Anakin Skywalker and the Monster Books part 4

"Does anyone else feel that?" Leia asked as she glanced around the strange mine that was illuminated by a couple of portable lights.

"The warmth or the fact that the force feels like sleepy soup?" Anna asked with a slight grin as she moved out of the way of one of the droids hauling a crate filled with supplies.

"I was thinking thick fog but sleepy soup fits," Leia agreed, not sure how else to put the feeling into words as the Force wasn't whispering or nudging her but it felt dense.

Anakin pulled his attention away from the droids that were stacking crates and tried to figure out what everyone else was sensing. "It's comfortable."

"It's also clean," Luke offered, surprised that he couldn't sense any of the darkness that he was used to or any echoes from the past or much of anything beyond the sense that the Force was sleeping.

"Dad would have loved it here," Selena mused, looking forward to setting up a meditation chamber where she could drift for a couple of hours when she felt the need. "It's quiet."

'Too quiet,' Ahsoka mused, knowing that Anakin loved staying busy so he didn't have to think about the bad times.

Anakin glanced at the small army of droids moving around. "If you ignore the droids moving around."

"She meant in the Force," Bella told him.

"Okay," Anakin replied with a shrug, getting the sense that the mine would wake up once there were more people around.

Anna glanced at Luke. "Do you want to explore one of the tunnels?"

"Might as well," Luke replied as he headed for the nearest tunnel that led out of the chamber, giving the primitive minecart a glance as he walked past it.

Leia watched her brother and Anna leave then turned to look at Luna. "What species are you?"

"I'm a dark elf," Luna replied absently as she used the Force to collect the various mining picks scattered around the chamber, not seeing a point in leaving them lying around for someone to step on and wanting to test how the Force behaved since it felt different.

"I've never heard of them," Leia admitted.

"I'm not surprised, we're from two different stories and I fell through a portal when I was a child," Luna explained as she dropped the picks out of the way near one of the walls then turned to look at Leia. "Or at least I remember falling through a portal, the details are a bit sketchy."

"That's going to take some getting used to," Leia admitted.

"At least we don't have to worry about Vader's enemies finding us," Ahsoka offered, trying to look at the bright side.

"We'll just have to make new memories," Bella suggested, not particularly worried about the fact that some of her memories of Tatooine were a bit fuzzy since she was getting her mother back and she hadn't lost her teacher. 'At least I remember everything that matters, like tinkering and racing.'

"That's the plan," Selena agreed, trying to ignore the fact that her family didn't exist outside of her memories and that she was going to miss them despite how much her father drove her up the wall at times.

"We'll adjust," Luna assured them, trusting in the Force and the resiliency of youth to see them through the adjustment.

"Hopefully," Selena muttered, relieved that she was getting to take her lab with her since it meant that she'd have things to work on to distract herself from the reality of the situation.

"I'm going to explore the other tunnel," Anakin said as he grabbed a portable light and headed for the tunnel on the other side of the chamber that Luke and Anna hadn't gone down.

"You should probably go with him," Luna told Bella, figuring her student could use the distraction and a chance to burn off some energy.

"Right," Bella replied and followed her brother, curious about the tunnels.

Luna smiled as she walked over to an out of the way rock and sat down, wanting a chance to relax for a bit before dealing with Watto and all of the questions Anakin's mother was going to ask when she got back.

Ahsoka glanced at Leia then walked over and sat down on an out of the way crate and watched the droids stack the supplies, wanting to give Leia and Selena the illusion of privacy as they sorted out their feelings. 'I'm going to miss you Anakin.'

Selena glanced at her sort of girlfriend. "What are you thinking?"

Leia pulled her attention off the tunnel that her sort of father and aunt had just walked into and focused on her friend. "I'm just trying to figure out the best way to cripple the Trade Federation in a way that doesn't result in a nasty war."

"Stripping them of their seat in the senate would be a good start but you'd probably need to kill a third of the senators before you'd have a chance of getting that vote passed," Selena admitted.

"And you'd need a way to prevent them from starving entire worlds because they didn't like how they voted," Leia added.

"We could always use the method your father used, fall in line or we'll kill you and glass your homeworld," Selena offered, mostly joking.

