Title: Labyrinth
Author: Jedi Rita
Rating: PG-13
Chapter Eight
Padme woke, her face pressed against something warm and solid. She felt safe, secure, swaddled in a peaceful cocoon. She opened her eyes. It was still dark, but the sky was just beginning to lighten. She lay on the ground, pressed up against Obi-Wan's back. She was sandwiched between the two Jedi, Anakin's head resting on her shoulder, his robe wrapped around them both. Jar Jar's hand reached across Anakin to rest comfortably on her hip. She wanted to remain like that, to rest in the sensual warmth of this embrace, an intimacy that was not frightening but calm and soothing. Typical of their reserve, the Naboo seldom touched one another, yet now Padme found herself sleeping wrapped up with four people, another unprecedented first for her. With a wry smile she cozied up to Obi-Wan's back, amazed to be close enough to another person to hear his heart beat, to feel the rise and fall of his breath. Still asleep, Anakin tightened his arm around her, sending a thrill through her
body. An almost-forgotten memory rose within her, of when she was a little girl, small enough to fit on her mother's lap. She remembered the weight of her mother's chin on the top of her head, the way her mother's voice rumbled deeply in her chest, tickling Padme's ear. In her whole life she had never felt as secure as when she could fit inside the cradle of her mother's arms. She had never been so physically close to another being until now. She wanted to remain like this forever.
But she was not a little girl any more, and as the sky grew brighter, she realized it was not safe for them to remain in the open street like this. Reluctantly she shifted, extricating herself from Anakin's embrace. Her movement rippled out to the others, and they slowly came awake, yawning and rubbing the sleep from their eyes. The Prince stared at her, half-awake, then said, "Your Highness, I do believe your tunic is on inside out."
She looked down and realized he was right. So much for dressing in the dark. He gave her a sly smile. Abruptly, she reached out and tweaked one of his curls. "Hold on. You've got a worm in your hair." He jumped, and she winked at him.
"Very funny," he smiled.
"Anyone up for breakfast?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Aren't we due to run into an abandoned pastry factory?" Bail asked. "Drowning in a vat of sweet cream sounds just about right."
"We should be so lucky," Anakin countered.
"In the mean time, how do ration bars sound?" Obi-Wan offered.
"Terrible," Padme replied. "But they beat rats."
Obi-Wan doled out one bar each, which they quickly devoured.
Bail stood and stretched. "Another day, another unspeakable terror to face. Shall we get to it?"
"There's no time like the present," Padme agreed.
They set off, heading back into one of the buildings, their spirits once more renewed. It amazed Padme how they could keep bouncing back after so many trials. Their friendship sustained them through the hard times, and each challenge only made their bond stronger. She had never felt so alive, so intimately connected to other people. She'd never even felt this way about her own family.
They walked along at an easy pace, sometimes talking, sometimes in silence. In the darkness it was hard to see anyone's face, but by now Padme had learned the subtle nuances of each of her friends' voices, the meaning of their tones, the way their emotions echoed off each other.
After several hours of walking, they came out into a large open area. The ceiling rose several stories high above them, with balconies opening out onto a central plaza. It must have once been a shopping area. A bank of large transparisteel windows on an upper story admitted light from outside, illuminating the interior with a faint gloom.
"I wonder if the food court is open," Bail speculated. "I've had my fill of scorched rat."
Padme returned, "Forget that. I want to find a bar and have a nice, stiff drink."
"My just wanten a bath!" Jar Jar added.
As the three of them indulged their fantasies, Anakin noticed Obi-Wan's concerned expression as he surveyed the open plaza. "I have a bad feeling about this," Obi-Wan warned softly. "Something's not right."
Anakin turned his attention outward into the gloom. Abruptly, danger flared into his consciousness. "Back!" he screamed. "Back into the hallway!" Obi-Wan ignited his saber, but the others were too startled to react immediately.
