Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Star Wars.
Spoilers: PS/SS, CoS, PoA, GoF, OotP and HBP. Star Wars Ep I, Ep II and Ep III.
Summary: An incident in space causes Anakin and Obi-Wan to land on a planet in the Unknown Regions. There they will discover a whole different way of using the force, and secrets long kept from both the Jedi and Sith Orders. Will eventually be an AU ROTS.
Brackets are a master-padawan bond.
(Padawan speaking) - Anakin in this case
(Master speaking) - Obi-Wan.
'Thoughts'
Yay! I've finally discovered how to do the proper break thingys. I was obviously being a bit dense, considering how obvious the button is. This chapter is mainly a filler, but it will hopefully explain some stuff about the story that wasn't previously clear. The season Spindlewinter belongs to Terry Pratchetts Discworld series. The dates system is using the birth of the Empire as the year 0.
Chapter 3 – Training and Preparations
…can you plot a course to Coruscant? We're going to meet up with the Jedi Council.
Hyperspace 2nd Spindlewinter 1 B.E.
"We're about a day away from Coruscant now. We'd better start making plans. First of all, since you're both at the same stage of training now, it would be easier on us all if you were the same age. It'll also give me a chance to demonstrate how we can combine magic and the force to do things neither can on their own. So, would you prefer to make Anakin older or Obi-Wan younger?"
"Obi-Wan younger." Anakin got out quickly before the other man could speak.
"Um, Harry? I'm not sure changing our ages is a good idea. We're pretty well known in the republic. If people see I'm younger, they'll either think that I'm a clone or all want it done."
"That's all right. I'll show you how to cast an illusion over yourself, so only people who know how old you are will be able to see the change."
"Is that what that woman, Tonks did?"
"No, she's a metamorphmagus." Hermione replied. "She can change her appearance at will."
"Like a changeling then?"
"Sort of, except she can't change her species but she can change her mass."
"We're getting sidetracked. Do you want to try this out? I'm sure another way of demonstrating will come up if you don't."
"No it's alright, I'll deal, but can I please be older than Anakin? My life day is after his and it would just feel wrong to be younger."
"Your mentality will stay the same anyway, but if it makes you feel better, you can stop at twenty-six or so. Let's go into the recreation room."
Once inside, Harry went to a different glowing chest than last time. This one was green. As he was rummaging inside Harry said, "These chests are linked to the two annexes back at my house. This one contains potions and ingredients."
He pulled out a vial and a measuring cup, then poured about three quarters of the vial into the cup.
"This is a de-aging potion. It normally only works for a week, but after lots of experimentation a way was found to make it permanent using the force. Okay, if you would drink the potion please Obi-wan?"
As he drank, they could see him gradually becoming younger, until it stopped about two years after he had begun training Anakin. He didn't have a beard yet, but his hair was about shoulder length.
"Anakin, why don't you try this? It'll be good experience. Focus on Obi-Wan, his life energy. Can you see how it's half young, half old? Try and coax the older one to fit the same pattern. Don't forget to access the force our way."
Anakin focused on Obi-Wans' presence. Thinking of it as a pattern seemed to help, as he noticed the slight difference between the old and the new. He wove the old strand into a replication of the new, then double-checked they were the same. He then came out of his trance.
"Forty-three minutes. Not bad! I think you've got the hang of this."
"It took that long? It didn't fell like it." Anakin commented.
"That's not very long at all for something of this magnitude. I mean, you just rewrote his essence for crying out loud!"
"The illusion?" Obi-Wan asked calmly, trying to head off a potential argument.
"Right. It's relatively easy. Picture in your mind your original appearance. It's important that you see it clearly and get the details right. Done that?" Obi-Wan nodded. "Wrap the image around yourself like a robe or cloak. Match the seams together and let it slip into your subconscious."
Whilst the older man was doing that, Harry began rummaging for something in a box that was glowing silver.
"Aha! Here it is." He announced, pulling out a full-length mirror that technically shouldn't have been able to fit in the box.
"What does it do?" asked Ron.
