AN - Some of this chapter is based on The Zillo Beast Returns episode in the Clone Wars tv show (which i had never watched until I started writing this - I'm looking forward to use more of it!) Hope you enjoy. Thank you once more for the reviews
xxx
Luke accepted Padme's return with a small amount of suspicion. When she came through the door, he sat bolt up and watched her with a wary expression on his little face.
"Hello," Anakin said, standing to greet her. "That went quick."
"It was…" Padme frowned and then accepted his kiss. "The bomb works," she allowed. "It does create shock waves and deactivates any technology in the radius. But it…" then she blinked at him and smiled. "This is different," she confided with a grin. "I like coming home to this."
He lifted her into the air and twirled her a little. He almost stepped in the direction on their bedroom before he remembered the small person watching them and groaned, letting her slip to the floor. Instead, he gathered her into his side and turned their attention down to their son who head tilted his head as if he was trying to see the galaxy from a different angle.
Then suspicious eyes fell on Anakin.
"What are you building?" Padme said, pulling out of Anakin's hold to kneel down by Luke.
"Droid eye," Luke replied after a moment. He looked back down at the device in his hand and then cuddled it close to his chest as if Padme might take it from him.
"I missed you," she said, shifting to sit with him properly. "Do you want to hear what I was doing?"
Luke seemed to be debating it. He glanced at Anakin, and then back at Padme. "Anakin said you were just going to talk to stupid people."
His wife sighed and turned to give Anakin that look. "Really?"
"You've described it like that at least three times," he said, joining them both on the floor.
She remained unimpressed. "Well, the Dugs accidently awakened a creature. The Zillo beast." She looked at Anakin. "Ever heard of it?"
No. He craned his neck when Padme brought up an image as a holo and gaped a little. "That's huge," he yelped dragging it closer.
Luke was craning to see it too. "It's massive," he crowed in delight. "Can I see it in real life? Can we see it?"
"No," Anakin replied absently. "What happened?"
"The Dugs wanted to kill it," Padme said slowly. "We tricked them into thinking it was dead so that they would still sign the treaty-"
Delighted, Anakin pressed a kiss to her hair. "So where was it relocated?"
"It's…going to be studied." Padme winced at that. "I have made them promises to relocate it again afterwards. It's not my first choice, but…" she shifted to watch Luke, "The Chancellor believes it may help the war efforts."
As much as Anakin wished it otherwise, it was the sort of compromise that the Galactic Republic often demanded. The debating that meant no-one got their way and it was some watered down middling decision that meant nothing to anyone.
Luke was angled over the holo and waved his hand through it. "Is that a tree?" he asked, pointing to something to the side of the image. He seemed to be trying to measure how much taller the beast was than he was.
Stuck by a playful mood, Anakin hummed and then grinned at his son. "It's huge," he agreed. "And deadly. And maybe there's another one out there."
Luke tilted his head without fear, just curiosity even as Padme started to murmur in protest.
Letting out a silly roar, Anakin reached for him. Luke looked confused and then laughed, letting himself be gathered up because Anakin knew how quick his son could be when he wanted to be. Luke shrieked when Anakin went to tickle him.
"Think I've found another beast," Anakin said to Padme who had leaned back to avoid Luke's kicking feet. "Smells like a wild beast," he added when Luke shrieked again.
"Not a beast," Luke burst out between giggles. "I keep having baths."
Padme was watching them both with a strange expression; it was both happy and…almost envious. He couldn't really remember if he had ever seen her being silly; she'd always seemed like an adult, even when they had been young she'd been a Queen in every way.
"Now you," Luke yelled and turned, launching up at Anakin and squirming free with reflexes that had to have been helped by the force. The boy clearly didn't know what tickling was or how to use his fingers. His brow wrinkled and he paused, staring at his fingers as if they were to blame.
Padme leaned forward and gave Anakin a playful push down. Luke gaped at her and then howled with laughter when she started to tickle Anakin instead. And, with the weight of his son on his chest, he couldn't properly wriggle away without risking hurting Luke.
And it was worth it because Luke was beaming down at him.
"Do you surrender?" Padme asked.
"To you?" Anakin asked. "Always."
She smiled and leaned down to kiss him. When she pulled away, Luke was looking thoughtful.
"Do you two fuck?"
Anakin choked and gasped, stunned at the word coming out of his seven-year old's mouth. Padme's mouth dropped. "Luke," she scolded. "Where have you heard that word?"
