The Arscata’s were confused the next day about all three of them leaving within thirty minutes of the beginning of the show and never returning. Elara was especially pushy when the three of them were evasive in their answers after.

  Eventually mom put her foot down and told Elara to leave it, and the Arscata parents took the hint and told their daughter to leave it be.

  The rest of the vacation was more subdued. The waterfalls were nice when they went for the last day, but after the revelations from Slarena, Anakin had a harder time relaxing and just enjoying their vacation.

  Anakin and Elara promised to send messages to each other later before she left with her parents for the end of their vacation.

  After the Arscata’s left, the remaining week of their vacation was more subdued but still fun. Slarena seemed relieved when neither of them did anything out of character or suddenly started hating her.

  They were traveling on the transport ship back home. Anakin was currently typing out his first message to Elara, telling her about the things that his family had done with the last week of their trip. He was sitting on his bunk bed, Slarena and his mom’s two stacked bunk beds on the wall opposite him. Above him was an extra empty bunk that they had reserved so they wouldn’t have to share the cramped room with a stranger.

  “Psssst. Psssst. Hey, you.”

  Anakin looked up and put the datapad to see Draeth sitting on his mom’s empty bed and staring at him with his single eye and blue tentacles.

  “Draeth? What are you doing out?”

  “Hey, go find somewhere private. Those women could walk in at any point and interrupt us. Anyway, bye bye for now.”

  Draeth disappeared in a blink. Anakin looked around in confusion as if to pinpoint what could have caused Draeth to appear to him. Draeth had reappeared over six months ago after waking up from his latest nap after giving Anakin his lifesense early. But besides a quick appearance to let Anakin know that it was awake and aware again, Draeth hadn’t made an appearance or talked to him since.

  Anakin left the room as he pocketed the access card and wandered the ship for a while until he found a single bathroom with an exterior door that he could lock rather than the stalls.

  He locked the door and when he turned around Draeth was sitting in the sink, its blueish tentacles filling the space as its eye stared at Anakin.

  “Sup. Long time no talk, Anakin. In case you’re wondering, it is not ability time.”

  “Okay. What are you doing here then? I thought I was supposed to be saving up energy in the bank for now?”

  “Yeah, yeah. I just said it’s not about that. Look, I understand your heart to heart with your… friend? Second mom? Older sister? Whatever Slarena is to you, I can’t quite tell yet… Is your big secret the one that I think it is? Yours truly? Because that’s a terrible idea.”

  “What? That’s what this is about? I promised no secrets, and I’m sticking to it.”

  “Hey, I know she had a rough time of it but that doesn’t mean you should…”

  “I’m. Telling them,” Anakin said firmly, “And nothing you say will change my mind.”

  Draeth stared at him silently for a few seconds before loudly groaning.

  “Uuuuuuuggggghhhhhh. Why are you doing this? There’s this saying that I’ve heard. A secret between three people only stays that way if two of them are dead. If they know then they’re in danger.”

  Anakin wavered for a moment before firming his resolve, “They won’t tell anyone. Not if I tell them how serious it is.”

  “Aaaaarrrrrrrrggggghhhh!” Draeth complained again and his tentacles flopped as he lay in the sink, “Why are you being so difficult?” Draeth’s voice took a plaintive and whiney edge as he kept talking. “I’d ditch your needy butt in an instant if you weren’t such a damn fountain of energy for me so far…”

  “Says the one sitting around and working for a few minutes every few months for all of this energy that you’re getting. You were the one who chose me, remember? And didn’t you say the Force itself is working against me and giving me all that bad luck? All of those things probably happened to me because of you!”

  “Ugh, I know. It’s just so much work,” Draeth complained, “Those few minutes are very intensive. You think I sleep for all of those months for fun? No, it’s because I have to. You sure I can’t convince you to keep me a secret?”

  “No.”

  “Damn. This isn’t going to go well. Extra extra sure nothing I do will convince you?”

  “I don’t get it, why are you so invested in this? I doubt that people would even believe it anyway if they heard, it’s just too ridiculous. I’ve never heard of anything like you before, and from what you’ve said no one else has either if you’re from another universe.”

  “What? I mean yeah, some people learning of this could be bad. They might be crazy enough to believe it if someone told them about me. They might attack you. But while annoying, that's a manageable threat hopefully. Even if I am unfortunately detectable, it’s rather hard for you Force users to do so. No, no. It’s the Force itself that’s the problem.”

  “The Force? What do you mean? What’s it got to do with this?”

