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.
Power Outage, Ahsoka Tano
I am rather enjoying the days when me and Anakin sit down on the couch with a coffee table full of snacks and watch HoloVids in silence. It's always better to watch a movie with someone who doesn't talk. True, I've never watched one with any of the other younglings but I have heard the padawans complain to each other about their noisy masters. In fact, we get halfway through the second HoloVid before the screen starts to flicker. What really annoys me is that it was just about to get to the best part in the whole thing. I look at Anakin for help when the screen continues to flicker but he is just sat there with a frown on his face. Suddenly, his whole body tenses, eyes widen and he shoots up to his feet.
"He's here." Anakin says, confusing me.
"Uh... he who?" I ask with a frown.
"Starkiller." Anakin answers with a cautious glance around the room as if he might break in at any moment.
I stand up quicker than I ever have in my life. "Starkiller's here again? I thought you said he was on Serreno?"
Anakin nods slowly. "He was but he's moved and it's too quickly for him to have used a ship. I think... I think he might have learned how to travel through space without the use of a ship." As soon as he finishes talking, he heads right for the door.
"But... how?" I question as I follow him. "Wait, what are you doing?"
"He came here to find you, Snips." Anakin says as his hands fly over the control panel and override the automatic locking system in moments. "I'd bet anything that he's already sensed you but he can't sense me since I have permanent shielding. Just... follow me because if he finds a way in here then it isn't going to be pretty."
One phrase to describe Anakin right now. Man on a mission. "Hold on, shouldn't you just stay in your room? If Starkiller finds out about you too then no-one will be safe. You have to stay here."
Anakin turns to look at me and stops half way down the corridor. "Ahsoka," He says warningly.
"No. You have to stay and do something else other than letting him see you." I hold firm.
"Oh? And what are you going to do? I told you the protection field needs time to strengthen. It's been around you for a month now but it isn't enough for a dark force wielder like Starkiller."
"Can you just have some faith in me? I'll be fine. Wait here." I ignore the look of uncertainty that currently occupies his face and sprint past him and down the corridor.
Now I can sense what Anakin sensed. A very, very dark and powerful presence inside of the temple but in the hanger this time. I really shouldn't be running towards it if you count the fact that I am completely powerless and will be beaten to a pulp within seconds but I have faith that I might make it out alive. When I race down the corridors and towards the hanger I notice that all of the other Jedi that I come across are sprinting in that direction too. They all seem to be terrible at hiding their looks of concern since they look like a nuke has just gone off in the senate building. Although, this is probably even worse than a nuke going off in the senate building.
Of course, since I'm the youngling, I can't run as fast as they can and this is both good and bad. Bad because I won't reach the hanger to see what's going on and then come up with a plan on how to get rid of Starkiller and good because none of them can tell me to go back to my room and wait there until they've solved the problem. A problem caused by me being here in the first place. I try to keep up with them as best as I can but it doesn't do me any good. The best I can do to keep up with them is to run my fastest and even then I'm a good two or three corridors behind them with the odd glimpse of one of their arms or legs as they sprint around the corner.
I reach the hanger about a minute after the last Jedi I see runs there and when I get there it isn't pretty. There are ships everywhere, fire spouting from crumbled bits of wall and Jedi that have been flung away from the force wielder standing in the middle of it all grunt in pain upon impact of whatever they land on. I can safely say that when I ran in and Starkiller looked right at me I completely panicked. The good thing is that there were other younglings there; the bad thing is that some of them are my clan mates and the twins give me a look that says in capitals 'run'. Now, I'm no expert, but when a fireball is thrown at me by an evil force wielder I don't exactly have a lot of time to run. I prefer to duck down and hide behind one of the broken and battered ships whilst all hell breaks lose around me.
To be more specific, Starkiller's attention is off everyone else and onto me.
"Ahsoka! Run!" A voice shouts at me. I'm pretty sure that it's from either my clan mates or the twins. With all of this racket around me I can't pick out the specific sounds that tell me who is speaking or not.
Another fireball is thrown at me and I have to lean to the side to avoid getting burned by the flames. My clothing is scorched and the heat stings my arm since I put it over my head to avoid going blind from the light of it. I can sense that Starkiller is getting closer so I take a chance and dive for the next bit of cover I can find. Coincidentally, there is already a Jedi hiding behind this one and I know exactly who it is. You know, I could have sworn that Master Plo was on another mission or something important for the republic because he did leave in a hurry after giving me that massive book to learn. Anyway, all of that aside, he looks furious about me leaving the safety of Anakin's room. Or maybe it was because I got into trouble again?
