Chapter 27: The Guide (Part 3)

Sidious sat in his newly taken office as the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic. That at least had gone to plan if everything else hadn't. He supposed that was putting it lightly, everything else had failed, spectacularly. Amidala was still alive, and if any of the futures he had scryed were to be believed, would become a political nuisance to deal with that he unfortunately couldn't have killed at the moment. Qui-Gon Jinn was still alive, so Dooku was going to become a long-term project rather than short term. He'd have to find a step-in to handle dealing with the Kaminoians and their needed template. Not to mention any other ways the maverick Jedi could interfere in his plans.

Worst yet...

The Jedi had his apprentice, his Sith Apprentice, his Darth Tyrosus. Who he had never even had a chance to lay eyes on, to revel in, to possess and truly own as his legacy. To look into her molten yellow eyes, and find Siri Tachi dead at last. The future he had seen, of her carrying on the line of the Sith, her own apprentice a young mysterious Leia, was in jeopardy. He had finally had his true, Sith Apprentice... and then she had faded away, leaving him furiously baffled as to what had happened. Then he had seen the recordings from Naboo...

The pure, raw, continuous rage he felt left cracks in his heavily-layered shields that he had to consciously mend every few hours for the last few days. The first opportunity he had, he was going to vent his wrath on the misbegotten trash living in the bowls of Coruscant. He finally had an answer to who the Jedi was in his first vision of his apprentice, the Jedi that tried to pull her back into the light. Obi-Wan Kenobi. How DARE he. How dare he steal away what belonged to Sidious, to the Dark Side, to the Sith. She had been his! And then yanked back at the absolutely last second. Kenobi wasn't a mere old friend, a potential Sacrifice, he was what had held her back all these years.

Logic dictated he consider her a lost cause, to not waste time lingering, and move on, but that would admit failure in something he had struggled to attain for years, would admit the Jedi had won in regards to her. And that, was intolerable. Sidious growled under his breath. The Jedi would not have what belonged to him. He did not yet know how he would do it, but he would recover his apprentice. He would punish her as he never had before, make her watch as he stripped Kenobi's flesh from his bones in front of her very eyes, and then with nothing left to hold her back she would finally, firmly, be the Sith she was meant to be.

If all else failed, he could find another apprentice, as much as he was loath to admit defeat. That boy he had briefly seen on Coruscant, Skywalker if the reports from Naboo were right, had potential for example. Now that the boy had started training and actively the Force, he was like a beacon. How Sidious had missed him before, he didn't know. If he were not so invested in Tachi, Skywalker would be a go-to choice. Actually, not leaving himself a backup plan was foolish. It couldn't hurt to put in a request to see the 'Hero of Naboo' who blew up the Trade Federation Ship and 'give his thanks'. He needed to see what he could learn of the boy and his character. If he were lucky, he might get two potential apprentices to pit against one another, now there was an amusing idea.

Regardless, he still had to get his apprentice out of the Temple to have a chance at reclaiming her. How to go about that? The Jedi would not relinquish their hold for nothing short of a Senate order, and even that would be fought against, so how to go about that...

Ah...

A trial perhaps?

Yes... yes... that could work. There was some precedence for having a Force Sensitive taken out of Jedi custody to be put on trial. The Occupation of Naboo could serve as the reason, not to mention some of her more public confrontations with Dooku that resulted in collateral damage. He could potentially take her in transit, or from a cell. If all else failed, there were drugs that could make her seem dead to both sensors and the Force if she was put up for execution, then he could easily spirit her 'corpse' away.

It would take time to set that up however... time Kenobi would use to pry at Tachi.

He had best move quickly...

Obi-Wan had underestimated Siri.

He had thought it would take her days to gain control of herself while in the Force Suppression Cell. Yet when he walked in the following morning, Siri was laying on her stomach, feet kicking back and forth from the bed into the air, lazing about, calm and collected as could be; if but a bit bored. He stared at her, and she stared back, eye brow raised, making a popping sound with her mouth childishly.

"Good morning Siri," he finally said.

