Chapter 49: Weights

As the next few weeks past, the most surprising change since he left, to Obi-Wan at least, was the rapport between Siri and Anakin. For all the almost-snide/cutting remarks they could throw at eachother, neither took real offense that lasted more than a few seconds before they continued badgering one another or laughed for some weird reason. Honestly, the things they would argue about in the dinning halls were absolutely baffling...

"At least I know how to cook soup!"

Siri narrowed her eyes. "I can cook fine!"

"By 'cooking' an animal with Force Lightning and cutting parts off with your lightsaber?" said Anakin dubiously, "That's not cooking."

"Shut up Supernova," said Siri, scowling.

Anakin gave Siri a smugly victorious look.

She petulantly glared at him in return.

Qui-Gon had an exasperated look on his face, but didn't comment.

Obi-Wan slow blinked. "Wouldn't eating something 'cooked' by that be dangerous?"

"Already dark," she sing-songed, "So, its not anymore dangerous that using normal cooking appliances."

"If you say so," teased Anakin, "Mom n' I had one of those old metal stoves, like, not even nanowave."

"Pff, I didn't even have a micro-nanowave oven in my room," she shot back.

Obi-Wan frowned. "You... had a room?"

"Well, yeah, in the facility Sidious trained me in on Coruscant."

Obi-Wan froze.

Qui-Gon's fork stopped inches from his mouth.

"He trained you ON Coruscant?" exclaimed Obi-Wan at the same time Qui-Gon demanded, "There is a facility on Coruscant you haven't happened to mention?"

Siri rolled his eyes. "That would have been the first thing he scrubbed. There'd be nothing there to find."

"That," said Qui-Gon thinly, "Is not for you to decide."

That was how less than thirty minutes later, Siri, Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, Dooku, Windu, Tholme, Quinlan, and a whole team of both SBI and shadow investigators ended up on a transport into the Works. The only reason the entire Council and Grandmaster didn't pile in was on the offchance Sidious trapped the place to explode, and while Siri smelt a trap, it wasn't a dangerous one. It felt more... mischievous, mocking, divisive. Something foul in the pit of her stomach though she's not sure why...

Well...

If they ask for indepth details of the things that happened here, maybe it could get nasty. But then again, she had already told Obi-Wan of some of the worst things...

They land outside the warehouse and pile out, her eyebrows furrowing as she eyes the place. Like its untouched, she can still feel the wards up, though... somehow less, its likely Sidious has stopped maintaining them. The moment she punches in the code and they walk in, the Jedi gasp. Crossing over, they can feel the Dark Side stained into this place, deaths and torment etched into it. It doesn't affect her, it stopped doing so years ago.

She takes in a breath, lets it out, and mutters, "Home sweet home."

"Force above," gritted out Windu, "Its like stepping foot on a Sith world."

Siri turns her head to raise an eyebrow at him. "Have you actually been to one? Korriban is much, much worse."

"You've been to Korriban?!" hissed Obi-Wan.

"Of course I have."

Dooku cut in. "Are there any traps we should be wary of here?"

"Sidious sometimes left some painful surprises for me to keep me on my toes," mused Siri, "But nothing overt. I don't feel anything threatening."

"Your definition of what constitutes a threat differs from most," pointed out Dooku.

"Live a little, Jedi," she mocked, starting forward.

"Spread out and carefully," stressed Windu to those around him, "Map out the area, take note of anything you find, but do not touch anything without permission, that goes double for you Vos. Kenobi, Dooku, keep an eye on Tachi."

Dooku and Kenobi walk quickly to catch up to her before resuming at a normal pace. Siri reaches out and trails her fingers along the walls, lost in old memories. How many times had she walked this place through the years? Either coming or going from a mission or task, sometimes performing a stealth training exercise to test out various shrouding abilities by hiding from Sidious, plenty of times that she had crawled to and from the infirmary... this place was the closest thing she had to a home. The Jedi Temple had once felt something like that, but... well... she's to biased at this point to say whether it had been worse or better.

She finds her way back to her room, opens the door, and freezes.

"Siri?"

"Its untouched," she murmured, completely suspicious.

She carefully steps into her room, eyes flickering. Her bed is still unmade. Her tome on Sith Language and scripture sits where she had left it on her desk, still struggling to learn High Sith. Her table has a plate with an old moldy half-eaten piece of bread on it that she briefly flicks lighting at to disintegrate, nose wrinkling at the smell. A old-reinforced tapestry of Freedon Nadd rests on the wall, one of the few real 'gifts' Sidious had ever given her, ignoring the initial camera that had been woven into it that she had to crush with the Force. Red and black curtains block the barred window. Her bookshelf is full of books, some Sidious had given her about the history of the Sith, some fiction she had picked up for her own amusement to pass the time reading, and a few introductory manuals explaining various things like repairs, slicing, engineering, and the like. Sidious had wanted her to have at least passing understanding of many things.

