When Obi-Wan enters the bunk room to inform Ida that they had finally returned to Coruscant, he finds her to still be asleep, but with Bekah glaring up at the ceiling in boredom. "Now what did that poor ceiling ever do to you?" he asks jokingly.
Her gaze loses the angry spark as she turns her gaze upon him, and she drones in a dull voice, "It's there, and I'm bored."
"Well, at least you're showing some improvement," he murmurs as he steps over to Ida's bunk, reaching out to shake her shoulder gently. "How do you feel?"
She hums quietly for a moment. "A bit sore, and I've got this ringing in my ears that won't go away, and I feel kinda… heavy, like something heavy's holding me down." She looks up at him as Ida yawns and he steps away from her. "Is that normal after being electrocuted?"
He shrugs helplessly. "I honestly don't know. But Master Qui-Gon would like for you to join us in going straight to the Temple so that our healers can take care of you." He hesitates before giving in to her curious gaze. "Also, the Council may have an interest in speaking with both of you and Vader."
Ida perks up at the idea. "Do you think they might let me join the Order?" she asks hopefully.
"Ida, seriously?" Bekah asks in exasperation.
"What?" she asks defensively as she sits up. "I'd rather be a Jedi and be happy than a Sith and spread misery."
Her friend sighs and looks up to the Padawan, whose gaze seems to be more gentle than she might have thought. "What's going on?"
With an amused smirk, her finally broaches the subject he came to discuss originally. "We are getting ready to land on Coruscant, we should be ready to disembark within the next few minutes." Almost as if on cue, the ship jerks slightly, then settles as the whining of the engines dies into silence. "Well, maybe I was a little off." He offers each of the girls an arm as they sit up. "Would you like to join me, ladies?"
The girls share a smirk, and gently take their offered arm. "Charmer," the elder of the two laughs.
He smiles smugly to himself and leads them out of the bunkroom, only to have Ida jump from his arm into those of her father, still hooded in his black cloak. "Hi Dad," she chirps.
The tall man chuckles and pulls her close. "Hello, Ida," he greets her in return. "Did you sleep well?"
"No nightmares, if that's what you mean," she drawls as she rolls her eyes. "Then again, he doesn't have any more influence over me."
Anakin and Shmi smile at the joy between the father and daughter, not having realized that it is Anakin's future self and his almost sixteen-year-old daughter. "Well, you two seem very close," Shmi comments gently.
Vader has a fond gentleness in his eyes as he regards Shmi. "We have gotten rather close after not having known of one another all her life." His attention shifts to Qui-Gon as he steps off of the lift with the Queen and her handmaidens, the one on the queen's left side being Padme, who smiles at Ani and his mother. "Master Jedi," he greets the slightly taller man.
"Good morning, everyone," he greets the occupants of the room, before frowning at Bekah, who leans slightly on Obi-Wan, who is more than willing to keep her upright. "Ida, Bekah, Vader, we would appreciate it if the three of you would accompany us to the Jedi Temple once we've greeted the Chancellor and Senator."
The three each have different reactions: Ida is excited, Bekah is not exactly thrilled, and Vader almost shuts down. Deciding to break the silence, Bekah asks, "I'm being taken right to the Healers, aren't I?" in a resigned tone, conveying a dislike of the idea altogether.
Qui-Gon nods with an amused glint in his eyes. "Yes, but it is necessary that you go there as soon as possible."
"What about us, Master Jinn?" Shmi asks, holding tightly to her son's shoulder.
The Queen steps forward with a comforting smile. "You may join us at our residence unless you are needed elsewhere."
She smiles and bows to the young queen before her. "Thank you, your Highness. You are far too kind."
"You deserve nothing less, Shmi Skywalker. Both for you and your son," she replies honestly and kindly. "Now, let's all of us greet those awaiting us outside."
Arrival at the Jedi Temple
"Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi coming here willingly?" Healer Kinla, a pale blue Twi'Lek, calls teasingly. "This must be a hallucination!"
