The Lucky One (a Star Wars fanfic)

Chapter 22

Rider's pov

Zeba slowly opens the door to Anakin's room, for some reason seeming very hesitant. If she really has known Anakin for two years like she claimed to, what does she have to be worried about?

As she steps inside the door, with me following close behind, I see Anakin sitting up and looking at her with a smile, a new mechanical hand on his right arm.

"I see that everything must have worked out for you, Zeba," he says while quickly glancing between us with a smirk that doesn't quite reach his tired and worried eyes.

"Yes, everything went fine, Anakin," Zeba says with a smile while going over to Anakin to check on his arm, leaving me to awkwardly stand by the door.

"I am glad to see you both here, though I can't help but wonder if there is a reason you two are here right now, other than to check on my arm," he says to Zeba once she has finished looking at his arm.

It makes me a little nervous that he is hardly even looking at me. Is he still mad that I lied to him again? He didn't seem like that on the ship, but maybe that was only because Obi-Wan was there. Now that Obi-Wan isn't here, Anakin doesn't have to pretend that he isn't mad at me.

"You already know that I need to help Rider, but I didn't tell you that we can't be near The Temple when this happens. I was wondering... if you could..." she trails off look at everything except for Anakin, her cheeks having a slight pink hue to them, contrasting with her light gray Twi'lek skin.

"You would like for me to cover for you two? I don't know if you are aware of this, but it might be hard to keep Obi-Wan away while I am stuck in here," he says in a slightly bitter tone, clearly not happy about this situation.

"I want you to cover for us, but not in that way. We need to leave before Obi-Wan comes back and once he sees that Rider is not in the room anymore, I am sure that he will come here to ask you first since he won't be able to find Kellan. I want you to tell him that I am helping Rider overcome the dark side and that in order to keep his presence hidden we needed to leave The Temple. Also, if you don't mind, I would appreciate it if you gave me your Com Link so Obi-Wan can contact us if he needs to," Zeba says.

"Yes, I can do that for you," he says, sounding a little disappointed. He probably wants to go with us instead of being stuck in here once again.

"Thanks, Anakin, I will come back once we are done to check on your arm again. By then you can probably leave here, unless you want to stay longer," Zeba says with a huge smile, causing me to smile slightly.

"I am sure that once you are back I will be more than ready to leave here," Anakin says in an emotionless voice. He really isn't acting like himself right now, which is making me worried.

"Anakin, are you okay?" I ask in a hesitant voice, knowing that I should say something.

"Do I look like I am okay?" He asks in a low voice while looking at me for one of the first times.

"I'm sorry that I lied to you for so long Anakin, I just didn't want you to get hurt."

"And how did that work out for you?" He asks me in a cold voice.

"Not very well. Not only am I being called a danger and a Sith by your Master, but now even my best friend seems to be turning against me. I messed up Anakin! If it were you in my position, I know that you would want me there for you. I understand that you are hurt right now, in more ways than one, but at least you know that you are safe. It wasn't until just ten minutes ago I was released from my cuffs. As I walk through these halls, I'm scared to death! I'm afraid that at any moment I might find a Jedi who thinks that I am too big of a threat to keep alive. I never wanted this to happen, I never intended on hurting you, Anakin. I was trying my hardest to avoid all this, but I see now that I didn't do a good enough job."