Chapter 9 – Old Friends
Author's Note: In which the Jedi escape the pirates, Theseus visits a friend and his mother, and Anakin and Obi-Wan (don't) talk. :)
~ Amina Gila
The four of them finally make it to the room where Theseus was captured in the first place, only to run straight into a group of guards. "Stop where you are, Jedi!" shouts a guard as they all aim their blasters at them.
Anakin and Obi-Wan Force-shove them into the walls, knocking them out before they have a chance to shoot.
"Looks like you'll be going first Theseus," Obi-Wan observes as they come to a stop next to the hole in the ceiling. "Unless Dooku does."
"No way, we already learned the hard way letting a Sith lead last time," Anakin reminds.
"Oh, right."
"Cease your pointless chatter unless you want this attempt to fail as well," snaps Dooku.
"Oh dear, I think we may have offended someone," Theseus mocks as he approaches the hole. Gathering the Force around him, he jumps up through the opening. One by one, the others follow.
"Now we need our lightsabers," Obi-Wan remarks, looking around.
"Yeah, and we can't all be dragging each other like this back in there," Anakin shoots back.
"A blaster might work to separate us," muses Theseus.
"But it would risk all the nearby pirates knowing we're here," objects Obi-Wan.
"Don't they like shoot each other all the time?" Anakin reminds, "They won't have time to notice us."
"It appears they already have," Dooku warns suddenly. They turn as a guard steps around the corner and no one has the chance to move out of sight in time. He calls something over his shoulder, and a group of pirates immediately charge, shooting.
Theseus dodges a blaster bolt that would have taken off his head, moving so another one shoots him free of Anakin, then dives aside behind some crates. Another shot blasts Dooku free from the others. He instantly lifts up one of the pirates in a Force-choke, before shoving his blaster aside with the Force as he tries to fire. The shot hits one of the last remaining pirates. The Count throws the pirate he was holding at the others before disappearing down a hall.
Anakin and Obi-Wan knock out the remaining pirates before Anakin hastily picks up a blaster and shoots himself free from Obi-Wan.
"If we don't hurry, Dooku's going to get away," exclaims Theseus worriedly. And they'll have gone through all of this for nothing.
"If we don't hurry, we won'tget away," Obi-Wan points out. "That's what we need to focus on first, and we need our lightsabers. If you two wait here, I'll go back in there and retrieve them."
"When you get in trouble, we'll be ready to come to the rescue," Anakin smirks.
"That's reassuring," he retorts. "Now stay out of sight until I return." He disappears back down the hole and Anakin and Theseus duck down behind some nearby crates to wait.
"What if Dooku leaves with our ship?" Theseus asks.
"Then we'll borrow one of Hondo's."
"And if that doesn't work?"
"We'll worry about it then."
It takes a surprisingly short amount of time before Obi-Wan climbs back through the hole with their lightsabers, and they all scramble out onto the roof, before running over to their ship which is thankfully still there and intact. The guards standing outside the front entrance immediately notice the three of them as they leap to the ground next to the shuttle.
Pirates pour out the front entrance, running to surround them immediately, as they ignite their lightsabers. "I guess we won't be friends," Hondo growls, coming forwards. "What chances do you really have, Jedi? Surrender, and we can go back to negotiate!" They were negotiating in the first place? As if on cue, a tank rolls up. "Looks like your forces were destroyed as well, Jedi," Hondo adds.
The top of the tank pops open and a Gungan sticks its head out. "Ani! Obi!" he exclaims cheerfully.
"Jar Jar?" Anakin exclaims.
"Mesa have arrived with the spicen."
"Excellent, Jar Jar," Obi-Wan replies, "Well, that is assuming the pirates still have Count Dooku to trade."
"Well, that answers that question," Anakin observes, as a ship with a familiar figure in the cockpit blasts away towards the sky.
"Commander, start the engines, please," Obi-Wan orders. One of the clones with Jar Jar disappears onto the ship, firing it up. He looks back to Hondo. "You have nothing we want, and since we're not prisoners anymore, you have no bargaining power."
"What?" exclaims Jar Jar. "Yousa was in bombad trouble! Mesa rescued you."
"No, Jar Jar, we weren't in any trouble," insists Anakin.
"Let's leave on even terms," Obi-Wan adds as they prepare to walk up the ramp.
"Jedi, after everything you're just going to walk away?" Hondo queries doubtfully.
"We have no quarrel with you, and we seek no revenge."