Speeder bike engines roared to life, flooding the plaza with a sinister growl. From the balcony's second level, three bikes leaped over the railing and raced toward them. One of them fired a volley overhead, too high for Obi-Wan to block with his saber, but the bounty hunter had not been aiming for them. The lasers touched off an explosion behind them, collapsing the balcony over the way they had come in, cutting off their escape.
"Head toward one of the shops," Obi-Wan ordered, shoving at Jar Jar. "It will provide shelter." The three broke into a run while Anakin and Obi-Wan covered for them. They ducked into an open doorway, and Padme crouched inside to watch and assess the situation.
Anakin and Obi-Wan stood back to back as the three bikes buzzed and spun around them. The bounty hunters bombarded them with laser fire from their turboblasters. Fortunately, the weapons were too large for the hunters to fire accurately and pilot the bikes at the same time. The Jedi could defend themselves easily enough, catching the blaster bolts on their lightsabers, but they couldn't move or gain the upper hand.
"They need our help!" Padme shouted, unshouldering her rifle.
"You saw what happened when I tried to shoot that thing," Bail protested. "I'll end up shooting them by mistake."
Padme didn't answer, lining up a shot in her sights. She squeezed the trigger, and the powerful weapon discharged, kicking her back hard enough to knock her to the floor. Her shot missed the bounty hunters completely. Dismayed at her inability to effectively handle the rifle, she suggested, "All right, then. We'll aim high and just hope to make it harder for the bounty hunters to concentrate."
The three of them opened fire, as chaotic as they were ineffective. But their attack did seem to disorient the hunters. One of them, an enormous, muscled female of a humanoid species Padme did not recognize, nudged her bike around and sped straight toward them.
"Disa muy bombad!" Jar Jar cried out.
Spying their peril, Anakin leaped up just as the bike rushed passed him. He slashed out, slicing through the bike's steering vanes. The vehicle sped out of control, but its rider leaped off the bike with astonishing agility, landing safely on the balcony overhead while her bike ploughed into the ground in a mass of screaming metal. Unfazed, she raised her blaster and opened fire on the three in the doorway.
Furious, Anakin jumped up onto the balcony after her, determined to take her out. He heard Obi-Wan cry out to him, but he ignored him, turning on the hunter. She only sneered, firing at him. At point-blank range, the bolts met his blade with the force of a cannon, and he had to backpedal in order to keep from being knocked off his feet. He concentrated on trying to redirect the bolts back at her, blocking out all other thought.
Down on the ground, Padme watched him anxiously, but Bail understood better what Anakin had done. "That stupid boy!" he cried. "He's left Obi-Wan exposed!"
Padme redirected her gaze and saw that the other two hunters realized they could now trap Obi-Wan between them. They swooped around him, then simultaneously rushed him from opposite directions, blasters blazing.
In a haze of green energy, Obi-Wan's blade caught all the bolts, but the firing only intensified as the bikes sped toward him. He couldn't defend himself against both at once.
Up on the balcony, the bounty hunter glanced quickly down at Obi-Wan, and Anakin followed her gaze. Obi-Wan vaulted high, twisting out of the way and slashing his lightsaber through one of the bike's steering vanes, sending bike and rider smashing into a wall, but the other bike was too fast. It slammed into Obi-Wan's chest, throwing him across the plaza.
"Master!" Anakin screamed. The bounty hunter turned and sneered at him in triumph. With an influx of rage, Anakin gathered the Force around him and lashed out at her, tumbling her off the balcony. She hit the ground with a liquid thud, her skull splitting open. Anakin leaped down to the ground, wanting to rush to his master's aid, but he was too far away to get there in time.
From the doorway, Bail whispered brokenly, "Obi-Wan."
"Look!" Padme shouted. "He's getting up. He's not hurt."
Sure enough, Obi-Wan had come to his feet and stood facing the last bounty hunter as he brought his speeder bike around and raced once more for Obi-Wan. The hunter didn't even fire, instead opening the throttle all the way in order to mow the Jedi down. Obi-Wan held his ground as the bike sped toward him. At the last instant, he leaped up, somersaulting over the bounty hunter's head, and thrust his saber into the bike's engine. The power cell exploded, destroying both bike and rider.
