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Author	Topic: Repercussions of Time 04/20/05 Finished. Thanks for the Noms.
ZaraValinor Registered: May '02	Date Posted: 1/3/05 8:20pm Subject: RE: Repercussions of Time 12/28/04 Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Ben Skywalker? Epi III AU
	Kazzy Amazing work. You've done a fantastic job with Ben's character. I really enjoyed reading tis so far, but I hope you can post more soon! Ben's kind of stealing the show right now, in order to give him a character background, but I promise there will be more Obi-Wan and Anakin soon. -----signature----- Proud Master to Meredith_Kenobi & Lolly_Tolly "He full-on Obi-Wan'd me!" Dean Winchester - Supernatural
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ZaraValinor Registered: May '02	Date Posted: 1/3/05 8:22pm Subject: RE: Repercussions of Time 12/28/04 Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Ben Skywalker? Epi III AU
	“I wouldn’t move if I were you,” a soft if slightly sardonic was the next thing Ben heard. It took him only a few heartbeats to recognize that it was a voice he did not recognize and that he felt as though a heard of Banthas had attempted a rain dance inside his raw mind. Still his reflexes caused him to move before logical thought, his rising chest hindered by a sudden firm but gentle hand. “You don’t listen very well do you?” He was relieved to find that his blindness was only an effect of dimmed lights. “Who are you? Where am I?” he demanded, in his uncertainty forgetting that Yuuzhan Vong did not respond to the Force and the power he put behind his voice was useless. “Natheana,” the voice replied in a monotone, and perhaps it was the lack of raging sarcasm that allowed Ben to mark it as female. “My name is Padawan Quelee Zhan.” Ben heard the rustling of cloth and sudden gasp of air. “We are strong aren’t we?” There was an inexplicable strain to her words as though it was Ben’s fault that she had crawled into his quarters and waken him suddenly. Despite his mental pleas of innocence he felt his cheeks burn with recrimination. His parents had always taught him to be careful with the power that he held. It was all too easy to blame it on his sudden confusion and he did his best to keep from walking down that line. He was responsible for his actions; whether purposeful or accidental. “Sorry,” he muttered, even as he racked his brain for the events following up to his little recovery. “I can’t get a grip on what’s been going on.” “I’m not surprised,” the voice, Quelee, said. “What with the size of the seizure Master Kenobi described, it is amazing that you are as coherent as you are.” Memory snapped into place with a resounding mental twang. “So that’s what they’re calling what happened to me?” “What else would they call it?” Ben shook his head regardless of the fact he knew Quelee could not see him. “It just wasn’t sure,” he sputtered. “This hasn’t happened very much, only a time or two before, and I was unable to see a medic.” At least that much wasn’t a lie. Passing out like that had only occurred when he’d gone too long without going into a healing trance. In retrospect he should have informed Master Yoda and Obi-Wan about this little issue before he demonstrated it physically. “Didn’t your Master worry about these episodes?” she asked aghast. “He would have, if he hadn’t joined the Force,” Ben snapped, feeling a certain defensiveness for his Father. Even though the poor healer, for why else would she be watching over him, could not have known the horror of leaving his father behind to die. There was along silent pause, in which Ben wasn’t sure if he should apologize again or storm out of the room, blind as he was. Instead, he whispered, “Could we have some light?” Again there was shuffling, but it was so economical that it reinforced Ben’s belief that his companion was a healer, and the lights flickered on. As he blinked against the sudden brightness, he was surprised to see that it was a girl, no older then himself, that had been his protector. Her voice had entertained such a low, melodic tone that he had assumed older woman. I’ll kick you in your assumptions, my boy, his mother had been fond of saying and a fond smile tweaked the ends of Ben’s mouth. Her long auburn hair had been bound in a braid save for one slim tail that fell behind her ear and trailed in a line past her right shoulder. She was dressed in the same type of tunic and leggings that he had noted on Obi-Wan and Anakin, though he had noted his grandfather preferred darker fabrics. Still he bypassed the plainness of the clothing to her green eyes. They were large and set in elfin features. And they measured him with equal study. “You have been knighted?!” Ben was thankful that he had been kept modestly clothed and that he was not currently hooked to monitors. He wondered if any had tried to take blood from him, if so he’d had to make sure that the samples were destroyed. “Not hardly,” he said, swinging his legs over the edge of the medical bunk. He lifted himself out onto the floor and nearly dropped embarrassingly to the floor, instead he sagged against the bunk, thankful for it’s handy steadiness. “You’re still weak,” Quelee informed him wryly. “And apparently the seizure damaged your hearing. You should remain still.” With a much more deliberate and careful movements, Ben maneuvered himself back into the bunk. “I won’t argue about that. I need to see Master Yoda or Obi-Wan Kenobi?” For a moment the girl balked at him as though he were certainly