Force, there were a thousand places Luke had probably heard that word from. True to form, Luke seemed to start counting as if trying to work out who had said the word to him first.
"I…" Padme sat up and Anakin pushed himself up carefully. "Do you know what it means?"
Mid count, Luke peered up. "Yeah," he said, as if they were the stupid ones. "You share a blanket and make silly noises." He seemed to debate it. "Sometimes you kiss. Depends if you have lips and like each other."
Stars!
"No," Padme said firmly. "We do not 'fuck'. We love each other very much and sometimes we show that physically."
Anakin choked a little. "Pretty sure we don't need to-"
But Luke shrugged. "Just asked," he said, a little defensive.
"What you've…" Padme winced, "Seen?" she said almost asking, but Luke didn't react, staring up earnestly and waiting for the end of her sentence, "isn't something I want you to feel like you have to do when you're older. Far better to fall in love and express that feeling in your actions that way."
"We have years before-"
She tapped his shoulder without looking. "We have enough issues now without leaving one to become a problem later on." Luke was still looking at them as if they were half mad before he nodded, though Anakin suspected he was doing that more because he didn't understand the conversation and just wanted Padme to stop talking.
"Come on," Anakin said, moving and lifting Luke over his shoulder. "You need a bath."
"Need the Delta-7," Luke crowed and yes, of course, Anakin waved his fingers at the toy letting it follow behind him so that Luke could watch it. In his arms, Luke turned around so that he was face up and could watch the toy upside down.
xxx
When Luke was smelling like a human again, and fresh from his bath, Anakin stood at the doorway and felt that feeling in his chest unhook slightly, shifting again at the sight in front of him.
Padme sat with Luke in bed. The boy's hair was still damp and stuck up from the bath, his cheeks pink and a robe around him as his feet dug under the quilt cover. Padme, dressed for bed too was reading to him and he tried not to laugh when he realised that she was reading a racing mag to the boy. Luke would interrupt at times to point out something in the design or tell her about someone he knew who had flown a craft similar to the one in the picture.
As Luke explained something with vigour, Padme glanced up at Anakin and smiled, tightening her arms around Luke and resting her cheek on Luke's hair. She smiled at him looking happy.
"Look," Luke yelled, spotting Anakin. "It's the Delta-7!"
Amused, Anakin walked over and climbed onto the bed so that he was on the other side of Luke. "Ah," he said sliding down a little. "So it is."
They'd calculated the speed of his last run, he realised, scanning the article. But Luke was peering at the other page, a frown on his face.
"What is it, sweetheart?" Padme asked, stroking Luke's hair as she lifted her head from his. "Are you looking at the new model?" she asked. "It's still in design mode but-"
She stopped abruptly when Luke slammed the thing shut and then studied the front cover again. Then he opened to the page he'd been reading. Then repeated the process.
Then sat and stared at nothing.
"Luke," Anakin asked, but the boy wasn't responding. Anakin took the mag and flicked to the page while Padme tried to coax Luke to speak. The boy still refused to respond, but turned into her nonetheless, curling into her and hunching his shoulders right up to his neck.
It was a piece on a new model. A new spec that they were updating readers on. The basic template of something that they were calling a TIE fighter. He'd scanned over it the other day, half debating offering his services as a test pilot to refine it, but he'd become distracted. Still, there was nothing that should mean that Luke would respond the way he had.
"Can he stay here?" Padme asked as Luke continued to refuse to respond and sulkily tried to burrow himself into her neck instead. "Would you mind?"
"He's slept the past three nights," Anakin responded absently. "It's fine."
Padme nodded and shifted down a bit. Anakin held his arm out to her and she rested her head on his shoulder, Luke shifting so he was pretty much on top of Anakin. The boy still seemed to be a hundred lightyears away, his mind obviously turning something over.
Anakin lifted his metal hand and combed it through Luke's hair while Padme stroked the boy's back.
"So it took two weeks," Padme said softly. When he blinked down at her, she smiled in soft amusement. "Dad," she mouthed.
He didn't deny it this time. "Yeah, all right," he said, holding her a little closer. He drew in a breath. "It's not gonna be easy though," he pointed out.
"Skywalkers never are," she said resting her head on his shoulder again and he could feel the smile on his skin as she kissed him.
Xxx
When Anakin woke, Luke was staring at him.