  “Well remember how I said that it is confused and doesn’t know what’s going on with you? That’s why it reinforced your fall to the dark when it gets the chance so obviously and is orchestrating events in the background much more obviously than it normally would. I mean it’s still ramping up, but prepare to be challenged morally and tempted to the dark almost constantly once the Force really gets going.”

  “Alright, I get that. What does that have to do with telling people about you?”

  “Well the Force is distributed amongst every living being in the galaxy except for me, right? Right now with just you it can’t figure out what’s going on. But if it hears the same rumors about you from a lot of people or from those who are powerful with the Force… Then maybe it might investigate or believe them.”

  “So? What would it do that’s different than it’s doing now? You said that it wouldn’t take direct action unless it was forced to.”

  “Hey, I’m only a little more knowledgeable than you on these things. I have no idea how the Force would react if it discovered me. Well, I could imagine it wouldn’t like me all too much just on principle. But what would it do to try to get rid of me? No clue. It could just continue what it’s been doing except ramp things up to the maximum. It could try to focus on its ‘bad luck’ to try to kill you rather than tempt you to the dark side. It could send powerful Force users to directly attack you under its guidance. It could just not do anything or even give up on you and decide to cut its losses and choose a new Chosen One to bring balance to the Force. I just don’t know.”

  “You said it only matters if a lot of people or those very powerful in the Force learn about you?”

  “That’s right. Reconsidering? I’m telling you it’s…”

  “Well neither mom or Slarena are powerful in the Force. And they’ll keep it a secret. So everything is fine so long as they don’t tell anyone else.”

  “Ack! I thought I was so close there! But— Bah, fine you win you jerk. Tell them whatever, don’t listen to the cosmic entity over here with power beyond your understanding.”

  “Thanks,” Anakin said drily, “While you’re here, how’s my progress on the newest ability? How long before I’ve saved enough energy?”

  “Normal accumulation would be about… another two years I think. But you know how quickly it’ll pay itself off. So it’s worth the wait.”

  Anakin rubbed his chin and hesitated for a moment before voicing his next thought.

  “And… And if I drew on the Dark side and went into a madness induced surge? How much shorter could it be?”

  “Well… Depends. Theoretically it could be infinite power with only your body as the limit. But you only had a single moment of clarity on the Hammerhead Republic ship after you first woke up from your newest ability. If you’d missed that window of rationality… then you might have spiraled endlessly into madness. The more energy you draw, the narrower and more dangerous that small window would be. Even last time you were right on the edge and still almost fell even with your mind shield working at full strength. You’re welcome for not letting you fall into madness by the way. If I wasn’t the upstanding creature that I am I might have let it happen so I could keep harvesting that sweet sweet dark side energy from you all the time.”

  “And why didn’t you? I doubt you’d stop yourself from doing it without a reason. All you care about is your precious energy.”

  “Ah, you hurt my feelings! That’s only mostly true. But if you have to know… If you were a powerful beast running around being a menace then you’d be a threat. And threats get squashed if everyone unites against them. Well, at these levels of power anyway. You getting squashed means no more energy for me. Therefore, no madness for you is on the menu.”

  “How comforting.”

  “I know, isn’t it? Your friend Draeth always has your back even when you were completely clueless that I could have backstabbed you the whole time! As for the idea of a dark Force spiral, it’s definitely a thought. But I wouldn’t unless we’re desperate. You’d risk permanent madness every time you did it.”

  “Two years then. Less if I draw on the Force more.”

  “Two years. I can’t wait until then,” Draeth confirmed, “Well, you’re still a jerk for going against my sage advice. But I suppose you’re not all bad. See ya.”

  Without another sound, Draeth vanished and Anakin was completely empty again. He blinked to process all the information Draeth had just given him before shaking his head and unlocking the bathroom door and leaving.

  He still had to send that message to Elara. Hopefully it would be two whole years before he saw Draeth again.

  — — —

  “So? What’s your big secret?” Slarena asked in a more subdued tone than Anakin would normally expect from her.

  “You have to make sure to never tell anyone about this. Bad things could happen if this gets out. I need you both to promise first.”

  “Okay, I promise,” Slarena said immediately. Mom hesitated a little longer, but then nodded as well as she shifted on the couch in their house. They’d just gotten home from their vacation and finished settling back in.

  “I’ll have to start from the beginning. Draeth?”

  “What? What do you want now?” Draeth said irritably as he appeared on the table in front of Anakin.

  “Can you make yourself visible to them?” Anakin asked.

