We Pretend It's Alright
Chapter 15
What are the Odds?
We Pretend It's Alright
(The night before)
Anakin sat bolt upright on his cot, his whole body trembling as he panted heavily. He was bathed in a hot sweat and his mind was racing as he eyes began to adjust the dank darkness of the cell. He swung his legs off the cot and rested his head in his hands, trying to understand what he had just seen.
It could not be possible. He had resisted Sidious, hadn't he? He had not caused Padme that pain, she should be safe.
Shouldn't she?
Anakin replayed the dream in his mind, the same dream he had had so many times in the last three months. Padme, alone and in pain. She was giving birth, but something was wrong. Something is always wrong in this dream. He hadn't had this dream since Palpatine's death. It had gone away, and he had believed that he had solved the problem. But what if Padme was still in danger?
And what could he do in here to save her?
Anakin yelled in frustration and the air seemed to vibrate around him. He was so useless in here, unable to do or help anyone, only causing more trouble and stress for everyone, especially Padme. Anakin stood up and began pacing back in forth in the small cell.
Maybe it was time he broke out, maybe this was a sign. Padme was going to need him, and this trial was dragging by. What if the verdict didn't come for another two or three months? By then, it would be too late. And he couldn't wait until he was convicted to escape, there would be too many obstacles then.
What were his odds of making it out alive? He knew they wouldn't hesitate to kill him if he tried to make a run for it. Still, he had the force on his side. He had no doubt that he could open his cell door, but then what? He had no weapon, could he make it up to the ground level and out of the building. Even if he managed to escape the building, then what? He had never discussed this with Padme. What would she do if he showed on her door step? They would have to escape the planet immediately and then live in hiding the rest of their lives.
Anakin frowned as he turned and started to walk back the other direction. That wasn't the life he wanted for his children or for Padme. Selfishly, he wanted to be there with them, but he couldn't stand to force his family to live a life like that, not when they didn't have to.
He could escape himself, fake his death and establish him somewhere in the Outer Rim. He could see Padme and the twins on occasion if it were possible.
No, he wouldn't run away from his family. He would rather die than be apart from them like that, living the life of a hermit.
Still maybe, if he were able to recruit a few guards to assist in faking his death, he could slip away to Naboo and meet Padme there. He knew she wanted to raise the twins there, where she had grown up. It was a bit risky, but maybe he had better start putting the plan in place. Then, if the trial took a turn for the worst, he would be ready.
Anakin signed, stopping in his pace and turning to lean his head against the cold wall next to him.
If only he had his journals, all the research he had been doing. He had been close to deciphering an ancient text of a grey force user, thousands of years old. It hadn't been easy to get his hands on but after a few months of searching he had finally tracked it down from a collector on some Outer Rim planet called Jakku. In his quest to find how to save Padme, almost everything he had found in both the Temple library and everywhere else he had looked at pointed him towards that text. It was in an ancient form of some foreign alien language, and Anakin had still been deciphering it when he was arrested. He briefly wondered if Obi Wan had read what Anakin had given him and kept the journals. Maybe he had given them to Jedi Council or to Padme. Of the two, Anakin certainly hoped it was the latter.
Anakin knew he had to be there with Padme when it happened. In all his dreams, he had been absent, and Padme had been alone. He couldn't let her give birth alone, not if their lives depended on it.
And in a way, they did.
We Pretend It's Alright
(The next day)
"Hey Skyguy." Ahsoka said softly as she walked into the small room she had been led to.
Anakin was standing next a table in the center of the room, his back turned to the door when she walked in. He turned his head the sound of her voice. Anakin didn't look good. He had lost weight and his face was gaunt. He almost as pale as those who lived on the lowest levels of Coruscant, like he hadn't seen the sun in too long.
"Hey Snips." Anakin said, a ghost of a smile creeping onto his face. "It's been a while-" Before he knew what was happening, Ahsoka had engulfed him in a hug. Anakin returned the hug fiercely, treasuring the moment. After a minute or so they broke apart, both of their eyes a little misty. Anakin motioned towards the table and they sat down across from each other, a heavy silence in the room.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here." Ahsoka blurted out, breaking the silence. "I should have been here-."
