6:47
Author's Note: This is basically cracky horror. Idk what that means, but that's what this is. :D This is a gift for Superstary56 on ao3. :)
~ Amina Gila
Something is changing in the Force. That's what drags Anakin to consciousness – something is wrong. He hasn't sensed a disturbance this massive in a long time, maybe ever. The Force has grown steadily more chaotic throughout the war, but not like this.
Something's wrong, and Anakin can't quite place what it is. Maybe it's just that it feels too... empty somehow, though that doesn't make any sense.
When Anakin first came to Coruscant, he had a migraine for weeks as he tried to adjust to the massive energy shift while opening himself to the Force. It was overwhelming to be somewhere with so many people, to constantly feel so many emotions at once. It'd been so hard to reach into the Force for a while, aside from how he closed himself off when he was younger, to keep hidden while in slavery.
If the Hutts knew, it... wouldn't have been good.
Instinctively, as he always does when he's worried or uncertain, Anakin reaches for Obi-Wan... only to reach nothing. He can't feel him. He doesn't feen anything at all, which shouldn't be possible.
His bond with Obi-Wan is the first one he consciously remembers forming, the one that's glowed more brilliantly than any other. How can it not be there?! How could it just be gone?
Anakin pushes himself upright, heart pounding. Something is wrong. Very, very wrong – it's as though Obi-Wan just disappeared, as though he were never there. If he died, Anakin would have felt their bond ripping apart, but he didn't.
And he has no idea what it means.
Anakin reaches for Ahsoka next, because she's got to be out there and panicking as much as he is right now. He has to find her and make sure she's safe.
There's nothing. Ahsoka isn't here, either, and that's when the panic really sets in. He feels nothing. No one. Not Padme, not the Chancellor, not Rex, not Echo or Fives or any of the boys he's spent enough time around to form a dim bond with.
It's completely empty, almost as though Anakin can't feel the Force anymore.
He tried closing himself off sometimes when he was young, when he was so overwhelmed he couldn't do anything, but it never helped. It never changed anything, and eventually, Anakin just learned to deal with it. That couldn't be what happened now, though something is definitely wrong.
Whether it's something that happened to everyone he knows, or to him that made him somehow cut off from the Force, Anakin has no idea. It was always Anakin's Force-sensitivity that made him so important, so useful, and he can't – can't just have that gone.
He hates it sometimes, but it's a part of who he is, and – Force.
Anakin kicks off his blanket, stumbling into the hall.
It's quiet. There's nothing, and he doesn't even see the mouse droids occasionally rolling by. Did something happen, or is he just paranoid?
He's terrified, if Anakin is being fully honest with himself, and instincts tell him to go to Obi-Wan first for comfort, but Ahsoka is his padawan, his responsibility, and he needs to check on her first.
He starts walking, trying to ignore how fast his heart is hammering or the fact that it feels like something's watching him.
Anakin's eyes jump to the nearest chrono to check the time, just in case it's really too early for Jedi to be moving around. He's in the humanoid part of the Temple – they have more than one sleeping area, and there is one specialized for nocturnal species, but none of them are around here.
6:47. It's early, though it's summertime, so the sun is already rising.
Something about the number sends a shiver down Anakin's spine.
He can't understand it, but there's something...
Anakin pulls out his comm, calling Obi-Wan.
There's no answer, and his fear only skyrockets.
Something is watching him, and Anakin twists around, but there's nothing there. He – he might just need to go to his master's room. Or Ahsoka's. They have to be there. They can't have just vanished, even if it certainly feels like it. That doesn't happen.
Coruscant should never be so quiet. The Temple should never be so quiet. It was intentionally built to be soundproof just to keep down the noise with the well over ten thousand people who live within its walls, and that's not to mention the constant ruckus outside. Maybe he's just overthinking it, and he needs to get moving.
He does.
He tries.
He's made the trek to Obi-Wan's room a million times before, but Anakin could swear something's watching him. Whenever he reaches into the Force to try to find it, it skirts out of his reach, but there's something. Something malevolent is out there, and it's making his skin crawl.