Obi-Wan landed on his feet, but his legs crumpled beneath him, and he fell heavily to his knees.
"Ben!" Bail called out, sprinting toward the Jedi, Padme and Jar Jar close on his heels. He bit back a cry when he saw the blood soaking the front of Obi-Wan's tunic. The sight snapped the Prince into a practical mode. "Get his robe off," he instructed. Padme and Jar Jar rushed to comply, while Anakin stood nearby in disbelieving shock.
They pulled off his robe while Bail carefully removed Obi-Wan's belt and opened his tunic. He lay Obi-Wan down on the ground as gently as possible, then inspected the wound. A large gash sliced across the Jedi's chest.
"I think I broke some ribs," Obi-Wan said, his breath coming in short, painful gasps.
Glancing at Padme, Bail instructed, "Tear his robe into strips. We'll need them for bandages." He used Obi-Wan's outer tunic to wipe up the blood. "I don't like the way you're breathing," he observed. "Do you think you punctured a lung?" Obi-Wan shook his head, and Bail asked further, "Can you tell how badly you're injured? Do you think you ruptured any internal organs?"
Padme paled, and Obi-Wan said, "I don't know."
As carefully as possible, they eased him back up to a sitting position in order to tie the bandages around his chest. His face contorted in pain, but he did not cry out. Bail wrapped the strips of robe around him, using a piece of his tunic as a compress, and tied the bandage snugly. They laid him back down, and Bail at last looked up at Anakin. "Cover him with your robe. We need to keep him warm lest he go into shock."
Numbly, Anakin removed his robe and knelt next to Obi-Wan, gently settling his robe around him.
For several minutes no one said anything, lost in a daze of fear and worry. At last, Padme spoke up, her brow furrowed in concentration. "There was something wrong about all this. It's as if they were waiting here for us, as if they set up a trap."
Bail shook his head. "But how could they be tracking us? Scanners don't work well down here."
Anakin stretched out with the Force, connecting to something that had been nagging at him during the battle, and even earlier throughout their flight, something that had only tickled the edge of his consciousness. He had ignored it before, but now he opened himself to it fully. His stomach churned at what he discovered. "They're tracking us through the Force."
"What?" Padme and Bail chorused in disbelief.
Obi-Wan studied his padawan, wanting to believe the boy was mistaken, but knowing that Anakin's instincts invariably proved true. "You're certain?" he asked softly. Anakin only nodded.
"But what does that mean?" Bail fretted. "Tracking us through the Force? Who could do that? You don't mean that Sith Lord you told me about. That couldn't possibly be...." He moaned, burying his face in his hands. "Oh, I don't like this at all."
Panicked, Jar Jar stood up, wringing his hands and pacing nervously. "Oh, why mesa here? Every time my meeten Obi Kenobi, something bombad is happening."
Enraged, Anakin launched himself at the Gungan, shoving him in the chest. "How dare you!" he fumed. "Obi-Wan saved your life! He's the one who's injured, not you!"
Bail seized Anakin's arm, trying to restrain him from pummeling Jar Jar. "Calm down," he began.
"Get your hands off me!" Anakin screamed. He lashed out at the Prince, grabbing him by the shirt and throwing him against the wall. "It's your fault we're here!" He unleashed all his grief and horror on Bail, trying to hide from himself his own guilt at having been the cause of Obi-Wan's injury. It had to be Bail's fault, not his. It couldn't be his. He slammed the Prince repeatedly against the wall. "It's always you!" he raged. "You think you can boss him around, but he's not your bodyguard!" He felt Padme and Jar Jar trying to pull him off, but he was stronger than them. He could kill Bail, and the Prince knew it. He bashed him against the wall. "He's not your slave! He's not your slave!" All of his most horrible memories flooded over him: the image of Qui-Gon's lifeless body, the first time he'd realized what it meant that he was a slave, all the humiliation he had known on Tatooine, and worst of all, the expression on his mother's face when he'd left her behind. Bail
Organa would never have to see that look on his mother's face. He had every privilege the universe could give him. He could throw people's lives away because they were worth nothing to him. He could always buy new friends. But Anakin would not be bought, and he would not let his only friend be destroyed by the Prince's selfishness.
