John shielded his eyes from the scorching sunlight as he stepped down from Obi-Wan's spacecraft onto…sand. Lots and lots of sand.
"Jakku," he muttered to Padmé, who followed closely behind him. "Clever choice. I wouldn't even have thought to look here."
"Because you hate sand?" Padmé teased, quickening her pace to keep up with the strides of his tall figure.
"I don't just hate sand," John replied. "I hate desert planets in general. They remind me too much of where I came from."
"You mean, where Anakin came from," Padmé pointed out.
John scowled. "Vader also came from Tatooine," he stated, and as she opened her mouth to say something else, he added, "Don't start with this again."
The pair were joined shortly by Obi-Wan, who gave John another long, silent stare-down before proceeding forward to embrace the welcome party.
Does he recognize me? No, he can't…it's been too long.
John received many more stares over the next several minutes from rebels that, just a couple months ago, he would have slaughtered with joy. He found himself growing slightly enraged at their silent judgments of his jagged burn scars and robotic hand and began to reach for his lightsaber as if instinct willed him to kill at least one of them for their disrespect. Yet, as if Padmé sensed his plight, he suddenly found her hand grabbing hold of his flesh one, preventing him from revealing his weapon and hence, his identity. At first, his fingers remained stiff, unsure of what to do with so many people watching, but soon allowed them to bend around hers and he squeezed her tiny, smooth palm to give her reassurance.
John tuned into the conversation happening a few feet away from them between Obi-Wan and the one he recognized to be Padmé's friend Mon Mothma, who had embraced her wholeheartedly upon her safe arrival.
"Have you found anything useful concerning the death of Vader?" Mon asked the Jedi.
"Unfortunately not," Obi-Wan responded. "The crash site did appear a bit suspicious, and though I have reason to believe he may still be alive, I also have reason to believe that he may be dead. For now, I suggest we stick with dead and move forward with our plans."
"I agree," said Mon before turning to address her rebel soldiers. "Alright everyone! Now that our biggest threat has been eliminated, it's time to focus on taking the fight directly to the Emperor. We have the army, the ships, and the intelligence. All that's left to do is strike."
"No," John spurted out, causing a hundred heads to turn in his direction and an almost painfully hard squeeze from Padmé.
Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes, glancing quickly between the interlocked hands and John's face. "And why exactly is that, Mr. Heartkiller? Surely your loyalties no longer lie with the Empire, as you assured me several hours ago."
"Trust me," said John, pulling his hand free and taking a step toward his former teacher. "I have no love for the Emperor. I harbor just as much hatred toward him as all of you, if not more. You just don't have all the resources you think you do to pull this off. He'll always be one step ahead of you because that's how he works. His intelligence is far stronger than yours, as is his security, speaking as someone who's been on the inside."
He turned to Mon Mothma, who appeared to be thinking.
"Perhaps, Admiral," she said after a moment, "you could offer us some insight into the Emperor's habits and help us formulate a better plan, then."
John paused, taking in the irony of the whole situation. His arch-nemesis who believed him to be dead was asking him for help killing the one man he was supposed to die to protect…and he was considering helping them. Yet the real reason he had spoken up in protest was because this was his mission. His destiny. He had spent the past decade plotting the brutal murder of his Master and he was not going to let this ragtag band of unskilled rebels in sand-covered orange suits take that away from him.
And so, he just answered with, "Perhaps."
Obi-Wan excused himself from attending a meeting, claiming exhaustion from his trip, and retired to his quarters. He fetched his personal communicator and managed to make contact with Master Yoda.
"Greetings, Master," Obi-Wan said.
"Greetings, Obi-Wan," the hologram of the little green man responded. "News to share, you have?"
"Yes, Master," Obi-Wan replied. "I believe I may have found the source of the disturbance we felt, but he is not a child nor related to the death of Vader. I found him on my mission to Hoth to investigate the death where I stumbled across our friend Padmé taking shelter in the abandoned base."
"Interesting. Very interesting," Yoda mused. "Sure that these incidents are unrelated, you are?"
"What do you mean, Master?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Found this man on Hoth, you say," said Yoda. "Where Vader's ship crashed, Hoth is."
"Yes," Obi-Wan continued, "but surely you're not insinuating that this man was somehow responsible for his death?"
"If strong with the Force, this man is," replied Yoda, "then presume him innocent, we cannot."
Obi-Wan scratched the hairs on his chin, contemplating the Master's words. Perhaps, Yoda might be onto something. He would need to investigate.