Anakin still hasn't seen anyone when he finally arrives in Obi-Wans quarters and types in the passcode. The door slides open... but there's no one there. It looks the same as it always has, though it doesn't even feel like Obi-Wan.
It just feels empty, and the situation is so very wrong. He doesn't make any sense. Is he losing his mind?
This doesn't make any sense.
Anakin heads to Ahsoka's room next, and it's been a while – always takes a while to move from one place to the next, even if their rooms are still close.
Ahsoka's quarters are in the area of... younger padawans, and they should definitely be up and around right now, but she's not there. Was there some kind of meeting or – or something that Anakin didn't know about? That couldn't be right. Even if it was, they'd still be answering him, and he could still feel them.
Something happened to them, and Anakin has no idea what.
It's still so quiet, and why aren't there even any droids around?
He thinks, briefly, about eating, but he doesn't have nearly an appetite to, so he heads for the Room of One Thousand Fountains instead. That's the one place that should give him calm, that he should be able to find some answers.
Anakin freezes in the doorway.
There's no one there.
It's completely empty, and this is the one place in the Temple that is never empty. It shouldn't – Force. What's happening?!
Anakin twists around, expecting to see something behind him, but there's nothing. All he sees instead is the chrono.
6:47.
What?! Is he losing his mind, or is that the exact same time it said when he first left his room earlier?
Anakin is trapped here, completely alone, and he has no idea what's happening. This is wrong. Something must be happening, though he doesn't hear explosions or feel death like he ought to. No, there's just a dead, aching, empty nothing.
A shiver snakes down his spine, and Anakin crosses his arms in a desperate attempt to chase out the cold. He has no idea what's happening, and he's stuck here all alone. He used to prefer being alone to company, because he never really knew anyone and has never really had any friends, but not like this.
Not being stuck on the most populated planet in the galaxy with no one else around. He's twenty-one, and a Jedi, and he shouldn't get so overwhelmed by fear, but he can't –
He just wants everything to start making sense again.
Focus. He has to think clearly, be reasonable. He's worked out ridiculous odds on the battlefield, but somehow, this loneliness is even more terrifying than fighting any droid or Sith. No matter what happened to him, he knew there were still others out there, people who would try to make things right and help him if he needed it.
Here? There's nothing, no way home, no one to help or to help him.
Something is clearly happening, and it still feels as though something's watching him. It doesn't make any sense, though, because he can't sense anything concrete in the Force. It's like the same moment being replayed over and over, and Anakin is used to the feeling of malevolent eyes watching him, but he always knew where and who it was.
On Tatooine, it was always Watto hovering over him, wings beating, and Anakin could always hear and feel where he was, even if he was out of Anakin's line of sight. If it wasn't Watto, it was another slaver that Anakin had been loaned out to, to fix something. It was never like this, where he couldn't see or hear or sense anything. He keeps looking, and sometimes it almost feels like there's something nearby, something behind one of the fountains, but when he steps closer, there's nothing.
He needs to figure out what's happening or how widespread this is. If Anakin is the only Jedi left – he doesn't want to think about what that means – he needs to get to the bottom of this and find something to fix it.
A Separatist attack shouldn't have caused something like this, and it makes Anakin wonder if there's something far more sinister going on, but he doesn't really know. He needs to go outside.
It's like all the Jedi just disappeared, though that can't be right, because Anakin can't even sense their presences.
The trek to the hangar isn't long, and he has to forcibly suppress the urge to check the chrono again. Until he figures something out, it doesn't matter how much time is or isn't passing.
There are no droids nearby, though the hangar doors are still the same when Anakin climbs into his speeder and fires it up. That, at least, is still working, and he finds he really, really misses Artoo. At least if he had the droid here, it'd make him less lonely.
Outside, the early morning sunlight floods through the glass of the speeder. Anakin has an enclosed one, because Obi-Wan insisted, not that Anakin cares either way. The sun is just over the horizon, and sunrises are always beautiful, but it's already been a while since Anakin got up. It shouldn't be that low still. It must've been at least half an hour so far.