It was unnerving. Those blue eyes, so much like his, were narrowed and thoughtful. Almost suspicious and it made Anakin long to reach into Luke's head and find out what was going on.
Unwise though, considering how much Luke's mind had already been tampered with.
"I'm from the future," Luke stated quietly. His eyes watched Anakin very carefully. "And from Tattooine."
Ah, the proposed TIE fighters? If Luke knew his ships then Luke had known the model wasn't new.
Anakin nodded and stroked Luke's hair. "Yes," he said quietly.
"Old Ben isn't Old Ben," Luke said again. "He doesn't know me."
Anakin nodded in agreement and glanced down at Padme who was still asleep.
Luke chewed his lip and looked as if he was going to ask something, then seemed to think better of it.
Sitting them up, Anakin pulled a mirror from the dressing table over using the force. Padme blinked at him sleepily, raised a delicate brow at the floating mirror and drew in a breath as if to try and wake up.
"Come here," Anakin instructed and sat up, turning Luke so that he sat facing outwards. The mirror hung in front of them. "Look," he said as he settled Luke down. "Look at your eyes and at mine."
Padme sucked in a breath again and then sat up crossed legged to the side of them, her face worried but curious as she fixed all of her attention on Luke.
In the mirror, Luke stared at himself and then at Anakin. His hands curled around the blanket.
"And your nose," Anakin added "and Padme's nose."
Luke touched his nose and peered at Padme.
"Do you want to ask?" Anakin said gently. But Luke shook his head and looked away from the mirror and Anakin reluctantly left it alone.
As far as Padme was concerned, the difference in Anakin was astounding. There were times when Padme almost wanted to check that she had only been gone for three days. It was like he was finally settling into the person he was, rather than constantly comparing himself to some inhuman version that he thought he should be.
Still, even Anakin needed a break at times.
"He'll be fine," Padme said as Luke bounced in the speeder, talking to Captain Typho. "And you need some time to yourself. Didn't you say that you wanted to think about what to do next?"
Anakin's eyes slid to Luke and Padme had a suspicion that eventually Anakin would come to the conclusion that he wanted to stay at home with their son, just for a while at least. But he deserved the chance to make that decision. "Yeah," he said, sounding unsure. "Okay." He heaved a sigh and scrubbed at his face. "Luke," he called.
Obediently, Luke scrambled back, clutching the toy to him. "Yeah?" he asked, running into Anakin and resting his chin on Anakin's stomach. "What?"
"Padme's gonna take you to the Senate," he said, stroking Luke's hair back from his face with both hands until he was cupping Luke's head. "Then maybe, if you're good, we can go to Dex's."
Apparently, Anakin had mentioned that before because Luke's face brightened. "I will be," he promised. Then he shot Padme a fierce look that seemed to imply that she should help him out.
"Think you can say hello to people?" Anakin asked. Luke grumbled at him and scowled before running back to Captain Typho.
"One day, that boy will say hello and goodbye," Anakin mused and then shrugged. "Call if you need me."
"He'll be fine," Padme insisted, pressing a kiss to his lips. "Rest."
"I'm-" Anakin broke off and corrected himself. "I used to be a Jedi knight fighting for the freedom of the galaxy. I've faced armies and pirates and bounty hunters for weeks on end. You think our seven-year-old son for three days is worthy of me needing a rest?"
"It is when our seven-year-old son asks us about fucking."
Anakin's face crumpled. "Well played," he admitted.
To that seven-year-old son, a chair that fully rotated seemed to be the best toy in the world when you had a Space-fighter to try and fly through the air in complex manoeuvres. Padme was half convinced that Luke secretly resented the fact that she couldn't fly the ship using the force like Anakin could because he'd sighed grumpily when she'd confessed she couldn't.
Most of the senators that came in seemed to find Luke cute from a distance, but they didn't try and pry. Luke, for his part, seemed content to ignore them as he played. Bail Organa was the only one who went to him and asked him about the toy. The poor man then had to sit through Luke's very detailed explanation of the Delta 7 and its flight capabilities.
Force, that was going to be it from now on. She had two of them at home rambling on about engines with an almost obsessive amount of detail.
Well, she thought, at least they'd have each other to talk to.
As evening drew in, Luke hovered by the window apparently content to stare at the speeders and at the people below.
"Come on," Padme said, holding out a hand. "We'll see the Chancellor briefly and then Anakin will meet us there."
