Chapter 4 – Duel at Dusk
Author's Note: In which Anakin and Ahsoka escape Teth while Theseus meets up with Obi-Wan again. :D
~ Amina Gila
Distant shots from the battle reach Theseus' ears as he, Ahsoka, and Anakin finally step out of the building onto the landing platform. Anakin dials a frequency into his comm. "Skywalker to Obi-Wan. Mark my position. I need a medical ship immediately. Do you copy?"
The only thing that comes across the line is static. "They're jamming our transmissions," Anakin grumbles, "I can't get ahold of Obi-Wan. I'll see if I can find Captain Rex." He pushes a button on his comm. "Come in, Rex. Do you copy? Rex?"
Blaster shots and droids' voices echo over the comm in the background. "Do you copy?" Anakin asks again, "Captain Rex, respond."
"I read you, General," the Captain finally answers. Blaster shots can be heard in the background. "We're pinned down in the courtyard."
"Do you need help?" Anakin asks. The only response is an explosion. "I'll take that as a yes, Captain. Stand by, we're on our way. Skywalker out."
"Master, Stinky is really sick," Ahsoka says worriedly, "He's turning every shade of green except the one he's supposed to be. Our mission was to get him back to Tatooine alive."
"Well, we need to find a ship before we can do anything," Theseus points out.
"Obi-Wan will get here eventually. For now, Rex will have to help us find one," Anakin agrees.
Two destroyer droids roll into view from inside the building. "Great, rolling death balls!" Ahsoka exclaims. They immediately whip out their lightsaber, deflecting the bolts as the droids start shooting. From behind them, a dark figure emerges, who Theseus recognizes immediately. Ventress.
"Artoo, the door!" Anakin calls. The astromech rolls over to a port, plugging itself in and closing it, as she steps up to the opening. "I think now's a good time to retreat," Anakin states grimly as he turns towards the padawans.
"That's a first," Theseus remarks.
"Retreat?" repeats Ahsoka, "That's a new word for you."
"Maybe into the jungle," Anakin continues, ignoring their comments as two ruby blades plunge through the door in front of them. Glancing around he hurries over to the edge of the platform and looks down.
"Wait, I remember the jungle was a bad place," Ahsoka objects.
"I hope you're not planning to jump," Theseus quips, coming over to stand next to them. He looks over the edge just as two spider droids fire up at them. The platform shakes violently from the force of the blasts. A group of bug-like creatures take off from the bottom of the platform.
"So much for going that way," Ahsoka mumbles.
The three of them turn around and raise their lightsabers, watching as the two ruby blades continue carving their way through the door.
"Looks like we're out of options," the Knight states grimly. The Huttlet wails.
"No, not now, Stinky," Ahsoka sighs.
It shrieks again anyway, waving a tiny hand. "A landing platform!" Theseus realizes, pointing.
"With a ship on it," Anakin adds.
"Nice work, Stinky," praises Ahsoka.
"Can you believe it? We owe our lives to a baby," Theseus smirks.
"Well, we wouldn't have died without him," Anakin huffs.
"Don't be too sure."
"Don't give him all the credit until we actually get away, because there are probably a million and a half ways we could die before escaping," Anakin shoots back, stepping back over to the edge of the platform and looking down.
"What a comforting thought."
"How are we gonna get over there?" Ahsoka frowns.
"Leave that to me," Anakin responds before suddenly jumping over the edge.
Theseus looks over the edge after him as a huge explosion rings out. The pair jump back, shielding their eyes from the flying debris. There's a sudden crash from behind them, and they whirl around to see Ventress stepping through the hole in the door.
She charges forwards without even a moment of warning. Theseus and Ahsoka immediately swing up their emerald blades to block her ruby ones. She shoves hard against their blades before taking a step back and slashing at them again. Theseus shifts into Form III fighting style as he parries the assassin's attacks. He's best at Forms II and III, but he knows that she's far more skilled in combat than either of them. Since Dooku uses Form II, she probably knows it the best, and therefore how to counter it. Better to focus on defending for now. He's always been interested in Form VII, as well, but is too young to learn it, though he really wants to, especially with the return of the Sith.
"Where is Skywalker?" growls Ventress, swinging furiously at them. An extra strong blow nearly knocks Ahsoka off her feet, but she stumbles back and manages to catch her balance when Theseus raises his emerald blade to block the assassin from reaching the other padawan.
"Figure it out," he shoots back.
"I'm right here, Ventress!" Anakin calls, appearing over the edge atop one of the bugs. So that's what he was doing. Anakin flies forwards, forcing the assassin to back away. Explosions shake the ledge again, and Theseus hastily deactivates his lightsaber, replacing it on his belt. "Time to go," Anakin yells looking down at the padawans. The bug swoops over their heads, and Ahsoka grabs onto her master's hand. Theseus jumps after, barely managing to pull himself onto the creature behind Anakin.
