There's a Mirror On the Wall

First Part | Previous Part | Next Part
on tumblr

---

"I told Padawan Jukassa to get some sleep on board the Senator's ship. Easier if you don't have to wake him up in order to leave." Master Windu breaks the silence first, and moves to sit in the seat Yoda had occupied a few minutes ago. "Something I would recommend if you're able to, Senator Amidala."

"Please, call me Padmé." Padmé smiles briefly, before looking down at Luke in her lap, tracing his face lightly with her fingers. "We've been here long enough that I don't know where to go. I don't know enough about what's happened while we've been out of touch with the rest of the galaxy."

"If they think you're dead?"

"I've been in the public eye for much of the war, Master Windu." Padmé looks up again, a small smile crossing her face. "A week without anything at all will have people concerned for me. I want to know what they think happened before I simply show up somewhere in public."

"If I'm to call you Padmé, Senator, please call me Mace." It's a mutual courtesy, and Anakin is glad Master Windu is willing to extend it to Padmé. "You both should. It will be easier to avoid using potentially dangerous titles or names in public if we do not do so in private."

"Of course, Mace." Padmé looks up at Anakin, and he nods in response to the unspoken question, feeling her curiosity down the bond. He will try to remember to call Master Windu Mace in public and private, though it feels strange to do so with someone who he has barely known for long at all.

"Once we're away from Polis Massa, it should be easier to get information." Master Windu leans forward enough to rest his elbows on his knees, lacing flesh and cybernetic fingers together. "I still think we should have a plan for where we are going before we leave. Better to have to change it later than take time to think about it if someone starts firing on us."

And they can't trust either side of the war not to do so. Anakin shifts, hitching Leia a little higher against his shoulder, trying to think of anywhere he'd remembered as neutral from home, though nowhere comes to mind very well. Belkadan, but that's far from anywhere, and on the far side of the galaxy, besides. Not exactly a place easy to reach without being caught somewhere.

"Naboo, if we can. The Queen will help us, and there are places that are secluded enough no one would look for us there." Padmé picks Luke up, glancing at Anakin a moment as she settles Luke against her shoulder, one arm under him to hold him as she uses the other to help her shift her weight. "If Naboo isn't safe, Tatooine."

Her voice catches a bit as she says that, and Anakin feels a mix of worn grief and fresh pain surge down the bond. He'll have to ask what the grief comes from - it feels too worn to be about Vader - later. The pain, at least the physical, is more concern at the moment. "Careful."

"I'm fine, Anakin." Padmé smiles at him a moment, though Anakin doesn't think she's fine. The pain is still echoing at him, though she seems determined to ignore it. "I need to get up. We can talk about where we're going as we walk back to the ship."

That catches the attention of the medical droids, who'd been hovering at a distance, and now they float closer, one of them braver than the rest voicing concern about Padmé trying to walk that far when she still needs to heal further from childbirth. There is only so much they can do to speed the process.

"Bring me a hoverchair if you insist I shouldn't walk." Padmé glares at the medical droid, and Anakin turns his head so she can't see his grin. "And if they can't bring me a chair, Mace can carry Leia and Luke, and you can carry me."

Anakin blinks, not quite certain what to do with the idea of carrying Padmé - someone he's never thought of as needing any assistance, at least not from him - to the ship. He's glad when the droids are able to bring a hoverchair, and he helps Padmé settle in it with Luke.

Master Windu walks in front of them, making sure they get to the ship safely, and he takes Leia from Anakin once they're on board, so Anakin can make sure the hoverchair is placed out of the way, and close up the ramp behind them. The sooner they're away, the better.

A shorter bit this time, but going forward. Posting this mostly because it has a point to end at and I want to poke at the new plot bunny a bit.

First Part | Previous Part | Next Part
on tumblr

---

Padmé is asleep again before Master Windu returns, and Anakin is once again holding Leia, pacing around the edge of the room to help her sleep and to let him think. He looks over at the sound of the door opening, and smiles at Master Windu, though his smile fades into puzzlement when he sees others following - and neither of the others with Master Windu are Zett.

He sends a wordless queary down the training bond, and gets back a sense of sleepiness, and the contentment of someone warm and well-fed. Late, then, likely, and Zett heading for a bunk that Anakin assumes is safe for the moment.

"Master Windu. Your Highness." He pauses, glancing down at the third, a Jedi he remembers only as a favored guest of Qui-Gon. "Master Yoda."

