Author's Notes: It seems like exhaustion finally caught up with me. Between work, moving, co-managing a website and all the things in between, I've fallen and can barely get up. I almost didn't finish this chapter. Whew! Also, I'd like to address my way of writing. For newbie's, it'll no doubt feel disconcerting, I have problems with my tenses and I'm not very adept with being descriptive. Most have gotten used to the way I write, but I understand that there are many of you that aren't. I have a beta but they're familiar with my writing, so they may not see the problem. I will try to write more cohesively in the future but I can't guarantee it.

Chapter 15: Forward Motion

"Leave me alone! Go away!" Anakin screamed. He felt his throat tighten and his body floats up. Tears fell uncontrollably down his eyes as the evil creature held him up in mid-air like a toy. "You will learn to obey me," the vile man snickered, tossing him to the side a moment later. Anakin's bones cracked on impact.

Anakin's eyes snapped open with urgency. His memories were slowly returning, making him lose grip of reality every time he awoke from them. His ragged breathing was loud, as if drowning in his own air.

He just wished it would stop.

Looking around the empty room, he tried to focus on something else other than the voices in his head. They left Alderaan a few standard hours ago. He didn't even expect to get any sleep when half his mind feared the Emperor would find them and the other half worried that it was too late.

Then Padme suddenly appeared into his room carrying a tray of food. "Anakin, what happened?" she asked, putting it aside his bed as she placed the back of her palm on his forehead, feeling his temperature. "You're still cold," she said, still unsure why that was so.

"I grew up in the cold," he revealed softly, his breathing finally evening out. "I learned to adapt to it. I'm sorry if I frightened you."

"No, you didn't. I was just worried." She looked at him more closely, his deep blue eyes was filled with an old soul. "You had another nightmare?" she guessed.

"I don't know. It might've been a memory."

"A memory?"

"I haven't thought about my past for a long time."

"I understand." In reality, she couldn't even fathom it. "I brought you some food, you could've eaten with us out there."

"I don't want to cause any trouble for you anymore than I already have."

Padme smiled despite the complicated situation that they were in.

"I imagine things would be a whole lot worse if you weren't here," she said, surprising herself in the process. Talking to him was becoming increasingly easy. Whether that is a good or bad thing remains to be seen.

"I don't know what's going to happen now. Everything has always been laid out in front of me."

"In some ways, you and I are a lot alike," Padme mused, taking a seat next to him. She grabbed the hand closest to her. It still felt cold but she didn't care. "I was so young when I joined the legislative youth program back on Naboo, and since then, my life has been about my home and The Republic."

"I'm sorry," he said sounding every bit as sincere.

"Don't be," she said. "It's actually my fault Palpatine even had the power to name himself Emperor."

Anakin looked away. "He planned everything long before he became a politician in the eyes of the Republic. Every move he made wasn't without insight."

"What do you mean?"

"The Dark Side clouded the Jedi's ability to get a sense of the future. That's why the Emperor managed to evade their detection until it was too late. During your reign as Queen of Naboo, he saw an opportunity to remove Vallorum from his seat by creating a false invasion in what resulted as the Battle of Naboo."

Padme looked down, tears threatening to fall as comprehended his words and recalled the event in vivid detail. If she only had known…

Anakin, feeling her distress, turned to her with pleading eyes. "Please. It's not your fault. He deceived us all."

"I feel like such a fool."

"You're not," he said with vigor. "Never."

Anakin pulled her into his arms, her arms slowly moving around his waist as she allowed herself to sink into his embrace. He would hold her like this forever if she let him.

An hour later, Anakin walked across the catwalk, the cockpit in his line of sight. Obi-Wan sat with his hands on the controls, staring out into the wide vastness of space. He didn't seem to be aware that Anakin was behind him until he spoke and proved to him otherwise.

"Can I help you, Anakin?"

Anakin wasn't used the kind of attention that Jedi's Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi have been giving him since they boarded the ship and exited Alderaan's atmosphere. In fact, they've been surprisingly patient when it came to the former Sith.

"I was just wondering if you needed any help."

Without having to turn, Obi-Wan smiled knowingly. Since learning his true identity, both identities actually, he has kept a close eye on him. And his reunion with Lady Amidala has certainly quelled his uneasiness around strangers, especially him. Thinking back on their duel in Coruscant, Obi-Wan was amazed at how easily he adapted himself when he took control of the situation.

"Do you fly, Anakin?"

"Once in a while," he answered, glancing at the controls that blinked in front of him. "I wasn't allowed to fly unless I was training or on a mission."

"Why is that?"

Anakin was silent for a moment before answering. "I think because I liked to fly."

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow at him. "You think?"

Anakin shrugged. "He never told me."

"And you never asked why," Obi-Wan said with a nod. A beat. "Are you going to sit down or are you going to stare at my mediocre flying standing there for the rest of the trip?"

Anakin gave out a small smile before taking the seat next to him. He looked at the controls and the screens, his mind committing it all to memory. There was a sparkle in his eye that Obi-Wan only ever saw when he'd sneak glances at his wife.

Wife.

It was becoming increasingly obvious to Obi-Wan and Master Yoda that there was a lot more to Lady Amidala's relationship with Anakin that went far beyond that of an arranged marriage. They more than felt that genuine feelings for one another existed between them that it certainly doesn't take a force-user to see it.

"How is Lady Amidala?"

Anakin's face immediately lit up at the mention of her. Obi-Wan couldn't help but marvel at the difference in his attitude. He had to continuously remind himself that he wasn't dealing with the same Sith Lord he met months ago. It took time getting used to,

"She's well. Sleeping when I left her. I programmed your R2 Unit to keep an eye on her, and to notify us immediately if anything out of the ordinary happens."

"And you? After everything, you should be sleeping."

"I can't sleep."

"Can't or refuse to?"

Anakin threw him a hard glare before succumbing to the question himself.

"I don't like what I see when I do."

Obi-Wan nodded with understanding. It didn't occur to him until now how difficult it must be reconciling who he had once been against who he is now. He could only imagine the internal wars he was waging.

"Sometimes, talking about it would help lift some of the burden."

"It's not a burden," Anakin assured. "It's my punishment."

"The past cannot be undone, Anakin. There's only the – "

"I murdered your friends," Anakin interrupted as Obi-Wan tried not to let the truth show in his face. "Your mentors. Students. Comrades. How can you sit there and talk to me as if I'm one of your own?" The Jedi had no answer so Anakin continued. "Ask me what I felt when I led the attack on the Jedi Temple that resulted in the death of your students."

Obi-Wan shut his eyes as he attempted to purge the images of slaughtered younglings that Master Yoda has shown him during the height of the Clone Wars. They were so young. Innocent. Eager to learn.

But they are dead now yet there was that one question lingering in his mind.

"How did you feel?"

Anakin's eyes glistened when he answered. "Nothing then," he admitted with remorse. He turned his head to look into space and added. "But I feel everything now."

"What did Palpatine do to you, Anakin?" Obi-Wan dared to ask.

"My memories… are returning but…"

"You're confused by what's real and what isn't," Obi-Wan finished noting his hesitancy to answer. "When you're ready, Master Yoda and I are here for you. We'll get through this together."

"Tha… thank you…" and then Anakin added something that neither was expecting. "Master."

Obi-Wan was taken aback. "You don't have to call me that, you're in no obligation to."

"That's why I did. I've called the Emperor my Master because I had to. I call you Master because I choose to."

"Perhaps there's hope for you yet."

In Anakin's mind, he'd like to think so too.

To be continued…