Note 1: This takes place during ROTS, right after Anakin and Obi-Wan return from rescuing Chancellor Palpatine from General Grievous.

Note 2: Star Wars and its affiliates do not belong to me, only the contents of this Verse.

Note 3: To my betas, TACAitsH and Young at Heart21: thank you.

Chosen: Restoration

Chapter 16: Tatooine

By WrittinInStone

Anakin hadn't been to Tatooine in years, and yet he marveled at how…unchanging it was. His hands clenched on the controls of the speeder as he tried to focus despite the glaring heat of Tatooine's two suns.

It was the same oppressive heat, turning his skin into the rich golden tan of his youth, same unscrupulous low lives, willing to kill anyone over the most nominally perceived slight, then the sand! There was nothing in the universe that Anakin despised more than sand. It was the same, endless sea of mother kriffing orange sand. It was driving Anakin mad! It was so coarse and rough and it got everywhere! If he didn't get away from all the sand he thought he might very well lose it…

"Anakin."

At the sound of his name, Anakin turned back to his wife, giving her a reassuring smile.

When the companions had arrived on Tatooine, they had docked in Mos Espa, the last known location of Gardulla's palace. While in Mos Espa, Anakin had not been surprised to learn that Gardulla the Hutt was no longer the mighty overlord of Tatooine. Legendary for her gambling problems and bad leadership, she was now a lackey of Jabba the Hutt. It gave Anakin great satisfaction to learn that Gardulla had fallen so low, even if it did make things more complicated. Jabba was not nearly as incompetent as Gardulla and would not be pleased to see the Jedi at his doorstep.

They re-boarded the ship and made for Wayfar, the closest settlement to the western Dune Sea, the location of Jabba's palace. They entered Wayfor for a short while, only to procure a speeder to travel the rest of the way to Jabba's palace. Now, Anakin piloted said speeder toward their destination with Obi-Wan sitting next to him and Padmé in the back seat.

Anakin knew that his wife was worried about him and justly so. It wasn't just the sand that bothered him; it was everything that this trip represented. He felt something…odd in the pit of his stomach. It wasn't nervousness that he felt; it was different. He felt eagerness, almost anticipation, as though he looked forward to confronting Gardulla the Hutt, to seeing the look of shock on her face when she realized that the slave she had mistreated had grown powerful enough to crush her with a thought. It disturbed him. He hadn't come here for revenge; he had come to find out about his mother.

Anger and the need for revenge leads to the Dark Side, he silently quoted to himself. A Jedi must learn to control those emotions, to remain untainted by their poison.

Taking a deep breath, Anakin allowed the Force to flow over him, bringing him calm and peace. He could handle whatever was ahead of them. He was a Jedi and although he had done horrible things the last time he was on this planet, he would not make those same mistakes again.

Sitting next to him, Obi-Wan let out a sigh of relief as he felt Anakin's anxiety drain. Ever since they landed, Obi-Wan had felt Anakin's tension increase, but now, the Jedi Master was gratified to see that the younger man was using the Force to calm himself. Anakin had never been one to meditate or connect with the Force in any way other than to use its power for battle. It made Obi-Wan happier than he could say to see that Anakin was reaching a new level in his Knighthood. As hard as this journey had been, it seemed to be taking Anakin to another level of maturity and spiritual growth. If he kept this up, Obi-Wan would have no reservations about recommending him to be a Jedi Master.

Well, you know, Obi-Wan thought in amusement, despite the whole 'wife' thing.

From the back seat, Padmé looked at her husband with worry, conscious of how hot it was and how tired he looked. Although he was trying to hide it, she knew that he was exhausted. Their game day had been wonderful, but it had been really draining for Anakin. After sparing with Obi-Wan for a bit, he had come back to the suite and laid down for the rest of the night, unable to do anything more than talk to her. It terrified Padmé to see him like that and it had made her all the more determined to find a cure for him.

She knew that the strain of her husband's illness was beginning to wear on her. They needed to find out something about it, if only to give her real hope that a cure did in fact exist. Padmé hesitated to say anything about his obvious tiredness, aware that Anakin's pride would not allow him to stop. Nevertheless, if he showed any visible signs of true fatigue, pride or not, they would stop and rest.

Padmé pulled her shawl close as her apprehension grew; she was beginning to have second thoughts about coming along on this trip. The Hutts were vile gangsters and ran their empire with an iron fist. Killing two Jedi and a Senator would mean nothing to them. Anakin had been reluctant to allow her to come, especially due to her delicate state, but she had insisted. Now, she realized that she may have acted rashly; she was carrying life now, she couldn't think of herself as just Padmé anymore. She was thinking, exploring, eating for three and she needed to be more careful from now on.

