"You could have gotten away, you could have gone to General Skywalker for an extraction." Cody muttered into Obi-Wan's hair as the two lay tangled together in the suite he had been restricted to during their 'stay' on Serenno.
"The thought never crossed my mind," Obi-Wan lazily traced figures on Cody's bare forearm that was draped over her waist. "It should have," Cody muttered before clearing his throat when Obi-Wan shifted until she was sitting on his lap and staring him down with fierce blue eyes.
"You better get used to the idea that I am never leaving you of my own free will Commander. When we get out of here, it will be together cyare." Obi-Wan said firmly and Cody relaxed slightly and buried his face against her chest. Obi-Wan ran her nails over his scalp as he hugged her close and the two basked in the other's presence and the small moment of peace that the two had carved out for just the two of them.
"…I think I found a place I can get a signal through…I need them distracted and their attention diverted elsewhere," Cody said a few minutes later and Obi-Wan laughed unable to help herself.
"My clever, clever commander," Obi-Wan praised as she cupped his face and kissed him soundly.
"I can handle the distraction, send that signal out. Soon this will all be over. The Vode will be free and this war will be over." Obi-Wan promised and Cody's amber eyes shone as he looked up at her and caressed her cheek tenderly.
"Make sure you come back to me the way you are now cyare," Cody whispered and she dipped her head down to kiss him again.
~~/~~
"How is your commander Obi-Wan?" Dooku looked up from a padd when Obi-Wan dropped into a chair next to him in the lavish den of his home on Serenno.
"He has a few complaints," Obi-Wan shot back and Dooku raised an eyebrow while Qui-Gon snorted from his place mediating by the open windows.
"Your love is very headstrong little one," Qui-Gon rose out of his kneeling position, stretching his long limbs out.
"He would need to be to keep up with my Grandpadawan," Dooku sounded proud and Obi-Wan tried not to feel pleased with that. They were her lineage but they were both Sith, but they were doing so much for her and the Vode.
Obi-Wan had never been so confused since she shared a shy kiss with Satine and realized to her it felt the same as her first kiss she had shared with Quinlan back in the temple.
Obi-Wan distracted herself by grabbing her padd and scrolled through the updates all her trusted Vode had sent her about the chip removal process and she felt joy go through her very being.
"100% of the Vode had been freed from the slave chips!" Obi-Wan announced to the Sith and pursed her lips when she felt the dark side of the Force writhe in excitement as both Qui-Gon and Dooku's glee rose at being able to enact the next phase of their plan.
Neither men were handling being idle as well as Obi-Wan was, but she did have her cyare at her side to distract her from the situation outside of their rooms on Serenno.
"You have yet to give us your answer little one, are you going to add to our effort to destroying Sidious?" Qui-Gon rested his hand on her shoulder, looking down at her with a serious look on his face and golden eyes glowing.
"Will I still be light if I come out on the other side?" Obi-Wan asked quietly.
"Perhaps Grandpadawan if the Force wills it," Dooku said simply.
"It will not be easy little one, but if anyone can handle it, I have faith that you can," Qui-Gon said as he cupped her cheek in a fatherly gesture she had come to expect from the newly returned Qui-Gon. That had taken some getting used to.
"…I will aid you." Obi-Wan curled her fingers into the fabric of her leggings. She had come this far and sacrificed so much, she would not falter now that they were this close to stopping Palpatine and ending this pointless war. Besides, this was the perfect distraction for Cody to send out a signal to extract them.
"We shall ascend to the temple and begin the ritual," Dooku announced as he rose from his chair, Qui-Gon taking Obi-Wan's hand in his and tucked it into his elbow as he led her out of the den. Obi-Wan was trembling at the thought of what was going to come next, she knew Dooku had resorted a small Sith temple that he had found on Serenno, but she had yet to step foot inside.
Obi-Wan looked up at the dark stoned temple that lay before her and could feel the dark side pulsing off of each brick. Dooku looked over his shoulder and saw her paler than usual skin.
"You will be welcomed inside Grandpadawan. Defeating Maul as you did, by Sith rules that deemed you as the rightful one to take his place." Dooku explained and rage rolled off of Qui-Gon at the reminder of his not so permanent death and what could have befallen Obi-Wan had Sidious understood that rule and had chosen to gone after her. Qui-Gon would have returned to a Galaxy covered completely in darkness with a Fallen Obi-Wan at the centre of it and that was not something Qui-Gon ever wanted for her.
Obi-Wan squared her shoulders and strode up the steps, gliding into the temple as if it was the Jedi temple back on Coruscant. The dark side all but embraced her as she passed the threshold, feeling pleased to see her in the company of the other two Sith. Obi-Wan hated how it felt like home, so she focused. She had a job to do; she had a war to end and people to save and she had to give Cody as much time as she could manage. Even if she did not survive this ritual as she was now, he would be rescued and returned to the Vode and that was what kept Obi-Wan sane in the darkness of the Sith temple.
"Let's get started," Obi-Wan turned to the two men, determination burning in her blue eyes. Dooku led them to the middle of the temple, directing them to stand in a perfect triangle on Sith symbols carved into the stone floor.
Obi-Wan swayed as two surges of power flooded through her as she locked hands with Qui-Gon and Dooku. Obi-Wan focused on the light that she could now keenly feel emitting from herself and used that to keep her balance as Dooku began to chant in a dark, vicious tone.
This was a Sith ritual and the only way to kill Sidious and all his back-up bodies cleanly with no backlash on the Separatists. Sidious should just drop from an apparent heart attack and the darkness he was covering Coruscant and the Republic with should disperse with it and the Force would be balanced once more.
There was a backlash on the users, as is the way of the Sith. Obi-Wan just prayed they were strong enough to handle it. She was slowly warming to her Grandmaster and she had just got her Master back, she hated that she was not so keen on letting them go just yet.
"Hold onto me little one, I will not let you fall," Qui-Gon swore to her through their re-forged bond. Obi-Wan sent a wave of gratitude back to her Master, he may be a Sith but he had very adamant that she may be his Apprentice by Sith standards but he had no intention of letting her fall as he and Dooku had. He wanted her to be the brightest of both the Sith and the Jedi and would do anything to ensure that would happen.
Dooku finished the chant and the small temple fell eerily silent before Force lightning struck the middle of their triangle, the backlash of the ritual.
Obi-Wan shrieked as burning agony tore through her body as the lightning arced out and spread over the trio. She clung desperately to her Master and Grandmaster's hands as they convulsed and cried out in their agony, she could smell burning flesh and she felt as if her blood was boiling.
Obi-Wan felt tears running down her cheeks as she gasped for air before the trio was thrown back by a blast wave as the last bit of power spread out around the temple. Obi-Wan landed on the stone floor in a heap, spots in her vision as she bashed her head against the floor.
Obi-Wan lay collapsed on her side, burnt hands lying limply out in front of her and she gazed blankly at the smoking forms of Qui-Gon and Dooku from where they had fallen. Obi-Wan blinked and then neither men were there, she was alone and that felt wrong to her but the Force trilled and soothed her and she blinked again and then there when black boots in her vision and the Force lifted her gingerly up off of the floor of the temple.
Dark skin with a yellow stripe and dreadlocks filled her vision, the man's face blurring as her eyes slowly started to close, but she knew those features. This man with his grey Force aura was safe and with that she sank into unconsciousness, trusting the grey-tinted Force user to keep her safe.