AN: so this is another story of "A Twist in the Tales", but completely unrelated to the other stories. There is another different twist here, and here's my take on this kind of twist…
I don't own Star Wars, George Lucas did, and now it belongs to Disney… but even in the shadows, or the depths of this planet, and most importantly, in my jolly young heart, I will always love Star Wars…
So, the twist will be Shmi Skywalker was born within the inner core of the galaxy, and she was discovered to be force sensitive and taken in by the Jedi Council…
A Twist in the Tales: Birthright
Chapter 1
The Birth of a Skywalker
A teen-aged woman was by the few medical centers in one of the planets within the inner cores of the galaxy. As she cradled the small human youngling in her arms, she could see the child's inquiring eyes as it gazed around her, to the ceiling. It had been three days ago, just after a day she has given birth to the child, when she felt the room shake about her as the small babe cried. As it calmed down, so did the quake stop. She had them make a midichlorian test, and sure enough, she tested to be, what these Jedi would love to call, Force-sensitive.
Any moment now, they would arrive, to bring about the babe to a crèche.
Even she knew she wouldn't be allowed to keep her baby, either by circumstance or by family. She was only fourteen, and yet she was already with child. She was the only child, and when they realized of her transgression, she was disowned by her wealthy family for it would tarnish the family name. She hears the doors to her room slide open, and the sound of a walking stick slightly tapping against the floor filled her ears. She looked up from her child and saw the Grandmaster of a proud order visiting her. Accompanied by a dark skinned human, who looked way too strict for someone who belonged to what was supposed to be a compassionate order…
"Greetings to you, young Sarkeena."
"Please, my family disowned me Master Yoda, the name Sarkeena no longer holds any meaning to me." She says and holds her chin up proudly. She may be a disgraced child from a wealthy family, but bearing this child and not giving into abortion was one she would uphold proudly. "I go by Skywalker now." His green ears twitched as he listened on to her, and walked closer, bringing a chair closer to the side of her bed and sat on it with ease as he looked upon her child…
"Hold your child, can I?" she nodded and handed her baby gently over to the Jedi Master, "Hm, strong with the force, this young one is." He said and looked over his shoulder, as his companion drew closer, "Already shows signs of power, she has." He didn't inquire about it, he already knew, "If child not force sensitive, go where, would you?"
"Anywhere." She replied, "I am not welcome in my own home, so I'd rather make a new one, where we are welcomed." She then looked at her child, "But of course, to be able to support us I'd have to travel farther out, to the Outer Rims. No one in the Republic accepts child labor. There are laws for that."
"To do so would expose you, and your child, to slavery." The dark skinned Jedi states for the first time, and she looked at him with strength one would not find so easily in a fourteen-year-old mother…
"One I would gladly accept if I could allow my child to live." She stated, accepting readily the hardships of life. The Jedi looked at her with a stern gaze and outstretched his hands, asking for her to do the same. She did so, and he held her palms for a moment, feeling it, before letting it go…
"You have soft hands young Skywalker, to lead a life of a slave would be very difficult for you." he stated plainly, and she knows she knows nothing of a hard day's work…
"So is bearing through disappointed stares from family, carrying a child at fourteen out of wedlock, and giving birth to it with only me to raise it. But I never back down from a challenge Master Jedi. I am young, and I am flexible, I have much to learn, and much to live. I may be disgraced, but I have dignity and pride. People may enslave me, but not my spirits. That is who I am, and that is what I shall impart to my dear Shmi." She stated defiantly at them, while holding out her hands to take hold of her child once more. Master Yoda gave the baby back to her, and he watched as she rocked the baby softly to sleep…
"No contact of the child after taken in by the Jedi, know of this, do you?" the little green master asked her and she slowed to a stop and let out a resigned sigh…
"If you could give her a better life than the path we're supposed to take, then I would gladly release all my claims to her as her mother." She looked at the Jedi, "I only pray you let her keep the name I've given her."
"Do this, we shall." Master Yoda told her
Already, at a young age, Shmi Skywalker was proving to be quite the prodigy among many other talents. As for her mother, well, she never inquired, and she never got any information about her other than the Jedi Council provided her a home somewhere far from her. She was what one would deem as the perfect Jedi. She was compassionate, strong in the force, fast learner… and detached. A perfect Jedi indeed. Not even the great masters of the Order have a stronger attachment to her than the other…
They were all equal to her.