The Jedi master scowls. "We're not that bad," he grumbles.
"Besides, we're not here for us," Obi-Wan informs the Healer. "We have a friend who could use your expertise."
An annoyed Bekah, wearing a bloodstained blue tunic and rumpled black leggings, being held by the Padawan, grumbles, "I can walk on my own, Kenobi."
"Forgive me for not wanting you to fall and hurt yourself further, Bekah," he growls back seriously.
The healer's eyes widen fractionally in shock at the state of the girl. "And just how did she get into this condition?" she asks as she steps up to the girl, reaching out with the Force to check for internal injuries.
"That remains to be determined," Qui-Gon informs the healer.
Kinla frowns as she takes the girl by the shoulders and leads her down the hall. "Well, you are in no state to be up and about, young lady," she scolds gently. "I can feel that you're still worn out from whatever's happened to you. And I assure you, I will find out what has happened to you." A resigned sigh, with heaved shoulders, is all they can see of the girl being led away. Kinla turns back to fix Vader and Ida with a determined glint in her eye. "You two will stay here to get a check-up as well. I won't have any hidden injuries pass through my ward."
Obi-Wan barely contains a smirk at the groan coming not from the younger girl, but from the former Sith Lord. "I don't think that would be wise, in my case," he grumbles under his breath.
"Face it, Dad," Ida chirps, as Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon turn away from them. "You knew this was coming, sooner or later. I've had to go to the infirmary how many times since you found me, and you haven't gone once?"
"That's because I've learned some self-preservation," he teases, making her pout. "But if I must tolerate the Healers once more, then I'll cooperate in order to get it over with as quickly as possible."
She looks away suddenly. "Yeah," she mutters distractedly.
Screaming, begging. It's too hot. Too hot too hot too hot-
"Ida?" Vader's voice breaks through her daze.
Startled, she jumps a bit. "Huh?" she asks, berating herself for losing her focus. Then she notices that she's no longer standing, but is slumped in a chair by the entrance to the Healing Hall. "What happened?"
He takes in her slightly trembling hands, and slightly pale face. "I… think you just… had a vision. And a rather… unpleasant one at that." He looks deeply into her eyes. "What did you see?"
"Nothing," she whispers. "It was a lot of screaming, and then it was getting really hot. I couldn't see anything, or hear anything else." As he frowns in thought, she notices that the Jedi Master and Padawan had already left. "Where did they go?"
"They left to report to the Council a few minutes ago. They'll be back afterwards."
Council Chamber
"We hope that there will be no further incidents with the possibility of the Sith, or any Dark Jedi, attacking again," Mace states clearly after a moment of silence following the tale of the past several days. "We will, however, investigate this matter further."
"There is more we have to discuss, Masters," Qui-Gon informs the Council, his Padawan not having moved at the clear dismissal.
Yoda sighs, closing his eyes. "The fate of the five, it concerns, does it not?"
"Indeed, Master Yoda," Qui-Gon confirms. "All are powerful in the Force, and the eldest of them, Vader, seems to have only fallen due to outside influences, but appears to have intimate knowledge of the Force, and Jedi techniques. The next one, Bekah Ree, is of unknown parentage, but may have been adopted by Vader before being abducted in some conflict. She and the other young lady were both raised on the planet known as Earth, which I have never heard of myself, where the Force is both unknown, and neutralized by the planet itself." He clears his throat before continuing. "The second young lady is Ida Sky, Vader's daughter, and has only several months of training, but is a prodigy in combat, but not so skilled with more than healing with the Force. Anakin and his mother are former slaves of Tattooine, though Anakin is the only one of the two to have the Force. He is immensely powerful, with a midichlorian count higher than even yours, Master Yoda."
"And what would you have us do?" Ki-Adi Mundi inquires, curiosity piqued.
Qui-Gon casts his gaze around the room. "I would ask that the younger three be tested, and possibly invited to join the Order."
