Revan's Apprentice:

Part 3.

Padawan, Brother... Son.

Anakin was now sitting in a chair that Revan had rolled over to a mirror, in their quarters. The room really did only have one bed.

They had barely just left orbit when Revan brought them to their room and away from everyone else. Revan of course had let the boy linger for a few minutes looking out at the vast planet of Coruscant, after all it wasn't everyday that you got to see a city that spanned over an entire planet, but took him before it shrinked into the distance.

Now Revan was looking for something, in the duffle bag the Council provided him. He quickly located the scissors, and smiled looking over at Anakin. The boy was sitting on his knees and spinning in his chair.

"Alright alright, sit the right way youngling," Revan chuckled. "I'm sure you've sat still for a hair cut before, otherwise you would have lost an ear by now."

Anakin smiled sheepishly and stopped spinning. Once he was sitting properly in front of the mirror Revan got to work, clipping away at the hair.

"So tell me about yourself," Revan urged.

"Eh?"

"Well you're my Padawan now. It's only right I know some things about you."

"Oh right," Anakin looked down and Revan took the opportunity to work on the back of the child's head "W-well... what did the Council tell you?" the boy asked.

"Not much, nothing in fact."

"Oh... well I guess you'd probably need to know that I used to be a slave," the boy mumbled.

Revan didn't let the boy detect his shock and didn't pause in his work.

"My mother still is... Qui-Gon could only afford to buy me. But he freed me and asked if I wanted to come with him to be a Jedi... I was kind of hoping he'd be the one to train me..." he trailed off.

"I'm sorry he's not but I hope you come to respect me in the same way," Revan smiled. "Although I don't know how I'm going to top freeing you from Slavery. I'd have to buy you a whole mountain of ice cream and still have some catching up to do?"

"Ice Cream?" Anakin blinked having no idea what that was.

"Oh you'll love Ice Cream. It is easily the tastiest dessert in the galaxy, particularly when you put crushed up cookies in it with fudge."

Anakin smiled, "Sounds good."

"So tell me about your mother," Revan asked clipping more hair, taking his sweet time so they could talk longer. This is the reason he wanted to do this privately. Like his master Revan wanted to use the ceremony as a chance to get to know his new Padawan.

"She's brilliant. She's kind and sweet and never yells, not even when I do something really stupid. Oh but she can be down right scary when she needs to be. She definitely doesn't need to yell... and she's strong... They never broke her. There were lots of slaves living in my neighborhood, although we all had different masters... some people called my neighborhood the 'slave warehouse'... you could hear it some nights, people crying themselves to sleep. She never did anything like that. She found joy in the littlest things.

"When she got the chance she had me apprentice as an engineer. She convinced our master that it would make me more useful to her, back when my master was a her before we were sold to Watto. I learned the trade quickly and it wasn't long before I was scavenging junk yards and building entire droids out of the parts I found just for fun.

"I even built a pod racer and won the championship race in it. That's how Qui-Gon was able to free me. My master bet me to him... mom couldn't come with us though... she told me not to look back but..." the boy tried to force himself not to cry. "I promised I'd come back and free her as soon as my training was complete."

"Why wait?" Revan asked and Anakin froze. "As soon as this trip is over how about we go get your mom?"

"R-really?" Anakin choked.

"The Jedi wouldn't let her live in the temple with us but. I could get her a place elsewhere," Revan smiled. "I looked it up and apparently in four thousand years the currency hasn't changed so my credits still work. Already tested it and they're still accepted fine." the boy obviously didn't know he was a Time Traveler but ignored those seemingly strange remarks in favor of what Revan was actually saying. "I've got enough to free her and give her a monthly stipend. She'd still need to get herself a job if she wants to buy any luxuries but I can afford to pay her rent, bills, and food. We could even visit her now and then."

Revan quickly jerked his scissors up and held them out of the way as Anakin jumped at him and pulled him into a hug "Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!" tears of joy streamed down the child's face and it was some time before he calmed down enough for the hair cut to resume.

"So you were saying your a mechanic?" Revan asked, still wanting to know more about his Padawan who was in a much more cheerful mood.

"Yep, not to mention the best pilot in the Galaxy," The boy grinned.

"Really? I'll have to test that," Revan smiled back. Beating the boy in a race would most likely help him more to focus on a lesson about not letting pride get the better of you then just scolding him, besides this wasn't the place to scold him. Revan knew he'd have to earn that right. He'd have it by the end of this little ceremony, as he would have officially established himself as Anakin's Master.

"Have you ever had a Padawan before?" Anakin suddenly asked, and Revan immediately tensed. "It's just, you look so young. I can't imagine you taught many."

Sighing, Revan knew this would probably be a good time to tell him. This was about him getting to know Anakin as much as it was Anakin getting to know him.

"Not a Padawan no but I did have an apprentice. He was already an adult and had completed his studies under another master, but I guided him to me and taught him things the Jedi would not allow... I failed him though. Ever since I was a Padawan I was obsessed with the old Je'daii Order. The first known group of Force Wielders.

"I studied all I could on them. On their belief of a balance of the Force. They knew how to use both the light and the dark side, and I wanted so badly to prove I could do so safely just as they had... I failed. The first time I was exposed to real grief, and saw real pain..."

Revan thought on the death of his Master during the war. His Master had followed him as Revan led the younger generation of Jedi Knights to fight against the Mandalorians. They had such good intentions but seeing all that death, making that many compromises to preserve as many lives as possible. It changed them all.

For Revan it started with his master, who had joined his former Padawan against the wishes of the Council. That man didn't give a damn about the war he just wanted to make sure Revan was safe... and sacrificed his life so that Revan could live. Seeing that was the first of many things that broke the young idealist that Revan used to be.

"I turned fully to the dark side and was trapped there for a long time. I taught my apprentice everything I knew, led him down a path that ultimately resulted in his death... by my own hand. I eventually found the balance I had been looking for in my youth but I could not persuade my apprentice to follow me... I failed him to the point I could not even bring him back as I had others. My closest friend... a man who was in all essence my brother... and I killed him..."

"W-what will happen if I go dark?" Anakin worried.

"I won't fail you Anakin. If you ever fell I would do everything I can to bring you back and if I can't... then I'd join you as I should have my apprentice. I will stay by your side, and help you with whatever goal it was you got in your head, well I attempt to guide you back to a place of balance. If you were a smart Sith you'd realize sitting through my annoying lectures would be worth the benefits of having me as an ally, particularly since I would have no ambition for your throne.

"I refuse to let you suffer as I had. The training I have in mind is different then the Jedi Order. I will teach you everything I know of both the Light and the Dark Side of the Force. I will teach you how to balance the two and be there when you stumble, because you will stumble. The ways of the original Je'daii are difficult. It is impossible not to stumble, but just know I will be there for you, and I will always have your best interest at heart."

Revan finally finished cutting the hair and took the long strands that were still attached to the boy's head, just behind his ear. As he pulled the Padawan beads through the hair and began to braid it Revan adamantly stated, "You are my Padawan now Anakin Skywalker. My Apprentice, My Brother, My Son... I will never fail you." he vowed before saying the actual Jedi nonsense that tradition demanded during this.