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When Sith Beat Jedi To The Prize (Of The Chosen One)

Garth'zel had intended never to go to Tatooine again. The entire experience the first time he was there was hot and miserable. The only good point, so far as he was concerned, was meeting Andronikos. But as luck would have it, his ship ended up deciding to need minor repairs. Nothing too bad, but it did require him to land somewhere to get the parts he needed, because of course, the bit that went was something he didn't have spare parts for. The only planet within reasonable range? Tatooine.

It didn't take long for a Force-sensitive boy to catch his attention. One strong enough that he was surprised the Jedi didn't already find him. Well, their loss was his gain. ...Once he pried him loose from Watto, anyway. He suspects he actually had an easier time of it than a Jedi would, although he's not going to hang around and give one the chance to give it a shot. At least, unlike them, he's willing to come to Tatooine from time to time so Anakin could see his mother. Probably not more than a couple times a year or so, due to it being best to go there when they're at least vaguely in that part of the galaxy anyway, but it's far better than 'sorry kid, we're never bringing you back'.

Of course, there is one tiny problem with this whole thing. He's never had to raise children before and doesn't know what he's doing. With the ship safely in hyperspace and not due to come out of it for a good long while, enabling him to do things that didn't involve sitting in the pilot's seat of the ship, he's in the lounge area. Time to figure out what he's doing. "Have you managed to get any kind of schooling? Like from someone you know, sitting down with you for an hour here and there as time permitted to teach you things like how to write?"

May as well figure out what he needs to teach besides how to use the Force consciously instead of unconsciously drawing on it.

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Anakin probably wouldn't have noticed if he was hungry, he'd learned to stop feeling hunger pangs and instead simply to eat whenever the opportunity was there. Or drink for that matter.

But he just nodded, going back to fidgeting a little to make up for his hours of cramped work. "How do you know I can do that?" Because Anakin didn't know if he could.

"Because you're one of the strongest people in the Force I've ever met, despite your age and lack of training. Training will only bring things to the fore even more. That said, the amount of raw power available will probably make doing things that require finesse... interesting. Put mildly." He's not going to worry about the things that require fine control for a while. First, there comes getting Anakin able to do some of the more obvious and big things.

That leaves Anakin feeling deeply unsettled, even if he isn't sure why. And he starts to say something, but can't really put his worries into words, raising and lowering his hand, fingers mostly curled but a suggestion of raising one in a questioning manner there. The idea of having power is just too strange to him.

"I don't understand," he finally settles on.

"You'll figure it out later. I certainly never expected to be at the power levels I am any more than you expected to hear it about yourself." A tacit admission as to his own origins.

It's almost too tacit, Anakin is clever and well versed in reading people, but there's a good deal of finer shadings of communication he's simply too young to have experience with - at first, he simply believes Garth'zel is talking about the Force.

But there's a little too much to Garth'zel - his ability to understand Shmi's worries, to being able to reassure them both, to being able to intimidate Watto. It takes Anakin a moment to parse through what's being hinted at, but he understands, or thinks he does. It still leaves him looking at Garth'zel, brows knitted and eyes intense at he studies him over, turning over in his mind how this could come to be.

"How did you end up..." He motions to the ship.

"The people who realized I was Force-sensitive and took me weren't people it was a good idea to say 'no' to if one didn't have a deathwish," Garth'zel says with a shrug. "I am not going to teach you the way they taught me or even a great deal of what I learned from them. They... weren't good people. It's probably something of a miracle I've turned out the way I did. A handful of Jedi I'd either simply met or gotten to know helped."

To his credit, even if he didn't completely understand, Anakin could understand it as "My Masters were some of the very bad ones." And he could understand that, even if it still left him wondering, "Then how did you escape?"

"Mmm, the one who took me as an apprentice underestimated me. Of course, I also had some help." He remembers Zash going after him and snorts. "That's probably a story for another time for when you understand more about the Sith and Jedi."

Anakin had become more alert - more interested - as Garth'zel spoke, focused on him. Slowly he sit to his feet and walked over to him, putting his hand on top of Garth'zel's. "Mom says people have to help other people, that's why things are so bad. Because they don't."

It's only a moment later that he cocks his head up. "What's a Sith?"

Garth'zel absently pats Anakin's hand with his free one.

"People who'll give you nightmares," Garth'zel says dryly. "There's a couple I got along with, one of whom I actually completely trusted instead of mostly so, but most, I wouldn't want anywhere near you."

"The Sith and Jedi are basically polar opposites. The Sith use the Dark Side and the Jedi use the Light. That's a very simplified summation of things, by the way. They have rather different philosophies."

At the pat, Anakin softly squeezes Garht'zel's hand.