Kenobi and Dooku step in after, glancing around the room.

"Who is that?" asked Obi-Wan, pointing at the tapestry.

"Freedon Nadd."

Obi-Wan hums. "He was one of the ones you argued about in the cell, right? The one from Ossus."

"Mhm," was all she said in response.

"What are these... glyphs?" asked Dooku.

Siri glanced over at him, staring down entranced at the tome of Sith Language, and swore. "Dooku, get away from the book!"

He didn't immediately react, a hand slowly reaching out towards it, before both Siri and Obi-Wan dragged him back. It took him a moment to startle back into awareness. "What was..."

"That book is laced with compulsions," she hissed, "You bumbling idiot. I thought you were a Sentinel who specialized in such things! Or did you not learn your lesson from all the presents Sidious had me leave you while you chased me around?"

Dooku scowled at her. "Pardon if I made the mistake of thinking your own possessions would not have them. I was not quite prepared for the immediate effects of even looking at it."

"The book was one of the first things Sidious gave me," she answered flatly, "Full of power that pulls the reader deeper and deeper, craving more and more understanding of the Sith."

"How long did it take you to realize there were compulsions in it?" asked Obi-Wan quietly.

Siri paused briefly before muttering, "A few years."

Her lips peeled into a snarl. "But I have no idea why he left it here, among a few other books. That tome has been passed down Sith to Sith, it might as well be a relic."

Perhaps its sentimental, but Siri could have imagined passing it down to her own apprentice one day. Or did Sidious not believe in that kind of thing? Probably not.

"Perhaps as a message to strike at you," said Dooku, carefully moving back to close the tome while keeping his eyes from it, "I don't think any of us were aware you could read, write, and speak Sith."

"Na j'us Jidai buti ajeusona," she snaps at him in burning tongue.

Obi-Wan flinches at the language spoken aloud, Dooku tensing.

"I was being trained to be a Dark Lord of the Sith, the next in line for my Order," she growls, "I might not even be half your age Dooku, but there is a very likely chance my knowledge of the Sith challenges yours, even as infantile as I am compared to Sidious."

Dooku was silent for a long moment before motioning to the book. "Can you dismantle the compulsions?"

"Now why would I do that?" she posed.

Dooku glared at her. "That information..."

"Is useless to you," she said flatly, "Its not like Sidious is going to be prancing around speaking Sith or sending out missives in it. Unless he had a point to press, he rarely even spoke in Sith. Its a language of power, and not to be trifled with lightly."

Especially since every incantation she knew for her sorcery was spoken in Sith or written in High Sith.

"You are a Jedi, you have no business speaking or writing Sith," she snapped, "The only way I deal with the compulsions is if I can keep the book."

"Why would you want to keep it?" asked Obi-Wan, incredulous.

"Because I haven't finished learning everything from it," she said dryly, "High Sith is obnoxious to learn."

"What in the Force is 'High Sith'?" asked Obi-Wan.

"Writing for Nobility or the more spiritual aspect of the old empires," she explained.

Obi-Wan blinked stupidly at her. "Spiritual?"

"Ancient Sith were said to be worshiped by some of their followers," commented Dooku, "As I imagine was the Dark Side itself."

It was more complicated than that, but she wasn't interested in explaining it. She glances around her room again, licking her lips in apprehension. What was Sidious's game here?

"Master Dooku!"

They turn to see one of the shadows outside the room, white as a sheet. "Master Windu requests your presence, they've found... a cell."

A sinking feeling hit Siri.

"Was there someone in it?" demanded Dooku.

"Not someone, but something, many somethings," said the Jedi, face grim.

Oh Force... that KRIFFING BASTARD!

Things were about to become incredibly uncomfortable. She wondered, absentmindedly, if the Jedi would stick true to their word and their agreement with her and Judiciary, because they were about to have a lot more reasons to want to drive a lightsaber through her back. That cell had been where she had fallen, after, it had become a 'trophy room' of sorts, not that she cared for it as such. Sidious had her keep or take momentos or trophies from certain missions, certain kills. Garen and his Master had hardly been the only Jedi she had killed in eight years of being Sidious's apprentice. Every single lightsaber of every single Jedi she had killed was in that room, tossed in there to be forgotten, among other things. She never visited it except to dump something in it.

And Sidious had likely left it completely untouched.

Siri moved to sit on her bed, feeling a heavy, immense weight on her shoulders all of the sudden. What did the Jedi know of what she had truly done over the years? Killed Garen and his master, killed a questionable number of innocents, Obi-Wan was the only one who knew that count went over a hundred, but that was in the first soul-killing month alone. He had no idea how many people she had really killed, hells, she had never bother to count. She had caused untold harm via propping up or influencing various criminal elements or weakening efforts to curb them and others Sidious favored. Perhaps most important to the Jedi, Garen and his master were hardly the only Jedi or Service Corps members she had killed, far from it, and they were about to find proof of that.

