(1/7/17) Hi! This chapter had a massive rewrite, so if you've read it please re-read because there have been many changes. In this chapter we get a small glimpse into Penelope's childhood, present, and future. If you have any positive or negative feedback, please let me know so I can improve the quality of the story. Enjoy and thank you!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
"Mm…"
Penelope groaned and tried to stretch her neck and shoulder while hunched over dozen books and graphs. Her mind was exhausted from spending hours in the Archives, researching for her next lessons with the younglings – Master Yoda had advised her to brush up on her astronomy history which appeared had been wise as there was much Penelope had forgotten over time.
Sitting up straight in her chair, Penelope saw she was one of few that remained in the Archives. Most either retired for the night. Others were dispatched to the Senate after the Council received word that the Supreme Chancellor had been taken hostage by Count Dooku. Many members of the Senate were being placed under protection by the Jedi Council until the Chancellor was returned and the threat subdue. Penelope had heard whispers that Anakin and Master Kenobi had been given the mission to rescue the Chancellor. It had been several weeks since Penelope had seen either Anakin or Obi-Wan after they were set back to the Outer Rims. She found her thoughts constantly revolving around the young Jedi Knight, whether awake or asleep.
'I need to sleep.' Penelope thought to herself, even though she knew it was be another night of restless sleep. Her body and mind were worn from lack of rest, her thoughts easily clouded. Master Yoda took noticed of Penelope lack of concertation recently, offering to meditate with the young Jedi. Penelope knew it was an honor for the Grand Master Jedi to offer personal assistance, but she did not want to Master Jedi poking around in her head. Her dreams and thoughts lately had been blurring frequently of violating the Jedi Code many times the last several weeks. Penelope could not risk revealing this to Master Yoda, knowing very well he would have no choice but to bring it all before the Jedi Council.
Slowly, Penelope collected all her materials in her arms and left the Temple Archives for her personal quarters. She could feel her bed calling her name as she strolled through the dark empty corridors of the Jedi Temple, the sounds of chimes ringing signaling that it was midnight. Through the windows of the Temple, Penelope could see the bright city lights of Coruscant – the city dancing with life while many of its residents slept.
"Give it back, Lily! It's mine!"
Penelope paused in her step, unsure if she heard what she thought she did. It sounded like a child's voice. Penelope stood still and searched with her eyes where a youngling may of be hiding. It was against the rules for a youngling to be out an about in the Jedi Temple at this time of night – all the younglings knew this.
"No. You shouldn't even have this anyways. Where did you get it?"
Penelope felt a heavy pressure in her chest when she heard the echo of an older child shout. She knew that voice and it did not belong to any younglings or Padawans, that she knew of.
'It can't be.'
Penelope thought to herself as she looked around the empty corridor, finding no source of the voices to be found. She shook her head rapidly for several seconds, believing that what she heard was just a delusion from lack of sleep.
"Oh Kriff…"
Penelope dropped all the books in her arms to the floor, her eyes wide with fear and disbelief. Before her stood to girl's, one no older than 5 years old the other a young teenager. The little girl was wearing a raggedy red t-shirt and dingy looking black pants – her feet were bare and filthy. Her shoulder length brown hair was kept in two simple ponytails. It was obvious looking at the little girl that she did not always get a meal every day, but that did not stop her from stomping and glaring up at the older girl with determination. Penelope wanted to smile at the little girl's spirit and she would of, if she had not been terrified seeing her 5-year-old self-standing before her.
"I found it! Now give it back!"
"You did not find it, brat!"
Penelope's oldest sister, Lily, sneered before calling over her shoulder for their mother. Looking around Penelope saw the surroundings of the Jedi Temple slowly melt away and transform into her former childhood home – each detail exactly as she remembered it, right down to the food rumbles that littered the kitchen floor.
"What is it? I was just about to get some sleep, before my shift started."
Penelope held in her breath as she watched her mother appear out of thin air. She looked older and sadder than Penelope remembered her being. Her eyes were slightly sunken in from lack of sleep and energy, her body malnourished from lack of nutrient filled food. Penelope's had never remembered seeing her mother appear so miserable.
