Hey guys... Quick update here..., than usual... Anyways, I just mapped out an interesting character arc for Anakin, coming up in these next couple of chapters, so I hope you enjoy that when it comes around. Other than that, it's kind of nostalgic writing about the Rebel Alliance before it was a Rebel Alliance, considering that eventually, there will be the REBELS series that explains the forming of the Rebel Alliance, and I hope they bring in A LOT of The Clone Wars characters. It'll make the series feel like a continuation. Not that any of us should expect it in the first season since it'll probably detail the new characters. But other than that, I will quote the slogan for the upcoming show: JOIN THE REBELLION.

And yes, I do have a love/hate relationship with the Rebels series, but that's another conversation.

Jedipadawan123: Soon enough?

TripleThreat123: Cheerio, ol' chap.

Panda: Don't sweat it about the grammar, I was joking around. Glad for your continual support.

Anakin's POV

The Twilight clunked around in midair as I tried to control it from scraping the ground. It was continuously a difficult task for it to stop brushing against the scalding sands of Tatooine. I had a lot riding on fate, the sands of time. I always had. I'm the Chosen One. Every fiber of my body wanted to erase the fact I was the Chosen One..., except without the potential of being the Chosen One, I would never have been a Jedi...

I would continue, forevermore, as a slave..., back to Tatooine, with millions of other slaves... Oh, how I dreamed of coming back to free the slaves, but I have no power here... Just going to a few nostalgic places brings pain into me... My mother... My mother died here... If it weren't for those Hutts, Gardulla, I would never have lost her. We could have been free people, leaving this dreadful place, and make our lives have meaning. Even the Jedi has held me back... No, I just couldn't free the slaves. I was naïve. Maybe they should suffer like I suffered.

But even if I hated this place and wish to remember only the cruel portions of my childhood, this was and will be my home. I could never forget the homecoming feeling of when I left hyperspace right in front of this dirt-brown world, lit up by the Tatoo system's twin suns. Yes, it was home... Home... I hated and loved my home just as I hate and love myself. I'm despicable. I'm benevolent. I'm just destined to carry a dark heart. I'm destined to enlighten the galaxy into a whole new way.

I remember very little of what happened on Mortis, perhaps not enough to detail my fate, but I remembered one thing. The most powerful users of the Force, who manipulated the Force through what happens in their lives, believed I was the Chosen One... They were gods, in all sense of the term. I remember that collective dream that Obi-Wan and Ahsoka shared with me that was surprisingly realistic... It wasn't real. It's how I'll forever label that experience... But the message must be somewhere in that dream. The message must be a vision that is symbolically interpreted... I had no clue what to make out of it. Whether I was stupid and naïve as I have been when I first left this dustball, I could never formulate the meaning my dream had, the secrets of Mortis and, therefore, the secrets of the Force.

I continued to fly straight, brushing the ground since my ship's underside wing was broken in the cataclysm at Beggar's Canyon... In ways, I should be able to fix this ship like I do with fixing my life. I fix my life when I won the Boonta Eve podrace... I'm a fool. Everything I fix eventually breaks... Like the fact that I did nothing but fix droids in my childhood. In adulthood, I just break droids apart. Showing I'm just like a droid: I have no heart or soul. I'm selfish... All I am is selfish. I want this Clone War nightmare to end! I want to breathe in clean air again, not the stormy combustion of battlefield waste...

Proving the life the Jedi means nothing meaningful as it used to be. I enjoyed the Clone Wars early on, but I'm older now. It's eating away at me like it is with every other Jedi... Like with Barriss..., and Padme..., and maybe even Ahsoka... I never seen the effects this war is having on my padawan, but if it's there..., I'm blind of her true emotional capacity just as I am with my own.

My dreams are high but I have broken wings.

"Ani..." Jar Jar was trying to be quiet for once, trying to sit far away from me as he could... He was scared. Like me. "Ani, howsa we gonna get off this planet...? Yousa have a plan..., or nosa?"

I closed my eyes, thinking of how I should answer that. I had no plan; only a source that may be foolish to believe in... I can't rely on anyone these days. Not the Jedi. Not me. Not even my friends. I cry invisible 'tears' that gets no one watching me.

"No, Jar Jar... We are alone in this mess and all I have for an answer is to trust the Force... I am - may be - the Chosen One. As the Chosen One..., that I may be..., I'll find a way off this planet, even if it is a grueling way... Just stay to the side and let me solve these problems."

