The Lucky One (a Star Wars fanfic)

Chapter 12

Anakin's pov

Cautiously, I slowly open the door Shawn's room, a little worried that he might try to kill me again.

In the corner of the room, I see Shawn on his knees with his forehead pressed against the wall, breathing heavily.

As I walk toward him, he moves his head a little to the left to look at me. The seconds he sees me, his face fills with fear and his breathing becomes even faster.

"Anakin," he whispers between heavy breaths as I continue walking toward him, sounding absolutely terrified.

When I am only a few feet away from him, he begs, "I'm sorry, Anakin! Please, don't hurt me! I will behave, I promise!"

"As long as you don't try to hurt either of us again, we won't hurt you in return," I say in a quiet and calm tone, hoping that doing so will get him to calm down before he starts hyperventilating.

"I promise that I won't," Shawn squeaks out between heavy breaths, still seeming so afraid.

"Then I won't hurt you," I say with a kind smile as I kneel in front of him.

He just stares at me, fear still showing on his face despite telling him that I wouldn't hurt him.

"Shawn, please calm down," I whisper when he takes in a sharp breath, sounding like he is on the verge of not being able to breathe properly.

Slowly, he starts to take larger breaths instead of many small puffs of air that he had been taking in before.

"Why are you being nice to me now?" Shawn asks a few minutes later once his breathing is back to normal.

"I promised Rider that I would," I say after a few seconds of hesitation, feeling ashamed that my promise to Rider is the only reason I am being nice to him.

Promise or no promise, I could still be nice to him.

Needing to prove to both him, but mostly myself, that this promise isn't the only thing that is keeping me from hurting him, I ask, "Do you want me to take those off you?"

When he just stares at me for a few seconds, seeming confused, I elaborate, "Your cuffs. Do you want me to take them off?"

After a few more seconds staring at me, he slowly nods his head 'yes'.

Very slowly, trying not to scare him, I move my hand from my side and raise it, afterwards, flicking it to the side, using the force to open his cuffs as I do so.

He jumps when the cuffs hit the floor with a loud clank.

While eying me warily, he begins rubbing his wrists where the cuffs must have made them sore.

"Thank you," he whispers as he looks down at the floor, seeming like he purposely isn't meeting my gaze.

"What's wrong?" I ask after a minute of waiting for him to meet my eyes, but he doesn't.

"I nearly killed you. I expected you to punish me for not only trying to escape, but wanting to kill you to do so. Instead, you come in here, take off my cuffs, and talk to me like I am a good friend of yours. Why?" Shawn whispers as he continues to avoid making eye-contact.

"I care about Rider, Rider cares about you. I don't want to risk hurting him, so I am going to try to get along with you. I know that you like Rider much more than you like me, but I am hoping that we can try not to kill each other anymore, at least for Rider's sake. Maybe you will even begin to like me. I have been told that I am a very likeable person," I say with a smirk, unable to keep myself from saying that.