Chapter 22 – Ghosts

Author's Note: Little check-in with Anakin. And there's another cliffhanger! ;D

~ Amina Gila

"Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I'd stepped in," Aayla says softly.

Anakin startles, turning away from the window where he was staring out at the dunes, trying to figure out what to do next. Ruling a planet is exhausting. He never realized how much work it would be to ensure everyone has food, clothing, and shelter. Wiping out slavers and attempted criminal uprisings keeps him up late into the night, and once he had to rely on his alter ego, the Shadow, to suppress it. It's taking so much longer to secure Tatooine than he anticipated, and that doesn't even begin to touch on the strange visions he's been having, either.

"What do you mean?" he asks.

Aayla sighs. "I was here once before with my master," she explains. "We were on an undercover mission, and I– I knew when Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon came here. I saw them."

His heart summersaults and plummets. "Oh," he answers, staring. He didn't know that. She's never told him that before.

"I thought– after I heard what happened, I wondered if I should have gotten involved and tried to help," she continues. "If I'd helped Qui-Gon, he might not have… died, and we might have learned about the Sith sooner."

Anakin crosses the room, sitting down at her side. "Aayla, there was nothing you could have done," he tells her. "I will always mourn Qui-Gon, but we cannot understand the Force's ways. If it was his time, we could not have saved him."

He didn't know what it was that was troubling her until now, but he knew that there was guilt over something which has been keeping her here with him. He could feel it, and when he asked her if she wanted to leave Tatooine and see if she could find any other survivors, she had declined. Though she had not explained why, Anakin could sense that her feelings of regret were holding her back.

But in truth, he is grateful to have her here. He knows he can rely on her, and she's a good friend. He can confide in her, and she will understand him in way that Owen and Beru cannot – they were not Jedi like he and Aayla.

"Alright, what about you?" she questions. "I know something is on your mind."

"Ruling Tatooine," he deadpans, and she smacks his arm, almost laughing.

"Not that."

Anakin looks away. "I keep seeing a planet. The Force is calling to me, telling me to go there."

Her brow furrows, lekku twitching slightly. "Why?"

He shrugs. "I don't know. I have tried meditating on it to no avail."

Aayla pauses, considering it. "Joint meditation? With all three of us?"

Anakin wants to say no because he doesn't know what the Force is trying to tell him, and he doesn't know if it's something he's willing to let Reva see, and yet… he knows Aayla has a point. If they focus together, they may uncover what the Force is saying. "… Fine."

It's later in the day, during the nap they always take at noon when the suns are highest, when they settle down to meditate. Anakin feels Reva's soft presence brushing up against his along with Aayla's, and they fall into the Force together. They keep him from becoming lost as he opens himself to the currents of the Force, searching for the vision that has been haunting him and letting it drown him.

He sees it again, that same planet. He sees the same silhouetted ruins of a wrecked ship, and he forces himself to focus. He allows himself to drift further.

And that's when he sees it. The barest glimpse of a face, a face he knows so very well. He sees the body, frozen in stasis, and Anakin knows.

He jolts back to himself, eyes flying open. "Kix," he breathes, and there are so many feelings vibrating through him, drowning him. "Kix." Kix is alive. When he disappeared, Anakin hadn't known what had befallen him, but now he knows. The Force is telling him that it's time. It's time to bring his missing brother home, and perhaps – perhaps he can begin to make up for what he did to the clones. The guilt of it haunts him. He hurt them. He killed Appo. He killed so many of the clones at the Temple.

It wasn't their fault. He shouldn't have done that. They did not deserve to die so the Jedi could live. He should have found a way to save them all.

"I need to find him." He looks between Reva and Aayla, seeing the quiet understanding in the Twi'lek's eyes, and the unspoken worry in his daughter's.

"I can come!" Reva offers immediately, hopefully.

Anakin shakes his head. "I don't know what I'll be walking into." He takes her hand, squeezing it. "Besides, Aayla could use your help to rule Tatooine in my absence. I won't be gone long."

Her expression scrunches, and he can feel her discontent acutely. "But–!"

"Reva," he interrupts, and she goes quiet, sulking. He pulls her closer, an arm around her shoulders as he tucks her into his side. "I'll be okay. I need to do this. I need to save him."

