Montu Kiljek, even after two years, deeply mourned the loss of his former padawan. She had been well on her way to becoming a great Jedi Knight, and the two shared a relationship not unlike the relationship shared with Obi-Wan Kenobi and his former apprentice, Anakin Skywalker.
He mouthed his name, fury rising in his chest. Skywalker was the one who had killed Tarra. Killed his padawan. Montu Kiljek remembered the murder. The two were battling in the Jedi Temple, with their blades locked, each engaged in a shoving match. Tarra, with her two lightsabers to Anakin's one, managed to push Anakin back, and was about to deliver a well placed strike when Anakin used the Force and shoved her off the balcony. She hit the ground, did a roll, and tried to regain her balance. She was noticeably dizzy.
And as Montu Kiljek watched in horror, Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One, had lifted a fallen flaming pillar in the Jedi Temple, and sent it crashing down upon his padawan. His Tarra.
"NOOOOO!" He had cried, drawing his lightsaber, but Anakin had already gone. He rushed to Tarra's side, lifted the pillar above her crushed body, and wept.
From that day forward, Montu Kiljek had vowed to destroy Anakin Skywalker when he got the chance. He was in hiding at the moment, in Turanis, but he had continued training, and he was pleased to say that his fighting skills had not diminished in the least.
--
Darth Vader stepped off his TIE Fighter onto the sandy ground of Tatooine. He had felt his former master's Force signature here, and wanted to see him. He wanted to apologize for everything.
But above all, he needed his former master's help. To get out of this cursed suit. To become human again.
No, not human. Darth Vader knew that he could never be human again – he had no real limbs, after all, and the remains of his body had been scorched by the fires of Mustafar. For three long months he had to deal with the unrelenting pain in his body, as those burn wounds had never been properly healed by Palpatine's droids.
"Stupid droids," he tried to mutter, but out of his mask came the same, monotonous, and powerful voice that was installed into his speaker system.
Then he set off across the desert sands in search of Obi-Wan's residence.
--
Obi-Wan Kenobi was getting bored of his life, and when the door of his cave was knocked upon,he wearily rose from his bed, expecting to see Owen or Beru calling upon him to calm the little boy Luke down.
What he saw at the door nearly drained his face of his blood, and it was all he could do to keep his composure.
"What are you doing here ... Vader?" Obi-Wan said slowly, and recognizing the force signature of his former padawan.
"Obi-Wan," the helmetted robot-human spoke, then sank to his knees. "... I'm sorry. About Mustafar. About the Jedi Order. About ..." he would have continued, but his mind was reeling from regret, as all his past wrongdoings had returned to haunt him.
But no, Darth Vader never wept. He stood up, and said matter-of-factly, "I have renounced Emperor Palpatine. I have left the Empire."
Obi-Wan's shoocked face split into a grin. "Welcome back to the Light, Anakin."
Vader's mask looked down at the ground. "I did not say I renounced the Dark Side."
Obi-Wan continued to smile. "Qui-Gon once told me, that there is no Dark or Light Side. It depends on how you manipulate the Force to reach your goals. And, depending on what your goals are, that determines what kind of person you are."
From that point forward, Darth Vader died. Anakin Skywalker had returned to the monstrous black caped machine. "Master ... help me get rid of my suit. Help me restore my body."
Obi-Wan's smile widened. "I know just the person. He helped restore someone else not too long ago."
"Who?"
"Tarra."
"Montu Kiljek's old padawan?"
"Yes."
"He ... restored her. After I crushed her with a giant temple pillar?"
"Yes. Master Kiljek is still in hiding in Turanis, and does not know about this. But once he returns from the Outer Rim, he would be pleased..."
"Master?"
"Yes."
"Lead me there."
--
"Master Skywalker, we will need your cooperation!"
Anakin struggled against the droids. He hated droids, and he had an instinctive reaction to destroy them ... he had already used the force to blow up two of them.
"Anakin, please! Let them do their job!" Obi-Wan cried. Anakin gritted his teeth, but finally relented, allowing the droids to remove his black suit, to find ...
"Oh my ..." Obi-Wan was unable to keep it to himself.
Anakin groaned as his flesh made contact with outside air for the first time in two years. His burned flesh. His helmet was slowly removed, causing yet another gasp from Obi-Wan. The Jedi Master slumped into his chair, wondering why he didn't just kill Anakin instead of leaving him in the hot sands of Mustafar.
Anakin lifted his head, his eyes slowly blinking, unaccustomed to the light. "I told you it was bad," he said. "But ... I forgive you, Obi-Wan."
Obi-Wan lifted his face from his hands, which he had buried it into. Tears shone in his eyes, as he mouthed, "I'm sorry."
Anakin lowered his head to his mattress, causing a headache. His head just didn't feel right anymore without the safe confines of his helmet. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain at the side of his neck, and suddenly everything began to go dark. "I've been drugged," he thought as he drifted off into a deep, dreamless sleep.
--
Across the galaxy, Emperor Palpatine lay on his bed, droids attending to his injured leg. Darth Vader was lost to him, but he still owned the galaxy. And he still had time to search for his next apprentice.
