He's Not Our Enemy

Disclaimer: I own nothing, all credit goes to George Lucas and Lucasarts.

Summary: After vanishing from the Jedi temple ten years ago, Anakin Skywalker is found. The Jedi imprison him until he decides to tell them what happened to him. After getting lost after fleeing from some of her abusive class mates, Ahsoka stumbles into Anakin's room and discovers a side to the force she never knew.

Fantasyfreak133: You want Anakin as a force wielder? Be my guest.

Three Days Til Competition, Ahsoka Tano

After the little (actually it was rather big) incident in the room of a thousand fountains and the unsettling conversation with the twins, I waste no time in heading on my way to Anakin's room. However disturbing it may be, the twins have a point. These two events can't be a mere coincidence and I have to realise that the twins are far more intelligent than anyone gives them credit for. After only two mysterious things happening they have linked both to me when the Jedi council has not. Then again, no one apart from myself, the twins and a few of their friends know about what happened in the vents so one event isn't really much for the council to go on now, is it?

I avoid coming into contact with anyone who knows me - mainly people who are either in my clan or Jedi masters - as I head on my way to Anakin's room. Things could not have been in more need of an explanation. The Jedi nearby, or possibly far away, sensed what was going on in the room of a thousand fountains so that means he must have as well. After all, he is a powerful force wielder and something like that would most certainly gather his attention; I know that he can sense every little fight that goes on in the temple because it was that trait that allowed us to meet. I was running away from three very annoying and irritating bullies at the time.

When I reach Anakin's room, the door opens the moment I reach it even though I have not touched anything. It is obvious that Anakin opened it, especially since he is standing on the other side of the door, and I think I know exactly why.

"Hey, Snips," He says in greeting. "How was your day?"

I frown. "The days barely even started," I point out.

"Well, you must go looking for trouble because I can sense that you have already had a very interesting day," Anakin says, crossing his arms over his chest. "You want to talk about something. I know you do."

I nod in confirmation.

"Come inside," He says in a gentle voice.

Walking inside, Anakin closes the door behind me and follows me into his lounge area, where we both sit on the couch. I've asked him tons of questions, questions that made me seem like a toddler, but the question that I need to ask him now is really important.

"Tell me what's wrong," Anakin says.

"Well," I begin slowly. "Earlier on, you sensed it, I got into a fight with Slimo and his gang of younglings who are older than me."

Anakin archs his eyebrows. "How many younglings are we talking about?"

"Including Slimo, six."

"Six against -?"

"No, the twins were with me." I cut him off, noticing how his features immediatley relax but traces of his concern remain. "Anyway, they'd been sending me death glares in the mess hall and they sort of cornered us in the room of a thousand fountains. So, we got into a fight but since I don't have a lightsaber I wasn't doing that well and the twins were helping me out a lot. One of the younglings came up behind me with his lightsaber raised so that he could hit me, it would have probably killed me too. Then, when he brought his lightsaber down, this really weird thing happened."

"Did he wound you?" Anakin asks. "I can heal you."

I shake my head. "No, nothing like that, though if he had things would have been way more simpler. Anyway, when he did the ground started to shake and we all stumbled to regain our footing, so his lightsaber stopped and I didn't get hurt. Then this massive crack appeared in between us and, well, the floor sort of rose up and the twins grabbed me and jumped off onto the floor whilst the younglings who attacked us were knocked out upon impact. Then the floor just went back into place like nothing had happened and the crack was still there."

Anakin frowns. "So... this just happened all on it's own? You didn't sense anything at all?"

It is my turn to frown. Did I sense anything? To be honest I hadn't been able to sense a thing, that was why I hadn't felt the presence of someone behind me. "Actually... no." I reply. "I couldn't sense anything, not even the youngling behind me."

Anakin tilts his head slightly in confusion. "And can you sense anything now?" He questions.

I open my mouth to tell him 'yes' but then close it. To my horror, I discover that, no, I can't sense anything. Not a thing in the room. "No," I respond quietly. "I can't sense anything."