I saw a figure of a domed hut looming on the horizon... We were close. I had a certain method on how to meet my stepfamily, who had no knowledge of the Force as I did. "Alright..." I called out to the crew. "We are going to set her down. I don't wish to scare them with a spice freighter appearing out of nowhere."

I blinked a few times before craning my neck to crack the stress off in knotted places. I did little since my whole body was sore from this war. I blinked a few times again, before holding out my lightsaber, stroking it with more deep thought. This weapon is my life. Always keep it close... What a selfish maxim. A lightsaber was crude in many ways. Obi-Wan should know better.

"Okay..." I started over. "I'll go out to meet them... Numa, Jar Jar... Just follow me... And Jar Jar-"

"I wonna tuch anyting."

I sighed in some irritation. "I believe it won't stop you from destroying anything... But try to be better at making good first-impressions."

"I always trysa to changin, Ani... Always... I justa can't stop bein mesa."

I nodded... "Neither can I stop me being me." I admitted with a nod, before getting off the worn leather chair and out into the hot sunset air.

I had a hand over my eyes to keep the twin suns out while I walked closer to my home. Every step was pain due to the fact my whole boot would sink into the sand and I would have to drag it out with fervent aggression. Then another step... And another step... Another. Another. Another. Another... It was like this place was trying to make me fall to the Dark Side. After the hundredth step, I started pounding the sand with one foot, arching up my knee, and slapping it down with cold hatred of the hellbiting, torrid, remorseless sand.

"You can't get very far with boots like those." A person called out.

It was Beru Lars.

"Hello there." I rasped with exhaustion. My head was tired from thinking and worry and my body was tired from moving around. I needed rest. For four years I've been drowning, cornered from this war..., and I didn't even know it until now. Yes, now! Like I said, I'm naïve as ever.

"Anakin... Am I correct...? You're my husband's stepbrother...?" She trudged through the sand to get closer to me... Looking down, I noticed she was wearing bantha boots with the soles made of their hooves, slightly wide to even out pressure, and abled to walk more comfortably amongst the oppressive sands.

"That's right... Mrs. Lars..." I simply said.

"It's alright if you don't remember me. Most traders and dealers don't recall me..., but my name is Beru. I remember you. You're the one who retrieved your mother's body."

I showed a slightly-obvious grit of my teeth. "Yeah..." I said almost sarcastically, "And I did nothing else before that."

She nodded, mainly offputed by my stern tone-of-voice, but welcomed me to the homestead nonetheless. "Here, I'll have you get reacquainted with Owen... And you can introduce your friends too."

I kept mouth at a small slit, devoid of real emotions at the moment. I knew this would take time to get off this rock, but I have to warn Ahsoka as soon as possible, and there is NO WAY TO DO SO RIGHT NOW! "Okay, yeah... I'm coming." I stuttered.

Looking to my right, I saw my mother's grave... Immediately, I was hit be a shockwave of guilt. Guilt of what I have couldn't done and what I did there. I saw me slicing down warriors of all kinds, killing the Sand People that took away my mother and tortured her needlessly. From the rocky caves to the open plains of the Jundland Wastes, I remember the wave of slashes I made, taking out people, but I didn't stop there. I went for all the civilians in that village, who just let the kidnapping of my mother go like it was a normal occurrence... It only took a tug on my sleeve to realize I've been pitted in my guilt.

It was Numa who was pulling on my arm. "Jatkoa nainen, Nerra."

I nodded. "Thanks for waking me up, child."

The hut wasn't actually the home of the Lars, but rather there was another set of stairs that led down into a sinkhole that was the real homestead. Down there were many closed doors that undoubtedly led to many other rooms, but there were a few open alcoves like a dinning table and kitchen, and a small walkway that led to a droid repair station... I remember when I was there, when I told Padme about the slaughter I made. I didn't tell her how conflicted I was, but I was conflicted about my actions, as I am with about all actions I partake. Naturally, she felt extremely aback at my confession, but she supported me all the same... I just wonder how far I go before she stops supporting me.

Again, memories of my past went racing through the turmoil of my mind; a mind I knew was corrupt, but I didn't know how to fix it, no matter how hard I try...

