Chapter Text
His mother was dead. That thought would not leave the front of his mind. The woman who had sheltered him, cared for him, protected him from the worst aspects of slavery, was simply gone. She had been there one minute, then gone as a some Dug from Sebulba’s Clan, angry about a badly placed bet and owing money to the Hutts, had slashed her throat in retaliation. He knew the Dug clans would never have his back, but this...With two Jedi standing next to him, unable to do anything.
Qui-Gon had barely left his side, a calming presence, but Anakin could do nothing to stop the waves of grief and anger roiling through him. He hadn’t even let himself cry yet. He wasn’t sure if he could. On Tatooine only the gravest events allowed tears. Otherwise it was considered a waste of moisture. Her loss was a visceral wound. He could always sense her, even though she didn’t have a Force signature like he supposedly did. The place where she had been was all jagged edges, like a shattered opening in a glass door made by an intruder, signaling something precious from inside had been ripped out.
And now here he was, weeks away from home, standing before a group of people in a lush Temple.
“Train the boy, we will not.” The wizened being who seemed to be in charge was saying. “Too old he is, too much anger and attachment he has.”
“Anakin has lost his mother, his only family. But he is the Chosen One. If we do not train him as a Jedi, we do so at our peril, Master Yoda.”
At least Qui-Gon called him by his name, Anakin thought. To everyone else he was “the boy”. It wasn’t so much different from Tatooine in that regard.
“If we train him we do so at our peril.” A dark skinned human spoke up. “You can all feel his emotions. They’re erratic and Dark. He could bring ruin to our Order.”
Before his mother’s death Anakin had very much wanted to leave with the Jedi, to be one of them, to go with the pretty lady who looked like an angel. Now he wanted...well, nothing except to have his mother back. He wished he had never met Qui-Gon and his apprentice.
The Cerean Council Member spoke. “Master Yoda is correct. The boy is too old. Regardless of midi-chlorian count, the risk in training him is too great. I know you believe in him, Master Jinn, but the Council is unanimous on this.”
“Master Yoda, please,” Qui-Gon asked. “Balance must be brought, and the Force has chosen Anakin to be the one to bring it.”
“Final, the Council’s decision is, Master Jinn. Trained, the boy will not be. Other arrangements for him we will make. For AgriCorps, most likely. A good life he will still have.”
‘So,’ Anakin thought detached, ‘They’re going to pass me off to be someone else’s problem. After bringing me here. After the fact that Mom would still be alive if they’d never come to Tatooine.’
He followed Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan wordlessly back through the Temple. Qui-Gon passed his hand over a door which opened into a small living space. He sat the boy down on a simple brown couch. “I’m so sorry, Anakin. But believe me. I will fight for you. I will find a way to convince the Council to train you.” Anakin nodded because he knew it was what Qui-Gon wanted, but internally he questioned why he should want to be trained. So he could show up in other people’s lives? Decide what was best, who lived and who died, get people killed like his mother had been killed? He was beginning to realize he wanted nothing to do with the Jedi.
But where would he go? Had nothing and no one now. Oddly the thought didn’t scare him. He supposed having nothing was still a leg up from being a slave, and he did have his freedom now.
Qui-Gon made a bed up on the couch for him and produced a plate of food. “It’s been a long day, little one. But get some food, and some sleep. Tomorrow we will figure out what to do.”
That night Anakin lay awake into the very late hours. He knew Qui-Gon had good intentions even if everyone else doubted and disagreed with him. Even his apprentice seemed wary of Anakin. But one man’s say-so wouldn’t get him very far. Qui-Gon had told him about Agri-Corps, how he’d learn to farm and be able to have his own life if they did send him there. But it wouldn’t really be his own life. It would be what the Council decided, and suddenly that thought made him very angry. The Council had done enough in his life. He wouldn’t let them decide his future.
He sat up on the couch. He suddenly knew with every instinct he had that he had to leave now. Tomorrow he’d be sent off with no chance of escape from a life that wasn’t his. His mother never would’ve sent her son off only to see him in a nicer cage. And that’s what this place was. He was claustrophobic now, the Temple seeming like a place he very much needed to escape from. He put his Temple-issue clothes and boots on and grabbed his jacket. Dawn would come in a couple hours and he needed to be well away from the Temple before then. He left a note on a nearby datapad that he had gone to explore the Temple grounds, hoping it would buy him time.
Leaving the Temple was surprisingly easy. There were guards of course, but he’d spent his life slinking around thieves who were always harder to trick than guards. A push of his will and guard near a small back corridor, likely for shipment reception or trash pick up, went wandering down the hall.
Anakin darted out, finding himself in a cargo bay. Perfect. Speeders weren’t too difficult to rig. Pulling at the wires instinctually, he maneuvered the small speeder out of the bay, encountering two more guards. Before panic set in he pushed his will as hard as he’d ever done it before. “Master Jinn told me to go run an errand for him.” A direct order was much harder to force than a suggestion to look down a hallway. Luckily it worked. The guards waved him through and he was in Coruscant, on his own, with nothing holding him back. He smiled in the pre-dawn light for the first time in weeks.