"Hang on, Snips," Anakin orders as he tries to pull her up onto the back of the bug as it swoops away from the landing platform, leaving Ventress alone.
"Like I have a choice!" she yells back. Theseus reaches down, helping Ahsoka up between him and Anakin. An explosion behind them draws his attention back towards the landing platform to see it has exploded completely, the debris showering down on the droids below.
They jump off the creature once they reach the other landing platform, and it flies away in a panic.
"What a piece of junk," mutters Theseus as he scans the ship. It looks like it could fall apart any minute if it was being flown. But it's their best option, so they don't have much of a choice.
"We're taking this junker?" Ahsoka echoes his thoughts, "We'd be better off on that big bug."
"Get aboard and prime the engines," Anakin says in answer, turning to put the backpack with Rotta on Artoo instead. "Assuming it has engines."
The padawans head for the ramp.
A flash of light in the sky catches Theseus' attention and he pauses, glancing up to see the lights from the space battle up above, where Obi-Wan is still fighting. Speaking of his master... "Hey, if you can manage to not kill yourselves on the way to Tatooine with this junk ship, I'll stay here to help Master Obi-Wan and the clones."
"Not to worry, I have no plans on dying," Anakin agrees dryly, "You can stay here."
"Okay, everything's loaded!" a familiar voice suddenly calls and Theseus spins around to see a battle droid walking down the ramp of the ship. The caretaker droid from before stops in the middle of its conversation with Ahsoka.
"Why you tin-plated traitor!" the Togruta yells, igniting her lightsaber.
"Blast her!" screeches the caretaker.
The battle droids fire at her and she hastily deflects the shots back, destroying them right as Theseus skids to a stop next to her, his own blade ready.
"Don't you dare!" the caretaker droid says in a failed attempt to be threatening as Ahsoka holds her lightsaber in its face. "Don't you dare –" It's cut off as she swings the blade, cutting its head off.
"Come on," Ahsoka urges, hurrying up the ramp into the shuttle. Anakin follows, Artoo rolling behind.
"May the Force be with you," Theseus calls as he watches them board.
"You too," Anakin says, looking back at him for a moment before disappearing from sight as the ramp begins to close.
**w**
Before he knows it, Theseus is back to fighting the droids again, side by side with Obi-Wan. He'd contacted Obi-Wan immediately after Anakin left, telling him to send one of the clones to pick him up so he could rejoin the battle.
"Master Kenobi," Ventress says as she steps up from behind two super battle droids, "Always chasing after Skywalker. How predictable."
"Anakin leaves quite a mess," Obi-Wan retorts, "Which always leads me to you, Ventress."
"Take them!" the Zabrak orders, pointing at the pair with her lightsabers. The droids open fire on them and the assassin whirls around, bolting out of sight. Theseus and Obi-Wan deflect the bolts back at the droids, the first one going down sparking from its own blaster fire before the Jedi Master steps forwards, cutting down the last one.
"Stay close to me," Obi-Wan warns as he heads into the building.
"Don't I always?"
"Ventress, I know you're here," Obi-Wan calls, looking around the darkened room. There's a number of aqua lights lining the walls, but other than that, it's pretty much completely dark. "You can't hide. I feel your frustration. Let me guess, you're after Jabba's young son, too."
Theseus sees a sudden flash of red and looks up to see Ventress leaping down from one of the pillars, her blades drawn. They clash with Obi-Wan's as she hits the floor. Theseus lunges forwards and Ventress swings one of her blades to block his. In the process, Obi-Wan sends her skidding backwards away from them. "You'll have to do better than that, my darling," he chides. What's with the strange... names he's calling her? Theseus keeps any comments to himself.
The Nightsister snarls, charging at them again with renewed fury. Obi-Wan and Theseus hastily block her slashes, both of them backing up a few steps as she attacks them. A sudden Force-shove catches Theseus off guard, and he's sent flying across the room.
He lands hard on the floor and rolls to his feet as the duel continues half across the room. Ventress Force-kicks Obi-Wan back into a column, and charges at him, lightsabers slashing across it as the Jedi Master ducks out of the way before shoving her back.
Theseus calls his lightsaber back to him with the Force and runs back to join the fight. Ventress slashes furiously at Obi-Wan who jumps out of the way. Theseus' blade promptly intercepts her next below. She growls, swinging both her lightsabers at him, and he quickly parries the blow. He backs away, jumping up onto a nearby ledge behind him. Obi-Wan follows and the Sith leaps after with a cry of rage.
