Chapter IV: Midnight Heist

"This sucks."

It had been a rough week for the golden brawler known as Yang Xiao Long. Actually, if she was being completely honest, it had been a rough month. Period.

After she and Anakin had gotten home covered in torn clothes and bruises with Ruby in tow, her father nearly had a heart attack and began to bombard the three of them with questions where they had been. He didn't have to wait very long, as the following news report blaring from the television about the brawl at regarding the owner of a popular Valean nightclub and his bodyguards being assaulted by a few teenage delinquents didn't leave much guess work to connect the dots. The fallout had gone as well as it could have. Yang pretty much had no choice but to confess to her sins, and found herself grounded to her room until she left for Beacon. Which as it was now was two days away.

For his part, Anakin had decided the better part of valor for once was discretion, and kept himself out of this; only addressing the enraged father when spoken to. With no small amount of fortune, he had largely escaped the worst of Taiyang's wrath. He did receive a lecture for going to a bar underage with his daughter and letting her get caught up in a brawl with underworld goons, but otherwise had gotten off relatively scott free for returning her daughter in mostly one piece. Anakin had thought to correct the first part of Taiyang's address. but decided this wasn't the time to look a gift tauntaun in the mouth by addressing the man's misconceptions about his age.

It was a strategy that might have saved Yang a few weeks off her punishment had she been wise enough to use it at the time.

"You probably should have thought about that before you wrecked half the cantina by yourself." He commented wryly, knowing full well that she was still quite salty at his comparatively light sentence.

"First off it's a nightclub, not a cantina." She replied flatly, "Second, they earned it by coming on to me! And it's not like you or prince charming over there were doing much to stop the fight."

Anakin rolled his eyes at her feeble attempt to deflect the blame. He had done this song and dance enough with his padawan a lifetime ago to develop a personal strategy guide for dealing with "gifted and rebellious youths".

"Well, I was busy fighting those goons upstairs because of you, and I think 'Prince Charming', as you put it, is likely pissed at us both for leaving him to deal with the local security forces."

"Oh yeah~. I guess we did do that..." Yang had completely forgotten that detail. In the ensuing chaos, escaping criminal prosecution had kinda taken priority over any collateral repercussions. "Huh."

Now that she thought about it, the guy Anakin was with that evening seemed a little too familiar with him. Anakin really didn't say a lot about his past life. Sure, he had explained some basic stuff, but he didn't really talk a lot about the people that he knew, much less the people he had been close to back then. Judging by what little interaction she had been able to observe between them that night, she could tell there must have been some kind of history between them. However, Anakin had also been recusing himself inside his workshop in the time since their brawl at the nightclub. Even Ruby, for all the time she loved tinkering with Crescent Rose, had begun getting concerned with how much time he had spent in the workshop. Maybe now was a good chance to get some answers as to what was going on.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask, did you know that guy by any chance?"

Anakin got very quiet at that question. Yang observed how Anakin's gaze seemed to glaze, as if he was staring out at something he had lost a long time ago. He sighed softly as he began to draw out his response.

"Once... a very long time ago."

Yang was surprised by the uncharacteristic vagueness Anakin spoke with. The man was usually so straightforward, that for him to behave so pensive seemed outright unnatural coming from him. There had to be more to this story.

"Was he at the temple with you? You know, before you got here."

Another moment of silence. Followed by another simple reply.

"Yes."

So her suspicions were correct.

"Do you know how he got-"

"No."