  “No. You’re calling me out for this? It’s a hallucination in your mind, of course neither of them can see me. Can’t believe you’re actually going through with this…”

  With one last harumph, Draeth vanished again.

  “Ani? Are you… Alright?” mom asked cautiously.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” he replied, “Just thought I could show you first hand, but it didn’t work out. It all started when my old Jedi Master Obi-wan came back from one of his missions. He summoned me to see him and started acting strangely. That’s when I met the creature called Draeth that had come to the temple to find me and snuck in by possessing my Master's body…”

  Anakin told his story from start to the beginning and filled in all the gaps, explaining Draeth and the source of all of his strange abilities.

  “Are you sure that you can trust this creature?” Slarena asked, “Doesn’t it sound a little… Dodgy? What if it turns against you?”

  “I think I understand it,” Anakin said confidently, “It’s extremely selfish and clear in what it wants. I wasn’t using the energy that Draeth is harvesting either way, so I don’t mind Draeth taking it as payment for all of its help for me. I don’t think it has lied to me so far from what I can tell. If it wanted to betray me then it had plenty of opportunity to do so before now.”

  “I thought your abilities were just from the Force,” Slarena mused, “It was what made the most sense. I feel like I should be asking way more questions about this. But I can’t really think of what I should ask first. Shmi?”

  “You tell us as soon as that creature pressures you to do anything that you don’t want to do. Can you promise me that?” mom asked him.

  “I… Sure. I promise.”

  No one talked as there was a heavy pause in the room.

  “Okay, I still have questions though,” Slarena said, “So these abilities, what kind of things can you get? What are you planning for next?”

  “Well, it’s almost anything it seems. Draeth mostly tells me what’s possible or not depending on how much power I’ve saved up with it. So for example…”

  The conversation was surprisingly calm after the two women’s initial surprise at Anakin’s surprise. But they both shrugged it off as more ‘Force magic’ as Slarena put it once they reassured themselves that Draeth wasn’t out to hurt Anakin. He tried to explain how Draeth’s abilities were different from using the Force, but the both of them just looked at him blankly and didn’t seem to quite get it.

  Eventually he left it be, oddly disappointed that they were so unaffected by what he thought would be a major revelation.

  After that, things calmed down and they all settled back into their normal routines again. Anakin returned to his droid lab job, while mom and Slarena kept working at their store. Anakin kept exchanging messages with Elara. They were planning to meet up again for a weekend when she dropped by his planet sometime. Her father’s business did deliveries to planets all over the sector, so she told him that it wouldn’t be too much trouble for her to ride along and then return home if she managed to schedule herself to work on that ship anyway.

  It would be nice to see her in person again. It took a few hours for their written messages to reach each other in the wider galaxy wherever she was as she traveled around on her father’s ships. The real time connections with the hyperspace relays were only for the military or important people, so Anakin didn’t have access to it. It wasn’t like he’d had anyone else to contact outside of his new home planet before now.

  Time passed quickly and the vacation quickly faded into the past behind him as Anakin moved forward.

  — — —

  “You humans, all these little strands of hair going everywhere. How do you deal with it all? Lekku are much better. Nice and clean and smooth all the time. Here Anakin, hand me that comb.”

  He obediently handed Slarena the proper brush as the woman started brushing mom’s hair as she sat in the chair in front of the mirror.

  “Ow!”

  “Oh, sorry Shmi. Got stuck, your strands got tangled,” Slarena apologized and started combing mom’s hair again a little gentler.

  “So, uhm. I don’t know much about how your human hairstyles work,” Slarena admitted, “But we’ll do our best! I’m sure Anakin knows something about it.”

  “Oh, but he’s coming soon! I can’t look like this when he arrives for dinner!”

  “You look fiiiiine, Shmi. Here, Anakin. Give me that… hair holder ring thing. The black one.”

  Anakin obediently opened a drawer and looked around before finding the right thing and handing it over.

  “So we got to get your hair in a ball and through this thing? Make a… what’s it called again, Ani?”

  “A bun. That’s the hairstyle, I think.”

  “Yeah, that.”

  Over the course of an hour and much bumbling, mom’s hair was in a tight bun and all of her loose strands of hair sticking up from Slarena’s sustained assault with the comb were pressed back down.

  “Ani, get me that lipstick!” Slarena said, getting more invested the longer they went on, “We got to make them nice and glossy for when he comes! Here, I’ll take it from here, Ani. You go work on setting the table.”

  “Okay.”

  He quickly left and went into the dining room. He adjusted the silky tablecloth and set the smaller table with the fancier plates and utensils for two places across from each other.