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

I breathed again, trying to cure the guilt of killing so many. The pain of not having the power or the restraint to live a decent life... Was it the Jedi's fault? Should they let me explore all the assets of the Force so I can be the Chosen One, or would they treat me like a normal being when all this time Qui-Gon has built up that I'm destined for great things...?

"Owen, Honey! Guests are here!" Beru called and out from the droid repair station came a man with chestnut-brown hair and beard... It was like I was staring at myself, if I modeled my look after Obi-Wan... Sand laid on his head as if he came back from the beach, with it stuck on every strand of hair like dew drops on grass... Oh, how I preferred the feeling of grass over sand.

He nodded, recognizing me, before grabbing my hand with one arm and wrapping the other around me. "I never thought I'd see my brother ever again... Well, stepbrother, of course..." He looked down, placing his hands on his waist, slightly shy of making greetings with me. "Cliegg Lars is dead... It happened just after you left last time... We assumed it was from a broken heart..."

He looked up at me again and I assumed he was expecting me to say something. "It's great to meet my 'brother' again." I said unnecessarily acidly. "But I'm in a hurry, I'm afraid."

"Your ship." Beru came out from behind me as she decided to step to the left side of Owen and place her hands on his shoulder, resting her head on his arm. "I saw it on the horizon when you came in. It's beaten up, alright. Smoke is trailing from the rear."

"Yes, and I need to find communications to repair it."

Owen gave a frank frown. "You're lucky to arrive here when you did... Our communications can only reach out as far as Tosche Station or Anchorhead. It can piggyback from there to Mos Eisley or Mos Espa or Jabba's Palace, but-."

I heard my knuckles crack at the sound of the last suggestion, clearly noticeable by them. "Sorry." I simply stated. "But I don't like Hutts." Then I chose to admit something about my past (after all, they were family). "Me and my mother were slaves to them at one time."

Oddly enough, Numa seemed to understand one word I said. "Slave." She quickly spoke in Basic... I looked back at her, but as quickly as I heard that, I turned away. Of all the words she could say in Basic, 'slave' was the last one.

"And who are these two friends of yours?" Owen gestured to the others.

I lifted up to Jar Jar first. "This is Jar Jar Binks."

"A Gungan." Beru had a sympathetic look. "It must be hard for you to be out here since you're used to moist climates? Is that correct, Jar Jar?"

"Mesa skin is no usen to this weather." He admitted.

"Sorry if he breaks anything of yours. He's clumsy, but that's the way he his... I'm sure he'll try his best to behave." I gave a knowing look at him.

"Mesa done nothin yet!" He lifted up his arms to hide his amphibian face.

"And the other one," I lowered my opposite arm down to Numa's height. "is Numa Kareenta."

The little one pointed to me, then to Owen. "Nerra, Nerra."

"Yeah, she'll say that a lot."

Owen smiled. "I'm guessing she only speaks Twi'leki?"

"So it would seem." I tilted my head in a shrug.

"We got a translator droid in the repair station, mainly to speak Bocce, but let me ask a few questions for the Twi'lek." He bent down to get at eye-level with her. It took not very long for me to realize he wanted to joke with her.

"What's your name?"

"Nerra."

"What's your favorite color?"

"Nerra."

"What's the name of your homeplanet?"

"Nerra."

"What color is the sky?"

"Nerra"

Owen lifted his hand. "How many fingers do I have?"

"Nerra."

"Can you say anything else but 'Nerra'?"

"Voin sanoa paljon asioita Ryl, narttu."

Although we didn't know what she was saying, everyone laughed at her reaction to the last question (Jar Jar fell over chortling).

I was having a fun time with my methodical family that I actually felt I could endure this dustball if all I had to do was spend times with loved ones instead of see slavery and Raiders on a global scale...

But it didn't take too long for the good times to end, when there was pain in my head... There was a ringing in my ears that no one else could hear. It grew louder, and softer, and even more louder like static on a comm channel. I saw flashing lights with my eyes open, for my mind was playing tricks with me. It was as if my own body was fighting against me having a 'good time'. I heard voices in my head...

Ahsoka's voice. "You didn't even try to help me." What did she mean by that? Was it because I'm stuck here that I could not help her?

The vision continued inside a viaduct, with light shining from an opening on Ahsoka's side... Then I heard my voice. "They wouldn't let me to talk with you." Who? The Jedi? The Republic? How was I being ostracized?

