Series Title: The Conversation
Title: Part Five, C
Rated: G.
Disclaimer: I do not own these guys. They are all GL's.
Summary: Anakin Skywalker cuts through the red tape holding him back and heads for the Republic. And the Galaxy reels under the influence of a very powerful, very potent, very real Sith Force Spirit.
Reminder THIS IS A SLASH STORY. Don't like it, don't read it. No one's forcing you to, you know.
***
Anakin opened his eyes, meeting the furious red gold of his grandfather's. As much as it pained him, he was beginning to get used to that pissed off, Sithly look he wore almost all the time now. The more time Obi-Wan was away from him, that not a trace of his presence was found within the Force, the more Anakin feared what was going to ensue for his grandfather was definitely showing more and more signs of Darth Vader.
Breathing in the very currents about the man, he could feel these dark changes that were occurring in the Force. Something was going to transpire and it was all going to be his grandfather's doing. Shadows were rising, swirling about them, unchecked and untamed.
He feared that his grandfather was going to resurrect Sith spirits on a grander scale than even the Sith themselves could have predicted.
"Well?" he growled.
Meeting that gaze head on, Anakin shrugged. "Mom just woke up, she'll talk to Jacen. When they find him," he muttered under his breath.
"What did you say?"
Anakin blinked, shocked. No matter how quietly he spoke, his words had been heard. Heard, even if the meaning behind them was not understood. His grandfather was relentless in his pursuit and the boy was beginning to see just why he'd been so feared in life.
Like the true warrior he was, he analyzed everything - and pounced on any flaw he found in his opponent. Pounced upon that flaw with an unremitting, driving force that would not be denied or hidden. "Jacen seems to be…missing," he reluctantly replied.
"Missing? Missing how?" he insistently pressed him. "How does one lose a Force sensitive in the Force? Especially one who is attached to the son of Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker? No offense to your father but his lack of high Force sensitivity makes you the lesser of my grandkids when it comes to the Force. Ben Skywalker is a young boy who could have been a rival to me at that age, though most of his strength comes from his greater control."
"I...I don't know. Vergere learned how to do it," he stopped, surprised by his grandfather's deadly white face at the mention of the Fosh, "What is it?" The question came even though he was sure that he did not want to know the answer to his question.
"Vergere," the very way he said it - layered so deeply with revulsion and hatred - caused his grandson to shiver and step back. He did not care to comfort the boy. That name brought back memories of his time under Sidious - unpleasant ones. "She laid a hand on your brother? Was close enough to him that he may have learned things from her?"
"Yes. It was because of her that Jacen survived his Yuuzhon Vong captivity."
"And I suppose none of you thought that perhaps her time in their captivity could've changed her in some manner?" he sneeringly questioned. Vergere - the Jedi Knight who had left with the mysterious invaders of Zenoma Sekot and then contacted Sidious years later under less than pleasant circumstances. Oh, yes. He was beginning to see the influence of his former dark Master in this. It reeked of the man's infamous back up schemes if any of his other plans failed.
Anakin Skywalker did not like where his thoughts lead him.
"Don't blame me for this. It's not like we ever had experience with hidden Dark Force users before. We have never faced a true Sith before. All we've ever really had to deal with are possessed Jedi who find their way back. And knowing more about the ways of the Force than we do didn't help you any did it? You still believed Sidious over what you actually knew to be truth." Anakin fired back, glaring at his grandfather. He was not going to be bullied about this, like their not knowing about Vergere was his fault.
He just wasn't.
"One would've thought that my own folly would've taught you something," he acidly retorted, not impressed at all.
"Right," the young man drawled, almost insolently, "Because we have so much knowledge of what really happened to the Old Republic at our fingertips. The only story we have is Ben's - and in that, he blames himself for your fall and the destruction of the Jedi Order utterly. Are you saying that it really is his fault?"
"In my arrogance and pride, I believed that it was his fault. I blamed him for years for what happened to me. But I know better now. I know for a fact that I am at fault. I, and I alone, made the choice to follow Sidious. I allowed his lies and friendship to blind me into thinking that I had no other choice. That in order to save the ones I loved, I must become his apprentice. I would have to become a Sith. Blast the man for his stubborn obstinacy. If I didn't love him so much, I'd smack him for circulating such a horrendously self defeating lie around."