"Siri?" posed Obi-Wan from the doorway.

She stared down at her hands, her smooth pale hands; it wasn't hard to imagine them drenched with blood; some parts of her want to lap the blood up, tasting and treasuring the power of it, of all she's done on her path. Another small part wants to scream and lop off the hand in denial. She brushes the thoughts away and responds, "Don't forget Obi-Wan, you already knew I was a monster."

Obi-Wan goes silent.

"Dare I ask," posed Dooku testily, "What is in this 'cell'?"

"Its where I lay my past to rest," was all she answered.

A sense of dread had invaded Obi-Wan as he and his Grandmaster left Siri in her room with a pair of shadows watching her from the doorway. He did not speak his fears to Dooku, it was already readily apparent if one were to read him through the Force. Siri had already revealed a number of things that made him nauseous whenever he stopped to think on them. He knew she hadn't told him a lot, there were years worth of service to the Sith and the Dark Side that she had held back. Just how bad was it going to be?

They followed the Shadow deeper into the building, into a narrow string of hallways with cells. Many... many had dried blood stains in them, none of the rooms looked like the Sith had ever bothered to try and clean up or hide their crimes. Whats worse, if he reached out and digged around with the Force, he could faintly feels Siri's presence within the suffering and death etched into the rooms. She had a hand in the deaths in many of these rooms, and yet... the suffering felt older, and there were whispers of other dark presences. Far more Sith than just Siri had killed in this place. How long had the Sith been hiding right under the Order's nose?! How could anything hide the echoes of death etched into this building?

The entire temple should have been able to have gotten a whiff of this place, easily. Yet somehow the Sith could mask an entire building in the Force?

Obi-Wan pursed his lips, agitated, until they reached the end of the hallway, the last cell on the left. Master Windu was there, arms folded into his robes. The veins on his forehead were throbbing, his lips tightly sight, eyes narrowed, barely restrained fury on his face. Obi-Wan steeled himself, crossed the rest of the distance, standing behind Windu to look in, briefly noting Tholme and Quinlan inside looking over...

The first thing that hit him was a pungent smell, the faint smell of urine. It makes him wrinkle his nose. Then his eyes adjust to the dimmer cell and it takes his mind a moment to register what he sees. The first thing that jumps out to him, and horrifies him, are lightsabers, roughly a few dozen discarded haphazardly through the room if he counts right on the first pass. He swallows thickly, nausea hitting him hard. He had hoped, prayed, that Garen and Master Rhara had been the only ones. He supposed he had been a fool to think so. His senses pass over the lightsabers... and frowns.

A lot of those lightsabers are... innate level?

He closes his eyes, grimacing as it hit him. He had been able to keep his initial lightsaber when he had been sent away from the temple after all. "Service Corps members."

These hinted at potentially a far greater amount of murders as well, not everyone kept their lightsabers when they went to the Service Corps.

Windu lets out a frustrated breath. "It would seem the Sith target anyone Jedi, even those who have chosen other paths."

Obi-Wan doesn't comment on the 'choice' part of what he said, this isn't the place for that. His eyes flicker around the small room, taking in various objects. There is a wooden staff leaning against the wall far in the corner of the room, its the only thing that doesn't look like it was haphazardly thrown in. There are a few blasters or carbines that look to have a personal touch to them, perhaps bounty hunters or mercenaries or even some of the criminals she could potentially have dealt with if they didn't follow Sidious's designs. A locket of hair. A few broken and charred datapads, with any information on them most likely removed. Some jewelry with blood on them scattered here and there. Finally, in the back of the room, almost out of sight, underneath the staff, is a crumpled set of dirty Jedi clothes sized to fit a padawan, a single lightsaber resting on it.

"What... is all of this?" whispered Obi-Wan.

"If I had to guess, some kind of sick trophy room," gritted out Windu.

"Perhaps," said Dooku, oddly sounding rather calm compared to everyone else, he looked around the room, darkly satisfied. This... is likely everything his Grandmaster had ever suspected of Siri. How vindicated he must feel, and how crushed Obi-Wan was in turn.

"And yet," continued Grandmaster, a scowl devouring his satisfaction, "Despite her words of warning, I feel Sidious's presence here more than I do Tachi's. How curious..."

"Ah dammit," said Vos suddenly, hands brushing over a lightsaber, "I liked Katis. She was fun."

Obi-Wan could recall sparring with Eldra Katis, the Twi-lek Padawan had been a good match in their circle of padawans. and with that thought, he sighed, another acquaintance of theirs killed by one of their own.