Anakin nods once, slowly, and mutters something under his breath that I can't quite hear – not even with my Togruta hearing. "I'll fix that, but I can sense that you're worried about something. What is it? It had better not be Slimo because I will vaporise him on the spot if I ever sense him near you again."

I cannot help but giggle at that. "No, no, it's not Slimo. I was just wondering if... well... if what happened in the room of a thousand fountains might have something to do with me, and what happened in the vents too. Both things happened when I was in danger so I was just wondering if it was you or something else..."

Sighing (and smiling at the same time), Anakin reaches up and places a hand on my forehead. That hand starts to glow like it always does when he's healing me so I'm guessing that he's fixing the problem with my connection to the force.

"Ahsoka, I did sense that you were in danger – both times – but I didn't interfer directly. How could I? I am stuck in this room if you haven't forgotten." Anakin reminds me.

I frown. "But... you still could have interfered, right? You said you were going to vaporise Slimo so you must be able to use the force to do things."

"Yes, but I can't interfer directly. It would have to be through the force."

My frown deepens. "So, it was you? Or is wasn't you?"

Anakin smiles mischeivously. "In a way, yes."

"Is that a yes or a no?" I ask, utterly fed up with the cryptic words he's saying.

The light coming off of his hand stops and he takes it away, I am relieved to be able to sense things again and annoyed that he has remained silent after my question. He seems to be fairly interested in something on my shoulder, but when I look at it I cannot see a thing.

"Shoulder's bruised," Anakin explains when I give him a puzzled look. "Let's watch the HoloNet, I know how little the Jedi younglings get to do that."

As he walks off somewhere, I notice how he has been ducking my question. Well, he did sort of give me an answer but his force wielder logic makes absolutley no sense to me so it doesn't really count as an answer. I raise a hand to my shoulder and flinch when it makes pain spring to life; I must have landed on it before landing on my back and that's why it's bruised. Sighing, I lean back against the cushions of the sofa and wait for Anakin to return from whatever room he disappeared into (I wasn't actually paying attention and am far too confused and tired to try sensing him, his force presence is so powerful and blinding that I can hardly pin-point it).

When he returns he, amazingly, has a massive tray of food. Now, I'm no expert, but I could have sworn that the amount of food available to the republic was so low that even the Jedi weren't allowed more than three meals and a few snacks. Where he got that food I have no idea but I know that it's because he's a force wielder and can do anything (or 'next to anything' as he puts it).

"Hungry?" He asks with an arched eyebrow, setting the tray down on the coffee table.

"Starving," I reply. That fight with Slimo and the younglings really cleared me out. "Where do you get all of this anyway?"

Anakin shrugs his shoulders. "Here, there, everywhere," He says in that cryptic tone that I despise. "Any ideas on what to watch?" I send him a look that clearly reminds him of how little I have watched the HoloNet. "Okay then, I'll pick. Maybe there's a pod racing show on."

"What's pod racing?" I question, curious.

"What's pod racing?" Anakin repeats like he's never met me before. "Don't the Jedi teach you anything? Force... pod racing is this high speed sport which involves a lot of injuries, violence and action. I used to race when I was a kid, this was before the Jedi found me and before the force wielders found me."

"As a kid you were pod racing? Didn't your parents ever tell you not to?"

Anakin casually says, "I was a slave and it was what my master wanted at the time." The idea of Anakin doing whatever someone tells him to does not sit well with me, let alone the reminder of how tedious his past was. Kidnapped to be taken to a force wielder and, before that, a slave? His life is like a Jedi's worst nightmare. Needless to say, I'm not exactly comfortable with the subject of slavery and decide to change it before any unpleasant events are discussed.

"Can we watch a documentary?" I ask.

Anakin frowns. "A documentary? Those weird programmes that come up with loads of things to confuse you?"

"It's called history and just happens to be a favourite subject of mine." I tell him, narrowing my eyes.

"History? Really?" He questions with slightly widened eyes and arched eyebrows. "Why do you want to know about things that happened when you could be thinking about things happening now?"

I roll my eyes at his stupid point of view and cross my arms over my chest. "Documentaries happen to be very interesting and entertaining. Besides, can't you tell whether or not what they're saying is true?"

