It's been too long! Writer's block and school had me resorting to simpler projects. Frangit Et Finit is back, though, and it's time to catch up with Obi-Wan...
"We lost something…" -Anakin said, looking at him apprehensively.
"Not to worry, we are still flying half a ship." -he said, trying to calm the younger man's growing fears.
Obi-Wan found himself looking backwards, the bridge of the Invisible Hand filled with the mutilated frames of B1 Battle Droids, both soldiers and bridge officers. He locked eyes with an old man, one that looked frail, worried, and overall, weak.
Not weak. Not weak at all The man was a Sith Lord. He - Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Master of the New Republic, knew this.
He gave the old man what he hoped was a reassuring smile, as the half kilometer worth of disintegrating ship plummeted into Coruscant's atmosphere.
This...that's not how that'd happened...there were no smiles, no reassurances. Only a dead Sith Lord and two Jedi struggling with the revelation. The Invisible Hand had never fallen, much less broken in half…
"Anakin, be careful of your friend, Palpatine." -he said, brotherly concern written all over his face.
The former slave reacted predictably, with a frown. "Be careful of what?" -he said warily.
Obi-Wan pursed his lips. "He has...requested your presence."
Anakin raised his eyebrows. "What for?"
The Jedi Master grew somber. "He would not say."
The Knight shook his head. "He didn't inform the Council? That's unusual, isn't it?"
It wasn't. Not really, not when the man was Darth Sidious, masquerading as the benevolent Supreme Chancellor. Obi-Wan knew this to be true.
Obi-Wan nodded slightly. "All of this is unusual, and it's making me...it's making the Masters feel uneasy. You're probably aware that the relations between the Council and the Chancellor are...strained." -he put it lightly.
Anakin scowled, showing now warmth. "I know the Council has grown wary of the Chancellor's power. Mine too, for that matter."
The Master felt dread. Anakin had always been arrogant, cocky even. This was...entirely different. While he'd always displayed near Qui-Gon level of displeasure at the Council, Anakin had always respected its wishes.
Anakin seemed to realize his blunder, and so he added to his opinion. "Aren't we all working together, Master? Are we not all trying to save the Republic? Why all this distrust?" -he asked, almost desperate.
No. They weren't. At least, not the Chancellor. The man planned to destroy the Republic, from the start.
Obi-Wan's first instinct was to embrace his friend, pupil, and brother, but the locale reminded him of his place, and his duty as a Jedi Master and member of the Council first. "The Force grows dark, Anakin, and we are all affected by it. Be wary of your feelings."
He left the younger man behind, with a troubled expression that he had a feeling would not go away.
"You are on this Council, but we do not grant you the rank of Master." -said Mace Windu, tone, as usual, brokering no arguments.
Perhaps it was the deep connection to the young man that granted him the split second feeling of the dark surge within him at his reaction.
"What? How can you do this!? This is outrageous...it's unfair! I'm more powerful than any of you!" -Anakin shouted, as the Council turned as silent as a graveyard.
"How can you be on the Council and not be a Master?" -Anakin asked them, but he looked at Obi-Wan, who only looked down in shame. At what, he wasn't sure - Anakin's outburst, or his complicitness regarding the Council's decision.
Windu, ever the immovable rock, ended the tyrade almost as soon as it started. "Take a seat, young Skywalker."
This wasn't right. This would never have happened. Obi-Wan would not have supported such an insult to Anakin - would he?
Obi-Wan took a deep breath, as if he were about to take on Darth Maul himself. In truth, his opponent was much worse.
"The Council wants you to report on all of the Chancellor's dealings. They want to know what he's up to."
No...this would not go over well, knowing Anakin and his loyalty.
As predicted, Anakin seemed to nearly burst into flame. "They want me to spy on the Chancellor? That's treason!" -he hissed.
The Master looked downcast. "We are at war, Anakin." -he said, as if the young Knight had not been around for the last three years of horror. "The Jedi Council is sworn to uphold the principles of the Republic, even if the Chancellor does not." -he said gently.
The Chancellor would not. The Sith meant only to destroy the Jedi, and he would take the Republic down with him. Democracy itself would be lost.
Anakin shook his head, stalling for time and wishing he could understand why his brother would ask this of him. "Why didn't the Council give me this assignment when we were in session?"
Obi-Wan wanted to smile sarcastically, but he knew he could not. Not for this serious a topic. "This assignment is not to be on record. The Council is asking you personally."