"Can you see what happened? How they crossed paths?" asked Tholme.

Vos clenched his grip around the lightsaber, then grimaced. "Ambushed, master got killed, she got captured by... not really sure? But, whoever it was sold her into slavery, the person who bought her then brought her to Sidious and he pit her against Siri."

Thome exhaled in frustration, bitterness coating his voice. "Slavers."

He shook his head. "Can you handle doing this all at once? Or should we piecemeal it over a few days to weeks?"

"I'll let you know if I need to stop," said Quinlan mildly, "Just keep taking notes."

One by one, Quinlan peeled bits and pieces of information from the 'trophies' in the cell. Each one was another stab right through Obi-Wan's ribs, until it simply turned into numbness. Vos hardly looked better, each time added more and more grimness to him, teeth gritting, suppressed pain and loss echoing around him. Finally, Vos reached the staff and grabbed it, and had the completely opposite reaction to anything else, he relaxed.

"Quin?" asked Obi-Wan.

"This was... Master Siolo Ur Manka's staff," murmured Vos, gripping it tightly in both hands, closing his eyes, "There is... a lot in this. Give me a bit."

"If the staff is in here, then it is likely that Tachi is the one who killed him," posed Dooku.

Obi-Wan pursed his lips. "Likely."

"Weird," muttered Vos, "What in the hell was he..."

He jolted, eyes bolting open. "Holy shit. Its actually possible."

"What is?" asked Tholme.

"I mean, I know what you've said about past people that turned away, but... for a bit there, he actually got her to turn away from the Dark Side," said Vos in astonishment, "That was a... very powerful memory in the staff. I'm not quite sure what they did... they meditated together a lot?"

"Somehow, I doubt it was that simple," said Windu, but he does seem thoughtful, of course, then he glances around the room again and that look is gone, "At this point, I'm not sure its possible anymore. She is far darker and more stained now than before, especially knowing this."

Windu glances at Obi-Wan while he speaks, but... he doesn't have the heart at the moment to try and challenge his words. This... she's killed so many, even if they could get her to turn away from the Dark Side, would killing Sidious balance the scales? It might be worth it if only to make sure the Sith actually end, but... there has to be some kind of justice for this, or at least a life filled of repentance. Considering Siri's general lack of remorse while dark, and especially considering her illusionary abilities would give her a very easy way to escape, he... he doubts either is going to happen. He so desperately wants her to turn back, but she doesn't want to, and considering the massive guilt that happens once the Dark fades like it did in the cell, he's not sure she could survive it either.

Should she?

He closes his eyes at the vindictive thought, but doesn't release it to the Force, because its the damn Force honest truth. Kriff, as much as he wanted her to live and become better, why hadn't she just chosen death over becoming this? Obi-Wan himself would rather have let himself die than become what Siri had. He would have been thankful if someone had given him a mercy killing over letting him degrade into a complete and utter monster. He opens his eyes, stares around the room, and feels sick that someone who can do this can somehow still feel love, and that its directed at him.

He needs to meditate, desperately.

Quinlan frowns for a long moment at the staff. "I feel a lot of sickness, the last thing I get from it is a massive surge of pain from him, then he dropped it and I've got nothing else."

"Wouldn't be hard to kill a sick man," said Tholme mildly, disgust evident in his tone.

Quinlan nods slowly, frowning, "But she was turning away, so... did she actually kill him? Or did he just die and she went back to Sidious?"

"Something to ask her I suppose if she bothers to answer," answered Tholme.

Quinlan sighed, glancing down at the clothes and last lightsaber, an air of puzzlement around him, "Alright then, might as well finish up, I'm going to need to sleep this whole thing off like a bad hangover."

He reached down, his hand gripping the lightsaber, before he jolted, giving a sharp yelp and tossing it away from him.

"KRIFFING SHIT!" exclaimed Vos, "That was... way worse."

"Whose lightsaber was that?" asked Obi-Wan.

"Siri's," gritted out Quinlan.

"You saw her fall," said Obi-Wan, eyes widening.

Quinlan took a long moment to collect and center himself before shaking his head. "Some of it, I had to disengage. Getting drawn fully into that is a 'great way' to make myself fall."

"Remind me to never die on Aayla so long as she's my padawan," said Vos, "Because the sensation of Gallia dying and the bond rupturing and bleeding out into Siri's head was kriffing awful."

Obi-Wan pushes back the bubbling memory of Siri almost killing Qui-Gon, of him almost experiencing that himself. "So Master Gallia died, and she fell."

Quinlan frowned thoughtfully, eying the lightsaber. "Not exactly, from what I saw she was a mess, but... the Sith she killed, a... Zabrak, the whole thing is a dark blurry mess, but he was egging her on after, I think. Kept pushing her while she was on the edge of the cliff."

