Chapter 6 - Cat vs. Jedi
DISCLAIMER: We (unfortunately) do not own Star Wars. :P
Author's Note: In which Anakin runs into Earthly creatures which are enormous from his perspective. Lol.
~ Amina Gila
"Okay, hopefully you're satisfied now," Colette declares, sitting down on the stairs to the back patio next to Adrian.
"Because your whining was becoming annoying," her brother chirps.
Anakin rolls his eyes at them. "I was so not whining. I was only asking to go outside considering that I've been cooped up inside what looks like could be a twenty-floor apartment building for the past entire week. At least out here will feel a little more like home."
"Even with grass over your head?" Collette smirks, though she supposes he has a point. It would drive her insane too.
"I have, in fact, gone to places with grass that high, so yes," he retorts, jumping off the steps and stepping out onto the matted down grass at the edge. It certainly has been a very strange week. He almost likes it here. It's a nice diversion from fighting in a war all the time. He's taken quite a liking to his Earthly friends also, though he does miss his life as a Jedi and wants to go home. Maybe this is for the best, he reminds himself. At least this way, he has some idea of what the future has in store.
But he really doesn't appreciate being so tiny or not being able to see anyone from home or having no idea when he's ever going to go back. Whenever he does go back, though, he'll practically have the fate of the galaxy resting on him, because he's the only one who knows what the future holds. First things first, he's going to tell Obi-Wan all about it, and probably Padme too, well, at least some things. Together, they have to be able to stop it from happening. Ahsoka really is not old enough for such a burden. She's only fourteen, after all.
He slowly moves away into the grass which looks far more like a field that hasn't been mowed in years, with Artoo rolling along behind him.
The droid whistles unhappily.
"Don't worry. I'll clean up the dirt later," Anakin reassures it as they continue along.
A strange looking, reddish-brown, six-legged creature about the size of his foot crawls past him. Umm... what was that? He'll have to ask Collette later. He continues walking through the grass, ignoring most strange creatures running around, until a loud buzz draws his attention.
A particularly large flying creature, which he'd think was a bird if he didn't know better, comes whizzing straight towards him. It has huge eyes and a pair of mostly clear wings and is buzzing extremely loudly. Anakin dodges aside as it flies right over his head.
"Why are there so many strange creatures here?" whistles Artoo as a worm crawls past.
"Because we're tiny," he offers as they continue walking. Something which is becoming increasingly annoying. He's never found bugs so irritating until this very second.
He continues to make his way through the yard before stumbling upon what literally looks like a tree. He pauses, looking up to see what could be enormous yellow leaves. But each "tree" around him has only a few "leaves". Wait a minute... Those are flowers.
Suddenly, he hears the incredibly loud buzzing sound again. The bug glides to a stop a few feet away from him, staring up at him with googly red eyes. Seriously, is there a never-ending supply of these things?!
He Force-jumps to the top of the flower, hoping to get a better view of the yard from here without the endless annoying creatures harassing him. With the exception of a few hand sized six-legged crawling creatures, whatever they are, the spot is clear. Artoo flies up to sit next to him. Looking around, Anakin sees many more flowers in the area. Is this a flower garden? Colette is a good distance away, attention completely distracted. That's fine. He doesn't need her to watch over him just because he's tiny, and she's a giant.
Anakin has been sitting there for a while when he suddenly hears a very loud growl from behind him. His hand reaching for his lightsaber, he whirls around to see a huge creature staring at him. It's far bigger than the bugs, probably at least four times his height.
The creature's enormous green eyes on its white and brown furry face are pinned on him. It has a long brown furry body with enormous white feet and a very long tail. It's size vaguely reminds him of the Zillo Beast. Artoo beeps worriedly, flying into the air as the creature suddenly jumps at the flower, it's foot landing hard on the stem, knocking it to the ground. Anakin rolls out of the way as the stem of the flower breaks and a huge clawed foot comes straight for him.
