V.2-C.26│Problems in Paradise VIII│

'No.' Anakin thought within himself as the child breathed his last breath.

'No.' This was unexpected and while Anakin had managed to save alot of people, it didn't mean it was 100%.

There was a spike within the Force and he started to control the direction of his raging emotions. His rage. His anger and wrath that was ready to explode at this devastating tragedy.

The boy was mangled, his name unknown and his soul forever gone as Anakin's dimension had not been fully created yet. 'It would have been finished within the next few months...' He thought to himself as he started to feel his eyes.

"Ani?" Padme had tears running down her face as Anakin looked at the destruction. While minimal it was still a big hit to those within the area and it was one of the least secure.

"Ani?" Padme hugged Anakin as the boys lifeless body was just there. Mangled beyond repair, beyond any shadow of a doubt the boy had died and Anakin had been able to sense it had happened through the Force.

Anakin whispered. "I am sorry. This is my fault."

Technically this was both Anakin's fault and the fault of the perpetrator but because Anakin had allowed this dissidence to exist, this had happened. He was only meant to use them and then completely get rid of them but this seemed like the wrong choice.

And like always he thought to himself. 'Actions have consequences, but so too does inaction...'

"No! Anakin, this isn't your fault." Padme said as she was hugging him, as if to make sure he was still there. It was both for selfish and selfless reasons she did so. "This isn't your fault." She repeated not knowing the full sequence of events that had happened.

Anakin was just within a trance and the Force was still. So still that Anakin didn't feel anything when trying to connect to it, not because it wasn't there. It is.

It was as if there was no motion and he knew the reason about why the Force had come to a stop. It was, no is because of him and his currently raging inner emotions, surging and filling him with a certain desire.

A desire he has not had all too often throughout both of his lives.

The hate, the anger was flowing through him and if he was a Sith, or had a Sith master, they would be extremely pleased but terrified at the same time.

'I think I have left them for too long.' He thought to himself before looking Padme in the eyes. "It would seem that as soon as you got here, everything went boom." He tried to play off his anger by making a joke but Padme could see it in his eyes.

She wasn't afraid he would lash out at her but seeing him like that hurt her, which only made her shed some more tears.

"I need to go and deal with something." Anakin stated out of nowhere which kind of left her stunned, but Padme understood.

She had questions however. "What are you to do? And where am I to go and what do I do?"

"You..." Anakin smiled at her, and this was a genuine smile filled with warm feelings. "Thank you. If you could help settle the situation down here as your first act as Princess of the Empyrean."

"I can do that." She was probably going to do that already without Anakin saying this. Anakin hugged her back to make sure her emotions within this situation were as calm as they could be.

It certainly wasn't everyday something like this happened to someone. 'No, stuff like this happens all the time. How foolish I am to believe that I am immune from mistakes that could cost peoples lives. If not my own.' Anakin thought to himself.

After embracing each other for a quick moment, Anakin also kisses Padme on her forehead. "Thank you." He dashes off right after this, in the direction of Sky-Palace.

Anakin was communicating with his droids to get here as soon as possible to help mediate the situation. Medical units and disaster control units were sent along with some specialized combat droids to protect Padme and others from harm.

Anakin is unsure how this had happened, and had gone on behind his back. He didn't recieve any report from Grievous talking about a bomb of any kind, just the 'tragic' story of the person they had taken in for questioning.

Activating his Nanosuit, Anakin was now fully decked out within his power armor as he had merged this and made his Nanosuit better through this method. Power Armor, plus Nanosuit equals unstoppable beast.

He wanted to board Jabitha, but that didn't mean he could just destroy more property even if he wanted to go faster. The streets of Sky-City are somewhat compact but they are not so tall that he wouldn't jump over them.

It was just that the force of his speed and jumps would certainly create a dissonance everywhere he went, so he had to go at slower speeds then he usually would to reach the palace.

'Jabitha, you awake?' Anakin sent a telepathic message ahead of time as he was to arrive soon.

'Papa? What is it?' Anakin could have sworn he heard Jabitha yawn as she replied to his message.

While Jabitha is a ship, she is also living, meaning that while she may have no brain to need rest like other biological species. Jabitha still had to sleep in a sense so her parts dont become to used or overheated by being on all of the time.

There is also the fact that she is also partially machine, meaning that she needs energy just like any other thing, including biological creatures. The only difference between Jabitha or droids and other living creatures is the type of energy the need and how it is delivered.

Anakin had been wanting to come up with another method to make sure Jabitha could recharge herself better but he had no success so far. She may be able to access the Force to do so, but she was basically still a child for the past few years he has had her.

It is evident in the way she speaks to him, even now. 'Papa, why do I feel strange?' Jabitha asked him as she felt some spillage of his emotions, which meant the others connected to him also felt it.

'It is nothing, do not attach too much importance to these emotions. They are not your own.' Anakin replied as it was dangerous to send your thought and emotions into another without them being able to differentiate what is theirs and what is the others.

'Ok, Papa!' If she had a face, he would imagine her smiling but he wasn't really in the mood to be happy. Nor had the right o be in this moment for some people will be sent to hell.

[]

Aayla, Shaak, Barriss, Ahsoka, and Zannah had all been alerted to something within the Force. They were all doing their own things, Aayla practicing methods of teaching for when she goes to teach.

Shaak was doing some meditation, while Barriss and Ahsoka were sparring with each other to further increase their skills. Whether this be with the training lightsabers, because despite having none anymore they would still get more in the future.

Or, at least this was what Anakin had promised and he usually fulfills his promises like a certain knuckleheaded, blonde ninja. Zannah was with Rynalla, helping her further understand and grasp some control over the dark side of the Force.

