Futures Past

Chapter 29- Tension

Aloha friends, chapter 29 is here, so on to the reviews!

C-Chan: O.o wowee. It has been a looong time since chapter 13 hasn't it. And hun! Of course I wasn't thinking you're like that! I wasn't the least bit offended with any of your three reviews, and it's obvious by the fact that in your first review you said I had your blessing and that it was well written that you are not one of *those* A/A shippers. Back then I was ranting about the ones who come and flame just so they can call you stupid, deluded, brain dead or crap, and you didn't do any of that. In fact I am flattered that an A/A shipper would come to read the story in the first place, it shows you're not afraid to accept other peoples opinions and like a story for what it is, and for that I thank you muchly. Lol, I know Anakin is being a butthead, but he did kinda seem butt-like in certain parts of the movie…in my humble opinion… and by the way, I retract the statement about Hayden being a crap actor, I recently saw Life as a House and I was proven wrong (and I admit that, see how non infallible I am XD ) I will now change my statement to kinda crap in AOTC, but that could just be GL's amazingly crappy writing skills in the more recent movies. Anyway, I'm glad you're enjoying it thus far, and that you'll still be reading up to this point (I know how much it takes to get through this whole story so I wont blame you if you never got here!) And I hope you enjoy the rest! Thanks!

Lady Evenstar: I hope you got sleep! And did well on your math lol. I hope I didn't distract you *too* much from your homework, but we all need a break now and again, and god knows I am the queen of procrastination! Thanks for the support, I'm glad you're taking an interest in my writing at the mo', it makes me feel all warm inside :D I hope you're enjoying!

LuckyPanda13: You are at the moment my hero! Ploughing through my fics and being so nice about them XD I feel so loved! I love writing the letters, and I also love writing dream sequences (creative freedom, I love it, means I can be all evil and tricksy mwahaha!) Anyhoo, I'm glad you're enjoying, thanks for the reviews!

Katt: Mwahaha, I purposefully didn't put it in italics to make it seem like a dream, but then it kinda trailed into the more supernatural vision type thing, so I kinda messed that one up a lil and made it obvious hehe. But as I said, I love doing dreams and visions etc, so expect to see more of them as time goes by! Thanks for reviewing!

REALbluelightsabre: We may know what caused the vision, or we may be bluffing, or we may be not gonna tell you! And unfortunately, its answer number three at the mo, because I'm evil, Bwahaha. See? With the evil laugh and all? Ahem…

Yes Anakin is over excited, I thought he would be rather eager to prove himself, plus hangin out with Mace? That's gotta be cool. And he thinks that Mace hand picked him out of everyone, when it was really Yoda who talked him into it, so he got a little ego massage out of that one, which probably wasn't a good thing but there ya go. I'll be trying to add as much Obi Wan as possible, but seeing as its about the Wars which we don't really have a lot of information on at the moment, its more difficult to write as I have to make it all up and not have anything to base it on, and while that is fun, I really don't wanna screw up the timeline with a few little slips hehe. But I'll try and add more, I just thought it would be boring having a lot of Obi Wan, when there can't be any interactions really, and it would just be about him training up for the Wars, but don't despair, he will be here, you'll just have to wait and see! Oh and about the last thing you said in your review (I'm trying not to drop any spoilers hehe) that may happen yet, sooner than you think! Bwahaha! Thanks!

Padawan HAB: I Love the idea of virgin Obi, it's so cute! I'll try and work your requests into the story at one point or another, and due to popular demand, of course there will be Han! (there would have been anyway probably, but it's nice to know you're all behind me!) and the thing with Padmé being preggers is that while I wanna skip to that part, the Wars are two years long, and Luke and Leia are born somewhere near the end at around the year -18 so as I'm at the very beginning of the Wars now, I guess we wont find out for a long while unless I skip, or I mess around with the timeline?

Do you guys think I should mess around with the timeline to get to the pregnancy quicker?!  In any case, we'll see how it goes, I just don't wanna pee anymore people off if at all possible, so I'll see what everyone thinks. Thanks for the reviews!