She continued to grow up, respected, and well disciplined, obedient and a hard worker…
She was knighted and was soon assigned to different parts of the galaxy to help the different life forms, but one day, she and her old master never came back.
The Jedi Order had given out search and rescue missions from them, but most of them were a dead end, just remnants of a trail that had gone cold. They were about to give up the search, but one last tip, to an abandoned place in Korriban did they found the decaying body of Shmi's master, and the unconscious form of Shmi Skywalker herself.
They were soon brought back to the temple, and though they did report the whereabouts of the ambush, the Jedi Order did not say everything they found out during their thorough investigation. After master and knight had been returned to the temple, the master received a proper funeral, while Shmi had been brought to the Jedi Medical center.
They found no other wounds or indications of any form of violence upon Shmi's person aside from a couple of bruises and some force-numbing drugs. For three weeks Shmi had gone under surveillance, until the med-droids noticed something odd…
For some reason, they're picking up another form of life coming from within Shmi.
The Jedi checked again, and again, but no signs of any form of rape or sexual activity were found, it was soon decided to place the verdict on the child, and Shmi as soon as both are born and conscious respectively. Another week more, Shmi woke up with the news of her master's death, and of her unexpected pregnancy. She was questioned thoroughly and undergone many tests, but Shmi could not give any helpful answer. For some reason, her abduction was gone from her mind, like it never happened.
Nine months later, a baby was born, and the Force had sang a beautiful melody, rejoicing its arrival…
But its birth was marred by the Jedi's fear of the possibility of the Sith's return. No clear answer was still made from Shmi's disappearance and the baby's origin, so the entire Jedi Temple was cloaked with the masters' force to protect the unnatural strength of the force the baby had…
"Could this child… truly be a child of the Force?" one of the many questions the masters had for Master Yoda, but the ancient master had no answer…
"Meditate on this I will." He told them and walked away from them, his gimmer stick tapping on the floors as he goes and stops when he reaches his meditation room. He sits on his stool, crosses his legs, sets the stick right beside him and closes his eyes as he immerses himself in the force…
Brightness. That was the first thing he saw in the Force, it was happy, it was singing in joy, voiceless tunes, but it also held a warning, for what it wasn't clear. He searches for the baby's signature, but it was hard to separate from the force the baby's force signature. Why is it so? He questions the force so, but it flares so brightly, making him stop…
It does not wish for him to question the boy's existence, it mellows out, its sharp tunes lowering to make way for much pleasant music. It makes way towards a single bright light in the force, and encompasses it, but it was not just the light that came, for such bright lights cast darker shadows as well, but the light did not overpower the shadows, nor did the shadows stray from where they should be. They swirled around the babe, the light soon becomes a faceless figure of a woman, and the dark becomes a faceless shadow of a man.
Both figures huddle together in harmony over the boy, like parents would with a child of their own. But this was the Force, how could it create a child? Man and woman reformed into a big ball of light and shadow, dark tendrils spiking up rapidly as sparks of light popped on the ground Master Yoda stood…
"Question no more I will." Yoda said, "Trained the boy shall be, in the ways of the Force." The ball of light and shadow soon dispersed into the background, and Master Yoda was no longer in the Force vision, but back in his own meditation chamber. Master Yoda didn't move out of the chair immediately for he was still in such deep thought. The Force confirmed only one question, this child that Shmi had born in the temple was indeed its child, no other force sensitive is as one of the force as the child was…
But that was the only thing it gave to the grandmaster. What the child would bring, it did not say, but great caution must be done while training the child, for it is equally strong with the light and the dark side. One wrong move could tip the child to the dark side…
"Master Yoda." Master Windu called as he entered the meditation chamber, "The Jedi Council is already in the Council room, awaiting for your verdict." Master Yoda nodded and Master Windu bowed and walked away and left Master Yoda alone as he made no move to leave just yet. Master Yoda shook his head and let out a sigh, doubt still filling his mind. He stood up and left the room, but it wasn't to the council chamber he went to right away, but to the crèche of the Temple, where they kept the force-sensitive infants…
Shmi Skywalker had left the child in the care of the Jedi, and she would soon be sent to the Agri. Corp. to supervise all those who had failed to become padawans and help out in the field as soon as she had recovered from the childbirth, but she requested the child to be named Anakin, after her deceased master.
