Anakin

  Few weeks have gone by since the success in Kiros. And there've been a bunch of successes, for example, getting medical aid to the troops in the Outer Rim and returning without a scratch, the tiring hours of training and the capture of the terrorist threat, Moralo Eval.

  Our cool team was having dinner at Dex's diner, there, Obi-Wan started telling us about the rumours that were coming and going through the Underworld of Coruscant about Eval and his plotting against the Chancellor when, from one moment to another, his communicator beeped and he asked to be excused. He stood up to answer the call while Lans, Cal, Ahsoka and I finished eating our french fries.

When my Master returned, the milkshakes of the kids arrived too, but, he said we had to go. The Padawans were sad, but, Lana convinced them of coming back tomorrow for breakfast so that they had the milkshakes.

"So, what's the big rush?" I asked Obi-Wan as we walked towards our transport and after he asked us to hurry up as I payed and everyone stood up.

"The Jedi Council has called an emergency meeting." He answered and I sighed.

"I can see it now. Another long, boring debate." Lana giggled.

"Would you rather they call you in to train the younglings?" Asked she. I chuckled.

"Are you crazy? I've had enough of that and now these two are here." The Padawans played offended. I chuckled and Lana laughed until, all of the sudden, her laugher quieted itself. "What?"

"Find cover!" She had answered as blaster was fired and the blast made impact close to my right, in between Obi-Wan and I.

"Over there!" I told them and we divided ourselves to hide behind a bunch of boxes that were to the left and right, flanking our ship.

"Any idea where that shot came from?!" Asked Obi-Wan as another shot hit the box that covered him.

"A sniper, I see him up there!" Said Snips, pointing to the top of a building.

"Alright, here's the plan." Said Obi-Wan. "Anakin, Ahsoka, flank him to the right; Allana, Cal, cover the lower streets. I'm going after him." We nodded, took our weapons and turned them on before we ran.

  Allana and Cal ran down the street, pushing the civilians away from harm while my apprentice and I ran to the right building and jumped to the top. We waited for a couple seconds, looking and spotting the sniper, and he spotted us at the same time, for he fired at us continuously.

  When he turned around, we ran after him. And man, the guy's fast. Snips and I continued running as we lost Obi-Wan from sight, thinking he was much ahead but...

"We lost him!" I informed through the communicator. "Guys, do you have anything?"

"Nothing down here." Allana answered.

"Obi-Wan, do you have anything?" He didn't answer. I saw him stepping out and getting shot. He screamed and fell off the building on top of some boxes on the ground. "Obi-Wan!" I yelled as Allana herself screamed. She approached him and then looked at me as she held him.

"I've got him! Go!" She instructed.

"Ahsoka, go with them." I told her before I ran after the attacker. When I spotted him, I jumped from one building to another. I ran again and when I was getting closer, he hopped on a speeder and drove it, seconds later, he let go of a smoke bomb. That was enough to cover the direction he was escaping on. I ran back as fast as I could, finding my wife with one of our best friends laying on her arms, and a boy and a girl looking sad and confused as they asked everyone to step a bit away. "How is he?" My Master wasn't moving. His eyes closed. "Allana?" She looked at me with her eyes filled with tears. Her lips tried to articulate words but nothing came out of her mouth. My eyes widened. "Obi-Wan?" I stepped closer and placed my hands on his shoulders as I bent down. "Obi-Wan?!" I shook his body. "Obi-Wan!" I looked around and the medical transports were already here. "Please! Help him!" I asked as the med-droids picked him up. "He...he can't-"

"Anakin." Lana called me. Holding my forearm gently.

"I need to go with him."

"Anakin, you can't."

"You don't understand!" I looked at her for a brief second before I shook her hand off of my arm and walked towards the transport.

"Anakin!" She yelled as she placed herself in front of me, placing her hands against my chest. I looked at her. She shook her head and the water fell from her eyes. "He's gone." She whispered. I shook my head.

