Star Wars: The Good Ending

Part II - Anakin

Anakin could barely hear anything over the fighting. The deafening barrage of blasterfire, the blistering desert winds, the shouting of gangsters, civilians, and clones alike. He caught Obi-Wan's eye through the commotion, and his old master pointed with his lightsaber to one Pyke that was dressed differently than the others, indicating a much higher rank. The Pyke leader was currently boarding a speeder, attempting to escape.
Immediately understanding what Obi-Wan was telling him, Anakin beelined for the speeder, just narrowly missing the crime lord as he took off. Cursing as sand was flung directly into his face, he hopped onto a speeder bike in hot pursuit. As he skimmed over the scorching dunes of Jakku, he was vaguely reminded of his brief stint of podracing back on Tatooine, when he was just a boy.
It made him think of his mother, and just how long it had been since he visited her. He felt a pang of guilt, thinking she was probably constantly worrying about him. He made a mental note to go see her soon, and take Padme and the twins with him, whenever his wife's busy schedule allows her a bit of free time.
His distraction was just long enough that Anakin narrowly missed crashing right into a canyon, quickly veering to the left, careful not to lose his prey. Fortunately, speeder bikes were much faster than passenger speeders, and he was quickly closing in. He turned on auto drive, and jumped up on the seat, igniting his lightsaber and getting poised to jump. Right when the time was right, Anakin leapt through the air and landed squarely in the passenger seat of the speeder.
The Pyke turned and stared at him, completely shocked, and Anakin simply gave him a cheerful smile, "Hi!"
He slashed his lightsaber through the controls and tackled him out of the speeder and onto the ground, right as it went careening into the canyon wall, exploding in a fiery inferno of mangled steel. They rolled through the sand and Anakin was on his feet, lifting the Pyke into the air with the Force before he could even regain his senses.
Anakin pinned him against the wall and held his lightsaber just inches from his neck, "I'm gonna ask you this one time. Where is Maul?"
"I wouldn't tell you if I knew," the Pyke hissed.
Anakin scowled and moved his hand against the side of the Pyke's head, searching for what he wanted to know. Just as the Pyke said, he truly had no idea where Maul was.
Suddenly, a large explosion over the horizon where he left Obi-Wan and the clones distracted Anakin for just a moment allowing the Pyke to surprise him, pulling out a knife and going in for the kill. Anakin dodged in the nick of time, taking the dagger to the bicep instead of the heart, and without hesitation, he slashed through the Pyke's neck, letting his lifeless body fall to the ground. Mad with frustration over another dead end and a fresh stab wound, he retreated back to his speeder bike and met back up at the newly liberated base in the city of Saracha, where the 501st and the 212th were stationed.
Obi-Wan and Cody had found a very promising lead, but didn't have the numbers for a siege. So they called in the 501st for reinforcements, and just like he promised, Anakin came running as soon as Obi-Wan needed help.
By the time the Jedi came up on the Republic headquarters, he was covered in blood. Fortunately the wound wasn't life threatening, and he was too angry to even feel it.
Three years they'd been chasing a ghost. For three years they'd been on a wild goose chase through the galaxy, trying to find someone who may as well not exist. Unlike Grievous or Dooku during the Clone Wars, Maul had no interest in revealing himself. He just continued to push back against the Republic, enslaving and terrorizing the Outer Rim, always just out of reach.
A 501st Legion ARC trooper by the name of Reese was the first to notice Anakin's arrival, more so the fact that he was trailing blood and didn't even seem to realize it. He approached Anakin rather hesitantly, seeing as the Jedi Master looked ready to explode at the next thing to piss him off.
"Er- sir? You're kind of- bleeding out."
Anakin snapped out of his anger and blinked a couple of times, then looked from Reese to his arm, like he was noticing it for the first time. "Huh, yeah I guess I am. Any idea where Obi-Wan is?"
"Ah, no. But I can tell you where the medics are. I'm no doctor, but I can tell you that you should probably get that checked out sooner rather than later."
Anakin sighed and rubbed between his eyes like he was getting a headache, "Okay, yeah. That's a good idea."
They walked into the makeshift infirmary where Kix and a couple of other makeshift, half trained field medics were treating the various injuries of the battle. Kix noticed their arrival almost immediately, and gestured to a nearby bench while he finished wrapping up Captain Appo's leg.
Anakin sighed and sat down. Another waste. Another useless, senseless battle. The only plus he could see out of the situation was that the people of Siracha were free from Crimson Dawn's control, but it hardly felt like a victory when thousands of systems would have been liberated if they could just find Maul.
"You want me to find Master Kenobi?" Reese asked.
"Yeah, bring Rex and Cody while you're at it," he rubbed his arm, "thanks Reese."
The ARC trooper nodded and ducked out of the tent, leaving Anakin with Kix, Appo, and some others in various stages of consciousness. He was lost in thought when Kix got his attention.