"This mirror is capable of either seeing through enchantments and illusions, or showing the illusion in case you can personally see through it. It's set to show what most people can see at the moment."
As he was speaking Anakin felt a slight click in the force. Obi-Wan then opened his eyes.
"Stand before the mirror please. I want to see if it's worked. I think it has but you never can tell unless you have one of these."
Looking out from the other side of the glass was the Obi-Wan from before the transformation.
"That's good. All the information I had on this 'cloak of illusion' was theoretical. I can update the archives now."
"Harry, can I ask something?"
"Go ahead."
"How long have you been a member of the Irú Order? Usually I'd assume from childhood but we were accepted at this age."
"About a month and a half."
"What? That's all? How do you seem to know so much about the Order and the Republic then?"
"It's all to do with my mother."
FLASHBACK (It's a long one)…and every Potter since has been force-sensitive, so we are all trained as irú. There's a problem though. We usually begin our studies at the age of two, so that using the force is as ingrained as…speaking English for example. Because you were the only Potter still living when the time came, this was not possible, and you don't have time to learn all the lore if you're going to be searching for those Horcruxes you mentioned. Fortunately, there's a solution. You might have been wondering, if it was only the Potter line that were irú, how your mother was able to retain her identity once she joined the force. The reason is, of course, she is a member of the Order as well. When I introduced her to my parents once we were going out, my father immediately noticed how strong her force presence was. He had her tested, and it turned out she had a higher count than both of us. Naturally, it was too late for her to begin the training, but in those troubled times, knowledge of the force could very well mean the difference between life and death. So, my father decided to create a device that would make it possible to transfer all the knowledge of the archives, and of various holocrons, directly into her brain. It would be as though she received the training, but without the time consumption. The device is still functional; we keep it in the Holocron library. Why don't you fetch it and bring it here?"
After Harry returned, his mother told him to stay in bed. "The device puts you in an artificial sleep whilst the data is being transmitted. It lasts for about 72 hours." She turned to his friends "Why don't you two explore the magical annex whilst he is unconscious? You can't go in the spell creation room, but if you get any ideas on how spells could be modified, you can come to me. James will need to stay with Harry, just in case something goes wrong."
When the time was up, Harry woke.
"Whoa, that feels really weird. I have all this knowledge that I don't remember learning and all these experiences that aren't actually memories."
"You might have noticed," his father began, "that one thing you still don't know how to do is fly anything. Lily hated flying so requested that that knowledge not be transmitted. Because of this, you will still need to learn how to use the simulators from scratch. Also, just because you know the lightsaber and force techniques and are probably able to tell when best to use each one, you will still need to practice them to get a feel for it."
As he walked downstairs, he was met with the sight of Hermione discussing something animatedly with his mother whilst Ron was looking bored. He brightened up when he caught sight of Harry though.
"Hey mate, good to see you awake again!"
"Thanks Ron."
"Harry," Lily began, "I've tested your friends and I'm afraid that neither of them are force sensitive, but they've come up with some clever ideas about how to adapt their magic to the situation. They might, over time and with lots of effort be able to do one specific thing with the force, but on the whole it would be easier to just stick to magic."
"What sort of ideas have you had then guys?"
"Well, I was looking at shield charms when I came across a shield that protects against bullets. I thought that maybe we could adapt it to absorb laser blasts and so on."
"Good idea. I was thinking though, that maybe we should adapt the device I was using to only transfer the history, geography and various cultures of the Republic. That way you two will know more about the situation, and also it would be handy if we every decided to visit it."
"Learning without studying? I'm in!" exclaimed Ron. Hermione looked disapprovingly at him then agreed to undergo the procedure.
Whilst Hermione, and then Ron were sleeping, Harry was practising his lightsaber and staff techniques against remotes. They weren't shooting very fast just yet though.
"Mum, why do I need to practice both these techniques? Surely it would be easier to just pick one."