The creature snarls loudly as he jumps backwards out of the way, activating his lightsaber. He doesn't know what it wants, but he's not about to let himself become its dinner. Artoo shocks the creature in the shoulder and it whirls towards the droid, hissing. A flying leg strikes the droid, sending it sailing across the yard.
Anakin temporarily forgotten; the creature bounds after the droid. Now Anakin's beginning to wish he hadn't come this far away from the house. Seriously, what is this thing? Using the opportunity, he jumps onto the back of the creature. At least here, it won't be able to get so dangerously close to him.
Artoo flies into the air again, and the creature leaps forwards, trying in vain to catch it. Artoo flies higher, moving away from it. The creature snarls once more, leaping higher, and nearly dislodging Anakin. He holds on tighter to its fur, lest he fall off and become its new meal. Finally, it stops moving, watching Artoo as he flies overhead.
Collette suddenly stands up with a frown as she catches sight of the creature. "Don't even tell me you're trampling my flowers again, Sparkles?" she groans, hurrying towards them.
"– Anakin?" she exclaims, "Why are you riding on the neighbor's cat?"
"This is a cat?" he demands incredulously.
"Yes!"
"Well, she decided we were dinner. Mind getting her out of here?"
"Mind getting off of her?"
Anakin sighs, but jumps off the cat and lands lightly on the ground.
"Shoo," Colette waves her hand at the cat. "Stay out of the flowers."
The cat growls again but bounds away across the yard towards the next-door house.
"Well... now that we have the opportunity, perhaps you should tell me more about this Empire?" Anakin suggests as they make their way to the front steps and take seats again. He's wanted to ask her about it for a long time, but she's always tried to dodge questions about it.
She sighs. "I suppose I can. To start with, Sidious was the Emperor, though you probably already figured that out."
Anakin nods. He never wanted to think about it, but he's found himself dwelling on it far more than he likes. He still is having a hard time accepting that the person he used to consider a friend was a Sith Lord and has been manipulating him for ten years. And he's still struggling to accept that he was going to become a Sith in the future Colette knows.
"The Jedi were mostly destroyed, I can tell you later about how," Colette says, shifting uncomfortably. She clearly doesn't like talking about this part. "In this version of the future... the Empire lasted slightly over two decades." Decades? "It ended when Vader," she pauses over his name for a moment before continuing. "Killed Sidious to save Luke, redeeming himself and balancing the Force."
Anakin frowns. "Redeemed? Sith can't turn back."
"They can," Colette argues. "It's something the Jedi have conveniently chosen to forget. And Vader certainly wasn't the first, either. There was at least one named, Darth Revan, back in the time of the old Republic." She smiles slightly. "I'm a huge fan of him even though I hardly know anything about him beyond his name. Anyway."
Silence settles over the two. Anakin wants to demand more, like how the Jedi could be destroyed, but he knows that she won't tell him that.
Colette's eyes linger on Anakin for a long moment before she finally starts talking again. "You're not Vader, Anakin. You don't have to be. It's a choice, one you'll have to make eventually."
"I won't," Anakin replies, voice strained.
Suddenly, the faint sound of a car engine catches his attention. "Sounds like Lyssa might be home," Colette says worriedly, "We better get inside before someone sees you out here."
"Probably," he agrees, "I'll just take Artoo."
Collette hurries over, opening the front door to let them both inside. Before they even make it to the staircase, the front door swings open again. Lyssa steps in, glancing over the two. "Seriously?" is the first thing out of her mouth. "You're even taking those silly things around with you now?"
Oh no. Not her again. And how is he supposed to get back upstairs now? It's not like Artoo can fly up there very well without the grouch noticing, especially since she already spotted them.
"Hello to you too," Colette retorts, glaring at her sister.
Suddenly, Adrian steps into the foyer, cheerful as usual. "I wanted her to bring them down," he lies instantly.
"Seriously? You had nothing better to do?" Lyssa asks scornfully.
