Chapter 3 – Anakin

"Yikes, that was almost too close for comfort."

Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Padawan, and all of 15 years old quickly turned his makeshift hover board to the right to avoid another draping piece of metal. He looked back over his shoulder and saw that there was a tear in his robe.

Yeah, too close for comfort.

He knew that Obi-Wan would never approve of his jetting around the lower levels of Coruscant like this, nor would Obi-Wan understand why Anakin felt he had to jet around like this. Sometimes, he felt so close to the galaxy. So close that he felt like he could almost touch the stars and then crush them in his palm. Too close. The Force was everywhere, and through it Anakin felt connected to everything. This was not unique to just Anakin. It was the very nature of being a Jedi, but Anakin felt it more strongly than any other Jedi, or so he thought. Sometimes the Force was so vast and powerful that Anakin felt insignificant. He didn't like that feeling. Obi-Wan had told him countless times that to feel insignificant was a good thing. To feel insignificant helped to remind a Jedi that it was not the Force that served you, but rather you that served the Force. This lesson would keep the darkness away. Unfortunately, Anakin had not yet accepted this lesson, and it always felt as if the darkness was surrounding him. It stayed just on the edges, poking at him, but never coming closer, never daring to come closer. Sometimes, Anakin wondered if the darkness was afraid of him, as though it thought that to touch him was certain destruction. And yet, the darkness did not leave his side, which also made him think that maybe it was just waiting for an opening, a moment when it would be safe to touch him.

And when it finally does touch me, I fear it will consume me. I fear that I will let it. I fear that I will like it.

It was these thoughts which penetrated his mind so often, especially recently. Doubts. How could he quiet his mind, as Obi-Wan stressed, if the galaxy, if life was always speaking to him. How could he quiet his mind if the darkness was always there to taunt him. It was only at times like these, when he was flying, that Anakin felt his mind clear. He was in the moment. He was the moment. Anakin knew that Obi-Wan thought him impulsive and too quick to action. What Anakin wished he could explain to Obi-Wan was that action was the only thing that seemed to quiet his mind. It wasn't laser blasts that he feared. It was peace.

Anakin flipped the hover board over, hard, so that he was looking straight down at the denizens of Coruscant's lower levels. Having been a slave, Anakin knew hardship, but there was something very pathetic and sad about the poverty and decay that he saw in the lower levels, even from a slave's point of view. Coruscant was the center of the most wealth in all the galaxy, home to the valiant Jedi Order, and yet here were people starving, and some worse than starving, right beneath the notice of the powerful. Anakin knew that he must accept the Jedi Code. "We cannot be everywhere and everything to everyone," is what Obi-Wan always said, but Anakin always wondered what good it did to be a Jedi if you couldn't help those in need. Continuing to speed ahead upside down, Anakin caught a subtle shift in the Force that warned him of danger. The tunnel ahead was narrow, but Anakin didn't slow his speed, in fact he accelerated toward the tunnel with almost reckless abandon.

Obi-Wan would hate this.

Suddenly, Anakin flipped the board over, released the gravitational seal that kept his feet firmly attached to the hover board, and slid effortlessly onto his stomach as the hover board sped through the tunnel opening. Had Anakin stayed standing, upside down or otherwise, he'd have been neatly pummeled against the opening of the tunnel. The rush of air felt good against his face, and when he came out the other side of the tunnel, Anakin couldn't suppress the howl of glee that leapt from his mouth. He did a handstand, clearly showing off now, though no one was watching, and easily flipped back up into standing position on the board, reactivating the gravitational field as he did so. Anakin could see the spires of the Jedi Temple straight ahead, and more importantly, he saw a frowning figure standing on the balcony directly ahead of him. Or perhaps saw isn't the right word as even Anakin's youthful and Force enhanced eyes couldn't "see" something as small as a person from this distance. But the Force was more than physical eyesight. With his mental eyesight, Anakin could see Obi-Wan was waiting for him, and he looked none too pleased that Anakin had made him wait.

This should be interesting, Anakin thought, as he sped toward the Jedi Temple.