a Tusken short of a tribe. “They are both rather busy. They have captured the traitor.” Ben didn’t know if he felt guilty or not, for not rising to Anakin’s defense as he had for his father. Perhaps it was the fact that what Quelee said was true, Anakin had betrayed them. “Look, Cherry, tell them...” “It’s Padawan Zhan to you,” she cut him off. “Whatever,” he dismissed with a wave of his hand. “I’m not much in the mood for explaining myself. Now if I have to I’ll drag myself out of this bed and crawl to Master Yoda and Obi-Wan, but I’d really rather not. So be a sweet and get one of them for me. Tell them that Ben S... that Ben Jade needs to speak to them.” She wagged between disbelief and indignation, but finally acceded to his request. “Don’t leave.” “Where would I go?” He scowled. “I’ll be back soon,” she said, as though to state that she still didn’t quite believe he wasn’t going to run off. Muttering something about noisy healers, Ben pushed his jelly-like legs underneath the warmth of the blanket. He hadn’t realized he was so cold until painful feeling came back to his nerve endings. Gritting his teeth against the sharp flares of fire, he acquainted himself with the area. The med- equipment was, not surprisingly, outdated by his standards, and seemed overly bulky and loud. There was a bacta tank in one corner, the type that has father had spoken of with a wince when he recounted the days on Hoth. It was the most advanced technology now, it would have been considered overused in the time of the Rebellion, by Ben’s account it looked archaic. However, the bed was comfortable and he found his wearied body drifting off to sleep when the door sputtered open, he forced his heavy eyes open. It had not taken the healer long to find the busy Jedi. “That was quick,” he echoed his mental musing, when Padme entered the medical clinic. “On second thought, this is unexpected.” “An unfortunate surprise?” Padme asked, and there was no mistaking the air of command in her tone. Ben was reminded that she had one been a Queen and then Senator to her home planet. “That’s not what I said,” he countered, trying his best to look at ease despite the nagging sense he felt from the woman who would be his grandmother. “Was there something you needed or did you just come here to glare at me?” His words had the desired affect, she blinked at him, unsure how she wanted to continue what had obviously been an interrogation session with a weakened opponent. “You’re unlike any Jedi I’ve ever met before. Yet, there is something familiar about you.” She settled a dark gaze on him. “Who are you?” “You know who I am. I am a Jedi Appentice,” Ben answered levelly, making his tempered answers seem almost an insult; as if she could not follow his thoughts unless he spoke in slow cadence. “A sick Jedi Apprentice, who appears out of the atmosphere, and has instantly fallen into the good graces of two of the most influential Jedi alive,” Padme ticked off the list on her fingers. “Some might say this is a clever ruse.” Ben sat up against his cushions. “Certainly, you realize Jedi get sick., and they have a certain knack for appearing when and where they are most needed, and Master Yoda, Obi-Wan, and I have a certain connection.” “And Anakin?” she asked, unknowingly voicing his own private worries to Obi-Wan. He snorted. There was nothing better then telling the truth. “I want to help him turn away from the Dark Side. I want to save his soul.” “Why?” she asked, and there was no mistaking the strain of tears in her voice. “Because I believe that he still has something to give the galaxy, that there is something he still must do. That his destiny is right now unfulfilled and that until it has been brought to fruition the galaxy, including Luke and Leia, will suffer for it,” he elucidated. She drew out a blaster then, somehow able to mask it’s arrival from him in the Force. Perhaps there were still a number of things he did not know about his future grandmother. “And why would you believe that?” Pulling the Force into an intricate weave around him, Ben kept his facial features opaque. “Padme, I’ve seen the future,” he continued his truth from a certain point of view. Great, I’m turning into Kenobi now.[/] “I know what will happen if we do not change the path Anakin and the rest of the Jedi have put themselves upon. I was born to change it.” He knew that if she was were to take a shot at him, he could deflect it or dodge it. He didn’t want to do either. This was his opportunity to get her trust without releasing the entire truth. “Give me a reason to believe you?” “Because I have no reason to lie about something so important, and because I’m dying,” he admitted more then he’d like, but he saw how she responded. Her mouth fell open into a small ‘oh’ and her eyes grew nearly as wide. “In fact I could use your help. I can’t allow the healers to learn the extent of my illness. They would never let me out of this blasted place.” [i]And then there’s the fact that your blood is like living death. “I wanted to get Master Yoda or Obi-Wan to do it, but to prove my faith in you, I’d leave it to your capable hands.” After a few moments of silent deliberation, Padme returned the blaster into her long robes. “Alright, I’ll help you. But I want a favor in return.” Knowing he’d gotten himself into this debacle, he nodded his ascent. “Seems only fair.” “I want to speak with Anakin. He has been denying my presence, and I believe I might be able to help,” Padme said. Which is probably the very reason he keeps you