"Thank you, Master," said Obi-Wan. "This conversation has been of great assistance to me. I shall update you if I find a link between the two. May the Force be with you."
"And with you, Obi-Wan," Yoda replied before his hologram faded.
Obi-Wan changed into a set of robes, eager to be free of the many layers he donned for his trip to the ice planet. He attached his lightsaber to his belt and attempted to tap into the Force presence of Heartkiller. He could sense that he was nearby, but nothing more. It was time to stop ignoring his suspicions and ask the Admiral a few questions.
Padmé pushed open the door to the room which Mon had assigned to Anakin.
Vader? John?
She grumbled in frustration at her jumbled thoughts about the man she had been falling in love with and knew that they needed to talk. She jumped back a little when she saw that he was partially undressed.
"I'm sorry," she said, blushing as he turned to face her and finished pulling on a new pair of pants, which were too small, but likely the largest he could acquire at the base. "I should have knocked."
"It's fine," he responded, searching for a shirt. She could tell he had recently showered, as the blonde locks that covered half his head were damp and he didn't smell like fish for the first time in over a week.
Padmé didn't realize she had been staring until he smirked at her.
"Enjoying the view, Senator?" he asked.
Her trance broken, she blushed again as he pulled on a generic black T-shirt that had been left in a drawer for him.
"No," she spat.
"Harsh," he said, taking a few steps toward her. "I know the whole hair-on-half-your-chest thing probably isn't quite in style, but unfortunately there's nothing I can do about it."
"No, that's not what I meant…" Padmé stuttered, "I mean, you look fine. Good. You're good."
"That's good," he said. "You look good too."
Padmé watched his blue eyes travel up and down her body, which was adorned in a new maroon dress to replace the decaying scraps of blue fabric she had been living in for weeks.
"Thank you," she responded as professionally as possible, trying to pretend that his comment wasn't incredibly flattering but instead one of courtesy. "I just wanted to stop by to talk."
"Of course you did," he answered, retreating to the plain bed and seating himself at the end. His casual manner was beginning to irk her.
"Right," Padmé said, straightening her shoulders. "I wanted to tell you that I think we should just be friends. For now."
His playful smile faded and he stood, advancing toward her once again, but she held her ground and didn't step back.
"Friends?" he snapped. "Padmé, I abandoned my life and faked my own death for you! I told you who I really am! And you're telling me that you just want to be friends?"
His tone was reminiscent of Vader, but this didn't scare her. In fact, it made her feel a bit more comfortable. She had fallen in love with Vader. Which made this whole conversation a lot more confusing.
"You told me who you really are," Padmé continued, trying to match his intimidation factor and failing miserably, "but you don't even seem to know yourself! And no matter what my feelings are, I can't be with somebody who wants me to call him by a fake name and pretend that everything that happened in the past didn't actually happen!"
He growled and smashed a decorative vase on the table beside them. She jumped, but still didn't move back. He took two more steps forward until their bodies were almost touching, his blue eyes tinged with a bit of gold.
"Who do you want me to be then, Padmé? Huh?" he shouted. "You told me your feelings for me when I was Vader, so maybe I should just go back to being him!"
"No!" Padmé shouted back. "I want you to be Anakin, but I need time to see if I can love that man too. I don't know him past the little boy he was on Tatooine! You don't even know him past that because you haven't given him a chance!"
The bedframe behind them rattled and for a moment Padmé thought it was going to explode from magic angry Force powers, but the man in front of her managed to regain his composure. For once, she was frightened, because she truly didn't know his next move.
"Does it really matter what my name is," he said evenly, "if I do this?"
Before Padmé could comprehend what was happening, his lips crashed against hers and her body slammed into the nearest wall. His metal hand held her there by her braided hair while the flesh one squeezed her hip. There was no romance in the kiss, only violent lust. Yet Padmé found herself reciprocating with equal strength as her lips accepted his and her own hands wrapped around his lower back. Her eyes closed and she saw nothing, heard nothing. So when he finally pulled away, she was severely disoriented and it took her a moment to realize the reason he had done so was an obviously flabbergasted Jedi Master standing in the doorframe.
"I'm sorry," said Obi-Wan. "I should have knocked."
Yay! Another chapter! Thanks for leaving reviews and I wish I had time to respond to all of you. I am glad that most of you are enjoying the story, but to address the negatives, I can't please everyone. I wish I could write a story that appealed to every single fan, but unfortunately that's just not possible.
Not sure when the next chapter will be up (might be able to finish it tonight, but not quite sure yet), but expect some action coming up pretty soon. Let's just say that your favorite couple might not be staying on Jakku for very long…