"You know, I'm not sure arresting a pirate for taking hostages is actually called revenge, more like justice," Theseus mumbles under his breath. He can't understand it. Why is Obi-Wan going to leave them? They're pirates! The Republic should be dealing with these people, even if they are busy with a war, especially since they're right here anyways!
"Indeed, very honorable, Master Jedi," Hondo replies. Honorable? More like nonsensical. He's so confused right now.
"Oh, you will find that Count Dooku does not share our sense of honor," Obi-Wan quips, smirking as he heads up the ramp into the ship, "And he knows where you live."
**w**
Free time on Coruscant only seems to be decreasing as the weeks drag by, the war only growing more and more intense. Theseus sighs quietly as he leans against the windowsill, staring out at the passing traffic outside. The only time he really gets with Ahsoka seems to be on missions, especially since their schedules of being at the Temple and also free from other duties rarely seem to line up.
And being a Council member during the war, his mother is around even less. He misses her a lot. They've hardly even spoken more than a couple times in person since the war started. Before, at least he used to see her every other week or so. He misses Ahsoka too, but at least he often gets to work with her on missions.
Not that he minds being around Obi-Wan and the clones so much. Over time, he's begun to care deeply about his master, and he has to admit, seeing more to him than the hero he was worshipping before becoming his padawan. Obi-Wan might irk him a little sometimes with how by-the-Code he often is – yes, he shouldn't have a problem with that, but he can't help it – but then again, it's not like Yoda wasn't. And Obi-Wan is far more approachable about things than the Grandmaster, no doubt about that.
Theseus has befriended a number of the clones too, Cody, in particular. A part of him doesn't want to let himself get too close with any of them, knowing all too well – it's happened many times before – that they're likely to die any time. But with how welcoming and accepting the clones are, it's hard not to be friendly with them. He hates seeing them die so often in battle. He's going to do whatever he can to help save as many as possible.
Then there's Anakin. They've been slowly getting to know each other better over time, but after the mission on Florrum, it feels like something's changed between them. Anakin feels more open to him now.
Theseus watches as the sun begins sinking below the horizon. Obi-Wan and Anakin have been called away to a meeting with Yoda about something, Ahsoka is in classes, and his mother is currently off Coruscant. Which means that now might be a good time to visit an old friend he hasn't seen since before the battle of Christophsis.
He pulls up his hood as he hurries out of the apartment, rapidly making his way through the halls before slipping out the nearest exit of the Temple. It's time to go find someone in one of the lower levels of Coruscant.
Theseus arrives outside the familiar mechanics shop not long later, though it's already starting to get dark out. Not a good time for someone his age to be wandering around in these parts, but most people his age aren't Jedi either, so he's not particularly worried about it.
He steps into the main entrance way of the shop, glancing around. Sure enough, the Twi'lek is still there, cleaning up last minute things before heading for his home.
"Hey, Vraz," he greets.
The Twi'lek looks up surprise, slightly startled at his sudden appearance. "Theseus!" he exclaims. "I wasn't expecting to see you here this evening."
"It's been a while," he agrees with a smile, moving to take a seat nearby.
"I was beginning to wonder if you'd be back before the war was over," Vraz comments.
"Honestly? I was wondering the same thing."
"So, what's it like? Finally, being able to be on the front lines like you wanted?"
Theseus grimaces. He can't believe he ever was once so desperate to get out of the Temple and fight. "You know that used to be all I wanted, to get out of the Temple and see some action before the war was over." He laughs humorlessly. "I don't think I had any idea what kind of 'excitement' I was asking for."
Vraz sighs. "You know, someone your age shouldn't even be on the front lines."
"Well, I'm a Jedi, so..." He knows his friend has a point, but he supposes that as a Jedi, he should have extra responsibilities.
"That doesn't mean you aren't still a child." A child? He is not a child. He's already fourteen.
"I'm –"
"Fine, a teenager, then," Vraz corrects himself.
"I know, but there's even padawans younger than me out there fighting," he replies. Like Ahsoka. She is younger than him by several months. "And technically the clones are the youngest of all."
"That doesn't make it better. Yes, I know someone needs to win the war, but why not try to negotiate it out?" points out Vraz. "Anyway, while we're here, let's not spend the whole time discussing the state of the galaxy."
