Part 5 (1/2)

Shmi's bruised eyelids fluttered open, and she struggled to focus on Anakin's face. ”Ani?” she muttered. ”Is it you?”

”I'm here, Mom,” he said. ”You're safe.”

”Ani? Ani?” She seemed confused, as if she were trying to figure out whether he really was there. Then, incredibly, she managed to smile at him. ”Oh, you look so handsome.” She brushed her hand against his face, and he kissed her open palm. ”My son. Oh, my grownup son. I'm so proud of you, Ani.”

Anakin swallowed hard and felt the sting of tears in his eyes as he said, ”I missed you.”

”Now I am complete,” Shmi said. ”I love y... Anakin tensed as her voice cut off. ”Stay with me, Mom. Everything...”

He'd wanted to tell her that everything was going to be fine. And he wanted to tell her so much more. But before he could say anything, Shmi said again, ”I love...” Then her eyes closed and her head fell back. She died in his arms.

Anakin sat there in stunned silence, just holding his mother. If I'd gotten here sooner, I could have saved her. He pushed his fingers through Shmi's matted hair. I won't leave her here. I have to get her back to the speeder bike. But those Tusken guards - He remembered the Tusken he'd encountered when he was a boy.

I saved his life!

Earlier, Anakin hadn't questioned the Tuskens' motives. Now, he wondered if they would have taken his mother if they'd known that her son had once saved one of their own. Or is this how Tuskens say thank you? He quickly speculated whether the Tusken he'd rescued might still be alive, possibly in this very camp. I should have let him die! I should have!

He thought of how the Tuskens had taken his mother, imagined what she had endured in the past month ...

Why would they do this? How could anyone do this?

The answer came to him from the darkest reaches of his own heart. They did this because they wanted to. They did this because they could. As his grief transformed into anger, he knew exactly how he was going to dispose of the Tusken guards.

Temporarily leaving his mother's corpse, Anakin Skywalker stepped outside the tent and reactivated his lightsaber.

He didn't stop with the guards.

When Anakin arrived back at the Lars homestead with his mother's blanket-wrapped body, Cliegg Lars, Owen, Bern, Padme, and C-3PO emerged from the entry dome. They watched in silence as he lifted his dead mother from the bike and carried her toward the dome's doorway. Anakin was in no mood to talk, and he had reconsidered his a.s.sessment that the Lars family was made up of ”good people.”

What's the advantage of being good if you're weak?

His grim, scowling expression locked onto Cliegg Lars, who lowered his gaze.

Perhaps you 're wis.h.i.+ng you hadn 't given up on her so soon?

Without breaking stride, Anakin redirected his glare at Owen and Beru.

Maybe my mother never told you about how to be prepared to take care of things?

Anakin didn't even look at Padme or the protocol droid as he descended with his mother into the underground dwelling.

Later, Anakin was standing at a workbench in the homestead garage, repairing a part from the swoop bike, when Padme entered carrying a tray of food. She said, ”I brought you something. Are you hungry?”

Anakin continued to examine the bike part, moving slowly, as if he was slightly dazed. ”The s.h.i.+fter broke,” he said. ”Life seems so much simpler when you're fixing things. I'm good at fixing things. Always was. But I couldn't...” He stopped working and looked at Padme. ”Why'd she have to die? Why couldn't I save her? I know I could have.” He turned away, looking into a dark corner of the cluttered garage. His rage had momentarily given way to grief.

”Sometimes there are things no one can fix,” Padme said. ”You're not all-powerful, Ani.”

”Well, I should be!” he snarled back at her, causing Padme to flinch. ”Someday I will be,” he continued. ”I will be the most powerful Jedi ever! I promise you. I will even learn to stop people from dying.”

Padme just stood there, confused and alarmed by his words. ”Anakin ...”

”It's all Obi-Wan's fault. He's jealous! He's holding me back!” He flung a wrench across the garage. It smashed against the wall and clattered to the floor.

”What's wrong, Ani?”

Still avoiding her gaze, Anakin tried to calm his voice as he said, ”I... I killed them. I killed them all. They're dead. Every single one of them.” He turned slowly to face Padme, revealing the tears streaming down his face. ”And not just the men, but the women and the children, too. They're like animals, and I slaughtered them like animals!” Then he roared, ”I HATE them!”

Anakin began sobbing and slumped down to the floor. Padme knelt and put her arms around him. She said, ”To be angry is to be human.”

”I'm a Jedi,” Anakin gasped between sobs. ”I know I'm better than this.”

And yet he also knew something else, something far worse than that he'd allowed himself to give way to his anger.

Killing the Tuskens had given him satisfaction.

CHAPTER 9.

Anakin knelt before his mother's final resting place, a graveyard outside the Lars compound, where two old headstones stood beside the new one. ”I wasn't strong enough to save you, Mom,” he said, trying not to choke on his words. I've failed, he thought. Not just as your son, but as a Jedi. ”I wasn't strong enough,” he repeated. ”But I promise I won't fail again.” He rose to his feet. Through clenched teeth, he added, ”I miss you so much.”

Padme, Cliegg, Owen, Beru, and C-3PO were gathered behind Anakin. As he moved away from the grave, R2-D2 motored toward the group and emitted a flurry of beeps and whistles.

”R2?” Padme said, surprised that he had left their stars.h.i.+p. ”What are you doing here?”

R2-D2 beeped and whistled more.

Seizing the opportunity to act as a translator, C-3PO said, ”It seems that he is carrying a message from an Obi-Wan Ken.o.bi. Hmm. Master Ani, does that name mean anything to you?”

The two droids followed Anakin and Padme into the stars.h.i.+p.

Obi-Wan had tracked the bounty hunter - a man named Jango Fett - to the droid foundries on the planet Geonosis, where he'd discovered that the Trade Federation's Viceroy, Nute Gunray, was behind the a.s.sa.s.sination attempts on Padme. Obi-Wan had also learned that the Trade Federation was scheduled to take delivery of a Geonosian-produced droid army, and that various interstellar commerce factions had allied with Count Dooku's Separatist movement. Although Obi-Wan had managed to transmit this information from Geonosis, his holographic recording ended with him trying to evade a hail of laserfire from enemy droids.

Anakin and Padme watched the prerecorded message in their stars.h.i.+p's c.o.c.kpit on Tatooine, while the Jedi Council and Chancellor Palpatine simultaneously viewed the relayed transmission on Coruscant. When Obi-Wan's message was over, Jedi Master Mace Windu instructed Anakin to stay where he was with Senator Amidala while the Jedi Council dealt with Count Dooku. ”Protect the Senator at all costs,” Mace Windu said via holographic transmission. ”That is your first priority.”

”Understood, Master,” Anakin replied. First I lose my mother, now . . . Obi-Wan.

As Mace Windu's hologram faded out, Padme said, ”They'll never get there in time to save him. They have to come halfway across the galaxy.” Swiveling in her seat to examine coordinates on the navicomputer console, she said, ”Look, Geonosis is less than a pa.r.s.ec away.”

”If he's still alive,” Anakin said grimly.

”Ani, are you just going to sit here and let him die? He's your friend, your mentor. He's - ”He's like my father!” Anakin snapped. The father I never had. ”But you heard Master Windu. He gave me strict orders to stay here.”