Chapter 9
Obi-Wan Kenobi storms into the council chamber closely followed by his current partner Qui-Gon and his two Padawans, Mace raises an eyebrow at his entrance.
"Something the matter Little Obi?" He asks his nephew who takes a calming breath when Qui puts a hand on his shoulder.
"We ran into Darth Maul on Tatooine." Dooku tries to get eye contact with his partner but Quin resolutely looks at Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan who is speaking in sign as well for Quinlan.
"What the devil were you doing on Tatooine? You were meant to be on Naboo." Mace tells them, Obi-Wan takes another calming breath in an attempt to re-centre himself.
"Yes, I realise that Uncle, but as per usual, the mission did not go as planned. Only now do I remember this happened in the other timeline as well. How I forgot I've no idea, more troubling is my inability to remember what comes next, only that it is not good."
"How could you possibly not remember?" Xanatos asks. It has been three months since Arl's pyre, in that time Xanatos not only became a Custos but also joined the Shadow ranks. While it was true that he would not be able to hunt down any rogue force-users, he had been put in charge of teaching the Shadows heavy mental shielding to prevent any dark users from controlling their minds. Wrath had tried to take control of Xan's mind three times since Arl's death and failed each time. Xan was now the Custos Shadow on the council, Quinlan had tried very hard to be what he felt he had to, but in the end realised he was not doing it for him but for Arlie. As such he re-joined the Jedi ranks and took Junahl's place as Jedi Shadow. She now watches over everyone from a neutral stand point well away from the council itself. Tholme had joined the Custos ranks as well as the council, though not without much badgering on the latter. As it stood for the Jedi, there was Yoda, Mace, and Plo. For the Sith there was Tyranus, Anarch, and Schlau. Obi-Wan gladly giving up his position to a true Sith when it was decided Garen was ready, though Obi still taught the Sith training classes. For Custos there was Tholme, Micah, and Tahl. For Shadows there was Quinlan as the Jedi representative, Xanatos as the Custos, and Siri Tachi as the Sith. The council of the Order Of The Force was finally, truly complete.
"I do not know Xanny, if I did I would not have said 'How I forgot I've no idea'."
"Okay, I'm just going to go ahead and step in here." Qui says stepping up beside Obi-Wan who then pulls back slightly to join his Padawans. "Negotiations with the trade federation did not happen on account of them trying to kill us. We escaped to Naboo, saved the Queen, our ship was failing and we landed on Tatooine to find replacement parts. Ended up stopping by Ani's old owner and getting a good deal on new parts in exchange for Anakin repairing a few things in his shop. Then we were nearly back to the ship when Maul showed up and attacked."
"Are you two incapable of having a mission go according to plan? Or anything really?" Garen asks, Obi-Wan glares at his friend. "All right, so you're having memory problems, Darth Maul is trying to kill you, and Naboo is still under trade federation blockade?"
"Yes, Queen Amidala is hoping to gain help from the senate and has called an emergency session." He tells them with a bitter smile, "I think we all know how that will go."
"Yes, unfortunately now, our priority is Maul. Why now? The Dark Sith have been hiding for a year, not heard from at all in a month. Suddenly Wrath's Apprentice shows up? What's changed?" Garen questions, Mic and Qui-Gon share a proud look.
"I think the better question is why did they go into hiding at all?" Asajj says through her training bonds, Mace sends a query back, "Sorry, I did not mean to send that down the bond." She replies.
"Bonds dear, now what do you mean?" Mic says with a fond smile.
"Just that, well Darth Wrath found the force's vulnerability a year ago, or it found him. Either way he has it, he could be messing with so much but instead he's biding his time? It just doesn't make sense. Unless the force and her weakness have something to do with why Master Obi can't remember? I do not know Masters, but something about this doesn't sit right." Asajj tells her Masters, given that she was renowned for her natural ability to hear the force and hints of prescience were coming through in the girl, both Masters took her words very seriously.
In truth, no one had thought much about Arl's warning of Wrath and the force's weakness and the threat of non-existence since the order of the force was properly established. The job of dealing with Dark Sith had been returned to the Shadows and everyone else had gone back to dealing with the order itself, obviously that had been a naïve mistake.
"My Padawan has raised a good point." Mace addresses to room, Mic looks at him unhappily, Mace rolls his eyes. "Our padawan, anyway. Could Darth Wrath having the force's weakness be related to Obi's inability to remember?"