"What are you doing here? You are supposed to be staying with Skywalker!" He shouts at me over the loud explosions around us.
Okay. It's the first reason for me. I left Anakin's room and told him to stay there and to just let me handle it. Now I see that I was an idiot. Not so much because of Anakin's warnings but because of the angry Kel Dor sitting beside me dodging the fireballs that come our way.
"He... uh... well, he wanted to come but I thought if Starkiller found out about him then all hell would break lose." I say as an excuse. He does not look pleased.
"In case you haven't noticed Ahsoka, all hell has broken lose already." Master Plo reminds me sternly.
"I'm sure he has a plan." I tell him reassuringly though it doesn't do much to calm him. Even I'm having problems finding reassurance from that.
I get a huge warning from the force and dive forwards just as something slams into the ship that we were both hiding behind and causes it to shoot forwards and into the air. Master Plo is flung off to the side somewhere and the ship comes down to land right on top of me. Let me tell you now that I am so happy that I have a protection field. It's like a wisp of air creating a tiny barrier between me and the ship so it appears to land on me but is suspended just off of my body. No pain for me just yet, thank force. None of my body parts sticks out from underneath the massive metal ship but there is a small space where I can just about see Starkillers dark form coming towards me. I curse fluently but quietly enough for nobody to hear.
I am so dead.
With a flourish, he sends a wave of black smoke at me and I close my eyes tight bracing for the impact. So, imagine how surprised I was when it never came. I am going to be dead by the time this day is over. Starkiller was so focused on me that he didn't notice a very powerful and very angry Anakin walk into the hanger with lights dancing around him. He held out his hand, palm facing upwards towards the spot where I am and the black smoke bounced right off of an invisible shield and was thrust back at Starkiller, blinding him. What surprises me is that Starkiller still has no idea that Anakin is there which is odd because you'd think you would know who the person beating you up is.
Anakin uses the force to grab the ship that is on top of me and flings it at the dark force wielder with all of his might. As it comes off of me I breathe a sigh of relief and lift my head; that was one scary thing to have on top of is sent right out of the hanger with the ship and I am fairly certain that he was sent off planet because the thrusters on the ship activated the moment it was in the air. I seem to recall being told that the Jedi starfighters in the hanger have some of the most powerful thrusters in the galaxy. Wow, if that thing had started while it was on top of me I would have been skewered.
"Holy force... Ahsoka!"
Did someone say my name? I look around and have to squint because my eyes burn for an unknown reason but am able to vaguely make out the familiar shapes of that the one with the dark blonde hair is Anakin. I sit up and rub my forehead to try and get it to stop hurting. Even with the protection field it seems that smacking my head on the floor is a very bad thing to do. Thank the force I didn't hit my lekku. That would have been worse than a broken bone and shattered ribs any day of the inter-galactic week.
"Oh wow, are you okay?" Jay asks. Now that my vision is starting to clear up I can see them clearly.
I nod and cringe when pain shoots through my forehead. "I'm good. Well, apart from a headache."
"That was so strange! Who was that guy? How did he do all of that?" Kay questions in quick succession.
"He's a force wielder named Starkiller and before you ask, yes, he is on the dark side." Anakin answers for me.
"Who are you?"
"Anakin Skywalker. A force wielder on the light side." I can pretty much tell why he put emphasis on the last two words. Some of the council members think he's evil and they just happen to be in the hanger with us right now.
"Wait a minute... aren't force wielders those immortal guys?" Jay asks slowly.
Anakin nods with an exasperated sigh. "Yes. The 'immortal guys'. You must be the twins who get Ahsoka into trouble.
"We don't get her into trouble all of the time." Kay protests.
"I know that's because the rest of the time she's with me watching HoloVids." Anakin points out smartly. "Or playing chess, or watching me beat Obi-Wan at games, or complaining about having to clean Windu's room..." Here he looks pointedly at them. "Which, by the way, I thought was awesome."
"Are you ever serious about anything?" I ask, curious and exasperated.
He pretends to think for a moment. "You know, I don't think there is."
I sigh and go back to rubbing my stinging forehead. There is one thing about my life that repeats in my mind every few days or so. I am surrounded by idiots. Not all of them are idiots but most of them just act like it so much that they become them. I wonder if there is any intelligence in any of them sometimes.
"I thought you said that Starkiller was on Serreno with Dooku?" Master Windu asks, at least I think it's him. My eyesight still needs improvement along with the hearing. There's this ringing noise in my head.
"He was but he travelled here." Anakin replies. "You'd be surprised at how fast force wielders can travel when they don't use ships."
