Chapter 63: Master and Apprentice
Siri touches down in a dreadfully familiar spot on Korriban, two Jedi ships near her own pilfered one. Is it a coincidence that Granta Omega is meeting an apparent Sith in the Valley of the Sith Lords? Perhaps, it would be fitting after all. But her gut says otherwise, that this is a jab at her. She needs to grab her idiot Jedi and get the hell off of Korriban either way. Because this is most certainly the part of the planet with that kriffing Terentatek among other things.
"This is a terrible idea Tachi," snapped Rain, materializing next to her.
"I'm aware."
"Those that dwell here will not take kindly to a Sith who returned coming here," Rain hissed.
"It's more of an extended vacation," said Siri flatly.
Rain scoffs. "You better make this quick Siri, in and out, do not dawdle. Knock the Jedi out if you have to, feed off Korriban if you have to, fall again if you have to. But Do. Not. Dawdle."
Siri is out of the ship seconds later, Rain's gatekeeper fading back into her holocron...
The moment her feet dip into red sand, she feels it. Not being the atmosphere, not being on her ship seconds earlier, nothing had prepared her to step onto Korriban merely dark and not fallen. The Dark Side is overwhelming here, oppressive, and rather than singing in her veins, it feels like sludge coats her entire body. She is dark, yes, but not as she was. Not as this place wants her to be. She is not fueled nor empowered here, but she could be. She knows that, she feels that... but its not...
Rather than the embrace she was used to, it felt... it felt kriffing filthy. Like some sick perverted freak was pressing up against her, trailing their touch across her body and whispering into her ear all these sweet promises if only 'you accept me' if only 'you let me in'. She has a moment of intense nausea, resisting the urge to bend over and retch. She doesn't understand... why is it like this? She had noticed a difference in her own quarters that the darkness she had embedded there hadn't felt the same after Anakin had yanked her out of being fallen, but even then, it wasn't like this. She is dark, maybe not quite fallen, but still, why does Korriban make feel like this?
She doesn't understand.
She doesn't understand.
She doesn't have time to understand either. She forces herself to move, following Kenobi's presence. There is a dark thrum in the air, quiet malevolence seeping everywhere, and yet... no action is taken towards her. Not a single Sith spirit speaks a single word to her. It makes Siri's skin crawl because it would be better if they harassed her, better than this ominous watching. The stillness in the air is a warning calm before the storm. She catches sight and senses a few of the initial traps she had set had been sprung in the time since she had last been here.
All five Jedi are still alive, however, so nothing ended up lethal. She's not quite close enough yet to sense any damage. She can feel Obi-Wan's irritation and exasperation when he finally detects her presence. She forces down the bond her absolute fury and a demand to come to her. He ignores her. Of course, he does. Her feet pound on tombstone, dust kicking up behind her. She considers the Dark Side pressing in against her, demanding her to let it in. She will if she must, but not yet. She does, however, the equivalent of cracking the window. The dark hound in her mind outside the gate slowly stands, its muzzle peeling back into a gruesome delighted grin.
'Use me,' it seems to whisper to her.
'Be ready,' she counters instead.
The hound howls, laughter in its cry as it paces hungrily outside her gates.
She comes across a pack of sabered tuk'ata, flinging them to the side of the hallway with a flick of her wrist and the Force. She recognizes these hallways, she's been down these specific pathways several times at this point. She also notes that some of the side-hallways have sealed themselves, trapdoors and triggered walls closing them off. The Jedi had been herded one specific way, and Siri has a terrible notion of which way they are being shepherded to. When she finally catches sight of the Jedi, they are walking into Bane's tomb.
"You stupid, kriffing idiots!" she snarls.
The group pauses and turns to her, and oh, she is grateful they don't appear anything more than a little tried and scruffed up.
"Siri," snaps Obi-Wan, "You cannot keep doing this! If the senate..."
The moment she passes through the entrance, a wall comes down behind them, locking them in. Obi-Wan cuts off, frowning. "Well then."
The area pitches red, the flickering of blue through parts of the air. Slowly, Darth Bane's blue glowing form appears in front of his tomb, staring past the Jedi right at Siri. Then... he frowns, eyes flickering downwards towards... Rain's Holocron in her robes. Ho boy...
"I did warn you," Bane's voice comes out coldly, his eyes flickering back up, "What would happen if that chain remained unbroken. Did I not?"
"Stay the hell back," hissed Siri to the Jedi, moving forward.
Dooku glances at the Gatekeeper. "Which Sith is this?"
She ignores him, striding halfway across the room until she stood center. "You did, Lord Bane."
