I don't own Star Wars, but I do own this particular one-shot.
AN - After the way the original version of this story was received by readers, I decided to write a version where Anakin triggered off Order 66, and what it would mean for the galaxy at large. At the same time, I've edited the story a little bit and improved it.
Oh, as with before I had this idea after listening to Big Finish's AUDIO "Full Fathom Five," a Doctor Who parallel universe story but my main inspiration was "Hurtful Rejection" where Padme rejects Anakin - a brilliant story and has so much promise since the Jedi Council showed their true colours. My thanks to Marcus S. Lazarus for one idea. Anyway, on with the story.
The Price we Pay - Order 66 edition.
The moment he saw Coruscant as his ship emerged out of hyperspace, he felt enormous nostalgia the moment he beheld the enormous planet-sized metropolis which had been the centre of the Republic for generations.
But the war had changed all of that. The planet had become a fortress, a web of sensor arrays and patrolling fighters and Star Destroyers. The pilot wasn't truly surprised. He had heard that only a few weeks ago, General Grievous and the rest of the Separatist forces had attacked the planet in force, which was strangely brazen to the public, although he had learnt from Dooku it was yet another scheme cooked up by the Sith Master. But the pilot didn't care, and the sight of such a large number of warships in orbit around the capital didn't worry him.
As far as he was concerned the ships could have been gas dirigibles. He had bigger fish to fry than them. He had been visiting the planet on and off for the last couple of years, always masking his Force aura so the Jedi and the Sith would not sense his presence in their midst, but now this voyage to the capital of the Galactic Republic was considerably different than anything he had done in his life.
It was almost time. As he leaned back in his pilot's seat in the ship he had stolen some time ago, he had little to hear except the hum of the ship's engines and life-support systems. However, the most predominant sound in the cockpit was the sound of his mechanical breathing. The sound was bad enough, but he had been feeling nothing but pain every single time the life-support cybernetics keeping him and his lungs going cycled around.
That was no surprise; with the damage done to his body, he would have been surprised if there was no serious side-effect to his injuries. Over time he had come to ignore the pain although to a point.
The nights were sometimes worse. Whenever he had to get to sleep, he needed to be hooked up to a life-support machine, guarded and monitored by a small number of medical droids who monitored his condition. He had used his old Jedi training to stave off the pain, but despite his best efforts and how meditation had never really come as naturally to him since he had never grown up with that aspect of the Jedi lifestyle in his life, his efforts went both ways. Sometimes it did work and he was able to concentrate on something other than the pain of his breathing and how hard it sometimes was to remain connected to a life-support machine when he was asleep. Sometimes he was left in pain before the medical droids he had brought with him pumped so many combinations of drugs and other painkilling concoctions into his system, he was left paralysed.
As his ship emerged from the hyperspace vortex and he tapped in the sequence to send to the sentry ships, he turned slowly to his bound and gagged passenger. Count Dooku, once supreme commander of the Separatist movement and former Jedi Master, turned Sith Lord determined to bring down his former Order and the Republic, was bound tightly in the chair next to him. Aside from a bruise to the face, the Count was relatively unharmed. Granted, the special creatures which negated the Force might negate the pilot's own powers, but they limited Dooku. Right now the old man was as vulnerable as any other frightened old man in his place.
That was purely intentional on the pilot's part. He had a much worse fate in store for the bastard who was partly responsible for his personal injuries. If he were still exhibiting the mindset he'd possessed before Geonosis where the Council had been trying to mould him into the perfect Jedi but had turned out with the opposite attitude, he would have likely pummelled Dooku to death by now. If there was one thing his kidnapping and subsequent torture had taught him, it was how to be patient.
The torture unleashed on him by the man sitting next to him and the Neimodians and other aliens who made up the Separatist movement had taken their toll. His body had been electrocuted, burnt by both fire and caustic chemicals. His eyes were destroyed, one of the sockets was so badly damaged all attempts of replacing it with a cybernetic counterpart had failed. The second eye was just as bad, but the damage wasn't as bad. The rest of his body…his lungs and other major organs were now so riddled with cancer from hypermatter radiation, his body had needed to be placed inside a cybernetic harness to keep his body going. It has taken some doing on his part, but he had managed to use whatever was left of the Force to reprogram the droids and manipulate the minds of the doctors tending to him to keep him alive for a little longer.
"I remember when I first arrived in this system," he spoke to the silent Dooku, his mechanically enhanced voice mixing hoarsely with his mechanical breathing. "I first saw Coruscant when I was a boy, only 9 years old. I had just been freed from Tatooine and this was the first planet I ever saw. I had never seen a planet that was so highly developed in my life. It became my home for a decade before you did this to me."
The pilot paused as the grim memories of his long torture resurfaced in his mind. He usually always tried to forget the torture he had received thanks to the Sith and the Separatists, and while the stupid Jedi teachings of placidity and passiveness, and how revenge was a terrible, dark emotion that led to the dark side were still rooted firmly in his mind, he could not help but remember with pleasure the way he had slaughtered the Separatist council. But what he really found pleasure in was the knowledge in a couple of days, the Separatists would be receiving a shock.
"The war is over. The Republic and the Jedi, and the Senate don't realise it yet. Sidious does not know it yet. When I arrived on Mustafar, blocking you off from the Force and wiping out that bunch of idiots who're just too stupid for words to believe the lies of Sidious, and how they would create a new order for the galaxy without realising the Sith planned on wiping them out when the war was over and they had no further value to you, I was amazed by how easy it was to wipe out thew Separatists and deal with you, but that's what happens when you take a leaf out of your kidnapper's book, no?"
The pilot thought about the Separatists. While he was glad they were no longer a threat to the galaxy, he was still perturbed by what he had done to them. A long time ago, he would have wanted to have taken them into custody and turn them into the authorities where they would be tried and summarily punished. The Separatists deserved it. Under the command of General Grievous and Darth Sidious through the bastard sitting next to him, the Separatists had devastated hundreds of worlds, killing millions. The Republic forces and the Jedi Generals fought over each world with the droid armies, like Nexu fighting over a large chunk of bloodied meat.
No longer. Not only did he not have the time to restrain the Separatists and return to Coruscant to finally end Palpatine and make the Jedi pay the price for what they'd done to him, but there was also simply too much at stake. When he had arrived on Mustafar, the pilot had just planned on getting in, deal with the Separatists and kidnap Count Dooku and take care of several loose ends before dealing with Palpatine while revealing what the bastard really was to the galaxy.