Dimly, something called to him. A voice penetrated through his grief, its warm light sending the shadows fleeing. It was Obi-Wan. His master was calling him. Anakin's grip loosened, and he felt Padme and Jar Jar pulling him backward. He turned and saw Obi-Wan, propped up on one elbow. Despite the pain he must be in, Obi-Wan's eyes were calm and steady. "Anakin," he called softly. "Come here."
Anakin didn't even realize his feet had carried him to his master until he was kneeling by Obi-Wan's side. "I'm sorry, Obi-Wan," he whispered, silently begging, /Please don't die./ "It's my fault you got hurt, mine alone."
"Anakin," Obi-Wan soothed, taking the boy's hand. "I've lost track of how many times I put Qui-Gon in jeopardy." /Including the last time,/ the familiar thought rose to taunt him yet again. He knew perfectly well the guilt Anakin felt. "The point isn't that we make mistakes, even foolish ones. The point is that we learn from them." He could almost hear Qui-Gon echoing those same words to him.
"I'm sorry," Anakin repeated, fighting back his despair.
"I know," Obi-Wan assured him. "But you have another chance to prove yourself. You know the way out of here. You have to be calm and strong in order to protect the others. Anakin," he squeezed the boy's hand, his voice low but intense. "You have to get me to a hospital." He searched his padawan's face. "Will you do that?"
Anakin nodded. "Yes, Master."
"Good. Now, you have to apologize to Jar Jar and to Bail. Do you understand?"
Normally the thought of apologizing to anyone, especially to the Prince, would be completely unbearable, but right now Anakin would do anything for Obi-Wan. "Yes, Master," he said. "And I will get you out, Obi-Wan. You'll be all right. I swear it."
Obi-Wan smiled at him. "I know you will, Anakin."
Author: Jedi Rita
Rating: PG-13
Chapter Eight
Padme woke, her face pressed against something warm and solid. She felt safe, secure, swaddled in a peaceful cocoon. She opened her eyes. It was still dark, but the sky was just beginning to lighten. She lay on the ground, pressed up against Obi-Wan's back. She was sandwiched between the two Jedi, Anakin's head resting on her shoulder, his robe wrapped around them both. Jar Jar's hand reached across Anakin to rest comfortably on her hip. She wanted to remain like that, to rest in the sensual warmth of this embrace, an intimacy that was not frightening but calm and soothing. Typical of their reserve, the Naboo seldom touched one another, yet now Padme found herself sleeping wrapped up with four people, another unprecedented first for her. With a wry smile she cozied up to Obi-Wan's back, amazed to be close enough to another person to hear his heart beat, to feel the rise and fall of his breath. Still asleep, Anakin tightened his arm around her, sending a thrill through her
body. An almost-forgotten memory rose within her, of when she was a little girl, small enough to fit on her mother's lap. She remembered the weight of her mother's chin on the top of her head, the way her mother's voice rumbled deeply in her chest, tickling Padme's ear. In her whole life she had never felt as secure as when she could fit inside the cradle of her mother's arms. She had never been so physically close to another being until now. She wanted to remain like this forever.
But she was not a little girl any more, and as the sky grew brighter, she realized it was not safe for them to remain in the open street like this. Reluctantly she shifted, extricating herself from Anakin's embrace. Her movement rippled out to the others, and they slowly came awake, yawning and rubbing the sleep from their eyes. The Prince stared at her, half-awake, then said, "Your Highness, I do believe your tunic is on inside out."
She looked down and realized he was right. So much for dressing in the dark. He gave her a sly smile. Abruptly, she reached out and tweaked one of his curls. "Hold on. You've got a worm in your hair." He jumped, and she winked at him.
"Very funny," he smiled.
