Chapter 4
"Is there anything else I should know?" Obi Wan asked Anakin.
Anakin hesitated.
"Well Master actually... There is" Anakin said nervously.
"What?" Obi Wan asked.
"Farra and I are… Well we are married" Anakin finally said.
"Married?? Since when?" Obi Wan asked.
"We got married during that mission to Naboo we were both on. I am sorry for not telling you but we just couldn't tell anyone. We were afraid of being cast out of the Jedi order"
"There is no chance of that happening now. Most of the Jedi are dead either at the hands of their clone troopers or by your clone's hand" Obi Wan said.
Obi Wan and Anakin were making their way back through the medical facility and giving the other Jedi the antidote. When all were awake Obi Wan filled them in on what had happened to them. Ploon was most concerned to hear that Anakin's clone was holding Farra prisoner. He was not pleased to hear what Anakin had to tell him about his and Farra's marriage and the baby.
"Still there is nothing that can be done now. What's done is done" Ploon said, "And this is no time for recriminations"
"Are our clones still alive?" Mace Windu asked.
"Only the clone of Anakin and he only answers to the name of Darth Vader now"
"If he's mistreated Farra…" Anakin left his threat hanging but the others were in no doubt of what he was thinking.
"Careful Anakin. You must be mindful of your temper" Obi Wan cautioned Anakin.
"I know. I know" Anakin said.
It was dark when the group of Jedi emerged from the medical facility. Yoda had just arrived with a freighter to transport them back to Coruscant. He had returned to the star fighter and returned to Coruscant and arranged for the use of the transport then returned to Ruan.
Back on Coruscant Farra was informed by Vader that she was to have a checkup to ensure that her body was recovering satisfactorily from the miscarriage. Farra paled at this, as the previous examination had not been pleasant. She reluctantly accompanied Vader to the medical area of the Imperial building and was shown into the same examination room as before.
"Do I have to strip this time?" Farra asked Vader.
Vader nodded and Farra took a step backwards. Vader was holding her arm though and he pulled her back to him.
Farra's good arm was free and she balled her fingers into a fist and swung at Vader with all her strength. She connected with his nose and heard a cracking sound upon impact. Vader's head snapped back and he snarled a curse. Farra saw blood beginning to run out of Vader's nose. He ignored it and delivered a stinging slap to Farra's face. She saw stars and this gave Vader the opportunity to begin removing her clothes. Farra tried to punch Vader again but he caught her arm this time and twisted it painfully behind her back, holding her still.
"I'll break it if you don't stay still" Vader warned.
The examination mercifully didn't take long and the medic told Vader that Farra was recovering well.
"How soon can we try for another baby?" Vader wanted to know.
"I don't want another baby with you" Farra burst out.
"I wasn't asking you" Vader snarled at Farra.
"I should think you'd need to wait a few more weeks. Bring her back for another check up next week"
"I will do so," Vader said.
He released Farra from the chair and watched as she quickly pulled her clothes on. Then he took her back to his fortress. There he turned on Farra and began punching her. She fell to the floor and backed into a corner where she cowered under his blows. Finally he tired of hitting her and she was able to crawl away into their room. She crawled onto the bed and sobbed as she was in a lot of pain. Again she tried to remove the collar around her neck and was again unsuccessful
By the time the Jedi arrived back on Coruscant it was very late. They retired to the Jedi Temple and spent an hour or so cleaning it out. Thinking the Jedi were all dead Palpatine had not left any guards at the temple. All the bodies were burnt in a pyre and the stains were cleaned off the walls. Finally the Jedi were able to sleep. Anakin passed a fitful night worrying about Farra. As a result he slept very little and the next morning was keen to sneak into Vader's fortress. Obi Wan didn't think that would be a good idea.
"I can't let my clone continue to keep Farra as his prisoner. What if he's harmed her or the baby," Anakin said.
"You can't just rush in there. Darth Vader is just as powerful as you if not more powerful since he uses his rage and anger when fighting.
"And why can't I touch Farra through the Force" Anakin asked.
"Vader has obviously prevented Farra from using the Force" Obi Wan said.
