There was another match on, and the parents of the free-slave kids were yelling/calling/roaring encouragement to their kids. Oola and Anakin Skywalker were calling out to their children the same way.

"Lunae, you can do it!"

"Look out behind you, Leia!" Anakin yelled, but he knew that far from distracting the girl, she was extremely careful and was aware of everyone around her. In the three weeks since he had known one of the two children he had fathered with Padme, Anakin was amazed by how far Leia was progressing; it seemed to be so close to her half-siblings had not only been good for her, since it was obvious to him that while she'd had plenty of friends back on Alderaan, Leia had been starved of the kind of relationship a sister and a sibling had. Being with her half-siblings had done her the world of good by boosting her Force perception.

For a moment Anakin thought about everything that had happened. Up until 3 weeks ago, he'd had no idea that the two stars in the Force would never leave him like the other children he'd had with Oola, who had saved him and reminded him of his roots as a slave who'd been freed and was determined to make sure it never happened to anybody else, were twin children he'd fathered with his ex-wife, who had resented and hated and feared him for the past decade because she believed he had gone on a rampage that allowed the Sith to tear down the pretences of the Republic and found the Empire.

And up until 3 weeks ago, his daughter had no idea that she was not only Anakin Skywalker's daughter, but her biological mother had willingly given her away and had two more children and she hadn't looked back since she left her daughter with friends who wouldn't tell her the truth, and would willingly try to make her into the child they wanted. But Anakin and Oola had quickly stepped in, and they had shown her love and acceptance along with a choice for what to do with her life.

Anakin genuinely didn't care if his children became pirates, smugglers, cleaners, musicians, artists, writers or even philosophers, but he drew the line to what the Jedi had planned for the twins. They had gotten it into their minds that because he had betrayed the Jedi Order, that meant he was not the Chosen One, the one meant to bring balance to the Force, it had to be one of his children instead. They would lie to the twins and feed them lies, and while Anakin didn't have a clue what they would be told, he found he didn't care. It was bad enough the Jedi had treated him like he was contagious with some kind of virulent disease, something infectious and destructive that wiped out 90 out of 100 people in one go when he was a 10-year-old boy, but he refused the twins be brainwashed by the dogma of the Jedi.

He'd had time to think and he'd met dozens of people from different Force practitioner groups - the way the Jedi talked about themselves, you would assume that the Jedi Order and the Sith were the only people within the galaxy who practiced using the Force - and Anakin had learnt enough to be extremely sceptical about the Chosen One thing, especially the part which said the Chosen One was a Jedi powerful enough to bring about an end to the Sith.

It just made Anakin bitter and disappointed that Obi-Wan would just…give up like that, and assume one of his children was the Chosen One, and their belief of what it meant also annoyed him. During his life training as Obi-Wan's apprentice, Anakin was so inundated by the Jedi's beliefs that by the time he was a teenager, he had decided the whole thing was a myth. A lie, but his encounter with the powerful god-like, Force wielding beings on Mortis had made him think…

Sadly the Jedi Council and so many more had such a finite view. It was ironic, the Jedi proclaimed the Sith, and only the Sith, dealt in absolutes. The Jedi did as well. They were hypocritical.

They were stupid.

For the first time, Anakin had asked himself if there was more to the Chosen One than met the eye, and the way he had interacted with the Force wielders and the implications of what they'd told him had made him conclude the Jedi had taken a narrow view of the prophecy and twisted it to suit themselves, and over time their arrogance had made them think they were the only Force users in existence.

But what frustrated and annoyed him more was that the Jedi Council were still making sweeping decisions based on their own biased beliefs and believing them to be the Will of the Force. It was that arrogance and complacency that led to the Jedi Purge in the first place. It was why the Council sat on their chairs for years, talking about the Sith's return but never bothering to do anything about it. It was that arrogance that led to them betraying Ahsoka the way they had.

Thinking about Ahsoka still hurt. In the decade since Order 66, Anakin had been carefully trying to find his former apprentice, but without any luck. That didn't surprise him. Ahsoka had learnt a lot during the Clone Wars to mask her presence, a skill they'd employed and exercised against people like Ventress, Maul, and Dooku. And she had shown her skill in hiding, especially after the mess with Barriss. But what hurt him the most was the strong possibility that Ahsoka believed that he was Darth Vader, now he knew the details of what happened on the night of Order 66's activation.

Right now, Anakin planned to find a way of reaching her and telling her the truth about Vader.