at arms length, Ben thought but was kind enough to keep to himself. Instead, “He is still a danger, Padme. I don’t want to put you into unnecessary danger.” Is this how she would have died? Trying to bring back a humanity inside a machine that could not yet remember it. It made him shiver to think. “And there is the fact that Anakin can not be out of the sight of a Jedi.” “You could take me to see him,” she pointed out, coming to the foot of his bed. “I could, but Anakin is not exactly in his right mind,” Ben felt he had to remind. “He has given himself over to a dark power. Anything he says and anything we tell him can be used against us.” Those deep brown eyes filled with tears. “He feels so far away from me now. Even during the war I felt there was a part of me with him and him with me.” He watched her as she collected herself, dashing slim hands under her eyes to erase the wet drops escaping their soulful prison. It was a pain to see her in such pain and he wondered how Anakin could bare to see this proud woman reduced to such a struggling state. He wondered if it was an act of the Dark Side to want to clap your head against your future grandfather’s head. “I’ll help you,” he answered. “There you are,” Padawan Zhan said, as she identified Ben. Obi-Wan was just thankful the boy looked greatly improved from his sudden ordeal. If it hadn’t been for Master Yoda sensing the distress from his young apprentice, they might have lost Ben from this mysterious disease. The young Skywalker ignored the Padawan and focused his attention on Obi-Wan. “Where’s Anakin?” “Under surveillance and currently being questioned,” Obi-Wan answered, slightly disconcerted by Ben’s lack of decorum. Apparently, Luke Skywalker organized the Jedi in much looser terms then the exhibited now. “You left the medical area.” “What you think I should allowed myself to atrophy. The quicker I’m on my feet, the better,” Ben informed. “Besides, there’s enough here on this military base of yours to make my wildest dreams come true.” Obi-Wan crushed the smile that begged to come on his lips. “And what would those dreams be?” “Crushing Palpatine into the dust,” Ben answered without any shame. “Oh, do not give me that look. You’re worse then my f...my master. You’d think any truth was a spacelane to the Dark Side.” “Perhaps your eagerness for the task, is what causes the trepidation, Padawan Jade,” Obi-Wan pointed out, his eyes flicked to the young healer who was trying very hard not to be intrusive while hanging on their every word. Healer’s, the greatest gossips of the Jedi Order. Ben, however, was not attuned to the present culture and continued to speak as though their words were not going to be scattered throughout the field of the Order, like farmes’ seeds. “Oh, and you enjoy being repressed and hunted down. Perhaps you’re unsure as to what the Dark Side entails. Come on, Obi-Wan, we don’t have time for this sort of distraction.” Straightening and throwing a surreptitious glance at Padawan Zhan. He could only hope that the boy was as quick as he appeared to be. “Padawan Jade, you will address me as Master Kenobi and I will report your behavior to Master Yoda. I do not know how your former Master ran things, but Master Yoda will not stand for this lack of discipline.” He should have worded that differently, he saw as Ben winced at the shaded mention of his father. And he was sure Ben did not have to put on too great an act to appear chastised. Bowing, he said, “Forgive me, Master Kenobi. I have been long from the order.” Cursing his chosen role as demanding Jedi Master, Obi-Wan snapped, “Excuses will not save you know, young Jedi. Come now.” He did not look back as he headed for Master Yoda, he knew that Ben would play his part and trail begrudgingly after him, but he wondered how many times he’d had to play this same sort of role with Anakin and how it might have been the chips that eventually caused the chasm between them. Once they were a fair distance from Padawan Zhan, Obi-Wan slowed his pace to come even with Ben. “The healers are perhaps the most dangerous to speak with. They revel in all the secrets of the order. If I had not chastened you, many would wonder at your freedom,” Obi-Wan said by way of apology. “I should have known better,” Ben admitted. “All my years of caution and I atrophy in a few short days. I just...”he drew off. “You just want to feel safe,” Obi-Wan filled in. The young Jedi shook his head. “No where’s safe, Obi-Wan. Not here, not in the future, not the past. Not even inside me.” He stilled himself. “I need you to be my strategist. I’m fair, but I’ve always heard that you were quite the tactical mind and therefore are still. We’ve got ships, I’ve seen them. Fair for the standard starfighter, which means their prime for this time. I suggest you pose a strike against Palpatine right now, while he’s still reeling from Anakin’s absence.” “You think he’s disoriented?” Obi-Wan asked thoughtfully. What he had learned of Palpatine, the man had excelled at setting all around him off kilter, with him at the center of the push. “He doesn’t know it yet, but he’s exposed himself, and that makes him vulnerable,” Ben reported. “So we strike, where it will make him feel the most weak.” “And where’s that?” “His secret storehouse.” The boy seeks to destroy me, Palpatine hissed in Anakin’s mind. [/i]Lord Vader. All we have done will be unwound. You cannot allow him to live.[/i] Yes, Master, Anakin thought, knowing exact words would not transfer to his Master but that the intent would. He would obey. He would kill his grandson, because he was a danger to his Master. It was what a slave did. It obeyed. -----signature----- Proud Master to Meredith_Kenobi & Lolly_Tolly "He full-on Obi-Wan'd me!" Dean Winchester - Supernatural