"Don't apologize." Anakin interjected at once, still not quite adjusted to seeing Ahsoka. "It wasn't your fault, none of this was. If anything, it's mine, though I'm still going to leave most of the blame to Sidious."
"Still, I could have helped you. I was so selfish when I left you all behind." Ahsoka insisted. All the things she had felt for the past year, all the regret and guilt, it was all coming out. "I ran away to find myself, but I didn't stop to think about anyone else. You must hate me for leaving."
"Ahsoka," Anakin started, his voice uncharacteristically soft, "I could never hate you. As much as it hurt to watch you leave, I understand why you had to." More than you know, he thought with a pang. "I don't begrudge you that at all, it was what you needed."
"Thank you Master." Ahsoka said with a teary smile.
"No more of that master stuff, alright? Neither of us are Jedi anymore. I guess you'll just have to call me Sir from now on." Anakin joked, earning a small laugh from the young woman across from him.
"Alright then, Anakin." Ahsoka said. A grimace spread across her face as she said his name. "It feels so unnatural."
"When I first started to call Obi Wan by his name, it felt weird too. You'll get used it eventually, I promise." He smiled proudly at the young woman sitting across from him. Ahsoka had grown up since she had last seen him, that much was clear. From what Padme had briefly told him, she had gone through some rough times. There was a glint in her eyes, one earned after a few too many hardships. But she was physically older too. Her lekku had grown longer and her face had developed a bit more. This wasn't that same kid who had left the Jedi Temple a year and some months ago. This was a woman who had seen the world, the good and bad.
"I'm glad Padme has you around." Anakin said after a moment. "As much as she wouldn't admit it, I know how much of a toll this is taking on her."
"Yeah, it must be so hard being apart from her husband for so long." Ahsoka said casually, cracking up as Anakin's mouth just about fell open.
"You know then." Anakin said after recovering from the shock.
"Yeah, you aren't exactly a master of stealth." Ahsoka smiled at her friend. "Honestly, I'm happy for you Anakin, you deserve this. You're going to be a great father."
"If I live that long." Anakin joked darkly, a sense of foreboding hanging in the air. "Thanks though, Snips, it means a lot."
"You're gonna win, Anakin."Ahsoka said quietly, looking at him with something Anakin couldn't quite read. "Padme needs you to, she might not show it, but she can't do this without you."
"She might have to." Anakin said with a shrug, not letting on how much it hurt him to say that. "She all but refuses to talk about it, but it is a very real possibility we have to deal with."
"You can't give up like that." Ahsoka reprimanded.
"I'm not, but I'm being realistic. The odds aren't in my favor."
"Do you really think you're going to lose." Ahsoka asked, her eyes downcast.
"I just don't know, none of us do." Anakin said with a sigh. "Ahsoka, I know this is a lot to ask but I need you to promise me something."
"What is it?" Ahsoka asked, looking up with her brow furled.
"If I can't be there, I need you to be with Padme when she gives birth. She can't be alone, do you understand?" Anakin said very seriously.
"Of course." Ahsoka said without thought.
"And, if you can, I need to you track down my journal. It has some very important research in it that needs to be completed. I know Obi Wan had it last, and you may want to enlist his help. All I have is there, as well as the text I was translating."
"What's in it?"
"Information you may need if I can't be there for Padme. Read it, you'll understand." Anakin said shortly.
Ahsoka nodded and another silence fell over the room.
"So, where have you been all this time?" Anakin asked after a moment, deciding it was time to breach the subject. "Padme hasn't told me much."
"Well, after a few months going planet to planet, I ended up working with Hondo Ohnaka's crew." Ahsoka said, not quite looking at Anakin. She wasn't quite sure what his reaction to this would be, but she doubted it would be positive.
"Hondo?" Anakin asked, raising an eyebrow. "What possessed you to do that?"
"He offered me a job and, well, I didn't really have anything else going for me." Ahsoka shrugged. "He really isn't as bad as you think. He cares about his people."