Anakin recoiled, sneering for a second. Then he grit his teeth, as yet another dark impulse came to him and passed. "The Chancellor is not a bad man, Obi-Wan. He befriended me. He's watched over me ever since I came here."
Of course he had. Sidious had only ever meant to groom the young prodigy into his Sith apprentice. There had never been any true compassion for the former slave, as the Dark Lord was incapable of it.
"That is why you must help us, Anakin. Our allegiance is to the Senate...to the Republic, not to its leader, who has managed to stay in office long after his term has expired."
Anakin scowled. "Master, the Senate itself demanded that he stay longer."
Manipulated, of course, by a master of deceit.
"Yes." -he conceded, "But use your feelings, Anakin. Something is out of place." -he said softly.
The young Knight shook his head. "You're asking me to do something that is against the Jedi Code. Against the Republic, a mentor...and a friend. That's what's out of place, here. Why are you asking this of me?" -he asked urgently, betrayed.
Obi-Wan wished he could simply close his eyes and go back. To when, he knew not. But he did as he was asked, obedient Council member that he was. "The Council is asking you."
Pain. That's all he felt. The dying throes of ten thousand small suns, all around the galaxy. In a moment, he knew what it meant.
No...that couldn't be true...there were more than fifteen thousand Jedi in the New Republic! They couldn't all be...
Dead. In a moment, he'd join his fallen brothers and sisters.
Particle fire boomed underneath his ride's clawed feet, destroying the rocky cliff they were traversing. They were unharmed, but without something to hold on to, the two of them plummeted down the Utapauan sinkhole. For a moment, he believed himself to have passed into the Netherworld of the Force. In a way, it would've been preferable to this suffering. Then, his breathing in water reassured him that the Force needed him still.
Swimming to shore, having found Boga once more, he paused, the white hot ache in his chest and head turning into a dull throb. The Force was in utter chaos, the Light seemingly fading against the abyss of the Darkness. What were balanced scales before, was a mad struggle from the Light to even remain in existence now.
Obi-Wan nearly gave into despair. But he had not reached the rank of Jedi Master - whatever that meant, now - with that mindset. He rose, and begun the long climb up, cold discipline and determination fueling him.
"Have we had any contact from the Temple?" -Obi-Wan asked, knowing the likely answer. For all of the Jedi stationed across the thousands of battlefields of the Clone Wars, the majority of them, either too young, old, or injured to fight for the Republic, resided within the Temple at Coruscant. There was no way they could still live, considering the massive loss of Jedi they'd both felt.
Yoda hummed sadly. "Received a coded retreat message, we have."
Bail Organa nodded. "It requests all Jedi return to the Temple. It says the war is over…"
Obi-Wan looked slightly frantically at the Grand Master of the Jedi. "Well, then we must go back! If there are other survivors, they will fall into the trap and be killed!"
The senator shook his head. "It's too dangerous to return...I saw the Temple. There were...more than enough Clones."
Even with proper planning, a Jedi could only deflect so many blaster bolts. This heartless betrayal would not have even granted that. Obi-Wan felt truly sickened.
"There is too much at stake here for us not to act." -Obi-Wan insisted.
Yoda gave him a truly depressing look. "I agree. In a dark place, we find ourselves...and a little more knowledge might light our way."
Anakin Skywalker, cutting off Mace Windu's sword hand in defense of the Dark Lord.
Anakin Skywalker, kneeling as tears stream down his face, a broken shell of the man he used to be.
Darth Vader, rising as his new master orders him to destroy the Republic's staunchest guardians.
Darth Vader, slaying experienced masters, even Council members, with a chilling ease not seen by any Jedi, not even Obi-Wan himself, in a thousand years.
Darth Vader, ignoring the wailing of the defenseless wounded, being slaughtered in droves by Clones whose helmets show as much emotion as he does.
Darth Vader, destroying the hope of the future, child by innocent child.
This is too much. He cannot bear it. What is this twisted nightmare, and why must he endure it? Whose horrifically altered vision of the past is this? None of this happened…
Oh, my dear Jedi Master...this 'vision' comes straight from the Force itself...
"I should've known the Jedi were plotting to take over." -Anakin - no, Vader, now - says, derisively. His bantha leather robes are scorched and singed, and his eyes burn the same bright orange as the lava river beneath the hapless droid he rides, the blue tone forgotten. Even his saber seems to want to mirror the change, looking amber against the superheated backdrop.