"No. No he can't be. That's..." I sobbed. I hate crying in front of others, I feel small. But right now, I couldn't hold back the tears. "He can't." Lana stood on her tippy toes and one of her hands slid from my chest to the back of my neck, pulling me in. My forehead fell on her shoulder and I hid my face on her neck as I cried. I felt her sobs as well.

"I'm sorry." I breathed in as my hands found her waist. "I'm so sorry." I squeezed my arms around her. Her hands intensified the hug.

  We stood there for three minutes, more or less. Afterwards, we made it back to the transport and I flew back to the Temple. I didn't speak. People around me spoke, they talked to me but I didn't say a word.

The Council asked us to meet them and it was hard to see an empty chair among the circle. I frowned. They asked us to get ready for my friend's funeral. We just grabbed our robes and threw them on before we entered the gloomy room.

  A moment later, the droids brought in a stretcher, where a corpse was laying, covered by a white blanket. Obi-Wan Kenobi's lifeless body. They placed it over a platform and that's when people started to arrive. Most of them are members of the Order, if not all of them, but Senators like Padmé, Mon Mothma, Bail Organa also came and then, the only one that was crying very loudly, The Duchess of Mandalore, Satine. She came all the way here to say farewell.

  Allana stood before me, on the opposite side of the coffin. It closed and a line crawled out of the center. Indicating that the body was being burned. Tears fell out of her eyes and the light reflected itself on them. I frowned again, feeling many eyes placed on me. I closed mine. Took a deep breath and waited to wake up. I sighed when I opened my eyes and found the light gone, but all the people around.

  My eyes met Allana's. She understood my glare and nodded. We walked out, asking the kids to follow us. We both know that we weren't going to rest until the guy was caught and rotting in a prison cell. The Padawans didn't hesitate in joining either. We were at the hangar, hopping in pairs on speeders when Master Yoda called in. He said they had found him. I frowned. That was fast. The Jedi Master sent the coordinates and I started driving towards the Underworld.

"I still don't understand." Said Ahsoka to my right. "Did Master Yoda say how they found the sniper?"

"Who cares?" I answered. "All that matters is they did." In about five minutes, we arrived at a seedy canteen. Everyone looked at us, confused. I took out my lightsaber and turned it on. That was motivation. I have no time for asking around until I get the answer. "Where is Rako Hardeen?" The bartender snake, and I mean this literally, sighed.

"Back room." I look forward and started walking to said place. I turned my lightsaber off as we turned right in a corner. In no time, we found the room and I opened the door. It revealed a guy laying down on a bed.

"Is he dead?" Asked Cal dryly.

"He's about to be." I answered and stepped closer. I turned the guy around. He coughed.

"A Jedi?" He asked once he had opened his eyes, then, he shook his head and closed them again. "Uh...already killed one today. Let me sleep." He turned back around.

"He's not dead. He's drunk." I said.

"Guess that answered your question kid." Lana told her apprentice as I grabbed the man's clothes.

"Get up, you filth!" I made his back collide against the wall. Roughly. "If it was up to me, I would kill you right here! But lucky for you, the man you murdered would rather see you rot in jail." I breathed out as I turned him around for Allana to handcuff him. When she had closed the cuffs as tight as she could, she pulled.

"Move, you coward. Before he changes his mind or I stop pulling myself back." She said as we escorted him out. It took us fifteen minutes to get to the prison. I was sure as hell not going to wait another second to throw him in a cell.

"You should be expecting this scum." I told the troopers as I pushed that piece of shit forward.

"Yes, sir." Said one of them.

"Let me know if he's any trouble. I'd be happy to straighten him out." We hopped on our transports again and made it for the Temple. When the kids were out of sight, I looked at Allana and she looked sadly at me. I sighed. "I want a drink, or two, of a whole bottle."

"We have wine at home." She said in a whisper.

"Do we have something stronger?"

"Yeah. Whiskey."

"That'll do." She nodded and we headed out. We arrived at different moments, for we took different routes to get to our apartment. When we arrived, we didn't speak. Lana simply pulled out the small glasses and a single glass for the wine. For herself I assumed.