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Kynstar Registered: Mar '04	Date Posted: 1/4/05 5:12am Subject: RE: Repercussions of Time 01/03/05 Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Ben Skywalker? Epi III AU
	Poor Ben feeling so insecure Well hopefully he'll be able to open up some and see that indeed there are friends to be made/had even in the past. Poor Padme She juz wants to help...poor chit. And Anakin... I feel for him cuz he's in a bad predicament that could turn out for good for him, but he isn't paying attention...then again to have Palps get all regal on one's ahem behind...I guess I would obey w/o question too. hehehehe Great update!!! -----signature----- Paddy sis to t_s & SarkaVrae/Master to hyperspace_police Member of Rebel Legion and Jedi Assembly (Kynstar Lans) Only thru fear, hatred, and pain will the true power of the Force be revealed. See stories/viggies in bio
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Ana_Labris Registered: Oct '00	Date Posted: 1/4/05 10:35am Subject: RE: Repercussions of Time 01/03/05 Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Ben Skywalker? Epi III AU
	slaps Anakin Now, young man, get out of that slave mindset! Great posty I liked all the interaction. -----signature----- K.E.P.P. Agent #19! I am the one and only Angry Scientist. Darth Vader is my hero.
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JediFalcon Registered: Feb '02	Date Posted: 1/4/05 5:42pm Subject: RE: Repercussions of Time 01/03/05 Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Ben Skywalker? Epi III AU
	Poor Anakin noooooooooooo don't do that thats horrible more soon -----signature----- Rogue Three in FFC Rogue Wing, Ward rm #306 Council Member of the Lightside Master to Stridarious Crimson makes my heart go Master of BYS AHBY The Impeccably Patient Drugged-Out Lunatic of the Skies I wonder whats my purpose in life
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Laine_Snowtrekker Registered: Jul '03	Date Posted: 1/4/05 11:03pm Subject: RE: Repercussions of Time 01/03/05 Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Ben Skywalker? Epi III AU
	Great post. And thanks for the PM. -----signature----- Stealth and subtlety work well, but for making lasting impressions, a blaster does just fine. -Han Room full of gold and jewels, and Dr. Daniel Jackson finds the one book. -Cam Palso's #1 Fan JO: RS1, Admiral, SC Fanfics are linked to in my bio
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ZaraValinor Registered: May '02	Date Posted: 1/5/05 10:12am Subject: RE: Repercussions of Time 01/03/05 Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Ben Skywalker? Epi III AU
	Kynstar Poor Ben feeling so insecure Well hopefully he'll be able to open up some and see that indeed there are friends to be made/had even in the past. Poor Padme She juz wants to help...poor chit. And Anakin... I feel for him cuz he's in a bad predicament that could turn out for good for him, but he isn't paying attention...then again to have Palps get all regal on one's ahem behind...I guess I would obey w/o question too. hehehehe Great update!!! Oh, yeah, Palps, is bad to the bone. And Ben and Anakin are about to have a little confrontation over it. Ana_Labris slaps Anakin Now, young man, get out of that slave mindset! Great posty I liked all the interaction. Thanks. JediFalcon Poor Anakin noooooooooooo don't do that thats horrible more soon Yeah, it would be bad if he killed his own grandson, but he killed the only man who had been a father to him. So Anakin isn't really good with the male persuasion of his family. Laine_Snowtrekker Great post. And thanks for the PM. Thanks and your welcome. -----signature----- Proud Master to Meredith_Kenobi & Lolly_Tolly "He full-on Obi-Wan'd me!" Dean Winchester - Supernatural
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Darth_Djinn Title: Retired Councilor Heart of the Alliance KC, MO FF Registered: Nov '04	Date Posted: 1/6/05 1:19pm Subject: RE: Repercussions of Time 01/03/05 Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Ben Skywalker? Epi III AU
	Please keep this up -----signature----- For Mirax80... MEOW!!! MRM '06 -- May the Goldenrod be with you always!!! Jacen Solo= Darth Schaduwen
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ZaraValinor Registered: May '02	Date Posted: 1/7/05 4:23pm Subject: RE: Repercussions of Time 01/03/05 Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Ben Skywalker? Epi III AU
	More Tonight. -----signature----- Proud Master to Meredith_Kenobi & Lolly_Tolly "He full-on Obi-Wan'd me!" Dean Winchester - Supernatural
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Sara_Kenobi Registered: Sep '00	Date Posted: 1/7/05 8:06pm Subject: RE: Repercussions of Time 01/03/05 Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Ben Skywalker? Epi III AU
	Those posts were powerful, Zara. I feel bad for Ben though. He's getting put through so much. Hopefully now Padme will trust him more. -----signature----- Flight of Raven's http://boards.theforce.net/non_star_wars_fan_fiction/b10808/30284518/p1/?0
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Kazzy Registered: Oct '02	Date Posted: 1/8/05 4:22am Subject: RE: Repercussions of Time 01/03/05 Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Ben Skywalker? Epi III AU
