Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of the characters named herein, with the exception of Cassiopeia. I write these stories strictly for fun and entertainment, I make absolutely no money from them.
Background: This is an AU that takes place three years after AOTC. It is a sequel to my stories "Hero's Fall" which is an AU of TPM and "Firestorm" an AU of AOTC. But it IS NOT necessary to read those to follow the storyline here. Chapter 1: Exorcising DemonsObi Wan Kenobi entered the makeshift holding area in the temporary Jedi base on the remote planet of Bokabriz, beyond the outer limits. He discovered that a plexiglass partition had been erected from floor to ceiling, separating the room in two and he moved to stand in front of it. Cut into the partition was a secured door, and every two feet, there were small breathe holes cut into it. Behind the partition a number of cots had been set up. Obi Wan caught his breath when he saw the lone figure behind the partition.
'So the rumors are true,' he thought.
On one of the cots lay his beloved, his Cassiopeia. It had been three years since the battle of Geonosis and the beginning of the clone war, three years since he'd last seen her, three years since she'd left with her estranged husband, Count Dooku. All he could see was a bit of her face for she wore a black hooded cloak that she had wrapped tightly about her. She lay facing him although her eyes were closed in sleep and she was curled defensively into the fetal position. Obi Wan noted her position and hung his head in despair. Cassiopeia, his Cassi, had always been strong and seeing her now, lying like that, broke Obi Wan's heart in two.
'I'll never know the horrors that she's been through,' he thought as his eyes misted with tears. 'I'll never know the pain she has endured. All because I would not let go of my ego in time to stop her from leaving. Thirteen years ago on Naboo, after she helped me cope with the death of Qui Gon, I told her I'd always protect her and keep her safe. I failed her. I failed her just as I failed my Master Qui Gon and my Padawan Anakin. I failed her just as I've failed the Jedi Council. I've failed everyone that's ever put their trust in me.'
Obi Wan sank slowly to his knees in front of the partition. He leaned against it and allowed the impending tears to flow freely down his face. In the last three years he had not allowed himself to cry over her but now he could not stop the flood of tears at the sight of her. He cried soundlessly, not wanting to disturb her. But finally a sob broke through though he stifled it as best he could.
Cassiopeia stirred and slowly opened her eyes. She glanced up, saw a Jedi huddled against the partition and instantly recognized the bent head. She sighed inwardly. Cassi had been dreading this unavoidable confrontation for a long time. She swung her legs off the cot and stood up, clutching her cloak around her protectively. Stealthily she walked to the partition and stood before him, looking down upon his bent head. It took a few moments for Obi Wan to realize she was standing there. He glanced up, saw her, and scrambled to his feet.
Cassiopeia looked at him. He was even thinner than he had been three years ago when she'd last seen him and she'd thought he was too thin then. His prematurely gray bearded face was drawn and haggard with deep lines creasing his forehead. His blue eyes had lost a touch of their luster and they carried the eternal emptiness of someone who has borne insurmountable burdens in life. The two former lovers stood staring at each other for several moments. There was so much to say and yet words failed them.
"You'll never begin to know how sorry I am," Obi Wan said finally, his voice cracking. "That day on Geonosis, my ego kept me from telling you how I felt about you. When I was lying on the hangar floor, injured from the fight with Dooku, and you kissed me, that kiss brought everything back to me: our love, the commitment we'd made to each other so long ago, and the fact that we are soul mates. I was about to tell you how much I love you and that I was sorry for my boorish behavior when you left and went to Dooku's ship. I can never tell you how sorry I am. I should have told you. I should never have kept hurting you because of my anger," he paused, searching her face, reaching through the Force to ascertain her feelings, but there was nothing. "I want you to know that I searched for you for a year after you left with him. That was all the Council would allow me."
Cassiopeia said nothing. She stared at him with her piercing blue eyes and all Obi Wan saw was coldness in them; a coldness so foreign to her usually bright eyes and it saddened him. No emotions at all registered on her face, she simply stood there regarding him.
