Chapter 4: Umbra
Kanan awoke to a throbbing headache and the bitter cold, his face pressed against fine, polished black metal, and he slowly opened his eyes and instantly regretted it. Everything hurt, not just his head. It was easily worse than any of the numerous occasions he had woken up on the floor of a cantina after a night of drunken brawls and far too much alcohol. His ear pressed to the ground, he could feel the soft vibrations, could hear the smooth hum of sophisticated engines under the sound of a low, sad howling, and when he realized where he was, he sat bolt upright, his eyes wide and his entire body objecting to the sudden movement. He was suddenly knocked back when warm arms wrapped tightly around him, the body on top of him breathing fast and irregular with intense emotion.
"I thought you were dead..." Ezra mumbled into Kanan's chest, and with a groan, the Jedi pushed himself up, his student swiftly detaching himself to help the man stand. "You looked dead, Kanan, when I woke up and saw you, I just..." He turned away from the Jedi, sniffling and wiping his arm across his eyes. When he turned back, he was smiling brightly, but the streaks on his face made it abundantly clear that he had been crying. "I'm glad you're alright."
"Did they hurt you?" Kanan asked softly, grabbing Ezra's wrists and making certain that everything moved right as he checked for injuries. There gratefully wasn't anything, or nothing he could see, in any case.
"I'm fine, stop it..." the boy said after a moment, wresting his hands back and smiling. Looking over his shoulder, he leaned in closer to the Jedi. "We're out of communications range, but I activated the tracker on our comlink," Ezra whispered. "Hera will find us."
"She always does..." Kanan muttered. "How long was I out?"
"Not long," Ezra said as he shrugged. "Or...I don't think it was long. I only recently woke up myself, but it doesn't feel like it's been long." He tugged on Kanan's arm as the Jedi wearily looked around and observed his surroundings with slack-jawed wonder. He had become accustomed to the Ghost, Hera's beauty of a ship, a heavily modified freighter that, despite its bulky appearance, was a fast, powerful machine that would make any of the smugglers he had known kill just to have a chance to fly it. But this ship...this was a yacht, a thing of sleek elegance designed for luxury, and from the smooth, nearly silent purr of the engines, it was clear the inner workings were no joke either.
He badly wanted to see Hera flying a ship like this.
"That guy, the Mandalorian..." Ezra said as he pulled Kanan toward a table in the room. "He's...kind of an old guy. He stopped by earlier with food, he said we needed to eat after what happened."
"Is it poisoned..." Kanan said flatly, looking at the food on the table with suspicion. This was a clone, after all, and clones weren't to be trusted. Especially since this clone was likely part of the Shadow Legion, the first traitors to the Republic. His resolve didn't last too long, though. It looked and smelled amazing.
"Uh, no, why would it be?" Ezra asked, looking the Jedi over with confusion. "If they were going to kill us, they would have. It's not like that didn't have the chance to many times."
"Sorry..." Kanan softly muttered. "You're right, I know, I know...have you seen the other guy? The Sith Lord?"
Ezra shook his head. "Not since we've been in the ship, no." He took a deep breath, his heart beating fast in his chest at the memory of that the man had been able to do, how quickly his temperament went from calm to murderous, the violence with which he used the Force, a chasm of difference from Kanan's own gentle, subtle use. "He's dangerous, Kanan, and he doesn't even think twice about killing people. We need to get out of here, but if there are escape pods on this ship, I couldn't find them. I didn't look very far, though. I'm..." He bit his bottom lip. "I'm afraid. If he finds us snooping...Kanan, he almost killed us for nothing at all." He gasped suddenly, eyes flying wide open. "Do you think he actually killed everyone in the Spire? Zeb and Sabine were in there, what if they didn't get out?" He grabbed Kanan's arms in a hard grip, panic quickly taking hold of him. "What if they're dead?!"
"Calm down, Ezra," Kanan said softly, the panic of the boy somehow calming him. "There's more going on here than we know, and worrying about them isn't going to help us now." He took a deep breath as he silently resolved himself to a corse of action. "Not when are answers are on this ship..."
"W-what are we going to do?" Ezra asked softly, and Kanan sighed as he shoveled one of the cut cubes of soft, pink meat on the plate into his mouth. His eyes involuntarily fluttered in satisfaction. It was good, probably the best food he'd had in...well, ever.