Luke remained at the window for an extra minute before he meandered over to her. He took her hand and followed quietly. They stepped into the lift and then, almost seamlessly out into the Chancellor's chambers.
"Ah," the man said looking up at them as they entered. "Senator Amidala, what a relief to see you back."
"Was the Zillo beast transported successfully?" Padme asked as Luke let go off her hand and seemed to find the Chancellor's desk fascinating. He paused right by it and then crouched to look underneath.
"It was received this morning," the Chancellor said, blinking down at Luke for a moment before deciding to ignore the youngling. "In fact-"
"The big thing?" Luke asked curiously, popping his head up and cutting across the most powerful man in the galaxy. "Padme caught it," he announced, as if she'd done it single handed.
"And young Skywalker," the Chancellor greeted with a smile as Padme hushed her son. The smile fell off of his face quickly. "I do fear, Senator, that we are not going to see eye to eye over the creature."
"Luke," Padme said firmly. "Have a look out the window. It's the best view on Coruscant. Find the most interesting part of it for me."
Luke gave her a look that she was sure meant he was wise to what she was doing. Thankfully, he scampered off without much protest.
"In order to make the most of the beast's scales, we need to remove them," the Chancellor began. "It will cause the beast a terrible amount of pain."
"Then it should be let go. As the last of its kind-"
"I cannot do that," the chancellor sighed. Then shook his head at whatever showed on her face. "My dear, I admire you greatly. At times, I wish I could be as uncompromising in my morals, but I am responsible for billions of life forms, and they are dying. How can I let that continue when we have the means to make better armour?"
"At that cost? What does it owe us? And we are talking about armour that protects against a lightsabre. How many lightsabres is the average soldier likely to face? It isn't as if we are fighting the Jedi Order."
"Force users do not have the monopoly in creating and using lightsabres," the Chancellor replied. "And you are being terribly literal, Senator. Weapons such as lightsabres will always be a threat and there are enough inventive beings out there that I do not doubt new weapons are being invented every day."
"Killing it in defence is one thing," Padme argued. "But this is murder."
"I agree," the Chancellor said sadly. "And yet, I do not see another option."
He wasn't moving from his position, Padme realised with a heavy heart. "You've already given the order," she said, looking past him.
"I have." Chancellor Palpatine watched her closely. "You are often the voice of morality, Senator. I thank you for that. But practicalities demand some harsh choices. It is not one I wish to place upon your shoulders."
"Sometimes when you sacrifice to win, it isn't a win at all," Padme said staring back at him.
"Quite."
The elevator swooshed open and Anakin stepped out. He seemed to pick up on the atmosphere quickly and frowned, though perhaps part of that was because, as usual, Luke seemed to refuse to acknowledge their comings and goings.
"The Chancellor was just informing me that we are to kill the Zillo beast in order to make better armour. Apparently, we are currently torturing the poor thing," Padme said as he stepped closer to them.
For a moment, Anakin glared at her as if he wanted to turn around and leave them to their politics. Then he glanced between them both, staring at him and waiting for him to say anything.
"I…I am not sure my opinion-"
"Nonsense, my boy, you have more experience of battle than either of us," the Chancellor said and Padme bit her lip at the almost fatherly tone that the Chancellor was using. Still, Anakin and the Chancellor had an unusual relationship, one that she struggled to work out but knew Anakin valued deeply. "It is a terrible choice," Chancellor Palpatine continued. "And I do feel the price of it, but we cannot leave troops poorly equipped when facing dangerous enemies."
She nearly snapped at Anakin when she saw the agreement on his face. Only the memory of how poorly Anakin reacted to feeling public humiliation kept her jaw closed. "I do hope that you do not start to set a precedent for killing innocent creatures for the greater good," she said pointedly.
Anakin blinked at her, looking slightly taken aback. "The troops do need help," he said quietly. "This war is going on too long," he added as his eyes made their way to Luke who was still gazing out the floor to ceiling windows.
"Quite," Chancellor Palpatine agreed. Then turned when the Speaker called to him. "I would appreciate your time in a moment. Let me just take this call."
Anakin nodded, studiously avoiding Padme's gaze as the Chancellor went to make some private holo call.
"Ani," Padme began, but her husband was already striding over to Luke. "How can you condone this?"
He stopped and turned to her. "Not here," he said and went to turn again.