"I know that makes no difference now," he stammered on. "I just wanted you to know."
"I appreciate your efforts on my behalf Master Jedi," Cassiopeia said at last, her voice as cold and unemotional as her eyes.
Ever the diplomat, ever the 'Counselor', she was consoling him. He became furious with himself. He should be trying to make her feel better, not the other way around.
"Cassi," he said, pressing his palms on the partition, wishing he could touch her face, "I don't pretend to know what you've been through over the last three years, the trials you've had to endure being with Dooku, but I wish you'd talk to me about them. Remember the way we used to talk?" Obi Wan beseeched her quietly. "We told each other everything. Talk to me now, Cassi. Tell me what you've been through. It will ease your pain if you talk. Tell me. Please."
Throughout his pleading, Cassiopeia had just stared at him, still no emotion showing on her face.
"Tell you?" she asked simply, incredulously. "You want me to tell you? You really want to know what it was like, Master Jedi?" She sneered. "You want me to tell you what it's like to feel as if you've been backed into a corner by your friends and loved ones and that you're no longer wanted or needed? You want me to tell you what it's like to feel that your only choice is to reunite with someone you've despised for years because he's the only one who is accepting you? You want me to tell you what it's like to feel like a prisoner?"
'At last,' thought Obi Wan, 'she's talking.'
"Yes," he replied encouragingly, nodding his head.
"You want me to tell you what it's like to be forced into reprising the role of the dutiful wife to a man that I loathe?"
Obi Wan paused for just a moment, "Yes."
"You want me to tell you what it's like to have to kiss that man? To feel his tongue in my mouth?" Still no emotion from Cassiopeia.
Obi Wan hesitated and looked down at the floor. These were things he didn't want to think about and had repelled from his mind over the last three years. "Yes," he managed finally and looked back at her.
Cassiopeia moved close to the plexiglass and looked at his tear-stained face. "And you want me to tell you what it felt like when my skin crawled every time he touched me?" she asked him quietly, searching his eyes.
Obi Wan could not hold her gaze. He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. The thought of that monster, that traitor, that murderer with his hands on Cassiopeia pained him. He exhaled slowly. "Yes," he said in a hoarse whisper and opened his eyes.
Neither of them spoke then and the silence hung between them like a heavy fog.
"You're attempting to be brave, Master Jedi, and it's good of you but you really don't want to hear my ordeals, it would pain you too much," Cassiopeia said at last and turned to walk away.
Obi Wan pressed against the partition, wishing he could reach her, hold her, crush her close to him in a loving embrace. "Yes I do, Cassi. I apologize for my hesitation. I know I will have to deal with the unpleasant things you tell me in my own way on my own, but I am here for you. You need to talk it will help to begin to heal you. Get it out, Cassi, come on, exorcise your inner demons. I know you better than anyone else in the galaxy and I will help you through this difficult time, I will not leave your side."
Cassiopeia turned back to face him then and finally an emotion registered upon her face. "Maybe I'm beyond help," she challenged angrily. "That's what most of your Council thinks anyway. I could see it in their eyes when I was brought here originally. And I know I'll see it in their eyes again when I'm taken before them soon, despite the fact that I searched you out and came here of my own accord without the Galactic Empire's knowledge."
"I don't think that, Cassi, I don't think that you are beyond help," Obi Wan responded quietly. "I remember the woman I love. I want to help you become that woman again." Obi Wan wished she would remove her hood so he could see her entire face, for half of remained in shadow. But the cloak seemed to offer her security and he knew that was what she needed right now more than anything, to feel safe, to feel secure.
"I've changed too much, Master Jedi," she said softly, almost regretfully. "I'll never be able to be that woman again."
"Yes you will," he whispered.
Cassiopeia gave him a hard look then. "Do you think it's possible that a being could be completely surrounded by pure evil for three years and not have any of it rub off on them?" she questioned, sneering again.
"Yes it's possible," Obi Wan whispered, meeting her gaze.