The Master seated around them blink, and stare in disbelief. "From what you have shared, the youngest is nine years of age. That is much too old to join the Order without any kind of training," Mace breaks as kindly to his friend as possible. "However, we would be willing to make an exception for the older three, seeing as one is already fully trained, and the girls have prior experience."
"But what would we do if they were to fall to the Dark Side, Masters?" Qui-Gon asks the room in disbelief. "Anakin already looks up to us, and he must be trained. We can't just let him be."
"Not your decision to make, it is," Yoda informs the Jedi before him. "Test them, we will, but no promises will there be made."
"Thank you Masters," Obi-Wan cuts in when his master is about to protest, bowing to the Council. "May the Force be with you." He drags his Master out of the room before he can say anything further.
"Obi-Wan, what do you think you're doing?" His master growls once the doors have closed behind them.
The Padawan raises his brow. "Master, I told you they might not accept any of them into the Order. That they are even being tested is incredible. Besides, only Vader and Ida stand a chance of being accepted. Bekah will refuse even if she is accepted, and Anakin won't even be given the offer."
"We have to try, my Padawan. My feelings tell me that to allow even one of them not to enter the Order could lead to disaster." He sighs. "But the future isn't set, and I'm no Seer, yet something tells me having them as our allies is imperative."
A light chuckle from in front of them startles both, and they are shocked to find Bekah leaning against the wall before them, all cleaned up and wearing a light outfit of cargo pants, a fitted black tank top, and her combat boots, her lightsaber clipped to her belt right next to her blaster holster, her foot propped against the wall behind her. "So not even you know what the Force is trying to tell you."
"And you do?" he bites back.
She grins, her amusement clearly not abating. "Of course I know, but that's not a story I can share for a long time, if ever. After all, time has already altered the course of events with the freedom of one, the survival of another, and the loss of the aggressor."
"Must you speak in riddles?" the Master asks.
"Yes, I must. If I want to share anything, the riddles are your only clues." She stops grinning at last. "However, I doubt you would be able to understand what I'm referring to until long after out time has run out."
"Time?" Obi-Wan questions, sharing a look with his Master.
The council room door opens behind them, and Mace Windu is standing there. "Miss Ree, you may enter now."
"Of course, Master Windu." She pushes away from the wall, schooling her features into a blank mask, shielding her mind further from the probes she can already sense coming her way.
She ignores the openly shocked expressions every member of the Council and the Master Padawan team as she comes to stand in the center of the room, smirking minutely to herself. "Very powerful you must be, young one," Yoda greets her.
She turns a gentle smile onto the ancient Grandmaster. "I like to play with the minds of those around me, Master Yoda. I'm afraid you'll have to excuse my antics, it's merely a hobby I haven't had anyone to practice on for a long time that didn't anticipate it."
Yoda chuckles at this, tapping his cane on the ground lightly. "Much fun there is to be had here, I sense there would be for you," he informs her as Mace resumes his seat after closing the doors. "Sense secrets around you, I do, and half-truths."
She winces at this, crossing her arms. "Only because I felt it necessary, Master Yoda."
"Judge you for it, I will not. The truth, however, appreciate it I would."
She meets his dark hazel eyes with her light hazel gaze. "I'm not sure of what the consequences of that would be if I were to comply, Master Yoda. Time is a rather… tricky thing to handle."
Master Yaddle starts at this. "Implying you are not from this era, are you?"
The girl before them chuckles. "Where would you get such a funny notion, Master Yaddle? That's the work of fiction, isn't it?" she asks, a teasing note in her voice.
"This is a serious matter, young lady," Depa Billaba scolds.
"I know it is, Master Billaba." She clears her throat. "However, I can only say so much if I want to do things the right way."
"The right way?" Mace questions. "Please, enlighten us on what you mean. Do you mean you are a Seer, or something similar?"
