For a moment, Anakin felt suddenly very unprepared. He drew his lightsaber out of old habit and switched it on, and it was heavy and unfamiliar in his hands. As he leapt from the gunship and charged beside Rex, he felt the warmth of Alderaan's sun pour through him, filling him with power, drive, aggression.
And then it was as if the lightsaber came to life in his grasp; he felt the energy of the blade connect with the energy in his body, and in that moment, he would have sworn he felt the crystal inside sing to his spirit. The saber felt like an extension of himself in a way it never had before.
He turned his head to look past Rex to Ahsoka, who had likewise drawn her own lightsaber, and their eyes met for just a moment. Her face was alight with a combination of the familiar battle-fury and the radiance that always hung about her when she used fire.
They tore into the army, the droids falling before their lightsabers like dominoes. When a blaster bolt came too close to Rex's head, Anakin reacted on pure instinct. He bared his teeth, clenched his left fist, and swung it above his head. A long, narrow tongue of fire like a whip snapped out from his hand, catching the knot of droids just in front of him and slicing through them in a single stroke. The surrounding droids squawked in terror.
"What the kriff?" cried Rex from beside him.
"Surprise!" said Anakin as if he had known this would happen all along; but from then on he kept his lightsaber in his right hand while swinging the fire-whip with his left.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ahsoka jump, jets of fire shooting from her clenched fists, and propel herself through the air until she landed atop one in a row of super-droids. She leapt from one to the next, slicing each one beneath her feet. Upon cutting down the last, she again leapt into the air and fire-propelled herself back down to join Rex and Anakin.
"Showoff," huffed Anakin, but he was grinning at her and fairly bursting with pride.
Ahsoka grinned right back at him. "Thanks, Skyguy!" she sassed before throwing herself at the droids in front of her.
Rex spared each of them a glance. "Could've warned a fellow," was all he said.
Anakin's fire-whip sang through the air, catching a line of blaster-bolts. "Gotta keep you on your toes somehow, General," he said with a mischievous grin.
It didn't take long for Anakin and Ahsoka to find a new variation of their old rhythm: he took the low fire by pressing directly forward, his lightsaber and fire-whip cutting a path for the men, while she took the high fire with flame-powered leaps and wide kicks. Behind and below them, Rex's men were pressing through the droid ranks in a wedge with far fewer casualties than usual even for Anakin.
It wasn't long before a tactical droid called a retreat, and the droid army began to move backwards into Aldera. Apparently Fives and his men hadn't managed to get to the palace yet, for Rex had to press the droids almost to its gates. Ahsoka and Anakin managed to take out the last few super-droids there, and Rex took a company inside the palace.
"Where to?" asked Anakin.
"Throne room!" barked Rex, pointing the way, and they charged through the halls, slicing and blasting their way through two droid groups along the way.
Then they burst through the doors into the throne room, and froze.
Queen Breha Organa was seated on her throne and the room was lined with courtiers and guards, all of whom were being held at blasterpoint by commando droids. Grievous was in the middle of the floor, and he stalked forward as soon as he saw them.
"Oh, there you are, General," said Ahsoka breezily. "I was afraid you'd be a no-show today."
"Ah, Skywalker and his little brat!" growled Grievous, drawing a lightsaber with each of his four arms and igniting them. "Let us see what new tricks you Jedi have come up with. Clear out the civilians!"
The droids immediately began dragging the Alderaanians toward the doors, forcing the clones to chase them down. Rex hesitated, but Anakin said, "We'll be fine!" so Rex bounded after the droid manhandling the Queen.
Meanwhile, Anakin snapped his left wrist, and a long fire-whip swept through the air. Ahsoka leapt high into the air, sailing over Grievous' head. Grievous skated aside to avoid the fire-whip. "That is new," he remarked.
"You like it?" Anakin sassed.
And then, almost before he had even thought about what he was doing, the fire-whip sailed under Grievous' arms and wrapped around what passed for his chest, catching just under the edges of the front plates. Something under the plates caught fire, and Grievous gave a great howl. He dropped two of the lightsabers he was holding, and clutched at his chest.
Seeing their advantage, Anakin and Ahsoka each knocked a lightsaber from one of Grievous' remaining hands. Anakin tugged Grievous closer by the fire-whip, which turned out to be a mistake because Grievous immediately tried to choke him with his now-empty hands. Ahsoka threw two more fire-blasts into Grievous' back, and Grievous began to convulse. Then, with a metallic screech, he collapsed, pulling Anakin down with him, and suddenly there was fire in his eyes, too much heat, can't breathe -
"Master!" he heard Ahsoka shout from somewhere above him, and he dimly realized his face was now very close to Grievous' flaming … organs? Was that a heart and two lungs?