Leia shook her head. "The only reason that worked is that the Neimoidians knew how much he hated them and were terrified of him."

"With good reason, your father is terrifying," Selena replied with a smile, rather fond of her teacher despite his temper.

"I love him but I'm sort of glad that he's not here," Leia admitted, knowing he'd drive himself crazy worrying about Padme.

"I don't know, it would be interesting to see him murder Sidious in person," Selena mused.

'Only if you don't care about the collateral damage,' Ahsoka mused, knowing Anakin hated the man enough that he'd resort to drastic measures if it meant the chance to kill him a second time.

Leia shook her head. "That monster brought out the worst in everyone, Dad included."

"It was a talent," Selena agreed. "I'm just glad that I have you and Luke to drag me out of the lab when I get obsessed about a project."

"That's what we're here for," Leia replied with a grin. "Are you planning on telling the other Kenobi that you're related?"

"I don't know," Selena admitted. "He's not my father and he's probably only a couple of years older than us."

'That's going to be weird,' Ahsoka mused, having gotten used to seeing Kenobi with gray hair.

"But he's the closest thing you have to a family?" Leia asked, knowing the entire situation was complicated since Selena's existence meant a version of him broke the code. 'Except the Order was pretty much gone at that point.'

"Basically," Selena agreed. "Are you planning on telling your mother?"

Leia sighed, fairly sure her mother had enough trouble at the moment with the blockade. "I wouldn't even know where to start."

"Start with a blood test and go from there," Selena suggested, thinking about the results of Anna, Bella and Anakin's blood tests. "At least your mother isn't a Jedi, she doesn't have a code that prevents her from having children or loving someone."

"For the best," Leia replied as she gave her girlfriend a hug.

"Don't worry, I'll always have your back," Selena assured her.

"Thanks," Leia replied, feeling a bit better about the entire situation.

0o0o0

"Ani?" Shmi asked as she walked into the apartment and saw the strange collection of people hanging out in the living room and a floating metal frame next to one of the walls with a portal inside.

"Mom!" Bella blurted out, barely resisting the urge to run over and hug her.

"Mom?" Shmi asked, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Hi," Anakin offered a touch sheepishly. "I used the book and they're family."

Shmi glanced between Ahsoka and Luna then over the rest of the people. "You're going to have to explain that."

Anakin gestured at Luna and Bella. "Luna is Bella's teacher and Bella is basically me, if I was born as a girl and left on an adventure a year ago." He quickly pointed at Anna, wanting to explain everything before his mother could interrupt. "Anna is from the future of a different timeline, she was rescued by Jedi." 

Anna waved, too tongue tied to say anything and having trouble seeing because of her tears.

Anakin gestured toward Leia and Luke who were leaning up against the table. "Luke and Leia are from a future where another version of me had children and Ahsoka is Leia's teacher."

"And I'm their girlfriend," Selena offered when Shmi focused on her.

"Like I said, family," Anakin stated.

"Right, get over here," Shmi told Bella, having noticed how much she wanted a hug. "You too," she told Anna when the girl took a step forward before stopping.

Ahsoka smiled as the children mobbed Shmi to give her a hug. "That went better than I was expecting."

"Absolutely," Luna agreed, relieved that Shmi hadn't freaked out. 'Hopefully she doesn't lose it when she realizes we're going to be walking into a battle.'

0o0o0

Shmi studied Luke's face, seeing a bit of her father in his features. "So you're basically my grandson and you grew up on Tatooine until your father recruited you for Jedi training?"

"Pretty much," Luke agreed, leaving out the fact that it was a rather heavily modified style of Jedi training that borrowed some of the less insane elements of Sith training. "Everything was pretty chaotic after the Republic fell and Tatooine was just about the last place anyone would have gone looking for me."

"It's not exactly the safest place in the galaxy," Shmi said, surprised that Anakin would send anyone he cared about to Tatooine considering how much he disliked the world and the Hutt.

"We had a couple of people watching the children to make sure they were safe," Ahsoka offered. "Speaking of keeping people safe, we should probably send Shmi into a story to get her chip removed while we have the time."

"I'll go," Anakin volunteered.