Yoda watches him for a long moment before harumphing, and turning away to thump over to the chair, which has been left unoccupied for him. Anakin frowns a moment, before shaking his head, and resuming his circuit of the room. Whatever Yoda intends to say, he can do so while Anakin is walking.

"Darkness there is about you, Skywalker."

"The Force there is about me, Master Yoda." Anakin rubs a hand in soothing circles on Leia's back when she shifts, encouraging her to just rest some more, sleep and grow. "You can't see very well what's in the shadows if you never step out of the light."

"Hmph. The Dark Side, always hard to see, it has been." Yoda meets his glare with an expression Anakin can't read, and without leaking anything into the Force other than a deep weariness. "Trust it, we cannot."

"Trust me, you have to." Anakin veers away from Yoda, pacing between the beds instead of around the edge of the room. "I'm not going anywhere until Padmé's ready to leave, and then I go where she goes unless she asks me not to."

"And go where, will you? To the Sith?" Yoda is watching Leia more than Anakin, and Anakin stills his hand and his pacing, half-turning to keep himself more between Leia and Yoda than not.

"Sidious is not my friend, nor is Vader. Even if Padmé asks me where to go, I wouldn't go to them." Anakin glares at Master Windu, wondering why he's brought the little green troll here.

Master Windu shakes his head, shifting to put a tiny fraction more space between himself and Yoda. This is not his idea, and perhaps he is not as in agreement with Yoda as he might appear. Anakin hopes he isn't.

"Attract their attention, you will, even if go to them, you do not." Yoda glances at Luke, then Leia again, before meeting Anakin's gaze. "The children, they must not find."

"And any decision made about them is not your concern." Anakin takes a half-step back, bumping the bed Padmé is sleeping on as he sends a quiet nudge down the bond with her. "They are Padmé's children, and you will not take them from her."

First Part | Previous Part | Next Part
Crossposted to tumblr

Note: Yes, I did some quick searching for if the one thing was possible. I'd liken it to a medically-induced coma in this case, rather than normal unconsciousness, and it's going to make things interesting later.

Note the second: thedeadcat​ is where I get the idea of the reason Padmé dies in canon is a broken life-bond with Anakin. Because it is an awesome idea and makes more damned sense than “lost the will to live”.

---

"Do you trust me?" Anakin meets Padmé's gaze steadily when she opens her eyes again, waiting for her nod, though he doubts it's anything more than a conditional trust. "Once we're away from here, I need you to trust me, to let me in, if I'm going to use the Force at all to check you and the baby." He has to trust it will work, that he'll be able to see what's wrong with Padmé. Trust that she's right and it's not the baby, and that the Force will show him if they're both wrong.

Padmé nods again, tightening her grip on his hand as she closes her eyes again. Anakin listens to the whine of the engines, lets himself feel the minute vibration of the ship as it lifts from the platform, taking a steep angle to get them as far from here as possible as quickly as possible. The cold and sluggish feeling like the Force has become stagnated in darkness lifts away as they're further from Mustafar, and Anakin takes a deep breath.

He squeezes Padmé's fingers gently as he reaches out in the Force, letting his mind slide along the currents and eddies, and feeling her willingness to let him in. Willingness to do whatever she needed to do for her baby, and trusting him to make sure it's all right. Anakin slides into her mind, murmuring a thanks that stutters to a halt as he feels what feels like something bleeding into the Force. Bleeding life and vitality away as readily as any wound, and he hisses, reaching out mental hands to try to staunch the flow.

The outside world fades to bare impressions as he holds onto what feels like the shredded end of a severed artery - a severed bond? - with every bit of concentration he can muster. At some point he thinks someone comes in, but he doesn't know who, or what he says to them. If he says anything. He's vaguely aware of movement, either around him, or him being moved, him and Padmé.

How long he's been focused on the internal before he surfaces, he has no idea, but he's no longer in the tiny medical bay of Padmé's ship when he does. The room is larger, and more sterile, with medical droids beeping anxiously about their patients, and Padmé is resting with a small bundle laying against her chest. The baby.

"I don't know what you were doing, Skywalker, but we nearly lost you both when the droids removed you from physical contact with Senator Amidala."

Master Windu's voice draws Anakin's attention away from Padmé to where the Jedi is sitting in a chair, with another small bundle held in one arm. The other has a skeletal prosthetic on it, holding a bottle as the baby drinks from it.

