Radical Dreamer 57 - Their strong attachment to each other and families is in some ways a weakness this Jedi Order has. They have grown very comfortable with their existence as it is and it is going to be hard for them to shift. It also might be the thing that saves them and the Republic.

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Chapter 49

** Three months after the Battle of Naboo. **

Obi-Wan knew where he was. He had spent enough time in the Jedi Temple to recognize the hallowed hallways, but he wondered why the Force had brought him here. No Jedi had lived in the Temple since after Ruusan.

He caught sight of his reflection in one of the highly polished doors and paused to study it. Gone was the long, dangling padawan braid that had been his companion in previous visions. He was still dressed in Jedi robes, but he was older. Gray painted his temples and speckled the beard he now wore on his face. His eyes were haunted and his countenance weary, like one who had seen too much. He had to wonder, after the death of his master, what worse things could have happened to the counterpart he saw in his visions.

The sound of tapping along the marble floors drew his attention, as did the mighty Force presence that preceded the echo. He turned to see Master Yoda watching him, not the master he knew, but the guide present in most of his visions. The small master looked even more aged, and anguish shadowed his large cat-like eyes.

"Come," he said softly.

Obi-Wan followed, and the scene shifted. Something was wrong. The chorus of echoes was discordant, broken by the overwhelming stench of darkness. Smoke choked his lungs, and the walls were charred by blaster fire. As he turned into a main hallway, Obi-Wan saw that the floor was littered with bodies as far as his eyes could see. It appeared that no one had been spared, not even children. He stooped down by one small body, turning the child to face him. A lightsaber burn ran straight through the youngling's chest.

"Why are you showing this to me?" Obi-Wan asked.

"The storm is coming," his guide said.

"Are we all to die … is this what Master Yoda meant when he said that we must stand strong?"

"The storm is coming," his guide repeated sadly. "Come."

Obi-Wan continued to follow his guide deeper into the Temple. They entered the Room of a Thousand Fountains, and Obi-Wan hoped to find refuge in the peaceful garden from the horror he had just witnessed. It was no different. A mighty battle had been waged here as well. He followed the path of bodies, many of them so young, until he came upon a larger body pierced by numerous saber wounds. Obi-Wan turned the figure over and found that he was looking into Master Drallig's lifeless eyes. He recoiled in shock. Who could subdue a saber master?

An explosion from one of the corridors shook the Temple, and more smoke flooded the air. Loud voices and a cadence of footsteps came toward them as the sound of blaster fire echoed nearby. A clawed hand reached out to Obi-Wan's shoulder.

"You must go," Yoda said softly.

"Go where?"

"You must go."

Obi-Wan's eyes snapped open to see the ceiling of his room, in his apartment, on Coruscant. Reaching out through the Force, he could sense that Siri was still asleep, and he was thankful that the dream had not awakened her. Sitting up in bed, he ran shaky hands through his hair before he stood and walked to the refresher. He splashed water on the flushed skin of his face, cleaning the sweat from his brow. In the mirror, his own eyes looked quite haunted already. Would he turn into the man he saw in his vision? Was he destined to be the weary, burdened soul he had seen in that reflection?

After getting a drink of water, he settled back down under his bed coverings. Sleep was a precious commodity and, vision or no vision, he knew he should seize as much of it as he could before the coming day in the Senate. He closed his eyes but saw only the Room of a Thousand Fountains on the inside of his eyelids.

"You must go!"

Suddenly, the room felt like a prison, like the very walls were closing in on him. Obi-Wan wondered if this was how his mentor felt when the Force moved him. He dressed and slipped from the apartment, using the Force to distract the security detail outside his door enough to slip by unnoticed. Garen would know he had left, and he would have some explaining to do tomorrow, but he needed to go. The Jedi senator wandered the traffic ways of Coruscant, turning as led. The Force drew him deeper into the underbelly of the city-planet until he was at the concealed entrance of the Jedi Temple. He entered, weaving through the lower levels until a long staircase carried him to the magnificent hallways from his vision. They were not smoldering. No dead bodies littered the floors, no smoke choked his lungs, and the chorus of those who had gone before whispered their greeting as strong and beautiful in the Light as ever.

Obi-Wan wound through the hallways, pausing at one glossy door. His reflection was the same as he had seen in the mirror in his room before leaving. Footsteps carried him to the Room of a Thousand Fountains. The smell of moist, earthy air greeted him as he set foot in the beautiful garden. He dropped to his knees, drawing in peace like the air he breathed as he centered himself in the Force. There was no greater concentration of Lightside energies on Coruscant than in this one place. He lost track of time as he delved deeply into the warm currents and considered each part of his vision and how it related to the current Senate deliberations.

A deep chill was the only warning he got as darkness rushed around him. There were no audible footsteps, just a sense through the Force, and a derisive voice.

"I suppose I have you to thank for ridding me of Maul."