Thanks also to Fran, VTEEN, yumyumkittysnax, Aiska Kenobi, Lia, History and Heather Wan, I love you all and im glad for the support! So without further adieu, lets get on to chapter 29!

The poem is actually parts of the song A Thousand Miles, by Vanessa Carlton.

Oh and by the way, everything from here on in is completely from my own head, I know Obi Wan probably didn't have to do any of what I'm making him do, but I thought it better to make something entirely original than to try and struggle with details of the Clone Wars, so I don't want any flames saying this isn't how they did things because I know, its just easier, plus its fiction! So don't think about what I've changed, go with it! This chap may be a little boring, but its laying ground work for a much more exciting next chapter, so bear with me, I tried to stick as much Obidalaness as possible in somewhere, but there will be more coming up!

Enjoy!

*

Padmé sat in her bed, looking out of the window at the setting sun that painted the sky a hue of milky yellow and pink. She would rather have been outside watching it, but her parents and Sabé had all but tied her into the bed for the night, insisting it would be better if she just tried to sleep now. But of course she couldn't. Not when the sky was so beautiful and the music of street artists drifted up to her on the breeze. She felt rather inspired and thought now was as good a time as any to reply to Obi Wan- make that Ben-, especially when she was essentially bed ridden for the evening.

Getting out a pen she paused for a moment then started to write.

Dear Ben

Life is treating me well, I have been talking to and catching up with many people while I am here, most people are either very worried about the impending war, or do not care in the slightest, but I of course am worried about you. How are you doing, is there anything I should know? I hope you aren't going to run off and get yourself injured, I know how accident prone you are! True I am not as adept at poetic romanticism as you are, but looking out at the setting sun, I was inspired to write a poem for you.

Making my way downtown
Walking fast
Faces passed
And I'm home bound
Staring blankly ahead
Just making my way
Making my way
Through the crowd

And I need you
And I miss you
And now I wonder....

If I could fall
Into the sky
Do you think time
Would pass me by
'Cause you know I'd walk
A thousand miles
If I could
Just see you
Tonight

It's always times like these
When I think of you
And I wonder
If you ever
Think of me
'Cause everything's so wrong
And I don't belong
Living in your
Precious memories

If I could fall
Into the sky
Do you think time
Would pass us by
'Cause you know I'd walk
A thousand miles
If I could
Just see you...

And I still need you,

I still miss you,

And now I wonder…

If I could fall
Into the sky
Do you think time
Would pass me by
'Cause you know I'd walk
A thousand miles
If I could
Just see you
If I could
Just hold you
Tonight…

I know, not very good was it, but it was my first time! In any case, I hope it shows my feelings well enough, I miss you so. If there was any way, I would be right next to you. You know how I despise being unable to do anything.

Ben, you asked me to tell you if anything was strange while you are gone, and I do not want you to panic, so you must vow that you will not be upset or act stupidly, it was probably nothing, but in any case, you must promise! I have been having very frightening dreams lately, they usually involve you and…my husband, and myself. So many times I have a feeling it is not just a dream, but a premonition of some kind, and I always see you hurt in some way, or see myself hurt. I am scared, so scared I don't know what to do, the thought of it happening to you it just… well it's horrifying, what should I do Ben, I'm so afraid. You know what he's like, it could happen and I don't know what to do. Help me Ben, you're my only hope.

Much love eternally.

Padmé looked down at the letter, thinking it sounded very neurotic, and she resisted the urge to screw it up, she somehow had a feeling Obi Wan had to know this. She had had to stop herself writing Obi Wan many times, and had decided on using the last two letters of her name, it was an inconspicuous enough alias, so it would do. Sealing it in an envelope and writing the necessary address on the front, she called to R2, who had been on standby in the corner of her room. With a few clicks and beeps he zoomed over to her and she gave the letter to him. He took it with his mechanical claw and then pulled it inside his body away from sight.

"R2, make sure this gets to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, they'll know where to send it. Make sure no-one else sees it." R2 clicked an affirmative and disappeared through the door.

Feeling a little woozy she lay back down. Her vision blurred slightly but she was slightly afraid of sleeping, fearful of what awaited her in her dreams. Soon she could fight it no longer and drifted off into a deep slumber.

