"Are you happy child." Ahsoka heard a tender voice call to her, it was oddly soothing to her juxtaposed with the crackling of the thunder still persisting outside.
"Who are you?" She looks around the cave, finding no one.
"This planet is very dangerous, it is strong in the dark side. Your master is susceptible to falling."
"You're wrong!" Ahsoka roars. "He's kind, generous and would never turn his back on the light."
All she can hear is faint laughter. "I was once you, young one. But believe me when I tell you Anakin Skywalker is a ticking time bomb. His influence surrounds you. You're putting your friends in danger by trusting him. The dark side will consume you all. You will never see the future if you remain on this planet and stay his student!" The last words sending shockwaves through her, waking her up in a cold sweat. She looks to her right to see Kyle sleeping soundly, compared to her at least.
From the chaotic night, came a blissful morning. Birds chirping was a new sound Kyle yet to have come across, almost felt like he was home. At any time he expected to hear the footsteps of his little sister rushing to wake him up for school. His eyelids peeled open, as did Ahsoka's they realize they've gotten a little to close for comfort and their hands intertwined during their slumber. Gasping, they quickly withdraw and scurry away, disgusted at the idea they even briefly cuddled. Kyle figured the cold air must've drawn their bodies in to secure warmth as second nature.
"Let's never talk about this." Ahsoka demands.
"Fine by me." Kyle was busy wiping his sleeves like Ahsoka carried a disease.
"Come on, we need to get to the monastery." The two left the cave, basking in the warmth the generous sun provided. Somehow, today was brighter than the last. It wasn't too hot, or brisk. The temperature was just right. Nearly impossible to sweat in, unless you're performing a laborious task.
"This is where we climb." Ahsoka explains.
"What?"
"It's the only way up." She points to the top of the monastery.
"This has to be like, 100 stories of climbing." He bemoaned. "How are we supposed to climb that?"
"Simple." She smirks. "With our hands and feet."
(Scene break)
"Master... master, why did you leave me?" Depa could swear she heard that voice before. "Master, please!" The last word hurt her heart like a dagger and she jolted out of her slumber. Her vision was still gone, it'll be sometime before it returns. She's come to peace with this fact.
"Couldn't sleep?" She senses Skywalker was awake for some time, he stares at the ceiling at a loss.
"How did you know?"
"A woman's intuition." She quips. "You're haunted by your past. No matter how far you are from it, it'll remain with you." Anakin didn't know if she was talking about herself or him. "You've made some mistakes?"
"A few." He confides.
"I was told at a young age, the mistakes you make in your formative years shape you into the person you are to become. I like to believe my missteps made me better."
"Me too."
"But do you believe you are a better man?"
"I don't know."
"You do. You can't bring yourself to answer."
"I don't have an answer." Anakin lies. "Even if I did, it's irrelevant. How I see myself is likely far from how others regard me."
"You care about how others perceive you?"
"No."
"Then what does it matter?"
Anakin knew he lied about his insecurity about what others thought. It's his knee jerk reaction to deflect from such an accusation. "Beware lending too much credence to your past. It can help you learn for the future, it can also lead you down the dark path. Have you ever heard the term 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions'?" Skywalker nods, for he has come across those words. "Wise words to keep in your back pocket."
"I had a vision, of my mother. Except it wasn't her." He didn't want to confess something so personal to her. Anakin wasn't much on opening himself up, even to his closest allies. "It was someone else using her appearance in an attempt to deceive me."
"It is daylight, perhaps it is now appropriate to pay our friend a visit."
"If you don't mind, I'd like to meet with him myself." Anakin asks.
"It's very dangerous to leave you alone with someone like him. I think I should come along." Depa squashes the idea, leaving Anakin irked. It's his business, why should she be involved? The questions he wants to ask him.
The Father sits in his throne pillow, having not moved the entire night. His meditation serving as his respite. Anakin steps towards the defenseless elder, preparing to withdraw his lightsaber. "Skywalker" Depa hisses. "It is not the Jedi way to attack someone who has done no wrong to them.
"For all you know, he's the one putting those images in my head!" He retorts.
"We don't know that. He isn't alone, maybe it's someone else."
"She is right." His commanding voice demanded their attention. "I suspect it is my son causing you distress. Trust me, though I have my intentions none of them involve preying on your personal feelings."
"How do you expect me to believe you, old man?" Anakin contends.
"You can choose to believe what ever you like, all I can hope is to present you with an adequate case proving my innocence. You're the jury whether I did a good enough job." Anakin was growing heated, getting long winded responses lacking clarity.
