Star Wars: Ashes and Hope: Backdated
Mar. 2nd, 2015 12:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
morgynleriThis is parts 6-10 on tumblr, which I did not crosspost originally. Because this is backdated, this is also not crossposted to livejournal in the same manner.
On tumblr: six | seven | eight | nine | ten
Livejournal post
First Part | Previous Part | Next Part
Drawing a breath in, Anakin shakes his head, letting the dark images go into the chill that keeps them unmolested. Zett doesn't ask more questions, though his fear fades, drained away like water into sand, and he moves closer to Anakin again. Mulling over what Anakin's said, hopefully, and not dwelling on anything else.
He finds another place to drop further into the city, closer to where Master Windu is - waiting, Anakin thinks, rather than moving. It's several minutes before he stops, tilting his head, and tugging Zett to a halt as well. They're very close, but the Force is whispering that he needs to go a different direction.
Him, not Zett.
"Zett. When I tell you to run, don't look back." Anakin listens to the small sounds of the city around them fading away. Something is coming that none of the locals want to notice them.
"Master Anakin?" Zett sounds uncertain, and Anakin wrinkles his nose at the title he's been bestowed.
"You'll be fine, I promise. Someone's been following us for a little while." He thinks. He's not actually sure if they've been followed, or if whatever is coming just has the bad luck of being in the same place at the same time.
"You're not going to get yourself killed, are you?" Zett has a hand on his lightsaber, and a sense of determination. He's already seen one Master killed, likely, and Anakin can't blame him for not wanting to see someone else dead.
"No." Anakin ruffles Zett's hair before he gives him a small shove in the direction they'd been walking. "Keep going that direction, Master Windu will find you. And I'll catch up." He pauses, tilting his head as he listens to the threads of the Force. "If someone bothers you, try to imagine them being dropped into ice. It works on almost anyone."
"The dark side thing?" Zett screws up his face a moment in distaste, and Anakin grins, nudging Zett another step in the right direction.
"Yup." He turns to face the way they've come. "Run, Zett. Don't stop until you've found Master Windu."
His lightsabers light up the street better than the lamps, throwing red and blue shadows as he walks back the way they had come, listening to Zett's pounding footsteps retreat behind him. At least the boy had obeyed.
Anakin grins when the white-armored troopers come around a corner. "Hello. You know, one of my masters thought it was rude to toy with my enemies, and the other thought it was polite to avoid killing them right away." He pauses as he deflects the first blaster bolts, taking a Force-assisted leap toward one of the rooftops of the grimy buildings, reaching out for the Darkness that had become as welcome as the Light in his training.
The troopers are good, concentrating their firepower in an attempt to overwhelm him, and Anakin is hard-pressed to keep deflecting the bolts until he weeds out those who don't duck fast enough to avoid their returned fire. The rest, he begins to shove backward, trying to remember where he saw another drop. A good one, a few stories.
There are only two left by the time he finds one, the others lost to reflected blaster bolts and insufficiently rapid retreats from his blades when he drops back into the street. Anakin tilts his head a moment before he deactivates one saber, returning it to his belt before he reaches out to lift one of the troopers by the throat. Tightening the Force-choak as he dangles the trooper out over the drop.
"I don't like people who try to kill what is mine." He uses the still-lit lightsaber to deflect another bolt from the remaining trooper, sending the man down to the ground. He won't survive very long with the hole burned through his gut and spine.
The other saber is returned to Anakin's belt as well, and he uses the Force to shove the not-yet-dead clone over the drop, while the other goes limp in the grip of the Force. He grimaces, before dropping that one as well, listening to the crunch of the bodies hitting another walkway.
It doesn't take him long to catch up to Zett, who has found Master Windu, and is leading him back toward Anakin. Not the worst idea, nor the best, but one that makes Anakin smile, and ruffle Zett's hair again.
"I should have told you to wait for me if I wanted you to stay put, should I?"
Zett snorts, and shakes his head. "I wouldn't have, Master Anakin. You shouldn't have to fight alone."