She slumps, burying her face against his neck. "I don't want you to go."

"I know," he answers, cradling her close. "I know."

But the Force is calling him, and he has to go. He leaves the following night. Finding the right planet is easy with the Force, and he takes the modified starfighter as he leaves Tatooine for the first time in months. It's strange to leave, and he's surprised by how alone he feels once he's in hyperspace. He misses his new family. He misses Reva, Owen, Beru, Aayla, Kitster, and even Muchi the rancor. He never thought he could call Tatooine his home, but it undeniably is.

The Force guides him, pushes him onward, and it isn't hard to locate the wreck that he's seen in his visions. It's easier still to find the stasis pod containing Kix, and for a long moment, Anakin stands there staring at it, heart hammering wildly in his chest. Kix is in there, and he knows that when he sees him again, when he talks to him, the aching longing for Rex and all of his boys will hit him with a vengeance.

He still doesn't know what happened to them.

A part of him is afraid to know.

Anakin activates the pod, and he nearly stops breathing when he feels Kix's Force presence flickering back to wakefulness. He hadn't seen him in months before the Empire formed, and he has missed him so much. He thought Kix was dead. They all thought he was dead.

"Where– where am I?" Kix rasps.

"Kix," Anakin replies, and he has to pause as emotions choke him. "Kix, you're safe now."

Kix jolts forward, grabbing at him. "General," he says, and in the Force, his emotions are a storm, "there's something I need to tell you. I found something out. I kept investigating after– after Fives, and somehow, they found out. The Seppies captured me. They were gonna take me to the Sith to find out who I told. I didn't tell anyone. I–"

Anakin feels the grief rise to choke him, and he gently grasps Kix's shoulders. "Take a breath, Kix," he says quietly. "It's been a long time since you've been captured."

Panic and dread flash across the medic's face. "How– how long, sir?"

"Too long," Anakin whispers. "I'm sorry I didn't find you sooner."

Kix looks away, blinking rapidly as he tries to process and reorient himself after so long in stasis. "It's– it's too late?" he asks, his voice going high.

Anakin squeezes his shoulders. "I'm sorry," he repeats and feels his heart break as Kix's expression shatters.

If he had been able to listen to Fives, if he'd paid more attention when Kix disappeared, maybe they could have avoided all of this. Maybe the clones could have been spared. Maybe the Jedi could have been saved. But it's too late for any of that. All they can do is keep living with the truth of their reality as it is, burdened by the knowledge of the things they could have changed… and didn't.

**w**

He was following orders.

These are the consequences that Mas Amedda warned him about, and Rampart struggles against the guards dragging him out of the Senate chamber. He didn't do it. It wasn't him. It was Tarkin! Tarkin gave him the orders, but it's too late. He's out of the room, and all the snarls and curses in the galaxy no longer make a difference.

Rampart is seething as the clones drag him through the halls. The Emperor ordered this, covering up the truth because it would look too bad on him. On Tarkin. And what is he, then? He followed their orders.

It doesn't matter.

No one cares.

He doesn't immediately sense the disturbance, and it's not until he feels the static in the air, his hair standing on end, that Rampart actually focuses on his surroundings. The hallway is windy, but that doesn't make sense. They're indoors. Something changes around him, and he sees a dark, murky hole ringed with crackling, purple electricity open at the end of the corridor. A scream catches in his throat, and he hears a swear from one of the Shocktroopers next to him.

They raise their blasters as they shift in front of him, moving to intercept whatever… this is.

Something lifts them off the floor, and Rampart scrambles back instinctively as they grab for their throats, trying to breathe. A… Jedi? Here?

Purple lightning arcs from the portal, emanating from the hand of a shadow, masked, dark-robed figure on the other side, hitting the clones and sending them flying down the hall. Their cries fill the air, and Rampart has only a moment to see them – their bodies on fire with amethyst flames – before he's yanked forward.

Through the portal.

This time, he does scream, but his breath is ripped from his lungs as he passes through the staticky energy, crashing hard onto a duracrete floor. Energy jolts into his body, and the world goes dark.

