STAR WARS {Dreams}
Trust of the teacher.
Neal Caffrey was twelve and coming of age. If he wasn't chosen as a padawan before his thirteenth birthday, it would be too late.
His only hope lay with Master Peter Burke, a man who refused to take on a padawan after he'd been betrayed by his previous one, Jimmy Burger.
After getting into a fight with another student, one Matthew Keller, he found himself sent away from the temple where he'd grown up. He was to be a farmer on a distant and virtually desolate planet called Bandomeer.
Before he left, he had his final counsel with a little green creature named Master Mozzie. The wise old one told him that he felt there would be a kinder future for him, but that he must carry out the mission he'd been assigned.
It was a difficult transition from the bustling city planet of New York to the remote Bandomeer, but he survived through an initial partnership with Master Burke.
The senior Jedi still refused to accept him as a padawan despite how their missions continued to overlap.
It seemed almost blurry to him how quickly things transitioned through adventures from the core of Bandomeer where Burke accepted him as a padawan to another world called Melida/Daan where his loyalties were conflicted.
Her name was Kate, and she was beautiful, intelligent, a leader… but ultimately, dead. She was killed to start aninsurgence against the leadership in a power grab and she died in his arms.
Unfortunately, he'd left the Jedi to help her, so it was a question if Peter would take him on a second time. Especially since he'd been reluctant the first time and he'd betrayed him after all.
However, Jimmy made an appearance by making a run at the temple, their beloved Federal building was nearly destroyed which created a means for him to work with Master Burke again.
It took another series of adventures for Peter to decide to take him back and for them to rebuild their bond.
Then life seemed to become a pattern of missions. Cases where he stood side by side with Peter facing whatever foe came their way. It wasn't easy, but they made a difference.
Everything seemed to be taking a predictable route until one day a mission began to seem familiar, and he sensed that it wasn't going to end well.
This was confirmed when he saw Peter take a lightsaber through his middle at the hands of Darth Kramer, a being who was eager to separate them.
Jerking awake, he went from looking down into his arms at his master as his mind came to terms with Peter's death to looking up as the man stood over him shaking his shoulder.
"Wake up, Neal. We have a case." Peter was all business even though he was kind enough to wake him gently.
"I hate you all… and I hate Bryce most of all." Neal rubbed his eyes sleepily.
"Who's Bryce?" Peter jumped straight to the most curious part, the strange name.
"Why do you hate us?"Mozzie had a different point of curiosity as he sat on the edge of the bed.
"I blame him for putting all of this Star Wars stuff in my head, and I blame the lot of you talking about the latest movies for making me dream about it," Neal grumbled as he got up.
"What role did I play?" Mozzie looked eager to see where he'd be in a Jedi world.
"You were Yoda… Peter was Qui-Gon, and I believe I was supposed to be Obi-Wan." He moved through the back hall to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Behind him, he could hear his friend discussing his dream.
"That suits me, a Jedi Master… I always knew you were the imp on his shoulder." Peter was amused.
"An imp I'd rather be than a Sith. At least Yoda I am… hmm, old and wise, yes." Mozzie was having way too much fun.
Trust of the student.
He was awake enough to know that he was dreaming, but the emotions only drew him deeper, making it harder to differentiate between reality and the dream.
It was a dark and dingy world… a place where crime reigned and those who fought for justice and the law were the enemy. However, his concerns weren't about the lowlifes of the planet… He was there for a child, a little prince.
Finding his way through the underbelly, he discovered a cell and managed to elude the foes guarding it to release the child. Then they fled through the city.
After discovering that they needed to change their appearance, Peter rolled his eyes as the little prince Neal was determined to get gloves. Not that he needed them, but for some reason, the child had decided and he was too stubborn to be dissuaded.
Then when they'd rearranged their wardrobes to help them blend into their environment better, he took the little prince to a back alley. He hoped the child would stay put allowing him to arrange transport off of the planet.
The plan was to get out of the predicament that they were in and return home… meaning, that he was going to take the prince back to where he belonged so that he could return to his own home.
Unfortunately, the child caught site of one of the wanted notices and decided that he was instrumental in the kidnapping that had drug the kid on a galactic adventure. So, like any intelligent and capable kid, the child had taken off running weaving through the crowded streets until he nearly lost sight of him.
Pursuing, he was reluctant to show himself, to use the full capacity of his skills, despite being rusty at them anyway, for fear of drawing too much attention. It was risky on this lawless world as it was and he didn't want to generate any more complications than they were already facing.
However, when the little prince fell off of the building in an attempt to leap to the next roof, he had to show his hand and reveal his secret for certain.
Stretching himself physically as he reached towards the falling child, he also stretched himself in another dimension, through the force. It was agonizing to pull that much power and reach, to grab the child and slow his descent before hovering him over the ground. Then with a gentle shift, he set the boy on his feet. Safe in the alley below.
Using the force, he moved in the blink of an eye to be down and around so that by the time the child had turned, he was there.
Now the child believed him.
He really was a Jedi Knight, he really was there to protect him, and he really was a friend.
That made his operation so much easier, at least, as far as the little prince was concerned.
Because not only was he tasked with collecting the child and bringing him home, but he was to do so while evading the grasping claws of his enemies. And there were a lot of them to evade!
His mind began to blur the challenges together so that he wasn't even sure which enemy he'd been facing when or how, just an underlying feeling of stress and anxiety. His fears being realized in his subconscious.
However, then as his brain reached for logic and a conclusion, he found himself stepping off of a spaceship and onto a new world, a beautiful one with larger-than-life mountains and clear waters reflecting them and the sky. He walked up to strange-looking buildings, but he saw three people standing to greet him.
Jones, Diana, and the little prince Neal were waiting for him.
Little Neal was wearing those gloves that he'd insisted upon and now had a cereal box badge on his chest.
He was no longer a little sneak wandering off for his own interest, he was invested in doing the right thing and seeking justice.
Feeling proud, Peter crouched down in front of him and conversed. This Neal was intelligent, capable, and wise beyond his years. And yet, there was a sense of humor, an innocence that kept him pure.
These were the traits that drew him to the little prince he reflected as his mind cleared. He was waking up.
"What is this about a little prince?" Elizabeth's sleepy voice came from beside him.
"Oh, huh." It took him a moment to organize his thoughts as he rubbed his eyes to help clear his mind. "Just a Star Wars dream overlaying Neal. He was a little prince, like Leia, and I was apparently Obi-Wan."
"Concerned about Neal again?" His wife knew him well. There was a reason he was dreaming about his consultant, and the Star Wars theme was a happenstance of their entertainment choice.
"I wish he would trust me, but it's not like I can use the force and catch him when he falls and he'll suddenly realize that I'm telling him the truth… at least, most of the general truth. It wasn't like Obi-Wan told Leia everything, but she's ten years old." He rambled grateful for his wife's patience. "I think my brain was looking for him to trust me and putting forward my fears, what could potentially go wrong if he doesn't… or even if he does."
"It'll be alright, hon. Somehow or another, you'll both deal with whatever comes your way, and trust will just have to be built in the process." She kissed his cheek and patted his arm before changing position in anticipation of going back to sleep.
Settling into a new position himself, he knew that she was right, but it still wasn't easy to get his brain to quiet down and let him resume sleep.
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