And what really catches his attention is how there's no speeders around. There's nothing. The power was working in the Temple, though, which must mean there's still power on-planet.
This is wrong. Something is wrong, because he cannot be here all alone, though he – he is.
He doesn't see anyone. There's not a single speeder or sound other than his own.
But there was still power, so he needs to... go to the power center to see what's happening. If it's running, which it must be, there has to be someone there.
The sun isn't rising at all, trapped in the same place as Anakin flies the speeder through the once-streets.
He wishes someone were here.
If Ahsoka was here, they'd be joking about how there aren't any police droids, so they could fly wherever they want, and they'd probably do it, too. With Ahsoka, everything is easier, lighter, even if he's always so afraid of failing his duty of protecting her.
If Obi-Wan were here, he wouldn't feel so lost. He could at least find something to start with, and the same is true for everyone else. The gaping emptiness in Anakin's mind is unnerving, and it's freaking him out almost as much as the quiet.
The power is up and running as it always is, but there's nothing inside. It's running as if of its own accord, as if nothing is happening at all, though technology literally isn't that advanced. Droids do this, but there are no droids here.
Anakin walks out five times faster than he went in.
Something is very, very wrong here.
It's past not normal by now, and Anakin just desperately wishes he knew where someone was and what's happening. It's like something drained all the life out of Coruscant, but that can't be right, because the droids should still be here. They're gone, too, though, and Anakin tries comming Obi-Wan and Ahsoka and even Rex a few times, just to see if they pick up.
If something went wrong and Coruscant was evacuated for some reason, be it natural disaster or Separatist attack, Anakin would have been told, would've heard the ships, and for that matter, the power wouldn't be running on its own.
The glaring red numbers of 6:47 on the chrono send a chill snaking down his spine, and Anakin takes off. He doesn't want to look or know what it is about that number, and why isn't the time changing?! It's said the same thing the past three times he looked.
Anakin pauses outside his speeder, whipping out his lightsaber when he sees the shadow again. It's gone when he turns, as it always is. There's nothing there, no real danger in the Force, but he could still swear there's something about to jump out at him.
Something is out there, and Force, he wants everything to just go back to normal. This is maddening, but he needs someone, to find someone and see what's really happening.
If he can't find anyone on Coruscant – somehow – and a part of him almost wants to go into the Underworld just to verify, but he's far too afraid of the shadow to do so – the best chance Anakin has at figuring out what's happening is by checking the holonews, if it'll work at all.
500 Republica looks completely empty and bare, not to mention downright foreboding when Anakin goes there. He and Padme would occasionally watch things together there, and sometimes Ahsoka was there, too, and they'd laugh at some of the outrageous things being reported.
It brings so many good memories, but everything in Padme's apartment is bare and untouched. It looks the same, but it still feels like something's wrong – though that could just as well be the fact that no one's here.
Idly, it occurs to him that everyone else here could be trapped in something similar. Anakin can't help wondering if this is real or some nightmare, but it feels too real to just be a dream. He's certain there's a shadowy figure watching him, but it's not there when he looks right at it.
When he tries checking the holonews, the screen goes static, and Anakin lets out a sigh of frustration.
He so desperately wants everything to go back to normal, wants everyone to come back. Anakin can't stop expecting to see Padme here, or maybe even Ahsoka or Dorme or someone else, but nothing.
It's like something happened to Coruscant, and Anakin needs to contact someone else off-planet. There has to be someone out there, he thinks half-hysterically, but he thought the same when he went to the Room of One Thousand Fountains earlier, too.
There wasn't anyone around then, and nor is there now.
There's a ridiculous, childish part of him that wants to cry, but that won't help fix anything, so Anakin pushes himself up and heads out.
He doesn't want to leave it alone, because it feels so dead and empty, but there are... other things more important.
Anakin doesn't really know anyone off-planet, but he tries sending a message for some of the Cruisers he knows are away from Coruscant. The comms immediately gets staticky, though, refusing to send an off-world transmission. Almost like they've been jammed.
