Star Wars: Saviors of the Broken

Chapter XL

"Everyone has their secrets, things that they've never told another living soul. You can never know the dreams, the struggles, the private battles going on in someone else's head." - Riev Jobl, from Collected Wisdom of the Jedi Masters

While Mikey was with Yoda, learning how to use his Force powers, Patrick and Pete waded through the swamp, hoping to finally get some time alone together. As Pete whined about nothing and everything all at once, Patrick thought about what Yoda had said to him. He was a Jedi Knight now, a guardian of peace and justice. He should have been thrilled - knighthood was all he'd ever wanted, after all - but he was still disenchanted. Maybe it was because there were so few Jedi left. He couldn't be happy about becoming a Jedi Knight when he was the last of a dying breed.

He looked to Pete, who was still rambling about some old hologram he'd seen. A Jedi Knight, you will not become. Why had Yoda said that to him? Pete had his faults, but it wasn't anything that would stop him from becoming a Jedi. If Patrick was in charge, Pete would be the first person he'd knight.

"Anyways, my point is that I've always wanted to have a secret handshake," Pete said just as Patrick snapped back into reality.

"We could have one," Patrick said.

Pete thought about it, and then said, "We could, but I think I have a better idea." He paused and then asked, "Do you want to feel a little beautiful, baby?"

Patrick nodded, and Pete leaned in close and gave him a long, passionate kiss, leaving both of them breathless. As Pete left a trail of kisses down his neck, Patrick forgot about knighthood for a while. All he could think of was the gorgeous boy in front of him.

"Are we even allowed to do this?" Pete mumbled. "You know, now that you're a Jedi Knight?"

"I don't care," Patrick said. "I don't think it's wrong to love you, but even if it is, even if it makes me more likely to fall to the dark side, I love you anyways. Nothing can change that."

"I love you too, Trick," Pete said.

Patrick smiled and then said, "You know, Yoda should have made you a Jedi Knight too. I think you deserve it."

"No, I don't," Pete said as he backed away from Patrick.

"Yes, you do," Patrick said. He wrapped his arms around Pete and then asked him, "Do I need to sing to you again? Something like, 'Pete, you're cute and super smart and you definitely deserve to be a Jedi?'"

"That song title is way too short," Pete said, but he did smile slightly.

"Pete, Yoda should have made you a Jedi..." Patrick sang, but Pete interrupted him.

"You don't understand, Patrick," Pete said.

"What don't I understand?" Patrick asked, but Pete didn't answer. "Come on, Pete. You can tell me anything."

"Anything? Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Even if you'll hate me for it?"

"Pete, no matter what you say, I won't hate you."

Pete stayed silent for a while and then said, "I looked myself up in the Archives when I was a Youngling, just like you did, and I...I was never supposed to be a Jedi at all. Qui-Gon Jinn was sent to Ajan Kloss to collect another child, but his parents didn't want to give him up, and my parents...they couldn't handle another mouth to feed. So they switched us. Qui-Gon took me to Coruscant in his place, and the other child, the one who was destined to be a Jedi, got to stay on Ajan Kloss."

"Yoda figured out what had happened, of course, but he let me stay in the Jedi Temple. I had nowhere else to go, after all. He figured that I could train with the Younglings, and once I was old enough, I could work in the Archives or the Service Corps. Qui-Gon died a few years later, so soon, Yoda was the only one who knew my secret. Out of everyone in the Jedi Order, he was the only one who knew that I wasn't Force-sensitive."