Title: The Dreamcatcher
Summary: What would you give a man that could make your deepest dream come true?
Disclaimer: Star Wars and her characters belong to George Lucas, and now Disney. All EU characters belong to their creators. The character of Anij Skywalker belongs to me.
Author Notes: Anij—pronounced (Ahh-neesh)
Last night I was watching the movie Something Wicked This Way Comes about two young boys who become the prey of a demonic carnival owner. (very simple summary) Anyway, the tagline for the movie was: What would you give a man who could make your deepest dreams come true?
So, I was thinking that a great fic might be about exactly that-what would Ben give to make his deepest dream come true? What's his deepest dream you ask? To bring back the twin sister he lost in a terrible accident when they were five.
/
Lygos III
"Why do you stay here, Ben?" came the soft voice of a young woman.
A tall, muscular young man with shoulder-length dark blonde hair and piercing blue-gray eyes turned to face her. An angry scar ran the length of the left side of his handsome face. His bare torso showed signs of old wounds healed long ago. His left forearm and hand was a prosthetic he'd received when he was but five years of age. Barefoot; he was missing three left-side toes.
"Where would you have me go?" he asked, his voice raspy from disuse. He turned from her and again took to staring out at the tropical world that became his home nearly ten years before.
"I don't know," she answered kindly. "But you must have family that misses you. You've been here for nearly ten years."
"The only family I had left that mattered died when I was a child," Ben said quietly.
"You're parents?" the young woman questioned, her curiosity getting the better of her.
Ben scoffed before moving away from the window and sat down on the foot of his bed. "As far as I know, my parents are alive and well and still living on Coruscant. I am the least of their concerns."
The young woman sat down next to him and placed her hand on his leg. "Then who?" she wanted to know.
Ben looked into her eyes and was mesmerized. She had eyes the same color as Anij; as the sister he'd last seen so long ago. Even her hair and face were the same.
"You," he whispered as he held her hand tightly in his own. "It's you, but…you died, you died twenty…twenty-three years ago. I…I ca-caused …the explosion. I was in-injured."
Anij Skywalker lifted her hand to rest again her twin brother's scarred cheek. "Yes, it's me. I'm here, Ben."
Tears filled Ben's expressive eyes. "B-but h-h-how?" he managed to stutter out.
She smiled. "You, Ben; you brought me back."
"That doesn't make any sense," Ben bit out harshly through his cascading tears. "You died when we were five years old. There is no way I could have brought you back from the dead."
Anij stood then and faced her brother. "Of course it's possible, Ben. All things are possible when you use what is inside of you. You must simply ask yourself, what would you give to a man that could make your deepest dream come true?"
Ben stood as well. "What is my deepest dream?" he questioned.
Anij smiled. "To see me alive again."
/
Twenty-eight year-old Ben Skywalker awakened in a cold sweat. His breathing was coming in short gasps. His bare chest was covered in moisture. He quickly sat up and swung his long legs over the side of the bed and rested his head in his hands. Looking down, he reached up to take hold of the Nubian dreamcatcher that hung around his neck.
"So much for protecting me from bad dreams and negative influences, huh?" he whispered to himself as he continued to finger the dreamcatcher.
Knowing he wasn't going to get any more sleep that night, Ben rose from his bed and walked into the fresher. He shed his sleep pants and placed the dreamcatcher on the sink and stepped under the hot spray of the shower. The water immediately began loosening sleep-tightened muscles. Within moments he was feeling better. He quickly finished his shower and turned off the hot water. He was about to reach out and grab a towel when a hand came out of nowhere, holding a towel for him.
Ben jumped. "Stang!" he yelled before he realized that the hand belonged to a friend.
"I told you not to sneak up on my anymore," Ben snapped as he stepped out with a towel hung low on his hips.
A friendly laugh came from the intruder. "You asked me if I could try and stop sneaking up on you. I tried, and I obviously failed."
Ben ran a hand through his wet hair as he glared at the other occupant of the room. "Try harder, Anakin."
/
Once Ben was dressed, he walked outside to meet his cousin. Anakin Solo stood at the edge of the ocean letting the water caress his bare feet. He breathed in the cool ocean air, enjoying the calming effect it had on him.
"You've found quite a paradise here, Ben," he commented, having sensed the presence of his young cousin.
Barefoot and dressed in tan pants and a white shirt, Ben went to stand next to the older man. He looked at Anakin, taking in the appearance of a man he hadn't seen in six years. While darker than Ben's own hair, Anakin's was equally long, hanging to just below his shoulders. A dark goatee adorned his face. His icy blue eyes was as hard as steel, just as Ben remembered them.
"I like it," Ben finally said after a few moments of silence. "It's calm and peaceful, and it doesn't ask of me what I can't give."
Anakin smiled wearily and sighed. "You know, if you'd ever bothered to learn how to use the gifts you were given, I wouldn't be able to sneak up on you."
Ben shook his head, sending his locks swishing about his head. "My gifts, as you call them, got her killed. I won't ever use them again."
Anakin turned angry eyes on his younger cousin. "Is that why you wear that thing?" he demanded, pointing to the ancient dreamcatcher. "You think that's going to protect you from the evils this galaxy has to offer?"
"There aren't any evils here," Ben answered calmly. "I keep telling you that every time you come here and you never listen. I don't need the Jedi or the Force. I'm safer without them."
Anakin took one last look at the ocean before turning to leave. He took a few steps away from Ben then turned back.
"Your parents want you to come home," he said to the younger man. "They miss you."
Ben sighed. "I know."
Anakin nodded solemnly. "It wasn't your fault that Anij died, Ben. It was an accident. There's nothing you could have done to save her."