Obi-Wan was on his feet in the blink of an eye, saber held ready as he turned to face what had dimmed the brilliance of the garden. The figure reached up and pushed the hood of his cloak back. Long ebony locks fell to the man's shoulders, and his cold blue eyes bore into Obi-Wan.

"Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi," Xanatos Marojni said plainly.

"Darth Acutus, Lord of the Sith," Obi-Wan replied in answer.

The Sith seemed amused as he walked around Obi-Wan, evaluating his newly revealed foe. The Jedi pivoted with each step, careful to keep Xanatos in view. The Sith appeared to have no intention of attacking, seeming to know that Obi-Wan would only attack if threatened.

Xanatos reached out to a nearby rose bush. Plucking one of the bright red blossoms, he lifted it, and inhaled deeply of its scent. "I never had an opportunity to offer my congratulations on your marriage." He extended the rose toward Obi-Wan as though offering a gift. "Please give your wife my regards."

Obi-Wan stood motionless, only glancing at the bright bloom. When he failed to take it, the flower turned brown and dry in the Sith's hand. Xanatos closed his fist around it, crumbling it before dropping the remains to the ground. "Very well, straight to business."

"Yes, do tell me why you are here," Obi-Wan challenged.

"I was in the area when I sensed a shift in the Force and came to investigate. I decided it was time our true selves met."

"Ah, so you are not here to try to kill me," Obi-Wan offered with sarcasm.

"Make no mistake, Jedi … I would love nothing more than to cut you down with my saber. You have been nothing but trouble," Xanatos snapped back. "But a senator killed in an ancient landmark such as this raises questions best left unasked."

"I agree," Obi-Wan replied dryly. "I would hate to have to explain your dead body in the Jedi Temple."

"Careful," the Sith hissed, drawing back his cloak to show the curved hilt of a Sith lightsaber. "I wish only to warn you, in case the death of Olin Kitab was not enough. Plans are in motion, and my master will crush anyone who gets in his way."

The mention of the late senator's name sent a strong surge of anger through Obi-Wan. He took a moment to release it into the Force. A smile slipped across the Sith's face.

"You feel strongly," Xanatos said as he began to circle around Obi-Wan. "Don't be ashamed of such a gift. When the Sith reigned before, many of your Jedi brethren found solace in the Dark side. You don't know the power you deny yourself."

Obi-Wan said nothing, hoping the Sith would continue to talk and perhaps slip and reveal more.

"They will all die," Xanatos continued. "The one you call uncle or dare I say your master, your chief of security, your aide and his young family … your lovely wife."

"I see the Sith are as overconfident as ever."

Even as he spoke bravely, images of the carnage from his vision slipped through Obi-Wan's mind. The walls around him charred and crumbling, corpses spread across the floors.

"Your thoughts betray you, Jedi. You know it is true," Xanatos soothed. "I will give you a chance to keep it all from coming to pass. Together we would be great - a force to be reckoned with - powerful enough to stop my master's plans. Join me and save them all."

"If I give myself over to darkness, I will cease to care for them anymore," Obi-Wan murmured. "I will become a slave … twisted and evil … just like you."

Obi-Wan contemplated why the Force had driven him here to an audience with a Sith, especially in light of the disturbing visions. At its prompting, he met his foe's gaze evenly.

"You can take a message back to your master," he began with unwavering determination. "The Jedi Order is alive, and every last one of us will resist you and the darkness to our dying breath."

The attack came abruptly. Obi-Wan ignited his saber as the Sith's crimson blade came down hard, jarring his arms. As Xanatos brutally backed him across the garden, Obi-Wan became aware that he was dealing with a much more dangerous creature than on Naboo. Fortunately, he did not have his worry over Qui-Gon to distract him this time and was able to focus more deeply than in that fight. They exchanged blow after blow as the duel left the gardens and spilled into the Temple corridor. Obi-Wan defended each attack the Sith launched but knew he would not be able to tire his opponent without tiring himself. Something would have to change. Delving deeply into the Lightside of the Force, he began to push his own attack. Crimson clashed against blue again and again, lighting up the dimmed halls. The Sith's saber slipped across Obi-Wan's shoulder, etching an angry red line across his flesh. The Jedi somersaulted away, and the ancient foes began to circle, surveying each other once again.

Xanatos lunged. Obi-Wan dodged to the side, drawing his saber along the Sith's waist, deeply singeing the flesh of his abdomen. Howling in pain and rage, Xanatos attacked again. Obi-Wan matched him blow for blow as they worked their way through the Jedi Temple. They passed an open balcony, and the Sith darted out and jumped up on the railing so that he teetered thousands of stories off the ground.

"This was a test, Jedi," Xanatos spat out. "Today, I grant you your life. You will not be so fortunate when we next meet … and we will meet again."

With that, the Sith spread his arms and fell backward off of the balcony. His black cloak flapped before being enveloped in the darkness of night. Though the fall might have meant certain death for some, Obi-Wan had no doubt that Xanatos Marojni … Darth Acutus … had survived, and that he would face him again.