"What are you going to do?" Anakin asked, very aware of the strange glow in his grandfather's eyes. It was different from the look of the Sithly eyes he'd been seeing so often lately. The look did not sit well with him for it reminded him of his mother's and how she'd get deadly quiet and focused on something before all hell broke loose.
"First, I am going to see Luke and rectify the mistaken belief that it was Obi-Wan's fault that I fell. I am not denying that he played an important role in why I fell - and that he could have saved me," he started to explain.
"Why didn't he?" he asked, intrigued. Now that they had been spoken, the young boy found himself puzzled over the reasons for Obi-Wan's inability to help his best friend - even though he loved him.
"Because he didn't know how to," he replied simply, having finally come to understand that truth after years of struggling with the question. "While you may consciously understand how and what the Jedi of the Old Republic were taught because of the information Luke found, you do not know how they truly lived. You do not know of the doctrine that dominated their lives - other than that Sith begotten Code which should've been thrown out and forgotten for it only ever caused pain and shame within the Order for no one could truly abide by its demeaning and exacting principles of repression and imbalance - not even Master Yoda."
"Then why have it?"
Anakin closed his eyes in thought, a soft smile crossing his lips. His grandson's question reminded him of all the times he'd asked Obi-Wan the same thing. The remembrance of the flush on his Master's face brought peace to him. "Oh, how did Obi-Wan teach it to me when I asked him the same question? He said…what was it? Something about how the Code was created as a standard for the Jedi to live by.
"It is a guide on how to know whether we are listening to the light side of the Force as opposed to the Dark Side. If we are in the light, we should feel peace, serenity. We should be able to understand the hidden mysteries for they would be clear to our perception - and accept death's place in life's never ending cycle. On the other hand, if we feel passion that overrides us, emotion that blinds us, cannot let go of our fear, or find the path to understanding blocked, then we are not where we should be. We have yielded to the Dark Side."
"That makes no sense whatsoever," Anakin flatly commented, looking at his grandfather, subtly challenging his words. It wasn't that he wanted to pick a fight with him but the young man just could not figure out just why - and how - such a Code came to be. "How can anyone believe in such a…such a dichotomized Code? It's demoralizing and damaging to a person. It divorces a being from its own self by setting it at war against their own nature. No one could possibly live up to such a standard."
"When one has been taught this Code every day of their life, it is not so hard to believe."
"It's the dumbest thing I ever heard," he insisted. The stubborn pride of his parents flared to life and he clung tenaciously to his opinion for he was right in this matter. He knew he was.
"I agree with you. But there is some…"
Anakin? Beloved?
Master? Obi-Wan. How are you? Where are you? The relief was palpable in his voice as he responded to the mental cry, wishing nothing more than to be near him. I miss you so much.
I…I don't know, beloved. But I know that I do not have much time. Please, be careful - and more mindful of your feelings. There is something that you do not know about Jacen. He…he isn't right in his mind. I…I don't know when I'll be able to…
Master?!?! Don't go. Please, don't leave me again!
Silence was his only reply.
Anakin disappeared, leaving his grandson standing in the shadows that deepened the Force's once bright hues.
Leia jumped, startled. "Father," she greeted him, quaking only slightly at the murderous look on his face.
"Where is he?" he demanded, not bothering to reply to her greeting.
"We don't know," she answered, knowing without question who he referred to.
"Don't know? Or won't tell?"
Her brown eyes narrowed, flashing angrily. It was a look eerily reminiscent of his own. "Don't take that tone of voice with me, I will not have it - biological father of mine or not. You cannot come into my home and accuse me of hiding Jacen from you as though I were a willing accomplice in his crimes. I would never hide him from you or anyone - especially since he seems hell bent on following you down the dark road of destruction - I brought him into this world and I will take him out if he thinks that I will allow him to destroy all that we have worked and sacrificed to rebuild and restore. So don't you dare accuse me of being culpable in his crime."
Anakin would not apologize, though he knew he probably should. After all he did to try to gain a relationship with his daughter, he should not slight her now.
He just couldn't bring himself to care at the moment. All he wanted was for Obi-Wan to safe - in his arms once again. He'd repair the damgae to their relationship later. "Fine, you don't know. I believe that. Do you know where he might be?"