Anakin meets Master Windu's gaze over the boy's head, and Windu raises an eyebrow in challenge, though to what, Anakin can't quite tell. "They're already taken care of, though, so no fighting today. We need to find somewhere safe to hole up until we can get off Coruscant." He pauses, glancing past Windu, and then asks, "Where are the younglings?"
"Safe." Master Windu doesn't elaborate on his answer, just turns to lead the way, whether to the younglings or somewhere else, and Anakin follows in his wake, nudging Zett to walk between them when he would have fallen back.
It's down another level and into what looks like an abandoned building that might once have held offices or apartments before they stop moving, Master Windu tilting his head at a door for one of them to open. There's a small room beyond, windowless and dimly lit, with a stack of bedrolls in one corner and what Anakin would wager are field rations in another. A bolt-hole.
"Lay out a couple of those, Padawan Zett." Master Windu leans against the wall once inside, and Zett hurries to do as he's told while Anakin makes sure the door won't be readily opened from the outside. "Skywalker, you have first watch."
"Of course." Anakin fishes a glow-stick out of one of his belt pouches, using the light to take a quick look at Master Windu while the older man is still upright, though his eyes are shut. "Are you all right?"
"No." Master Windu opens his eyes to give Anakin a brief, tired glare. "The only good thing about having my hand cut off with a lightsaber is it's not bleeding." That there's still pain from the injury is a given, and Anakin wouldn't be surprised if Master Windu was fighting shock. "Make sure we're not killed while I sleep, Skywalker. I'll be fine."
"I'll wake you for second watch." Anakin helps Master Windu slide down onto a bedroll, while Zett cocoons himself in another one as close as he can get to Master Windu without intruding on his blankets. Keeping close, either to protect or to feel safe enough to sleep. Anakin smiles, resting a hand on Zett's forehead a moment before he moves away, sitting so he's facing the door, and placing his lightsabers in front of him.
Waiting, and listening, and guarding.
"Senetor Organa offered to provide a ship to get us off Coruscant. We'd just have to get to wherever he has it docked."
Zett's words catch Anakin's attention as he wakes, leaning against the wall with a bedroll wrapped around him. The room is still lit only by a glow-stick, though it's a fresh one, rather than the one he'd cracked at the start of his watch.
"And I said I'd find us a way off Coruscant." Anakin runs a hand through his hair, and shakes his head to clear the last of the cobwebs of sleep away. "I might not have the contacts I do at home, but I'm not lacking other skills to acquire a ship."
Master Windu is already shaking his head. "No. You look too much like our Skywalker, and someone will recognize you. Might ask why you're somewhere you're not expected to be."
That was something Anakin had not thought about, and he frowns a moment. "Or they might be too afraid to ask questions, if I look as if I know where I'm going."
"And do you know where you'd be going?" Master Windu is watching him with a solemn expression. "How much do you know about our Skywalker?"
"He's broken and lost and is far too fond of Sidious for comfort." Anakin tilts his head, narrowing his eyes. "What am I missing?"
"More than a little." Master Windu sighs. "How well do you know Senetor Amidala in your universe?"
"Commander Amidala. Padmé." Anakin smiles a moment, knowing his expression is a little love-struck. "She and Sabé make the galaxy tremble, especially since she lost Naboo to the Empire's aggression."
Master Windu blinks, and frowns. "Sabé?"
"Her body-double when she was Queen of Naboo. They're called the face of hope now. No more body-doubles, just them in the paint and at the front lines calling for diplomacy as much as is possible." Anakin shakes his head. "Why?"
"Knight Skywalker is often in her company. Possibly the father of her child."
Anakin stares at Master Windu for a long moment. "Padmé is with Sabé, and they have about as much interest in me as Jabba the Hutt does in being honest."
Master Windu gives Anakin a skeptical look, shaking his head. "Whatever her relationships where you come from, Skywalker, here she's interested in you. And that relationship is easier to take advantage of than Senetor Organa's generosity without calling undue attention to ourselves."
