No Remorse.

The light from the three moons in the sky cast eerie shadows over the Tatooine landscape while pillars of rock broke the light up, scattering shadows everywhere. Inhabitants of the planet would rarely give it a glance, as they were usually inside by this time; Moisture farmers like the Lars family would shut down the power to their farms and let the moisture vaporators do their work through the entire night, while alarm systems kept them safe from the Tuskens.

Usually, the Tuskens rarely bothered the moisture farms since the people of Tatooine had long learnt the lessons of keeping away from the Dune Sea and the Jundland Wastes, preferring to keep to their own territory but clashes did happen, as the nomadic tribes of Tusken raiders still kidnapped and killed anyone who crossed their paths.

As he crouched down low on the ground of a mountain overlooking the camp, Anakin barely gave the beautiful sight any notice. He had long since given up on finding or seeing anything more beautiful than freedom out of slavery on this miserable planet a long time ago. But if he had come here for any different reason then the 19-year-old Jedi apprentice would certainly have spent a moment admiring the sight of the moons, but after travelling to several different planets over the last decade, Anakin had seen many more beautiful planets than this sandheap.

The Tusken camp was nestled in the middle of the landscape. Lights from their fires were easy to see. Anakin studied them briefly, opening himself up to the Force. He could feel the Tusken raiders, feel their aggression in the Force. Knowing from what he'd been told as a child that the sand people were intensely xenophobic and protective of their territories and their resources, Anakin felt their glee and sadism, and he ground his teeth together when he realised they were centred on his mother.

This was not right.

Shmi Skywalker had done nothing to anybody. She didn't deserve to be here. She hadn't harmed the Tuskens. At the same time, he wondered why the Tuskens had even left their territory and gone for her in the first place.

Then he felt his mother. Shmi and himself had shared a bond for years and they knew instinctively when the other was near. Anakin briefly smiled, but it faded when he felt her pain. She was weak.

Deep inside Anakin, he felt nothing but fury and disgust as he realised this was partly the Jedi's fault. If they had stopped thinking about their precious Code, about how 'wrong' attachment was, he could have stopped this instead of enduring those damn dreams which had driven him to the point of madness for months.

Biting his tongue to stop himself from leaping down and Force speeding towards the camp to rescue her and driving those thoughts out of his mind, Anakin studied the camp and the position of the sentries while he used his instincts to pinpoint the exact hut his mother was being held by the raiders.

Leaping down quietly, Anakin used the darkness and the Force itself to quickly get to the camp without being spotted, but he still kept to the shadows to stop them from spotting him. The brief times he let himself look at the Tuskens, he saw the sentries sitting down or watching masiffs as they rolled around, slept or chewed on bones.

It didn't take too long for Anakin to reach the hut his mother was being kept in, and after making sure none of the sentries had seen him or the masiffs had spotted or smelt him, Anakin took out his lightsaber and ignited it. Within moments he had cut a hole in the wall and slipped inside, turning the weapon off and clipping it back to his belt.

The light of a fire was the only illumination in the hut, casting eerie shadows everywhere. But Anakin was focused on the only figure in the hut.

His mother.

Anakin fought down the nausea and the fury he felt within him as he took her in, seeing the state she was in. She had been strapped to poles with leather straps, and the back of her rough desert clothes had been torn, exposing her back. Anakin would have gone back out and wiped the Tuskens out without any mercy when he saw the state of her back. The Tuskens had flogged her, and one of the strikes had scarred her face. She was in a bad way.

Anakin rushed to her and got her free of the straps. "Mom?" He said as he held her in his arms and sat down.

Shmi was in a terrible way and she wondered if she was dreaming. "Ani?" She opened her eyes and it took a moment for her to realise this wasn't a dream or illusion. He was really here. Anakin sighed as he took her hand, wishing he had thought to bring some water with him. He had no idea how long his mother had gone without any water. As he held her in his arms, he took in the state of her face. Her face was thinner, her cheeks were hollow, and her once prominent cheekbones were now sharper.

'She's been starved, and they're draining her of her water,' Anakin thought angrily, recalling that Tusken prisoners were drained of their water to bolster the reserves the raiders had. 'Fuck, why the hell didn't I think to bring the canteen with me?'

"Is it you?" Shmi asked, and the question broke Anakin. Tears rolled down his face and he wanted to scream to the universe for taking away so many chances of being there with his mother. He could have visited her on birthdays, he could have helped Cliegg Lars get her out of slavery. Hell, he should have stayed on this blasted lump of rock and helped her by flying in several more pod races when he had the chance. She didn't deserve this!

"I'm here, Mom, you're safe," Anakin held her gently, tears trickling down his face.

"Ani," Shmi cooed and cupped his face with a weak hand. "Ani, you look so handsome."

Anakin kissed her palm gently. He wanted to get her out of there, but his senses told her that even if they got out of the camp, she was not going to make it and he didn't know how to help her.

"My son," Shmi's slurred voice worried him even more. "My grown-up son. I'm so proud of you, Ani."

