Healing Hurts (Anakin Skywalker)

Chapter 7

It took Anakin two hours to calm down from his odd experience - he'd nearly missed his training session with Ashoka. He had tried his best to act normal and not raise any suspicion, but in the end that failed as well. Ashoka knew something was bothering him, and she grilled him about it for the entire two hours they had blocked for training. He didn't tell her anything of course. And maybe he would tell her one day, but for now, the situation was too vulnerable. He didn't need anyone else knowing about his bond. It was bad enough that the entirety of the Jedi Council was aware of it.

Once the session was completed, Anakin returned to his chambers. He struggled to keep his mind off of the strange encounter (vision?) that he'd had only hours beforehand. He'd never had a vision like that before. It was as if he were actually there! He could move, walk, talk, and even use the force. And Havena...

She saw him.

For the first time since Anakin had seen her in his dreams, she had finally seen him. And that's not to mention the fact that she knew his name. The only way that she would know him that well was if she had been having dreams of him as well. And the thought filled him with hope.

She knew of him.

Anakin sat with that information until the next standard morning. He hadn't slept at all. He just laid awake and stared at the ceiling. He thought about her. How she looked, how she sounded... her despair. His mind drifted to the dark figure he'd seen staring the girl down - the one who had openly admitted to murdering her mother.

She was in danger.

If that man was a sith as Anakin suspected, then they were already aware of Havena's existence. She wasn't safe there. Not anymore.

He had to get to her as quickly as possible.

That was why Anakin stood in the comm room staring at the familiar figures of Master Yoda, Master Windu, Master Plo Koon, and Obi-wan Kenobi - all of whom looked back at him expectantly as he struggled to verbalize what had happened to him.

"Well... are you going to speak, Anakin?" Obi-wan joked, but his demeanor changed once he noticed the serious expression on his old padawan's face. "What's going on there?"

Master Yoda hummed, his eyes aimed low as he waited for the jedi knight to speak.

"I- er. I'm not really sure how to say it." Anakin huffed. "It was strange."

"Another vision, hmm?" Master Yoda glanced up with a knowing look in is eyes. "This one was different. Concerned, it made you."

Anakin nodded. "Yes," he responded. "It wasn't like the others. In my visions I'm usually stuck watching them from the outside. But this one... I was there. I was in my own body, able to walk and talk and even utilize the force. It was completely different than any visions I've had before, master."

"What did it show?"

He hesitated. "I believe Havena is in danger... more than we originally thought."

Mace Windu crossed his arms. "And why would you believe that to be the case?" he asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion at the young knight.

"While I was there I felt this... presence. It was dark. Overwhelming. Even the force felt unstable around it. And we spoke to each other. I... I believe it was a sith."

Anakin swallowed his fear as he recalled the figure that had struck such unadulterated fear in him. The intensity of the dark side around the sith was suffocating, like the atmosphere around them was heavier - denser than it should have been. And then the power... the pure, unbridled rage he felt radiating from the figure in the form of raw power was something that Anakin would never forget.