By the time they pulled to a stop in front of the palace, Padmé had made her decision.

"I think I'm going to stay here," She told them quietly. "I'm not going to say it was a mistake for me to be here, but I'm pregnant and I can't put my children in danger. I'll be waiting for you two here when you get back."

Anakin sighed in relief. "I'm really glad to hear you say that." He told her with a smile, revealing cuffs from behind his back. "I really didn't want to have to use these."

Obi-Wan chortled in amusement as Padmé gave her husband an evil glare.

"I'm going to pretend that you're joking." She told him icily. Then her expression softened and she leaned over to kiss him gently on the lips. "You two please be careful and come back soon."

"Don't worry, Padmé." Obi-Wan said, giving Anakin a superior look, "I'll make sure your husband doesn't get us into too much trouble."

Anakin rolled his eyes. "He shaves his beard and all of a sudden he gets attitude."

Laughing softly, Padmé impulsively gave Obi-Wan a hug, squeezing him tightly, to the older man's surprise.

"I'm so glad that you're here with us." She told the Jedi Master seriously as she pulled away. "So very glad."

"Both of us are," Anakin added, placing his hand on his master's shoulder. "We are grateful."

His throat choking with emotion, Obi-Wan nodded. "Thank you both." He cleared his throat in an attempt to cover the surge of emotion, "Well, let's go. We want to get this over with as quickly as possible. We have a rematch game to play. If you guys thought that I was going to lie down after being beaten, you were wrong."

"I agree with you there, Obi-Wan," Anakin said seriously. "I've lost my honor to a senator the size of a padawan and now I must regain it, even if it's the last thing I do."

"Oh, boy." Padmé said, rolling her eyes in exasperation. "You two get going! I'll beat you again when we're back on the ship."

Smiling, the two Jedi jumped from the craft. After placing it in a secure location and equipping Padmé with a blaster, they headed to the entrance of Jabba's palace.

#*#*#*#*#

"I don't understand, Obi-Wan." Anakin said with disgust.

"Don't understand what, my friend?" Obi-Wan asked, grimacing.

"Why these warlords have to be so textbook! I'm at the point where being dirty is almost as bad as being evil. I mean, would it kill them to clean up? By the Force, this place is a sty. It's disgusting."

"Yes, it is." Obi-Wan said, covering his mouth to hold down the bile. "I think I just stepped in excretion."

"Then you're lucky," Anakin said, repulsed, "Because I just tripped over a carcass. Think maggots."

Obi-Wan wasn't squeamish, but this place seriously needed to be eliminated. Not cleaned, but destroyed. Nothing less than a good burning would be good enough to wipe this sad excuse of a palace off the side of the mountain.

"I can't believe how easy it was to get in here," Obi-Wan commented.

"Jabba's not here." Anakin said simply. "When he's not, everything is lax as you can see by how easily we got through security."

"This is where Jabba's place of operation is, right?" Obi-Wan asked with a frown.

"Yes," Anakin answered. "But his home is Nal Hutta. He only comes here to do his dirty work."

"Ah," Obi-Wan said in understanding, "So we came here at the perfect time. Jabba isn't home. That's good." Then the Jedi Master paused. "But what if Gardulla isn't here, either?"

"She's here." Anakin said flatly. Obi-Wan's eyebrows raised briefly, but he said nothing.

Getting in had indeed been easy, comparatively speaking. After being denied entrance, they used the Force to lift the door and enter. When the guards came to confront them, Anakin simply lifted a hand and Force-chocked both of them into unconsciousness.

When Obi-Wan looked at his old padawan with eyebrows lifted, Anakin had merely looked at him with an innocent expression as though to say, 'what'?

Obi-Wan shook his head, choosing not to comment on Anakin's methods. Though not strictly the Jedi way, he had incapacitated them which was the whole point.

Now, they carefully picked their way through the palace, following where Anakin directed. Obi-Wan didn't question how he knew where Gardulla the Hutt was, only followed.

Anakin paused for a moment as they finally came upon a large, dark room, which from the looks of it, was the place where Jabba held court.

It was strange that they met no opposition as they explored the palace. Even if Jabba wasn't here, it shouldn't be this quiet—

"So, the Jedi have finally arrived. It took much longer than I expected." The Jedi heard a low laugh until finally, all the lights in the room turned on and there in front of them, sat Gardulla the Hutt.

#*#*#*#*#

The Jedi were immediately surrounded with guards and relieved of their lightsabers.