Maybe Anakin was wrong, and there is an attack on Coruscant. It makes the most sense. That, or the Sith did something. He needs to go up to see.
Fear is gnawing at him, but Anakin tries his best to tap it down no matter how nearly impossible it is. He flies to the 501st cruiser, which is currently on-planet, and goes in search of his fighter. Seeing it and not having Artoo here tears another empty hole in his heart, but there's nothing Anakin can do except get inside and take off.
He has to open the hangar manually, and it's a little taxing to have to go everywhere and do it himself when there's no one else around, but he doesn't have time to worry about it.
Everything is so quiet, and Anakin can only be relieved by the fact that machinery still makes sound. The loneliness is enough to drive him crazy, assuming he isn't already. He has to wonder. None of this makes sense.
Anakin fires up the ship and takes off. He angles the fighter upwards, as always, except it just passes what he estimates to be the top of the Temple – the highest building on Coruscant – before the controls just... shut down. The engine turns off, and it drops into freefall.
He has no idea why, or what's happening, because Anakin already checked the entire thing over, and the whole thing was functioning fine. It was fully operational, so what?! His heart is hammering as he struggles to regain control of the thing. It's his fighter, and Anakin knows it's ins and outs by heart. He's done a lot of customizations on it, and it shouldn't just quit working.
Nothing about this is adding up.
The engine starts up only seconds before he could go through the dome of the Senate building, and Anakin brings it into a rough crash on a nearby landing platform.
For a few moments, he just sits there, heart still pounding.
Force.
What is he supposed to do?!
He's never been this lost and confused before. Anakin has no idea what's happening, and hard as he tries, he can't even feel Qui-Gon's distantly elusive presence, which is always nearby, no matter how hard it can be to reach sometimes.
Anakin has never felt this lost before, not in all his time as a Jedi or all his time... anywhere. He's been through nerve-wracking experiences before, but he always knew what to do. He always knew that he'd have to get back to Obi-Wan, no matter what was happening, or to Ahsoka or his mother depending on the time. He's never been entirely alone.
After several minutes of sitting there, Anakin fires up the fighter again. He's survived many crashes, and he doesn't need to worry about hurting anyone if he hits a building by accident. He flies it back to the cruiser, and it shuts off the moment he lands, before he even has a chance to turn it off.
Anakin climbs out of his fighter, trying to power up another ship. Nothing happens. The same is true for the next, and the next, and he finally gives up on fighters and heads for the bridge.
The engines don't work there, either. Something shut down the ships, and they won't work, even if they're fully fueled and all. It doesn't make sense. Nothing about this does.
He has no idea what to do, or how long it'll take for him to find a way out of here.
There must be something he can do to get out of this nightmare, and it's on pure instinct that he finds himself heading to the Senate building, even if there's no point. Palpatine isn't there, and he won't be able to offer support the way he always used to.
There might be something at the Temple, but Anakin is admittedly afraid to go back there. It still feels like something's watching him, though it feels slightly safter in the speeder where there literally can't be anything behind him.
The walk to Palpatine's office is pointless, but it still feels like he needs it somehow. There was a comfort here, something grounding that he's lacking everywhere now.
It's not until he goes there that Anakin feels something for the first time. The Temple felt Light, though it was in a very distant, different way as if the Jedi were never there. Here, there's something... dark.
Anakin steps inside, ignoring how it feels wrong to be here without being called. There's something wrong in here and he needs to know what it is. He can feel it, no matter how dim and distant it is. It's the Dark Side, and it calls to him. It's not from... someone, so it must be something.
He tracks it to... an off to the side doorway, one Anakin wouldn't have known was there if he wasn't looking so hard. It still feels intrusive, but it's something dark, and it gives him something to think about. If something is or was threatening the Chancellor, he needs to know.
Why are there Sith artifacts in here?!
If Anakin ever manages to make it out of here, he needs to see if this is really true or if he is, in fact, completely losing his mind. Anakin has no idea what it means, but obviously not anything good.
Anakin's eyes fall on the chrono in the room before he can make a beeline out the door.
6:47.
