Redemption - A Star Wars Fanfic

Chapter 5

As soon as Padmé had spotted the young man over her husband's shoulder she had instantly gone on guard, panicking internally at the thought of someone discovering her and Anakin's relationship. However, something about the look in the boy's eyes as he stared dazedly at the couple seemed to quench her panic and blossom it into curiosity. Now that she studied him, she realized that she had never seen him before. He definitely wasn't a senator, and she was pretty sure that Anakin had introduced her to all his Jedi friends. Her thoughts were pulled into an opposite direction as Anakin gripped her shoulders, his blue eyes wild with concern as he raked her form up and down as if he would somehow be able to read her troubles as if she were a holobook. She knew Anakin never read her thoughts without her permission, so she took a bit of glee in being able to keep such a big secret from him. But as soon as the words passed her lips, words that she figured would send her husband fainting to the floor, as strong as he was, the boy in the background collapsed as if shot, his body folding in on itself as he sprawled bonelessly to the floor with a rattling thump. Padmé yelped instinctively, startling her husband to place his hand on his saber only to whirl around and hesitate when the pale-faced boy unconscious on the ground came into his line of vision.

Pain had radiated through the Force and Anakin's heart had stopped for several seconds, his mind thinking that it was his wife that had been hurt. However, it instead turned out to be the strange boy, Luke, who had materialized from thin air. Anakin had thought something had looked off about him, but the young man had been so insistent to his well health that Anakin had stupidly brushed it off as paranoia. All previous shock from Padmé's news faded as his legs gained a mind of their own and sent him sprinting towards the fallen man, his hands at Luke's neck immediately to check for a pulse. Padmé darted after him with equal concern, grasping the skirts of her dress and looking up to shout for help only to see that the other senators had long since left the room. Biting her lip, Padmé fumbled in her pockets for a commlink as Anakin swore under his breath at the thready pulse he found weakly thumping from the boy's neck.

"I'm calling a medcenter," Padmé explained in a hurry, her thumb already plugging in the emergency frequency. A gloved hand reached out and halted her movements, making the senator blink in surprise.

"There's no need. We were already meeting Obi-Wan at the Temple. I can take him to the healers there. Besides, Coruscanti medcenters are abysmal at treating Force-sensitives, half their stuff doesn't even work on us properly," Anakin sighed, moving to cradle the boy into his arms.

Padmé was instantly filled with more questions, "So he's Force-sensitive? How come you've never mentioned him before?"

"Cause I just met him today."

"So you don't know who he is...and you brought him to Coruscant..." Skepticism rang underneath Padmé's tone and Anakin scoffed.

"I've been keeping an eye on him, I don't think he's a spy or anything, just a confused kid who wants to know what the kriff is going on just as much as we do. He just...appeared on the ship in the middle of a fight with Count Dooku. He claims to be a Jedi, but there's something else about him...which is what we're bringing him to the Council for. Hopefully we'll find out who he really is and how he got here." Anakin looked down at the boy in his arms and scrunched his face in confusion, now noticing, under closer inspection, the severity of the singed marks on his clothing and skin.

"Does he have a name at least?" Padmé asked, choosing to trust Anakin's story despite how flimsy it was. Her husband's judgement of a person had been wrong before, but the boy did seem to be of no threat...

"Starkiller. Luke Starkiller. Never heard of him before, but his accent sounds Rim, maybe Tatooine if I was to guess," Anakin shrugged, trying not to cringe at the thought of his homeworld.