Anakin grimaced as he looked out of the window; it was almost dawn, and he hadn't even managed to get any kind of beneficial rest ever since he had looked into the future, but he knew he could use the Force to sustain himself as he had for a long time ever since his nightmares of his mother appeared in his mind. The nightmares had made it virtually impossible for him to get any meaningful rest, and he had the feeling if his mother did die soon, he would

Anakin growled under his breath, the sound echoing throughout the room. Thinking of those nightmares of his mother suffering, and how the Jedi were unknowingly helping the Sith Lord with turning him to the Dark Side by telling him to ignore the nightmares, saying they were just homesickness, that they would pass in time filled him with growing fury. A grim part of Anakin wondered how those same self-righteous idiots would react had they known the truth. Would they try to save Shmi? Or would they just continue telling him to ignore the growing darkness inside of him?

The dreams…of Padme, of his mother, the way he turned, it was too coincidental. Palpatine must have done something, used the Dark Side to manipulate his dreams, and then he had given him some kind of bait which he stupidly took. But he knew the truth, if he had been so desperate…he would have done anything and everything to save the people he cared for, and to hell with the consequences. But what was the result, 2 decades in a terrible cybernetic suit, forced to live supported, fighting his own children?

Now Anakin knew Palpatine was the Sith Lord, even if he didn't have anything solid, he knew he had to try to put some distance between them. In the end, worn down by exhaustion, Anakin fell asleep, still debating on whether he should stay or go….

-8-

Pain, terror.

Her arms were stretched so tightly, her back aching while her head swam. She was delirious, after spending so long without any water. She's weak, so weak; the Tuskens had been draining her of water for days. She had no idea how long she was going to last. It took her a moment to realise there were Tuskens there with her, but when she did, she couldn't muster the energy to scream.

Where was Anakin?

As the Tuskens drew closer, Shmi wondered where her son was…

-8-

"Mum!" Anakin sat bolt upright, breathing hard. He clenched his fists, trying so hard to control his emotions, but it was impossible. The images of his mother's torture, the way the Tuskens stole every drop of water from her body, how they whipped her, how they raped her until she was left bloodied and torn apart, were all so vivid it had felt as if he were really there.

"Get out of my mind, you fucking bastard!" Anakin spat under his breath, feeling rage coiling within his soul, aimed towards the Sith Lord for doing this. The sheer ease Sidious was using to put these grotesque images into his mind over and over again, taking pleasure in watching an innocent woman who'd never harmed anyone and was only doing it to secure himself a powerful slave, not only frightened him but made Anakin want to vomit.

Somehow he managed to control himself.

Once he got his act together and had calmed down enough, Anakin lifted his head, wondering why Obi-Wan hadn't come in to investigate the disturbance he must have felt through the Force bond they shared as Master and Apprentice, but then he remembered that his Master had been given an assignment away from the Jedi Temple, one that meant he would be travelling while Anakin was stuck on this polluted city world which built its cityscape on so many levels you just knew the crust was going to give soon. But even if Obi-Wan wasn't still here, he wondered if his master would care.

"I can't deal with this," Anakin mumbled to himself, burying his face between his knees. "But I haven't worked out what I'm going to do."

"Maybe you should leave the Order, Ani."

The sound of the deep, familiar, smooth voice which was so soothing that it made him stop. He shook his head.

"I'm going mad, he's dead," Anakin whispered recognising the voice.

The voice laughed. "No, Ani, you're not going mad."

Anakin slowly lifted his head, and the sight that met his eyes made them pop. There, sitting on the end of his bed, wreathed in blue light and semi-transparent, was Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. "It can't be, you're dead," Anakin whispered. Then he reached a logical conclusion. "Am I seeing things?"

Qui-Gon shook his head. "No, Ani, you're not. When I was killed on Naboo by that Sith monstrosity, Maul, I became one with the living Force."

"I thought everyone became one with the Force when they died," Anakin commented with confusion as he remembered a lesson he'd learnt about the Force when he first came to the Temple, back in the days when he was judged when that stupid Prophecy hung over his head and he seemingly failed to live up to the hype despite his clear talents. The way he was treated by the other padawans who viewed his emotions as not Jedi-like was one of the defining reasons why he didn't have friends.