"You said the tracking signal is on, right?" Ezra nodded. "Then all we can do is wait for Hera to come get us." He quickly shoveled more food into his mouth, chewing it slowly and savoring each second. "We need to find the Sith Lord. He's going to have the answers we're looking for."
"Uh..." Ezra looked at the Jedi with confusion as the man quickly cleared the plate. "Are you crazy? Maybe he didn't kill us, but he could. This guy's dangerous, Kanan, you said so yourself!"
"There's something going on that we don't understand," Kanan said softly. "Things aren't adding up, nothing makes sense,and a good deal of what I knew before has suddenly been called into question." He rubbed at the back of his neck, his face drawn in concentration. "Or maybe I never knew anything. Maybe the Jedi didn't know anything. If they did, they wouldn't all be dead now."
"So, what, we're just going to walk up and introduce ourselves?" Ezra asked, shaking his head in disbelief.
"No, we don't have to. He already knows us."
"Ugh, this is nuts! Did you forget that he has a rancor that eats people?" He stubbornly crossed his arms and stared at the thoughtful Jedi. "I say we hide. We pick a spot and keep our heads down until Hera gets here."
"Then what?" Kanan scoffed. "Wait for her to try and dock with a ship that might not want to be boarded? Sounds like a good way to make someone violent, and you saw what he does in the face of hostility. And we can't hide anyway, he can sense us." He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "If he's who I think he is, they called him the Negotiator. Maybe he'll want to talk."
"And if he doesn't?"
Kanan shrugged. "At least our last meal was excellent." Ezra groaned loudly and followed Kanan as he walked to a door on the other side of the room, took a deep breath, and touched the controls, the door sliding open so effortless he could almost not hear it. At least they weren't locked up. They may have been prisoners, but at least they had a certain degree of freedom.
Like the room they had been in, the room they now entered was elegant and luxurious, a large space with a dining area and a fully furnished kitchen, where a man stood with his hands in the sink. Kanan tensed immediately and steeled himself as he walked forward. In his armor, it hadn't been so bad, but now it was plain to see that the man that stood there was a clone, his face like so many, identical to the clones he had served with in the war, the same clones that killed the Jedi when they were commanded without a single thought or objection. This one though looked...different, his black hair peppered with gray, his face drawn and worried as he diligently scrubbed at dishes.
He looked up at the pair as they approached, a large knife held tightly in his hand, and Kanan froze, his hand drifting to his blaster and felt that the holster was empty. His lightsaber wasn't on him either, naturally. The clone quickly relaxed though, dropping the knife into the sink and carefully washing it. "You're a long way from Gorse, Kanan," the clone said, a soft smirk on his face.
"I thought it was you," Kanan said, his voice tight with tension. "Never heard of a clone betraying the Empire, though, since you all are so good at following orders." If the clone was insulted, he didn't show it, but Ezra was offended enough for the both of them.
"Kanan, what are you doing?" the boy hissed, and Cody simply scoffed as he dried his recently cleaned skillet.
"It's fine, kid. My brothers betrayed him. I'd be sore too." He shrugged, tossing his towel on to the counter and walking around to meet them. "But I wasn't a part of that. I betrayed the Republic much earlier when Lord Kenobi showed me I was a slave."
"The Shadow Legion..." Kanan mumbled under his breath, and with a smile, the clone saluted.
"Commander Cody, at your service. Though..." He sighed as he stretched out his shoulders and started to slowly walk toward another door. "But you aren't going to want to talk to me. You're here for Obi-Wan."
"It's really him?" Kanan asked quietly, moving quickly to walk beside the clone, Ezra following close behind. "The actual Obi-Wan Kenobi?"
"The one and only," Cody said softly, placing his hand on the button and the doors slid open, not into another room, but to an elevator, and the clone held the door open as the other two walked in. Kanan finally managed to formulate a response, but was quickly cut off when Cody raised his hand for silence. "I know you have questions, but I can't answer any of them. He'll tell you what you need to know, just..." The door hissed open and Cody blocked their exit with his arm, the worry and concern back on his face. "...don't judge him too harshly, alright?" He pointed to the door at the end of the short hall. "And tell him I saved food for him if he ever decides to eat again."