"Good idea." Theseus glances around the shop. "Need any assistance here before you head for home? I probably shouldn't stay much longer, but..." Over the years that he's come to visit Vraz, the Twi'lek has become a good friend and a lot like a mentor, considering that he's quite a bit older than him. Vraz taught Theseus much about mechanics, and how to fix and repair droids. It's something he began to enjoy doing in his free time, something that doesn't exist anymore.
"No, it's alright." Vraz smiles suddenly almost as if he's up to something. "You do remember what important day is coming up soon, though, right?"
Um...? His mind draws blanks. All he can think of to "look forward" to in the future is fighting and destroying more droids, and he can guarantee that his friend is not talking about that.
"That's what I thought," Vraz concludes from his very confused expression. "It's your birthday."
"Oh! Right! I forgot. Jedi don't celebrate birthdays, so it's not really... something I think about much, you know?" he explains awkwardly.
"I know, I know, but I still have something to give you," the Twi'lek insists, "And since I don't know when you'll be back, I probably should give it to you now. Besides, it might actually be useful to you sometime sooner."
"Really?" he asks eagerly, "What?"
"Come with me," instructs Vraz, standing up and heading into a back room of the shop. In the corner, an inactivated blue BD droid sits. BD droids are a relatively rare type of explorer droids. They're meant to help when in dangerous and remote parts of the galaxy, since they're intended to be of assistance to explorers. They're built to be operational on all types of terrain. The droids have scanners, sensors, holoprojectors, and scomp links, which basically is a computer port appendage that helps them break into secure information.
"I – thank you," he manages finally. Jedi don't normally have possessions, so receiving something of this nature means a lot to him. He gently lifts the droid, before turning to head for the door.
"You're welcome," replies the Twi'lek.
"I'll be back the next chance I get," he promises.
"Of course."
For a reason he can't explain, Theseus can't shake the strange feeling of finality he gets as he slips out of the shop with the droid. The feeling doesn't make a whole lot of sense, since he's definitely going to be coming back. Maybe it's because he won't be here again for a long time due to missions. That's actually likely. He pauses to glance back at his Twi'lek friend one last time before he turns and hurries away. He needs to get back to the Temple soon before Obi-Wan starts wondering where he disappeared to.
**w**
Obi-Wan isn't quite sure what he's expecting when Yoda summons him to his chambers, but it isn't this. Anakin is already seated inside, looking like he's not sure if he should continue sitting there or if he should get up and leave.
"Much to discuss, you two have," the Grandmaster announces the second Obi-Wan steps inside. He disappears outside the door and shuts it before either of them has a chance to object.
For a long moment, no one says anything. "What?" says Anakin finally, staring dubiously at the closed door.
"I could ask you the same question," Obi-Wan states dryly. What exactly is it that Yoda wants them to discuss anyway? He can't think of anything important enough for the Jedi Grandmaster to be getting himself involved in. Yes, there was the whole padawan-thing a couple months back, but... it hardly seems that important.
"Do you know what he wants?" Anakin asks, shifting a little uncomfortably.
"Not in particular, but it seems we may be stuck here for a while until we figure out."
"Wonderful," Anakin mutters. "We have a galaxy to be attending to."
Obi-Wan frowns. "Maybe his point is that sometimes you need to take a break."
"There's not time. Besides, I'm fine."
Maybe this is about the whole padawan thing, after all. Anakin has been unusually withdrawn since it happened. Obi-Wan had chalked it up to the war, but maybe it wasn't, at least not entirely. "You've been unusually reckless lately," he points out. "You keep pushing yourself on, even if you're worn out. Don't think I haven't noticed."
"I can't rest until Grievous is dead and the war is over," Anakin insists, hands dropping to his lap. His gaze drops to the floor.
"You can't keep doing this."
"Can't I?" He looks up, eyes burning with the same intensity as always, and a flicker of hurt.
"No," Obi-Wan replies flatly.
Anakin jumps up and turns away, stalking over to the window. He's extremely upset, and Obi-Wan doesn't really know why. He doesn't know what he did to upset him so much, and it's not something Anakin will be talking about, either. He's well aware of the rift that only seems to be growing between then, and he doesn't know what to do. None of this was supposed to happen.
"You're going to exhaust yourself if you keep doing this," Obi-Wan insists carefully. "As soon as we leave, you should rest. I'm serious," he adds at the very unimpressed look Anakin gives him. He's wearing himself out and Obi-Wan isn't sure what to do about it. "If you need help with Ahsoka, I can help take care of her."
"You have your own padawan."
