3Week challenge: 100K in three weeks, and it only took me 12 hours to write one chapter. This is going to be fun. Thank you to the reviewers, your support means the world :D
WARNING: Some violence in this, though not as bad as watching the MC receive 'just a flesh wound' before being set on fire.
Dear Svenion, damn summoner. I didn't plot him but you mentioned him and he demanded a scene, and then hijacked the entire chapter.
Chapter 6 - Echoes
Dooku was rather incensed. He agreed with the Separatists, he truly did, he even wanted to help them but-
"Are you insane?" Sifo-Dyas asked.
Dooku gave him a scornful look, "Has the Order not called you home yet? Surely the Council member is meant to be with the Council."
"Holograms, my friend, the technology has existed for quite some time now. Besides, Yoda insists you can help me."
"Interesting, and why should I care what Master Yoda wants, I am no longer a part of your Order?"
Sifo-Dyas grinned, "Because you still call him Master, and as Yoda's Padawan-"
"Yes, yes," Dooku waved him off, "but if you are the one who needs my help, then into my business you need play no part."
"But the Separatists? Really Dooku?"
"The Republic is useless."
Sifo-Dyas scoffed, "And you know something better?"
"An Empire would be smarter than this."
Sifo-Dyas gaped at him, "No, it would not."
"We could get more done. It is not if we can depend on the Jedi."
"Again, my friend, just because I'm here with you, does not mean that I am not a Jedi." Then muttered, "And a Council member."
"Yes, but you came here ready to wage war with a clone army."
"And I have not ruled it out yet," Sifo-Dyas countered, "because of the mounting threat of the Separatists that you seem to be ready to support."
"I do support them."
Sifo-Dyas glowered at him, "And how many of our people will die in the process?"
"None, if the Jedi weren't mindless dogs to the Republic."
"Is your Padawan a mindless dog? What will you do if he dies in the fires you help start?"
Dooku looked at Sifo-Dyas.
Sifo-Dyas winced, putting his hands up, "I do not wish to cause you harm, Dooku, but there will be consequences for our actions."
Dooku did not want to admit that, if Qui-Gon would just join him he might ensure-
A hologram appeared, standing in a shimmer of blue was Senator Palpatine, "Count Dooku," he greeted, voice pleasant and wholesome, as if he meant what he was saying, "And Master Sifo-Dyas, what a welcome surprise."
Sifo-Dyas frowned first at the Senator then back at Dooku, "What is this? Why are you meeting with the Senator from Naboo?"
"Because we share ideas about how the galaxy might be. He believes the Republic cannot continue as it has been, and unlike many a politician, I trust he has the peoples' best interest at heart."
Sifo-Dyas turned and bowed his head to the Senator, asking warily, "Are you a Sepratatist supporter as well?"
"Not as such," Palpatine said, "But I understand the cause of the movement and I think we mig-"
"Wait," Dooku said, holding up his hand. "There should be someone else here for this."
He picked up his comm, and the other two men waited.
"Hello?" came a welcome voice.
"Ah, Qui-Gon, I trust that you are well."
A beat of silence, followed by, "Yes, Master Dooku, I hope the same could be said for you." Another pause, before Qui-Gon lost his diplomatic facade, "What do you want?"
"I was wondering if I might include you in a conference, I find that I am in much desire of your council. If you are not too busy at the moment…"
He heard his old Padawan sigh, "As it happens, I am free, and as you've never asked for my council befor-"
"Excellent," Dooku cut him off, "I shall transfer you to a hologram if that is amenable?"
"It is, a moment."
And a moment later a ghostly image of Qui-Gon stood with them, his hands tucked into his sleeves. He looked around at the company, and Dooku felt a bit of surprise from the bond.
"Master Jinn," Senator Palpatine said warmly, "Welcome. And if I might take the time, thank you for your efforts on Naboo. My Queen and I have been meaning to pay you and your Padawans a visit."
Qui-Gon bowed his head, "Your Queen is quite the credit to her station and people."
"That she is."
Sifo-Dyas was losing patience, "What are we meant to be discussing, Dooku?"
"First, Qui-Gon, I would like to hear your view on the Separatist movement."
Qui-Gon gazed at him, searching his face, "Odd to be asked that question from you, Master, when my Padawan asked me the same question not so long ago."
"And your answer, my old Padawan?"
"I sympathize with their plight and I believe the Republic is handling it poorly."