In the Jedi Temple, dawn woke the inhabitants as always. Except for some padawans and younglings who insisted on sleeping as late as possible.
Qui-Gon dressed and went to the living room to find the couch empty. Picking up the data pad, Anakin had left a note that he was off exploring the Temple. It would be normal for a young boy to want to explore such a place, but something felt off to the Jedi Master.
Obi-Wan soon entered the shared living chamber from his bedroom. “Where’s Anakin?” The young man inquired.
“Apparently off exploring the grounds.” Qui-Gon showed the datapad to his padawan.
Obi-Wan yawned and poured a mug of caf, knowing his Master’s dislike of the substance and started some tea as well.
“I must track him down before my meeting with Master Yoda this morning.”
“Master, are you sure that pushing the issue will get different results? The Council’s vote was unanimous.”
“Obi-Wan, I am obligated to fight for this boy. His mother is gone and I am all he has. I could not forgive myself if I didn’t do everything in my power to have him trained.”
“Even if the Council changes their minds, who would take him as a padawan? It’s unheard of for Master to take apprentices older than eight or nine standard years.”
Qui-Gon smiled. “I took you, Force help me.”
Obi-Wan blushed in embarrassment but Qui-Gon continued, “and it was the best decision of my life. I am proud to have overseen your training, padawan.”
Obi-Wan ducked his head and tried not to get his hopes up at the verb tense of “overseen”.
“Indeed,” Qui-Gon said, “I believe that time in your life as a Jedi is near. That is the other issue about which I hope to speak to Master Yoda.”
Obi-Wan hugged his Master. They were close, even for a Master and Padawan. Qui-Gon had been more of a father to Obi-Wan than strictly an instructor, and he would always be grateful to the man for that.
Then another thought crossed the young man’s mind “You mean to train Anakin yourself!”
It was Qui-Gon’s turn to duck his head. “I would not suggest your Knighthood if I did not believe you ready. But yes, if it comes to that, I will train Anakin. I do have some experience with angry padawans after all,” he laughed.
Obi-Wan shook his head. The idea of Qui-Gon and Anakin as a team should have the Galaxy shaking in its boots.
Not long after the Jedi Master had left to search for Anakin however, his sense that something was off was growing. The boy’s signature, usually so strong and bright, was nowhere to be found. He was now manually searching the gardens, the Room of a Thousand Fountains, and the padawan training area. He commed his apprentice to also search the Temple.
Qui-Gon entered the Council Chamber early. However only Master Yoda and Master Mundi were there. “Anakin is gone,” the Jedi huffed. “His presence is missing in the Force and no one has seen him in the grounds.
Master Yoda tapped his gimmer stick. “Serious, this is. Meditate, I will, for the boy’s signature.” The Jedi Master closed his eyes, as did Ki Adi Mundi. Several moments later Yoda opened his eyes. “Gone, he is indeed. Call all Knights and apprentices to search, we will.”
Qui-Gon nodded as Master Mundi commed other Council Members to spread the word and lock the Temple down.
Days went by, and no sign of the young Skywalker was found. Only a missing speeder. The guards Anakin had run into never even thought to say that a youngling leaving on a speeder was suspicious. Masters asked odd errands of padawans all the time.
After a week, the search was called off and Temple life went on as usual. Master Jinn blamed himself. He was responsible for Anakin. But it appeared as though the boy had left of his own volition. He certainly would have been able to maneuver a speeder, the man thought.
Not long after he and Obi-Wan were on another mission. They met with a powerful Force user. A man so cloaked in the Dark Side that Qui-Gon knew him to be a Sith, despite the Temple’s stance that the Order was long dead. Obi-Wan had broken through the force fields in time and killed the Zabrak, in time for his Master to make it out wounded but alive.
When Qui-Gon was healed enough, he presented Obi-Wan to the Council. He cut his padawan’s braid with his own lightsaber and presented it to him. The two men embraced as equals.
With growing unrest in the Republic, Knight Obi-Wan was soon deployed on his own missions.
Proud of Obi-Wan but knowing that since meeting Anakin grave mistakes had been made, Qui-Gon approached the Council for the last time.
“I offer my resignation as a Jedi Master and a member of the Jedi Temple,” he said evenly and without preamble, extending his lightsaber on his open palm.
“Master Jinn, what has caused this decision?” Master Windu looked a bit bewildered.
“I have made many mistakes as a Jedi, and I have seen the Council make what I believe are many mistakes. While such events are natural, it is the refusal to rethink underlying issues that concerns me. I can no longer in good faith serve the Order. I will vacate my rooms within the week.”
“Saddens us, this does,” spoke Master Yoda. “But wholly surprising, it is not. You have always been of a fiery temper and independent mind. Accept your resignation, the Council does.”
The other members in the room looked a bit more shaken, but Master Mundi took Qui-Gon’s ‘saber with care, assuring him it would be stored with rest of the retired lightsabers in the archives.
It would be many years before anyone ever heard from Anakin Skywalker or Qui-Gon Jinn again.