Chapter Text
Anakin was angry. He was competent, but it was never enough, and Master Qui-Gon still didn't trust him enough to stand on his own. He was older and capable, and he was trying hard to catch up, but every time he failed Master Qui-Gon had this look of disappointment... Anakin did not want to be a disappointment, he did not want to be left behind...
And yet, he was left out, again. It wasn't fair that he was left in a crummy hotel while his teacher enjoyed all the action alone. It wasn't that the hotel was so horrible, it was actually quite nice compared to other places Anakin had slept before, but the young Jedi couldn't see the point of the Order sending someone like his Master with him if it was to keep him locked in a room?
Yes, Master Qui-Gon had been specifically requested by his friend, former Chancellor Valorum, who had recommended that a friend who had received death threats specifically address the bold and adaptable Jedi, but if the Jedi had wanted it, Anakin could have stayed in the Temple to quietly work on his classes! It wasn't fair, no other Padawan had been taken from one part of the galaxy to another without a break and without some form of sociability!
Sometimes, Anakin just felt like his Master wanted to keep him all to himself.
- See you later, Ani.
And still that nickname, again, he was no longer a child!
- "This is unfair, how am I supposed to learn?" he said angrily.
- We've been over this, Padawan, it's wiser for you to stay here.
- We're not on Coruscant, Master, is it really that dangerous?
- Don't underestimate Axxila, just because we're away from the Core doesn't mean we're safer.
...no kidding. Anakin had been born a slave in the Outer Rim and had saved Padmé from an invasion in the Middle Rim, he didn't need to be reminded where the danger was. Even the lower levels of Coruscant didn't scare him as much as the idea of going to certain planets like Kintan or Nar Shadda.
- "If it's so dangerous, I should stay with you," Anakin pointed out after deciding to adjust his way of asking.
If he asked to come where the action was, it wasn't very Jedi, but if he asked to stay safe in a rational way, it was already much more logical and acceptable.
So obvious that the Jedi Master could no longer argue with his request and sighed, looking at him with an amused smile.
- Alright... alright. You may come. Stay with me and listen carefully to what I say.
... was it so hard to trust him? Was Anakin asking too much? Were the other Masters also asking their Padawans this obvious question as if they were four years old?
Swallowing a witty but overly aggressive remark, Anakin nodded and dressed to follow the great Jedi, just happy to prove his worth and usefulness.
His Master was only interested in mastering the formal and traditional Jedi arts, Anakin was lousy at mediation but excellent at lightsaber, so there was a balance in what was expected of him. It was a pity that his command of languages was not valued, he would have thought it would be useful to a Jedi.
The only advantage of almost never being in the Temple was that he didn't have to suffer the humiliation of showing that he had a profound lack of education. Thanks to his mother, he could read and write Basic, he still remembered their lessons by drawing in the sand with a stick, but even his mother could not replace complex theoretical teachings. Master Qui-Gon didn't care much about what he was doing anyway, as long as he did it in his room and didn't go away.
He didn't really have much motivation to elevate himself spiritually, especially when he could be outside on busy streets like the one he was currently walking on, surrounded by smells and sounds, shimmering and moving lights, people moving with excitement to music, the air smoked with dust and bubbles...
Anakin found it hard to stand still.
He followed his Master with a slight smile before recovering his serene air when the tall man turned to him with a serious face.
- These people on my right are Mandalorians, mercenaries who will take any kind of work if you pay them. I'll try to interrogate them and...
Anakin raised a curious eyebrow at his Master who clearly hadn't finished his sentence. It was not in his nature not to finish, so Anakin checked behind him to see a Mon Calamari retrieving a package from a Twi'lek woman with a strange orange colour. It was the first time he'd seen an orange Twi'lek.
- Do you see this man? The Mon Calamari?
- Yes?
- I'm pretty sure he's a bounty hunter, the kind that costs a lot of money, and I doubt he's on Axxila by chance. Follow him while I interrogate the Mandalorians.
Anakin's heart raced at the thought of not being far from the action anymore. He followed the guy carefully before noticing within seconds that his Master was wrong, this was not a man but a Mon Calamari woman, maybe Master Qui-Gon needed glasses or at least an appointment with the ophthalmologist.