Ben turned around to face Anakin. Two pairs of blue eyes bored into one another. "Yes there is, Anakin. I could have listened."
/
Tatooine
"Can I help, Daddy?" asked five year-old Ben Skywalker.
Luke Skywalker smiled at his young son. The boy had inherited the Skywalker fix-it gene. Anything mechanical, Ben could figure it out and fix it. His opportunity was limited by his age, but once he grew, he'd be unstoppable.
"Sure son," Luke said as he stood up and rubbed the grease from his hands onto his work pants. "Come on over here."
Ben ran to his father. "What are you fixing?" the small boy wondered.
"Well, I'm trying to increase the power output of these engines," Luke explained as he pointed to the twin engines on the old podracer. "Kyp wants to race this thing in the Boonta Eve Classic next week and he asked me to get it running for him."
Ben stepped closer to the old machine and knelt down to pear at the engines. A frown crossed his face as he reached out with a hand and placed it flush against the engine covering. He closed his eyes and concentrated as he began to move his little hand across the entire covering of both engines.
Luke was amazed as he watched his son. He could feel the Force radiating off of the boy.
"Here," came the sudden pronouncement from Ben. "Fix it here and she'll go faster."
Luke smiled just as his wife and daughter came out to see how things were going. He stood and looked back at Ben. "Don't do anything until I'm back."
Ben nodded; an innocent expression on his cherubic face.
Luke kissed Mara and reached down to scoop up their daughter, Anij. She and Ben were twins, and two children couldn't have been more different, both in looks and temperament. Anij was a perfect replica of Mara. She had fiery red hair, green eyes and a sharp tongue, especially for a five year-old. With dark blonde hair and blue eyes, people who didn't already know never assumed that Ben was the little spitfire's brother. Ben was quiet, docile. But he was mischievous at times as well, and didn't always listen whereas Anij always listened to what she was told.
"Is he helping you, Daddy?" Anij asked her father.
Luke nodded. "He sure is, little one," Luke replied. "You want to help too?"
Her green eyes lit up as she shook her head.
Luke put her down on her feet and both parents watched as she made her way towards her twin brother.
Luke and Mara both realized it at the same time. Ben was using the Force to manipulate the inner workings of the podracer. Luke dropped Mara's hand and raced for his children, calling on the Force to pull them away from the explosion he knew was coming.
Fire and flames were all Mara could see for too many minutes. Her own screams echoed in her head. She reached her husband first. Cuts littered his face. Blood covered his clothing. His eyes were closed. Moans came from him, telling her he was alive. In his arms was the tiny body of their son. Next to Luke, just beyond his reach, was their daughter.
Mara knew. Anij was dead.
"No!
/
"I came to with my mother's screams in my ears, Anakin," Ben said after several long minutes. "My father had told me not to do anything, and of course I didn't listen to him. I used the Force. I reached into that engine and tried to fix it."
Anakin moved closer once again. "Ben, you were only…," he began, only to be cut off.
"…five years old!" Ben yelled. "I know! It doesn't matter! If I had listened to him, she'd be alive!" he continued to yell.
"Ben, if you believe in anything anymore…" Anakin began,"…believe in this. You did nothing wrong. You didn't kill your sister that day. Whether it was the Force or the gods the people on this planet believe in, she was meant to die that day and nothing you did, or didn't do, would have changed that. Uncle Luke and Aunt Mara accepted that long ago, and it's time you did as well."
Ben shook his head. Tears were streaming down his tanned face. "No, I won't. I can't accept that. She died because of me. It was my fault. I want her back, Anakin. I want to bring her back!"
Ben collapsed into the sand. Anakin moved to his side and held the younger man in his arms. Tears flowed for what seemed like hours as Ben released the grief he'd kept so close to his heart for twenty-three years. The two men sat there as the sun reached its peak high in the afternoon sky.
"You should be going," Ben said, interrupting the silence that had developed. "I'm sure Tahiri and Maliya are missing you."
"Are you going to be okay?" Anakin questioned, his concern bleeding through in his tone.
"Yes. I'll be fine."
Deciding that everything that could be said had been said, Anakin stood and walked away from his cousin.
/
Three Hours Later
Lygos III
"You're late," came a voice from the darkness.
"I'm sorry," replied a black-clad Ben Skywalker. "I was held up by…a visitor; my apologies."
"What have you decided?" asked the voice. "Will you let me teach you to defy death, to bring back those that have already passed? Will you learn my power, Ben Skywalker?"
At first, Ben didn't answer. He'd been plagued by the dreams for years, but ever since he'd come to Lygos III, they were different. He no longer dreamed of his sister dying, but of bringing her back from beyond; back from the horrible death that had claimed her long ago. Now he had to make a choice.
Walk away and his sister remained beyond his reach.
Stay and Anij would be with him again.
Ben looked down at the dreamcatcher around his neck. Nubian legend said the wearer was protected from all bad dreams and negative influences; that evil would never touch one blessed by the powers of the dreamcatcher. Ben had worn it since the day he'd arrived on Lygos III.
Surely the man offering the miracle of bringing someone to life wasn't evil. He didn't need the dreamcatcher to protect him from this man. As he'd told Anakin, there was not evil on Lygos III. He was safe there.
Ben pulled the dreamcatcher over his head and rolled it up into his hand. He squeezed it once and placed it in his pocket. He turned his blue-gray eyes into the figure that had made his way directly in front of him.
"What would give a man that can make your deepest dream come true, Ben Skywalker?" asked the shadowy figure.
Ben took a deep breath. "Everything. I pledge myself, my heart and my soul to your teachings. Give me my sister."