He stood up slowly, using the Force to help him ignore the pain and he took a vibro-blade out of his robe. He smiled underneath his breathing mask as he saw Dooku panic and try to back away. "Now hold still, and this will be over with quickly. You've still got a few more things to tell me before I kill you. Earlier, when I questioned you, you mentioned something called Order 66 and how it would instruct the clone troopers to turn on the Jedi. I want you to tell me how to activate it…," he said before he leaned forwards and took the gag out of Dooku's mouth.
"Now, tell me what I want to know and this will be over with quickly," he rasped through his respirator before the once highly respected and renowned Jedi Master before his betrayal could speak back to him.
X
Obi-Wan Kenobi walked into the War Room of the Jedi Temple and was instantly greeted by Mace Windu. "Obi-Wan," the older Jedi Master greeted while the holographic projections of Masters Yoda, Secura, and Shaak Ti and Knight Tano were projected over the situation table. Other members of the Jedi Council were nearby as well, some of them in different parts of the War Room and out of earshot, but they could sense his Force signature as easily as he could sense theirs. "Congratulations on your defeat of General Grievous and the Separatists on Geonosis."
Obi-Wan accepted the compliment with a humble nod without any real joy, as was expected by a Jedi accepting praise. But inwardly, Obi-Wan was thankful the General was dead, especially after so many other Jedi - masters, knights, apprentices who had spent all of their lifetimes in the Temple here on the capital planet of a Republic that was crumbling and dying under the threat of the war going on and thrust into a war which shouldn't even be fought in the first place.
"Thank you, Master Windu," he said while the others congratulated him as well, finding only a small amount of delight in the praise. It wasn't exactly what he had been taught as a youngling, but Obi-Wan had learnt over the years to take gratitude on the chin. In any case, the gratitude was well earned and he knew it only too well. The Jedi Master accepted their gratitude for ending the life of the thing which had been responsible for the deaths of many Jedi, personally, Obi-Wan was just grateful to have survived the whole mess.
But at the same time…. Obi-Wan was glad to see the back of Grievous. The cyborg general had been a Jedi killer, pitting his cybernetically enhanced abilities and the rudimentary training he had received from Count Dooku against Jedi unlucky enough to cross his path. It had taken all of Obi-Wan's knowledge and skills gleaned over 30 years of being a Jedi to combat the cyborg general, but now he was dead, Kenobi hoped the Clone Wars would just end.
Obi-Wan subtly grimaced at the thought of the Clone Wars. The wars had been going on for the last three years, consuming planets and impacting countless lives. To make things worse, the senate was its usual ineffectual self. Palpatine was gaining more and more powerful every day, which was a clear violation of the laws which governed the Republic. Many Jedi had been lost, master, knight and apprentice, including…
No, he would not think of Anakin. It had been three years since the Council had received word of his young apprentice's….harassment of Senator Amidala, and then he had just vanished. Obi-Wan put a stop to those thoughts as he remembered how Anakin had just vanished near Separatist space, although why Anakin would be so stupid to go there, he didn't know. He did regret cutting out Anakin, he had felt and heard his apprentice's pleas for help, but he had followed the Council's decree. Obi-Wan had regretted it since. He had trained and raised Anakin. He had taught the boy about the Force, about the art of the lightsaber. He had been there for him, putting in many a long hour into the training.
To cut him out like that…
It still hurt. Obi-Wan released his regret, his feelings out to the Force and he returned his focus onto the present. It seemed to work. Sensing that Obi-Wan wasn't going to say anything else about Grievous, Mace steered the discussion onwards. "What of the Separatists? We know their leaders were there, and we heard they had left," the senior Jedi Master went on to find out if what they'd heard was true.
"It's true enough," Obi-Wan reported grimly, only just suppressing a surge of anger that the Separatist leaders had escaped yet again from justice for starting this pointless war. The anger didn't really surprise him that much either. He had been fighting for days and days with very little rest, and he had only just managed to catch a few hours of peace to meditate to calm his mind, but like all beings, Obi-Wan knew when he needed to properly rest, and while the meditations had helped him a great deal, he was still extremely tired even after catching a few hours rest on the way back home.
At the same time, Obi-Wan was angry Count Dooku had once more escaped the justice he so desperately deserved. As the apprentice of Qui-Gon Jinn, who had been trained by Dooku when the Sith Lord had once been a respected and admired Jedi Master before his sudden turn to the dark side of the Force, Obi-Wan had heard stories from his master about his own apprenticeship. To say it was disheartening was an understatement. But ever since the day Obi-Wan had revealed to Master Yoda and Master Windu about the Sith Lord who was manipulating events in the senate and was almost certainly behind the war, the Council had been watching for any signs of this Sith Master who was likely the one who'd trained Darth Maul.
"They left soon after we got there, and I engaged Grievous. They just left him behind; I don't know if its because Grievous was becoming a liability, or if the Sith Lord didn't have any further use for him anymore, but they ran regardless," Obi-Wan rubbed his beard thoughtfully, "I have been trying to figure out the answer, Master Windu, but I can't find a logical explanation."
The listening members of the Jedi Council were not surprised to hear that, but it still gave the listening Jedi hope. Grievous had been the only member of the Separatist organisation who had been the driving force behind the Separatist campaign across the known galaxy. With him gone, it would only be a matter of time before the Separatist war effort slowed down, hopefully to a halt.
The rest of the Separatists were just a bunch of dissatisfied financiers, bankers, traders, and politicians with delusions of grandeur. Put them in their real environment before they turned against the Republic, and they would be in their own little world. Put them in a war where they were meant to be directing operations, and they would be hopeless, so unless if they found someone else to be a military general to replace Grievous, the Clone Wars would not last for much longer.
Obi-Wan didn't know what they'd been promised, but truthfully he didn't care. Right now, he would be glad to see every single one of them be locked in a spice mine, and the key thrown away. It wasn't exactly the Jedi way to think like that, but right now Kenobi did not care. So many had died. Enough was more than enough.
Obi-Wan honestly prayed that was the case. He was tired of the war, tired of the blood and misery. He had seen so many people deaths (he would not think of Satine or those innocents Maul murdered when he returned), and so many Jedi had died as well, and some good friends had died at the hands of the Separatists. He wanted it to end. Hopefully, with Grievous dead, the Separatist leaders would begin to lose their fire and begin making it easy for the Jedi generals and the Clone troopers to stop the war in its tracks. When that happened perhaps the Chancellor would return the powers he had received from the senate. However, Obi-Wan was not sure of that.