In the past 3 weeks since the reveal of the truth, Anakin had been doing his best to steer clear of Obi-Wan and the others. He did not need to tell them what he thought; they knew it already through the Force, along with the simple demand of leave me and my kids alone, or I'll cut you into bits.

Anakin had broadcasted for the last 3 weeks he didn't give a damn about what the Jedi planned, he was not letting the twins, or the children he had with Oola become brainwashed automatons. But it also led him to an important problem. To save his children, he was going to have to go after Palpatine and Vader, and if there was one thing Palpatine had proven in the years Anakin had known the old bastard, it was that Palpatine had come close to turning him before, he could do it again. Just because he was older and wiser didn't mean the fall couldn't happen, but the good news was his knowledge of who Vader was had given him ideas of what the old Sith Lord had done.

"They're doing well," Anakin was surprised to find Obi-Wan standing near him and Oola, and he had to restrain the urge to not walk away. He could sense Obi-Wan's contrition, which had been done for days. But right now he wasn't in the mood to give the cold shoulder to a man who'd been his best friend/brother.

"Yes, they are," Anakin agreed amicably while Oola eyed Obi-Wan suspiciously. The old Jedi saw the looks and sighed, getting the horrible images of Oola's past in his mind, twisted to show Obi-Wan and Mace Windu amongst a bunch of cold-faced Jedi purge survivors, who were stealing Boondock, Shmi, Ahsoka, Lunae, and Leia from them, and seeing them being brainwashed into cold-faced Jedi, who were then slaughtered like animals by the Sith.

Instantly, Obi-Wan felt horrified and guilt-ridden that Oola would think they'd do such a thing, although it could happen if the Jedi were determined to restore the Order.

And after feeling Anakin's bitterness for 3 weeks, resenting them for just showing no faith in him whatsoever, and believing him to be expendable for somebody else to take his place, Obi-Wan was determined to try to make things better between himself and his friend.

"I am sorry, Anakin," Obi-Wan whispered. "Can we talk in private?"

Anakin eyed him in suspicion. "Why?"

"It's important, Anakin," Obi-Wan licked his lips, knowing that any hope he had of making amends with Anakin was bleak.

Anakin narrowed his eyes. "If this is a sick trick for you to give that scowling bugger the chance to do anything with my children-."

Obi-Wan did his best not to sigh at Anakin's paranoia, although he couldn't blame him. "Anakin, that won't happen. Master Windu and Padme and I need to speak with you."

Anakin turned to Oola, who nodded. "I'll stay and keep an eye on the kids."

"Okay," Anakin kissed his wife on the cheek, stroking it lovingly before he walked off with Obi-Wan, who led him out into the Food Hall of the settlement. Master Windu and Padme were sitting at the table; the moment he got close to them he could see Padme's awkward expression and Master Windu's habitual scowl.

"What's this about?" Anakin asked without preamble as he sat down.

"Is Princess Leia planning on staying here, with you?" Somehow Windu was able to inject a great deal of condescension into that one question, but Anakin refused to let it piss him off.

"Yes, she is," Anakin replied, although he masked his inner feelings.

Truth be told, Anakin felt a bit of a hypocrite, letting one child remain with him only to let the other remain on a planet like Tatooine, but Leia had been so upset with how much her mother had just abandoned her, and how she knew if she went back there was a chance the Organas would prevent her from coming back, and she had come to love Oola and her other siblings.

On the other hand, there was Luke.

From what Anakin had learnt, the boy seemed happy enough on Tatooine, and Anakin knew his stepbrother, Owen would be okay if gruff with the kid, but Anakin remembered, thanks to his childhood before he had gone to the Temple for training that there was no way Luke hadn't gone through life without his Force abilities peaking now and then. Anakin had no way of knowing how Owen and Beru were coping, but he regretted their first and only encounter had given him the chance to know them.

Obi-Wan licked his lips. "Are you sure that's wise?"

"What's it got to do with you?" Anakin snapped at his former friend and brother, not even masking his disdain. "I will respect what decision she comes up with. I'm not forcing her, but if she did decide to go back I would have to go to the Organas, and make sure they understand that if they follow through with your insane plan will be something they will regret."

"Sounds like a threat to me," Padme commented.

"You can talk! You abandoned the girl. You abandoned our son. You lost the right to call them son and daughter when you did that. What happened between us both, we were both at fault. Don't blame them. Don't pretend you care about them now!" Anakin hissed, making Padme recoil. "You lot formed a sick plan to lie to the twins, believing that one of them was the Chosen One," Anakin sneered at the moniker the Jedi had foisted on him,

"I don't care if the Republic comes back or not. I don't even give a damn if the Jedi Order is finished for good; I don't want my children to get involved. It could cause too much pain further down the line."