He suspected he had been spotted when the Mon Calamari greeted some of her comrades and turned to look at him, speaking in Hutese.
- Guys, look at the cute little rat that followed me here.
- Ohh...
- It's so cute, they keep sending them to us younger and younger, they must have a lot of kids to sacrifice.
- Wait, he's a Jedi?!
- "You know what they say about Jedi?" Immediately reacts a big, burly guy who was clearly intoxicated.
- I'm sure you'll tell us?
- That you get what you pay for when you have your dick in them.
The mercenaries laughed amongst themselves, convinced that Anakin didn't understand anything, because Anakin was a Jedi, and a good Jedi from Coruscant only spoke noble languages... except that Anakin understood Hutese very well, and many other languages in fact, and he could admit that he was terrified.
As good as he was, he was aware that he was only fifteen and alone against at least four people, barely fifteen in fact because his mother hadn't had a calendar to date his birth, and he didn't know anything about sex other than the rare times he'd touched himself because it felt good. There weren't many places a cock could enter a body and each of those possibilities made him want to vomit and cry at the same time. He had to find a way to get away, as soon as possible. Except that he had sensed two people in the Force blocking the path he had come in. And he was supposed to be keeping a low profile, not waving his lightsaber around.
- "You'll stay away from that kid if you know what's good for you," a deep, husky voice replied.
No one here spoke Basic, so it would probably be best for Anakin to pretend he didn't understand for now.
Subtly, the Jedi noticed that the unsavory individuals were keeping a figure in view, their hands close to their weapons.
- What do you want?
- You heard me. If you touch that kid, I'll rip your genitals out and shove them down your throat. 'All' your genitals.
The aggressive Rodian who'd dared to speak paled and stepped back visibly, revealing a dark figure behind him. Anakin couldn't really see what the man looked like, or even if he was human, a chin wasn't exactly enough to determine a person's identity or species.
In a strange way, in the Force, Anakin felt no danger around the stranger who had just spoken for him.
- Hey, Jedi. Come with me.
Anakin made a quick calculation in his head: he had a better chance of defeating one threatening opponent than a dozen. Perhaps he could even escape easily if he could create a distraction with the Force.
A cracking sound behind him convinced him, and Anakin ran after the tall figure down another street before being caught and locked in an arm that squeezed him to keep him from moving. Before he could even scream, a hand came over his mouth and a dark cloak covered them.
- Hush.
As he twisted to strike his attacker, Anakin heard movement and watched in panic as the mercenaries ran down the street and... pass them without seeing them?! They were in the shadows and under black clothing, really!
The hand over his mouth slowly relaxed, as if the mercenary at his back was trying to judge his state of mind, but Anakin remained silent. He was impetuous and hyperactive, not stupid. When he turned to look at the guy, he noticed that he barely reached the shoulders of the bounty hunter armed to the teeth.
- Follow me, it's better to walk away.
Swallowing with difficulty, Anakin nodded and tried to calm his distraught heart, so focused on himself that he didn't react to the other holding his hand to guide him. As soon as they were safely in a park - closed at night, but clearly one illegal entry in a public park after his early evening would not make much difference - he retrieved his hand and stepped back a little, not exactly reassured by the fact that this man had pulled him away from the crowd now that he could think coherently.
- Padawan, what are you doing here? Where is your Master?
- "He's not far away," the boy replied defensively, tense.
In his situation, looking alone and helpless wasn't going to help.
- Not that close, because I can't feel him in the Force. Is he completely stupid? You don't leave a teenager alone in the underworld of Axxila, it's suicidal. Who are you?
Oh Force, that man... was a Jedi? Impossible, right?
- Padawan Anakin Skywalker... Master...?
- Master Jon Antilles. I'm investigating a slave-trading ring.
- Really? Why?
But Master Qui-Gon said Jedi never get involved in such matters!
- To save them, of course, what else?
- But... the Jedi must not get involved!
Anakin saw a wry, amused smile under the hood, barely noticeable by the little light that came through the leaves of the grey trees.
- Sure, but if an unknown pirate steals a commodity, who would think of a Jedi?
- But... are you allowed to do that?
