Chapter Title: Saved by Ben

Series Title: Unlikely Brothers

POV: Dashen

Ages in this chapter: Tanner (13) Dashen (19)

Chapter Summary: Ben Kenobi comes to the boy's rescue on one of Tatooine's neighboring planets.


I saw blue burred with brown. Lightening fast. Deadly accurate. Twisting and turning and flipping and spinning. Think I even saw flash of a beard in there? I didn't have any blue/brown bearded friends, at least not that I could think of. What I did have was the inability to move more than a few inches. My head lifted, only because I forced it too. My right eye was caked in something. Probably my own blood. My left was a water-filled blurry mess. Whatever the thing was that was flipping around the room in all of its blue glory, I was impressed. As impressed as I could be after being beaten to hell by the group of thugs that had attacked me and my brother. I fully expected us to die here.

I didn't. We didn't.

As Mr. Flippy was flying around slicing and dicing bad guys, my little brother managed to crawl over and drag me toward the far wall. "It's Ben!" Tanner shouted to me. Tough to hear over the buzzing in my ears and vibration sound of what turned out to be a lightsaber. Blue. Ben... Beard. I thought. Oh, right. Now it made sense. Tanner's Jedi pal from Tatooine. But we weren't on Tatooine and we didn't out call for help - we weren't able to - before being attacked. How the hell...

Tanner pressed his face to mine so I could better hear him. "I called to him through the Force, I didn't think it worked, or even could work."

"Must have," I semi-shouted back, shrugging. "Makes you two even more creepy than being a Jedi already made you. Good for you. Can you do all that?" I pointed to Ben's continued spins and flips and leaps and other impossible acrobatic feats, all while handling a laser sword with pinpoint accuracy. Damn. If all Jedi had been like that, how the hell were they ever defeated?

Lightsaber hums ricocheted a final flurry of blaster fire, and then the room when quiet. I mean dead still quiet until Tanner pulled my arm and urgently told me to move. I couldn't, but I appreciated that he thought I had that type of strength and will power.

"Can't do it, Mouse. Can barely see and something cracked in my left leg. It was loud. And painful. And wrong. Probably a bad thing."

Ben approached us, lightsaber sheathed and hidden away. "You must move. Others will arrive. I have attracted far too much attention. We haven't much time."

I gave him my sad story that I'd just relayed to my brother and Ben only frowned. That was helpful. I started to open my big mouth with some smart comment, but a hand held palm out hushed me. Voices. Heading in this direction. Ben motioned toward us.

"Don't move or speak. Stay as still and silent as you can. You are partially hidden here if I can keep them far enough away. Stay where you are."

No need to tell me twice, not after the acrobatic death toll I'd just seen this man rack up. Tanner stayed plastered to my side in full protection mode. He was small and young, so full-on protection mode wasn't all that much, but I appreciate the enthusiasm.

We sat stationary and soundless. Ben, looking very ordinary without his lightsaber flaring around, was cool and calm as the next round entered the room. He'd had time on this one. Time to know what he was up against. And apparently, it wasn't much.

A few words. A few waves of his hand. The compact group calmly

re-holstered their blasters and retreated from the room. Ben stayed watching until he was satisfied they'd vanished. Wow. Okay. So, more creepiness? I wiped at my eyes, they hurt,

but at least the one worked. No idea what I'd just seen though.

"They were weak minded," Ben said as he returned, grabbing my arm and tossing it around his shoulder. "We can influence the weak minded easily once we master the ability. We must move. Tannerlin, can you walk?"

"I'm okay, Ben. Sore and bleeding, but I can walk. I'll follow you."

We half-walked, half-jogged to wherever we were going. Ben left me with Tanner for several minutes while he vanished into a cantina. Next thing I knew were were loading onto a small ship and blasting off the planet. After that, all went black. I woke to the face of my brother. Bruised and worried. The dull colors all around me said we were in Ben's hovel on Tatooine. How long

I'd been out, how far we'd traveled, no idea. Tanner had a warm cloth soaked to my right eye, I suppose trying to get the gunk off it. Blood. Puss. Combination? I still didn't know. My left eye was better. Clear.

"Keep your head still, Dash. The blood soaked onto your eye. I think your eye is okay; at least once we get it cleaned. Ben tried to help your leg, but it's more than he can heal."

"Broken bones are beyond my abilities." Ben's calm, guiding voice as he approached, providing a clean cloth to my brother. "We had classes in the healing arts, but only certain Jedi had specialized abilities for true healing. I've splinted and wrapped your leg. You should see your own healer when you arrive home. I've already arranged transport."

Home. Thank you. I needed a week to sit on my butt and recover. Tanner seemed okay, but I reached out to touch his hand to make sure.

"I'm okay, Dash. I swear." He promised me. "A lot of bruises that hurt, and Ben thinks maybe some sprained ribs, but those heal. We got lucky."

Lucky wasn't the word for it. We were on our way to a very bad place in few minutes if Ben hadn't come all blue-tornado through the door. And about that...

"Speaking of luck," I said, "Would anyone care to explain what exactly happened? How did Ben know where we were? And how did you manage that entire herd of thugs by yourself?"