"And was I not correct?" mused Bane, "Here you stand, inbetween light and dark, worthless and weak. I can feel, just as I said there would be, your conflicted loyalties between the Sith and those you have attached yourself to."
"That would be a matter of perspective," she answered flatly, "I am still more powerful than the majority of..."
"This, Tachi, is nothing compared to what you could be," he cuts off firmly, "Even as a gatekeeper, I am connected to the currents of the Dark Side, to the Rule of Two. I felt it when you achieved ascension, when you became Darth Tyrosus and left Siri Tachi behind for a fleeting few minutes. She was far, far more powerful than you are at this moment."
"The price to achieve that power wasn't something I was willing to pay," Siri rebutted, "And honestly, I am so sick of that stupid notion of becoming a true Sith kills your former self. I've been both Siri Tachi and Darth Tyrosus, there is no difference."
Bane narrows his eyes. "Then you fail to understand the lesson, and beyond this, was it not degrading enough to have failed yourself, but to have dragged my apprentice down with you? Show yourself Zannah, what do you have to say for yourself?"
Rain flickers into view, childlike face emotionless and cold. Bane's face scrunches up in disgust. "Unbelievable. That child died on Russan, and yet here she stands again. It would appear that indeed I was right, in the end, you were not worthy."
Rain sneers. "And just like before, your ignorance and stupidity are what drives you. You see and act without thinking. Neither Siri nor I willingly chose to leave the Dark, it was forced upon us."
Bane pauses, blinks once, then frowns. "And yet you have not sought to reclaim your place."
Rain shrugged. "I'm a holocron, I'd need someone else to..."
"Your deception will not work on me," snapped Bane, "I can feel the shard of your soul in the Holocron, you are no mere gatekeeper. You could bring yourself back to the Dark Side easily enough. But, yes... yes... it makes sense, doesn't it? Darth Zannah was wise to cut out your weakness and throw you away, Rain."
Rain growls, predatory and furious. "Don't think I can't rip your holocron to shreds."
"Petty threats apprentice?"
"I don't make threats," she said coldly, "I destroyed you once, Bane, don't think I can't do so again, especially against a mere memory."
They stare eachother down, the Force heavy and thick, oppressive even to Siri.
"Perhaps I was cast away, perhaps my original self made me in order to get rid of me, but you know what Bane?" said Rain, "I'm still alive, still influencing the Galaxy, still making my mark, but you? Darth Bane is dead and gone, nothing left but those who came after, his last memories sealed away in this crypt that few will ever tread. Your time is over, mine never ended."
"Perhaps," said Bane, not taken by her words, "And yet, why is it that you still exist in merely a shard? Don't think I don't know what you are capable of. Are you too much of a coward to reach forth and claim life anew? You have had almost a thousand years to find a host whose soul you could eat from the inside out to rebirth yourself, and yet, here you still are, a pathetic little girl, hiding away in your holocron, afraid. I sought immortality not because I feared death, but to make sure our purpose was fulfilled, can you say the same about yourself, child?"
There is a crack, a piece of the ceiling falls away, and out tumbles a red and black Sith Holocron. It lands before Rain with a heavy thump. Bane doesn't look at it, he holds Rain's gaze, impassionate. Siri feels it seconds later, Rain's Holocron opening itself to Korriban. The Dark Side rushes in, and Rain's form slowly changes, aging, clothes transforming, until she is as she was before Yoda blasted her with light. Molten sulfur eyes meet molten sulfur eyes as Rain... as Zannah... lifts a hand. Bane's holocron levitates between them.
"The last time I was a child was when we first met. A child dying on the inside from sudden brutal loss, from the suffering drowning Russan, but rather than save that child, you took and molded her into what you so desired," said Zannah coldly, "Now though? Now, I am who and what I choose to be, Bane, and I am not your apprentice anymore."
His eyebrows furrow. "You regret what I made of you?"
"I regret that I never saw a choice otherwise."
She clenches her fist.
The holocron ruptures apart.
The last shred of Darth Bane winks out of existence.
"I was always destined to destroy you," mutters Zannah, relaxing her fist and letting the holocron pieces fall to the stone floor, "Apparently in more ways than one."
Zannah turns to look at Siri for a long moment...
Then she lets go.
Siri is flabbergasted to sense it.
The dark pours back out of the holocron like a receding tide, and little Rain is before them once more. "Maybe one day Zannah will have a purpose again, but for now, I choose to be Rain."
She flicks her wrist, and a stone wall at the other end of the tomb opens up. "Get off Korriban, Siri."
