Chapter 21 – Shadows of Mortis

Author's Note: In which Theseus faces the consequences of his choices.

~ Amina Gila

"I won't let you leave this planet," the Daughter declares firmly, glaring at her brother. Obi-Wan stands next to her, bracing himself for the fight that is sure to come. He was trying to get answers from the Father on what they should do about the fact that the Son kidnapped both Theseus and Ahsoka, but Anakin went in search of them alone. He can only hope they're alright.

The Son stands up from where he was sitting at the top of the staircase, a mocking smirk on his lips. "You are not strong enough to keep me here."

"Not alone, she isn't," Obi-Wan retorts.

"Are you referring to your friend, the Chosen One?" sneers the Son, turning and walking over to a window in the room, "You might want to check up on him. He's a little preoccupied right now." Preoccupied? What has he done? The Force is nudging him to go, to make sure Anakin's alright. The Daughter should be able to handle her brother, at least for now. Obi-Wan turns, sprinting out of the room.

The three lightsabers lighting up the darkness stand out too much to be missed. As he runs up, he sees Anakin blocking Ahsoka's lightsaber before stumbling a step back. A masked figure with a purple lightsaber is standing next to her. Wait – is that Theseus? Why are the padawans attacking Anakin? What has the Son done to them?

Obi-Wan activates his own lightsaber, running over to join Anakin. Theseus lunges forwards, his blade connecting with Obi-Wan's. He hastily blocks his blow, countering it with one of his own before spinning to meet Ahsoka's next strike when she lunges at him next instead of Anakin. He stays on the defensive against both of them for a few moments, allowing Anakin to recollect himself before he steps forwards to join the fight again. They move back and forth like that, taking turns fighting the two.

All the while, his mind is whirling. How could they – either of them – have Fallen? As he continues to fight them off, though, he can't help but notice that while Ahsoka is basically flailing wildly like she has no idea how to use a lightsaber anymore, Theseus' attacks are different then his usual style – which is confusing him – but there is a sense of strategy and skill in it.

"Any suggestions?" Anakin calls as the fight continues.

"Yes!" Obi-Wan replies, "We cut them free!"

"Free?" Theseus shouts, though his voice sounds different from the mask. "I am free! I've been held back by the Jedi my whole life until now!"

"You don't mean that," Obi-Wan insists, raising his lightsaber to block the boy's next attack.

"Of course, I do," he hisses. "You've been holding me back!" What? What is he talking about?!

Ahsoka continues to flail her lightsabers practically blindly in between Anakin and Obi-Wan, even as Theseus steps back out of the fight for a moment. As much as he doesn't want to think about it, Obi-Wan can't shake the disturbing realization that while he's certain Ahsoka is somehow being mind-controlled by the Son, he can't say the same for Theseus. He's actually fighting and talking coherently, even if what's he saying doesn't make any sense or sound anything like anything he's ever said before. A glance at the expression on Anakin's face pretty much shows that he's figured out the same thing, if he hadn't guessed already.

"Snap out of it!" Anakin practically begs, shoving Theseus back. "I don't know what happened, but we can sort this out together."

"Not this time," the other boy retorts darkly.

Where is this coming from? Obi-Wan has never seen anything like it. Yes, he's a teenager and has verge temper-tantrums from time to time, though rarely, but never, never has he expressed frustration with the Order, let alone something as serious as this. The padawans aren't themselves.

Obi-Wan turns to parry a few of Ahsoka's strikes while Anakin fights Theseus. Ahsoka is flailing wildly, and she isn't putting up much of a challenge.

Anakin does a sudden feign to the right and down – a move that reminds Obi-Wan surprisingly of what Dooku did to him on Geonosis, strangely enough – and when Theseus swings his blade to block it, Anakin raises his higher, slashing open the front of his helmet. The boy takes a step back, pulling off and tossing aside the broken mask, and turns back to face them.

