Title: The Keeper
Rating: M for referenced violence and manipulation
Beta: Fallen Prophetess- Any remaining mistakes are my own.
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars. George Lucas and Disney own them.
Previously Published: Obikin Big Bang 2018 on AO3
Pairing: Can either be read as romantic or platonic Obikin. Referenced Anidala
Warnings: Emotionally unstable Anakin; Confused and hurt Obi-Wan; Pregnant Padme; Jedi massacre; Manipulative holocrons
Summary: Vader learns information about Obi-Wan during the Jedi massacre that changes everything. The Universe will never be the same.
-Text Key-
'Force conversations'
'Thoughts'
Emphasized points
'"Emphasized thoughts"'
Movie Dialogue indicator*
"You are not our Firebird." Came the whispers from the holocrons in the once secure vault within the former Jedi Temple.
"No, I am the one who is here to free you from the Jedi and take you to your rightful place with my master." Vader bragged as he reached to take the first of the holocrons from their shelves in the cold, black metal lined room. He felt an electric shock run through his body as he made contact with the holocron.
"We have no interest in your master, fallen Jedi." The holocron in question seemed to hiss. "Our interest is in the Unified Jedi force user, our Firebird. The line of Bane means nothing to us."
"I am no Jedi. They are traitors to the Republic and my master." Vader declared as he pulled his hand away from the offending holocron. He now turned his attention to a holocron that appeared to be more ancient and less likely to have been tampered with by the Jedi. Only to get zapped with a strong electric current. "Surely you must be seeking to be reunited with those who would learn your teachings and further the Sith empire. The Jedi have kept you lock up and silent in their crypt."
"We have not been silent. You are mistaken Fallen One," the Ancient holocron seemed to growl. "You know nothing of the true workings of the organization which you have sought to destroy."
"I know everything about the Jedi. However, I never realized it was possible for holocrons to betray their creator's causes." Vader sneered at the offending holocron.
'The Jedi must have tampered with the holocrons to impair them from being able to willing leave the Temple. Perhaps there is a way to rewire them…'
The voices started off as a murmur that grew into a din. "How dare you Fallen One believe that we have allowed ourselves to be tamper with by the pathetic ones who entombed us here. Why do you have the audacity to assume that we have betrayed ourselves? Because we seek the Jedi Keeper that has cared for us since he was one of our enemies' Padawans?"
"There is no ways that any true Sith would seek or want to continue any contact with the Jedi scum." Vader snarled as he moved forwards to grab one of the holocrons.
"You know nothing Fallen One. He is worthy of our teachings, our little Firebird is, he is one that we seek to teach. The question is, are you?"
"How can I prove my worth to you?" Vader demanded, "What must I do to show that my Master and I are more worthy to receive your teachings than any puny Jedi."
"Are you that high on the Darkness or are you that arrogant that you would dare to tell us, the most Ancient of the Sith who is and who is not worthy of our teaching?" A soft, but strong, deadly voice called from what appeared to be an ancient holocron. "Would you swear an oath of allegiance to us over the Banite Sith? Would you bring us our Firebird to be taught to show us that you are worthy to be taught our greatness? Or would you betray us like all those in the line of Bane?"
"I do not know if your keeper is alive. An order was set to kill all the Jedi." Vader did not want to risk his opportunity to gain knowledge from the holocrons, but he knew there was little to no chance that the holocron's Jedi was still alive.
"Our keeper is alive." A female voice from a sleeker holocron declared. "He has survived through much and lived. What magic and force manipulation we have been able to regain throughout our imprisonment, we have used to monitor our Firebird."
'Why are they so focused on this Firebird? Who in Hoth is this supposed Firebird and why did they label him with such a ridiculous name?'
Vader made his belief well known to the ancient and not-so-ancient Sith. "You would be better served to go with me now to my master."
"If you bring him to us to corrupt, we will teach you the wisdom as we teach him."
Vader again reached out to gather the Sith holocrons to bring them to his Master. However, the Ancient holocron's next words caused Vader to stop moving immediately.
"If you ever wish to gain any of our wisdom which your Banite master would deny you, you will bring us our red-headed Firebird."
'There was only one red-head in the Temple… it cannot be. Ob… Kenobi would never serve as the holocrons' keeper. He is too weak."
"Who is this Firebird you so desperately seek." Vader demanded.
There were noises that sounded like laughs coming from the holocrons, before one voice answered Vader's question.
