DISCLAIMER: Star Wars and all publicly recognisable characters, names and references, etc are the sole property of George Lucas, Lucasfilm Ltd, Lucasarts Inc and 20th Century Fox. This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment purposes and no money was made from it. Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author. Not to be archived without permission of the author(s).
Obi-Wan looked at his new apprentice, Anakin, he seemed sad. Probably missing his mother Obi-Wan thought, and Qui-Gon. They both boarded the ship leaving Naboo to go to Coruscant, the capital. On the trip Obi-Wan began teaching Anakin to meditate.
“Keep your knees tucked under you and your hands on your thighs,” Obi-Wan said, ”that way you are alert and ready to fight. Center yourself and quiet your mind
Anakin proved to do this right the first time. Obi-Wan was amazed, it had taken him several tries before getting near what Anakin was doing. Then the captain came and told them that they would land in Coruscant in 5 standard minutes. Anakin looked out the window; he remembered from before what Coruscant was like but it was still a shock. Unlike Tatooine with its barren landscapes, Coruscant had soaring skyscrapers on almost every piece of land; what didn’t have skyscrapers was covered with other buildings.
They landed on the roof of the Jedi temple. They took their things and went down to their quarters.
“This is your new room, Anakin, “Obi-Wan said, ”Better unpack quickly so we can start training.” Obi-Wan wondered how he would train Anakin, he was a new knight not yet ready for an apprentice. “Oh, Master,” Obi-Wan thought.
“I’m ready,” Anakin said; he didn’t have much to unpack, on Tatooine he had worn only 2 pairs of clothes, which were all he had. They went down to a training room. Master Yoda was there watching the Jedi train.
“Hello, Master Yoda,” Obi-Wan said.
“Hello, Master Yoda,” Anakin echoed nervously, he knew that Yoda had not wanted to train him.
“Hello Obi-Wan, Hello Anakin, beginning to train you are?”
“Yes, Master,” Obi-Wan answered. They used a piece of wood for Anakin to practice using the lightsaber. He was amazing and was doing things that Obi-Wan could not do after several months of training.
“Here, try to block from the back now,” Obi-Wan said. He put a piece of wood so Anakin could try and block it from the back. Anakin tried to block it but missed, Obi-Wan’s stick hit his back.
“Ouch!” Anakin fell over and seemed to be in pain, he was clearly trying not to cry.
“I’m sorry Anakin, I didn’t mean to hit you, are you all right?” Obi-Wan asked worriedly.
“Hit you that hard he did not,” Yoda observed.
“It wasn’t that hard,” Anakin said, though it was clear he was in a large amount of pain, his legs seemed to be buckling under him.
“To a Jedi small pain must be ignored! If you wish to become a Jedi be able to stand pain you must be.” Yoda said, clearly scolding him.
Anakin said, “Let us continue now, I am fine.”
“Are you sure?” Obi-Wan asked. He could tell from their mind link that Anakin was in a great deal of pain.
“Yes, of course,” Anakin said.
They continued, but now Anakin seemed as if he were trying not to fall over. His movements lacked the grace of before. Yoda gave him a lecture on lightsaber fighting and the Force, stressing being able to stand small pain. Obi-Wan had never heard anyone lectured by Yoda so strictly. After he finished, Obi-Wan cut the practice short and told him that they would get their evening meal now. Anakin ate very little. Obi-Wan asked him if that was all he wanted.
“This is what I ate on Tatooine, its all we could afford. Watto gambled our food. Do people eat more?”
“Some do, Anakin”
“ Wow!” He seemed amazed that someone would be able to eat more. After that they went to their quarters.
Obi-Wan asked Anakin if he had any questions.
“Why does Master Yoda not like me?” Anakin asked.
“He’s just concerned about you turning to the dark side,” Obi- Wan said.
“You mean like that Sith that attacked you and…Qui-Gon?” Anakin asked.
“Yes.” Obi-Wan said.
“Master do what you must, if I ever start to become like that don’t hesitate. Do what you must because I would rather be dead than be like that.”
Obi-Wan was touched by how much this boy’s pledge meant, “I promise, but let us talk of happier things; don’t listen to Master Yoda. Well, listen to him because he’s a good teacher but, I mean, you know what I mean.”
Anakin nodded and laughed.
By then it was nighttime and Obi-Wan told Anakin that it was time to go to bed. “Tomorrow I want to take you to practice in the gardens. It is very hot there, like Tatooine, and we’ll practice there so you can get used to fighting in different environments.”
They went to sleep.
Anakin dreamed that Watto was there, he was beating him, like he had the first day he saw Qui-Gon. Watto wasn’t personally beating him it was another species, a gamorrean, who was very stupid, but very strong, but Obi-Wan was there, too. He seemed to be laughing and laughing, and laughing! The pain in his back began to really drive in. Anakin never allowed Watto to hear his screams, he would always wait for his mother to come and carry him home, but Watto wouldn’t stop! Anakin heard a voice yelling ‘Anakin, Anakin.” He began screaming in pain and frustration and fear.