"Two?" Anakin doesn't know exactly what he did, either, only that he was determined not to let Padmé die from something that could be fixed. That he wanted to be able to fix, and had no experience in dealing with. He doesn't know if what he's done is what the Jedi would have done, or the Sith, only that he thinks it worked. He hopes it worked.

Master Windu frowns, than glances down at the baby he's feeding. "Senator Amidala had twins, yes." He raises an eyebrow, watching Anakin for a long moment. "What were you doing earlier, Skywalker?"

"Trying to keep the Senetor from bleeding out." Anakin doesn't have any other way to describe it, and he sighs quietly. "I don't know what happened to her, but it felt like someone had some deep bond with her, and it had been ripped apart with no regard to the harm to her."

If Vader had done both, Anakin thinks he might well kill his alternate himself when he has a chance. Trying to kill her like this is a cruelty Anakin doesn't think he would be capable of, and doesn't know how Vader would be, when he'd married her and had created children with her.

Children. Twins.

Anakin draws another deep breath, letting it out slowly, a small smile creeping onto his face despite himself. "What did she name them?"

"She hasn't, yet." Master Windu looks past Anakin to Padmé. "She was unconscious when we landed, and all through the birth. I didn't think that was possible."

Blinking, Anakin looks back at Padmé, his smile fading into a worried frown. Had he stopped the bleeding in time, or had he just prolonged the inevitable?

He tries to sit up, falling back when his head spins, trying to blink away the sudden grayness at the edges of his vision. The worried beeping of the medical droid gets closer, and Anakin listens to them scolding him about trying to move so quickly, trying to be active after having been unconscious for the last week.

"Week?"

"We've been able to get you to swallow water and some broth, since the droids weren't able to get an IV in. You short-circuited their limbs every time they came near you with a needle." Master Windu sounds amused, at least, even if there is an undertone of worry to the words. "What did you do, Skywalker?"

"Tried to fix the broken bond by giving it a new anchor point." Anakin tightens the grip he still has on Padmé's hand a moment, before slowly moving his other limbs, reminding himself of the physical limits of his body. "Maybe not waking up was adjusting to the change?"

There's a snort from Master Windu, and Anakin glances at him a moment to see an expression he can't read. Blinking a moment, Anakin turns away, and back to Padmé, trying again to sit up, with a little more success this time. He still feels dizzy, but it's not as bad.

He holds onto Padmé's hand for a long moment more before consciously letting go, peeling away one finger at a time. It feels strange for his hand to be empty, and he flexes his fingers as he watches Padmé intently, hoping she'll wake soon, now that he is awake.

On Mustafar. After the scene break, I get to rewrite the flashback scene from Dead, Dying, and Living, and what happens immediately after, and then I’m going to switch gears and write the Vaderkin AU version of this same scene.

First Part | Previous Part | Next Part
On tumblr.

( Long post is long )

I am going to have to have a proper title for the main story, because I don't generally name the main story and the AU the same thing. Have done (see Afanasiy, for Highlander), but usually don't. Still haven't finished getting all the parts properly linked here (DW or LJ), though they are linked properly on tumblr. Might do some of that tomorrow, since I have plans for what I'm doing today once I have this posted (I have to get through the end of the encounter of Mustafar for this AU, and do the same scene again for the nameless Vaderkin AU).

First Part | Previous Part | Next Part
on Tumblr

( Cut because this is quite a bit longer than the bits I've been posting lately )

First Part | Previous Part | Next Part

And this thing is now over 10k!

Crossposted to tumblr.

---

"It's pretty." Zett sounds a little dazed, and Anakin opens his eyes to check that the boy doesn't look any worse for being wrapped up like this.

"It is interesting." Master Windu is looking around them with narrowed eyes. "You learned this from Kenobi?"

"From Maul." Anakin shrugs when Master Windu frowns at him. "He taught Obi-Wan, too. Like I told Zett, I don't think it actually originated with the Sith, just that the Jedi forgot how to do this. Why would they need to know how to hide? They won."

"You think it was lost around the Rusaan Reforms?" Master Windu raises an eyebrow, settling back again, and closing his eyes, though Anakin doubts he's stopped looking at the shield.