Sitting on the throne, Gardulla the Hutt continued to chuckle obscenely, voraciously stuffing her face with an unidentified substance.

"Anakin Skywalker, my old slave," She said, spittle running down her mouth. "It's nice to see you again. It's been years. Come back because you missed me?"

Anakin hadn't been a slave since he was nine years old, yet seeing Gardulla again incited a rage in him that he thought was long dead. But he had made a promise, both to himself and his wife. He would control his rage; he would not let it control him.

"We didn't come here to start trouble, Gardulla." He said calmly. "We've come because we need information on Shmi Skywalker."

"Shmi Skywalker." Gardulla slurred her words as more food was pushed into her mouth. "Ah yes, I remember her. So quiet, so compliant…so willing to do whatever was needed to protect her little boy. Too bad it didn't wor—."

"We need to know who the pirates were that sold her to you." Obi-Wan quickly interrupted, conscious of Anakin's growing fury. "Tell us and we'll leave. No fighting, no death. You give us the information and we're gone."

"Hm…" Gardulla paused, considering this. "I will give you the information," She said finally, gleefully, "But first you must do something for me."

"No deal, Gardulla." Anakin said, ice in his voice. "Tell us what we want to know, or die.

Gardulla and her lackeys laughed at his statement.

"You think you can come into my palace and threaten me?" She roared.

"Your palace?" Anakin smirked as he made a big show of looking around. "This place has Jabba's filthy stamp all over it. You're not the boss anymore, Gardulla, you're merely a grunt now, another pawn in Jabba's game. You've lost all of your power and now you're reduced to playing 'Queen' when he's not around. How sad for you."

Furious at Anakin's intuition, Gardulla quickly called in Huttese for her guards to prepare to attack.

"But," Anakin said quietly, ignoring the moving guards, "If you give us what we want, we'll help you."

Immediately calling her guards to halt, Gardulla looked at Anakin through suspicious eyes. "How could you possibly help me, human?"

Giving Obi-Wan a reassuring look and a quick hand gesture indicating that he should stay where he was, Anakin began to move toward Gardulla's throne. The guards quickly brought their weapons to attention, but once again, he ignored them.

When he reached her, the Jedi Knight leaned over and whispered to her. "Do you want to know something, you slimy worm? The only reason you're not dead right now is because my Master is here with me. But in a moment, that won't matter because if you don't tell me what I want to know, I'm going to retrieve my lightsaber and kill everything that breathes in this room…including you. You can pretend that I don't have the power to do that, but we both know that I do. You are going to tell me what I want to know, the only choice you have is whether you want to do this the easy way or the hard way."

He leaned closer, his voice lowering dangerously. "Please choose the hard way, because honestly, I want to rip you limb from limb. I want to make you pay for everything you put my mother through; every beating, every torturous act, I would repay to you one-hundredfold. So please, choose the hard way." He pulled back so Gardulla could look into his eyes.

Gardulla stared at him, her eyes huge. Gone was the trembling slave boy that she had tormented years ago and in his place stood a man with the promise of death in his eyes. Shaking with terror, she spoke in a quavering voice. "The Exchange. She was sold to me by the Exchange pirates."

Anakin paused, studying her for a moment before backing away. Using the Force, he ripped the lightsabers out of the hands of the unsuspecting guard.

He handed Obi-Wan his lightsaber while putting his own in a place that was easily accessible.

"We're going to leave now," Anakin announced in a hard voice. "If you try to attack us, we'll be forced to defend ourselves."

With that, the two Jedi backed away quickly before finally turning and running through the halls of the palace. As soon as they exited the throne room, they could hear Gardulla's voice scream in outrage. "Kill the Jedi, kill them now!"

"What did you say to her?" Obi-Wan said, aghast at her rage.

"I told her what she needed to hear," Anakin answered. "You can't negotiate with a Hutt, Obi-Wan. All they understand is power and money. We have no money, so I had to make her think I had power over her."

"At least we got the information," Obi-Wan said with a sigh, slowing down as they encountered guards trying to bar their entrance.

"Why do they always do this?" He called to Anakin as he cut through a guard. "They know that they're outmatched and yet they continue to fight."

"It's the way of henchman." Anakin replied with a smirk, his voice raising to be heard over the ruckus as he deflected blaster bolts at the firing guards. "They learned it in Lackey 101."

Obi-Wan smiled at Anakin's words, but quickly fell silent as they fought the rest of their way through Jabba's palace.

Finally reaching the entrance, they exited and immediately went to the area where they had secured Padmé, ducking behind the rocks for cover. They both stopped cold when they realized that neither her nor the speeder was there.

