Featured Song:
1. "Baby Mine" by Evynne Hollens
Carmine sat underneath the cherry tree that grew by a cliffside by the Temple. He was crying, his head cradled into his knees as Fluffy sat by his side, twitching his nose at his owner. Probably not surprising, but the things Bo-Katan said to him were extremely hurtful.
This wasn't the first time someone insulted Carmine to his face, whether they knew they were talking to him or thought they were telling Anakin how they saw his twin because Carmine didn't have his glasses on.
Carmine had rivers of tears falling from his eyes, and once he started crying, he just couldn't stop.
"See I do, found the heavenly cherry tree of wisdom, you have." Yoda said, approaching with a lantern on his staff.
Carmine gasped.
"Is that what this is?" Carmine quickly stood up and wiped his eyes with a sniffle. "I just thought it was a regular cherry tree."
Yoda didn't need to be a master of the Force to notice the tear stains on Carmine's cheeks.
"Hmm. Crying were you?"
"No..." Carmine lied. He sniffled as more tears filled his eyes. He wanted to cry so bad, but he didn't want to in front of the Grand Master.
"Hold in your tears, you should not. To be ashamed of, crying is not. Why are you crying?"
Carmine looked down for a bit and thought about all that happened earlier. He felt like such a baby; he was a grown man, and here he was crying, feeling pathetic and unable to be the warrior everyone was expecting him to be... or rather not. And then Carmine resumed his weeping.
"No one believes I can do this. I probably sucked worse than anyone in the history of martial arts. In the history of the galaxy! In the history of sucking!"
Carmine cried a little harder.
"You should've seen Anakin though. He did everything so... perfectly. He got through the whole course on his first try and the Five were all so impressed."
"Perfectly, you say?" Yoda said, petting Fluffy's head.
Carmine sighed.
"Anakin's always been the brave one. I'm just a big scaredy cat. How could Master Windu turn me into a dragon warrior? Anakin, I understand, but me? I'm about as useful as wet cardboard. I'm nothing like the Five either. I'm not a fighter. I'm a dancer. What good is that in being a warrior unless fighting a rat king or something?"
Carmine sniffed and picked up Fluffy to hug him.
"A softer one, you are. Gentle you are, in your approach."
"I guess. But I doubt any enemy's gonna be defeated by me hugging or tickling them. Maybe I should just quit and go back to being a cook."
Yoda meditated for a moment and then offered some words of wisdom.
"Quit, don't quit. Cook, don't cook? Too focused are you on what was and what will be."
Carmine looked with what had to be awe in his eyes at Master Yoda. Now that Yoda had Carmine's attention, he spoke again.
"A saying there is. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift.' The present, that's why it is called." Yoda finished with a chuckle.
Yoda tapped the trunk of the tree with his staff, and a pair of cherries fell into Carmine's hand.
Carmine looked at the cherries in his hand and thought about what Yoda said. Maybe he was right; maybe if he just embraced the moment now and gave tomorrow a chance, it would be a better day.
Sighing, Carmine extracted the pit from one cherry and fed the fruit to Fluffy and munched on the other himself before heading back into the Temple, where he ran into Anakin.
"Carmine! There you are!" Anakin sighed with relief. "Where have you been?"
"Crying." Carmine sniffed again. "I think I'm okay now."
Anakin could tell from Carmine's face he wasn't all okay. He hugged his younger brother and took his hand, walking him to their new room.
"Don't pay any mind to what the Five says about you, Carmine." Anakin said. "I know you don't have really any kung fu experience, but that doesn't mean you can't learn. I was a beginner once too."
"Yeah, when you were four." Carmine said. "We're almost nineteen now."
"Better late than never, right?"
Carmine sighed and sat on his bed with a sniff. It felt strange to him now too. A strange new world, a new place to live and sleep. Carmine wasn't sure he could cope. He didn't even know all the rules of bedtimes here, and didn't think he could get to sleep.
"What's the use? In the present, I'm terrible at kung fu, I'm terrified of everything, and I don't know how I'm supposed to be a warrior when I always lose to you in a tickle fight."
"We'll find a way."
Still, Carmine looked sad, and tears threatened to form again. Anakin saw that Carmine was in need of serious comfort; normally, their parents did this kind of thing, but since they weren't here at the moment, he decided to think about what they would do in a situation like this. Talking wasn't enough. But, Anakin remembered a song his mother would always sing to him and Carmine whenever they were afraid. So, Anakin hugged Carmine close and gently swayed with him like their mom always did.
