Chapter 2

There. She had them. It had been so easy too. Jedi. Far too arrogant for their own good. Honestly, it was a wonder they had survived so long. Ahh, here they came now, Master and Apprentice, what a wonderful family picture. And to think, they had no idea their lives were about to be changed forever.

Obi-wan stole a glance at his padawan, who was still tired from the sudden Force dissipation. He seemed to be fine though, it must have been the shock that had affected him so badly. They were being led by multiple humans armed with electro jabbers, blasters, knives, and several other equally pleasant things. They had put Force dissipaters on their wrists, ensuring that what little connection they might have had to the Force was completely gone, and that was the most disturbing thing of all. And then they were being herded toward a door that opened to show.. a girl. On something that looked remarkably like a throne. She looked to be about 13 or 14, had long blond hair, and blue eyes. She was wearing a long cape, and knee high boots. She had elbow length gloves, and a light blue and red dress that came to her ankles. The room, Obi-wan noticed, was quite large, though sparsely decorated. It was cool (in temperature), and a red carpet led to the girls throne, if that was what it really was. Several guards were in the room, and Obi-wan felt certain that this was not a girl to mess with. She smiled, then spoke.

"Obi-wan, Anakin, so glad you could make it. It wouldn't have been a party without you two, you know."

"Our pleasure, "Anakin responded. "But I fear we've overstayed our welcome. We must give you our birthday gifts and go, before we become a nuisance."

"Nonsense! We haven't gotten to the cake yet. Besides, this is a sleepover. You can't leave so soon. Guards! Show our guests to their quarters. No, on second thought, Anakin gets to stay here. Obi-wan can go to holding cell 2-93-45. Security level 9.65. Rations case B, Comfort level 2."

Obi-wan felt rough hands grab him and force him out the door. No. They couldn't do this. This girl was dangerous, Anakin couldn't be alone with her! But they were blindfolding him, forcing him down a flight of stairs, through a series of corridors, and finally, into a cell. The blindfold was removed, and they chained his hands and feet to the wall. Then they put an electro collar around his neck, and chained that to the wall to. Hmm. An electro coller. He would have to be sure not to move any more than necessary, not that he could much anyway, but he would be shocked if he tried. Sighing, he waited for Anakin. Then a thought occurred to him. What if they didn't put Anakin with him? What if they took the boy to a completely different place, and torchered him, leaving him alone without his Master. No, they couldn't do that. They couldn't. Obi-wan felt a cold hand grip his heart, as he hoped, no, prayed, that his padawan would be returned to him, safe, and sound.

Anakin kept a level glare at the girl who had captured him. "Who are you?" He demanded. "And what do you want from us?" She maintained an even gaze, and smiled in that infuriating way of hers.

"I don't think you're in any position to be asking about names, Ani. That, really, is something I would rather you didn't know. Anyway, as to your secant question, I would like very much to know where the Holocron of Gallanare is. I have been informed that both you and your Master are partial to this information, and quite frankly, I feel I would benefit from having such a thing in my possession."

"I'll never tell, and you can't make me!" Anakin fired back.

"We shall see. Now I am sure you may have other questions?"

"Actually yeah. You seem to specifically want Obi-wan and me, but you had no way of knowing that we would be the ones who came here. And you left your ID number on our scanners, by now Coruscant will know about you for sure, and they'll identify you in no time. You might as well let us go."

The girl sighed, and shook her head. "For one thing, I left a fake ID number. They trace that, and incidentally, your old buddy Watto will be accused of kidnapping Jedi, which, unfortunately I do not think they will believe. Secondly, I knew they would send the Kenobi/Skywalker team, because of all the 'assets' they believe you have. You know, Kenobi's contacts, your flight abilities and midichlorians. It was simple to deduce who they'd send. And if they sent someone else, then I always leave and try again. They'd think it was just a fluke. And don't feel bad about telling me about the little ID matter. This room is filled with gas that sort of makes you more, willing, shall we say, to talk. It doesn't work if you fight it hard enough, so i can't ask you just anything, but it goes for the little things. Anything else?

"How are you in control here? You're just a kid, I can't believe all these guys follow you."

"Age matters not. Also, for their race, 12 years old is a virtual adult. They don't know it's different for humans. Also they can't understand our conversation, we're inside a disruptor field that scrambles our voices. Anyway, I'm paying them. The money was easy to come by, I had certain information that proved valuable, and was paid quite nicely for it. And I am not a stupid person, I have ways of getting money. But that is not your concern."

Anakin narrowed his eyes. "Look, I'm not giving you any information. Just let us go. We won't participate."

"Sweet, but I think you will. Take him to level 6, intencity 8."

Anakin felt himself being shoved along a hallway, blindfolded, and forced into a turbolift. Level 6 intencity 8. What did that mean? He soon found out, as he entered a bright room filled with vials and all sorts of painful looking devices. He gulped. Torture. This was not going to be fun. But he had been a slave. He could take it. Mabey. They strapped him to a table and pressed a needle to his skin. Suddenly he became aware that the table was very cold, and the restraints were hurting him, digging into his skin, and then they hit him, and he wanted to scream! Oh, he'd heard of this, the injection had heightened his ability to feel pain. And then a knife was being dragged across his skin, and it was so very painful, he wanted to beg for them to stop, but he wouldn't, they wouldn't get that from him, and then they stabbed him in the shoulder, and he couldn't help it, he screamed. It hurt, Oh, It hurt so badly. Why wouldn't they stop?

