All characters, locations, and events labeled within this story are not my property - no financial profit has been made through this work or the intellectual properties. LucasArts, LucasFilms, and Disney are the sole owners of said intellectual properties. All content herein may be seen as a fiction work of fan admiration and should not be considered canonical to any project officially promoted by the rightful owners of said IP.

Well, I originally thought I'd take some time off, but…in my defense, I was considering taking a week off before I even started writing the fourth chapter. However, with the overall positive reactions I've had thus far, I have to admit I'm feeling much more motivated to continue than I actually expected to be.

On an unrelated note, I really do need to find a proofreader for me - I'm still nervous that the grammar or syntax will one day crash and I'll put out a sloppy piece of writing.

Anyhow, thank you to all the Favorites, Follows and Reviews!


It felt good to hold a lightsaber again - tightening the grip of his mechanical hand around the black ridges of the hilt's base, he could now truly feel the weight of the sturdy metal cylinder baring down on his arm.

Unlike the standard lightsaber design that was meant to be streamlined for ease of access, Anakin had taken his in an entirely different route - where many Jedi sought to fit within their roles as negotiators and mediators of the peace, he had always leaned heavily into the martial history of the Order. He didn't carry his hilt as if it were a ceremonial object to be drawn solely for show - it was a weapon, and he had chosen to build it as such. When he constructed his original blade, prior to its destruction in the Geonosian droid factory, he chose the black ridges to provide a much more firm grip during duels. Because he had not yet begun to practice Shien or Djem So in those days, however, he hadn't much need of using a two-handed grip on the handle, which allowed him to attack a black carbon clasp along the middle to attach to his belt when not in use.

At the beginning of the Clone Wars, though, he had extended the hilt to twenty-eight inches to allow more space for his signature double-handed strike, which happened quite often due to the heavy-handed offensive nature of Form V. As a result, he opted to remove the clasp for the sole purpose of letting him maintain an even more powerful and tightened hold of the weapon. Every little detail he had placed into his lightsaber was for the sake of combat practicality - nothing about it was ceremonial, and he wanted to believe that the lightsaber itself knew it.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked Bastila, watching carefully as she stood a few feet ahead of him - his eyes tracing her form. She wasn't particularly short by any means, nor was she especially tall. If Anakin had to guess, she could have been anywhere near five and a half feet tall, give or take an inch or so - she also had a clearly athletic build, though she seemed to have ever the slightest advantage on Ahsoka in terms of muscularity. Overall, she seemed to likely be a duelist that relied om agility and finesse - just like Ahsoka.

Coming to a halt, Anakin took the time to look around at their surroundings - Bastila having led them to a large and expansive courtyard. Had Anakin not known any better, he would have guessed it was a landing platform - the circular shape easily being able to fit at least a few freighters. As of right now, however, it was merely littered with a few dozen Jedi Padawans and a handful of Knights that were busying themselves in their own studies and conversations.

It was only when they began to notice he and Bastila standing at the very center, facing one another, that Anakin could hear the already hushed volume grow ever so quite.

"I am, yes," Bastila replied, reaching for her waistband - her slim fingers wrapping around the hilt of her blade as she drew it forward, holding it vertically to her side in both hands at just the slightest angle before igniting it.

Ataru, and a yellow lightsaber?

Anakin narrowed his gaze on it, however, noting the simplistic style and design of her weapon - it was sleek to say the least, however, there was little else on it. Were it not for the ridges indented into the hilt itself from the numerous pieces that went into it, he would have guessed it was just a metallic stick - it was certainly thin enough to be considered one.

"Your connection to the Force; it's as intense as Revan's was…so I want to test myself against you to measure how well I fare," she added. Nodding, Anakin extended his hand out to his side and drew the hilt of his blade with the Force.

Perhaps the build of her own lightsaber was not without its own strong reason - he could recognize the signature stance of the fourth lightsaber form, Ataru. If her hilt design meant anything, it was intentionally built slim and sleek to allow her grip to shift seamlessly in her hands when she was on the attack. It was also constructed to be incredibly light, so that the weight of the hilt did not exhaust her arms and hands as quickly as it would have other wise.

Ironic, it was almost an exact opposing reflection to his own - down to the very style.