"It would make sense. Or maybe earlier, during the war that destroyed the majority of the Sith." Anakin pauses, looking down a moment, a wry smile crossing his face a moment. "Yoda didn't know how to hide like this, when we met him on Serenno." Neither had Master Windu of his own universe, but that Master Windu had been less willing to learn, too.

"He doesn't know here, either." Master Windu shifts slightly, and a moment later, Anakin feels him fade away, hiding behind his own shield. There's a whisper of something there, but it's elusive and faint.

"You did well for a first time, I think. I think if I moved more than a room away, I wouldn't be able to tell you were there, not with the Force." Anakin could test that, but he still has his own shield extended around both the Jedi.

"Good enough, for now." Master Windu opens his eyes again. "I think I might be able to keep Padawan Jukassa hidden, if he stays close. If he doesn't pick it up fast enough to hide himself."

Zett blinks when his name is mentioned, and his brow furrows a moment later in concentration. It's clumsier, almost patchy, and Anakin wishes he had a better idea how to teach this. If he had even a little of Obi-Wan's talent for teaching, it might be easier to explain.

Anakin frowns a moment, then holds out his hand to Zett, who frowns a moment before taking it. The physical contact makes it easier to use the bond between them to see what the shield looks like from the inside for Zett. It would be easier, too, to show him the way Maul had shown Anakin, but he doesn't want to do that unless he can't find any other way.

"Had you done anything with fractals in your maths class?" Anakin can see how Zett's tried to weave the shield more like the sort telepaths learned to protect themselves from the thoughts of others.

Nodding, Zett frowns, trying again to create the shield, creating something less patchy this time, though it still creates odd eddies in the Force. Not something that would necessarily be a person, but certainly something that would be curious to someone paying attention.

"Better." Anakin smiles, the praise easily given. "You'd still attract attention if someone's looking, but if you stay close to me, it shouldn't be a problem now." And there's still time to practice before they arrive wherever Skywalker is.

First Part | Previous Part | Next Part

Star Wars: Ashes and Hope

Anakin knows there's very little that could convince him to hurt Amidala at home, and he hopes Padmé is right about her Anakin. He lets out a quiet breath, and nods. "I'll stay here, when we land, then. Where I can see, but won't easily be seen."

Padmé smiles, brief and weak, before she nods, turning back to the controls. Taking them off the platform, and smoothly past the lanes of traffic.

Watching until they've cleared the atmosphere, Anakin turns away, wrapping the Force closely about himself to hide the way Maul taught him. He should show Master Windu and Zett the same trick, so they don't risk discovery by proximity.

Down on the lower deck, he pauses a moment as he moves toward the back, frowning at the vague sense of familiar Force-presence, though it vanishes quickly. He shakes his head, continuing back toward the cabins, finding the one Zett's in first, and knocking.

"Zett?"

It's a moment before the door opens, Zett peering out at him with a small frown. "What are you doing? It feels like you're not even here."

"Hiding." Anakin smiles a moment, shrugging. "Do you want to learn how?"

"Is it like the thing you did earlier? With the cold and dark?" Zett shifts on his feet, a small frown on his face.

Anakin crouches down so he's more on Zett's eye level, watching his expression, and listening to the Force. "I learned how to hide from Maul, and he learned it from his Master, but I don't think it's actually a Dark Side technique. Just something the Jedi have forgotten is even possible."

"Are you going to teach Master Windu how to hide like this too?" Zett reaches out a hand, poking Anakin in the shoulder as if to reassure himself that Anakin's really there, and not some illusion.

"If he wants to learn how, then I don't see why not." Anakin quirks one corner of his mouth up in a grin. "It's useful, even if the people around you aren't able to use the Force. They tend to forget you exist."

A faint vibration runs through the decking as the ship jumps into hyperspace, though where they're headed, Anakin isn't certain. He should have asked Padmé that before coming down here.

"I should ask Master Windu if he wants to learn as well, so I can teach you both at the same time." Anakin pushes to his feet, holding out his hand for Zett to take. "The Senetor isn't going directly to Naboo, but to find Knight Skywalker first."

Zett's hand tightens around his, and Anakin squeezes back, silent promise he won't let his alternate do anything to harm Zett - or Master Windu, for that matter.

The cabin next to Zett's is a little larger, and Master Windu takes one look at him when Anakin knocks on the door, and waves them both inside.

"Did Skywalker already return to Coruscant?" Master Windu waves them to sit on the floor with him, and Anakin waits for Zett to pick a place before he sits at the third point of the triangle.