Then the convulsions ceased, and the claws at Anakin's shoulders loosened. Another set of hands was tugging at him, pulling him backward and up onto his knees. The sudden cool air made his eyes smart and water, and he coughed, blinking.
"Master!" Ahsoka's face was blurry. "How do you feel?"
"M'fine, Snips," he forced out, finding his throat dry and rough and his face stiff and uncooperative. His eyes wouldn't stop watering, and now the pain was beginning to register.
"Fives, thank the Force!" he heard her say. "We need a medic, Agent Skywalker's face is burned and I don't know how bad it is."
Anakin's face hurt like hell, and he could barely move his lips. His eyes had fallen shut and his head felt heavy - no, his entire body felt heavy.
"It's pretty bad, but he'll be all right with some bacta," said Kix's voice unexpectedly close to his ears. "Keep him sitting up, and get him out of this chest plate."
"Stay with me, Master," said Ahsoka, and her voice quavered.
Their training bond was different now, much more ambiguous now that the Force had shifted, but he managed to find the edges of it and send her a pulse of humor. The groan she gave in response was worth the resulting exhaustion.
"I wish I could say I was surprised," sighed Obi-Wan.
He and Ahsoka were standing over a sleeping Anakin in the palace medbay. The single Separatist star destroyer had vanished into hyperspace once a panicked droid had announced that Grievous was dead, and Obi-Wan had lost no time in bringing Senator Organa (apparently Viceroy Organa on Alderaan) down to the city. Queen Breha had insisted that the Jedi stay a while for Anakin to be treated, in thanks for having killed Grievous. Kix had made Rex accept, insisting that Anakin shouldn't be moved too far at least for today.
(That was another new feature of the new army. Decisions like these fell to Rex now, not Obi-Wan or Ahsoka.)
Anakin's burns had only reached the second layer of his skin; his eyes had suffered no lasting damage, though his throat was inflamed from breathing smoke and his eyebrows were completely singed off. The bacta-mask was already in place.
"At least it wasn't our fault this time," said Ahsoka.
Obi-Wan arched his eyebrows at her. "I don't imagine the Council will agree."
Ahsoka frowned up at him. "What do you mean?" she asked suspiciously.
Obi-Wan frowned back down at her, folding his arms. "I'm sure you're aware that the Council is likely to take rather a dim view of the … methods you two have used today."
Ahsoka's jaw dropped. "Master Kenobi -!"
"And given the state of Anakin's face at the moment, I'm not sure I disagree with them," Obi-Wan's frown deepened almost to a scowl.
But Ahsoka, seeing how worried he was, took pity on him. "Master Kenobi," she said. "Anakin's going to be fine. He'll probably be giving our report tomorrow!"
"Indeed," said Obi-Wan with another sigh. "That's sure to be fun."
Anakin opened his eyes, and found himself in a lush green meadow. "Huh?" he muttered, sitting up.
"Ah, there you are, young Anakin!" came a strange voice, and Anakin looked up sharply to see a tall man in a simple red-and-black robe standing over him. The top half of his long dark hair was drawn up in an elegant topknot, and his deep dark eyes were full of the wisdom of many long years.
"Who are you?" asked Anakin, but something inside him felt as if he already recognized the man; there was a radiance about him that was not unlike the radiance he'd come to notice around Ahsoka.
"I am Roku," said the man. "And I will be your guide as you come into your element."
A fierce longing rose up in Anakin's heart. "You can teach me about fire?" he asked eagerly.
"I can teach you that, and more besides," smiled Roku; his eyes wrinkled at the corners when he smiled, and the feeling of meeting an old friend increased. "It is time for you to begin to learn what you are, young Anakin."
Anakin blinked. "I don't understand."
Roku's smile deepened. "You can begin to understand by consulting your old teacher, Obi-Wan," he said. "He has knowledge of the Avatar that can help you and your people. But you and I will soon meet again, young Anakin."
His face began to swim before Anakin's sight, and even as Anakin opened his mouth to call out in protest, darkness swallowed him.
"What news, my Apprentice?" asked Sidious.
"It is even as you have predicted, my Lord," said Dooku, bowing. "It would seem that the Jedi draw power from the same new source that we have discovered."
"Excellent!" said Sidious approvingly. "Convene the Separatist Council: it is time for the war to resume in earnest!"
Dooku raised a finger. "A thought has occurred to me, my Lord."
"Oh?"