It was the truth too. Anakin had no idea how his former master arrived on Remnant, much less how he ended up in Vale. As a matter of fact, neither of them should be here. They both should have been assimilated into the force the moment they perished. Yet here they were. Reunited. Possibly light years seperated from any former Rebel or Imperial space, with their youth restored. The only remnants that Anakin himself held of the hell he had endured for nearly half a century were his memories. If he had carried those memories, Obi-Wan likely held his own. If so where would that leave them now? Calling each other friends after several decades of animosity between the two was almost certainly out of the question. Even if Anakin had redeemed himself in the eyes of his son, there were plenty of others who would be far less forgiving, and Obi-Wan had more than enough reasons not to. He had destroyed his home at the temple, killed his friends, his "family", and destroyed their bond. That kind of betrayal, no matter how convinced he was that it had been the other way around, was not something that could or should be brushed aside. But Obi-Wan also stayed to help him fight off Junior's men, when he certainly had every reason to ditch him and avoid the situation all together. If they're neither friends nor enemies, what were they now?

As Anakin to mull over the same question he had been in the weeks since their encounter, Yang made a final interjection.

"Hey, you don't have to let me know what's up if you don't wanna."

She paused before continuing.

"But just so you know: If you do, me and Ruby are here for you."

Anakin appreciated the gesture, and nodded a soft confirmation towards her to thank her for her concern. However this was his past and his problems to deal with, not Yang's nor Ruby's. If he would be so fortunate, it would be something they never have to get involved with.

Anakin was about to head back into the garage to continue on another commission, when both he and Yang spotted a small figure in a red cloak attempting to sneak out the back door.

"Ruby where are you going?"

"Huh?" The hooded figure frantically looked around, trying to spot who had caught her attempting to sneak out of the house. Of course it had to be Yang and Anakin.

"Oh, hey you 's a new issue of Guns & Ammo is in store, and I was looking to pick up a copy. Wanna come with me, Yang?"

Yang rolled her head back in frustration.

"Can't, still grounded." She groaned out, realizing she's back to stewing in her own boredom.

"Dad's still pretty mad about last month, huh?" Ruby asked sympathetically.

"About the property damage, or me still looking for Mom?"

Ruby looked at her sister with the blankest stare Anakin had ever seen on the girl. Her response was equally stunted.

"... Yes."

Yang gave her sister a hard glare, as if she was intending to intending to incinerate her little sister for her impudence. No little sister of her's was going to one up her on sass. With that thought in mind, the blonde brawler got up from the couch, walked up to her younger sister, and proceeded to lock the younger girl's head in her arm before giving her a hard knuckle rub against the top of her head with her free hand.

"I'm Soooorry Yanng~!"

"Hmmph, Serves you right for being a smart ass." Yang retorted, as she removed her sister from the headlock she had trapped the poor girl in. "Still can't come with you though."

"Crap. Now how am I going to get to Vale?"

"Couldn't you get your father to take you out?" Anakin pointed out what he thought would be the obvious solution.

"I would, but Dad says the recent string of dust burglaries has got him kinda jumpy about us going into town by ourselves. " Ruby replied with a shrug.

"That sounds kind of silly given you guys seem to regularly plow through grimm like a lawn mower."

"That's what I keep saying, but he says that's totally different!" the redhead cried out, as she flung her arms into the air out of exasperation at her Father's obstinence.

Anakin couldn't say he blamed Taiyang for his paranoia, heaven knows he'd probably feel the same had he been around to see Luke and Leia growing up. However Ruby, much like himself, doesn't really do well with being cooped up. He also needed to go into town for supplies anyway. so if all Ruby needed was some supervision for an errand run, the solution seemed quite obvious.

"I may have an idea…"

By the time they had arrived at the shop was about to close. Evidently the owner liked to close house early in order to handle dust shipments from the vendors of the Schnee Dust Company. However Ruby was a pretty frequent patron as it seemed, since the old man was more than willing to extend business hours for the redhead and her somewhat strapping friend. As Ruby had already practically bolted for the magazine rack by the time she was let into the store, the owner decided to open a dialogue with Anakin instead. The two chatted about current events, family life (well what technically for family in Anakin's case), and the woes of business ownership. All the while periodically checking over at the music station where Ruby had cubbied herself to listen to some music as she read away.

Within 5 minutes, The girl had already skimmed through the entire magazine, and was now meticulously reading through its contents line by line, trying to absorb as much information from it as possible. Her smile seemed to grow with every paragraph she read until she apparently read something she deemed offensive, possibly in the opinion section of the magazine.