"But a pirate? Snips, I thought I raised you better than that."
Ahsoka had begun to think sharing had been a mistake until she looked up to see Anakin's goofy smile.
"Well, tell me about it." Anakin encouraged. Although he didn't want the life of a pirate for her, lecturing his former padawan was certainly not the right course of action right now. From his talks with Padme, he knew Ahsoka needed a friend right now, not a teacher.
Ahsoka began to tell him all about some of the missions she had been a part of and some of the people she had befriended. Anakin began to think that maybe in some ways a community, even one of pirates, was something Ahsoka had needed. She had grown up with the Jedi, a community larger than most people's. Being alone for the first time couldn't have been easy.
"I think I'm glad I did it." Ahsoka finished. "I.. I learned a lot about the world outside of the Jedi."
"I understand." Anakin said, and he did. The only life Ahsoka had ever known was that of a Jedi, but it wasn't the only life Anakin had ever known. "Ahsoka, are you alright? Padme told me some things and-"
"I'm fine." Ahsoka cut him off with a soft smile. "Don't worry about me right now, you have enough other things to worry about, you and Padme both."
"Ahsoka, we're family, you can come to us regardless."
"You and Padme have a family now, you don't have to worry about me." Ahsoka insisted. She couldn't bear to burden them right now.
"Whether you like it or not, you're a part of that too, Tano." Anakin said sternly. "I am going to worry about you whether you want me too or not."
Ahsoka looked up at Anakin, who was staring intently at her.
"If you need help, just ask." Anakin said, not breaking eye contact.
"I... Alright." Ahsoka said, though she wasn't sure if she meant it.
A large rap on door sounded, meaning they had to wrap it up.
"Just, look after Padme, alright?" Anakin said, worry in his eyes. "She needs it more than she will admit."
"I will, that's why I'm here." Ahsoka smiled. "You take care of yourself in here too, got it Skyguy? We're gonna need you around."
"I'll do my best." Anakin said, returning her smile.
With that, the guard reentered the room and escorted Ahsoka out.
We Pretend It's Alright
"Your honor, today we intend to take a look into the defendant's rather violent past." Fornium announced at the start of the trial that morning. This was the fifth day of the trial and the prosecution had decided to it was time to go on the attack.
"Citizens of the Republic," Fornium began, his platform zooming to the middle of the room. "We have all heard a lot about this honorable War hero and Jedi knight version of Anakin Skywalker, but we have yet to hear about the violent and vicious man that lays beneath that façade."
Padme and Jinka exchanged a look, neither of them quite sure where Fornium was going with this.
"Before Mister Skywalker was a Jedi, he lived on Tattooine, a planet controlled by the Hutts in the far Outer Rim. This planet is home to the worst kinds of people. Skywalker was born there, a bastard to a common whore."
Anakin was paying attention now. He glared dangers at Fornium as the man aimed a small smirk his direction.
"He grew up with a violent temper and little self control. He commonly fought with other children, severely injuring many. We talked to one man, Gren Hifle on Tattooine, who recounted a chilling story about the time Skywalker beat his younger brother unconscious, all because the boy took a small scrap of wood from him."
Fornium clicked a button in the small remote on his hand and a video of this man telling his account began. The man made Anakin out to be a vicious monster who had attacked his defenseless brother unprovoked.
But Anakin knew this story too. He had been six years old, scrawny for his age and picked on constantly by the older boys where he was enslaved. The "scrap of wood" Fornium had referred to was a pendant necklace, similar to the one Padme had, that his mother had given him a few months before, the last time he had seen her. Where they were enslaved, women and children were housed separately and did not see each other typically. Anakin had gone months without so much as a glance of his mother and the necklace was all he had to remember her by.
The boy, who had ripped the necklace from his neck while others held him down and then proceeded to throw it in the fire, was not the victim. Anakin didn't fight back then, for although he was no stranger to fighting, he knew he was no match for the four older boys.
