Chapter Text
Darth Sidious paced around the hologram of his apprentice, Darth Slithiouse, in his quarters.
“Master, are you sure the information we have received is correct?”
“Do not doubt my sources, my apprentice!” Darth Sidious scowled.
“Yes, my Master. But has the boy left the Order?”
“That I do not know. My spy says that he has simply disappeared,” Sidious mused. “Your assignment is to find the boy and bring him to me. I want him trained as a Sith Lord.”
“Yes, Master. But if I may ask, wouldn’t it be hard to turn Skywalker now before he has had any influence inflicted on him from your side?”
“My young apprentice, you still have much to learn, I see. We can offer the boy what the Jedi never gave him. Now, bring him to me. Do not, however, harm him!”
“Yes, my Master.” The holoimage bowed respectfully and Sidious cut the transmission. If he was lucky Skywalker would be trained as a Sith and his plans would possibly be made easier. Yes, they would be made much easier. He wouldn’t have the hassle of turning a stubborn, Jedi-brainwashed brat into the Sith Lord that he needed.
*~*
“Calm, Obi-Wan. Keep yourself calm.” Obi-Wan stood on the balcony in one of the towers of the Jedi temple. The view here overlooked Coruscant. The sun had set and the chilly wind blew back Obi-Wan’s robes. He knew he should already be looking for Anakin, yet he had no idea where to start. Yoda’s words hung bitingly in the air.
“If leave the Order young Skywalker wishes, stop him we will not. Yet, if search for him you wish, Obi-Wan, stop you, we shall not.”
Obi-Wan snorted. Of course he would search for Anakin! Anakin never really left the Order he just…ran away. Was that considered leaving the Order?
Obi-Wan desperately tried to clear his mind. He reached out through the Force, trying to locate his padawan. However, it seemed that Anakin had tried so desperately to cut himself off that he had critically damaged their already fragile bond. There was so little left that it seemed to be no more effective than to simply reach out through the mainstream of the Force.
“Why in the Force would Anakin do this?” Obi-Wan muttered under his breath, fingering Anakin’s note. “Why in the name of the Force would he think that he wasted my time? Doesn’t he know that I do care about him…?”
“You tend not to show it.”
Obi-Wan swung around to see Annaline, a close friend from his padawan years. She was three standard years younger than him and still wore a padawan braid with a bright pink ribbon woven through it that matched the color of her hair. “Padawan Rue! What are you doing here?” Obi-Wan exclaimed in surprise.
“You don’t have to be so formal with me, Obi-Wan. We are friends, you know. I heard about Anakin and came to look for you. Are you going to search for him?”
“Of course I’m going to look for him! He’s my padawan!” A pause followed. “Why did he run away? If something was wrong, why didn’t he talk to me about it?” Obi-Wan asked.
Annaline shrugged. “Maybe because you always distanced yourself from him. Maybe because he felt unwanted. Maybe because—”
“Stop! Stop. I get it,” Obi-Wan interrupted her holding up a hand.
“Come on, Obi-Wan you can’t do anything tonight. Get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow you can start looking for him. I’m sure you can convince him to come back.”
“Annaline… I didn’t mean to hurt him, you know?”
“Well, I warned you. I told you that it would be better if you just let him in.”
“I know. I did something really stupid last night.”
“What’d you do?” Annaline asked as she went to lean on the railing of the balcony next to Obi-Wan.
”Anakin was crying because he missed his mother.”
“And?” Annaline pressed.
“We had a fight about it. I said that he should forget his mother and stop moping about it. He brought up Qui-Gon. I got mad that he was shoving it in my face…” Obi-Wan trailed off, unable to continue.
“Obi-Wan? Listen to me. You can still fix this.”
“I hope so,” Obi-Wan said looking down, not daring to meet her eyes.
“Come on,” Annaline urged. “Come on, get some sleep!” She grabbed Obi-Wan’s wrist and dragged him off the balcony.