"No. Senator Amidala said she had a visit from Obi-Wan, and he's hunting my alternate. She wasn't happy I neglected to tell her that her Anakin had fallen prey to the Sith." Anakin looks down, shaking his head. "I didn't know how to tell her that earlier. It sounds like your Obi-Wan had no such problems."

"Did she tell you where we're going?"

"No, and I forgot to ask." Anakin shrugs one shoulder, looking up with a self-depricating smile. "I thought it would be a little more important to tell you who would be where we're going, and teach you and Zett how to hide like this. I don't know if Skywalker will be able to feel our presence when we arrive wherever it is, but I'd rather not find out the hard way."

HAH! It's still twenty minutes before midnight, and I have word count and snippet. And that's without counting the non-story words, even. :)

First Part | Previous Part | Next Part

---

Star Wars: Ashes and Hope

"My lady?"

Anakin turns at the new voice, putting himself between Zett and the newcomer - Eirtaé, he thinks after a moment - without conscious thought. She frowns at him, a brief furrow between her brows before she refocuses on Padmé, her expression apologetic.

"My lady, the Chancellor's office just sent a message. He's calling for a special session of the Senate tomorrow morning. You're expected to be there."

It takes several deep breaths not to snarl out loud at the mention of Sidious - Palpatine, Chancellor than Emperor - though Anakin doesn't bother to try to release the anger to the Force. Too much, and Sidious will notice, and he cannot let himself be found, not yet. Not while he has Zett and Master Windu to protect.

Nor can he face Sidious alone again, not until he has a better idea of what had happened that sent him here, rather than remaining at home. Perhaps even then, he shouldn't do it alone, when he's not as certain of the skills and abilities of this Sidious.

"Thank you, Dormé." She pauses, glancing at Anakin again, then smiles brightly, though there's still too many shadows in her eyes for it to seem real. "Would you make sure Ani and his friends get to my ship safely, and unseen?"

"Of course, my lady." Dormé frowns at Anakin again, concern coming through clearly in the Force. "Does he need a speeder?"

"A speeder and a guide, and it's a long story that I can tell later." Anakin gives her his best smile, hoping to put her at ease. "Please."

Dormé nods, though her concern and confusion don't fade. At least she doesn't ask more questions, though she does leave the driving to him, as if she expects he would want to take the controls anyway. It is nice to fly again, for all that it's a brief enough trip to the landing platform where Padmé's ship is.

"We'll be fine here, until Padmé is ready to leave. Thank you." Anakin smiles at Dormé again once Master Windu and Zett are safely on the ship. He waits for her to leave before he turns away, slipping quietly onto the ship himself, finding the small lounge where the other two are waiting. "At least now we don't have to worry too much about someone finding us."

"I hope not." Master Windu slumps against the table, visibly weary for a long moment before he draws himself back together. It's a bit of trust that makes Anakin smile, and relax some himself. "This ship has no weapons, and poor defenses if someone figures out we're on board."

"It has us." Anakin glances at Zett, who looks as tired as Master Windu. "Zett. Go find a bunk, get some sleep."

Zett opens his mouth, though if he intends to protest, it doesn't get past the yawn, and his teeth click as he shuts his mouth again. Giving Anakin a sheepish smile, he heads for the corridor that Anakin assumes leads to cabins.

"What about you?" Master Windu watches Anakin as he sits down across from the Jedi. "You haven't had any more sleep than he has."

"Or you." Anakin shrugs. "I'll sleep better once we're away from Coruscant, and I can manage on naps until then." Once they're on Naboo, and as safe as they can get without getting out of Republic - soon to be Imperial, he's sure, with the mass deaths of Jedi to signal the success of Sidious in his plans - space.

Master Windu snorts, tilting his head in acknowledgement and possibly agreement. Even here, where they should be as safe as they can get without getting off-planet, it's still Coruscant, and there's still at least one Sith too close for comfort.

This 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

---

( Under the cut for length )

I also added to playlists today, and finished up one of the ending scenes for Into Shadows (and now I just have to fill in everything between Obi-Wan being shot and that newly-finished scene).

First Part | Previous Part | Next Part

So, have more Burn!Anakin mucking about in near-canon

Once Organa has left them on a landing platform, Anakin moves quickly to get out of the main walkway, trusting the Padawan to keep close.