His normally blue eyes are streaked with yellow as he glares back at them. Which is when Obi-Wan notices the other difference between him and Ahsoka. Her eyes are completely yellow, as though she's totally immersed in the Dark Side, but she's dark in a different way. It's as though the Son did somehow succeed in making him Fall.

"Theseus, what's wrong?" demands Anakin frantically. "Tell us."

He surprisingly doesn't move to attack again, though he keeps his lightsaber poised in front of him like he will at any moment's notice. "I want to bring peace to the galaxy!"

"By giving in to the Dark Side?" demands Obi-Wan sharply. Now that some of his shock is starting to fade, he's upset. He's certain he taught him better than this, so what is wrong with his padawan? It feels as though everything they've done together is for naught.

"Can you stop prattling about the Dark Side?! It's not like the Light has saved the galaxy in the past ten thousand years!"

"What has the Son done to you?" Obi-Wan demands.

"I don't want to fight you," Anakin argues, "We can talk this out. You need to calm down and tell me what happened." He sounds so desperate, it almost hurts.

Theseus falters. It's only a moment, but it gives Obi-Wan a flare of hope. Maybe there is still some sense in his padawan. "You happened!" he snaps instead, anger flaring to the surface again. "How long will you stay steadfastly loyal to someone who keeps hurting you? How long will you stay loyal to an Order that cares less about the very people it's supposed to protect?!"

"That's not true," Obi-Wan admonishes. "Just because we can't help everyone doesn't mean we don't care." Theseus has never said things like this before. What happened to him?

"You don't even try!" he snaps, "And repeat Jedi dogma to defend your actions... or the lack thereof."

"I get that but trying to kill us won't help!" Anakin snaps, shoving Theseus's lightsaber away from his face. "Listen to me. We can sort this out. I – we don't want to fight you. We need to talk. We want to help you, which I can't do if you're –" he wildly parries another strike, "Trying to cut off my head!"

"Look. With this power, we can destroy the Sith! We can do what the Jedi aren't strong enough to," he insists.

"Come to your senses!" snaps Obi-Wan, "It's not the Jedi way to want power." This isn't working. They need to break Ahsoka free and maybe after that they can try to figure out what's going on with Theseus. He's probably at least partly being affected by the Son – or he must be, because otherwise he doesn't know what's wrong.

"That's all you ever tell me!" the boy shoots back angrily. "You're blinded by the Jedi and refuse to see the bigger picture."

Obi-Wan raises a hand, Force-shoving his padawan back before reaching over and pulling out the dagger he got from the altar. "What is that?" Anakin frowns, eyes widening at the sight.

"It can kill the Son," he explains.

"Where did you get that?!" Ahsoka screams, her voice full of a fury he's never heard before. Her voice echoes, like the Ones, except the echo sounds like the Son. "Give it to me!" Even Theseus seems startled at the sudden reaction.

Ahsoka charges at him in a blind fury only for danger to suddenly scream through the Force from a different direction. Obi-Wan looks up at the sound of shattering glass to see the Son and the Daughter both flying out the window and crashing straight down towards the fight below. Everyone scrambles out of the way, lightsabers deactivating as the two land where everyone was a moment prior.

**w**

Theseus looks up as the Daughter lands right next to him. He hastily clammers back to his feet as the Son jumps up, raising his hands. Red lightning leaps from his fingers at the Father, who holds up his hands to block it with a Force shield. "You are too weak for me, old man," sneers the Son, "You mean nothing to me anymore."

Everyone stares, transfixed, at the fight, unable to intervene on either side, the former scuffle completely forgotten. The Father's Force shield suddenly gives way, and he collapses to the floor. The Son immediately begins electrocuting him. Theseus is far from comfortable watching, but if he interferes, the Father will stop them.

"Anakin! Now!" Obi-Wan calls suddenly, tossing the dagger at him. Before Theseus has a chance to react, Ahsoka streaks through the air, snatching up the dagger. She spins around and runs for the Son.

