A/N-This was written by two college students. It's quite AU in some parts, but we had a lot of fun with it. Enjoy, and review!
Disclaimor: We don't own Star Wars or any recognizable characters.
Shade Salogel knew that he was much too old to be scared-after all, he was four years old today. But still, the man standing at the door was huge! He had come on a spaceship-Shade could see it in the man's mind, and then he saw himself. Quickly, he looked down at his own toes, hoping that the pictures would go away. Mama said that if he saw pictures, he would be taken away. He didn't want to be taken away.
"Where's your parents, young man?" The man asked, his voice kind, but Shade still jumped.
"I'll get Mama." He mumbled, and scurried off, leaving the tall man in the dark brown robes at the door. Quickly, he got Mama from the kitchen where she was making his birthday cake. She went to the front door, and Shade hid next to the couch to listen. No one ever found him when he hid.
Mama and the big man talked, but Shade didn't really understand what they were saying. There were a lot of strange words, like 'Jedi Master, the Temple, Master Yoda', and other things like that. Finally, Shade got bored and wandered back to watch the cake bake. It was fun to sometimes watch with his inside eye and see things happen in other places. Shade loved to watch the food cook in the oven. Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming towards him, and guiltily closed his inside eye.
Mama came in the door, and she looked sad. Instead of scolding Shade, like she usually did when he watched things like that, she just hugged him.
"What's matter?" Shade whispered, as she started crying. "Mama?" He asked, getting scared when the big man came into the kitchen.
"You have to come with me now, Shade. Come on." The man said, reaching for the boy's hand. Shade backed away, blue eyes huge.
"No! Shade stay! He hide!" He declared, and vanished right before the astonished eyes of the Jedi Master. Larissa let out a half-sob, half-laugh as she realized what had happened.
"Now you've done it! He won't be out for an hour at least, even if you do leave the house! And don't even try to find him with-with the Force. I've tried it enough times, and it doesn't work. Go wait outside, and I'll see if I can convince him to come out." She ordered, recovering herself and wiping away her tears. Bewildered, the Jedi Master obeyed, having already felt for the boy in the Force. He hadn't been able to find any trace of Shade.
Once the man was out of the house, Larissa turned to the far corner underneath the kitchen table. It was Shade's favorite place to tuck himself away into, so that he was doubly hidden.
"Come on out, baby. Come to Mama." She called softly, opening her arms. Immediately, a small, invisible form barreled into her, and clung to her, shaking. "It's alright, Shade. It's all right. You have to go away for a while, but Mama will be here waiting for you. Let me see you." Slowly, the boy turned visible, his eyes filled with tears. Gently, Larissa wiped away the tears, and hugged him once more. Then she sat him down at the table, pulled the cake out of the oven, and gave him his piece of cake.
That cheered him up considerably. Afterwards, Larissa packed a small bag of clothing and other things, and gave it to him. Finally, she took out a long rope. Shade stuck out his lower lip when he saw it, but obediently held out his right hand. Larissa tied it loosely around his wrist, then hugged him again and brought him to the door. The Jedi Master was waiting outside.
"Take care of my son. Hold onto this, and you won't loose him. Shade, do what you're told. Be good, son. I love you."
"Love you, Mama." He whispered, his form starting to shimmer as he fought against the instinct to go 'hide'. The Jedi Master picked him up and carried him off. Shade stared back at his Mama the entire way, watching her in his inside eye.
Then they got on a spaceship, and Shade promptly forgot to be scared. He wiggled as he was strapped into a seat, wanting to see inside everything, but the straps were secure. After a few minutes, they took off, and he defiantly used his inside eye to look into all of the machines.
Eventually, he fell asleep. The Jedi was greatly startled when he glanced back to check on his charge, and found that the boy was gone. The rope vanished right where it should be on his wrist, and it looked like the straps were wrapped around nothing but air. Once again, he searched the Force, but could find no sign of Shade. He sighed, and wondered how to warn the Council about this.
Shade bit his lip as he stood in front of the twelve members of the Jedi Council. They were all staring at him, and he was being bombarded with pictures. Suddenly, all of the pictures but one stopped.
"What do you see?" A man, even taller than the one who had taken him away, asked. This man had dark skin, and didn't look very nice.
"Cup." He whispered, his voice barely loud enough to be heard.
"Now what do you see?" The man asked, leaning back in his big chair. Shade shivered, wishing that his Mama were there to hold his hand.
"Bug-big bug."
They went on through several more pictures before Shade got tired and bored. "No more pictures! Shade get taken 'way if he see pictures!" He declared, and the tall man frowned.
"You will do as you're told, young man." He declared, his voice so cold that Shade gave one frightened squeak and vanished. All of the Jedi Masters sat forward in their chairs, startled. They couldn't sense the boy anywhere!
"Here, the boy is." Yoda announced, his hand resting on a quivering bit of air next to his chair. Then, Yoda himself looked startled when he was shoved forward a bit, and Shade hid behind him. "Very unusual, this is. Left alone, the boy will be. Not old enough, is he, to explain this. With the other Initiates he will stay. Call Master Reed-take the boy, he will, to the Initiates.