Wrapping his right hand around the metal frame of his hilt, he closed his organic hand along the black ridges, stretching the blade out on a downwards angle - his lead set in a bladed stance as he allowed Bastila to decide upon the first move. A sharp and shrill hiss erupted loudly, the deep and brilliant blue glow of his weapon emanating as he felt the soft humming vibrations reverberate through his arms and body.

How he missed this physical touch of the real world…

Moving with such liberty after having spent nearly two decades in that stifling suit was still taking getting accustomed to, especially in a physical form. However, the lack of agonizing pain and sleep deprivation allowed him to have a focus he had long forgotten - and with the blinding rage dissipated with the aid of Luke, Anakin had never felt his focus so well sharpened. Noting that Bastila had yet to make a move, Anakin decided to forego the slow pace and took a step forward and then another, each one giving him the momentum to whirl his blade in a windmill motion.

By the time Bastila raised her blade to block his, he had been able to bare down most of the full force behind his swing. He could see her eyes widen subtly, as if she were trying to mask whatever had surprised her, but he didn't let that stop him. Pulling his arms back in, he tucked his elbows into his sides and jabbed the blade forward, forcing the younger woman to divert it off to the side.

There's wasn't enough strength behind her block, if he had put more force into it, he could have swatted away her attempt and immediately followed up by cutting her hilt in half.

Leaving her actual body open and vulnerable, however, Anakin dropped his weight and leaned in to shoulder check her. The sudden show of force was enough to startle Bastila and cause her to stumble a step back, giving Anakin enough space and time to raise his lightsaber again - showering the younger Jedi in a flurry of high strikes, never giving her the chance to find the proper placement for her footing.

Realizing just how much ground she had given, though, Bastila rolled under one of his barrages, pivoting off her lead foot to circle around him. Rather than spin to meet her, Anakin nimbly lifted his blade over his head and met her following attack, the wide swipe coming to a halt as he held it in place. As if expecting to spin on his heels to face her, Bastila slowly pressed harder on her blade, trying to lock him in place - she'd finally begun to put some emphasis on the force of her strikes, but Anakin knew it hadn't come from a tactical realization as it had from a place of frustration at how he'd swept her on the defensive so readily.

Even so, he wasn't there to coddle her - he was there to humble her, much in the way he needed to have been humbled early on.

Stepping forward and away from Bastila, Anakin waited to feel the space between them before he spun on his heels, holding their locked blades in the air as he raised his leg up and slammed the base of his boot into Bastila's stomach. Doubling over from the sudden blunt strike to her abdomen, he could hear her sputter from the shock - her hands shakily trying to hold up the blade in a defensive position. Stepping forward once more, Anakin finally spun on the ball of his lead foot and whirled his blade, letting it prod at Bastila's to keep it at bay, before he brought his back around with an upward swing. Her hand shot up the moment his weapon connected, and without giving the younger Jedi a chance to collect herself, Anakin followed up with a final strike that sent her hilt flying as the yellow blade de-ignited in the air.

In what seemed like a single and rehearsed motion, Bastila had the wind knocked out of her, her blade and entire posture knocked off balance, and her lightsaber sent flying.

It was over, he'd disarmed and beaten her.

Anakin took a step forward, before he felt something powerful knock him across the air.

"STOP IT!"


He could recall a few times when he'd been thrown across the air, though each time had been a result of his recklessness in combat - or as a consequence of his risky ideas during the Clone Wars.

Shaking his head, he took a sharp and painful breath - his vision slowly returning to him as he sat up and looked at his surroundings. All around him, he could see a crowd of Jedi looking at him with genuine concern in their eyes; some asked if her was alright or injured, while others were busy looking off in the distance on the opposite end of the enclave. Groaning, Anakin gradually stood to his feet and let out a long held gust of air - his eyes now picking up what had the others' attention.

He could see the four Jedi Masters from before - Kavar, Dorak, Vandar, and Zhar - speaking to Bastila, who was silently hanging her head down as if in fear of looking them in the eyes.

"Are you alright, Master Anakin?" asked a young female Cathar, her eyes inspecting him with no small amount of worry. He didn't respond immediately, but as he pressed a hand to his temple, Anakin felt a throbbing headache slowly form - it wasn't intolerable, but he certainly would have been happier if it weren't there.