"I forgot to ask your name, Padawan."

"Zett Jukassa." The boy is nearly on his heels, and Anakin glances down at him a moment. There's worry, and a bit of fear, in the boy's expression. "You're General Skywalker. I've seen you on the holo-net."

"No, I'm not." Anakin grimaces, shifting so the boy is ahead of him as he ducks into an alley. "I'm not a Jedi, and I'm not your Skywalker. If you call me anything, call me Anakin. It's my name."

Zett is quiet a moment. "General Skywalker has a scar over his right eye, and he doesn't have a red lightsaber. Only the Sith have those."

"And me." Anakin snorts, watching the walkway they'd been on earlier. "I didn't have a lot of options for lightsaber crystals when I built my lightsabers. The artificial red ones were easer to get."

"Why didn't you go to Ilum to get new ones?" Zett is watching him, and Anakin shrugs one shoulder.

"It wasn't an option." Anakin holds up a hand before Zett can ask another question. "I need to try to contact Master Windu, and arrange a rendezvous. I need you to keep a watch on that entry to the alley, and let me know if we have trouble."

"How are you going to do that without a communicator?"

Anakin grins, leaning against one wall, the durasteel cold even through the layers he's wearing. "The Force can do a lot of things, if you know how, Zett. I won't be able to pay a lot of attention to things nearby if I'm going to contact Master Windu, though."

He's not actually certain what he's trying will work - neither he nor Master Windu is naturally a telepath, and he doesn't have a bond with Windu to counteract that - but he has to at least try. Younglings deserve a chance to learn more than how to die.

Closing his eyes, he draws a deep breath, taking long moments to settle into a meditative trance - he's never been good at this part of it, no matter how often he practices. Seeking out someone else in the Force is easier, but more dangerous when he knows there are at least two Sith on the planet who would really prefer the younglings didn't survive, much less Zett or Master Windu. Getting the other person to notice him without attracting unwanted attention? That's the trick, and Anakin hopes he manages to fly under Sidious's notice - his alternate might be less sensitive, if he's not meditating, but Anakin can't be certain of that.

What the hell?

Master Windu's thoughts are audible for a moment before he slams shields up faster than Anakin can blink.

"Ow." He slams back into his body with a grimace, though he has enough information to find Master Windu, and from there, he can go looking for the younglings if they split up - he would have suggested that, if he'd been in Master Windu's place.

"Did it work?" Zett is crouched nearby, his back mostly to Anakin, though he glances back as he speaks.

"Sort of. Mostly." Anakin reaches up to rub his temples as the pain begins to subside to a managable level. He really needs to practice more, if he can't do something like that without backlash. "I know where Master Windu is, if we don't take too long to get there. Did your Master teach you how to cushion a landing with the Force?"

"No." Zett looks at him with a frown. "What are you going to do?"

"Take the quickest route down into the deeper parts of the city." Anakin reaches out to rest a hand on Zett's shoulder a moment. "I can keep us both from splatting, I just needed to know I would have to."

---

And near-canon-ish Obi-Wan being ambushed by feels in the As It All Burns AU

Blinking, Obi-Wan raises an eyebrow. "Padmé and Sabé? I thought Sabé was her handmaiden."

"She is. Or was. I'm not actually certain how that works." His alternate shrugs, looking back at the arches, drawing Obi-Wan's attention to the sound of familiar voices - one of which he's not truly expected to hear again.

"Obi-Wan!" The first person through the arches is a green-skinned Twi'lek, one lekku wrapped to show she's a Padawan. She darts toward his alternate, wrapping him in a hug a moment that is returned, before she turns to look at him. "You're misplaced."

"Cese." Qui-Gon isn't far behind, though he looks different from the Master Obi-Wan remembers. Older, and with scars across his face that just miss his left eye, and run across his nose - which looks as if it's been broken again. Caught in more conflict than he could avoid?

"It's true." Cese sighs, glancing down a moment. "I know, Master. I shouldn't say everything I see." She pauses, and a moment later, Obi-Wan is startled by her hand on his arm. "No one's ever lost forever, Master Kenobi."

Obi-Wan draws in a deep breath, shaking his head before he looks over at the girl. "No, they're not. How did you know?"

"Because seeing truths is something I can't stop." Cese shrugs, sitting on the side of the bed. "Your Anakin does the same thing, doesn't he?"

---

First Part | Previous Part | Next Part