"...I will," Kanan said, turning toward the door, but he stopped and quickly reeled around. "Wait, you made that?!" he asked, but the doors were already closed, and Cody was gone.
"Kanan, does all of this seem really weird to you?" Ezra asked, looking at the Jedi's hand hovering over the button, but not touching it, as if he were battling with himself on if they should go through with this.
"Yeah, it's all really weird." He sighed and dropped his hand, the tension returning to his shoulders. "This guy used to be a Jedi, Ezra," he said, keeping his voice low in the event that Kenobi could hear them from beyond the door. Even now, he could feel the darkness coming from within the room, a cold, swirling mist of rage and hate and grief. "He may be Sith now, but he knows more about the Jedi way than I do." He laughed bitterly. "Sorry, kid. With Luminara dead, I guess you're stuck with me. Even if he is a better teacher, I can't hand you over to the Dark Side."
"I don't want another teacher, Kanan!" Ezra cried, raising his voice and letting all his previous frustrations out. "I don't want the best, I want you." Kanan stared at him in silence for a moment and slowly began shaking his head.
"I-I can barely teach you..." he said, but Ezra just crossed his arms over his chest and smirked.
"I'm a pretty lousy student," he drawled. "I'll...try harder, Master." Kanan took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. The close proximity to such overwhelming emotions must have been effecting him.
"Y-yeah," he whispered, a faint smile on his lips. "Me too." He took a deep breath. "Let me do the talking in there." Ezra nodded and sighed in relief, grateful that there was someone to take charge in this dangerous situation, and with the air now clear between them, he felt closer to the Jedi than ever before.
With that, he pressed the button, and the doors hissed open. The room was a large one, a cargo hold that had been converted into a training arena of sorts, if the presence of shot up targets and small, spherical remote droids was any indication. It the corner was the large, white mass of the rancor, the beast laying despondently on its side and periodically emitting a long, low, mournful whine. If it had noticed the pair enter, it made no indication of it, the beast clearly unconcerned with the presence of the strangers. But their quarry stood hunched over a makeshift table, and as Kanan and Ezra carefully crept closer, the could see the thin form of Luminara Unduli laid out before the Sith Lord, the man almost lovingly brushing back her black hair.
"We were younglings together," Kenobi said as the two approached, not moving or looking away from the woman on the table, and Kanan and Ezra slowly came to stand opposite the Sith. "We were in the same group, me and her and Quinlan Vos." He laughed bitterly and shook his head, and it was only now that Kanan heard how raw his voice was, the depth of the loss permeating his entire being. "We were all so different, but it was impossible to separate us, even though we were always arguing." He scoffed. "I never won those debates."
"Never?" Kanan quietly ventured. "I'd think that the man that would come to be the Negotiator would have a natural knack for debate."
"No..." he said softly, stroking the withered face before him. "No, not me. I always preferred quiet contemplation and solitude. The talking..." He waved his hand dismissively. "That came later." He sighed, a slight, sad chuckle in his throat. "But not Quinlan and Luminara. They'd go on for hours. They never agreed on a single thing, and I never stood a chance, and not just because they were a few years older than me." The nostalgia faded, leaving the Sith Lord looking positively miserable as his fingers traced the Mirialan's lips. "They were Padawans before me. Long before me. They were picked up young, as young as was allowed, and I...was left behind." His hand trembled, golden eyes never leaving the woman before him. "Just like now. I'm the last one left..."
"You were left behind?" Kanan gasped, but the Sith Lord didn't acknowledge him. "You were the Sithkiller. You were a hero! The first Jedi to kill a Sith Lord in a thousand years!"
"I'm still the only one to have killed a Sith Lord..." he mumbled, sighing heavily. "And I was decidedly untalented. Mediocre at best, until I embraced the Dark Side. No, Quinlan and Luminara surpassed me in everything. I was chosen to be a Padawan much later than my peers, but my Master Qui-Gon..." He grit his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, the air around him shimmering with raw fury. "No, we aren't talking about him, not when he failed as much as I did to save her..." With a soft, pained whimper, he pressed his forehead to the Mirialan's and didn't move.