Later that morning Anakin convinced Obi Wan to let him scout out the Fortress. He made his way there and noted the various guards and security precautions Vader had taken. He was confident he could get around them and decided that it was now or never. Creeping closer Anakin unhooked his lightsaber from his belt and prepared to fight the guards. He used the Force to remain undetected and slipped past the guards. As Vader was at home the door wasn't locked. Anakin encountered some more guards just inside and after a few strokes of his lightsaber the guards had been reduced to smoking corpses. Vader was practicing with his lightsaber when Anakin broke in and he stopped when he sensed Anakin's presence. He left his training room and made his way through the fortress hoping to encounter Anakin before Farra saw him. Anakin sensed Vader approaching and quickened his pace. The two met in the dining area and Anakin found himself looking at himself. Vader looked exactly like him and it shocked him.
"So we meet at last," Vader said.
"Where is my wife" Anakin asked without preamble.
"Farra is MY wife" Vader snapped.
Anakin raised his blade.
"I asked you where my wife is," he said.
"And I told you she was my wife" Vader replied
"I take it you aren't going to let me see her" Anakin said.
"Something like that" Vader said, "I mean she doesn't exactly know that I am a clone" he ended.
"If you've been mistreating her I swear…" Anakin said.
"Temper Temper" Vader goaded Anakin.
Anakin let out a little growl but made no move to attack Vader. Instead he waited for Vader to attack him, as he was sure he would. The two circled each other and Anakin was under no illusions about how strong his clone was. However he had a fair idea of how his clone would think and what moves he would use since his clone was an exact copy of himself so would think and move just like him.
Farra had been lying on the bed she shared with Vader trying not to move as it hurt to move. She shot up when she heard what sounded like Vader talking to someone who sounded just like him. Ignoring the pain from the numerous punches she'd received she made her way to the door of the bedroom. Looking out she saw Vader and Anakin and her jaw dropped. There were two Anakins there. It was too much for her to take in and she returned to the bed her mind a whirl.
'What in the blazes is going on here. How can there be two Anakins. Does he have a twin that we never knew about?' Farra thought.
It didn't occur to her that one of the two was a clone as she was still in the dark about what had been going on. She knew of course that Mace, Shaak Ti and Ploon had been cloned as she'd encountered Ploon's clone and he'd been very different to the real Ploon. Farra decided to go back to the door as he initial shock had passed. Peering out again she saw and heard the two Anakins arguing. Deciding it was time to show herself she stepped through the door towards the two Anakins. The one who had his back to her turned.
Anakin had been about to reply to Vader's latest taunt when a door opened and Farra stepped out. Anakin stopped in mid sentence aghast at her condition. It was obvious that Vader had been hitting her as she was covered with bruises. Then he noticed her right arm. It was swollen and it was obviously broken and had not been treated. Anakin could feel the fury rising in him and fought to control his temper. Attacking Vader in anger wouldn't do him any good.
"Get back in our room" Vader snarled at Farra.
"No I won't. I want to know what's going on," Farra said standing her ground.
"I said Get back in our room" Vader said crossing to her. He punched her in the side of the head and grabbing her broken arm shoved her backwards sending her flying back into their room.
"That was the last time you'll hit my wife" Anakin snarled.
He was incensed by what he'd just witnessed. No one hit his wife and got away with it. No one.
Anakin swung his lightsaber at Vader and Vader parried his blow. The two fought their blades flashing back and forth. Anakin had been correct in that he'd be able to anticipate Vader's moves. However Vader could also anticipate his moves so the two were equally matched. Anakin however had managed to maintain his control of his temper and was not using his anger to help him. Of course Vader's anger and hatred of Anakin was making him powerful. The two found that neither could gain the upper hand so Vader began throwing objects at Anakin using the Force but Anakin was able to repel them. By then Farra had come out of the room again and was watching the fight.
"Why are there two Anakins?" she asked.
"Vader is my clone" Anakin called out.
'Vader is a clone? This explained everything' Farra thought.
Farra wasn't sure how she could tell the two apart as both were wearing identical Jedi robes. Then she realized that the clone wouldn't have a mechno arm but then recalled that Vader had lost his arm so probably would have a mechno arm if he hadn't had one before then. Obviously their attitudes to her would determine who was who but if Vader wanted to, he could be just as nice as Anakin so that wouldn't help much.
Suddenly Vader threw an object at Farra. Anakin repelled it as it hurtled towards her then swung his blade at Vader. Farra watched as the two fought again
'They are exactly alike' Farra thought.
She caught up a cushion from the couch and flung it at Vader with all her strength hoping that the Anakin she was aiming at was Vader. Vader repelled it but the distraction was enough for Anakin to slice his lightsaber in half rendering it useless. Vader snarled and tried to call Anakin's lightsaber to him but Anakin maintained his grip on it. Vader leapt at Farra and grabbing her threatened to break her neck. She kicked backwards connecting with his groin and he let her go with a snarl.