"All irú are capable of using both techniques. I think the original reason behind it was that Revan used a lightsaber, whilst Bastilla used a lightstaff, so they taught both these methods to their son. That being said, it's pretty useful to learn both, as you may have to adapt during battle. However, that doesn't mean you can't have a preferred style, it's just that you should be ready for anything. Why don't you try some force tricks now to see if you can add them into your style."
So he practiced force-jumping, force pushing and pulling, and a few other things.
"In time, you'll learn to fiddle around with these to suit you, but it's best to do the basics first."
Over the course of a month, Harry trained with one saber, two sabers and a lightstaff, against remotes and as katas. He practiced his force techniques 'till he could use them in fights and combine them with his attacks. Hermione looked up spells and tried to adapt them, and Ron kept tinkering with various gadgets (You're turning into your dad). They both also trained with blasters, against targets, remotes and each other. They all taught each other and duelled in the magical training room, where Harry learnt what advantages the force could provide when the enemy were wizards. They all used the Spirit Storm simulator, but only the two boys learnt how to pilot the fighter types due to Hermiones' dislike of flying. In their free time they played chess or dejerrak (I'm not sure that's spelt right), which Ron was still able to beat the other two easily at, or read. This was also usually the time that they researched how to track and destroy Horcruxes, to aid in the eventual quest against Voldemort. Harry also spent as much time as possible building the designs for MInT, which they now understood to be a kind of transformer vehicle with A.I. It could also transform into a droid and, in case of emergencies a holopad and projector. Although they didn't have Harry's' gift for building machines, Ron and Hermione helped him with the magical and muggle parts as much as they could. And so the days went past, until the 15th of August.
"I think you're ready to take your trial now." James announced.
"Trial?" asked Harry.
"On their seventeenth birthday, all irú padawans are tested. If they pass, they become a knight. If they fail, all memories of the Order are erased and force inhibitors are injected into the bloodstream. Fortunately, this has only happened twice in the history of our Order. Since you had only recently learnt about the force, we decided that your birthday came too soon to have your trial then. Now you are ready."
"Why did I have no knowledge of these trials? Surely one of the previous masters or knights whose experiences I remember underwent one."
"That knowledge was deliberately removed. Although all trials are different, being able to see several at once you would see the pattern. This has to come from yourself. Now, go. Follow your instincts and may the force be with you."
Harry made his way into the jungle of plants in the back garden. He reached trees and carried on. The force was drawing him onwards. Suddenly he stopped. He felt his senses tingling and the hair on the back of his neck rise. The clearing he was stood in was filled with a dark presence. Then he saw a hooded shape come into view.
"Release me, and together we can destroy the soul of Voldemort and exact our vengeance. I can give you the power to end it now. Bellatrix, Snape and Wormtail, all who betrayed us shall suffer!"
To his horror, Harry felt a part of himself agreeing. They deserved to be destroyed for what they did.
"Don't listen to him Harry! If you accept his offer, although you could be able to defeat Voldemort now, you would become the next dark lord yourself, as twisted and evil as the creature you fight!" The voice was of a small child. Light poured off him and he filled Harry's' senses with innocence.
"Foolish child. They are betrayers! They should pay for their deceit!"
"To become like him would be the greatest betrayal of all, to your friends, your parents, but most especially to yourself. Who would be next, once they were dead? The Dursleys? Mrs Figg? Remus?" the child addressed Harry, ignoring the dark figure, "Your friends would not turn to darkness, so you would turn on them as well."
"Release me! If you do, it is a certainty that you will prevail."
Harry could feel the truth ringing in both of their words. Here was a way to destroy Voldemort forever…but was it worth the price?
"Who are you two?"
They made no reply, but the figure pulled back its hood and the radiance of the child dimmed, allowing him to see their faces. They were both himself.
The dark one looked the age he was now, however his face was deathly pale and his eyes were no longer that emerald shade so many people commented on. Now an unholy light filled them, turning them the colour of molten jade and giving him a crazed appearance. A twisted smile was on his face and yet it also seemed to contain a yearning hunger.
The younger Harry was about six years old, but unlike himself when he was that age, showed no signs of under nourishment or unhappiness, only a fierce determination.