"So how did this happen again?" the medic repeated, rolling up Anakin's bloodsoaked sleeve. He flinched, and forced himself not to pull his arm away. "I chased down their daimyo. He caught me off guard and stabbed me."
Kix grabbed a needle and string and started stitching Anakin's arm closed. "You do seem pretty distracted today."
Anakin flinched again. Usually Kix used painkillers with this sort of thing, but Anakin always refused them, and told him to save them for the ones that really need it. Besides, he had a pretty high pain tolerance anyway.
Obi-Wan ducked into the tent, closely followed by the generals of the 501st and 212th. He sighed and put his hands on his hips in typical exacerbated fashion. "Honestly Anakin, one would think you live in the infirmary."
"Yeah, well you can chase down a sketchy crime boss next time and leave me to chase down the grunts," he inhaled sharply as Kix did a couple more stitches. Obi-Wan shook his head, "Did you get anything out of him?"
"No, he didn't know anything. Except how t-OW! -stab people."
Obi-Wan sighed, not even trying to conceal his disappointment anymore. Unlike Anakin, who spent the majority of his time on Coruscant, Obi-Wan had been chasing whispers and rumors all over the galaxy trying to find his old enemy, always turning up empty handed.
"We'll stick around Saracha for a couple more rotations, make sure they don't turn back up. Maybe we'll hear something," Cody said hopefully. He looked at Rex, who was currently scrolling through a holopad, probably reading a briefing, "Appo, we're being recalled to Coruscant for reconstruction and relief in the lower levels."
Appo said nothing, just raising an arm and giving a thumbs up from lying on his back on a cot.
Obi-Wan turned to Anakin, "I'll be going back with you, there's an address in regard to code amendments at the temple tomorrow. All Jedi are required to attend."
Anakin repressed a groan. He'd rather get stabbed again than sit through a day of lectures and conferences.
Kix finished up wrapping Anakin's arm in gauze before turning his attention back to Conner, who looked like he got caught too close to an explosion. Anakin stood up and his arm. He checked with Kix to see if he needed any help, but he seemed to have everything under control.
He followed Obi-Wan, Rex, and Cody outside, grimacing as a bunch of sand was blown in his face. He spat it out and wiped his eyes, cursing under his breath. He held his remaining sleeve up to his face, trying to block out the dust, to little avail. The 501st started packing up and boarding the cruiser, setting course for the long journey back to Coruscant.
Obi-Wan and Anakin stood on the deck of the venator, looking out into the endless sea of stars zipping past them at lightspeed. Anakin had only been away from Coruscant for about two weeks, but Obi-Wan hadn't been back in nearly two months.
Clones milled about, mostly just talking about the siege, or whatever rumors had been exchanged from the 212th to the 501st. Jakku was about as far from Coruscant as you could get, and the longer the journey took the more antsy and restless Anakin got. He looked at Obi-Wan, who seemed to be lost in thought as he stood stiff as a board, his hands neatly behind his back as he stared out the massive viewing port of the Republic Jedi Cruiser.
Anakin crossed his arms and tried to feel out what his master was thinking. Naturally, it was about Maul.
"We'll find him eventually," Anakin encouraged.
Obi-Wan sighed and shook his head, "It's strange. He's always been hungry for a fight, so odd that he'd just sit in the shadows."
Anakin shrugged, wincing as he remembered the hole in his arm. "He'll mess up eventually, or get impatient. They always do."
"Yes, I suppose so." Obi-Wan concurred. He pulled his cloak up over his shoulders a bit and left, leaving Anakin by himself. As he stood there looking out into the stars he thought about the Clone Wars. They only lasted three years, as much time that had passed since their end, but they may as well have lasted twenty. Despite half the GAR being reassigned to reconstruction, it was slow going, and would likely take decades for the galaxy to completely heal. It was one of the shortest wars in Republic history, yet it had claimed the most casualties and caused the most planetary destruction.
Of course Anakin knew now that that was the entire purpose of the war, to cripple the galaxy, causing as much damage as possible, but it still felt unreal to see just how many lives had been upended by such a senseless conflict.
"Ah- sir?"
"Rex, I've told you this a hundred times, it's Anakin."
He looked at the general and noticed his eye twitch slightly, "Sorry, it just feels really strange."
"You're good. Need something?"
Rex moved his helmet to his other arm and looked out the observation deck. "Naw, just bored. Thought you'd like to know we didn't lose anyone on Jakku."
"That's great Rex."
The clone looked at his friend sideways, "You seem awfully distracted today."
Anakin rubbed the side of his head, "Yeah, I can't explain it but something feels- off."
"Off like what?"
"Like something's starting. Some kind of plan, or a plot,"Anakin took a deep breath and turned to leave, patting Rex on the shoulder as he did, "I'm sure it's nothing."