"You only think that because you don't even know how to use a scythe…" She grumbled out of frustration before skipping the page entirely.

Anakin couldn't help but chuckle at that. Long ago, he recalled a young snippy Togruta having that same reaction when reading through combat treatise back at the temple. Always insisting that the masters who wrote them all had an "absurd bias" against her favored reverse grips. It was difficult not to smile at such a memory.

"She kind of reminds me a bit of my own little sister back home."

Though many padawans tended to have perennial bonds with their masters, there was nothing remotely perennial about his relationship with Ahsoka Tano. The two were far too close in age, and the only time he went out of his way to play the "parent figure" was when he and Padme decided to mess with the young girl's mind after the Togruta had made the foolish decision to ditch her studies to crash on him and his beloved wife's private time. Though they were not related by blood, Anakin couldn't see Ahsoka as anything short of the sister he never knew he needed in his life.

The old man caught the twinkle in his eye.

"Was she a firecracker like little Rose there?"

"She was," Anakin replied "Though she had a lot more of Yang's dry sense of humor."

The old man visibly winced, though clearly in jest.

"Ooh I pity you then, sir. I can only imagine the pain you had keeping that one out of trouble."

Anakin chuckled at that remark.

"You have no idea…"

"It sounds like the three of them would get along well if they'd ever meet."

Anakin's grin faltered a little bit at that remark. Such a thing wouldn't be possible now would it? After all, he had played a role in the destruction of his apprentice as well. That fateful day on Malachor...

"Yeah, maybe..."

Before he could be made to elaborate further, Anakin suddenly felt a warning blaring through the Force, just in time to notice the armed goons approaching the store from the windows. Though they all wore dark suits and black masks, he could recognize a few of them as being the folks from the bar he and Yang had trashed earlier in the week. The one man he had not been able to recognize was the man in the cheap white suit. He was definitely young; younger than most of the goons he was accompanying, and not a single strand of his fiery red hair seemed to have lost its luster. His cool jade eyes, posture, and insufferably devilish smirk gave off everything Anakin needed to know about him. He had seen that same expression on the likes of Hondo, Calrissian, Xizor, the Hutts. And other would be daring thieves and conmen. It all spelled the same thing to him; nothing but trouble.

"Alright everyone here knows the drill. This is a stick up, ladies and gentleman, and if you cooperate you might just leave with your heads still attached to your shoulders, and yada-yada-yada."

"Now that's a katana!"

They looked between one another, as if they were silently debating what to do with the red head.

"Take care of the girl." The man in the pinup suit

"I'd advise against this if I were you."

"And you would be?"

"No one you'd have to worry about if you turn around, and walk away with your… borrowed aids."

"And how, pray-tell, would you know that?"

"Because, I beat up half of these guys last month?"

It was at this point Anakin turned around to face the intruders, earning the desired blanched expressions of the goons who clearly had remembered the horrendous beating he had given a good half of them during the brawl at the nightclub. Said goons began to make very big steps in the opposite direction, and were practically bolting by the time they reached the store door."

"Where are you running, you balless buttmunchers?!" The dapper rogue cried out as his entourage seemed to abandon him in a frantic dash out the door; leaving him to weigh out his options on his lonesome.

'It's cool Roman, It's cool. We can still hold the little girl as a hostage. No matter how tough this guy thinks he is, he won't risk a-"

Said train of thought was quickly tossed aside, as the goon he had sent to deal with the girl was catapulted through the shop windows.

"Now what was it you were saying about robbing this place?"

Roman couldn't help but cringe as the boy in front of him mocked his efforts to complete his job this evening.

"Grrrr, worth every cent, the lot of you…"

Within seconds

"Well Lancelot, Little Red, it's been a pleasure. But this…" He pointed his cane at one of the dust dispensers, a reticle sight appearing at its foot.

