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Disclaimer: See chapter one.

Key:

The Force speaking

'Speaking to the Force/Mother/Crystal'

Mother/Crystal speaking

"Galactic Basic speaking"

/Other language speaking/

-Telepathy-

Thought

P.S. There will be major changes to Ani and Obi's relationship. Since, Qui-Gon isn't showing such interest in him apart from shocked fascination, there's no real jealousy. So don't expect the same animosity. Oh, 3PO is going to have slightly different background, but don't worry about R2, he's still the same and will come in later.

Child of Ilum

Chapter Three: Sleepless Fears

After introductions were done, the trip from the caves was spent in relative silence, each of the Jedi too lost in thought to carry out a conversation and the boy—Anakin—was too busy taking in a last look of his home. It was strange to think that someone could call the frozen ball of ice 'home,' but for Jedi who needed an extra niche to focus in the Force, it wasn't too absurd.

Qui-Gon Jinn cast a small appraising look at his apprentice, watching as the boy—man—stumbled about in the snow. He was fully prepared for knighthood, of that the Jedi had no doubts, but one thing kept bothering him. Qui-Gon just didn't understand how his padawan had managed to sense the strange child when some of the Jedi's most seasoned masters could not.

It wasn't that he didn't think his apprentice wasn't powerful, he did, it was just that Obi-Wan still had so much growing left to do, his powers still had to mature. They were mature enough for knighthood, of course, he only needed experience, but the other masters were mature in their connection to the Force, so how did they not sense him?

He certainly wasn't odd, as Anakin had so aptly put it, but Qui-Gon had always felt that there was something special about him. Unfortunately, it had almost taken him too long to realize that, but what was done was done and he couldn't change that. Maybe the Force had something planned that involved the two. The boy was instructed to become a Jedi, so maybe this was Its' way of telling them who would be the best master for His Son. It would certainly make sense. Obi-Wan was ready for Knighthood.

Now that it was actually happening, Anakin wasn't as ready to leave as he thought he was. He was excited of course, this was the first time he would actually see the other parts of the galaxy with his own eyes, but getting ready to leave and actually doing it were two completely different things.

When he was getting ready, all he could think about was the future: what would happen when he reached the Core, what was space like, would he get along with other Jedi, etc. But now, when he was actually about to do it, he found that he wasn't as ready as he thought. In leaving, he had to say good-bye to Mother, and his Siblings, to his entire past. For the first time in his life, Anakin knew real fear, petty fears from the past were nothing in comparison.

He was scared of what would happen when he reached the Core. He was scared of going into space, that he would never come back home. He was scared that the other Jedi wouldn't like him. He was scared that he would forget Mother and his Siblings. But most of all, he was scared that he would fail.

Father, and Mother, and his Brothers and Sisters, they were all counting on him. He was given life solely for the purpose of bringing the Force back into Balance. Father was so temperamental now, with the Dark Side growing and the Light Side being so stuck in its ways, so complacent, that the Dark was slowly encompassing it. The growth scared him and made him feel almost cold whenever it happened.

Anakin had never felt real cold, he didn't have to as long as there was enough Light, but there were times, rare ones, but times all the same, when he would get a quick bout of chills. It was during these times, Father told him, that the Dark Side grew, sometimes a small amount, sometimes not.

Over the years, the boy had gotten used to the chills. They weren't cold per say, just unpleasant, more like chills of fear than of temperature. It wasn't that Anakin was scared of the Darkness, no for that was a part of Father, Light and Dark, he was more fearful of the person who wielded it.

To wield the Power of Darkness, one had to be worthy of It, and Dark was extremely picky. Only those with power and potential could harness It enough that It would upset the Balance, and it was for this reason that Anakin feared. This person would be strong and he (or she) would be cold. Anakin didn't know how to fight the cold. He didn't…

"Hey?" Anakin's head swiveled around to look at the strange padawan walking next to him.

"You okay?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Oh…umm…yes. I was just saying good-bye." The boy smiled at him as they continued their hike through the snow.

