𝗙𝗔𝗨𝗟𝗧𝗦 | anakin skywalker

✰ 6. things no one can fix

Akya went to sleep the night after her call relieved. Anakin was okay. His mother was okay. The Senator was okay. She really, truthfully believed that.

Oh, how wrong she was.

Akya woke up that morning feeling pain once again, but this time, she did not feel the same pain. It was different. Akya felt agony and sadness and anger all at once. She felt regret. A tear ran down her face, and she knew exactly what was wrong, and how naive she had been just a couple hours ago to think that everything was alright.

She convinced the Council to let her borrow the holoprojector once again— this time, they had felt the disturbance that Anakin's feelings had caused, too. Knowing they were friends, the Council allowed Akya to speak to him again, hoping she could calm his overbearing feelings.  They let her use a larger holoprojector this time, though still in the room alone.

Akya traced his signal on Tatooine to find him on the outskirts of Mos Eisely.  She was very glad the Jedi Masters trusted her in the room alone, because if she had to explain that his signal would not be on Naboo, but on Tatooine, she did not know what she would have done.

"Come in, Anakin," she called.  "Anakin." 

His silhouette slowly faded into the large holoprojector. He looked straight at her, and was as tall as he was in real life, a familiar figure.  He looked distraught.

"Akya," he said quietly.

She smiled at him, attempting to bring comfort.  He seemed to be alone in the room he was in, and Akya saw that he had a tool in his hand, adjusting something she could not see in the hologram.

"What happened, Ani?"

He looked down at his project and continued tinkering.  She couldn't see what he was doing, but judging by his hands, it didn't seem like much anymore.  "The shifter broke," he began.  He didn't look up at her. "Life seems so much simpler when you're fixing things." Akya looked at him with a sadness she'd never shown to anyone else.  She knew exactly what had happened. "I'm good at fixing things," he said. "Always was.  But I couldn't—" Anakin sighed, finally looking up at her.  Agony rested in his storm blue eyes.  "Why'd she have to die?"

"Oh, Ani," she said quietly.  She wanted to throw her arms around him and let him cry into his shoulder.  She would do anything he asked.  Anything.

Anakin looked to the side, then back at Akya.  "Why couldn't I save her? I know I could have!" He threw down the tool in his hand and ran his hands through his hair. 

"Sometimes there are things no one can fix," she said.  "You're not all-powerful, Ani."

"Well, I should be!" he shouted.  Akya took a step back in surprise.  He was no longer upset, but angry.  All Akya could do was stare.  "Someday, I will be," he said.  "I will be the most powerful Jedi ever!" Finally, he looked back up at the hologram.  "I promise you," he said.  "I will even learn to stop people from dying."

"Anakin, you can't be speaking like this.  You're angry.  I can see it."

"You feel my pain, Akya," he said.  "I know you do."

"That much is true, Ani.  But you can't hold so much anger."

"I'm being held back!" he shouted, not hearing her previous words.  He tossed something, and Akya heard a clatter in the distance.  Anakin sniffed and leaned over the table he stood at, breathing heavily.

"What's wrong, Ani?" she asked. 

Anakin looked up, not at Akya's hologram, but at the wall ahead of him.  "I killed them," he said.  "The sandpeople that killed my mother.  I killed them all." He was erratic and angry.  Though he blamed it on the sandpeople, he seemed to be to most angry with himself.  "They're dead.  Every single one of them."  He looked up at her now.  Akya's lips parted, and her eyes widened.  "And not just the men, but the women, and the children, too."  She saw the tears in his eyes.  "They're like animals," he yelled, "and I slaughtered them like animals!  I hate them!" He spoke through clenched teeth and arched brows, tears resting in his eyes.

Anger lived in his face so comfortably, like a storm at sea.  His jaw was clenched.  His stature was tense.  His hands were balled into fists.  Yet through it all, his lips trembled.  He was breathing heavy now, and he took a couple steps away from the projector.

"Anakin," she said, so softly.  In that moment, she was not afraid of him, but felt what he felt.  She understood him.  "You're human."

"I'm a Jedi," he corrected. "You and I both know I'm better than this."

"We all have faults, Anakin," she said.  She wanted to be there as the tears streamed down his face. She needed to be there.

Anakin did not reply.

"I need to know will be okay," she said.

"Once I see you, I will be," he replied.

"I miss you," she said.  She held out her hand to the projector, and he held his. His blue silhouette went straight through her fingers, and yet, she felt him become calmer.  Just enough to know he would soon be okay.

"I know," he said.

— ★ ✰ ☆ —

"You're coming with us to Geonosis."

"I'm coming with you where?"

Akya had just been called urgently, and now was being told that she was to venture out with the rest of the Jedi to Geonosis, where she was later informed was where Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi was in deep trouble with Sepratists, who became a greater threat by the day. Akya was called to go because they needed as much help as they could get, and Akya was well trained enough to be able-bodied on a battlefield. She was quite proud that they had called her, but also, fearful of what was to happen. So many Jedi were on their way to Geonosis. Akya wondered if something was going to happen to her.

She was called so urgently she didn't get a chance to put on her lucky sun necklace, which made her worry even more. Perhaps she relied on dumb luck too much, but she would much rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. What if the necklace truly did bring good fortune to her, like she'd suspected all that time?

But there was no more time for worrying.

— ★ ✰ ☆ —

The Jedi were instructed to slowly make their way around the perimeter, whether that be in the stands of the stadium, or perhaps making their way into the actual arena.  Akya stayed in the stands, hands shaking, but ready to grab her lightsaber once Master Windu had given them the signal— lighting up his own. She saw Anakin down in the arena— who she was not informed would be there— he looked rather afraid as droidekas surrounded him, Senator Amidala, and Obi-Wan Kenobi.  All three were riding on the backs of one of the creatures originally meant to kill them, and assumed the droidekas had been sent out as a fail safe measure.

She didn't like waiting for Master Windu's signal— the droidekas could start blasting at any moment— but she followed orders.  She was very lucky to even be there, on her first 'mission,' and not even be a Padawan yet. Then again, she was a rather special case, but still.  She hadn't been off Coruscant in years.

From the corner of her eye,  Akya soon saw Mace Windu's purple lightsaber light up in one of the high boxes over the stands.  She glanced at one of the Jedi Knights next to her,  who took out his lightsaber, and soon enough, turned it on.  She copied him, quickly unclipping her saber from her belt and turning it on, the familiar blue light flooding her vision.  Suddenly, as lightsabers lit up all across the stands, the Geonosians began to fly off in many different directions, chattering away in dismay. Akya paid no mind to them, and instead focused on the battalions of battle droids that began running into the arena.  Akya hopped down and landed on her feet with some help from the Jedi next to her.  Immediately, the droids began shooting at everyone in sight.

a.n.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! this is an extra chapter as a holiday present ♡ ♡ ♡

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molly