"It's not for you to make that decision, Skywalker," Windu said.

"Why not? My wife and I seem to be the only ones who want to keep Luke and Leia safe and sound," Anakin countered. "He plans to lie to the twins," he pointed at Obi-Wan. "She doesn't care about them," Padme jumped when Anakin pointed at her. "And you and Yoda want the Jedi Order to return, stagnant, dying. And Bail Organa doesn't care what could happen if Leia discovers the truth. But now she does. She was upset her biological mother doesn't care about her. She got more love from Oola than she ever got you. It's ironic the Jedi claim that the Sith deal with absolutes, but how would you know that since you're just as bad."

Instantly, Mace Windu and Obi-Wan, two champions of the Jedi Order, protested. "We are nothing like the Sith!" Windu protested.

"How are you any better than the Sith, then? What good have the Jedi done in the last few centuries?" Anakin asked seriously. "Come on, tell me. The Republic sent the Order to deal with the Mandalorians, all because the Mandalorians were becoming more and more powerful and because they wanted to just get back on their feet. What did you do, you stormed the system and massacred hundreds of people, and crippled their industries. You used your powers to destroy million and leave many millions more suffering. The system was dying, and you allowed it. Now, the Mandalorians' system is a hotbed of crime and violence. What good did the Order do on Coruscant, when right in its backyard, they didn't even realise the Sith had survived? And when Maul revealed the Sith's existence to the galaxy, you arrogantly didn't bother to think, for one minute, that the Sith might have evolved. You believed they would use the same old battle tactics as before, and even now you fail to learn from your mistakes and you want my children - from both their mothers - to continue making them? Nothing changes, does it, Master Windu?"

Obi-Wan couldn't refute what Anakin was saying because he was right. But Anakin was far from finished with his rant.

"And as for the Republic and the Empire," Anakin trailed off and sneered. "The Outer Rim is littered with worlds full of people who resent and hate the Empire, but they hated the Republic even more."

"Anakin, if the Republic is restored then their problems will be addressed," Padme said.

"If you believe that, you're even more naive than I thought," Anakin said. "If you meet anyone in the Outer Rim with a long memory, they'll likely tell you that there's no difference between either the Republic or the Empire."

"That's not true," Padme replied, though not as hotly as Anakin would have expected.

"Really?" Anakin challenged. "Towards the end of the Clone Wars, the only difference between the Republic and the Empire was the name, and the fact Palpatine made himself Emperor, and the galaxy welcomed it with thunderous applause. I watched the whole thing, Padme. I watched as Palpatine announced the 'Jedi Rebellion' and how every Jedi would be hunted down and wiped out. Everyone cheered. Anti-Jedi sentiment has spread like a disease; oh, dozens of people want the Republic back, but they've forgotten in their fantasy worlds the Republic was corrupt and worthless. Remember Naboo, Padme? Oh, I am sure you do. I bet you're haunted by the fact you let Palpatine talk you into calling for a vote of no confidence in Valorum's leadership."

Padme looked down, cursing the reminder. Rationally she knew Palpatine had used the whole mess with the Trade Federation to become Chancellor; he had manipulated her, and it offended her pride since there were clear signs then, but she also knew Palpatine would have found another way to become Chancellor, and set up the stage for the Clone Wars, and from there achieve what the Sith wanted all along; control over the galaxy.

But she had been furious when the Senate refused to do anything for her world, her people, who were suffering because of the Trade Federation, but she was also haunted by the memory of how Anakin told her the only best way to govern was by one person. She called it a dictatorship and the young Jedi had realised what he was saying was wrong and they laughed it off, but Padme had never forgotten it.

"Are you saying Palpatine's way is best?" Padme demanded. "I remember what you said in the field on Naboo, how you believe only one leader is a good way to govern."

"What?" Obi-Wan looked at Anakin in shock and horror, but the former Jedi was looking at Padme with contempt.

"I did not mean it like that, Padme. You're twisting my words now. I meant the Galaxy would be better off with a single leader. Someone who didn't waste time the way the Senate did. Okay, I know the Senate did a lot of good in the past, but those days were over long before Palpatine was born! Look at it from the Jedi's perspective; for centuries we had been taught Senators, governors, and other politicians were nothing but untrustworthy scum. You can't deny it, and this is a boring debate and I have better things to do than exchange barbs. When are you going?"