"I found Penelope playing with this."
Lily dropped something in her mother's hand before walking out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Penelope's mother inspected the object in her hand before sharply turning to the scared five-year-old. Her mother held up a Kyber Crystal.
"Penelope, where did you get this?"
Her mother looked extremely angry as she waited for a answer. Penelope slowly began to remember this situation, she remembered the fear she felt seeing her mother's fury. Her five-year-old self was frozen in place, unsure of what to say or do. Penelope's mother grew frustrated with the five-year-old and bent down before the girl.
"Who gave you this crystal, Penny? Tell me." Her mother watched her with such intensity, that Penelope was afraid she would harm the little girl but she knew that was not going to happen. "Tell me dammit! Now!"
"Mr. Sharp gave it to me…" Little Penelope whispered with fear, sensing her mother's rage inside.
"Kriff!"
Her mother swore loudly before grabbing Penelope harshly by the shoulders.
"Listen to me," Her mother spoke with both fear and aggression. "Mr. Sharp is not a nice man. He would hurt mama, papa, and all your brothers and sisters if he knew the things you could do. This crystal he gave you would reveal to him some of those thing, Penelope. And you don't want mama and papa to get hurt, do ya?"
Little Penelope shook her head no while staring at the ground ashamed. "Can I still keep it? It's pretty when it glows."
"No." Her mother snapped before loosen her grip on Penelope, and stood up with a frown. "Did you show Mr. Sharp that you could make the crystal glow?"
Little Penelope shook her head no, even though the older Penelope knew that she had.
"No, you can't have it back." Her mother replied with a cold voice, before she walked away and went back upstairs.
Penelope looked over her five-year-old self with sadness, remembering the pain of having the crystal taken away. Her mother did not understand the connection she felt with the crystal, the feeling of no longer being alone. Little Penelope stood in the kitchen crying softly, her sniffles bring tears to her older self's eyes.
'Why am I seeing all of this again?' Penelope thought to herself as she tried to fight back her tears while recalling the painful memories of her childhood. 'Is this the work of the Force? Lack of sleep…?'
Gradually the scene before her faded away, until she found herself standing on a starship, overlook space through a grand window. Penelope did not recognize the starship she was on and had no clue as to why she was even there in the first place.
"Good, Anakin. Good!" Penelope heard a familiar voice give praise behind her. "Kill him. Kill him now."
Turning around she taken aback at the scene before her. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine was strapped and bound to a great chair that overlooked the finished duel before him. Penelope was shocked to see Anakin holding two lightsabers to Count Dooku's neck. To Penelope's surprise the Count looked terrified as he glanced between Anakin and the Chancellor, he seemed to believe that Anakin was going to harm him while defenseless.
"I shouldn't." Anakin appeared trouble while staring down the Count with anger. Penelope remember the hatred Anakin held towards the Count for taking his hand, which Penelope could see Anakin had returned two times – she was surprised to see that Count Dooku was missing both of this hands. Anakin continued to stare down at Dooku with confliction, unsure of what he should or should not do.
"Do it!" The Supreme Chancellor ordered Anakin, who gave a look of defeat before swing both lightsabers – decapitating Count Dooku.
"No! Anakin!" Penelope cried out in horror from what she had just witnessed. Anakin paused in his movements to free the Chancellor. He looked over in Penelope direction for a brief movement, his expression confused and concerned. He stared hard for several moments where Penelope stood, who too was surprised he had heard her. Penelope could sense that Anakin was unable to see her, but she felt him using the Force to reach out for her – trying to confirm that Penelope was there, and that he was not hearing things.
"Anakin! Please help me!" The Supreme Chancellor called out, breaking Anakin concentration.
Penelope watched Anakin assist the Chancellor, while her surrounding once again changed. It broke her heart to see the look of despair in Anakin's eyes as he argued with Chancellor about Dooku's dismay. The last thing Penelope saw before the everything faded was her and Anakin making eye contact for a brief movement, before Penelope felt herself being jolted forward.
"Kriff!"
