White Rabbits (Star Wars, 8/?)
Title: White Rabbits
Chapter: 8/?
Author: Diana Michelle (butterfly)
Warnings: Spoilers for Revenge of the Sith.
Pairing: Eventual Anakin/Obi-Wan.
Rating: PG/PG-13-ish.
Summary: Han finds out a little more about the Force, and fate has a small chuckle at his expense.
Disclaimer: Not Lucas, don't own a thing, not making any money.
Chapter Index
Chapter Eight -- Recalibration
Han tripped over the voluminous fabric of a cloak, landing on the floor with a grunt of pain and an angry curse.
“Do you have a spare accelerator cable?” the kid asked, without looking up from what he was doing with the engine. His hands were already starting to look grimy.
“No,” Han snapped, getting up with a wince. “Call me crazy, but I didn’t think that I would need one for a simple intraplanetary hop.”
“Hmm,” the kid said, licking a finger and pressing it against a wire before Han could do anything to stop him. The wire sparked, but the kid didn’t so much as jump. “Well, your primary motivator is still good, so I can probably cannibalize from a non-essential system.”
“Look, kid, I don’t know who you think you are, but you can’t just go around putting your hands all over other people’s engines,” Han said.
“Don’t call me ‘kid’.” He looked up then, and he looked dangerous again, even with an oil stain rubbed onto his forehead. “My name is Anakin, Ana-“
The kid cut off suddenly, looking past Han. He smiled for just a moment, looking even younger than Han had him pegged as.
“Captain Solo!”
Han quickly turned around, seeing Threepio standing just behind him. “Hey, don’t sneak up on a guy like that. Can’t you see that I’m busy here?”
“Well, I’m sure that I’m sorry, sir,” Threepio said. “Although, I do feel as though I should mention that you didn’t look terribly busy.”
“I was,” Han said, motioning Threepio away. “I was busy telling Anakin to stay the hell away from my engines.”
“I suppose that I could go wait somewhere else,” Threepio said. “Where I can be alone and unwanted.”
“Yeah, why don’t you go do that,” Han said, turning back around. Anakin was staring at him now, with a long, considering stare that was just about every kind of uncomfortable on record.
“Don’t worry, Threepio,” Anakin said, not taking his gaze off of Han. “Soon enough, you’ll be back among people who appreciate you.”
“Well, that would be nice,” Threepio said, his voice fading as he walked away. “I only want to be needed, to be a useful member of society….”
“You’re as bad as Obi-Wan,” Anakin said, pushing his hair back and leaving another small blotch of engine grease on his forehead. “Droids may not be biological, but they are real and they do have a sense of self. Treat one like trash, like a slave, you’re the one who loses out. If you respect them, they’ll work past their design limitations and protocols to help you.”
“Never really thought about it that way,” Han said. The kid wasn’t half-bad, really, now that he was acting like a real person instead of some creepy wizard. Sure, he might be scary as hell when he was confused or pissed off, but who wasn’t?
“Most people don’t,” Anakin said. “They just dismiss droids, like they’re background noise. Honestly, I think that says more about them than it does the droids.”
“Your friend does it, you said,” Han said.
“The Council may be under the delusion that my Master is the greatest Jedi that ever lived, but I know better,” Anakin said. “He can be as petty as anyone else. He’s… a wonderful Jedi, don’t get me wrong, but he spends too much time thinking about the Council’s wishes and not enough thinking about the Force. He hates politics, but he’s good at them.” Anakin licked his lower lip, biting back a smile. “He’s good at most of the things that he doesn’t like.”
"Probably spends a lot of time doing them, then," Han said.
"He does," Anakin said. "The Council tells him to jump, he just asks where."
"You're not a fan?" Han asked.
"He's better than that," Anakin said. "He shouldn't let them have so much control over his life. Obi-Wan could be one of the greatest Jedi who ever lived, if he just stopped trusting the Council so much, stopping believing their views on what makes a Jedi great. But if he did, I suppose that he wouldn't be Obi-Wan anymore."
“So, that’s really Kenobi out there?” Han asked.
“The only one that I know,” Anakin said. “But that isn’t saying much.”
“It’s just that… he really did die,” Han said. “It kinda tore Luke up for a while. But the Kenobi that we knew… he was a lot older.”
“That’s the story that you told him, that we’re in the future?” Anakin asked.
“Hey, I haven’t been telling anybody anything,” Han said. “But if that’s what Luke and Leia are saying, I’d bet that it’s true.”
“Because they’re Force-sensitive,” Anakin said, as though that were the only possible reason.
“Because I know them,” Han said. “Look, even if I’ve seen some crazy things over the last few years, I’m still not prepared to completely buy into that mystical energy stuff. When it comes down to it, I’d still rather trust a blaster than something that I can’t see or touch.”
Anakin didn’t say anything for a moment, reaching down and picking up his cloak, then draping it over his right arm, drawing Han’s attention to the fact that he wore a glove on that hand, just like Luke.
“I can’t really explain how it feels,” Anakin said, still staring down at his cloak. “Because I’ve always felt it.”
Han shrugged, not entirely sure if he wanted Anakin to give up or to explain. He’d never really thought about asking, because he never really was able to believe, not the way that Luke did.
“I can feel Luke and Leia, outside the ship,” Anakin said. “They’re worried about something and I can sense that they have an incredibly close mental connection. I can feel Obi-Wan, though nowhere near as strongly as I should be able to. I can feel this ship.”
Anakin reached out, placing his ungloved hand against the wall, spreading out his fingers. His eyes were closed now and he had a distant look on his face.
“I could fly her, without a moment’s study, because with just one touch, I can know her, in a way that no one has since the people who originally built her,” Anakin said, opening his eyes. “Being a Jedi is about reaching out and letting yourself be part of something great and grand. I’ve only known one power that might be greater than that intuitive knowledge of the Force.”
“What’s that?” Han asked. The corners of Anakin’s mouth turned up and his eyes lightened.
“Love,” Anakin said. His smile faltered and he stepped back, wrapping his cloak around himself again. “Though, I should point out that the Order doesn’t agree with me on that particular point.”
“They’re wrong,” Han said. Anakin’s gaze flitted up to meet Han’s again, and Han shrugged. He might not know all that much about the Force, despite Luke’s dedication to it, but this was something that he’d learned all too well over the past few years.
“Yes, they are,” Anakin said. He paused, getting that faraway expression again. “Obi-Wan’s coming inside now. We’d better go get your engine fixed.”
“Yeah, we can probably pull apart the recirculation system to get a make-shift part - won’t be needing that while we’re still in the atmosphere,” Han said. Anakin laughed softly, and even though Han didn’t know just what was so funny, he found himself chuckling, too. “C’mon, kid, I’ll show you where it is.”
“That… won’t be necessary,” Anakin said, breaking away and heading off in just the right direction. “But if you can keep up, I’ll let you help.”
~end chapter eight~