*~*
In a dark alley, a small blond-haired boy huddled against a stone wall wrapping his thermo cape around himself as he tried helplessly to shield himself from the cold. Anakin huddled in a small ball trying to go to sleep. He had been on the run the whole day, not daring to stop. He had used the credits he had to buy lunch and dinner, junk food mostly. He had skipped breakfast in its entirety. He still had some money but not much. Not nearly enough to get him off-planet, especially back to Tatooine.
His padawan braid tickled his cheek and he shifted position to flick it out of the way. He hadn’t removed it yet. Anakin wasn’t even sure why. He still half-hoped that Obi-Wan would go looking for him. He still half-heartedly hoped that his master would just appear and scoop him into a hug. He had always looked up to Obi-Wan. Always tried to be his friend. Obi-Wan only shut him out.
“Come on. Just talk to me about it! You’ll feel better…I promise,” Anakin urged handing Obi-Wan the hot mug of tea he had made for him.
Obi-Wan took the cup from his padawan with a grateful look that quickly turned into a sterner one that Anakin knew all too well. “Anakin, I don’t care to discuss my feelings on this matter with a stranger.”
“A stranger?” Anakin felt the numbness course through him at Obi-Wan’s coldness. “But I’m your apprentice. I’m your friend!”
“You are my padawan. That doesn’t make you my friend.”
Anakin felt tears come to his eyes. He struggled to control them. “Well, you’re my friend. I care about what’s happening to you.”
“Padawan, it’s time for you to go to bed.”
“You always send me away when I’m trying to help.”
“I don’t need your help. And if you want to help then go to bed, for Force sakes!”
“Yes, Master,” Anakin murmured as he slid off the edge of the coffee table and headed for his room.
Yes, Obi-Wan had been drinking that night but he wasn’t exactly drunk. Anakin shivered. Worse things happened when Obi-Wan got drunk in the first couple of months after he started training him. Then he learned to control his temper…and his drinking.
Anakin sighed. Whispering, “goodnight,” to himself he closed his eyes, forcing himself to clear his mind of his jumbled thoughts and go to sleep.
“Anakin Skywalker.”
Anakin started. In less than a second he was on his feet with his lightsaber, activated, in his hand. The light blue of his ‘saber gave off a ghostly light in the pitch-black alley. Anakin peered frantically through the darkness trying to distinguish the source of the hissing voice that had called his name. At first, he thought it was a dream but then he sensed a presence. One he wasn’t sure he liked.
“Who are you?” Anakin asked, keeping his voice steady. His lightsaber made his glinting eyes seem unnaturally blue. They seemed to glow just like his weapon.
“Just call me Sam. I’m here to help you,” came the hissing voice.
“Why?” Anakin asked boldly.
“You are cold and tired, I suppose. Hungry?”
“Umm…” Anakin gulped. “Why do you want to help me? And how do you know my name, anyways?”
“Aren’t you a Jedi Padawan?”
“Yea. So?”
“I have an interest in the Jedi.”
“That still doesn’t tell me why you want to help me,” Anakin protested suspiciously. His eyes had adjusted now, and he could make out a figure standing in front of him. It seemed to be hooded.
“Well, you must be on a mission, since you are out here all by yourself and not at the temple. I offer help to the brave Jedi. Tell me, aren’t you a little young to be on a mission alone. Where is your master?”
“I’m not on a mission,” Anakin confessed reluctantly. “I don’t live at the temple anymore.”
“Where do you plan to go then, young Jedi?”
“None of your business,” Anakin replied sharply.
There was a sharp intake of breath from the other and Anakin tightened his grip on his lightsaber. “Well then spend the night.”
“How do I know I can trust you?”
“Use your senses.”
Anakin reached out through the Force. He couldn’t feel much from Sam, but he blamed it on his lack of skill. He did not, however, feel a threat nor deceit. “Alright,” Anakin complied finally.
In the darkness, Darth Slithiouse grinned in satisfaction.