"If Qui-Gon and I had been there," wondered Obi-Wan, "Could we have pulled her..."

"Don't, Padawan Kenobi," said Master Windu softly, "You'll only tear yourself apart with such thoughts. Let it go."

Obi-Wan lets out a breath and sighs. "Where is my Master anyway?"

"In what we assume is their training room," said Master Windu, "The Sith have a collection of weaponry that he wanted to inspect."

Obi-Wan huffed. "Why?"

"Because, if the Sith are trained to use that many different kinds of weapons, there is literally nothing that isn't lethal in their hands," said Master Windu mildly.

"Fair point," conceded Obi-Wan.

Everything in the room was carefully bundled up as evidence, but, one thing he did ask to have.

Master Windu raised a single eyebrow. "Why do you want Tachi's old lightsaber?"

"For when... if... she ever becomes ready to reclaim it."

The counselor sighed and waved it off. "Take it."

Obi-Wan gently picked up the old padawan lightsaber out of the pile, a sad smile crossing his face at the faint presence of Siri, his Siri, the Jedi Padawan, that lingered about it. There was a stain on it, and in the kyber, from her fall, but it was mostly her. He closed his eyes and let go of as much of his anger and frustration with Siri as he could without meditation and clipped it to his belt, a reminder of his goal. He was going to need that reminder from here on out to help him keep going with this. Though, he imagined she wasn't going to be impressed to see it.

He folded his arms into his robes, staring at the emptying cell for a long moment, then he echoed Siri's words, "Where I lay my past to rest."

Dooku moved to stand beside him in a similar fashion. "For all she embodies them, she is a strange Sith. I would have thought she would revel in this, rather than throw it all away in some decrepit cell. Tell me, does it give you 'hope'?"

"Less hope than was taken away by seeing it to begin with," admits Obi-Wan quietly.

Dooku nods approvingly, but doesn't speak further.

Obi-Wan takes in a deep breath, and lets it out. "Grandmaster, if I ever fall, and you can't immediately yank me back, put an end to me before I get this far, please, it would be a kindness."

"Only if you agree the same for me," Dooku answers quietly.

Obi-Wan huffed. "That implies I could take you in a duel, which I really, really, can't."

"I suppose we will have to work on that then, wont we?" posed Dooku.

"Mmm, I'm not going to enjoy the next few months am I?"

"Our job is about duty, not enjoyment," said Dooku in a tone that implied he was the one who was going to be enjoying trouncing Obi-Wan.

"Of course, Grandmaster."

Siri stood in the corner of her room, masked and shrouded, and illusion of herself sitting on her bed, her bond with Obi-Wan shrouded fully.

She was not a coward, she was being cautious. If the Jedi decided to execute her, she'd be slipping away quietly and most likely on the run for the rest of her life from both them and Sidious. Paranoia perhaps, the Jedi were limited by their morals and rules, if they did try to kill her, judicial would have a fit among other things. But its better safe than sorry... especially when she can feel their emotions from here despite their attempts to control and let it go. She waits, patiently, as minute by minute, and then hour, passes by.

Even then, when some Jedi do come, its only to start to pick apart her room for evidence, so she merely has her illusion move to lean against the nearby wall, arms crossed. Eventually, its Obi-Wan, and Obi-Wan alone, who comes to her room. He walks in and stares at her illusion, arms hidden in his robes, his face a chiseled mask, but his emotions are easy to detect for her, and she likes little of what she feels, even if its all expected. Then... then she feels something, something old and familiar, and her eyes flicker to his belt...

...and sees her old lightsaber on it.

She stares at it in seething silence, keeping her emotions pinned down as to not alert him to her actual position. But of course, of course, he would still cling, to anything that reminded him of who she used to be. Like she had told Bant, the old Siri was dead and gone. She didn't believe in that nonsense that a Sith was a completely different person than who they used to be. People change, evolve, adapt, that's what a Sith is. Peace and complacency, that is the lie, passion and change were truth. The old Siri had become her.

Perhaps she needed to reinforce this.

"So whats the verdict Kenobi," she drawls, her voice echoing through her illusion, "Off with my head?"

He raises a single, unimpressed eyebrow. "Jedi do not kill their prisoners, execution would be up to the courts, and the verdict has already been passed in that regard. Your crimes in exchange for Sidious's downfall."

She hummed. "And do you now disagree with that decision?"

"I think that if our positions were reversed I'd wish someone would have just killed me before it got to this point," he bit out.

"Testy of you Kenobi."

He narrows his eyes. "Just how many people have you murdered, Siri? How many of our brothers and sisters..."

"Your brothers and sisters," she snapped back, "I am no Jedi, Obi-Wan. Perhaps its time you stopped considering me to be a little lost bantha."