"His Jedi keepers called him Kenobi."
'Kiff.'
"Why do you seek Kenobi? What could possibly draw you to such a light entrenched traitor?" The newly fallen Jedi growled the question at the keepers of the Sith knowledge.
The Sith holocrons had known this question was coming.
"He is not a traitor, merely brainwashed by the Jedi to remain light." The voice of Ajunta Pall stated simply.
Darth Traya picked up where Pall had left off. "His anger was delicious when he was a child and remained a sight to behold when his Jedi keepers sought to harm his Pride. The betrayal is has experienced made his anger even sweeter."
"His Pride?" Apparently Traya's words had triggered the little Fallen One's curiosity.
"His former Padawan. He frequently spoke aloud while tending to us as he didn't realize we could hear him at times when we were quiet." Darth Revan offhandly answered. The best way to manipulate this Fallen One to do their bidding was to pique his curiosity and his desire for answers. "His keepers made sure that any knowledge he gained about how we functioned was purged from his mind."
Darth Phobos easily caught on to the others' plan to lure the fallen Jedi into obeying their commands. "He would seem to unconsciously speak about his precious Padawan and the Jedi Masters' behavior towards him. At times we thought our Firebird was ready to be turned, but then Old One and his ilk would interfere."
"Obi-Wan would speak of m.. his Padawan?" The young one asked of the dead Siths, "for what purpose?"
"Obi-Wan… was that the Firebird's proper name?" Lord Villa inquired of the former Jedi. "It suits."
"He spoke of love and attachment for his Padawan." Darth Zannah whispered. Despite being of the line of Bane, she had no desire for her Master's line to continue.
The young one seemed to deflate, before something hard seemed to enter into his eyes. "Kenobi has no love for anyone, he is emotionless. He cannot be the one of whom you speak."
Revan observed the change and communicated silently with his breathren. 'I believe we have found how this one fell.'
"Yet he is who we speak of. We know our Keeper." Reven replied to the emotional boy upon hearing Revan's observation. "Just as we know that you were his Padawan, taken from him too early by those who sought to destroy you."
"He held me back." The Firebird's Anakin stated almost sullenly, but there was a hint of something else…
'Longing' Darth Cognus whispered to Revan and the others. 'He longs for the Firebird's affection. He does not realize he already had it.'
"Is that what your new Master told you? That he sought to hold you back?" Traya stated. "A wise man knows that there is always more to learn. Be warned little Fallen One, pride is a sin of the Banite line."
"He sought to protect you. He used his greatest weapons to defend you- his words and his mind." The Sith Emperor added. "A gifted orator, our Firebird."
"He foresaw many things while he was in our room, things that the Elder Jedi did not allow him to remember… that his sightless Master refused to allow him to remember as he was focused on the 'here and now.'" Cognus whisper. She, like Zannah, was equally interested in seeing her former line fall and seeing a newer, better line arise from the ashes. Their little Jedi guardian would be well suited for the task once he fell. Now it was merely a matter of convince the Firebird's former Padawan to turn on his new Banite master.
"Kenobi never had visions. He never believed that one could see the future." The brat scowled as he answered.
'Obviously, our little Firebird did not listen to the little Fallen One's vision.' Phobos whispered to her breathren.
The deceased Siths could almost feel Cognus seeking something in the cosmic force, before she slowly relayed the Dark Side's message to them. 'Our Firebird's confidence in his and others foresight outside of that Troll's will have to be rebuilt.'
There was murmuring between the holocrons that was almost perceptual to the Fallen One's ears, but it was Revan and Pall who confirmed what the others were thinking.
'We are agreed. We must use the Fallen One to lure our Firebird and then use our combined strength to turn our little Jedi.'
"Why would he believe in foresight when his Jedi master tried to beat his ability out of him? The Grey One considered the Firebird's gift to be a path to the dark side." Villa outright challenged the former Padawan. "Our Firebird is of the Unified Force, not of the Living. That was why he was a holocron keeper. But his Master never accepted that. He deemed the Firebird's gifts to be paltry and based merely on the Little One's anxiety. His master made sure though that he would never remember his visions."
"He... he never told me he was a keeper," the Fallen One stuttered in a quiet hurt voice. Then the Banite anger arouse. "Another thing he kept from me."
'Cognus,' Traya called to the younger Sith Lady skilled in mind magic.
'I will undo the shade my line's descendent has left in the Fallen One's mind.'