Anakin takes a deep breath, letting an old memory surface a moment, of seeing Padmé in a wedding gown and being so certain he's been the one to marry her. He'd let that dream go when he'd met her again, seen how close she was to Sabé, how much more she needed that than she needed him. Maybe the dream had never been about the Padmé he knew at all.
"She's here on Coruscant?"
"Her apartments are in 500 Republica, and she hasn't left the planet in the last few months."
With the unspoken implication that Master Windu thinks Anakin will be welcomed into those apartments, either by their owner or by those who attend her. Though that only accounts for Anakin himself.
"And what about you, Master Windu? Or Zett?" He smiles sardonically, refusing to entertain the idea of going alone. "Do you think I'd be able to get you both in there, too?"
"We can wait here for you to secure shelter from the Senetor."
"No." Anakin shakes his head. "I know this is supposed to be safe, but I don't want to split up. There's too much risk."
"And how do you propose to get us there without running into clones, and the risk of being killed, or drawing attention to Senetor Amidala?"
Anakin's smile softens, and he stands so he can pull off his faded black cloak, tossing it to Master Windu. "They won't fire at me, and I have a couple tricks up my sleeve to keep them from firing on either of you."
The same twist of the Force that had kept anyone from harming either him or Zett yesterday is easily enough expanded to keep any prying eyes from looking too closely at Master Windu under Anakin's cloak, or at Zett.
He looks over at Zett. "Just wear the shirt and the belt without all the extra pouches. Your lightsaber can go into your boot, or Master Windu can carry it on his belt, since no one should see it beneath the cloak."
Master Windu looks skeptical, but he sheds his own tabards and tunic as well, leaving them behind with his cloak, Anakin's own falling only to his ankles rather than to the ground. It's enough, with the hood up to hide who he is, and he takes the rear, with Zett between them as Anakin leads the way out into the hallway.
Anakin listens to the footsteps of his companions as he reaches out to the Force, drawing the darkness to cloak them in cold and threat. Zett hisses, but keeps pace, scurrying along almost on Anakin's heels, while Master Windu falters a moment before catching up.
"It's one of the first things Maul taught me." Anakin keeps his voice low so he won't be overheard as they step out into the street. "This and the inversion, to hide under the noses of others."
"Why not use that?" Master Windu's voice is just audible, and there's a thread of tension running under it. "We don't want to be noticed."
"I want them to notice me." Anakin smiles at the snort from Master Windu. "If everyone sees me, they'll ignore you as shadows or minions."
He hopes it will work that way, at least, as they work their way up into the upper reaches of the city. Certainly it keeps people from approaching them, though he avoids any sign of white-armored troops in case the trick doesn't work well enough on them.
It even ensures they have one of the lifts to themselves, though Anakin is glad to let it go once the doors shut, leaving them in a bubble of peace. "Where are the Senetor's apartments?" His only experience with Coruscant before he'd found himself in a new universe had been with locating Sidious, and he's fairly certain he doesn't want to go to the top of the tower.
Master Windu reaches past him to key in the correct destination, letting the lift do the rest of the work. Anakin draws the darkness about them again once the lift slows, stepping out into the corridor, and following Master Windu's tersely given directions.
When the door opens, he stares for a long moment before pushing past the exclaiming C-3PO, who seems to be surprised he's back so swiftly. Mistaking Anakin for his counterpart, and he doesn't have time to listen to the droid's chatter, as much as he'd love to ask if his mother is all right in this universe, and not missing, sold into the depths of the Empire and vanished, or any myriad of questions.
An Empire that doesn't exist yet, and Anakin barely has time to remind himself of that before he catches sight of Padmé. She's staring at him with a frown from a doorway that Anakin would wager is to a bedroom, in a loose gown that doesn't hide the swell of her belly.
"I thought you wouldn't be back so soon, Anakin." She glances past him to Master Windu and Zett, who've followed him, the outer door shutting behind them. "And you said the Jedi betrayed the Republic."