Master Ti voiced what they were all thinking. "We have to press our attacks. With Grievous dead, we must take advantage of it now they've got only Dooku to command them," she said fiercely, showing some of the Togrutan fierceness which seemed strange coming from a Jedi Master. The holographic form of Knight Tano, who was also from that race, showed a fierce visage even over the holographic transmission. "Redouble our efforts to bring down the Separatists before their leaders can find someone else to command the droid armies."
Obi-Wan agreed with his fellow Jedi Master. The Separatists were just corrupt businesspeople whose only experience of war was either sitting them out during the whole course of the Clone Wars and letting Dooku or Grievous fight for them, or they were just accomplished in negotiating deals around a table. They would be in a panic right now with only Dooku preventing them from making some stupid mistake.
"That could still take time. Don't forget Dooku was an experienced Jedi Master, trained to command and instruct," Master Gallia pointed out, "he will come up with a way of countering our plans."
"But it could take time for the Separatists to regroup," Master Mundi pointed out. "The Separatists may fight harder in that time, but if we try to find out where they're trying to regroup, we could launch a series of attacks which will force them to think surrender is a better solution."
"All the more to push home our new advantage," Master Kolar nodded in agreement, "if we can raid Separatist territory, launch attacks against the droid factories, we can make it harder for them to fight. It might even force a surrender."
The rest of the Jedi Council agreed and they were about to discuss their strategies, and they were finishing checking over the current reports of the status of the Separatists to see where and when they could increase their pressure on the endless droid armies out there. Some of the Council advocated looking for somewhere in Separatist held territory and just launching a series of random attacks, when Master Fisto came over, holding a datapad that he was reading with great interest. The normally laid back Jedi Master's expression was serious and thoughtful, and there was none of that good humour that usually lit up his green face.
Master Mundi looked at him with concern. "What is it?" he asked, sensing his fellow Council member's confusion and concern, while he hoped the latest situation was not going to create a new mess they could have done without.
Kit Fisto looked up, and the Jedi could feel the worry seeping from him through the Force. "I don't know. One of our hyperspace probes has just picked up signs of a nuclear holocaust in the Mustafar system," he reported, "The blast is recorded here as being off the scale."
Mustafar?
Obi-Wan remembered all the trouble caused by the mess when a bounty hunter called Cad Bane was involved in a plot involving Force-sensitive children still out in the galaxy. He, Master Windu, and Knight Tano had gone out immediately to stop whatever was going on, but while they had succeeded the entire place had been destroyed, and there were corpses everywhere who were affiliated with the Separatists. Even now no one knew what the conspiracy was trying to do, and what the plan for the children was, but the good news was it had been stopped.
Everyone knew the system was affiliated with the Separatists, but the place didn't have any military or strategic value. The Separatists just used it for mining, so they could have a ready-made supply of weapons and battle droids for their war machine.
"Where's the closest Star Destroyer?" Master Tinn asked, his voice full of concern, he too remembered that mess. "We need to find out what's going on."
Mace checked. "The nearest destroyer is over 70 light years away," he reported, "but they're in no position to do anything; they're currently dealing with a very strong Separatist fleet, and they won't be in any position to deal with the disturbance on Mustafar for some time."
"Do you think that's where the Separatist Council went?" Knight Tano asked thoughtfully as a thought occurred to her.
Yoda huffed thoughtfully. "Possible, it is. Strong in the dark side of the Force, Mustafar is," the elderly Grand Master went on, "use it for a base for his followers, the Sith Lord would. Destroy them, he would, but not now. The war, still going on, it is."
The debate went on about what the explosion could possibly mean and if the Sith Lord, who was still unknown to them even though they could feel this presence, and the way he was smothering the entire Senate with a black cloud of darkness, had even sent them towards that dismal volcano of a planet in the first place.
The Jedi Council would have gone on, if it wasn't for the sudden tremor in the Force, coming straight towards them. Obi-Wan turned in the direction where he could sense it coming and his eyes widened when he saw Knight Keto running towards them. Obi-Wan had known the young woman for a long time, especially since her rivalry with Anakin…. no, he couldn't think of him with anything except pain and regret, had been legendary. Serra Keto had certainly become one of the Order's greatest fighters, and although she was now a Knight and no longer a Padawan, Obi-Wan knew she would have a great deal to learn still, but he knew she would be a brilliant master.
But right now he could sense panic, shock, dismay, horror, and anger radiating from the Knight as she raced towards the part of the War Room the Council were clustered around.
"Knight Keto, what's wrong?" Master Windu was instantly by her side and cradling the woman, and Obi-Wan quickly took hold of her other arm to help steady her. Obi-Wan knew, although it seemed like a lifetime ago, the young Knight had been recruited to spy on the Chancellor Palpatine, who had begun to slowly interfere with Jedi affairs as the war had gone on.
For a long time, the Chancellor had worried the Jedi Council. It was bad enough the man had stayed in power long after his term in office was meant to have ended, but he had gained more and more powers as the war with the Separatists had gone on, but there was a growing disquiet in the Order, a resentment, that the man was beginning to interfere with Jedi affairs.
Serra took a couple of deep breaths, and Obi-Wan sensed the young woman was using the Force to drag in as much oxygen into her body as it could handle before she looked up into Master Windu's face, now only slightly calmer than she had been when she had raced into the room. But at the same time, Obi-Wan probed the Force surrounding Serra. The young woman was terrified out of her mind, although why she was so frightened Obi-Wan could not work out; her emotions were making it incredibly hard for him to determine what it could have been. But when Serra had recovered enough to speak, Obi-Wan was uncertain what it could have been, but when he looked back on this moment years from now, he realised he had been trying too hard to determine what it was Serra was feeling to really take note of when she was about to speak.
"The Chancellor," she panted, "the Chancellor.."
"What about him?"
"He's the Sith Lord!" Serra got out, virtually yelling the words for all the Jedi in the room to hear. Everyone heard her shout and they turned to focus on Serra, gasping with shock.