"And the Jedi?"
"What do you want me to say, Master Dooku?"
"I want your input, student, you are wise and not a sheep to the Council."
"I resent you," Sifo-Dyas muttered.
Qui-Gon gave the Council member a peculiar look before he said exactly what was on his mind just as he had when he was a young man, "I think the Jedi should become a true third party. I think if anyone should be Separating from the Republic, it should be the Jedi."
Senator Palpatine seemed taken aback by this course of action, "Surely, Master Jinn, there is less extreme solution? Perhaps the Jedi are given a greater voice, a representative from the senate in the Jedi Council-"
"It is not extreme," Qui-Gon retorted, "It is necessary. Jedi are the peacemakers, not the Republic's dogs. We were meant to serve the Force, not politics."
A sense of pride filled Dooku even as Palpatine pressed, "But surely the Jedi leaving would cause more problems, you might end up supporting both sides of a war."
Dooku frowned at the notion, and a little warning fluttered through the Force. Something had changed in Palpatine's words, some tone… something.
"Well lucky for us, waging war is not the business of the Jedi. There are inter-galactic laws that Jedi could enforce without the Republic's guidance."
"Such as?"
"Chemical or biological warfare?" Qui-Gon offered, his tone sharper.
Dooku forgot how wonderful Qui-Gon's silver tongue could be when uncensored. Here in the halls of Serreno, Palpatine was not a Senator and Sifo-Dyas not a Council member, they were just men speaking heresy in confidence.
Qui-Gon went on, "There are of course non-humanoid planets whose cultures would need to be reviewed on an individual case by case, but for the most part- There are obvious crimes in the galaxy that we, the Jedi, could be utilized against.
"Our main purpose should be mediating conflicts so the systems might work through their own concerns and grow from it. To go where we are asked to go rather than commanded. It rarely does any good for an outside power to enforce change, democracy is not born from forcing people to participate. That type of change must come from within if it is to be sustained. The Jedi could advise them, keep things from growing into violence.
"The galaxy knows us as warriors, but we could be so much more."
"Pretty in theory," Palpatine said, "But the Republic has done much the same and without being able to enforce democracy then-"
"Unwanted help will always be resented. The Republic is failing. They have declared slavery illegal, yet they perpetrate human traffic, if not simply letting it go unhindered. The most they do is shift it from open view, on occasion. If the Republic continues to enforce only the laws that benefit the politicians then I suspect movements such as the Separatists will only grow in strength, and if they are not brought to the table for discussions then the violence will escalate."
Dooku was enjoying himself, both because his student was well and truly a rebel, as well as being absurdly proud of his apprentice's articulation.
Perhaps somewhere along the way, Dooku had lost sight of what he was fighting for. He saw power as a means to an end.
Qui-Gon so the power they already had, and desired only the freedom to act. He didn't want to rule, he wanted to pave down a long and hard road that might sustain through the ages if brought into reality.
"Yes," Palpatine agreed, "It will escalate. And what you are suggesting is a fantasy. The Jedi will not abandon the Republic. The Jedi will not change, a credit you yourself are to your Master and the Jedi, but you are the minority, Master Jinn. The Jedi will not change course, and even if they could, I fear it would be too late."
Dooku watched Sifo-Dyas shift in place, as if he would deny it.
Qui-Gon straightened, "A path should not be abandoned because it is not easy, because it has not been done before, nor because people lack faith in it. The Force is larger than the Republic or the Separatists, and it will remain so no matter what wars are waged. The Force will remain, what is wrong and what is right will remain, no other truth will hold true."
"Except for the fact that truth is notoriously hard to decipher, Jinn," Sifo-Dyas said, only a tad bitter.
Qui-Gon was unphased as he told the prophet, "All we can do is in the present, trying to determine every outcome of the future can only distract what the Force is trying to tell us now."
"You're a zealot," Palpatine disparaged with an uncharacteristic sneer.
"My student is wise, a mystic perhaps, and perhaps not right in all things, but neither is he wrong," Dooku stated, "If the Jedi separated from the Republic it would be-"
"Chaos," Sifo-Dyas stated.
"Give undo support to the Separatists," Palpatine remarked.
"Be a start of a new age," Dooku concluded.
Sifo-Dyas responded, "Yoda would sooner kill us all. And Mace would help him do it."
"Mace wouldn't kill us," Qui-Gon protested, "Send us to prison? Maybe. But no one listens to me anyway so the point is moot, I suppose."
