A Different Destiny

Revelations

Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One, the Hero With No Fear, Jedi Knight, was pacing his room at the Jedi Temple while Artoo beeped at him. "I know Artoo, what's taking them so long? Ahsoka was innocent; I went and found the proof myself. They even have a confession," he added. Artoo whistled at him and Anakin graduated stopped pacing. He was so frustrated with the Jedi Council, how could they abandon Ahsoka when she needed them the most? Why hadn't they stood behind her as he and Padme had? Padme, his heart softened as he thought of how Padme had rushed to his padawan...no his former padawan's defense. They had become good friends over the course of her apprenticeship. She was like a daughter, like a sister to them both.

He felt Master Obi-Wan's presence outside his door before he entered. He knew Obi-Wan waited for him to acknowledge his presence before he entered. Obi-Wan looked tired; Anakin thought suddenly, he seemed for an instance very, very old. Anakin was always teasing him about being older but until this moment, Obi-Wan had never seemed old. What had happened to Obi-Wan, while he and Ahsoka had been at the lines of battle?

The last time he had seen Obi-Wan, he had asked Anakin for the Twilight and Anakin had let him take it. Whatever the mission had been about, he had been able to see how important it was to his former master. He had warned Obi-Wan that he hadn't been able to perform all the necessary mechanical checks on it, and Obi-Wan hadn't seemed to care. Anakin should have gone with him, he thought now, feeling regret coming through their bond and more than a little blame, shame, and guilt. What did Master Obi-Wan have to feel guilty about he wondered? If something had gone wrong with his ship it was Anakin's fault.

He should have made the checks himself before letting Obi-Wan take his ship. And why hadn't he? Because Anakin had been in a hurry, excited to be back on Coruscent, where Padme was. To spend time with his secret wife. There were not many people that Anakin was fond of, having being subjected to bullying because of his gifts, and teasing because of his unusual upbringing. Even Jedi were not impervious to it. The people he owed loyalty to more than any other were his dearly beloved wife: Padme, his former master: Obi-Wan, his former padawan: Ahsoka, and Chancellor Palpatine. He knew without a doubt that he would do whatever it took to make sure they were safe. He felt as if he had failed Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan had failed him.

"Anakin, the Council is requesting your presence."

"Thank you, Master Obi-Wan," Anakin bowed his head in respect as he joined his friend, who hung in the doorway of his room. Anakin tried to be respectful but he could feel his former master searching his feelings. It was quiet, and unobtrusive, but Anakin resented it. "If you want to know how I feel, Obi-Wan then ask." Obi-Wan was silent. "How could you let them turn their backs on Ahsoka?"

"I was once voice in many, Anakin." Anakin loved Obi-Wan, but the distrust was back. He had always explicitly trusted Obi-Wan, until Obi-Wan's funeral. That had cut Anakin deep, even as he understood why his master had done it. Obi-Wan had always and would always follow the will of the Council, despite his own personal feelings in the matter. The information Anakin had picked up on both Satine and Siri Tachi more than proved that. Obi-Wan had always put his duty before his feelings, and that was something that Anakin could not and would not do. Padme came first, and everything else came second.

"Ahsoka needed the trust of the Jedi and you let her down, I let her down," Anakin added humbly. "I should have let her escape," Anakin muttered, feeling guilty. Perhaps if he had let his padawan escape, she wouldn't have lost her trust in the Jedi. He still remembered how Master Windu hadn't trusted him to bring him in, that he was too close to her, to close to the matter at hand, and as such HE couldn't be trusted. Anakin had done his duty, even though the Council had not. Their duty was to protect Ahsoka. The girl was young, just a padawan. Sixteen. When Anakin had been a padawan, had they not traveled to Genosis to rescue him, Padme, and Obi-Wan thus starting the Clone Wars? And yet they would abandon Ahsoka just because they felt threatened, they felt pressured by the Senate. Ahsoka was a Jedi, and as such should have been judged by the Jedi, not the Senate. Anakin vowed he would not see another Jedi thrown into the same situation Ahsoka had had to deal with.

"Anakin you followed your duty as a Jedi Knight, your duty as a General of the Republic, she was a fugitive."