Looking down at the child's feet and bare legs, Obi-Wan shook his head. "I don't know how you're not freezing. I'm bundled up like a bantha and you're walking about like it's the height of summer!"

The boy shrugged. "Like I said before, I don't get cold. The snow actually feels quite nice."

"That's not normal!"

"I'm not normal." The child's eyes twinkled in childlike glee, the first Obi-Wan had seen since they'd left the caves about an hour earlier.

Obi-Wan didn't know why he had suddenly decided to talk to the boy. After nearly dying of a heart attack, the padawan actually had the biggest reason not to talk to him. But, the boy looked so sad, so lost, a huge contrast from when they first met, that Obi-Wan couldn't help but want to help him. Oh sweet Force, I'm helping a pathetic life form.

There was something about this boy, something unnerving. He couldn't tell whether it was good or bad, but it he couldn't shake the feeling of disaster that settled in his mind like a persistent cloud. He didn't know what to make of this feeling and it scared him.

"So…your name's Obi-Wan, huh?" The padawan nodded his slowly, not knowing where this conversation was going.

"That's right…"

There was a slight, uncomfortable pause.

"Kinda an odd name, isn't it?"

"One could say the same thing about your name." Obi-Wan fired back, beginning to feel a slight tick beginning on his forehead.

"Touché." The boy shrugged.

"What?"

"Touché. It kinda means some good or clever point made at the person's expense by another person, I think." The boy looked thoughtful for a moment, and Obi-Wan felt a flash of amusement coming from him before dissipating quickly. It was so quick in fact, that the padawan wondered if he had imagined it.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Another uncomfortable silence stretched over the two as they walked behind the others. They passed the rest of the trip in silence, hoping that nothing would force them to converse like that again. It wasn't until they had reached the ship and every one was on board that Anakin spoke up.

"You're not odd, Obi-Wan Kenobi, even though I said you were earlier. You're special. You have a special destiny, one far different than your peers. Don't be afraid Obi-Wan. It can take control of you." And with that, the boy walked off towards the sleeping quarters, the place that the masters had gathered in, leaving a stunned Obi-Wan behind.

He didn't know what had just happened. The boy was an enigma, of that he was sure. One moment, he's a normal child (or semi-normal), with a sweet innocence about him that people are drawn to, but the next moment, he's spewing out Master Yoda like comments. Obi-Wan didn't know what to make of it.

"Hey, Obi-Wan, watcha thinking about?" Garen shouted from the cockpit, as the ship lifted off and entered the atmosphere.

Obi-Wan spun around quickly, almost tripping over the droid parts from some unknown mission in the corner, but just managed to catch himself before falling. His friends, unfortunately for him (or them depending on point of view), didn't manage to mask their amusement quickly enough for him not to notice.

"Good way of using your Jedi instincts Obi. Really, you should take a padawan." Siri stated.

"I'm still a padawan myself, and besides I was distracted." He huffed. If he was trying to save face, then it was failing miserably.

"Obi-Wan Kenobi! You know what Master Yoda says about distraction." Siri quickly hunched over as if leaning on a walking stick, and adopted a serious look. "Not get distracted, Jedi do. Leads to death, distraction does."

"When has Master Yoda ever said that?" Bant asked, hands on her hips.

"He hasn't, but I imagine he must have said it at one point." She replied and ignored the other three padawans' groans.

"Siri, what are we going to do with you?" Garen asked.

She shrugged. "I have no idea, but tell me when you figure one out." Spinning around, she effortlessly avoided any droids or ship parts and lying about on the floor. Throwing a frustrated Obi-Wan a small smirk, she walked out of the entrance space and down the small hallway to the female sleeping quarters to get some much needed rest.

"I hate it when she does that." Obi-Wan growled

"Obi-Wan, hatred leads-" Bant was cut off, however, by her aggravated friend.

"To the Dark Side, I know." He crossed his arms. "I can't help it though. She just knows exactly what buttons to press and it gets really aggravating." Obi-Wan sighed and missed his friends' glances of sympathy.

"Come on. It's been a long day, why don't we all follow Siri's example and get some sleep?" Bant suggested, her healer apprenticeship coming to the fore. "We'll be in hyperspace soon so it's best we get rested now."

