THE SKYWALKERS: book one

CHAPTER SIX - Plans

"Anakin." The voice he heard sounded familiar. "Anakin." It was Padmé.

"Padmé," he called out. He couldn't see anything, and it was as though he was stuck in a black void. Somehow he knew all the pain he'd experienced was behind him, and that sweet melodic voice—her voice—was ahead. He walked towards it, his footsteps echoing. "Padmé?"

Where was this place? And why was she here? Were they both dead?

"Anakin!" Padmé cried again. She screamed.

"Padmé!" he shouted, more frantic now. He ran towards her voice, trying desperately to find her. The more he ran, however, the farther away her voice seemed to get until it was...behind him? How? How had he run past her?

He doubled back, sprinting in the other direction, but still, he could not find her. He sunk to the ground. Then he remembered how Sidious had stabbed him. He searched his torso for the wound but found nothing. In fact, he wasn't even dressed in his Jedi robes. He wore a cream-colored tunic with light pants to match. His feet were bare.

"Anakin," a deep voice came from somewhere. "Anakin," it repeated, closer this time. Then, from the shadows, came Qui-Gon Jinn.

"Qui-Gon?" Anakin gasped. Realization sat in. "Am I...dead?"

Qui-Gon smiled, kneeling down beside Anakin. "Not yet. There is still hope for you."

"Qui-Gon..."

"Hm?"

"I'm scared. I have seen that my...someone close to me...will soon die, and I'm not sure I have the strength to face it."

Qui-Gon nodded thoughtfully. "My dear boy, Padmé is at the mercy of the Force." He ignored Anakin's surprised expression at his knowledge of who he spoke of. "The Force will do what it will, and we cannot stop it."

Anakin slouched down, defeated, but the old Jedi Master wasn't finished.

"Trust in the Force. The moment you step back and allow it to be in control, that's the moment Padmé will be saved."

Anakin rested his head in his hands. "I have done despicable things, Master. The Force would be perfectly right to take what I love most away from me. A life for the lives I took."

Qui-Gon shook his head, looking disappointed but still understanding and thoughtful. "You did not trust in the Force, Ani."

"How could I? When it showed me dreams of my wife dying," Anakin cried.

"That was only a dream. You mustn't put too much stock in them."

"I was right about my mother."

"There is always a first time for everything."

Anakin shook his head, sighing. "I'm dead anyway."

"As I said, not yet." Qui-Gon rose from the ground so that he was standing over Anakin, and he extended a hand to him to help him stand. "Let us walk."

Anakin's head was swimming with questions, but he refrained from asking them, waiting to see if Qui-Gon had anything else to say. When the old Jedi hadn't spoken for what felt like several minutes, Anakin said, "I'm sorry."

"I know you are." Qui-Gon stopped and put a comforting hand on Anakin's shoulder. "But that boy I met on Tatooine is still in there. And your children will need their father."

"Children?"

Qui-Gon ignored his question. "You were right, Anakin. The Jedi had become a corrupt organization."

"But Palpatine was no better."

"You know as well as I do that the death of Palpatine is not the end of the Sith," Qui-Gon continued. "But the time has come when the Jedi can no longer be trusted to protect the galaxy from them."