"Good being the relative term," she mused before pouting, "Aww really? You didn't bring me any grub? I'm hurt, you're supposed to bring your girl something to eat when you take them out on a date. Not that a cell is a restaurant, semantics I suppose for a Jedi."

Obi-Wan flushed a little bit at that mixture of poking, flirting, and jabbing; before he went a little sheepish at the main point. "Sorry, this is kinda new for me. I'll bring something back the next time I go and return."

She grinned. "Something tasty perhaps? I love temple mush as good as the next Sith prisoner, but c'mon."

He rolled his eyes and sighed. "I might get you something from Dex's at some point if it's allowed."

She pouted. "Tsk. Buzzkill. Ah well.

She eyed the entrance briefly. "So tell me, Obi-Wan, are you going to be my only playdate?"

"Playdate," he said mildly before pinching the bridge of his nose when she snickered at him.

She was going to be a test of patience too. Where was the calm if but serious and competitive Padawan he used to know?

"Most likely," he said.

"Oh good," she answered, "Having to hear Jedi preaching virtues at me would get old really fast."

"I could recite the Jedi Code for you if you want," he responded, poking back at her.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't you dare."

"There is no...," he began.

She shifted, sitting up, grabbing her pillow, and flinging it at him. "None of that Obi-Wan! I will kick you out of this cell!"

He caught the pillow and shook his head in bemusement, tossing it back to the bed. "You've always been a handful Siri."

"Sidious always called me insolent more than anything else," she mused noncommittally, faking indifference, "He was always so fond when he said that."

Though the twitching of her lips might have given away her own thoughts on that matter.

"So there's no one else you'd want to see?" asked Obi-Wan.

Siri made a face. "Not really..."

She frowned. "Maybe Vos, he was fun. I'd love to have a chance to screw with him, but I don't know when he's going to be done with whatever he was doing on Tatooine."

That caught Obi-Wan offguard. "Quinlan was on Tatooine?"

"Mhm," she answered, "One of the reasons I waited to come after you all, didn't know who the Queen was with. It was Quinlan and Aayla something."

"Secura, his padawan," he corrected.

Siri ogled at him. "They let Vos have a padawan?!"

Obi-Wan couldn't suppress a sharp, surprised laugh out of that, Siri just snickered again. "He's not that bad Siri."

"Coulda fooled me," she said, waving a hand through the air.

"What about Bant?" he asked when she made no further comment, "She did tend to you alongside Master Che."

Siri frowned, her eyes going sharp. "Tend to me?"

"You had wounds and scars, some old, some new, all over your body Siri," said Obi-Wan, a little incredulous.

Siri just looked at him with indifference. "Sith Training is harsh and not for the weak. Any mistake or slipups are punished."

Obi-Wan did not bother keeping the displeasure off his face. "That's no way to teach. Mistakes should be corrected, not pushed with beatings."

She seemed amused. "Funny enough, Sidious never really physically beat me. Electrocuted me all the time yes, but he never bothered with physical punishment. To easy to cut away feeling marks upon the flesh with the Force he said. Those marks I earned during my quality time with my training droids. Or while out on missions."

She scowled at him. "And hey! I never gave permission for any of that to be tended to! Most of those scars I kept as reminders."

He crossed his arms, not impressed in the slightest. "And what about the long term damage of Force Lightning then?"

She blinked at him. "The what?"

"Electricity can cause nerve damage. Damages your joints, arthritis is common, as are cataracts, and a huge amount of other side effects."

She stared at him for a moment before she started swearing, he assumed, in a strange, harsh language.

"What is that language?" he asked.

"Sith," she said flatly, irritation playing across her face, "Sidious, that old kriffing bastard. I don't even bother keeping track of all the reasons I want to kill him anymore."

"The Sith have their own language?" he asked, sidestepping that viscous torrent for the moment.

"Of course they do," she said flatly, "Force, how little does the average Jedi even know about the Sith?"

Obi-Wan didn't answer that. It was self-evident really.

Siri huffed a little. "I suppose you can give my thanks to Bant. I can't promise I'd play nice if she visits, might just scare her off."