Rain winks out of existence, gatekeeper returning to the holocron.
Siri gapes for a moment, openly shocked that the holocron could let go of the Dark Side on kriffing Korriban, but banishes the emotion when Dooku grits out, "Eat a soul from the inside out to rebirth herself?"
"Not the time," snapped Siri, turning to glower at the Jedi, "We need off Korriban, now."
Qui-Gon stares at the pieces of the destroyed holocron, solemn. "So that was Darth Bane then..."
Oh for kriffs sake. "Yes, now moving on..."
"Siri," snapped Obi-Wan, "We were brought here for a reason, we have a mission to complete."
"Granta Omega is not worth the risk," she snapped back, "Not on Korriban, and especially not in this part of the planet. This is the most malevolent of places here, filled with spirits, trapped to hell and back, and is the part of the planet the Terentatek dwells on."
"A teren-what?" asked Anakin.
Siri shoots Dooku and annoyed look.
The elder Jedi doesn't acknowledge her. "It is a deadly Sith beast that is best left unencountered. Even with myself, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Tachi facing it, it is unlikely all of us would walk away alive."
Anakin scowls. "Hey! I can help!"
"Absolutely not!" thunders Qui-Gon, startling Anakin as the man turn to point a finger at the teenager, "In the event we encounter the Terentatek, you and padawan Jinzler are to retreat to the ship and prep them for takeoff. Under no circumstances are you to engage that beast, am I clear Anakin?"
Anakin hunches a little. "Y-yes sir..."
Jinzler puts a hand on his shoulder and murmurs, "Anakin, these things are abominations. When we get back to the temple after the mission I can show you the records on them, Master Dooku is right, we should be nowhere near them. Even my and your Master shouldn't be facing one."
Qui-Gon twitches at that, but Obi-Wan merely nods in acknowledgement. "We have not sensed it yet, and when if do, we will retreat. But until then, we have a mission to accomplish."
"Yes," drawled Siri, "And how do you plan on tracking down a Force Null in the winding tombs, catacombs and deserts of Korriban?"
"Our last encounter had us distracting him while my padawan slipped into his ship, put a tracer on it, and embedded a few smaller ones into pieces of his clothing incase he had gotten away," said Obi-Wan, a touch of pride in his voice, "We have been trailing him as we landed."
Siri purses her lip. Not bad Jinzler, but still, "In and out Kenobi. We nab this idiot, and we are gone. Jedi should not linger on Korriban."
Obi-Wan takes point, Siri behind him, then Jinn, then the padawans, then Dooku to cover their flank as they move through the tomb, the signal steadily getting stronger. All the while, the malice in the air intensifies, along with glee, but still the Sith spirits who dwell here do not act. She gets the sense they are waiting for something. She'd bet a credit they called for the damn beast again, but... the air doesn't feel the same, the sense of oppression in the Force makes her wary of something else, but she's not sure what.
Whats worse to her is no one else is reacting to the increasingly oppressive atmosphere, its like they can't even feel it. Is this truly what it means to be blind to the Dark Side of the Force? The Sith spirits here are practically screaming in her ear that -very bad things- are going to happen and they're going to delightfully watch said things happen. She's mentally preparing herself for a do or die situation, and they're treating it as if its just another mission baring the possibility of a Sith monster coming to eviscerate them.
They close in on the Omega as they exit the tomb and find him standing upon the crest of a dune, facing the other side. Considering he's making motions to someone with his hands and arms, he's speaking to someone. Lovely, are they going to have to deal with whoever the current stand in for her is? As much as she'd hope it was C'Baoth so they'd have a good chance of killing him, now is not the time nor the place.
"Its over Omega!" calls out Qui-Gon, taking point and pausing a short few feet from the dune. "Surrender."
Omega turns, and Siri resists the urge to whistle, because not bad handsome. The man's lips peel into a sneer. "Surrender, Jinn? Why would I do that? I've gotten what I came for, I have found the Sith! I know the truth! You could only wish you knew. Together, we will-URK!"
A red lightsaber sprouts through his chest, and he can only stare down at it, stunned.
Well... not really surprising...
Then a voice comes out that, despite the heat of Korriban, sends pure ice down her spine and makes her audibly choke. "You will find, that I have little use of someone so blindly devoted to revenge at the cost of all else. But you have provided me with an opportunity, so I do thank you."
Siri watches, horrified, as Darth Sidious crests the top of the dune, wrenching his lightsaber out of the man and flicking it as the man falls, decapitating him. Sidious returns his lightsaber to his robes and nudges the body to roll down the hill with the Force. "I believe you were looking for this, Jedi?"
