What Could Have Been Part 2: Anakin's Trials

Guidance

   Hey guys, I'm posting another chapter this week because I'm on break. I hope you all like it!

  Anakin

     It really was Master Yoda. "Hmmm, answer my question you did not. Hit your head against this tree why have you?" the Jedi's voice asked. Anakin rubbed his forehead with frustration, "I can't do this Master Yoda. I've failed my family and the Jedi Order. I'm not worthy of the role expected of me," he admitted with shame.

      A crash of thunder fell in the distance. It was head Anakin's way and he felt his mind drift aimlessly. "If listen you will not, other things I have to attend to!" the grumbly Master snapped impatiently. Anakin cleared his head, "No Master Yoda! Please! I'll listen!" He quickly took a seat on the forest floor and closed his eyes. "If I may ask though, what business does a ghost have to attend to?" he asked, hoping the passed Grand Master had not truely left. He hadn't.

      "Ah, the life of a Jedi, never finished it is. Watching over the Alliance I am. Yes, a battle is to take place. Hmm, very soon..." Yoda noted softly. Anakin held his body still, although he was anxious with curiosity. "What do you mean?" he questioned. He imagined Master Yoda twitching his ears, looking into the future. He knew the words coming before he heard them. "Clouded the future is for you Anakin. Roams this planet along with the Alliance a Sith does. Plotting their fate as well as your family's he is." Anakin shivered, "My family's? Master Yoda, where is this Sith?" he asked, eager to destroy the person who threatened his family. Yoda however, had never been known for giving direct answers. "To confront this Sith, your job is not. Your son and daughter's it is," the wise voice replied. Anakin protested, despite the fact that he was in the presence of a Force being. "Luke and Leia are not ready, Master. I can't let them face the Sith alone!" he insisted. He would not be able to live with himself if anything happened to them.

     Yoda listened silently and pondered his response. "Remember what I told you the day of Palpatine's death do you?" Anakin thought for a second and then nodded, "Yes. The Force would not take someone from me that I am not ready to lose. I remember." A spark ignited in his mind as Yoda continued, "Then worry why do you? Trust in the Force to protect you and your family. A powerful ally is the Force..." Anakin opened his eyes, "I understand," he said finally. The darkness of clouds was covering ground rapidly as the storm grew closer. If he had still been alive, Yoda would have jabbed Anakin with his cane. "Then waiting for what are you? Have a family to save don't you?" he commanded loudly enough that he really could have been right in front of Anakin.

      As he stood up, Anakin smiled, "Yes I do. Thank you Master Yoda," he said quietly. As the Jedi took off into the treetops to finish his journey to his daughter, he heard the old little master's voice still present in his mind. "The Force will be with you Skywalker..."

      Leia

      Leia assumed she would be locked away in a cell. She was way off.

      Darth Midas led her to a room with maroon walls and velvet carpet the color of wine. Heavy curtains allowed not the slightest drop of sunlight into the room and Leia felt smothered by the darkness. Her boots almost sank into the thick carpet as she cautiously stepped in. "I do hope you'll enjoy your new room. Make yourself comfortable while you wait for the rest of your family to show up," he said welcomingly. Leia sat down stiffly on an equally stiff sofa made of leather. "If that's what you're waiting for my friend, then you'll be waiting quite a while. The won't come for me..." she sighed.

      Midas seemed to feed off her sorrow as he sat beside her, "Now that is simply not true, Deary. Both your brother and father are on their way as we speak. And your mother," he chuckled sinisterly, "Well let's say that we will most definitely find a way to bring her here as well. We wouldn't want her to miss all the fun." Leia snorted, "And what exactly is this fun you speak of?" she prodded. Midas grinned, "Well my dear, you and your brother happen to be the son and daughter of a relatively legendary Jedi Knight named Anakin Skywalker," he explained as if the news were a surprise. Leia shrugged, "I believe I am aware," she replied. Midas stood up and paced across the room, "as his children, you both posses a remarkably high midichlorian count. Such power that exceeds even your father's has a capability of being unstoppable... if properly trained."

     Leia yawned, "So you want a teaching job?" she asked, unimpressed. The dark lord laughed, "Oh that's not the only thing I want. The Dark Side satisfies a large amount of evil desires in itself, but even darkness has its limits from time to time," he drawled with a demonic smirk. Leia raised an eyebrow, "I still don't get it. What's your angle, O'Great Dark Lord?" she pressed. She was pushing his buttons until she could finally crack him open. When she did, she regretted it.

      Midas spun around with a bizarre expression. "Angle?" he repeated menacingly. He stood tall, towering with pride and anger. "Angle is hardly the word I would use..." Leia crossed her arms, "And what would you call it then?"

      The dark man's face contorted, "Revenge!" he hissed, "I want revenge! Oh so many years ago, your father became the hero of the galaxy for destroying a Sith by the name of Darth Sidious," Midas explained with a furious voice. "They say it was his greatest triumph ever but it was really his biggest mistake! What no one else knew was that he was offered a deal with Sidious! He was offered a chance to become the most powerful man in all of history of Sith and Jedi!"

      Leia hung on the fierce words, wondering how many of them were true. "Luckily my father was smart enough not to do something so stupid." The Sith smiled with hate, "But you don't know how close he came Deary! So close, that Lord Sidious rejected to take on even his most loyal followers as an apprentice of his own! Anakin Skywalker was a fool to turn down such power and now he will pay for depriving others of it!" he spat. Leia's eyes widened as the puzzle fell into place, "So you want revenge on my father because he kept you from becoming a Sith?" she inferred. Midas' face was as dark the walls and Leia tought he had stopped breathing. "I am a Sith!" he hissed, "I am the greatest Sith the galaxy will ever see because I didn't learn from a Master. I was taught directly from the Dark Side by Darth Sidious himself!" he said in almost a shout. The man was mad. Insane.

      "What are you going to do to my father?" Leia asked in a whisper. Midas breathed in with a short laugh, "I'm going to make him wish he had accepted my Master's offer. After he sees his children turned to the Dark Side, I will destroy the very reason he even considered turning to the Daek Side," he paused long enough for Leia's heart to stop as well, "your mother."

      Leia looked down at the deep carpet. This was all her fault. Her family was walking into a trap because of her. She had never thought of herself so lowly until now. "The Alliance can still stop you," she protested half-heartedly. But did she really trust something she had never even seen?

      Midas grinned, "As far as I am concerned, the Alliance will not stand much longer. They have waited for their precious Chosen One to train great warriors, but all I see is a silly girl who should learn to hold her tongue."

      Leia felt numb until a rush of anger forced her body toward the dark lord with a raised fist. Within a second, the Force was clenched around her neck and she wondered if she had gone too far. Midas chuckled with delight, "I may have made a mistake calling you smart. You will learn to respect me once your hope in your family is gone and your brother has joined me." He slowly settled her back into her seat and releaed his choke hold on her. Leia gasped for breath as Midas stalked out, "I can only advise one thing and that is not to try running. We wouldn't want any harm to come to the little princess now would we?" he asked, sliding the door shut behind him and leaving Leia very hopeless in her unlit room.

      What have I done?