Chapter Two: Seeking Balance
Anakin froze in his seat when Ahsoka mentioned The Son. Then, hot rage boiled in the man. The Son would stay far away from Ahsoka for his own health if Anakin had anything to say about it. This new protective side to Anakin didn't really surprise him. Even as a boy, Anakin always tried to protect his friends. However, this was a different instinct, a stronger instinct from that same strange part of Anakin that overpowered the dark hold on him back when Ahsoka tried to leave the Jedi without him on Coruscant. Where is this coming from?
When they entered hyperspace with the destination of Tython: ancient home of an order older than Jedi or Sith in mind, Anakin pushed away thoughts of this emerging side to him and walked over to the small bunking area to sit on the bunk across from her. His mind swirled with questions. "How?" Anakin asked. "He died when we left Mortis."
Ahsoka shook her head. "They were living manifestations of three aspects of the Force." She reminded him. "The Son held the Dark Side."
Anakin's mind spat out, Bogan.
"The Daughter held the Light."
Ashla, Anakin once again growled mentally though he had no idea from whence the terms came. "The Father held Balance." Anakin realized. "Their bodies can be physically killed, but their essence never dies."
Ahsoka shivered as she nodded in agreement. "…and I'm scared, Anakin." The Togruta looked at her best friend with pleading and terrified eyes. "You don't know what it's like to be nothing but a puppet for The Son while you can still feel your life fading as he toys with your body!"
The strongest person Anakin knew broke down in his lap and sobbed quietly. Anger and sadness welled up from inside him. The young man felt the urge to lash out and wanted to hit something. His teeth grit in an angry expression, Anakin began to shake. His very being screamed for The Son's head. Anakin knew his rage toward The Son to be very un-Jedi, but the fury and desire to murder also felt warranted towards this creature.
A strange voice that seemed vaguely familiar whispered in his mind, Good, Anakin. Good, use your anger!
Instead, Anakin chose to reach down and stroke Ahsoka's head. Ahsoka's cries gradually hushed as Anakin continued to comfort her. He then smiled down at her and slowly raised himself from the bed to leave Ahsoka to rest.
When Anakin almost stood completely, a hand reached out and squeezed his. Anakin looked down to see Ahsoka staring at him. He could feel her concern and could also feel her "knocking" on his mind. "I do know what it's like to have that…that beast inside my head, Ahsoka." He told her as he sensed her question.
"Talk to me about it, please." Ahsoka said. "It's not good to keep all this pain inside."
With a resined sigh as Ahsoka sat up and patted the space next to her, Anakin sat down. "It's not a pretty story."
"…and you think me trying to kill you and Obi-wan is?"
Anakin frowned. "Fair point." The Chosen One closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he reached back into his subconscious mind where The Father had perhaps unwisely buried Anakin's ordeal with The Son. "The Son showed me a future where I became a Sith Lord because someone convinced me I could only save Padme by embracing the Bogan whole." He shivered. "I killed so many innocent people: children, women, men, statesmen, and friends."
Anakin looked almost to his breaking point in that moment. Ahsoka reached out a hand and squeezed his shoulder. Then, she sat in silence and patiently waited for more she knew was coming. The woman knew better than to pry, so she contently rubbed Anakin's back as the man shivered and shook.
"On Malachor, we dueled, and I would have killed you, but…"
"…but what?"
"The vision stopped there. I never saw what happened after that." Anakin said with a shake to his voice as he spoke. "All because I chose Padme!"
Ahsoka continued to rub his back. "You didn't choose Padme. You left her."
Anakin blinked. "Time is changing, never frozen." He whispered as he thought of something his former master said. "That future is no longer my destiny." Anakin felt a well of happiness break forth in his mind and hugged Ahsoka tightly in the fever of the moment. When he realized what he did, Anakin blushed and coughed. "Sorry, Snips."
Ahsoka smiled as Anakin nervously let her go. "I'm glad to see you so happy, Skyguy."
Anakin looked up with a slight smile and got up from the bunk. Then, he when over to a storage space and pulled out a box. "I kept these." Anakin approached her and laid the box on a small collapsable table in front of her. "These weapons are your life, Ahsoka." He said with a brief look of pain. "I couldn't lose them."