Penelope held on tight to anything she could grab a hold of. The ship she was on was falling fast from the sky, spinning out of control as it went in and out of power. Many of the crew were screaming as the Captain shouted for everyone to brace for impact. Penelope could see about a dozen crew members holding on to dear life as the star ship took a sudden noise drive towards the ground… and then everything went dark and quiet.
Penelope felt another jolt, shook her head for a moment, trying to clear her mind. She had to rub her eyes a few times before her vision began to clear. To her surprise the ship had crashed, but was still intact to a degree but most of the crew were not so lucky. Most of the crew was either killed from impact or moments away from death.
"Padme…?"
Penelope heard her own voice call out from the front of the ship. Rushing over she was shocked to see herself sitting in one of the crew member sits nearby the captain's chair. Looking over herself, Penelope could see besides have dozens of small cuts from shards of broken glass, the future her had serious injuries – a shred of metal was protruding out her right thigh that was bleeding profusely and a large piece of glass was sticking out her right abdomen wall, making it difficult for her to breathe.
"Padme… Padme, can you hear me?"
Her future self was trying to turn in her seat to look behind her, but cried out in pain as she did so. Penelope looked instead and saw Senator Padme Amidala was in the seat directly behind her. She frowned as she saw why the Senator had not been answering her calls. The young senator had multiple pieces of debris embedded and protruding from her chest wall, a large pool of blood appearing around her seat. The Senator's eyes were lifeless as Penelope looked away, not wanting to see anymore.
Looking out the scattered front of the ship, Penelope saw that the ship had crashed landed on a ice planet. She did not recognize the geography, but could multiple massive ice blocks protruding from the ground. It was obvious by the landscape that the starship had landed on a desolated planet. Penelope raised a hand to shield her face as a bitter cold wind gust moved through the ship, until she suddenly didn't feel the cold breeze at all.
Pulling her hand aware Penelope saw that she was once again somewhere else. This time it appeared to be a small hut. With a glance outside one of the few windows, all she could see was forest. The sounds of birds chirping brought a smile to Penelope's face as she listened to the peace and quiet of this home, until the sounds of a baby crying broke the moment.
Curious of what this meant, Penelope slowly moved through the hut – following the sounds of the baby's cries until she reached a closed door. She took a deep breath and reached for the door handle when suddenly a dark hooded figure loomed over her instead. Penelope backed away in fright, but the figure grabbed her arm to stop her. She stood silent in fear, unsure of what was happening. Penelope flinched when the figure raised a hand and instead of harming her, gently brushed the side of her neck as a lover would…. And then all she felt was pain and heat.
Penelope did not need to look to see a lightsaber was protruding through her body. She grasped the mysterious figures broad shoulders for an anchor. The pain gradually fading away until all she felt was numbness. She looked up at figure with tears in her eyes, not understand what all this was. Slowly the figured leaned down until their forehead touched the top of Penelope's head, and to her surprised she felt drop of tears fall onto her hair. With a gloved hand the figure held Penelope's head gently against their chest. As everything began to fade away, Penelope heard the mysterious figure whisper to her:
"Save me."
…
"Jedi Hollow? What is wrong?"
Penelope opened her eyes and saw she was back in the Jedi Temple, still standing in the same spot as before. She let out a shaky breath, unsure of what had just happened. Her mind was still processing what she saw. Penelope pressed a hand against her chest where she felt the lightsaber stab through, but all she found was her Jedi robes untouched – a wound nowhere to be found.
'It felt so real though…'
"Are you alright, Hollow?"
Penelope looked to see a fellow Jedi Knight watch her with concern. The Knight took several small steps towards the confused Jedi.
"Yes, uh…What… what was I doing?" Penelope stuttered, unsure of what to think or say.
Looking around she saw it was no longer nighttime as the sun tried to break through the horizon.
"I'm not sure what you mean. You were just standing here with your eyes closed muttering."
"What was I saying?"
"I was not able to hear, I am sorry." The Jedi Knight glanced out the window with a huge grin. "Did you hear the news about Skywalker and Master Kenobi?"
Penelope shook her head no, glancing out the Temple window to see what her fellow Jedi was watching. In the far distances of Coruscant, she could see heavy amounts of smoke coming from what she knew was a landing strip for ships.