That saddened Dooku, "You threatened once to join me, Qui-Gon, you and yours would be welcome at my side."
He shook his head, "Master, I wish you had a seat on the Council and remained with the Jedi."
"Why? When you yourself say they do not listen."
"Because at least then someone in charge would hear my thoughts, and whether or not the Council would act on your words in turn, it remains that they would owe it to you to debate the issues. The Council, for all their talk, are nearly one minded."
"I honestly cannot stand either of you," Sifo-Dyas, the resident Council member, quipped.
Palpatine began to speak but a wave of pain and terror swept through the bond between him and Qui-Gon. He staggered a step forward as Qui-Gon did the same, his old apprentice catching himself against something they could not see.
Dooku was worried Qui-Gon had been attacked, but when his student looked up, it wasn't a look of pain on his face, but horror.
He breathed one word, "Rey."
And then he was gone, leaving Dooku with a sickening sense that something had gone terribly, terribly wrong as wave after wave of terror and agony swept through their bonds.
Padawan Rey screaming for help, and she seemed unable to feel them because she called out louder in desperation.
And then, the bond seemed to cut off.
Dooku reached out, sensing both Qui-Gon and Padawan Kenobi, but the link to the youngest, had gone completely silent.
Some Minutes Earlier on Coruscant
It's safe, it's safe, she kept repeating to herself even as she tugged on the Force like a child might hold a parent's hand.
She was walking back from the archives to Obi-Wan's room and she wanted to run despite the Force giving her no warnings, despite knowing she was alone this hallway.
After months of living here, she had come to hate it.
Around Master Jinn and Obi-Wan she was fine, but she still didn't like the Temple. She couldn't explain why, other than a sickness she felt in the walls, in the stone beneath her feet. Neither had she come to appreciate the city, though she had only ventured out into it once with Obi-Wan so they could get new clothes.
She still wore tight fitting pants and variant of the top she always wore with slightly more durable fabric. But in addition to her arm wraps, she now had an outer layer robe as everyone else seemed to. Obi-Wan had finally gotten her to admit that she found the average temperature here chill even after having somewhat adapted. Practising she could do without, but when just walking around, the extra layer helped.
Obi-Wan had bought the robe her hand had rested too long on, instead of brown or tan, she wore a dove grey.
It had cost more than she had made on her entire time on Jakku and Obi-Wan had thought nothing of it.
Tonight she huddled in the soft material. Tomorrow was their off day so she thought staying at the archives late wouldn't be a problem.
But she regretted it now, even if the Force made no warning, she regretted her choice.
She hated this Temple. Not her life here, not the people, and certainly not the food, but she wished they could go elsewhere.
She never thought she would ever come to miss Jakku.
A wave of dizziness swept over her, and she wavered on her feet, catching herself against the wall.
This time the Force did call a warning as everything around her dimmed, her clothes blackening as she began to turn, seeing a dark figure immerge from the now shadowed hallway.
She felt it coming, but for the life of her, she couldn't move, her body seeming to have a mind of its own as she braced for the blow.
A fist smashed into her cheek, her attacker wearing metal studded gloves.
The pain was red hot and she fell to the floor, certain something in her cheek was broken.
Again, she felt through the Force the next hit coming as a steel toed boot kicked her in the gut.
She tried to scream, she tried to get to her feet and run, she drew on the Force to try and blow the attacker back, his face hidden under a black hood.
But she was unable to do anything, as she curled around herself, taking kick after kick.
Dark emotions that were somehow separate from her own pressed against and swirled in her mind.
Why couldn't she move?
She had taken a beating before, but nothing like this. Confused and pain filled, she couldn't think.
The panic didn't truly hit her until that black figure kicked her in the back over her kidneys.
He was going to kill her, if she didn't act now she was going to die like this. Alone and cold and bleeding in the shadows.
She reached out to the Force, reached for Obi-Wan and Master Jinn to save her.
Another blow to her back, and she felt one of her floating ribs break.
"Yessss," the man crooned, speaking for the first time. Laughing at her, he continued, "Feel it, let the pain fuel your hatred, your power."
This person was insane, and instead of Master Jinn or Obi-Wan, all she found was a building hatred that was somehow drawing power from the Force. As if the pain were truly power that grew as she let herself be beaten.
Her panic mounting as the Force for the first time failed her, she retreated inward. Away from her spilled blood on the stone floor, away from the man hurting her, away from her own body that refused to obey her.