"You've started to voice your opinion already," she said, not willing to let it go as she strode towards him.
"And it's different to yours," he sighed, looking at her and she could see the start of his temper starting to rise. "I don't want my son being touched by more pain. If the troops having better armour allows that to happen then fine."
Padme could feel her mouth drop open. "You want him to grow up in a world where we make those kinds of compromises?"
"How about him not having to watch us fight?" Anakin asked. "Hmm? Maybe let's not ruin his first trip out with us that hasn't involved a damn committee deciding whether or not we get to raise him."
"That's unfair."
"Life is." He turned away from her fully this time and closed the gap between him and Luke.
And Luke pulled away.
She could practically feel Anakin's hurt at the move. Luke had darted away, along the window and was staring out at the night sky, eyes fixed on something. Anakin placed his metal hand in a fist on the window and seemed to be counting his breaths as he leaned into it. The darkening light meant that she could see the faint hints of his reflection.
"Ani-"
"We appear to have a problem," the Chancellor said striding back over. In the distance, warning sighs started to whir and Anakin lifted his head, staring past his fist and across the city. Luke still hadn't moved. "The beast has managed to escape."
Xxx
As far as Luke was concerned, the office was huge. Everything in the building was huge and complicated and people talked in big fancy words that meant they might as well have not been speaking basic.
He darted a glance up at Anakin who was still feeling…bad? Luke shifted and stared back at the city, like Anakin was and frowned, almost able to see himself in the glass.
He thought that maybe, just maybe, he looked a bit like Anakin. He liked that idea. But then there was a whispering suspicion that he was trying to ignore because life was just starting to become safe and good and those wonderings would make it hard and confusing and…well…
He wanted life to freeze. To always stay as it had been. To always have Anakin looking at him with a smile and have Padme stroking his hair and Halle with food.
A twitch of something made his shoulders curl up and he froze, not sure if it had come from outside or in his mind, but knowing that either way it wasn't a good thing.
"Escaped?" he heard Padme say, sounding horrified.
Luke turned back to her and watched her. He was almost sure that Padme was the prettiest woman in the galaxy, but at the moment, her face was looking a bit pinched like she was going to yell at someone.
"I fear so," the Chancellor said. Luke wasn't entirely sure what the man did, but he was nice to Anakin and he seemed to boss people around. Maybe he was like the Captain of the ship, just for a planet.
Or more than one planet. He'd heard Padme talk about a lot of planets today.
One of the guards was looking out across the city now too, but with purpose and he could see Anakin shift, his gaze becoming more focused. Curious, Luke looked out over the city too-
There. He could see one of the walkways in the distance buckle as a looming heard broke up into the top layer of the city and- huh. It looked like the image that Padme had brought up earlier. All long, stick thin limbs that waved and swept people like they were nuts and bolts to scatter across the floor.
There was a wavering sickness for a second. He pushed it away, disliking a sensation that had become all too familiar.
Often he could ignore it, muffle the sensation until it became something like background noise, but he'd never really felt it at this magnitude. People were scared and dying and hurting and in pain.
A soothing hand swept over his hair and paused over his temple and then the sensation was gone as if swallowed up in an engine exhaust fumes. Anakin was closer now, and he didn't feel bad now, just almost buzzing with energy and the need to move.
The man let out an annoyed noise. "Seems to be heading this way," he said, turning and pulling Luke with him. "It's killing."
Opposite, Padme winced and turned away. The Chancellor's head dipped down, as if he was sad, and there was an awkward silence in the room.
"We need to evacuate," Padme said firmly, turning back. "Send all staff to the lower levels," she added to the woman in the corner. "If they have transport, then they need to head east and away from the beast." She turned her attention to the Chancellor. "The gas is being loaded?"
Anakin was already herding Luke to the lift, even as Luke strained to peer back at the city and check what was happening. "Who's gonna stop it?" he asked, concerned.
"The Jedi," Anakin said firmly. "Come on, Luke. In the lift." He was gesturing harshly at Padme too, indicating the open lit up doors.
"There is a shuttle below in a hanger," the Chancellor said as he tapped in a code to the elevator doors. "It-"
The room darkened suddenly and an unearthly green glow illuminated the Chancellor's office as the doors started to close. Anakin shoved Luke backwards into Padme as the creature's eye peered in. The eye was huge but…there was something in it that Luke couldn't take his eyes off of. But the elevator doors closed and the eye vanished from view, even as a loud, agonised roar echoed throughout the building, making the walls shudder and jolt.
