The Tragic Jedi | Anakin Skywalker

𝓢𝓬𝓮𝓷𝓮 𝟑𝟐

Anakin rose to his feet and crossed to her side. "You're not sleeping anymore. Get up." He grabbed her arm and pulled Astrid to sitting position. She made herself as loose and weak as a dead fish, and Anakin let out a sharp exhale of exasperation as he kept her from falling back down onto the bed.

"Astrid, we're going after Maul."

Anakin's words stirred some bit of life inside Astrid, and she looked at him sharply. "What? What do you mean? Who's 'we'?"

Anakin smiled a little as he replied, "You, me, Ahsoka, and Obi Wan, and you and I are going to be the bait."

Astrid sat up a little straighter, and Anakin shifted back to give her more space. "How?" Astrid asked, twisting her body to face him.

Anakin's face darkened a little before he responded in a low voice, "Do you remember what Maul shouted to us as we were running away from him in the cave system?"

Astrid tried to remember, but the only memories she had of the event were of frenzied running and the feeling of adrenaline flooding her body. It was really all a panicked blur in her mind. She shook her head. "No, what did he say?"

Anakin swallowed before replying quietly, "He said, and I quote, 'I look forward to meeting you again, Anakin Skywalker, when you've come to your senses and joined the Sith'."

Astrid pursed her lips, a faint memory of Maul shouting that line from somewhere behind them resurfacing in her mind. Maul's words were ominous... and completely wrong. Anakin would never join the Sith.

Although he was far from being a perfect Jedi, Anakin was loyal and compassionate. Yes, he was a little reckless at times, but he did all of those things to help and save the ones he cared about. He would never betray them.

"You know Maul is wrong, right?" Astrid said softly. "You're a good person, Anakin."

Anakin looked down at his lap, and Astrid noticed his hands were balled into fists. He looked up at her with a pained expression on his face as he whispered, "Am I, Astrid? Am I truly?"

Astrid realized it was a rhetorical question when he continued in anguish, "I killed a defenseless person-- the guy in the bar on Tatooine-- by stabbing him in the back, literally. I lied to my master. I'm breaking the Jedi Code right now because I--" He paused and looked at her, his azure eyes searching her face intently. He took a breath before finishing breathlessly, "I love you, Astrid."

Her breath hitched in her throat at his words as her heart began to race. Could he truly feel the same thing she felt for him?

She opened her mouth to respond, but Anakin only grasped her hand and said quickly, "You don't have to answer that, Astrid. I don't think I could bear the pain of knowing you don't feel the same, so let me live in ignorance."

Before she could utter another word, he continued in a voice thick with emotion, "The point is, Maul expects me to turn to the Dark Side, Astrid. If I arrive on whatever planet he is currently residing on, claiming I have turned to the Dark Side, then he won't be as suspicious. I can lure him into a trap where Obi Wan and Ahsoka can capture him and bring him back to Coruscant for justice."

"This is a fine enough plan, but what is my job in all of this?" Astrid questioned, deciding she would confess her feelings to Anakin some other time when it was more appropriate.

"You are going to discreetly lure Savage Opress away from Maul."

"And we're assuming the two Sith are together now?" Astrid inquired with a frown, and Anakin nodded.

"It's the only thing that makes sense. They are both Dothmirian, and since there can only be two Sith at one time, a master and an apprentice, and there are two of them, then Maul and Savage must be working together," Anakin explained earnestly.