"Lies from a Sith! Anakin, Chancellor Palpatine is evil!" -he shouts, desperately hoping to get through to the man he called brother.
"Said by a Master Jedi, part of the Council. Perhaps that is why you cannot see as I do, the Jedi are evil!" -he says, twirling his lightsaber. A part of Obi-Wan knows that he's rationalizing, but that part stays quiet. There's no going back. It ends now, before his warped mind can cause more damage to the galaxy.
He wouldn't think like that...he couldn't...could he? He loved Anakin like a brother, and Luke and Leia as if they were his children as well..
Careful, Master Jedi...feelings like that are oh-so similar to what powers us Sith...
"Well then you are lost!" -he declares, readying his sword for the final strikes. Whatever he used to be to Anakin, he is only a Jedi Master now. One of the few remaining, and a mistake he will surely try to correct.
"This is the end for you, my Master. I wish it weren't so."
Obi-Wan will not accept that. Not on Vader's terms. He leaps back, landing on the smoking shore of the lava river. "It's over, Anakin! I have the high ground." -he says, half taunting, and half hoping the man is not stupid enough to fall for it.
Vader gives him a sneer that might've once been a playful smirk on Anakin's face. "You underestimate my power."
The leap is impressive, Anakin's always were. Yet it is mindless, careless, even idiotic, and Obi-Wan, for a millisecond, can remember himself scolding him in such a way, the younger man either shrugging off his remarks, or laughing about his blunder until Obi-Wan cannot help but smile. All too brief, the memories end, and the Jedi Master does what must be done, bringing his saber in a deadly arc around the Sith Apprentice.
Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, lies in pieces on the carbonized beach. Obi-Wan can only stare in horror at what has become of the young Sith, relieved of all his limbs, except, perhaps ironically, for the one already severed by one of his kind. The young man is wailing in pain, and Obi-Wan is reminded that, for all of his power, talent, and ability, Lord Vader is only twenty-two years old.
The Master is appalled. "You were the Chosen One! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them! Bring balance to the Force, not leave it in Darkness!"
And here, you see the error of your ways. The sheer hypocrisy of your so-called-prophecy. Balance is equality, Master Jedi. As you say, to tip the scale in the Dark Side's favor would not be balance. Why would letting the Light reign unchallenged?
Lord Vader should be delirious by now, but those sickly yellow eyes, the mark of a true Sith, still see Obi-Wan, and recognize him as he howls. "I hate you!"
That is the last straw. Obi-Wan can no longer bear it. How could he, when that's clearly Anakin saying it, not some made up Dark Lord?
"You were my brother, Anakin. I loved you." -he admits, mourns even. Before the young man can respond, the proximity to the lava river sets his clothes on fire, and he screams in agony. For a moment, he extends his one remaining arm, wreathed in flame, desperate for help, even from this man who has killed him. The fire seems consumes his clothing, clings to his skin, and Obi-Wan cannot watch any more. He grabs Anakin's lightsaber, and leaves the crackling remains of his brother behind.
Back in the tomb of Darth Revan, Obi-Wan woke up with a start. For a moment, all he saw were stars, but then Anakin's face filled his view, and all he could think about is how he's just killed him.
Then, he noticed. Blue eyes, flecked with amber. Long hair, pulled back in a ponytail. A well-kept beard, inspired by his own brown and white one. Anakin lives.
"You ok, Master?" -he asked, and Obi-Wan could hear true concern in his mature voice.
"I...I need a minute." -he admitted, and it's a massive understatement. He would never be able to forget what he's just done - or at least, witnessed a version of himself doing.
Anakin nodded. "Force visions are rarely pleasant, and this one...well, it took me years. Rest as long as you need to."
Obi-Wan shook his head. "No, no...I must ask her...him?" -he wonders.
Anakin shrugged. "Either or. Lord Revan was a female in life, but in death, it seems she's flexible. She'll appear in a few moments. The visions take a toll on her presence."
The Jedi Master looked at Anakin in a new light, opting to sit on the invisible floor while the wraith returned.
Just what had he gotten into?
BAM! Canon Episode Three! In vision form! With slightly better dialogue, I hope. I used the script for the damn thing, but I tweaked a bit. I really like how this turned out, but I'd like to hear your thoughts!