	It was what a slave did. It obeyed. That's a pretty heavy statement. It's true, but still carries a lot of weight, and it shows just how much Anakin's lost. It lowers Anakin to slave, certainly, but almost to a droid, lacking in any kind of personality or his fire. They too must be obiediant. I want to shake him and tell him to wake up. Poor Padme. She's aching so badly here. I think Ben is a little cold to her, although her ceratinly seems to respect her a lot. It must be strange to see her in front of him, like that. I had forgotten just what an advantsge that Ben has over Palpatine by his knowledge of the future and what Palpatine gets up to. Knowledge is ppower and in this case Ben certainly has a lot of both. But will it be enough? I hope so. -----signature----- If you could touch the alien sand, and hear the cry of strange birds, and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you? - First Doctor Looking for me? For my fic? Try my LJ. http://bytheseaside.livejournal.com/profile
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ZaraValinor Registered: May '02	Date Posted: 1/9/05 10:33am Subject: RE: Repercussions of Time 01/03/05 Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Ben Skywalker? Epi III AU
	Sara_Kenobi Those posts were powerful, Zara. I feel bad for Ben though. He's getting put through so much. Hopefully now Padme will trust him more. Yeah, Padme's and Ben's relationship is gooing to be quite rocky but at least they won't try killing each other, any more. Kazzy It was what a slave did. It obeyed. That's a pretty heavy statement. It's true, but still carries a lot of weight, and it shows just how much Anakin's lost. It lowers Anakin to slave, certainly, but almost to a droid, lacking in any kind of personality or his fire. They too must be obiediant. I want to shake him and tell him to wake up. Poor Padme. She's aching so badly here. I think Ben is a little cold to her, although her ceratinly seems to respect her a lot. It must be strange to see her in front of him, like that. I had forgotten just what an advantsge that Ben has over Palpatine by his knowledge of the future and what Palpatine gets up to. Knowledge is ppower and in this case Ben certainly has a lot of both. But will it be enough? I hope so. I think Ben just doesn't know how to relate to her. She's this fine woman, who has been raised to rule. Though Leia was very much like her mother, in the beginning, she was more warrior then diplomate a lot of the times and that's what Ben relates to. Yeah, Ben has the inside track to Palpatine, but will it be enought and will Anakin turn away from the darkness? Those are the question. Anakin's new cell had no marked differences from the one on Bail's ship, save that when back on the cuiser he'd only dealt with Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Ben. Now he had what Jedi survived from the attack on the Temple and the coup that Palpatine had formed with the Clone Troopers who had been thought to be loyal to the Jedi, watching his every move, drilling him with questions that he refrained from answering, and crying for justice. They had taken him in and he had betrayed them all. Well, it was hardly his problem that the Jedi had trusted Palpatine as far as they did, nor did he feel regret for choosing the side of the Sith, where his power was never restrained. He used it as he saw fit and his desires were made flesh, not the idealistic dreams of a stupid boy. He would never be so weak again. He was dwelling on his lack of apathy when Ben walked in. He hadn't seen his future grandson in days, not since Yoda had burst out of their little revival session and Obi-Wan had covered as his chaperon, a decidedly worried expression on his features. A cursory glance told Anakin that Ben was thinner, mostly in the face. What should have been boyish flesh, was sunken and gaunt, ashen rings dusted around his eyes, making him appear as old as Master Yoda. “Come with me,” Ben stated with finality. He did not wait for Anakin to follow but expected it. The young Sith had little choice in the matter, he had brought himself into the belly of his enemies, any untoward move would get him executed. It was another clue into Ben's psyche that the young Jedi understood this precipitously. Was his grandson used to giving such commands? He would never know. His orders were clear. Alive, Ben was a danger that Palpatine had not been prepared for and had only one avenue to deal with. Whether his Master knew that Ben was a future Skywalker, the son of Anakin's son, it did not matter. He knew immanently that the younger man needed to be dealt with. To reveal Ben's true identity was to reveal his children's existence. The young man had offered him the perfect opportunity to exact the execution, taking him away from all those seeking eyes and demanding glares. He could fulfill his Master's wishes and perhaps escape before any was the wiser. “Where are we going?” he asked, hoping for someplace isolated. “Practice room,” Ben said tersely. His voice distant. “There's a surprise for you there.” Anakin resumed silence. He doubted that if he pressed the subject that Ben would tell him and though he wanted to know what the young Jedi was planning, it was not important in the wake of his assignment. Predator to prey, Anakin studied the boy who would be his future grandson, and was nothing more then a stranger. If Palpatine had not known of this other Skywalker, Anakin would have been tempted to get him to join his