What Could Have Been Part III: The Destined Warriors

Return of the Apprentice

This book is gonna be 50 chapters! What a perfectly even number!

        Anakin

         The furious storm had come and gone and the last of the ominous grey clouds were scattering from the sky as Anakin began to worry. Why weren't they back yet? The entire base was waiting on edge for the return of Luke and Leia. Rex hadn't let his eyes off the scanners in case one of the scouts found anything but the screen remained clear. Han had reappeared from the dead without a scratch. Everyone asked him to share the story of his escape but the young pilot was silent. He and his Wookiee sidekick kept off to the side of camp; only checking in every so often asking if Leia was safe.

        It was hardest on Anakin and Padme. The couple cried, held hands, cried again, and prayed that their children would be okay. That was the difference between them and everyone else. If Luke and Leia were gone, the others would eventually recover. They had to. They had lives and families of their own to come back to. But for the Skywalkers, if the twins were gone, there was nothing left for them. They would have no reason to want to keep living.

        The sky was a mixture of greyish greens close to the color of an unripen Shuura fruit when on the northern side of camp, the first sighting of figures out in the distance were spotted. The air was set ablaze with angst and anticipation as the news conveyed itself across the base and finally reached Anakin Skywalker.

         "In the north, General," Rex informed him with heavy traces of relief and joy in his voice. Anakin's eyes met his wife's for a long second of apprehension before the two broke into a run through the base.

         Anakin could feel a heat swelling inside his chest as he made his way through all the commotion building up at the end of the camp. The figures were coming into view, close enough that the one's dark brown hair could be seen blowing in the wind and the other's bright blue eyes were alive with excitement as they sprinted toward their parents. As it turned out, the twins made it to the base before their parents could meet them half way and the entire family embraced in a hug that was long overdo.

        Anakin felt warm tears falling down his face as he held his son and daughter close to his chest. Their clothes were wet and cold and he could feel them shivering in his arms and for a moment, he felt like they were eleven years old once again and he never wanted to let them go. Padme stroked her children's hair as she exchanged an overwhelmed smile with her husband. Their son and daughter were safe. The Skywalkers were together once again.

         "Oh thank the Force you two are okay," Anakin whispered into Luke and Leia's ears. Leia pulled back and smiled. "Daddy, I'm getting married!" she cried with a twinkle in her shimmering brown eyes. That wasn't what he had expected her to say. The words didn't immediately register, but they didn't have to. "Isn't it great, Dad?" Han yelled as he invaded the family hug with a bright and crooked smile. Anakin breathed out reluctantly but the smile on his daughter and future son-in-law's faces were reassuring enough to convince him that it was okay. He could always yell about it later.

         Luke stared down at the ground for a minute, the words on his tongue not quite ready to leave his mouth. "Dad," he finally said. "I- I-m sorry... about what I said. I didn't-" Anakin placed a hand on his son's slumped shoulder. "I love you, Luke." Luke's crystal blue eyes filled with water and he buried his face in his dad's shoulder. "I love you too, Dad."

         "I'm just glad you and your sister are safe," Anakin said quietly as he let go of his son. A knowing grin grew on Luke's face as he stepped back from his father. "Thanks Dad, but we're not the only ones who are safe..." he corrected furtively. Anakin raised a curious eyebrow at this son. "What do you-?"

         Catching up to Luke and Leia was a young Togruta woman approaching the camp. Her presence was like something out of a fantasy. It was all so real, but there was no way. As the woman stopped with a few yards between herself and Anakin, a silence settled across the entire camp. Anakin stood motionless for a long time, staring at this girl like she was a ghost. He told himself that she wasn't there. That she was nothing but a figment of his conscience and that she would disappear any second. Just like she had done so many times in his dreams.

         Time seemed to crawl on and on without anything said between the two. They were suspended in a distant moment from the past when an apprentice walked away from her master. A faint smile was just barely distinguishable from the woman's hesitant features. Her lips parted and she spoke.

         "Hi Skyguy."

         And from those words, Anakin knew that she was real. All of his doubt left him and he allowed himself embrace  his lost apprentice in a hug. The disbelief melted away and the guilt he had carried for so many years, the last of the guilt which had weighed him down since his children had been born, was finally gone. His apprentice had been alive all these years- was alive now. His student had returned to him.

          "Ahsoka," he said in no more than a whisper. "You came back."

         Ahsoka pulled away for a second to look Anakin in the eyes. Her sapphire eyes glistened with tears but she was smiling all the more. "No Anakin," she said.

         "I came home."

         TTTTTTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEENNNNNDDDDDDDDD

         Just kidding! Final chapter coming up...