Chapter V
The Real Senator of Naboo
Obi Wan Kenobi stepped into the High Council chambers, moving towards the enormous windows that served as the outer wall - the crimson curtains were drawn open to let in the early noon sunlight. He spotted who he was to meet hovering two meters off the ground in a sleek, disk-like mechanism - a hoverpad.
"Master Yoda," he said, cordially walking up to the Jedi Master who had once been his trainer for five years; Qui-Gon Jinn had made him his Padawan at the age of eleven. He gave a respectful bow and Yoda nodded his head in return.
"Concerned, you are, about your Padawan, correct?"
"Indeed I am, Master Yoda," Obi Wan replied, moving towards the windows and gazing down at the hover dock of the Jedi Temple where vehicles were placed, "I think he..." he trailed off, when he caught movement below.
Kenobi watched as two figures moved across the docking area towards a speeder. Yoda hovered to the window and looked out as well, frowning slightly. Obi Wan caught the color of one of the figure's robes - emerald green - Harry Potter, the only person with emerald robes in the Temple, which meant Anakin was the other. 'Those two are inseparable,' he thought, smiling slightly. If anything, he was thankful of Harry's assistance in training Anakin to be a better member of the Jedi Order.
Obi Wan sighed, "Harry won't be a Padawan for much longer, will he?"
Harry was, in Obi Wan's eyes, a model Padawan in every sense of the word. While every person had their moments, Harry was the one with the fewest. Obi thought, that while Harry was often frustrated with himself for not picking up on something he thought he should have, he was generally calm, and a studious Jedi Padawan. The young man aided out where he could, not minding spending less time sleeping or giving up a lunch break to aid a fellow Padawan.
Slightly perturbed, Yoda raised an eyebrow, "Perhaps - perhaps not," he replied, thinking heavily upon the immense concentration of Light Side surging through his Padawan. Master Yoda, had of course, felt the powerful connection the child established some minutes earlier. Yoda sighed, "Connected with the Force, he has - fastest, I have seen. Expected him to master it so quickly, I did not."
"Why the gloom expression, then, Master Yoda?," inquired a surprised Obi Wan Kenobi - it had taken him until the battle with the Sith Lord, Darth Maul, to fully connect with the Force and be able to feel it, meditate upon it, and ask for guidance through it, "He has done everything a Padawan should do - he is one of the best members of the Jedi Order..." he trailed off, seeing Yoda frowning, "What is it?"
"Difficult tasks, he has had, in his training - of that I made sure of," replied Yoda, "Nudged him, I did, down a difficult path to accomplish. Matter not, it did - accomplished everything more quickly, than ever seen, he has."
Obi Wan shifted on the balls of his feet, avoiding the problem he wanted to bring up with the Master for the time being, and moving to get some caffa from the synthesizer in the left portion of the High Council chambers, "So you're the one who had him build that monstrous weapon - and Vaapad?"
Vaapad was a Sith name given to the dueling technique both Master Mace Windu and Harry had mastered. It was the seventh dueling form out of as many, the first six being approved by all Jedi. The seventh required a strong mentality, and extreme concentration. If those who couldn't handle it attempted it, more often then should, they called to the Dark Side for help in frustration upon not being able to use it effectively. It had been given a Sith name by several Masters who disagreed with such a form being used by justice bringers and champions of the light.
"Indeed," sighed Yoda once more, "Believes he does, that he is not a good Jedi. Amazing, this child is - selfless, confident in doing his duty... not too confident. The Force is acting heavily upon him, I do sense." Master Yoda turned his hoverpad to face Obi Wan who was sipping lightly on his cup of Caffa, avoiding Master Yoda's gaze, "Struggle, he does not, upon skills of the Jedi - Struggle, he does, with his past and self-esteem."
"Yes... so I've heard...," replied Obi Wan, "My Padawan has told me of finding Padawan Potter thrashing in his sleep on occasion when he visits," at this, Yoda raised an eyebrow, "Screaming names or some sort. When Anakin inquired upon it, Harry merely said it involved a past he was not proud of..."
Yoda's ears flapped to their sides in sadness.
"He has lost loved ones, has he not, Master Yoda?" inquired, a curious Obi Wan. He knew little of Harry Potter's sudden appearance and could hardly believe a person at the age of twenty-one could understand the tenets and adapt so quickly. Then again, the first night he was there, he bested every person his age, save one. Which was now none - Harry was deadly with the dual-bladed lightsaber. It sent shivers of fear up his spine just thinking of how quickly the young man moved and with accuracy that could topple most Masters to boot.
"Indeed, he has. Lack of esteem in himself as a person, comes from there, it does. Saddens me, it has, to see one so centered in the Light Side of the Force, suffering from such a past," said Yoda, pondering upon revealing a bit of the child's history.