Anakin runs a hand through his hair, smiling at her, though he knows the expression is awkward. Master Windu had mentioned that Padmé was pregnant, but it hadn't truly registered until he'd seen the evidence himself. What had broken his counterpart so badly he'd been willing to kneel to Sidious, and betray what he already had?
"We didn't betray the Republic!" Zett bursts out, and Anakin can feel the rush of hurt mixed with anger from his accidental apprentice, as well as Zett's attempt to let it go. "Senetor," he adds after a beat of silence, still struggling with his emotions.
Turning away from Padmé, Anakin reaches out to Zett, offering comfort. "It's ok to feel, Zett. Let it run its course." He shifts slightly to brace himself when Zett moves to cling to him, wrapping his arms around Anakin's waist as he hides his face. Hiding tears, Anakin thinks, and he holds Zett while the boy cries.
"You're not Anakin." Padmé has taken a step away from the doorway, and is watching him with a deeper frown than before. "Why do you look like him?"
"I am Anakin Skywalker." Anakin draws a deep breath, the corners of his mouth quirking up a moment. "Just not your Anakin. It's a bit of a story, and I don't know if we have time for it. I need a way to get Master Windu and Zett off Coruscant before Sidious and your Anakin find out they're not dead, and try to kill them again."
He looks over at Master Windu, frowning a moment. "Do we also need to arrange transport for the younglings we got out of the Temple?"
"I already did, last night." Master Windu lowers the hood of his borrowed cloak. "They were safely away before you woke this morning."
"Who is Sidious? What is going on?" Padmé comes toward them, though she keeps a careful distance between herself and Anakin.
"Sidious is the Sith Master." Anakin lets Zett go when he stiffens a little, patting him on the shoulder as he takes a step back. "He's been working to control the Republic since before I was born, though at home, he'd already been Emperor for years by now."
At least, to judge by the age of his counterpart. He doesn't know what the difference is that meant Sidious didn't take control earlier, though it's just one more difference between this place and home.
"Can I trust you, Anakin?" Padmé's expression is caught between confusion and desperate hope. "How is this possible? Why are you here?"
"I don't know." Anakin spreads his hands, with a quick, confused smile of his own. He has some ideas about how he ended up here, but he doesn't know, and testing the one idea will be difficult with Sidious aware of his existance. "I didn't plan on being in a universe not my own. I'd like to return home, to my masters and my friends, but until I know how, I'll make the best of being here. Do what I can to make this galaxy less of a maze of battle-lines than home.
"I don't know if you'll trust me, but the only person since I got here who trusts me entirely is myself, so you'd be in varied company."
He pauses, meeting Padmé's gaze squarely, hoping she's alike enough to the Padmé he knows to do what he'll ask of her. Regardless of the personal risk or consequence. "Master Windu suggested asking you for help because you and your Anakin are close. I'm asking because I know Commander Amidala at home would not hesitate - and if you can't help, all I'd ask for next is where to find Prince-Consort Organa.
"We need transport for three off Coruscant, and preferably outside of the Inner Rim, as well." All the way to the Outer Rim would be best, but Anakin isn't going to ask her to take them that far unless she offers.
Padmé blinks, glancing past Anakin to Master Windu a moment. "I can't leave Coruscant, not yet. I promised I would wait for Anakin to return." She reaches out a hand, but pulls back before she touches Anakin. "My ship has rations and bunks, if you're willing to wait. And it should be safe."
"Only so long as your Anakin doesn't check it before traveling with you." Anakin doesn't want to put any of them in greater danger if his counterpart here finds him. Especially not Zett, or the child Padmé is carrying.
"He has a fighter." Padmé smiles a little, though it doesn't touch her eyes. "I can ask him to fly escort, to make me feel safer with everything that's happening." She wraps her arms around herself, blinking rapidly. "I'll take you as far as Naboo. You should be safe there."
It's far enough, and more than Anakin had really expected - hoped for, perhaps - and he nods. "We'll be able to find transport further out if we need to." He smiles, reaching out but not touching Padmé. "Thank you, Padmé."