Kanan didn't understand that either. Any of that. How could the Jedi Masters pass up the man that would become the Sithkiller? Did they not see the raw potential of a living nexus in the Force? Or did they sense the Dark Side within him and pass him up because of it? And there were other Sith killed during the Clone Wars, weren't there? Most notable was Count Dooku, struck dead during the Battle of Coruscant, but information on what happened aborad the Invisible Hand was unclear at best. Kanan had heard that it was the young Jedi hero, Anakin Skywalker, that killed the Sith Lord. Others still said that it was Qui-Gon Jinn, slaying his old, fallen Master as he was struck down. Some claimed it had been Obi-Wan himself, consumed with madness and gripped by Sith greed, but Kanan never believed that. But now the man himself said he was the only one to ever slay a Sith Lord. And Qui-Gon Jinn was dead, so...why was he talking about him like he was alive?
He filed all those questions away. He'd have to ask him later, and Kanan visibly winced when he realized that his mind had naturally assumed he'd be seeing Obi-Wan again, but...well, the Force had some strange ideas of how things should be.
"I don't understand," Kanan said softly after a long silence. "You're a Sith Lord. The pain you feel for her loss is obvious, but why should a Sith care this deeply about a Jedi?"
Kenobi finally looked up at Kanan, his eyes blazing with fury. "We were friends," he said simply. "Why else?" Kanan stared at him, expecting more, but Kenobi said nothing, his pained gaze returning to the Jedi he so obviously cared about.
"...and that's all there is to it?"
Obi-Wan sighed and ran a hand over his face. "We were friends for fifty years, boy, and for the last few of those years, we were lovers. An ideological difference does not get in the way of that. I didn't abandon my old friends when I joined the Sith, I abandoned the Jedi as an Order of sloth, stagnation and complacency. I abandoned the corrupt and greedy Republic so that something stronger, lasting and progressive could be established in its place." The irritation in his faded away, stroking Luminara's cheek once more before tearing himself from the table and walking purposefully out of the room. Ezra and Kanan looked at each other for a moment before quickly following him. Kanan was right. There was lots he didn't know.
"She was your lover?" Kanan asked, very skeptical and very interested. A sad, faint smile came to Kenobi's lips.
"It that so hard to believe?"
"Uh, yes. She was a Jedi Master, one of the greatest, she lived by the Code, she wouldn't-"
"The Jedi Order is gone, Kanan," the Sith said harshly as the elevator slid open, the three men stepping inside. "The weakness of your ideals saw to that. The Jedi abandoned the will of the Force to serve the Republic, and now the Jedi are dead." His eyes narrowed as he looked the man over, the Jedi's chest tight and his heart pounding. "You tell me, how quickly did you abandon that particular rule? With the Jedi gone, how easy was it for you to forget that a Jedi shall have no romantic relationships?" He smirked when Kanan blushed furiously, his young student grinning broadly at his discomfort, and Kenobi stepped out of the elevator as soon as the doors slid open, entering the dining area, and Cody quickly stood and rushed to the Sith, concern written on his face.
"I thought you'd never come up," the clone said, clearly relieved. "Are you hungry? I made your favorite. Did you sleep at all, do you want to sleep first? The food's still warm, I can-"
"I'm not hungry," Kenobi said in a voice that left no room for argument, and the clone's face visibly fell. Ezra sheepishly raised his hand.
"I'm hungry," he said, and the clone shot him a vicious glare.
"Bic cuyir nayc par gar, mir'osik," Cody snapped, and Kenobi smiled faintly and walked to the dining table, sat down in the comfortable seat at the head, and folded his hands before him expectantly. He didn't need to say a thing for Kanan and Ezra to know what was being demanded of them, and but neither of them complied. Kenobi rolled his eyes.
"Cody, if you would, get that child something to eat." Cody looked offended.
"Brother, I already fed that ravenous child! He eats more than the rancor!" The Sith Lord stared at him, the faintest touch of irritation on his face as the clone challenged him.
"Really. Are we low on food? Take him down to the hold, let him go through the crates, let him eat next to Yoda for all I care." Kanan looked at the Sith Lord in slack-jawed disbelief and swiftly shook his head, trying to make sense of a situation that made no sense. Kenobi checked his comlink. "We have time, Cody, I don't suspect the Ghost will be here for another two hours at least, we did pull quite a lead, and we're a faster ship."
"Wait, how do you know the Ghost is coming?!" Ezra cried, finally breaking his silence, and Kanan groaned and smacked his forehead when a lazy smirk spread across the Sith Lord's face, his student confirming what Kenobi was guessing at.