But Anakin was a smart kid. He waited until the boys were all asleep before he attacked. He won the fight with the boy who had destroyed his one reminder of his mother, but not without earning a few bruises himself. Soon after that, he and his mother had been sold again and he never saw the boys again. Until now, he supposed.
The video finished and the lights came back up. "These violent actions were only the beginning of Skywalker's history. Several Jedi we spoke to confirmed Skywalker's viscous temper and tendency towards violence. Beyond this however, we must look at a recent, truly horrific event."
"Four standard years ago, Anakin Skywalker, along with Senator Padme Amidala, returned to Tattooine to look for Skywalker's mother, Shmi Skywalker. We spoke to Cliegg Lars, a moister farmer who was married to Shmi, living on the outskirts of Mos Eisley with his son and son's wife. He was happy to recount the encounter he had with Mister Skywalker when we asked him about his connections to the man."
Fornium started another video and a large image of Cliegg began to speak. Padme watched horrified, knowing what was about to come next.
"He was a strange fellow, Shmi's son. Very angry and not a big talker. He had come to find his mother, he said. Was very upset when I told him that Sand People had captured her about a month ago. He demanded why I hadn't saved her, why I'd let her be taken. I tried to explain to the young man that I had tried go after her, lost my leg doing so, but I couldn't save her." Cliegg's brow furled in sadness as he spoke of the event. "I told the him that his mother was gone, but he wouldn't accept it. He left his lady friend here and took off on one of our speeders, something mighty scary in his eyes. The woman had tried to stop him, but he didn't listen to her and more than me or my son. He didn't return that night, and I was sure he had been killed. Those Sand People aren't anything to mess with, I had told him as much. But come dawn, he was back, holding Shmi's body and refusing to put it down. He buried her himself, refusing to let anyone help him and not saying a word except over her grave. He disappeared off to the workshop for a few hours and the lady went after him. We could hear them yelling an awful lot, but didn't know what they were saying. Then, next thing we know, we see their ship flying off, my protocol droid along with 'em. Darn near strangest thing that ever did happen around here."
"Did you ever find out what he had done that night he was gone?" A voice off camera asked.
Cliegg nodded his head, his lips pressed together. "We found out a few days later when a local wandered into the Sand People's village and saw something mighty violent. Me and my son took a look out there with a few others and found the entire village of 'em all dead. Every single one, man, woman, and child was dead. They'd all been slashed up with a weapon with we didn't recognize from around these parts, but I knew what it must have been. Shmi had told me her boy was a Jedi, whatever that meant. He had some kind of light sword with him, and I reckon that's what did it. The boy must have been pretty unstable to do something like that. He was upset, we all were, but to murder a whole village is something else."
"Have you seen him since?" The questioner asked.
"No, I haven't seen hide nor hair of him and neither has anyone else around here." Cliegg said matter-of-factly.
The video ended once again, and the lights came back on.
"An entire village of people killed by this man." Fornium said. "Yet the defense intends for us to believe Anakin Skywalker is not a violent man."
Anakin was shaking with anger, unable to process what was happening. Fornium dared use his mother against him, his mother who the man had called a common whore!
Padme was watching Anakin, worried what he might do. "We have to call for a recess." She whispered urgently to Jinka, who nodded, still looking a little shocked at what she had just heard.
The twi'lek stood up. "We request a brief recess."
"A fifteen-minute recess will be allowed." The Judge declared, looking down at Anakin with eyes narrowed.
"He can't be allowed to do that!" Anakin exclaimed the minute he was brought into the room where Padme was sitting with Jinka and Helgo. "He is taking situations out of context and trying to make me seem like a monster!"
"Is it true then?" Helgo asked, his eyes narrowing. "Did you murder a village a Sand People?"
"They murdered my mother." Anakin said, closing his eyes at the painful memory. "Something came over me, pure rage and hatred. I am responsible for what happened. I should have had better control over my anger, but I didn't yet. All I could think was my dead mother in my arms, and that right outside were the beasts responsible for killing her. What would you have done?"
"And the boy?" Jinka asked, exchanging a look with Helgo.