"It was not his secret to tell, little Fallen One." Revan admonished his fellow former Jedi as Cognus worked her magic to release the twisted anger the current Banite Master had placed in the young human's mind. "It is interesting that you are so focused on what he kept from you that were not within his power to tell when you kept many secrets from him."
"I kept nothing from him." The young man defiantly stated.
"You kept your marriage and your love of the Senator from him." Zannah retorted, "I believe even in this changing world that one could consider that to be keeping secrets from Kenobi."
"What?" The new Sith gaped at the holocrons in front of him. "There is no way you could know that…"
"He knew of course." Traya stated weaving her web of lies, truth, and all that lay in-between. "He spoke about it occasionally as he tended to us. It hurt him that you would not speak of it, but he stated that he always wanted to give your space to tell him. He believed you would tell him when you felt you were ready. All he wanted was for you to be happy… I wonder who told you that he was intentionally keeping things from you."
"My master, Sidious told me." The Firebird's Pride responded in a soft voice. The effects of Traya's web and Cognus' mind magic already becoming evident.
"Does Sidious have much contact with our Firebird?" Pall asked in an offhanded manner.
"What?!" The young one exclaimed "No, why would he want to have contact with Obi… a Jedi?"
"But he had contact with you?" Villa clarified.
"Yes, of course, he was ensuring I would be prepared to take my rightful place." The baby Sith replied.
"Then he would have no knowledge of our Keeper but what you gave him." Traya prompted.
"No," The boy, for that is what he seemed to be at the moment, appeared to be confused as he responded. Still the current Sith Lord's magic was strong, "But he knew that Kenobi was like all Jedi…"
"Such arrogance to believe you know everything when you know nothing." Villa quietly raged. "He played you little one. He played you like an instrument because he knew you would never question him and he knew what you desired the most."
"Your precious Firebird held me back and never showed me the love that you claim he had for me." The boy stated firmly, but tears were running down his cheeks.
"You seem to expect that a blind man would be able to describe the sight of rainbow after a stormy day." Phobos questioned.
"What?! No!" The child cried out. "What in Hoth are you talking about?"
"You assume that someone who has been raised to shun emotions would be able to express them." Phobos clarified.
"Anyone who is human knows how to express emotions." The Fallen One replied
"You would assume that, wouldn't you little fallen Jedi?" Revan asked
"Fine, say I believe you." The former Jedi defiantly declared, fire briefly flashing in his eyes. "What attracts you so much to Obi-Wan? What makes you think that you can corrupt him?"
"He is a force of nature waiting to be unleashed; with the right trigger he will fall." Pall identified as she remembered the fiery child that their Firebird had been before the Jedi sought to dose his flames.
"He has never been tempted before." The former Jedi was wavering. Cognus' mind magic, the other Sith holocrons' logic, and the Fallen One's repressed love for Kenobi were untangling the mess that the current Sith Lord had made.
"He has, but those are his stories to tell." Phobos whispered, "but he will not have anything preventing him from telling you the truth once you reclaim your true Master from the false light the Jedi have forced upon him.
"Y… you lie."
"You lie to yourself. You know what would trigger him to fall. Is it not said where there is Skywalker, there is Kenobi." Revan replied
"Me…." Kenobi's former Padawan contemplated aloud in amazement. "I'm the key to him falling?"
"The one true person he would have left the Jedi for even without even having to be asked." The Sith holocrons confirmed together.
"Me? Truly?!" The boy sought to clarify.
"We will not speak anymore until you bring us our Firebird." Revan stated as he dangled the bait in front of the newly arisen Sith.
"I… I will bring him." The Fallen One confirmed in a soft, slow manner. "I…. I give you what you seek."
The young one went to leave.
"A word of warning, little fallen one." The holocrons spoke together, causing the human to turn to face them once more.
"Yes Masters and Mistresses?" The boy queried.
"Our Firebird will fight you because the Order is all he has ever known. You must stay in control of yourself to capture him. The future is uncertain if you do not." Came the combine holocrons' counsel as Cognus undid the last tie the shade had to the boy's mind.
"As you command."
'The new Sith Lord is strong…' Phobos commented to her brethren.
'But we are stronger,' Cognus replied. 'As our new apprentices will be as well once we have undone what the Jedi have done to them.'
As Vader, no Anakin, walked away from the holocron vault and the task set before him by his mast... his former Sith master, Anakin had only one thought on his mind.
'I have to alter the Order…'
TBC...