"They defeated Count Dooku and rescued the Supreme Chancellor. Crashed the battleship on that field over there." The Knight grinned as he watched cruisers speed towards the crash. "Per reports all three are fine. The Council has redrawn most of the Jedi from the Senate, everyone should be arriving back to the Temple soon. Isn't this most exciting? The Count has finally been defeated, the Sith are no more!"
"Yes," Penelope whispered even though she had a bad feeling that things were far from being over. "Most exciting…"
"Are you sure you are alright, Jedi Hollow?" The Knight looked to her with concern, seeing the lack of enthusiasm in Penelope facial expression. "You do not look well."
"I'm fine… thank you."
Penelope quickly gathered her books had been dropped earlier, and rushed back to her room for privacy.
….
Several hours later Penelope was walking through the Jedi Temple deep in thought, trying her best to piece together what had happened last night. She skipped morning meditation and her lessons with Master Yoda and the younglings today, stating that she did not feel well. Master Yoda expressed concerned at her sudden illness, but allowed Penelope to be excused for the rest of the day.
"Penelope!"
Penelope paused and looked over her shoulder to see Anakin jogging her way. He looked trouble as he approached her, his expression grim.
"Anakin," Penelope breathed, not sure of what to say – her mind replying the image of Anakin beheading Count Dooku. "I wasn't expecting to see you so soon."
Anakin stared deep into Penelope's hazel eyes for a moment. Penelope let out a gasp when she suddenly felt the Jedi Knight invade her thoughts before shutting him out.
"What are you doing?" Penelope backed away from Anakin, shocked that he would invaded her mind like that.
Anakin quickly grabbed Penelope by the hand and made her walk with him away from the prying eyes of the other Jedi. Penelope tried to pull her hand away from Anakin's tight grip as he dragged her around a pillar before letting go of her hand.
"Anakin, what-"
"You were there!" Anakin stood directly in front of Penelope, practically holding her up against the pillar – preventing her from getting away from him. Penelope looked up at Anakin with wide eyes, unsure of what was happening.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Penelope spoke, trying her best to avoid contact with the highly skilled Jedi Knight. "Now, please let me go!"
"I know you were there." Anakin practically growled, clearly frustrated with Penelope lack of cooperation. "I felt your presence! I heard your voice! I know it was you, Penelope…. I saw it in your thoughts."
"It true then?" Penelope whispered, slowly meeting Anakin hard stare. "What I saw was real?... You executed Count Dooku, but… not the Jedi way. He was unarmed."
Anakin took a step back and let out a long breath of air. He appeared defeated and lost.
"It had to be done… it was the only way to end everything." Anakin tried to argue. He rubbed his forehead several times, his brow frowning. Penelope could feel the frustration and uncertainty emanating from him. Anakin took a deep breath and looked back at Penelope, who stood still against the pillar. "How were you there?"
"I don't know." Penelope replied, shifting from foot to foot with nervousness. "I wasn't even sure if what I saw was real. It all just happened out of nowhere, but… I could feel that it was real."
"Do you believe it was the Force?" Anakin asked, he too was confused just like Penelope. Nothing was making sense. "Were you shown anything else?"
"No..." Penelope shook her head, avoiding eye contact with Anakin against. She could feel him trying to invade her thoughts again, but she made sure to block his intrusion this time. "Get out of my head, Anakin!"
"I'm sorry," Anakin looked away with shame. "I just don't understand why this is happening."
Anakin's communicator suddenly went off, forcing him to step away from Penelope as he took a call from Jedi Master Kenobi. The two spoke quietly for a minute, before Anakin bid his Master farewell and put the communicator away.
"The Jedi High Council requests our presence at the Supreme Chancellors office." Anakin stated with a frown, "I'll take us there."
"Do you know what it is about?" Penelope asked. She had an uneasy feeling about why they were both needed present at the Supreme Chancellor's office and with the Jedi Council no less.
"I don't know." Anakin stated with tension, before he grabbed Penelope's hand and dragged her towards where a cruiser waited for them. "Come on."
To be continued . . .
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