Palpatine was a Sith Lord? As he looked around the War Room, Obi-Wan realised he was not the Obi-Wan found it hard to believe, but as he thought about it, he had to admit it made a great deal of sense. It seemed like forever ago after all of the battles he had fought in, but Obi-Wan recalled what Dooku had told him about Darth Sidious, a Sith Lord in charge of the Senate. Obi-Wan had related to the Council what Dooku had said, but like them, he had not believed it; Dooku was a traitor, he had betrayed the Jedi and the Republic and everything he had stood for. That was bad enough, but then you had to only see what Dooku had done to the galaxy. He had stirred up and roused the Separatists into a galactic threat, and now a major galactic war had been unleashed on the galaxy.
However, Dooku was clearly being literal.
Master Windu and Master Yoda had both thought of the possibilities of a Sith Master manipulating the Senate from behind the scenes. Ever since the death of Qui-Gon at the hands of Darth Maul, but as the war had progressed, the Jedi Council had slowly begun to see Dooku could be right about the Sith Lord he was serving. They had just thought the Sith Lord was manipulating the Senate and those within, they hadn't imagined him being the Supreme Chancellor!
But what frightened Obi-Wan, and as he took a look around the War Room and saw the other Jedi Masters who were a mix between believing Serra and those who didn't think it possible, the most was how much it seemed to make sense. Palpatine had been gaining more and more power within the Senate. At first, the Jedi had believed Palpatine was no more than a simple and mundane pawn for the Sith to discard, but now their beliefs were completely wrong.
Palpatine was not being manipulated by a Sith, he was a Sith. Now they knew the truth, so much made sense. What made it worse was they hadn't even realised it. Many of them had stood in the Chancellor's personal space and they had never, ever, gotten the sense of the dark side around him. They should have investigated the Chancellor long before now the moment he started refusing to hand back his emergency powers. They had merely assumed the Chancellor was another corrupt politician holding on to his power for longer than he should have done. Perhaps if they had, they would be better prepared. It took Serra a moment to calm down to collect her thoughts, but when she did her voice was lower, but she was still panting from exertion from her run.
"We were talking in his office after you sent me to let him know Grievous was gone, but he was in the middle of a meeting and so he couldn't speak to me immediately. When he could, he put on a sad act, saying he couldn't lay aside his powers even when I said the war was nearly over. He wouldn't listen when I said the Separatists would soon be rounded up, he just kept talking about traitors in the Republic and in the Senate. He then began talking about how I could help him. As he spoke, I felt the dark side around the Chancellor. It was so strong, so powerful… it was like being swallowed up by anger and hatred."
A cold chill went through Obi-Wan's body and he looked into the faces of his fellow Jedi and saw how distraught they were. They all knew where this was leading…
"For a long time…. I've been feeling….anger. I've seen so many worlds destroyed by the Separatists….," Serra began.
"We all have, Serra," Ahsoka interrupted, remembering how she'd fought in so many battles, seen so much pain and misery that the Jedi teachings failed her.
Serra glared at the other knight. "Yeah, I know. But recently, I've been feeling…tempted to use the dark side."
"What?"
The young knight looked down. "It's been getting harder and harder to ignore the impulses, the urges to lash out. The worst time was when I saw the Separatists just destroy hundreds of hostages simply to keep us from getting to them, and because they could. That was the sickest thing about it!" She spat, remembering that time, looking up into the faces of some of the senior Masters of the Order. It did scare her to confess she had been willing to go that far, but she had to make it clear where she stood with this.
"I watched as the Separatist droids wiped them out, while their controllers looked on and laughed at how we had failed because we don't put hostages at risk. Ever. I've managed to stop those urges, but somehow Palpatine knew about them and now I know how. He's a Sith Master. I could feel it, waves of pure evil and darkness. And it was so cold being in his presence, it was like stepping out onto the surface of Hoth without protective thermals. He began talking about how, if I let go of any anger I was holding, I would have a power beyond that of any Jedi," Serra went on, tears rolling down her face, looking more frightened than Obi-Wan had ever seen her. "And then he said he could help me become all-powerful and finally help him bring peace to the galaxy."
"Peace?!" Obi-Wan flinched at the indignant yell from Agen Kolar, who was looking angrily himself at his assembled Jedi, hoping they shared his outrage. A part of Obi-Wan was pleased somebody had reacted, although the violence of the reaction was something they could have done without; he had been unnerved by Serra's account and frightened as well.
They had known the Sith Lord was out there. For him to be hiding within plain sight… it underscored just how much they had underestimated their old enemy. The Sith really had evolved over the last millennia, now they were capable of more than what they had before.
"There was peace before that piece of filth took control of the Senate; yes, there were conflicts, like the blockade of Naboo, but there's a difference between something like that and the war where millions are dying!"
"Calm yourself, you will, Master Kolar," Yoda chided, clearly sensing that the outraged Jedi Master was close to making a mistake that they would all pay for.
The Jedi Master looked down, chagrined. "My apologies, Master," he said.
Yoda turned speculatively towards Serra. For a long moment it was as if, even across the many light-years separating Kashyyk from Coruscant, Master Yoda was peering deeply into Serra's soul.
Finally the aged Grand Master grunted, his expression serious. "Mm, much conflict I sense within you, Knight Keto. Conflict, I sense the Sith Lord has placed within you. However, correct you are. The Chancellor, a Sith he is."
Serra swallowed fearfully at the thought of a Sith Lord manipulating her, but she was pleased Master Yoda was openly supporting her claim.
"Why would he let you go?"
Everyone turned back to the situation table, to where Knight Tano's hologram was still being projected from the table across a vast distance. The young Togrutan Jedi Knight was looking at her fellow Knight with confusion. "If he wanted to make you his new apprentice when Dooku is still alive and running around, I can understand given you are much younger than Dooku is, but why did he let you go? I thought when Sith Lords were interested in someone new they would work on them to tempt them to the Dark Side?"
Serra shook her head. "No, he was serious, but he wasn't that serious. He fired Sith Lightning at me though he missed, but when I fled I heard him laugh."
Obi-Wan shook his head while he struggled to make sense of what Serra was telling them all. From the sounds of things the Sith Lord had been putting on an act of trying to tempt her to the dark side where she would be lost forever in a haze of rage and fear while the galaxy was consumed in darkness, but she did not appear injured, and he couldn't sense any darkness in her at all. However, considering how difficult it was becoming as the days of the Clone Wars went by, it was a wonder they could even sense the dark side.
But Ahsoka was right, why had he let Serra escape? Palpatine was not stupid. He would know the first thing she would do would be to return to the Jedi Temple and alert the Jedi Masters within of his secret Sith identity. What was he up to? What was the point? What was going on?