It hadn't stopped. It had gotten worse, Force, he hadn't known you could hurt so much and still be alive. They had given him a drug that made it impossible to rest, or fall unconscious, so there was no respite from the pain, nothing that could make it better. Currently they were whipping him, had tied him to a post, and now his blood was running down his back, staining the floor, and it was worse than anything he had ever felt. Far worse than Watto or even Gardulla on a bad day. But he could take it. He was a Jedi after all, but oh, why did it have to hurt so much? And then he woke up. It had been a simulation. Fake. But oh, it had felt so real! Then they were untying him, letting him fall limp to the ground. Moaning he crumpled to the ground, and struggled to get his feet under him. They simply grabbed him and hauled him away.

Obi-wan felt all his chains open, and he was dropped to the floor, with a rather undignified thud. Quickly he picked himself up, and wondered why they had let him free. If you could indeed use 'free' to apply to a situation where one was being held hostage by a preteen girl, and stuck in a cell with no connection to the Force whatsoever. Then the door opened, and the guards threw something into his cell. Anakin. Limp, sobbing, and broken. Obi-wan ran to his padawan, and gathered him up into his arms. "Anakin? Anakin, are you alright?" Fear was so obviously in his voice, and he hated it. But what had happened to Anakin? The boy didn't look hurt. But something had obviously happened. What was it? What could reduce his proud, brave, confident padawan to this?

Anakin tried to speak, only to go limp, gasping for breath.

"Anakin, it's alright. You don't have to talk yet. Stay still."

Anakin, staying true to character, ignored him, and managed to gasp out, "They want- me to-tell-them where..." He couldn't finish, and nearly hyperventilated trying to breathe. Obi-wan tried to get him to inhale the life bringing air, oh if there was ever a time he needed the Force... Anakin finally calmed somewhat, and finished.. "Holocron- of Gall-anare."

"Their trying to find the Holocron of Gallanare? The Force Adapter of Ran? If she gets her hands on that..." It would be catastrophic. Nothing short of a catastrophe. But that wasn't important now. Gently Obi-wan pulled Anakin into an upright position, and ran his fingers through his hair. What had happened? What. He couldn't ask now, Anakin was to tired to talk. He was truly exhausted, as the pain and adrenaline were wearing off. He tried to stay awake all night, guarding Anakin, because if he slept they might torture him more, take him away and hurt him, but eventually he lost the battle to sleep, and consciousness slipped away, leaving him curled up against his padawan, each resting against the other, steeling themselves for what was to come.

Obi-wan awoke to the guards coming in and taking Anakin by the shoulders. No. No, they couldn't. Anakin stirred, and gasped in surprise and fear as he saw their broad bodied captors, felt the hands that had hurt him so much. Obi-wan then felt strong hands grab him and throw him to the ground. He looked up to see them dragging Anakin away, the boys whimpers growing fainter as they went.

Anakin let himself be dragged into the illusion room again, and felt a small cry build in his throat. No. No, he wouldn't show weakness like that. He wouldn't. He watched them take a knife from a bin. The knife looked sharp. He gulped. This wouldn't be easy. And then the guard they called Kargath was twisting the knife through his skin and muscle, sliding it through his chest. Anakin wanted to scream, but all those years as a slave paid off, and he managed silence.

Until they plunged the knife once again into his shoulder. He screamed then, and didn't care who heard. Screamed as they ran the knife down his arm, peeling of flesh and muscle, and oh Force it hurt, it hurt. He sobbed, why wasn't Obi-wan there, he was supposed to be there, he promised that he would always take care of him, he promised, but Anakin was alone, and all he could do was cry. They eventually moved off of the knife and started whipping him again. This time though, it was far worse. They kept it up until there was almost no skin on his back, and he could barely feel the whip, so many nerves were destroyed.

Vaguely he felt them retie him to the table, and hold him securely. Right, because he was such a threat. Then they shoved an electro jabber into his chest and his world dissolved into an unending scream of pain. Finally they let him back to Obi-wan. He sobbed in relief, and melted into Obi-wan's arms, burying his face in his Master's chest. Gasping, he let his Master reassure him, hold him tight against everything and everyone that was trying to hurt him. All his thoughts about Obi-wan not caring disappeared, and he was left with Obi-wan holding his padawan, pouring out his love for him, and even if his master didn't understand, at least it seemed he cared. Meanwhile someone was watching the scene between Master and Apprentice.

The girl smiled, as she watched Anakin pressing his broken body into his Master's arms. The plan was progressing so nicely, she thought, watching Anakin sob into his Master's chest. Things seemed to be going exactly as planned, and she did so like it when things were predictable. Soon she would have to begin using different methods on Skywalker, but that was anticipated. She turned to her main gard, Rohi. "Things are coming along so nicely, don't you think?" Her 2ed in command wrinkled his forehead in confusion, and voiced his concerns.

"Sir, I do not believe that this is working as well as you think. I have doubts. They are very buddy buddy, yah? Maybe we separate them, yah?"

"There will be no separation. Things are going on here that you cannot begin to imagine. I will play my hand correctly, and I will do things my way, is that understood?"

"Yah. But I do not see how this will work."

"It will, Rohi. It will."

Anakin was taken away several more times. Upon each return Obi-wan would hold him, rock him in his arms, try desperately to sooth the boy's pain, while on the inside his heart was shattering at his own helplessness. He was the Master, he should be able to protect Anakin, that was his job. Anakin was supposed to be able to trust that Obi-wan would take care of everything, and that it would be alright. Obi-wan would wallow in his own helplessness, and curse himself for not being able to help his padawan. And then one day, they came for him.