My head rocked as I continued to watch the scene from an omnicent point-of-view. "You could have if you tried!" She exclaimed.

Then there was a swirl of color as the image became unclear now. "You're not helping... You never were there for me." Her voice said and from the swirl of hues, there came a brightness as all the colors faded white... It was like looking straight at the Tatooine's noon suns... Then there was a silhouette of a oval-shaped rope... A noose!

"Why weren't you there for me when I needed you." She said. No, it wasn't Ahsoka that time... It was Padme!

I opened my eyes again to find I was in a trance. Looking around, the others saw me having a fit in the middle of the conversation... I knew I was limited in the time I could spend here... Ahsoka's or Padme's life was in danger... In the future... Some way or another, one of them is going to die if I don't act soon!

A sweat drop fell from the side of my head as Beru handed me a cup blue milk. "I saw you- we all saw you muttering incoherently- Here, drink." She motioned me, and I sipped into the bantha milk, sputtering a little (probably due to my mind being focused on the vision).

"I need to call Anchorhead... Someone needs to fix my ship, NOW!"

"The spice freighter?" Beru lifted an eyebrow.

"Of course the 'spice freighter'! What other ship did it look like I had!?"

The two took a couple steps back from my outburst.

Owen appeared dour. "I'm afraid no one is able to leave or send a message until that sandstorm is gone."

I looked to the sky and while I could hear the wind howling, I didn't think it would block out a message if I were to send it right now.

"Well, what if I send it immediately...? Just to schedule someone tor repair my ship?"

"Can't..." Owen was frank again. "Sorry I didn't clarify earlier, but the sandstorm is coming from the North... There's no leaving until dawn..., or until the sandstorm finishes."

I waited for a minute to let that sink in... I couldn't get Ahsoka right now, warn her about the danger on her... A mechanical hand grasping her neck... She was dying... Or was I seeing the visions wrong? Was it who Padme dying?

Yoda said to me 'Visions not always reveal the future. Sometimes, they tell a lot more about you than what's around you." Maybe I'm being paranoid and taking the visions seriously, but I wasn't one to wait around to see if they were true or not...

I sighed... It looks like I'll have to.

"I'll get some shuteye... Perhaps I'll wake up earlier tomorrow when the storm is past."

"Either way, we got to take shelter." Owen commented. "But don't you want to have dinner before you go to sleep."

"No thanks, er, brother..." I turned to the Gungan. "Jar Jar, you should get some sleep too before you disturb these people too much."

But that just got him going. "Mesa said nothin! Mesa done nothin! Am Isa really that trouble?"

I didn't answer him. I had a mind to put to rest... There was so much at stake with the future... But whatever happens, good or bad, I'm still the Chosen One... Or I am not. Annoyingly, I still didn't know.

Lux's POV

"That battle may have been fruitless, but the war isn't over, ladies and gentlemen." Steela spoke to the rebels, being their anointed leader. "Our goal is to regroup and retreat, not in the direction of the Nest, but in a place that will throw them off..." She sighed, her hair not the usual upward braids, but instead shaggy from the natural elements of the battlefield and maybe her own distress. "Any ideas?"

Tandin walked forward, still possessing the held-back grit since I first saw him... He looked at me really quickly, then back to the other rebels. "We can always move North... There's not as much cover as in the Eastern Highlands, but there are rock formations there to allow us to perform guerilla tactics... But we can't do much against their gunships."

Everyone muttered fears about dealing with the ships again. Last time, they couldn't spot any weakness..., except... "We need better weapons from the Grand Army of the Republic." One shouted out.

"And some drinks to wash the stress away." One tried to joke, but others glared at him. The situation they were in was not a joking matter.

Saw turned to Ahsoka, trying to input the heavy weapons request. "Can't the Republic send better grenades or blasters for us...?"

Ahsoka frowned. "I doubt the Jedi will send anymore weapons than the ones we already have."

"In other words, we're on our own." Saw huffed, then turned back to Steela, as if she had the solution. Only, she was as stumped as everyone else.

"Let's see if we can ambush just the gunships..." Another suggested. "Eventually, we will find a weakness."

Steela shook her head. "We will lose too much of our fighting force by then."

"We can't just avoid them forever." The same one reminded.

Steela continued to sigh, moving around to give her fellow soldiers pats on the shoulder, for their honorary trial of the First Battle for Onderon. "We have fewer numbers, decimated morale, and a lost element of surprise... We must retreat North until we get a strategy or until the droids find us."