Yoda wanted Obi Wan Kenobi to be apart of the new teachings that were based on the Old Order of Jedi, so he decided to give the gist of it, "Killed, his entire family was," which brought Obi out of thinking of a way to bring up the problem he was sensing in Anakin, "Friends, families of friends, teachers... knew him well, and killed you were," he said, forebodingly, "Fought the man, who brought about such destruction, he did."
"Did he use the Dark Side, Master Yoda?," inquired Obi Wan, his mind recalling his brief use of the Dark Side against Darth Maul after having lost his Master. It had sent him into a rage he had never come near to experiencing in his entire life.
"No... used the Dark Side, he did not. Could have, if he wanted to. Forgave him, he did, instead, and redeemed the man, he was able to do. Told him, I did, when we did meet, that connecting fully with the Force would help him move past it... Tells me, he does, that the past no longer effects him... lied to me, he has... afraid of it, he is... feels he has done something wrong... most troubling..."
"Do you fear him falling to the Dark Side, Master Yoda?" asked the Jedi Knight, moving to the window once more and gazing out at the skyscrapers and particularly the Senate Building to the west of the Jedi Temple.
"Fear, I do not, him falling to the Dark Side. Born from the Light, he was. Sense it, I could, when we did meet... make him destroy himself instead, the Dark Side would."
"Do you think he is getting better?"
"Days, there are, when he gets worse and days there are, when he gets better. Better, he was, today. Connected with Force, he did, though I still sense much regret within him."
"Regret? What regret could there be?"
"Living," was the simple answer, "Care about him, I very much do. More so, than any other student I have ever had. Hoping, I was, that he would fail in creating his lightsaber... instead, now, he is called a Sith Lord in training. Ashamed, I am, of the Masters who call him such a thing... Teaching him, I was, that being human was okay... that failure was normal. Expected, I did not, that he would create it in record time."
"Are you speaking of the Old Jedi and emotion, Master Yoda?"
"Mhmm," he nodded, "Got it all wrong, he has," he said with a hint of distress, "Emotion, he does use, but not for himself. Loves, respects... but does no longer believe he is worthy of such affection. Does not bode well for him, I think. Machines, we are not... but mechanical, he is. The Perfect Jedi, he has become."
"What?" inquired Obi, slightly confused.
"Sith Lord, they call him. Perfect Jedi, is he, by definition of High Council. Selfless, compassionate of every life, and spares no emotion for himself."
"Why is that so bad?"
"Not been listening, have you?," sighed Yoda, "Light Side, he may be, but no amount of the Force can save you, if believe in yourself, you do not. Lived alone, contemplating the mistakes he had made in his life, he would have, had I not urged him to be my Padawan. Worried, about that, I did when first, we did meet," he harrumphed.
Yoda looked up out of the window at the ascending suns of Coruscant, 'Much good, he has done.... be so hard on himself, he should not, for making mistakes.'
"So where do you believe our Padawans are going, Master Yoda?" inquired Obi Wan, a moment later, upon seeing the diminutive green Master Jedi gazing off into the skies of Coruscant.
"Visiting Senator Amidala, they are," he replied, which made Obi Wan wince, having hit the problem he was having with Anakin.
Yoda had known what Obi Wan was stressing over since he had entered. Very little escaped Yoda, and he was going to let Obi Wan Kenobi bring it up - the way of the Master was to let things take their course. He would of course allow Harry to follow his heart and let time take its course in matters concerning him but it did not mean he could not feel worried - it kept the Jedi Master alive to know he was not heartless when thinking of Harry.
This was the way of the Old Jedi.
Both Obi Wan Kenobi and Master Yoda continued discussing their Padawans - Obi steering far away from Anakin's attachment to the former Queen and now Senator of Naboo, while the said students rocketed through the main thoroughfare of Coruscant, heading towards the Senatorial Landing Pad.
"Remind me again... Why did I allow you to drive?," asked a slightly sickened Harry Potter, who watched as blurs of lights, cars, and buildings were left in the dust of his speeder... that he had mistakenly let Anakin drive.
It was a comfortable two-seater with no top that was painted a rich golden-yellow color. Harry had received it from an elderly lady who had fallen out of it, and refused no as an answer when she offered it to him, after having been saved by the Child of Wizard Prophecy. Anakin convinced him to keep it, and so Harry and Anakin often went to Zax's Diner for a bite to eat, the Senate Building to watch the Senators discuss affairs, or just out in the bustling city-planet that was Coruscant, to drive around.
"Because I'm perhaps the greatest driver to ever live?," replied nineteen year old Anakin, with a childish grin, as he tried proving the point by squeezing in between two speeders after passing five, narrowly missing another oncoming speeder that zipped by a split second later. Harry's eyes had widened in the two seconds it had taken, and he couldn't disagree more.
