A/N: Thank you so much for your patience! I know there was a huge wait, but I was working through exam season and now I am officially a college graduate. Hope you enjoy this latest chapter; remember that comments feed the Mighty Muse. Even if you hate it, that feedback is what I use to help improve my wriiting and I am grateful for every single one. Until next time- may the Force be with you!
I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me.
I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me.
I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me.
The familiar mantra timed to each inhale and exhale should have brought him peace, should have helped him calm, but the child's chant did no good. Anakin clenched his hands into fists and slammed one weakly against the durasteel. He had to be calm. He had to keep his breaths steady. He couldn't think about the walls closing in or about the limited amount of air or about the darkness- the darkness- the darkness surrounding him.
He assumed his shields were intact but his stomach was rolling and his mind too fuzzy. He was probably concussed, unable to even reach Obi-Wan through their bond. It was like they were separated by a brick wall too high for either of them to scale. The mental silence was deafening, leaving him unmoored without their bond as an anchor.
You can do this. Just relax. Be strong, be a Jedi.
He swallowed past a lump in his throat as hot tears began to gather in his eyes. He wasn't a Jedi, not even close. He was just a kid, play-acting as one, trying to be all tough when it only ever got him into trouble.
He curled into a tighter ball, trying to block out the images that filled his mind: memories of the cellar his mom would hide him in when Watto brought other slavers to their small hovel. It'd been so dark and so small and he'd always felt like it was hard to breathe. Like a vine had wrapped around his lungs and squeezed the life from him with every heartbeat.
Tears began to drip down his cheeks as he pounded the side of the trunk again and again and again.
It's not going to work. Said a voice, deep within him. No one can hear you. You screamed yourself hoarse and still no one heard you. Maybe no one is coming.
"No." He whispered. "No, I know they're coming. Obi-Wan has to be coming."
Why? It demanded, saccharine voice laced with a chilling venom that made him shiver. Why would Obi-Wan bother to come looking for you? Too old, too angry, too dangerous… I bet he's glad to be rid of you.
"NO!" he cried, banging his fist against the trunk lid again before wrapping his arms around his middle and dissolving into tears. Obi-Wan had to be coming. He wouldn't leave him behind, would he?
His chest seized, breaths catching in his throat as panic began to set in. Fear that they weren't looking, that he would suffocate and die in this box, and no one would ever know. No one would ever know or even care what had happened to him. Just another lost slave from Tatooine, just another body to be disposed of. And his Mom! He would be gone and his mom wouldn't even know! She'd given up everything for him, sacrificed so he could go free and he was just going to die crying and helpless.
His sobs began to break, breaths labored as spots swam before his vision. He tried to reach out for the Force again, tried to reach out for Obi-Wan, but it was no use.
I am one with the Force, Force is with me.
One with the Force, Force is with me.
Force is with me. Force is with me. With me with me with me with me with me-
"Anakin? Anakin, c'mon now, stay with me. I'm right here, Padawan. You're safe now. Stay with me."
Anakin gasped as consciousness came rushing back. The first thing he noticed was that the air filling his lungs was fresh, rather than stale, and that it was icy cold and painful as he inhaled gratefully.
"Don't move. It's okay, just take a moment."
That was Obi-Wan, above him. He looked up and realized that his head was resting in his Master's lab, that his body was sprawled out on the floor. His mind was still fuzzy, their connection muted, but the physical contact allowed him to finally feel his Master in the Force. The calming pulse of concern and stability and reassurance drifting down their bond triggered another wave of tears to silently slip down the blotchy cheeks.
Obi-Wan smiled and wiped them away with his thumb, hands bracketing his apprentice's head.
"M' sorry."
"Whatever for, Ani?"
Anakin tried to say that he was sorry for getting in trouble again, sorry that his Master had to come rescue him like a pathetic youngling, but all that came out was a wheezing cough. His Master tugged affectionately on his braid.
"Hush, it's alright. We'll talk soon; for now, rest."
Gladly, Anakin did as told, without any further argument for once.
"So, my young apprentice," Obi-Wan began, using an all-too familiar tone that Anakin simply dreaded. The boy groaned and pulled the thin med-center issue blanket over his head.
"Care to explain how you ended up in a smuggler's cargo hold? And I'd appreciate it if you'd look at me, it's hard to hold a conversation with a blanket."
Anakin yanked the covers back down but brought his knees up to his chest to put another makeshift barrier between them. He hated medcenters. Even though the Royal Healers had been kind, assuring him that his head injuries were minor, they were still making him stay the night for observation. Well, while he slept anyway- time had gotten twisted in the chaos and he hadn't yet bothered to unravel it himself.
"Am I in trouble?"
Obi-Wan shook his head ruefully. "No Ani, you're not in trouble. I just want to know what happened. You were missing for nearly six hours."
"But I was supposed to be in bed." He admitted. He didn't really want Obi-Wan to be upset with him, but he'd also broken one of their most important rules: Stay close to me, especially when we aren't in-Temple. You never know what might happen.
"Well why don't we start there- you got up and left our rooms around midnight. Were you having nightmares?"
Anakin shook his head; he'd have just gone to Obi-Wan had it been that simple, even though it was embarrassing to still have nightmares at fourteen. No, instead something had been tugging at him, pulling him through the Force so strongly that before he'd even realized it, he'd left and was wandering around the palace halls.