They'll go to Tatooine or Serreno, maybe out to Belkadan, if they can acquire a ship, rather than merely transport.
On tumblr: six | seven | eight | nine | ten
Livejournal post
First Part | Previous Part | Next Part
Drawing a breath in, Anakin shakes his head, letting the dark images go into the chill that keeps them unmolested. Zett doesn't ask more questions, though his fear fades, drained away like water into sand, and he moves closer to Anakin again. Mulling over what Anakin's said, hopefully, and not dwelling on anything else.
He finds another place to drop further into the city, closer to where Master Windu is - waiting, Anakin thinks, rather than moving. It's several minutes before he stops, tilting his head, and tugging Zett to a halt as well. They're very close, but the Force is whispering that he needs to go a different direction.
Him, not Zett.
"Zett. When I tell you to run, don't look back." Anakin listens to the small sounds of the city around them fading away. Something is coming that none of the locals want to notice them.
"Master Anakin?" Zett sounds uncertain, and Anakin wrinkles his nose at the title he's been bestowed.
"You'll be fine, I promise. Someone's been following us for a little while." He thinks. He's not actually sure if they've been followed, or if whatever is coming just has the bad luck of being in the same place at the same time.
"You're not going to get yourself killed, are you?" Zett has a hand on his lightsaber, and a sense of determination. He's already seen one Master killed, likely, and Anakin can't blame him for not wanting to see someone else dead.
"No." Anakin ruffles Zett's hair before he gives him a small shove in the direction they'd been walking. "Keep going that direction, Master Windu will find you. And I'll catch up." He pauses, tilting his head as he listens to the threads of the Force. "If someone bothers you, try to imagine them being dropped into ice. It works on almost anyone."
"The dark side thing?" Zett screws up his face a moment in distaste, and Anakin grins, nudging Zett another step in the right direction.
"Yup." He turns to face the way they've come. "Run, Zett. Don't stop until you've found Master Windu."
His lightsabers light up the street better than the lamps, throwing red and blue shadows as he walks back the way they had come, listening to Zett's pounding footsteps retreat behind him. At least the boy had obeyed.
Anakin grins when the white-armored troopers come around a corner. "Hello. You know, one of my masters thought it was rude to toy with my enemies, and the other thought it was polite to avoid killing them right away." He pauses as he deflects the first blaster bolts, taking a Force-assisted leap toward one of the rooftops of the grimy buildings, reaching out for the Darkness that had become as welcome as the Light in his training.
The troopers are good, concentrating their firepower in an attempt to overwhelm him, and Anakin is hard-pressed to keep deflecting the bolts until he weeds out those who don't duck fast enough to avoid their returned fire. The rest, he begins to shove backward, trying to remember where he saw another drop. A good one, a few stories.
There are only two left by the time he finds one, the others lost to reflected blaster bolts and insufficiently rapid retreats from his blades when he drops back into the street. Anakin tilts his head a moment before he deactivates one saber, returning it to his belt before he reaches out to lift one of the troopers by the throat. Tightening the Force-choak as he dangles the trooper out over the drop.
"I don't like people who try to kill what is mine." He uses the still-lit lightsaber to deflect another bolt from the remaining trooper, sending the man down to the ground. He won't survive very long with the hole burned through his gut and spine.
The other saber is returned to Anakin's belt as well, and he uses the Force to shove the not-yet-dead clone over the drop, while the other goes limp in the grip of the Force. He grimaces, before dropping that one as well, listening to the crunch of the bodies hitting another walkway.
It doesn't take him long to catch up to Zett, who has found Master Windu, and is leading him back toward Anakin. Not the worst idea, nor the best, but one that makes Anakin smile, and ruffle Zett's hair again.
"I should have told you to wait for me if I wanted you to stay put, should I?"
Zett snorts, and shakes his head. "I wouldn't have, Master Anakin. You shouldn't have to fight alone."
