Force Gift

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"Padawan!" Master Kenobi called for his shy Padawan.

A slight shuffling sound followed by the patters of feet over the floor announced the presence of Anakin Skywalker, Chosen One and most of all: the most clumsy Padawan of all. True to this; the boy slipped as soon as he came within range of Obi-Wan's sight.

"A-ah. Sorry Master!" The boy stuttered slightly as he rushed to pick himself from the floor.

Obi-Wan sighed and padded up to the boy, offering him a hand and smiling when the blushing boy accepted his hand gratefully.

"You must be careful of your surroundings, Padawan. We wouldn't want you to break a limb or your cranium one day." He lectured, helping the boy tidy up the tunic.

"Y-yes, Master. I-I apologize. I will try h-harder." The boy stuttered, looking down while pushing his index fingers against each other.

Kenobi mentally sighed. He had the most shyest Padawan in existence, and sometimes it impeded the boy in his learning. Anakin constantly got pushed around and bullied because of his behavior and it made him even more shy.

'One of this days...my Padawan will have to get out of his shell.'

Unfortunately it hadn't happened yet.

"Never mind that Padawan. I will be leaving for a short mission to placate some dignitaries. They want someone to clear up the misunderstanding and unfortunately that task fell on to me." He sighed, rubbing the side of his head tiredly.

Then he glared at his Padawan whose response was to swallow and shrink. "And that my Padawan, means that you will at least try to venture out of the room at least two times per day. And please, try to coerce and speak with your peers. I cannot believe I am reprimanding a Padawan for meditating too much..." He groaned.

Force knew that almost every Master struggled to make a Padawan sit down and meditate. It was the bane of most Masters and at first Obi-Wan had been glad that he didn't have problems like that with his Padawan. He had almost every other Master on him for a year, all of them wanting to know just how in the world he did it.

But Anakin was like that. Being a soft, caring, and kind person had made Anakin try to understand more about feelings and emotions through meditation, learning combat only after meditating half an hour each day. The small blonde headed boy was truly knowledgable, a learning diplomat you could count on, and excellent with a saber. Anakin was a pacifist too. He had seen too much pain and suffering to truly be able to want more war. The only reason he fought was to either protect or demonstrate his skills to his mentors.

He was, in Kenobi's eyes, the perfect Padawan anyone could ask for. He was the pride of the Jedi Order.

"I w-will, Master." The boy nodded.

"Then I am off." Before he turned to leave he lowered himself down to one knee, just at eye level with the blue eyes of his apprentice. Anakin blushed and tried to look down. "Padawan, do not be afraid of those around you. Choose to be strong so that your duty to the people is one made of strong resolve and not a weak one prompted by a vow."

"Y-y-yes, M-master. I-I will try my best to be the best Jedi I can be."

Obi-Wan smiled, allowing warmth to shine trough their bond before he nodded and got up to leave the room.

As he left, he thought he heard something. It was a whisper, an echo. It might have been something he imagined, but he swore he heard it.

'Thank you, Master.'

Anakin smiled softly as the traces of his Master's statement ran rampage in his mind. However small the encouragement was, he appreciated his Master's efforts to help him. It was invigorating to know someone cared about him.

He reached towards his Padawan braid, his pride and joy. Many Padawans complained about how horrible they looked with it but to him it was a symbol of a better life. He slowly traced the braid, his fingers brushing against several beads; proof of his accomplishments. One for the day he became Padawan. There was one for the first duel won. Another for the time he helped a citizen of Coruscant. He could hardly wait for the day he would get one for his first lightsaber. Maybe even for his first mission.

Smiling contentedly, he walked cautiously towards the small area for meditation. He made sure to be careful of the couch to his left. Who knows how many times he had already tripped over it and sent sprawling to the floor in an awkward position?

Once he reached the small area without troubles he plopped down comfortably on a small pillow and closed his eyes. Reaching for the endless bubble of bright energy that was the Force and father, he sought for the reprieve that was peace.

He loved meditating. When meditating, Anakin would always roam the corners of his mind, filling memories and categorizing problems. Meditating was a way to truly relax and placate his thoughts by sorting them. Other times he meditated, he went through the confines of his galaxy and searched others. Sometimes it as other parallels that he looked at.