He had no idea where he was going, only that he was going towards something and it was important, whatever it was. He'd had the same feeling a few times when he lived with his Mom. One night, he ended up finding a pregnant woman who'd gotten caught out in a sandstorm and brought her back to their home. He could still see her bright lavender eyes, reddened with crying when she went into labor way too early. She'd named her daughter Sky.
He was still thinking about Sky, about the name they shared, wondering what she looked like now, when he looked up and realized that he was standing outside one of the nurseries.
Encompassing five planetary systems, the Corellian Royal family was massive. There were twenty-three children in total, most of which the Queen had adopted. Obi-Wan had privately compared them to the Initiate clans back at the Temple, but usually there were three or four Creche-Masters assigned to a clan and plenty of helping hands to go around. With the exception of the children's tutors, the King and Queen insisted on raising their family without help from nanny-droids or other servants.
Fifteen of the children were on planet for the banquet and this particular nursery was the bedroom for three of them- three eight year old girls that called themselves 'the triplets' despite being completely different species. And one of them, a Wookie, was tossing and turning in her bed, low growls rumbling in her chest. Anakin probed the Force once for confirmation, understanding instantly.
Slowly, quietly, he crept across the room and knelt beside the young girl's bed. He placed a careful hand on top of her head and stroked her fur gently, sending her soothing pulses of comfort through the Force just like Obi-Wan did for him.
"It's okay." He murmured. "S'just a bad dream. You're safe."
The child warbled softly, features smoothing out as she sunk down further into her bed. Anakin grinned, projecting images of a beautiful summer's day: sun sparkling off the surface of Corellia's many oceans, waves crashing against crystalline shores, and birds soaring on gusts of salty air. He hoped that would be enough to shield her sleep, at least for the night.
Then, a jolt of panic shot through him. At first, he thought it was her nightmares flaring up again. But no, this threat was much bigger, and much closer. He whirled around and caught a glimpse of three shadow-cloaked figures climbing onto the nursery's balcony. In a split second he realized the severity of the situation; there was only a simple pane of transparisteel separating them and he needed to act fast.
With quiet urgency, Anakin shook the young Wookie awake and pressed a finger to her lips. Her eyes went wide with fear but she calmed upon recognizing Anakin.
"I need you and your sisters to go find your mom and dad, okay? I've got a surprise for you, but you have to find them first. Run as fast as you can and don't stop until you get to them, can you do that?" He kept a smile on his face, pressing an excited energy to her through the Force. Better that she think it was all a game, rather than bring her nightmares into the real world.
The princess nodded, not understanding why the young Jedi wanted to surprise her in the middle of the night, but she certainly wasn't going to turn it down. Within moments, the two other girls were woken and they took off running down the hall, hand-in hand. Anakin only hoped that they would run into the patrolling guards on the way or that their noise might alert any of the older children.
But he didn't have time to think about that right now, as he suddenly found himself facing the three masked figures as they cracked the lock and vaulted through the window. The tallest of the three cocked his head and pressed the end of his blaster to Anakin's chest-
"And then I woke up in that box." Anakin dropped his eyes, fidgeting with the cuffs of his pajama shirt.
"You don't remember anything else?" Obi-Wan probed, fighting to keep his emotions behind his shields.
Anakin shook his head. "I know, I know, I shouldn'tve left my comlink and saber behind. I didn't think I needed them, but-"
Obi-Wan smiled warmly and ruffled his student's hair, fingers trailing down the frazzled padawan braid.
"A minor error in judgement, padawan. Foresight like that comes with experience, of which you've had plenty on this mission. Because of you, none of the children were hurt. Those bounty hunters intended to smuggle as many of them as they could off-world and hold them for ransom. But your quick thinking stopped that from happening. I've been told that the Queen wants to see us before our departure to personally extend her gratitude to you."
Anakin chewed his lower lip, uncertainty swirling around his signature. "So… you're not mad?"
"No, Anakin. I was worried for your safety, but you acted bravely and selflessly without hesitation. I am very proud of you." He paused, studying the slump in his charge's shoulders, the upset radiating from him. "But I sense that something else still troubles you."
The boy nodded. "I wasn't strong enough to fight them off. Even without my saber, I could've stopped them if I was better."
"Oh, Ani." Obi-Wan sighed, shifting from his chair to sit on the edge of the bed. "Even Jedi Masters would have fallen to the stun gun they were using. I'm honestly surprised your nerves weren't damaged; it's the kind of tool you'd expect to see used on droids, not people."
He could tell his student wasn't convinced, mind replaying the events over and over again to figure out how he could've prevented it. Rather than repeat the age-old lecture on staying in the present moment, Obi-Wan decided a different type of lesson was in order.
"Here, you need to rest some more, but first I would like to tell you a story from when I was about your age."
That got Anakin's attention. He instantly straightened and lit up at the very mention of Obi-Wan's legendary story-telling.
"About you and Master Qui-Gon?"
Obi-Wan nodded, unable to mask the sadness that entered his eyes at the mention of his former teacher. After five years, it was no longer borne of grief, but of regret that Qui-Gon wouldn't get to watch his grand-padawan grow into the wise young man he'd always known he was capable of becoming.
"Yes, I believe you're old enough to hear this one now. It's not a particularly happy story, but it was an assignment I have never been able to forget. You see, when I was fifteen, Qui-Gon was one of the best Jedi in the entire Order when it came to going undercover…"