the hero with no fear

there’s something curious about this young man, qui-gon feels. something intriguing, something…. very powerful. but he can sense conflict too, uncertainty. there’s clearly so much more to this picture than meets the eye. “with a city this size, i’m sure it will be more than interesting enough. i’m in your hands, young man.” qui-gon says with a small smile.

he raises an eyebrow at the man’s response. “it sounds like he means a great deal to you.” qui-gon muses, watching the man carefully. there certainly seems.. more to the story, more that this person means to him. to have that much of an impact, he must have done some sort of good in the young man’s life. “i hope you’ve been able to pass that same sort of opportunity onto others, then. whoever he is, i’m sure he would have liked that. tell me, what’s your name?”

    well, it seemed that he had to actually go about being a tour guide for the time being. of course this planet had become more of his home than anywhere else over the years so he was fully aware of certain places that someone may want to be taken. even so, he didn’t feel like going anywhere too familiar. things still felt a little weird to him being back here. “i’m sure we can find something interesting. from my knowledge there’s some lesser known areas that could prove interesting. much more exciting in my opinion.”

the way that he smiled at her as if there was nothing horrific that had happened between them broke her heart. padmé tried to smile back at him, but the expression is timid, failing to meet her normally warm brown eyes. but despite the ugly, the horror that she had seen in him… she refused to believe that the goodness was gone. the man that she loved was still there, but he was lost, he needed help to find his way back to the light. and he had to. she didn’t know what she would do if he didn’t. giving up was not in her nature. her lips parted to speak but no sound escaped immediately, unable to come up with even a white lie. 

“i didn’t expect to see you.” it’s the truth, at least, and easier to get out then anything else. padmé took a deep breath and stepped closer to anakin, but her hands clasped in front of her stomach. “i saw ahsoka and she mentioned that you were here, too. i’m… i’m so relieved to see you.”

    something felt... off. what exactly it was, anakin couldn’t quite place it in the moment. things just didn’t feel like they had the last time he had seen her. he tries to think back on everything, pinpoint the exact moment the shift had happened in their relationship but he can’t bring anything to mind. unless whatever had happened was something that he didn’t recall. that thought was more than frustrating, knowing that he might not be aware of certain things that had happened in his own life. “i wasn’t sure what to expect myself when i first woke up, but it definitely wasn’t any of... this.” the war raging between two parties anakin had no knowledge of. 

their initial conversation may not have gone as rix had hoped at the time, but he knew he could bring anakin around. he knew, given the right opportunities at the right moment, he would be able to pull anakin through, to convince him to see sense, to draw the man over to his cause. but between kenobi and sidious… well, things hadn’t gone to plan. for either of them. and rix isn’t making that same mistake this time around. it may not have been the purpose for which he was returned, but it’s the only one rix cares about.

“sith doesn’t mean bad, or evil, you know.” rix points out. he knows that pointing out anakin’s new status won’t make a difference. it won’t help, won’t make the man more inclined to trust him. no… if rix’s research has shown him anything, this man doesn’t need antagonism. he needs guidance. support he wasn’t given for so long. that.. should be enough. “i’m simply a man who’s lived a life that.. lead me to a different destination than people expected of me. i’m sure that sounds familiar. raising an eyebrow, rix considers his point. true, palpatine was gone. but.. “he may be gone, but the remnants of his empire are still here.” that’s all the first order is, after all. another fragmented, broken dictatorship doomed to fail, and take parts of the galaxy along with it. “besides, that was never my only intention, anakin.” rix’s voice softens, his expression turning somewhat more understanding. “i came to mustafar to help you. that intention hasn’t changed.”

     everything that he had been taught within the jedi order conflicted against what he knew now. it was like a tug of war between the light and the dark inside of him, something that felt like an even stronger raging storm than anakin had been used to prior to his fall. there had always been a semblance of darkness inside of him despite how easily the other jedi had ignored it so freely. still, he didn’t like any of this or the idea of being approached by a sith so casually even if they had met before all of this. it set off his defenses despite the reality that rix wasn’t being aggressive. 

there’s a strategy to this. to his approach. distant, but not impossible to find. nearby, but not close enough to draw immediate attention to himself. rix knows what he’s doing. he’s had.. time to think about this, to wait for the opportune moment. to wait for the fluctuations in the force telling him this was the right time to move. to make himself known to the man. to put his plan back into action - and this time, to make sure he succeeds.

rix sees it when anakin notices him, and he can’t resist quirking an eyebrow and watching as he approaches. it’s interesting, to watch the man come to him. much more than he could’ve expected. but certainly a promising sign. “i couldn’t say. i was brought here by surprise, the same as so many of us.” rix responds calmly, a small smile curling the corners of his lips as he looks up at anakin. considering him for a moment, rix stretches a leg out to kick the other chair out from under the table he’s settled at, nodding towards it. “welcome to take a seat, i don’t bite. our last chat wasn’t all that bad, after all.”

    distinctly, he could recall the conversation the two of them had had on mustafar. talk about banning together, turning against the one in charge of everything that was soon going to be created. at the time anakin could remember being far too emotional and uncertain about the entire ordeal. he needed time to think, needed to focus on something else before he made a decision that major. that was where his memories ended as much as he tried to remember everything else that had taken place on that planet. needless to say it was beyond frustration that he couldn’t remember. 