"Is where we part ways."

"NO! YOU'LL BLOW THE WHOLE BLOCK!" The owner screamed.

Having sensed the man's firing intent, Anakin quickly forced the cane down towards the floor, causing them both to blast out the store door with explosive force, with Anakin landing squarely into Ruby on his way out. As the two attempted to collect themselves, Roman made a mad dash for the nearest fire ladder and climbed as fast as he could. Ruby turned to the shopkeeper.

"Hey old man, mind if I go after him?"

The man shook his head, clearly giving her the go ahead.

"Go get 'im little one."

The girl pumped her fist with excitement before running off to pursuit

"Come on, Anakin. We got a bad guy to catch…"

He could have sworn that was something Ahsoka would say in her padawan days.

As Roman reached the top of the rooftop, he pressed into his wrist scroll to signal for an immediate evac. So the job had ended up as a bust, It was… unfortunate to say the least. But he had escaped the brats, and with it any chance of the law catching up with him.

Or so he thought, as an anti-material armor piercing shell whizzed directly past his head. Turning around, his mood turned to decided irritation as he saw both Ruby and Anakin had not been lost. In fact, much to his chagrin, they had chased all the way up to this Oum forsaken rooftop and effectively had him cornered. This just had to be the one job he figured he was good not bringing Neo out for...

"Persistent little shits…" he muttered under his breath. Where the Hell was that woman with-

As if a god had answered his prayers, Roman was greeted to the sight of his partner's VTOL craft emerging from beneath the city skyline, directly in front of him. Anakin bolted to give chase, but was met with a red hand-sized crystal being tossed in his and Ruby's direction as Roman boarded the craft. It was Red dust. And it had landed directly at Ruby's feet.

"End of the line kiddos!" Roman exclaimed as he took aim at the crystal, and Ruby froze momentarily.

Anakin turned and reached through the force to grasp the crystal as Roman pulled the trigger, only for his concentration to be broken by something landing in front of Ruby, and deflecting the damage away from them. As the dust settled, a single woman came into view, with an arcane circle similar to those fantasy cartoons Ruby was so fond of in front. The woman appeared to be middle-aged, though her advancing years had clearly done little to wear either the beauty of her figure or the formidity of her skills. Though she wore civilian wears, and only armed with a mere riding crop, anyone could see the woman possessed an immense level of power and experience behind her. Underestimating her would almost certainly be a lethal mistake.

Roman clearly thought the same. As the woman began her own counterattack against his vehicle, he immediately fled for the cockpit to find reinforcements. The reinforcements, as it happened, was a single woman in a dark red dress. The lights in the vehicle's interior remained dim, and very little of her face could be distinguished. Yet Anakin could make out the woman's eyes. They were a molten amber, as smoldering as the silicate flows of Mustafar.

What followed was a battle of magic Anakin had only read of in the holo novels back at the temple. Each woman cast a flurry flurry of spells, while constantly vying to redirect the power of each other's blows back at one another as hails of violet and crimson traced the night sky. In many respects it was much like a lightsaber duel, but the distance was much more vast, and the only limitations it seemed were the wit and the will of the two to be victorious. However it was becoming abundantly clear that neither had the out right ability to defeat one another, Even as Ruby attempted to lay down suppressive fire with Crescent Rose. As the vehicle prepared to evacuate the scene, the Lady in red cast an explosive spell beneath the trio's feet, forcing both Ruby and their new ally to leap for safety on the far side of the building. Even if their aura could tank the blast, they would be disoriented and likely too damaged to continue the give chase would have been a suicidal effort. Falling back, in this case, was the wisest option.

Anakin, however, had no intention of letting them go so easily.