  We sat down in silence, looking at the ships come and go through the night sky. Pouring and chugging glass after glass. It was depressing, but that was the only way I was able to think of for calming down and avoiding breaking into a hundred pieces. One of my biggest fears had come true. Losing my Master, my friend, a man who was like a father to me...how could I let that happen?

  I spoke these thoughts with my wife as I cried. She assured it wasn't my fault, but still, it felt like that for some sort of reason. I'm pretty sure I could've done more. I could've found the bad guy before he fired that shot. That was my fault. I did lose the sniper on the run. Things could've gone very differently. Lana hugged me, tight. Very tight. And let me crumble against her chest. She was crying too. They were also best of mates. After a while, we decided it was enough drinking and headed to bed, walking in zigzags. We'll be so hungover tomorrow.

  I sighed as I took off my clothes, my gloves, my shoes, everything; placed the comlink on the nightstand beside my lightsaber and placed my head over the pillow. Allana laid down beside me. As her delicate fingers stroked my hair, I felt tears pooling my eyes, so, I hugged her again, and she hugged me back. I fell asleep on her chest, with teardrops falling on her skin.

  The very next morning, my head ached terribly. I saw it coming, but goodness, it felt as if a pirate ship had ran me over. I sighed and got up, finding an empty and cold spot on the mattress to my right. I got out of bed and took a shower before getting dressed. When I was ready, I walked out and into the kitchen, finding my breakfast on the blue marble island. I smiled before I ate my food.

  When I was done, I brushed my teeth and made my way to the Temple. I arrived and was asked to help train the younglings again. Truth is, I didn't hate it. Sure, I'd rather be out there, making the war get closer to an end to finally live a life of my own in which I wouldn't risk my skin and could die on the battlefield.

Later on, it came to my ears that there had been a problem in the prison last night. We were informed some criminals were on the run but they didn't know who. I feared Hardeen was one of them.

  When the training session was over, I communicated with Allana, for I haven't seen her or the kids. She told me she had gone earlier to the Prison and talk to Boba Fett, the kid she made a bond with long ago, saying that he may be a lead on finding out exactly what happened last night and on the fugitives.

She said that Boba was payed by Cad Bane to create a diversion so that he could escape but he had no clue about who the other two were, however, that made the list short. Bane doesn't work in teams unless he's payed and he trusts a very small group, or no one at all. She also said she had taken the Padawans with her.

  We talked for a bit longer until the transmission ended before I asked Master Yoda what should I do, gaining a 'nothing at the moment' but going to 'protect' the Chancellor bullshit. I felt troubled as I entered the Senate. When I was younger, the Chancellor told me that if I ever needed a piece of advice, I could go with him. And right now, I could.

  When I arrived and was about to speak, he received a call from the Temple. I sat down on a chair across from his Excellency's desk as Master Windu showed up and informed the Chancellor about how he was going to remove the bounty on the fugitives, whose names I now know: Eval, Bane and Hardeen. I was angry now.

"Why are you removing the bounty on the three fugitives?" Asked Sheev. I tightened my fists over my knees and frowned angrily.

"If they're free to move, they could lead us back to Eval's operation." Windu answered.

"Very well." I sighed at the Chancellor's words. "Keep me apprised." He hanged up and looked at me. "You look troubled, Anakin."

"How can they expect me to just sit here and do nothing with Obi-Wan's murderer on the loose?" I stood up and walked to the window. My frown not leaving my face.

"It is possible that they do not trust you to control your feelings." I frowned, but a tiny part of me thought he's right. I shook my head.

"Hardeen killed my Master, my best friend. And now he's escaping with Cad Bane and Moralo Eval, and the Jedi Council won't do anything about it!" He stood up.

"I have it from a reliable source that the fugitives were last headed towards Nal Hutta." He stepped right beside me. "You cannot deny your feelings, Anakin. They are what make you special. If you believe you can stop this plot against me, I trust you."

"Thank you, Chancellor. You won't regret this." I walked out and communicated with Lans, who picked up immediately. "Allana, are you guys still at the prison?"

"No, we're hopping off of our speeder at the hangar of the Temple, why?"