"Siri," demanded Obi-Wan, "Is that..."
Confusion coats the other Jedi, at least until Sidious unmasks his presence. Then five lightsaber ignite, Siri doesn't bother, she only grits out, "I didn't think you'd be here, Sidious."
His mouth is the only thing visible from the depths of his hood aside from gleaming sulfur eyes, the rest shrouded in darkness. He smirks, smug amusement radiating off him. "Why ever not, my apprentice? You, your attachment, and Skywalker, all in one spot. Two experienced Jedi Masters to take care of, and I suppose a little toy to give to your current stand in until you retake your proper place. All the better, you placed yourselves upon Korriban of all places. There are almost no other location that could have been chosen more in my favor. An unbelievable chance, why would I turn away an opportunity so graciously offered to me?"
Kriff.
Kriffing kriffing krififty kriff.
She stares at him as cold reality really sets in.
Sidious is here.
Sidious is here.
Obi-Wan swallows thickly. "We'll take him together..."
"No," said Siri softly, for she knows her fate is sealed. But if she can sacrifice herself to get him and Skywalker out of here, she has little choice, "He's not getting his filthy hands on Anakin. You are going to take Anakin and..."
"So foolishly blind. Primarily," Sidious says aloud, sneering. "I did not come here for the boy, I came here for you."
She frowns, then goes over what Sidious had said, and she grows wary. "Retake my proper place?"
"Oh Tachi, did you think I was going to kill you?" mused Sidious, a dark chuckle escaping his lips, "No, you will be punished for your transgressions as never before. You will have little choice but to delve as deep into the Dark Side as you can to survive it, and when you have taken your proper place back within the Sith, you will kill Kenobi at my feet as an offering re-affirming your loyalty to me. But your transgressions demand more than simply severing your attachment, you will yet prove yourself again, against the one I consider your possible replacement. Skywalker will be taken, turned, and when you both are ready, you will face one another, and the victor will take their place as my apprentice."
He sneers. "Am I not merciful?"
Siri grits her teeth. The Dark Side is howling with laughter, roaring in triumph. Without a damn miracle, there is no way all of them are getting out alive, she's not going to risk even attempting ordering them all to run without something to stall. "Jinn, get Anakin the hell off this planet, now. Kenobi, same with Jinzler. Dooku... I don't think I can hold him for long alone. Are you willing to stand by me until they are off planet?"
Is he willing to lay down his life for his lineage?
Dooku eyes her sideways. "You do not believe all of us could take him?"
"We'd have better luck against the kriffing Terentatek."
"Ah," mused Dooku, flourishing his ligthsaber, "I see."
"Padawan Jinzler and Skywalker, retreat to the ships," orders Obi-Wan, "If we fail, you are to take off and return to Coruscant."
Oh for Kriff sake. DO THEY NOT LISTEN?
"We're not leaving you, any of you," says Anakin, and unlike with the possibility of the Terentatek, his voice is steel.
"Apprentice," says Sidious in an appalled tone, "This sentimentality is disgusting, how can you stand it?"
"Practice," she butts back mildly, then...
Then she flings open the gates.
She beckons Korriban.
It all rushes in, the Dark Hound in her mind sprints through the gate carried on the desert winds and slams into her, melding into her flesh. The Dark Side sings through her veins, and with a roar, Siri launches herself up the dune. Her purple saberstaff activates, and she goes for Sidious's throat. The ever mocking smile is on his face as he draws his own and parries aside her initial blow. She is more than aware he is mocking her with his lightsaber, but what the kriff else can she do? She needs him contained and focused on her so...
Of course not.
Dooku joins her moments later, coming at Sidious from behind, Jinn coming from the side, Kenobi moving to circle around to the other side.
Of course they don't listen.
They were all going to die here.
Stupid bloody fools.
"Well," muses Sidious, his lightsaber a blur as he so casually takes on four opponents at once, "Your power in the Force has relatively stagnated, but I suppose at least your skills with a lightsaber improved. Though I have to ask, what did you do to the kyber crystal?"
The indignation of it all. Of Sidious holding a conversation, mocking her, as if he's not being boxed in is infuriating.
He ducks a slash by Dooku, parries Siri's jab, throws a hand out to send Kenobi flying off the dune, and has Jinn jerked up into the air grabbing his throat without a shred of obvious effort. "You belong to me apprentice, there is no escape."
"She belongs to NO ONE you kriffing slaver sleemo!"
The dune they are on explodes under the force of Anakin's power.