Once upon a time he would have probably charged headlong towards the ship, slam his lightsaber into it's hull, and then hold on for dear life as he figured out how to take down the time as Vader however had taught him to appreciate more, nuanced methods to finding solutions. For example, instead of chasing a craft down, one merely had to reach out and grab it. And so Anakin did just that as he stretched his hand; using the Force to grasp the retreating hovercraft. Like the hands of a conductor guiding their orchestra through the movement of a symphony, his palm held full control of the craft's motion. No matter how desperately it attempted to throttle, his grip refused to give them an inch. Soon enough his hand began to clench; smoke and sparks began to emerge from both of the hovercraft's engines as it's casing began to buckle. As the engines blew apart under the constricting pressure,the vehicle was torn from the sky and guided to the streets below. Before the woman in glasses attempted to coerce an explanation, Skywalker had already jumped down to where the craft had been parked, Ready to re-engage the escaping duo. As he cut his way through the top hatch with Lucifer, he dropped into the craft to discover… Nothing.

They were gone.

No bodies.

No blood.

Nothing.

They had just vanished.

He could still sense their presence was near, but it was as if they had vanished without a knew he was rusty from lack of serious practice, but if he could concentrate and reach out with the Force, maybe he could-

"Are you quite done? I believe we have some important issues to discuss." A demanding voice called from the outside.

Right, there was still someone else with them. Reluctantly, he decided to cut his pursuit short. He had stopped a robbery, and prevented the use of their escape vehicle. He would just have to hope the security forces would be able to do their job and finish chasing down the arrogant ginger and his accomplice. Whoever she was.

As he leaped to climb out of the hole he had cut into the now totalled hovercraft, Ruby had made her way down from the roof to where the woman who had bailed them out of a potentially hairy situation stood on top of the hovercraft's wreckage.

"Uhm excuse me." the young huntress-in-training called out to the woman.

"You're a huntress right?"

The woman looked down at the girl who had spawned this mess, her eyes unreadable.

"Can I have your autograph?!"

The sounds of a jail door slamming echoed in the interrogation room where the duo now sat.

"Dad's going to kill us when he finds out about this…" Ruby whimpered pitifully. She hadn't so much as received a visit to the principal's office since arriving at Signal, so the idea of being in police custody made her terrified beyond recognition of what her Dad might say about this.

"I think your Dad is the least of our problems." her partner dryly noted,as the woman in the librarian outfit returned to chastise them both once more.

"I hope you both realize how deeply reckless you were!"

Anakin struggled not to comment on how tame this was in comparison to the stuff he used to do. But regaling old war tales from over two decades ago in the body of a nineteen year old boy was hardly an appropriate course of action. He had a sneaking suspicion that the woman in front of them would just take it as a provocation.

"Oh and I'm not just talking about the property damage you're little stunts has caused. Do you have any idea how many people might have been endangered by your reckless pursuit, much less the risk you put yourselves at?! There is a reason your supposed to leave this to the professional huntsman and security!"

"B-but they started it!" Ruby exclaimed, as she botled from her seat pointing behind herself as if the culprits had appeared magically behind them.

"No buts, young lady!"

By the force, even Master Jocasta was not this abrasive in dulling out her moral lectures to her younglings.

"If I had it my way, I would both be sending you both home with pats on the back… and slaps to your wrists!"

Whatever elation Ruby had felt at the beginning of that sentence were quickly dashed as the woman slapped her crop between the two of them for emphasis.

"However,"

She stepped aside as she drawled out that particular word.

" there is someone who would wish to see you both."

As she left the room, a bespecaled man had come to take her place, carrying with him a plate of cookies and a glass of milk. He appeared middle-aged as well though certainly a few years older than the woman who had been previously interrogating the two. His clothes consisted of a dark suit highlight by undershades of viridian and alpine of his vest and undershirt. feature of the man was his silver hair, which along with his attire helped inspire an atmosphere of wisdom and experience beyond what his more youthful features might lend you to believe in.

"Ruby Rose. Anakin Skywalker. It is a pleasure to meet face to face."

His eyes centered on the young girl, as if he were staring at something eerily familiar to him.

"Silver eyes…" He murmured as his focus gravitated towards Ruby, causing the girl to squirm in discomfort.