@furnacemade​   //   anakin skywalker.

the images that had led up to her death seemed to haunt her. there was some good, some light in there… luke and leia, even if she had only had a chance to meet her son, she knew they were good and true. the kind of children that she would have wanted to raise, that she would have given anything to. but the warmth that thinking of them brought her was balanced by the terrifying images that had led up to those last moments: the darkness in anakin’s eyes, the weight of realizing that obi-wan had been right about what he had done, the crushing grip around her windpipe. there was still good in him, padmé believed that. she had to.

still, her heart clutched when she saw him, suddenly seized and frozen where she stood. the conversation that she had with ahsoka replayed in her mind, that they had to believe there was something more they could do this time. it’s no time to avoid that, or him. “ani.” padmé fought to keep her voice calm, demeanor as even as she could make it.

     even now the nightmares still plague his waking mind. the knowledge that padme was going to die, the fear that had gripped him so completely. there was no other word but desperation to explain the choices that he had made in an attempt to rewrite the history that he had seen befall his wife. power had been necessary in order to save her from death. if it had meant turning to the dark side and working underneath palpatine, he would take it. he would have done anything to save her no matter the consequences to himself or the actions that he would need to take in order to do so. there were regrets, of course there were, for some of the things he’d had to do in order to achieve the power he so desperately needed. 

there’s something about this boy. qui-gon sensed it the moment his eyes landed on him. there’s something… different. a sensation, a something in the force qui-gon can’t quite put his finger on. but he’s confident he’s never seen him before, which makes him wonder if the boy is from this time, if this is his home, if he’s hiding his force connection from the larger threat here.

there’s another niggling sensation, pull in the force qui-gon can’t really put his finger on. it’s not something he can say he’s felt before. but he chooses not to hold onto that, to let it flow and just focus on the moment.

“well, perhaps you can become my guide.” he says with a low chuckle - not that he needs it. he was born and raise on coruscant, the last thing he needs is a guide. but the boy doesn’t need to know that quite yet. “perhaps i have one of those faces. if you don’t mind my asking, who was this person to you? the one i seem to look like?”

   he still can’t shake the odd feeling of this entire situation. as a child, anakin had had to come to grips with knowing that qui-gon had been killed and wasn’t going to come back no matter how much he had initially wished for the older man to have survived. this was the one who had been meant to be his master, though it seemed like the universe had made different plans from how everything had played out so many years ago now. 

        while things may feel as though they were completely out of control for him, there were at least a few familiar presences that anakin could feel through the force. ones that could, for the moment, help calm the raging storm inside and the darkness that was eating away. though those moments only felt brief in their calm, it was enough to help sooth everything that was going through his head right now. the knowledge that he had gained from his memories, the awareness of his choice to turn to the dark side and work under his new master -- palpatine. 

@furnacemade

he’d been walking through one of the mid levels of coruscant’s streets when he’d felt it, a pull on the force around him like gravity leaning him towards an object moving through space not too far from him, around bends and buildings, beyond alleyways and shifts of shadows, here on this level. he doesn’t know what it is, but he could swear… he would bet his life that it’s familiar. terribly, horribly, disastrously familiar. there have only been a few number of presences he can remember feeling through the force, specific energies that fold and gleam in ways he recognizes, but even as he nears it, he fights himself on it, trying to convince himself it’s impossible. even though he knows, in this strange world, it’s not.

“father?” he asks the figure he tracks down, the other male tall and young but impossible, impossible, impossible.

   everything has grown increasingly more confusing ever since he was woken up after being brought back from the dead. memories that still didn’t come to his mind and only left frustration in its wake. at the beginning of it all, anakin couldn’t possibly have understood why the first order would have been the ones to bring him back rather than the resistance. from his understanding, they weren’t supposed to be the good guys, just like the separatists that he could remember fighting not so long ago. he understood now. knew the choice that he had made, could feel that darkness. darth vader. though his memories didn’t exceed past his turn, it left him in turmoil knowing what had occurred. 

closed starter for @furnacemade​ !

qui-gon senses the presence long before he sees who it belongs to. he’s sensed all kinds of different things in the force. some good, some.. less so. and he knows the force works in it’s own way, but this is something else. something different, and the truth is he’s not entirely sure what it is, but.. it’s a presence in the force like nothing he’s ever come across.

when the young man approaches him, though, qui-gon is sure he’s the source of this sensation. but there’s really no telling how he may react if qui-gon were to explain what he can feel in the force. likely better to wait, to understand why he’s here, what he’s like first. “i certainly hope you’re not here to ask me for directions.” he offers with a small smile, arms loosely crossed over his chest. “i can’t say i’m quite used to finding my way around.”

      there’s a sense of disbelief the moment that his eyes settle onto a form that anakin had long thought dead. stolen from his life far too soon when qui-gon had been one of the first people to believe in him aside from his mother. for a moment, anakin still feels like that young nine-year-old boy who had once believed that no one could ever kill a jedi. even if he can tell that the other is younger than anakin had known him. he can gather that from the force, and it leads to a level of confusion. while he had briefly heard about people being brought back from the dead, as he had been informed had been done to him, there was still uncertainty on how the entire process even worked.

