Title: Embrace the Dark
Time: ROTS AU
Note: This was for the first challenge, in which we were encouraged to write about a first kiss, race, ect. This had started out as a look at the first time Beru held Luke… but it turned into this. Go figure.
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Before, he had never welcomed the Dark into his heart. In his youth, his anger had almost gotten him rejected by the Jedi so he took great pains to keep it in check. His many meditations with his beloved Master over the years gave him the ability to control his emotions so that the Dark was kept at bay.
Therefore the first time the Dark Side had touched him it was an unconscious act, for it was when he was overwrought with grief. The only parent he had ever known, had ever loved, was dying. He lost all control and allowed the Dark Side to flow through him when he heard that most cherished individual take in a wet, ragged breath that rattled in their chest. All he knew afterwards was that his emotions had empowered him and allowed him to avenge this most terrible of deaths.
His Masters, due to the turmoil of the time, overlooked this encounter with the Dark. He suspected that Yoda knew something; the little master had looked at him with sad eyes when they had next met, but it was never spoken of between them.
He flirted with the Dark Side over the course of the ensuing years. On Geonosis it lapped against his senses as he watched his fellow Jedi fall in the bloody sands of the arena. When his brother lay injured on the hanger floor, his emotions had surged forth, causing him to lose control. He wasn't able to gain control of his violent emotions until he was lying on the ground next to his brother, both of them broken and bleeding.
Dooku and Ventress knew best how to break through the calm façade he projected to bring his baser instincts to the surface. Each time the Team encountered the Separatist leaders, it took more and more control on his behalf, despite the calming presence of his brother, to keep his emotions in check. These, however, still remained mere brushes with that forbidden side of the Force, paling in comparison to that first experience.
When he was standing over Dooku, crossed blades at his neck, there was no Darkness in his heart. When he scissored the blades, he was not exacting revenge for the multitude of injuries dealt to him by this man, nor for those dealt to his brother or Padmé. As a Jedi it was his job to end the war, a war that had almost cost his brother his life on too many occasions. Taking out the enemy leader when the opportunity presented itself was nothing more than a strategic move on his part.
The Dark Side did not swell within him again until he rushed into Chancellor Palpatine's office and saw Mace Windu about to run the old man through with his lightsaber. Anger filled him instantly at the sight; Mace had said he was only going to arrest Palpatine, not murder him. He needed the Sith Lord alive so that he could learn how to save those he loved. Palpatine had promised him the knowledge that would save Padmé and his brother from the horrific deaths that filled his dreams each night.
He saw his brother fall beneath the blades of Grievous.
He saw Padmé in pain, crying out for those she loved.
Acting on instinct, he allowed the Dark to guide his actions and struck down Master Windu.
No, the first time he truly accepted the Dark Side was as he marched into the Jedi Temple. He consciously called upon all the anger and grief that he had once ignored and allowed it to feed into his Darkness. He allowed the Dark to reach into him, to burn away what little Jedi control he had left.
He gladly welcomed the Dark into his heart as he cut down the first Jedi that stood in his way.
Under the sable cowl of his cloak, a chilling smile spread across the face of Obi-Wan Kenobi. As long as it was within his power, death would not touch his brother nor his close friend.
This was the first time he embraced the Dark. Until Anakin and Padmé were safe, it would not be the last.