I sat up. Slowly. Tanner plastered himself to my side to help me stay up. Ben sat in front of us.

"The medial bond that Tannerlin and I have formed seems to have been the catalyst. He found enough focus and strength through a desperate situation, that he sent a plea through the Force. Quite dangerous and quite a bad idea," Ben frowned at my brother. The man frowned a lot. "But I felt it and recognized the pull. I knew it was him. I tracked his comm number. Saw you were on Andooweel, the next planet over. Didn't take much to put them all down, but there were a few of them. You are quite adept at irritating people to the point of wanting you dead. Well done, Dashen."

I laughed. It hurt. Didn't take much...Damn Jedi. Smart mouth and all. "So, all that flying around you did, that was just part of normal Jedi training?"

He seemed surprised by the question with his "Yes" response. Then he explained. "It takes effort to get to such a level, learning under a Master Jedi and working with other apprentices in your age group. I learned from one of the finest swordsman in the Jedi Order. Of course I added my own abilities, style and flair."

Flair indeed. Ben was the master of understatement. "Well, it was impressive and it made me dizzy. And the flick of the hand thing?"

"As I said, the weak minded are easy to control and influence. The danger, and this is why I've cautioned Tannerlin against attempting it without proper training," Another frown. "Is knowing which are the weak minded. A wrong guess, it backfires, and you become a marked man."

I nudged at the kid next to me. "Hear that, little brother? Don't try that at home." He nodded his agreement. Then I turned back to Ben as he took a soiled cloth from my hand. "So, you can flip and fly and slice and dice at the same time, and then you can wave a finger and make people forget they ever saw you."

Ben raised an eyebrow and smirked at me. "It's a little more involved than that and there are years and hundreds of hours

of training and discipline behind it, but yes. You are correct, Dashen."

I released a deep breath, "Fine. I don't get it. I never will. The Force and all that hocus pocus, but I'm okay with that. I don't think I really want to understand it, and it'll probably just make my head hurt worse than it does right now," I lowered my elbow toward the bed, "I need to lie down."

They helped me land softly when I sort of just collapsed to the side. My head really did hurt. Ben put a hand on my temple. There was a weird feeling that I'd felt before when Tanner sometimes tried to calm me. This feeling though, this was power. Gentle and deliberate, but very strong.

"You should sleep, Dashen. Rest." I floated around in my head for a minute realizing that Ben was using his dynamic hocus pocus stuff to put me out. I didn't resist. I couldn't resist.

—-

Our transport was departing in an hour. Ben got us to the spaceport safely and we sat just beyond the permanent imperial guard station. Apparently he'd waved himself past these guards more than a few times, so we'd not have any troubles getting by. We'd have walked in ourselves if I had two good legs on me, but without that, Ben would take care of us.

He vanished into his own head for a minute. Probably talking to the dead teacher of his. So weird. I put a hand up to my bad

eye. There had been some damage discovered around the area once the blood was gone. Most likely the cause for my nasty headache, so I'd be sure to not do anything stupid on the trip home.

"All right," Ben finally said. Back from wherever his mind had gone. "Tannerlin, you remember the rules."

"Yes," my little brother, former Jedi-in-training, now forever in hiding, responded quickly and obediently. "Move quickly, but not fast enough to draw attention. Keep our heads down. Speak only when needed. Don't use our real names."

"Excellent, my young Jedi." Ben smiled. Tanner beamed. "And you, Dashen?"

My turn. "Don't do or say anything stupid."

"You learn quickly, my hard-headed friend." Ben smirked. I rolled my eyes. Well, my eye. It hurt. I was so ready to go home.

"We shall not speak once we get beyond the guards. Tannerlin, you be well. Take care of your brother as he recovers. I am glad you are all right."

Tanner reached forward from the backseat to hug Ben around the neck. "You saved us. Thank you."

"I admit, it did feel good to utilize my abilities again. We were fortunate not to be discovered, so please heed what I've taught you and when it's safe to use it. I do not wish to see you hurt."

"I will Ben. I promise."

"Good boy." He turned to me next. No, I wasn't into neck hugging a smart-mouthed Jedi hermit, but I did grasp his hand in my own.

"You saved our butts, Ben. I can't ever repay you. Had I lost Tanner or he'd lost me...I only wish one day he'll be able to do all the crazy stuff that you can, but that's not his reality."

"Just...try and stay out of trouble, Dashen. I understand how difficult that is for you."

I laughed. If he only knew the half of it. "Ben, if you only knew. I will do my best."

"Very well. Until next time my friends."

Spaceport entered. Transport boarded. Homeward bound. We stayed huddled in a corner until departing on our home planet of Terra and caught our ride home from there to the outskirts of our town, Kaolin.

My room. My bed. Colton greeted us warmly and hobbled me up the stairs, pushing me horizontal onto the bed. I'd give him the details of the trip tomorrow. Or next week. Or maybe the the kid would do it. I didn't care right now. He said something about Healer Quin stopping by later to treat my injuries. Whatever. I was fading fast. Tanner had brushed me with some of that Force stuff to help me settle. So different from the consuming power Ben had, but filled with the peacefulness that was only my brother.

I'd see him in the morning.


END