"That doesn't mean I don't have time to help you if you need it. Besides, you won't be able to fight the war at all if you don't take care of yourself."
"Oh, so that's what you're worried about," Anakin mutters bitterly.
Obi-Wan sighs. "Anakin, that's not what I meant." Whatever it was that pushed them this far apart, he really wants to fix it. It hasn't felt this bad since not long after Anakin came to the Temple, and they were both still getting to know each other. But he's not sure what's wrong. Maybe it was about Theseus? "You know I couldn't let someone like Theseus not be trained. He has so much potential."
"I know," Anakin says, voice dropping. "He will be a great Jedi someday." So, he does understand, then, why Obi-Wan had to take Theseus as his padawan? Then why is he upset?
"Well, as soon as Yoda lets us out of here, you're still going to take some rest. I'll take care of Ahsoka."
Anakin groans.
Obi-Wan isn't sure what else to say to him, so they fall silent as Anakin stands, continuing to stare out the window. Is this what Yoda wanted? Something tells him no, but he doesn't know what else to do. Still, he wishes there was something he could do about the growing rift between him and Anakin, but he doesn't even know where to start, especially when he's not entirely sure what's wrong to begin with.
**w**
"How's training going?" Athea Shan inquires of her son. He finally had time to stop by at her Temple apartment again for a short time.
"Great!" replies Theseus. "Master Kenobi is helping me with Form III, and Master Yoda is teaching me more of Form II when he has time."
"Good to hear," smiles Athea. Her son is a progressing extremely fast in lightsaber combat. He'd always had a born ability for it – she suspects its largely from his Mandalorian origin – and he's been focusing mainly on it recently. Given time, she's certain he could become one of the top duelists in the Order. "What about Force training?"
"Umm..."
"That's what I thought." He has a difficult time concentrating enough to use the Force.
"Can we spar sometime?" Theseus asks randomly. Probably to distract her from her question like he usually tries to do.
"Yes, but not in here." And she doesn't want to go down to the training room with him frequently. It's best to keep the times that they're seen together to a minimum.
He gives her a mischievous grin. "Why not?"
"We are not sparring in the living room," Athea states flatly.
"Ahsoka and I may have done it one time in Master Obi-Wan's living room," he says guiltily.
"Oh, so that's probably why I was hearing something about how he needed to get a new table because the last one was mysterious damaged even though he's hardly at his apartment."
"Uh yeah... a flying lightsaber may or may not have had something to do with that," he admits, sounding a tad guilty.
"Which is why we definitely aren't doing that in my apartment."
"We can be careful!"
"Weren't you and Ahsoka being careful when lightsaber went flying and it still happened anyway?"
"Let's just move the furniture to the side of the room then!" Theseus suggests brightly, jumping up.
She smirks slightly. "Fine, but we're going to use the Force to do it for practice."
He groans. "But Mother..."
"It's the compromise," she insists.
He huffs. "Fine, but Master Obi-Wan always says not to use the Force for trivial things... and that includes moving furniture."
"You're doing it for practice. Therefore, it's not trivial."
"Ugh, okay. Let's get going about it." He moves into position and the two of them start moving the furniture to the side of the room, so it won't get potentially damaged in the sparring match.
The Code is right about the danger of attachments to an extent, Athea has to admit. She knows she'd do almost anything to protect her son if it came down to it. But at the same time, that doesn't mean she's going to do something against the Jedi or Fall to the Dark Side simply because she cares about him. Before Theseus was born, she never felt much purpose. How do the other Jedi manage not genuinely loving anyone? It's not something she's ever been truly able to understand. As close as master and padawan are with one another, it's not nearly the same as the bond between a parent and child.
There are times that Athea wishes she hadn't taken Theseus and come back to the Order after he was born. If she hadn't, they could have had a normal family. But after... well... what happened, it was the best option at the time.
Unsurprisingly, the Council was less than happy about what had happened, but in the end, they'd agreed to accept her back. Of course, it took a while before they actually trusted that she was fully "balanced" again. As if she ever wasn't. She may regret a lot of things but continuing to raise Theseus as her son despite everything isn't one of them. She's learned how to control her attachments over the years, which is why the Council trusted her enough to become a member.
"All done," Theseus announces cheerfully, snapping Athea out of her thoughts.
"Good," she says, moving to stand on the side of the room closest to the furniture... just in case. Theseus positions himself across from her, their lightsabers hissing to life.
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