Chapter 46 – Attack on the Temple

Author's Note: Believe it or not, this was the plan from the beginning. :')

To Guest: Yeah, that is true, but Sidious sees opportunities everywhere, and he could very well consider it a risk worth taking to keep both of them enslaved to him. Thanks for reviewing! :D

~ Amina Gila

He's seen a lot of things, throughout his life, between growing up on Tatooine, spending the next decade as a Jedi, and the last two and a half years fighting a war. Even so, Anakin feels unprepared to deal with this.

Caleb was injured during the bombing, and while Master Shan might have done what she could to heal him – Anakin still is struggling to accept that people can be healed with the Dark Side, and it reminds him of when he resurrected Ahsoka on Mortis, and how there is so much to the Force he has yet to learn – he still has lingering injuries. He can't walk entirely normally anymore, which means much of what he used to know about fighting has to be relearned entirely. The boy is clearly having a hard time, even if he's trying to hide it.

"Are you ready to try this again?" Anakin asks.

"Sure!" Caleb declares cheerfully, "Master Depa hasn't had a lot of time to teach me much yet, so..." Since Athea is still gone without a trace, Caleb has been temporarily – though Anakin gets the feeling it's probably going to be permanent – given to another master.

"That's why we're more than happy to help," Theseus speaks up, where he stands off to the side, watching them.

Caleb ignites his lightsaber, and Anakin lets him make the first move, attacking him. He can fight with his hands just fine, but once it involves moving around, he starts to react a lot more clumsily. Anakin does his best to go easy on the boy, giving him occasional pieces of advice. This isn't something he's ever dealt with before, after all.

Still, it's something Caleb is going to have to learn to face quickly enough, if Depa is planning on taking him out to the battlefield. If he doesn't learn to fight properly soon, he isn't going to last long. Quite frankly, Anakin doesn't want to think about it.

Anakin finally – and actually accidentally – succeeds in sending the lightsaber flying from his hands, skittering across the floor in the Room of One Thousand Fountains. Caleb releases an audible groan of frustration at losing the duel, reaching out a hand to call the hilt back to him.

"You did well," Anakin assures him, "Again?"

They're about to start the duel again, when Anakin senses a sudden tremor in the Force, which is rapidly magnifying by the second. Something is very, very wrong. He knows what it is, or at least he can guess, from the nudges he's feeling from the Force right now. It's the exact same feeling that he gets on the battlefield, when there's an attack coming or in progress very close by, and that can only mean one thing.

Theseus suddenly tenses as well, a clear sign that he's feeling the same thing. "Something's going on," Anakin says.

"What do you mean?" Caleb asks, eyes going wide with worry.

"You think –" Theseus cuts off, expression looking even more panicked now.

"Yes, by the main entrance, I think," Anakin replies, "Caleb, you need to go tell the Council that there's an attack. Theseus, come with me."

Without waiting for a response, he turns and takes off. He can hear the older boy behind him, and hopefully Caleb will follow orders. He gave Caleb the job to go tell the Council in the first place to make sure he didn't try coming to the battle scene in this condition. They don't need him near whatever is happening when he can hardly fight properly in a mere sparring match at this point.

Alarms are going off throughout the Temple as they keep running. By the time they're nearing the entrance, Anakin can make out the sound of blaster shots, and a commotion that in general sounds much like a battle.

What is happening?! Yes, there have been protests against the war before that started to get violent, but no citizen has ever actually attacked the Jedi Temple before.

He and Theseus finally race around the last corner into the final wide hall that leads to the large entrance area. Several Temple guards are struggling to fight off a group of what must be at least a couple dozen attackers. Anakin assesses the situation in a few seconds, already flipped into general mode as he takes in the scene.

All of the attackers appear to be either masked or in armor, and they some of them have some type of symbol on their clothes. One of the anti-Jedi factions that seem to be becoming more common these days, perhaps? Through the midst of everything, he can see a couple Jedi on the ground already, either injured or dead. Same for a number of their attackers.

In the midst of the chaos, another masked, hooded figure strides into view, igniting a blood red lightsaber as she does – or at least Anakin thinks it's a "she".

Really? Another Fallen Jedi?!