"I must say you both have created quite the scene tonight. Not to mention tangling with someone of the likes of Roman Torchwick." He continued on as he sat down at the table, placing a plate of cookies on the table for the three of them to share. Ruby, never one to turn away such a gift being placed in front of her, immediately went to the plate as she began to munch away at the sugary treats as rapidly as possible.

"Were we supposed to be scared of him?" Anakin asked, perplexed the guy was actually considered a challenge.

"Most don't make it a point to tangle with armed robbers carrying huntsman graded weapons." The bespeckled man elaborated briefly, as if the point alone was self-evidentiary.

Anakin shrugged indifferently.

"He couldn't have been that impressive if a nobody and a 15 year old girl could cause him to run with his tail between his legs."

The man craned his neck to the side slightly.

"Perhaps so…" the gentleman conceded "Though could you have said the thing about his partner?"

Anakin grew silent at that question. Could he have beaten her? Quite possibly. Could he do so without placing Ruby in jeopardy? That was much less certain. However he was not going to admit such things to a man he had no knowledge of.

Seeing that he was not making any progress along this line of conversation, the bespeckled gentleman chose to change the subject.

"Moving along I couldn't help but notice you both were carrying some quite prominent weapons, Particularly you Miss Rose. A multifunction anti-material rifle and battle Scythe." he remarked, earning a beaming grin from his new target.

"You like Crescent Rose?" Ruby asked eagerly, as she moved to chew through another cookie.

"I'm certainly impressed. But I am more curious as to why on Remnant such a young girl would be carrying one of the most dangerous weapons I've ever seen. The only man I've known to wield such a weapon was a dusty old crow."

"SHash muh uhncle!" She screamed out, her mouth still full of cookies.

"Ruby..." Anakin chided.

She sheepishly gulped down her cookie before continuing.

"Sorry, that's my Uncle Qrow! He's a teacher at the school I go to. Signal Academy."

"Am I to assume he's the one who taught you how to use this thing?"

"Oh yeah! I was completely garbage before he took me under his wing. But now I'm all like 'Wha-chaaa~!"

It took much of the willpower Anakin had developed over his previous life not to visibly cringe as Ruby started flailing her arms around like she was in her beloved martial arts flicks.

"So I see..." The man in glasses responded, clearly a bit more amused by her display then her friend had been.

"Though that does beg the question, why does such an adorable young lady like you wish to be a huntress."

As Ruby began to preamble (more like ramble out) her reasons for pursuing being a huntress, Anakin couldn't help but be reminded of his own reasons for wanting to become a Jedi when he was very little. He had wanted to help others; to save people from what he saw as evil; to be a liberator. Of course by the time he was Ruby's age, things had changed. He had a destiny he was told that he'd fulfill: that he was to become powerful beyond all his peers; that he alone would save the galaxy from the coming darkness. He'd let the pressure to succeed and the promise of his glory get to his head. He only hoped Ruby would have the better sense of head not to repeat such a foley in her journey.

"Do you know who I am, Ruby?" The silver-haired man asked, bringing Anakin once again out of his own self-reflection.

She nodded dutifully.

"You're professor Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon Academy."

Ozpin, for his part, smiled proudly at her recognition, before laying out his offer.

"How would you like to be my student?"

To say that both Anakin and Ruby's face conveyed their shock at his proposal, would be understating the matter greatly.

"L-like now? B-but I still have two more years at Signal-"

"I will personally work out the details of your transfer."

"I-I'd have to leave all of my friends."

"I'm sure a friendly girl like you can make even more while your under me."

Ruby looked down at the now empty plate of cookies she had left on the table, contemplating her next choice of words.

"W-what if I'm not ready?" She finally croaked out, her uncertainty evident in her voice.

"Ruby, I would not be offering to take you under my wing if I did not believe you were ready. If you don't believe it yourself, trust in the faith I have placed in you."