"To answer that we'd need to know what that weakness is. And if so, why wait until now to use it?" Aayla translates for Quin, everyone was a little sick of her having to do so though she did not mind too much. The council were all learning sign but unfortunately for some it just could not yet be a priority. Aayla and Quin signed between themselves for a minute, the others waiting to find out if it had to do with them. While many could understand the language, there was the possibility of it being a personal conversation so they did not look. "Fine." She suddenly says to her Master who grins victoriously.
"Padawan Secura?" Mace asks, she smiles sheepishly.
"I just was thinking that, Master Aa said the weakness had found him and that he would use it to unravel everything. That he would not that he was. Found him not he found it. It's a possibility that he had no idea what it was until recently or at the very least did not know how he could exploit it for his purposes." She tells them, they all agree, Asajj frowns. It made sense yet something seemed off about it to the girl.
(I wish you were here Arlie.) She thinks to herself, it was one of the few times she'd allowed herself to feel this way.
"Perhaps it's that he has only just found it? I mean having found something sometimes just constitutes knowing the location. Perhaps that knowledge did not go both ways." Xan suggests absent-mindedly signing for Quin, he always appreciated knowing what someone was saying from them instead of through Aayla. Though he was eternally grateful for everything the girl does for him.
"Either way, if he's only just found it or learnt to use it, we could be in for a lot worse than Little Obi losing some memories." Tahl tells them.
"What if it's a person?" Siri asks, everyone looks confused at her, "Well we know the force is, or at least we suspect it to be so. People tend to have other people as their greatest weaknesses, maybe that's the only one that transcends becoming the force?"
"The force is thousands of years old, if that were the case, that weakness would be long dead." Mace tells her.
"To be fair, so should the creator yet supposedly she is still alive." Dooku tells them.
"Yes, but supposedly the creator is the force. The force cannot die." Qui-Gon says.
"Evidently it can since that is the very nature of the threat we are dealing with." Plo adds.
"Master Yoda you said she is human, humans tend to be relatively easy to kill." Owen reminds them all, everyone looks quite uneasy.
"Human she is but said I did that die long ago she should have. Easy to kill my Master is not. Failed at it old age has, succeed who knows what could."
"Arl once said that there needed to be a subsect of the Custos, trained to use force-magic that would be there to protect the force itself. Clearly, she either thought we would find the weakness or she already knew what it is. At the very least she believed this sect would be able to protect it." Aayla says for Quin.
"Wouldn't it be easier just to deal with Wrath? Then the force's weakness is lost in time again." Anakin says but his Master shakes his head.
"He could have told someone, he could have fail safes, it was discovered before it could be again, and like it or not, understand it or not, it is our duty to protect it."
"Well then what do you suggest?" Tholme asks sounding frustrated.
"I suggest when…Queen Amidala requests that the Jedi help her free her people, we do as we did before. Send Qui-Gon, Anakin and I, with Owen this time of course. Instead of killing Maul we'll capture him and question him." Obi replies without hesitation, Quin starts signing something but Obi sees the direction it's going and interrupts before Aayla even begins speaking.
[I don't like the idea of bringing…] Quin begins.
"[Anakin will be needed if we are to succeed, Owen won't let us go without him especially if we are bringing Ani.]" Obi-Wan says and signs in response, Quin looks over at Owen who stands strongly and holds himself as a proper Jedi, Quinlan rolls his eyes but concedes the point.
"Why will Anakin be needed?" Mace asks in confusion.
"I have no kriffing idea." He replies calmly. "Very fuzzy and incomplete memories."
"You need his piloting skills to take out the droid control ship." Garen tells them, everyone looks at him in surprise. "Arl told me all about Naboo after she woke me up by igniting her lightsaber in the dark after a nightmare. I have to say, I am…concerned about this plan. You and Qui-Gon faced off against this Sith in this situation before and it did not end well."
"What happened? I know it was bad but what?" Obi asks desperately, it was weird since they all knew he and Arl had spoken with each other about Naboo before and he knows too that he once remembered, it was extremely frustrating not remembering and not knowing why.
"He killed Anarch. Of course, at the time you did not know Anarch was a Sith so perhaps he was holding back."
"And I am a much better fighter than the last time I was this age."