“Anakin, Anakin, wake up, it was just a dream.”
Anakin sat up, immediately his back began to hurt and he cried out.
“Let me see your back.” Obi-Wan could see that Anakin was holding himself stiffly. Anakin rolled up his shirt to show his back.
“Holy Sith!” Obi-Wan said. “I did this? I couldn’t have! Were you beaten by Watto like this?”
Anakin’s back was covered with skin peeled off to the muscle, you could see that it had bled several times.
“With a Bantha whip,” Anakin said.
“What! Something used a Bantha whip on you! So that’s why you were in so much pain when I hit you.”
“Yeah,” Anakin said.
“Yoda would never have scolded you like that had he known. I don’t think I could have been as brave as you were if I was in your place. Now let’s get some sleep, tomorrow we’ll go to the medics and get something for that back of yours.”
“Can we go to the gardens first?” Anakin asked.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go to the medic first?”
Anakin nodded. Obi-Wan said, “Well, okay, if you’re sure”
In the morning Anakin seemed all right, he just held his back stiffly. “Lets go to the gardens!” he said. When they got to the entrance, Anakin stopped in wonder. After Tatooine’s dry deserts and Coruscant’s endless buildings, it was different than anything he had ever seen before.
“We’ll have time to explore them later,” Obi-Wan said, “Right now, let’s practice.” They began with a remote shooting small blaster beams at Anakin.
“Are these real?” Anakin asked.
“No, if they hit you it will only sting,”
They began. Anakin seemed to suddenly have a flash of something, a voice like Obi-Wan’s saying, “Feel the Force flowing through you, Luke.” He was hit by a blaster beam, “Ouch, that does sting!” Then he asked quietly,”Obi-Wan, what was that?” For he knew Obi-Wan had seen it, too.
“That was maybe a prediction. I wonder who Luke is or was or will be?”
Luke, something about that name made Anakin feel happy as if being set free for some reason.
“I don’t know but I like that name,” he said,” It’s really wizard!”
They began again. Anakin was doing quite well for the first time, whenever he missed, Obi-Wan told him to stretch out with his feelings and let the lightsaber become a part of him. They practiced for a few hours and then reverted to lightsaber fighting.
“Try and use the Force to try and sense what I’m doing,” Obi-Wan said. Obi-Wan came towards Anakin slashing with his lightsaber. Even though Anakin knew that Obi-Wan’s lightsaber was on a power only strong enough to sting, it was still a frightening sight. Obi-Wan swung his saber down and Anakin jumped away from it, but he jumped the wrong way and it hit his back. Anakin fell down on the grass and couldn’t even scream it hurt so much!
“Anakin!” Obi-Wan ran to him,”I didn’t mean to! Are you ok?”
“It hurts, more than it hurt yesterday,” Anakin was clearly trying not to cry.
“It’s all right, you can cry if you want, that will help,” Obi- wan said.
“On Tatooine if I cried, Watto would beat me again.”
“Well, this isn’t Tatooine, and there is no Watto here,” Obi-Wan said.
“But Master Yoda…”
“Master Yoda is a great Jedi and he’s not cruel. He was once a child too, a looong time ago, 900 years to be exact.”
Anakin giggled, “But he said that I have to be able to stand pain, and if I can’t, then I can’t be a Jedi, and then I’ll never be able to free slaves.”
“He didn’t mean this, I promise. Do you know who his last padawan was?”
“Who?” Anakin said, “I bet they must be great!”
“It was Qui-Gon.”
“Qui-Gon was his padawan! Wow!”
“Now let’s explore the gardens and then I am going to get you healed.” Anakin began to protest.
“Forget it, I’m the Master here, remember.”
They looked around the gardens. Even though Obi-Wan had been there before it was still amazing to him. There were so many species of plants and animals that you couldn’t see them all in a lifetime. Anakin found one of the many little lizards that wandered around the gardens. They were native to Alderaan and were called Manga. Anakin was playing with it, giggling while it crawled all over him. Obi-Wan looked at him and remembered a similar moment when he was 12, here with Qui—no, the thought was too painful.
On the way back to the temple, Anakin noticed that many people didn’t look at them and stayed as far away as possible. He asked Obi-Wan why,
“Well, people are scared of us.”
“Why, master? We help people.”
“Some people don’t think so, Ani,” Obi-Wan said, “Some are against the Jedi. It may be because a child of theirs was taken to the temple or the Jedi failed in a mission on their homeworld. Or they just don’t like the idea of the Force and those who are strong with it.”
“Master, I could never become a..a Sith, because I don’t want to, ever.”
