The Tragic Jedi | Anakin Skywalker

𝓢𝓬𝓮𝓷𝓮 𝟑𝟐

❝𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒔.❞ -- 𝑨𝒏𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏 𝑺𝒌𝒚𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒆𝒓

❈✱❉✤❈✱❉

Obi Wan's face went slack with disbelief and surprise at Astrid's news of Maul's apparent survival. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing but air came out. Astrid grimaced as she waited for Obi Wan's response.

Finally, he managed to ask incredulously, "What?"

Anakin cleared his throat-- a sign of his unease-- before he replied stiffly, "Maul was the Sith Lord Astrid and I fought back on Tatooine when he captured us at Mos Eisley. We didn't tell you because we didn't want you to feel guilty for failing to avenge Qui Gon Jinn's death."

Obi Wan's face reddened with anger, and he seethed, "What do I care about vengeance, Anakin! I am a Jedi! Revenge is not the Jedi way!" For a moment, Obi Wan looked truly alarmed as he regarded his former Padawan.

Astrid quickly interjected placatingly, "We had good intentions, Obi Wan. We only wanted to spare you any feelings of pain. Losing your master must have been hard, and--"

Obi Wan's face hardened as he interrupted Astrid, "I did not mourn my master's death because he had become one with the Force, and I ensured I felt no attachments to my master, unlike you two."

He looked between them as he continued heatedly, "That is one lesson the both of you have utterly failed to learn."

Astrid's heart stuttered and her stomach plummeted at his emphasis of the word, 'failed'. She blinked back the involuntary tears that sprung to her eyes. She'd always hated that word, especially when it was aimed at her.

But then anger replaced her despondence, and Astrid lifted her chin as she seethed, "Well, perhaps that is where you and the rest of the Jedi Order have failed, Obi Wan. Attachment is not weakness; it is strength, and it is loyalty. Mourning is not weakness; it is human. It's having a heart."

Astrid didn't wait for his response before she turned and fled down the hallway, angry tears spilling involuntarily down her face, and she wiped them away furiously with the back of her hand.

Her breathing turned ragged as she hurried to her room so she could feel emotions like a normal person in the privacy of her room. Astrid's chest ached as it swelled with emotion, and her throat and eyes burned with the strong urge to cry.

Her fingers shook as she opened her door, and the sight of her nuna-ball poster hanging on the wall near her bed greeted her. Astrid's face twisted in anger at the sight of it, the poster only serving to remind her of her youthful naivety, and she marched up to the poster and tore it from the wall. She crumpled the poster in her hands before ripping the entire thing to shreds.

The sound of tearing paper soothed her anger, replacing it with satisfaction. When her Nite Owls poster was nothing but a thousand pieces of paper scattered around her floor, Astrid collapsed onto her bed with a heaving sigh. Her eyes were as dry as a desert as she gazed up at her ceiling, yet her chest still ached.

Ten minutes later, her door burst open, and she heard Anakin exclaiming, "Astrid! Wha-- what is this? Your nuna-ball poster!"

He sounded more despairing over the shredded poster than Astrid felt over it, despite it being her poster for nearly fifteen years.

Astrid's eyes flicked down from the ceiling to find him on his knees on the floor, tiny pieces of paper falling from his fingers as he picked up the scraps. "It's not important," Astrid murmured. "Now go away. I was sleeping," she lied.