**w**

Even though the truth came out, it doesn't matter. It was easy enough to put the blame solely on Rampart's head. The public will hold him – and the clones under him – responsible, and the stormtrooper program will move forward. It is vital that the clones be eliminated, so the threat they could – and will – pose is neutralized before it grows too great.

Satisfaction swiftly melts into concern when Sidious senses the disturbance in the Force. It warns him of danger, of something dark and twisted that makes him uneasy in a way he doesn't like. It doesn't take long for the report to come in that Rampart is gone. Sidious leaves the Senate chamber to go to the scene of the escape himself, knowing that something is very, very wrong. All he sees there are the bodies, burned and blackened almost beyond recognition. The cameras that recorded the corridor only picked up a shadowy distortion. Rampart was yanked through it and then he was gone.

It's the Predator. It must be.

Whoever it is, they are… crafty. This it the first confirmed sighting on Coruscant since the attack months ago.

Sidious pretends that his uneasiness isn't growing from moment to moment. The Predator has struck again. He issues an order that all Imperial forces be on alert for the masked vigilante, and only an hour later, he receives yet another report. This one is from one of the Inquisitors. The Seventh Sister. She is reporting a confirmed sighting on Obi-Wan Kenobi.

He's here. On Coruscant. In the Underworld. Right now.

Maybe Sidious was too quick to assume that the Predator was Skywalker. Perhaps it has been Kenobi all this time.

It is time for the hunter to become the hunted.

Kenobi will die.

**w**

It's been a month since Obi-Wan left Alderaan and came to Coruscant. So far, he has seen so signs of any other Jedi… at least not living ones. Rumors spread down here, and he has run into many brief allies and other individuals who are happy to whisper half-truths that inspire fear. There was a Jedi down here. Or at least there was someone, and Obi-Wan was directed to the scene of where the "Jedi" was last seen.

The air reeks of the Dark, and he sees the rotting corpses there, stripped of anything valuable. If there was a Jedi, they are either dead or long gone. He doesn't know what it was that happened here, but it looks less like a battle and more like a slaughter.

There are no answers to be found, though, and Obi-Wan is not a master of psychometry like Quinlan, so he keeps moving. Eventually, he finds… her.

The little Zabrak girl only comes halfway up his chest. Her face is pale and dirty, and she's too thin for her age. Her brown eyes are shadowed by grief and pain, but they're also filled with courage. She's strong. And she's a Jedi youngling.

"Master Kenobi," she says, her presence brushing softly against his before recoiling away.

"You're a Jedi," Obi-Wan says numbly. How long has this child been struggling to live on her own down here? Is she alone? "Are there others here, too?"

She shakes her head, messy hair falling into her face. "Master Nema told me to run when the attack happened," she answers. "I felt…" She trails off, hesitating. She doesn't complete the thought.

Obi-Wan studies her. She's familiar, but he cannot remember her name. "You've been on your own?"

"Yes," she replies quietly, "but it's fine." She studies his face, and he feels as though she can see him in ways he is unfamiliar with. Uncomfortable with, even. "Mill Alibeth," she tells him. "I don't know if you remember me." The last part is almost shy.

His eyes widen. Oh. Oh. "I– yes, I remember," he answers. How could he have forgotten the little youngling tagging after Anakin on Cato Neimoidia? She was the one who made him realize that Anakin would be good with a padawan. It's why he ensured that Anakin got Ahsoka.

She shifts, arms wrapping around her body. "I– I've been helping whoever I can."

She's so young, so young, but she's so strong, too. So determined and courageous. No matter what Mill has endured, she is still a true Jedi.

"You shouldn't be down here," Obi-Wan murmurs, hand settling on her shoulder. "I–"

And that's when he feels the danger.

It's whispering, screaming, and he draws his lightsaber instinctively, whipping around and cutting through a small probe droid that was attempting to sneak up on him. Kriff.

"Here." He shoves his ration bars and some credits into her hands. "Go!" He knows that he must have been spotted, and now, the Empire will be after him. It's no place for a child.

"But what about you?" she asks. She's scared for him.

He glances back at her, already turning away. She'll be fine. She's survived this long, and she doesn't look like a Jedi. The Empire won't pay her any attention when they have him. "I'll survive."