"Follow Siri's example?" Garen asked with a smirk. "That's a first."

Slapping her webbed hand over the back of his head, she sent him a meaningful glare. "Oh, shut up, you."

"Now, now Bant, anger-"

"You shut up too!" She slapped Obi-Wan over the head as well, before dragging them both down the hallway and dumping them outside their door. It was already 2100 standard hours and she was getting irritable.

"Now, goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the Nubian termites bite." Turning on her heel, she crossed the hallway and entered her room, the door closing behind her with a hiss.

"Obi-Wan?"

"Yes, Garen?"

"Let's not bother her tomorrow." He held out his hand and Obi-Wan reached across from his space on the floor to shake it.

"Agreed." Picking themselves up, both young men opened their door and quietly entered, making sure not to wake their already sleeping masters.

Laying down in his bed, Obi-Wan's last conscious thought didn't really even register in his mind. What happened to the boy?

While not having to sleep did have it's advantages, there were also numerous disadvantages. One of those being the immense boredom that comes when everyone worth talking to is asleep. It was often remedied with meditation or talking to one of his awake Family members (who aggravatingly enough could sleep), but there were many times when Anakin wished he could rest and dream.

It wasn't just the fact that he didn't have to sleep, for if it was just that then he would have slept just to pass time, but it was the fact that he couldn't sleep. Yes, unfortunately, it was physically and mentally impossible for him to sleep. Father had said that there was a reason for it, but Anakin scoffed and said it was just so He would have more of a reason to talk without excuses of tiredness.

This is not to say that it wasn't all bad. During the day, Anakin would act as a normal child, running up and down the caverns, talking to his Siblings, and even playing with the occasional gorgodon (who were actually quite friendly once you gained their trust). It was during the night, however, that the boring stuff happened.

Father had insisted that Anakin learn all he could before leaving. So at night, he would usually end up in meditation and either be taught by Father in the controlling of his powers (sometimes successful), or listen in on schools across the galaxy. It had helped him of course, making him fluent in several different languages (usually learning curses before anything else, much to his Parents' dismay). His mathematics and engineering skills were on par with any seasoned professor or mechanic. The boy had learned to read as many languages as he spoke, but it wasn't exactly a joy of his. He knew galactic history pretty well, and politics weren't that hard for him (except for the fact that he found most politicians to be major crackpots). Unfortunately, he was abysmal at paying attention, which definitely cause problems with science, especially when trying to make his own poisons from the rare fauna in the caves. That was never to be repeated, his entire Family had agreed.

However, now that he was off Ilum and was about to be taught by proper teachers, his Father had deemed it unnecessary unless he felt the need to. The nine-year-old didn't. It was also rather unfortunate that Anakin despised meditation and, if given the choice, would avoid it at any means possible. So all that was left was to explore the ship.

Anakin turned the corner and came across the droid parts Obi-Wan had almost tripped over earlier. Maybe he wouldn't be so bored after all.

It wasn't uncommon for Obi-Wan to wake up in the middle of the night do to a dream, but it was uncommon for him to actually get out of bed. Normally, he would just lay there before falling back asleep, but something, whether it be the Force or something else, told him to get up.

Stumbling out of the room, the padawan made his way down the hallway, not exactly awake, but not asleep either. He didn't know where he was headed, but he certainly wasn't prepared for the sight that met him. When he managed to wrap his brain around what he saw, all sleep was driven from his mind, only to be replaced by shock.

The droid parts from earlier were strewn across the floor, pieces were everywhere, even behind the boy's ear. Yes, the boy from Ilum was there. In fact, he was sitting right smack dab in the center of the mess, so concentrated in his work that he didn't even acknowledge Obi-Wan's presence. The child was apparently trying to fix the ruined protocol droid with the scraps and pieces he had.

Obi-Wan didn't know how the boy had built that thing so quickly, for he distinctly remembered the droid having only been a couple of spare parts when he tripped—stumbled—over it. Now, the thing actually had a shape and wires, heck, all it needed now was another eye (which the boy was currently searching for), and some coverings.