She feels familiar, for whatever reason, and suddenly Anakin has the very disturbing feeling that he knows why.

**w**

Theseus' gaze darts over the scene, as the attackers try to push past the Temple guards, to force their way into the main part of the Temple. But what really catches his attention is the figure who just stepped to the front.

His bond with his mother is flared with activity again, as though she's right in front of him.

Because she is, and she's holding a red lightsaber, and leading a group of people to attack the Temple. She Fell.

He knows it in that moment. Nothing else could explain this. He can feel it now, too, how their bond feels dark.

Horror and denial rush through him first as he stares at her. How – why?! Why would she do this?! How could she do this?! It doesn't make any sense!

The Force screams in warning, and Theseus reacts purely on instinct, igniting his lightsaber to block a few stray blaster bolts fired at him and Anakin. The attack sets Anakin into motion as well, and he ignites his lightsaber, darting forwards at the crimson-bladed figure. She side-steps him, and before he can spin to attack her again, several armored figures land on the ground around him.

They look like Mandalorians, Theseus realizes somewhere in the back of his mind. He supposes he shouldn't be surprised that there'd be some in an anti-Jedi faction such as this. But right now, all he can think about is that he's staring down his now Fallen mother.

"Mother?" he utters, shakily, not believing his own voice.

The other Jedi are too far away to hear him calling her that, and even if they were, he's in too much shock to care.

She reaches up, and the vizor covering her face snaps back. He's not ready to see this.

Yellow eyes stare back at him, but other than that, she looks the same. She's definitely Athea. There's no way he can deny it anymore.

His confusion at the betrayal is slowly starting to morph into anger. He doesn't know how to feel about any of this. Yes, he might have Fallen once himself, but he wouldn't have attacked the Temple and started killing people for no reason. Okay, he did attack Anakin and Obi-Wan in a blind fit of rage, but Anakin had been able to calm him down afterwards and had talked him back to himself. What happened to her? Why is she doing this? His mind is whirling, struggling to process. He needs to get a grip. There's a fight to win. He can't just stand here.

"Theseus," Athea states, and she actually sounds glad to see him.

Something inside him seems to snap at the sound of her voice, and he finally finds his own. "How?" he demands, hardly sure what he's trying to say, "How can you do this? Why are you doing this?!" It reminds him of Anakin's final questions to Ahsoka, a part of his mind notes half-hysterically.

"It's the only way," Athea replies firmly. "The Jedi have become corrupt. There is no turning back from it."

"So you think that justifies this?" he cries, almost hysterical, because what? It's so much like what Barriss did only over a month ago, trying to make a point and in the end, it cost them Ahsoka. This time it's costing him his mother. How could she do this? She was always so compassionate and caring, even if she'd seem cold on the outside.

"It's the only way they'll ever understand," she retorts, "Maybe some of them will finally start to think and see past the lies of the Jedi. You know the Jedi are wrong, Theseus. You accepted this long before me, back on Mortis."

Yes, when he Fell, he'd never have thought to do something like this. It's far beyond all reason and logic. It's completely senseless. If he didn't know better, he'd think he was talking to an imposter of his mother, not her. "Just stop this madness, Mother," Theseus pleads, "Whatever you want, there's other ways to get it." He doesn't know how to talk to her, or what to say.

An unreadable look flickers through her eyes and she takes a step closer to him. "Theseus, you can join me. I know you want to know more about the Dark Side. We can find answers together."

Under different circumstances, maybe he'd think of listening to her, but right now, his attention is far more hyper focused on the battle still raging all around them. A purposeless battle happening only because she decided to bring these people here.

"We can restore peace to the galaxy, like you've always wanted." She pauses a moment before continuing. "If you come with me, we don't have to hide anymore. We can be family."

She knows everything he wants, and she's using all of it against him. That's the hardest part, he knows. No one knows him better than his mother, simply because she is his mother, and she's turning it all against him. Even so, for as much as he loves her, he sees the difference between right and wrong.

Maybe she truly wants him to come with her, but... he can't do that. Not after what he's seeing. He doesn't know what she's actually planning to do, even if he did come with her. And besides, he can't just walk away. Not like Ahsoka did.