When Master Yoda arrived, Anakin Skywalker was left alone, levitating the objects around the room to his own delight. Master Yoda chuckled lightly and came closer to the crib, the objects were swirling uncontrollably, only when Yoda used the force, did they stop and was brought back to their respective places. The baby soon started to squirm in frustration that someone would stop him, but paused as soon as Master Yoda came into view. It stared up at him with bright blue eyes, curiously staring at the new being, "Anakin Skywalker hmm, think what do you, of your doing hmm?" he asked softly and the baby giggled and held up his arms, wanting to touch the funny alien…
"Strong in the force you are, left untrained, dangerous you would be." Yoda mused to himself and touched Anakin with the Force soothingly, the baby squirmed a bit before letting out a cute yawn and soon drifted off to sleep…
When the Jedi Council started, Master Yoda had told the Council about Anakin and the Force, the masters voted for the boy to be trained, but separately from the others, and the secret of the chosen one was kept among the Jedi Order, no other outsider would find out, and the search for the Sith began.
"Master Yoda," a three-year-old Anakin Skywalker called out to the Jedi grandmaster as he was leaving, "Why can't I be with other kids?" Anakin asked as he practiced his levitation skills on directing the different pieces to its respective places all at the same time. The pieces went back a little shaky with their proper places as Anakin faced the grandmaster…
"Different you are," Master Yoda told him, "Control yourself well, you could not yet." He told Anakin, "Once this you master, only then can you join others."
"But what if I take too long?"
"Then long it will be, before able to join others you can." With that Master Yoda left the room, and the door slid closed. He didn't see how Anakin's eyes shifted to the HoloVid of other children in the temple learning, eating, studying, sleeping together. He didn't see the tears shed by Anakin as he watched in silent longing to the other children of his age. He was too young to know, too young to understand why he was dangerous. All he felt was that he was alone…
"Fix your stance boy," Master Dooku corrected a four-year-old as he held the training saber in his hand, going over the basics of Form I, "We've been over this a few times already, you should have learned by now." He said as he circled Anakin in the master's training room, "Master Yoda thought it best it's time for you to start training with a lightsaber, and a lightsaber is…?" he trailed off, wanting the child to complete the sentence…
"A Jedi's life?" he asked for confirmation, and the expert duelist looked at the child with narrow eyes…
"You sound unsure young Skywalker," he said, "Is that what you would tell your adversaries? Show the Sith uncertainty?"
"No master."
"No indeed, say it with pride Anakin," Master Dooku said, "A Jedi takes pride in his work, but don't take too much, remember twice the pride…"
"Double the fall."
"Double the fall." Dooku repeated and held up his own training saber, "Now, again!"
"He gets stronger every day," Master Windu tells Master Yoda as they walk side by side the corridors of the Jedi Temple. Master Yoda nodded and let out a sigh, "Is something wrong?"
"Master the Force, the boy has not yet." Yoda said, "Progress, though fast it is, slow it is still. Chosen One, the boy is, Force cleared it years ago, but too much passion I sense in him still."
"Perhaps it's time for him to join the others, make him realize early on that people can leave even at the most unexpected times."
"Dangerous he is still," Yoda said, "To others, and to himself." He tapped his gimmer stick, "Isolate him a little more, we will."
"I don't think it's a good idea Master Yoda."
"These misgivings of yours, what are they?"
"We isolated him from Knight Shmi Skywalker, yet we allowed him to keep the name given to him by his mother, and his grandmother. He's still connected to her."
"As to our parents, we are." Yoda countered, "Fear him, you do. A child he still is."
"But we found the remains of Anakin, and the unconscious, yet pregnant Shmi in a place where Sith once reigned. You saw Anakin's body, it was the wounds from a lightsaber." Windu said, "If the child truly is the Chosen One, then he is equally dark, as he is equally light. A single misstep is all it will take to tip the balance."
Yoda knows of this, many times has he meditated, asked why there is such darkness around someone so young, but there is also so much light, as expected of someone conceived by the force. But clouded, the boy's future remained. "Answer, the Force will not, question more about the boy's existence I will not. Here and now the boy is, train him better we will."
"Blast, lost again." Obi-Wan mumbled to him as he obviously took a wrong turn in the restricted areas of the temple. Not many were allowed to wander off without the guidance of their master, but he wasn't looking at his master when he was in awe at the simple yet magnificent hallways. Tall and wide, yet plenty of stools everywhere, fit to sit on when in meditation. It also had a giant fountain in the middle of the hall, adorned with plants to decorate the place. The Force pulsed strongly, and the next thing he knew, he was alone in the great hall.