'But I didn't get to you in time! I spent months listening to my blasted Master, and the rest of those fools in the Order, telling me to let you go!' Anakin shrieked in his head. Every instinct in his body and soul was telling him, screaming at him to get his mother out, to use the Force to keep her alive, but he felt numb with the knowledge he had failed her.

"I missed you," he cried softly.

"Now I am complete," Shmi smiled back at him, while Anakin stared at her in shock. Had she known he would come back, regardless of whatever anybody said? Yes. She had absolute faith in him. Even if he didn't deserve it. With a sad weight plummeting down inside of him, Anakin's heart broke into little bits as he realised he'd gotten here just in time to say goodbye to the woman who'd raised him until he met Qui-Gon.

"I love y-," Shmi tried to say, but she stopped. She was too weak.

Desperately Anakin said, "Stay with me, Mom. Everything-."

"I love…," Shmi tried to summon what little strength she had left, but it was too late. With a sigh, she fell dead and her hand, which had been weakly stroking his cheek lovingly, fell. Anakin watched her in disbelief, denying her death desperately in his head, but when he tried to find the connection between them, it was gone.

When he realised it was no good, Anakin sighed, before he placed his shaking hand and closed her eyes before he looked down in despair.

Why hadn't he come back?

Why had he listened to Obi-Wan when the Jedi Master stopped him from leaving the Order when he found he couldn't cope with living in that fucking cold temple on Coruscant?

Why had he bowed his head, desperate to do well despite quickly coming to terms with the fact the Jedi would never understand nor accept him?

Why hadn't he decided to tell them to fuck themselves when the first visions came and took the law into his own hands?

Anakin took in her injuries and remembered the sick thoughts of the Tuskens. He had tried not to think about them too much when he had spied on the camp earlier, but he knew they had tortured and whipped her, but they'd also raped her. As he took in her injuries, at the brutality of the wounds, Anakin's rage started to grow. It had been growing ever since he had stepped foot on Tatooine since he had learnt what happened to his mother.

And now he wanted to let it loose. To hell with the Jedi Order, to hell with the Code. Even Padme couldn't talk him out of this.

Anakin had always known he had an explosive temper. He always knew he felt poetic justice worked better than anything else. He had realised that as a slave. Whenever he was whipped, he would wish he could whip them back, with chains covered in serrated hooks. When the Trade Federation invaded Naboo, he wished droids would punish the Neimodians.

And now the Tuskens were going to pay.

Looking up slowly at the doorway, Anakin felt the two Tuskens just outside. Gently lowering his mother to the floor, Anakin stood up and took his lightsaber off of his belt. Taking a moment to study them and saw they hadn't even noticed him, Anakin ignited his weapon and cut the head off of one of the sentries before repeating it with the second. The sentries and the Tuskens hollered when they realised he was there, but he didn't care.

One Tusken rushed towards Anakin, but he cut him down and grinned mercilessly at the others. Moving with blinding speed, Anakin held out a hand and ripped several children from their parents, ignoring their screams before he decapitated the children in half.

"Anakin! Anakin, stop!"

Anakin paused for a second, thinking he had heard the voice of the long-dead Qui-Go Jinn, but he ignored it and focused on the slaughter. Absently holding his lightsaber, he reflected several shots back to their casters, killing them stone dead while he stalked two females carrying younglings. Without giving them a second to run, Anakin pulled them back, and stabbed the children and their mothers at the same time….

Anakin took a deep breath, throwing his senses out. But he quickly realised all of the Tuskens were killed, man, woman, animals and children alike. Leaning against one of the huts he slid down and sat on the ground, already feeling the dawn heat from the twin suns.

He was just…numb, about what had just happened, what he'd just done. He had slaughtered an entire camp of Tuskens down to the last individuals without discriminating between any of them. All because he couldn't let go of his love for his mother, or his need and desire for revenge. He had used his knowledge in the Jedi arts without giving a thought about it.

But as Anakin calmed down and came to terms with what he'd just done, he came to a startling conclusion.

He had always prided himself on being a good person at heart, no matter what he did. He had always believed even good people had to do good and evil in order to balance themselves out, but he felt the Tuskens in this camp deserved it, even the newborns he had slaughtered earlier on. They would have become like their parents, they would have gleefully kidnapped and raped other women. For a second, even as that realisation was dawning in his mind and he knew he would gladly do it again, Anakin realised he'd gladly do it again and again. Even if he found a way of going back in time, knowing that if he had done things the way the Jedi had wanted, and let Shmi go for good, she'd die, he would have left weeks ago and fuck the consequences but he would still have tracked down the Tuskens here, and wiped them out anyway even if they hadn't done anything to him or his mother.

Anakin looked down at his hands and he saw his lightsaber. He was surprised he hadn't dropped the weapon out of grief or guilt, but as he looked down at the weapon he'd built, he came to a conclusion.

Anakin Skywalker was not a Jedi. And he never had been.

All he'd heard growing up were fairy stories about them, and even if he'd known what would happen, he would still have wanted to get away from Tatooine. But in truth, the Order was a disappointment. As he sat there, Anakin wondered what he was going to do next.