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Obi-Wan strolled down the corridor, his calm face excellently hiding his turbulent thoughts. Qui-Gon was insane. The boy should not be trained. He was too full of emotion, too old. There was no way to break him from his past ties the way Jedi were supposed to be. The power he held, however, could not be ignored. Left alone, he would undoubtedly be found and trained by the Sith. Trained by the Jedi, he would be doomed to failure. He could not adapt to the Jedi way of life, embracing detachment and emotionless decision making. The boy was a ticking time bomb.
"Obi-Wan!"
Obi-Wan's shoulders slumped. "Speak of the devil," he muttered as he looked up to see the blonde boy bounding over to him. "Hello, Anakin."
"Just look at this place!" the boy squealed. "It's huge! I've never seen so many giant shiny buildings and shuttles!"
"Yes, it is a large city," Obi-Wan replied mindlessly.
"It's awesome!" Anakin announced. He jumped up and down and then spontaneously hugged Obi-Wan. "I'm so glad I get to live here now," the boy whispered.
Obi-Wan froze at the contact, as he suddenly was assaulted by a myriad of images. A rebellious blonde teenager sulking, a young man passionately kissing the Queen Amidala, thousands of identical armored soldiers marching to their deaths, a young man listening to Senator Palpatine as his eyes glowed with darkness, a man with a blue lightsaber slaughtering an entire camp of Tusken Raiders, Queen Amidala heavily pregnant, an angry man with a blue lightsaber and evil eyes slaying younglings mercilessly, the same man choking Queen Amidala, a furious fight between two men wielding blue lightsabers on a fiery planet, and finally, and black robot rising from a bed, projecting evil through his very presence.
"Obi-Wan? Are you okay?" Anakin was squinting at him worriedly.
Obi-Wan snapped out of the vision, sweating and shaky. "Y-yes. I'm fine, young one." He took a breath. Anakin's future. He knew it with certainty. That was what he had just witnessed. Even now, he could feel the darkness smoldering deep within the boy. It was terrifying. Obi-Wan closed his eyes and took another breath. Train him and he would turn to the Sith. Don't train him, and he would be trained by the Sith. There was no preventing it. But there was. There was, and he knew it. He just didn't want to face it. He didn't want to believe that it was the only way, but deep down, he knew what he must do. For the sake of everyone, he must do it.
"Anakin," he said, carefully concealing his anxiety. "Look out that window," he continued, gesturing to the massive window across from them. "I want you to focus very hard on the horizon and tell me what you see."
The boy eagerly did as he was told, scrunching his face in concentration. Obi-Wan gritted his teeth and steeled himself. This was to save Queen Amidala. This was to save the Jedi. This was to save the galaxy. And it was also to save Anakin himself. Swiftly, before his resolve could falter, he stepped forward and plunged his lightsaber blade in between two of the boy's cervical vertebrae. Anakin collapsed immediately. He hadn't felt a thing. Obi-Wan collapsed too, shaken. He'd done it. He'd saved the galaxy. He would undoubtedly pay a high price for it, but it was worth it to prevent that awful future he had witnessed. He'd done it. He'd done it. That was all his mind seemed capable of processing. He'd done it. He'd killed an innocent child to prevent a terrible future. He'd done it. He'd done it. He'd done it.