For a moment, his gaze jumps past his mother to Anakin, where he's still trying to fight off a couple Mandalorians. No, he could never do that to him. Especially when he doesn't know if what Athea claims to want is even genuine in the first place, because everything Theseus sees around him certainly is implying otherwise. She could have come and asked him, if that's what she wanted. She didn't need to wait until he could already have been killed or injured.

"It's a little late for that," Theseus retorts finally. Voicing the rejection out loud hurts more than he even thought it could. He does want what she's offering, but... It doesn't matter. This is the right choice, and he knows it. Even if it means he's basically turning his back on the only family member he's had his entire life. Maybe he'd react differently if he could actually understand why she's doing this, but right now, he supposes part of him can still hardly believe that the person he's talking to is her. It doesn't feel like it.

"Come back, Mother," he requests, even as he knows she won't listen. From what he remembers about the Dark Side, it's all-consuming. It's not something a person can simply release through willpower. It had blinded his judgment, made him want to hurt the people he cared for most. "You don't need to do this. Don't lose yourself in the Dark Side."

"Lose myself?" she laughs, but the sound is almost deranged, "I found myself, Theseus."

It's an echo of what Ahsoka had said on Mortis, "I feel more like myself than I ever have in my life," and he knows how untrue it is. Somehow, everywhere he looks it seems to lead back to Ahsoka, as if she's a part of him that's missing, and... really, she is.

For a moment, he wonders. She's not wrong, entirely. The Jedi had thrown out Ahsoka as if she meant nothing, and he knows if they succeed in arresting his mother, they'll be no more lenient with her.

"You don't have to do this. We can figure this out together. Just come back." He doesn't know how any of it would work out even if she did agree, because he knows what will happen. The Jedi would... He doesn't want to think about it. His mind is whirling too fast to catch up with all the implications of everything that's happening. It's too much, too quickly.

His world is falling apart all over again, and he doesn't know how to stop it.

"You know it's far too late for that," Athea replies, "I can explain everything, if you come with me."

"I can't," he repeats, and he hates how for some reason it feels like those words are sealing his fate, that after this he might not see her again for a very long time, if ever.

Her expression darkens. "This is your mistake," she warns, raising her lightsaber.

"You don't want to do this," Theseus argues, desperately. "I don't want to fight you."

"You made the choice, not me," she retaliates, and he doesn't have a second of warning before she lunges at him.

Theseus hastily swings his still-ignited blade up to block her, moving more on instinct than anything, as his mind whirls with what's happening. Attacking the Temple, maybe, but his mother attacking him? For a moment he briefly wonders if this is how Anakin and Obi-Wan felt on Mortis when he and Ahsoka attacked them. It probably was, and he suddenly is overwhelmed by guilt. He tries not to let it unbalance him though, as he draws on the Force, reaching into it. He feels her darkness and this, Theseus knows, is precisely what Master Windu has trained him for.

He's fought Sith before in the past, and he can do it again now. Theseus draws on the Force, trying to channel her darkness back at her as he moves, fending off her attacks.

Their blades clash repeatedly, over and over, and he backs away, fully willing to give ground if it means finding a weak point somewhere. Several more Jedi, including Temple guards, are finally running into view to join the rest of the battle with others, even as a couple more of them go down, either dead or injured.

Back and forth they move, purple clashing against red and red against purple, repeatedly. Everything else is tuned out, except the sound of their blades striking one another and the adrenaline coursing through his veins, the thrill he feels when he fights and the pain of fighting the one person of his own flesh and blood he once thought he would never, ever have to.

His blade flicks up maybe a bit too high, because she kicks him backwards into the wall behind him; by now, the fight has worked its way back to the entrance, still filled with smoke.

Theseus slams against it with a grunt and falls, barely catching himself on one knee, and when he looks up the blood-color blade is hurtling towards him again. He flicks up his hand, reacting on instinct, about to throw her back, but another blue blade catches hers, twisting it upwards and shoving it aside.

Obi-Wan.

Athea pulls back with a growl and dives at him. Her blows are sloppy, wild and uncontrolled, but downright deadly. Theseus drags himself upright, snatching up his curved hilt. Windu is here, too, he realizes. They're enough to overpower her, but they won't have the same restraint as Theseus himself does. They won't hesitate to hurt her, to kill her, in combat.

