“You’re going down this time, Anakin!” The Togruta boy leapt forward and slashed out with an aggressive slash with his blade as he leapt forward in a burst of the force.
Anakin laughed and blocked the strike with his own lightsaber and pushed outwards hard to push his opponents arm out of alignment and far to the side. The boy tried to recover, but stumbled slightly to the side as the momentum of his lunge forward threw him off balance.
Anakin stuck out his foot and the boy tripped to the ground. Anakin raised his lightsaber and plunged it downwards it a quick strike as the Togruta tried to dodge the blow even from the ground as he used a burst of the force to sense the blow coming.
Anakin used his own sense of the force to shift his strike to match his opponent's twist and struck him directly in the chest.
The Togruta hissed and fell to the ground limp as Anakin stood over him with his lightsaber in the boy’s chest. Then he pressed the button on the side of his lightsaber and the plasma blade retreated back into the handle. Anakin hung his weapon back on his belt and brushed off his robes.
“Better luck next time, Felix.” he said smugly as he looked down, “I told you that unconventional tactics win the day every time.”
“Ugh, tripping me Anakin? That hardly seems fair,” Felix complained as he sat up and rubbed the blackened spot singing the outer portions of his robes. While lightsabers were known to slice through durasteel, they could also be powered down to be no hotter than the average blowtorch. Their reinforced training robes were reinforced enough to resist that amount of heat, so they could spar freely so long as they were careful to avoid striking any of the sensitive areas.
Anakin reached down and Felix clasped his hand and let Anakin help him up.
“Hey, it worked didn’t it?” he said with a cocky smirk, “Maybe you could learn a thing or two from the chosen one.”
“Yeah, yeah, don’t rub it in,” Felix grumbled as he glanced around, “Let’s get out of here before Master Druman shows up. I don’t think he’d like us sparring out of the way here.”
“No, I don’t think he does,” a calm voice said from the entrance to the dueling room in the Jedi temple, “A most shameful display. Where is your training, the discipline, the serenity and peace of mind that you have been working towards in your time here? I should not be the one to tell you of your mistakes.”
“You saw it all, Master Druman?” Felix said as the both of them bowed to the bald human Jedi master covered in a network of blue tattoos over his whole body.
“I saw enough. Even through the force, I could feel it,” Master Druman said, “Heightened emotions, recklessness, a complete disregard to your lightsaber forms. This is not what your Jedi masters have been teaching you in this temple.”
They both bowed their heads, “We were not seriously training, Master,” Anakin tried, “It was just a game, nothing more. Of course we respect your teachings to the utmost.”
The old traditionalists in the Jedi temple always liked it when Anakin said things like that to them. And they always went easy on him because he was supposedly the ‘Chosen One’ meant to bring ‘Balance to the Force’, whatever that meant. At least when it came time for actual punishments versus only harsh words.
“Improper training is improper training, no matter the setting,” Master Druman said, “Especially with how you were both drawing on the force during your exchanges. You were not at peace and merged with the force, letting it guide your actions and movements in combat. Instead you were reveling in the thrill of combat. You must learn restraint, the loss of control is what leads to the dark side.”
“Yes, master,” both boys said. Felix looked suitably chastened and Anakin made sure to look the same as he bowed his head. But he couldn’t feel shame for the spar with his friend. They had just been enjoying themselves. Master Druman was simply being too strict. Anakin knew how to calm himself and meditate as he’d been taught ever since he’d arrived at this place when he was nine. And his master Obi wan certainly enjoyed himself in their spars when ruthlessly exploiting the weaknesses in Anakin’s form to improve himself. Why shouldn’t Anakin be able to enjoy it too?
“Very well,” Master Druman said after a moment staring them down and making sure they felt the full weight of his gaze, “I understand it is natural for boys of fourteen to feel this way. But it is control and mastery over our impulses that we seek. As Jedi we must rise above our emotions so that we can fully be one with the force and feel its will flow through us. You will not be punished this time, but any more duels must be overseen by a true master, even if you are using your blades at the minimal settings. Am I understood?”
“Yes, Master Druman. We understand!” they both said before following the man out into the hallways of the jedi temple.
“I was sent for you, young Skywalker,” Master Druman said, “Your master has called for you.”
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“Master Kenobi is back?” Anakin asked, “Returned from his mission?”
“Yes, he sent for you as soon as he arrived back,” Master Druman said with only the faintest whiff of disapproval detectable in his smooth tone.
“Bye Felix,” Anakin said with a wave to his Togruta friend, “See you for training tomorrow.”
“Bye Anakin. Later.”
Anakin followed after Master Druman through the hallways of the Jedi temple, occasionally bowing his head and pointing his eyes at the floor when one of the masters walked by.
