𝐓𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐎 || 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐤𝐲𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐫

Chapter 16 - Rage & Regret

When we finally returned to the homestead, everyone lapsed into a mourning period for the loss of such a kindhearted woman. Padme comforted the Lars family while Anakin slipped into self-isolation in the garage. After waiting an hour or so, I quietly followed the path Anakin had taken where I found him mindlessly repairing parts of the speeder bike.

I lingered in the doorway, chewing on my bottom lip in thought as I leaned against the wall. We'd known each other so long now that I knew when to press and when to just let him come around in his own time. These moments were the latter. And sure enough, after a lapse of silence, Anakin's soft voice pierced the air.

"The shifter broke... Life seems so much simpler when you're fixing things. I'm good at fixing things. Always was... But I couldn't-"

Pausing then, he glanced up at me with a pair of cerulean eyes so full of pain that it made my heart ache in my chest.

"Why'd she have to die?" he asked me before exhaling a breath, "Why couldn't I save her? I know I could have!"

He turned away at this last statement, taking a few steps to the other side of the room. My poor Ani...

"Anakin, sometimes...sometimes horrible events happen in life. And you can't stop them or fix them. They just...happen. Believe me, I wish things were different right now..." I tried to console him softly, "But we can't manipulate fate like that. No one possesses that kind of power,"

"Well, I should! Someday I will be... I will be the most powerful Jedi ever!" Anakin shouted, tears nearly choking him as he spat the words before spinning on his heel suddenly to face me, "I promise you. I will even learn to stop people from dying!"

My brows knitted together briefly at this before I shook my head with a sigh, "Anakin, I'm sorry. I truly am. Maybe...maybe it was just her time-"

But he cut me off abruptly as he snapped in anger, "It's all Obi-Wan's fault! He's jealous! He's holding me back!"

Heaving a wrench he held in his hand toward the far wall, it pinged off an old, rusted landspeeder. Silent sobs wracked his body then and I pursed my lips, wanting desperately to take him in my arms...to take all of his pain away. I sent a wave of reassurance and comfort through the Force to him instead.

"Jetta...what I did..." he whispered, his voice nearly inaudible despite the stillness of the garage, "I know I shouldn't have..."

My mind went back to that awful night a mere six hours ago and the horrible events that transpired in that Tusken camp...

"Anakin...you've been through so much. I don't begrudge you anything - you know that. What happened can't happen again but...it stays between us," I promised him with a somber expression.

Taking a shuddering breath, he let it out in one great exhale before speaking, "But I...I killed them...I killed them all... They're dead. Every single one of them..."

My heart began to beat faster as the memories of those screams came rushing back, the sound of frantic feet racing to escape his wrath, the cries of the children just before he...

He turned to face me once more, tears streaming down his cheeks as he spoke with eyes full of hate, "And not just the men...but the women...and the children too. They're like animals and I slaughtered them like animals!...I hate them!"

As if he finally realized the ramifications of the acts he had committed last night, he stared blankly at nothing as he gaped in pure shock before sliding down the workbench and collapsing into a fit of sobs. Standing over him, I sighed softly before taking a seat beside him on the floor.

"To be angry is to be human. Everyone experiences emotions like these," I comforted, reaching out with gentle fingers to brush back short strands of his sandy blond hair.