Sidious gives a startled cry as he goes flying. Siri yelps as shes sent tumbling back down the remains one way, Dooku another, and Jinn just drops down onto the half-dune that remains. Siri glances towards Anakin, seeing the teen with his hand outstretched, fury radiating off him, Jinzler clutching his shoulder and whispering in panicked tones to him. Siri stretches out and feels...
"Anakin!" she roars, "Drop the anger, now! DO NOT USE THE FORCE ON KORRIBAN!"
If he can't control his emotions he cannot afford to use the Force here. He'll fall like a brick.
Jinzler tugs him back, continuing to whisper as the combatants right themselves. Dooku quickly rejoins Jinn, Obi-Wan jogging back from where Sidious had tossed him. The Dark Lord of the Sith himself is already walking back slowly, but his gaze is on Skywalker. "Impressive anger, I suppose."
For once, Siri is well and truly baffled. It almost sounds as if..., "I'd almost say you sound disappointed, Sidious."
"The boy has impressive power, to be sure, and is the obvious choice should you prove, unworthy," said Sidious, sheathing his lightsaber back into his robes, his mouth twisting into a mocking smile, "But it would be so easy to turn him. Tell me, apprentice, where would the sport be compared to our years together? I do look back on your insolence so fondly."
Before she can respond, lightning rips out of his hands at an insane speed. It arcs over an absolutely mind boggling distance and area. Obi-Wan, Jinn, Dooku, are brought to their knees in seconds, screaming and writhing in pain. Siri barely brings her lightsaber up in time to catch the parts directed at her, using Korriban's power to help steel herself under the assault. Anakin and Jinzler's screams sound seconds later. The amount of energy he's pumping into the ability to keep it up over such a distance is incredible, but his power doesn't fall in the slightest.
Facing Sidious on Korriban is suicide.
He has literal unlimited power here.
But...
Her eyes go wide.
So does she.
She doesn't have time to think out which would be the best, so she goes for one of the highest outputs for Sith Sorcery, one she needs High Sith for, and one she doubts she'd normally have the power for without being on Korriban. The burning language spills from her tongue, and the very sands of Korriban shiver under her feet to feel an incantation spoken upon its soil once more. "Nu tnamri ri dziana an ki waria, diâ andijki zo asimi iw jina'tis..."
Dark clouds rush to pool together in the skies overhead as the first verse finishes.
Sidious's lightning cuts off, and she feels his eyes boring into her.
Her tongue feels like its on fire. "Ri dziana jiti imdniji diâ ri dziana wirzansiti rauswas..."
Black and red lightning begins to crackle in the clouds overhead. The landscape is illuminated in an ominous glow.
"Sith Sorcery," states Sidious, stunned, "The holocron taught you Sith Sorcery?!"
A hole forms in the clouds above, lightning beginning to pool in its center. "Ri Jin' Tnirma tuti tinri tutsatsa, driyi risota, driyi natura..."
Sidious steels himself, the Dark Side flowing around him. But rather than try to stop her... she feels interest, eagerness, possessiveness, ownership. "Show me, apprentice, show me your power."
Siri's eyes are burning. Her entire body feels like its burning. She finishes the incantation and points her finger at him. "Hikiyitmi tuti wisa anas tuti naiti ir ri wisûo!"
A massive streak of red and black lightning bursts from the clouds above, raining down upon Sidious...
He laughs.
He laughs near hysterically as he throws his hands up to meet the lightning, the Dark Side pooling around him.
The sorcery impacts.
Everyone is knocked flat on their asses as it explodes, a wave of destructive energy washing over the area. The Jedi cry out in pain, but Siri...
Siri is laughing as hysterically as Sidious was.
She's never felt so Force damn high in her entire life. The Dark Side is a chorus in her ears. The filthy sensation she had before is gone, and now the echoes of Korriban resound through her. She feels as if terrible and hungry eyes are ravaging her body, claws gripping her body hard enough to scar and bleed. Korriban wants her, it wants to sink its fangs into her, drag her down into its depths beneath the sands, and never let her go. Part of her wants to let it. She's never felt the Dark Side so deeply as she has now. Not even on Naboo when she'd temporarily broken her chains. Nothing...
Nothing has ever felt like preforming Sith Sorcery, like performing an incantation in High Sith upon Korriban's soil.
"Magnificent, Lord Tyrosus," comes Sidious's exulted voice, "Magnificent."
No.
That's not possible...
He took that head on! THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE!
She rises to her feet, blinking away spots. Waving her hand to force the dust clouds away...
Sidious is standing there, off in the distance.
Unharmed.
She stares at him, speechless.