"I cannot understand why we got involved last time, we are not warriors why did we help her wage a war?" Plo asks sounding confused.
"Um…I do not remember but I'm assuming Uncle Mace pushed for it in some way."
"Regardless, peacekeepers we are, fight a war the Jedi cannot." Yoda tells them honestly.
"Things are hardly peaceful right now, and they are asking for help. Or will anyway, how can we turn our backs on that?" Mace poses the question to everyone but looks specifically at Yoda who subjects him to a suspicious look.
"Well hidden it is but frantically desperate to help them you are." He says eventually, all heads in the room turn to look at him, Obi's with an amused smile.
"I am not frantic, I merely believe it to be our duty." He replies calmly, Garen reaches over to the seat beside him and pokes Mace in the cheek, "Will you take your job seriously Garen?!" Mace snaps before wincing, "Sorry."
"That answers that question, why are you freaking?" Micah asks.
"And how did you get away with it last time?" Obi asks looking impressed, Mace levels a glare at his nephew.
"Queen Amidala is my niece and I've spent a lot of time with family on Naboo, it's…home." He eventually says when no one will let it go, Qui's eyes widen.
"Obi-Wan, she's your sister? Is that why you went a little vicious destroying those droids?"
"Possibly." He replies, Qui-Gon sighs.
"Ha, you were flirting with Obi's sister." Owen says to Anakin while laughing.
"I was not!" he squeaks.
"'Are you an angel?'" Owen quotes.
"It was a serious question! She looks like one!"
"You are not helping yourself kid." Garen tells Anakin who pouts.
"You should have seen him the next time She and Ani met in the other timeline and kriff tenses suck in these circumstances!"
"I don't think they were created with these circumstances in mind." Siri tells him.
"Got to ask now though, what was it like?" Xan asks Obi-Wan with a wide amused smile, Anakin glares at him.
"Desperate, intense, and unsubtle. To be fair though he was twenty."
"We won't see her again for ten years?" Anakin asks sounding sad, Owen wraps an arm around him.
"Just think little brother, by then, you might have a chance." Ani elbows his brother in the stomach. "I deserved that."
"Yep." Mic adds.
"We have digressed so far I cannot remember the original topic." Tahl complains.
"Sending Lord Anarch, Master Kenobi, Padawan Skywalker, and Padawan Lars to Naboo with Queen Amidala when she requests it should she fail with the senate in the hope that they can capture Darth Maul and question him to get the answers we need about Darth Wrath's plans and location." Asajj tells her, everyone looks a tad surprised, "I can keep up!" She says defensively. Asajj knew she had a habit of zoning out mid conversation and often missed a lot of what was said in everyday life but was capable of paying attention! Not that she ever meant to daydream, it was unbecoming of a Jedi, but her point stands, she succeeded now and she can when she tries and she's missed half of what's followed her comment because she's zoned out again. (Oh come on!) She complains to herself. That's when she feels it, something in the force, something was going to happen, something big.
"I move that they be allowed to go." Tahl tells them, "On account of it being the right bloody thing to do." All vote in favour.
"So Padawan." Dooku says catching Xanatos as he wheels down the hall after the meeting adjourns.
"Yes Master?" He asks looking up at the man briefly before looking back to where he was going.
"I could not help but notice you avoiding looking at Anarch." He says carefully, Xan takes a deep breath, the conversation was always going to happen eventually. He really couldn't believe it waited a year since that moment in the healer's wing after he first woke up from being stabbed.
"We are, not in the best place of our relationship at the moment. Nor are we in our worst mind." Xanatos tells him, he nods.
"Is there anything you would like to talk about?" Xan spared the other man a confused glance out of the corner of his eye before once again turning his attention forward.
"It is very unlike you to get involved in other people's affairs Ty."
"Well, when those affairs are making everyone uneasy I believe it warrants interference."
"I am just unsure what is or is not happening between Qui and Little Obi."
"Should that not be something you asked a year ago?"
"Quite probably but Obi-Wan has been avoiding a conversation that entire time despite me bringing it up several times."
"Yet you have not actually stopped and demanded one." Xanatos stops wheeling and turns his chair sharply to face the other man.
"Is there something you want to say to me Dooku?" He asks confrontationally.
"I merely wished to voice my concern for all three of you, this will not end well Xan. I do not want the fall out of this to hurt the people around you more than it does you three."