"Get on a ship and wait for me. I have a lead on the fugitives." She nodded.

"We're on it." I finished the transmission and hopped on the speeder that had brought me here, then, when I arrived at the hangar, I quickly moved and hopped on the ship I saw my wife in. "Hey." She greeted as I sat on the pilot seat.

"Hi."

"Where to?"

"Nal Hutta." She nodded and started typing the coordinates on the navi-computer once we were out of the system. When I pulled the lever, we jumped into hyperspace. An hour went by and we finally arrived, I hoped not to be late. When I landed the ship, the four of us walked out.

"What makes you think that Obi-Wan's murderer is on Nal Hutta?" Asked Ahsoka.

"I got a tip from the Chancellor himself." I answered.

"How are we gonna find them?" Asked Cal, this time.

"Life lesson number...I don't know which: if you wanna find a lowlife..."

"You start at the saloon." I completed Lans' idea. She proceeded to sigh. "Well, let's go." We started to walk through the pathway until we entered the building.

The strong scent of alcohol made me frown a bit as the music, laughters and indistinct chatter filled my ears. Two Gamorrean soldiers tried to avoid us from getting further in. I pushed them backwards. A weapon got knocked out of a hand of the first one, the second raised his weapon but I held his arm up with the Force and threw the machete away from his grip, making it get stuck to the wall, avoiding a guy's head by an inch. That made people applaud me, as if I had intentionally made that trick. I placed my hands on the bar, making the barman look at me.

"The fugitives are already gone." He told us.

"All three of them were here?" I asked. 

"Two came in, met the third."

"When did they leave?" Asked Ahsoka.

"Nothing's free on Nal Hutta, especially information." Allana scoffed and tightened her fist over the table.

"Look...pal. We're not in the mood, and we don't have time for games. Spit it out." Huh, she read my mind, because I was very close to doing the same.

"You just...missed...them." The bartender answered as he choked.

"Keep talking." I said.

"I heard...one of them say...they just...bought...a ship." Lana let go.

"Thank you, for your kind cooperation." Said she before we turned around.

"Snips, Witty, let's go." I said. We walked out under a heavy silence that had fallen on the room, once we were outside, the music resumed. My communicator beeped for the millionth time. I declined.

"You know, not answering their calls will make this look very suspicious." Said Lans as we walked towards the spot where we they could've bought the ship.

"I know, but I'm angry at them."

"I understand. And it's valid, just, be mindful on the fact that you may be declining an important call."

"I'll be." She nodded and I sighed. "Did they ask you to go to the prison? Find leads?" She shook her head.

"No. They said there was nothing to do and asked me to stay put, and you know me, I can't do that." I scoffed, just like the Padawans.

"Guess that's why you two get along so well." Said Cal.

"You got that right, kiddo." She told him before sighing. "Anyways, I heard about the prison break and thought of a certain someone that could help me out. It's sad to see how much he's grown up...in prison. I get that he did bad things, he could've gotten you and Windu killed but, at the end, he's just a kid."

"But, helping us is helping him, right?"

"Hopefully. I've talked to Padmé on the matter. She said she could get a deal to reduce his sentence, but for that, she'll need a green light from the Chancellor."

"Perhaps I can help you out too."

"That would be nice, thanks." I nodded and we found the guy, a Bith, that works here.

"Hey. We need your help, we're looking for three fugitives." I pulled out my holo-projector. "Have you seen them?" The image of the three men popped up. He spoke on his native language, and thank goodness I was fluent. The only good thing that came out from working at Watto's is that people from around the galaxy would come, therefore, I had to understand them all. "Alright, where are they?" He continued speaking. I frowned. "How do you know they couldn't have gotten very far?" He shrugged as he spoke.

"What the hell is he saying?" Asked Lana, who's very fluent on a lot of languages but this one.

"He's saying that he only gave them enough fuel to reach the nearest filling station, on Orondia, which is owned by his brother." I gave him a credit, that he caught in the air. I chuckled. "Nice little money-making scam." He chuckled as we turned around.