"You could consider me a Seer of sorts, seeing as I know of some key events that lead to death, destruction, and misery on a galactic scale." She then shakes her head, and pulls on the tie holding her hair in a neat bun, releasing it to cascade over her shoulders and down to her hips, the grown-out highlights catching the rays of sunlight and giving her hair a glowing reddish-golden aura. "However, since I'm not all that into the idea of that happening if I have anything to say about it, I'll tell you to just trust that Anakin will do much better if you accept him now."
"And, pray tell, what might happen if we don't?" Mace asks, leaning slightly forward, pulling out a viewscreen and resting it in his lap for the moment.
She meets his gaze, and frowns. "Then I'll do what I must to keep what I expect from happening."
"You fear what could happen?" Plo Koon asks hesitantly.
She turns to meet his gaze evenly. "More than you could imagine. And if I have reason to fear, you should all be terrified."
"Why is that?"
"Because back home, where we were in a constant state of war with other countries more than willing to use weapons that could wipe out an entire continent with the click of a button, that was the greatest of our concerns. And little else could possibly scare me." She turns to meet the gaze of Mace again. "And a Sith takeover is one of those things."
"Yet we sense no fear in you, even as you state these things," he intones.
She blinks slowly at him. "I'm unable to get back to Earth, so I have no reason to fear what could happen there. And here, I know it can be stopped, so I prefer not to allow fear to take root." She then raises a brow. "Now, I'm sure I wasn't called up here to discuss what my fears are, or to offer advice, am I right?"
"Correct, you are, young one," Yoda chuckles. "Proceed with your exam, we will."
Mace holds up the screen, and presses the control button to show a series of items. "Tell me what is on this screen."
Eyes sliding closed and stance relaxed, she focuses on nothing, letting the image enter her mind as he speaks. "A speeder... cup… light… saber…" she drones a list, before a phantom heat washes over her, and screams fill her ears, begging for help, for anything to stop the agony.
The Council watches, waiting for her to speak the next answer, before realizing something is very wrong. Only as Mace realizes something is very wrong, she falls to her knees, eyes wide and unseeing, breath coming in short gasps as she grabs her head with both hands, covering her ears, curling in on herself. The Master of the Order drops the screen and rushes over to her, putting his hands over hers.
He stares into her unseeing eyes. "Calm yourself, it is only a vision. Breath, focus on the events you are seeing," he whispers to her, trying but failing to enter her mind, her shielding far too strong for him to hope to pass through. "None of it is real," he whispers to her again.
Her eyes swirl with light, turning a sickly yellow-silver color. "So the time has come, the crossroads of Fate, a new path revealed. The one meant to fall aided by blood not yet born, the one to die by his apprentice slain by the victim. A new path forged by the travelers will be followed, altering the course of Fate and Time. The child not of the blood of the Son of Suns will bring the new path before the Chosen One, and a final path once not considered will be the only course seen with her second life with the warning of her first," a deep, crackling voice not her own echoes through the room, startling every Master around her. "The path of the children, once that of allies, will be tested in trials of loss and betrayal, and only truth will heal the shattered bond of sisters not of blood."
Her eyes fade back to their normal green-hazel color, but silver flecks remain in her eyes. Her hands slip from her ears, and Mace keeps a careful hold on her as she blinks back to awareness, his hands on her shoulders. "Pain, and fire. Life slipping away, begging for help, but no one can help without dying with them," she whispers.
"You must be a Seer," Mace informs her.
"What?" she asks, confusion causing her to frown at the man kneeling before her.
"You just made a prophecy, one that sounds as though it is already in motion," Plo Koon informs her, almost reverently. "There hasn't been a prophecy made in over a thousand years, young one."
She frowns. "What are you talking about? I just saw someone's death, I didn't make a prophecy."
Yoda focuses on her. "A death, you saw. Who?"
She closes her eyes, slowly filling with tears. "Ida. She won't make it through this journey, and no matter what, she will go before her time. And nothing can save her."
Don't own Star Wars. And please, no flaming me. I don't appreciate it. Keep the flames to yourself.