Qui-Gon nodded sadly as if he had just seen the memories of the way the Jedi had been so cruel to him. Anakin didn't want pity. "We do, but the Jedi have strayed."

"Stayed, how?"

"Surely you've noticed how the Jedi seem content to just…rot in stagnation, here on Coruscant, Ani? The way they routinely say politicians should not be trusted and yet they follow the will of the senate. The Jedi Order should be out in the galaxy, expanding their knowledge, and building their strength. It's because of their alliances with the senate, especially 1,000 years ago when the Sith wars ended and the armies were disbanded and the Jedi lost all of their drives," Qui-Gon replied.

What he had just heard wasn't new to Anakin, he had found the Jedi Order to be disappointing. When he had been growing up on Tatooine, stories of the Jedi had made him wish to become one. He had wanted to fight the injustices in the galaxy; slavery, kidnapping, murder, cruelty. He had wanted the galaxy to be changed even if he hated change. He wanted all the slaves freed, monsters like the Hutts wiped out, and silenced so then their disease of greed couldn't affect or hurt anyone else.

But the Jedi didn't care.

At all.

Oh, when he had come to the Temple, he had asked some of the other Jedi Masters when he'd mustered up the courage to actually pipe up and get his words across, Anakin had hoped once they had heard what was going on in the Outer Rim, they'd wake up, but then he was told to 'let it go,' which was a catchphrase as they used it often enough.

And then Anakin realised and discovered the truth of the matter, the ugly truth.

The Jedi, they were like everyone in the senate, the elites in the galaxy.

They knew about what was going on, they just didn't care.

Years ago, he had planned to leave the Order, fed up, and frustrated, but he had decided to stay because he wanted to make a difference still, but he had still been disillusioned. Growing up in the Temple had been nothing but a disappointment for him. The younglings and padawans despised him, and the Masters didn't trust him. There was nothing meaningful for him to do, as there seemed to be a timetable for everything and Anakin being Anakin didn't fit in.

The only reason he'd stayed was because he didn't have anywhere else to go; at the time he'd only been 11 years old, and his experiences in the galaxy were limited. Anakin didn't know what to do from then, but now? Now, he had a better idea. Was he just still too attached to the Temple, to the Jedi?

Thinking of attachment nearly made him chuckle when he realised something; the Jedi had broken the code, on a massive level. They were so attached to their positions within the Republic. They were so attached to this vast marble temple on Coruscant, and they were so attached to the beliefs they had defeated the Sith a thousand years ago, and they were so attached to their beliefs they didn't need to be better.

And he, he was so attached to them.

He was attached to Obi-Wan.

And he was also attached to the terror he felt of leaving because it would mean change.

But wasn't it also a good idea to leave, not just for his future, but for his life?

"But what's that got to do with me?" Anakin asked, wanting to get to the point. He was done with games.

Qui-Go sighed. "Ani, I'm sorry," he replied softly, looking at him hesitantly as if he was frightened of the impending argument. "I made a massive mistake. You were never meant to become a Jedi, the Force did not want it."

Anakin stared at him, stunned. "What?"

"I was like all the Jedi who'd read about that prophecy, Anakin. I believed fervently the Chosen One would bring balance to the Force, ending the Sith, that it would be a Jedi-," Qui-Gon started.

Anakin finished bitterly, "Let me guess, the Jedi rewrote the prophecy to give it some significance?"

He didn't mean to say it like that, but he just felt so bitter. He had never believed in the Chosen One prophecy after a while; okay, at first, it all sounded so cool, so exciting that he would make a difference even if he didn't understand and still didn't get what the balance to the Force meant, but over time he began to wonder if he could be bothered to care.

"I wouldn't put it like that, but yes," Qui-Gon replied.

Anakin sighed and closed his eyes. "What you're telling me isn't easy to accept. You were my strongest advocate to be trained. You believed in it so badly you were willing to throw Obi-Wan out. But hold on," he stiffened as he remembered when he had been 11, and he had made up his mind to leave the Order, "I was going to leave the Order. Why didn't I?"

"It was your decision, Ani," Qui-Gon told him, holding in his reaction to what Anakin said about Obi-Wan. It hurt him more to know Anakin was telling the absolute truth.

Anakin bit his lip, realising he was right. He had been the one to make the decision after all. "Yeah, it was, but why are you here?"