Away from the Force through which she could reach neither Master nor friend.
Retreated, until-
It stopped.
All sensation.
Her attack, her sight, all sense of time or baring, gone.
Somehow she had managed to cut herself off from the Force entirely.
And it was worse than the beating, worse than the fear of death, it was a worse than any hell she could have imagined.
Obi-Wan had been enjoying a rather nice evening with Jupe and Prie who were good naturally digging at him for being a 'super' Jedi. Apparently Rey and he were clocking more hours in the training rooms than any Padawan or Master they could name in recent years.
Prie caught him around the waist when he nearly fell to the ground as pain lanced through him. He let out a sharp cry as another wave of pain hit him through the bond and then the pain was constant.
It was nauseating but he pushed past both his friends, ignoring their questions as he sprinted from the Padawan hall.
He knew Rey had been in the archives and he couldn't think what might have happened to her.
He felt her cry for help, and he reached out to reassure her, but felt something- someone foreign in her place. His reassurances couldn't reach her as he ran through the halls.
He almost collapsed to his knees when he felt the connection drop, no pain, no nothing.
Is she dead!? Rey!?
No answer came, but he felt his Master's panic, and more distantly Master Dooku's concern.
She was either at the archives or returning from the archives.
He had to believe that's where she would be, he felt Qui-Gon skim his mind and change course to take a more direct route to where Obi-Wan thought she might have been.
Please don't be dead. -Please- please don't be dead! He begged the Force.
His heart nearly fell from his chest when he saw a figure curled on the ground. He covered that short distance with pull on the Force in half a moment.
"Rey, Rey, Rey-" he kept saying.
She was curled in a tight ball, her limbs locked in an unnatural position, her fingers curled in a frighteningly stiff and ugly gesture.
She was dead.
His world seemed to die in that heartbeat.
But then he saw the flicking of her eyes under her closed lids, the muscle tremors in her locked form.
Something terrible had happened, he couldn't feel her at all in the Force, she was a void. But she was alive.
Gently, he laid two fingers to the pulse in her neck, it was racing, but strong.
Qui-Gon rounded the corner and let out a sound that Obi-Wan would never forget, his face a mask of denial and pain.
"She's alive," Obi-Wan said in a hoarse voice.
Qui-Gon dropped to his side, reaching out to her pulse as well. "Search the area," he ordered.
Obi-Wan shook himself, getting to his feet and gazed around them for the first time. They were in an empty hallway. There was nothing to be found.
Carefully, Qui-Gon pulled Rey into his arms. Her position didn't change, her hands, arms, and legs remained in that disturbingly rigid position, as if she really was dead and had been petrified into rigamortis.
Obi-Wan swallowed hard, fear a terrible taste on the back of his tongue. "Why can't I feel her?" he asked.
Qui-Gon didn't answer as he began to run with Rey cradled in his arm to the medical wing. He used the Force to soften his steps so he wasn't jostling her.
Obi-Wan followed, leaving the benign hallway behind them.
He had been telling her for months, since the day she arrived, that she was safe in the Temple.
Apparently, he had been wrong.
Qui-Gon sat on a small bench with Obi-Wan pressed to his side in a small med room. Rey was asleep on a caught with an IV and heart monitor.
Qui-Gon was developing a fondness for that monitor, as it was telling him his Padawan was indeed alive, despite the fact that he still couldn't feel her.
The healer had given her a muscle relaxant and sleeping aid.
Apparently, Rey had suffered a rather severe seizure.
Which might have explained the pain and fear, might have, but did not explain why they could no longer feel her through the bond.
Obi-Wan was holding her hand and hadn't spoken since the healer told them Rey would be alright.
Mace and Yoda's presence was why they were sharing the bench. The room was cramped, and the silence between them all oppressive.
The sleeping aid would be wearing off sooner or later, and they would have no answers until Rey herself woke.
Yoda had expressed his opinion that she had a vision, but even the little Grand Master could not explain why the Force couldn't reach her.
Mace crossed his arms, breaking the silence, "Perhaps we should leave and let her sleep."
"Yes, perhaps you should both leave," Qui-Gon said, his voice harder than he meant it to be.
"Fear, you must not," Yoda chastized.
Qui-Gon didn't acknowledge this, he wasn't falling to the Dark Side but nor would he be able to settle until Rey woke up, her brightness chasing away the shadows in the room.