"What the devil are you talking about?" Xan snaps angrily.
"Clee, Anakin, Owen, Karrya. The people already being affected by this situation and will have to clean up whatever fall out there is. Not to mention the resulting damage of your own relationship with your other former Master, damage that has already begun to take root. Do not do anything you cannot take back unless you are sure of where such an action will take you. Or it will not just be you who suffers." Dooku tells him before walking off and leaving Xanatos lost and confused in a hallway as people walk past ignoring him.
Mic sits in the near empty council chamber after the meeting split up, as Siri is about to leave, she turns and sees he has remained seated.
"Mic?" She asks, he continues looking blankly at the ground, makes a noncommittal hum that ignites her curiosity, "C'mon don't leave me hanging Miccy." He glares at her, Asajj was the only one who could get away with that name.
"The first time we spoke to Sohn he told us that Wrath had found the force's weakness and was using it, that if we didn't stop him by Arl's twentieth birthday, we're all dead." She looks at him surprised, he smiles, "I forgot you weren't around for that."
"I often forget there were many years of this group being together before I rather unfortunately battled my way into it." She replies with an amused smile, "So what do you think the weakness is? Or how is he using it? Why go into hiding, and why until Arl's twentieth? That would be six years from now." He nods thoughtfully.
"I thought at the time it meant it wasn't done yet."
"And now?" He sighs and walks over to the window, looking out over Coruscant.
"Now, I think there is something on Naboo that he needs, I think this weakness is incomplete, he's been building it this past year, but he's missing something." She nods slowly.
"It makes sense I suppose, but why another six years?" He shakes his head.
"Sohn never said anything about years, he said Arl's twentieth." She frowns.
"But that was nearly forty years ago." She comments, he turns around.
"Yes, yes it was."
"You think we are already too late?" He shakes his head as he begins to walk towards the door.
"Time does not exist Siri, we cannot run out of it." She looks at him in confusion.
"So what then?" He turns back to her from the door.
"There were things before the force Siri, there will be things after. It may not be us, or what we perceive as existence or reality, but there will be something. Therefore our worry should not be on the force's survival, it is our own we must focus on."
"What does that mean?" He grins at her, an amused twinkle in his eye.
"I haven't the faintest idea." She looks at him gobsmacked, his grin grows, "Isn't that exciting?" He asks before leaving the room.
"…*sighs*." Siri walks over to the window Mic had been standing at. "What could possibly be a threat to the force?"
"All right, Anakin, you go up with the pilots, Owen stay with the Queen, keep her safe. We'll deal with this." Obi dictates when Qui and he stand before Maul once more, they all move to follow his directions. The minute they leave however, the man standing before them changes, their view of Maul dropping away and being replaced with the body of Sheev Palpatine, a body they knew was being controlled by Darth Wrath himself. Both Jedi Masters realised this was the work of an adept force illusionist, something they did not know Darth Wrath was.
The two look at each other, both knew they may not win this battle, that this was not who they trained for. But they also knew they could not back out now, either they would win this fight….or they would die, there was no other option.
"You are not the Sith we were looking for." Obi-Wan tells him, then wonders why that sentence seems vaguely familiar…oh well, he'll deal with that later.
"Oh, don't be so put out, just think of this as a nice little family reunion my dear Grandson." Wrath says to him. Says to him, in his father's voice, Obi lunges and so the battle begins.
"Family reunion? You mean the family you took AWAY FROM ME?! YOU KILLED MY MOTHER, YOU KILLED MY SISTER! YOU MADE ME HATE MY OWN FATHER, YOU TOOK MY BROTHER FROM ME! MY SISTER, MY ENTIRE CHILDHOOD! YOU.RUINED. EVERYTHING!" He yells as they fight, Wrath's smirk only grows before Qui-Gon joins the fight and his focus is divided.
As the fight wore on, Obi-Wan found himself remembering it and events that came before, the things he had forgotten. Wrath was a much better fighter than his Apprentice, but they had been trained by Arlie after all and as such, they kept up relatively well. Especially working together, then he pulled a dirty trick that Obi would later wish to murder himself for falling for it.