Yelling from the drivers behind them reached their ears, which caused Anakin to smile and Harry to grimace.
"Hate to say this mate, but that was reckless!," Harry shouted, the wind blowing in his face from moving so quickly, causing him strain while speaking. He shook his head as Anakin sped up and passed several more speeders, "We are supposed to be setting an example!"
"Honestly, Harry!," he shouted back, "What's living a little?"
"Living a very little," was muttered in response, as they sped past a cargo ship, coming within a foot of the left side of the colossal vehicle. "I worry about you, Anakin!" he shouted once more, causing Anakin to raise an eyebrow, piloting with one hand and not looking at the speeders in front of him, nor the thoroughfare. "LOOK AT THE ROAD!" Harry shouted, his eyes widening once more.
Anakin dodged, effortlessly, not looking, the car Harry had seen come out of no where.
"You never have driven like this before! What is with the sudden change?"
This caused Anakin to slow down immediately, as he sighed, "Its more like 'What's gotten into you lately, Harry?' I'm just having a little fun, you Hutt. Honestly, I'm more worried about you... this entire last year you're the one who's changed..."
'Not this again,' sighed Harry, 'Hey! Did he call me a Hutt?'
"More studying... more working in the training room... You don't get out much anymore, save when you need to go up to Master Yoda's retreat," said the Chosen One.
"Me?" replied the young man with jet-black hair, "Its not me who has neglected to figure out we have a responsibility as Jedi. Darkness is returning, we are growing older, getting -" but he was cut off by Anakin who had memorized the speech.
"Getting closer to having to take our Jedi Knight Trials. You must remember we are going to play a crucial role in any war we might face in the next couple of decades... Yes, yes, I know! You only told me yesterday. What's with having a little fun?"
"A little fun doesn't have to consist of breaking every damn law known in the Galaxy on a thoroughfare," he replied, "Besides, I enjoy many things - I have lots of fun."
"Your fun consists of figuring out whether or not the Sith are behind the Separatist movement," Anakin replied, with a laugh. When Harry had told him it was quite possible the agent leading the Separatist movement was perhaps a Sith Apprentice, Anakin had laughed, telling him he'd next suggest the Chancellor was evil and trying to destroy the Republic from the inside - he, from his childhood, had loved Senator Palpatine who was now Supreme Chancellor. 'Paranoid,' thought Anakin, turning off the main thoroughfare onto another passageway that led directly to the Senatorial Landing Pad.
"Its not in the least bit fun. Its called priority. Know your enemy as well as you know your friends. I prefer training, really..." Anakin rolled his eyes, "Have always loved being a swordsman, and I enjoy driving but there are limits. Besides the point: all I'm trying to teach you is to be respectful of the laws and to act more serious."
Anakin slammed on the breaks, after pulling off to the side, "I appreciate it - really do, but you are not my Master! I don't know who you think the Sith are but they aren't a threat. A single Jedi Knight was capable of defeating a Sith Master, and you can defeat that Jedi Knight with three strokes of your blade."
"You forget we lost Master Jinn! Never underestimate your bloody enemy, Anakin, nor the Force for that matter. There's an imbalance - Darkness clouds seeing clearly into the future and that's not a good sign at all. I also highly doubt Darth Maul was the Master of the Sith - its the Master who sends his minions to do the dirty work and Darth Maul, from what you've described was nothing more than an assassin - I have some knowledge on it... from reading a lot," he said evasively.
Harry had been sworn to secrecy upon his past by Master Yoda. He did want to tell Anakin of all the struggles he went through, as he could relate to Anakin who had been mistreated for the first decade of his life and had technically been severed from any biological parent figure,but he supposed it was for the best.
"Before I even become a Knight, I swear, you'll be hobbling around carrying a cane and shouting 'Never waste the Force, you must!'," Anakin said, in his best Yoda imitation, speeding up again. Harry tried his best to look serious, but they both burst into laughter hardly three seconds later.
Harry settled into his seat, both him and Anakin slipping into silence.
Harry's mind, on the other hand, went into full activity, slipping into an image of a battle - one of the many he had watched on the screens in the Jedi Archive. 'The Archive', as it was dubbed, was the expansive library that contained all texts, audios, and images known to exist within the Galactic Republic. He spent many an hour in there, studying history, and had managed to read the information on every Sith Lord, Jedi Master, Republic Admiral, and Republic General to have ever been alive.
The young man's mind shifted to another battle, this one imagined, using tactics Jedi Revan had used in the Mandalorian Wars, and then as Darth Revan, Third Dark Lord of the Sith.