"Well, yes, but -"

"So it should be amusing for you to see how wrong they are. Come on, please?" I stretch the word 'please' in such a whinny way that makes me cringe inwardly. Of all the times to sound like a pleading five year old...

Anakin sighs in defeat and leans back against the cushions before handing me the remote. With a smile, I pluck it out of his hand and flick through the channels. There's a really sketchy programme on how all of the species came together (that involved about a thousand years of slavery and all sorts of things the galaxy would like to forget) and a film about the time when man-kind used to think that they were alone in the universe. Ignoring all of these programmes – and for good reason – I pick a programme about the wonders of the galaxy. Then Anakin lets out a groan of annoyance and I change my decision to something about a hundred year war, but not before elbowing him in the gut. That stopped the sigh of relief that almost escaped him.

"This is... something," Anakin comments a few hours later, having lost all control of holding in his boredom. "Remind me to get you to watch more stuff on the HoloNet and to block this channel."

I stick my tongue out at him. "I'll watch other things when I don't have papers to do or research projects and so on."

Anakin archs both his eyebrows. "You have to write papers on this? Blimey, no wonder all Jed younglings act like walking zombies -" I shoot him a death-threat glare. "- never mind. Force wielder history is so much more interesting, you'd love it, especially if you like history. There's been galaxy on galaxy wars, invisible armies and so much more... I don't think I've ever looked more stupid than when I first heard about it."

"Invisible armies?" I repeat quietly, ignoring the last part of his sentence. "Are you serious?"

"I am." He confirms. "Invisible armies, armies of plants... you should have seen the pranksters army. Dear force. I've never laughed so hard in my life..."

I frown and lean back further on the couch. "I wish I had seen it, being born a force wielder sounds so interesting."

Anakin tilts his head slightly before leaning forwards and picking up a smoothie from the coffee table which he then hands to me. "Actually, it's not just force wielders who live on our planet."

Whilst drinking my smoothie through the straw contently, I arch both of my eye marks, a clear indication to continue.

"There are force guardians, force users and that's not even including the lower races." He says.

"What do you mean 'lower races'?" I ask, stopping drinking for a few moments.

"Well, there are three races of beings that are the most powerful. The force wielders, force guardians and force users. You already know about the force wielders, obviously, and they populate most of the planet. The force guardians are usually invisible and they are like the forces little helpers, always watching over galaxies and solving any problems. They're often what the Jedi and sith call upon to help them solve their own problems."

By now I am fairly interested. "But... Master Yoda said that we call on the force itself for help, not force guardians. He doesn't even know they exist."

Anakin nods. "That's the general thought, but, no. Only powerful force wielders or guardians call upon the actual force. Besides, you didn't really think that the force could do everything on it's own without any help, did you?"

He certainly has a point there. "So, what you're saying is, your planet isn't actually just for force wielders? Anyone could go there... right? I mean, there weren't force users there before, were there?"

"No, they came from space travel. If you're an outsider you need permission but, yes, that is the essential idea. It is a peaceful planet after all." Anakin explains.

I frown in deep thought for a moment before placing those thoughts aside and reaching for some shurra fruit. So, his planet isn't just for those with extraordinary force powers (well in a way it is) but anyone with permission can go. They must get about a thousand requests an hour from people who know about their planet and want to come for a visit. As I am thinking, and munching on my shurra fruit, Anakin waves his hand at the tray of food and it changes into other types of food. Now, I know that word 'jaw-dropping' is thrown around a lot but if anyone else saw a tray of fruits and healthy items transformed into a tray of sweets, chocolates and tons of their favourite foods that would be exactly what they would say.

"Is that good for the food?" I ask out of curiosity. A good question, especially if the food is going to turn out rotten.

Anakin smirks at me. "Yes, there's nothing wrong with me doing that to the food. Besides, seeing so much healthy food on the table makes me cringe. There is a special place in the netherworld for the person who made healthy food taste so awful." He reaches out and picks up a piece of chocolate before plopping it into his mouth.

"What did you mean when you said 'lower races'? Which ones are they?" I cannot stamp down my curiosity and reach for a bag of candy.

