Heh heh...excuse anything retarded, it's around 2:30am when I finally got finished writing this...argh, anyone have any idea's for future plots in the story? In case you guys hadn't noticed I've been making this up as I go long aha...(:
Chapter Eleven: A Turn For the Worst
That could have gone better… Luke mused to himself as he got ready for bed. As soon as they had arrived back at the Temple, Luke had been whisked away to face the wrath of the Jedi Council.
And they were not pleased.
Luke winced at the memory of having twelve less than happy Jedi interrogating and lecturing him. Since he wasn't an 'official' member of the Jedi Order, the worst they could do was punish him for his little excursion.
He had envisioned punishments where he would have to perform nearly impossible tasks, perhaps be ridiculed in front of the entire Jedi Order…no food for a week…and as Luke had stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by Jedi who simply stared at him, Yoda cleared his throat lightly and gestured at Mace.
"Luke Starkiller; in the event of you leaving the Temple without informing anyone of a higher rank than you and sneaking on-board Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker's ship—nearly jeopardizing their whole mission, may I add—the Jedi High Council hereby sentences you to do be on clean up duty for the rest of the week!" Luke had promptly burst out laughing at Mace's declaration.
Clean up duty?! Are they serious? He sobered up almost immediately however, when twelve blank faces stared back at him.
"Are…are you guys being serious? Clean up duty? What sort of punishment is that?!" Luke yelled incredulously.
His outburst was soon followed by an argument between Mace and himself about Luke's attitude. The argument seemed to have amused some of the Council members, including Yoda himself. After seven minutes of solid arguing, Yoda had calmly interrupted them and told Luke that he should go and rest.
"Luke, get your hand looked at too, you should, hmm?" Luke raised his eyebrows and glanced down at his right hand, the wires were still sticking out. His hand did feel a bit heavy…
"Of course, Master Yoda. I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused." Luke said sincerely. The only one on the Council Luke truly respected was Yoda.
Mace hadn't failed to notice that.
After the surprising meeting, Luke had made a bee-line straight for his bedroom. He was sure that whilst the medics would be very good, they probably couldn't do much for his hand—it was a future model after all.
Luke paused when he passed by Anakin's room; he was tempted to check on how he was; he did get injured after all. He also wanted to make sure Obi-Wan was alright. Briefly using the Force, he realised that he couldn't sense his Father.
He's probably with Obi-Wan in the medical bay. He thought, slouching into his room to go to bed.
"Luke, wake up."
"Five more minutes…"
"You said that five minutes ago, now get up!"
Luke groaned as his duvet was forcibly yanked from him, the cold morning air making him shiver. He curled up into a little ball and turned over, mumbling incoherently that Anakin should leave him alone.
"Honestly, you're like a teenager sometimes." Anakin complained good-naturedly. Luke felt his bed dip under Anakin's weight as he sat down behind him. He tensed and waited for a few seconds for something to happen—was Anakin to sit there and stare at him until he got up?—poke.
Luke tensed up again.
Poke poke.
"Stop poking me." He snapped, throwing an irritated glare over his shoulder.
"It's nine in the morning, get up." Anakin replied, poking Luke at irregular intervals. Sighing heavily, Luke sat up and pouted at Anakin's satisfied smirk.
"I'll get you back for that." Luke muttered through a yawn, bringing his hands up to rub at his eyes.
"Good luck with that." Anakin teased, his ice blue eyes shining with mirth. He unconsciously swept his gaze over Luke's small frame, checking for injuries. "Your hand!" he exclaimed, remembering when he had seen the exposed circuitry underneath.
"Oh. That—uh, it really isn't anything. I'll get it fixed right now—!" Luke made to get up, but with one swift movement Anakin had pushed Luke back down.
"Can I see it?" Anakin asked gently, already poking and prodding at the wires. Luke sighed in nervous exasperation.
"Amazing…it has a synthetic skin? Certainly far more advanced than my one…" Anakin murmured, a look of rapt concentration on his face. He gently prodded at one of the wires that stuck out, making Luke hiss in pain.
"Just because it's prosthetic doesn't mean I can't feel anything—ow! Be careful!" Luke complained, pulling his hand away.