It still made him feel strange, to act this way again willingly. When he had been a slave on Tatooine, it had burned at him the injustice to have to bow his head to bow his head and show respect to his owner Watto or any of the other citizens of the planet. Trotted out like a prized animal on display by Watto to impress one of his clients at the junkyard. The wonder human child who was a genius at fixing things up and even building droids and devices of his own at such a young age.
Anakin’s hand twitched slightly as his mood darkened as he reflected on the past. When was the last time he had built something with his hands since he came here? It was all Jedi training with the lightsaber and learning to use the Force. Learning to be a mechanic was nothing but a distraction from his training according to the masters.
Had it only been five years that he had been here? It felt like forever. He barely even remembered what life back on Tatooine had been like. He bowed his head again and grandmaster Windu himself walked by, not looking at anyone as he strolled by presumably on important Jedi council business.
Anakin reminded himself that this wasn’t like how it was when he was a slave. These were the Jedi, bastions of peace and justice across the galaxy. They were training him in the force and how to be a Jedi himself. It was simply showing of respect, nothing more.
He took a steady breath and cleared his thoughts as he had been trained to do. And in the place of his slightly sour mood, there was a rippling stillness that washed over his mind. The Force, always just below the surface and waiting for him to call upon it. Even if he couldn’t keep his mind perfectly calm yet, he was getting better. Even now he could feel the power of the Force thrumming through him as he called upon it even as he walked next to Master Druman. Far more powerful and vibrant than it had been when he was nine and fighting on Naboo with old master Qui-gon Jinn before he was killed…
“Thank you for your time, Master Druman,” Anakin said with a slight bow as they reached their destination and the stoic man gestured towards the doors.
“Remember our teachings,” Master Druman warned, “There is no emotion, there is only peace. Good Day, Padawan Skywalker.”
He turned and left as Anakin reached out and opened the door to his chambers.
Master Kenobi was sitting inside with his legs crossed on a cushion with his eyes closed, meditating.
Master Kenobi ignored Anakin as he entered the room and softly closed the door behind him. Anakin quickly sat in a cushion placed opposite of his master and sat down on it and began meditating himself. It was difficult, but Master Kenobi had started insisting that Anakin do so whenever possible for the last year or so.
They sat there together without speaking and letting the Force flow through them, Anakin in spurts and bursts like a clogged hose as his attention wavered while Master Kenobi in long steady streams as the master remained in alignment.
“Anakin,” Master Kenobi said after he opened his eyes, “Tell me of your training. What has changed in the last few months?”
Anakin began describing his training and his work on his lightsaber forms.
“Good, good,” Master Kenobi said, “It seems that you are doing well. I have heard much the same from the other masters. You are progressing well. That is good, little lamb.”
“Master, can you tell me what this mission was that took so much time? Will you be staying for long?” Anakin asked, even if he frowned slightly at his master’s odd phrasing at the end.
“What is it that you desire?” Master Kenobi asked as his eyes bored into Anakin with an intense gaze, “Oh Chosen one, what would you choose to do without obligation? Without duty? With unbound limbs free to move, how would you squirm? Would you revel in your newfound freedom or wish for the comfort of the tight box around you once more?”
“Master?” Anakin asked uncertainly and shifted on his cushion, “Are you alright? Do you need a healer? I can…”
“You will understand soon,” Master Kenobi said, “Your master will not know, not see. You must be silent about me.”
“Master! What…”
Anakin looked just over Master Kenobi’s shoulder and saw something there. Or the absence of something. Everything living thrummed with the Force, was connected to it. But not whatever this thing was. Anakin reached down to his belt to draw his lightsaber, but he was too slow.
In a burst of motion, Master Kenobi’s body flew through the air and put a pair of strong hands around either side of Anakin’s head with a strong grip as he kept staring intently at Anakin unerringly.
The thing that Anakin knew was coiled around his master started to detach as Anakin drew his lightsaber from his belt and pressed it against his master’s heart. But Master Kenobi didn’t even react, just keeping Anakin’s head in his tight grip as whatever invisible creature controlling him continued to peel itself off of the man’s body.
Anakin’s hand trembled as his finger hovered over the ignition button of his blade. With one press of the button, his friend and Master Obi-wan would be dead as well as the creature. Anakin was sure somehow that the creature was bound to Obi-wan and that killing him would kill it as well.
“Do not,” Obi-wan’s lips said, “I only wish to assist you and your goals. Do not resist and your master will live on. He has not been harmed.”
The words gave Anakin pause as the invisible creature finished whatever process it was performing. An instant was all that it needed. With a flash of motion, the creature flowed along Obi-wan’s arms and before Anakin could react, plunged into his body.
Anakin felt Obi-wan’s hands fall from his head as the man’s body went limp. Anakin felt the Force within him reacting to the intruder integrating with his body. Then in a burst of strange power unlike that Anakin had ever felt before, he fell unconscious and slumped to the floor right next to his master as the creature within settled into place within him.