He tried using the Force to locate his master, but somehow, it stops here in this deserted corridor. It was quite dark, and yet, Obi-Wan could feel a sense of foreboding, a secret…
He wasn't dumb, the masters were hiding something, and at one time, he heard his master slip at what it could possibly be it was that the masters hid. He was one of the master and padawan tandems sent to look for the fallen Master Anakin and his knighted padawan Shmi, and actually found them. He was horrified by what he saw at Master Anakin's body; scarred lines all over the body, amputated limbs, and of course, the tell-tale signs of electrocution, yet there was no power, nor any indication there had been a massive evacuation.
Qui-Gon said something about the possible return of the Sith, and more investigations were done in secret, but there was another matter the Jedi Masters kept viciously to themselves…
The birth of the chosen one.
Speculations circulated, but none were confirmed, but Obi-Wan was curious…
"Master, why is Knight Skywalker going to the Agri Corps? Wouldn't it be better for her to stay within the temple? What if her abductor comes back?"
"The moment it comes to that again Obi-Wan, we'll be ready."
"Ready for what?"
"The return of the Sith" he answered, "After all, it wouldn't be too far now, with the chosen one's birth and all."
"Birth? Chosen One?" Obi-Wan repeated, "Who?" Qui-Gon looked at him for a moment before shaking his head…
"Never mind that Obi-Wan, we've got some diplomatic mission to attend to."
Suddenly the wall opened, or a hidden door, he didn't know, and out came a five-year-old boy. His blonde hair was messy, and he had a sleepy look on his face, and yawned, while holding an empty glass in his hands. Rubbing the sleep in his blue eyes, he didn't notice someone was in front of him, as soon as he did, they both stopped and stared at each other.
Obi-Wan didn't know what to do, nor why an initiate was in one of the restricted areas, assuming the young boy was lost Obi-Wan approached him and crouched down to his level, "Hello young one," he greeted, "I'm-"
"Obi-Wan." They both turned to the source of the voice, and Obi-Wan sighed in relief that it was his master and not someone else. "Padawan, what have you been up to?"
"I apologize master, I got lost, and found my way here." He looked back to the boy, and Qui-Gon took a good look, it was Anakin Skywalker. "Well, should we not be going? I'd hate to get lost again." Obi-Wan looked back to Qui-Gon, ushering the boy gently to follow them, who opted to remain silent.
"We should get going, but he shall stay." Qui-Gon said and Obi-Wan paused, "Isn't that right, Anakin?" Obi-Wan paused and looked at the boy, and really looked at him. But not with his eyes, something tells him not to, and he searches the Force to answers of this boy's identity, and sees the raw power, the raw energy of the Force, swirling like a dark cloud with bursts of light. Never had Obi-Wan felt someone as strong as he in the Force…
"Yes Master Jinn." Anakin answered and looked up at Obi-Wan, taking in the new face. It was his first contact to someone else in the Jedi Order that is not a master, and yet somehow, he felt like he knew who this person was. Obi-Wan just stared, but as he looked into the five-year-old's eyes, he saw something he thought he wouldn't see in any Jedi, initiate or master…
Loneliness.
"But Master I don't think we should leave." Obi-Wan said and looked at Qui-Gon, "He's just a boy, surely he'll need some company."
"Obi-Wan, he needs to train, you need to train." He stresses, but even so his will to leave the boy alone was waning. Raising someone in isolation is never a good thing…
"I promise we will both train together." Obi-Wan swore and turned back to the boy, "I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi." He reached out his hand…
"Anakin Skywalker." The boy replied and took it. Qui-Gon didn't know what he felt, but something that day assured him, it would be alright…
"Dangerous, what you did was." Master Yoda reprimanded Padawan Kenobi for his stunt in the restricted section of the temple, and by 'stunt' they meant his interaction with the boy. Padawan Kenobi refused to look at the masters, knowing full well that they disapproved of his actions. Qui-Gon let out a sigh and interjected for his padawan…
"If you will Master Yoda, how was Obi-Wan supposed to know, when we explicitly decided to keep the boy's identity, or rather, existence amongst the masters and a few selected knights? Perhaps if we expose the boy-"
"You forget that we separated the boy due to his unusual strength in the force." Master Windu interjected, "And his power is still not yet fully in his control. The council had deemed it best to separate his training with the rest, knowing he must learn to control it at the earliest opportunity possible lest he put others, especially himself, in harm's way."