Within minutes, Shade found himself being carried by the man that had taken him away from his Mama. He was placed on a bed- the little boy curled up and cried himself to sleep.
Mace Windu sighed, again. Shade had been here only about a week, and he was turning the Temple on ear. So far, no one but Yoda could sense the boy when he vanished. Whenever he was scared, or upset. Or anything like that, Shade just vanished. Already they had had to search the Temple five times to find him. Until he was older, and could control the instinct to disappear, the only thing the Jedi could do was try to keep a rope on Shade.
Qui-gon Jinn was striding through the halls of the Jedi Temple when he suddenly paused, sensing something. He put a hand on his lightsaber, and slowly scanned the area. There was no one around him.
"Hello! You big-you a Masther?" A cheerful young voice asked, apparently coming from under a chair. Qui-gon knelt, and stared hard at the air. There was a giggle.
"I hide-ev'ryone look for Shade!"
Just then, Mace Windu came down the hall. He distractedly nodded to Qui-gon, his eyes busily scanning every part of the hall. He was apparently looking for something, or someone.
"I'm glad you're back, Qui-gon. We need your help. Would you come with me to the Council Chambers?"
"First, could you tell me why that chair just spoke to me?" Qui-gon interjected, and the Jedi Master nodded, suddenly looking very satisfied.
"Shade, let me see you." Mace ordered, and it was obvious that he was trying to moderate his voice so that he wasn't too loud.
A little boy, about four, with very messy white blond hair shimmered into view. He stood next to the chair, looking down at his bare feet- there was a pair of boots lying on the floor next to the chair. The boy looked very small.
"What's his midi-clorien count? I could barely sense him!" Qui-gon said, staring at the boy who was doing his best to avoid looking at Mace.
"We don't know. We haven't been able to get him to stand still long enough to find out." Mace said through gritted teeth, keeping his tone light so that he didn't frighten the boy standing in front of him. Qui-gon watched, mystified, as Mace took a rope out of a pocket, tied one end around Shade's wrist, and picked him up.
"Who exactly is this boy?" Qui-gon asked as they walked down the hall. Shade stuck his thumb in his mouth, and Mace, with a disgusted look, firmly but gently pulled it out.
"Don't do that, Shade." The Jedi Master ordered, and the boy in his arms vanished. They both heard contented sucking noises a moment later. Mace groped around for a moment, then found Shade's hand, removed the thumb, and gently slapped the back of the boy's wrist. "I said no." Immediately there were noisy tears, but they had just stopped at a door.
Mace handed over the sobbing bit of air and the rope attached to it to a waiting lady Jedi Master. Mace looked incredibly relieved when the door closed, and they couldn't hear Shade's crying anymore.
"No one but Yoda and now you can sense that boy in the Force. We're making no progress at all in training him-if he vanishes, we can't even be certain if he's still there!" It was the most frustrated that Qui-gon had ever heard Mace Windu.
"How long has he been here?"
"16 days. Every day is a new trial. Can you believe that yesterday we found him in the middle of the Archives? He was using the Force to read them while they were still on the shelves! No other Initiate has ever behaved like him. His mother was an Initiate here, but she left when she didn't find a Master. Her husband died before the boy was born, so we know nothing about him. There's no record of anything like this in the Archives. And with Master Yoda, Shade just giggles, calls him 'funny bug', and plays with his ears! No one knows what to do."
"Have you asked his mother for advice?" Qui-gon suggested tentatively, wondering how a four-year-old boy could confuse and frustrate Mace Windu so much.
"Yes. She couldn't tell us anything- the only thing that she really knows is that he's usually obedient, and will show himself if ordered to."
"Then why was he having problems just now?"
"Nap time." Mace responded gloomily. "He never wants to take a nap, so we have to hunt him down every day. At least he follows a pattern about where in the Temple he hides."
They were finally at the Council Chambers, and Mace regained most of his dignity. It was hard to get all of his dignity back when there were several tear marks on the front of his robes, and one spot where Shade had wiped his thumb after sucking on it,
"Something must be done about Shade." Mace declared as he stalked majestically to his seat and sat down. Obi-wan quietly joined Qui-gon in the center of the circle.
"Decided, I have." Yoda announced, nodding his head. "With Qui-gon and Obi-wan, the boy will go."
"What?" Everyone in the room gasped, except for the confused Obi-wan. Yoda nodded gravely.
"Responsibility, the boy must learn. Here, he will not. Take him with you, you will." Yoda nodded once more, then left the room, mumbling to himself.
"We can not take a four-year-old into a planetary civil war!" Qui-gon stated firmly.
Two hours later, the argument was finally resolved- Shade would go with Qui-gon and Obi-wan. Qui-gon hurried out of the room, Obi-wan close behind him. Qui-gon turned to Obi-wan, obviously tense but controlling himself.
"Go get the boy, Obi-wan. He's in with the rest of the Initiates. I'll get the rest of the supplies, and meet you at the spaceship."
Obi-wan nodded, and hurried over to the room. Once there, he found a young boy standing outside of the door, holding a pack The boy yawned heavily, and his eyes widened when he saw Obi-wan.
"Big light!" He whispered loudly, looking amazed. "Shade see big light in you!" Obi-wan reached out to take the boy's hand, and the boy, startled, bit.