He analyzed in his mind, the maps of each battle that had been charted from the many millenia ago, each capital space ship moving within the confines of the chamber he called his mind, at its real speed. The smaller ships dodging in and out of the larger, the occasional exploding depending upon whether or not he changed flanks or tried different formations. He worked out thousands of them, but especially worked on a way to destroy the opposition with losing as little people as possible.
'Knight Revan was a brilliant tactician during both the Mandalorian Wars and after he returned to the Light. As Dark Lord of the Sith, his tactics were brutal in the campaign he waged under the Sith Banner, spending troops to gain more territory and money at a quicker pace, finding them expendable... unacceptable,' he thought, sighing, as they drew closer to the docking garage near the Senatorial Landing Pad where Senator Amidala was due to land.
His mind shifted to ground assault.
Harry did find himself agreeing with Anakin in that respect - he studied a lot, something he hardly did in the past, but the past was something he wanted to change (He just got sent back 3980 years too far, and a zillion light years off.) Harry didn't neglect maintaining a healthy body, though. He very much enjoyed working on lightsaber techniques - it took his mind off the past. For it, he was able to defeat every Knight within the Academy with relative ease.
Anakin pulled the golden-yellow speeder into the docking area, locking with one of the parking mechanisms as it touched down. Both Padawans hopped out of the car with grace only capable of having through the Force and began walking towards the landing pad. The Senator's ship was due to land with escort fighterships from the Royal Naboo Space Navy in less than five minutes.
The docking garage was heavily lit, and several dozens speeders were docked against the massive duracrete steel walls - duracrete being a hardly malleable alloy used in construction of most foundations for buildings, weaponry, armor, and other items of warfare. The path towards the exit was blazed in ornate alien tile of a reddish hue, and odd red bubble lights hovered several feet off the ground illuminating the otherwise dark garage.
It was as they were walking out of the facility that something happened that made Harry's heart stop for a moment. It made his blood run cold. It caused a shiver to run along his spine in trepidation. It was something that had not happened since they day he arrived here.
Off-center of his forehead, in a place where he possessed something he fought to keep secret, lay hidden, a prickling sensation struck.
Harry reached for his double-bladed lightsaber, and grasped onto it inside his Jedi robes as Anakin and he proceeded forward out of the docking garage.
The prickling sensation continued.
Anakin looked up and smiled, gently nudged Harry and pointed up towards the skyline. One large ship, followed by four smaller ones were slowly making its way to the landing pad. Anakin beamed.
"Come on, lets hurry up!" he said, beginning to run.
"Hold on!" shouted Harry but Anakin paid no attention. He pulled the double-bladed lightsaber out as a fresh wave of pain was inflicted upon his mind.
An image flashed across his mind.
'Make sure she does not live. She cannot be allowed to prevent this war,' spoke a cold voice behind a dark billowy robe that covered every inch of the man's body save the lower part of his face, displaying his elderly nose, mouth, and chin.
Then another, as he fell to his knees...
'M'Lady Amidala,' spoke a dark-skinned man dressed in a lavish uniform, 'We fear for your safety. It is no different than last time: many want you dead. Cordé will be your double as Sabé is away at the time. You will be riding as left end escort.'
A brunette dressed in white sleeping robes turned around, her elegant hair swaying slightly. She frowned, then sighed, 'Very well, Panaka, but you know I hate putting people in danger for my own safety, especially them.'
'Your vote against the Supreme Chancellor will be very important, M'Lady. Millions of lives can be saved if we stave off the war effort in hopes for peaceful resolution with the Confederacy.'
'I know I shouldn't hide - I should be realistic, right, as so many have died? But I cannot... I always have to ask myself when we do doubles, 'Is it all that good, if lives are to be used like this?''
'For the 'greater' good, M'Lady,' replied the officer, handing the woman uniforms.
The image faded out and Harry regained control of his mind.
"A vision," Harry breathed heavily, as he got up. His hand was pressed firmly against the area the now bearable prickling sensation was originating from. 'The real Senator is in an escort ship, the mainship holds an imposter and they're too be attacked,' he concluded. He lifted his right hand, the lightstaff(1) clenched within, and ignited a single side. The Child of Wizard Prophecy looked ahead to see the starfighters and the main ship begin to land.
'Must hasten.' He closed his eyes, trying to clear his mind.
Slowly, he began drawing energy from the Force into himself. He opened his eyes and a second later all anyone would see if they were to focus on Harry James Potter, was an emerald and crimson blur, as it closed the distance to the landing strip.
The Force, when trained, could be used to increase one's agility and movement, and this particular feat was one of the first Harry had mastered. He stopped abruptly at the edge of the strip and watched as Anakin moved towards the main ship which had a woman moving out of it. 'What the hell are they going to try...' he began thinking to himself, his eyes darting around for assailants while his mind played out thousands of scenarios of effective assassination.