His presence had never been sensed, and he truly didn't expect for it to happen since he was another state of being. One normally was a second dimensional being, but in meditative astral projection he was third dimensional being. Physical senses could not detect projections of spirit. The Force was fourth and perhaps even fifth dimensional- and perhaps he wouldn't use the word being because the Force was much than that but it was the official term.

True; this subject was always confusing to many, and it had taken him several months of pure research but he had at least gotten the basic description.

Of course there were times when he could actually materialize into whatever parallel he visited, which was kudos because sometimes it was so boring to just watch. He had only done that once and only when the Force intervened.

He sighed, satisfied as he slipped into the meditative trance.

He came at a gray plane to which strangely he recognized. Walking ahead several steps, he waved at empty air and suddenly the surroundings changed. A fully decorated room had been erected from the plain gray.

A pond surrounded by thick foliage was the most prettiest thing to look at from this angle. Bit beyond it, far off into his mind, humongous mountains in the background made the view something an artist would ever desire. The strangest thing was that occasionally, faces and words would flicker and ripple in the pond . Less strange but still strange was the way tree trunks were melded to fit other trees's roots, all holding objects within them.

Usually the contents could be touched by him if he wished for it, but today he felt like this place was blocked. It worried him immensely since it felt like being pressed on by all sides, making it harder to move and breathe. It was like a tar pit; the harder he struggled, the more entangled in the gooey mess he got.

Reaching deep into the recesses of his mind he felt a single opening. It was small, like the rip of a bit of flimsi paper, yet it called to him with the strength of a million Jedi.

The room disappeared back into the gray plane again and he was in the dark. Holding a hand in front of him he took tentative steps forwards. Force knew how much times he would fall! He took in a deep breath, letting it go while narrowing his eyes to at least try to see something. But nothing.

It was when he noticed...the gray was turning black. Not a single speck of gray existed, only darkness one could expect of a black hole. He felt like maybe light would immediately be swallowed by the oppressive darkness.

But he wasn't scared. 'Another breach?'

If this was a breach in parallel, then this was a dark parallel. Most parallels he entered started in bright whiteness, not black. If he had to guess, this breach was not coincidence but the Force's doing. Other times, twenty in fact had been purely found by coincidence not by the will of the Force.

Maybe this time he would be able to materialize.

But what would be his purpose in this seemingly dark parallel? Usually in other breaches he would go to just explore and see the differences between his own time frame and others. Sometimes he was born in royalty with his mother being a noble or senator. Others he would be born as a girl! Others he would be found at birth by the Jedi and collected as a toddler to join the Jedi ranks. There were a certain ones where he wasn't even involved with the Jedi at first, usually starting as a bounty hunter, assassin, civilian, or senator.

It was truly fascinating to see all those hims and watch as life progressed within those breaches. Usually he watched for years, discovering that when he finally came out of his meditation, no more than hours had passed. It was quite fascinating.

Then he yelped as his leg somehow or other tripped over air and tumbled ungracefully onto the floor, managing to land on his face. "Kriff!" He mumbled, trying to force the pain on his face back into wherever it had come from. Of course it didn't make sense, but it was good to concentrate on other things rather than the burning pain.

"M-Master O-Obi-Wan w-would be scandalized." He blushed, as he thought about how he would have looked from a third point of view.

Shaking his head violently, he stood up. Getting a little frustrated by his lack or direction he rushed of to where the voice was stronger, planning on giving a piece of his mind to whoever was making him walk a lot. Not really- he knew he didn't have enough backbone for that.

'Help them, child. You are their only hope.'

Surprised, he swung around, swearing that he heard the voice behind him yet finding nothing.

"A-ah-wh-what? Uh-I mean wh-who are -y-you?"

'Help them, you are their only hope, my child.'

"F-father?" Anakin knew now that this was the Force speaking to him.

At first he had been hesitant to call something as strange and all-powerful as the Force as 'Father' but over time, the hours spent meditating had created a strong connection with the Force thus prompting him to accept it.

'Help them, you are their only hope.'

"W-who?"

'Help them.'

It was then that Anakin noticed the little flickering light, and he wanted to hit the stupidity out of him for not noticing earlier. Eager to see light he rushed towards it and reached for it. No matter how much of a Jedi he was, he would never forget he was still a child. And being in the dark for too long truly scared him...it reminded him of...

