Jedi Apprentice – Skywalker's Rescue
Chapter 5
Anakin let the door swish shut behind him and threw himself onto his bed.
Let's have a civilized discussion! He mocked Obi-Wan from the safety of his own head. He balled his fist and punched his pillow.
It wasn't fair! Obi-Wan didn't understand at all! Nobody did! The only one who ever understood me is Mom! Anakin thought miserably, then… the only one who ever loved me is Mom.
He felt tears prickling his eyes. He usually tried not to think about her too much, but now he couldn't stop. He wished she was here now. She would hold him and rub his back and sing one of those old songs until he fell asleep.
He'd thought he was doing the right thing by leaving to become a Jedi but what if it was all a mistake? Nothing was working out the way he'd thought it would. And his mom was still back on Tatooine. It wasn't fair that he got to leave and she didn't. It wasn't right!
Maybe it was all a mistake. But maybe…Anakin opened his eyes. He'd thought he had to wait until he was a powerful Jedi, until he was an adult, to help people in need and to fix the galaxy. But maybe that wasn't true. Maybe he could fix things now, on his own. He was smarter and stronger than anyone gave him credit for. He didn't need Obi-Wan or the Jedi or anyone else!
Anakin jumped off his bed and threw open his closet. He grabbed his old backpack, the same one he'd brought with him from Tatooine. Obi-Wan had tried to toss it out but Anakin hadn't let him. He opened it and pulled out his old shirt. It was worn out, faded from the suns. He ran his fingers over the stiches from where it had torn and his mom had carefully mended it.
He folded the shirt and stuck it in the bottom of the bag, then threw in a spare tunic, pants, and socks. He packed a canteen, a few nutrition bars that he'd stashed away, and the Coruscant Public Transit pass that he'd been given on a field trip last month that hopefully still had some credits on it.
Looking at the bag, he suddenly felt nervous. What was he thinking, trying to run away like some little kid? No. If he was going to fix things and help his mom, he needed a plan. The nervousness transformed into resolution.
He didn't have any money, so he couldn't buy her freedom. And there was no way he could trick Watto with a bet. That wouldn't work a second time. So it had to be a breakout. Back to the original plan he'd had all along, before any Jedi showed up.
His eyes fell on his desk, datapads and bits of electronics and tools scattered about. He sat down and got to work. He started organizing his components, parts from old droids and broken scanners that he'd borrowed from the Temple workshops, trying out different configurations until the correct one appeared.
When Obi-Wan knocked on the door and called him for dinner, as if everything was totally normal, Anakin barely looked up from his desk.
"I'm not hungry!" he yelled, and for once Obi-Wan left him alone.
When he was finished, he leaned back in his chair, stretching out his back. He tested the device one more time and, as sure as he could be that it would work, finally let out a sigh. He placed the device carefully in his backpack and slung it over his shoulders.
Anakin flicked off the bedroom light and stood by the door for a moment, listening. The apartment was quiet. He peeked out the door. The common area was empty and Obi-Wan's door was dark. He felt a flash of anger. Obi-Wan really had gone to sleep. He hadn't even left out food for Anakin. His mom always left a plate out for him when he worked on his projects late into the night, even if he'd argued with her.
Stop it, Anakin told himself. Did you really want him to be awake, and lecture you some more, or do you want to get on with the mission? Let's go!
He held his breath as the front door swished open. The lights in the Temple halls were dimmed and there was a barely visible field along the ceilings in the large open spaces that Obi-Wan had explained created a dampening effect so that sound wouldn't echo so much. It was supposed to be peaceful, but Anakin had always found the Temple at night to be too big and cold.
Anakin made his way to the main entrance, certain with every step that someone would stop him, but nobody gave him a second glance. He walked across the wide courtyard towards the nearest transit station.
The lights from towers and the endless lines of speeders crisscrossing the night sky made Coruscant feel almost busier than it did in the day time. It was so different from Tatooine, where when night fell, anyone who had any sense was safe indoors. For a moment he faltered. He almost turned around and looked back. It wasn't too late. He could still go back, sneak into his bed, make up with Obi-Wan in the morning, and everything would go back to the way it was. Where he was training to be a Jedi, lightyears from anything he'd ever known, while his mom was still a slave.
The unfairness of it all, the taunting of the other kids who looked down on him, the indifference of the Jedi Council, the sad look on his mom's face when she hugged him goodbye, and he'd never seen her look so sad in his life even though she'd tried to hide it behind a smile, it all burned into a little seed of anger in his chest. He held on to it, imagining it keeping him warm, pulling him onto the right path, taking him home.
Anakin stepped onto the transit platform and after checking the notice boards, hopped onto the pod headed towards the space port. He had barely enough credits left on his pass.
Once he was safely in his seat and the cityscape was nothing but lights whizzing past the window, the conversations of the other passengers faded into the background and before he knew it, he fell asleep.
…..
TBC!
Preview: Anakin's mission doesn't exactly go as planned...