "They are children! Not pawns in your plays against the Jedi!"
Exchanging blow, I noticed that he was fast and wirey, like a Nexu, always gunning for the attack. That left me in the defensive position, something that I did not like to do. I needed to force him to be on the defensive end and quickly if I was going to keep him away from my family.
Digging in deep, I lashed out with my fear and anger. Quickly the tone of the battle shifted as this creature began defending itself from the fury of Darth Vader. The Dark Side flowed through me as I began to keep this creep on the defensive end and make him realize the penalty for hurting with my family.
"You haven't turned your back on the Dark Side, have you, Chosen One?" sneered the intruder.
In a moment of shame, I realized what I was doing. The anger and rage were boiling over. What if I used the Dark Side to save my family now only to lose them again when I became Vader? While I began to block and parry, I tried to clear my mind. Thinking back, I tried to remember what Master Yoda say all those years ago?
"Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose."
Heartbroken, I realized what was necessary. I was not giving up, no! I must be dead or somehow mentally incompetant to let anything happen to my family. But I realized that I did not have the power to save them and I needed to be fine with that. They were with the Force now. Fighting every instinct that I had, I released my family into the Force, knowing that the Force would do a better job of providing for them than I could. With a weight lifted off my shoulders, I fought back with a renewed vigor.
The ferocity of my attack that came next took the intruder off guard. I could see he searched my face for anger or malice, but can find none.
"Defend them, Chosen One," he said fervently, "Or the Dark Side will take them away from you!"
So that was his play, to make me use the Dark Side, and bring Vader out in me. Closing my eyes for a quick second, I surrendered to the will of the Force. Everything that Depa, Windu, Yoda, and Obi-Wan had been training me started to guide me. I stretched out with my feelings like Windu taught me, and soon I could anticipate his next move. As he raised his weapon for an uppercut, I spun out of his reach. Then before he could recover, I slashed at his legs. Severing him at the knees, I sliced off his hand that held the lightsaber. He gasped in pain and dropped to the floor.
Just then the front door opened, and clone troopers filled the room. In the dark, I recognized Commander Lee from 212nd, Obi-Wan's division. Then I saw a blue lightsaber, as Obi-wan walked into the room.
"Master, glad you came," I said.
"Anakin," he said, "are you alright?"
"I'm fine. But I need to go check on Padme and the kids."
"Of course, I'll take care of our friend here," he said gesturing to the limbless creature on the floor.
Shutting off my lightsaber, I ran to Ashla's room, where I knew my family was waiting. Seeing that Padme had disabled the door, I shouted, "Padme, I am coming in."
Using my lightsaber to cut through the door, I finally returned to my family. Jinn and Ashla were in the crib screaming and crying, and Padme was standing over them with a gun aimed at my chest. I brought my lightsaber up to block incase she mistook me for the intruder in a sleep deprived state.
"Oh, Anakin," she said, and ran to me.
Shutting down my lightsaber, I hugged her. "He's gone," I said. "We're safe. The living room and kitchen are a mess, but were safe."
"I was so sure that he was going to come back here and hurt the kids with them screaming and all."
"I would never let that happen," I promised, and then I kissed her hard. Kissing me back, she finally broke away and then we just stood there holding each other.