"Father?" Luke asked, stunned to see them. His blue eyes were wide as he stood in the doorway, pale and shaken. Having felt Leia's unease, he had come as quickly as he could, thinking that she was in some danger that he could not feel. As the invasion had brought about some weapons that could blind sight a Jedi. It was not impossible, one only had to think of Yuuzhon Vong to find proof that they weren't infallible. "I thought…"
"Not now, Luke. That idiot grandson of mine has taken Obi-Wan from me and I want him back. Now!"
"It's no use looking for him in the Force any longer. I can't find him - even using our twin bond. It's like he's…gone from us." Jaina said. She slumped wearily against her father's shoulder as the two walked in behind Luke.
She looked pale and worn out to Anakin's eyes when he took a moment to study her. It was almost as if…as if she was being drained of her energy. Drained…again, there was that reminder of the Emperor and his wily ways.
Gritting his teeth together for he did not want to finish that thought, Anakin barely managed to stop himself from lambasting them all for this stupidity. If his thoughts - blast them - were correct, they were not in possession of the actual facts on how to fight and find this threat. It still took all his control to ask calmly - for him anyway. "Has he ever done anything like this before?"
"No," Ben quietly said, flinching when his grandfather whirled about to stare at him. Those eyes were almost inhuman in grief and anger. He had been sitting in a chair, forgotten in all of the commotion. Though he quailed under the look, he knew that he had to speak up. He was the only one who had spent any time with Jacen after he'd become…erratic for want of a word. "In all the time I've spent with him as apprentice, he's never done anything like this before. All of his behavior has been proper, as a Jedi should be. The only time I can think of when we couldn't find him was when he was captive."
"Who do I have to talk to in order to find out what happened to him there?" he demanded, tiring quickly of this runaround. This was why he always left these matters to Obi-Wan. He had more patience to deal with a seemingly eternal evasion to simple questions. All he wanted were streaight forward answers - why did they not understand that?
"No one," Luke replied, shaking himself sternly. This was not the time for him to give in to the urge to hide away from what he did not want to know. Right now, his father needed him. Ben needed him. And, quite possibly, the entire Galaxy would need him to do what others would not believe was possible - return Anakin to himself.
But as he stared at his father, answering as quietly and firmly as he could, he wondered if that was possible any longer. There was a sense that his father was slipping firmly away from them - and not even he could stop it. He wondered if anyone could. "Anyone who would know is either dead - or does not remember."
"What about Tahiri?" Ben suggested. "She was shaped - or changed if you will - with a Vong personality. She might know something about what happened to him."
"And she's where?" Anakin demanded to know. It was not a question, they all knew this. He had stopped asking questions long ago.
"Zenoma Sekot," Luke answered for his son. "But you can't just suddenly appear and demand answers from her, father. It just isn't done."
"When Obi-Wan's in danger, I make my own rules." His smile - if one could call it that - was rather animalistic and full of intent.
Han nearly laughed but held his tongue at a warning look from Leia. Though he was all for letting Luke know the truth, she was quite firm in her belief that learning about his father was something that Luke had to discover for himself.
And while she knew that he had some recollection of just who and what Kenobi and Skywalker meant, she did not know just how much he remembered. It had been a long time in coming, this calling up of memories he'd thought long gone. But the memories he'd suppressed from his earlier years had only been waiting patiently. Somehow, he'd never really given up on his faith in heroes. A faith justified by Luke, he now felt.
Of course, it helped that he could see Anakin as he once was. Seeing him now, he knew who he was. And the words he spoke were blatantly hilarious.
Making his own rules…that was putting it mildly. The smuggler could recall hundreds of times when the infamous Anakin Skywalker had blown off a system because his Master had been in trouble on the other side of the Galaxy.
Yes, they had always returned and managed to save that system, but still…it was his personal opinion that that was precisely why the Jedi Council had made them partners and rarely - if ever - split them up.
It saved them time and kept the press good when they didn't have a Jedi blowing off innocent lives to save one man.
Not that the press ever had anything bad to say about Skywalker and Kenobi, he cynically thought. The two Jedi Knights had been the darlings of the holo-net and the Republic. It helped that they could back up their claims to greatness but still…the adoration was rather disgusting.
Though his own brush with fame left him empathetic (however unwillingly) with their own plight.