side. Now, he zeroed in on weaknesses that he might target, the best and easiest way to bring this strong Force-user down. The faster Ben was dead, the quicker he could take his children and run. Someone else would have to raise Luke and Leia in their first years, until he had more leeway as to where his next assignment was. Padme was out of the question, she caused feelings to flame in him that he wished to douse in the chill of the Dark Side. His feelings had to be hidden and defeated, to leave no exploitation. Ben had learned to hide his own well. It was the unnatural bounce to the step, the way he measured his movements, as though he knew exactly how much they cost him, that revealed Ben's fatigue. What had the Jedi sent this young one to face while they had transferred Anakin to this holding facility? Anakin recognized the fatigue as a type he'd once held during the war, the unending days, that had sapped his strength like moisture in the Tatooine desert. The scars running down Ben's face and arms, only heightened the effect. He appeared both tired and infinitely alert. Which marked him as a soldier to Anakin. One other thing to be wary of in his future grandson. They reached the training room and Ben entered the access code, the door slicing open. Anakin entered ready to make his move when he stopped short, the ear rushing out of him at the sight of Padme. He made to leave the training room, after a moment of snap deliberation, however, as he had before, when Anakin had been on the precipice of falling into a molten bed of lava, Ben intercepted his path. “Get out of my way,” he ground out the order between tightly clenched teeth. It was amazing they did not shatter in his rage. A supercilious expression came over Ben's scarred features. “You see, you don't get to make demands. You're a prisoner of the Rebellion and right now one of its members would like to speak with you.” “I am not talking to her,” Anakin interjected. Ben shrugged, even though Anakin was a good handspan taller then he was and was doing everything he could to be intimidating. “I didn't say you have to talk. In fact, I'd rather you didn't because I would hate to see her upset. However, she asked to see you and I told her she'd get her opportunity to. Now I know you don't want to make me into a liar.” “You know very little Jedi,” Anakin hissed back. “You think that you can save me by reminding me what I used to be, you're a bigger fool then Obi-Wan. It was not so long ago that I was what you want me to be. I've opted for a better choice. I don't need saving. I've already been saved.” “Intelligence doesn't really run from your side of the family does it?” Ben whispered back tightly. “This isn't up for negotiation. Turn around and face your wife. You owe her that much.” “What would you know about what I owe her?” Ben took another step towards him, until they were toe to toe, and Anakin could feel the shimmer of his essence. “Because despite all you've done, she still loves you.” He cocked his head thoughtfully, peering at Anakin through one oceanic eye. “I wonder what it is about you that instills such loyalty from those you betray. Her,” he jerked his head at a waiting Padme. “Obi-Wan and my father.” “But you don't fall under that spell?” Anakin sneered, twisted knowledge. His red-gold hair waved as he shook his head. “You want my loyalty, you earn it. You want my love, you earn it. The only history we have, is the future, and your one redeeming quality is that you would have saved my father.” As they had before, Ben's words gave Anakin an internal shock. Was his life an inevitable pod race, where he dipped and rose, banked and wove, from one side to the other; from slave to tyrant, from tyrant to savior. Frustration, is it had always done, bled into anger. “I have little use for your loyalty or your love. If I wanted it, I would have taken it by now.” “Take it from somebody who is offering it,” Ben said, and made of show of locking the training room. “Because you aren't getting out of here until she's ready to throw you out.” “Fine,” Anakin said, and made to go to Padme. He stopped mid motion and swung a fist at his future grandson. Better to reveal to Padme who he was now and what he was capable of and take out this menace to his Master. Anakin’s fist connected with the scarred flesh of the younger Skywalker, Ben back-pedaling towards the secured door. He hit it with a metallic ringing, the air rushing out of him. As Anakin stepped forward to deal the Jedi another strike, a strange look came over Ben’s features, a near feral gleam shining from eyes that were now as unfathomable as the sea they imitated. “You don’t want to do this,” Ben warned. “I have my orders,” Anakin said and cocked his arm back for another strike. Metal slapped into flesh, as Ben grabbed his approaching metallic arm in mid swing. “Yeah, I heard that. For a Sith, the Emperor has a pretty loud mental voice. But you’re going to find that I’m not that easy to kill.” The grip on his arm twisted and Ben slipped behind him, pressing a strong hand to his back, until his face was smashed into the door. “I was raised by an assassin and Jedi Master. You would have known her as ally, but I knew her as mother.” Anakin jerked his head back and felt it connect with the younger Skywalker’s skull with a sickening thunk, the pressure against his back released. “Yes, please continue to tell me your sad story. How I should change my ways because your life has become so terrible.” “What are you two doing?” Padme cried out, reminding