So I think it goes without saying that I owe you guys an apology. I made the mistake of posting this story before I had finished it. I thought I knew where this story was going, but I think the characters have outgrown that particular story arch. I WILL finish this story, it's just going to take longer than planned. I really want to reach a conclusion that seems both fitting and real. Here is the next post, I hope you enjoy and that the wait was worth it. ***********************************************************************************

Blasting away from Coruscant in the fighter he stole from the Temple, Anakin let out a sigh. He was still hurting, but when Obi- Wan mysteriously disappeared, Anakin knew he had to seize his chance. Waiting too long meant that the opportunity might not come again.

The dragon hissed and whimpered against him, quieter than it ever had been before. It told him that he could stay, that it didn't have to be this way. He pushed the idea away before it could fully form and took a deep, steadying breath. He couldn't be a Jedi. He couldn't be a husband. He couldn't have all the things he had always wanted without utterly destroying them. The vision had shown him that. He thought of Padme, and of those few lazy mornings spent in bed, watching the daylight creep into the room through the window and create patterns on the walls, of feeling the rise and fall of Padme's chest against his side.

He closed his eyes and felt his heart throb painfully in his chest. He set the coordinates for hyperspace, and before he could stop himself, pulled the throttle. He watched the stars elongate and choked back tears, swallowing through a thick throat. He knew where he was going; the desire for peace and solitude made his choice easy. What he would do once he got there… Well, that was much harder to decide. He wasn't used to a quiet life, and while he had once assured Padme that he could go anywhere with her and raise their children in peace, he was honest enough to know that it was not truly in his nature.

He thought then of the masked man, of planets being destroyed and people being slaughtered and a shudder went through him. He could force it to be in his nature. He had to.

Hours later, when he got to the unpopulated forest planet he had chosen for his home, he looked around, studying it as he listened to the engines on his fighter powering down. He and Obi- Wan had stumbled upon it years ago on a mission that involved chasing pirates halfway across the galaxy. He had thought then that this planet was probably the only one that could rival Naboo's sheer beauty. He took a deep breath and set foot into his new life, his new home.

The Shadow hisses menacingly in his corner, his fury building. All that hard work. Years spent molding the boy, of shaping and breaking him just right. The Shadow wonders what went wrong. He had been so careful to hone and bring out his protégé's natural selfishness. To make him feel alone and isolated from the Jedi.

He had even begun chipping away at the cracks in the relationship with his wife. After all, what do a peace monger and a warrior really have in common? What can they build together, when even she was undermining him? Despite the progress, he had expected that to be a far longer project, but he had no trouble being patient. He had waited for years. But now – the boy had fled.

He had only meant to break him – had needed to speed the process and be given the opportunity to put the pieces back together in a more expedient manner. But the boy hadn't responded predictably since the whole project started. He hadn't taken any of the opportunities to escape, hadn't tried to exact vengeance, or anything useful, anything The Shadow could work with. He had just given up. Even the rescue hadn't gone the way it was supposed to.

It was clear the boy was despairing, and THAT The Shadow could work with, if only he knew the cause. Except the boy was gone, fled. Foolish Obi- Wan Kenobi was desperate to get the boy back, but The Shadow was going to put a stop to that. It had to. It was clear the boy was feeling the separation, the isolation The Shadow had worked so hard to create. He would have to draw the boy out, somehow. Someway. But he had to find him first. The connection he had worked so hard to build was muddled, almost completely broken. Without that control, the shadow was powerless. He let that thought sink in, and let it fuel his anger before he let it all out in a ragged scream, destroying everything in the room.

He would get his prize. He knew he would.