He might be hurt. He might be angry. He might be willing to fight, but she's still his mother, and he doesn't want to hurt her, or for anyone else to.

Without wasting another moment, he jumps forwards into the fight, shoving his way between the two opponents. "Stop," he orders, surprising himself with the commanding note in his voice. "Let me handle this."

Obi-Wan frowns. "She's too powerful for you."

"This is my duty, Master. Let me do it."

He steps back reluctantly, and Theseus moves forwards. Athea watches him, golden eyes narrowed. "We can destroy the other Sith," she says.

"You're delusional," Theseus warns. "The Dark Side is distorting your mind. It promises power, but all it does is destroy and ruin."

When her expression darkens and the Force ripples around her, he knows it's the end of it. She won't listen, and it feels like something is being stabbed through his heart. He knows it, this, right here, is the end.

It's nearly enough to make him give in, because it hurts so much and he's so tired of losing. This is the last he has of his family.

They circle around each other, away from the others, sizing each other up. They know each other well, but they haven't fought with one another frequently. Even so, they know everything about each other, can guess the tricks and maneuvers the other might make which would normally throw an opponent off-balance.

Theseus ignites his lightsaber again, readying his stance. She jumps at him again in a blur of black and red. Perhaps the darkness whipping around her would throw anyone else off-balance, but he's prepared for it. He's felt it, lived in it once. He merely shoves the end of her blade away from himself, everything he's learned from all three forms he knows spinning through the back of his mind. Soresu is defensive, Vaapad is aggressive and very useful against Dark Siders, and Makashi is best in duels, because of its nature.

They blur together for him, despite their vast differences in nature. He might have the best style, and Theseus has little doubt he will someday become one of the greatest duelists in the Order of his time, and quite possibly for generations, but at the end of the day, he's still a child. He's only seventeen, and she's a Jedi Master, and therefore, far more skillful and experienced.

With his lightsaber alone, this isn't a fight he's going to win. Theseus finally gathers the Force around him, then throws it at her. She catches the move a split second before she could be thrown back, and instantly raises her hand, throwing up a Force-shield in front of her.

He doesn't let it up, and neither does she, though after a few moments of the Force whirling around them, it explodes outwards, flinging them in opposite directions. He slams into one of the towering pillars near the walls, then slides to the floor. Struggling to catch his breath and ignoring the aches running through him, Theseus starts pushing himself back up again.

Obi-Wan and Windu are restraining Athea, who seems to have been minorly stunned. He glances past them at the rest of the battle, to see that it seems to be dying down, finally. Now that their leader is down, the remaining survivors are fleeing.

At least the battle is over for now. But the consequences which still haven't fully even started catching up to Theseus are only beginning now, and he knows it. He isn't ready.

**w**

Caleb isn't sure how to feel about any of this. The Temple was just attacked again. He's still shaken up enough from last time, from the realization that apparently he and the rest of the Jedi can actually be attacked here at their home. And, of course, his injuries... But he doesn't want to let himself dwell on that right now.

But now another armed attack on the Temple?! Rumors are flying all over the place, but he hasn't actually heard anything about the real story of what happened. Theseus currently isn't answering his calls, and he's considering going to find him on his own when Anakin arrives.

"What's happening?" Caleb wonders.

"An anti-Jedi faction of some kind attacked the Temple," he explains. His expression is especially grim and it almost makes him think there's something more than he's hearing.

"I heard... there was a Sith there?" he questions. There's admittedly a much too curious part of him that wonders what meeting one would be like.

"Caleb," Anakin says seriously, "I'm sure you heard about what the Council was suspecting happened to Master Shan."

The unexpected words catch him totally off guard. "Yeah, Theseus told me," he frowns. They thought she Fell, a claim that he was just as upset over as Theseus was. But, wait a minute –

His breath catches in his throat for a moment as everything suddenly starts clicking into place. No, he has to be misunderstanding something.

"She was there," Anakin says quietly, moving closer and resting a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Leading it."

"What... why?" Caleb asks faintly. This doesn't make any sense. It – his master wouldn't do that! She wouldn't.