He finds himself instinctively backing away from it and running for the door. Force. He needs to stop looking at the time. It hasn't changed all this time, and it's certainly not about to. The sun's position isn't changing, either – staying the same golden orange color.
He wants to go home so badly. If there's anything or anyone with real answers, it's going to be the Archives in the Temple, but Anakin has no idea if this has ever happened before. He certainly hasn't heard of it before.
He wishes Obi-Wan was here, or Ahsoka or Padme or Rex or – or just someone. It wouldn't even matter if it wasn't someone he knew or was someone he hated, as long as he wasn't trapped on the planet completely alone.
Anakin wants to – to get out of here.
He can't even think about the time without it making his skin crawl.
The Archives are so large and empty it almost makes him want to go back to his room and start tinkering, just to get away from it, but he needs to focus. As long as he doesn't see the time again.
Anakin is almost entirely certain something's watching him again, though he still doesn't sense anything. He has no idea why it isn't stopping. Is he really the only one here, or can he just not see them? He can't hear them either, though, and it isn't... it doesn't make any sense.
**w**
He must've spent hours in the Archives. Anakin stays there, until he's frustrated to tears and just leaves. There's no point staying there if he can't focus, and unsure where else to go, he heads back to his room.
It feels like it should've been about a day by now, but he wouldn't really know. If not for what was happening, he wouldn't mind a break from the stress of war, but this is much worse. He catches sight of the chrono and dumps his cloak over it so he won't have to look.
Obi-Wan would probably grumble about it, but Anakin quite frankly doesn't even care right now. Something about those numbers is wrong and terrifying, and yeah, it sounds crazy, but it chills him whenever he sees it.
And being obsessively afraid is getting increasingly annoying, and exhausting.
Anakin curls up on the floor by his bed, eyeing his workbench. He's almost afraid to touch anythin, just in case it doesn't work. He doesn't know what'll change anything.
Maybe what he actually needs is to go to the healers wing and try scanning himself to make sure he's not crazy.
...
Not as if that's even possible, anyway.
He has no idea what to do.
You literally cannot scan those things.
At least Anakin doesn't exactly think so. Could be wrong though. None of this makes sense, and he doesn't know what to do.
There's a faint shuffling, and he turns to see his cloak sliding onto the floor. It was supposed to be covering the numbers on the chrono, and for the record? It shouldn't be able to just move.
The numbers are staring back at him now, and Anakin would really, really like to get out of this creepy nightmare. He wants to run, but there's nowhere to go, nowhere that he can get out of this. The numbers are the same, and something is wrong with them and –
They've been the same this entire time, and that's when a crazy thought occurs to him. It's a little outrageous, and insane, but maybe worth a try? Anakin doesn't know, but there's not much left to lose here anyway.
It isn't as though there's anyone to lose, except him, and that won't matter if he's the only person left in the galaxy.
If he's trapped in a Sith trap of sorts, he has to... change something to break it, or at least try to.
Anakin stands, tugging his cloak on and wrapping it around himself in a desperate effort to dispel the cold.
He moves to the chrono, trying his best to not stare at the forever unchanging numbers, though that's hard when all his mind will do is continue fiercely registering that as the primary threat in the room.
A shiver prickles down his spine at the still-present sensation of eyes though there's still nothing there. It's an unseen shadow, following him everywhere, just like these stupid numbers.
Anakin turns the chrono around, studying the back of it. He's tinkered with it as all machines before, and he knows how it works. They mostly hook into a central system to give information, but they have their own internal time, and he can disconnect that easily. And with that cut off, he can turn the thing's time forwards, though considering how outrageous this is, it's hard to tell if that'll work.
It takes a while, but time is meaningless, so Anakin doesn't worry about that. He's getting... somewhat worn out, but he has other things to worry about.
Mainly getting out of here and figuring out what in the galaxy this is all about, anyway.
The chrono beeps loudly when he changes the 6 to 7, and he hesitantly turns it around again to see what it says.
The beeping continues, and the numbers are flashing disturbingly, blinking in and out of sight.
It still says 6:47.