"Why did you bring us here?" Depa gets the conversation back on track.
"When I learned the Chosen One was discovered I knew I had to meet him, to test if he is indeed who the Jedi say he is."
"The Chosen One is a myth." Anakin replies.
"You lack of belief in the Jedi is disturbing." Father worries. "Do not give into secularism."
"I respect the Jedi doctrine and adhere to it. But the Chosen One prophecy is the offspring of one lone man, written thousands of years ago. I read it over and over, I cannot say to you I believe it."
"Perhaps your experiences here will make you reconsider."
(Scene break)
They've reached the halfway mark up the momentary. Kyle's muscles shook with each movement, he is wearing down. Seeing this, Ahsoka advises they stop and rest, but Kyle persists. "No use in resting when we have a job to do." He continues, and his leg slips and Ahsoka manages to snag his wrist. "Thanks." He tried climbing again, but he twisted his leg and needed a moments rest. "I think here is a good place for base camp."
"Just for a minute." She reminds Kyle. His boots were killing him, it felt liberating to slide them off.
"This planet is regenerating itself." Kyle notices.
"It's awfully strange. I've never seen anything like this before." Her blue eyes peer up at the floating triangular rocks occupying the sky. "It's-"
"Hypnotic?"
"Yeah."
"Everything is more pronounced here. Even my dreams were interactive."
"What kind of dreams?"
"The usual. Memories, only slightly different." Ahsoka raises her facial marking above her eye.
"That's not normal." He shrugs. "How interactive?"
"They feel surreal, but real at the same time." Ahsoka too had these dreams. A raven flew past their eyesight and circled them, crowing incessantly. "Is it me or is that bird getting larger as it gets closer?" Kyle notices, before his vision went black. Swung to the side, Ahsoka could only put up a small fight until she was rendered unconscious and snatched.
She struggled mightily, her arms held up by the ravens sharp claws, her legs dangling over certain doom. "Try anything and you'll be dropped into the bottomless cavern." That didn't deter Ahsoka from insulting and ordering Son to put her down.
Kyle shook the cobwebs off just in time to see the raven flying skyward to the top of the monastery before disappearing.
(Scene break)
"Come, I want to talk to you. Alone." Father asks of Anakin. Seeing no use in fighting this one, Depa accepts these terms, reminding Anakin to not trust him. There's a sense of worry he has internally walking down the isle of the unknown, with this being he doesn't know qualifies for a human. Father appeared so frail, in danger of falling to pieces at any given moment. "You're very well versed in the force for someone so young."
"What is going on here?"
"You stand on my creation. A refuge for me and my children, where I can control them."
"What if you let them out?"
"My children are the embodiment of light and dark, I serve as the balance. If one, or both of them left, too much of either will throw the universe into chaos." He warns. "I am growing weak, my hourglass is running out."
"You're worried they'll try to kill you?"
"You do not know what it is like to have so much love for your children, and be terrified at the tremendous power they wield." His expression turns somber, filled with internal distress.
"What are you?"
"Some call us 'Force Wielders'." Father answers.
"The Jedi have never spoken of this." Anakin held on to his skepticism, and Father sensed it.
"Few still know of our existence."
"In my room, my mother came to me, but it wasn't her. It was something else."
Father stroked his beard, taking a breath. "I see you've came across my son. A dastardly child. He can take on many forms. I can tell you carry a great burden of sadness with you. My son can sense it and manipulate the Force to a degree nobody can even imagine. On the other hand, my daughter is more kind-hearted."
"Is this place your sanctuary for them?" He asks.
"No. It is a prison. Once I believed this was all for their own safety, a place they can hone their abilities until someday they are ready to enter the temporal world. Only to realize I am but a fool and have since withdrawn."
"I do not understand."
"It is only here I can control them. That surge of strength you feel, is my feeling only more so. I bring my children to heel. Through our bond I can balance light and dark. Day with night. Destruction with creation."
"Why is too much light a bad thing?"
"Many want to exploit our power. The Sith, are of one. Too much light would undo the very fabric of your reality and bring about unspeakable, unintended consequences."
"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions." Anakin remembers the old saying. The Father, not aware of the quotation merely nods along.
"You are wise as you're strong. When the news reached that the chosen one's been found, I had to see for myself. No matter how you feel about the prophecy it is why you're a Jedi today and not on Tatooine."
"How did you-"
"I know all. Now come with me to the courtyard, I have something to show you." Out they strolled into the porch overlooking the courtyard, two large birds held Ahsoka and Depa on either side. Their grips are so tight if either tried resisting it surely separate their shoulders from their sockets.