They knew Palpatine had proven to be a slippery politician in the past, but now they knew he was a tyrant just waiting to emerge. He had not gotten to where he was now by making foolish mistakes. Only one thing made sense to him, to all of them. "He has something in mind for all of us," he said quietly, looking at his fellow Jedi in horror as the other members of the Council, attracted by the despair in the Force radiating from where they were, approached. "He knows Serra would tell us what she had found out."
"A trap, this is," Yoda commented after Mace quickly informed the other Council members what they had just learnt about Palpatine. The ancient Jedi Master looked troubled, but somehow not really surprised by this turn of events. Obi-Wan only needed a few minutes to work out why that was.
In many ways, the Council and the Senate were not that different, but where the Senate was ruled by greed, where the senators were more than happy to line their own pockets, the Council were governed by reason. Obi-Wan could see that Yoda had quickly added up all the evidence to make sense of what Serra had just announced.
For a long time, Obi-Wan had wondered about the Sith Lord supposedly in charge of the Senate after Count Dooku had told him on Geonosis. Dooku had just been decidedly literal about it. The Senate was in the power of a Sith Lord, and that Sith was the Chancellor. Looking back on that moment and on what they had just discovered, Obi-Wan wondered what would make Dooku confess there was a Sith Lord in command of the Senate.
Was it to cause suspicion?
Was it done under the Master's orders, or on Dooku's own initiative? Sith apprentices were known to plot against their Master, was that what Dooku had been planning? Did he want the Jedi to investigate and discover Palpatine's true identity so he would have a chance of becoming Dark Lord of the Sith himself?
"We must act!" Kolar spoke up interrupting Obi-Wan's thoughts and suspicions. "The longer he is in power, the more difficult it will be to stop him when he decides to take control of the Republic!"
"It won't be easy," Master Gallia whispered. "Palpatine has been given almost unlimited power, without killing for it. He's manipulated his way to the top. He wouldn't have done that without being aware we would eventually know."
Ki-Adi Mundi licked his lips as he completed the logical thought in his mind, looking troubled and horrified. "And he would have come up with contingencies. We must be careful."
While he filed away the possibilities of Dooku planning on overthrowing Sidious, a thought he would voice later, Obi-Wan was about to open his mouth to say that he wished they had enough proof before they went to Palpatine, though he knew it would be impossible to find on such short notice, but he was interrupted when Master Yoda dropped his walking cane which hit a wooden surface on the other end of the transgalactic link, and suddenly let out a horrified gasp, and he clutched his chest.
Mace looked at the small master in worry, wondering what was going on now. "What's wrong?"
Yoda looked at him with a sour and horrified expression that was puzzled at the same time. "Dead, my old apprentice is," Yoda said shortly.
"Dooku?" Serra whispered while the masters were stunned by this startling news.
"It would not have been Sidious," Mace spoke in a whisper as well, as he looked around the faces around him while he tried to work out what had happened to the former Jedi Master turned Sith Lord. "Surely even he would not kill his apprentice so soon after the Jedi had been alerted to his true identity."
"No, kill Dooku, Sidious would not!" Yoda said strongly, seemingly back to his old self as he looked around at the other Jedi Masters. "Felt fear, pain, and horror, I did. Dooku died in fear, but feel the Force on him, I did not until the last second, I did. When he died, felt his horror, I did."
"You mean….," Shaak Ti began, her eyes wide in horror at the implication.
"Cut off from the Force, my old Padawan was," Yoda's head dipped sadly, clearly unsettled someone could even get close enough to a former professional Jedi Master with a lifetime of experience under his belt and do something like that to him. "He only just allowed to be reconnected in his final moments, he was."
"How is that possible?"
"Masters, you had better see this!" someone called before any of the Council members could ask what that was supposed to mean, though the implications were horrifying.
Obi-Wan turned at once in the direction the voice came, and he saw Ahsoka Tano was standing over the situation table where something had caught her attention. When he saw what it was, Obi-Wan could see why instantly, and his eyes widened in shock when he saw the holographic form of a man dressed in a black robe that reached his shoes, with a hood over his head.
In front of him was a projection of Count Dooku.
"It is done, My Master," Dooku was saying - clearly this was a recording, but how far back it went, Obi-Wan had no idea. "The Separatist movement is fully formed. We are waiting for the next phase."
"Good!" there was a note of cold satisfaction in the other Sith Lord's voice. Obi-Wan was slightly surprised the Sith Master was not even trying to disguise his voice, clearly believing this evidence would never have gotten out in the first place. Obi-Wan knew that although many would be in denial all throughout the Republic, the truth was you would have been incredibly stupid not to realise Palpatine had orchestrated this war. Everyone in the Republic heard Palpatine's voice on a day to day basis, and it was obvious who the Sith Lord was.
Another recording quickly replaced it, this time showing Palpatine and Dooku in the Chancellor's office, and this time Obi-Wan could clearly see the timestamp. This was taken….over a month ago. This time Palpatine was not wearing his disguise. Now everyone could see what and who he truly was, if they were in any kind of doubt. Obi-Wan could only surmise the two Sith Lords had been under the impression their conversation was taking place in a very private way, and they hadn't bothered with their usual precautions.
But what surprised Obi-Wan at all was how they had overlooked something so basic when the Sith had become so good at covering up their tracks for so long.
Palpatine was clearly displeased with Dooku. "I told you to arrange the assassination of Senator Organa and to carry it for yourself when the pacifistic idiot went back to Alderaan. The assassination was to ferment hatred against the Jedi Order, and yet someone managed to stop you!"
Dooku's usually calm and regal manner was absent as he tried to plead for mercy, but even though the holo Obi-Wan could see that it was not working, and he did not need the Force to tell him Dooku was going to be severely punished. Such was the way of the Sith; most Sith Masters according to rumour and hearsay varied on how badly they took failure in their subordinates, but they did not tolerate it at all.
"My Master, the Senator was-!"
"I don't want to hear it! I don't want to hear any more pathetic excuses; I have to endure listening to those idiotic Separatists making excuses and demands every single time I speak to them; I don't want to hear it from you, my own apprentice! I gave you a simple task, Tyrannus, a simple task that you could not fail!" Palpatine shrieked, the sound shocking the Jedi in the room, and outstretched his hand, generating a stream of brilliant blue lightning from his fingertips. "YOU FAILED! You failed to contain Anakin Skywalker when you had one simple job, and you failed when you allowed those idiots to take the torture too far!" Obi-Wan felt a chill go through his soul when he heard the name of his old apprentice but his chill became one of horror when he continued to listen as the holo went on,"When we captured him when we had the perfect opportunity of turning him against those fools who hounded him with their complete lack of common sense, and now you have failed when we needed to strike a blow against the Jedi Order without killing one of them!"