A knock came at the door, and Qui-Gon realized how upset he truly was to not have sensed who entered next.
How long had Rey been asleep?
"Qui-Gon," Dooku greeted.
When he finally found his words, he could only ask, "You came?"
Dooku nodded, "I did, and I see my fears have been proved -thankfully so- incorrect. She's alive."
Qui-Gon looked back at his youngest charge, still breathing, then to the heart monitor, still alive. "Yes," he said, voice not his own, "The healer said she had a vision that caused a seizure, she will recover."
Sifo Dyas entered the room behind Dooku, claiming the only free seat beside Mace. "Poor girl, always more of a curse than a gift, foresight."
Qui-Gon focused on him, realizing that here was the most gifted, the most cursed Jedi currently in the Order, "I can't feel her in the Force. Is that normal?"
Sifo-Dyas made a pained face, looking at Rey with sadness, "That is one way to stop a vision, yes, but no, not normal as such. I would rather witness the Apocalypse then cut myself off from the Force mid-vision. Is this her first vision you know of?"
Qui-Gon nodded, "Yes, and she hasn't yet learned how to shield herself with the Force, could she really have cut herself off instinctually?"
"She couldn't hear me."
They all turned to Obi-Wan who spoke for the first time in hours.
"What was that, Padawan Kenobi?" Sifo-Dyas asked.
"She couldn't feel us through the Force. She reached out through our Master and Apprentice bond but when I reached back for her, she didn't- it wasn't her. I felt someone else's aura and I couldn't communicate with her or -him, I think, it was a he at least. Then the bond cut off completely."
"That's odd," Sifo-Dyas said, "What did you feel from this other aura?"
"Pain, hatred, it was separate somehow from Rey's pain and fear, though she was feeling what he felt, and that we felt through the bond."
Sifo-Dyas frowned, "I don't- I have had thousands of visions, as Dooku can attest, throughout my life, they have caused me trauma, physical pain from the strain, headaches, or seizures, but what you're describing is her experiencing someone else's attack. That is odd."
"We won't have more answers until she wakes, it is pointless to speculate until then," Mace remarked.
Dooku gave him a scathing look, "As always Master Windu, so self assured."
Yoda tapped his cane down, gazing up at his old Padawan, but he addressed Sifo-Dyas. "Help you, Master Dooku has, Master Sifo-Dyas. Now help Master Jinn, Master Dooku will."
Sifo-Dyas scowled at the green troll, not quite as expressively, Dooku did as well, correcting his Master, "Count, not Master, Master Yoda."
"Hmmm…." Yoda hummed thoughtfully, "Yet here you are, and here we are. Master and Count are you."
Dooku laughed, his voice scathing as he asked, "And would you ask me to choose, Master? I have already made that choice."
"Master here you are, remain Count here will you."
A silence filled the room, aside from the soft beep of Rey's steady heartbeat.
"Are you offering him a position back in the Order without his surrounding his title?" Mace asked.
"Regretted Dooku's leaving the order, have I. Failed you, I did. Fail again, I will not. Serreno under Jedi jurisdiction, as the Temple is. Master Dooku account for the planet, he will."
Qui-Gon had never seen his Master taken so off guard, he was staring at Yoda uncomprehendingly.
"You can't do that," Mace protested, "We would need a full Council vote. No Jedi has been able to hold a political office and remain in the Order."
"He has my vote," Sifo-Dyas said, his eyes filled with mirth.
"Cannot, my Padawan?" Yoda asked, "No Jedi was there that could practice both Dark and Light side, yet this you did, Padawan Windu. Against my wish, you did this. Master Dooku Jedi and Count, he will be. Turn away our own when lost they should not be, we will not."
They all looked up at Dooku who stood dumbfounded by the door with nowhere to sit, even Obi-Wan who was still holding Rey's hand.
"I suppose…" Dooku began, meeting Qui-Gon's hopeful gaze. He sighed, "I suppose if the Force wills it, I can return if I am given the freedom to speak my mind."
Mace scoffed and Sifo-Dyas snorted. Qui-Gone himself couldn't help but smile as he shook his head.
"Padawan mine," Yoda said, "Speak your mind, always have you, always will you."
The tension in the small room seemed to be vastly lighter, this is when Rey seemed to rouse from her slumber.
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan gasped, as the bond snapped open, her presence in the Force dialling completely open.