"You must choose." they said in unison.
"Choose?"
"Dark or light. Power or love. The lives of the many or the few."
"Many or the few?"
It was the child who responded. "Destroy the dark lord now and risk losing your soul to the dark side forever, or be patient, uncover the Horcruxes over time and defeat him using the teachings of light."
As Harry was processing this, they turned to him again.
"Choose."
"What's taking him so long?" Lily was pacing. "My trials never lasted this long."
"Neither of us had to bear the burden Harry does. His trials are likely to be more significant than our since he has the knowledge he is the only one. We thought that Professor Dumbledore would be the one to end the war. Have faith in him love."
"I do, but I'm his mother it's my job to worry."
"What is this trial exactly?" Hermione asked.
"He will have to choose which path to take, light or dark. It isn't as clear cut as you might think either." was the reply.
"You know," Harry commented, "the main reason I want to defeat Voldemort isn't revenge, nor is it to stop his mindless killing. I want to do it to bring peace to everyone's hearts and minds, including my own. From what I know of the dark side, one thing you never get is peace. I choose patience."
As he said this, the child smiled, and the dark figure shrieked and disappeared. A shockwave spread out from the forest. Harry knelt before the child.
"Now will you tell me what you are?"
"I'm your hope, your faith, your desire for freedom and peace. Never loose me, irú knight."
END FLASHBACK (I said it was long)
"So you're saying all the information in the archives is in your brain?"
"That's right. Also, whenever someone says certain keywords, I will be compelled to recite any information I have about the subject that was mentioned. Obviously it disengages when it would be dangerous, in a fight for example."
"That's useful."
"What if it's a sith in disguise that says the keyword?"
"Disguises won't be enough. The next time you're even in relatively close proximity to a sith, you'll know who it is. You just need to get used to the constant flow of love through the force, it will enhance your senses."
"How are you going to deal with the Jedi Order?" Ron asked.
"Hmm…good question. Are either of you on the council?" When Obi-Wan nodded he continued. "Hopefully they'll see reason. I'll ask that you remain on as a representative of our Order. You might not have as much input as before though, the Jedi don't trust easily."
"Harry?" Hermione put in, "It might be an idea for you to have some visible indication to show you are irú, otherwise the Council might start trying to give you orders."
"Right. That's one thing I haven't mentioned yet. Although we are cooperating with the Jedi, sharing information, resources and hopefully being involved in the planning of missions as well as participating in them, we are not members of their Order, so the Council has no authority over us. Assuming they allow Obi-Wan to stay on the Council, anything they discuss will be talked about by us before we agree to do anything. We must not be seen as subordinates by the regular people. So, does anyone have an idea for the mark? It should symbolise the Order in some way."
"A rune?" asked Hermione.
"Probably not, it should be a universal symbol."
"The Republican crest?" That was Obi-Wan.
"We serve the force, not the senate, so that's out."
"What we need," Anakin commented "is something that signifies both light and dark, yet is neither, to show we aren't biased."
"I've got it!" Ron exclaimed. "How about yin and yang? Even if they haven't heard of it they symbol is pretty self explanatory."
"We could even wear semi marks." added Hermione. "I could be the white half and you could be the black half. It would show that we are associated with the Order but aren't full members."
"Yin and yang?"
"It's almost exactly what you're looking for. First of all there's a circle that symbolises the universe, although in this case it might mean the force. It is then divided into two parts like this." he said, drawing it. "One half is black and the other white. Black symbolises passion, aggression, other fiery emotions and also males for some reason. White symbolises calmness, detachment, even indifference and also females. Again I have no idea why the gender. Also, because nothing can be completely dark or completely light, there is a circle of white in the black and a circle of black in the white. It is supposed to represent what is present in everyone, but Ron's right in the fact that it will look like the sort of symbol Anakin thought we should have. We should put it on our left cheek to symbolise that we will fight if necessary. Is that okay with everyone?"
After they all replied in the affirmative, Obi-Wan spoke. "I think that's all we can do until we meet the Council"
"I agree."