Obi-Wan went very still, shaken by the revelation that had just been shoved into his face. He couldn't believe it. Palpatine and Dooku… they were responsible for what had happened to Anakin? And…he had been tortured…. Oh, Gods. Clearly there was more happening than met the eye…
The recording changed one after another. The Jedi Masters saw recordings of Palpatine conversing with Gunray during the Naboo crisis a few times, even one where he introduced his apprentice at the time, the tattooed form of Darth Maul. The sight of the serious looking and quiet Sith warrior who had murdered Satine, murdered innocent children just to get to him made Obi-Wan stiffen, but there was now no longer any more doubt in anyone's mind about the connection between Maul and Sidious, aka Palpatine.
One by one, the Jedi and the rest of the Republic watched as moments of Palpatine's time went by. They saw him torturing Maul, manipulating Senators, donning his Sith identity when he wanted to speak with his subordinates without them being any the wiser about whom they were speaking with back on the Capital of the Republic. They witnessed as he tortured Dooku in a few more frames, forced Dooku to hire bounty hunters like Jango Fett, among others to do the dirty work, such as attempting to assassinate Senator Amidala.
But one of the most outrageous clips or a collection of clips - by now the entire Jedi Order wondered why the Sith had even allowed these recording to be made - showed Palpatine's involvement during the Stark Hyperspace War, and they saw Palpatine's Sith identity manipulate events from behind the scenes on both sides. More than once, they saw holos of Palpatine losing his temper in a devastating display of Force-induced rage. There were also recordings of him and Dooku, and the Separatists, including General Grievous, discussing strategies with one another.
As each holo recording was played out, Obi-Wan and the whole Jedi Council felt that they had seen enough damning evidence, but the last one was even more damning.
It showed the tall, lean figure of a Muun, wearing long black Sith robes, drinking copious amounts of wine while Palpatine was rehearsing what appeared to be a speech. Obi-Wan studied the Muun. He was sure he had seen him somewhere before….
"That…that looks like…. Hego Damask the Second!" Master Kolar said, looking at the holo with amazement. Obi-Wan nodded in remembrance; he had known about the elderly Muun, but he had never really bothered learning about the lives of bankers. It was too boring memorising their lives. But the sight of the well worn black Sith robes worn by the Muun made Obi-Wan wonder just how many important people were Sith.
First Palpatine, now Hego Damask.
"I remember. I was with…Anakin, in the back of the ship, on our way to Coruscant. I had spent a couple of hours helping Anakin learn the basics of the Force, and I had put him to bed and turned on the news," Obi-Wan said, stumbling over the name of the apprentice he had abandoned so long ago now from the early days of the war, "and saw Palpatine standing next to him just before he was elected Supreme Chancellor. The recording then was only a few days old, but it was still news," he jabbed his finger at the holo to where the Muun was becoming increasingly intoxicated and unaware of his surroundings.
"Sidious' master, the Muun was," Yoda said.
"So he was an apprentice at the time himself," Mace observed, but any further comment was cut off when Palpatine unleashed a tremendous amount of Sith lightning towards his master, torturing him to death before he expired.
"Proof enough, I think that is," Yoda brought the entire thing to a close, and he looked at the assembled Jedi Masters seriously. "Stop the Sith Lord, you must. May the Force be with you."
X
As he and his fellow council members made their way towards the Chancellor's quarters, Obi-Wan noted how everyone was running out of the building in terror. He wasn't surprised. The history of the oppression of the Sith was a required part of the curriculum in any good school, but Obi-Wan secretly suspected the terror came from the fact their own Chancellor was a monster. Shortly after leaving the Temple, Master Windu had sent word to the police forces and ordered them not to do anything foolish around the Chancellor, such as to get close to him. They were to keep watch over the building to make sure Palpatine did not escape, but they were not to engage him since he would wipe them out.
But the Sith Lord had not left the building at all. The guards and screaming people confirmed that. He was still in there since Serra had left him behind; Obi-Wan had more or less guessed that he would remain behind, though why he had no idea. There was no reason for him to stay behind now he was revealed for what he was.
On their walk towards Palpatine's office, Obi-Wan was still amazed by the skill and power this particular Sith Lord had used in order to hide. He was also awed and frightened that the Sith Lord had been in power this whole time, and yet the Jedi had never seen through it. Not once during all of these years, and now the man had virtually unlimited power, and he was not going to let it all go. It was not the way of the Sith, no matter how adapted they had become over the last millennia since the Sith's last known appearance.
But along the way…
Obi-Wan needed to hide his innermost thoughts away from his fellow Jedi - he needed to be focused, and the last thing Kenobi needed right now was to be scolded like a Padawan learner by Master Windu, but he couldn't help but think about what Palpatine and Dooku had both conspired to do to Anakin.
They'd kidnapped him, and judging from what had been said, Anakin had somehow escaped. His former apprentice was still out there. But why hadn't Anakin returned?
Did you give him any reason to? A nasty voice in his head sneered, and Obi-Wan had to shamefully admit the voice had a point. When the Jedi Council heard Anakin's pain and pleas for help, they had decided to cut him loose. Obi-Wan hated how cowardly he was at the time, obeying the will of the Council without simply refusing. The other Masters hadn't cared; they had declared Anakin just was not cut out to be a Jedi, and how they could find another Chosen One, as if they grew on trees.
As they drew closer to the Chancellor's quarters, Obi-Wan, Kit and Mace both despatched the Red Guards. The Red Guard's Force pikes were formidable but none of the Jedi Masters were in the mood for any kind of resistance. The Jedi Masters made their way towards the Chancellor's quarters. Their expressions were set and grim as they prepared to do battle, immersing themselves in the Force to centre themselves for the fight they knew was going to come. They knew this was not going to be easy or simple.
As they drew closer to the Sith's quarters, they could feel the dark side of the Force as clearly as they could feel the ambient temperature of the hallways. For a long time, the Jedi had been feeling the growing cloud of the dark side during the years, it had been growing like a festering disease over the last few years of the Clone Wars.