"There is a certain Senator whose presence is becoming a nuisance, and whose absence would make the rest of the Separatist Parliament especially likely to cooperate."
"Then by all means, make her vanish," said Sidious with a cunning smile.
"Master?"
That gentleman looked up from his datapad to see Anakin in the doorway of his quarters. They were on their way back to Coruscant after staying a day in Aldera, as the Council had wanted to hear Anakin and Ahsoka's report in person back at the Temple. Anakin still looked somewhat alarming, with uneven blotches on his face, no eyebrows, and half the ends of his hair gone, but he had looked so much worse the day before that hardly anyone on board even gave him a second look now.
"Yes, Anakin?" he said.
He thought Anakin looked at him a little oddly. "Do you know anything about … an Avatar?"
Obi-Wan froze. Unfamiliar as the word was on Anakin's lips, he recognized it all too clearly. "W-why do you ask?" he hedged.
"I had a dream, or maybe a vision -" began Anakin.
Obi-Wan tried to give him a reassuring smile. "Anakin, we've talked about dreams -"
"No, Obi-Wan, listen!" said Anakin impatiently. "This is different."
Obi-Wan blinked. Anakin did not often address him by name. "Tell me about it, then."
Anakin plunged into an account of a dream unlike anything that Obi-Wan had ever heard of before. It wasn't the kind of precognitive (or occasionally retrocognitive) dreams or visions or special powers normal for many Jedi (at least before the Force had decided to play tricks on them). Anakin's dream sounded for all the world like an encounter with a spirit guide, the kind of superstition that civilians had about the Jedi all the time.
It frankly terrified Obi-Wan, not that he cared to show it. Anakin's 'spirit guide' knew that he knew something about the new ways of the Force - what was he to make of that?
"Master, please - I need you to tell me anything you know," Anakin finished.
"But the Council -" began Obi-Wan, but seeing Anakin's eyes flash and his forehead wrinkle (that would have almost certainly been a frown had there been eyebrows), he gave it up. "Very well," he sighed heavily, feeling cornered. "But be aware that this is knowledge the Council does not want repeated! Now it happened that I was tasked with reading a holocron back when we could still open them …"
Mina Bonteri was just finishing a quiet lunch with her son in their seaside house when her datapad chimed. She frowned, and checked the readout.
"What is it?" asked Lux.
"We've been recalled to Raxus," said Mina, rising. "Count Dooku's requested that the Council convene immediately."
Lux frowned. "Did he say why?"
"No, only that it's urgent," said Mina, rising. "The meeting is two cycles from now, and you know it takes a cycle at least to get there."
"All right, then," sighed Lux, for he had enjoyed the visit to Onderon. Nonetheless, a summons from Dooku was a summons from Dooku, so they both went to get packed. Mina entered her suite, and got a terrible shock: a woman wrapped in a dark cloak (but with her hood down) was standing in the middle of the room, speaking animatedly to Thecla, Mina's aide.
"Padme?!" cried Mina. "What in the galaxy -"
"Where's Lux?" asked Padme, looking around. Thecla was sputtering anxiously: "I'm so sorry, Mina, I just came in and she was here, I don't know how she got past me -"
"That's quite all right Thecla," said Mina reassuringly. "I'm sure my old protege would not appear unannounced in my home unless for a very good reason - which is what, exactly?" This to Padme, who was looking impatient.
"Is your son still with you, Mina? It's very important," said Padme.
"Of course he is!" said Mina. "He's preparing to leave, as am I -"
"If you're being summoned to meet with the Separatist Council, don't go! You and Lux have to get away from Onderon now!"
Thecla froze, her eyes darting back and forth between the two senators. Mina's eyebrows arched, her trepidation mounting at the sight of the younger woman's anxious face. "Padme, what's wrong?"
Padme looked grim. "You and Lux are in danger, possibly for your lives," she said. "You need to get off-world as soon as possible - whatever you do, don't answer the summons."
Mina surveyed her. "Very well," she said, gesturing to Thecla. "Let me change into something a little less eye-catching, and we'll find Lux."
Lux was a little more skeptical of Pamde's claim of immediate danger.
"But why would we be in trouble?" he asked, though in lowered tones. "Isn't there a cease-fire in effect?"
"That's just it, there isn't anymore," said Padme worriedly. "General Grievous has just invaded Alderaan with a regiment of droids."
"What?!" Mina was incredulous. "That's impossible!"
"So the Senate didn't convene on this," Padme surmised, looking from one to the other of them. "I didn't think so, but now I know."