"Yeah, I…I'm alright," he finally answered. "What happened? Where is my lightsaber?" he questioned, forming the words as his gaze once again found Bastila. With his thoughts clearing up, in spite of the pain in his head, he could see that was very much being reprimanded - the way she was being rendered quite meekly actually managed to catch him by surprise. When the touch of a cool metallic item found his organic hand, however, Anakin glanced down to find the same Cathar offering him the hilt of his lightsaber.

"You were thrown back like a ragdoll, Master, and you have been unconscious for the past half hour or so," she explained, looking at Bastila with a mild hint of distrust. "Padawan Bastila lost control of herself when you disarmed her, and she blasted you away in a fit of anger. It was rather.…it was something, I suppose," she continued, though she ended up trailing off as she found herself at a loss of words.

Another Jedi, who Anakin didn't get a good look at, spoke up in place of the Cathar.

"It was the Dark Side of the Force, Juhani, don't try to soften the truth of it - Bastila was always prideful, and realizing she was beaten easily was just too humiliating for her to bare," they commented, catching Anakin's interest. Rather than continue listening, however, Anakin offered the Cathar, Juhani, a simple show of thanks and made his way towards the Masters and Bastila.

He would need to hear this for himself.

"I'm sorry, Master Kavar," apologized Bastila, bowing her

"An apology is not going to absolve what happened, Bastila - everybody in the enclave felt what happened," replied Kavar, his usually relaxed features giving away to an unusually stern expression. For Anakin, it was like watching the man subtly turn into a variation of Master Windu - though those same features morphed into one of concern as the older Jedi spotted him drawing near. "Skywalker, you're alright?" he asked.

With a small nod, Anakin folded his arms as he came to stand alongside the group itself.

"I'll be fine - it wasn't the first tumble I've had in my life," he answered, brushing off the incident as he tried his best to downplay it. From Kavar's left, however, the smaller form of Master Vandar shook his head.

"Perhaps not, but what young Bastila did was unbecoming of a Jedi - her instinctive response at her defeat was a clear sign of anger and pride, so much in fact, that she even managed to draw upon it enough to throw you aside. Had she perhaps unleashed it on a Padawan or somebody of lesser durability, they could have been injured much worse," he interjected, his gaze rising up to lock on the young woman. Rather than consternation, though, Anakin spotted disappointment - something he could see in much smaller degrees within the other Jedi masters. "This is why she has yet to undertake her trials for Knighthood - as talented and skilled as she is, she has yet to let go of her pride."

Catching movement from the corner of his eye, he spotted Bastila bow her head in his direction - the weight of guilt and humiliation immediately rendering her voice rather muted of life and energy as before.

"I want to apologize, Master Anakin, I lost control of myself and my emotions, and I'm truly sorry for what I did," she began. Waving a hand from the folded position of his arms, however, Anakin shook his head in return.

"Don't be - it was an instinctive response as Master Vandar said," he responded, a small smile of amusement gracing his lips as he spotted the surprise in the other Jedi. Maintaining his attention on Bastila, however, he tilted his head in thought. "Consider this a learning experience - what was it that set you off? Was it losing the duel?" he continued. He managed to catch a glimpse of Master Zhar, the Twilek's eyes having been fixated on Anakin for a while - though the Jedi kept quiet even as they all heard Bastila clear her throat.

One look in her direction told Anakin everything he needed to know; she was struggling to speak openly about what it was that was weighing down on her mind.

"Would it make it easier if we spoke in private?" he asked, not looking to hide his words. It visibly took Bastila aback, but when her gaze fell to the other Masters present among them. Anakin could see Kavar and Vandar ready to argue against the question, but to his own shock, Master Zhar spoke up first.

"Maybe it would be for the best - perhaps crowding young Bastila will only prove to be counterproductive," he suggested, before looking to Master Kavar. Unable to see his face as a result, Anakin managed to see Zhar motion to the Master, before they looked to Master Vandar as they seemed to agree on something in silence. Turning back to Anakin, Zhar nodded in finality. "I must discuss something with the rest of the council, Anakin…speak with Bastila and see if perhaps you can reach out to her, she seems much more willing to speak to you. Perhaps there is something that you can connect to with her that we cannot," he spoke, before they all left in tandem. As they did so, Master Kavar signaled for the others to leave the two of them alone - guiding everybody away.