"Skywalker ... do not think that I am finished with you." Sidious hissed. He turned to his med-droids, and motioned for them to leave him. He then reached into the force, searching for Force signatures. He would find a new apprentice, one more powerful than ever before. That was his destiny, after all. To find the one person who could bring more power than ever before. Perhaps Vader was it. He was, after all, an extremely powerful Sith. But perhaps he wasn't.
Darth Sidious let out a low cackle, imagining the power that could be handed to him once young Skywalker was under his control – the same feeling he had felt when he had begun to turn Anakin Skywalker to the Dark side.
--
Anakin's eyes slowly blinked open, adjusting to the brightness around him. It felt good to be able to see again. He groggily sat up in his bed, and the first thing he noticed was that he could sit up without pain. He hadn't felt that in a long time. He flexed his new prosthetic arms and hands, feeling them contract and release in reflexive movements. He shifted a leg. Then he looked up, and gasped.
On the wall opposite his bed was large mirror. And as Anakin stared into his own blue eyes where a huge black mask had been for the better part of two years, he couldn't help but feel incredulous.
Slowly he made his way off his bed – he would have moved faster, but was still unused to movement with his new limbs – and approached the mirror. Most of the scars on his face had disappeared, with the exception of one particularly nasty gash he had received across his left cheek. Most of his hair had even grown back – his head looked almost as if he had never been to Mustafar.
His left hand moved down along that scar on his face, feeling the new sensations his metallic hands 'felt', the electronic senses pulsing along his fingers. It then trailed to his chest, where he found a small metal chip, no doubt regulating his breathing and circulation. It was a lot smaller than the one Sidious had provided for him in his Vader suit, and thankfully it didn't cause him to make that damned "pooooohhh khhhhhhhh" sound every time he breathed.
"Anakin, you're awake!" Obi-Wan's voice came from the corridor. Anakin turned and smiled at his former master.
"I love it," he said.
Obi-Wan smiled before musing "You may want to see your back before you make that judgement."
"Is it bad?"
"It's still heavily scarred, but it was much better than it was three months ago."
"Three months?" Anakin didn't realize he had been there for so long.
"Actually you've been here nearly half a year. Your injuries were very extensive, and the droids spent a lot of time working on a smaller ventilation and circulation chip so that you can still sustain life without compromising your movement."
Anakin nodded. "They did a good job. I almost didn't notice it."
Obi-Wan and Anakin both turned to the mirror to look at Anakin's reflection. Then Obi-Wan turned to Anakin, and spoke. "You are going to undergo an intense rehab program. You will be re-trained until you can move freely with your new body."
Anakin cocked his head. "Who's going to be my teacher?" he mused, already knowing the answer.
Obi-Wan grinned, then said, "You're going to be my padawan again."
--
Tarra Havanis didn't forget things. She never forgets.
Which is why for two years – well, almost two, as she had spent about three months in rehabilitation and body repairs – her heart burned with hatred of Anakin Skywalker. The one who had betrayed the Jedi Temple. The one who had betrayed her.
flashback
"You were my friend! You were like a brother! You're betraying yourself! You're betraying the Republic! You're betraying ME!" Tarra screamed at Anakin.
Anakin ignited his lightsaber. "No. The Jedi betrayed me. They held me back. You betrayed me by believing in them. I will do what I must."
Tarra whipped out her dual sabers. She found that two were much easier to fight with than just one. "Then I'm going to have to stop you."
Anakin shook his head. "I don't want to have to kill you, Tarra."
"Don't worry, it's the other way around. I am going to kill you."
"You will try, old friend."
end flashback
Tarra bit back tears as she remembered the old days. She and Anakin were good friends in the Jedi temple – her friendship was probably second among Jedi only to Obi-Wan Kenobi. But somehow, Anakin had forgot it all. He forgot his principles and morals. He forgot everything about being a Jedi. He forgot ...
The door opened. Tarra turned to see the Emperor himself stride in, two Storm troopers at his side. She pulled out her lightsabers, but did not ignite them.
"Emperor Palpatine," she acknowledged.
"Yes, Jedi Knight. I sense ... hatred ... in you,"
Tarra cursed under her breath. She had let her face betray her emotions again. When was she going to listen to her old master and learn to control her feelings?
"Hate is a natural feeling, young Jedi. Especially to others who have tried to kill you. Isn't that so, Tarra Havanis?"
Tarra nodded, her throat constricting.
"Let me help you. I will help you to destroy those you hate, and to restore those that you love. Where is your old master, young Jedi?"
Tarra's lips tightened and her face pulled into a grim expression. "Probably dead. Or worse."
Palpatine nodded, even though he knew for a fact that he wasn't. His Storm troopers had informed him of their failure to kill him just seven months earlier. "I can help you bring him back."
Tarra looked up at this. "Really?" she asked, obviously intrigued and interested.
Palpatine nodded. "I don't know how to do it yet. But with a bright mind like yours, it shouldn't be too difficult for us to figure out." He knew that he had used the same line on Anakin Skywalker, and that had turned out beautifully.
It worked. Tarra had been converted to the Dark Side. "I-I pledge myself to you. I will do anything you ask. Just let me destroy Anakin Skywalker, and revive my old master."
Emperor Palpatine smiled. It seemed almost too easy." Good," he drawled. "Henceforth you shall be named ... Petra. Rise, my new apprentice."