Chapter 2 - Youth

A tall skinny man with a body full of scars is currently running down an alleyway jumping over various obstacles as if he's running away from something, as the rain and lightning flashes overhead he can spot the image of a shadowy figure behind him, running faster the man turns a corner but finds himself trapped in a dead-end, turning around he pulls out his blaster from his hip and immediately fires a few rounds at a robed figure charging at him, unfortunately for him, the robed figure activates a lightsaber and blocks his shots and continues to charge at him, the last thing the man sees is a lightsaber cutting his gun in half before the blade is swept towards his neck.

Robert had just finished off one of the escaping targets and immediately starts sprinting again, a few moments earlier he, Miranda, and their two masters had just crashed a slave trade auction, the mission was going well at first, they managed to capture the various leaders of many slave organizations but they had underestimated the slavers, soon after capturing their targets a large host of bodyguards stormed into the area forcing the two Jedi Padawans and two Jedi Masters into a tough spot, they expected to be only fighting around a dozen men or so but were taken by surprise when over a hundred armed guards started rushing in, in the chaos a few of the slave leaders managed to break away and flee, the Jedi were forced to deal with the bodyguards before they were able to pursue after them but were forced to each split into different groups in hopes of catching as many as they could.

Robert running on top of various rooftops soon met up with another roped Jedi, upon coming closer he noticed it was Miranda.

"I managed to track a few down but they wouldn't go down without a fight, I was forced to end them", said Robert.

"Same, they likely knew what fate awaited them if they were caught", replied Miranda

"I'm currently chasing another right now but this one is a bit strange... they seem to slow down every once in a while... almost as if they don't want to lose us...", he said.

"You think it's a trap?", she asked.

"Likely, we should just track them then wait until our masters to catch up with us before we move in" he replied back to her.

"Too late for that!", she says as she slows down activating her lightsaber.

The two stop and stare at their surroundings, they noticed that the area was filled with hostile people coming out of various buildings and alleyways. A middle-aged female Twi-lek came walking forward out of the group, " clap! clap! clap! WELL DONE! YOU ANNOYING JEDI HAVE MANAGED TO RUIN A VERY IMPORTANT DEAL FOR ME!".

"How could you! you more than anyone should know the suffering the Twi-lek people suffer at the hands of slavers! how could sell your people?", shouted Robert.

" Well! aren't you the noble one! it's for money of course!" answered the woman as she and the rest of her men started laughing.

Miranda taking the chance to strike while everyone was busy laughing rushed into a group of the nearest men! Robert not wanting the female slave trader to escape rushed at her, blocking various blaster bolt fire as he advanced towards her, upon reaching her he swept his lightsaber over her weapon and then quickly followed it up with another slash severing the woman in half.

Having made sure the women couldn't escape Robert noticed that their situation wasn't looking too good, they were both heavily outnumbered, fighting his way back towards Miranda, they fought back to back both deflecting blaster fire and cutting down their enemies, despite the bodies piling up around them their enemies never seemed to end, and before too long the two padawans were struck by blaster fire and had fallen to the ground!

Robert clutching the wound in his gut crawled his way towards Miranda, there he noticed that she had taken a shot to her right ċhėst. Laying beside Miranda he soon coughed out blood, "It's not looking too good for us... it's a shame! I was finally gonna muster up the courage to ask you out on a date!", he joked.

Miranda upon hearing what Robert said couldn't help rolling her eyes "idiot...", she said under her breath while looking away slightly blushing despite the pain she was in.

The group of men surrounded the young Jedies, furious with them for killing their leader. The pair could only helplessly lean against one another as the group approached, the group was about to finish them off when suddenly two figures jumped down from the building behind them, suddenly they all felt their as if they couldn't move their bodies, and slowly they all started lifting into the air.

"Sorry! we're late! this city is filled with criminals, we were forced to clear out various small criminal organizations to hunt down our targets", said Roberts master as she slammed the various criminals into the ground using the Force.

It wasn't long before the battle ended. Helping her padawan up she helped him walk back to their shuttle. "So... a date?" said his master with an accusing look on her face.

Robert Turning slightly red upon hearing this, "what! I thought I was going to die!" he muttered, he noticed that Miranda seemed to have heard him as her body slightly shook, he also noticed that Miranda master was sending him death glares, with a (you should know better) look upon her face.

A few days later back at the temple Robert can be seen walking out of a room, he had just spent the last few days getting healed by the healers of the temple, they were very skilled in Force Heal and his wound had already closed and just needed a few more day before he would be back in top shape, he was sure that they actually could have healed him fully but he suspected that they wanted to him to practice his skills of suppressing pain and healing himself.

Walking down the hallway he ended up meeting up with Miranda, they greeted each other and started walking down the hallway together, Robert felt as if this was the most awkward walk in his life! not sure of what to do he started talking,

"you know back on the mission Miranda, you know I was just joking right?"

He noticed that after saying this that Miranda had a slight frown on her face for a brief second, OH! GOD! thought Robert! secretly screaming inside his head.

"Wait! that's not what I meant!" shouted Robert drawing a lot of confused stares from the people around him, he could only helplessly watch as Miranda walked away, he swore he could hear another "idiot!" from her as she walked away.

Not getting any help he decided to just go with the direct approach, he managed to find Miranda out on the temple grounds.

"Hey! Miranda!" said Robert walking up to her.

" I was wondering if you wanted to... perhaps... go out on a date with me? maybe we can go hang out in town... or perhaps we can go spar?" said Robert after finally building up the courage to ask her.

Miranda just looked at him for a few seconds before laughing a bit "really! a spar? soo romantic!" she teased. Grabbing his sleeve she pulled him out towards the city.

That night after returning back to the temple Robert made his way back to his room, upon arriving he noticed that his master was waiting for him.

"have fun did we?" said his master once she noticed him.

Robert having been caught knew that the next few days of training were going to be hell for him.

It's the year 41 BBY, now sixteen years old his master has started taking him out on more and more missions, if he didn't know better he could swear that she was purposely trying to keep him and Miranda away from each other, despite that, he still made sure to make time for her whenever he returned to the temple, he knows that his master is just trying to look out for him and that she doesn't want him to get into trouble, and that as a Jedi he is expected to act a certain way. He even once consulted with one of the leading members of the order, Grandmaster Yoda about his situations, he expected the master to scold him and forbid him from seeing her, but the old master was more understanding than he thought, he did warn him of the dangers of becoming too attached, and that many have fallen to the Darkside in the past after losing a loved one. This clearly wasn't the first time that he has had this conversation with a padawan.

Yoda suggested to the young Robert to go and explore the archives, to do research about the past of the Jedi Order, and he did. After sorting through many books and reading about the long history of the Order, he learned that the Jedi in the past did once allow their members to date and have families, but just as Yoda said, far too many had ended up falling to the Darkside, but he also learned that there had been many other great Jedi who had managed to become leaders of their time, despite the fact that they had families and had lost loved ones.