"Anyone up for breakfast?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Aren't we due to run into an abandoned pastry factory?" Bail asked. "Drowning in a vat of sweet cream sounds just about right."
"We should be so lucky," Anakin countered.
"In the mean time, how do ration bars sound?" Obi-Wan offered.
"Terrible," Padme replied. "But they beat rats."
Obi-Wan doled out one bar each, which they quickly devoured.
Bail stood and stretched. "Another day, another unspeakable terror to face. Shall we get to it?"
"There's no time like the present," Padme agreed.
They set off, heading back into one of the buildings, their spirits once more renewed. It amazed Padme how they could keep bouncing back after so many trials. Their friendship sustained them through the hard times, and each challenge only made their bond stronger. She had never felt so alive, so intimately connected to other people. She'd never even felt this way about her own family.
They walked along at an easy pace, sometimes talking, sometimes in silence. In the darkness it was hard to see anyone's face, but by now Padme had learned the subtle nuances of each of her friends' voices, the meaning of their tones, the way their emotions echoed off each other.
After several hours of walking, they came out into a large open area. The ceiling rose several stories high above them, with balconies opening out onto a central plaza. It must have once been a shopping area. A bank of large transparisteel windows on an upper story admitted light from outside, illuminating the interior with a faint gloom.
"I wonder if the food court is open," Bail speculated. "I've had my fill of scorched rat."
Padme returned, "Forget that. I want to find a bar and have a nice, stiff drink."
"My just wanten a bath!" Jar Jar added.
As the three of them indulged their fantasies, Anakin noticed Obi-Wan's concerned expression as he surveyed the open plaza. "I have a bad feeling about this," Obi-Wan warned softly. "Something's not right."
Anakin turned his attention outward into the gloom. Abruptly, danger flared into his consciousness. "Back!" he screamed. "Back into the hallway!" Obi-Wan ignited his saber, but the others were too startled to react immediately.
Speeder bike engines roared to life, flooding the plaza with a sinister growl. From the balcony's second level, three bikes leaped over the railing and raced toward them. One of them fired a volley overhead, too high for Obi-Wan to block with his saber, but the bounty hunter had not been aiming for them. The lasers touched off an explosion behind them, collapsing the balcony over the way they had come in, cutting off their escape.
"Head toward one of the shops," Obi-Wan ordered, shoving at Jar Jar. "It will provide shelter." The three broke into a run while Anakin and Obi-Wan covered for them. They ducked into an open doorway, and Padme crouched inside to watch and assess the situation.
Anakin and Obi-Wan stood back to back as the three bikes buzzed and spun around them. The bounty hunters bombarded them with laser fire from their turboblasters. Fortunately, the weapons were too large for the hunters to fire accurately and pilot the bikes at the same time. The Jedi could defend themselves easily enough, catching the blaster bolts on their lightsabers, but they couldn't move or gain the upper hand.
"They need our help!" Padme shouted, unshouldering her rifle.
"You saw what happened when I tried to shoot that thing," Bail protested. "I'll end up shooting them by mistake."
Padme didn't answer, lining up a shot in her sights. She squeezed the trigger, and the powerful weapon discharged, kicking her back hard enough to knock her to the floor. Her shot missed the bounty hunters completely. Dismayed at her inability to effectively handle the rifle, she suggested, "All right, then. We'll aim high and just hope to make it harder for the bounty hunters to concentrate."
The three of them opened fire, as chaotic as they were ineffective. But their attack did seem to disorient the hunters. One of them, an enormous, muscled female of a humanoid species Padme did not recognize, nudged her bike around and sped straight toward them.
"Disa muy bombad!" Jar Jar cried out.
Spying their peril, Anakin leaped up just as the bike rushed passed him. He slashed out, slicing through the bike's steering vanes. The vehicle sped out of control, but its rider leaped off the bike with astonishing agility, landing safely on the balcony overhead while her bike ploughed into the ground in a mass of screaming metal. Unfazed, she raised her blaster and opened fire on the three in the doorway.
