Chapter 44
The silence is deafening; he keeps seeing himself kneeling before Sidious and pleading his alignment towards the Sith Apprentice of Darth Plagueis.
When another shudder fills up his bones, and one crack in his mind finally satisfies the void.
Vader has been lying to him this entire time!
Anakin should have known.
He really should have!
Well, Vader won't be using him anymore!
Anakin turns around to see the creature shrouded in darkness, staring at him, namely staring at his two golden eyes.
"He has been lying to you for so long," the Sith says. "And now you realize it. Recognize the power of the Force. Recognize that you mean nothing to your mentor."
Anakin feels his mind being ripped into, every word Vader has spoken, everything that has been their journey has all been but a karking lie! All of it! The ancient being makes no pretense at being even gentle despite how he could crumble his mind. Anakin didn't even think about trying to eject him from his mind, for he loves the pain, loves the throb within his heart. Anakin feels himself losing all that mattered to him. He is very slow in his search, he goes for the older memories first, trying to see what he had witnessed in this timeline.
He could detect his distaste for his time spent with his family, and he disregards those memories without care. Anakin couldn't resist the tears of agony running down his face, as the being brought out his darkest memories in life. It would take a long time to amend this... if he even could... so he instead focused on holding onto what memories that still, even as dark as he had become, are buried and still are. Vader, Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, his mother, Padmé... the couple of friends he had on Tatooine... He let him rip through everything else.
To his surprise, the being of darkness is beginning to see something else, other memories that bring him back to a Togrutan female who he had taken as a Padawan Learner in another life, fighting alongside that one as well as countless Soldiers in white, and others. He reignites the memory of his fall, knowing the lasting scars.
The memory would forever be burned into his mind, but then again, the Sith always thrived in agony. The Sith would always relish seeing others suffer and would go as far as to break their attachments just to become eviler.
"Skywalker, you could still stop this. Vader would lead you down to a path of destruction. Finish what others have started. Don't allow them to have any control over you."
Anakin nods, sweat tarnishing his face, his blue eyes reflecting with tears. He could not trust a man that has been lying to him for a whole decade. Tha - that is an unforgivable sin.
"Go. Let the Sith die. Afterwards, the Jedi would follow, and you could start a new path. There is no need for the feeble Jedi and Sith."
Anakin nods again, his hand snapping to his lightsaber. "You want me... to kill Vader?"
"No, I want you to commit an assignment that would bring an end to this endless spectrum of Jedi versus Sith. Destroy the Sith. Let the past die. Kill it if you have to. It's the only way to become what you are meant to be."
Anakin grimaces. All those words are true, something within the back of his mind tells him. The Jedi and Sith are of the past. They have to all die for an eventual new Order to rise.
That is something Anakin agrees with Vader.
Anakin sees the future for what it is, and he knows that the Sith would ultimately. Just as would the Jedi. It's always inevitable to end this way. There is no escape from it, even without Anakin Skywalker's involvement.
Anakin feels himself walking up, his face seeming possessed by the devil. He formulates a bit of electricity in his hand as he walks to the Sith Tree. So many years of Sith text are in there, centuries of knowledge, learned by many, and some are inside of it, blissfully unaware of what he is about to do.
Within moments, the tree is burning with flames, and screams of the unaware Sith within fill him with shivers, as well as terrible regret. Despite how they have done horrible deeds in the past, they didn't deserve to just die like that.
Anakin Skywalker is staring at the flames from within, seeing so many of the unsuspecting trying to run out, only to be covered with flames in mere moments.
They would all die.
"Anakin...?"
Kriff.
That causes Anakin to snap out of it, turning around to see Obi-Wan Kenobi. Alongside him are Qui-Gon and his mother, each with concerned expressions on their faces.
"Anakin, what are you doing?! We need that!"
Anakin tries to pull up his hood and runs, but Obi-Wan doesn't allow him to escape, pushing him onto the floor, and grabbing hold of Anakin's hand.
"Let go of me!" Anakin shouts, glaring at him with tears in his eyes.
"Okay, I'll let go of you," Obi-Wan replies.
Anakin is surprised at how quickly Obi-Wan let him go without seemingly any hesitation, but he doesn't argue further and instead just runs.
Right now, no one would be able to stop him from his true path.
Anakin dashes to the front of the Millennium Falcon, to where he sees Vader, his hood still raised over his head. He once thought it was for a reason of insecurity or whatnot, but now he knows it is because he has been deceiving him the whole time.