Her was quiet for a few minutes before he asked, "What do you honestly want from this, Siri?"

She took 'this' as to mean everything. "Sidious dead. I've given up on anything else realistically happening."

The else being him.

"And after Sidious is dead?"

"Hells if I know, that's planning way far ahead," she answered in a clipped tone, "I'll take an apprentice of my own at some point, but again, far off."

"You'd subjugate someone else to this?"

She glared at him. "I take a willing apprentice, or none at all, I'm not Sidious."

There is something surprisingly predatory in his gaze. "And what if you find someone whose fallen who doesn't want to be?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Stop playing games Kenobi, you're going somewhere with this, just spit it out."

"Quinlan touched Siolo Ur Manka's staff in your trophy room."

Siri pursed her lips. Of course he did. "Its not my trophy room, Sidious wanted little trinkets as proof of me completing missions, so I collected and dumped them there. Had it been up to me, there would have been nothing left."

"More ways to hide what you did?"

"Its practical to not leave evidence."

His jaw clenched for a moment. "How did Master Ur Manka pull you out of the Dark Side?"

Ah, there it was. "I'm not interested in turning away."

"Who said I was asking for you?"

She raised a single eyebrow at him.

"Its feasible, by the time this is over, that we might need to help others return."

Siri eyed him before scowling and dismissing her illusion. Kenobi jolted as it faded away and Siri faded into view, moving to push aside her bed. There was a clutter of boxes that had various clothes or tools she'd required or acquired for missions at one point or another. Underneath one in the far back was a little piece of floorboard that was innocently uneven. She pried it open, reached down, and pulled out a flimsi journal. She stared down at it for a long moment, not sure if she should be clenching her jaw, or feeling tired, before she stood, walked over, and dumped it in his hands.

"Whats this?"

"His journal."

Obi-Wan studied her. She can imagine all kinds of questions sprouting in his little mind. "Why did you keep it?"

She doesn't answer, walking out instead. She had went looking for answers, for a why he had betrayed her, but... she hadn't been able to stomach even reading past the first page, hearing it in his voice. She hadn't been able to bring herself to burn it either, nor had it been wise to leave it to the Jedi to find at the time, so she had kept it, aware that Sidious might have skinned her alive for doing so if he had found it. Now... its simply the past, she's not the conflicted apprentice she once was years ago.

Let Kenobi and the Jedi have it.

"...and it makes me wonder in awe to have felt it," read Obi-Wan aloud, "That I may be the only Jedi alive in this age to have felt a darksider breaking off from the hold of the Dark Side. She was not some misguided padawan, she had committed grievous sins, and yet, with help, she achieved the impossible. Iris's presence within the force shuddered, like a furry animal shaking her fur to get rid of water and mud dragging her down. It was... beautiful, to see light peeking through the dark, so scared and hurt, but there."

Obi-Wan lets himself dwell on the words for a moment before continuing, "Of course, I then encountered something that may explain why those who are lost chose to stay so. She shattered upon the weight of her sins boring down upon her without the Dark to hide them away. The guilt and grief briefly drove me to my knees in the sudden onslaught of it all. If I had not caught her and put a sleep suggestion upon her, I hold little doubt she would have fled the planet, hounded by her crimes until it drove her either mad or back into the Dark Side. Without someone to guide her, to make her want to try for the light, to give Iris a reason to, I question if she would have been able to do so on her own. I've given it a thought, while others may be involved in the process, it in truth takes one to fall. So perhaps it takes two to come back. The second to give the first a reason to reach for the light."

Obi-Wan stares down at the pages in silence, turning it all over in his head. His and Qui-Gon's apartment had, oddly, turned into an impromptu council meeting room. Every council member and Grandmaster Fay was there, as was Dooku and Qui-Gon. Anakin had, from the corner of Obi-Wan's eyes, peeked in from his room when he was supposed to be doing homework, but he didn't comment on that.

"Is there more?" poses Ki-Adi-Mundi.

Obi-Wan collects himself and continues reading, "Iris was mostly catatonic the following day, dazed, only capable of rudimentary and instinctive actions as her body, mind, and spirit struggled to adjust. The day after, she was... quiet, so very and worriedly quiet. I helped to guide her into her first non-focal point meditation I imagine since she fell, and she meditated for hours. Nearly six hours straight, I was rather concerned if I must admit. Didn't even react to soup being waved under her nose, oh the indignation at my tried and true method of rousing padawns failing."