'No. Not here. This is not the time.' He reprimanded himself.

He focused again on the little light. Despite being small, he noticed that it seemed to drive the dark away, little by little.

'How to enter the breach? There is one, I feel it. But where...?'

Groaning, he looked around. Nothing. Yet he knew he couldn't quite give up.

'Help them. Only hope.'

'Was this one of those riddles Anakin heard the Jedi !asters throw around? But what could it mean? Maybe it could be symbolic. But there was other except the dark and the little light. That's it!'

He touched the light, putting more of his concentration of the bright, warm, inviting feeling that was the light.

When he felt the tugging feeling he knew he had been successful. H had finally entered the breach. He slipped into the light and everything stopped being.

However the chaos that met him once he was there, just as he opened his eyes was one not expected.

"Eh!?" Reaching for his braid in a moment of nervousness he meandered towards the turn of the hallway. It was a white hallway, with panels on the wall that illuminated the path. Several steps and he would be just in front of the next bend.

He never quite got there.

"Halt! What is your business here child! You are under arrest."

Anakin turned around, quicker than ever, his head leaning up as his eyes traveled up towards the figure's gaze. He flinched when he saw cold and steely eyes glaring at him. The man was wearing a white uniform, with a lieutenant badge on his chest.

"I-I a-ap-apologize. I-where...where am I?" The nerve of some people, Anakin realized, was truly infuriating. The man didn't even wait for an answer to his question before trying to arrest him.

Anakin struggled to think as his nervousness and insecurity rose. If this was an officer, he didn't like him. As if the Force wanted to prove Anakin right, the man abruptly grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the end of the hallway.

The results of such action make Anakin short-circuit. His shock and uncertainty took away reason and he struggled mightily against the monstrous strength of the officer. He whimpered as a blow struck him on his ribs and he felt a crack.

He managed, however, to bite the arm of the lieutenant. Allowing satisfaction to overtake him he ran away, but his short strides were nothing for the grown-up behind him.

"If you don't stay still I will kill you kid!" The officer threatened which was enough to make Anakin go limp.

The officer met no resistance for the rest of the way, and in the end, feeling slight pity for the tiny boy, he dumped him in the cell that contained a woman. He wasn't sure which woman it was, but he did know it was a senator since that was what landed here among the cells of Lord Vader's ship.

The officer didn't bother to tell anyone about the kid; nor did he notify anyone about the extra person in the cell. And neither did he try to learn exactly who was behind that door.

The first thing that Anakin did after he stopped seeing stars and ships was try to learn where was he. That was the most crucial thing to do, something he learned to do almost immediately after entering a breach. Of course, he'd failed with that mean officer, but at least he was still alive.

It was moments like that were he wished that he already had a lightsaber. It would have been easier not to be intimidated by an officer when wielding a lightsaber.

"Excuse me, who are you?" A soft voice asked to the left of him. Totally shocked he did nothing to answer.

It was a woman. She had brown hair, big brown eyes and a white dress. She looked exhausted and he immediately felt concern for her. It was his duty as a Jedi- however inexperienced he was, to protect the people he served.

"Ah- um who are you?" She asked again. Then she seemed to scrutinize him further, blinking against the gloom of the room when finally they widened. "Oh my god! What is a child doing here!? Who got you in here, are you okay?"

Anakin felt himself blush. Never in his life had he been asked that many questions at once concerning his well-being.

"Uh- no- I mean y-yes. M-my name..." Anakin had enough sense to stop there and think.

He knew words were power. Names were even more power. Giving someone- a complete stranger, his name was something he was not willing to do. For all he knew, this woman might use this information against him. Even if she didn't look like the type to be doing so...

"M-my name is- is Ani. Ani Sky."

'Pathetic,' he thought in embarrassment. How much worse could he do? He had chosen what could be classified as a girl's name. If Kyp, the boy who tormented him so much back at the Temple, heard this- well...it wouldn't be pretty.

"I was...captured?" He ended a bit hesitantly, making it seem like a question. In reality, he wasn't sure what it was. Did he get captured? "Wh-where are w-we?"

The woman sighed sadly, smiling just as sadly from her seat on the slab of metal. "You are in Darth Vader's holding cells."