Star Wars: Secrets of the Jedi (AU)

Chapter Fifteen

Obi-Wan could feel Anakin's swirling emotions. The younger man was pulsing with anticipation. Whatever he had to say, Obi-Wan knew it was important.

"Anakin, what is it?"

Anakin stood abruptly, needing to walk off his nervous energy before he spoke.

"Master, I've...I had...a vision," he finally managed to utter between calming breaths.

Immediately Obi-Wan was on his feet. After Anakin's dreams of his mother, as well as what they led to, Obi-Wan had learned well not to simply brush aside Anakin's dreams or visions.

"What did you see, Padawan?" he questioned gently as he went to stand beside the young man.

Anakin turned to face his mentor. Obi-Wan was stunned to see tears pooling in Anakin's blue eyes.

"Padawan?"

"It's Zakk, Master," Anakin cried, his distress clear in his voice.

Obi-Wan's eyes clouded. "What about Zakk?"

Anakin tried to calm his breathing. He took deep breaths, his chest heaving with the effort. He ran through every quick calming technique he'd ever been taught.

"Easy, Padawan," Obi-Wan soothed. "Deep breaths, that's it. Focus on my voice, then tell me what you saw."

Anakin nodded, and after several more moments, was able to speak once again.

"Jabiim," he said. "We were involved in a battle on Jabiim and when we returned home to the Temple, we learned that Zakk...that he..."

Obi-Wan waited. His sense, his nerves; both we on edge.

"...was gone, Master," Anakin finished softly, sounding broken. "He was gone from the Temple."

Obi-Wan released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

"Gone?" he whispered.

Anakin nodded, tears coursing down his cheeks. "Vanished, like he was never here at all."

"When?" Obi-Wan questioned, trying desperately to hold himself together.

Anakin swallowed hard. "In the vision, you said...you said that he was six years old."

Obi-Wan closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "Zakk's fifth lifeday is tomorrow. So, whatever happens to him, it happens a year from now."

Anakin nodded numbly. "I'm sorry, Master."

Obi-Wan rested a hand on Anakin's shoulder, lending his comfort and support. "Thank you for telling me, Padawan."

"What are you going to do?" Anakin wondered out loud.

Obi-Wan sat back down on the couch and ran his hands over his face. In just the few moments since Anakin had told him of the vision, Obi-Wan had become exhausted.

He shook his head, his eyes closed. "I don't know. Always in motion is the future; that's what Yoda teaches us. How do I know your vision will ever come to pass?"

Head hung; hands folded together, Anakin shrugged.

"I fear..." he started, and then stopped, unsure of his next words.

"You fear what?" Obi-Wan prompted.

Anakin cleared his throat and turned to face the older man. "When I was eight, about six months before you and Master Qui-Gon arrived on Tatooine, I'd had a dream. I dreamed that two Jedi Knights came to take me away from that place. It was so vivid, Obi-Wan. I never said anything, but the two Jedi in my dream were you and Master Qui-Gon. From your braid right down to his beard, it was the two of you. I saw you both clearly and I knew from then on that I would leave Tatooine one day and become a Jedi. Then, there were the dreams of my mother. I just...I fear that my dreams, my visions; that they're never wrong."