TBC
A.N. I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I know the whole Obi-wan younger thing is unecessary and completely overused. I just wanted to do something to show how magic and the force can interact, and I wanted it to be something pretty drastic to show how powerful Anakin is and how pretty much anything is possible. Also, let me know whether I should stick to earth dates or not use dates at all, as the system I'm using isn't very accurate (ie I'm making loads up).
So far the votes for pairings are as follows:
Harry: Random Jedi Padawan - 1, (Ginny - probably not in the story, at least not very often) - 1, Single - 1, and Aayla Secura (possibly) - 1.
Obi-Wan: Sabe/Eirtae/Other handmaiden - 2, and Random Jedi - 1
The pairings won't begin for a couple more chapters, so keep your suggestions coming please.
Review Replies
korrd: Thanks. Good question. I suppose he would technically know how to use it, but as far as I'm aware, you need to be pretty deeply submerged in the dark side to able to use force lightning. However, he will have a pretty nifty force ability with sort of similar effects that uses the pure emotional part of the light side of the force, so keep your eyes peeled for that. Sadly no, Hermione and Ron aren't truly force sensitive, as stated in this chapter. I can see Hermione practicing a lot just to learn her one ability in the force though, I'm thinking about healing, what do you think? Ron's probably too lazy to do that though. However, they are two of the only three people capable of magic in the Republic as you need a wand, so they have a huge advantage there. Like the original trials, being awarded the rank of master only happens in very specific circumstances, so there are only about 5 or 6 in the history of the Order. Here's a hint, Lily is a master. Thanks again.
Raggedygal: Thanks for the pairings ideas. I'm definately thinking about Harry's.It would be fun to see him running around getting into trouble in the temple.
crtrk: Yeah, I can't see him being too happy with them though either to be honest, especially when he hears the new code. (I don't know from how long ago the old code was, or even if it exists in the actual universe, but I'm going to assume that Yoda is the only member of the Order old enough to have sworn by it, and that Harry assumed it was still that, as that was the oath Bastilla and Revan took.) Yeah, that dislike will probably majorly affect Obi-Wans pairings, as you can see. Thanks for the review.
Suuki-Aldrea: Thanks, I'm aiming to update once a week, but we'll see.
Shawn Pickett: Thanks, and also thanks for the information. Turns out I've been using an alternate universe from Tinuviel Undomiel's fic, Captivated. If you haven't read this, when Malak fires on Revans ship( thats what you meant by betrayed right?) there are shields which absorb the blow, distracting the jedi and allowing Revan to kill them all except Bastilla. As this fits slightly better with the overall storyline, I'm going to keep it this way. It's not actually going to be mentioned from this point on anyway. I wish I'd remembered that bit about the Ebon Hawk, it's a much cooler name, but I'm going to assume that since loads of the actual storyline didn't take place that they never came into posession of the Ebon Hawk. Finally, whilst I did know about Korriban, for some reason I thought that in this particular fic it mentions that Darth Traya, Revans tutor in the Sith Arts was in charge of a Sith Academy on Yavin, althought when I went back to it it turned out it was on Malachor V. So I'm going to go back and change that one to Korriban like you suggested, even though I thought that that was built by Darth Bane, who was after Revans time. Thanks for the pairing ideas, more than likely I'll pair Aayla with someone not in the current group, but who decides to join the Irú because they feel that Harry is right. I must admit, I'm not really a Ron/Hermione fan, but since there's no way you can say the books haven't been leading towards that, they are definately going to be a couple for at least a little while, to get it out of their systems. Thanks again for your review.
Sharem: Yeah, they're my favourite kind actually. I did look at latin for a bit myself, but I have to admit I didn't even think about combining words. D'oh! Anyway, thanks for that, I'm thinking about including it as a religious artifact in another story I'm writing. Keep reviewing please!
That goes to all readers. Thanks to all those that did review, and if you didn't, please do this time, reviews are what we authors live for (well me anyway). Bye for now,
Amethyst Sylph