"And can you do that?"
"I've never tried. Besides, I like flying ships."
"There is a difference between what you like and what you have to do, Skywalker." Master Windu's stern voice retorts. "How many powers do force wielders have?"
"You want to know the truth?"
"Yes."
"Unlimited."
Stunned silence meets him and everyone but me and my friends go wide eyed. I already know that force wielders can do next to anything, my friends have no idea what is going on but the other's who are council members know that this is bad for them. Very, very bad.
"Excuse me?"
Anakin sighs and rolls his eyes. "The only thing that a force wielder cannot do is bring someone back from the dead. Well, a rogue force wielder that is. How many times do I have to tell you that my people are peaceful. I don't even know how Starkiller got here but I know that he wasn't raised on my planet so it isn't our fault."
"Be that as it may, how are you going to solve the problem?"
"Oh? Excuse me? You want me to solve a problem that I didn't even start? Hey! This is probably because your order attacked my people millions of years ago because you saw them as a 'threat'." He uses his hands to make quotation marks in the air. "I only did that because he was attacking Ahsoka." It doesn't take a genius to know that he is now extremely offended.
"I thought it was illegal for you to attack Starkiller unless he provoked you first?" I ask out of curiosity.
Anakin opens his mouth to answer but is cut off by Master Plo.
"Wait, you're not allowed to attack him unless he provokes you?" He asks, confused. "You never told us that."
"You never asked." Anakin replies off-handedly. "Besides, he dropped a ship on top of Ahsoka and I am only allowed to retaliate once when someone attacks my friend. Now," He turns his attention back to me. "Where does it hurt? Don't lie and say it doesn't because you haven't stopped rubbing your forehead for the past five minutes."
The council members back off and seem to start processing the information that Anakin isn't allowed to help them in their minds whilst my clan mates circle me and Anakin like a herd of Shaak. "I think I hit my head on the floor when I dived," I admit sheepishly.
Anakin rolls his eyes again and lifts his hand to my forehead to start healing me. The twins' jaws drop comically with their eyes almost popping out of their sockets. I know exactly how they feel. When Anakin first healed me I can bet I looked almost exactly like that. Well, I was pretty dazed from getting chased by those bullies so I don't know if I would have looked exactly like that but it must have been something similar. I start to feel better right away and wait for something else to happen. There are two things I am anticipating will happen. One; the council are going to drag Anakin up to the council chambers and ask him every question they have. Two; my friends are going to drag me into my room and ask me every question they have. It's not what I like to have on my to do list.
"Woah," The twins chorus in a quiet gasp.
Shows how weird this is to everyone else for the second time today.
"There, do you have a headache any more?" Anakin asks.
I shake my head. "No. It's gone now." I reply honestly.
He nods in acceptance of my answer and takes a look around the room. I can safely say that I wish he hadn't because the next second Pedro, the slimy git, grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to them and away from Anakin.
"Start talking. Now," He hisses as me and I glare at him, clenching my jaw.
"Oi, let her go you spoiled sharloten." Kay snaps, giving Pedro a hard shove so that he falls onto his bottom. "You damn nearly killed her in the competition and I'll be a dead man before you get the chance to do it again."
"She's friends with a force wielder. They're immortal and all powerful and dangerous." Pedro retorts.
"Didn't you hear them just now? They're peaceful. Not to mention the fact that they aren't allowed to attack anyone."
"Then why is that one attacking us?"
"Why are there sith attacking us?" Jay asks sarcastically. "You aren't that thick, slime ball, some people just go down a dark path."
"Yeah, but at least we can control them." Pedro snaps.
"In case you haven't noticed my frog legged nemesis, there's a war going on. Do you call that controlling them? Because if you do I would just love to hear your definition of not controlling them. Shut your mouth and stay or get the hell out before we make you. Force, why are you always so harsh to her now?"
"Maybe because she attacked members of our clan to get them out of the competition?"
"She didn't, you twit. It was Slimo and his thugs."
"You don't know that for sure."
"As it happens, we do. There are four primary gossip places for all younglings and we heard from each and every one of them that Slimo was caught in the act by a youngling in the Frost Clan before he knocked him out. So do your homework on things before you bring them up. Now, I think we're done pointing out one of your problems. Unless you want us to point out more of them, go the hell away." Jay hisses threateningly and it takes all of five seconds for Pedro to leave the room.