Padme ducked down, her hands checking Luke as if they'd been in a battle. She ended up cupping his face, as she knelt in front of him, eyes searching his. "You all right?"
Yeah?! "Why is it angry?" Luke asked, twisting towards the doors as if they might open again.
"Luke," Padme snapped. "Are you-"
"Yes," he sulked, rolling his eyes and pulling away a little. "Was it being hurt?"
Her eyes glanced at the Chancellor briefly and then she stood and drew in a breath. "We have to consider the possibility that it's here for a reason. The beast was intelligent."
"We can consider that when we're far away from here," Anakin said, staring at the lift doors as the levels flashed between the doors.
No-one was paying attention. Not that it was new, but it was annoying. It had been a while since adults had ignored him and he backed up a little, miserable that it was going back to the normal way of things.
The elevator stopped and the doors opened to a loading bay with a shuttle prepped and waiting. Padme reached out and grabbed Luke's wrist, keeping him by her in an iron fast grip as they marched towards the shuttle.
She didn't even let him get close to the controls. Instead, she went towards the seats, then hesitated. Anakin came up behind them and lifted Luke clear off the floor and then onto his lap as he sat down, fastening himself in and Luke knew, somehow, that even if they got shot down, Anakin wasn't gonna let go.
"Is there a plan?" Padme asked as she took a seat by them. The Chancellor and a guard strapped themselves in too as the pilot started the launch sequence. Luke peered out the sides at the dark walls that started to lighten as hanger sky doors opened.
Anakin nodded, eyes lifting to the sky. "We can't risk trying to contain it," he said softly.
As they lifted into the air, Luke caught sight of the creature again. It was screeching out into the night sky like Luke sometimes felt like doing and, as it swung its head around, Luke caught a glimpse of those eyes again.
Gentle hands stroked his cheek and Luke ignored it, still staring at the beast. Around it, he could see shuttle carriers and they were firing on the beast.
"They're hunting it," Luke whispered to nothing in particular. But Anakin heard and shifted him, as if trying to look into his eyes, but he hated it suddenly. He didn't have to share everything and Anakin was helping the people hunting the creature.
"Luke," Anakin was saying. "Luke-"
He'd lost track of the beast for a moment in trying to keep his head away from Anakin and suddenly the shuttle they were in lurched weirdly. Then they were moving in a way that wasn't part of any kind of flight and the next outraged roar was much, much closer.
The good thing was that Anakin's attention snapped away from him and looked up and around.
"Can you do anything?" Padme was asking in those clipped tones that Luke was starting to recognise.
The noise was getting too much and it was confusing because Luke couldn't work out who was being hunted and who was hunting and he wrapped his arms over his head, wanting a pause from it all. He wanted it to be quiet and all stop.
"Hold him," Anakin was barking and the wold moved in so many directions that Luke nearly screamed. Then he was with Padme and she was quiet and there wasn't an echo or someone trying to get into his head. She just sat, head on his and stayed still so that there was one less thing to distract him.
"I am almost certain you were meant to hand that back to the council." Luke almost looked up when she scolded, but it was almost all right again and he didn't want to risk it.
"You wanna have that argument now?" Anakin as a familiar snap-hiss of a lightsabre rung out. Then he could hear it clash with metal. He was certain there was a scratching creaking noise as the metal started to warp under the blade. "If I can get through this, the shuttle will split open."
"Are you sure?" Padme asked as her arms tightened on Luke and that was nice.
The creature screamed again and Luke wanted to join in suddenly. Being trapped and for a second he was back in a loading bay, crammed into a box as Old Ben kept a hand over his mouth and there were Troopers hunting and already Zak was dead on the floor and they were coming, they were coming and Old Ben was keeping him trapped as surely as the Troopers were. He doubled over, fighting the hands on him and screamed.
It was a blur of noise and shouting and panic and trapped, still trapped and they were hunting and hurting and he couldn't do anything but want to hit back and that was wrong but he wanted to hit back. He wanted to so much. Everything was moving and out of control and he was lost and trapped and ignored and left.
Always left.
The hands were different this time. Different and something reached out to his mind and he shoved at it. Panicked because if it happened again then he wouldn't survive, he knew that. They'd rip him apart and he just wanted to hide and be alone and quiet and still and running without being chased.