Looking to his left, the apprentice found the illustrious eye and picked it up, little Anakin still not acknowledging him. The child was throwing parts every which way, muttering in a slew of different languages that Obi-Wan didn't know.

"Ahem…" The boy looked up and the padawan had to hold back laughter at the child's shaak in the headlights look. Holding up the eye, Obi-Wan asked, "Looking for this?"

With a quick nod of thanks, Anakin took it from the outstretched hand and swiftly added it onto the droid.

"If you don't mind my asking, how did you manage to create this droid so quickly?" There was a slight pause and a shrug from the boy, before any words were actually spoken.

"I don't know exactly. The parts were all here, with the exception of a few wires, which I built from some scrap around the ship. All I really needed to do was assemble him."

"Yes, but even that should have taken days without machines. I mean we've only been in space for about six hours." Obi-Wan shook his head. This boy was getting stranger and stranger.

"Well, I had nothing else to do really and I enjoy machines." His eyes glistened with mirth. "One time, a few years back, a ship crashed near the caves. The pilot was killed, but his ship wasn't all that bad. I managed to fix it and even flew it a few times before the gorgodons destroyed it."

"How did you manage that without any proper training?" The twenty-five-year-old was having a hard time wrapping his head around the idea that a child who grew up in basic solitude and mechanical depravity could repair something without any guidance.

"Oh, but I did have proper training." The padawan looked at him curiously. "Since I can't sleep, Father lets me visit lessons on other planets through a visionary technique of His. I can learn anything I want so long as Father approves."

"Wow. Do you do that often?"

"Only at night mostly. I didn't really enjoy it, but Father didn't want me to be too far behind my peers." Anakin shrugged and silence enveloped the two as the boy struggled to find coverings.

"So, what's going on with this droid here." Obi-Wan said, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Well, I managed to find an actual TranLang III Communicator module hidden under one of the storage boxes. So I put that together with the AA-1 VerboBrain I found mixed in with the other parts." Almost bouncing in excitement, Anakin turned to an amused Obi-Wan. "Cool, huh?"

Obi-Wan, who only understood the fact that the droid could now speak, nodded his head rapidly, trying not to look confused.

"Yeah, he should be able to speak over six million different languages now, and he has over thirty secondary functions as well." Well, that certainly cleared things up for the padawan.

"Hey?" Obi-Wan looked down at the excitedly talking child. "Do you think the Jedi will let me keep him?"

Shrugging, the apprentice said, "I don't know. They might, but the Jedi don't really have much use for protocol droids."

"Oh…" The boy looked down dejected.

"But, I'm sure one protocol droid can't hurt." He said hurriedly, as he tried to salvage the conversation and the boy's mood.

"Yeah! He'll be of help. I promise!" The boy grinned widely, and Obi-Wan found himself doing the same.

"Good! I must say, a protocol droid would be nice to have around." Giving the droid an appraising look, Obi-Wan continued. "So what's its' name?"

"I'm gonna call him C-3PO."

"Nice. It's a fitting name for it."

"Him." Obi-Wan looked confused.

"Pardon?"

"Threepio's male." Anakin whispered, as if the droid could actually hear him.

"Oh, right. I would hate to upset it—him—by calling him an it." The boy nodded, grinning.

Another silence came to rest on the two, something which appeared to happen a lot, but at least this one was more comfortable than all the others.

"What are you doing up anyway?" The boy turned to look at the padawan after a moment. "Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Obi-Wan said in a half-teasing, half-serious tone.

"I told you before that I don't sleep, remember?" The padawan nodded in remembrance. "What's your excuse?"

"Just a dream." He tried to shrug it off as non-important, but the boy was relentless in his energy.

"Wow! I wish I could dream." He looked over at the older male, scrutinizing him, yet questioning at the same time. "What's it like?"

Surprised, it took Obi-Wan a few minutes to answer. "Well, it depends really."

"Depends?"

"Yeah," He nodded at the boy's questioning glance. "Sometimes, dreams are really nice, but other times they're not. Bad dreams are called nightmares, or night scares by little children."

