A/N: Thanks to EmpressElizabeth, froovygirl, angie, and Queen Naberrie for reviewing. Without further ado…

Chapter Six

Nightmares are Real

Just a few meters away, among the bustling crowds, were Obi-wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano.

Anakin, followed closely by Jacen, joined his Jedi companions once more.

Obi-wan looked like he was going to have a heart attack.

"Where in the BLAZES have you been?" He asked with exasperation.

Anakin smirked, his typical reaction to Obi-wan's frustration.

"Just making some new friends."

"Now is not the time to be socializing. We were supposed to meet the clone troopers twenty minutes ago, Anakin."

Anakin's impish smiled faded along with his sarcasm.

"This boy's master was physically abusing him. I couldn't just stand by and let it continue."

"That is not what we were sent here to do."

"It's what Qui-Gon did for me, though. Wasn't it?"

Obi-wan's features softened and Anakin could see the sadness lace the man's features.

"You're…you're right Anakin. I'm sorry. Jedi strive to help those who cannot help themselves."

Obi-wan looked at Anakin.

"But his master will likely retaliate for what you've done. You've put yourself in danger."

"Aren't we headed for danger anyways? I mean, isn't that what our job entails?"

Obi-wan smiled. "Yes, but you always take on more than your fair share of danger, Anakin."

Anakin grinned. "Guess I'm a bit of a thrill seeker."

Obi-wan answered dryly. "I had no idea."

Anakin glanced down at Jacen before looking back up at Obi-wan.

"This is Jacen."

"Jacen, these are my friends Obi-wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano."

The boy was timid. A lifetime of punishment making him question every decision he would ever make.

"It's okay. We don't wanna hurt you."

Jacen shook Obi-wan's hand with hesitation and then Ahsoka's.

"I'm gonna need help finding his chip. His Master will set it off, no doubt."

Obi-wan sighed. "Well, I guess that means going back to the ship."

Anakin smiled boyishly. "Just tell them you're going to be a little late." He said referring to the battalion of clone troopers.

"Of course. It's not like they need or help or anything." Ob-wan replied sarcastically.

Ahsoka laughed.

Anakin smiled and looked at her. "Don't you just love it when he's angry?"

"It's always my favorite part of the day." She answered.

Obi-wan rolled his eyes.

The three Jedi and their new companion began their trek back to their starship.

And whether they smiled and laughed or lost their temper, they all knew deep down that something was about to happen.

Well, something always happened.

There wouldn't be any trace of existence if something didn't happen.

No, something bad. Something very bad was about to happen.

They knew, behind their jokes and mockery, that they were teetering on the edge of something very, very bad.

This wasn't a normal mission. There wouldn't be normal danger. No something was going to happen. Something that would rival every other unforgettable moment in their lives.

They all knew. But somehow they marched forward.

Padmé Amidala listened to the sounds of booing and cheering. It all seemed distant and she questioned why she still participated in the game called politics. They all told themselves they were doing something important.

But sometimes all she saw were bickering children disguised as adults. Pettiness and greed hidden away behind senatorial robes.

She was blind suddenly and perhaps a little deaf. Everything went away like she had fallen asleep.

The gray interior rotunda was painted green and blue. She was in the meadow.

Their meadow.

Anakin.

She wasn't angry anymore.

All she felt was love.

Anakin smiled at her.

That smile was much more innocent that the smile she saw almost a week ago.

Before Ruwee died. Before Shmi and Tatooine.

The Anakin she knew now was a man.

But the Anakin she saw in her daydream was just a boy.

A jaded boy. A boy who had known pain so closely he could call it a friend. But despite all that, he was still a boy. And he believed things with blind optimism. He hoped.

Because wasn't it true that he escaped the most hopeless circumstances?

He was surrounded with poverty and suffering. With cruelty and abuse. But somehow he escaped.

And that meant that anything was possible. Every wish and prayer. Every dream.

And she had loved that about him.

Because it was something she rarely saw in anyone else.

No one hoped and dreamed anymore.

And he did.

She served among a senate and lived in a galaxy filled with hate. Filled with mean spiritedness. Filled with bitterness.

And he appeared in her life again after so long with the innocence of a child.

He didn't hate. He was impossibly kind.

He was everything she ever strived to be.

Everything she had always wanted the world to be.

Someone who cared, someone who loved.

She touched his face. He laughed and she could feel his hand gently wrap around her wrist. His lips brushed her palm.

She climbed onto his lap and rested her face in the hollow of his neck.

"Hello?" he said softly.

She placed her palm over his heart. "Hello."

There were a few quiet moments where everything was still except the sound of their breathing and the flutter of his heartbeat under her hand.

And then he cupped her face in his hands and looked into her eyes. And she felt sleepy and warm.

And she would have told him that she loved him.

But he kissed her before she could speak.

And everything wrong was right when he kissed her. When he touched her.

She wanted to kiss him for forever and make love to him until the word ceased to exist.

Everything else was pain and sadness. Everything else but his love.

The daydream ended and she saw the slate gray folds of her dress.

Not the meadow or Anakin.

She looked numbly at the podium in the center of the rotunda.

She was always the first to voice her objections during senate meetings.

But she was weary. And she had more important things to worry about than mindless, stupid politicians.

After the meeting was adjourned she went to 500 Republica where her babies slept.

She gazed at the chubby little angels and laughed softly.

Her husband was not with her the way she wanted him to be.

But he would always be with her when she looked at her children.

He would always be in the blue of Luke's eyes and the blond tufts of the baby's hair.

He would always be with her because half of his blood ran through their tiny veins.

He would always be with her because his love would overcome anything. Space and distance and time.

Grief and loss.

And though he was so far away she felt his love as though he was standing beside her.

It was tiresome in her world.

But she felt nothing in that moment but peace.

Anakin knew it would be a difficult battle on Tatooine.

But the battle he was preparing for should have happened some hours later.

Instead it began before they had even walked a mile.

There was the sound of an explosion.

Jacen fell and Anakin knew immediately that the boy was wounded.

He barely knew the boy, but the grief he felt in his heart was that of a father over his son.

By their bland and dirty clothing, Anakin knew the men who had thrown an explosive were slave owners.

The three Jedi raised their light-sabers bravely.

One middle aged opponent charged for Anakin, firing shots from his blaster all the way.

Anakin deflected every one.

His blue blade tore through a set of ribs and out the man's back.

The slave owner fell. Ahsoka and Obi-wan were as successful with their opponents and it seemed for a little while that they were winning.

The slave owners were struck down and Anakin ran over to Jacen.

He turned the boy over so he lay on his back.

Jacen's features twisted in pain, but he was alive.

Anakin smiled.

"You're okay!"

"Thanks to you. Can we get out of here now?'

"Yeah." He helped the boy stand.

"I think I broke my arm."

"We'll take care of that as soon as we get back to the ship."

"Anakin?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

Anakin smiled.

The boy smiled back at him.

Something in Jacen's hazel eyes changed. The look on his face turned into terror.

And before Anakin could react he felt a blaster shot strike him in his right arm.

He cried out in pain, but still tried to unclip his light-saber with his left hand.

He turned to face four more attackers and as hard as his friends tried they couldn't get to him in time.

The opponents threw an explosive and there was a wall of smoke behind Anakin.

And before he could even fathom the idea that his Jedi companions could be dead behind all that smoke, the slave owner that he had struck down did the very same thing to him.

Anakin felt a piece of heavy machinery slam into the side of his skull.

There was a flash of light and he could see Padmé's face in the silver glow of the Naboo moon.

And then everything was gone.

There wasn't fear or regret. Or pain.

There was nothing.