"Had you used and hit me with such power outside of Korriban, not that you would have been able to do so elsewhere, I can admit I would have at least been wounded," mused Sidious, sulfur eyes gleaming out from under his hood, "But here? I have access to the same amount of power you do, and I know how to use it better."
The Jedi groan and bring themselves back to their feet. Siri twitches when most of their eyes land on her in disbelief, rather than keeping them on Sidious. She feels an odd amount of grief from Obi-Wan for some reason...
"Is it not glorious, Lord Tyrosus?" posed Sidious, "To cast off Siri Tachi's corpse? To embrace yourself, to embrace the Dark Side, in its fullest? Cast off these last chains, my apprentice, and return to your proper place. I will not be merciful, but in the face of this, I may offer leniency if you do so willingly. I could use you so well..."
Siri regards Sidious for a long moment, and then lets the Dark Side high slip through her fingers. "There is no difference."
He blinks, not following her words. "No difference?"
"Siri Tachi and Darth Tyrosus are one in the same," she says, clenching and unclenching her fists, "There is no difference. Taking up a new name doesn't magically kill who I was anymore than being Darth Sidious kills whoever you were. If you truly think it does, then you are naive and willingly blind."
The exulted look about him fades into annoyance and contempt. "Even when you impress me, somehow you still manage to ruin the moment with such disappointment."
She returns the look. "To be Sith is to evolve. To struggle. To change. I may not be the original Siri Tachi, but that isn't because she truly died. She changed, she became me. She most certainly isn't dead. Though I imagine at times the padawan I used to be would have preferred it."
Master and apprentice regard eachother for a long moment, dust kicking up and blowing between them...
Then a familiar hunger fills the air.
Siri hardly has time to swear before the wall of the tomb they exited from explodes from the force of the Terentatek smashing through it, roaring loud enough to shake the very air. There is a flicker of surprise and interest from Sidious. "A Terentatek? I see that you are not surprised, have you been hiding this from me as well?"
"We're old friends," said Siri flatly, half turning to regard the beast as it takes a few steps forward, "And like hell was I ever planning on informing you of that thing."
Sidious was dangerous enough without having a Terentatek at his command. Speaking of which, it pauses, growling deeply. Its hungry eyes flicker between the groups. The three Jedi Knights/Masters. Sidious. Siri. The two padawans. Drool drips down its chin, claws scraping one another, indecisive of where it should strike first. But she can feel the truth. It wants them all.
"What a magnificent beast," mused Sidious, "I had not thought they survived still on Korriban considering the last purges."
She feels Sidious reach out with the Force, pressing against the monster's mind, and all she can think is shit-shit-shit-shit...
Except the unexpected happens.
The beast bucks his touch, turning and snarling at him. She feels a swirl from the ancient Sith dead who dwell here, angry and possessive of their precious beast. Siri's eyes go wide, her breath hitches, and she sees a way out of this alive. She shoves down her force presence as much as possible, shoves the same thought down the bond to Kenobi, and crouches down to seem smaller, hissing out towards Anakin, "Push down your power as much as possible!"
Siri is never more thankful for Sidious being Sidious, for he has never been one to be denied his treat. He narrows his molten eyes at the Terentatek, and the pressure in the air, of the dark, intensifies, nearly bringing Siri to her knees. "You will obey me, beast, kill the Jedi."
It's response is to roar, brute force push right through his attempt to control it, and charge at him. Sidious's mouth twists into a furious scowl, he raises a hand, and lightning explodes out. But the Terentatek is a Force resistant beast, it plows right through the lightning and takes a swipe at him, much to Sidious's surprise, forcing him to dodge backwards. Then...
Then he stops holding back.
His presence fluctuates.
The next burst of lightning is at full intensity empowered by Korriban, and the Terentatek, a kriffing Terentatek, screams in pain and is brought to its knees.
"Run!" yells Siri.
Thankfully, for once the Jedi don't argue. They all sprint towards the way they came. Sidious roars, "APPRENTICE!"
But he cannot pursue, the moment he lets the lightning down, the Terentatek attempts to rise and strike at him. They run into the tombs, and Siri reaches up with the Force to collapse the ceiling as they run, either slowing Sidious down if he tries to pursue or forcing him to find another way. She does not collapse a little bit at the entrance. No, she's collapsing it as she goes. Because honestly, kriff Korriban and kriff the ghosts here. Regardless, they need to get off this hellhole. They need to get off this hellhole now.
"Siri, what the hell was that?!" demands Obi-Wan, "What did you do?"
"Not, now," she snaps.