Anakin meets Master Windu's gaze over the boy's head, and Windu raises an eyebrow in challenge, though to what, Anakin can't quite tell. "They're already taken care of, though, so no fighting today. We need to find somewhere safe to hole up until we can get off Coruscant." He pauses, glancing past Windu, and then asks, "Where are the younglings?"
"Safe." Master Windu doesn't elaborate on his answer, just turns to lead the way, whether to the younglings or somewhere else, and Anakin follows in his wake, nudging Zett to walk between them when he would have fallen back.
It's down another level and into what looks like an abandoned building that might once have held offices or apartments before they stop moving, Master Windu tilting his head at a door for one of them to open. There's a small room beyond, windowless and dimly lit, with a stack of bedrolls in one corner and what Anakin would wager are field rations in another. A bolt-hole.
"Lay out a couple of those, Padawan Zett." Master Windu leans against the wall once inside, and Zett hurries to do as he's told while Anakin makes sure the door won't be readily opened from the outside. "Skywalker, you have first watch."
"Of course." Anakin fishes a glow-stick out of one of his belt pouches, using the light to take a quick look at Master Windu while the older man is still upright, though his eyes are shut. "Are you all right?"
"No." Master Windu opens his eyes to give Anakin a brief, tired glare. "The only good thing about having my hand cut off with a lightsaber is it's not bleeding." That there's still pain from the injury is a given, and Anakin wouldn't be surprised if Master Windu was fighting shock. "Make sure we're not killed while I sleep, Skywalker. I'll be fine."
"I'll wake you for second watch." Anakin helps Master Windu slide down onto a bedroll, while Zett cocoons himself in another one as close as he can get to Master Windu without intruding on his blankets. Keeping close, either to protect or to feel safe enough to sleep. Anakin smiles, resting a hand on Zett's forehead a moment before he moves away, sitting so he's facing the door, and placing his lightsabers in front of him.
Waiting, and listening, and guarding.
"Senetor Organa offered to provide a ship to get us off Coruscant. We'd just have to get to wherever he has it docked."
Zett's words catch Anakin's attention as he wakes, leaning against the wall with a bedroll wrapped around him. The room is still lit only by a glow-stick, though it's a fresh one, rather than the one he'd cracked at the start of his watch.
"And I said I'd find us a way off Coruscant." Anakin runs a hand through his hair, and shakes his head to clear the last of the cobwebs of sleep away. "I might not have the contacts I do at home, but I'm not lacking other skills to acquire a ship."
Master Windu is already shaking his head. "No. You look too much like our Skywalker, and someone will recognize you. Might ask why you're somewhere you're not expected to be."
That was something Anakin had not thought about, and he frowns a moment. "Or they might be too afraid to ask questions, if I look as if I know where I'm going."
"And do you know where you'd be going?" Master Windu is watching him with a solemn expression. "How much do you know about our Skywalker?"
"He's broken and lost and is far too fond of Sidious for comfort." Anakin tilts his head, narrowing his eyes. "What am I missing?"
"More than a little." Master Windu sighs. "How well do you know Senetor Amidala in your universe?"
"Commander Amidala. Padmé." Anakin smiles a moment, knowing his expression is a little love-struck. "She and Sabé make the galaxy tremble, especially since she lost Naboo to the Empire's aggression."
Master Windu blinks, and frowns. "Sabé?"
"Her body-double when she was Queen of Naboo. They're called the face of hope now. No more body-doubles, just them in the paint and at the front lines calling for diplomacy as much as is possible." Anakin shakes his head. "Why?"
"Knight Skywalker is often in her company. Possibly the father of her child."
Anakin stares at Master Windu for a long moment. "Padmé is with Sabé, and they have about as much interest in me as Jabba the Hutt does in being honest."
Master Windu gives Anakin a skeptical look, shaking his head. "Whatever her relationships where you come from, Skywalker, here she's interested in you. And that relationship is easier to take advantage of than Senetor Organa's generosity without calling undue attention to ourselves."