"Sorry…" Anakin apologized. He glanced away, frowning at the wall, lost in his thoughts. After a few moments Luke started to get worried.
"Anakin…?" he hesitantly asked.
"That means that I can get a better looking arm in the future!" Anakin exclaimed, a bright smile on his face. "If you want, I can fix it for you. It doesn't look that much different from mine." He offered, already off to find his tool set.
Luke watched him leave his room, a painful lump in his throat. Anakin would never get to replace it—at least not with a good prosthetic like his.
Vader…I have to try harder. Look at me! The Force sent me back here for a reason, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I'm wasting it by messing around and being childish. Pull yourself together Luke! He gave himself a mental slap and let the Force swirl around him.
He wouldn't get distracted anymore, from here on out, he would be focused and mature. He was Commander Luke Skywalker and— "I got the tools!" Anakin's voice cut through his concentration like a knife.
"Great! My hand feels all weird since it got cut." He complained, forgetting his mantra of sorts.
"I'll fix it, don't worry." Anakin settled down in front of Luke. The two Skywalker's had both their legs crossed with identical looks of intense concentration on their faces…
"That doesn't go there!" Luke exclaimed, scowling as Anakin carefully adjusted some wires in his hand.
"I'm telling you Luke, that it does!" he replied hotly. Anakin was used to being praised for his mechanical abilities, he was rarely—in fact, he never—got corrected on what he was doing. Even then if someone had felt the need to tell him he was doing something wrong, they had only mildly suggested it to him.
And there Luke was practically yelling in his face that a wire didn't go there, when it was so painstakingly obvious that it did!
"Look, you obviously don't know what you're doing—"
"Oh, and you think you can fix your hand by yourself, using your left hand no less?" Anakin asked hotly, slapping away Luke's hand that tried to move the wire.
They both shot each other irritated scowls before Luke became quite again. Anakin sighed as he worked in peace; he was nearly done, he only had to replace a few of the sensors that had gone a bit funny…
"…"
"Don't say anything." The older of the two warned as Luke opened his mouth. Anakin wasted no time in scowling at Luke as he worked. "I've been doing this for years. I'm older than you, so I obviously know what I'm doing."
"Just because you're older than me doesn't make you better." Luke grumbled in protest.
Anakin smirked as he fixed the synthetic skin.
"Maybe one day I'll teach you how to reach my level." Anakin teased, running a trained eye over his work. "Done!" He declared, standing up and stretching.
Luke flexed his fingers experimentally, poking at it. He was relieved to find that he could still feel sensations.
"Thank-you." Luke looked up as Anakin shrugged modestly.
"Ah, it was nothing really. I took the liberty of modifying it for you…obviously I couldn't do a full modification but I did tweak some things so it should run much better now." He explained, packing away everything that he had brought with him.
Luke nodded, impressed with his Father's handiwork.
"Well, I'm going to get some breakfast, all that work has left me starving." Luke joked as he pulled on some new clothes.
"You didn't do any of the work!" Anakin laughed, clapping a hand on Luke's back.
"Well…I helped you." He relented as they made their way down to the canteen. "I really am still tired though, it seems I'm out of shape…I'm gonna go catch some sleep after this." Luke said, sitting opposite Anakin once they'd gotten their food.
"Back to sleep? I'll wake you up if anything exciting happens." Anakin joked, tucking into his breakfast. After they had both eaten and talked for a bit, Luke waved goodbye as he went back to bed.
Luke had been asleep for another two hours before he finally woke up again. He sat in the middle of his bed, his duvet wrapped all around him. Yawning, he rubbed at his eyes and sat there for a second.
What was that dark aura he could feel?
Stretching out slowly with the Force, he recoiled as the dark presence immediately made him feel sick. He resisted pulling away, idly wondering if it was Palpatine. He bit his lip; it was his Father's Force presence.
Getting out of his bed, Luke padded quietly to his Father's room, quietly knocking on the door before letting himself in.
"Fa—Anakin?" He asked, seeing the man pacing around. "What's wrong?" Luke inquired, hesitant to venture closer.
