Knight fall does not happen the same...
Like heavy hail on a metal roof, the Force continued to shudder with every Jedi passing. He could feel his brothers passing into the Force far, far away, leaving a bed of ice nuggets to melt into the galaxy.
His orders were clear and succinct, an icy shell holding his heart from breaking apart as he climbed higher. Despite that, a part of him kept scurrying around inside that icy cage, looking for a different solution, some tactic, some miracle that the Team could snatch some success from defeat.
That hope was doomed, because the Team was broken.
He was returning to the Temple, exhausted from Grievous and too many wartime deaths, planning his mission report when a ripple passed through his crew. Their attention was on a quiet broadcast.
"Repeating breaking news. The Chancellor has just made an announcement."
The angle and distance were wrong, but that was clearly Palpatine speaking. "The strains of the war have broken the once great Jedi Order and their High Council. They have attempted to capture and subdue officers of the Senate for unknown reasons. The Jedi Order is hereby dissolved, and the Grand Army will be tasked with apprehending the traitors with minimum risk to you, the citizens of the Republic. These are troubled times, but more will be announced as soon as possible."
The quiet recording repeated in the calmness of the bridge.
"Cody, when did we receive that?" He said stiffly, concerned about breaking the calm.
"A few minutes ago, General, before we entered jump."
He rubbed the bridge of his nose, fractions of desperate plans rising in his mind. "Have I been arrested?"
Cody looked at him, baffled surprise clear. "No, sir. You defeated the Seppie general. Don't worry, you're not on the traitor list." He paused to send yet another pointed look at Obi-Wan's partial armor. "It might be safer to avoid wearing your robes until the traitors have been purged."
First a few and then a stream and then a storm of his bothers' lives joined the Force, and he felt colder and colder as their flames were snuffed out.
One had dimmed but still burned hot.
The next polished announcement stated many hundreds of Senators had aided the traitors, during wartime. The Senate was dissolved, and Chancellor declared himself Emperor.
Traitor list kept growing, with notations for deaths.
Landing away from the smoking Temple, protected but not otherwise hampered by his troops, the decision was strangely difficult: Senator, Emperor, or Padawan?
The Force led his reluctant steps to the Temple. Troops from other commands halted him along the way, but a few words and his troops carried him forward.
At the main gate, a larger force felt all too familiar, and stood at rest.
"Back home, General?" Rex saluted, but fear saturated him and was almost invisible in his eyes.
He had no comfort to give for the fear. "The mission went well. General Grievous is dead, they have no leaders left."
The clone Captain nodded, but felt no calmer than he did.
He put layers of ice and shielding around himself. He had no direction on what to do and reporting mission success to himself seemed a pointless detail. So many tasks he could do, he should do, but there was no urgency to those tasks, so he stepped inside to see battle damage of blaster and saber and Force impacts.
The Temple felt empty of light.
Not of life. Clone troopers' fainter sparks and the library of small life forms still glowed along with the plants and grasses in the gardens.
But the halls echoed.
No, they screamed, whimpered, and their death rattles hung in the air.
He stopped for a moment to release some of the emotions that swirled and raged in once-calm halls to claw at him. There was no emotion. There was peace.
A trifle more sedate with terror and anger shut away, he moved forward, letting his feet guide him. His troopers scouted and guarded him as he surveyed the damage. He did not want to see, to acknowledge right now, just whose bodies he stepped over.
That anger would undo any chance of useful action, so he layered on more ice.
A security station gave up its secrets. His thoughts froze like his chest, seeing death after death, from youngling to ancient archivist. Troops led by his once-Padawan, without mercy, and his heart splintered apart with every swing.
The ice held. But it thinned dangerously.
The silken spun bond thinned into nothing.
Swiftly he shut down as many systems as he could, keying everything to himself. Slicers would break it eventually, but it was the most optimum strategy left to the Jedi Master.
His troopers, his guards, did not interfere and paid little more than cursory attention. Aside from Rex, who pleaded that the General do something, without a word.
He needed to meditate and his feet turned toward their… his suite. At least he could replenish his supplies before he left. The troopers checked the rooms and then left him.
… to the grief that tried to drag him down into its undertow.
-Understand and accept your grief, before released into the Force, it can be.-
"Mas..."
-Shh, young Kenobi. Consolidation, we must act now before achieved. Your duty, will harsh be... -
He had another mission now.
Find the Sith Apprentice.
He was confident that his steps were leading to him.
The icy shell throbbed with the pulsing of his shattered heart.
When the door opened, he stepped into the Council chamber without even the reluctant trooper, the storm of anguish rising through the spire still violent.
"The Council never trusted me. Always hated me." The Apprentice lounged on what was the Grand-master's seat, a leg on the arm while the other seats were in a messy pile against a window.