Qui-Gon sighed, "I came to apologise. I know what you did with the Force, how you dug deeply, and saw those potential futures of how you would turn to the Dark Side."

"Was it all real?" Anakin whispered ever so quietly.

"Yes," Qui-Gon replied bluntly. "It was as real as you could imagine. However, even if you do leave the Jedi, remember the Sith will be watching, and they will try to bring you under their control."

Anakin's face darkened with rage as he remembered the sick atrocities he had seen his future self do because he thought he was saving Padme, only to believe the power he was getting was what he wanted.

Only he had known what Palpatine was doing, and how he had spent years as Darth Vader coming up with ways of ending the old bastard and taking power for himself despite not having anything. In the end, he hadn't until Luke came into his life, a child he hadn't even known survived what he had done to Padme.

"I spent years under that thing in that future," Anakin whispered so lowly Qui-Gon's Force ghost had to lean forward to hear him, "I saw Vader come up with plan after plan to kill him, but Palpatine was all he had."

Qui-Gon nodded sadly.

"So you think I should save my mother?"

"I never really liked the rules of attachment, Anakin, and besides I always believed you should do what you must, rather than listen to a bunch of idiots who spend all their time in a comfortable chair in a tower," Qui-Gon smiled and chuckled when he saw Anakin crack a grin, but then Anakin became serious.

"I will leave the Order, Master Qui-Gon, but I don't know what I'll do," Anakin replied.

"Trust in the Force, Ani," Qui-Gon replied simply, "but remember, don't let any kind of power go to your head." He finished as kindheartedly as he could.

"But what will I do, where will I go?"

"Focus on the Force, Anakin, follow its will the best you can," Qui-Go replied.

"What about the Sith, won't they come after me?"

"Probably. Anakin, the Sith have spent the last ten centuries evolving. Two Sith. A Master and an Apprentice. At all times of the cycle, both must have come up with plans, manipulating events like a malevolent spider in the darkness, sitting in a web connecting them to various agents. Not every plan works out. The Sith Master knows that, and he knows there are so many things that could go wrong with just focusing on you to turn to the Dark Side and become an apprentice to ensure the Jedi is destroyed."

Anakin gazed shrewdly at the deceased Jedi Master, remembering current events. "The Separatists…they are part of the Sith's plans, aren't they?" He asked, "The Sith Lord is going to go to war, isn't he?"

Qui-Gon sighed, but he nodded, "Yes. And there's nothing you can do, Anakin; even if you had proof the Separatists are just the pawns in a plan involving the Sith, it would take a great deal to convince the Council to take it more seriously. They are mostly still in denial about the Sith's return, and they are being pressured by Jedi Consulars to sit back and wait, and they will until they find something concrete they can't ignore.

"Ani, no matter what you do, the Jedi have gone against the Will of the Force too many times over the last 1,000 years, ignoring it, turning their backs on the Force's will, and the Sith will have far too many plans in place to prevent anyone from stopping him."

Any other time Anakin would have been up in arms, but right now he was both too tired and frazzled to argue. And he knew Qui-Gon was right. But the mention of the Consulars made him irritated. Anakin had always despised the Consular class because of the way they had treated him in the past, and how Obi-Wan sided with them every chance he could. They would always lecture him, and chide him for his emotions, all to break him down and stop him from truly becoming too powerful.

They were scared of him. They did a terrible job of hiding it. What made it worse was how some even said he should be cut off from the Force, fortunately, even Master Windu, not one of his biggest fans, was up in arms about that, as Anakin hadn't done anything wrong.

When he saw Anakin was still convincing himself, Qui-Go leaned forward. "Anakin, close your eyes, and focus on the Force," he instructed.

Anakin did as he was told, and very quickly he saw everything that the Force wanted. The Force wanted him to save his mother, to help people in the upcoming conflict; he would never be too sure if the Force had allowed him to see these glimpses so easily because of what he had done, or if it was because of his new plans to leave, but he saw several worlds around the galaxy being ravaged by legions of mindless battle droids, Jedi and shadowy soldiers fighting them, barely mitigating against the oncoming storm ravaging everything.

Then he saw himself, fighting against both sides, impartially defending innocents and making a difference without being a part of the Jedi Order.

Anakin made up his mind with a nod, he would leave for the galaxy.

First stop, Tatooine.