"He and I were both slaves to the same master. Him and the older boys would rough me up. In the incident the man in the video was referring to, the boy destroyed a necklace my mother had made for me. We were separated at the time and it was all I had of her then. Him and some others destroyed it and beat me up. Later that night I returned the favor. I was six." Anakin said monotonously.
Padme subtly put her hand over his under the table, wishing the comfort the grieving man. There was so much Anakin had been through that she didn't know about. Sure, they talked about it sometimes, and she certainly knew more than anyone else, even Obi Wan. But it wasn't something Anakin liked to talk about, understandably.
"You were a slave before you joined the Jedi?" Helgo asked, wanting to confirm.
"Yes, my mother and I." Anakin said, his eyes steely as Padme squeezed his hand.
Jinka and Helgo exchanged a few more looks before seeming to come to an agreement.
"Anakin, we would like to put you on the stand." Jinka said cautiously.
Padme turned to look at the pair of twi'leks, shocked. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"The public is getting the idea that Anakin is a monster and judging him off other's words. We need to put a person to the ideas that they are forming, to humanize him." Helgo explained. "It's our only hope before Fornium gets the whole Republic to turn on him. "
"But what if they ask him about something we don't want to come up?" Padme asked a bit nervously.
"We have nothing to hide." Helgo said simply. "Being honest is our best hope from here on out. We have the truth on our side. You just have to tell your story"
Padme turned to look back at Anakin, who's head was bowed in thought.
"I'll do it." He said after a moment of silence, raising his head as he spoke. There was a fire in his eyes, something Padme had seen before. Anakin was on his game.
And he wasn't planning on losing.
We Pretend It's Alright
"The defense calls Anakin Skywalker to the stand." Jinka announced as the trial resumed. A ripple of muttering washed across the courtroom as Anakin was escorted to the stand, his head forward and a determined look on his face. The prosecution was exchanging alarmed looks and a grin had spread over Fornium's face that Padme didn't like.
"Mr. Skywalker, can you tell me a bit about your childhood before you joined the Jedi Order?" Helgo asked, after the room had quieted again and Anakin had been sworn in.
"I was born a slave on Tattooine, a world where half the population are enslaved. My mother was a slave, so naturally I was too. We didn't have any control over our lives or situation and my mother…" Anakin paused, gathering his thoughts. The entire room was hanging on his every word. "My mother was strong. She wouldn't have survived what she was put through if she hadn't been. She taught me to be strong, to know when to act and when to stay back. I frequently didn't see her for long periods of time. I was cared for by other slaves or forced to fend for myself."
"The video you all saw earlier, of the man who said I beat his defenseless brother. Well, he left out a few things. That man and his brother were part of a group of boys that enjoyed beating and tormenting some of us younger children at the property we were all enslaved at. I was six and they were all a few years older. That incident that the man referenced to happened a little differently. The group of them had gone after me, but this time it didn't stop with a few physical injuries. As slaves, we had very little. The one thing I had was a small pendant on a string my mother had carved for me before we were separated. The boy ripped it from my neck and threw it in the fire." A darkness had come over Anakin's face as he spoke. "That necklace was all I had of my mother and he destroyed it. That night, I went after him once the others had left. It was a fair fight, not like earlier."
"Thank you, Mr. Skywalker." Helgo said after a moment, allowing the crowd to absorb what they just heard. "Would you please tell us about the event Mr. Lars spoke on earlier, your trip to Tattooine?"
"For several weeks, I had been having dreams of my mother suffering. I knew the Jedi would never let me go, so I resigned myself to the fact that I couldn't do anything to help her. Then, I was unexpectedly assigned to guard Senator Amidala, who was threatened by assassination attempts at the time. I confided in her of my worries and we went together to Tattooine to find my mother. We managed to find out that she had been sold to a man named Lars and made our way out to his farm in the desert. We met Cliegg Lars and his son. They told me that Cliegg had set my mother free and they had married. He said that she had been happy."