The ice cracked. "You were the Chosen one. It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them. Bring balance to the Force... not leave it in darkness!"
"They chained me down like a slave. Limited me to the shallows of the Force, and you helped them. I hate you!"
Obi-Wan winced. "You were my brother. I loved you! You've become the very thing you swore to destroy."
"What? You cannot love anyone as a Jedi, can you?" The smile was dark and mocking. "Don't lecture me, Obi-Wan! I see through the lies of the Jedi. I am becoming more powerful than any Jedi has ever dreamed of. I do not fear the dark side as you do. The empire will finally bring peace."
"Anakin, my allegiance is to the Republic, to democracy. I will do what I must."
"You will try. Don't make me kill you.
"I don't want to kill you. You must be stopped. You killed younglings! What threat are they?" Kenobi dropped his cloak, the familiar kata of drawing his weapon pulling him forward.
A wave from the Apprentice, and Kenobi was lifted above the floor as the air was pressed out of his lungs.
He hadn't quite believed his friend and brother could do this to him.
The last and greatest presence of them all joined the Force, even as his heart shattered the melting ice shield. He was the only one left and he was being welcomed even as he fought for one more breath.
Anakin was still sprawled when Kenobi staggered forward as his knees began to fold and vision faded. This time there was no brother to rescue him.
"Yes, my Master." This was a new servile tone that should have been more horrifying.
The General was surprised to wake, his airway clear, despite painful bruising. He left his eyes closed, though warm bodies braced him upright in the chair without holding him.
This was not as comforting as it once was.
It look even less effort to realize that he was cut off from the Force almost completely. How was irrelevant.
"You might as well sit up, General, lest the dining experience be uncivilized." The voice echoed of slithering serpents, though the tones were cultured.
The supports moved away, that he knew them was less important in the moment. Sending the anger and alarm into the Force was difficult, even as he surveyed the dining room. "Why am I here?"
The Emperor smiled, his robing little changed from days ago, though the utter darkness was now clear. "You ably served the Republic through its end, without being part of its treason or corruption. Did you not think you would be rewarded?"
A droid served an exotic soup, rare and delicate from Naboo.
He needed to bide his time before acting, just like every other time he had been captured. "I do not serve for rewards."
Waving a hand elegantly, Palpatine's smile remained. "There is no reason you cannot pursue peace and knowledge, General."
The blandness left him uneasy as he carefully ate when his opponent did.
A comm chimed, to his surprise, echoing wrongly in the finely dressed chamber. "Master! I have a son. Padmé named him Luke. Wait.." The connection ended.
Palpatine sipped his wine, aged from honey and fruit. "They will be beautiful children with parents like them, almost performance art."
Kenobi sifted what was said and unsaid. "Padmé is a fine woman and diligent."
Silence reigned as the entree was served, wild-caught fish and flavorants that fell out of the delicate pastry. The clones had departed, leaving only Sith and Jedi with the droids.
The miasma of darkness was thick enough to make attacking suicide.
He wasn't that desperate… at least not yet.
"Sadly, my Apprentice does not truly appreciate created beauty. Not unless it has engines or crystals."
The General wanted to dispute that, but this was not a friendly conversation. So he took another sip, just as a different wine was served.
"Master, Master! I swear she looked at me! Leia has her mother's hair, but it's so thin!"
He felt a spark of pain, that this was happiness was shared with a darker Master in a black universe.
The Emperor's smile at the General was knowing. "And how is young Padmé, my Apprentice?"
"Padmé? Padmé." A pause came after the irritation. "She finally stopped glaring at me and cursing..."
Obi-Wan looked at the self-satisfied expression on the Sith, and panic bloomed. "Is she well, Anakin?"
Anakin… no, Vader growled. "I'll deal with you later… Padmé? Padmé! Where's the kriffing specialist? They were supposed to be prepared! What's wrong with her? She's not injured! She's not... Padmé! Padmé!"
The comm channel closed, and Kenobi realized he was weeping for a dear friend.
"He will make a handsome widower, a fine symbol for our losses. Black is his color, isn't it?"
Obi-Wan looked up again at the Sith with wet eyes, wishing for the light saber that had already been taken. "Why am I here?"
"You will be very useful, even if you manage to resist falling down that slippery slope, Jedi. Your presence will be a living burr, reminding my Apprentice of what he hates and fears the most, of when he was small and unwanted. Wouldn't want him the think he is safe from Jedi vengeance or the chance of losing those children that he sacrificed so much for.
"You are a proven caregiver, and the children need a nanny, one who would never threaten them but protect such innocent children of the good Senator at all costs from the many threats they will attract as Vader's children." The lack of any warmth should have been chilling.
Sith dealt in lies, but Kenobi knew this was truth.
And so he waited for what must be the most painful reason.
"I collect beautiful things, and the last of the light is a shining jewel to admire at my leisure."
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