Obi-Wan does not look back at Mill Alibeth as he hurries down the streets of Coruscant. He feels as though he's being watched, though, no matter what he does. No matter where he turns. The Empire is coming. The Force is crackling with tension, and he reaches for it, pulling the Light close to him as he prepares for the inevitable. He doesn't know who will come: if it will be a battalion of troopers or a Fallen Jedi.

He feels the storm of Darkness before it arrives, and he throws himself to the ground, rolling aside instinctively as a dark-robed figure jumps down at him. A red lightsaber ignites, nearly taking off his head, but he draws his own in time to block the blow. Blue meets red, and despite the glaring light and the darkness all around them, Obi-Wan recognizes his attacker.

"Sidious," he spits, taking a step back.

Anger rises instinctively – this is the man who destroyed the Jedi Order. This is the man who tore apart the galaxy and forced it to kneel at his feet because he sought power.

The Sith's yellow eyes flash. "Obi-Wan Kenobi. Or should I call you the Predator?"

Obi-Wan startles at that. What? What is he talking about? But Sidious doesn't give Obi-Wan a chance to respond to that bizarre statement.

"You are messing with powers you cannot even begin to fathom, Master Kenobi," he snarls.

"Oh, and you aren't?" Obi-Wan retorts. His voice is ice. He steps back, letting Sidious push the attack, parrying the Sith's strikes with quick, precise movements that waste no energy. This is what he's been trained for. Fighting a Sith is never easy, but defense is always the best option. Defense and not overestimating them.

He won't repeat the mistake he made on Geonosis when fighting Dooku. No one will be coming to his aid this time, and he will not die down here at Sidious' hands.

"I do not fear the Dark Side like you do," Sidious answers. Victory is in his eyes. He knows he hasn't won – yet – but he is certain of his inevitable victory. "I have studied it. I do not shun it."

"Only the weak embrace the Dark," Obi-Wan replies. Sidious' blade crosses against his own once more, and Obi-Wan holds him off, breaking the saberlock and ducking away when Sidious tries to impale him. The Force is his strength. The Light is with him. The Dark is an unfaithful ally as Sidious will come to see eventually.

"You are closer to the Dark than you choose to accept," Sidious mocks.

It is true, unfortunately, that Obi-Wan has struggled with balance ever since the Jedi fell. He has never been able to center himself the way he did earlier. The war eroded at him, chipped away at his ability to remain firmly in the Light. And then the Jedi were destroyed, and everything shattered. He is not Fallen, but he knows – he knows the Sith Master is right.

And he hates it.

A part of him craves vengeance for the blood of all of his fellow Jedi who have died. He wants to destroy Sidious for what he did to the Order. So many innocents died, all because one man craved power.

"The Dark calls to you," the Sith purrs, and Obi-Wan grits his teeth to resist the words.

The Force is with him, and he is one with the Force.

Their lightsabers meet in a deadly dance of red versus blue, and they work their way down the street, blades slashing through the walkways, grazing the sides of nearby buildings, and even cutting down a few light posts. Obi-Wan is keenly aware of the growing number of people who are observing him, just as he knows of the Imperial reinforcements who are arriving to aid the Emperor when he needs them.

But right now, this isn't about them.

It's about them.

Him and Sidious.

Anakin's chosen master versus the master who wanted to enslave him.

The Light versus the Dark.

They're evenly matched, with Sidious attacking and Obi-Wan defending, and Obi-Wan doesn't know which of them will come out on top – not that he has time to dwell on it anyway. He's more focused on staying alive and remaining one step ahead of the Sith master.

An unexpected Force shove throws him back against a wall, but he recovers quickly, steadying himself as he braces for the coming attack. Maybe he should up his game a little. Sidious is expecting him to defend, but Obi-Wan is skilled in more than just Soresu… and he's counting on the Sith master not being prepared for it.

He shifts into the opening stance of Ataru, the first form he learned and one at which he is still proficient, even if he knows Soresu better. He watches with some satisfaction as a surprised yet calculating expression flits across Sidious' face.

Good.

Sidious wasn't anticipating it. He thinks he knows everything, but he doesn't. He's just good at preparing for all possibilities… and Obi-Wan is good at letting people underestimate him.

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