- Of course, my Master approves, he approves and quietly helps anyone who has made the same choice as me. The Jedi are people of few words, the silences are as explicit as the words.
Anakin had never seen it like this, for him the Jedi were mostly cold and unfeeling people, capable of prowess but also detached from things real... he would never have imagined that Jedi would want to leave everything to go underground and save people by being outlawed... or that people would approve and cover up their actions from the Temple. Who were these Masters he had met, stoic but defenders of real justice where they had no official right to act for the common good?
And his mother... what he wouldn't have given for someone to come and save him and his mother when he was young and didn't always have enough water to stay conscious.
- What is it, Padawan?
- I... my mother is a slave, so I had to leave her there when I left for the Temple.
- Did you? Where are you from?
- Tatooine, but Master Qui-Gon saved me from slavery five years ago.
The other hummed, looking tense.
- How old are you?
- I'm between fourteen and fifteen.
- Yes, slaves don't have the same access to time.
Anakin nodded, glad he didn't have to explain, and looked towards the towers of buildings around them.
- So... what do we do now?
- I need to get back to my ship and leave, I got some information from a smuggler I bribed, an exceptional convoy I don't want to miss, over five hundred people at once.
Anakin would love to help such a Jedi, but he had to find his Master... and have smaller dreams, forget about this meeting that would do him no good with his Master. Master Qui-Gon was kind, but a little narrow-minded, in Anakin's opinion.
- I should look for my Master.
- You didn't answer the question, what were you doing here?
- I was following the woman because Master Qui-Gon recognized her as a criminal.
- Did he ask you that?
Anakin felt compelled to defend his Master, because it was unfair.
- He didn't want me to come, I insisted.
- He had only one thing to do: stand firm. When you say no, there is a reason, so a no is a no. And even if he decided to take you with him after all, he should never have sent you to follow a dangerous criminal. The one you were following isn't into murder, but it is into kidnapping and torture, it's... completely stupid. You can't go back to him.
... wait a second, Anakin blinked, confused.
- I beg your pardon?
- You're not safe with him, I can't leave you with him.
- But... but I...
- I found you, I'm keeping you.
...eh? That was the kind of thought you were supposed to have when you found a pet, not a Padawan, wasn't it?
Anakin couldn't just 'leave' without saying anything! Master Qui-Gon would be worried! And the Order, the High Council already didn't like them very much, so this time he was going to get kicked out, that was for sure!
And sure enough, as Anakin began to lose himself in the beginnings of a panic attack over dark thoughts, Master Antilles put his hand on his shoulder and snapped him out of his thoughts, effectively drawing his attention to something else.
- I'm relieved I didn't leave the planet earlier, are you all right? No one hurt you, did they?
Anakin resisted letting any tears fall: when had anyone cared what he thought or felt since the last time? He couldn't remember.
- Oh... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm being blunt. Just stay with me, I'll take good care of you, I won't expect anything from you that you're not capable of and I swear I'll never treat you badly.
Okay, that wasn't very manly but Anakin cried.
*
- Jon.
The blond man bowed respectfully to the Jedi Master's Holo, looking happier than he had since Anakin had seen him.
- Master. I found and took a Padawan whose Master was not protecting him well.
- ... I see. All right, I'll take care of it. Tell me his name and the Master's name, and I'll take care of the paperwork.
- Thank you, Master.
- Always a pleasure, Padawan. It's about time one of you decided to expand the Lineage.
Master Antilles smiled slightly, relaxed, and turned to Anakin.
- His name is Anakin Skywalker, and his Master is... is...
- "Qui-Gon Jinn," the Korun answered for him, raising an eyebrow. "When you get home I want to hear the whole story of how you stole his Padawan from Qui-Gon."
- Yes, Master.
- Well, have fun.
The two bowed and the Holo disappeared.
... Kriff.
Had Anakin just agreed to become the Padawan of a complete stranger who had just said he was the Padawan of Master Windu?!
- It was...
- His name is Mace Windu, he's my Jedi Master, so your Grandmaster, he had been hoping for years that Depa, his first student, would take a Padawan.
Kriff... he was so kriffed.
Somewhere the Force must have been laughing hysterically, Anakin was sure of it.