Ahsoka gingerly took the box's lid as the box itself rested on the table before her and opened it slowly to see her sabers resting in velvet within the box. Her sabers glistened, but the crystals within them sang out of tune with her own resonance in the Force. Ahsoka looked at the hilts before she stood and took the Jar'Kai opening stance. When Ahsoka attempted to ignite them, the emerald blades she had grown accustomed to refused to flare to life.
"I've changed." Ahsoka realized with a hint of heaviness and disappointment. "The lightsabers are useless!"
"They're a reflection of their creator. You are FAR from useless, Snips." Anakin said gently as he rubbed her back. "If they don't work, their creator is not in agreement with his- or herself." Anakin shook his head and gently tried to ignite his own to no avail. "See? We both have had our worlds shattered and are out of balance, Ahsoka."
Ahsoka nodded and looked at the hyperspace wormhole around them. She looked back at Anakin and laughed softly before she clipped the hilts back to their proper places on her waist.
"You knew this would happen."
"I had my suspicions." He confirmed with a nod. "That's why I'm taking us to Tython. There, we can find our true selves without the chains of Jedi or Sith dogmas to corrupt our searches."
Meanwhile, Sheev Palpatine wanted to scream in blistering fury. Sitting in his office, the secret Sith fought to contain his frustration and rage. Anakin stood primed for him to move into the final phase of his plan to dominate The Chosen One and raise his empire to reality. Palpatine took Shmi Skywalker from him, and he planned to take Ahsoka and finally Padme from the boy to seal him within The Dark Side. All that he planned for young Anakin evaporated in a matter of seconds because of that blasted Toguta Padawan of his!
The Chancellor shook his head as rage boiled within him. This is fine. Palpatine thought as he looked out over the city to to Jedi Temple not far from him. I only have to adjust my plans accordingly. With that thought, a wicked smile grew of the Sith's face. Quickly, the Chancellor sealed off his office and doned a cloak. Then, he activated a holoprojector and steadied himself as the projector made the connection with his query. "Cad Bane, I have a job for you."
Back with Ahsoka and Anakin, the destination alarm awoke both from sleep. Anakin came to awareness first and blushed when he realized Ahsoka fell asleep on top of him. Part of him enjoyed the closeness of that moment, but most of him was disgusted by the thought of Ahsoka and him getting any closer in their relationship than they already were. It was troubling for the young man in many ways. She approached eighteen and he almost twenty-three. She was still a child in many cultural settings. However, her mind proved far older than her physical age. War has a tendency to do such things. With this conundrum fresh in his mind, Anakin slowly stood. He watched Ahsoka stir in that moment as she felt the loss of warmth and shivered. Anakin silently reached over to the other side of the room and gently draped another blanket over the Togruta.
Is this just me reaching for the nearest comfort after I left Padme? The young Force-wielder questioned before he carefully lulled Ahsoka back to sleep and tip-toed to the cockpit to land the craft in a clearing a few kilometers south of their current position, a landing zone their trajectory had them going for anyway.
As the ground of Tython approached the Aether, Anakin marveled at the world's beauty. It reminded him of Naboo in a way with its largely untouched greenery and untamed feet like the forests of that world. Rolling hills and trees blanketed the landscape in green. Within that natural beauty, Anakin began to feel a slight tug through the Force to ancient stone spires and stone floors of a dilapidated and forgotten temple complex. Anakin could hear a stream flowing not far from the ship or temple when he shut down the engines.
Peaceful doesn't even start to describe this place. Some part of him felt a minor sense of longing. It's as if I'm back home after decades away. The harmony here is amazing!
When Anakin turned to leave, he heard Ahsoka walk up with a tired look on her face. When the young Togruta saw the ruins of the defunct temple however, she became alert instantly. It radiated an odd mix of Dark and Light. The feeling from the temple disturbed her because every Jedi master she knew and Sith she'd read about for that matter believed Dark and Light could not coexist: one would always crowd out the other. Though here, that seemingly unbreakable law of the Force did not exist, nor did the Dark Side seem threatening, just different.
"Anakin, do you feel that?"
The elder of the two nodded. "You've never felt anything like it. Have you, Snips?"