But now… now it was like a terrible mini storm was being unleashed, and indeed they could hear sounds of bestial screaming down the hall and the sound of smashing, though it was too far away for any of the Jedi Masters to get an idea of what it was; Obi-Wan could distinctly hear the sounds of shattering glass, metal being wrenched, but it was all blended together.
Palpatine had definitely seen the Holonet news. His reaction was exactly what Obi-Wan had expected, really; revealing his identity and his rank as a Sith Lord to Serra had been calculated, it was part of the plan Palpatine had concocted. Palpatine wanted the Jedi Council to come to him, knowing that he could carry out the next phase of his plan without any problem, but having everything he had done broadcasted on the Holonet, Palpatine's plans had been shattered from under his feet. The Sith was likely going to try to salvage what he could, but what that was going to be, Obi-Wan had no idea. They had to stop the Sith right now.
But at the same time…
Obi-Wan had a bad feeling about this. He had been feeling it ever since they had been sent to deal with the Sith. Palpatine's plan to lure the Jedi Council into a battle with him was calculated, deliberately. Obi-Wan honestly did not know what Palpatine had in mind for this battle, but the Jedi Master knew one thing…. he was prepared for it. It might even be part of his plan. But being revealed as a Sith Lord to the entire galaxy at the same time was not part of his plan.
The Red Guards that always stood like ominous red sentinels outside Palpatine's office were no obstacle, and they had been easy for the Jedi to deal with. But right now Obi-Wan and his fellow Masters were preparing themselves for the real battle which lay ahead. The door to the inner sanctum was open. Palpatine was expecting them. What wasn't unexpected was the trashed furniture, and some of the 'priceless' pieces of art Palpatine liked to show off had been smashed to pieces. Inside the office was the man himself. Palpatine was panting hard while they could feel the dark side of the Force crackling around him like a bush fire.
When he saw the Jedi, Palpatine's expression soured.
Determined not to let the expression on the Sith Master's face unsettle him too much, Obi-Wan, Saesee Tinn, Ki-Adi Mundi, Mace Windu, Adi Gallia, Agen Kolar, and Kit Fisto walked into the entranceway of the office while blocking off the Sith Lord's retreat. They had left Master Ti at the Temple, much to her displeasure since she had believed the group needed all the help they could get, but Mace Windu had firmly told her that they needed a senior Council member there to monitor the war effort, and to direct the movements of the Clone troopers.
The other Jedi Master had not liked it, but against the Master of the Order, she had no choice but to obey. She didn't have to like it though.
Obi-Wan watched the expression on the Sith Lord's face. He didn't appear bothered by the show of force being displayed, though a predatory gleam appeared in the Sith Lord's eyes as he took note of where every Jedi Master was. It was clear he was weighing up his odds of success.
"Master Windu. Welcome," Palpatine greeted as he tried to assume the mild manner he had always put on in public, or in senate sessions while he took in the Jedi coming into the office. Obi-Wan raised a brow at how welcoming Palpatine appeared to be towards the sworn enemy of the Sith, and the Jedi Master could not help but wonder to himself if Palpatine was deliberately putting it on as a means to clamp down on his rage, or if he was busy buying time by playing with words. "I have been expecting you."
Mace took off the lightsaber from his belt and ignited it, the others followed suit surrounding Palpatine in a crescent of lilac, blue and green blades of light. "In the name of the Galactic Senate of the Republic, I hereby place you under arrest, Chancellor," Mace declared without wasting any kind of time.
Palpatine's smile morphed into a sneer. "Are you threatening me, Master Jedi?" He snarled, and for the first time, a shadow of the Sith Lord bleeding through, his voice becoming grating and cold while the dark side bled through, shocking Obi-Wan and the other masters with its intensity.
"The Senate will decide your fate," Mace replied.
Palpatine's sneer grew, and in a voice that was more of a guttural growl he said, "I AM THE SENATE!"
Mace was about to open his mouth to deliver a reply to that proclamation, probably about to make some harsh comment about how the senate wouldn't accept him or something like that. Obi-Wan wouldn't have been surprised to hear Mace actually say something like that along those lines.
None of the Jedi present in the room were particularly surprised by Palpatine's stance even if the entire Republic knew now what he was, and knew he was the true architect of the Clone Wars and the one who began the Separatist movement in the first place; as a Sith, he would never allow anything to get in the way of his power. But that wouldn't have stopped him. Palpatine, as a Sith Master, would have found some way of keeping his power, although the entire galaxy would know the Sith were in control.
Obi-Wan shuddered at the thought of the oppression the Sith had brought onto the galaxy making a nasty return, when suddenly something strange happened in the office. Palpatine's stance changed, and he looked ready to unleash all of his power against the group of Jedi Masters, but then everything shifted.
Obi-Wan was struck with the sensation everything around him had just vanished. As he looked around at the faces of the other Jedi Masters and the only Sith Lord, that they knew of in existence, he could see that they too looked shaken. Master Gallia and Master Fisto both looked stricken as they looked around the room, as if they had no idea where they were, or even how they had gotten there.
"What?" Mace asked, placing a hand on his head, while Kit was looking around the room as though he had only just seen it while he held onto his lightsaber.
"What… what was that?" Palpatine asked, speaking in a normal voice, as opposed to immersing himself so deeply into the dark side to make his voice into a manifestation of darkness. The Sith Master was not exhibiting any of his dark personage. Now he looked like the others, stricken and even frightened. Sith and Jedi alike looked around in confusion, and then they heard something from the corridor and the hallway.
Something was coming to the office.
A sound like metal tapping onto the floor plates outside. From the sounds of it, there was a loud whirring sound out there, and they also heard another sound, one that immediately startled them; a mechanical breathing sound, a menacing sound that was growing louder as it approached.
No, not something, someone. Someone was coming into the office, but they didn't have any idea about the person coming in. They didn't know if it was friend or foe. The Jedi Masters and the single Sith Master watched in apprehension as a dark-clad figure walked into the room, wearing a simple black cloak with a large hood covering its head completely. Obi-Wan studied the figure, and saw that just visible underneath the cowl there was a metallic shine underneath, and there was a semi-transparent plastic tube running from the mouth area where it disappeared underneath the cloak. None of the Jedi could see anything of the figure's face or form, except that whoever it was, they were quite tall. Obi-Wan cursed under his breath the lack of the Force; without it, he couldn't tell anything about this individual, and he knew the others were the same. Obi-Wan wondered how this figure had done it, how could they have possibly cut off the Force?