"Not to mention the possibility of the Sith returning," added Maste Ki-Adi Mundi, "Master Anakin's death is still a mystery, along with the abduction of Knight Skywalker five years ago. The father of Anakin, Shmi's son, might possibly be a Sith, and might want him back."
"But surely if he is the Chosen One-"
"Then all the more reason there is to protect the child." Master Windu said, Obi-Wan remained silent, but plenty of his questions were answered, but still, plenty more replaced the answered with unanswered ones. The boy, Anakin Skywalker, was the fabled Chosen One, whose birth signifies great chaos to which he shall bring balance to the Force. The return of the sith, but from where? How would they find the Sith? Would they truly be prepared? What would happen to the boy?
"A secret, remain the boy must, until council deems fit to present him." Master Yoda decreed, "Padawan Kenobi, speak of this to anyone, you will not. See the boy, you will not. Dangerous it is to form attachments, lead to the Dark Side it could."
"Masters, if I may," Obi-Wan started, his questions fueling him more than his respect with the council, "If the boy truly is the Chosen One, then why would you fear him so?" Obi-Wan wasn't blind, more importantly, the Force wasn't blind. Qui-Gon almost chuckled out loud by the sudden frankness of his padawan, knowing him to be more of a perfect jedi than he, but he commends Obi-Wan silently for pointing that out to the council. "Shouldn't you trust in the Force that it knows what it is doing? Plenty of times I hear you lecture us to let the Force do its work, but you are constantly trying to control the boy. Is the boy not a child of the Force, therefore part of the Force as well? Surely the boy must at least have a sense of normalcy."
"Normal the boy is not." Master Yoda corrected and Obi-Wan nodded in agreement…
"True, I've felt his strength in the Force, despite being a novice compared to you, but shouldn't that be all the more reason to let him have a sense of being a normal initiate when he still can? A chance to understand the world around him better instead of being taught he has the weight of the world over his shoulders at such a young age?"
"Obi-Wan." Qui-Gon called out, and his youthful padawan turned to look at him, "Enough young one." Obi-Wan realized he probably overstepped with his questions, must have implied unknowingly that the Council was wrong. He bowed respectfully to the masters, humbling himself before them…
"I apologize masters, my curiosity have gotten the best of me." He told them and they all nodded, signifying they accept…
"Qui-Gon's defiance, I sense in you." Master Yoda stated, giving Qui-Gon an amused look, "But point you have, young Kenobi. Until then, our counsel you must keep." He finalized and Obi-Wan nodded. "Dismissed you both are." Both Qui-Gon and his padawan bowed and left the council room, leaving the rest of the masters pondering about Kenobi's words and questions…
"The boy does have a point." Master Windu said as he recalled the questions, "Perhaps, we should allow the boy to be trained as the others have been."
"An excellent negotiator he could be, Qui-Gon's apprentice," Dooku added, "But I stand by our previous decision, the boy cannot be trained like the others, he is simply too advanced for his own age group."
"Indeed, it would create animosity between him and the other initiates." Added another Master. As the council debated on and on, Master Yoda closed his eyes to convene with the Force, asking it what the boy's future would bring, but both light and dark side just floated around them aimlessly, not moving in a certain way to allow interpretation, both light and dark just molded together like a bunch of colors mixed together, but the Force started to shift and form into images…
Sand… dessert
A young monarch…
Qui-Gon and Padawan Kenobi…
Shmi.
A cloaked man kneeling in front of darkness…
Master Yoda opened his eyes and tapped his gimmer stick, "The counsel we will keep, until deem it otherwise will I." Master Yoda said as soon as the masters died down their arguments. "Clouded the boy's future still is, but a danger he will not be, if correct guidance we give him."
And though Master Yoda did not exactly know the significance the things he saw in the Force, he knew that the things the Force showed him key pieces to solve the mystery of one Anakin Skywalker.
.
.
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And I know, I know, I'm supposed to be updating In the Milky Way: Soldier Down, but I have got MAJOR writer's block on that story, and all the rest, this one was the only one that was spinning my writing gears, so I really appreciate it if you guys tell me what you think about this story, what you expect, because honestly, this story's future is as clouded as Anakin's future in Episode I as Yoda stated. And I know you don't want to hear any more excuses for not being able to update the other stories, but college is really stressful right now, and I won't delve into the details, but yeah, I needed to get my head straight, and I probably still won't be updating for a long while…
Hoping for your long patience, and thank you so much!
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