Anakin takes a deep breath, letting an old memory surface a moment, of seeing Padmé in a wedding gown and being so certain he's been the one to marry her. He'd let that dream go when he'd met her again, seen how close she was to Sabé, how much more she needed that than she needed him. Maybe the dream had never been about the Padmé he knew at all.
"She's here on Coruscant?"
"Her apartments are in 500 Republica, and she hasn't left the planet in the last few months."
With the unspoken implication that Master Windu thinks Anakin will be welcomed into those apartments, either by their owner or by those who attend her. Though that only accounts for Anakin himself.
"And what about you, Master Windu? Or Zett?" He smiles sardonically, refusing to entertain the idea of going alone. "Do you think I'd be able to get you both in there, too?"
"We can wait here for you to secure shelter from the Senetor."
"No." Anakin shakes his head. "I know this is supposed to be safe, but I don't want to split up. There's too much risk."
"And how do you propose to get us there without running into clones, and the risk of being killed, or drawing attention to Senetor Amidala?"
Anakin's smile softens, and he stands so he can pull off his faded black cloak, tossing it to Master Windu. "They won't fire at me, and I have a couple tricks up my sleeve to keep them from firing on either of you."
The same twist of the Force that had kept anyone from harming either him or Zett yesterday is easily enough expanded to keep any prying eyes from looking too closely at Master Windu under Anakin's cloak, or at Zett.
He looks over at Zett. "Just wear the shirt and the belt without all the extra pouches. Your lightsaber can go into your boot, or Master Windu can carry it on his belt, since no one should see it beneath the cloak."
Master Windu looks skeptical, but he sheds his own tabards and tunic as well, leaving them behind with his cloak, Anakin's own falling only to his ankles rather than to the ground. It's enough, with the hood up to hide who he is, and he takes the rear, with Zett between them as Anakin leads the way out into the hallway.
Anakin listens to the footsteps of his companions as he reaches out to the Force, drawing the darkness to cloak them in cold and threat. Zett hisses, but keeps pace, scurrying along almost on Anakin's heels, while Master Windu falters a moment before catching up.
"It's one of the first things Maul taught me." Anakin keeps his voice low so he won't be overheard as they step out into the street. "This and the inversion, to hide under the noses of others."
"Why not use that?" Master Windu's voice is just audible, and there's a thread of tension running under it. "We don't want to be noticed."
"I want them to notice me." Anakin smiles at the snort from Master Windu. "If everyone sees me, they'll ignore you as shadows or minions."
He hopes it will work that way, at least, as they work their way up into the upper reaches of the city. Certainly it keeps people from approaching them, though he avoids any sign of white-armored troops in case the trick doesn't work well enough on them.
It even ensures they have one of the lifts to themselves, though Anakin is glad to let it go once the doors shut, leaving them in a bubble of peace. "Where are the Senetor's apartments?" His only experience with Coruscant before he'd found himself in a new universe had been with locating Sidious, and he's fairly certain he doesn't want to go to the top of the tower.
Master Windu reaches past him to key in the correct destination, letting the lift do the rest of the work. Anakin draws the darkness about them again once the lift slows, stepping out into the corridor, and following Master Windu's tersely given directions.
When the door opens, he stares for a long moment before pushing past the exclaiming C-3PO, who seems to be surprised he's back so swiftly. Mistaking Anakin for his counterpart, and he doesn't have time to listen to the droid's chatter, as much as he'd love to ask if his mother is all right in this universe, and not missing, sold into the depths of the Empire and vanished, or any myriad of questions.
An Empire that doesn't exist yet, and Anakin barely has time to remind himself of that before he catches sight of Padmé. She's staring at him with a frown from a doorway that Anakin would wager is to a bedroom, in a loose gown that doesn't hide the swell of her belly.
"I thought you wouldn't be back so soon, Anakin." She glances past him to Master Windu and Zett, who've followed him, the outer door shutting behind them. "And you said the Jedi betrayed the Republic."
Anakin runs a hand through his hair, smiling at her, though he knows the expression is awkward. Master Windu had mentioned that Padmé was pregnant, but it hadn't truly registered until he'd seen the evidence himself. What had broken his counterpart so badly he'd been willing to kneel to Sidious, and betray what he already had?