He cracks a smile at that, a small huff of laughter from one of the other masters. "She was upset coming out of meditation when I drew her out, I imagine she had spent much of it trying to come to terms with herself, but afterwards, I caught her in her wording. I had offered, to take her as my padawan learner, she had accepted, and had expressed pained relief, in her own words, 'I missed having a master, a teacher, who actually cared'. It was something I could not let lay, so I asked, and she had a, I suppose the term would be 'meltdown'. Though, I don't think ill of it, after all, her words of her dark master stealing her from her Jedi Master's still warm corpse was... an awful thing to imagine. To take one who is hurt and lost, then torture them physically and mentally into submission, and turn them into what Iris had become, is an abhorrent thing. A Jedi does not seek to kill, but any encounter with this mystery dark master will end with them having to be put down, of that I am sure."

Obi-Wan exhales. Theoretically, he knew this already, but... the imagery of it was new, of Siri possibly crying of Master Gallia's Corpes before being wrenched away clenches at him. "Afterwards, she slowly started confessing things to me, and... I dread to put them to flimsi. I lay here in bed, dwelling upon it, and I realize that I am missing much. There are hints in her words, that this Dark Master is more than an ordinary darksider. She mentioned criminal linkings, she mentioned that he had her bleed Kyber Crystals. I am not sure she understands the rarity of such things. Bleeding requires a strong darkness, it also requires intent and knowledge that such a thing is possible. It lends credibility to my theory of it being a Dark Side Cult that she may have been inducted into, and yet, she has only mentioned solely the Dark Master, so..."

He frowned. "The writing jerks away," he poked a small wrinkles, maybe spittle, "Coughing fit perhaps."

There is nothing further on that page, so he carefully flips to the next, it only had two parts. "Progress has begun to stall. Between my own rapidly growing illness, and her fears, I am afraid that I might not be around long enough to see her fully embrace the light again. She is deathly afraid, of both the Jedi and her Dark Master. She wakes daily with nightmares that even I struggle to help her with. I grieve for her, such a young child, not more than sixteen or seventeen and put through such a trial. I was foolish, so foolish, to have taken her as my padawan when I am so old, so close to my twilight, it draws closer day by day and I fear what it will do to her if I die."

The next entry, the last entry, is short. "Iris saw my condition, it took me to the ground, my heart felt like it was ripping apart. She was extremely upset. I fear I'm going to run out of time far sooner than I thought. I promised her not to, but I must contact Yoda and seek his help. Hopefully, the old Grandmaster will hear me out."

"That's the last entry."

Master Windu is the first to speak, "If you would pass the journal."

Obi-Wan does so.

Master Windu carefully flicks through the pages. "His earlier notes on the perception altering properties of the Dark Side is... both interesting and alarming. Theoretically, this is already known, those who fall hardly seem like their old selves, or if they do, its twisted versions. But laid out into writing..."

He rubs his chins. "Putting this into practice however would be easier said than done. If she hadn't trusted him to lower her shields for, her pulling away at all from the Dark Side would never have happened. Using the method he used would require a darksider trusting us into their mind to help them, would require them to desire it. In much of our encounters with the Dark Side, in our lifetime and before, how often has both, let alone one, ever happened?"

Not frequently, if at all.

"How many have ever known that turning back was an real option?" posed Qui-Gon.

There was truth in that though.

"There is risk in making that knowledge widespread," countered Master Piell, "Letting it be known that a return is truly possible may make some of our more foolish and reckless youth and knights... experimental, and potentially careless. The damage that could cause... well... that's self explanatory."

"There is truth in both views," said Grandmaster Fay, face serenely unbothered, "So the middle path may be more appropriate to take. This information should, perhaps after more deliberation on the merits and dangers, be revealed to more experienced Masters."

"They'll want to know details and have proof, we may have to have the journal open to them," said Master Koon, crossing his arms, "Suddenly turning around on age old teachings will not be taken readily. Most of the temple after all believes that Siri is here as a source of information, nothing else, regardless of what anyone else in the room may feel on the validity of that."

Master Rancisis sighed in exasperation. "Despite her being the subject of this, we're not here to have yet another argument over the Sith, Master Koon. She's continually caused enough of a mess as it is."

"Especially considering the knowledge of just how many she has killed," rumbled Master Tiin.

"It grieves me, to have a more firm understanding," said Master Koon softly, "But we knew beforehand that her hands were darker and bloodier than what we could confirm."

"And you think we should just allow her to have gotten away with it?" said Master Mundi in a rather un-neutral manner, "I have tried to remain open minded about her potential return, but that has limits. She has slaughtered dozens of Jedi and Service Corps among others, without a shred of guilt, her crimes are not an abstract concept in the slightest..."

"I believe," cut in Dooku scathingly, "That such an argument is best held in the privacy and security of the council chamber if such things as breaching a judicial agreement are to be even considered."

There was an undercurrent of frustration that has Obi-Wan alarmed. Perhaps he hadn't paid enough attention to just how much Siri had driven the Council up a wall. About how much of the mess she'd caused has in turn impacted their duties. There is far less unity than there should be in the council, and not in the critiquing and academically argumentative way, this felt more... fissure like. It was worrying to feel...