both Skywalker men of her presence. “Stop this right now.” “Padme get out of here. I’m sorry, I didn’t give you your chance, but there’s no point in you getting harmed,” Ben said, taking measured strides further into the training room but away from his future grandmother. He fixed Anakin with a cloudy glare. “He’s not the man you loved.” “What kind of Jedi speaks words of love?” spat the young Sith, ignoring the younger man’s plea to his own wife. “What do you know of love?” His words struck a target he had not been expecting. “Not much, war has been my existence,” Ben said and snapped a roundhouse kick that caught Anakin in the gut, sprawling him to the floor. “Go now, Padme.” For a moment she starred at Anakin and Ben, a wondering look of recognition in her brown eyes. Ben missed it, not knowing the former senator and queen as Anakin did. Padme knew though that Ben was a Skywalker. “You...your...,” she struggled to form the words. Seeing as Anakin wanted his wife to leave the area as much as Ben, he threw himself to his feet with a quick flex of his muscles and advanced an attack on the boy once more. With easy grace and skill, Ben deflected his strikes. “Padme, now!” Ben’s words spurred her forward and she ran to the exit, her pause to initiate the release code was the time of a short breath, and then she was gone. “That leaves you and me, grandson,” Anakin said in a sing-song tone, before he launched another attack at the boy. Padme did not stop her head long race through the corridors of the Jedi headquarters until she found Obi-Wan Kenobi. He was talking with one of the Jedi who had grown up with him, Siri Tachi, Padme believed her name to be. She had long blonde hair that was bound in a pony tail so sharp, it made her beautiful features severe and unyielding. Her startling blue eyes found Padme first. She touched Obi-Wan’s arm and gestured to the approaching Senator. “M’lady,” Obi-Wan greeted, his tone already measuring her distress. “Master Kenobi, Master Jedi,” Padme returned, knowing she didn’t have the familiarity with Knight Tachi to address her so informally. “Obi-Wan, we have a problem. Ben and Anakin are having a very violent discussion.” She had never seen such a reaction from the usually mannered Jedi Knight. Obi-Wan paled till she thought all blood and left his mind and prohibited him from making any decision. His reaction caused her to suspect her thoughts about Ben and Anakin were true. And that made her wonder all the more why they had kept Ben’s true identity a secret. Knight Tachi saw his reaction and turned to him expectantly. “What is she talking about, Kenobi? I thought Anakin was held under deliberate restriction.” “Ben has access to him,” Obi-Wan said off-handedly, dismissing Knight Tachi’s questions. “Where are they?” he asked. “Training room at the east end,” Padme answered, wishing that the blonde Jedi would let them alone so that she could question Obi-Wan further about her husband’s brother. She had seen how each of their eyes burned, the way they pinched in the corners, the turn of their mouth when they frowned, even their frames resembled each other, despite Ben’s slighter stature. “Let’s go,” Obi-Wan said. “Kenobi,” an irritable voice rose between them as they headed back the way Padme came. Knight Tachi was following them. Padme exchanged a glance with Obi-Wan, hopefully relaying her desire to do this with only the two of them. Obi-Wan came to a halt and gave Siri a pleading glance. “Siri, I’d rather take care of this on a more intimate level. You and Anakin once shared a friendship but he is not the boy we knew.” Knight Tachi shook her head. “I read the report, Obi-Wan. He would have killed you. I’m not about to let him get a second chance.” “Trust me on this, I beg you. Things with Anakin are delicate as it is, with your special....personality, they could become volatile.,” the Jedi tried to ease his friend. The other woman looked as though she was going to argue, but glanced up into Obi-Wan’s eyes and read something there that Padme did not see. “All right. Just be careful.” “I will,” Obi-Wan said and returned to Padme. “Come, M’lady,” Obi-Wan said, and pushed her along the corridor. They walked in silence for a long while, Obi-Wan glancing behind them a number of times, as though to make sure Knight Tachi had not followed them. She wondered at their relationship. They had not appeared overly close, but there were certain mannerisms, a significance in phrasing that Padme had been too hurried before to notice. Certainly they were friends, but had they been something other then Jedi could they have become more. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she said, cutting her own ponderings short and turning to the topic that offended her. Blinking, Obi-Wan cocked a ruddy eyebrow at her. Was she wrong or was their apprehension beneath that haughty questioning? “That Anakin had a brother.” It was as though Obi-Wan had suddenly stepped into hardening permecrete, he stopped that abruptly. “What?” “Ben,” she said irritably. “Why didn’t you tell me he was Anakin’s brother?” “I don’t give a damn what my decisions have done to you, Ben. Really. Perhaps it was my decisions in your version of the future that lead to it. The decision to save my weak son, the decision to turn on my powerful Master. Whatever destroyed your Jedi, surely would have fallen under the might of the Sith,” Anakin spat blood along with his words. Ben pointed at a scar that had been made even paler by the heat of their fight. “You see this. I got