A/N: Sorry about the wait. Thanks to Angie, froovygirl, and eldar-melda for reviewing. Update time! :D

Chapter Three

Tatooine

It felt for that brief stretch of time aboard the star-ship with Obi-wan that the events of the past year and a half hadn't happened. Like it was a regular mission and Anakin was still a rebellious Padawan. Like he hadn't reunited with the woman he now called his wife.

Like he wasn't a father to two beautiful, sweet children.. He smiled at the thought.

As his eyes focused on the blurred line of stars at light-speed he felt surreal.

For a moment he felt like they were returning to Coruscant from their mission to Ansion. He vaguely remembered Obi-wan's horrified face as he had crashed into the diginitary's living room.

He started to laugh and Obi-wan looked at him.

"What, may I ask is so funny?"

"Your face on our mission to Ansion. The nest of Gundarks."

Obi-wan smirked. "Hopefully you won't try any of your…reckless maneuvers."

"Oh, Obi-wan. Where's the fun in that? I love scaring the daylights out of you."

"You have to be a good example for Ahsoka. She's already impulsive enough as it is."

They both looked at Ahsoka. She raised a brow.

"Acting on impulse is not necessarily a bad thing." Anakin replied. 'Sometimes the situation calls for it."

Ahsoka smiled. "I agree."

Obi-wan shook his head in slight annoyance. "What am I going to do with you two?"

"Accept us for the unruly, crazy Jedi we are."

"I guess I don't have a choice, do I?"

Anakin smiled impishly, like a misbehaved child. "Nope."

Obi-wan chuckled. A notification flashed on the starship's navi-screen and the elder Jedi walked over and sat at the controls. The ship lurched and they came out of hyperspace. A barren, brown planet appeared.

Anakin felt a mix of emotions. Sadness. A home that was never a home. His mother's resting place. The slightest nostalgia. Despite all the struggles he had made some good memories on Tatooine too. Games with friends. Meeting Padmé for the first time. Winning the Boonta Eve Classic. Quiet nights with Shmi staring up at the night sky spotted with billions of glittering stars.

And he felt the slightest fear. Tatooine had always been a dangerous place. But now was different. The planet was out of control. The death toll was astronomical. Diplomats and soldiers were being killed. Slaves were being ruthlessly murdered.

Before, the threats of conflict simmered on the desert planet. But this was not before. This was now.

And now there was war.

And war meant death.

He hoped it wouldn't be his two Jedi companions.

He hoped it wouldn't be himself.

No.

Because they had all just begun to live their lives.

He had just began to live his life.

A life without so much pain.

He feared it would return to him.

The pain.

He closed his eyes and felt peace in the force. In the memories of Padmé. Of Luke and Leia.

All the beautiful moments of the past year played out behind his eyelids.

And they made him strong.

For the first time in months Padmé slept alone in her bed.

Without her husband.

Luke and Leia slept soundlessly in their cribs at the corner of her bedroom.

She touched the empty sheets where Anakin would have been laying had he been with her.

She felt an ache inside. It reached up like flames up into her throat, tightening the muscles there.

There was a stinging behind her closed eyelids. She blinked the tears away.

"I must be strong." She whispered.

Strong for her husband. Strong for her children.

But most importantly, strong for herself.

It was a quality she had always prided herself in having.

And it was a quality she wasn't going to let go of because life had become more complicated.

Yes, she had the dream she always wanted. But it had to come with sacrifice.

That just wouldn't be real life.

The emotional exhaustion caught up with her finally. And thankfully.

Padmé drifted off into a deep sleep. One that was initially dreamless.

About halfway into the night the slightest flickers of a dream spread across her mind like a hologram.

There was a place in varying shades of the same hue. Browns, beiges, and tans. There was a room with clay walls and she was reminded vaguely of the junk shop she had first met Anakin in.

She walked around curiously, but she had no clue what she was looking for. And then in a flash everything was dark. Not even the tiniest bit of sunlight poured in from the windows. And then a light shone a few meters from where she stood and she almost screamed in horror.

Suspended from the ceiling was a man she loved very dearly.

His wrists were bound above his head and his ankles were tied together.

His face was caked with dried blood and he was crying out in pain.

"Anakin…" She sobbed.

There was a slave owner standing just behind him and the sound of the man's whip cutting through the air was harsh against Padmé's ears.

She could tell that her Ani was trying to be brave, but even so there were fault-lines among the dirt and blood on his face where tears had fallen.

She was sobbing so hard she couldn't breathe.

She woke up suddenly, gasping for air.

She had to talk to Anakin.

There was danger.

Not the kind he was predicting. No.

Something far worse.

She had to warn him.

It could have just been a dream.

He would laugh at her and tell her she was being silly. Irrational.

And maybe in a way she was.

Her dreams of him before had almost come true. They had come very close to happening. But they hadn't.

Because he had been too strong.

She hoped he would be now.

He had to be.

Something very ugly waited for him on Tatooine.

Something dark and cruel. Depraved.

Those things often waited for him. He seemed to follow them everywhere he went.

And if he didn't follow them, they certainly seemed to follow him.

Because Anakin was the light.

And the light was always followed by the dark.