"There will time for questions later, grandpadawan," says Dooku in a tired, strained voice.
She keeps her senses primed towards Sidious as they flee. His rage is a malevolent vortex in the Force, along with his frustration. She can feel him searching for a way to come after them, but the hunger of the Terentatek is always after him. If he spends the time to actually put the thing down, they're sure to get away. If he tries to avoid it and pursue them, it will nip at his heels, and a single mistake against a Terentatek is lethal. Not to mention he can't be so stupid as to put himself in a position where he is pincered between the Terentatek on one side, and them on the other. She did not stay to try to take advantage of the situation for the simple reason of a three way fight between her, Sidious, and a Terentatek is a kriffing stupid fight to take, but being pincered between them is another matter, and Siri can escape the beast if it comes down to it.
She feels it a few minutes later.
The shockwave of the Force.
Sidious's wrath is extreme.
The Terentatek's hunger is crushed under Sidious's power. She doesn't feel it die, but whatever he did certainly knocked it the kriff out. "Terentatek is down."
"Do we have enough of a lead to escape?" posed Dooku.
At least he's intelligent enough not to suggest going back and fighting.
"Less talking, more running," she says grimly as she feels Sidious gaze at them through the Force.
He is coming.
He is coming for them.
He is coming for her.
He is moving so much faster than the beast ever did.
They get off Korriban or they are dead to rights.
They make it back to Bane's chamber, but the way out is blocked...
And then its not, the wall rising up and clearing the way.
'Flee little sorceress,' comes a purr in her mind.
Siri blinks. Did she just get a blessing from these old bastards?
She feels it a second later. The ambient malevolence of this place, shifting, turning. Doors shifting and opening and closing all throughout the tombs. The path laid so clear for them, Sidious blocked at every turn. Siri... Siri is so confused with her life right now. All she can think is 'Why?'
She gets a sensation of hunger as her response. The feeling of someone pointing something out to her. It takes her but a brief moment to notice how... fresh... the Dark Side feels after that ritual. Power flows so readily through Korriban's dark soil. It begs for more, demands her power. Quiet chanting fills her ears, indistinguishable verses of rituals hosted here in ages long since past. Korriban hungers for more.
'You are in our debt,' whispers a voice, 'And you will return one day to preform more rites as payment.'
She purses her lips, but nods. 'Very well. If I'm alive when the time comes.'
'Oh little sorceress, he hungers for your power as readily as we do, he will not give up his desire, not after that. He will own and posses you, willingly or otherwise, unless you best him and take his place.'
Siri swallows, but doesn't respond.
They make it out of the tombs minute later. The Jedi pile into their ship, Siri begins to make for the one she stole, but Obi-Wan yanks her towards theirs. She sighs, but relents. Less than a minute later, the engines ignite and they shoot off into the atmosphere. Sidious's fury sends shivers down her spine. The padawan's clutch themselves, gasping. Qui-Gon grits his teeth, and Dooku closes his eyes, slumping against the wall. Obi-Wan sends them into hyperspace not long after, and there is quiet.
At least until he leaves the cockpit and stands in the doorway, staring her down.
Its an uncomfortable few minutes before he speaks, "No difference? You say there is no difference between you and the monster you became on Naboo?"
Of all the things to ask...
"I had a long time in that cell," said Siri, "To look back on Naboo, and you know what Kenobi? Those memories are no different than the rest. Being utterly consumed by the Dark Side does not make me a different person, just a fool who was willing to throw everything away for nothing but power."
His jaw sets. "And I suppose your eyes being the same now as they were then doesn't matter? Shall I be calling you Lord Tyrosus then if you are one in the same?"
Were they yellow now? Oh Sidious had to have been delighted. "Kenobi, I literally just preformed a high powered Dark Side piece of sorcery on Korriban. Its going to take awhile for that to bleed out of me."
He purses his lips, but seems grudgingly satisfied with the answer.
Dooku opens his eyes and looks bemused "A Sith calling herself a fool for chasing power?"
Siri doesn't answer.
She thinks of her early experiences with the Dark Side.
She thinks of how different the Dark Side feels; Fallen, dark but not quite fallen, and long ago as a Jedi.
She thinks of how the Dark Side had felt those few minutes she had broken her last chain on Naboo, on how she had welcomed it eating her alive for power.
She thinks of what she felt when Skywalker let her look through his eyes into the Force.
She thinks of how Korriban felt, before years ago and now earlier in the day.
She thinks of the magnificence of that ritual, the specific ritual hadn't mattered, just how she had channeled the Dark Side.
On how she hadn't been eaten alive for it after. Oh she could have been, if she hadn't let it slip through her fingers after, but she did.