"She was innocent, Obi-Wan!" Anakin all but roared. What about his duty as Ahsoka's Jedi Master? What about his duty as her friend? What about his duty to protect her and to see that no harm came to her? He should have gone with her to interrogate the prisoner, no matter that the prisoner specifically asked for Ahsoka. He could have waited outside, he should have waited outside, and then at least she would have had a witness to vouch for her. At the very least, he could have sent Padme or someone with her so that she wouldn't be left accused, alone, and afraid.

"Yes, we know."

"It was just a formality. Why didn't you warn me?" Anakin asked, his voice low, with almost a dangerous undertone to it, as he referred to how they had kicked Ahsoka out of the Order. When was the last time someone had been kicked out of the Order? There were Jedi Initiate's that weren't chosen as a padawan, something that Anakin had never had to worry about, from the time Anakin had entered the Order he was Obi-Wan's but there were Initiates that did other odd and end jobs around the Temple, Anakin himself barely paid attention to them. Some of them worked in the Mess Hall, some of them helped Jocosta in the Library, and some of them took care of droids or Jedi transports, and still others were sent into the AgriCorps where they could be useful. Obi-Wan had once told Anakin how he had almost been sent into the Agri-Corps due to Qui-Gon's reluctance in taking another padawan after the diabolical mess that had happened with Xantos.

Anakin trusted Obi-Wan and felt that Obi-Wan could have at least warned him, so that he hadn't been caught off guard by the Council, and there decision regarding Ahsoka. He wondered if it had been him, would the Council have reacted differently. Sometimes, Anakin got so tired of his vaulted 'Chosen One' status. At least, with Padme, he could be himself.

"I couldn't. My duty is to the Jedi. I cannot discuss Council business with you, Anakin. I'm sure you can understand that."

Anakin frowned. Obi-Wan was not like the rest of the Council. Obi-Wan was his friend. He knew that Obi-Wan would do anything for him, but he had a duty to the Council it was why Anakin had never confided his relationship about Padme with him, he didn't want to put Obi-Wan in a position to chose between him and the Council...because he wasn't sure which he would chose a dark voice whispered in his brain. Anakin shut out the voice. "Lead the way, Master Obi-Wan," Anakin barely held himself off from sneering at the honorific title though he was grateful to Obi-Wan, he could help but sneer as the rage welled inside of him, as the injustice that had been done to Ahsoka set him apart.

He was different from the other Jedi, and Chancellor Palpatine had always encouraged Anakin to embrace his feelings rather than shun them as most Jedi did. Palpatine knew that he would be the most powerful Jedi of the Order, even more powerful than Master Yoda. Anakin couldn't help but listen to the words, imagining becoming the Grandmaster of the Jedi, imagining being in Master Yoda's position as the Jedi turned to him for wisdom and advice.

Sometimes, Anakin wondered if Chancellor Palpatine was been sincere or was telling him what he wanted to hear. But they were friends, the Chancellor had befriended him as he rose to the power of Chancellor when he had been just a small boy newly arrived on the planet, fresh from Tattooine. The Chancellor always made time for him, no matter how busy he may seem. Anakin knew the Chancellor was a busy man, how could one not be and be in charge of the Republic, and besides Anakin knew from listening to his wife's complaints with the Senate just how busy the Chancellor was. Anakin could tell the Chancellor anything, with the exception of his secret marriage.

Anakin had told the Chancellor of what he had done on Tatooine. He hadn't meant to, and yet, it just seemed right. The Chancellor understood him in a way no one except Padme had. He had assured Anakin that he had no reason to feel guility over his actions. After all, how many lives like his mother's had he saved? Anakin's stepfamily was now safe due to what Anakin had done. Anakin had made the Chancellor promise they wouldn't speak of this again, as the topic had made him uneasy, and even though the Chancellor had said it wasn't wrong, somehow he knew it was. And so, Anakin hadn't told either Padme or Obi-Wan of his frequent talks with the Chancellor.

"This way, Anakin," he said and Anakin followed Obi-Wan down the Temple's long corridors.

"Just one thing, Obi-Wan, what's going to happen to Barriss?"