"You remember when we were little? Mom would always hug us like this, close to heart, never to part." Anakin said gently. "And she would always sing that special song."
Anakin:
Baby mine, don't you cry
Baby mine, dry your eyes
Rest your head close to my heart
Never to part, baby of mine, hmm
Little one, when you play
Don't you mind what they say
Let those eyes sparkle and shine
Never a tear, baby of mine
Carmine listened to his older brother sing and started to remember being comforted by his mother as a little boy. Sometimes, his father would aid her in this process, and they would sing to him together. If he had a bad day at school, he was scared by a bad dream, or he fell down and got hurt and was crying from the pain... it didn't matter the reason he was upset; his parents would always comfort him with this song.
If they knew sweet little you
They'd end up loving you too
All those same people who scold you
What they'd give just for the right to hold you
From your head down to your toes
You're not much, goodness knows
But you're so precious to me
Sweet as can be, baby of mine
Hmm-mm
Little by little, Carmine started to feel better as Anakin continued to comfort him.
If they knew sweet little you
They'd end up loving you too
All those same people who scold you
What they'd give just for the right to hold you
From your head down to your toes
You're not much, goodness knows
But you're so precious to me
Sweet as can be, baby of mine
Baby of mine
Baby of mine
And by the time Anakin stopped singing, Carmine was falling asleep too. That song had that effect on both the twins every time.
"Still works." Anakin whispered with a sigh.
Carefully, Anakin lay Carmine down on his pillow, removed his glasses, and pulled the blanket over Carmine before heading to his own bed. Artoo, of course, made himself at home on his master's bed. And both the twins and their pets, all snuggled up in their beds, winded down slowly into a deep, peaceful sleep.
Meanwhile, at Citadel Prison...
Mariverde breathed heavily and from underneath her hood, made a noise that sounded like a very fast clicking, almost buzzing-like tongue to signal the green and black butterfly to flutter with the feather and place it into the key hole. She heard a click of the lock, and buzzed again to have the butterfly push the feather, and then all the sticks that held special keys to the shell that held her all shot out like arrows on a crossbow, and with a mighty cry, she literally broke out of her shell.
"At last!" Mariverde laughed, her cackle echoing throughout the prison.
Except, her arms were still chained.
Jango and Comedia looked over one of the bridges as they were leaving Mariverde's cell, and were both horrified by what they saw.
"Oh no!" Jango exclaimed.
Comedia whinnied in a panic. Jango immediately ordered the guards to fire their crossbows and ready the bug zappers.
Mariverde, however, though no one else could see it, was smirking underneath her hood. This was exactly what she wanted. The guards fired their crossbows, but Mariverde quickly dodged each one until one of their bigger, stronger arrows hit the chain on her right arm, releasing her arm. The guards gasped at what they'd done! Mariverde laughed at them and said, "Thank you, boys. Now I can do this."
Mariverde raised her arm with a blood curdling, inhuman scream as her hand glowed, and several green and black butterflies began to appear from her palm until she got her other arm free.
"Mariverde's free!" Comedia panicked. "I gotta warn the others!"
But Jango grabbed Comedia's tail before she could leave.
"You're not going anywhere and neither is she!" Jango said, amid Comedia's objections. "bring up the lift!"
The lift was... well, lifted. More crossbows were fired, but Mariverde's kung fu training was paying off, and she managed to backfire each one into the wall to use as stairs, and she used the basket of the lift as a shield, or turned the arrows into more butterflies.
All the guards brought out their weapons, boarded doors... they even tried gathering together as a group to block the exit door. But Mariverde dodged everything except that last one... but she wasn't done yet, and neither were the guards.
Jango ordered a guard with a flaming arrow to fire at a part of the ceiling where there were explosives. The ceiling was hit, and the small explosions were strong enough to bring tons of pieces of rubble raining down, but Mariverde was not afraid, even as she fell. She used more of the rubble for stairs, and then finally spread out her large green and black eye-spotted wings as she approached the guards once more with an army of what had to be millions of butterflies!
"Can we run now?" Comedia squeaked.
For once, Jango Fett was afraid too... and quite possibly soiled himself too.