Siri doesn't know what to make of it all. It feels like she's staring at something monumental, waiting for her to make some kind of realization, but she just doesn't know.
"Sith Sorcery," states Dooku, "Explain."
Siri shakes her head.
Dooku scoffs. "Do you think we're going to just leave it at that?"
"Do you have a means to force me to answer?" she rebutted.
"Shall we discuss instead what Darth Bane implied about the holocron?" posed Dooku.
"Rain has had a thousand years to do so, and she hasn't," said Siri, narrowing her eyes at Dooku, "Drop. The. Topic."
Dooku opens his mouth, but Qui-Gon cuts in. "Master, enough. Let it be for now. Granta Omega met an unfortunate end, and we've escaped that disaster with our lives, I'm more than content to call it a day without more bickering."
Dooku sighs, but relents.
Anakin fills the silence a few minutes later. "...how am I ever supposed to beat him?"
You already can.
The words rest on the tip of her tongue, but she keeps the comment to herself. He wouldn't appreciate nor understand it yet. Skywalker is at times, incredibly impressive and far more wise than he should be at age. He can also be as dense as duracrete. Telling him that he has all the power he needs before he actually knows how to use and control it will only get him killed at this point. She leaves the Jedi placation to the Jedi and leans her head back against the ship wall, tired.
Siri isn't invited to the debrief in the council room when they get back.
She waits outside, and after, Fay pretty much frog marches her to her room and revokes her travel privileges around the temple. Escort at all times or not at all. "Ungrateful, the lot of you."
Fay regards her coolly. "Ungrateful for what? Sidious's own words say that he would not have come if you had not enticed him there. You, Sith, put them in more danger than they already were. Your attachment blinds you as readily as it does anyone else."
"Can you say for certain they would have survived if I hadn't been there? If the Terentatek had found them without Sidious there to piss it off and draw its attention? If my stand in had been there in his steed and fought them?" Siri counters.
"Can you for certain say they wouldn't have survived? That the Terentatek was not drawn to the combined darkness of master and apprentice?"
Siri and Fay regard eachother for a tense moment before the latter shakes her head. "In light of what you've hidden, and you yet again breaching the rules of your parol, you will not leave this room without purpose. If it were up to me alone, that holocron would be destroyed for the danger it poses. I do not know why Yoda keeps speaking up on your behalf, but consider yourself fortunate or the response would have been worse."
Fay leaves without further word.
Rain materializes after the door closes, regarding Siri. "You wont have the advantage of surprise sorcery anymore."
"I'm aware," she answers dryly.
"Why in the nine Corellian Hells did you chose that incantation?" posed Rain.
"I was in a pinch!" she defended, "So I went for big!"
Rain rolls her eyes. "Something quicker and more deadly rather than flashier would have been better."
"Bite me."
"Tempting, but I wouldn't taste the blood."
Siri snorts. "Love you too Rain, you lucky little bitch."
Rain raises her eyebrow.
"You got to kill your Master. Twice."
Rain shrugs, a satisfied cat as she stretches out on the couch. "So I did. Who knows, maybe you'll get such a chance yourself."
Siri pauses on the way to the shower, not liking the way the Force rippled at those words. She brushed the thoughts off and walked inside. She leans against the wall, water running down her flesh, staring at the floor aimlessly, listening to the patter of water and slurp of the drain. She lets herself, in the confines of her quarter, of the small shower stall, finally unwind. She slumps down and lets it hit her.
Sidious wants her back as his apprentice.
That shouldn't terrify her as much as it does.
But its kriffing terrifying.
There was a time when she would have craved such possessiveness, such hunger for her, if not from Sidious than from Zannah.
But now...
He wants to own her and her power. Her potential.
Her desire to see him dead fights with her desire to hide away and never see him again for the rest of her life.
She knows she doesn't particularly have a choice.
Author's Notes:
The next arc occurs after a time skip, and wont be a long one, but it will be the last one before Siri goes free.
After she goes free, there will be one more smaller set of chapters, then we start delving into the 'Clone Wars'
The incantation:
Nu tnamri ri dziana an ki waria = I bend the skies to my will, and form a storm of darkness
ri dziana jiti imdniji diâ ri dziana wirzansiti rauswas = the heavens rip open and the skies bleed red
Ri Jin' Tnirma tuti tinri tutsatsa, driyi risota, driyi natura = The Dark Side is true strength, over nature, over life
Hikiyitmi tuti wisa anas tuti naiti ir ri wisûo! = Obliteration is all that is left in its wake!