He lets up his lightning attack on the Father as she approaches, turning around. "Everything has transpired exactly as I planned," he gloats.

The Father stands up shakily behind him. "You showed them the altar?"

"I am sorry, Father," the Daughter says regretfully, as Obi-Wan helps her to her feet, "I didn't know how else to stop him."

"Give it to me, child," the Son requests.

"Ahsoka, no!" Anakin protests desperately.

She glances over her shoulder for a moment before reaching out, handing it to him. "Thank you," the Son replies, fingering the edge of the dagger, before turning back to her, "Your usefulness has come to an end." Wait, what?

Everything from that moment seems to happen in slow motion, even if it's too fast for him to do anything about it. The Son reaches out, resting a finger on Ahsoka's head for a moment. She promptly collapses to the ground, motionless, her lightsabers slipping from her hands. The same moment, Theseus feels the life drain from her body and their bond wrench free into nothingness.

He's seen people die before. He's felt it. He's lived through that and on, but this is different somehow. It's far worse than anything he's ever felt before, than when his clone friends or even Vraz died. Something in his mind feels gone. Empty. Dark.

Ahsoka. His best friend. She's... gone. He can't move. Can't breathe. Can't even think. It's as though his very world screeched to a standstill.

Anakin's scream of pain and rage rips through the momentary stillness. He lunges forwards, only to be flung back again with the Force, but Theseus can't tear his eyes of Ahsoka's fallen form.

The Son turns to face the Father.

Theseus continues to stand staring motionlessly at Ahsoka on the ground. He... killed her. He's been manipulating him and her this whole time, hasn't he?

"The Jedi have brought me the dagger and you have brought yourself," the Son announces gleefully, "Now, Father, you will die." He raises the dagger, preparing to stab him. Somewhere in the back of his mind Theseus thinks that maybe he should do something stop him, but everything is happening too fast, and his mind has come to a screeching halt of denial. He can't accept – can't process this.

"Father!" cries the Daughter, racing across the platform throwing herself in front of him. The Son doesn't manage to stop himself in the time, the dagger stabbing into her back instead.

The Son jerks back, staring in horror. "Why?!" he screams, staring down at his hands like they betrayed him. Lightning flashes violently in the sky up above as he transforms into the bird creature, taking off into the sky, disappearing from sight. Theseus doesn't find it in himself to feel bad for him. Maybe he should. He can't.

Everyone sprints into action the moment the Son disappears from sight. Anakin runs over to Ahsoka, dropping down next to her and rolling her over. Theseus runs to his side, kneeling next to her.

No, he doesn't want to believe that she's really – He can't. The true meaning of the word refuses to sink in. But her eyes staring blankly up at them says more than any words could. Obi-Wan appears behind them, but Theseus is too preoccupied to find it in himself to care.

"My daughter, what have I done?" he hears the Father moan, as he lowers her to the ground, pulling the dagger from her back.

"Do not hate him, Father, it is his nature," she murmurs weakly.

"All is lost. The balance has been broken. I thought by bringing you here I would... But I have destroyed everything," he laments.

"Can you help her?" Anakin looks up, expression one of pure desperation.

"There is no Light," he replies, shaking his head, "The evil has been unleashed and the Dark Side shall consume her."

"You must help her!" he insists desperately.

"I cannot undo what is done. There is no hope."

"Yes, there is! There's always hope!"

The Daughter raises a hand, pointing towards Ahsoka. Wait – is she –? The Father stands up abruptly, moving to stand in between the bodies and motioning for Anakin to join him. He scoots over to sit in between the two bodies.