"I believe," Obi-Wan drawled, leaning back in his seat, "that about an hour ago, upon failing to establish contact with your crew, you activated the homing beacon on your comlink." He simply shrugged when Ezra looked at him with utter disbelief. "And your crew always will return for each other. You're...family." He smiled softly, a light, easy, sad thing, Kanan saw, filled with longing and pain. "The whole lot of you. It's very...Mandalorian. I bet your little Mando'a likes that. Just her and her weird brother, your smelly purple pet cat and your grumpy droid, all watched over by Space Dad over here in Space Mom's house." He grinned when the two looked completely flabbergasted. "It's sweet, really. I'd be touched if I weren't so close to vomiting."
"T-the Spire," Ezra said, swiftly rushing to the Sith Lord, and he held up a hand, holding the boy in place and preventing him from coming closer. Ezra became frantic, thrashing in the invisible grasp. "Please! You said you'd kill everyone inside, our friends were in there! Did you do it?! Did you kill everyone?"
He pressed his hands together, his fingers on his lips as sharp golden eyes observed the boy, taking the measure of him, feeling his strength in the Force and his own awareness, and while he was strong, the boy was barely awake. Nothing worthy of note. For now. "I did," he said, his voice a low, sinister whisper, and he held up a hand when Ezra's face fell, his entire being clenched with sudden rage and sadness. "But your friends are alive. I didn't see them inside when I slaughtered the lot of them." A wry smirk tugged at his lips as he released the relieved boy. "These days, it seems, I only kill Imperials. Cody." The clone snapped to attention. "Te verda linibar at jorhaa'ir. Get the kid something to eat."
"...understood," the clone said, taking Ezra by the arm, the boy looking expectantly at Kanan, and when the man nodded, Ezra happily followed, the Sith Lord watching him carefully until he disappeared into the elevator, and for just a moment, Kanan felt as though he were looking at someone else.
"...know a teenager?" Kanan asked quietly, and the gold eyes swiftly darted to him, cold and hard and angry, like he was offended to be disturbed. The feeling faded fast, though, the fierce gaze softening considerably as he looked again to the distance.
"I would have..." the Sith Lord said slowly, carefully, as if he were testing what it would be like to say the words out loud. "If my own son had lived." He smiled softly, sadly at the suddenly stricken Jedi. "He would have been fifteen by now...not much older than your student."
"I'm sorry..." Kanan said softly, sympathy pulled within him, as reluctant as he was to feel it for this man, but he slowly let his anger and resentment go. Obi-Wan Kenobi was proving to be far more human than he was expecting, a great deal different than the soulless monster the Jedi made him out to be.
Obi-Wan gestured to the chair opposite him. "Please, sit." Obi-Wan rolled his eyes when Kanan didn't move, the Jedi reluctant, conflicted, a beautiful mess of old ideals, new information, and the confusion that came from having to question everything. "Kanan..." The man simply shook his head, and moving his fingers through the air, the power of the Force in his grasp, Obi-Wan commanded, "You will sit." Kanan's entire body suddenly tensed, and he felt the weight of the Force fall upon him, his legs moving against his will as he slowly moved to the indicated chair and sat, his jaw clenched tightly in his futile resistance.
"I think you will find that we get along better when you do as I tell you," Kenobi drawled, and Kanan shot him a hateful look as he felt the Force lift off of him. Despite the sudden urge, he stayed in his seat.
"What, you can't get along with anyone that doesn't listen to you?" he snapped, and the Sith Lord simply sat back, amused and thoughtful.
"I do confess, I am accustomed to being obeyed." He folded his hands in front of him and leaned in toward the Jedi. "I am through talking about Luminara," Kenobi softly said, a mix of anger and grief and pain dripping from his words, and Kanan couldn't help but shiver. "You already know all I have to say about her. She was my friend, my lover, I helped her escape when I could, and when she needed me most, I couldn't sense her. I failed her, and she is dead with all the rest. The matter will never be put to rest for me, but between us, it is done. Understood?"