Maybe when he had worked her over a bit more then. He toyed with asking about what happened with her mind, but held off for the moment, physical first. "How are you doing this morning?"

She stared at him.

His eyes flickered to her bandaged arms.

"I haven't the faintest idea what your hinting at," she said with lethal sweetness, her eyes predatory and dangerous, "But for your sake I suggest you drop the subject before I start breaking your fingers."

He frowned at her. "Siri... can't I even show concern for a friend?"

She growled, low and hostile, the hairs on the back of Obi-Wan's neck standing up, he reflexively took a step back as she spoke in a harsh tone. "It was a moment of weakness, nothing more, nothing less. I was caught off-guard and overwhelmed by an old weakness I thought had died out a long time ago. It won't happen again."

Obi-Wan took a moment to steel himself, to overcome that fear. "Feeling guilt isn't a weakness."

He swore facing down what Siri had become took more strength than standing up to the Council.

"For a Sith is is," she said sharply.

"Then I can't imagine why'd you ever want to be one," he snapped back, "Feeling guilt is part of what it means to be a sentient lifeform. Can you look me right in the eye and say you don't, or shouldn't, feel guilt for what you've done?"

"Being a Sith is my life now, I didn't have a real choice before, and I can't imagine anything else now," she said, her eyes meeting his for a moment before breaking away and crossing her arms stubbornly, "Perhaps it is... unfortunate... that people have died in my path to power, to becoming strong enough to kill Sidious, but it was a necessary sacrifice. It would have saved more lives in the long run if I succeeded in replacing Sidious."

Necessary.

Necessary?!

Did she even hear herself speak?

Was she truly so deeply, and utterly lost?

"Do you... do you honestly feel no remorse for what you've done?" he whispered.

She scowled at him. "Believe me Obi-Wan, between me and Sidious, I'm the lesser evil."

He said nothing, heartbroken and grieving. How can he fix this? How can he save her from this?

She looked away from him. "I never wished for this Obi-Wan, never would have wanted it. But whats done is done. I will do whatever it takes to achieve the power I need to kill Sidious."

"And damn anyone who gets in your way or caught in the crossfire?" he spat out.

She didn't answer, her lips drawn tight.

"Then why didn't you just kill me?" he asked, "Because I sure as hell was in the way."

She stood, and for a moment, he thought she was going to attack him, the rage on her face so all consuming. "Did you want me to kill you Kenobi? Because I could have, easily."

"Then why didn't you?" He had his suspicions, but he wanted to hear her say it.

Her hands were shaking, her breathing turned ragged. "Because I..."

She turned away and stalked into the fresher.

He wasn't done though, walking in after her, watching her leave heavily against the sink. "If everyone else is just 'in your way', then why should I have mattered?"

"Don't press your luck Obi-Wan," she whispered.

"I want to know," he said firmly, "Why me admitting I love you made such a difference, singled me out over everyone else you've murdered."

She whirled, grabbing him, and slamming him into the fresher wall, her face inches from his, her eyes wild with emotion, "Because you were the last thing I held onto! My last shred of decency, of innocence, of light. My last delusion, only it wasn't a delusion. You poured that feeling into me, showed me it, you held onto me the way I held onto you early on. I... I.. l... lo..."

She shoved him away, snarling, slamming a fist hard into the wall. Conflict deep across her face.

"You love me," he said softly, with a gentle wonder. She had felt the way he did about her, even through that darkness...

"Congratulation," she spat, "You win a medal. Now get the kriff out of my cell. I don't want to see you again today."

"Siri...," he began, reaching a hand for her.

"Touch me, and I'll break your arm," she snarled, voice rising, "GET OUT!"

He hesitated for a moment before pulling his hand back. "Alright. I'll bring you some food later then."

"I've gone days without eating before, I'll manage," she muttered.

"Another thing I don't like about your training," he muttered, earning another growl from her.