"We better get going." Said Cal.

"Agreed." Ahsoka backed him up. "Orondia's pretty deserted. They may steal a ship there to throw us off their tail."

"I like your thinking." I told them as we started walking towards the ship. Once there, we didn't waste a second and I started flying out of the system, Lans typed the coordinates and we jumped into hyperspace in within minutes.

Shortly after that, we jumped out. I entered the system and started piloting around, looking for a place to park the ship and to look for the wanted guys.

"Look, it's Cad Bane." Snips pointed out as she looked through the window.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Ugh, who else wears a hat like that?"

"Good point." Allana chuckled at the word exchange. They started flying their ship and we flew right behind them. At some point I moved our ship up and hit the top of their transport with the bottom of ours. And so the chase started. I piloted the ship above theirs again, waited and hit it once more. "Take over." I instructed my co-pilot. "I'll bring 'em out."

"Guys, buckle up. Just in case." Lana asked the Padawans and they obeyed. I opened the hatch of the ship and jumped down. Landing right in front of their cockpit, spotting the three of them through the glass when I looked.

  When I had made it to the wing, I turned my lightsaber on and stabbed the metal, trying to get to the engine. That's when blaster fire started echoing to my right. I deflected Bane's blasts one by one, successfully, making one of them break one of his rocket-boots. He yelped as he flew backwards and landed on the front part of the ship. I jumped and landed in front of him. He resumed the firing of his blaster and I continued deflecting its blasts, that's when the one piloting the ship added speed to the flight and made me almost loose my balance. Allana hit their ship again and they reduced the speed a bit.

  Bane turned the rocket of the boot that I hadn't destroyed and flew backwards, still firing at me. The pilot added more speed and moved the ship to a side, so, I had to tense my muscles at an attempt on not falling down. He moved the ship again and I turned around to find Hardeen narrowing his eyes at me. I frowned. That's when he started firing the structures that were nearby, creating a smoke curtain. He went underneath a stone arch that was hidden by the smoke but my Jedi comrade wasn't so lucky.

  The bottom part of our ship hit theirs, this time on accident, but, it was strong enough as to tilt the ship to the side. The speed gave enough momentum for it to spin, throwing us away onto the ground. I rolled over the dirt as I heard multiple crashes, when I stood up and shook my head to take off that stunned and dizzy feeling, as well as the pain in my body, I heard footsteps close to me. Through the smoke, I saw it was Hardeen. My jaw clenched as I threw myself forward and tackled him. We grunted when we fell to the ground.

"You're going to pay for what you did." I told him and grunted when I moved forward. He held me by the shoulders.

"You shouldn't have gotten involved." He said and I frowned before I pushed stronger until he collided against the rock behind him. I then punched his stomach and made him fall down to his knees. I grabbed my lightsaber and turned it on.

"This is for Obi-Wan." I said as he moved his hand up. But, I didn't get the chance to do anything, for a cable was wrapped around me. I turned my weapon off as I looked up, spotting Bane.

"You can thank me later, Hardeen." Said he before he flew backwards and dragged me through the ground as I struggled to set myself free. "You had your chance to kill him." He stopped flying and pulled me. "Now it's my turn." I moved backwards and kicked him. That was enough to take off the cable. When I turned around, I turned my lightsaber on and deflected his blasts again until I disarmed him. When I could've killed Bane, Hardeen tackled me.

  After rolling through the ground for a second, I stood up. I wanted to go for the head, but he took a hold of my wrists and squeezed them, making me turn the lightsaber off, again. He then pulled me and made me collide against the ground. He placed himself above me and started punching my face, over and over for four times.

When he threw the fifth punch, I held his arm and took ahold of him to throw him away from me. When he was on the ground, I stood up and threw a punch myself, but, he grabbed my arm and wrapped his arms around my neck, squeezing it hard.

"Anakin." He said my name, even if he isn't supposed to know my name, as he squeezed more, making me run out of breath. "Don't follow me." He added and my eyes opened wildly before the needed oxygen my brain need to work didn't get to it and my eyes closed.