They continue retreating up the pillars until they're standing on a ledge high above the room. "We know of Dooku's plot to turn the Hutts against us. It will not succeed," Obi-Wan declares.
"It will when the truth dies with you," Ventress snarls.
"Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but you have to actually kill us first. And you aren't doing a very good job at that," Theseus quips.
The assassin's eyes narrow and she charges, lightsabers slashing across the floor before she brings them up, swinging at them. She rains blows down around them, and the two Jedi are slowly pushed back down the walkway. Although, Theseus can tell that Obi-Wan is biding his time. He finally shoves her backwards hard, and she skids a distance away, before slamming to a stop, and connecting her lightsabers into a double-bladed one, spinning them around in her hands.
"Follow me," orders Obi-Wan, jumping up through an opening near the roof. Theseus follows.
The moon shines brightly in the sky, illuminating the purple landscape. There's an occasional flash in the sky indicating a dying out space battle. Ventress jumps up onto the beam behind them and is about to charge when Theseus suddenly senses it. A slight disturbance in the Force, one that he's never been more relieved to feel.
"I sense it too. Anakin is gone," Obi-Wan announces smugly, his gaze turning the Sith. "You've failed, Ventress. Your master will not be pleased."
"Jedi scum!" she snarls, charging. Theseus can feel her rage rising, pouring off her in waves. It's making her unbalanced and sloppy. She spins her blade furiously as she attacks, the Dark Side surging around her. In a sudden move, Obi-Wan cuts through her double-bladed lightsaber, separating the two sides. She scowls down at the sparking ends before running at them. Their blades clash into a saberlock.
"The Hutt is safe," Obi-Wan continues, "There's no point in fighting any longer. We've won. Lay down your weapons."
All at once the blades slide of the saberlock, and one of Ventress' flies over the edge of the walkway, falling down out of sight. She attacks them again anyway with renewed fury. Theseus parries her strikes with ease and backs up, letting Obi-Wan press the attack.
It's then that he spots an incoming vulture droid. "Master!" He calls in warning, but instead of open firing, it swoops down below the walkway and Ventress jumps off, landing on top. Obi-Wan deactivates his lightsaber as the droid disappears from sight.
**w**
Really, with the amount of physical and emotional exhaustion he's been dealing with the past couple days, it shouldn't be this hard to sleep. But after the first hour or so, every time he closes his eyes the same nightmarish images of the clones being shot down all around him starts forming in his mind again. With a sigh, Theseus sits up, turning to stare out the window at the white and blue blur of hyperspace outside.
The battle on Teth was won without much further difficulty, and he and Obi-Wan immediately headed off to join Yoda and Athea in heading for Tatooine.
He knows that in a situation like this – where he can't shake the images of battle from mind – Yoda would probably have told him to meditate. Let it go into the Force. He grimaces at the thought. Anything Force related has never really been his thing, and he really dislikes meditating. Period. Then again, what padawan likes meditating?
He can't quite suppress the feeling of rejection that runs through him as he remembers again that Yoda isn't his master anymore. Even though he understands the reason behind the decision, it's going to take some time for the feeling of rejection to fade. It doesn't help that he can't shake the feeling that maybe someday Obi-Wan is going to decide that he's not good enough for him and pass him off to someone else.
He draws in a deep breath, trying to calm himself. Stop focusing on the negative. There's still a bright side to look at. Everything about the new arrangement isn't bad though. Even after Anakin was knighted, Obi-Wan has been sent on missions with him, which means that Theseus is going to be around Ahsoka a lot more. Hopefully.
If he can't look forward to anything else, he definitely is looking forward to that. She's his best friend, and he'd spend so long terrified that she was going to be sent away to the AgriCorps and that he'd never see her again. But Anakin took her as a padawan, and they fit perfectly together, in Theseus' opinion. Their relationship isn't like anything he's ever seen before, but Anakin seems like a good teacher.
And speaking of Anakin... he's not really sure what to think of him after their initial, rather cold interactions. But at the same time, he also kind of wants to get to know him better. Especially considering the fact that he's pretty sure he does understand Anakin attitude, so he's not exactly mad at him for it.
Fine. If he can't sleep, he may as well make himself useful and go see if he can do anything a little productive. Because he is absolute not going to stop and mediate. Just no.
Theseus slips out of the cabin, going in search of Obi-Wan. He finds him talking Cody and waits nearby until the conversation is done.
"I thought you were going to get some sleep," Obi-Wan remarks as they walk through one of the halls of the cruiser.
"I'm sleepwalking," Theseus snips, then mentally kicks himself. This isn't Ahsoka, who he's talking to. He needs to remember that. This is his master, and he needs to stay respectful.
Obi-Wan only looks amused though. "Well, don't give yourself a black eye by blindly walking into a wall."