  He placed the two candles on either side of the table and made sure he left out the lighter on the kitchen counter as well as testing the device for playing some calming music. He turned it off after listening for a few seconds and put it next to the lighter.

  His work here… was done.

  He dimmed the lights slightly until it was just right and looked around trying to find what else he could do to help. After a few minutes of him going around and straightening things aimlessly, Slarena and mom came down from upstairs. Mom was in that same fancy dress that she’d worn to the comedy club for their vacation.

  “Is this too much?” mom asked with a worried expression, “It’s only our third date. What if he just comes in his normal clothes? I don’t want to scare him off…”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “Well that’s on him!” Slarena said, “Better to overdo it than not enough! He’s been chasing after you for months, one bad date wouldn’t chase him away, let alone something like that.”

  “I guess, but…”

  “It’ll go fine, I’m sure he’ll love how much work we’ve put into this,” Slarena countered, “Look, he’s coming in twenty minutes. You two will have the whole house to yourselves all night. Anakin and I’ve got to clear out before he arrives. Go partying in the big city, it’ll be fun for us too. You got this, sis. You’ll woo Riktor before he even walks in the door. Now, Ani and I have really got to go before he comes. Good luck, Shmi!”

  “Thanks, Slarena,” mom said with a nervous tremor in her voice as her stance was filled with tension.

  “You sure that you two will be okay?”

  “We’ll be fine,” Slarena assured mom, “I’ll take care of him.”

  “You mean I’ll take care of you,” Anakin said, “I bet you’re wasted before we even leave the first bar.”

  “We’ll see, we’ll see,” Slarena said with a knowing smile, “You recall the droids yet, Ani?”

  Anakin hesitated before letting out an annoyed huff before activating his communicator and raising it to his face.

  “TC-04, recall all droids to the bunker. Maximum stealth, only leave roaming droids beyond the property perimeter active.”

  The communicator crackled before the tactical command droid managing the house’s defenses replied.

  “Is that wise, commander? Such an action will decrease our defensive response time and effectiveness by at least fourteen percent in all combat scenarios, and even more if…”

  “TC-04, you have your orders.”

  “Roger roger. Following orders. Reconfiguring battle plans in case this weakness is exploited.”

  “It’ll be fine, Ani,” mom said as she saw the look on his face as he lowered the communicator, “I don’t need him seeing all of those military droids roaming around our property. No one’s going to attack us.”

  “You have your lifeline?” Anakin confirmed to reassure himself. She raised her arm to display the little wristband with a little section a bit wider than the others.

  “If I press the button then the droids below will come charging in to save me,” she reassured him, “I’ll be safe. And it’s Riktor. No need to worry.”

  “Well… Alright. Stay safe, mom.”

  “You too, both of you. Have fun in the city.”

  Slarena and Anakin gave mom some quick hugs before quickly retreating to climb into the family spaceship that was a little less conspicuous than the fancy one that Anakin flew to work every day.

  Anakin flew the ship to the city and parked it on one of the public landing pads and paid for the spot.

  “Alright!” Slarena said and clapped her hands as they left the ship, “Where should we go first? How about this club? I’ve heard from my friends in town that it’s the place to be.”

  “No bar first?”

  “Meh. We can afford a few overpriced drinks at the club if either of us get in the mood. So, what do you say? Thought that we’d take you somewhere for your first real clubbing experience. Not just bar hopping like we did last time.”

  “Sure, let’s go.”

  They walked through the city together, until they reached the club. It was a bit early, with the sun having just having set but there was still a short line at the door. They waited at the back to be let in. The bouncer at the front looked over the two of them over and raised his eyebrow.

  “Aren’t you a little young for the mature lady here, man?” the bouncer said.

  “Ew, gross. No, we’re not like that.” Anakin replied and wrinkled his nose in disgust.

  “Er, sorry. My bad,” the bouncer said, “You’re good. Enjoy your stay.”

  “Mature lady,” Slarena muttered as they walked through the door together, “shows what he knows, I’m barely thirty five.”

  “I’m only eighteen now,” Anakin pointed out, “You’re old compared to me.”

  She looked at him with a raised eyebrow for a moment before snorting, “Whatever. I’ll tell your mom that you said that. She’s even older than I am.”

  “She’s only forty two. You’re practically the same age.”

  “Same age, shows what you know…” Slarena grumbled as they went into the corner and managed to find a seat at one of the booths lining the edge of the large space. In the center was the dancefloor where the dancing crowd was gradually filling up. The room was filled with loud conversation, and some music that could only just barely be heard above the hubbub of conversation. But the music wasn’t nearly loud enough that it was something to dance to.