"Not a chance," Luna told him. "The best doctor is going to get attacked a couple of hours or days after the first picture by something that wrecks the lobby of the hospital, you're not ready for that sort of mission."

"If it's that dangerous, why not pick a different story?" Shmi asked.

"The hero should be able to handle the fight and the damage was contained to the lobby by the security droids, I'm just worried that Anakin's presence would attract trouble, trouble that the hero might not be able to handle and keep everyone safe, considering she's a Healer and not a combat specialist."

"That's…" Anakin trailed off as he remembered that he shouldn't swear in front of his mother.

"Completely fair," Shmi told Anakin. "You don't have the training, let your family help you."

"At least until you get more training," Bella suggested, knowing how much she hated getting sidelined.

"Fine," Anakin muttered when he realized that they had a point.

"I'm willing to help," Luke offered.

Luna shook her head. "Syn only works on female clients because of hospital policy and Anna would probably get the most out of the process, since she's been banged up more than a couple of times."

"Do you honestly expect me to just lay there while the hospital gets attacked?" Anna asked.

"No but there's a decent chance that you'll be in and out before the trouble shows up and you might as well take advantage of her healing because she makes the best Jedi Healers look like rank amateurs from how the story described it," Luna explained. 

Ahsoka smiled as she thought about what they could learn from an excellent healer. "If you get the chance, toss her through the portal."

"I'll certainly ask," Anna assured them as she studied the pink skinned alien girl with long blue hair. "Does the story explain why she's working for the hospital?" she asked, wondering if there was some sort of story since she looked a bit young to be working in the hospital.

Luna nodded. "The ship she was on ran into some legal trouble and was grounded for a while, there was something about a fight and not being able to leave the planet until things were sorted out and a corrupt hospital director that didn't want things sorted out."

"So there's a decent chance that she'd actually want to leave," Anna replied as she held her hand out to Shmi. "Ready?"

"Ready," Shmi replied as she grabbed her daughter's hand.

Anna reached over and touched the picture of the hospital, sending her and Shmi into the story.

"How long do you think it will take them?" Anakin asked.

"It's going to take as long as it takes," Luna replied with a faint smile. "I suggest getting some sleep or trying to meditate to pass the time."

"I'm not going to be able to sleep," Anakin argued, knowing he'd just spend the time tossing and turning at best. "Can you show me how to move things with my mind?"

"Sure," Ahsoka replied with a grin, thinking about some of the times her old Master had teased her when she'd been his Padawan. "First we crack open your skull then we give you enough drugs to stay conscious and then it's just a matter of moving the spoon with your brain."

Anakin shook his head, well aware that she was messing with him and trying to distract him from worrying about his mother. "I meant the Force."

"That's fair," Ahsoka replied. "Do you want to handle this or do you want to go around the room and have the children describe how they do it?" she asked Luna.

Luna considered the question for a couple of seconds then shrugged. "We might as well take the chance to compare notes on the basics since we're from different worlds. Let's start with Selena and then jump to Leia and Luke, if that doesn't work, we'll see if Bella can explain things since she's only a year into her training."

"Works for me," Selena replied with a smile. "So, I basically just reach out and move things, it takes a bit of practice but the first step is probably learning to feel things."

"That's a good place to start," Ahsoka agreed, curious how different their traditions were.

0o0o0

"You need to relax," Syn told her client as she worked on getting a knot out of her shoulders.

"Sorry, I'm just a bit distracted," Anna admitted, wishing she could shake the feeling of doom that she had and enjoy the attractive Zeltron's company and the massage since she seemed to have a pretty good sense of humor and she was good with her hands.

"Doctor Zoidberger is an excellent surgeon, your mother is in good hands," Syn assured her as she continued working on the naked girl's shoulders, wondering about the meaning of her various tattoos.

"I just have a bad feeling…" Anna trailed off as she realized that the general sense of unease that she'd been feeling wasn't because of her mother's surgery or wasn't just because of it. 'So much for slipping through the cracks.'

"Sort of slimy and dark?" Syn asked warily as she realized that she could sense the creatures making their way toward the clinic.

"Yeah," Anna replied as she rolled off the table and to her feet. "Do you have a blaster?"

"The hospital has a strict policy on blasters," Syn replied with annoyance as she walked over to the sink and pulled a slug thrower out of the cabinet. "However, the director is an idiot and forgot to include more primitive weapons in his ban."