"No." Golden eyes narrowed in rage, and Kanan could feel the Force suddenly become oppressively cold, and a moment later, he could sense the Sith Lord in the Force, not a disturbance, but a savage tear, simultaneously bright with the flames of destruction and infinitely dark with insurmountable power. He brought his hands up, as if that would somehow protect him. "I mean, she was important. Not just to you, but to the Jedi, to the Republic. Understanding what happened with her may help me understand your place in this! If she trusted you...I-I have to as well." He felt the intensity of the eyes upon him soften, the murderous intent gone and replaced by curiosity. "There's so much I don't know," Kanan said softly. "I want to learn. I need to learn."
Obi-Wan studied him for a long time, reached out with the Force to touch his mind and felt the Jedi's mental resistance swiftly fly to his defense, the teal eyes focused, his resolve strong, and slowly, Obi-Wan smiled. "As you wish. What do you need to know?"
Kanan breathed a sigh of relief. The man was emotional, yes, and certainly grieving, but he responded to reason. He could work with emotional. "She trusted you," he said, scrambling to think of what to say as the Sith slowly nodded. During the war-"
"I won't talk about the war," Obi-Wan interrupted. "Too much has happened since then, and I am...not the same man." He smiled sardonically. "But I will say this. I aided in the destruction of the Republic and the Jedi Order, and my service to the Sith was pain in betrayal." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "I am, and always will be, Sith. I believe in their ideals, their teachings, their philosophies." He looked at the Jedi. "But I also believe in the Force. I trust its whims, obey its call. It is my friend, my ally, my constant companion, and it is against this Empire. Sidious will pay for what he's done. Those pieces have been set into motion long ago. The Force bites back, Kanan, and Sidious has it coming."
"Luminara knew this?" Kenobi bit his lip and looked away, quietly processing the question through a stab of pain.
"Yes..." he finally said. "Yes, Luminara understood my desire to kill my former Master. Presumably, she remembered that I stood against him after the Empire was established, because when I came to her rescue, she came with me very quickly." He smiled warmly as he looked up to the ceiling, laughing softly to himself. "She was so close to death, she had been on the run for so long, and boy was she angry when she first saw me." He pointed to his shoulder. "The little minx stabbed me! The nerve of some people...she quickly remembered I was on her side, though, and we-" He stopped suddenly, his voice catching in his throat when he looked to Luminara within him and found a void, an open gash that freely bled, and Kanan shivered at the intense rush of emotion. That was enough for Kanan. It was clear that he cared for her, clear that she trusted him, because he wasn't lying, the level of pain and sincerity impossible to fake.
"So, you're what, fifty?" Kanan asked, an eyebrow arched at the miserable Sith Lord. "You're uh...looking pretty good there. You know, for an old guy." A small smile tugged on the edge of Kenobi's lips, grateful for the change of subject.
"Sith secret," he said with a sly smile. "You wouldn't like it. Eternal youth isn't the way of the Jedi."
"Mm, didn't you say there were no Jedi anymore?" Kanan drawled, leaning back in his chair and pointing an accusing finger at the Sith Lord. "Not that I don't try, but I'm embarrassingly undertrained. I was just a Padawan when the purge happened." Sudden anger falshed through Kanan, quick and unexpected, but he was gripped with the sudden gravity of this situation. He was sitting here chatting with Obi-Wan Kenobi, Sith Lord and traitor to the Jedi Order. Everything, everything was ruined in part because of him. And the worst thing of all was that Kenobi looked amused.
"Oh, look at this..." Obi-Wan drawled, leaning in and watching as Kanan struggled to repress his suddenly violent anger. "The Jedi has a spine after all...I was wondering when this would happen, the shock always fades."
"You!" Kanan snarled, his hands grasping the edge of the table. "You destroyed my Master!"
"Mm, I've destroyed a lot of Jedi," the Sith Lord said, his casual tone setting Kanan's nerves on edge. "Which one was your Master?"
"Depa Billaba!"
"Depa Billaba!" Kenobi repeated, genuinely impressed. "Oh, she recovered enough to take a student! The resilience of the Jedi never fails to impress..."
"You ruined her, Kenobi!" Kanan snarled. "She said you tore her apart from the inside! She had scars from your lightsaber, and she said they were the same wounds you inflicted on her sister right before you killed her!" Obi-Wan drew back slightly at that, his amusement gone and replaced by a blank expression.
