He awoke drenched in sweat with his heart racing and his eyes refusing to focus and the only thing he could think was "Tell me this is not happening." He shuddered, listening to the blaring alarms that had plagued his dreams for weeks. I don’t care what anyone says, that was not just a dream.

Throwing off his covers, Anakin quickly slid off the bed. He stumbled momentarily, hissing from the pressure on his injured leg. Anakin could feel the whole ship quivering from the bombardment of blaster fire.

Taking a few unsteady steps forward, his leg caved in, slamming painfully to the ground. Grabbing a hold of the bed, Anakin shakily pulled himself back up. He had to get to Obi-wan! The vision of his master’s bloodied figure sprang into his mind. He shuddered, closing his eyes.

Opening his eyes again, he squinted, trying to see through the blurry haze, the emergency lights tinting everything blood red. When his eyesight failed to clear, Anakin’s mechanical fist clenched shut in frustration. Squeezing his eyes tightly shut, Anakin reached out with the Force. Immediately a clear view of the room formed in his mind.

Grabbing his lightsaber, Anakin painfully limped his way over to the door. As it slid open, he started to walk through, only to be stopped by a fellow Padawan’s figure.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” Alaya asked, grabbing his arm, trying to pull him back over to the bed.

“Going to the cockpit,” Anakin answered, yanking his arm free.

“You’re crazy if you think you can be of any help in your condition,” Alaya said, shaking her head.

“Master Obi-wan will die if I don’t do something, Alaya!” Anakin snapped, turning to face her, his padawan braid smacking sharply across his face.

“What makes you so sure of that?” Alaya asked, folding her arms across her chest.

“I have foreseen it in my dreams,” Anakin replied, glancing anxiously at the door. “It always starts with blaring alarms and everything shrouded in red. My dreams have a nasty habit of coming true; and as you can see, all that I’ve described has come to pass.”

“Your mother,” Alaya whispered.

“Yes, and unless you want the same thing to happen to Master Obi-wan you’d better not prevent me from going,” Anakin warned, limping his way back over to the door.

“Anakin, wait!” Alaya said, rushing over to him. “Let me help,” she added, slipping her arm around his waist, trying to help ease the pressure off his injured leg.

Anakin nodded thankfully, accepting her support as they swiftly made their way through the darkened hall.

Suddenly there was an explosion, violently rocking the whole ship. It upset their balance, sending them both crashing into the wall.

Anakin’s breath caught in his throat when he realized the explosion had come from the cockpit. “Master!” Anakin shouted, pulling himself up, bolting forward, ignoring the searing pain shooting up his wounded leg.

He stumbled into the cockpit, coughing from the black smoke that permeated the room. Anakin could feel the heat from the flames threatening to consume the cockpit. Waving the smoke away, he could see his master’s bloodied form slumped in the pilot’s seat, his posture mirroring exactly as Anakin had seen in his dream. No! I can’t be too late! Anakin thought desperately, falling to his knees beside Obi-wan. Taking a shaky breath, Anakin used the Force to nervously probe his master for any signs of life. He started to panic, not finding any. “Master, you have to be alive! I can‘t lose you too!”

As he searched deeper, he found finally a weak life sign. He exhaled, relief washing over him. Slipping his arms under Obi-wan’s limp body, Anakin carefully lifted him up out of the chair.

“Anakin, we have to get out of here!” Alaya coughed, leaning on the doorway, supporting her broken arm against her chest. “The controls are going to blow any minute!”

Anakin nodded silently, trying to hold his precarious balance as the ship was rocketed by another round of blaster fire.

Stumbling out of the cockpit, a tingling warning of the force alerted him that the controls were about to blow. Anakin reacted instantly, folding his body around Obi-wan’s. As soon as he had fallen to the ground, shielding his master, the cockpit exploded, sending a shockwave of fire and debris roaring across the hall. As Anakin succumbed to unconsciousness, his last thoughts were filled with concern for Obi-wan’s survival.

***

Anakin slowly opened his eyes, frowning as he recognized the familiar surroundings of the Jedi medical center.

“Feeling better, my apprentice?” Obi-wan asked, stepping up to the bed.

“Master! You‘re alright!” Anakin exclaimed with astonishment, relief evident in his voice.

“Yes, I‘m doing much better,” Obi-wan replied. “The healers released me this morning.”

“You don’t know how glad I am to see that you are alright,” Anakin commented softly.

“Anakin, what happened?” Obi-wan asked, growing concerned.

“I...” Anakin glanced away. “For the past few weeks I’ve been having this dream. Only it didn’t feel like a dream, it was so real.”

“You had another vision,” Obi-wan realized.

Anakin nodded silently.

“Padawan, why didn’t you say anything to me?” Obi-wan asked. “You know you can come to me about anything.”

“I didn’t think you could help,” Anakin shrugged. “Besides, I didn’t even know who the vision was about until just before it happened.”

“Anakin, I want to be able to help you through these things,” Obi-wan stared directly into Anakin’s eyes. “If I don’t have the answer to your problems I will help you find someone who can; I promise you that. You don’t have to go through these things alone.”

“I know,” Anakin replied. “So, how did we get here anyway? The last thing I remember is the controls in the cockpit exploding.”

“Alaya’s master responded to the distress signal I had sent out,” Obi-wan answered, reluctantly letting Anakin drop the subject.

“How is Alaya anyway?” Anakin asked concerned.

“She’s fine, her arm is healing nicely,” Obi-wan replied. “Oh, that reminds me.” Obi-wan

turned and grabbed a stack of books off a nearby table. “Alaya had your Podracing Chronicles sent up. She said they were to keep you from getting too bored during your stay in the Med Center.”

“I’m fine Master, I shouldn’t be in here long enough to need these,” Anakin commented reassuringly, glancing at the rather large pile of books.

Obi-wan shook his head, glancing at his bandage-covered padawan, a small smile forming on his lips. “For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”