Distantly he heard Dooku curse, the only one among them who hadn't felt the full weight of Ray's presence. He muttered to Yoda, "How can she possibly be as strong as you, Master?"
"Hmm…" the troll said, "Perhaps stronger, she will be, but many, many decades until she knows what she is doing, take will she."
Rey's eyes flashed open, and fear consumed her, she came out of the bed fighting, and Obi-Wan caught her, before she landed face first on the floor, the muscle relaxants were apparently quite strong because her movements were slow and graceless.
Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon tried settling her back onto the cot, but she wouldn't let go of Obi-Wan who ended up just joining her on the low thin mattress. It creaked in protest, but managed.
"Rey," Qui-Gon called to her, "Rey, you are safe, don't pull on the IV, you had a seizure. We are in the medical wing of the Temple on Coruscant."
"I'm not dead," she said, sounding surprised by this.
Qui-Gon's heart jolted at the remark, and he had to take a steadying breath and funnel some of his fear to Force before he could speak.
She didn't expect to wake up, it was Obi-Wan's thought and he seemed heartbroken at the idea.
"You're safe now," Qui-Gon said, "The healer said you'll have no permit injuries, but we will have to take it easy the next week or so."
The arm she wasn't using to cling to Obi-Wan, she raised to her face, "They fixed my cheek. I didn't know they could fix an injury like that so quickly."
Qui-Gon reached out to her cheek, "You had no injury here, Padawan mine."
"But he broke it."
"Who broke it?" he asked, pulling his hand back so he had a clear view of both her hazel eyes.
"The man in the hall."
Sifo-Dyas sat forward in his seat, "You saw a man in your vision?"
"Vision?" she asked, then before he could respond, "You're one of the Council, right?" She took stock of the room's occupants. She stopped on Dooku, "Master Dooku?"
Dooku smiled at her, "Greetings, Padawan Rey, it is an honour to meet you and Padawan Kenobi in person."
Sifo-Dyas interrupted, "Padawan Rey, who did you see in your vision?"
She turned her attention back to them with a frown, "A man dressed in black, hooded so I couldn't make out his face."
"And what did he do, what was he saying?"
"He beat me."
"Beat you?" Sifo-Dyas asked.
She nodded, "I tried running, I felt the hits coming, but I couldn't- I couldn't act. I wasn't in control of my body. I couldn't run, I couldn't fight and it was like my connection to the Force had been hijacked, I couldn't reach Master Jinn or Obi-Wan."
"Cut yourself off from the Force, you did, but feel them now, you do," Yoda stated.
She nodded, pressing herself against Obi-Wan's side, who had an arm around her shoulder, "That was worse than the beating, but the man stopped, or I couldn't feel it after I did that. I thought he was going to kill me, he broke my ribs, and kept kicking at my Kidneys. He told me to use my pain to fuel my power. And it was like the Force changed from… I don't know but it was useless to me because I couldn't fight him."
Qui-Gon asked because as her Master, he had to ask, "And were you tempted by the power?"
She gave him an affronted look, "No, it was weak, made weaker by the fact that the man seemed to think I had to be half dead in order reach it. It was…" she searched for a word, "nonsensical."
Qui-Gon stared at her, that had not been his reaction to feeling the Dark Side of the Force.
Mace was shaking his head, "Is anything about you normal, Padawan Rey?"
She turned to face him, "What do you mean?"
"Someone offered you raw power, hurt you, made you afraid, and your reaction was to turn from the Force completely."
She frowned at him, "He was killing me."
"And that didn't make you angry?"
She thought about it, "I- I felt anger… but I don't think it was my anger."
"Didn't you want to fight?"
"Yes, but I wanted to run more."
Mace frowned, "You didn't strike me as a cowardly woman, Padawan Rey."
Qui-Gon glared at him, "Watch yourself, Windu."
Rey was glaring at the man as well, "I'm sorry my reaction wasn't to become homicidal when someone was beating me up while I was unable to control my own body, emotions, or reach the Force correctly."
Sifo-Dyas was frowning deeply at her in thought, "It wasn't foresight. I've never been trapped in someone else's body in any of my visions. Psychometry perhaps."
Dooku took a seat by Qui-Gon, "That's not much better."
Qui-Gon sighed, "This means we will be contacting Quinlan Vos, doesn't it?"
Mace put his fingers to the side of his head, in a gesture of defeat, "Yes, because gathering the most Maverick Jedi together is going end well for all parties involved."
