Shadows of Tomorrow

Chapter 46 - Attack On The Temple

Author's Note: Believe it or not, this was the plan from the beginning. :')

~ Amina Gila

He's seen a lot of things, throughout his life, between growing up on Tatooine, spending the next decade as a Jedi, and the last two and a half years fighting a war. Even so, Anakin feels unprepared to deal with this.

Caleb was injured during the bombing, and while Master Shan might have done what she could to heal him – Anakin still is struggling to accept that people can be healed with the Dark Side, and it reminds him of when he resurrected Ahsoka on Mortis, and how there is so much to the Force he has yet to learn – he still has lingering injuries. He can't walk entirely normally anymore, which means much of what he used to know about fighting has to be relearned entirely. The boy is clearly having a hard time, even if he's trying to hide it.

"Are you ready to try this again?" Anakin asks.

"Sure!" Caleb declares cheerfully, "Master Depa hasn't had a lot of time to teach me much yet, so..." Since Athea is still gone without a trace, Caleb has been temporarily – though Anakin gets the feeling it's probably going to be permanent – given to another master.

"That's why we're more than happy to help," Theseus speaks up, where he stands off to the side, watching them.

Caleb ignites his lightsaber, and Anakin lets him make the first move, attacking him. He can fight with his hands just fine, but once it involves moving around, he starts to react a lot more clumsily. Anakin does his best to go easy on the boy, giving him occasional pieces of advice. This isn't something he's ever dealt with before, after all.

Still, it's something Caleb is going to have to learn to face quickly enough, if Depa is planning on taking him out to the battlefield. If he doesn't learn to fight properly soon, he isn't going to last long. Quite frankly, Anakin doesn't want to think about it.

Anakin finally – and actually accidentally – succeeds in sending the lightsaber flying from his hands, skittering across the floor in the Room of One Thousand Fountains. Caleb releases an audible groan of frustration at losing the duel, reaching out a hand to call the hilt back to him.

"You did well," Anakin assures him, "Again?"

They're about to start the duel again, when Anakin senses a sudden tremor in the Force, which is rapidly magnifying by the second. Something is very, very wrong. He knows what it is, or at least he can guess, from the nudges he's feeling from the Force right now. It's the exact same feeling that he gets on the battlefield, when there's an attack coming or in progress very close by, and that can only mean one thing.

Theseus suddenly tenses as well, a clear sign that he's feeling the same thing. "Something's going on," Anakin says.

"What do you mean?" Caleb asks, eyes going wide with worry.

"You think –" Theseus cuts off, expression looking even more panicked now.

"Yes, by the main entrance, I think," Anakin replies, "Caleb, you need to go tell the Council that there's an attack. Theseus, come with me."

Without waiting for a response, he turns and takes off. He can hear the older boy behind him, and hopefully Caleb will follow orders. He gave Caleb the job to go tell the Council in the first place to make sure he didn't try coming to the battle scene in this condition. They don't need him near whatever is happening when he can hardly fight properly in a mere sparring match at this point.

Alarms are going off throughout the Temple as they keep running. By the time they're nearing the entrance, Anakin can make out the sound of blaster shots, and a commotion that in general sounds much like a battle.