Gray Guardian
Chapter 3: First Lessons
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of the characters involved except Guardian T. Twilight.
Twilight tensed as Anakin charged him, lifting his weapon so it was parallel to the ground he caught the Jedi's blade in the middle of the haft of his weapon, the two struggled against one another before Anakin leapt back to his starting position.
"Not bad, your reflexes are up to par." Anakin said as he began to walk the outer circle of the ring.
Twilight spun his weapon so that he held it loosely in his right hand around the middle of the handle. He kept his eyes locked on Anakin's whole body, waiting for his next move.
Anakin took notice of the glare and threw up his left hand, a nearby training dummy scraped across the ground before flying towards Twilight.
The young Guardian lifted his free hand up in front of him like a shield, and a white aura emerged from his arm to surround him in a shell. The dummy bounced off it and landed harmlessly on the floor, tipped over the force exerted on it.
"Hm… interesting application of the Force." Anakin said as he and Twilight resumed circling each other. "Why don't you try throwing that thing at me?"
Twilight visibly trembled as he made the suggestion. "I don't think that's such a good idea." Twilight answered back.
"Oh? Why not?"
Twilight stopped circling and planted the base of his weapon on the floor. "My powers, Light, and Darkness, function wholly different from each other. Light is best used defensively, as you saw when I shielded myself from your projectile. Darkness, is best used offensively, and I have the least control over it. I don't want to hurt you."
Anakin stopped and lowered his blade, considering Twilight's words. "Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained." He said before resuming his stance, "Try to not take my head off with it alright?"
Twilight looked at him and still hesitated. "I'll be fine," Anakin called to him in an exasperated tone.
Twilight nodded before lifting his weapon and letting his hand slide back to its middle position. He lifted his free arm and threw his hand, fingers spread wide, toward the dummy laying between them. Instantly tendrils of dark energy surged from his fingers and grabbed the dummy, then Twilight's face contorted with effort as the tendrils began to wrap around different parts of the dummy's body. His arm began to tremble as the tendrils began to pull at the different joints, and then in a rush the tendrils wound their way up Twilight's arm, engulfing it in the black energy. He stopped trembling and his body relaxed.
The tendrils ripped the dummy apart and threw the severed pieces at Anakin in rapid succession. Between a mix of his high agility and lightsaber Anakin dodged or seared through all of the projectiles, seemingly without effort. He stopped when he heard the sound of Twilight dropping his halberd to the ground. He looked over and saw his apprentice's right hand was now covered in the same white aura as before. He placed his right hand on his left forearms, and the darkness began to recede. Anakin thought he heard a small hiss as Twilight's hand made contact with his arm.
Eventually the two auras disappeared and Twilight slumped over, dropping to a knee.
"Hey!" Anakin shouted as he rushed over to his apprentice, "you alright?" He asked, helping Twilight back to his feet.
"Fine… just… tired. Darkness thought it would be best to 'play a prank' on you."
"Darkness? You mean the Dark Side?"
"Not… quite… it's a long story," Twilight gave him a tired look and Anakin nodded understanding.
"You can tell it to me another time. Get some rest, we'll resume tomorrow. I think I know where you're at progress wise. I should have something ready by then."
"Thank you Master Anakin." Twilight gave a bow from the waist before picking up his weapon and using it as a crutch to slowly limp out of the training room.
That night, after Twilight had fallen asleep, Akakin was laying in bed awake and concerned. He looked over to the holoconsole nearby and groaned. He had debated calling Obi-Wan for advice, but didn't know if he'd be able to reach his friend. He rolled over so that his back was to the holoconsole and sighed to himself.
"What am I supposed to do?" he asked, muffling his voice into his pillow.
Meanwhile, Twilight was laying awake as well, having faked sleeping so Anakin would go to bed without worrying. He breathed in deeply before letting it out in a long sigh. He closed his eyes and began to tune the world out around him. Soon he found himself in an empty void as he had this morning, but this time it was white. He looked around before shouting;
"Darkness! Show yourself!"
A small figure flew down in front of him, covered in a sickly black aura similar to the tendrils from the training exercise.
"What?" He asked.
"What was with that stunt you pulled today? You could've killed Anakin!"
"It was just a joke. Lighten up." Darkness replied with a huff, half turning away from Twilight.
"Your 'joke' almost cost a Worldly being their life!" Twilight shouted at him.
"He handled it. Besides, if anyone's life was on the line it was yours. I almost had us freed from this damn prison when you called on her to help you out."
Twilight had a look of utter disbelief on his face. "I've told you. We're all stuck together like this, we can't 'break out' as you like to put it."
"And who says we can't? We don't know anything about this situation, you're the first and only hybrid Guardian to ever exist. Who's to say Light and I can't just stop being you and return to normal. The only thing keeping us together like this is you!"
Twilight was fuming, but he took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves.
"Look. We're in this together, at least until we can figure out how to make it work, the least you could do is not rock the boat. Alright?"
Darkness was still sulking, his arms crossed, and he wouldn't meet Twilight's gaze. "Fine…"
"And I have your word that you won't-"
Darkness cut him off "Yeah, yeah, you have my word or whatever."
Darkness then disappeared in a flash, giving Twilight no time to respond. "Cheeky brat." He muttered to himself before closing his eyes.
He opened them again to the darkness of Anakin's apartment. He sighed again before rolling over on the couch.
"Why does everything have to be so difficult?" he asked into his pillow.
What he didn't know was Anakin was saying much the same into his own pillow.