  Anakin frowned at the dance floor as they ordered their drinks from the droid that rolled by.

  “Auditory dampeners,” Slarena said and pointed to four bulky boxes hanging from the ceiling and at each corner of the dance floor and pointing inwards, “Keeps most of the noise contained inside so we can talk out here and go in there while the DJ blasts the music as loud as they want.”

  “Huh. Interesting,” Anakin said.

  The droid delivered their drinks and they sipped on them for a bit and watched the people dancing wildly on the dancefloor as it grew more and more crowded. There were flashing and colored lights and low powered lasers strobing down from the ceiling to go across the dancefloor. Occasionally the raised booth where the DJ stood would flash brightly from the large panel of lights behind the creature or release some mist into the crowd at seemingly random intervals.

  “You ready to go in?” Slarena asked after a bit, “I think now’s a good time. Enough people in there to get that sense of dancing in the crowd, you know.”

  “Meet back at this booth if we get separated?”

  “Sure, sounds good.”

  With one gulp, Slarena raised her glass and downed the rest of the alcohol and put the glass on the table decisively.

  Anakin quickly followed suit and put his glass next to hers.

  The two of them walked forward and after they passed through some invisible point the music suddenly started growing louder and louder as well as people shouting and singing of tune at the top of their lungs.

  By the time they reached the dance floor the music was so loud that Anakin felt it vibrating deep in his chest with every beat, and his world seemed as if it was consumed by the music pounding on his skull. After a few seconds, the pressure eased and Anakin felt a little more tired. Oh, his body had adapted to the sound. He could still hear it, and it was still the same volume, but it didn’t hurt his ears anymore.

  He turned to Slarena and saw that she was pointing towards the DJ up front and started dancing a little. Anakin nodded and Slarena smiled as the two of them started dancing forward up to the front of the crowd. The press of bodies pressed in from all sides as everybody danced and shouted or laughed. Anakin felt oddly unseen in the massive crowd as no one paid him the slightest bit of attention as he followed behind Slarena as she cleared a path through the crowd.

  Anakin had a bit of a buzz from the alcohol that he’d drunk earlier and when he got to the front of the crowd with Slarena, he paused as the music suddenly faded slightly.

  “Party, party on, my fellow people in the cluuuub!” The DJ shouted, covered in a brightly lit and glowing helmet with a stylized smile of white teeth drawn on its front.

  “We got some more music for all of ya tonight. Real great stuff on our list. Some greatest hits we all love, with some newbies ready for the big time to try out. Next up, some new hits from our Trelaxian friends for Trelaxa Prime, taking our galactic sector by storm these last few months like a musical sensation! Enjoy, and remember to just tell our droid if there’s any songs that ya would like to suggest. Now leettttttssss ”

  The lights behind the DJ flashed brightly and another spray of mist billowed out from the DJ’s stand and covered the whole front row in a swirling haze of light mist as the beat of the new energetic song dropped and rumbled in Anakin’s chest.

  Slarena started dancing, throwing her hands up in the air and jumping up and down. Anakin hesitated for a moment, a little self conscious until after a moment of resistance he let himself be swept up in the crowd's energy and started dancing himself too.

  Time passed in a blur as he danced in the crowd, feeling both like he was part of something bigger and completely anonymous as he partied with the strangers. Then at one point he looked up and realized that he had drifted away and lost sight of Slarena.

  He snapped out of his fun and looked around and quickly started hunting for her, relaxing when he spotted her through a gap in the crowd. He moved forward to move closer to her and saw her relax as well as she spotted him and gave a little wave before returning to enjoying the music.

  They danced some more, only stopping to leave the dance floor and order some more drinks when they got tired.

  The both of them grew more and more drunk as time passed, their movements clumsy and a warm haze settled over his mind as he wore a dopey smile as the night continued. His adaption ability worked for drugs somewhat, but much more limited than how it was for something more straightforward like heat or electricity. So even if Anakin had to drink more than other people, he could still get drunk if he wanted to.

  And unfortunately after this he probably wouldn’t be able to get drunk at all for a few days.

  It had been a while that the two of them had been partying, and Anakin spotted Slarena turn and stumble through the crowd, moving towards the table they’d agreed to meet at earlier.

  Maybe he’d just dance to one more song before stopping…

  When he was done, he turned and started stumbling his own way over towards where she had walked a few minutes ago. He blinked as he passed across the barrier and suddenly everything grew much quieter around him again. He spotted Slarena standing by the booth, although she was facing the people who’d sat there in the meantime. He couldn’t see what she was saying, but the people sitting in the booth were smiling and laughing. So it was probably fine?

