Chapter Text
“I’m telling you, I am from the future! Look into the force, you’ll know it to be true!” Anakin practically whined, crossing his arms against his chest as he stared at the faces of the Jedi council. Face, that, looked much younger than the ones he knew.
He’d gone to bed just the night before, excited for the security mission they’d be assigned to for Senator Amidala, and woken up in the middle of the council room with no recollection of how he got there. What was even crazier was, when he asked for his Master, they told him that the Obi-wan he was looking for wasn’t even a padawan yet.
“Sings around the boy, the force does,” Master Yoda spoke solemnly, his tone betraying none of his thoughts at the moment.
His words only frustrated Anakin further, and he tried to push his feelings into the force, just as his Master had taught him, but thinking about Obi-wan only made him more worried. What would his Master think when he’d find his padawan’s bed empty and his force signature nowhere to be found.
“We can’t let this get out, can we?” Plo Koon interrupted Anakin’s anxious spiral into his thoughts. “If anyone were to learn about a supposed Jedi from the future turning up it would surely lead to an uproar.”
A few of the other council members nodded in agreement, though they all looked to Yoda for guidance.
“If true, what this Skywalker says, keep this secret, we must,” the green, wrinkled creature said, leaving no room for arguing.
At that, a knock came behind the council doors, and a man slipped inside.
Anakin gasped when he saw him. Though he’d only seen the man a few times in his own time and though clearly younger, he’d recognize Master Jinn’s face anywhere.
“Excuse me for the interruption, Masters, but I do recall receiving a message about needing to meet with the council as soon as I arrived back from my mission on Corellia,” Anakin’s grandmaster said, eyeing Anakin up, not bothering to hide his intrigue.
“Ah, yes, a conversation with you about taking a new padawan I wanted to have,” Yoda nodded, addressing him fondly. “To see you, Knight Jinn, good.”
“Is this him?” The long-haired Jedi asked, eyes still on Anakin.
His gaze made the boy feel like he was being seen straight through, despite knowing his mind shields were tightly closed from the outside.
“No, this is Anakin Skywalker, a visitor, you could say,” Mace answered for him, which only seemed to interest Qui-Gon even more.
“A visitor, you say? He looks like a padawan to me,” he hummed, and he bowed to Anakin—something he hadn’t done when he’d first addressed the council, “Pleasure to meet you, young Skywalker.”
Anakin quickly bowed to him as well, awkward. “You as well.”
Master Yoda closed his eyes, looking pensive, “To keep this secret, I suppose I can trust you. From the future, young Skywalker is.”
Master Jinn’s eyes seemed to light up with delight, and his force signature brightened with them, “The future? How can we be sure?”
“He has extensive knowledge of us that no person would know,” another member explained, “Interestingly enough, he claims you too have met, though we know that not to be true.”
“Not true as of now,” Master Jinn supplied, looking amused now, “But in his future it is. Who’s to take care of him?”
“Keep him hidden from the rest of the Order, we must,” Yoda asserted, “Supervised at all times, he must be.”
Anakin groaned at that, probably looking like the whiny padawan Obi-wan teased him of being at times. “I don’t need to be babysat! I’m nineteen, for Force's sake, and I’m almost ready for the trials in my time!” He might’ve been bluffing about that last part, but these people didn’t know that.
“To keep him isolated seems cruel, don’t you think, Masters?” Qui-Gon questioned, and Anakin wanted to thank the man right there. “It’s not the boy’s fault he’s been dropped here.”
“Knight Jinn’s right, I have to agree,” a female council member noted, “Perhaps there is a way the boy can roam the halls without disturbing the peace of the Order?”
“I can take him on,” Qui-Gon offered, “I don’t have a padawan, and we could come up with a story about the boy having lost his original Master.”
“A padawan, assigned you, I have,” Yoda huffed, folding his arms. “Obi-wan Kenobi, his name is. Handful for you, I expect him to be. Take on young Skywalker, you cannot.”
Anakin was surprised by his words. Obi-wan being a handful? Yeah, right! The idea was so absurd that it made the padawan snort.
“Something funny, Anakin?” Master Windu questioned with a firm expression.
Anakin straightened in response, swallowing, “Apologies, Masters, it’s just that, Kenobi’s my master in the future, and the idea of him being a handful just seems impossible.”
Master Yoda seemed tickled by his words, “Change with time, people can. Children especially.”
Right, they had told him that his master was still in the crèche right now. Still, it was difficult to imagine his master as anything but the prim, perfect Jedi as Anakin knew him.
“I can take on both,” Qui-Gon finally said, drawing the attention back to the conversation at hand, “Anakin said himself that he’s been deemed almost ready for his trials in his time, so he wouldn’t be that much trouble.”
“Dangerous to interact with the past, it is,” Yoda warned, “Knows what will happen if Skywalker meets Kenobi now, nobody does.”
“Then I’ll make sure Obi-wan won’t know him as Anakin, Master Yoda,” Qui-Gon assured. “I can promise the council that.”
The council members seemed to talk amongst each other, leaving Anakin’s mind buzzing with questions. Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity for the boy, Mace turned to face Qui-Gon.
“We agree to let you take him on as a temporary padawan until we find what brought him here and how we can return him back to his time,” he declared. “But his true identity and travel shall not be revealed to anyone, including Kenobi.”
Master Jinn nodded, “You have my word, Masters, Anakin will be safe under my care.”
With that, the rest of the meeting was spent coming up with a reasonable and solid backstory for Anakin.
He was now to be referred to as Ani Starkiller, former padawan of Ben McGregor, a Jedi Knight who unfortunately lost his life on a negotiation mission that went south. Qui-Gon had also been on the mission, which is why he had agreed to take Anakin on as a padawan since he’d almost been done with his teachings.
It was a lot to remember, but Qui-Gon had suggested he pretend he was just on a solo mission, which made him feel a little more at ease. Now all that was left was for them to pick up Obi-wan.
This would be interesting.