Futures Past
Chapter 24- The Temptation of Anakin Skywalker
Sabé regarded Padmé curiously as she ran into the air-taxi and slumped into her seat puffy eyed and bottom lip quivering.
"Milady what on earth is wrong?" Versé asked in concern, "Did I miss something?" She murmured to Dormé who shook her head profusely.
"Let's go." Padmé said in a strange voice that sounded rather regal, more like to her days as Queen.
"Milady, are you alright?" Sabé demanded, grabbing Padmé's shoulders so that she could look the senator in the face.
"I am fine Sabé. Please, I've outstayed my welcome here. Let's proceed to my apartment."
With bewildered expressions the three handmaidens nodded and hopped into the transport too.
*
At this moment, Anakin Skywalker was not sparring with any other Knights, nor was he even in the Jedi Temple. Using this free time, he was now proceeding along the pristine and ceremonious halls of the Galactic Senate, on his way to meet with Supreme Chancellor Palpatine.
Anakin already felt a bond between himself and the Chancellor, and since he was now a Jedi Knight and did not have Obi Wan always around him as before, Anakin had subconsciously searched for a new father figure, and one that had always been there ever since he was younger was the Chancellor. Anakin couldn't deny the strong power he felt emanating from Palpatine, as if he was a Jedi himself. The only examples of this power he had known before in the Temple were Master Yoda and perhaps Master Windu, but for someone who was not a Jedi Master? Anakin had to admit he was intrigued. He had been having talks and confiding in Palpatine even before he had ascended to Jedi Knight status, but this was the first official meeting between them since.
He nodded to the Chancellors receptionist and she let him pass without a word. Anakin certainly felt more grown up already, Palpatine had never talked down to him as Obi Wan had, he treated him as an equal and an adult, Obi Wan had always corrected any slight mistake, but the Chancellor simply commended and respected Anakin, another reason why they got on so well, it seemed.
As he reached the double doors that led to Palpatine's office, he found the Chancellor was already stood at them, waiting for Anakin.
"Ah, Anakin, how good to see you." Palpatine smiled warmly, and shook Anakin's hand before motioning him inside.
Anakin took a seat before the desk and waited eagerly for the Chancellor to continue with whatever he was meaning to say.
"Ah Anakin my boy, I have always believed in you, you know that. I have always seen that special flare in you, the unspoken strength and power, I know you will prove to be the greatest of all Jedi. You have so much potential, do you have any idea how much greater you can become, the chance if yours, if you only reach to take it."
"Thank you Chancellor, I am honoured to have your support."
"You have more than that my dear boy, I can offer you more than you could ever conceive, you have no idea how much power is on my side, not just as Supreme Chancellor."
"I'm listening." Anakin leant forward trying to coax whatever Palpatine was trying to say out.
"There will be a power shift soon Anakin, and I am confiding this in you in total confidence, because I trust you, and I see so much more in you than the Jedi realise, and as you said, you will always have my support. But more than that, I have knowledge Anakin, and power that even Master Yoda does not possess, and the chance is here, now, for you to seize, and it can bring you to greatness and strength, and a place in the annals of history, your name can be etched in the stars if you only seize this opportunity, if you put your whole trust in me you can have everything you dream of and a place at my right hand, with all the power, glory and might a million times that of anyone in the galaxy. So the time is now Anakin to ask, do you want it, I can ask you this only once, yes or no, now and only now, no thinking time… Yes or no?" He held out his hand and stared unfalteringly into Anakin's eyes, and in them the Jedi saw everything he had ever strived for.
Everything he had focused on and dreamed of while trapped in the dusty hell of Tatooine, while watching the ashes of Qui-Gon Jinn float into the black sky on that fateful night when his training began, while studying and training all those years in the Temple, on all those missions, when he felt like giving up and telling everyone they were wrong, that there was no way he could be the prophesised Chosen One who would restore balance to the galaxy. But now in Palpatine's eyes and in his outstretched hand, Anakin saw it all and more.