Ruby went quiet at those words. She had not expected such kind words from the headmaster of one of the most prestigious huntsman academies in all of Remnant. If he had placed such confidence in her abilities, then that would mean...

"So, would you like to join my academy?"

It only took a few seconds for her to formulate a response.

"Y-yes. YesyesyesyesYesYEsYESYESYES! YES~!" She exclaimed jubilantly, as she burst from her chair with raw excitement. This was beyond anything she could ever dream of. Not only was she going to go to her dream academy, she was about to do it two years early! Her eyes darted around the room looking for someone to respond.

"I-I got to call Uncle Qrow and Dad, I-!"

Anakin patted her shoulder, helping her to get someone to focus on.

"Don't sweat it Ruby. Go on ahead, I'll be right behind."

"Thanks Anakin." the young girl responded, giving him a firm embrace before making her way to the door, Screaming the whole way:

"Oh my God, I'm going to BEACON~!"

The two men couldn't help but chuckle at the scene. There was something about the sight of Ruby's youthful optimism, and cheery disposition that had a way of warming even a cynic's heart. Though as with such things, it was only a moment of levity before more pressing matters were to be discussed.

"What about you Mr. Skywalker?"

"What about me?"

"The offer goes to you as well. Admittedly you seem a bit older than most we'd accept entering the academy, but we have had late bloomers enter before, I'm sure we couldn't hurt to have another exception in your case."

A stagnant pause filled the room before Anakin had given his response.

"No."

Ozpin blinked in surprise.

"No?"

This had not been the response he had anticipated.

"I'm sorry. I... appreciate your interest in me as a student, but I don't think I'd have anything to gain from attending your academy."

"Not even the chance to become a huntsman".

"I have no interest in becoming one."

"What would you do then?"

"I am a weaponsmith. I repair and build commissioned weapons for huntsmen. Sometimes I do repairs for the local airservices. I make enough to cover my expenses, and make a small living. It's not an adventurous life nor a lavish one, but it's enough for me."

Anakin had enough practice giving this alabi to Ruby and her family, and it had always worked for him then. However, Ozpin was clearly not so easily convinced. Whatever Anakin might think of the headmaster, the man clearly saw recruiting him as an objective worth pursuing, at least past the initial alabi.

"May I take a look at your eyes, Mr. Skywalker?"

Anakin complied, but not without hesitation. Something about the headmaster's gaze unsettled him greatly. It reminded him too much of Master Yoda's. Sagely, cryptic, and unmeasurable. The kind of gaze that you knew weighed and measured every ounce of you that you carried yet when you stared back, it would give nothing to measure in return.

"For someone so young, your eyes are so old." The headmaster murmured, as if to elicit a response from the now younger Skywalker.

No response came, and the room filled with quiet once more. Neither man spoke as they began to formulate their next choice of words around what others might say death. It was Ozpin who would again break the silence.

"Have you heard of a phoenix, Mr. Skywalker?"

Anakin tilted his head in confusion. Where was the headmaster going with this?

"I'm familiar with the concept, yes."

Ozpin nodded in response, before continuing on...

"They are quite fascinating creatures. It is said they can live on for decades, even centuries. Yet every time it reaches the end of its lifespan it burns itself to pieces; leaving only an egg behind. And if the egg is left to hatch, it returns to life once more, it's lease on life fully renewed. It is because of this trait that they are frequently associated with the many cycles of life. Be it the rise and fall of the sun, the coming and going of the tides, of life and death."

"Perhaps most pertinent to your case is it's association with decay and renewal. You may appear young on the outside, Skywalker, but it is clear to me that your soul has aged quite terribly. I can't imagine the depths of the horrors you have encountered to allow your soul to weather so,"

'You really couldn't...'

"However, all I'm asking of you is to accept the chance to become someone who can make a difference in this world."

Anakin's gaze hardened.

"You don't believe I can do that being a blacksmith?"

If Ozpin were annoyed at his obsinance, the headmaster certainly wasn't showing it.