"What have you done?!" Anakin is in clear distress.
"I have instructed my children to kill your friends. This is your first test. Who will you chose?"
"Let them go." He demands.
"You'll have to free them yourself, Skywalker."
Ahsoka looks up and can see her master, despite the strong sun rays obscuring her view. "Master!" She calls out to him. "Whatever he wants, don't do it!"
"Ahsoka!" He leaps down intending to check up on her, before the Daughter backs Skywalker off by flapping her wings.
"The only way you'll free your friends is if you overcome my children." Father reminds the Jedi. Anakin's head began to split, unable to withstand the pain growing and cancel out the noise. "You can only fight one. Together they are stronger than you."
Depa called out to Anakin, "Skywalker, remain calm. Trust the Force." He takes a deep breath and raises both his arms. Depa had little clue how she wound up in this situation. All she knew was Skywalker's the only one who could get them out of this predicament.
"You will let them go!" He lifts the birds up, their respective grips released. The day turns into night, the entire courtyard appears to be on a swivel rotating madly. The Daughter and Son are brought to Anakin's feet, reverting to your their usual forms. His power made them fall to their knees, he kept them there until Father ordered him to stop.
"Enough!" Father rises Skywalker off the ground, his body stiffening before quickly placing him back down. "You've impressed me."
Skywalker gnashes his teeth before wheeling around, his weapon now ignited. He's had enough of the mind games and his blood was going cold. As if his limbs were committing a mutiny against him, his crystal blue blade stopped right before slicing Father's unbothered face in half.
"There is no need for this aggression." He takes a hold of the blade, crackling against his skin, it retracts back inside. The three Jedi stand, now free, demanding answers for this hostility.
"Only the chosen one could tame my children." He compliments, genuinely in awe. "I am honored to be in your presence, Skywalker."
"I've taken your test. Now let us go."
"Very well. I request, first a chance to explain to you the importance of why I brought you here." He looks at his children and the Jedi. "Leave us."
Ahsoka took the chance to take Anakin aside for a brief moment. "Don't trust him."
"You think?"
Isolated from Skywalker, all Depa and Ahsoka could do was wait until Father was done speaking to him. As usual, Depa remained poised. Knowing the next occurrence was out of her hands. Meanwhile, Ahsoka couldn't help herself and paced up and down a little section of the courtyard like a madwoman.
Daughter felt remorse for her hand in her father's game and decided to make it up to them by searching for Kyle. Leaving the Jedi with the Son.
"Anakin is fine." Depa assures Ahsoka. "There's nothing he can tell him that'll shake his faith in the light." Ahsoka knew her master better than anyone. Him turning just wasn't possible. The Son chuckles to himself.
"You really think that is why Father has brought you here?"
"Care to enlighten us?" Depa offers.
"Oh, no. You've hit the nail on the head. Excuse me." He exits to join his Father, who just finished his talk with Anakin.
"What did he say?" Depa asks.
"He wants me to stay."
"What?" Ahsoka couldn't believe it.
"He needs someone who'll control his children. I'm the only one strong enough to do it."
"You're not going to do it, are you?" Anakin was unsure, he hesitated before he could give a reply. "You're going to do it, aren't you?"
"I... don't know." He confesses. "If I am the chosen one, then this is what I must do right?"
"You told me the prophecy is a myth." She reminds him.
"Maybe it is... or it isn't. I don't know! I need time to think." He walks away.
"Is it time to worry, yet?" She asks Depa.
"Perhaps."
"How many times have I told you to quit corrupting the birds?" Father sighs, tending to one of his son's victims. The poor thing looked demented, eyes twitching and on the verge of attacking. "Such beautiful creatures you defile." He scolds.
"I'm bored." Son shrugs. "It's fun."
"Corrupting innocents is 'fun' to you?"
"I don't know what the big deal is, father. They're just birds."
"You need to control yourself. The time you are wasting could be spent making yourself better."
"I am better. I am stronger. I am getting stronger every day."
"Strength does not equate personal growth, my son."
"How am I supposed to grow when I'm locked here for all of eternity!" He roars. "And you've found a replacement. Will you ever let me off this rock?"
"Son-"
"Yes or no."
"No."
Enraged, he attacks the Father. Electrocuting his body until he could sense his heart was on the edge of giving out. "You're nothing, but a failure, weak old man. I'll kill you myself if I have to." He chokes out between tears. "If I am to leave this planet, I need to find a way to get to Skywalker." He eyes Ahsoka, the two Jedi saw the confrontation and rush to check on the father. A devious smirk forms on his face.