"We're not going anywhere until we discuss what we just heard," Obi-Wan said, looking at Anakin in surprise. "Do you want the galaxy run by a dictator like Palpatine?"

"No. But I look back on the things I said in the field, and on what's happening now, and I can say with absolute confidence the galaxy would be better off without the Republic or the Empire, or any other united government; it's clear as day it doesn't work on any level," Anakin replied before he realised they weren't getting anywhere and they weren't leaving now. He was about to leave when he felt a disturbance in the Force. He stopped and turned, seeing the other Jedi Masters look concerned. Anakin didn't care about them, he was more interested in the disturbance since it staggered him.

He was just peering into the Force to discover where the disturbance came from and he realised with a thrill of horror that it was centred on Tatooine.

The image he was getting was a hazy one, but he saw a dark figure wielding a red-bladed lightsaber marching towards the adobe shell of the Lars homestead out in the desert; he saw the shadowy figures of Beru and Owen fighting against the figure who stopped the blasts reaching her. He saw the face of a boy in his mind.

"Luke," Anakin breathed.

"Luke? What about him?" Obi-Wan asked, suddenly afraid. Windu and Padme were just as concerned.

Anakin glared at him pointedly, knowing the only reason for his former Master's fear was the fact he and Windu hoped the twins would jump-start the Jedi Order once more. And he didn't believe Padme was sincere in her fears, either; she was a bad mother, and there was not a shred of doubt in his head she would do the same with the other brats she'd had.

"There's a dark tremor in the Force, something's about to happen on Tattooine," Anakin replied.

"Daddy!" Leia cried, followed closely by Oola and the other kids, who were instantly nervous around the two Jedi Masters. They could sense the intentions of the Jedi, who wanted to take them and raise them in the ways of the Force according to their gospel where they'd never had contact with their family, and they hated them for what they'd done to their father, and their half-sister and brother. They also didn't like Padme, and they'd gone out of their way to avoid the woman.

"Leia," Anakin picked his daughter up, seeing at once the fear on her face, as well as the fear on the other children's faces. He wasn't surprised, knowing Force-sensitive children had a strong bond with their loved ones. For Leia, it was worse, as she was Luke's twin sister. "I know, sweetie."

"I'm scared, Daddy," Leia clung to him like a baby, and while it offended her a little to be like this again, she found she had a stronger relationship with Anakin than she did with Bail Organa. "I felt Luke in the Force."

"It hasn't happened yet, petal," Anakin told her, "but we were given this for a reason. We have to go to Tatooine."

He had sworn to return to the planet when he was in a better position to take on the Hutts that ruled the planet. Jabba was the worst of the lot. Sadly with the Empire in power and their open stance on slavery, Anakin knew it would likely be well into the future before he could take on the Hutts.

Still, going back to the desert planet brought back bad memories.

Anakin had visited the planet several times over the years, each time he had vowed never to return.

Anakin took a deep breath and turned to his wife. Oola gazed at him resolutely. "Do you want me to come, or stay with the kids?" She asked knowingly.

The Twi'lek woman was more than aware of the dilemmas facing her husband right now.

Anakin rubbed his face. Usually, he would leave the kids and Oola and go off on his own, but he didn't know what was happening on Tatooine, except a dark presence was there. That alone made him want to keep Oola and his precious children right here, but at the same time, he had to prove to Owen and Beru that he was not some inhuman Sith monstrosity, not to mention the Organas. While he didn't give a damn if Organa accepted his claim on Leia or not, he did not want any trouble, and introducing both parties to Oola and the kids would go a long way to proving the scale of the mistakes made by Yoda, Windu, Obi-Wan, and Padme.

But could he endanger his family?

"I think you should stay here, Oola," he said at last, deciding this was not the time for such introductions, "I'm going to have my hands full as it is."

"I want to come with you, Anakin," Oola said stubbornly.

"Sorry, sweetheart, but the answer is no for now. And besides, I think it might overwhelm Luke a little bit too much to know he has a stepmother at the moment, never mind so many siblings," Anakin replied.

"I think we should come, Anakin," Oola protested, holding her hand up to forestall any more protests, "I know, you're desperate to keep us safe, but Luke is practically my stepson, just like Leia's my daughter. I think if he and the Lars know you're alive and you're neither dead nor a Sith Lord, the easier it will be to clear things up."

"But it can be dangerous," Anakin protested.