He smothers a laugh at that. "How did I do today?" he asks finally, something that he's been wondering ever since they returned to the cruiser.
"You did well," assures Obi-Wan.
The direction of the conversation promptly sends images from the battle – and his nightmares only minutes ago – flashing through his mind again. When he first became Yoda's padawan right before the battle of Geonosis, this was definitely not the kinds of things he was expecting to be doing.
Really, the Jedi are supposed to be peacekeepers, not soldiers. But all he's been seeing the past couple months is fighting, and the war only seems to be growing more intense. This... it hardly feels like they should even be getting involved in this. "I don't understand," he admits after a moment, "We're supposed to be peacekeepers, but there isn't any peace anymore. Shouldn't we be trying to find a peaceful end to the war instead of fighting?"
"We would have already, but the problem is, negotiating with the Separatists is for the Senate, not the Jedi," Obi-Wan explains. "It's not within the Jedi's jurisdiction to do that, at least not without approval from the Senate which they aren't giving. Besides, it's been made illegal to talk to the Separatists." What? That's the dumbest thing he's ever heard.
"Why?" he exclaims.
"Politics," he states dryly. "It shouldn't be much longer before we come out of hyperspace. I'll prepare to go down to the surface. You can go back to take some rest if you want."
Theseus nods before heading off. But no, he has no intention of heading back to his room. Now is probably the best opportunity he's going to have for something else, and he's not going to miss it. Glancing around the cruiser to make sure that no one is paying attention to him, he takes off for where he knows Athea Shan's room is.
He hates this. Feeling like he's sneaking out and committing a crime or something by going to see her. Like he's violating the Code because it's an attachment, and this, in particular, is something no other Jedi has that he knows of. Except him.
A part of his mind has to take the opportunity to remind him that with his attachments he's never going to be able to be a perfect Jedi. Maybe that's why Yoda didn't want him. He shoves the thoughts aside, picking up his pace as he hurries to her room. He's not going to let those thoughts ruin his visit. It's been too long.
He knocks lightly on the door and hears a click on the side. "Come in," calls Athea.
The door finally slides open to reveal the black-robed Jedi Master, her blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. "Hello, Mother," Theseus greets with a smile.
"Theseus," she replies warmly, stepping over and pulling him into a hug. "How have you been?"
"Tired," he supplies, "But I'll be alright."
"I only wish you hadn't been raised under these conditions."
"I'll be fine," he assures, grateful for her concern. "I'm just glad to not be sitting at the Temple when there's a war going onm and I could be helping."
"Hm?" she chuckles. "So, there's a war going on and all you can think about is rushing into the front lines?"
"Yep!" he agrees cheerfully, then sobers. "Mother, there are people dying. Jedi are dying. I was Master Yoda's padawan. That leaves me at a high standard. I couldn't simply sit back."
"Don't beat yourself up over things that you don't have control over. The droids will do a good enough job at that." She cracks a small smile.
Theseus snorts. "That's for sure."
"Just take care of yourself. You'll never be able to help win the war if you don't," she warns. Theseus tries to suppress the sudden yawn as he remembers how worn out he actually is right now. He doesn't need to worry about that – "Did you get any sleep?" she frowns. So much for that.
"Well, I tried, but I just... couldn't, I guess," he admits.
She nods in understanding. "Did you try meditating? Maybe we should do it together so I can help you." Oh no, he was really hoping to avoid this.
"Uh..." he trails off, gaze darting to the window. "I'm not sure there's... time?" Lame excuse. She's never going to buy that.
An amused look flickers across her face. "Now you're making up excuses. Come on." Without bothering to wait for a response, his mother sits down on the floor, shifting in a meditative position. Fine. There's no getting out of this. Besides, it probably will help, even if he doesn't want to take the time to actually do it.
Theseus sits down across from her, closing his eyes and allowing himself to slowly drift away into the currents of the Force, letting the warm presence of his mother to help him relax. It's a lot easier, he has to admit, when there's someone there with him. An actual person to help ground him, beyond using the Force. Which raises the question again of why is that wrong? To have someone – several someone's – that's he this close with.
He shoves the thought aside, focusing instead on letting the words of the Jedi Code run through his mind. There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force.
Final Notes: If you want to join our Discord to receive updates or just hang out, here's the invite link, and please delete the spaces! :) discord . gg / nqSxuz2
We also have a tumblr account (and delete the spaces): fanfictasia . tumblr . com
And! We have a YT channel for tributes! Please delete the spaces in the link. :D youtube channel / UC_g1M5rSCxJUzQCRS29B6pA
Finally, if you're interested, you can submit a SW gift fic request via the following form (delete the spaces): forms . gle / rmXWtRomMMaULuPa6