"You have nothing better to do than picking on everyone?" Colette snaps. "Isn't 'because I wanted to' a good enough answer?"
Pretending to be a toy is far beyond annoying. Anakin just wants to put that girl back in her place. Even if she doesn't agree with her siblings, picking on them all the time isn't the way to handle it.
"Yeah, you're old enough to have grown out of toys," the older girl snaps, stalking past then into the living room.
"I'll be right there," Colette calls, glancing down at Anakin and Artoo, giving them the signal the coast is clear. They don't waste a moment. Anakin scrambles onto the droid and they sail away, zipping between the bars of the railing and back into her bedroom.
They land on the desk, and Anakin jumps off. Why didn't Colette come upstairs? Wait, he knows the answer to that. It'd just slipped his mind again. Her parents are coming home from work early, so she'll be downstairs the rest of the night. It's good for Colette, since the only time Lyssa doesn't annoy everyone is when her parents are home, but it also means Anakin will be left up here alone to ponder the situation again.
Frankly, Anakin has absolutely no idea how to get back home. He needs to find a way, though. He has to stop the future as Colette knows it, and he really misses Obi-Wan, Padme, and Ahsoka. It feels like it's been forever since he last talked to them. Never mind that the quiet is too unusual for him. He's never not been on a mission for such a long time period.
Anakin's thoughts are interrupted when the front door opens, and he can hear her parents coming inside. Within moments, the atmosphere of the house has gone from tense to cheerful. He can hear their voices even from upstairs, but he can't quite make out their words. It makes him wonder what it would be like to have a family like this. An actual, real family, not just the Jedi. He never really had a father, and his mother... he prefers not to think about it. Her death was too recent and far too painful.
That's when he noticed that something about the Force feels... off. It's much harder to sense and use here, since the planet is so cloaked with darkness, but he can feel the distinctly different way the Force is flowing suddenly. Anakin remembers it feeling different in a similar way right after he came here.
After what feels like forever, after the sun has mostly set, Colette finally returns to her room, all grins. "Hey, Anakin," she greets him cheerfully, expression suddenly morphing to confusion as soon as she starts approaching him. "Why does the air feel... staticy?"
"That would probably be the disturbance in the Force which has been growing stronger over the time you were downstairs," Anakin replies dryly. "Except it reminds me of what I felt right before coming here."
Which could only mean one of two things. Someone else is about to come to life, or that Anakin is about to be sent back home, and Colette is fairly certain the second option is far more likely. As selfish as it is, she doesn't want him to go. He's hardly been in her life, but she doesn't think she can bear for him to be gone just like that. She knows he needs to go, but that doesn't mean letting go of him will be any easier. She can hardly imagine what it will be like to come home every day to empty room again like she always used to.
Artoo suddenly starts beeping excitedly, and Anakin spins around. Colette's eyes widen as she spots the same thing they must have. A spinning, glowing sphere is hovering right behind them. She moves slightly closer and can almost feel the inwards tug of the Force in the area.
Now. Right now. It's time for him to go, with no preparation. He'll leave, probably never to return. Colette wants him to stay here with her so badly, but she knows he needs to go. He has his own life to live, and it's unfair to keep him away from his family. And she's not selfish enough to let countless lives be lost. It's still at the beginning of the Clone Wars, and she knows Anakin could stop most of it, and the formation of the Empire if he goes back with the knowledge he has now. She just wishes there was time for a proper goodbye.
"Goodbye Anakin," Colette says finally, "I'll miss you."
"You too," he admits, moving closer to the portal. Colette steps slightly closer to her desk, unable to shake the fear this will be the last time she sees him. She watches with longing as he and Artoo step into the portal.
Unexpectedly, there's a blinding flash of light, and when Colette opens her eyes again, she's standing somewhere entirely different. Wait. What's happening? This isn't right. Glancing up, she sees something that appears to be several stories high right next to her. Wait, is that a boot? She looks up. The ceiling is the height of the Empire State Building. Maybe taller. "Okay... we have a problem."