*

When dawn crept over the horizon and a new day presented itself on Dantooine, Obi Wan had found himself responsible for a squadron of new recruits. This didn't entail him to do anything apart from to be responsible for the squad and making sure they got to training at the right times. While the training base was in a state of disarray, the Jedi had been assigned squads or training duties, and with his injuries Obi Wan had made sure to get a simple job until he was satisfied with his health. After all, he had promised Padmé he wouldn't get himself killed.

Most of the new recruits scurried around with their heads down, having either been forced into the battle by someone else, or having signed up when they felt braver than they did now, or this is what Obi Wan's squad seemed like at least. Most of them avoided eye contact or contact of any kind and darted where they were meant to be, quiet as mice.

If only Padawans were so easy to handle. Obi Wan sighed as he checked off names on a list of recruits. Twenty five in his group, thank goodness Bail Organa was a better man than Palpatine otherwise Obi Wan would probably have been stuck with several thousand. He was sure Chancellor Palpatine would've had a laugh out of that.

There were of course, some recruits who acted like space cowboys and strutted round the bare corridors like they owned the place. Obi Wan wondered if they would be so cocky once they faced an army of hundreds of thousands of Separatist Droids and saw dead comrades all around them. Somehow, he thought not.

The sooner this nightmare is over, the better it will be for us all. The Jedi Knight winced slightly as he felt the tender skin from one of his recent conflicts tighten and pull, creating a flare of pain down his chest. Leaning against the wall for a moment he tried to regain his strength.

Two of the recruits Obi Wan had noted as overconfident earlier chose this moment to walk past.

The two gave him a look of distaste as they passed. "And we're meant to be taking orders from that piece of Bantha fodder?" He heard one of them snort in derision as they walked away.

Struggling to stand unsupported he glared at the backs of the two and called out.

"Do you have something you wish to say to me, Amarant Zaag?" He just prayed he'd got the name right.

The two turned. Amarant Zaag was a young human male of medium build, with a crop of blonde hair and steely blue eyes. He had what could be called a caveman brow, and had slender legs which seemed out of proportion to his muscular torso.

With him was Sark Luso, unless he was mistaken, a Rodian male who had been most successful in the first basic combat session, as Rodians were known to be natural hunters this wasn't all that surprising.

"Of course not Master Kenobi, we wouldn't dream of questioning a Jedi." Amarant bowed slightly, though the traces of mockery weren't completely gone from the recruit's voice.

"I may be injured, Zaag, but I assure you I am not deaf. And I am your superior, don't forget your place." Obi Wan was as tolerant as the next man, but stresses of war took their toll on him, and more arrogant gung-ho students were definitely not what he needed right at that moment.

Amarant and Sark glared at the reprimand but said nothing more and stormed off down the corridor, almost knocking into Bail Organa as he came from the opposite direction.

"Obi Wan, are you alright?" Bail frowned as he reached the still wincing Jedi, who was massaging his side and frowning in the direction of the two boys.

"I'll live." Obi Wan said wryly, suddenly feeling a headache coming on.

"Well don't overtax yourself. It wouldn't do to have one of our best Jedi being out of commission because he doesn't want to admit when he needs rest. You need to give yourself time to heal, Jedi or no Jedi, you're still human."

"Sometimes I wonder." Obi Wan muttered, putting his head in his hands.

Bail patted his shoulder reassuringly. "Take a break if you need it, or I'll have to suspend you, and everyone knows how much the Jedi hate being unable to interfere." He teased and walked off, leaving Obi Wan leaning against the wall, lost in his own thoughts.

*

As the Jedi One zoomed closer to the mist covered jungle world of Kashyyyk Anakin stared eagerly out of the window, trying to catch glimpses of a city or landmark perhaps.

Mace smiled good naturedly at the younger Knight's exuberance.

"Peace Anakin, you won't see anything of interest until we land, the forests are dense and provide little entertainment for eager young eyes. There will be plenty to see when we arrive."

"Tell me again of the situation Master? The Trandoshans are becoming hostile?"