Anakin frowned at this. "I was never able to ask my mother about it, but I sometimes question the legitimacy of the relationship for her. As a slave, when offered freedom at a cost, how much choice could she have had? But regardless, when I asked where she was, he told me that Sand People had kidnapped her a month ago and they all assumed her dead. He said he tried to go after her but couldn't save her. He had obviously given up, but I hadn't. "
Anakin paused here, looking at Padme who gave him a reassuring nod, her heart nearly beating out of her chest.
"I set off for their village and arrived at nightfall. After looking around some of the tents, I found her." Anakin looked down, gathering himself. "She was severely injured and barley conscious. She recognized me when I lifted her free of her bindings. I told her to hold on, that I would save her. But I… I couldn't. She died within a minute of my arrival."
A few people gasped pitifully, exchanging shocked looks.
"When I was younger, I had promised to always to protect her, and I had failed." Anakin said heart-wrenchingly. "I was angry, angry at myself and at the things that had murdered her. My anger took over, my desire to avenge my mother. I attacked a Tusken and soon the entire village fought against me. I avenged my mother." He said this very coolly but there was pain in his voice, pain the crowds and all those watching at home on their holo projectors heard.
"My mother was dead and her murderers right before me, what would you have done?" Anakin said simply.
"What happened after?" Helgo asked.
"I brought my mother's body back to the Lars' homestead. We buried her that morning. I… well afterwards, the weight of it all hit me. I went off by myself, trying to shut down what I was feeling. As a Jedi, I was not supposed to have attachments. I was not supposed to feel what I was feeling, to do what I did. I… I was having a difficult time." Anakin said quietly. "Senator Amidala came to talk to me and I confessed to her what I had done. We talked for a while, sorting things out. Soon after that we received an emergency transmission from Master Kenobi on Geonosis, and we left straight away to save him." Anakin could almost feel Obi Wan rolling him eyes as he said that. "This was all directly before the first Battle of Geonosis, the start of the Clone Wars."
"The defense rests for now." Helgo said, watching the prosecution as he returned to the table.
"Mr. Skywalker, you have told us an awful lot about you mother, but what of your father?" Fornium asked, stepping to the center of the floor.
"I have no father." Anakin said, a forced clam in his voice he glared at Fornium.
"I imagine that must be common where you come from. Woman not staying with partners?" Fornium pressed.
"You misunderstand." Anakin said. "You probably won't know, as I imagine the posh life you've lived, but slaves aren't afforded those freedoms in life."
"And yet here you are?" Fornium pointed out.
Padme wanted to object. This man was doing nothing but trying to anger Anakin and she worried it was working. But she watched as Anakin gathered himself and a spark of hope light inside her.
"So I am." Anakin said simply. "I'm sure you can all come to your own conclusions, and I fail to see the relevance of this."
"Very well, Mr. Skywalker." Fornium said, his eyes narrowing. "You claim that you were a slave on Tattooine, but you joined the Jedi order. How did that occur?"
"I won my freedom. A bet between Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jin and my former master Watto. I won a pod race, the Boonta Eve Classic, and was permitted to leave with the Jedi."
Whispers had broken out when he mentioned the Boonta Eve Classic, some recognizing it and by extension who he must be.
"So, you abandoned your mother on Tattooine?"
"I did not wish to leave her, but she told me I must go without her. She didn't want a life of slavery for me."
"And the next time you saw her was her death?'
"Yes."
"I see. So, you admit to murdering an entire village of Tuskens?"
"Yes."
"Do you feel any remorse for your actions?"
"I wish I hadn't acted out of revenge, but I don't think most people will understand what it is like to be confronted with their parent's murderers." Anakin said simply. His face was clam and he stared straight ahead at Fornium. The force was flowing around him, he could feel it and he used its calming nature to aid him.
"Mr. Skywalker, when did you first meet Senator Amidala?" Fornium asked suddenly.
Anakin's furled his brow, looking quickly up at the table Padme sat and back to Fornium. "I met Senator Amidala when she was the Queen of Naboo during the Separatist invasion of her planet. She was with the previously mentioned Master Qui-Gon and Master Kenobi. After I joined the Jedi Order, I did not see her again until I was assigned to her protection around four standard years ago."