A much bigger explosion destroyed at least half the prison and sent many guards falling into the hot, boiling lava down below. But miraculously, Comedia survived. Before she could fly off though, she was once again grabbed by the tail by who turned out to be none other than Mariverde. Comedia gasped and trembled with fear as she saw the hooded figure, her enormous wings making her appear even bigger as they were spread out.
Mariverde chuckled sinisterly and said, "I'm glad Master Windu sent you."
Mariverde scratched under Comedia's chin with her free hand, which somehow only scared the equine more as she breathed heavily and started to whinny in a panic.
"I was beginning to think I'd been forgotten. Fly back there and tell them... the real Gemini Dragon Warrior, the one and only warrior, is coming home."
Mariverde slapped Comedia on the behind, and sent the alicorn flying in a panic to deliver the message.
The next morning soon came. A bell was bonged for everyone in the Jedi Temple to wake up bright and early.
Master Windu arrived at the Five's quarters. All five warriors came out of their rooms very quickly.
"Good morning, Master!" they said together.
Except, Mace was quick to notice the twins were the only ones to fail to get up on time.
"Anakin? Carmine? Boys!" Mace kicked the door open. "Wake up!"
Somehow, though, the great Master Windu wasn't prepared to be pounced and slobbered on by Artoo.
"Stop it! Bad dog! Plegh!" Mace spat and sputtered, trying to get the dog off him.
Anakin was still asleep, though, at least until he heard Artoo barking.
"Down, Artoo." said Anakin with a yawn. "Morning."
Anakin stretched himself out and Mace picked himself up as the former looked around to see Carmine wasn't in bed.
"Carmine?" Anakin said, seeing his brother and Fluffy were both absent. "Artoo, did you see Carmine get up earlier?"
Artoo whimpered, which signaled a 'no.'
Mace, however, looked happy. "He's quit."
Anakin, however, didn't think that was the case, so he immediately rushed out of the room, not bothering to change out of his pajamas and started calling for Carmine.
"Anakin, don't bother. It appears your brother came to his senses and left last night."
"You don't know Carmine like I do. He would never wander off at night. He's too afraid of the dark to do that." Anakin said. "And you need to give it a rest. Carmine can't help his anxiety any more than Artoo can help wolfing down his food."
Not wanting to hear another peep from Mace, Anakin went on his own to look for Carmine.
Meanwhile, Mace walked the Five back to the training hall to begin training again.
"What do we do now, Master?" Ahsoka asked. "Even if Anakin does stay, who will be the other Gemini Dragon Warrior?"
"All we can do is resume our training and trust that in time, the true Gemini Dragon Warriors will be..." Mace stopped as he heard music from the other side of the gate. Swan Lake, Op.20, Act (Moderato) to be precise. "Playing music?"
Mace then opened the gate and everyone was shocked to see Carmine there, and he was dressed like he was auditioning for a dance company or something and moving very gracefully and practicing being very light on his feet and then getting into a perfect arabesque.
"What are you doing here?!" Mace exclaimed, startling Carmine into nearly falling down.
"Oh! Good morning, Master." Carmine said nervously.
"Were you dancing?"
"I was... I was just warming up...I..."
"Carmine, there you are!" Anakin sighed with relief as he arrived. "Master Koth told me he saw you heading here. I was worried something happened."
"Anakin..." said Mace, getting the elder twin's attention. "Are you aware your brother seems to think this is a royal ball?"
"Carmine may be anxious, but he's not stupid." Anakin said. "Besides, dancing helps his anxiety."
"It's true." Carmine said. "And I've gotten pretty good, if I do say so myself. Ask Ms. Susy."
"Well, combat is not a game of prancing like a happy little unicorn!" Mace said, and he used the Force to throw up two pieces of strong stone, which Padme leaped up and kicked into pieces with a split.
I am so in love with her right now! Anakin thought as he watched Padme.
Anakin kept watching while Carmine was quick to get out of the way and cover his head from the rubble, like he'd learned to do for an earthquake. But, his brother picked up a piece of rubble after it hit the ground.
"Put that down!" Mace demanded. "The only souvenirs we collect here are bloody knuckles and broken bones."
"Uh... by that you mean the blood and broken bones are the enemy's right?" Carmine said nervously.
Mace just smirked and said, "Let's begin." And he snapped his fingers.
Carmine gulped.
The Five gathered to do one on one with each of the twins. Bo-Katan went first. Not surprisingly, both of them were strong fighters, but Bo-Katan managed to sweep Anakin off his feet and onto his back when he got cocky.