He took the hint though and left, thoughtful. Having confirmed her feelings for him... filled him with a lot of conflicting emotions. The fantasy of growing old and still loving one another as Qui-Gon and Tahl had was long since crushed. She had damned herself thoroughly, and while he still cared, still loved her... it would always be a shadow looming behind her. Still... no one who was truly lost could love, and while being loved by a darksider (a Sith) made him feel... uneasy, it was still an eight year old desire, to love and be loved in return by her. She was perhaps inches from falling off a pit that she might never be able to get out of, but there was still a chance, and despite how she denied it, she did feel regret, even if she was to much in denial to admit it.

She also knew, despite how she implied otherwise, that what she was doing was wrong. She wasn't so lost that she didn't recognize it. She had, even if it had been unintentional, called herself the lesser evil. Maybe he was grasping at straws, but... he wouldn't give up hope for her. He needed to take the rest of the day and think, plan, strategize, how to tackle this. As much as he didn't want to, Plo Koon's idea of using attachment, using love, as a weapon... might be the only real way he could make an actual impact. Because it hadn't been anything noble or remorseful or any reason like that which had stopped her from killing him and Qui-Gon, it had been her feelings for him. It left his stomach in knots... and felt wrong to do... but...

This wasn't something so simple as someone straying off the beaten path. She was fallen, Sith, so deeply lost... and even if he regretted it or she resented him for it later, he needed to pull out everything he had to bring her back...

Review Response:

Merged Claressa SSJ5 Goddess: Hmm... I'm trying to figure out how to answer this without spoiling things, but in the interest of not alienating readers from the story, I'll make an attempt. (Though as a reminder this is a Sith/Dark Siri story, not necessarily a pure Sith Siri story. There is a difference between the two)

For one, Siri isn't lawful good, at all. She's readily admitted that she'd damn herself as much as necessary to kill Sidious (and already has darkened her soul a great deal). She has possessive love for Obi-Wan, which is 100% not a Jedi thing, it is also the only thing that's stopped her from being 100% full blown Sith, otherwise she would have had yellow eyes years ago, any morality issues falling away. I don't believe I ever phrased whats coming in this section as 'come to terms', more like 'confront what she's done'. What she makes of it is up to her, thus far she's not had a good time of that at all. I suppose if one defines Sith as pure evil, Siri might not fit that role to a T, but I don't particularly like Pure Good/Pure Evil. All sentient beings that aren't complete psychopaths/sociopaths (like Sidious is) feel remorse/regret, and without the Dark Side she's feeling it all crashing down on her (yet still wanting the Dark as to reject confronting what she's done), and still denies how it affects her. I will say outright, even if it's a spoiler, that Dark-Gray is the most Siri will ever go back towards the Light. Siri had her chance for a U-Turn with Siolo Ur Manka, that chance is gone. Even if it wasn't, what you said of:

"then comes back to the light side like nothing even happened"

Isn't happening, because frankly I agree. Shoving everything in a closet like it never happened is... I'm not going to say bad writing, but a choice I wouldn't make. Siri won't forget what she's done, and no one else is certainly going to allow her to (except maybe Obi-Wan wishing he could). Perhaps if Obi-Wan had years on end access to Siri, without anyone else interfering, he could eventually bring her back somewhat into the light, though it would be a fragile thing. But he doesn't have that kind of time. For one, Sidious has plans for recovering his apprentice (whether they succeed or not really depends on Siri, when it goes to trial time, she's not going to take it sitting down). For two, Clone wars in roughly 10~ years. For three, Jedi being Jedi are never going to allow Siri to forget when she's out of her cell, nor will plenty of Non-Jedi. (Padme's going to hold a g-g-g-ruuudgeee!)

This section is called 'The Guide', but even guides can fail. Siri herself is stubborn to a fault. Even if Obi-Wan succeeds in pulling her away from the Dark (but not necessarily to the light), it doesn't mean Siri can't fall back into the Dark. The struggle for a soul is a long, difficult battle, whether it succeeds, or it fails. Also, slightly hurt man, she's been dark for way more than a mere two chapters or so. :P. If you're still not satisfied...

[Big Spoiler - Read at your own peril]

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None of the visions Sidious has had of Siri are false for my intentions with the story. Make of that what you will and try to figure how we go from here to there. :D