"And for the past four years?"
"We have been friends. Senator Amidala and I see each other as often as our work permits." Anakin said cautiously. He was almost certain that Fornium knew.
"Was this 'friendship' the reason you went to Senator Amidala's apartment directly from the Senate building on the night you murdered Chancellor Palpatine?"
A buzz of excitement was emanating from the crowds. Anakin felt as though he was underneath a huge spotlight, and he was on the verge of getting burned. He wiped his brow and began on the lines he had been told to answer with.
"I wasn't sure who I could else I could trust. Master Kenobi was off world on a mission to capture General Grievous. The Jedi and I had had a few… disagreements and I wasn't sure the of the reception I would get from them right away. I knew Senator Amidala would hear me out and would know what to do better than I would," Anakin articulated carefully. "You have to understand, I was as blind-sided by Palpatine's true nature as anyone else. I had known him since I had first come to this planet. He was… a mentor, someone I trusted."
"You speak of the late Chancellor as a mentor? Why would the Chancellor take interest in a young Jedi with no political standings?"
"Palpatine told me he believed I would be powerful, one day the most powerful Jedi to ever live. He placed doubt in my head about the Jedi's true intentions, trying to sway me to the dark side. He wanted me to join him when he revealed himself to me as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, to become his apprentice. But I refused his offer and went to inform the Jedi of his true nature."
"So, if follow along with this story we have head from the defense several times, Palpatine believed you have the capacity for extreme evil?" Fornium asked innocently, his eyes glistening.
"I… well, whatever he believed, he was wrong." Anakin denied, somewhat thrown by the question.
"Mr. Skywalker, will you please explain the reasons you were expelled from the Jedi Order?" Fornium cut in, one eyebrow raised questioningly.
"As many have told this court, I was expelled for reasons unrelated to the murders I am accused of." Anakin said, a slight frustration in his voice.
"Yes yes, so we have heard. But why then were you expelled? Does it have something to do with this capacity for evil you seem to have?"
"No, it was nothing like that. I had different beliefs than the Order, and it was unavoidable." Anakin explained, trying to keep his voice clam. His face as taunt as he stared down at the tall man below. He brushed the hair out of his eyes, and he waited for Fornium to start again.
"These beliefs you mention, did they have to do with the so-called dark side?"
"No." Anakin maintained, wishing the man would drop the subject.
"What beliefs were they then?" Fornium pressed, unrelenting.
"They are irrelevant to this case." Anakin repeated, now glaring down at Fornium.
"I understand you see it as such, but how can you expect the rest of us to?" Fornium persevered, riling up Anakin. "Why so secretive? What do you have to hide, Mr. Skywalker?"
"It's no one's business." Anakin snapped, failing to calm himself.
"Hmm, hit a nerve, did I?" Fornium said, raising his brow in mock surprise. "Mr. Skywalker, need I remind you are on trial for murder and treason, your life is everyone's business."
Anakin was seething as he watched the man walk back and forth below him. His life was no one's business, his relationships were no one's business, his feelings were no one's business, let alone the entire galaxy's.
"Mr. Skywalker I will ask you one more time. Why were you expelled from the Jedi Order?"
"Because I broke the code!" Anakin shouted, unable to suppress his anger. "Is that what you wanted to know? Well congratulations, there it is!"
The crowd erupted into discussion at this reveal, and the Judge called for order.
"You broke that code? The oath all Jedi are sworn to follow?" Fornium inquired, triumph in his eyes.
"Yes." Anakin said sharply.
"Which measure did you break?"
"Figure it out yourself." Anakin spat, silently challenging the man.
"Oh, I intend to do just that, Mr. Skywalker." Fornium threatened lightly. "The prosecution rests."
Two guards had just begun to take Anakin out of the witness stand when the doors of the hall opened. A young woman hurried to the front of the court room, all eyes watching her as she moved.
"Yes?" The Judge asked the young woman as she reached the front of the room.
"Your Honor, I've been instructed to inform the court that Jedi Master Mace Windu is awake."