As if he was heard, a pang in his head caused him to turn to the left towards two of the escort fighterships which had a woman descending forth from on the far left, and a man descending from the one closer. He turned to the source of where the Force was rippling in distress and warning to see a speeder go by overhead which released three metallic spheres, a meter in width each, from the back that plummeted to a second path leading towards the main ship but mainly to the two left escort fighterships which was now devoid of its occupants.
'Not good - not good at all,' thought Harry, remaining calm as he stalked forth, allowing room for the second beam of the lightstaff to manifest. The three metallic spheres decelerated their decent with thrusters they held on their lower hemisphere. They fell to the floor, and a whir of mechanic sounds permeated the landing pad as the woman from the far left escort starfighter ship brought out her blaster gun as did the man, and began moving away from the path.
The spheres broke apart, forming mechanical arms, mechanical legs, and an eventual lengthy mechanical body which upon it held a viper-like head with red mechanical eyes that flared into life, the eerie glow signifying it being active. The speeder flew over head again, as Harry jumped forward, closing the distance in relative ease, bringing his lightsaber in front of his chest as the assassin droids brought their weaponry upward and unleashed a barrage of blaster fire.
Harry moved his lightstaff in sweeping arcs, as he pressed forward, rebounding the blaster fire back onto their senders - the damage to the droids insignificant due to the energy shielding they possessed.
Targeting him now, the droids concluded the Boy Who Lived was an object in the way of their overall mission to dispose of the Senator. The young man replied to their focus on him by moving quicker with the aid of the Force - his deflection of the blaster beams that sped towards him flawless as he sent each back. In seconds he closed the twenty meter distance with grace and calm. He hopped the last three meters spinning through the air as he twirled and sliced downward across the center assassination droid in a diagonal cut, severing it in two.
The Child of Wizard Prophecy stood between the other two, as he deflected each, pivoting back and forth between one another , moving towards one of them at a lightning pace. He turned once more to the other one while he swiped the back half of his lightstaff while not looking across the duracrete cuff that linked the head of the droid, behind him, to its body - he sliced through it in a perfect horizontal cut.
He focused on the remaining droid of the three as the speeder sped by once again, overhead, and the Force alerted him to a faint, hardly audible clicking noise that came from the vehicle. Harry looked up as a missile zipped forth from the open window of the speeder. He looked once more at the droid, blocking another three blaster shots and reached out with the Force towards the droid that stood four meters away.
Harry felt the tendrils move through the distance, invisible to the eye, stretching forth and encompassing the droid.
It was over in a second.
The Jedi Padawan lifted his hand and moved it fluently towards the incoming projectile. The assassin droid was picked off the ground with relative ease, soaring through the air as Harry let go of it through the Force.
Harry removed a hand from the dual-lightsaber and lifted it in the air towards the impending explosion and muttered a simple, 'Protego.'
As the droid connected with the missile in mid-flight, a beautiful mesh of light strands formed in front of Harry, flickering together as they created a shield that he stood behind. The explosion rocked the landing platform for it was too close to the surface and whatever shards sent Harry's way, were evaporated within the golden light of the shield he had conjured.
He thought his job complete as he deactivated his lightstaff, but two screams echoed from behind him. Spinning around, his eyes widened in confusion as the real Senator slumped to the ground as did the imposter-double. Harry looked beyond the fallen bodies to see Anakin moving from a pile of metal and scorched concrete - three more assassin droids had been deployed on the path they had come down. 'The Dark Side is clouding the Force this deeply - this is horrible,' thought the young man, concern etched on his face as to why he wasn't able to feel the other three droids.
Anakin rushed to who he thought was the former Queen of Naboo's side, dropping down, ignoring the closer woman. Harry remained calm as he ran forward - he felt a flicker of life coming from both of them - the double's flickering out more quickly than the real. He reached through the Force to locate the two other escorts: the dark-skinned man he assumed was Panaka was clutching one of his legs near the main ship and another woman was rushing to the double dressed as the Senator meaning she was not clued in on the fact that the real one lay without anyone helping her.
Dropping down to who he knew to be the real Senator's side, Harry quickly analyzed her body in a way that put most professional healers to shame.
The woman lay flat on her back, her silky brunette hair disheveled and splayed over the metallic surface of the landing pad out of its once elaborate bun. The Senator's lightly tanned, impeccable skin was covered in soot and grime from the light skirmish. Clenched within her delicate small hand over her chest was a blaster rifle - a T172 Repeater designed mainly on Naboo. Despite all this, Harry found her stunningly beautiful though he tried hard not to concentrate on it - he was a Jedi of course. Removing the blaster from her hand, carefully, he looked down at her abdomen which was caked with steadily spreading blood.