"I do have nightmares sometimes. Sometimes Mom does, and they wake me up too." Not her thrashing or crying out - he'd wake before that point. It was her emotional distress he was picking up.

"So are the Sith bad?" Anakin's little face knitted in confusion. He didn't think Garth'zel was bad. "Or just mean?" He had only the vaguest idea of Jedi, as Knights To Do Good.

"Darth Malak had a planet destroyed by orbital bombardment in an effort to kill one Jedi. Who managed to escape. Exar Kun, who used to be a Jedi before he let pride and arrogance get him into trouble, managed to somehow destroy a couple of planets with supernovas. Most Sith aren't on that scale. But yes, most are bad people." Malak and Kun were the first people he could think of off the top of his head for destructiveness he could use as an example.

Okay, yes, there was Vitiate too, but he thinks his point has been made.

As Garth'zel spoke, Anakin went from gently squeezing Garth'zel's hand in support to holding tightly to it in fear.

"How could someone do that to all those people?"

"Because they wanted to. Basically." Not a comforting response, he knows, but it's not really meant to be.

He shakes his head slightly. "Teaching you to find my presence in the Force is going to need to wait, I think. Somehow, I doubt you're up for concentrating on that."

Anakin's face screws up into a tight, anger scowl. "I hate those people." He means it too - there's real hatred for people who harm other people JUST because they can, and with it, a somewhat low level desire to hurt those people.

As angry as he is - and he is angry enough to notice it, breath coming in little pants, too angry to feel the fear he probably should feel, like the dragons that live in Tatooine's suns are swirling in his heart - he does think over what Garth'zel is saying.

"Maybe we could try?" He's anger yes, but he also understands this is upsetting and maybe working on something else will make them both feel better.

Garth'zel gives Anakin a careful look. "I think you better do what I taught you first. Like I said, Sith use the Dark Side. Which is full of negative emotions. Like the kind of anger I'm sensing from you right now."

Time for Anakin to settle down, lest he unintentionally draw from the Dark Side.

"But they deserve it." It's only a rough defensive, protesting a little with a huff.

But he was willing to listen, if only because the feeling of the dragon clawing at his heart didn't feel good. So he closed his eyes - needing to, in order to focus, trying to push his way back to that safe place in his head. It was more difficult this time, and his jaw muscles and mouth worked a little in furustation.

"They've been dead for thousands of years. They aren't getting any deader," Garth'zel points out with a trace of humor. "Don't force it too hard, or you'll just frustrate yourself."

Anakin only huffed, having a bit of a complicated idea of Death, because Death took all, owned all. One only need accidentally stubble on old graves to see that. They might be bad people, but they were owned by Death now.

Fine, he thought.

And he was getting frustrated, breathing in and out slowly, more from irritation than any real attempt to calm himself - but it does calm him a little, allowing him to catch onto the feeling he'd had earlier. It wasn't the same, not as deep a feeling but something better. Inside his heart the sun-dragon relents a little, allowing Anakin to focus more.

Garth'zel just stays quiet now to let Anakin focus. No point sabotaging what he's trying to have him do.

It takes him more time to sink into that feeling of contentment and safety, and he can't quite manage to sink as deeply into it as he had before, but slowly, he does relax, the anger fading back, the fear that is teasing on the edges like a threatening storm quiets, and Anakin stands calmer at least than anything else.

It's then he opens his eyes, looking at Garth'zel with a little partial smile. See, I can do it, he means.

Garth'zel nods, before motioning for Anakin to retake his seat. "It might be best to have to do things with your eyes closed so you aren't distracted by the input of what you can physically see."

"The Force is in every living thing, no matter how small or large. Try to find it in yourself first. The part that just knows when something's about to happen. That's the Force warning you what's coming."

Anakin nods, walking over to retake his seat, listening.

"But what does it feel like?" He obediently closed his eyes, trying to focus in on what he'd thought was instinct, warning him away from something or drawing his attention to something.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but just because one person senses it as one way, it doesn't mean another does so the same way. This is one of the things you need to figure out for yourself."

Once Anakin works it out, Garth'zel's presence in the Force is mostly cold. Not as cold as say, Darth Malgus' but a sign that he's Sith.

"That's great." It's mumbled in only the way a kid can but sulky without actually being angry or pouting - he's just disappointed.

And it takes him time, because he really isn't sure what he's supposed to be feeling, and while similar, feels so very different in Garth'zel. Or he thinks it does, anyway. "I think I can feel you?" He wonders really if he's correct, unsure, leading to him wanting to poke at what he's feeling, not realizing he rather is.

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When Sith Beat Jedi To The Prize (Of The Chosen One)

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