"But only the Senate can deploy the army!" Lux protested. "There's no way -"
"Unless the Head of the Senate gave the order," Mina frowned. "In which case, he would need to reckon with the Peace Faction …" her voice trailed off as her blood ran cold.
"Indeed," said Padme significantly.
Lux's eyes widened as he caught up. "But he wouldn't - would he?"
And Mina made up her mind. "I don't intend to find out," she said. "Let's get out of here as soon as we can - I assume you came in an unmarked ship, Padme?"
Padme nodded briskly. "We'd best travel in that."
Anakin, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan stood in the Chancellor's office, where that official gentleman sat at his desk. Yoda, Mace, and Plo were also seated, waiting for the report.
"I'm afraid there's not much to tell about the actual mission, Master Yoda," said Anakin in response to the Grandmaster's query. He briefly recounted what had happened on the ground, including the death of Grievous (the part of the story that the galaxy at large already knew).
Mace held up a hand. "We'll come back to Grievous," he said. "For now, our primary interest is in the new consulting initiative. Skywalker, if you wouldn't mind explaining in detail what role you and your Padawan ended up serving while you were there."
Moment of truth. Anakin steeled his resolve. "Ahsoka and I provided General Rex some offensive cover on-ground," he said.
"What kind of cover?" asked Mace, peering closely at Anakin.
Without a word, Anakin turned on the holoprojector. Plo straightened when he saw the scraps of footage of Anakin and Ahsoka fighting Grievous with bursts of fire in the throne room; Mace's mouth tightened, and Yoda was unreadable as ever.
The Chancellor, however, was understandably impressed. "My goodness!" he marveled. "I could not have imagined anything like this! I was under the impression that the Jedi no longer had access to the Force, yet here I see nothing if not extraordinary power."
But instead of answering the implied question, Yoda turned his eye upon Anakin. "Forbidden from such arts, the Jedi are, young Skywalker," he chided. "Know this, you did, and yet practice them, you have."
"Yes, Master Yoda," said Anakin, stuffing down the well of resentment that rose up inside him. He'd known this was coming - he'd known.
"So you deliberately disregarded the ban," said Mace, and his voice held a note of warning.
"We took advantage of an ability we thought would help General Rex win the battle," Ahsoka broke in, unable to keep silent any longer. "Not to mention finishing Grievous!"
"And so it did, in both cases to spectacular effect," said Plo.
"Quiet, Snips," muttered Anakin hastily in her direction. There was no reason for her to dig their hole any deeper.
But Mace turned to Obi-Wan. "Did you know anything about this, Kenobi?" he asked.
Obi-Wan blinked at him. "If you recall, I was not on the ground, Master Windu," he said.
Anakin sighed inwardly. Of course Obi-Wan would try to play the 'plausible deniability' card.
"Yet you were aware that Skywalker and Tano were headed to the ground with Rex to participate actively in battle," said Mace.
"So I was," said Obi-Wan steadily.
Mace narrowed his eyes at Obi-Wan, clearly unwilling to say all that was on his mind in mixed company.
Said mixed company interjected. "Masters, all," said the Chancellor. "I should have thought that our victory on Alderaan, to say nothing of the defeat of General Grievous, should be an occasion of praise and rejoicing for the Jedi. I do not pretend to know anything of the Force, but surely if such a display of power as I have just seen proves useful in battle, is it not in the best interests of the Jedi to make use of it?"
For the briefest moment, a flutter of something caught the edges of Anakin's awareness - a spark of something he vaguely felt he should recognize. But it passed before he could properly sense it.
"To answer power with power, the Jedi way is not, Chancellor," said Yoda solidly. "A victory for Alderaan, and for the Republic, perhaps has been won. But for the Jedi, a defeat has been suffered."
Anakin fought to keep his expression neutral, and dared not look at Ahsoka. It was at times like this that he really did believe that Yoda didn't always listen to himself when he spoke.
The Chancellor's eyebrows arched. "I doubt that Queen Organa or our esteemed Senator would see things from that point of view, Master Yoda," he said. "In fact, from my point of view, the experiment has been a resounding success, and is certainly a major step toward winning the war!"
Anakin shot the older man a grateful look, and for an instant, made eye contact. Again, something stirred at the back of his awareness, distracting him for the moment from the Council being themselves.
"Nevertheless, the Council has concerns," said Mace, and he eyed Anakin again.
"Then what shall I tell the Senate?" asked the Chancellor practically. "Does the Council accept the new initiative and its inherent privileges, or not?"
The three senior Council members exchanged glances. Then Yoda turned back to the Chancellor. "The Senate's offer, we accept, Chancellor," he said. "In private, the Jedi will continue our discussion. To the Council chamber, we will go."