Furious, Anakin jumped up onto the balcony after her, determined to take her out. He heard Obi-Wan cry out to him, but he ignored him, turning on the hunter. She only sneered, firing at him. At point-blank range, the bolts met his blade with the force of a cannon, and he had to backpedal in order to keep from being knocked off his feet. He concentrated on trying to redirect the bolts back at her, blocking out all other thought.
Down on the ground, Padme watched him anxiously, but Bail understood better what Anakin had done. "That stupid boy!" he cried. "He's left Obi-Wan exposed!"
Padme redirected her gaze and saw that the other two hunters realized they could now trap Obi-Wan between them. They swooped around him, then simultaneously rushed him from opposite directions, blasters blazing.
In a haze of green energy, Obi-Wan's blade caught all the bolts, but the firing only intensified as the bikes sped toward him. He couldn't defend himself against both at once.
Up on the balcony, the bounty hunter glanced quickly down at Obi-Wan, and Anakin followed her gaze. Obi-Wan vaulted high, twisting out of the way and slashing his lightsaber through one of the bike's steering vanes, sending bike and rider smashing into a wall, but the other bike was too fast. It slammed into Obi-Wan's chest, throwing him across the plaza.
"Master!" Anakin screamed. The bounty hunter turned and sneered at him in triumph. With an influx of rage, Anakin gathered the Force around him and lashed out at her, tumbling her off the balcony. She hit the ground with a liquid thud, her skull splitting open. Anakin leaped down to the ground, wanting to rush to his master's aid, but he was too far away to get there in time.
From the doorway, Bail whispered brokenly, "Obi-Wan."
"Look!" Padme shouted. "He's getting up. He's not hurt."
Sure enough, Obi-Wan had come to his feet and stood facing the last bounty hunter as he brought his speeder bike around and raced once more for Obi-Wan. The hunter didn't even fire, instead opening the throttle all the way in order to mow the Jedi down. Obi-Wan held his ground as the bike sped toward him. At the last instant, he leaped up, somersaulting over the bounty hunter's head, and thrust his saber into the bike's engine. The power cell exploded, destroying both bike and rider.
Obi-Wan landed on his feet, but his legs crumpled beneath him, and he fell heavily to his knees.
"Ben!" Bail called out, sprinting toward the Jedi, Padme and Jar Jar close on his heels. He bit back a cry when he saw the blood soaking the front of Obi-Wan's tunic. The sight snapped the Prince into a practical mode. "Get his robe off," he instructed. Padme and Jar Jar rushed to comply, while Anakin stood nearby in disbelieving shock.
They pulled off his robe while Bail carefully removed Obi-Wan's belt and opened his tunic. He lay Obi-Wan down on the ground as gently as possible, then inspected the wound. A large gash sliced across the Jedi's chest.
"I think I broke some ribs," Obi-Wan said, his breath coming in short, painful gasps.
Glancing at Padme, Bail instructed, "Tear his robe into strips. We'll need them for bandages." He used Obi-Wan's outer tunic to wipe up the blood. "I don't like the way you're breathing," he observed. "Do you think you punctured a lung?" Obi-Wan shook his head, and Bail asked further, "Can you tell how badly you're injured? Do you think you ruptured any internal organs?"
Padme paled, and Obi-Wan said, "I don't know."
As carefully as possible, they eased him back up to a sitting position in order to tie the bandages around his chest. His face contorted in pain, but he did not cry out. Bail wrapped the strips of robe around him, using a piece of his tunic as a compress, and tied the bandage snugly. They laid him back down, and Bail at last looked up at Anakin. "Cover him with your robe. We need to keep him warm lest he go into shock."
Numbly, Anakin removed his robe and knelt next to Obi-Wan, gently settling his robe around him.
For several minutes no one said anything, lost in a daze of fear and worry. At last, Padme spoke up, her brow furrowed in concentration. "There was something wrong about all this. It's as if they were waiting here for us, as if they set up a trap."
Bail shook his head. "But how could they be tracking us? Scanners don't work well down here."