"Oh…" Anakin looked at the floor, before looking back up at Obi-Wan's grey-blue eyes. "Did you have a night scare?"

"I don't remember exactly, but it probably wasn't anything to worry about." He tried to sound optimistic for the child, but Anakin didn't look reassured.

"I get scared sometimes." He whispered so quietly that Obi-Wan almost didn't hear him. "I'm afraid of letting everyone down." The boy began to sniffle, and the padawan realized that the child was actually about to cry.

Smiling sadly, Obi-Wan moved passed the droid parts littering the floor. Sitting down next to the currently sniffling child, he put his arm around him and pulled Anakin into a one-armed hug. He felt the boy stiffen slightly before melting into the embrace.

Obi-Wan uncertainly put his other arm around him and set Anakin on his lap as the boy started to cry out his troubles, not knowing exactly how to handle an upset child. He calmly began rocking the boy, whispering meaningless words into his ear, and mimicking what he'd seen the crèche masters do on the rare times he'd been there. Only when he heard the boy stop crying, did he look down.

"I'm sorry." He heard the child whisper. "I've ruined your shirt."

Smiling slightly, Obi-Wan replied, "That's alright, it'll dry. Now why don't you tell me what's wrong."

The boy looked uncertain for a moment and began chewing on his lower lip. Chuckling softly, the padawan pushed the boy away, but kept his hands firmly on his shoulders.

Hoping he was doing this right, he said, "I promise not to tell, okay?"

"Promise?" The boy appeared unsure, but Obi-Wan smiled reassuringly.

"Promise. In fact, I'll even try to help."

The boy chewed on his lip for another moment before nodding slowly. "Well, my Family has always told me that it was my destiny to bring Father back into Balance. I'm not really scared about that exactly, but I don't want to disappoint Them."

Obi-Wan was stunned. It had been evident when they found him, or rather he found them, that the boy was the Chosen One, but to have the boy actually come right out and say it was another thing entirely. Deciding that his silence wasn't the best thing, Obi-Wan nodded for the boy to continue, still trying to overcome his shock.

"I know I can do it, but the Dark is so powerful, so cold. I don't know how to fight the cold." Obi-Wan could see that the boy was about ready to cry again and enclosed him in another hug.

After a pause, the padawan began telling Anakin something he felt Master Qui-Gon would have said had he been in this situation.

"It's alright to be scared, Anakin. You have every right to be. But, your Family isn't asking for you to bring Balance right away. Sweet Force, if you tried that now, you probably would fail, but that's why your Father wants the Jedi to train you." Seeing the calming boy's teary confused face, Obi-Wan elaborated. "We can teach you to control your powers in a way the Darkness cannot fight off. We'll teach you how to fight off the cold so that you can win. So don't worry about your duty right now, just focus on learning and I know you can win."

The boy smiled a bright teary smile and snuggled up against the padawan.

"Will you help me, Obi-Wan?"

Shocked for a moment, Obi-Wan nodded his head. "Yes, Anakin, I'll help you."

"Thank you."

Nothing more was said that night as Anakin felt Obi-Wan fall asleep a half hour later. Even though his fears were still there, for the first time in his life, Anakin could rely on another tangible person for guidance, it felt nice in a way. Although unable to sleep himself, the boy remained snuggled in the older man's embrace, spending the rest of the night just listening to the first heartbeat he had ever heard.

Oh boy! That took a while. I hit a few snags with this chapter, 'cuz I really want to get to the part where they get to the Temple. I also realized that the ending was a bit rushed, but I was running out of steam and I kinda wanted to show that Anakin and Obi-Wan have a bond that's quickly beginning to manifest.

I hope you all enjoyed. Please review (don't just read, because I have a hug hit stats, but few reviews). I really don't enjoy flames, so don't do those. I hope to have the next chapter up by Sunday, but I don't know what my schedule is like. I'm currently doing a lot of community service for my school's IB program and I have 3 summer jobs.

Well, it is 2:27 AM and I am going to bed.

Goodnight!

--TimeMage0955