The sound of mechanical breathing was definitely coming from the figure's chest.
It was obvious the figure was a cyborg much like General Grievous; Obi-Wan and the other Jedi Masters could see both of the figures' arms were cybernetic with the metal and the plastic of the fingers and wrist being metallic. In fact, his body seemed to composed of cybernetics. The cloak didn't hide the cybernetic legs, but it hid the rest of the body. Listening to the creature's mechanical breathing, it was clear more than his limbs had been replaced by mechanical limbs. They could see the gleam of the limbs.
And the figure was not alone.
He was being escorted by several droids. Obi-Wan recognised two of them as the type of hover-droid the Holonet media used to photograph and showcase events and interviews while making sure they were as unobstructing as possible. Judging from the red lights on the two hoverdroids, they were recording this entire thing. The third droid was an astromech droid that looked as though it had seen better days, and even with his shoddy knowledge of mechanics, Obi-Wan could tell this droid was only a few days from being scrapped. It was likely the figure had only brought it along for just one purpose.
But his eyes went back to the figure, and Obi-Wan studied him in worried fascination; without the Force to rely on to gauge what their intentions were, Obi-Wan had so few clues to what the figure was going to be doing. The presence of those hoverdroids which were recording this whole thing was concerning, and there was a handful of reasons where this could be worrying, but so far Obi-Wan didn't think there was anything either he or the others could do. Without their powers over the Force, their skills were stunted. or a moment neither party spoke as they both sized each other up.
"Well, well, well," the figure said, at last, breaking the silence. "This is my idea of a reunion."
The voice had a trace of a once human voice, though it sounded too hoarse, now it was heavily distorted by the breathing apparatus, and had a sickly and distorted tone to it, as though the figure were trying to speak into a microphone through a thick layer of mucus, grating in the respirator. The figure turned to Palpatine.
"Is that you, Palpatine? I have been watching you, these three years since the war began. Oh, three years," he paused, sounding almost wistful, "… time has so little meaning when you are suffering from agony," the figure went on.
The absence of his Force powers had snatched away a lot of Palpatine's confidence. It was evident with how he hesitantly stepped towards the figure, though Obi-Wan saw that the Sith Lord's right hand was twitching slightly. "Who are you?" he asked.
The figure let out a harsh rattle that seemed to vibrate in his throat, and Obi-Wan was chilled to the bone when he realised the figure was actually laughing. "You have the nerve to ask me that, especially when you are responsible for the majority of it? Though I cannot say I blame you, it has been a while, has it not, Palpatine?" the figure tilted its head. "How does it feel to have all of your plans shattered and lying in pieces at your feet? I went to a lot of trouble to make sure the Holonet made full use of those recordings. I'm even uploading a recording of this meeting now, to be broadcasted across all known space."
Palpatine's expression shifted and became furious. He whipped his right hand, and Obi-Wan caught sight of the gleaming hilt of a lightsaber in his grip; he wondered if Palpatine was lashing out because he had lost a good portion of his abilities, but Obi-Wan knew that the Sith Lord didn't need the Force to use the lightsaber. Still, the Sith Lord's irrationality shocked the Jedi Master.
"THAT WAS YOU? YOU FOILED MY PLANS. THE SITH HAVE SPENT THE LAST THOUSAND YEARS REFINING OUR PLAN FOR REVENGE AGAINST THE JEDI AND THE REPUBLIC, AND YOU FOILED THEM!? NO MATTER; YOU WILL PAY. I WILL SIMPLY FIND ANOTHER WAY TO FORCE THE NEW SITH EMPIRE ONTO THE GALAXY!" Palpatine yelled, his face furious as he ignited the weapon, but the figure did not look bothered. He simply whipped out a hand blaster quickly and shot the Chancellor in the arm. If he had full use of his Force Powers, Obi-Wan knew that the figure would never have been able to do that, but without the Force to help warn of an attack, Palpatine hadn't been able to see it coming.
Then Obi-Wan felt something burning strike him in the knees and he collapsed with a cry of pain, and after a volley of blaster fire from the figure, eliciting shocked cries from the rest of the Council members, the figure put the blaster back into his robes. Mace shared a pained look with Obi-Wan and the others. None of them had foreseen or expected the figure doing something like that, but they could at least respect them for their speed.
The figure laughed again, mocking them in their mutual pain. "Without your powers, you are nothing more than an ordinary man, Palpatine," he said, spitting out the name scornfully, "a dangerously powerful man, but a man nonetheless; still, it was your powers and what you would do to me that made me bring these."
The figure turned around on the spot and revealed the cloak and the cowl had been hiding some kind of harness on his back where a lizard-like creature was suspended. Obi-Wan gaped, recognising the lizard creature instantly.
"What is that?" Ki-Adi Mundi asked curiously, screwing his face up against the lingering pain from his injured kneecaps. Clearly, he was in too much pain to focus clearly.
Master Gallia gaped at the lizard in disbelief. "Is that what I think it is?" she asked, looking at her fellow Jedi Masters with shock.
"It is a ysalamir. It is a prey animal on a planet, though I am sure you know it already, and it is hunted by a predator which has evolved the means of hunting by using the Force. The ysalamir has also evolved an ability to negate the Force and elude the predator. I knew if I came here, unprepared, the Chancellor would blast me with Sith Lightning, and I am not the man I used to be."
Obi-Wan felt a surge of compassion soar through him, he could hear the melancholic sadness in the voice of the figure - the man - and he wondered just what had happened to him.
"I only came here to get justice for myself and I was in no position to endure a long fight nor did I want to get into a fight, " the compassion faded when the figure turned his head slightly and seemed to be taking in the Jedi Masters. "I wasn't expecting the Jedi Council to be here so soon, though I had hoped to see you, it doesn't matter; I knew you would be here soon, but either way it is a bonus. I have waited a long time for this day. A very long time."
The figure's last words were laden with barely hidden anger, and Mace looked at the figure in confusion and worry. "Who are you?" he asked, trepidation filling him.
The figure laughed again, clapping his metallic hands. "Oh, I am looking forwards to this!" he said gleefully, and it made Obi-Wan shudder as he heard the emotion behind the voice he was sure was modulated, and a quick glance at his fellow Jedi colleagues showed they were just as nervous.
Reaching up to take the hem of his hood, the figure slowly pushed it up.
Please let me know what you think.
Until the next time...