Senator Amidala's eyes fluttered open, pain written across them as she locked with the blur that loomed over her body. Her mouth opened barely, "The others... the Senator..." she whispered, "help them," believing the person looming over was one of the two Jedi.
Amidala felt she was fading fast, and believed only Panaka and her double knew she was the real Senator. She had seen her double fall as well, and had very much wanted to scream, 'She can't die! Please save her!,' but it was far too painful to talk.
Harry locked his emerald eyes with the sky blue ones of Padmé as he opened her uniform at the bottom to reveal a sickly sight. His eyes darted downward to see the red and black blood that was seeping out of two open wounds - one had hit in the left kidney (the black blood). For a healer who wasn't a Jedi, this would generally mean the person had precious few minutes left. To Harry, and those who practiced healing through the Force, it was a complex and hardly accomplishable task to handle.
And Harry was, of course, capable of healing such a wound, since, even for being among the powerful Jedi, he was not normal. He had a strange ability few had ever been able to achieve. Fully capable was he at seeing within the body of a life form and strong enough to focus solely on a wound or ailment, healing it from the inside without so much as moving an inch, so long as he maintained contact with the patient.
He leaned over, and pressed a hand to one of the two wounds - the one that punctured her left kidney - which elicited a soft moan from the Senator who closed her eyes and shook her head in pain. "Sorry, Madam Senator," he whispered, closing his eyes in concentration, as he reached out through the Force. Soon, within his mind he saw the wound that had infected the now slightly swollen kidney of Senator Amidala.
Using the tendrils of the Force he could command, Harry ensnared the kidney under his control. Lashing out with the energies each tendrils provided, he self-induced the manufacture of millions of cells at an alarming rate. He fed the required energy from both the Force and from within his own body to aid in the production of the cells.
Magnifying his feel and sight of the kidney, he focused on the tiny threads of tissue that lay broken. Further inward, the young man reached, searching for the energy discharged from the blaster shot that failed in cauterizing the wound. If he did not remove the foreign compound it would surely poison her even if he sealed the wound and brought the blood level back up.
The flicker of life was beginning to fade further, as he examined her breathing for a split second, to find it labored. "Come on," he whispered, concentrating harder and the Senator despite the pain she was in, laughed a little which led to a cough, "Shh," he whispered, and she closed her eyes smiling slightly. It was only after a few more seconds of searching, that he located the energy discharge.
He wrapped the miniscule tendrils of the Force with delicacy around it, making sure not to worsen the situation or to miss even a molecule of its composition. Breathing out softly, his eyes still closed, Harry willed the Force to bring it out of the body. Slowly, the miniscule assailant of the young woman was brought out of the wound and into his hand where he banished it with a simple charm, which caused a whimper to escape from the agonized Senator.
Harry felt something become one with the Force, the energies swirling around the body extinguishing and returning to the center of all things and his breath hitched as he reached forward with his own power given from the creator of all things to find that it had been Cordé, the double. He let out a ragged breath, not in the least happy that Anakin had failed to save her, but relieved he had not failed the woman laying before him.
Moving out of the kidney, he began focusing solely on the tiny threads of tissue. He willed them, moving them together within his mind and bonding them once more, and the process was repeated below the blood-drenched skin Harry had his hand upon.
Sealing the kidney and pushing more of the energies of the Force into it, he then moved to the second wound. It was a much less harmful one but still agonizingly painful and would, although much more slowly, lead to death if not treated soon.
He repeated the same process, extending the wisps and tendrils to ensnare control of her body - willing the Force to put her brain and the nerve endings surrounding the wound in stasis. It would put her in a state that would allow him to work on the wound without her body receiving pain from lacking control over that area. Once done healing, he traveled once more into her mind to give control of her body back.
In the process, a memory of the Senator's flashed across both of their minds.
'Mother... father... do I have to leave?' said a small girl of age six, looking down at the carpet of an elaborate room finely decorated with an ancient feel to it.
'Now, honey, you are very gifted,' spoke a middle-aged man giving her an approving look, 'We want you to be the best you can possibly be...'
'But I don't want to be involved with politics... I just want to go to a normal level academy and I want to be with my friends - not those snobby children who think they are above everyone...' she said with a sigh, tears coming to her eyes.
The two parents in the room shared a glance, 'Padmé, you are a bright young girl,' said the mother, 'Brighter beyond what children your age are normally. You will be able to do extraordinary things. Why... think of all the people you can help; all the good you can do.'
The girl just continued to look down as tears began falling freely.