"I know. But we have to do this, Anakin at some point anyway, so why not do it now?" Oola said. "And besides, Leia got along great with the kids the moment they met, and I doubt Luke will mind. And I also want to have a stern talking to with the Organas for making so many stupid mistakes with Leia."

Anakin sighed. 'Why does every single woman I meet have to make every single point with such pinpoint logic? Mum was the same. And now Oola; still, I'm glad she and the girls don't condescend to me at all when they tell me to do things like this.'

"Alright, but I want you to stay with the kids. Keep a close watch on them. I don't know what's going to happen on Tatooine, but you know what that shithole of a planet's like; the last thing I want is any of our kids to live the kind of lives we have led," he told her, much to the surprise of the Jedi Masters.

"I promise!" Oola grinned before she turned to the rest of the Skywalker clan. "Okay, guys, we can go with Daddy. But under no circumstances are you to even leave my sight; if you do, then I will come up with something, really, really bad to punish you. Is that understood?"

The Jedi Masters had been on the planet long enough to know both Skywalkers were both strict but fair with their children. If they messed around then they would come down hard on them all.

Xxx

The journey to Tatooine was fraught with tension. More than once Obi-Wan tried to speak to Anakin, but his former friend's glacial manner stopped him. When the ship emerged out of hyperspace, the Force-sensitives on the ship could feel the tremors only too well. Landing the ship close to the Lars homestead, Anakin and the two Jedi Masters left the ship and rushed towards the homestead, feeling the Force growing darker. As they approached, the three men quickly ignited their lightsabers when they saw the flares and flashes of blaster fire.

Anakin leapt into the quad, jumping between Owen and a young dark-skinned woman with a red lightsaber. The woman back-peddled when she found herself dealing with another lightsaber wielder. The man was hooded, so she couldn't see his face, but he came at her hard and fast.

"Who are you?" Reva demanded.

The man took off his hood.

Reva gasped. "You!?" Suddenly she went mad. "You murdered them all!"

"That was not me! It was a clone!"

But Reva refused to listen. "You killed us all!"

"No, I didn't. Wait," Anakin suddenly realised as he realised what she was telling him. "You were at the Temple? How did you survive? You have it wrong. I'm not him. I am not Darth Vader."

"YOU'RE LYING!" She shrieked and she came at him with furious strikes. Anakin blocked them all, determining her skill easily enough; the dark side in her was quite strong, but she was only a fraction trained by Jedi standards. She was a few steps below Asajj Ventress, but this woman's submergence into the dark side gave her a few edges that helped her even the odds against Jedi even if a fully trained Knight or Master could defeat her easily.

"I'm not lying," Anakin said calmly as he twirled his lightsaber to block the strikes while he tried to remember where he had seen this woman before. He knew she was in the Temple, but she had a very basic set of skills. She reminded him of Ahsoka when they'd first met; back then, Ahsoka had only just been made his apprentice who'd come to him with that level of lightsaber and Force training, and it had taken hours and hours of teaching her the different forms before she had become a more powerful and effective Jedi.

In comparison, this woman was undertrained and yet she was still effective thanks to her connection to the Dark Side. It only confirmed in Anakin's mind the steps Vader and Palpatine had taken to keep the Inquisitors from becoming a threat.

"I wasn't there. I'd had enough of the war, of the Order. I found a different calling; ending slavery in the galaxy. But Order 66 and the Empire happened. I felt the death toll," Anakin's voice shook as he remembered that grim day when the clones turned on the Jedi; the first few days had been the worst as the Purge wore on, "but I've only recently found out Palpatine cloned me and sent that clone into the Temple. That is Darth Vader. Come on, search your feelings. Use the Force. Think; am I showing any sign of being a Sith? What is my aura telling you? And before you say anything, yeah, Sith are good at hiding, but am I showing signs of being a Sith?"

The woman glared at him, her visage even more twisted thanks to the glare of the red blade of her lightsaber, but Anakin could tell the girl was thinking everything over. Suddenly another lightsaber ignited and she found herself facing Master Windu. She gasped when she recognised the aged features of the Master of the Order.

"Master Windu? Why are you here?"

"To stop you from killing an innocent child."

"That's why you're here, isn't it?" Anakin interrupted, "You want to kill Luke."

Suddenly he was hit by a wave of compassion rather than anger when she saw a vision of the girl as a youngling that he was sure he recognised and remembered during his own time at the Jedi Temple in the middle of the war. This girl had seen her whole family, the Jedi, being slaughtered and she wanted revenge.

Revenge against Darth Vader.

She had spent all this time getting into the Inquisitors, coming up with elaborate plans she hoped would give her the means and the opportunity to kill Vader.