"The Trandoshans have always been hostile to the Wookies, because Kashyyyk is in close proximity to their homeworld, there have always been differences between the species. If it was left up to the Wookies, the two would have nothing to do with each other but the Trandoshans like the idea of conflict, they seem to think that with the right kind of power they could enslave the Wookies, and use their strength for labour. The Wookies fear an attack because their military supplies are very limited. If the Trandoshans were to instigate a war, the Wookies would be almost powerless to stop them. It is our job to make sure that doesn't happen." Mace said, serious once more.

"What's it like down there Master, you've been before right?" Anakin asked, glancing once more down at the green planet beneath.

"A few years ago now, but I don't suppose much has changed. There are seven levels in the eco system, you are not to stray below the first three unaccompanied at most. It is like Coruscant in that respect, there are many dangerous creatures that lurk in the undergrowth, they do not go down there unless it is completely necessary. The upper levels accommodate the Wookies, their cities are housed in the branches of wroshyr trees, which are massive, remarkable growths that can fuse together to form a larger whole tree from several smaller ones. Their dwellings are constructed of wood, no stone or metal -the Wookies are simplistic in their architecture and reject materialism totally- and its capital is the city of Thikkiiana. Be polite to the Wookies, for some are easily offended, and could rip your arm off without a problem, so make sure you are courteous."

Anakin gulped and nodded shakily.

"They have a short temper but are very gentle and tender otherwise. They very much respect the Jedi because they hold bravery and loyalty as very important qualities in a person, and those are also qualities the Jedi consider most highly. They are also remarkably Force sensitive, and are very respectful of their planet. You should get along well with them, they love technology and are very adept at building and repairing things, especially starships."

Anakin grinned at this and became all the more eager to land.

"Get some rest young Skywalker, there is still some time before we land, and I doubt you will get much peace when we are in negotiations. I'll wake you when we are ready." Mace patted him on the shoulder and retired to the cockpit of the ship, leaving Anakin free to doze off on the soft couch.

~

Anakin ran through the corridors of Padmé's home, he didn't know what he was looking for, but he was determined to find it. The house was bathed in darkness, and he kept stumbling over objects littering the floor. He was sure it wasn't this messy the first time he'd visited.

He finally found his way to Padmé's room and heard lowered voices on the balcony.

Standing in the doorway leading onto the balcony he saw Padmé in the arms of another man, her arms around his neck and a hand buried in his hair. Her head was obscuring his face. The two were kissing passionately and Anakin thought he would be sick, he felt a fierce rage burning inside him like a fire.

Padmé pulled away breathless and smiling, and the mans identity was revealed. To Anakin's shock it was Obi Wan.

"I love you Padmé." Anakin heard his old master whisper.

"I love you too Obi Wan." Padmé said, as the elder Jedi enveloped her in his arms.

"Obi Wan? Padmé?!" Anakin cried out, anger evident in his eyes.

The two turned to stare at him.

"We are in love Anakin. I never wanted you. You are all alone." Padmé said in a monotone, but with a smile, turning to look lovingly at Obi Wan.

Anakin turned and saw Chancellor Palpatine behind him.

"They have betrayed you Anakin, the two people you cared for most. They are fools not to see your power, kill them both, take revenge for their lies, they never cared about you, only each other, let them burn." He held out Anakin's lightsabre, and the younger Knight grabbed it and ignited it, its colour was not blue any longer, its shaft burned a vibrant blood red which matched the heat of his anger. With a scream of hatred he twirled his lightsabre and ran the two both through, they crumpled to the ground and Anakin laughed as a feeling of unbridled power coursed through his body and the Chancellor looked on, his features full of pride, and triumph.

*

Okay, crappy chapter, but hey, it's groundwork for the rest of the plot, so don't be too harsh with it. There will be much more Obidalaness soon if I can stick it in and Han will be appearing within the next chapter or so, and so will Chewie. To remind you of the question, Do you guys think I should mess around with the timeline to get to the pregnancy quicker?!  It will probably be an excuse for more Obidalaness too, but you never know, what are your opinions, as you're the ones who'll be reading this, and I lurve audience participation! Please review, tell me the damage ;)

Thanks

xXx