Hell, even those that weren't connected to Anakin in that way, being Rynalla, Alysun and Lorana had felt it and however else that happened to be Force-sensitive on the planet.

All of them rushed to the palace, as that was where they all felt they needed to head to.

They all arrived, the only Force-sensitive people that was known of and has some training or experience with the Force, within the Empyrean has come to the palace. Of course they were all surprised that Shmi, Anakin's mother, one of the most gentle and kindest woman all of them knew of, had a furious look on her face.

It marred her now returned beautiful, youthful features.

It certainly wasn't a pretty sight and as they all saw each other, they all acknowledged each others presence as they headed further in to see what is going on. They had no idea what they were in store for and what is to come may very well have them look at Anakin in a different light.

A side of him that wasn't kind, nor loving. Not compassionate, caring for all life or the liberties that should be afforded to everyone.

No, they would all have to acknowledge, even Alysun, Zannah and Rynalla, all of whom were apart of the dark side, that Anakin can be angered to a point of relentless pursuit. Relentless and merciless justness in striking down those that have done wrong.

Even Rynalla who had been most exposed to Anakin as Vader didn't know much about anything he did as Vader and just believed that he was similar to her, in that regard.

He was actually much more willing to do things that others would say are immoral, an example of this would come soon enough but for now the group has still yet to discover what is going on.

"So you are saying that an attack has happened?" Shmi's voice was heard to the 8 women as they drew closer.

"Yes Empress. The Prince has saved quite alot of people from the incident." It was Siri, the artificial intelligence that had responded.

"How many casualties?" Shmi asked.

"From what I estimate, there should only be around 147 people dead, 378 severely injured, and 1384 with minor injuries. There were around 5 explosions and from those these are the total accrued amount of casualties." Siri replied with some statistics.

While this amount was not overly massive compared to the actual population numbers within the Empyrean, that didn't mean all of those lives were worthless. Or not valued at all, in fact there is alot of importance placed on the fact that life in important, precious to an extreme view.

Anakin didn't want to just turn people into numbers, it was such an absolute thing that numbers would determine whether or not he cared enough to bother with certain things.

"Has aid been sent?" Shmi asked again.

"Yes." Siri replied and by now the group of Force-sensitive girls were now where Shmi was. Sitting upon her throne, the throne that would become Anakin's.

"What is happening here, mother?" Aayla asked the question that everyone surely had on their mind.

"Someone was stupid enough to attack multiple locations by planting some bombs." Shmi replied with a sigh as her anger didn't escape her but was just pushed down until a later date, where she could give punishment to those involved.

"How is that possible?" Out of everyone here, if there was a person most interested in technology other than Anakin, then it would be Ahsoka as she had to try and pick up some skill in it after seeing Anakin's passion with this subject.

Anakin had also told all of them about the security measure in place, but the thing about these security measures was that it only really applied to the palace. Not that there were others elsewhere, it was just the resources needed to extend this network was too much for an entire planet, or two.

Let alone everywhere the Empyrean had now touched upon.

Looking around the room, Shmi says. "Why are you guys here? While your help may not be needed at the moment, I am sure that you guys could start somewhere, right?"

This prompts Lorana and Alysun to look at each other, then both promptly head off outside of the palace, presumably to help people. The others still stayed because they were here for other reasons, or more like reason, specifically Anakin.

"Where is Anakin then? I thought I overheard Siri say something about him rescuing some people?" Barriss questioned aloud.

"Affirmative." Siri said and then continued. "The Prince has left on Jabitha."

"Left!?" Everyone practically exclaimed at the same time.

"Affirmative. The Prince has left on Jabitha to complete something important that pertains tot he current situation." Siri supplied.

"Tell us what he is doing." Zannah wanted to know, so too did the others as well but Siri has recommendations within herself to not tell. Given that a few within this group, if not all of them could be considered Anakin's loved ones, then Siri could tell.

"I believe that the Prince would not like everyone to know." Siri said.

"Can you at least tell us where he was last, before he went back to the palace." Shaak questioned Siri.

"Of course. The Prince was last seen with Princess Padme Amidala Skywalker nee Naberrie, within X district." Siri said, giving the location and the person he was with.

This didn't surprise the girls that he was with Padme as they all knew she was coming, what they didn't know however was that she would be arriving so soon.

"Great, thanks!" Aayla dashed from the palace going towards Padme, along with the others, including Ahsoka but Ahsoka was stopped by Shmi as she wanted to tell her something before she left.

"Be careful. While I trust the other girls to take care of themselves because they are grown ups, I dont expect you to go into dangerous situations. Just leave that to those older than you." Shmi said as she was quite capable in holding Ahsoka back.

Shmi had been injected with the super serum after all and Ahsoka wasn't. Along with Aayla, Shaak and Barriss, as they hadn't gotten a super serum injection just yet themselves.

"Go along now. I wont stop you from doing what you want to do but do so within reason." Shmi said.

"Thank you!" Ahsoka still dashed out as soon as she got the chance, but this still but a gentle smile on Shmi's face as she saw that Ahsoka was, no, is alot like her Ani.

'I just hope Anakin doesn't do anything stupid.' She thought to herself as she was now left alone, well not totally alone as Jira came in a second later from her nap. She was looker younger then before but she wasn't granted immortality because she didn't want it.

She did ask for an extension on her lifespan however, so Anakin granted her this privilege.

"What did I miss?" Jira had slept like a baby.

"Well, where do I start?" Shmi replied as she went on to explain things to her.