Sighing, Anakin rubs a spot on his forehead. "There's loads of them and I can hardly remember. I have it on a datachip somewhere, I wonder... oh yeah, there it is." I do not notice at first that he is using the force to summon the datachip to him but it is kind of hard to notice when it skims over your head two seconds later.

"Here you go," Anakin says, handing it to me. "Try not to read it all in one day, though I doubt you could. There's, what, seven hundred pages? I don't know. I only ever read it once."

"Seven hundred pages?" I repeat with a scoff. "There's more than that in the Jedi history books."

"You try reading force wielder books," Anakin grumbles. "So, how's it going with your clan? No one has been injured, have they?"

I shake my head. "I doubt anyone else will be hurt now that Master Plo knows that Slimo was the one behind it. There's no way he can get out of it."

Anakin nods. "Just like there's no way you're going to get out of the questions your friends are going to ask you." He says and I frown in confusion. "You didn't really think that a bunch of Jedi knights and masters would just waltz into the room of a thousand fountains because of a little fight between some of the younglings, did you? They have to fight in a war and pay next to no attention if they can help it. Snips, I would place money on the fact that almost every Jedi in the temple sensed what happened in that room because that thing with the floor was not natural."

"Do you think someone did it on purpose?" I ask.

"Maybe... but probably not. From what you said, it was sloppy and only meant to do one thing."

"What is that one thing?"

Anakin shrugs his shoulders and summons another piece of food to him with the force. "I'll let you know. Now, it's about eight now so shouldn't you be getting back to your friends for dinner?"

"I guess you're right," I admit, not really wanting to leave just yet.

"Oh, and the competitions in three days so you'd better not stay up late doing anything. I'll know if you stay up so just go to bed before eleven." Anakin reminds me.

I nod, knowing that there's not much else I can do at the moment, and head for the door with a small chunk of cake in my hand (a piece which I quickly put into my mouth). "Bye." I manage to say with a mouth full of food before palming open the door and leaving. At a quick pace, I head for the vent that serves as my route to and from Anakin's room without being spotted and climb inside. It has been a really long day, mainly because my mind is still mulling over the events of this morning, and I just want to have some dinner – proper dinner – and go to bed. Actually, maybe I should start reading about those species that Anakin mentioned to me; the datachip is still in my pocket and my datapad should be able to read it easily, especially since it has its own conscious, if I play my cards right I might actually be able to get to sleep before eleven.

It takes me the usual amount of time to walk through the ventilation shafts and to get out at the other end unnoticed. There's still some Jedi out and about because there isn't really a curfew for anyone above the rank of youngling and I head to the mess hall quickly, food takes a priority for me. I just have to eat my dinner, go to my room, start reading about those different kinds of species and go to bed.

"Hey, Ahsoka!"

Scratch that. I have to talk to Barris, eat my dinner, go to my room, start reading about those different kinds of species and then go to bed hopefully all before eleven o'clock.

I turn around and smile as Barris heads towards me. "Hello, Barris." I say in greeting.

"Where have you been? Didn't you sense what happened earlier?" She asks me and I tense ever so slightly.

"Uh, sense what?" I question, playing the innocent person that I'm really not cut out to be.

Barris rolls her eyes. "You really need to start paying attention to what you feel through the force, Ahsoka. Loads of people sensed it but Master Luminara wouldn't tell me what had happened because it was too confusing. It's even on the holocron of things that the Jedi council haven't been able to figure out yet."

I swallow. "Are they investigating it?"

"I don't know, I'm not on the council." Barris says as we both start to walk towards the mess hall. "Anyway, did you hear? Katooni was attacked a few hours ago."

"What?" I ask in disbelief. "That's not possible. The person responsible should have been brought in by the Jedi council by now."

"Do they know who did it?"

"Well, I hope they do. I mean, I do and they must too." I say, trying to avoid mentioning that we were watching a hologram of what happened in the room of a thousand fountains. Honestly, keeping a low profile in the Jedi temple is like being a bull in a china shop. You can't not draw attention to yourself in some way or another.

"You know who's doing this?" Barris asks with wide eyes.