“People are tricked into believing their ways. Sometimes they can be turned, sometimes not.”
“If that ever happens to me, it is not because I want it, but how will I know if I am being tricked or not?”
“You will not know, but I will do everything I can to keep you from that.”
Anakin was also wondering why Qui-Gon had called him, ‘the Chosen One’, but Obi-Wan didn’t look like he wanted to answer more questions. But he had one that couldn’t wait. “What are you going to tell the healers about my back?”
“I’m going to heal it myself, you will also be trained to heal yourself and others.”
When they got back to the temple Obi-Wan told Anakin to take off his shirt and and lie on his stomach. He put his hands on Anakin’s back and sent what looked like strong white light to his back. After about half an hour, Obi-Wan stopped and Anakin sat up. His back was free of pain, all that remained were scars.
“You will have these scars with you your whole life. Remember them so that you will never do to another what was done to you.”
“I will always remember, always.”
That night after Anakin was asleep, Obi-Wan decided to go to the Star room. He had always liked that room, and it was Qui-Gon’s favorite room. Obi-Wan marveled at all of the information there at the touch of a hand. He thought about his given name, Ben Lars and wondered on it. He had met his brother, Owen and liked him. Owen was Force-sensitive, but not as strong as Obi-Wan. He had not been found when he was young enough to come to the temple; he had been 7, but Anakin is 9. But then, Owen was never the Chosen One.
Obi-Wan sensed a presence coming nearer, one he knew well. “Hello, Master Yoda.”
“Hello, how with your padawan does it go?”
“He is very good at lightsaber fighting and we will begin levitating soon. But I wish to speak with you about the other day.”
“Yes, he must learn.”
“My Master, he was beaten, his back was in shreds, I could not have shielded so well. I believe maybe you should talk to him, he has been upset.”
“Hmmm, beaten he was when he was a slave? Much fear that would cause.”
“Master, I do not think what you did should make him not afraid, with all respect.”
“Hmmm, see I do. Tell him that I have said that no wrong, he did.”
“Thank you my Master.”
“Hmmm,” Yoda said, “He may rid the galaxy of the Sith, or of us.”
“He has the potential to be the most powerful Jedi in history, but can you imagine if one day Anakin had offspring?”
“Hmmmm. Powerful they would be, powerful. But dangerous, just as Anakin is and will be.”
“But how can something as evil as what Anakin has the potential to become, I do not believe he can ever become a full Sith, for he will always have the love for his mother and for Ami—“
“Yes, nor I do, foreseen, I have, important she is, help us she will.”
Obi-Wan wondered who Yoda meant by who, but decided not to ask at this time.
“Thank you, Master Yoda, however it is late, and I must check on Anakin.
When Obi-Wan reached their quarters he heard Anakin softly crying.
“Anakin, what are you doing up?”
“I had a dream, something bad happened to my mom, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it.”
“What happened, tell me about it.”
“And then she killed me, too”
“Who?”
“Aurra Sing, she is this bounty hunter who hated me, she was always telling me if I used any magic against her she would kill me and my mom.”
“Aurra,” Obi-Wan shook his head, that was where she was.
“She was there that day at the race, that’s why I didn’t say anything, she has a collection of lightsabers, I don’t know if she made them herself or she……”
“Anakin, Aurra Sing was a Jedi padawan who turned to the Dark Side. She is now a bounty hunter and despises all Jedi and those who are Force-sensitive. She must have realized that you were strong in the Force, she realized that you were strong enough to hurt her, but she was afraid of you. Thank you for telling me this, I must tell the council that she is on the outer rim, so that we can try and avoid her. Now you need to get some sleep, we have a busy day tomorrow, and remember, this is probably the safest place in the galaxy.”
“What day isn’t busy?” Anakin said sleepily.
“Anakin, I talked to Yoda-“
“Oh, no, what did he say?”
“He said that he didn’t realize that you were injured and he commends you for not telling him about it. He says that he is sorry.”
“Seriously? Wow, an apology from the most powerful being in the galaxy, that’s not something everyone gets. But I’m glad.”
“Goodnight Anakin, you know that I am sorry for the way I reacted when I first saw you. I was wrong and you are proving that more and more every minute.”
“Thank you. I think that I am one of the luckiest beings. I was a slave and now I’m going to be a Jedi, and even if my mom isn’t here she still loves me. Good-night, Master.”
“Good-night, Padawan”
“Master, why did Master Qui-Gon call me the Chosen One?”
Obi-Wan wondered if he should tell Anakin what that meant. He might not understand what it meant, or it could make him act like he was better than everyone else.
“Anakin, I can’t tell you that now. I’m sorry, one day I will.”
“Its ok, Master, good-night.”
Obi-Wan could feel the power in his padawan and it scared him.
“Good-night, Ani.”