No sooner had they left their line of sight, when Anakin turned to Bastila.

Still looking to avoid his gaze, she kept her head down.

Honestly, she looked like a child who had just been scolded and disciplined and as now left feeling helpless - or perhaps that was precisely what she felt like. He knew that feeling all too well, he knew the ocean of conflict that it left behind.

"I failed the Jedi," she murmured beneath her breath, only just barely audible.

Anakin shook his head.

"Losing control of one's emotions is not failure in itself; that only rests in refusing acknowledge the root of the problem and thereby never seeking to fix it. Turning a blind eye is what truly accounts as failing the Jedi," he responded, finally causing Bastila to drag her eyes up to meet his. There was a brief moment of vulnerability that crossed her eyes, before understanding found its way to the surface midst her dark orbs. As if something was pulling towards him, Anakin offered up a weak smile. "And yes, I speak from personal experience," he added.

Bastila held her gaze for a moment, before letting out a long held sigh.

"But that goes against the what the Order has all taught us; a Jedi should never succumb to anger or hate, to their doubts and sorrow. To even allow that to happen is seen as a weakness by the council, and a sign that one is not yet ready for their trials to Knighthood - I'm already twenty years of age, and I am still a Padawan that has not even been asked if she is ready for those trials," she pointed out, her fists clenching slowly as the anger bubbled its way back onto the surface.

Rather than call her out on it and ask her to calm down, Anakin merely nodded.

"And that makes you angry, perhaps not even with the council, but yourself? Or maybe both?" he asked, as he watched Bastila scowl deeply, nodding.

"I'm supposed to be a Jedi but not just any Jedi, I am always told that I have an amazing gift for Battle Meditation. Every time there is a large battle that the Republic and Jedi Order consider vital, I'm always sent to bolster our forces, I'm always sent to simply sit down and meditate - even as I sense the numbers dwindle and Republic pilots die off in war, I'm always told to sit down and meditate…yet they sent me to take down Revan. So, I thought, perhaps I could test myself against you - I wanted to see if perhaps I actually was special as they say, or if I'm just another Jedi like they have me behaving…and you answered that question rather emphatically with how quickly I was overwhelmed," she seethed, her pacing becoming more forceful. Anakin kept silent, however, content to simply let her spill out every source of her darkness. "Where does it lead to, Anakin? Where? Where do these alleged gifts lead to, if I'm expected to hold onto everything and yet I see nothing come back to me in return?" she demanded, though he knew she wasn't expecting to actually offer her an answer to those question.

Still, that didn't mean he wouldn't try - Bastila was not facing the tribulations Ahsoka faced, she didn't have the qualities that Ahsoka had, but he could also see that Ahsoka didn't face the pressures that Bastila had. A part of him wanted to say that Bastila's issues reminded him of his own as a Padawan, but that also seemed like a simplistic way of viewing things. He wouldn't make the mistake of confusing the two and then trying to apply the wrong form of help and support.

Even if it meant he was throwing himself into waters he had never swam before.

I wish you were here, Obi-Wan, it feels like you'd be my only hope, he mused in silence.

For a brief moment, almost felt a soft breeze, but he wrote it off as his imagination.

"I don't know, Anakin," whispered Bastila, before she waved a hand in exasperation and defeat. "I don't know what to make of any of it - I know it isn't right to feel this way according to the code, but I do, I do and...and I don't know what to make of it," she finished. Anakin uncrossed his arms and placed them at his hips as he stood next to her in silence for a few seconds, before he ultimately spoke up.

"Sometimes we have questions that nobody else can give us answers to, and sometimes we can't even answer those questions ourselves…at least not right then and there," he replied, thinking carefully on each word he gave the younger woman. It was actually strange to think that she was only two years younger than him, or rather than his current state. "However, the best thing you can do is to simply take a step back and allow yourself a wider scope of what it is that you're facing. Accept what you're feeling and try to understand what you could do to help yourself handle those thoughts and sentiments - it could be as simple as meditating on them or confiding in somebody, so that you can let express them in a manner that isn't…ah, well, destructive…not just to yourself, but others," he trailed off, a few memories returning as him as he recalled the sound of the sandpeople's screams and the panicked cries at the Jedi Temple.