"Yes, Sar Labooda...I only ever met her once," Obi-Wan said thoughtfully. "She was the first Jedi I killed. The first task I completed for my Sith Master." He drummed his fingers against the table as he watched the Jedi struggle with his rising anger. "I had nothing against your Master, of course, beyond her part in the Council's terrible decision making..." He shrugged. "But it was war, and every Jedi in the Order wanted me dead before they even knew I had done anything. You know how it is. It was her or me."
"My...entire life was ruined when the Jedi died!" Kanan growled, his focus narrowing as he felt rage and fear and hatred, all things he had felt when the Purge happened that he had put away because it was too painful. "All of it! I could have been a Knight. A Master! But you and the Sith took it all away! I'm a Padawan. What chance did I ever have!"
"Such anger, Kanan..." Obi-Wan whispered, leaning in close and breathing deeply of the raging emotions that called upon the Dark Side. Kanan hadn't reached for it, but Kenobi could feel the darkness within himself rearing up in response, ready to come to the call of another, ready to catch another Jedi as they fell swiftly into the abyss. "Embrace it. Take it, make it your own..." He smirked when the Jedi's eyes fluttered, his breath coming faster as darkness called to him, that sweet, soothing voice that beaconed the unaware, the unguarded and quietly seduced them. "There aren't any Jedi left to judge you for it, Kanan. No rules but your own. Wonoksh Qyâsik nun, free yourself..."
Obi-Wan watched with rapt attention as Kanan slowly shook his head, trying to clear the thick haze from his mind, swaying in his chair like he had too much to drink. And a moment later, it was gone, his unfocused eyes clearing as he gasped, his hand to his chest as he struggled to calm his heart, only now realizing how narrow the ledge he stood upon was. This was a Jedi. A real one, not some slave that grew to be a mindless slave of the Order. This one had struggled, suffered, had been forced to survive, had abandoned all the trivialities of his broken Code, but held on tightly to the most important things. Perhaps this is why the Force had been showing him visions of Kanan for so many years. Ahsoka to raise a Rebellion, and Kanan to raise new Jedi.
"Was this your plan?" Kanan gasped, eyeing the Sith Lord warily. "To make me embrace the Dark Side? So you can make more Sith? That's never going to happen!"
"I believe you..." Kenobi said softly. "But no, that wasn't my plan, that's not why you're here. And you wouldn't be Sith anyway. Most people can't. It's a rare monster indeed that can rise above and become Sith." He shrugged. "And it's not you. To be Sith, one must want the darkness, and I sense you do not."
Kanan slowly nodded, but didn't dare look away. "There's another question. Why am I here? I'm not a friend to you like Luminara, you've no cause to save me or keep me alive, so why. You're a Jedi killer, you helped destroy them all, so...I don't understand."
Obi-Wan sat quietly for a moment, stroking his beard as he carefully considered his next move. "I saw you in a vision," he finally said. "Many years ago, and the Force doesn't give me bad information. A lone boy standing among the bodies of a thousand dead Jedi..." He chuckled softly as he leaned back in his seat, amused at Kanan's horrified expression. "At first, I thought it was a warning, showing me my next targets, Jedi I needed to kill for the purge to be complete."
"If you thought that now, you'd have killed me as soon as you saw me," Kanan said, and the Sith Lord nodded.
"You're right. I would have. But as I was betrayed, my understanding of the vision changed. It wasn't about who to kill, it was about who to look for, who would survive to fight again." Kenobi flashed Kanan an easy smile. "Imagine my delight when I discovered it was you, and that you were a rebel." He shrugged easily and ran a hand through his hair. "So I started keeping an eye on you and your activities, because when the time's right, we're all going to have to strike back against the Empire, and it takes a special sort to help lead a rebellion."
"Is there something bigger out there?" Kanan asked as he leaned in, lowering his voice to be secretive. "Hera thinks there's a greater rebellion, but we haven't seen or heard anything about something larger. It's just...tips from some shadow operative through a voice only secure channel. Some guy that calls himself Fulcrum."
"Hm, you don't say..." Kenobi said lazily as he yawned, and Kanan couldn't shake the feeling that this guy might know something about this. He didn't know why this was important, but he felt it was.
"Are you the Shadow King?" he asked quickly before he could stop himself, but the Sith Lord just smirked.
"Yes." He flashed the Jedi a wicked grin. "My turn. Why were you in the Spire? That was a trap tailored specifically to me, so why."