She had done her research and looked for something she could use to get Vader's worst enemy, Obi-Wan Kenobi, to come out of hiding.

She had paid for mercenaries to kidnap Leia when she discovered a link between the Jedi Master and the Imperial senator.

She had arranged for Bounty hunters on Daiyu to kidnap Leia and Obi-Wan before giving them to Vader.

All to kill the Sith Lord, but she had no idea the Sith was a clone of himself.

She was an angry woman hiding the facade of a frightened, hurt, terrified young girl.

"Reva, revenge is not going to help you," Anakin said, fully aware of everyone being able to hear him, "believe me, I know. I lost my mother here. I suffered from visions for months. I begged the Council, pleaded with them for months to let me investigate, to send someone before my brain exploded with the visions. In the end, I came back to Tatooine and I found her, dying. I got to her, and her back was torn to pieces," he choked as the memory of how he'd found Shmi unfolded in his mind, "when she died…it was like a blanket of darkness covered me, and I went mad. I killed every single Tusken villager. I didn't care who they were. I slaughtered them all, but when it was over, I couldn't believe what I had done. It made me sick. It was like a cloud of dark madness had fallen over me until I felt as if I had fallen asleep and had a terrible nightmare, only to discover it was real. After that, I swore never to let it happen again. Listen to me, if you try to kill Luke, it won't help."

"Revenge is all I have left!" The woman shrieked, but there was a faint uncertainty in her voice, and a glazed look in her eye as the Force was making it clear he was telling the truth.

Anakin dearly wanted to tell her revenge was not the way of the Jedi, but he knew if he said it they would accuse him of being a hypocrite. "But it was not the right revenge, was it? What have you done these last ten years? You joined the Inquisitors; I don't even want to know how you did that. And you've hunted Jedi when you could have done the opposite. You could have looked for others in the Temple, found advanced fighting skills and Force techniques and fled Coruscant before the Sith strengthened their stranglehold over the planet. I am sorry. I am so sorry I wasn't there."

He didn't dare tell the girl that if he had been there, then he might have swallowed all of Palpatine's lies, and he could have become Darth Vader. It made him sick to think there might be a reality in the endless seas of possibilities in the Force that he would have been stuck with Padme, and he would have thought the little bitch loved him when it was clear their marriage was a fucking messy disaster.

Anakin saw several possibilities.

One, he would become Vader and he would have risen to become Palpatine's right-hand man, whether or not he had that final duel with Obi-Wan or not.

Two, the Sith could have failed and he would have either been killed, or imprisoned and what Padme had done with the twins would have mirrored how she'd turned her back on them like they didn't even exist. Disowning them for good.

Three, Order 66 would never have happened.

He had been saved by his good common sense, and he thanked the Force for that.

Anakin couldn't even begin contemplating his life without his wife and children, and while he wished Leia and Luke had been born during his marriage with Oola, where there was no Jedi Council around to meddle, he loved them deeply.

The woman's furious reality was caving in. She tried to stop him with a blast of Force energy, but Anakin effortlessly batted it away, and she collapsed, staring at him. Her lips wobbled.

"It..it is you, really you?" She whispered.

Anakin extinguished his lightsaber and sat down next to her. "It is, little sister."

"But…where did you go? Why did you leave? We needed you."

The questions stabbed at Anakin's heart. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Owen and Beru walk closer, seeing his features and recognising him, but he ignored them for now.

"I went to the Outer Rim. I helped a slave revolt, and I found a much better calling than fighting in a war for a government that was truly not worth it. The Republic was falling apart. Dying. I preferred using my knowledge and skills for something greater. I wanted to help people. I was a slave myself until I was nearly ten. Stopping slavery is one of the defining reasons why I joined the Jedi, but I soon found they didn't care. I just took the law into my own hands," Anakin replied.

"Am I like him?"

The question was so quiet, so broken, and full of pain and self-loathing.

"No," Anakin replied before anybody else. "You aren't him. Yes, you've walked down a dark path, but you're not truly there. Let it go, sister. I will give you a chance. Come with me back to my planet, help me do some good in this messed up galaxy; I can also help you with your training if you'd like me to help," Anakin added, surprising everybody else. "Or if you'd prefer it, you can go out into the galaxy on your own, but if you do that you need to be careful."

The young woman looked into his gaze and nodded in acceptance. "I'll go with you…Master," she croaked.

"No," Anakin held up a firm finger. "Anakin. My name is Anakin. That old tradition never appealed to me."