❝ 𝚆𝙷𝙴𝙽 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚆𝙴𝙸𝙶𝙷𝚃 𝙾𝙵 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙻𝙳 𝙸𝚂 𝙾𝙽 𝚈𝙾𝚄𝚁 𝚂𝙷𝙾𝚄𝙻𝙳𝙴𝚁𝚂, 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙻𝙴𝙰𝚁𝙽. ❞

𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚎 𝚐𝚘 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗, 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚊 𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚔 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎   magic meat suit transporter and those vaguely worded non sequitur’s of a master living on razor-thin edge make their presence known. don’t you start to worry, skyguy, that’s a lesson already signed in the permanently tensed muscles across their back.    ❝   yeah —– to find better shoulders.   ❞

still, the upturn on ahsoka’s mouth would have given away their amusement ( if nothing else ). he is FAMILY, after all, and family get their philosophical perceptions poked at mercilessly.

❝   need a hand with some of that heavy lifting ?  i’ve got two.   ❞

sentence meme from @furnacemade​

     there was no denying the clear amusement that stemmed from their words. to be expected, considering how well he knew ahsoka and how close the two of them had grown over the years. the relief that he feels is immense, seeing them here. safe. alive. he couldn’t even begin to describe the emotions that were swirling inside of him. 

     “should have rethought that knowing you’d pull something like that, snips.” the teasing comes with ease, features softened and a small smile settling onto his lips. it’s truly the first time anakin feels like he can relax for a moment, knowing that ahsoka is here on the planet and safe. 

　 many have spoken about a life beyond death, however, for the former jedi master━ all he had sensed was flickering lights in an ENDLESS VOID. at least, that is all he could remember before he felt himself being tethered; surging what he could assume was backwards into a plane of existence that felt … familiar yet … surreal. none of it had made any sense, none of this … should have been possible without repercussions. 

　 　 yet, here he was. awake. breathing. the light was blinding when his eyelids crack open, and a groan escapes him as he tries to rise from where he lays. he doesn’t recall that he was dead, no, rather he begins to assume that he is living in a dream. he understands himself well enough to know that he is a lucid dreamer and all he gathers is that this could quite possibly be a dream that will lead to nothingness or something. what that may be, he didn’t know.

　 　 finding simple clothes and boots had been left with a note stating that this was for him when he woke, nothing else other than a simple “good morning and welcome back, master kenobi.” which had immediately brought fear to his senses, quickly dressing in the clothing before leaving the room with a slight limp to his stride as he tries to search for an exit.

　 　 and when he discovers it, his eyes become wide━ a dark sky, and a never-ending sleepless city of coruscant was before him.

　 　 　 “ h … how did i━  ”

　 　 in a dizzying response, he turns around, searching for anyone to help him. to explain the rushing questions that haunted his mind.

　 　 upon finding an individual, he approaches them with his hands up in hope that they would stop to help. “ w - where━  what year are we in? h - how am i … i was on tatooine, a - and now … how did i get here? ”

      everything had all seemed to hit him at once when he felt the broken half of their bond light up like a dazzling fire within his mind. a sense of warmth had accompanied that feeling of finally being whole once more, that other half of himself completed once more. though -- the amount of confusion that anakin could sense coming from obi-wan was certainly understandable considering the circumstances he was imagining. 

      he had felt the exact same way upon being revived even if that confusion hadn’t quite settled away just yet. anakin was still trying to process all that was happening and this supposed war that was raging in the heart of the galaxy between the first order and the resistance. two organizations that the jedi knight had never once heard of. last he recalled the war between the separatists was still raging on in the universe and they had been so close to finally achieving victory. 

     and now here they were in a familiar world and planet yet so foreign. there were still questions lingering within his mind why the first order would wish to bring him back to life but for now they were pushed to the side. right now he needed to find obi-wan. he needed to see the other desperately. so anakin rushed off in a hurry until he was able to pinpoint exactly where obi-wan was wandering about. thanking their bond silently, he was quick to race over towards his former master. 

    “obi-wan, i --.” confusion once more settled in at the questions and the mention of tatooine. that wasn’t... right. last anakin recalled, the other had gone off to do some sort of political thing after they had rescued the chancellor. even so, the confusion was not enough to stop him from wrapping his arms around obi-wan.. while normally anakin would be more hesitant about doing so, these were... unique circumstances. 

      “i have no idea what’s happening either, but i’m so glad you’re here. when i first woke up i -- i didn’t feel you and i panicked. i didn’t know what to think.”