  There were two humans and a Trandoshan lizard man who was bulky and looked like he had muscles upon muscles even as he sat there at the inside of the booth, with a human man flanking the seats on either side.

  Anakin stumbled over to her in his drunken haze and pawed at Slarena’s shoulder and only vaguely registered that she seemed upset.

  “Ah who is thissssss. How do you know such a pretty thingsssss? Is she your catchsssssss?” the Trandoshan asked with a mocking hiss in his voice.

  “The kriff is wrong with you?” Slarena slurred, “Who gave you the right, you baaastard?”

  “Yousssss the one who came over to ussss,” the Trandoshan laughed, “You turnsss around in front of us and are angered when we admire the viewssss? I likesss the front toooo. What do you think, friends? Front or backssss are better?”

  “Oh, definitely–”

  “Hey!” Anakin interrupted and stepped in front of Slarena as his brain registered what was happening.

  “Baaack off! Apologize to heeerrrr!” he threatened.

  “Apologizessss?” the Trandoshan said mockingly, “You musssst be drunk. Little human like you, teach me? I could crushssss you between two fingers. She givesss us a show and complains when we enjoy itssss? She should apologizessss to us. Hah!”

  “Wait, Anaaaakin don’t-” Slarena said as Anakin’s drunken mind pulsed with anger.

  “Fight me then! I’ll teach you— A kriffing lesson!”

  He dived over the table and clumsily reached for the Trandoshan’s throat. The lizardman stood up and overturned the table to shove Anakin back.

  The bulky lizardman stood to his feet and let out another hissing laugh again as he flexed his claws.

  “Hs hs hs, A fight! Yes, let’s teachssss this boy a lessssson. And maybe his woman too jussst for fun.”

  Anakin’s body exploded with the dark side as he roared with rage and in a burst of motion was standing directly in front of the lizardman. He punched the Trandoshan hard in the chest covered in scales. The Trandoshan let out a loud ‘oof!’ as he went flying back with a look on his face before crashing into the wall behind him.

  “Boss!” one of the men shouted and drew a blaster from his belt and pointed it at Anakin. As Anakin whipped his head around and darted towards the man, he fired his weapon directly into Anakin’s sternum. The pistol made aloud sound only for its plasma bolt to dissolve into nothing as Anakin’s dispersion ability kicked in.

  The man opened his mouth into a perfect O of shock right before Anakin wrapped his hands around his throat.

  “Why?” Anakin screamed as he throttled the man, “Why do you people want to hurt her?! Be like this? Why?”

  There was a loud cracking sound below Anakin as kneeled on top of the man below him.

  Another wave of heat washed over Anakin’s back and he realized that he’d just broken the man's neck. He turned around and saw the other man with wide eyes fire another blaster bolt at Anakin. He was about to dash forward when Slarena suddenly charged in and slammed into the man with her shoulder and sent his next shot off course.

  “No! Stop it!” she cried, “Leave him alone!”

  Anakin’s heart seized in his chest as the man turned his blaster towards her. In a panic he extended his hand out and called on the dark Force pulsing within him. The man yelped as an invisible force gripped him and lifted him into the air, even as he thrashed. In a burst of vengeful Force, the man’s chest caved in and he fell to the floor dead as Anakin released him.

  He dimly registered the screaming and panicking patrons of the club in the background fleeing for the exits as they witnessed the sudden violence.

  “Whatsss…”

  Anakin’s head snapped around and he leapt forward, his hands curled into fists. The Trandoshan stood to his feet and took a fighting stance although he looked uncertain.

  Anakin punched him again with a burst of dark Force, sending the lizard man stumbling a single step back from the Force before stabilizing himself.

  “Waitsss…”

  “Why?! Why does it always happen to them?” Anakin screamed as he jumped forward and pounded the lizard man with a flurry of savage punches, not caring that his fists were bloody and aching from hitting the hard scales over and over.

  "Why always them..."

  The lizard man was gradually pushed back, barely able to shield himself with his arms as Anakin assaulted him mercilessly. His mind was still pulsing with that rage, that helplessness that he felt so deeply and threatening to overwhelm him.

  “Kid! Kid! Calm the kriff down! You’re acting crazy! Use the mind shield! Quick!”

  Anakin ignored Draeth as the creature appeared perched on the floor nearby.

  Anakin kept up his assault.

  “Mind shield, you dolt! You moron, if you have to kill him then there’s a blaster right next to you!”