"We heard Luminara was being held there..." Kanan said, trying to decide exactly what to share, and he settled on hiding nothing. He had seen this Sith Lord at his most raw, grieving over the death of a friend and lover. At the every least, he owed him honesty. "If I could save any Jedi, any at all, I had to try, and this was one of our great Masters. And..." He sighed wearily. "Ezra...I've tried teaching him, but he's stubborn and difficult, he lacks focus, and I...I'm not a teacher. I'm a Padawan, my own training isn't complete."
"...you were looking for a teacher for your student." Kanan nodded, and Kenobi softly scoffed. "You were wasting your time. Luminara only ever had one student, and Barriss fell to the Dark Side. I didn't even have a hand in that one." He tilted his head as he observed the Jedi, the man's eyes downcast, his entire being screaming with self-doubt. It was a lack of confidence that came from a lack of practice and training, a student forced to teach, and it was...pitiful.
"Why were you at the Spire..." Kanan muttered, eager to change the subject, but knowing full well what the answer would be. He just couldn't think of anything else. "You must have known it was a trap..."
"You're right, I did." Kanan looked up, suddenly curious, and instead of the sorrow he had expected, Kenobi was all business, his face focused and determined. "I went to save Luminara. I sensed her in the Force, and like always, that meant it was time to go to her. When I found out where she was, I knew it was a trap." He leaned in, those golden eyes on fire, and Kanan followed suit, feeling like what Kenobi had to say was some great secret. "I'm being watched. For years, someone's been watching me, testing me, and as soon as I knew where it was, I knew it was another test, and it was one I knew I would lose, no matter what I did."
"So...if you knew, why did you go?" The sadness crept back into the Sith Lord's eyes.
"...it was Luminara. I couldn't leave her, even if it meant exposing myself." His face hardened once again as he pushed aside his pain, his anger giving him dangerous focus. "But knowing it was a trap before I went gave me a chance to prepare. A trap exposes not just the prey, but the predator as well, and I've found mine." He grinned wickedly. "Thrawn."
"...who's that?" Kanan asked, feeling like he should have known, from the way the Sith Lord said it, but Kenobi shrugged.
"No idea, but a name is a hell of a lot more than what I had before. I'll know him soon enough."
"You're getting involved with some dangerous stuff..." Kanan said, then laughed under his breath when the Sith cocked an eyebrow. "Who am I kidding, you've been involved with it. Must be lonely doing it all on your own."
"I'm not on my own, I have Cody and Yoda." A look of confusion passed over Kanan's face. "...the rancor, stupid. Come on, get with it..." Kenobi smirked. "Why? You going to miss me?"
"N-no, I just..." Kanan cleared his throat and drew himself up. "I'm committed to teaching Ezra, but I'm..." He sighed heavily. "I'm just a student. I'm worse than a student, I'm a student who hasn't practiced the Force with a teacher for fifteen years."
"You need a teacher..." Obi-Wan said, nodding in understanding. "There's nothing I can teach the boy, Kanan, you-"
"Not for him, for me!" The golden eyes widened as he looked at him. Kanan. The last Padawan. He was powerful, to be sure, and he resisted the Dark Side better than some of the Jedi that Obi-Wan had fought during the war.
"You want training in the light, Kanan, but all I know is darkness. It's been a very long time since I was a Jedi."
"Yeah, me too," the man said, a smooth, cocky smile on his face, and deep within him, Obi-Wan could feel the tug of the Force, pointing him toward where he needed to be. The rebellion would be happening soon. He'd need Jedi like Kanan beside him.
Kenobi checked his comlink and frowned. "Your girlfriend still has at least an hour before she's due." He slipped a hand inside his robes, and pulled out the two pieces of Kanan's lightsaber and tossed them to him. "That display against the Inquisitor was pitiful. Truly, a shameful showing of Soresu. If Luminara were alive to see it, she would have been embarrassed. She's the one that taught me the basics of the form, and since..." He spread his arms out, a cocky smirk on his face. "The Jedi considered me the Master of Soresu." His lightsaber flew to his hand and ignited in a burst of red, his long fingers lowering the setting to the safety of training levels. "So...at least you'll learn from the best. Care to test yourself?"
With a determined grin on his face, Kanan quickly twisted his lightsaber together, lit the blue blade and readied himself.