The image faded out, and Harry suddenly felt weakness within him. Harry scrambled through her mind trying to figure out what caused the memory to sprout up and pondering on top of it why he felt like he had been the one just shot in the kidneys. Surmising it as weariness from healing, and seeing no damage done, he began reestablishing control over the body for the Senator.
Her breathing became shallow for a moment before steadying, as Harry opened his eyes after finishing. "Scourgify," he whispered, his hand over her stomach and it was instantly clean, the Senator's soft skin coming into contact with his calloused hand. He repeated the process for her clothes and face, and buttoned her uniform once more.
Harry watched her chest rise and fall harmonically, it entrancing him slightly before he finally shook his head and removed his hand from her pure white battle dress.
Feeling slightly chilled all of a sudden, Harry pulled his robes together - which did nothing - while looking down at the Senator who had slipped into unconsciousness. Her body was shaking lightly, the cold felt from the metal landing pad now the forefront of discomfort to her body having had the wounds tended to. 'A Jedi's work is never done,' he thought, smiling a bit, removing his emerald green robes which held not a spot of dirt, soot nor sign of battle being waged minutes earlier and laid it on the ground next to the Senator.
Moving his arms under her lithe form, he picked her up gently and placed her on the thick silk noil robes and closed them around her slender form.
He sighed in relief, the chill passing.
Harry was feeling tiredness originating from somewhere and a heavy dose of pain, yet he couldn't pinpoint which part of his body was suffering, if any. He stood up once more, puzzled, after having checked her vitals once more.
He looked up away from the body to see Anakin, a face set in a mask, a meter away from him.
How he had missed him, was beyond him. 'Too concerned for the woman's health, and the image of...' his mind trailed off, as he caught the anger flaring off his best friend.
Twenty four year old Padmé, who had served as Queen of Naboo from fourteen to twenty-two and was now Senator of the tiny planet, drifted out of unconsciousness to hear two people talking, one shouting - the other speaking calmly and coherently as if discussing something over a cup of caffa and not facing an angered man. She squinted her eyes open to see two blurred figures - a white one and a grayish black one.
"NO ESCORT'S LIFE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE SENATOR'S!" bellowed the grayish blur.
"You cannot put a price on life, Anakin," replied the white one.
'Anakin?' the Senator's mind screamed. 'The battle... what happened to Cordé... if they think I'm just an escort... oh no...' she figured it out quickly. 'Ugh...where's all that confusion coming from... who's there?...' she wondered, 'Pain!' she wanted to scream, another pang of it coming from her abdomen area.
"SHE WAS MORE IMPORTANT! HOW WAS THAT ACCEPTABLE AS A JEDI? EXPLAIN YOUR WAY OUT OF THIS ONE!" Anakin shouted, in agony.
She heard the white blur sigh and feltthe sadness the next sentence was stated with.
"I won't even bother with wisdom, Anakin. The person you weren't able to save was not the Senator. The woman lying here is. Its not an unusual happening... as to how I knew, that is. I received a vision through the Force when we were exiting the garage... of both the assassination being ordered and the plan to have a woman named Cordé play the part of Senator to throw off any attempt at assassination."
She closed her heavy lids, 'No Cordé! No, no, no this is all my fault!,' - heartbroken but continued to listen.
Harry moved towards the gentlemen known as Panaka who was laying on his back, clutching his leg, and writhing in agony. The Jedi Padawan frowned slightly at the three shots the man incurred to it, and fell to his side. 'Stupefy,' he muttered, waving his hand over the man, with relative ease - it puzzled him - he still felt tired, pained, and saddened? somewhere he couldn't pinpoint. 'This is puzzling,' was the understatement his mind could only come up with, while isolating the energy discharges within the man's leg now that he was unable to move.
"How... how come I didn't receive the vision?," inquired Anakin from behind. Harry briefly looked behind him to see Anakin still staring at what he thought was a resting Senator.
The young, twenty-one year old Jedi Padawan thought over responding to the question, truthfully. Master Yoda had told him to keep secret his past as much as he could, but especially told him to not divulge the fact that he was from a different galaxy, and, now that he knew, a different time frame due to the Force having bigger plans for the Boy-Who-Lived... through anything.
Harry released a sigh, deciding it couldn't possibly lead to too much trouble, but would try keeping as much a secret as possible.
"I have a strange connection with the Force, Anakin," he said lightly, returning his focus to speeding up the production of cells within the marrow of the bone that had suffered two heavy blaster shots.
"Strange connection? How so?"
"A scar," Harry replied, quite simply as if that would stop Anakin from this line of questioning.
"If you honestly think that answers my question, and if you really believe thats going to put me off then you don't really know me that well," the Chosen One replied, forcing a laugh. Anakin was perturbed as to why Harry would receive a vision about his love.