"I'll tell you what's wrong," Anakin snarled, clenching his fists, "the Chancellor elected me to me to represent him on the Jedi Council…but they denied me the rank of Jedi Master and they ordered me to secretly spy on Palpatine! Can you believe that? They're purposefully excluding me from the Council!" Anakin raged and rambled on some more, venting out his frustration.
"Anakin—"
"And the worst thing is that Obi-Wan was on their side! He's just jealous! He's always trying to stop me from reaching my full potential!" Anakin smashed his fist into the wall and Luke winced as a dent appeared. Anakin must have punched it with his mechanical arm, which was why he caused so much damage.
"Anakin, the Council are the wisest Jedi ever. They obviously know what they're doing…perhaps they think you aren't ready yet." Luke suggested, wary of his Father's fragile temper.
Eloquent as always, Skywalker. Luke thought to himself with a wince.
"You too? You're going to side against me with them?" the air in the room got thicker as Anakin's anger swirled around choppily.
"No no! It's just, I mean to be a Jedi Master and on the Council properly...I mean...and well you're very…emotional." Luke hastened to explain.
"Emotional?! What's that got to do with anything? They obviously don't trust me enough or they—"
"But they're trusting to spy on Palpatine, which is a big secret mission." Luke offered. He wanted to smack himself; he could never say the right things.
"He's been my loyal and trusted friend ever since I first got here. He's been the only one who I can truly trust. And of course now you," he added, "but I won't turn my back on him." Anakin stated, calming down slightly.
Luke certainly admired his Father's loyalty to his friends…if only it weren't to Palpatine though.
"What about Obi-Wan?" Luke asked, a frown marring his face.
Anakin sighed, messaging his forehead warily. "I should probably go apologize to him, again, since I yelled at him. I said things I shouldn't have." Anakin admitted guiltily, his eyes downcast to the floor.
Luke sighed. Palpatine was obviously up to something. He must have known that the Council would not approve Anakin straight away, that's why he did it…to make him angry and more vulnerable to the Darkside!
Luke grit his teeth and tried to release his anger into the Force. He had to stay level-headed and calm until he could figure out a way to make everything better again.
"Go and apologize to Obi-Wan, Anakin. If you don't know who to trust, you can definitely trust him. Go." Anakin nodded and gave Luke's shoulder a squeeze.
"Thanks for…you know, listening. I'll find you afterwards." Luke nodded and sent him a small smile, watching Anakin's retreating back until it disappeared behind the door.
Luke wandered around the Temple, not really knowing where he was going.
"Master Yoda." He greeted formally when the little green Jedi seemingly appeared out of nowhere. He beckoned for Luke to follow him and they walked in companionable silence until they reached a nearly empty part of the Temple. They got inside a room, Luke watching as Yoda closed the door firmly.
A bout of dizziness overcame Luke. He stumbled slightly before unceremoniously flopping to the floor so he could sit. Yoda looked at him knowingly.
"You belong not in this time, Skywalker. And try to remove you the natural balances of the world will." Yoda stated seriously, a small frown on his face.
"Natural balances? What—"
"Silence! It matters not!"
Luke swallowed but nodded, the bout of dizziness slowly leaving him.
"The longer you spend here, the weaker, become, you will. Complete your task and return back to your time as quickly as possible, you must!" Yoda warned, slamming his walking stick onto the ground a few times for emphasis.
Luke froze, his mind sluggishly muddling its way through everything Yoda had said, trying to understand it all.
"…Am I…am I dying?" Luke gasped out, eyes widening dramatically.
If I'm dying…that means I'll have to be even more focused! I'm on a time limit! Force help me I'm not going to—
"Be foolish, do not! Die you will not! Just become weaker, you will." With strength that didn't seem to fit his small, old frame, Yoda smacked Luke none to gently with his walking stick.
"Ow!" Luke howled, rubbing his injured head.
"Waste time; do not, young Skywalker, quick, must you be. Understand do you, hmm?" Yoda said sternly, gazing intently into Luke's eyes. Luke sobered up and nodded determinedly, absently rubbing his head.
"Thank-you for telling me Yoda…now, I have a mission to get to!" Yoda watched as Luke sprinted away with renewed vigour.
He huffed as he shuffled slowly towards the door.
"Trouble, these Skywalker's are, hmm." He mused to himself.
The door swung shut behind him, and all was silent.