"Then let my daughter's last act be to breathe life into your friend," he says. Anakin rests a hand on the Daughter's forehead, before reaching over and touching Ahsoka's, following the Father's movements. The moment he touches Ahsoka, the Force flares around them. The brilliant white glow the Daughter used to have – which had faded after she was stabbed – floods through Anakin and then onto Ahsoka, as their bodies start floating off the ground. Theseus didn't think anything about this planet could shake him up more than it already has but seeing his brother glowing is definitely the creepiest thing he's experienced. Ahsoka's body is changing, transforming. The darkness on it from before fades away until her appearance is like before.

The glow starts fading, and Anakin breaks away from the two of them, collapsing forwards and barely catching himself with his hands. The bodies fall to the ground, the Daughter's now not glowing at all and completely still. Lifeless.

Theseus stares anxiously at Ahsoka's motionless form, and for a long agonizing moment, nothing happens. Did it not work? Is she... still dead?

She suddenly coughs, slowly sitting up. Anakin is up in a second, pulling her into a hug. "Hey, Snips," he murmurs.

"What's going on?" she asks, looking hopelessly lost.

"Uh... not much. It's good to see you," he replies.

Theseus frowns. "You don't remember?"

"The Son took me here... and everything else after that is... hazy." She frowns. "What happened?"

It's... This... The Son was controlling her the entire time. How did he not realize? Ahsoka would never have Fallen, not like he did.

"We can explain later," Obi-Wan says, glancing at Theseus for a moment as they all stand up. Obi-Wan picks up Ahsoka's lightsabers, handing them back to her. Leave it to him for that to be his most major concern right now.

"As the balance in this world crumbles," the Father speaks up, kneeling next to his daughter again, "So shall war escalate in your galaxy. As my son has descended into the Dark Side, so have the Sith gained strength."

Great. So instead of ending the war, he worsened it? He should have known better to trust in a Dark Sider like that, after all. The things that he told him might actually have been true, and he still agrees with it, but he shouldn't have let himself actually trust the Son so much. The point was to bring peace, not to escalate the war. That doesn't mean he doesn't still have hope he might have found another, faster way to restore peace. Because what he feels now, with the anger of the Son betraying him and killing Ahsoka, even if she is alive – something he still can't wrap his head around – is stronger and more powerful than anything he's ever felt. He feels... whole.

"We will stop your son," Anakin declares firmly.

"No!" the Father argues, "You must go, now! He needs your ship to leave the planet. You must leave before he can take it."

"What about you?" Obi-Wan objects.

"I shall mourn all that I have done, and all that is yet to be."

"We should head back to the ship," Obi-Wan asserts, turning to head off. Theseus moves closer to Ahsoka as they climb down after, Anakin in in the back.

With the whole crisis regarding Ahsoka over with, Theseus' mind drifts back to what was happening right before. It's honestly almost awkward to be walking right alongside Anakin and Obi-Wan right now when they were fighting not long ago. And Ahsoka when she doesn't remember a thing about what happened.

He's really not sure what to do now. The Son betrayed him, and he was pinning most of his hopes on getting help from him, since whether he's embraced the Dark Side or not, he doesn't really know what to do alone. There's no way he can bring himself to trust the Son anymore after he did to Ahsoka. Especially not risking unleashing him on the galaxy. Not after what he did.

No, he's going to have to figure out on his own. He glances sideways at the others for a moment. And it's not like he can just go back to how things were before this all happened. Once start down the dark path, you do, forever it will dominate your destiny. He's already embraced the Dark Side; it's too late to turn back now. Truthfully, he doesn't want to, anyway. He feels far freer now than he ever has in his life. He's not going to go back to being a slave to the Jedi like before. Just no.

"Does someone mind filling me in on what happened?" Ahsoka speaks up finally, throwing what she seems to think is a discreet glance in Theseus' direction. She's likely sensing all his darkness and wondering what in the world is going on.

"The Son possessed you, and convinced Theseus to embrace the Dark Side," Obi-Wan explains, voice slightly pained.

Ahsoka comes to a complete standstill. "What?!" she hisses.