it when I was five years old. The Yuuzhan Vong were going to take my mother and I and sacrifice us to their abhorred gods. I used the Force to throw a tree at them. At that age the Force held not bonds for me, but they still took us by sheer numbers. For three years they kept us in the corral patches as slaves before my father found me. My mother died in our rescue attempt.” “You’re not the only one to lose family, Ben,” Anakin shot back, dodging a fist and returning it with one of his own. An uppercut that doubled Ben over. He was about to use his elbow to drill the boy to the ground when Ben’s head came up and clipped him on the chin. “Yeah, but see, I don’t use that as an excuse to do whatever the hell I like,” Ben countered. He bowed his head and rushed Anakin, connected with his solar plexis and jamming him against the wall. Adjusting his grip, he kept Anakin pinned. There was no doubt in he older Skywalker’s mind that Ben used the Force to keep him there. Not only was Ben sick but he didn’t have the muscle mass to keep a the bulkier Jedi trapped. “Which wouldn’t include going back in time to change the future to you own means.” Ben flexed his arms and slammed Anakin’s back against te solid wall. “Do you think I wanted this? That there was nothing else I’d rather have done. I could have just gone far back enough to save my mother and my father. My aunt, uncle, and cousins. Their families. But instead I let the Force choose where I was needed and wound up with my know-nothing grandfather and a bunch of lack- luster Jedi.” “Then join me and we’ll show them the truth of power,” Anakin changed tactics. There was something in Ben’s eyes at that moment, that made him believe that temptation was already there. A shiver went through the younger Skywalker, Anakin felt it tremble to him, and Ben released him. He staggered back so abruptly, it was as Anakin had hit him. Pain etched itself on the young Jedi’s face and by the way he held himself, Anakin could guess he wanted to disappear. “You just don’t understand,” he muttered. “The power we have is too much not to give over to the will of the Force. I hear the siren song of the Dark Side, I don’t need you harmonizing with it.” Ben shook his head and for a moment he looked unsure on his feet. Blood trickled from a cut on his forehead, where Anakin’s boots had lanced the skin. Another scar. “You can pretend that you have no power over who you are, that you are a victim of circumstance and the only way out is to give yourself to that dark power. But I have to take responsibility for what I do.” He limped over to the Sith Lord, paused a safe distance away. “You aren’t a slave anymore, Anakin. It’s time you remembered that.” “I haven’t been a salve since I was nine years old. I am the one in power,” hissed the older Skywalker. “You were saved from slavery. A clever ruse manufactured by a well-intentioned Jedi, but you didn’t take that path for yourself. I fought my way out of the coral patches of the Yuuzhan Vong, I payed for it with the life of my mother, and for years of discord with my father,’ Ben narrated. “Perhaps this is your chance to free yourself. Stop being a salve, stop giving your will to Palpatine.” He took a step, bridging that small gap between safe and dead. “Or take my life now.” For a long time ice-chipped eyes meat oceanic ones, each willing the other to ac, each unsure which they wanted the other to do. “Ben, my Master,” Anakin stuttered. “Will take everything he needs from you,” Ben filled in. “Choose, Anakin, choose.” Another impregnated wait. Anakin knew he could do it fulfill his Master’s design and take the life of his future grandson. All he had to do was reach out to the Force, grasp it’s power and cut off Ben’s air flow, silently strangling him. Yet that part of his mind would not obey his commands. Silence was broken as both Padme and Obi-Wan ran into the training room. -----signature----- Proud Master to Meredith_Kenobi & Lolly_Tolly "He full-on Obi-Wan'd me!" Dean Winchester - Supernatural
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Ana_Labris Registered: Oct '00	Date Posted: 1/9/05 2:19pm Subject: RE: Repercussions of Time 01/09/05 Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Ben Skywalker? Epi III AU
	AH! AH!! Cliffie! Anyways, wow! I just needed that fight, great job with the interaction too And lol, Padme thinks he's his brother shakes head -----signature----- K.E.P.P. Agent #19! I am the one and only Angry Scientist. Darth Vader is my hero.
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RebelMom Title: TFF Secretary Registered: Apr '00	Date Posted: 1/9/05 3:58pm Subject: RE: Repercussions of Time 01/09/05 Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Ben Skywalker? Epi III AU
	Seems the only way to get through to a Skywalker is rap them upside the head. At least Ben is making some headway. -----signature----- Short Story: Pressure Point http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/26961243/p1/?7 Jacen Solo and Anakin Skywalker - as it should have been. TFF: Cheryl
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PadawanKitara Registered: Dec '01	Date Posted: 1/9/05 6:15pm Subject: RE: Repercussions of Time 01/09/05 Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Ben Skywalker? Epi III AU
	I agree with you. Rebelmom. Give him a good whap to let the message sink in -----signature----- Courtier of the Royal Order of Shambling Dufi We are Dufi...Resistance is Futile! UCLA BRUINS
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