Anakin ground his teeth. It was he and Ahsoka who had given the Chancellor his success, and they were the reason the Jedi could even take the new position at all!
But on their way out to the speeders, Plo made a point of coming over to lay a hand each on Anakin and Ahsoka's shoulders. "Well done, you two," he said, and walked off to join the other two Councillors leaving Anakin slack-jawed and Ahsoka smiling.
Unfortunately, the confrontation in the circular Council chamber was not nearly so pleasant.
"Skywalker, you knew that dabbling in the elemental arts was forbidden," Ki-Adi scolded.
"Yet did his new powers not assist in the liberation of Alderaan and defeat of General Grievous?" asked an alarmingly serious Kit, gesturing toward Anakin who was standing with Ahsoka in the middle of the floor.
"Have a care that the loss of your former Padawan to the late General does not cloud your judgment in this matter, Master Fisto," said Rancisis sternly.
Anakin blinked. He'd heard, vaguely, that Vebb had fallen in battle just after being Knighted. He had not heard that Vebb had died fighting Grievous, and he had momentarily forgotten that Kit Fisto had indeed been Vebb's Master. He dared a glance in Kit's direction; the Nautolan's naturally round blue eyes were narrowed and blazing, and his typically smiling mouth was pressed into a hard line.
"This Council forbade the practice of such heretical acts for a reason," Rancisis went on. "We cannot, in our moment of vulnerability, risk contamination from the Dark Side!"
"And yet, behold the life-force that emanates from them," rumbled Plo. "Behold the brightness of their eyes, the radiance that lingers around them. Do they seem Darkened to any of you?"
"I saw the way they attacked, on the battlefield and in the throne room," said Mace. "They were overtaken by power and aggression - both of them! Lust for power is not our way!"
"Master Windu, 'our way' is lost!" cried Obi-Wan. Anakin almost jumped, for he had never heard his old Master speak so adamantly against another Councillor.
Mace pointed an accusatory finger at Obi-Wan. "So you did approve Skywalker's actions!"
"Is that the point, Master Windu?" cried Obi-Wan incredulously.
Saesee Tiin was equally incredulous. "The Council must be of one accord! For shame, Kenobi - or do you think we have forgotten that, among the members of this Council, it was you who confessed to tampering with an elemental affinity yourself?"
Anakin's jaw dropped, and he swung around to stare at his old Master. Obi-Wan had been messing around with one of the elements too?! Of all the lying, hypocritical -
"What exactly are you suggesting, Master Tiin?" demanded Obi-Wan, his eyes narrowing.
"Only that your own commitment to the decision of the Council is in question," said Tiin.
Then, for the first time since the beginning of the meeting, Yoda spoke. "The truth now, Master Obi-Wan," he said in a voice that filled the room. "Sanction Skywalker and Tano's insubordination, did you, or did you not?"
Anakin felt as if he had entered the Twilight Realm. How was this now about Obi-Wan?
Obi-Wan met Yoda's eyes steadily. "I did," he said, and the rest of the Council immediately descended into chaos. Yoda rapped with his staff for silence, and spoke again.
"Why?" he asked simply.
Obi-Wan sat up straighter. "Because I didn't know what was waiting for them on the ground at Alderaan," he said, his voice louder and clearer. "Because I thought they would need the help of the Force to battle Grievous. I made the best call I could with the information I had."
There was a long moment of complete silence.
When Yoda spoke again, his voice was oddly flat. "Compromised us, you have, Master Obi-Wan," he said. "If under different circumstances this had happened, expelled from this Council, you would be. As matters stand, heroes in the eyes of the Republic, all three of you are. To lose any of you, we cannot afford. Therefore, remain in the Order, you will, and retain your military standing, you must. But in the eyes of this Council, under reproach, you all are. Dismissed, you two may be," pointing with his stick at Anakin and Ahsoka.
Glad enough to go, they hurried from the room.
Well, here's the first one I didn't have written out ahead of time, hence why it took so (relatively) long to upload. Hope it's worth the wait!
Also, hey, here's a character from Avatar: The Last Airbender already! Already breaking rules I set. We'll see more of Roku as time goes on. Btw visually, this is a youngish, recently-realized-Avatar Roku, not the white-haired wizard we saw for most of ATLA :)
I burned Anakin's face! Sorry, Ani :) At least you got to kill Grievous! In other news, Elvella is Generally Bad at Battles and Medical Stuff. I don't know how much bacta is supposed to speed up normal healing processes, so Anakin's gonna look a little scary for a minute :)