The black background starts flashing white, like an error warning or something, and Anakin steps back as it starts sparking, accompanied with frantic beeping. Uh. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea, after all. It looks like it's about to explode, and he doesn't have a chance to think past that before it does, exploding into a blinding ball of white light.
**w**
The ceiling is white when Anakin opens his eyes, and he shoves himself upright the moment he remembers what just happened. The Force feels – everything feels normal again.
Obi-Wan is the next person who comes into view, expression pinched with concern. Anakin has no idea how long he's been trapped with an eternity of nothingness, but he doesn't have the mindset to care right now as he leans forwards, yanking his master into a hug.
Obi-Wan makes an ungraceful, startled yelp, and Ahsoka snorts on Anakin's other side. "I didn't expect such a warm awakening," he grumbles, attempting and failing to pry Anakin off.
"You okay?" Ahsoka queries, and Anakin feels the light touch of her hand on his shoulder. Anakin lets go of Obi-Wan, twisting to face her.
"Yeah," he answers automatically, even if it's a lie, reaching to hug her, too. Ahsoka climbs half into his lap to hug him back. She's still so small, and he's missed her. "What happened?" Now that he's calm enough to actually look around, he's in the medbay, which never means anything good, but he'd much rather be here than nowhere at all.
Ahsoka shrugs. "No idea. I thought you were sleeping late, then I found you in your room."
"You could find me?" he asks, and it sounds ridiculous but after being the only person on Coruscant, he's entitled to wonder.
"Evidently, you slipped through a hole in reality," Obi-Wan says, "Though I can't say how it happened. It took Master Yoda and half the Council to pull you out."
"That explains a few things," Anakin admits, settling back. Ahsoka stays beside him even when they let go of each other, and he keeps an arm around her, desperate for warmth and something. He feels her rose petal soft presence, feels Obi-Wan's familiar rain, and Padme's warm honey-like presence, and Rex's earthy one, and so many of the others he knows.
Everyone. They're all here, alive, safe.
"What happened?" Obi-Wan asks a bit warily.
"I don't know," Anakin replies, "But I was trapped here, and there was no one else around." On hindsight, the entire thing sounds so absolutely ridiculous, and so obvious that it was just a nightmare or something, but it certainly felt real, and he's still a bit... shaken up from it.
It was creepy.
Ahsoka shudders. "That sounds like a nightmare."
"It was." Anakin usually just has visions, but sometimes apparently, that's not true. Or maybe it was an alternate reality-something. Either way, it doesn't really matter what it was, as long as that's not happening here too.
Obi-Wan steps closer, touching his shoulder, and Anakin instantly leans into it. He needs the comfort, needs it from Obi-Wan. "Are you aware of a Sith trap you could have triggered?" he inquires.
That reminds him... "No, but that reminds me," Anakin says, shifting a little. "When I was here, I... saw something. I went to Palpatine's office when I was waiting, and there were... some Sith artifacts in there? I have no idea if that's true here, too, or what it means."
Obi-Wan steps back, a worried expression on his face. "That... does not mean anything good."
"Yeah," Anakin agrees, "Maybe I should go there and... see if everything's okay." He feels awkward about it, but really? If something's wrong, he needs to figure it out. If someone close to the Chancellor is a Sith, they need to find out and deal with it before anything... goes badly.
"First," Ahsoka reminds, elbowing him, "I think you should sleep. Actually sleep."
No arguing that.
"Will you stay?" Anakin asks, almost shyly.
"It's nighttime," Ahsoka replies flatly, "We spent the entire day trying to drag you back to the right galaxy. I'm not going anywhere."
"Well," Obi-Wan muses, "Aside from how the healers should check you over before anything else happens, it wouldn't hurt. I can tell the Council of your findings in the morning."
Anakin nods, squeezing his master's hand when Obi-Wan touches it.
He'll be fine. It'll be fine. Even if he very badly wants to talk to a very long list of people before he can properly reassure himself that everything is fine, that can wait until morning. He's gotten unfortunately good at waiting.
Still, he doesn't really think he'll be looking at a chrono again in a long while.
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