"Hmm…" Yoda hummed, "As the Force wills it."
Rey was looking between them all, "Who is Quinlan Vos and what is psychometry?"
"Master Vos is a wildling," Dooku said, "Psychometry is the extremely rare ability to see into the history of an object, and even rarer, the possible future that object is destined for. Master Vos will be able to give you first hand accounts."
Sifo-Dyas added, "It's why you experienced a vision from the perspective of another person. I have the ability of foresight, I can witness the future, sometimes the past, but I don't experience it from anyones view but my own. That's why you were trapped, why Padawan Kenobi said he felt someone foreign through the bond and was unable to reach you, despite both he and your Master feeling your pain and call for help."
"Oh," she said, "But then- I don't think I touched anything."
"No?" Yoda asked.
"I felt dizzy, I think, but I was psyching myself out walking back from the archives alone. But I guess I touched the wall right before the… the vision started. Are all visions so real?"
"They tend to be," Sifo-Dyas admitted, "it is hard at first when the ability appears out of dreams. It helps once you can recognize it is a vision and not really happening. Of course, I can only speak for myself, Quinlan may have an entirely different experience."
"Afraid, you were, before the vision?" Yoda asked.
"Yes," she said without guile. Qui-Gon had been hesitant to beat the mantra of don't be afraid into her mind, thinking at her age it might do more harm than good. He had done his best to show her that fear was a distraction, to rely on the Force rather than her emotions.
But he couldn't help but wince when all the Master in the room stared at him, he could almost hear them asking, What have you been teaching her?
Yoda asked Rey, "What fear you, Padawan? Being alone?"
She laughed, the sound breaking the tension as surely as her words plummeted it, "Of course not. Well, I mean, I am afraid of being alone here, but not of being lonely. I hate this Temple."
Qui-Gon shared a sharp look with Obi-Wan who returned that look, they had thought she was settling. This didn't bode well, not at all.
"Hate leads to the Dark Side," Yoda reprimanded.
"What?" Rey asked, not comprehending his words but understanding he was chastising her.
Mace repeated, "Hatred leads to the Dark Side, Padawan Rey, Master Jinn surely must have taught you that."
Rey looked at Qui-Gon, "Wait, I'm not allowed to dislike things?"
He sighed, "No, they mean strong emotions, like hatred, can push you toward the Dark Side."
"Oh," she said, "Both Master Jinn and Obi-Wan did tell me that. I don't mean I hate the Temple as such- I don't loathe it, it's just- creepy. And I can't shake the feeling the walls are…"
"Are what?" Mace asked.
She shook her head, and winced, rolling her shoulders at some pain, "I don't know how to put into words. The Force doesn't seem to think it is bad, but it feels… the Temple feels sick, like it has a disease or something like it."
Everyone went quiet trying to feel what she was describing. Qui-Gon reached out to the Force, trying to identify some wrongness in the space around them or the foundation below them…
But it just felt normal, no different than it ever had.
"I do not feel anything wrong with the Temple," Mace stated.
Dooku tapped his fingers against his knees, leaning forward, "But we wouldn't, would we? All of us, excluding Padawan Rey, were raised here. She is one of the strongest Force sensitives to enter the Temple and not be of the Temple. My dear, are you unhappy with your life here?"
"No," she said at once, "I love my life here. I just don't like the Temple."
"What about the city?"
"I'm not a city person, but I've been so busy there hasn't been much time to explore it."
Sifo-Dyas crossed his arms, "What is the history of the Temple-"
The healer came in then, she gazed around the room with raised brows, "Is there a Council meeting gathering in my ward that I was uninformed of, or this a reunion of some sort?"
Qui-Gon couldn't blame her reaction, it was an awfully small space for so many -personalities.
Mace made to respond, but the Healer waved him off, "Her Master and Padawan Kenobi may stay, but the rest of you must leave, drugged sleep is not true rest. And I think our young Padawan has quite enough excitement for the evening."
Everyone who wasn't Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan stood and bowed to the healer, even Master Yoda.
They filed out, Dooku was last to go, and Qui-Gon called, "Thank you, Master, for being here."
Dooku stared at him with unfathomable eyes, "I will make them hear you, Padawan mine. If the Jedi are willing to change then I will do what I can, even if the odds are against us."
He left leaving a comfortable silence behind them.