Cassiopeia raised an eyebrow at what she perceived to be his naivete and slowly removed her hood and dropping her cloak to the floor. "Look at me and then tell me again that it's possible."
Obi Wan looked at her and gasped. He recognized her beautiful waist – length red curls, but that was about all. She had become extremely thin, almost sickly so; her ribs and shoulder bones jutted out. She wore a black mid-riff top with strings that tied behind her neck and around the middle of her back so that her shoulders, abdomen and back were showing. Her slim black skirt had a slit up the right side that ran all the way up to the middle of her leg and its hem brushed the ground. She wore black knee-high leather boots with a spiked heel. Her navel was pierced with a small gold loop and a thin gold chain ran from that loop around her back and fastened again to the other side of the navel ring. A gold and diamond headdress lay atop her head with diamond teardrops hanging from it that adorned her forehead. Her ears were also pierced with the same type of gold loop that was in her navel. Both ears were pierced from the lobes up and all the way around to the tops with those loops. But the thing that shocked Obi Wan the most was the tattoo. A thin black snake, it's head curled around her right ankle, it's body twisted up around her right leg and thigh, curved across her back diagonally, looped around her left shoulder, twisted down around her left arm and it's tail curled around the ring finger of her left hand, as if a makeshift wedding ring.
Cassiopeia watched Obi Wan as he took in all of her adornments. She saw shock register on his face first, then disbelief, then disgust, and finally anger. This was what she had expected. But suddenly, to her surprise, the Jedi turned and uncharacteristically rammed his fist into the wall next to the partition. Cassiopeia had never seen Obi Wan display such anger before, even three years ago when she'd first told him of her estranged marriage to Dooku. He struck the wall with such force that his hand went through it. When he pulled it out, his hand was torn and bleeding, beginning to bruise, and already swelling.
"Damn that sick, sadistic bastard," Obi Wan spit the words out. He turned and looked at her. "I swear to you, Cassi, if it's the last thing I do, I will kill Dooku for what he's done to you."
Again, Cassiopeia raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think this wasn't done voluntarily?"
"I know it wasn't," he said vehemently.
"And you're so sure of that, are you?"
Obi Wan came and stood close to the partition. He looked into her eyes. "I KNOW it wasn't," he repeated. "And yes, I still think it's possible for someone to be submerged into an environment of evil and not have any of it rub off on them. You are a good, decent being, Cassi, you always have been and you would never intentionally hurt a soul, including yourself."
Cassiopeia lowered her eyes and for an instant, Obi Wan sensed emotion welling up inside her. Then it was gone, locked back away where it couldn't get out, so that she was again invulnerable.
"Thank you for your kind words, Master Kenobi," she replied softly, finally caling him by his name as she looked back up at him. "But I'm afraid your Jedi Council won't see it that way. The Republic is in tatters, the Senators have all been murdered by the Sith, Dooku and the Empire, the Jedi on the run and are surely the Empire's next targets. The Jedi Council is rightfully angry and looking to lay blame and assign punishment. Because I am Dooku's wife, they will lay blame on me through association. And there's nothing you can do to stop them. You know it."
At that moment two guards entered the room before Obi Wan could protest. One looked to the wall with the hole in it, to Obi Wan, to Cassiopeia, and back to Obi Wan with a questioning look. Obi Wan hid his injured hand inside the long sleeve of his cloak. The guard shrugged when the Jedi did not say anything and the other turned to Obi Wan.
"The Council is ready, Master Kenobi. I've come for the prisoner."
Cassiopeia rolled her eyes at the word. The guard turned to her and raised his eyes in surprise at her appearance.
"You may want to put your cloak on," he said to her gruffly.
"No sir," Cassiopeia replied, holding her head high. "I have nothing to hide from them."
Both guards shrugged and moved to open the makeshift door of the partition and put on her shackles. Cassiopeia turned to look at Obi Wan and saw that he had already left the room.
'Never leave my side, huh?' She thought and reaffirmed her decision that she must face this inquiry alone.