"I have an idea... I can't believe no one's bothered to confront him about it." I continue before shrugging my shoulders. "They'll probably do it later, right now I'm starving. Sugar always makes me hungry."

"You've been eating sugar?"

"No. I've been eating junk food. Let's eat."

We enter the mess hall less than a minute later and I am unsurprised to see the twins already inside. They eat about three of the same things for dinner and it takes them a while if they aren't in a hurry; those two are always hungry. I get my dinner and sit down opposite them with Barris at my side; it's obvious from the way that the force is telling me she's exhausted that she's been doing some saber practice. Dinner is sausages and mashed potatoes, we always have potatoes for some reason, and I suddenly wish that I had the ability to change the food on my plate to something else.

"Have you been eating sugar?" Kay asks when I sit down.

I frown. "What in the force...?"

"Your lekku turns a shade darker whenever you eat junk food," He explains with a shrug. "I don't know why but you should probably do something about it."

"How am I supposed to do anything about it?"

He shrugs again. "I don't know, try asking your master when you get one. Did you hear about what happened to Katooni?"

I nod. "Barris told me she was attacked."

Jay snorts. "Attacked? That's an understatement. She has a broken arm, fractured leg and there's a massive hole in one of the corridors in the second tower. It's the most violent attack yet and there's Jedi knights crawling all over the place because they've been told to investigate."

"What? You mean they don't know that Slimo's behind it?" I ask.

"Nope. Not even when he practically confessed it in the room of a thousand fountains." Kay says.

"Hang on, you were in the room of a thousand fountains? That's where the power surge that everyone sensed came from." Barris informs us. "What happened in there?"

"You wouldn't believe us if we told you," Jay comments just loud enough for her to hear. "Anyway, you got any ideas on what to do if Slimo corners you like that again, Ahsoka? We might not be there to help."

I shrug my shoulders. "My mentor said that if Slimo was anywhere near me he'd vaporise him on the spot."

The twins smirk. "Nice guy, you have to let us meet him sometime."

"I'll think about it," I mumble. There's no way that they're going to meet Anakin for obvious reasons. The first and most pressing reason being that no one is supposed to know that there is a powerful force wielder being held prisoner in the Jedi temple simply because the high Jedi council are afraid of him – well, half of them are afraid of him. Whatever their reasons are I know that they must all be very stupid since, according to Anakin, only Master Kenobi has taken the time to actually get to know him.

As I let out a yawn, Barris nudges me with her elbow. "If you're tired shouldn't you be going to bed? Didn't your mentor say anything?"

"He said that I could stay up till eleven but I had to go to bed either before or at eleven. Why?"

Barris rolls her eyes. "The competition is in three days, remember? Isn't there any sleep you want to catch up on?"

"I would if it weren't for those chronos," I grumble, earning a glare from Barris. "Fine, I'm going. See you tomorrow."

"Bye." The three say at once as I stand and walk out of the mess hall having only eaten half of my dinner. It isn't really the most intelligent idea to eat dinner after having eaten a load of junk food and fruit in Anakin's room a little while before. My stomach is full now and there isn't much else that I could eat even if I'd tried.

I head straight for my room without talking to anyone, not that there is anything to talk about, and walk inside with a yawn. My chrono says that it is almost ten, meaning that I have a full hour before I have to go to sleep tonight. Not wanting to spare a moment, I rush into the 'fresher and get changed before returning to my bed side table and picking up my datapad. Taking the datachip out of my pocket, I insert it into the free slot of the datapad and wait patiently to see what happens. My datapad beeps and comes up with a mess age that lasts for a few seconds before displaying the file that Anakin gave me. The message read: I've taken bigger files than this.

Rolling my eyes, I sit down on the bed and open the file. It's more than seven hundred pages, more like a thousand. I get into bed and prop myself up on the pillows so that I can start to read. The chapter titles are things that make my brain run a thousand par secs a minute. There's over fifty pages on force wielders and even more than that on force guardians. Not to mention all of the other races that there are. I'm not sure when I'm going to find time to read all of this but I'm sure that I will find a way.

Half way through the twentieth page on force wielders, he species which just happens to be at the beginning, my eyes begin to droop and I fall asleep.