Ahsoka shook her head and looked at the hilts of her sabers for a moment before she ran towards the ruins. Anakin sighed, shook his head with a grin, and gave chase. Neither he nor Ahsoka had felt so free in a long time, and both were glad to feel so happy as they raced each other like children in a game. Not one to take losing easily, Anakin focused as Ahsoka approached the boarder on the stone structure. Then, he jumped from the ground, propelled by the Force, and tackled Ahsoka.
After the pair tumbled in a heap together for about half a meter, Anakin looked up to see he was under Ahsoka. Once the Jedi's former Padawan noticed this compromising position, her Lekku turned a deeper shade of blue at the tips. Her body refused to move as Ahsoka frantically began to relay commands to her non-responsive legs and arms. While trying to will her body to move, Ahsoka became transfixed by Anakin's blue eyes. They reminded her so much of his saber. The hand-crafted weapon was indeed a reflection of her former master. Just as his blue eyes held a depth to them she hadn't noticed before, his saber held a similar beauty in its cobalt hue.
"Ahsoka," the man's voice called outside her hazy awareness. "Are you alright?"
Ahsoka came to herself with his voice and awkwardly disentangled herself from Anakin. "I'm fine, Skyguy." Her lekku grew more vibrant in color as she continued to look at him. "I just got distracted is all."
Anakin cleared his throat with a nod. "Right…" he said as he slid to one side of the ruins and Ahsoka to the other. "We should begin meditating."
As soon as the pair began to reach into the Force and connect with their crystals, a shadow grew over Anakin and covered him with the exception of his right elbow and knee as he focused on the dismantled saber and specifically the crystal in his lap. After about fifteen minutes, the blue crystal began to levitate and spin slowly.
"My son…" A deep male voice spoke with a hint of pride as a scene began to come into focus through the Force. Anakin could see a strange man in a cloak smile down at him. The man had red eyes the color of fire and seemed to have jagged scales all around his face. "Never fear anything of the Force." Anakin could see a little hand -his hand- reach for the man. This brought a surprisingly warm chuckle from the being, but it also held pain. Then, his face grew sad as he looked away. "Shmi, I must go." He told the unseen woman who held baby Anakin. "If I stay, the Jedi will sense my presence. Even cloaked through the Force, I disturb too much for you and the Hatchling to remain safe from the Jedi."
While this vision played in Anakin's mind, his crystal began to change shape. It's once uniform and almost spearhead structure began to stretch slightly with two distinct but connected halves in the crystal's new form, joined by a thin but strong "tube" of crystal. It's vibrant blue hue began to drain away as its shape changed. Gradually, the top pyramid replaced its blue color with a white core and golden edges.
As Anakin watched his father leave, the babe felt sadness and confusion. Then, Anakin began to cry and scream for the presence that was leaving him cold and broken.
The bottom of the crystal began to grow red, its color filling the crystal like arteries of blood. The pain of abandonment bled the crystal, but before it could be completely dominate the entire crystal, the red light turned black and gave the bottom of the crystal a Sith core with the black edges of Mandolorian iron will that seemed to confine the red to the bottom and contain it.
Anakin opened his eyes to see tears falling from his face and onto the components of his saber. The man quickly wiped the water away from his face and the deconstructed saber. Then, he began to pull the hilt back together with the Force.
Sometime later, Anakin looked down at his reconstructed saber with a small smile but pain in his eyes.
"Hey, Skyguy!" Ahsoka's voice brought the light flooding back into Anakin's eyes. "You ok?"
Anakin rose to his feet and smiled as he clipped the rebuilt saber to his side. "I will be." He then noticed Ahsoka's own sabers in her hands. "Let's see them, Snips!"
Ahsoka grinned and ignited her blades. Anakin could only stare at the stunning beauty in them: one white and pure as driven snow while the other held the same blue hue as his saber formerly had.
Anakin gave Ahsoka a gentle nod as he approached her. "You ready?"
Ahsoka didn't respond. She only ran at Anakin who had a split second to ignite his own blade. Anakin felt a moment of surprise when the blade revealed itself to be gold/white. Then, the duel began in earnest, Anakin and Ahsoka moving faster and with more grace than either had previously had. Anakin would have to say his plan to rebalance both of them was a success as they continued to fence and practice, growing used to the feel of their realigned sabers.