Destruction of the Innocent (Anakin Skywalker)

Preparing for My Destiny

"How dare you defy me!!"

    After we all pulled ourselves from the ship, we were immediately sent to medical to be checked out. I'm lucky to heal faster than most, and aside from some pretty bad burns I was alright.
The medical bay door opens besides me, and I look up to see my Father and a couple of his guards step in. He finds me immediately and his mouth presses into a thin line. To say he looked pissed would be an understatement; he was beyond pissed.

I ignore the looks from Obi-Wan and the others who were being checked still and hop off the table to stand. When I straighten up I come eye to I with him.
He stands to the side as if to say "let's go".
I look down but walk by him and to the elevator with the guards.
"I expect to see the rest of you in my quarters in 5 minutes. No less", he deadpans, then follows me in.
The door close in front of us and it comes to life, pulling us up to our home in the temple.
"Father, I-"
"Mm-mm", he shakes his head. His eyes falling shut as he sighs.

"I'm tired of this. You think you can veto orders? This isn't a game, Nova.
 Your reckless. Dangerous, even! Your titles can be stripped just as easy as you receive them. You do your best to remember that."

I bite my tongue and say nothing as I continue to stare in front of me.


As soon as the doors open, I'm the first one out of the elevator.  I make my way down the foyer hallway that led into the colossal entrance that reminded me of a ballroom it was so big.
  There waiting at the bottom of the stairs was Echo, Rex, Obi-Wan, and his apprentice at parade rest as they waited for my Father repramand.


Obi-Wan's apprentice is the first to look over his shoulder at me.
"Princess", Obi-Wan mutters, him and Rex dipping low in a bow.
"Commander", Echo nods. The apprentice's gaze never leave me as I move to stand beside them.
He follows me with his eyes and smirks, dipping low.
"Your Majesty", he greets. His blue eyes hold me still under a strand of his hair.
I smirk myself and cock my head. "Padawan."
He rolls his eyes as he stand straight again, but the smirk never leaves.

Another figured shifts into my view, from behind him. and my eyes move to break the glare off I had going with my Father.

When I look to the banister, my Mother appears at the top of our bifurcated staircase. Her long dark hair framed her face and draped over her shoulders much like mine. Except her's was longer, resting just above her waist. Her purple gown swayed with every step until she stopped to view the situation.

Her full mouth pulls into a smile when she sees me.
"Nova!", she says, pulling the ends of her dress up to race down the stairs to me-arms extended.
"Mother", I breath out. I step forward and wrap my arms around her.
She squeezes me once before letting me go to look me over.
"You were'nt here or on the transport, where did you go?", she says. She grimaces when she sees my arm and the blaster wound on my leg.
"I'm alright", I nod.

"I'd like to say congratulations, Master Kenobi, Skywalker- you've returned the chancellor safe and unharmed", he nods, looking to Rex."We lost a lot of good men tonight, however-"


Rex's gaze shifts down to the floor in pain. Kenobi sends him a sympathetic look as he continues. 
My Father looks to me finally and the livid stare returns. I glare back at him.
"However I cannot afford recklessness in my operations", he growls.

   

   My Father's head turns slightly as he senses her presence. He turns back to me and clears his throat, his head tilted up to continue his rant.

My eyes fall shut as I raise my hand.

"You know what?", I scoff. "I don't have time for anymore of this condescending bullshit".

I leave my spot between Obi Wan and Echo." I have a job to do. No one died, and we all made it back in once piece. Isn't that enough?"




"You are dismissed when I say you are dismissed, Commander", he calls over his shoulder. He shifts his body to follow my direction.

I turn over my shoulder in challenge at him.

"You really wanna pull that card?", I raise my eyebrows and turn to walk back to him. "I can do more than you think I can."

"Stop it! The both of you! Before you say something you regret", my Mother intervenes."Amos, please. Think clearly of this. She only had the best interest in mind-"

"I know it won't happen again", he cuts her off.  "Because as of this moment, you are relieved of your duties for the rest of the year."

    All expression drains from my face. "Excuse me?"

"Amos", my Mother shakes her head.

"From now on, your only responsibilities are your school, and after school you are to help out in the training of the younglings with Master Yoda until they graduate to a higher rank."

I shift the weight in my feet. "Your kidding", I laugh.

"I'm entirely serious, Nova. You want to act like a child, then I shall treat you as such...you give me no choice", he shrugs and turns to walk away.

"My skills go beyond something as simple as that and you know it-"

"And as for you R-"

"Rex did nothing", I gritted. "I made him give me the ship. He was following my orders. You can't blame him for this!"

"Unfortunate for him. I don't wish to hear another thing about this", he shakes his head. He nods towards the double doors in the back of the room. "Dismissed."

    

      I stare at him in malice for a few more seconds before glaring to the floor. There was nothing more I could say.

I began to hear my heartbeat quicken in my ears, and the vision of red took over.  I turn on my heeI unable to control it, I had to leave or I would explode. And as I make my way towards the doors, as cheesy as it may sound-the voice of a angel rose up.

"General, if I may?"

I stop dead in my tracks with my back still turned and listen. My heart rate begins to drop as he cleared his throat;  probably trying to hold back vomit.

"Your daughter was of great service today. And came in handy in the tight spots we were forced into. If it was'nt for her, we would have most likely died a handful of times-"

I turn over my shoulder to see that Anakin had stepped forward on my behalf.

" I disagree with your decision to terminate her of her duties, and believe you should reconsider", he says.






My gaze leaves him and continues on to my Father.  He sighs deeply before looking back to Anakin and nods once.

"We will discuss this later", he says, then he turns and makes his way up the stairs."Dismissed."

The confused expression leaves my face as Anakin turns around. His gaze finds me and matches it with a look I recognized: curiousity.

I narrow my eyes at him , then tear my gaze away to stomp out of the room. With a shove,  the door burst open and I make my way out into the hall and down the stairs leading to the courtyard.

The guards open the gate doors for me as I stomp through the foyer, down the steps onto the beach.

Kicking my shoes off angrily across the sand, I run into the shallow water that reaches my knees and close my eyes to take deep breaths.


   I felt my blood pressure rise with every angry thought but did my best to push them away.
Why was he doing this?

I expected my Father's reaction, as this was'nt the first time. It sure wont be the last. But I had barely met this stranger not even 3 hours ago. He does'nt owe me a thing.

Who the hell does he think he is? Intervening where it's not needed. Or wanted for that matter.





    My foot hits a piece of driftwood and I came back.  I bend down to pick it up, twirling it around in my fingers as I studied it. Instantly, everything my Mother's side of Earth witch had taught me came to mind:  "Let it go. There's always going to be much bigger battles in this life than winning everyone's approval."

But in the meantime, treating me like a child was only take 5 steps backwards in a way we could'nt afford.

There was a war on the rise, and I knew he needed all of his best men on the frontline. Even I had a place, a position I needed to uphold-and it was'nt going to be cowering in a saferoom while everyone else does all the work.

I was more than capable and was ready to let everyone know it, too.






    I grit my teeth as I hurl it above my head and far out into the waves. 

The clouds of the storm out on the water flicker and bellow a threatening call as it gets closer to the shore. The wind picked up and swirled my cloak around me, so I pull my hood up and wrap it around myself tighter.

A weird tingling sensation begins in the back of my head, and I turn over my shoulder to follow it. When I turn back to the foyer of the castle, it's there I see a dark hooded figure leaning against a pillar, watching me.

My eyebrows scrunch together as he pushes himself off the marble and begins to walk away- his eyes still glued to mine.

    Finally, he breaks eye contact and walks away-taking the tingling sensation with him.