"That was awesome!" Anakin said despite the defeat.
"Your turn, Glasses." Mace said.
"Will you please stop calling me Glasses?!" Carmine said impatiently.
"Focus on your opponent. Begin!"
Bo-Katan got into her ready stance, finding this opponent to be child's play.
"Alright, Four-Eyes," said Bo-Katan. "Let's do this!"
"Hey, don't make fun of my specs, okay?" Carmine said.
Upon Mace's finger snap, Bo came at the boy, and Carmine just started running around in circles as Bo-Katan came after him. Each time Carmine ran, Bo jumped in front of him and threw a punch, most of which Carmine jumped or ducked. For someone with no kung fu experience, Carmine was definitely good at evading blows. This went on for a while until both opponents were nearly out of breath.
"I must admit," Bo-Katan panted. "You're no good at throwing hits, but you are fast."
"You'd be surprised how much speed you get from just a few jazz lessons." Carmine panted.
The next opponent to fight: Ahsoka.
Ahsoka was amazing at dueling with lightsabers. So, when she and Anakin fought, it was epic! Anakin fought with one, but Ahsoka used two. The two of them fought in the field. Ahsoka could do amazing spin tricks with her lightsabers, jump with three flips in the air, slide in a split, and her best defense move was making a cross out of her lightsabers she liked to call 'Rejecting the blow'
"You're persistent, aren't you little one?" Anakin said, holding his lightsaber against Ahsoka's crossed two.
"Don't judge a fighter by her age." said the togruta teen, forcing Anakin down to the ground, winning this fight. "Looks like I won this time."
But when Carmine fought with her, Carmine had a petrified look on his face the whole time as he blocked every blow. It reminded him of back in school when some of the bigger kids would make him their favorite target in dodgeball, most often aiming for his glasses, and breaking them once. But it wasn't just that; he was taught not to hit people, especially girls, so he wasn't sure what terrified him more, getting hit or hitting a girl.
"Is this really necessary?" Carmine said, blocking another blow. "I don't wanna hurt you."
"Hey, I'm a kung fu master. It takes a lot to hurt me." Ahsoka said. "And this is just training! I'm going easy, but a real enemy most likely won't."
"I know that!" Carmine said. "Sorry about this!"
Carmine stomped on Ahsoka's foot, making her drop one of her weapons, and Carmine grabbed the other one and pulled it away.
"Sorry!" Carmine said. "I thought you said it takes a lot to hurt you."
"On the bright side, you did throw your first combat move." Ahsoka said. "Can't say I ever thought to use something as simple as a stomp on the toe."
Mace was not liking the fact that Carmine wasn't giving up despite his weak fighting abilities, whereas Anakin was getting through the battles more bravely, but constantly wanting a rematch if he lost.
Mariposa went next... and this time, they did battle on the jade tortoise. In this case, the fight was a little trickier because Mariposa had wings and her most famously effective technique was swooping at her opponents or flashing her big blue wings.
Anakin fell into the tortoise mere seconds into combat after Mariposa swooped at him and practically blinded him with her wings. Carmine, on the other hand, balanced very well on the wobbly bowl, but did more jumping from side to side of the bowl to dodge Mariposa's attacks, without throwing any blows of his own. He'd never fought a bug this big before. A housefly? He could swat that away no problem. A spider? He'd get scared of it, but he'd usually grab a book and squash it. And butterflies? Well, he wasn't scared of those, but most butterflies he met weren't the size of a human or attacking him! And eventually, he almost fell and got hurt, but luckily he had quick enough reflexes to grab onto the sides of the tortoise. Unluckily, the tortoise flipped over with him underneath it! And Carmine immediately started screaming and panicking.
"HELP! IT'S DARK IN HERE!" Carmine screamed.
Obi-Wan was first to get his fingers underneath part of the tortoise, and Anakin came and so did the rest of the five.
"Everyone, lift on three!" Obi-Wan ordered. "One... two..."
"THREE!" Anakin shouted, and everyone flipped the tortoise back up, freeing Carmine, who sighed with relief.
"Thanks, everyone." Carmine breathed.
"Training isn't over yet," said Mace.
Padme went next.
"Let's see how fast you really are!" Padme said.