"Obi?" Wrath says in a small voice as he widens his eyes, feigning panic. For a single moment, Obi faltered, worried his father was back in control and realising that even if not, he would kill him as well in killing Wrath. As a result, he got tossed off of a catwalk, and seriously why is there always catwalks? He gets up and runs after the fight, only succeeding in getting blocked by a shield, his eyes widen. He knew this part, he knew it, he knew it, why can't he remember? Then it comes down and he gets blocked by another shield, the last one. He sees Darth Wrath nearly slip, but the dark side is not such an asset against someone else who also uses it. It occurs to Obi-Wan that they should be arresting him and killing him would actually be murder, then Obi-Wan watched his once lover being stabbed and suddenly prison seemed a minor inconvenience in the face of his immediate need for this fight to be over.
"NO!" He screams before using force-lightning to force Wrath down the melting pit he now remembered clearly. The shield comes down and he runs over to Qui-Gon.
"Qui no! Please, please don't go, not again." He pleads as he holds the man and sobs.
"Obi, I-I'm sorry. About how I treated you, abou-about everything."
"No Qui, I am, I'm sorry about Xanatos I'm sorry about everything. I love you, I always have and I cannot lose you. Not again, dammit PLEASE!" Qui's eyes slowly close and his body goes lax. "NOOOO! No No No No No." Obi chants as he sobs over the lifeless body. Then he feels a hand on his shoulder, he looks up and for a moment thinks he must have died as well. A white light begins to envelope the room and the hand lowers itself to Qui-Gon's injury and…heals it? Yes, heals it, because now Qui is breathing. Then he lurches forward.
"Obi!" He calls immediately.
"I'm here love, gods I'm here." He says holding him close, he hears a horrible noise and looks over to the melting pit.
A dark red, black, and purple smoke column rises up before spreading into the shape of a horizontal disc well above their heads, this he realises, is Darth Wrath.
Obi panics, he can admit that, he knew he could not destroy his grandfather, nor did he have the tools needed to capture him (Whatever those tools even are) he thinks huffily. Then the same white light fills the room again as it seems to pull and tear and hack away at the darkness above him before eventually it dissolves the presence. As the last remnants of Darth Wrath sizzle from existence above him, he looks up to the figure whose white light was fading quickly leaving only the hand's owner standing before him. "You once told me anything was possible, I really didn't expect you to be this right." Obi tells the figure with disbelief and wonderment in his voice as he continues holding Qui-Gon close to him and crying softly.
"So, Wrath is dead?" Mic asks oddly apprehensive about the thought.
"Very much so." Obi-Wan responds with a calm and patient smile as the council exchange bewildered looks, "Is something the matter Masters? I would have thought this worthy of a significantly more positive reaction."
"Yes, no, of course, it's just…well it's all rather anti-climactic." Mace admits slowly, Obi-Wan smiles amusedly, "I just mean, we've spent all this time making plans and such big changes to bring him down, literally years of our lives, and now he's just…gone?"
"I have spent over fifty years fighting this man, believe me when I tell you, his death does not mean this battle is over."
"What exactly happened?" Xanatos asks, Qui-Gon looks at his life-partner curiously, wanting the explanation as well.
"Qui and I were ready to fight Maul, only as it turns out, it was Wrath disguising himself as Darth Maul."
"And?" Tahl asks, prompting him to continue when he stalls out, Obi flinches.
"And we were woefully unprepared to deal with him. I was unprepared, I fell for a stupid ruse and consequently was separated from the fight."
"Any one in your position would have done the same love, don't blame yourself."
"I WATCHED YOU DIE QUI! AGAIN." Obi suddenly shouts at him, "I should have remembered, I should have stopped it, I should have stopped him." He continues, earning several bewildered looks as he does, including from Qui-Gon.
"I thought that was a hallucination and that you had somehow healed me." Anarch admits sheepishly, Obi shook his head.
"No, in fact, if not for a friend in high places, you'd be dead still." Obi says, his eyes filling with tears, Anarch moves to hold his lover close. Obi-Wan buries his head in his mate's chest, accepting the comfort and seizing the opportunity to feel his heart beat and reassure himself that his love was alive.
"What the devil are you talking about Little Obi?" Mace demands, Obi-Wan sniffles before pulling himself together, but before he has a chance to speak, a white light fills the room.
"He's talking about me." A voice says as a body comes into view, Mace's eyes widen as recognition dawns on him and him alone.
"Arlie?" He asks, voice filled with disbelief, she smiles kindly.
"Hello Master."