Obi-Wan let out a long sigh, "That was stressful, I didn't think they would ever leave."
"Did I insult them?" Rey asked.
Qui-Gon huffed a laugh, "I hope so."
"Master," Obi-Wan warned him.
Qui-Gon smiled, then touched Rey's leg, "The Healer is right, Padawan. You should get some sleep."
"Am I going to have seizures all of the time? When I woke up my body felt like jelly, but now -everything aches."
"I do not believe so, and if it psychometry Vos will be able to tell us more."
"Alright," she said, a bit more dazedly.
He smiled, "Get some sleep, both of you. I'll keep watch."
Obi-Wan helped her adjust and they settled into the cot. As Qui-Gon pulled a sheet over them both, Obi-Wan asked through the bond, Will we be able to protect her from this?
Qui-Gon felt his mouth thin, and he said aloud, "We'll have to be careful, my Padawans, what items you hold, weapons especailly from here on out."
Rey didn't respond as she relaxed against Obi-Wan's side.
I take that as a no.
All we can do is the best we can do to the best of our knowledge, Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan pressed his cheek to the top of Rey's head, It makes me angry that someone beat her, that she exprienced that.
As it does to me, my Padawan, but we must trust that there was a reason the Force showed her that vision.
They were silent for a long time, when Obi-Wan asked, Do you think they're right about the Temple, her and Master Dooku?
I don't know.
You're happy Master Dooku is back.
I'm relieved, I had thought... We've been estranged for some time now. If Rael wasn't going to love Rey before, he will surely love her now.
Obi-Wan smiled, closing his eyes, Rael loves just about anything that brings chaos to the Jedi Council. He makes you look like a proper Jedi.
Qui-Gon's lips quirked, One day, Obi-Wan you might just find yourself causing more chaos than any of us, Rey included.
Obi-Wan scoffed, opening his eyes briefly to glare at him, but there was too much mirth in his blue gaze to truly mean it.
Qui-Gon watched over his Padawans as they slept the night away.
'Will we be able to protect her from this?' Obi-Wan had asked him.
He was their Master, he was meant to protect them.
'I hate the Temple.'
He sighed, having no satisfactory answer.
"Apprentice," Darth Sidious called to him.
Darth Maul who had been practicing his forms, turned to his Master expectantly.
"I have a task for you."
He waited.
"The problem you identified on Naboo, I need you to uncover all you can about her. And if she leaves the stronghold of that Temple, I wish you to shadow her."
Maul narrowed his eyes, "Kill her, you mean."
He was so sick of waiting, of hiding. He wanted revenge on the Jedi, for all that they had done to the Sith and those in the galaxy.
"No, we need her."
Maul cocked his head, not liking the sound of that, "Shadowing her might be dangerous, she nearly spotted me the last time."
"I will approach her as best I can, but I know to well those who guard her, and they will take note of my attention. But let her see you, however, do not reveal yourself as anything more than a Force Sensitive."
He bared his teeth in a silent snarl, "Why?"
"Because she will become your apprentice."
Maul felt his mind go blank.
His Master was replacing him?
"Training an apprentice will give you strength, I've taught you all I can," Darth Sidious crooned.
Darth Maul didn't believe that, not for a moment. He respected his Master, but respect and fear was not the same thing as trust.
If his Master had taught him everything than surely he would have been able to defeat him, even in one sparring match.
But he couldn't, and he would not allow some scavenger girl to replace him. He couldn't imagine what someone like her would become if trained as a Sith.
And then an idea struck him. Darth Maul wasn't powerful enough to kill his Master, but with training… this girl could be the key.
His Master believed in the Rule of Two, Darth Maul wasn't convinced of it. But he was more than happy to let his Master die by the Rule of Two. Darth Maul would train his apprentice to be loyal to him, not the idea of the Sith. That way he wouldn't have to worry about whether or not the girl was more powerful than he was.
She would be grateful for the power he gave her.
"Apprentice? Do you understand me?"
Darth Maul bowed low.
This meant he would have to move to Coruscant for longer stay. Not such a hardship, there were so many peoples there that one Zabrak would not stand out overly much.
He just needed to find a way to seduce the girl out from under the chokehold of the Jedi. It shouldn't be too hard, she was too old to truly be brainwashed by the Jedi.
Besides the call to the Darkness was always stronger than to the Light.
AN: Thoughts, reactions, ideas, wishes, or unprepared Zabraks? Pretty, pretty, please?