A sensation was creeping up on him and he knew that feeling. He fought it as hard as he could and then the sensation changed slightly, as if it came from something else.
And he fell asleep.
xxx
Part of him was half expecting to be scolded or disciplined in some way.
Across the roof, balanced neatly on the edge, was the surviving half of the shuttle carrier, left where Master Windu and Obi-Wan had placed it. Droids and clones were swarming the room now along with the sparse Jedi and Anakin found he didn't care. Below them, the beast was dead and the last of the toxic gas was fading away. Anakin sat on the roof, still shaking. In his arms, Luke slept like a newborn and as if he hadn't been screaming like he'd been tortured earlier.
"You said," Anakin said, staring out into the night sky. "You said that his mind might need repair and then you did nothing-"
"Easy fix, this is not," Yoda sighed, his hands still on the boy. "Time he needs. Progress this is."
"Progress?" Anakin demanded.
"Starting to acknowledge trauma, his mind is."
"Starting?" Anakin asked, horrified. In his arms, Luke didn't react, his smooth little face at a false ease and his hair sticking up everywhere from panicked sweat. He was too little to have this, too…force, his son had been feeling empathy for the beast because he was his mother's son and had her heart-
Across from them, a medical team was looking over the rest of the group. Padme had fallen awkwardly from the shuttle and they were checking for gas inhalation from the canisters that had been released when it had become apparent that there were enough Jedi to keep the gas from harming the Chancellor using a force shield.
Or rather, once Yoda and Anakin had finished sending Luke to sleep. He hadn't spared a second thought for the Chancellor as Luke has almost convulsed with pain.
He could feel Padme's gaze on them as well as sense the general fuss from the medical droids who so clearly wanted to obey their programming and check over the three of them too. And Luke would need to be checked over.
He couldn't get into his son's mind. He'd been thrown out the second he'd thrown caution to the wind, unable to bear hearing Luke in pain. The force of it as well…stars, his son was strong. And terrified, he'd felt it in the brief second he'd made full contact.
"Love the boy, you do," Yoda said quietly.
Force, the Jedi were idiots sometimes. Anakin said nothing to the ridiculously obvious statement, still trying to work out a way of keeping Luke closer to him. The idea of letting go of his son was more than he could cope with at the moment. He pulled Luke's head under his chin and listened to the breath as his son slept.
"If you try and take him-"
"Unwise that would be. Change our minds, we will not," Yoda said calmly. "Our help however, you do need." He came close. "Turn him around and wake him up we will. Need to know what mental state he is in, we do."
Reluctantly, Anakin agreed. Turning Luke around a little so that he was facing outwards, Anakin pressed his right cheek to Luke's hair and used his flesh hand to cup under Luke's chin so that they boy was staying up. There was a small hint of jealousy that Anakin watched Yoda reach out for Luke. Luke had managed to fight off Anakin's sleep suggestion and Obi-Wan's attempt had been met with an almost violent refusal.
Luke started to stir as Yoda withdrew and waited. Anakin peered forward and watched Luke's little face. Luke shifted and then started to peer around like he was looking for something.
Yoda shook his head wordlessly at Anakin and so they waited for Luke to start the conversation. But Luke radiated relief at their silence and turned a little into Anakin.
He flinched when Obi-Wan walked over and Anakin said nothing, just ran a soothing hand through Luke's hair. "How is he?" his former master asked.
Anakin shook his head. "Thank you," he said, honestly meaning it. "I didn't know what to do-"
Obi Wan waved a hand as if it had been nothing to risk the beast and get into the shuttle to help Anakin and ensure that they all got out alive while Luke was in the middle of what could only be described as a force fit.
"Unfortunate as it is," Yoda said slowly. "Associate you with bad memories the boy does. Away from him you will need to stay."
Regret tumbled across Obi-Wan's face like debris in a sandstorm as he tried to get his emotions under control. "I…" He nodded and Anakin would have felt sorry for him had he any emotion to spare at the moment. Ob-Wan kept his distance and then his shoulder slumped a little as he stepped away.
"Come," Yoda said. "Finish the business with the beast we shall. Get the child seen to, you must."
Anakin got to his feet, easily manoeuvring Luke whose fingers tightened a little as if to make sure that he could stay put.
"Not letting go," Anakin promised. "You're stuck with me, youngling."