A/N: This is the next chapter. I think it'll also be the last one- I think that if I continue any more the chapters will all become very much alike and kind of boring. After all, how much can a person write on the topic of robes?
If you have any ideas for further chapters, please tell me. I'm kind of out of ideas, which is why I am stopping writing this fic, but if you have any ideas I'll be happy to hear them.
Also, to everyone who reviewed: Thank you so much guys. This means a lot to me.
The entrance to the Robe Room was unrestricted. The Jedi were trusted not to misuse their right to take any amount of robes and take only as much as they needed at the moment so as to leave enough for the rest of the Jedi. However, after an incident involving Anakin Skywalker, a robe stash large enough for twenty Jedi and Mace Windu forced to wear an orange robe, Yoda decided that enough was enough and that the Jedi (at least some of them) couldn't be trusted with free entrance to the Robe Room.
"Continue, this cannot", he said at the council meeting. "Forced to wear an orange robe, Master Windu was. Take all the robes, young Skywalker did."
Anakin was standing in the middle of the council's chambers with a guilty look on his face. So maybe he overdid it a little this time. Still, why was it that Anakin could be forced to wear a pink robe for a whole week and nobody cared and the second Master Windu got an orange one the council went crazy?
The truth was, no one had any idea what the council would choose to do about the robe problem. Even the members of the council had no idea what the council would decide. There were whispers that Yoda was planning to add some rules to the Jedi Code about the amount of robes a Jedi might have, but no one knew for sure. Most of the Jedi in secret hoped that nothing would be done and that the council would just hush the whole thing up. After all, there wasn't one of them who didn't take a few more robes than was necessary now and then (though none neared the amount of robes Anakin took).
"Decided, I have, what must be done. Post a guard, we will. A guard at the entrance of the Robe Room." continued Yoda. "See to it, he shall, that no more robes are taken then what is necessary. The Robe Guard, his title shall be."
'This just isn't fair', thought Anakin. 'I won't get enough robes and the council will punish me for walking around robeless. '
'This has never been done before in the history of the Jedi Order', thought Windu, 'But if it makes Anakin stop taking my robes then I agree completely.'
'Poor Anakin', thought Obi- Wan. 'Maybe Yoda will rethink this?'
'Rethink this, I will not." said Yoda.
'I hate it when he does that' thought Obi- Wan, this time taking care to shield his thoughts.
"Then shield your thoughts better, you should".
'Blast it' Obi- Wan thought, putting up a double shield.
The Robe Guard began his job the next day. He was supposed to make sure that no Jedi took more than two robes at a time and that no Jedi entered the room more than twice a week.
Most of the Jedi were more or less satisfied with this. They simply had to be a bit more careful with the robes, that was it. Four robes a week were quite enough for everyone- everyone but Anakin, that is.
The Robe Guard became Anakin's nemesis, the person that didn't let him sleep at night and occupied his thoughts by day. Even more, the Guard was the one and only person in the entire galaxy to make Anakin Skywalker, the hero with no fear, beg.
The way this happened was such:
Anakin was constantly trying to invent new ways to smuggle more robes out of the room. At first he had tried the most obvious ways, Jedi mind tricks and bribes to name only a few. However, the Jedi Council had chosen the Guard well. He was strong- willed, had very strong moral values and he seemed to hate Skywalker. That day he had been testing a very creative new idea; simply put the robes on top of the ones he already wore and walk out. It had damn near worked, too. The Guard didn't seem to suspect a thing. He had almost left the room when suddenly an alarm on the ceiling began to beep.
"Halt!" the Guard shouted, pointing his blaster at Anakin. This wasn't the first time this happened, so Anakin wasn't as shocked as he had been the first time the Guard had reacted this way. He raised his hands and stopped, thinking of what could have given him away.
"What was that alarm?" he asked the Guard.
"It's been put there for the likes of you. There's a code on every one of the robes. Every time more than two codes pass this door frame, the alarm begins to beep."
"Then what are you even needed for?" asked Anakin, surprised that the Council would go to such ends to prevent the Jedi from taking more robes than two.
"I watch that no Jedi comes in more than twice a week, and I see to it that if the Jedi somehow manage to take the code of the robes I will still be there to stop them."
So it is possible to take the code off! However, Anakin had a feeling that, somehow, the Guard would still stop him, code or no code. Right now he was in urgent need of more robes, and he just couldn't wait for next week to take some robes. The four weekly robes just weren't enough!
"Please," he said to the Guard. "You have no idea how much I need this."
The Guard smiled maliciously. "Oh, I'm sorry, Skywalker, but rules are rules."
Anakin couldn't give up that easily. He hated what he was about to do, but he had no other choice. He dropped to his knees. "I'm begging you, please, don't do this! I really need that robe! It's just one robe, just this once!"
"Alright" said the guard. Anakin was surprised to hear that. He got up. "So you'll give me that robe?"
"On one condition", said the Guard with an evil grin. 'Oh no', thought Anakin. "What is it?"
"You're going to beg me, again, on your knees. And this time I'm going to take a video of it."
(Skipping forwards, if you want to know what happened to the Robe Guard, he was taken off his post after about three weeks as a result of the amount of Jedi going robeless and consequently being sent to the Meditation Chamber, a small demonstration at the Temple and Anakin Skywalker personally threatening to leave the Order if the guard was not removed).
Anakin Skywalker had never begged anyone before. Ever. This was the first (and, hopefully, last) time that he had to conquer his pride and beg someone for something, and it was going to be all over the holonet. He could refuse, of course, but that would mean another day in the Meditation Chamber as punishment for not wearing a robe. He had had way too much of that lately. For Force's sake, he was not Master Yoda who could spend all his life in there! He was just a Padawan, and not a very good one at that- at least, not at meditating. What the Guard wanted him to do was very pride damaging, but then, Jedi weren't supposed to worry about their pride.
"I'll do it", he said grimly. The Guard's grin got even bigger. He took out his camera, used for security footage, and pointed it at Skywalker. "On your knees!'
Anakin did as he was told. He heard the click of the Guard's camera as it turned on.
"Please, Guard, I'm begging you. You have no idea how much I need this robe."
Anakin continued in his style for a bit more, then stopped. The guard's camera switched off.
"Will you give me the robe now?"
"Nope."
"What?"
"You heard me. I'm not allowed to let any Jedi take more robes than two at a time, be it a youngling or Master Yoda himself."
"But I did what you asked!"
"It doesn't matter. Now, give me the robe you tried to smuggle out of here, before I call your Master."
Anakin had no choice but to obey. Master Obi-Wan would not be pleased if he heard of this.
"So you tried to smuggle it out under your regular robe, huh? Not bad."
Anakin just glared at him.
The next time he visited the Robe Room, Anakin was sure to take some time alone with the robes in the farther corners of the room. He found the code soon enough and deactivated it without much problem. Then, he put the robe on under his old one, like he had the previous time. However, the Guard decided to give Skywalker a pat-down before letting him leave the room. Even worse, he insisted on doing this every time Anakin came to take a robe.
(Some believe that the Guard had strengthened Anakin's feelings of hate and anger, thus causing his fall to the Dark Side in a few years time. This is most probably true.)
The person Anakin killed first during his attack of the Temple as Darth Vader was the one who used to be the Robe Guard, who then worked as a janitor. The moral of this is simple: don't get on the bad side of a Jedi. You never know when will he turn.
