Lost in the Shadows

Chapter Thirteen: Wish and Memory

Sixteen year old Henry Mills blocked yet another thrust his way by his best friend and brother, Anakin Skywalker. It was hard to believe that only five years had passed. Henry now stood at a solid five feet six inches tall, with Anakin only two inches shorter than he was! The brunette's build was slim yet somewhat muscular. He wasn't interested in really trying to buff up because his ally was the Force, and through the Force, he didn't need tremendous upper body strength like that of a bodybuilder.

"Aw come on!" Anakin playfully jeered, "You aren't going to let me land just one hit?"

Henry chuckled in response as he twirled his saber in his right hand to get a better grip on it.

"One hit?" Henry asked, turning to his right yet always keeping his opponent in front of him, "You gave me a beat down last week! Once a month is enough."

Anakin was really his favorite sparring partner because with the blonde it wasn't about beating or overpowering the opponent, it was about having fun and bettering ones' skill.

Making a feint, Henry jumped to the right and extended his left hand, using the Force and directing its energy towards his brother. He watched Anakin grin and shake his head.

"Sorry Henry, but your trademark move isn't going to be easy for you this time!" The young blonde Jedi padawan remarked.

Henry's trademark move when he was battling an opponent was using the Force when they least expected it to literally rip their lightsaber from their grasp, like he did with that Sith on Naboo. It was rather handy in a fight with someone he didn't know because it quickened the end of such a fight, especially when Henry's mission was to disarm them.

"You saw that huh?" Henry asked, feigning annoyance.

"Come on bro, you've been trying that move since I was eleven." Anakin shot back.

It was true, Henry did almost always try that trick with his brother. He started doing it when he felt he had better control over his powers and he hadn't let up yet!

"What?" Henry asked, "It's my favorite move!" Circling around Anakin, he didn't even give a three count before he jumped forward and sliced towards Anakin's front. The blonde brought his bright blue lightsaber up and blocked the thrust. Blue blade met blue blade with a sizzling clash. Since they both had their sabers on their lowest power setting as a matter of safety, the collision of the two blades didn't do much of anything save make noise and send a few sparks up in to the air.

Grinning, Henry took two steps back, hit a button and powered down his saber before he bowed to Anakin, who did the same. Clipping the saber to his belt, Henry glanced over to the side where his dark brown Jedi robe was, carefully folded up. Raising a hand, Henry used the Force to bring his robe over to him. Sliding in to it, he adjusted it over his frame and then heaved a sigh. Together, he and Anakin left the sparring room and entered in to the hall, heading for the apartments.

"Do you ever think about your mom anymore?" Anakin asked.

Their entire first year, Henry told Anakin story after story about Storybrooke, Maine, and his family. After that year ended, the stories died down until they stopped all together.

Henry didn't answer at first, keeping his gaze down low, finding the contours of the tile floor very interesting all of a sudden.

"I try not to," he finally replied as images of Emma and Regina and Neal flashed in to his mind for a brief second. After everything that had happened to him, it was almost as if Storybrooke had been the adventure; the dream and now it was over with. A lot of the time Henry found himself struggling to remember what his family even sounded like. Sometimes he couldn't remember and other times it was all so vivid that he would wake up with a few tears rolling down his face.

"Storybrooke is where I'm from," he continued, "but it's not my home anymore. My home is here; the Jedi Temple. Five years ago, if you had asked me where I would see myself in five years, I never would have guessed in my wildest dreams that I'd be here. Besides, I need to keep my thoughts and emotions focused; centered. Wildly hoping that somehow I'd find something that can send me back is..." Henry shook his head. "Besides, being here I...well let's face it bro, I don't even want to go back."

Within seven minutes the two boys arrived back at the apartments, going straight to the one that Anakin shared with his Master, Qui-Gon Jinn. Qui-Gon however wasn't there at the moment. He was elsewhere on Coruscant and wasn't even due back until later that evening. Someone was there however, it was Chancellor Palpatine! Over the years, the Chancellor and the boys had grown rather close. Honestly, from where Henry stood, it was hard to believe that the Chancellor would one day become Emperor Palpatine and seek to destroy all of the Jedi and rule his Empire with an iron fist.

"Chancellor!" The two boys exclaimed as one, neither expecting to see the older man there. As one they both bowed in respect, only to be pulled up short when Palpatine himself lifted his hands in a 'please stop' gesture. Pausing mid bow, Anakin and Henry glanced at one another but then both stood up straight, looking at the man without speaking.

"This isn't a business call," Palpatine said with a smile, "I just wanted to see how my two favorite Jedi were."

It wasn't unusual for the boys to see Palpatine in one of their quarters, but normally it was work related; something to report to the Masters which would normally end in them being sent on a mission.

"I hear the both of you had trying times," the Chancellor said.

Anakin nodded his head first, followed shortly by Henry. They both had been on separate missions with their Masters and while neither knew specifics, during the mission both had felt the others' pain at one point or another. It wasn't until both had returned back at the Temple that all had been revealed.

Anakin had had to save Qui-Gon from a nest of Gundarks and other horrifying creatures and Henry had almost drowned. He and Obi-Wan had been on a swamp planet where it seemed their ability to use the Force was diminished. A chase had ensued which ended up at a lake. Both Jedi had entered the water and at first only Henry had surfaced. Once he realized his Master hadn't been with him he had gone back under to find Obi-Wan tangled up in a lot of vines. Somehow Henry had freed his Master but had gotten himself tangled up as well. In the end he had to be dragged unconscious out of the water and then spend two days in a med bay recovering!