"We didn't betray the Republic!" Zett bursts out, and Anakin can feel the rush of hurt mixed with anger from his accidental apprentice, as well as Zett's attempt to let it go. "Senetor," he adds after a beat of silence, still struggling with his emotions.
Turning away from Padmé, Anakin reaches out to Zett, offering comfort. "It's ok to feel, Zett. Let it run its course." He shifts slightly to brace himself when Zett moves to cling to him, wrapping his arms around Anakin's waist as he hides his face. Hiding tears, Anakin thinks, and he holds Zett while the boy cries.
"You're not Anakin." Padmé has taken a step away from the doorway, and is watching him with a deeper frown than before. "Why do you look like him?"
"I am Anakin Skywalker." Anakin draws a deep breath, the corners of his mouth quirking up a moment. "Just not your Anakin. It's a bit of a story, and I don't know if we have time for it. I need a way to get Master Windu and Zett off Coruscant before Sidious and your Anakin find out they're not dead, and try to kill them again."
He looks over at Master Windu, frowning a moment. "Do we also need to arrange transport for the younglings we got out of the Temple?"
"I already did, last night." Master Windu lowers the hood of his borrowed cloak. "They were safely away before you woke this morning."
"Who is Sidious? What is going on?" Padmé comes toward them, though she keeps a careful distance between herself and Anakin.
"Sidious is the Sith Master." Anakin lets Zett go when he stiffens a little, patting him on the shoulder as he takes a step back. "He's been working to control the Republic since before I was born, though at home, he'd already been Emperor for years by now."
At least, to judge by the age of his counterpart. He doesn't know what the difference is that meant Sidious didn't take control earlier, though it's just one more difference between this place and home.
"Can I trust you, Anakin?" Padmé's expression is caught between confusion and desperate hope. "How is this possible? Why are you here?"
"I don't know." Anakin spreads his hands, with a quick, confused smile of his own. He has some ideas about how he ended up here, but he doesn't know, and testing the one idea will be difficult with Sidious aware of his existance. "I didn't plan on being in a universe not my own. I'd like to return home, to my masters and my friends, but until I know how, I'll make the best of being here. Do what I can to make this galaxy less of a maze of battle-lines than home.
"I don't know if you'll trust me, but the only person since I got here who trusts me entirely is myself, so you'd be in varied company."
He pauses, meeting Padmé's gaze squarely, hoping she's alike enough to the Padmé he knows to do what he'll ask of her. Regardless of the personal risk or consequence. "Master Windu suggested asking you for help because you and your Anakin are close. I'm asking because I know Commander Amidala at home would not hesitate - and if you can't help, all I'd ask for next is where to find Prince-Consort Organa.
"We need transport for three off Coruscant, and preferably outside of the Inner Rim, as well." All the way to the Outer Rim would be best, but Anakin isn't going to ask her to take them that far unless she offers.
Padmé blinks, glancing past Anakin to Master Windu a moment. "I can't leave Coruscant, not yet. I promised I would wait for Anakin to return." She reaches out a hand, but pulls back before she touches Anakin. "My ship has rations and bunks, if you're willing to wait. And it should be safe."
"Only so long as your Anakin doesn't check it before traveling with you." Anakin doesn't want to put any of them in greater danger if his counterpart here finds him. Especially not Zett, or the child Padmé is carrying.
"He has a fighter." Padmé smiles a little, though it doesn't touch her eyes. "I can ask him to fly escort, to make me feel safer with everything that's happening." She wraps her arms around herself, blinking rapidly. "I'll take you as far as Naboo. You should be safe there."
It's far enough, and more than Anakin had really expected - hoped for, perhaps - and he nods. "We'll be able to find transport further out if we need to." He smiles, reaching out but not touching Padmé. "Thank you, Padmé."
They'll go to Tatooine or Serreno, maybe out to Belkadan, if they can acquire a ship, rather than merely transport.