Theseus somehow conceals his flinch. Ahsoka may be alive, but he might have lost her regardless. "I've found another way to end the war," he replies instead, tone level. "No matter what the cost."

"You must understand we cannot allow the Son to leave the planet," Obi-Wan asserts firmly.

Theseus shoots him a glare. "I'd be an idiot to trust him with the galaxy's fate. I'll find my own way."

The ship finally comes into view, and at first glance he can immediately tell that it was damaged somehow. "It's going to need repairs," Obi-Wan declares, "I'll check out the situation." He boards the ship, and Anakin motions for Ahsoka to follow and leave him alone with Theseus.

"Do you truly believe the Dark Side is the only way to end the war?" Anakin asks him quietly. His emotions are always so easy to ready. The pain burning in his eyes is stronger than anything.

"I haven't seen anything else working. And tell me, do you really think one soul is worth that of all those who would die otherwise?"

"No." Anakin looks away. "I suppose it isn't. But you know this is a dangerous path."

"From which there is no return." His voice sounds hollow and empty, like he feels right now. It hurts knowing what he did, what he has to do, but what other choice is there now? It was a spur of the moment decision, and it's not something he can turn away from. "I understand what I have to do."

"Theseus... you know if you're a Dark Sider, the Jedi will consider you an enemy, right? That means we're enemies."

"We're on the same side," he challenges. "We both want to end the war."

The annoyance on his brother's face would be laughable if the situation weren't so serious. "You don't understand. I – you know they say I'm supposed to destroy the Sith, and that now includes you, right?"

"Maybe, but your choices are your own." A sudden thought strikes him. "Tell me. Would you choose to kill me or to keep your place with the Council?"

Anakin scoffs and turns away. "I have no place with the Council. You know they barely tolerate me."

Oh, he does know, but it's not something anyone ever talks about. Anakin is a bit too unorthodox for them. He probably shouldn't have mentioned it, but he can't help but wonder. What if the two of them – together – can end this? Theseus finds himself – for the first time, really – aching for a sense of belonging. Someone who understands him. Obi-Wan never would, and Ahsoka... he's not sure about her. They've been best friends their entire life, yet this is something he isn't certain she'd agree with him on. Not unless Anakin did, anyway. "Then we can do it together."

Anakin jerks back from him. "I'm not going to turn to the Dark Side!" he snaps. "Why do people keep asking me that?!"

"Maybe it's what you need to do. At least we can do this together."

"Even if it would work, you don't even know what you're doing, and there's no one to guide you. By the time you succeeded, you'd be so lost... Please don't do this."

It hurts, really, to be asked to do the one thing he can't. "I – I don't have that choice anymore."

"Many Jedi have lost their way since the war started," Anakin says, "This is dangerous, and it's not something you do without thinking about the consequences."

"I've been having these questions for years," he objects.

"Even Jedi Masters Fell for something good, but it corrupted them. You can't let that happen to you." He has a point. For a moment, the vision he had when he was going to get his lightsaber crystal flickers through his mind. Of his Fallen self attacking Ahsoka and his mother. It is your destiny to become like me, the words of Dark Revan from the vision he had so long ago flit through his mind.

No, he's not going to become like that. He won't hurt Ahsoka and his mother, though he did lose his mind enough to attack his own master and Anakin. Not that he would ever have hurt them. But still... it's something he needs to think about. It's a question no one can answer, except himself. "I'll figure it out," he promises, glancing out across the horizon. He needs a calm, quiet place to think. Maybe he can try meditating, though it feels wrong to do so after what happened. Somewhere a distance from the ship, far enough away so no one can disturb him is the best option. "I'll come back."

He hesitates for a moment before stepping forwards and hugging his older padawan brother, who instantly returns the embrace. Theseus has never really been one for physical contact, but he certainly doesn't mind it. After a long moment, Theseus finally pulls away, slipping off into the shadows to think.

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