Chapter 3:

It is strange to think that he'll be in the time, when Qui-Gon is still alive and that Obi-Wan is just a mere padawan in this life. Anakin has always wondered what it was that had made the Jinn/Kenobi team so magical and rare and not to mention trustworthy, there is this special bond between the two that makes Anakin to feel envious.

Envious because of the fact that the bond that he had once shared, may still share, with Obi-Wan never had felt like that or maybe it was the fact that Anakin has never fully appreciated Obi-Wan's trust, his confidence, his loyalty, his sacrifices until it was too late for it to matter.

What exactly has forced the Force to take these dramatic actions. Such as to place he; Anakin Skywalker in the history pages of Obi-Wan's padawan days. What exactly is Anakin supposed to do. Is he to wait for Obi-Wan to find the courage to wake up or is he to do another task, like finding Palpatine and to take the life of the Dark Lord a way. Anakin isn't so sure. Who is he to trust in this life. Can he trust Qui-Gon, Yoda or even Master Windu with his secrets. Or is Obi-Wan the only, whom Anakin can trust to watch his back.

After all, is Obi-Wan not his only father figure, his older brother and the best friend anyone who has once lived in the darkness of a Sith could ever ask for. He even confessed as such to the others in this Med Centre. At least he hasn't been forced to tell them of where, how, why and when he had first met Obi-Wan. Yet.

He can feel the strength of the greatest of all Jedi Masters beginning to wan from all over here and Anakin doesn't have the patience any longer to wait and to find out about the truth behind Obi-Wan being hurt, all that Anakin cares about right now is being by his former Master's side.

To be the infamous team again.

To be the famous Negotiator and the Hero With No Fear once more.

Is that too much to ask for?

"How is it that you have come to know Obi-Wan?" Where did he come from.

Damn Qui-Gon for sneaking up on him like that. He is lucky that he hadn't lost his head for that and he'll loathe to see the disbelief, the distrust in his brother's blue-grey eyes. Qui-Gon had meant so much to both Obi-Wan and the former slave from Tatooine.

"I think that it is best for us to wait," Anakin turns away from the window overlooking the city of Coruscant, trying not to glance in the direction of the Five Hundred Replica, the home of Palpatine. "You'll get your answers, Master Jinn. Just not now when Obi-Wan's life still hangs in the balance."

Obi-Wan would have made some fun out of that one, like that time when they were trapped. . . . . No, he is not going back there again. He'll have to face it sooner or later. Just not right now.

"You are strong in the Force," says Qui-Gon, stating the strong Force presence of this mysterious young man. Claiming to know Obi-Wan so well. "Who is your Master?"

"Why do you need to know?" Anakin wryly says to Qui-Gon. "And here my Master had called me the impatient one. When you are just as impatient to find the answers to your questions," Anakin pauses to gauge out some kind of expression out of Qui-Gon that may help Anakin to read him better. "Now I do truly feel sorry for my Master."

From what Anakin had learnt about Qui-Gon, from Obi-Wan, is that Qui-Gon had been a different man, a different Jedi even. The kind that most had a tendency to avoid the simmering storm brewing behind those midnight blue eyes. Qui-Gon had changed so much. All because of a stubborn young boy. Everyone should really owe Obi-Wan their thanks for helping to shape Qui-Gon into the great Jedi Master, that Anakin had come to know of during their short time together.

Should Anakin feel anymore grateful for his former Master's patience or should he still feel envious of the man, who had taught him so much. It was because of this man, gazing at him promptly with those eyes and passed that hawked nose of his.

"Anakin!"

Almost jumping out of his own skin for a second time in a row, but he had caught himself before he could. That voice. It is like the greatest song that Anakin has ever heard in his entire life and it was what had caused him to turn around to face the entry leading in to a room. The room where the owner of that voice is shouting for him, not for Qui-Gon, not for Yoda, but for him. The one who had betrayed him. Guess there is still some hope for them after all.

"Master?" Anakin mentally calls out for his former Master, while tyring so hard not to grin when such a vast audience is able to see him smile.

"Anakin!"

Who was Anakin really. If he no longer cared if anyone sees him rushing towards Obi-Wan's room. Never was he one to stop and ask for directions, not when Obi-Wan is calling for him. Only Obi-Wan can tell him to do. No matter what era they are in.

Sinking his teeth into his bottom lip to stop himself from shouting out in pain. The stitches in his side were screaming at him. Telling him that he shouldn't move so much. Telling him that there is in fact a wound still there.

So it wasn't a dream.

He really was stabbed and yet why isn't he in his hovel. . . . .

Oh. That's why. Now he remembers.

This isn't Tatooine, it is definitely not his hovel and he certainly isn't bleeding to death.

No, he is back in the Jedi Temple.

Where the ones that he had believed to have died long ago are still present. Qui-Gon had died by the scarlet dual blade of a Sith Lord. Mace Windu was killed by Palpatine and Anakin was there to aid the Dark Lord in the darkest purge in the Jedi's history.

Too many had died that day, and there were times when Obi-Wan had almost wished that he too have been killed. That way he wouldn't have to live with the guilt, the pain of knowing that his former apprentice. . . .

"Master?" There is only one person throughout the entire galaxy that has ever called him that and in that manner.

"Anakin?" Obi-Wan is astonished to find Anakin Skywalker as an eighteen year old again and that is not the only surprise, for there are many to unearth, he too is at that age again.

"Why do you call Obi-Wan, your Master?"

Obi-Wan finds his former Master standing by the foot of his bed and those piercing blue eyes of his are dissecting both he, and Anakin, into tiny pieces. So as to decipher the full meaning of this. It was clear that Anakin is stubbornly refusing to reply, but then again it is Anakin Skywalker for crying out.

And so Obi-Wan astonishes himself by saying, "That's because I am his Master," he wasn't intending to speak on Anakin's behalf, but who else was going to Anakin's rescue.

By the looks on every ones faces that they are not totally believing his story, only Yoda looks less surprised. Anakin's face looks like it could light up the entire galaxy by smiling like that.

"Former Master to be more precise," Obi-Wan thought he should add in some extra flavour for the soup, that he and Anakin are now mixing in with their words for the ladle to stir.

A/N: Sorry for keeping you on your toes. I do hope you have the patience for the next one.