"I don't know what happened," Anakin replies, "But the Council believes she may have been corrupted by the Sith holocrons she was supposed to be retrieving."

But... He doesn't know what to say, or how to react. For a moment, he remembers back when he was in the healer's wing, when he'd felt that very dark presence start healing him. He briefly sensed Athea then, but he'd thought he was imagining things. Maybe he actually wasn't.

"What happens now?" Caleb asks.

Anakin sighs. "She was arrested. The Council will be talking to her... She'll probably go on trial."

He gulps. Of course, that's what will happen. She attacked the Council. She killed people. But hearing it still doesn't make it feel any more real. All he can feel is the horror and denial coursing through him, because how could she do something like this?! The Council should know how to handle it, he supposes, but...

He almost wants to see her, though he knows they would never agree to let a padawan talk to her. Not if she's really this dangerous.

He has no idea how to feel about any of this. And speaking of that – "How's Theseus?" Caleb queries. He knows the boy was close with Master Shan, though he isn't sure what their relationship is.

"He will be fine," Anakin replies, which isn't very encouraging.

Caleb can only try to trust in the Force that this will work out.

**w**

The first thing that occurs to him when he awakens the next day, he must have spent wayyyy too long yesterday sparring.

Then Theseus' memory of the previous day sinks in, and he falls back with a long groan. He doesn't want to get up and move or do anything. All he wants is for time to turn back, so he can be in a universe where his father is still alive, and his twin sister doesn't hate him, and his mother wasn't a Sith, and his best friend hadn't left him and everyone, and one of his other best friends wasn't born and bred a soldier who could die at any given moment, and the girl he loves wasn't a terrorist, and his older brother – the closest he's had to one – wasn't so unstable and in so much pain, and his master was...

He doesn't know. Maybe Obi-Wan is the only person he has no complaints about right now. They've come so far from where they were.

The reality of what happened is crushing him. His mother Fell, and she attacked the Temple. She completely lost herself in the Dark Side, and the Jedi will likely have to imprison her for life.

What a pleasant morning.

Theseus doesn't manage to drag himself out of bed until his master comes to get him.

"The galaxy won't stop moving, padawan," Obi-Wan chides gently.

"I don't care," Theseus snaps. "My mother just turned to the Dark Side and attacked the Temple, our safe place, the one place that is supposed to be safest! I think I deserve a break!"

"I know you're upset," he replies, "But we are at war. We must keep moving."

It's not fair, he knows, to lash out. Obi-Wan isn't responsible for any of it, but he can't help it. "You don't know what it's like!" he retaliates angrily. "You haven't had to deal with someone you care for trying to kill you, turning on everything you've ever known."

Obi-Wan's expression goes eerily blank. "I wish you were right," he replies, coolly.

On second thought, maybe that wasn't the right thing to say, because... Obi-Wan does know what that's like, in a way. "You didn't have to deal with knowing I'd be locked in a prison somewhere for the rest of my life," he says glumly.

"It wasn't entirely out of the question, either."

Theseus looks away. "I'm sorry," he offers, knowing full-well how lame it sounds. It doesn't change any of what happened, and it's pointless to say. "I'm just tired. What's the point of all this, anyway? There's so much death."

"The point is to win," he answers.

"But win against what?" Theseus asks. "How do we know that by fighting, by leading the war, we haven't already lost? How do we know this isn't all a front for something bigger?"

"We will find and destroy Sidious," Obi-Wan promises.

"You don't know that. No one can." Or maybe he's tired now, too much so to keep moving. It won't last, probably, but it feels like it'll never end.

For once, his master doesn't dispute his point. It's not something that can be argued with, after all. At the end of the day, no one knows if the Jedi will win this war. It doesn't feel like they're winning, for as many people who have died and for how the public's opinion is turning against them.

In the end, all any of them can do is to keep moving, and Theseus hates it sometimes. It feels like there's no time to mourn, no time to recollect himself. There will be no going back, either; no time to live out his teen years in a peaceful time. He can't imagine such a world anymore. His memories as Yoda's padawan from before are few, and they were something that feels like it was from another lifetime, not his own.

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