"Kill him Ani, for Force sake kill him" Farra cried out.
"I can't kill an unarmed person you know that" Anakin said.
He took Farra's arm and the two fled the fortress leaving Vader alive but without Farra. Vader was crumpled on the floor, pain flooding through him. For some reason he couldn't push the pain aside.
Back at the temple Farra's arm was attended to as were her other injuries. Her bruises would heal in time, as would her arm. When her arm had been treated, Obi Wan removed the collar from her neck. At once she was able to tap into the Force again and it felt good to be reconnected to the other Jedi. She and Anakin sat in the garden and talked. It felt good to be with Anakin again, the real Anakin and she knew he wouldn't hurt her despite the fact that he looked like Vader.
"Ani, I lost the baby," Farra sobbed.
"I take it Vader caused that to happen" Anakin said.
He had wrapped his arms around Farra and was holding her close.
"Yes he did. I had a miscarriage because he Force shoved me across the room and I hit the wall rather hard"
"What else did he do to you? Tell me everything" Anakin said.
Farra nodded and began at the beginning. She told Anakin everything that had happened to her leaving nothing out. She could see from Anakin's expression that he was furious. Farra was crying by the time she had finished.
"Its ok love, I know he hurt you pretty badly. Let it out. I'm here now and I won't let him hurt you again," Anakin said.
He rubbed her back and whispered words of comfort in her ear.
"I'd like to try again for a baby" Anakin said a few moments later
"I think we will have to wait until I'm recovered from the miscarriage," Farra said.
"That's understandable" Anakin said.
Farra had been examined in that respect at the same time that her arm and bruises were attended to.
"Farra I love you. I would never hurt you. Would you be willing to let me kiss you?" Anakin asked.
He wasn't sure how Farra would react if he just kissed her after what his clone had done to her the day he captured her.
Farra nodded and Anakin carefully met her lips with his. Farra was hesitant at first but his kiss felt so much nicer than Vader's had that she soon relaxed and somewhat to her surprise found that she was kissing him back. That night Farra was a bit apprehensive about what would happen after they went to bed. However Farra found that there was nothing to worry about. Anakin had told her in the garden that he would like to resume a normal relationship with her but that he was prepared to wait if Farra felt at all uncomfortable with anything he did. They took things very slowly and Anakin allowed Farra to be in control of what happened. He had told her that if she felt at all uncomfortable to ask him to stop and he'd stop.
Not surprisingly Farra discovered she was pregnant again a month later. She and Anakin were over the moon and hoped that all would go well this time. Neither had forgotten that Vader was still alive and both knew that Vader would probably want Farra back. The rest of the Jedi were waiting to see what developed and developments occurred the night after Farra's pregnancy was confirmed. She and Anakin were disturbed during the night and their visitor was Vader. He was carrying some of the drug that was used on the Jedi when they were cloned. Naturally he and Anakin fought and again were evenly matched. However Vader had Farra to contend with as well as Anakin and Farra had not forgotten what Vader had done to her. The two Jedi were more than a match for Vader and Farra wanted to kill him. She knew not to kill in anger but it was hard not to do so. Finally Anakin managed to disarm Vader and it seemed like he was beaten. However he suddenly grabbed Farra and flung her face down on the bed. Farra kicked and fought as Vader reached for her sleeping pants and Anakin had not been slow in reacting. He flung himself at Vader as Vader withdrew a syringe from a pouch on his belt and stripped Farra's sleeping pants down her thrashing legs. As Anakin flung Vader away, Vader managed to jab the needle into Farra's backside. Her thrashing slowly stopped.
"Now it's just you and me" Vader said, "She'll be out until she's given the antidote which only I have"
Anakin growled in disgust and yanked Farra's pants back up to give her some decency.
"What do you want Vader?" Anakin asked circling Vader.
"I want my wife back" Vader replied.
"She is MY wife" Anakin retorted, "And anyway I'd die before allowing her to fall back into your clutches. I know how you treated her. You hit her countless times; broke her arm and forced yourself upon her at least once. And you caused her to lose our baby"
"That wasn't MY fault. She refused to call me Vader and I got angry"
"But still your action caused her to lose the baby" Anakin said.
Just as Vader was about to reply to this Obi Wan entered the room. As soon as he saw Vader his hand sprouted a blue bar of light.