"Very well," and muttered under his breath 'Persistent spawn of a Jawa,' "The connection - the scar - serves as two things, as far as I know. Its sort of like a warning scar," he said, trying to think of a better way to describe its effects, "Its very painful if I'm too close to something Dark, but I've managed to ignore the pain in past times with some lessons I received from an old friend," he continued, lightly, remembering the grueling heated lessons with Severus Snape.
"It also serves as a connection to... well, to an old person I knew who... look: I can't go into that really, its something that I have a hard time talking about," Harry lied, "Lets just say the man was very twisted... I could see when the person was plotting... planning... doing things to harm others. What this means now since its been inactive for a long time, I don't know," he concluded, troubled by the fact that his scar had reawakened after such a long time.
"Where would this scar be?"
"That's of no concern, Anakin - know that I have it."
Anakin folded his arms across his chest, slightly put off but relieved, "Fine."
Harry finished bandaging the man's leg with strips of cloth from his own Jedi clothing, for the uniform Panaka wore wouldn't absorb the blood that well if the wound were to reopen.
"Will he be alright?," said a distressed woman across from him on the other side of Panaka. Harry looked up and nodded, muttered an unintelligible whisper which only he knew was 'enervate.' The dark-skinned man's eyes flew open and scanned his surroundings. 'Fast eyes,' thought the Boy Who Lived, standing up.
"Officer Panaka," Harry said with a light bow, reaching his arm down and helping him up.
"Ah... what happened?," the officer muttered in a dark voice, "Where's the Senator?"
"She's currently resting over there," he said, pointing behind him to where Anakin was still standing, gazing at the Senator, "You were attacked upon arrival. You suffered one casualty in the skirmish that broke out between six Archon V Assassination Droids at approximately," here he paused, to look at his watch, "Approximately 1330 hours."
"A casualty? Who?"
"The double," he merely said, which caused Panaka's eyes to widen. Before the man could question why, Harry simply waved his hand in front of his face.
"You will not ask as to why I know such information. You will escort Senator Amidala to the Jedi Temple with the assistance of Jedi Anakin Skywalker and the lady to my left, who will also ask for not a word of information," he said waving his hand at her too.
Panaka blinked once, shaking his head, "Err, I better get Senator Amidala to the Jedi Temple... Thank you Master Jedi," he said, with a bow, signaling to the woman to come with - she merely nodded her head in understanding and followed him towards the Senator and Anakin.
Harry looked over at Anakin once more, and how he was looking at Senator Amidala, 'He's forbidden... he hasn't been trained to understand such emotions without doing harm...'
Another voice battled, 'Surely you are not to stop love from manifesting?
''Look where it landed you, Harry,' supplied yet another.
'From what he has told you, she would likely return the feelings. You should let things their course, take,' said a voice that sounded eerily familiar that brought an image of Ron to his mind, yet baffled him, yet again, as to why he could not place it nor understand. It wasn't the same as the pangs of pain he felt (yet didn't feel) every few seconds or sadness he would suddenly incur, yet strangely, not really feel it. The image of Ron had to do with a memory that was sketchy and too hard to remember with so many questions plaguing his mind.
He stepped forward and laid a hand on Anakin's shoulder, "Do not let your emotions cloud your judgment, Anakin," he said, in a calm voice, "Think clearly before doing, think of everyone involved, and come to the best possible method of action," he finished, nodding his head towards the destruction around him.
"You... you're not going to berate me for having an attachment?," he inquired, sounding confused.
"I won't for its your heart, and I do not berate you, Annie. I let you know what I know from experience... my experience is to not let your heart rule you - let it guide you, just like the Force," Harry replied, softly, looking down at his watch, "Look at the time. Help escort the Senator to the Jedi Temple where I will meet you shortly. I must contact Master Yoda while heading towards the Senate."
"Thank you... wait," he said, reaching a hand out, "whats at the Senate thats so important that you can't help me escort the lovely Senator?," he said with the Anakin smirk.
Harry rolled his eyes, everything getting back to normal as usual, 'Well... technically, being attacked, hunted, and always in danger used to be normal,' he thought, laughing inwardly, "Today the Cloning Bill is put to vote. All of Madam Senator's work would go to waste if she is not able to deliver her case against the measure. I will attempt to stave off the Chancellor from calling it onto the floor."
Anakin merely nodded.
"Its still very dangerous, though, so be careful Anakin and may the Force be with you."
With that, Harry swept from the landing pad towards the Galactic Senate Building while Senator Amidala once more drifted into unconsciousness, her mind asking many of the same questions that plagued him.
(1)Lightstaff is one of the many names given to the Dual-Bladed Lightsaber, which I will use mainly when referring to it. It is also known as a Sith Lightsaber as its origins are unknown prior to the Sith Wars that happened 4,000 years before Episode I.