  Anakin growled and ignored the words. No, that wasn’t enough. How could those people do that Slarena, make her feel that way… Why couldn’t he help her when she was so hurt?

  The Trandoshan lashed out with his large claws and managed to scratch Anakin’s left arm.

  The pain only drew his anger farther, and in a burst of the Force, Anakin grabbed the lizard man’s right shoulder and with one massive burst of inhuman strength ripped it completely free, throwing the limb to the side. Blood poured from the stump like a fountain.

  “Damn it, kid. Whatever, too far gone now for you to use the mind shield. Despite you going crazy right now, that brutality was pretty great. A great show. Do his other arm too!”

  Just to spite Draeth’s voice, Anakin kicked out and broke the Trandoshan’s shin with the growing power of the Dark side flowing within him.

  “KRIFF YES! Hahaha! Take that, Force!” Draeth suddenly shouted suddenly excitedly, “He’s adapting to the dark side! Best ability for the win, I knew it was worth it. Adaptation to it all, even the Dark side. Higher and higher we go! Get angrier Anakin! This is amazing! Go take your anger out on a nearby city or two and see how much energy we can get before you keel over!”

  Anakin spent the next three minutes taking his anger out mindlessly on the Trandoshan even as he ignored Draeth’s celebrations that his rage fueled mind couldn’t process right now.

  The Trandoshan was long dead and a flattened bloody mass below him as Anakin stood above it with black tears dripping down his face and bright glowing yellow eyes and gore coating his arms all the way up to the elbows.

  “Anakin…”

  He turned around startled to see Slarena standing there.

  “Anakin, come back to yourself,” she said in a small voice, “Just like before. What would me or your mom do without you?”

  “I…” Anakin’s body spasmed and he fell onto all fours as he warred with himself and resisted the urge to vomit.

  “Go, Slarena,” he groaned, “Please. I can’t resist for much longer. Draeth will stop me soon.”

  He pulled on his mindshield in his moment of clarity, but it was no use. The rising tide of the Dark was too strong and started overwhelming him again despite his best efforts.

  “Ani…”

  “GO! I can’t hurt you too, I couldn’t live with myself if…”

  He groaned again and his body shuddered violently as he tasted blood in his mouth as he remained on his hands and knees. He wasn’t entirely sure if the taste of the blood was his own or someone else's.

  “I… I’ll find you after. No one will ambush you when you’re vulnerable this time,” Slarena said firmly with determination in her voice before turning and stumbling away, still swaying slightly from being drunk.

  Anakin lost his battle with himself as she was nearly at the door. She was the only person left to vent his anger nearby. His mind overwhelmed with rage and hopelessness was too confused to remember who the person stumbling away from him was.

  “Hey! Fleshy targets this way! You’re the stupidest person I’ve ever met. You could never protect either of them. All you can do is stand there and watch uselessly like a dumb lump whenever either of them is hurt! Even now, all you’re doing is hurting the both of them! Ruining your mom’s date night! Nearly hurting Slarena! You’re the one who’s always the reason why they’re in pain! All of it is on you!”

  Anakin’s animalistic mind was simple, but somehow Draeth’s words registered to him still. He let out a roar that shook the building and caused abandoned glasses to tip over and spill their contents around the table in the mostly abandoned club.

  Anakin leapt forward towards Draeth where he was there on the ground. Just before he wrapped his hands around the creature, it vanished and reappeared a dozen meters away.

  He chased, but the creature was slippery and threw Anakin into a greater and greater rage as he failed to catch his prey. His body was at war, the increasing flood of Dark Force energy damaging him before his body adapted slightly before the amount increased again, exhausting his energy more and more for the longer that it went on.

  In the chase they reached a room with many screens showing different views of the inside of the club. Draeth flitted around the room as Anakin used his strength to attempt to squash it with increasing frustration, smashing everything into smithereens.

  He chased Draeth out of the building and through the streets of the city at high speed, ignoring everything else and solely focused on the chase as Draeth kept taunting him.

  They ran into a park and Draeth vanished and reappeared again several times as Anakin barrelled forward, only nimbly dodging around the trees as he tried to keep his eyes on the new source of his anger that he was chasing.

  They were deep in the depths of the forest in the large park in the middle of the city and Anakin still couldn’t manage to crush the irritating beast taunting him.

  “I have to say, this has been fun,” the creature said conversationally as Anakin charged at it as it remained in place about twenty meters away in the woods sitting on the forest floor, “But I’ve dragged this out as much as I could. I guess this is the limit of your body for now. Any more dark side and you’ll start having to deal with some good old fashioned organ failure.”