Even if it had been years, the sounds did haunt him - they weren't something you could just move on from, even if people around you forgave you.

"Being a Jedi is not about avoiding any and all emotions; it is about facing your emotions, the good and the bad, and learning to understand and overcome them properly," he continued, sweeping his own thoughts back. He would have to face them as well, but he'd need time to that especially with how much there was to unpack.

"...will that solve it all, though?" asked Bastila, somewhat quietly.

Anakin thought for a moment, before he shook his head.

"Not everything, no, but it'll certainly help things seem less frightening and difficult. You'll at least be able to see things with a clearer mind, and hopefully avoid most of the pitfalls that you otherwise would've fallen into," he answered her, not looking to hide the truth of it.

Bastila said nothing for a few minutes, but ultimately closed her eyes and nodded, although Anakin could still feel the conflict within her even if he could also sense her slowly sifting through each emotion and allowing her thoughts to settle. When a few seconds of silence had passed, she gave him an appreciative bow of her head.

"Thank you for listening…and I'm sorry for what I did," she repeated, before visibly hesitating to get a few more words out. Once she seemed to have found them, however, Anakin furrowed his brow in bemusement. "Whoever you trained before this, they had a good and compassionate master to mentor them."

Zhar had never been one for the internal politics of the Jedi High Council; he'd always been the kind of Twilek who believed that you needed to be present and to see the situation unfold in person, before you could make a decision on it. While there was a certain sense of achievement and respect that came with knowing that you had a seat at the most admired position within the Order, it did not come without its drawbacks.

The first of which was the fact that it took much of your time to sit through long and arduous meetings, which slowly removed you from the very Order itself - you didn't go on missions as much as before nor did you have nearly enough time to train others. In may ways, the very things that led you to earn that seat were the very things the seat itself stripped from you - it was why he'd never once even contemplated accepting it, even if he'd been a Master for quite a long time.

Had he been as removed from the Order as either Vandar or Kavar had been, he would not have noticed the interactions between Bastila and their newest arrival, Anakin.


As he sat stood far off into the distance, hiding himself near a tree that he'd perched his shoulder against, he could sense the rising darkness in Bastila - however, that was short lived as the young man eased whatever was troubling her with an admirable quickness. There was still much to worry about within her, but he had yet to meet somebody who bonded so deeply with the young woman in such a brief span of time.

"...he seems to be a positive influence for her," commented Kavar, his piercing gaze also locked onto the pair of young Jedi. There was an almost wistful look on his face, though. "For somebody nearly half my age, he seems wise beyond his years. Do you think we should look into his claim, though?"

Zhar let the question float around his mind for a moment, his arms folded as he rested the side of his head against the tree trunk. He still didn't quite believe the tale that young Anakin had told the four of them, yet as he reached out and tried to sense for any potential deceit and trickery, he came up with nothing. He could only sense…balance in the Force, powerful and intense like the storms of Manaan, yet tranquil like the winds of Dantooine.

"...it would not be something to bring up lightly, but…perhaps it would be best to first visit the archives and see if you can uncover something that may provide aid with verifying his claims?" he asked, making the suggestion known to Kavar. "After all, if this World Between Worlds is real, than there is a chance that it could be at the Jedi Temple, forgotten to the sands of time," he added.

Kavar hummed in thought, before finally allowing a sigh to escape.

"It would certainly look better if I made the trip to Coruscant to scour the Jedi library, rather than immediately show up to make bold claims about inter-dimensional travel," he stated. After a moment, he nodded. "I'll speak to Anakin and inform him that it will be a week before I can bring this before the council - during that time I wish to see how Bastila develops under his tutelage, even if it is only a brief as a week. One can lie about what they have seen or done, but they cannot lie about their character - I have no way of verifying his tales as they currently stand, but I can at least measure how much I can trust his personal word as Jedi," he finished.

Zhar nodded as he watched Anakin and Bastila walk off; the latter clearly lost in thought as to whatever Anakin was telling her.

"The Force does have an interesting way of dropping surprises into one's lap, I suppose," he mused, earning a quiet grunt from Kavar.