"Her fate is still being debated," Obi-Wan assured him, but looked like he wished he hadn't. She had framed Ahsoka, his padawan, had been one of her dearest friends and all Obi-Wan could tell Anakin was that it was being debated. The dragon within Anakin curled up, but Anakin wouldn't react. He wouldn't allow the dragon out. The dragon had been born when the Tuskans killed his mother, but Anakin couldn't let the dragon have free reign not again, he wasn't prepared for the suffering he could cause if he ever let the dragon out. Anakin entered the Council, bowing his head in an imitation of respect. He paused as he felt Ahsoka's presence come nearer. Master Windu handed Anakin Ahsoka's padawan braid as they felt her come closer. Obi-Wan sat in his chair and didn't speak as the other Council members spoke to her. Anakin couldn't hear him, all he could feel was Ahsoka being overwhelmed.

"Snips," he said. "I'm sorry for all that has happened and my part in it. We're asking you back. I'm asking you back," he said with a smile. He knew she wanted to come back. He was taken off guard when she closed his hand over her padawan braid.

"No. I can't. I'm sorry, Anakin," and with that Ahsoka ran away from the Temple that didn't want her anymore, that she no longer wanted to be a part of. She ran from the disappointments, and the betrayals, from the family that she had once called her own. Behind her she could hear loud footsteps, as they followed her. She didn't slow down. She was done with the Jedi. She was done with being a padawan, and she was done with being a pawn. There was only one Jedi that she cared about now, and he was the one chasing after her. She stopped at the landing pad. He said one word.

"Snips."

"Anakin," she said and pleaded with the Force that he wouldn't plead with her. He was the only Jedi that could still break through her defenses. Their bond was still intact, and she knew her master...her former master wouldn't hesitate to exploit it if it meant she would stay, yet she couldn't snap it, it would hurt him.

"Snips, why? The Order is your life. You are making a mistake."

"Maybe, but it's mine to make," she replied calmly. "And they turned on me," her voice heated up. "All of them. They abandoned me, they don't trust me."

"And what about me?" he replied on the edge of a pout. "I believe in you, I trust you."

"I know you do, Anakin, but I can't stay. There's more to my destiny than becoming a Jedi."

"You aren't the only one, Snips," he said, in a strained voice, a low voice, a voice just above a whisper. "My trust in them has been shaken. It's not right what they are doing. I...I could leave the Order, I should have left the Order."

"You...Anakin...you are their Chosen One? Their Hero? They won't allow it."

"They would more than allow it, Snips," he laughed hollowly. The war had changed him. Losing her had changed him. She had never heard him sound so haunted, so empty. "If they knew what I've done they would gladly throw me out."

"Your war crimes?" she asked, knowing of some of the un-Jedi things he had done.

"No, Snips, my marriage," and the words were out of his mouth before he even thought them.

"YOUR MARRIAGE?" she asked a little loud and looked around. Anakin would surely change his mind about exposing himself, wouldn't he? She would keep his secret, a secret he had finally chosen to share with her. "Does Master Kenobi know?" she asked.

"I couldn't ask him to choose between me and the Council. For Force sake, Snips, he's ON the Council," he explained. She didn't ask him who, she knew. She had always known there was something between her Master and the Senator and now she knew what.

"What will Padme think?"

"She doesn't want me to leave the Order, but after this she will have to understand. They don't trust me either, little one," he added and slowly put his arms around her. "Have you thought of life after the Order? Where you will go? What you will do?" She shook her head numbly. "Stay with me, Snips. Stay with my wife."

"I don't know," Ahsoka mumbled. "How long have you been married?" she asked.

"Longer than I've been your master. Longer than I've been a Knight. Since right after the First Battle of Genosis," he stated, and felt a glowering presence behind him. Normally, he always sensed his master's presence, but he had been so distraught over Ahsoka that he had forgotten to sense for another force presence. Ahsoka had been more important than any one else in that moment. Anakin gulped as he turned to look into the stony grey eyes of his former master. Obi-Wan's shields were up so he couldn't properly gauge what he was feeling as he looked from Obi-Wan expressionless face to his stony gray eyes.

"Obi-Wan," Ahsoka asked, "How long have you been standing there?"