Chapter 2: Nightmares

Anakin suppressed a burst of laughter the moment he saw his master's face. His jaw was hanging open and, by the length of the string of drool hanging from the corner of his mouth, had been for some time now. Obi-Wan was leaning against a wall near the entrance of the room. Fond memories played through Anakin's mind and rested on one of the manyloved lectures about how it showed laziness and it was unseemly to lean. At this thought he suppressed yet another burst of laughter.

Not in all the time Anakin had known Obi-Wan had he been able to catch his master in such an undignified pose. Half stunned and still leaning on the wall Obi-Wan managed to mutter, "How in the worlds?!"

Anakin then realized the cause of his master's words. "Sithspit! Hi master", he added sheepishly after his outburst.

In the mean time Obi-Wan had decided that the only way this could be happening was in a dream. Maybe I'm just sleepwalking. He thought to himself. He turned himself to walk back down the hallway. "I'm going back to bed," he muttered as he reached his door.

That's probably a good idea. Anakin thought and also headed to his room.

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It seemed the moment Anakin laid his head on the pillow sleep descended upon him and with it came nightmares. He saw himself doing horrible things and lay there wishing, hoping for them to only be dreams though he knew them to be real. He again witnessed his life and all of the horrible things in it. He saw himself killing Jedi and not just the masters, but the younglings and the padawans too. He lay there helpless to help any of them and thinking to himself why. Then there was a voice, at first too soft to hear then louder. Anakin recognized it as Padme's voice and she was saying over and over," how could you! How could you! Come bask to me!" He saw himself force choking her then he jolted awake screaming.

Obi-Wan awoke to Anakin's screams and jumped out of his bed, rushing to his aid. This wasn't the first time Anakin had had nightmares and Obi-Wan was pretty sure it wouldn't be the last. He hated how Anakin had to suffer through these dreams night after night. He reached Anakin's room in seconds, there he saw Anakin curled into a tiny ball on his bed. Between sobs Anakin was screaming over and over," no, no, no."

It took only moments for Obi-Wan to reach Anakin's bed and when he did he instantly started consoling the frightened child. "Shhh, it'll be OK. It was only a dream."

Pretty soon the screams softened into whispers," no, no, no."

"Do you want to talk about it," Obi-Wan asked with apparent concern. Anakin shook his head and his sobs softened to only an occasional sniff.

"Ok. Then let's get dressed and have some breakfast. After that we can go have some saber practice." Obi-Wan tried to keep Anakin from thinking about his dream too much.

Anakin nodded, not trusting his voice, and got out of bed. He and Obi-Wan finished their breakfast and Obi-Wan went to collect Anakin's saber when he spotted the training droid with the crack in the side. "Oh, no."

Anakin was right behind him and peeked around his master to see what he was looking at. He to spotted the droid and once again exclaimed, "Sithspit! I'll explain it all after we practice. OK." he said trying to find some way to postpone telling Obi-Wan the full truth. He grabbed his saber and led Obi-Wan out of the room whose face was one of puzzlement and confusion.

As Anakin led Obi-Wan through the halls random Jedi gave them amused looks. Most of them were used to seeing the masters leading the padawans through the halls instead of vise versa. Anakin ignored them all and continued to the gym.

When they reached their destination they saw an older boy trying to get his friend to spar him. His friend readily refused and they went on like

that till Anakin reached them. "I'll spar you!" They just laughed and told him to go back to his master. "I'm serious! If you're so sure that you'll win then what's the harm in sparing me?" They glanced at Obi-Wan who just shrugged and backed away to give them some room.

The boy looked around eighteen and was obviously preparing for his trials. He finally relented and marked the start of the match with his battle stance. Anakin did the same and the match started.

The boy charged at Anakin, trying to scare him off. This tactic was ineffective and was easily blocked by Anakin. Anakin then deflected his next few strikes easily, his saber backed fully by the force. Anakin force jumped over the boy and struck at his back, only to be countered.

The boy was stunned by how good this little padowan. The little boy looked to be at most ten and already matched him in the saber. The boy wondered how it could be even possible for that to happen. He knew that some students had a gift for it saber but this boy was force jumping and using the force to back his saber the way more of the experienced knights did.

Anakin was going easy on the boy to make the match last longer. Though it was a little strenuous to draw on the force so much, he had to so he could make up for the difference in their strength. It's time to end this. He thought when he saw a crowd gathering. In four quick strokes he disarmed his opponent and broke into a huge smile. "Good match," Anakin said as he shook the boy's hand. "You'll be almost as good as me if you practice more on protecting yourself than just trying to overpower your opponent."

"That's what my master tells me. Now I believe what he says about me being to open with my strikes. So you want to spar tomorrow too?" the boy asked eagerly. "This match has helped me realize some more of my mistakes." The boy felt that he was talking to someone much older than him rather than someone much younger.

"Sure, if my master consents of course." Anakin looked questioningly at his master who nodded.

After they had left the gym Anakin and Obi-Wan headed back to their rooms. "We need to talk," Obi-Wan said seriously as he closed the door.

"I know," Anakin replied just as serious.