"Mmm, right, Dooku is," commented Yaddle quietly, "The place for this, it is not. And break their oaths, Jedi do not. Evil, Tachi is, but far worse, Sidious is. Not doubt of this there is. The lesser evil, the Jedi will take for now. If worsen, Tachi does, their duty, the Jedi will do."

Something in Obi-Wan cringes at Master Yaddle's condemnation. But... its hard to deny, even after reading the journal had given him some more hope, it did not overshadow what he had seen in the Sith's Coruscant compound. Siri... Siri is evil. She is lost and twisted. There is some things that peak through that aren't completely awful, but... its all covered in shadow. Its a heavy pressure on his bones, a crippling weight on his shoulders, because he doesn't know how to help her.

The journal confirmed it, Master Windu's words confirmed it.

Siri would not turn away from the Dark Side unless she wanted to, and he had no idea how to convince her to do so since basic moral decency apparently was worthless to her these days. The selfish idea she had proposed, for both of them to leave... perhaps it could have worked, but it would have come at an extreme cost. Of that, he felt and was certain of. Both himself and Siri removed from the table, no longer opposing Sidious and instead hiding out somewhere far away. It would be abandoning their duties, leaving their brothers and sisters, and the Republic, to Sidious's mercy. They were by no means defenseless, but, he knew Siri was important to taking Sidious down, and because of her, so was he. And if Sidious won? Obi-Wan doubted he would have left either of them alone, he would have hunted them relentlessly.

He sat down on the couch as the council spilled out of the room, staring down at his hands, completely lost on what to do...

Author's Notes: Unfortunately for them, 'experienced Masters' technically included Jorus C'Baoth. It will take time, but those cracks will spread...

Review Response:

solarsailor55: Define couple.

Wulfmoe: Mmmm, looking on Tv Tropes, aren't Yandere's like... insane? Siri might be a bit delusional and overtaken at times, but, she is cognitively sane, just a 'tad' sociopathic and twisted.

Longmoonedraptor: 'Clone Wars' man. There will be some of that in there. Two Soresu Masters VS droids & others will be roflstomp worthy.

Guest 1: Answering that would be spoiling, and our definition of a couple would vastly differentiate from what a maverick Jedi would define it as.

Guest 2: *raises eyebrow* Well hello there. You certainly went deep into attempted deconstruction. And while you are free to your opinions, I think you went a bit heavy handed there. Perhaps we haven't quite gotten there in my Star Wars stories, but, the MC getting smacked down/reprimanded for their stupid shit is not something I don't do. Aerith & Sephiroth in A Flower's Touch, Kairi & Sephiroth in Jenova Project K, Aqua and Terra in Heart of Pain, ect...

Some things might give indications of what you believe, but try not to forget that I'm juggling, perhaps poorly, like 20~ different stories, many have half-written chapters in waiting, more in the Fanfiction Prompt Booklet in AO3, which the booklet by the way, is storage, not one shots. I don't do one shots, I do medium/big stories. That particular one is Crack-Treated-Seriously more than a real compelling story, something fun to go to eventually. Some blending between stories is... unfortunately possible. My 'Type' of story is to take a character, and make them evolve and change, potentially drastically. Shit staying the same with the story only slightly changing is something I dislike in fanfiction.

I'll let the story argue anything else as time passes, but I will comment however that Siri is a villain protagonist, she's made her entire existence at the moment be to stab at the Jedi with knowledge she has access to that they don't.

Belial666: I won't say what Obi-Wan did last chapter was a 'blunder', more like a decision. Duty over self, choosing the galaxy over any one person, which is something true to Obi-Wan. Because really, just going off with Siri would be like handing the Galaxy on a platter to Sidious.

Nerdman3000: Its also Siri lashing out to be cutting and hurting, not necessarily something prophetic. Possibly. Its entirely probable both of them will have regrets down the road. Sidious hasn't sensed anything in particular yet, but that's more because of Siri not realizing it herself and acting on it yet. She has no clue she, in a fashion, broke her chain, though, it was more of a unlocking the chain and letting it hang on the floor near you than a full on break. It might be awhile, but she will have her first full on Tyrosus moment later on, even before the Clone Wars, not going to spoil where and when though... tee hee.

Redshirt1453: Dark-Gray at most.

1saaa: Siri does kind of create some of those situations for herself sometimes. :D. Though, its not like Obi-Wan set out to hurt her, just a byproduct of duty.

The child compulsions wont come up till the 'Empire Era' timeframe, kids need time to grow yo.

A few chapters after. Anakin has some magic to work.

No clue on # of timeskips. I mean, I'm periodically using minor ones, this chapter starts a few weeks after the last as an example.