"What good would that?" I blurted out.

Steela looked at me with longing, but famished, eyes, withering their glow from the First Battle... "We must lead them away from the base to the North... That's the purpose of our retreat."

"How will they know where we're going, if we're distracting them away from the Nest?" Saw questioned the plan.

It was then that I took my pistol and with a foolish action, fired a flare straight into the air... "They can't detect life scans because of how much the jungle is full of life... Otherwise, we are leaving a bread crumb trail... For them to eventually fall into a trap."

Steela rushed up to hug me, wrapping her arms in a clamping hold... "Lux, you're brilliant."

Then, I felt something in Ahsoka that I didn't expect... Jealousy..., or attachment... I didn't expect it to be so sporadic.

"Take a few steps back, Miss Gerrera." Ahsoka hissed.

I smiled at Ahsoka...

But she didn't return the smile... Instead, she used the Force to make me face forward again, as Steela paced away from me...

I looked around, looked at the awkward position we were in... I forgot how much we were pressed for time. "Alright..." I muttered. "The gunships will be here soon... Let's," I hiccupped, "let's run..." At first, they did not move... What, did they not remember the telltale flare?! "Run!"

We all ran on the soft ground, on our way to the northern steppes... A few minutes later, the gunships arrived at the flare... They used a life detecting scan on the surrounding area, but nature was camouflaging, and on the rebel's side... There was just too much life on the planet to pinpoint where the rebels may be.

Anakin's POV

I woke up with a sudden lurch, only to hear a howling winds outside... It was the sandstorm... And it was still night... I fell right back to sleep.

I had a dream about the Republic... At first, it started off as a glorious dream with it protecting systems from the evil Separatists... I say it that way because the dream was black-and-white at first, as if it were simplistic in how the Republic did what it did... Like I said, the Republic was glorious...

I couldn't remember much of the middle section for some random images started to appear. As ludicrous as it sounded, I dreamed of the Jedi Council being made up of squid or crustacean kind of creatures... And so were all the Jedi at the Temple...

"Rakata is what we do, Rakata is how we do, Rakata is why we're here..." The Jedi would hymn.

Then came voices of the dream, warbled with an alien infrasonic bellowing... But that was just the strange part. I couldn't make much out of the gibberish...

But then, images became clear and less random... I dreamed the Jedi Council were a bunch of Tusken Raiders, belching out their dialogue in hideous warbles... It was awful... I shook in my sleep...

Screams came! "Anakin, you are guilty!"

The dream turned into a courtroom where Ahsoka was the Judge and six younglings made up the Council... "Guilty!" One said, a Rodian. "He killed men, women, and children. May the families of those he murdered execute him."

"Guilty!"

"Guilty!"

"Guilty! You're not a Jedi!" Came the Jury.

Then the dream transformed into a nightmare where the Tuskens took over the Hutt palaces on Tatooine and took all their slaves... In my dream, they were slavers.

Then I saw a tower bells resonating in my ear.

I turned around, and a Tusken mother appeared. "Anakin, I'm you're mother! Why would you do this to me!?"

Then I saw Tuskens making up the Jury I saw a few moments ago.

"Guilty. He's a thief and a liar!"

Then came the chorus of the Jurors' "Guilty!"

Then the roof opened up and sand filled in... I realized I was in a hourglass, possessing the sands of time, with the clouds echoing not lightning, but "Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty!"

I suffocated on the sand before catching a glimpse of a dark-cladded Sith in a dark mask!

I woke up in a cold sweat...

It might have been odd, but I could hear no more winds... The sandstorm must have stopped... But my mind wasn't focused on that...

Somehow or another, I knew something terrible had happened. In the Force, even though I didn't see it nor did I have a vision of it, I knew exactly what had happened.

"Numa!" I gasped, lunging forward, off the bed, and from my drowsy slumber. "NUMA IS GONE!"

Weird dream, conflicted Anakin, slow dialogue? I know what a lot of you are screaming about: Where is the Luxsoka!?

Patience, it will come... Right now, I'm writing an epic about Anakin in the Onderon plot, even if it's a sidestory, but I'm loving every second of it... I know it's not Luxsoka yet, but just wait, be patient, and I hope you're enjoying this subplot as much as I am.

I also hope that you all REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!