  Draeth vanished and reappeared directly behind Anakin in the opposite direction twenty meters away again as his fists nearly passed through it. Anakin’s hand slammed painfully into the ground and created a deep indent in the soil beneath. He turned and charged at Draeth again as soon as his voice came from another direction.

  “Hey, when you wake up just remember the good old mind shield. This’ll be a tough one for you to shake off. If you don’t manage it, I’d just like to say that it’s a shame. So much more energy that we could have harvested together… But I’m already energy positive now, so you dying is just whatever rather than a catastrophe. Hope that makes you feel better about it.”

  “Aaaaaand, timeout,” Draeth said gleefully and suddenly Anakin’s body locked up and he tipped over and fell flat on his face onto the forest floor below. His face pressed into the sharp twigs and loose dirt, there was a sudden wave of pain that grew more and more excruciating as time passed.

  “Remember when you wake up. Miiiinnnnnddd shhhiiiiiieeeeellllllddd!”

  Anakin dimly registered Draeth’s words before he fell unconscious again.

  — — —

  He woke with a loud scream as he thrashed on the ground violently.

  “Mind Shield! Mind shield!” Draeth shouted from the side, and Anakin just barely managed to collect his thoughts enough to follow orders and strain his mind shield to the maximum. It was a tug of war, Anakin’s mind teetering on a knife’s edge with the wellspring of Dark side surging within him as his mindshield fought to reel it back.

  Night turned into day as Anakin lay there groaning painfully. Somebody found him and said some words. The Dark surged within him and he nearly lost control of himself as a hand touched his face. He instinctively twisted his head and snapped his jaws at the offending hand, but missed it as the hand retreated. But then the hand touched his head again and there were more soft words.

  Anakin dimly realized that it was Slarena above him as she sat down next to him on the forest floor and lifted his twitching body off of the ground slightly by dragging him by the shoulders towards her. She held him so that his twitching body was draped over her with his head touching her shoulder and her arms wrapped around his back.

  He resisted the urge to hurt her, but her soft words and warmth cooled his fiery rage and allowed his mind shield to pull him from the cliff of the Dark and madness that he’d almost just fallen off of. He was hovering on the knife’s edge once more, the mind shield and the Dark fighting for dominance.

  Slarena reached out and started rubbing circles on his back and Anakin vaguely registered wetness soaking his shoulder as Slarena pressed her cheek into his own and kept whispering words that he couldn’t understand as she hugged him.

  But the emotion was there, and slowly he started calming down. His mind shield worked and despite the Dark side’s groans and protests eventually pulled him off of the edge and towards rationality once again.

  Then as the sun in the sky started to slowly go down in the sky above, the fight was won. Anakin’s mind was purged of the dark. His body was still limp and draped over Slarena, completely exhausted by the long drawn battle and damage from channeling the Dark Side of the Force.

  “I’m… So sorry, Slarena,” Anakin muttered into her ear, “I thought I was protecting you. That I could help. I’ve ruined everything, just made it all worse.”

  “You’re… I called Dooku earlier. He’ll sort all of this out, he’s already cleared the park so I could be here with you,” Slarena whispered in his ear, “Those bastards at the club deserved it, don’t you blame yourself for that. I was so scared for you, Ani. I wouldn’t have sat with you for hours if I thought that you would ever hurt me.”

  “You don’t understand. I almost did it,” Anakin choked out, “It was so close…”

  “Well, you didn’t. And that’s what matters. I thought that you were fine after hearing about my past. You didn’t react nearly as much as Shmi did… I’m sorry. I guess I just saw what I wanted to see. You’ve been holding onto all of this ever since then.”

  “No, this is… My problem,” Anakin countered, “I overreacted, I shouldn’t have…”

  “You think? Overreaction, biggest understatement in the galaxy,” Slarena interrupted Anakin, “But it’s my problem too. See how hiding away from my problems worked out for me. You’re doing the same now. We’re family, right? We’ve got to stick together. You, me, and your mom. And maybe Riktor too if Shmi chasing him off mid date doesn’t scare him away.”

  “Mom?” Anakin said weakly, “Is she okay?”

  “She’s fine, just worried about you. Are you okay? Can other people come in to help heal you?”

  “Yes, I’m… Fully purged. Draeth’s a real bastard. Remind me to yell at him when I wake back up…”

  Anakin slumped unconscious, the last sensation he felt was Slarena’s warmth comforting him and sending him drifting off into a dreamless sleep.