Anakin stretched out with the Force, connecting to something that had been nagging at him during the battle, and even earlier throughout their flight, something that had only tickled the edge of his consciousness. He had ignored it before, but now he opened himself to it fully. His stomach churned at what he discovered. "They're tracking us through the Force."
"What?" Padme and Bail chorused in disbelief.
Obi-Wan studied his padawan, wanting to believe the boy was mistaken, but knowing that Anakin's instincts invariably proved true. "You're certain?" he asked softly. Anakin only nodded.
"But what does that mean?" Bail fretted. "Tracking us through the Force? Who could do that? You don't mean that Sith Lord you told me about. That couldn't possibly be...." He moaned, burying his face in his hands. "Oh, I don't like this at all."
Panicked, Jar Jar stood up, wringing his hands and pacing nervously. "Oh, why mesa here? Every time my meeten Obi Kenobi, something bombad is happening."
Enraged, Anakin launched himself at the Gungan, shoving him in the chest. "How dare you!" he fumed. "Obi-Wan saved your life! He's the one who's injured, not you!"
Bail seized Anakin's arm, trying to restrain him from pummeling Jar Jar. "Calm down," he began.
"Get your hands off me!" Anakin screamed. He lashed out at the Prince, grabbing him by the shirt and throwing him against the wall. "It's your fault we're here!" He unleashed all his grief and horror on Bail, trying to hide from himself his own guilt at having been the cause of Obi-Wan's injury. It had to be Bail's fault, not his. It couldn't be his. He slammed the Prince repeatedly against the wall. "It's always you!" he raged. "You think you can boss him around, but he's not your bodyguard!" He felt Padme and Jar Jar trying to pull him off, but he was stronger than them. He could kill Bail, and the Prince knew it. He bashed him against the wall. "He's not your slave! He's not your slave!" All of his most horrible memories flooded over him: the image of Qui-Gon's lifeless body, the first time he'd realized what it meant that he was a slave, all the humiliation he had known on Tatooine, and worst of all, the expression on his mother's face when he'd left her behind. Bail
Organa would never have to see that look on his mother's face. He had every privilege the universe could give him. He could throw people's lives away because they were worth nothing to him. He could always buy new friends. But Anakin would not be bought, and he would not let his only friend be destroyed by the Prince's selfishness.
Dimly, something called to him. A voice penetrated through his grief, its warm light sending the shadows fleeing. It was Obi-Wan. His master was calling him. Anakin's grip loosened, and he felt Padme and Jar Jar pulling him backward. He turned and saw Obi-Wan, propped up on one elbow. Despite the pain he must be in, Obi-Wan's eyes were calm and steady. "Anakin," he called softly. "Come here."
Anakin didn't even realize his feet had carried him to his master until he was kneeling by Obi-Wan's side. "I'm sorry, Obi-Wan," he whispered, silently begging, /Please don't die./ "It's my fault you got hurt, mine alone."
"Anakin," Obi-Wan soothed, taking the boy's hand. "I've lost track of how many times I put Qui-Gon in jeopardy." /Including the last time,/ the familiar thought rose to taunt him yet again. He knew perfectly well the guilt Anakin felt. "The point isn't that we make mistakes, even foolish ones. The point is that we learn from them." He could almost hear Qui-Gon echoing those same words to him.
"I'm sorry," Anakin repeated, fighting back his despair.
"I know," Obi-Wan assured him. "But you have another chance to prove yourself. You know the way out of here. You have to be calm and strong in order to protect the others. Anakin," he squeezed the boy's hand, his voice low but intense. "You have to get me to a hospital." He searched his padawan's face. "Will you do that?"
Anakin nodded. "Yes, Master."
"Good. Now, you have to apologize to Jar Jar and to Bail. Do you understand?"
Normally the thought of apologizing to anyone, especially to the Prince, would be completely unbearable, but right now Anakin would do anything for Obi-Wan. "Yes, Master," he said. "And I will get you out, Obi-Wan. You'll be all right. I swear it."
Obi-Wan smiled at him. "I know you will, Anakin."