"Obi-Wan." Anakin said, forcing himself to remain calm. "My pregnant wife isn't here."

"I see that, Anakin, but don't panic." Obi-Wan said, whirling around to check the horizon. "I don't think Gardulla has her; she didn't know that Padmé was with us, remember? Besides, if she had Padmé, she would have definitely used her as a bargaining chip."

"You're right." The young Knight said, scanning the area. "Which means she must have left on her own."

"She went to get the ship." Obi-Wan said suddenly, relief coloring his voice as he pointed at the sky. "There she is."

Anakin shielded his eyes against the sun as he watched Padmé skillfully lower the ship next to them, blocking them from the incoming blaster bolts. They quickly boarded the ship, and moments later, they were flying away from Tatooine. Fifteen minutes later, they were once again aboard Twilight's Rain.

"Thank you, Padmé." Obi-Wan said as they walked down the halls of the ship. "You definitely made getting away easier."

"Although," Anakin added, glaring at his wife, "it was very dangerous to wander around Tatooine by yourself.".

"I wasn't wandering around anywhere, Skywalker." She said, returning his glare. "I just had a feeling that you two would need a quick getaway."

"Oh?" Obi-Wan said in surprise, "You had a feeling? How is that?"

"Anakin's with you, isn't he?" Padmé said pointedly, with a smirk.

"Betrayed by my own wife." Anakin said, feigning hurt as Obi-Wan chortled with amusement, "Harsh."

She smiled at him. "I love you, Ani, very much. Now, my heart, take your cute smile and go have a lie down. You were exhausted when we landed on Tatooine, so I know you're out of fuel now."

When he opened his mouth to protest, she gave him a look that quickly silenced him.

Giving Obi-Wan a long-suffering look, the Knight gave a huge sigh and exited the room.

"Wow," The Jedi Master said in awe, "How did you do that?"

"Not everyone can do it, Master Jedi." She said loftily, "You need two X chromosomes to do so."

"I see," Obi-Wan said in awe. "You might be the the very thing the Jedi Order needs to keep Anakin in line. Who knew?"

"Who indeed, Obi-Wan." Padmé said with a knowing smile, as she walked toward the door, intent on following her husband. "Who indeed."

End of Chapter 16: Review.

Chapter 17: Recuperation: The gang reflects on their findings on Tatooine.

Attribution: Thank you to Wookieepedia for the Star Wars facts.

***IMPORTANT NOTE***

Dear Readers:

Writing Twilight's Rain has been…an experience. In the course of doing so, I have had such amazing inspiration, as far as the direction of the story goes, that I've decided to change the name.

The story still sticks to the initial idea, but it's going to a place I didn't expect and I'm so excited about it that I honestly feel as though I'm going to explode. Because of this, I feel as though the name 'Twilight's Rain' no longer applies to the whole story.

I didn't want to confuse anyone, so I wanted to make sure I gave everyone notice before the change. The next time I post, it will be under the name 'Chosen: Restoration'.

I always want to give a shout out to my reviewers; alerts are great, favoriting me is awesome, but reviews are where my heart is. Believe it or not, it's the same group of about 15 people, every single time I post, that give me reviews, and that's 15 out of all the hundreds that read my story. That's really, truly sad.

It's like I've said before, we authors put a lot of effort into this stuff. If you liked it, the least you could do is drop a line, because reviews are our only reward for our work. Laziness? Shyness? Both are awful excuses for not saying 'good job.' Also, don't just review for me! If you see a work that you really enjoy, take a moment to tell the author just how much. Remember, there is no such thing as too many reviews. Each encouraging word is like a dollar in the bank.

Anyway, enough with the rant! Thank you guys for your support! I'm glad I'm finally getting around to doing this because I've been wanting to publically acknowledge you guys for a while, so here I go:

Young at Heart 21…TACAitsH…Grow-to-be…Rachie81…searth05…angie…Jedi Master misty Sman-Esay…padawanlearner123…Anakin-Jason-Skywalker-Kenobi…chucknotsteve…ILDV…O..verP..owered…emobunnyx3…Zireael07.

See…about 15 consistent reviewers. I can always depend on you guys for a review, if not every time, then most of the time. Without you guys, I would have stopped writing this story ages ago. But I didn't, I don't, and it's all because of you! Also, if I missed you, please don't be offended. Charge it to my head, and not my heart. Email me, and I will properly acknowledge you too.

WrittinInStone

P.S. (Does that work on something like this?) Thank you to swpaininteral for giving me my 200th Review. You're awesome.