Padme and Anakin challenged each other with various kicks, punches, and occasionally flipped each other over to disarm their opponent, but each time they got back up and distracted each other. Once, Anakin even grabbed her hand and spun her around like they were dancing. He'd seen Carmine do that with a girl in his dance class once, and it looked like a pretty neat way to sweep a woman off her feet.
Anakin and Padme both fought pretty well, but neither side seemed like they wanted to let the other win, and as they fought together, they found themselves feeling this odd feeling every time they touched.
"Has anyone ever told you you're as beautiful as you are fierce?" Anakin flirted.
"Is flattery how you face your opponents?" Padme smiled, and then she flipped Anakin over one last time. "Because it's not the most effective weapon."
Anakin sighed in defeat.
Carmine couldn't fight Padme too well though. The moment Padme threw the first punch, Carmine ducked and curled up into a ball again.
"Not the face!" he cried.
"Master," said Padme. "Is it really a good idea to put Carmine through such intense training now?"
"He must learn to toughen up!" Mace said. "This is the only way he'll learn."
Finally... Obi-Wan.
To everyone's great surprise, Obi-Wan and Anakin basically ended with a draw.
"It looks as though the rumors are true of where you inherited your skills." Obi-Wan panted.
"I don't know what rumors you mean, but you were taught well," panted Anakin.
"Carmine, your turn." Mace said.
Obi-Wan stood and bowed.
"Ready, Carmine?" said Obi-Wan.
"What if I don't wanna fight?" Carmine whined. His knees her shaking, his stomach felt queasy; it was like he was getting stage fright, except he wasn't even on stage.
"You don't." Mace said. "Obi-Wan is too easy. Your final opponent, Carmine... will be me."
Neither of the twins liked the sound of that.
"Master Windu," said Anakin. "I really don't think-"
"Step forward, Glasses." Mace said.
"Master, I really don't want to-"
Mace grabbed Carmine by the wrist... hard, and then he started flipping and spinning Carmine all around really quickly.
"The true path to victory is to find your opponent's weakness... and make him suffer for it." Mace held Carmine down and pulled the younger man's ear.
"OW! Let me go!" Carmine begged.
"To take his strength!" Mace flipped Carmine to the ground onto his stomach roughly. "And use it against him until he falls or quits."
"Please, stop! You're hurting me!" Carmine said.
"Do you quit?" Mace said.
"Why are you doing this?!"
"Master Windu! Please stop! You're hurting him!" Padme begged.
But Mace didn't listen, and he literally threw Carmine off the gates.
"NO!" Anakin rushed in to go and rescue his brother.
Except... someone else already did. Turned out, someone else's body broke his fall, but it didn't stop the two of them from bouncing down the stairs for a bit before one of them grabbed a plant and Carmine's hand.
"Dad?" Anakin gasped.
With a pained grunt, Qui-Gon picked himself up and helped Carmine.
"Dad! Carmine! Are you okay?" Anakin asked.
"I've had worse falls back in the day." Qui-Gon said. "But it has been years since I last entered this area. As for why Carmine flew into me... Anakin, did you-?"
"No!" Anakin said, and he pointed at Master Windu as the man himself came out to see the result of his actions. "He did it."
Qui-Gon glared at Mace. "I should've guessed."
"What are you doing here?" Mace asked.
"Master Yoda summoned me." Qui-Gon said. "He asked me to rejoin the Order, if only temporarily to assist in my sons' training."
"Rejoin?" Anakin said. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"You really don't know who your father really is, do you?" Obi-Wan said.
The twins were confused, but Anakin had another score to settle first.
"What is your problem?!" Anakin said angrily. "Carmine is doing his best, but you're acting more like a bully than a teacher! I told you before Carmine had anxiety, but did you care? No! You instead berate him for being afraid, you called him names, beat him, compared him to me, and I'm done watching you treat my little brother this way! Carmine could be good at kung fu if given a chance, but you've made it very clear you don't give anyone a real chance unless you think you can marry them off to wealthy families or other Jedi, or if you find that they know how to make decisions for themselves instead of letting the Council choose for them. I didn't want to see it before, but I realize now all you've been doing is trying to get rid of my brother. Well, guess what? If my brother goes, I go too. A thing about twins, they stick together."
Anakin approached his brother and placed an arm around him.
"Carmine is no exception. Looking after him is a battlefield for me, and it's well worth it. So, if I have to choose between kung fu and my brother... I'm gonna choose my brother every time." Anakin said. "Come on, little bro. We gotta get you some medical attention."