I don't understand why he left so quickly since he seemed so argumentative earlier but soon see the reason why. Anakin is giving a death glare to the spot that Pedro just vanished from and I'll bet that when Pedro actually was here that Anakin was trying to murder him with that stare. Considering the fact that a force wielder took particular interest in Pedro, it's no wonder that it captured the council's attention too. I don't think I've ever seen Master Fisto look so proud of Kay and Jay. He's the one who found them both stealing food to eat from a smugglers ship on Correlia because they were starving and their parents weren't around. Now that I think about it, I don't think they ever found their parents again after that so they were just brought here at age two.
"Bloody Pedro," Kay grumbles under his breath. "Paranoid as ever."
"Hmm, I wonder what would happen if we started calling him Paranoid Pedro?" Jay questions thoughtfully.
"I'd give you a medal." Anakin answers without pause. "Explain to me how this 'Slimo' person is any worse than that one?"
"Pedro is an idiot and Slimo is a git."
"Skywalker, stop encouraging the younglings to swear." Master Windu scolds though if I didn't know better I could have sworn there was amusement in his tone. That Jedi master is never amused about anything.
"It's not my fault that one of the kids is named after the most prominent swear-word on Tattoine." Anakin says in his defence. "Or that the other looks like a rancor in mating season." He adds quietly.
The twins hold in their laughter much better than I thought they would. In all of my life I have never seen them hide a laugh from anyone but I guess when you have twelve of the most respected Jedi masters in the temple standing in the same room as you it has some impact on what you do.
"Aren't you the least bit worried that Starkiller might come back?" Master Windu asks, his eyes narrowed and arms crossed.
"No. He's going to need a few days to recover at the very least so there's nothing to worry about right now."
"How about what you're going to do if he comes back?"
"Wait to see if he tries attacking outright and if he goes for Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, or these twins that I rather like, I kill him. I've never understood why you can't just rest and relax in the time off that you get." Anakin answers.
"Not all of us are acting like children."
"For the record, I am still technically classed as one since I'm not twenty-one yet. Now, should we get out of the hanger or do you want to wait for something?"
Master Windu rolls his eyes. "The younglings will go back to their quarters whilst you and Tano go back to your room. A force wielder can do next to anything, remember?"
"Yes, and one is right in front of you. Starkiller is gone, Windu. G-O-N-E. Gone. Focusing on a problem when there isn't one is just a waste of your time and energy. There's still a war for you to fight and I sincerely doubt that Starkiller will be here for long. Contrary to beliefs, he hasn't gone unnoticed by the people on my planet." Anakin says unexpectedly before helping me to my feet. "Let's go. I need a slushie and you need shurra fruit. Honestly, you're so pale..."
Senate Building, Chancellor Palpatine .aka Darth Sidious
I lift my head from a rotten senate bill that I am 'considering' when a disturbance in the force reaches me. Surprise runs through me when I realise that the disturbance was caused by the pain of my apprentice Starkiller. This shocks me as he is the most powerful being in the galaxy and can be defeated by no-one and nothing has ever stopped him before. I rack my brain and use the dark side for guidance to discover what could have possibly caused this when I come across a vague memory of a meeting I had with Starkiller two days ago.
I had been extremely angered when I sensed my apprentices presence on Coruscant without my express permission since that Jedi would be able to sense him easily and called a meeting with him. It took an hour for him to respond and that only fuelled my rage even more but it all vanished in a heartbeat when he gave his reason. My apprentice had sensed the presence of a powerful force user that he had first been intrigued by and then discovered after a confrontation that the person in question had powers in the force great enough to rival his own. He, a powerful force wielder on the dark side, had a rival in the Jedi temple.
This did not go down well with me and the rage of the dark side was hard to cope with. I had to allow him to give me a name so that I could look into it and then punish him with sith lightning for his incompetence and for not informing me first. When he told me that he did not know her name I flew into a blind rage only for calmness to immediately overtake me when he told me that the person in question was a youngling who hadn't entered her teenage years yet. Now I remember it all clearly. I had ended the conversation with him after a stern reminder and started to think about what to do with this new development. However, my brain processes an answer when I put two and two together.
A youngling, no, a force wielder youngling who was easier to manipulate than a fully grown adult had just proven that she could take on Starkiller at such an early age. It was before her teenage years when force sensitives started to become more powerful and yet here was someone who was completely different. A dark smile tugs my lips as I fold my hands in front of me.
Yes. This youngling would be a much better apprentice than Starkiller but needs to be separated from the Jedi before they can corrupt such a priceless discovery. I activate my personal communications device in my desk and the image of my assistant appears.
"What can I do for you today, your excellency?"
"Inform Lord Tyrannus that there has been a change of plans. We are moving our plan forward. Order Sixty-Six will be activated in two days hence."