"How often do you have to deal with this sort of thing?" Anna asked as she started putting her boots on, slightly annoyed that she'd let the staff toss her clothes in the wash while she got her massage.

"We're on the edge of the Unknown Region so we get a lot of pirates but they normally just shoot the security droids and try to steal medicine," Syn explained as she tossed a fluffy white robe on the massage table next to Anna.

"It feels like a Sith," Anna grumbled as she finished putting her boots on, grabbed her glove and a lightsaber and headed for the door, leaving the robe on the table.

"I've always wanted to kill a Sith, it's a bit of a family tradition," Syn said as she followed Anna into the hall, wishing the government assholes hadn't confiscated her lightsaber when they grounded the ship. "Take a left, there's a balcony at the end of the hall that should give us a decent view of the parking lot."

"Thanks," Anna replied as she turned left and started running down the hallway, wanting to deal with the Sith before they got inside the hospital. She ignored the nurse that was staring at her, like she'd kicked her puppy or something.

"Syn!" the nurse screamed, knowing the whole mess was the Zeltron's fault.

'Yeah, I'm getting fired,' Syn thought as she realized that Karen had noticed her gun, given the horrified look on her face. 'Fuck it, it's not worth the hassle.'

Anna ran over to the window and stared at the two dozen dog-like creatures heading toward the hospital from the woods next to the parking lot. "I was expecting pirates or mercenaries, not Sith," she grumbled as she put her new gloves on.

Syn unlocked the balcony door then slipped outside and over to the balcony where she could get a better look at the Sith and his creatures. "I should have bought something with a bit more stopping power."

"It would certainly help," Anna agreed as she walked over, keeping her lightsaber off and slightly behind her thigh so it wouldn't be as noticeable if the Sith looked up at them. "Ready?"

Syn raised her gun and shot at the Sith, causing the red skinned figure to dodge out of the way. "My father made this sound a lot easier," she complained as she took a couple more popshots at the Sith, causing him to twirl and dodge as he sprinted toward the hospital, quickly closing the distance.

"I think you pissed him off," Anna replied with a faint smile. "Start shooting the Sith beasts."

"I don't have enough ammo," Syn replied as she swapped to shooting the sithspawn, proving that she was actually a decent shot when she dropped four of the beasts with her last four shots. "I'm out."

"Can you use a lightsaber?" Anna asked as she watched the beasts focus on them.

"Yes," Syn replied, knowing that she was decent, even if the rest of her family made her look like a rookie.

"Great," Anna replied as she handed her lightsaber to Syn and jumped off the building.

"Shit!" Syn blurted, forgetting for a second that Jedi could slow their falls.

"Kill the Jedi!" the Sith shouted as he watched the naked girl walk toward him without a care in the world.

"We only live once," Anna replied with a smirk as she raised her gloves and unleashed lightning on the beasts, causing them to unleash horrid screams as they died thrashing on the ground.

"What the Kriff?!" the Sith demanded, shocked that the Jedi had used Force Lightning and that he couldn't feel it. "What are you?!"

Anna smiled as she blasted the Sith with lightning, causing him to scream as his body was burned from the inside out. "I'm the Angel of Death."

Syn walked over. "Are you always this crazy?"

"You should have seen me in the war," Anna replied as she levitated the Sith's lightsaber out of his hand and used it to cut his head off, wanting to make sure he was actually dead. 

Syn blinked when she noticed the strange portal floating in the air next to the dead Sith. "Is that a rip in space?"

"Yeah," Anna agreed. "It's basically my ticket home once Shmi gets out of surgery, do you want to come with us?"

Syn glanced back at the hospital, fairly sure Karen was already complaining to someone in charge about her slugthrower. "That depends, do we have enough time to swing by the police department? I need to reclaim my lightsaber before we leave."

"Sure," Anna replied, figuring they had enough time while Shmi was recovering from the surgery.

"Great, we can grab one of the company cars," Syn replied with a grin, figuring she might as well steal the hovercar that was 'reserved' for the head of the clinic since he was a prick and she wasn't going back to work.

"Works for me," Anna agreed.

0o0o0