"That's an understatement..." Henry muttered. Walking over to the couch, he gingerly sat down on the right most edge of it, while Anakin sat closer to Palpatine, who took possession of the nearby chair.

The Chancellor nodded his head, taking note of the tone in the boy's voice. "Facing one's mortality is not the easiest thing to do," he said.

"Yes sir, my apologies," Henry replied. It wasn't what the Chancellor had said, but it was the inflection in his voice plus the look on his face that told Henry that he wasn't entirely thrilled with his sentence.

"Patience will be your greatest tool. In time it will be a powerful asset. It will help you to see through lies and injustice, especially in these coming years," Palpatine said.

"In the coming years?" Anakin asked, confused, "What do you mean? What's coming?"

Henry felt that he knew what the Chancellor was trying to say without actually saying it. He was more than likely referring to the Clone Wars, the fall of the Jedi and Order 66.

"Let me just say that you should know who your friends are, Anakin. They are the only ones that you can count on." Chancellor Palpatine said.

Before anything more could be said, Henry's communicator chirped. Taking it from a side pocket, he pushed the button on the side and spoke in to it.

"Yes, my Master?" he asked.

"Henry, the Council has asked for our presence," the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi came through the speaker in the communicator.

"Yes, Master. I will be there soon," Henry replied. Smoothly he ended the communication and tucked the device back in to his pocket. "Well..." he said once he was done, "Duty calls!" Standing, he smoothed his robes down once more, forgoing bringing his hood up to hide his face. He was in the Temple for crying out loud and there was no reason to hide.

"Ani, Sir," Henry nodded to his brother and extended a bow of respect to the Chancellor, before he turned and left the apartments to meet up with his master.

…

Two weeks later found Henry Mills in a tight spot. The Council had sent Master Kenobi and his apprentice to a desert planet much like Tatooine, with only one large sun, to negotiate with a rather large group of slavers who had taken captive the family of a senator from Coruscant. Making contact with the slavers and talking terms had been the easy part. Things turned south when the slavers came up with the foolish idea of trying to take the Jedi hostage as well. Weapons were fired, people were hit and injured and some were even killed.

Henry let out a slow and deep breath as he analyzed his current situation. He was dressed in a peasants cloak with the crème colored hood drawn up to shield his head from prying eyes. He had been chased in to the small homeless village that was outside the capital city and now he was hiding in the alleyway between two buildings. His lightsaber was out but not ignited yet as he had flicked it off not ten seconds earlier. His master wasn't with him as the two Jedi had been separated when the weapons had suddenly started to go off. However, Henry knew that Obi-Wan was alright; he could feel it through the Force.

"You've got nowhere to run, Jedi! Come out now and we'll go easy on you!"

Henry peeked around the corner once more, easily spotting the one who had sent that recent jeer. The man in question was tall; over six feet tall. The man had long dirty blonde hair and a full, scruffy looking beard. Piercing blue eyes seemed to look every which way and the man's long fingers clutched a weapon that reminded Henry of a machine gun; only the weapon fired energy bolts instead of bullets.

The young Jedi wasn't afraid of the men finding him, he was more worried and concerned about the homeless who lived in the village. The slavers weren't exactly picky about who they shot and killed. No, really the best thing to do was lead them out and away from the village.

Taking a deep breath, Henry launched himself from his hiding place and began to run. From behind him he heard the slavers yell out after him and then there was the sound of footsteps from behind as well.

A warning through the Force was enough to get Henry to ignite his saber and block a bolt that had been meant for his head.

"You are only making things harder on yourself!" One of the slavers yelled out after him.

Running past the last hut, Henry spied the open desert. While he didn't really want to run there because there was no cover, he figured that if he could gain enough distance he could circle back around, slip back in to the capital and find his master. It was an idea; maybe not a good one, but it was an idea.

"HENRY! NO!"

A loud voice filled the air for a moment before it seemed to be silenced. The voice had sounded like Obi-Wan's but Henry couldn't be sure. In any event, the voice had issued a warning, but why? An explosion off to his immediate left told Henry all that he needed to know. He had entered the protective minefield that had been placed all around the city. No one knew where all of the mines had been placed and there was only one true path through the field; a path that he was nowhere near.

Reaching out through the Force, Henry felt along for the mines. Whenever he felt that tingling, he veered in another direction. The Force would keep him safe, it would tell him...

Pain in his head caused the young Jedi to immediately stop and slump down to his knees. As he fell face first in to the warm sand, the only thing he could picture in his mind was his Master and how he had failed the older man.

…

"Master Kenobi, he is waking up,"

A metallic sounding voice was the first thing Henry heard when he came to. Opening green eyes, he groaned as everything began to slide in to focus. Henry found himself on a rather comfortable bed with a dim light overhead. Some sort of fluid was flowing from a container in to his left arm and his right arm was wrapped in a bandage.

Just laying there, the first thing that Henry realized was that his entire body hurt from head to foot. Noticing several pairs of expectant eyes on him, the young Jedi lifted his gaze. He saw two bearded men; one with long gray/brown hair, the other with a more sunkissed brown color. In front of the two older men, there was a younger lad with dirty blonde hair and a braid draped across one shoulder.

It seemed as if they were expecting him to say something, yet Henry didn't know what he should say!

"Um..." he began after several long moments of silence, "Not to seem rude or anything but...who the hell are you and why are you staring at me?"