"I believe you can. I also believe you can do more by being who a blacksmith builds for."

Ozpin began to look even more directly at Anakin, ensuring both men had each other's undivided attention.

"You fear failure."

Ozpin didn't so much question, as so much declared what he believed to be Anakin's issue.

"Doesn't everyone?"

The headmaster shook his head, before responding.

"Of course. But it's not just failure you fear, is it? It's the consequences of that failure that terrifies you the most."

He took off his shaded spectacles, and stored them in his breast pocket, before returning his focus to the former knight.

"It's clear to me you have an exceptional gift, young Skywalker. Even though I can't see it tangibly, I can feel it's presence radiating from you like ripples in the water. Ripples that could bring great bounties to the world, but they can also bring terrible calamity to it as well. I can see it in your eyes, you've seen the dangers for yourself, and what you have seen has scarred you terribly."

Ozpin leaned onto the desk as his fingers crossed in front of his face; his gaze never leaving the revived dark lord.

"Allow me to restate my intentions. I'm not looking to recruit you into becoming some hero. I'm looking to show the tremendous good you are, in fact, capable of. Whatever the man you were before I met you today, does not have to be the man you'll become tomorrow. We are all capable of walking down into the darkness, Anakin Skywalker. On paths that may lead us to bring harm to others, and to ourselves as well. However, not all paths are set in stone, and not all are destined for ruin. The question I want you to ask yourself is this: Do you still have the will to choose a path that will allow you to help others to your fullest? A path you must risk falling from to take in order to renew yourself?"

Anakin stared down the man before adjusting his gaze to the table below him. Is this really what he would actually want? Up until this point his answer would still be no, and a part of him still wanted to reject the offer. Yet, as much as he would wish to deny it, he knew deep down that he could never truly accept an idle life. If he were able, he would not have volunteered to run the Boonta Eve race to save a desperate Nubian Queen from being stranded on Tatooine; so many more of his men would have died in the Clone Wars without his presence, and Ahsoka likely would have never survived her trial. Yet it was this very nature that led to his ultimate fall, as his own impulsive pursuit to save Padme resulted not only in her death, but his ultimate fall to the Dark Side. With this nature, he had unleashed untold levels of suffering and anguish upon his Galaxy. It would be so easy to do it again if he accepted such a choice.

It was then he was reminded of the inscription Qui-Gon had left him when he arrived on this world; of his son's words in the throne room. They had both given everything they had to give Anakin a second chance. A chance to repay the damages of his previous life, and the lives he destroyed. The former Sith knew his innocence will never recover from his past actions, but if he could use his next ones to stop others from experiencing what he has, then maybe- just maybe- he can start to make those amends. And if he could do that, then this was a chance he could not afford to waste.

"Have you made your decision?" Ozpin asked, as Anakin finally brought his head up to face him.

"I have…"

Greetings everyone! Sorry it took me so long to return with a chapter. I suppose I do owe you some form of explanation. I'm ashamed to admit things on my employment end did not go as smoothly for me as I had hoped. While I was able to complete my first academic term as a teacher, I was not reinvited to rejoin the faculty where I had been teaching for that past year. All has not been lost though, as I've returned back to my hometown and i have been taking classes for graduate school, while I prepare to join the program full time, and I have been working as a grocer part time to help me cover my own lunch fees. It's not been an easy journey, and it's not likely to get easier from here, but I'm at least now feeling stable enough that I can return to my writings once more.

I also wanted to make something clear before this story goes forward: This will not be a harem fic. While I have nothing against polyamory or those who chose to feature it in their fics, that kind of plot thread I feel would detract from the overall narrative I am trying to create. There will of course be some form of relationship dramas, because what is Star Wars but the soap opera that surrounds the Skywalkers in general. However it will not be something that ends with any of the characters getting multiple girls. If this is what you are looking for, I sincerely apologies, but I do hope that you will continue to have some interest in my writings regardless.

Until next time,

Temple Light