And he reached out his own hand towards the Chancellors, and with a grip as firm as stone, he shook it.
*
Obi Wan forced himself awake with a gasp. His back and chest burnt with unseen flames of pain and a horrifying nightmare had woken him from fitful sleep. He had a feeling, possibly encouraged by his dream, that Anakin had just done something terrible. After all, he was still bonded with Anakin, as a Master to a Padawan was forever, and now all he could do was lie back on the pillow and squeeze his eyes shut, wishing his terrible visions away and trying to fight the waves of nausea that crashed against him like the tide.
"A silly nightmare and nothing more." He insisted to himself, trying to slow down his rapid breathing by embracing the serenity of the Force. He could never sleep well in the Medi-bay but recently he hadn't been sleeping well anyway. Every night came horrible dreams of Anakin doing horrendous deeds which he could not banish from his mind even while awake. Something was terribly wrong, and Obi Wan knew it.
*
In Padmé's apartment, the senator's thoughts weren't describable as pleasant either.
She didn't know how to take what Obi Wan had said, especially given his behaviour in recent days. She could not accept defeat, but she couldn't deny it either. She had to respect Obi Wan's decision, if he really didn't want to love her she could do nothing, except try and banish her own feelings towards him herself. As she was contemplating this she felt a flash of pain in her skull as a fierce headache struck her like thunder.
"Dormé?" She called weakly to her handmaiden who was sitting in the living room area outside her bedroom.
"Milady, are you alright?" The reply was instantaneous as the shy brunette head appeared round the door. She may not have been all that forward towards some others, but when it came to Padmé, Dormé was as fiercely protective and loyal as Sabé, she was just more subtle.
"I know it sounds silly but I've just got the worst headache, its like someone took a lightsabre to my skull."
"I'll go and get some Hypnocanes or something, and some water. R2 alert Versé if Padmé feels worse." Dormé instructed the little droid who responded in his series of beeps and clicks.
"You're starting to sound like Sabé, Dormé!" Padmé called after her jokingly, before clutching her head again as the pain returned.
Then as quickly as it had come, it left, and Padmé felt completely normal, so when Dormé staggered back in with Hypnocane and injectors and water to find Padmé fine and well, she was as confused as the senator.
"I don't know what it was Dormé, but I feel fine now."
Dormé frowned and put the items on Padmé's bedside table before approaching the senator. She put a hand to Padmé's head before nodding, "Alright, but I'll leave these here by your bed, just in case."
"Thank you Dormé, I'm sure I'll be fine." Padmé smiled reassuringly and Dormé ducked out of the room.
"The last thing I need right now is to get ill at such an important time, I can't afford to be sick, right R2?" She was answered by a chirpy beep.
"Didn't think so. I guess I'll have to go back to Naboo and hold a meeting to see what they can contribute to the War, I need to go home anyway. Sure will be good to get away from here for a while, a trip home will definitely do me some good."
*
Yoda was floating along the corridors of the Temple in his hover chair, checking everyone was where they should be, he planned to check in on Obi Wan and finish off his account of events from the attack, especially as the droid on duty in the Medi-bay had reported Obi Wan had woken in distress a little earlier.
The wizened old Master wished he could be in more places at once, there were so many things to be planned and sorted out, but Obi Wan seemed very accident prone at the moment.
"Women trouble it must be, women trouble it always is." He tutted and floated towards the hospital wing when an Anakin shaped blur streaked past him.
"Young Skywalker, where have you been?" The stern tone of Yoda's voice stopped Anakin in his tracks.
"Uh, just training Master Yoda, like I said I'd be." Anakin offered, Yoda got the feeling he wasn't telling the whole truth and scrutinized the sandy haired Jedi closely.
"Well, I gotta jet Master, important tasks await me." And with that the newly appointed Knight was reduced to blur status again as he sped off, leaving a slightly bewildered Yoda floating in his wake.
"These younglings, keep up with them, I never can." Yoda shook his head.
*