"Vader!" Anakin shouts, glaring at the individual who he had thought for a father figure for so long.
"Anakin," Vader replies seemingly calmly as he turns around to face the man, his eyes seeming to be scanning him.
Vader's eyes go wide soon after. He can see Anakin reaching for the weapon on his belt.
"You know, don't you?"
"Everything!"
This is how it feels to be Anakin Skywalker, forever:
The first dawn of light in your universe brings pain.
The light burns you. It will always burn you. Part of you will always lie upon black glass sand beside a lake of fire while flames chew upon your flesh. You can hear yourself breathing. It comes hard, and harsh, and it scrapes nerves already raw, but you cannot stop it. You can never stop it. You cannot even slow it down.
You don't even have lungs anymore.
Mechanisms hardwired into your chest and breathe for you. They will pump oxygen into your bloodstream forever.
Lord Vader? Lord Vader, can you hear me?
And you can't, not in the way you once did. Sensors in the shell that prisons your head trickle meaning directly into your brain.
You open your scorched-pale eyes; optical sensors integrate light and shadow into a hideous simulacrum of the world around you.
Or perhaps the simulacrum is perfect, and it is the world that is hideous.
Padmé? Are you here? Are you all right? you try to say, but another voice speaks for you, out from the vocabulator that serves you for burned-away lips and tongue and throat.
"Padmé? Are you here? Are you all right?"
"I'm very sorry, Lord Vader. I'm afraid she died. It seems in your anger, you killed her."
This burns hotter than the lava had.
"No... no, it is not possible!"
You loved her. You will always love her. You could never will her death.
Never.
But you remember...
You remember all of it.
You remember the dragon that you brought Vader forth from your heart to slay. You remember the cold venom in Vader's blood. You remember the furnace of Vader's fury, and the black hatred of seizing her throat to silence her lying mouth—
And there is one blazing moment in which you finally understand that there was no dragon. That there was no Vader. That there was only you. Only Anakin Skywalker.
That it was all you. Is you.
Only you.
You did it.
You killed her.
You killed her because, finally, when you could have saved her, when you could have gone away with her, when you could have been thinking about her, you were thinking about yourself...
It is in this blazing moment that you finally understand the trap of the dark side, the final cruelty of the Sith—
Because now yourself is all you will ever have.
And you rage and scream and reach through the Force to crush the shadow who has destroyed you, but you are so far less now than what you were, you are more than half machine, you are like a painter going blind, a composer gone deaf, you can remember where the power was but the power you can touch is only a memory, and so with all your world-destroying fury it is only droids around you that implode, and equipment, and the table on which you were strapped shatters, and in the end, you cannot touch the shadow.
In the end, you do not even want to.
In the end, the shadow is all you have left.
Because the shadow understands you, the shadow forgives you, the shadow gathers you unto itself — And within your furnace heart, you burn in your own flame.
This is how it feels to be Anakin Skywalker...
Forever...
Vader still feels the ache from that very day, the ache that now vibrates in his younger self. His young mind is not ready for the burden of facing the things Vader has suffered through. That is part of the reason why Vader kept it a secret; because there is a possible chance to unleash Darth Vader onto the galaxy.
And their minds are indeed linked.
Anakin Skywalker blinks as he recalls that day from another life. At that particular moment, he has been so angry. He hated Obi-Wan for what he had done to him as well as Darth Sidious for manipulating him over to the dark side. He had wanted to save the love of his life from certain death, along with his children. He has been corrupted so far by the darkness that he committed irredeemable deeds.
Anakin finally snaps. "You lied to me! I looked to you as a father figure, and yet you repaid me like this! How many other lies have I been told by you?!"
"You lied to me! How many other lies have I been told by the Council?!" Words told to another in another life.
"Anakin, please. I didn't want you to become a monster." Vader responds, his emotions seeming to come on tenfold and striking the young man. "I kept the truth from you to prevent you from experiencing any sort of further trauma. You didn't deserve to face the burdens of my actions, young one, I didn't do it because I didn't trust you. I did it because you deserved a second chance."
Anakin feels something within him going soft when the voice snaps from within. "You are going to allow him to lie to you again. He already did his crimes. End him before he begins his tirade. He only wants your children born out of raising them for himself. He could easily kill you at any time."
Anakin feels hot white fury burning up from within, and the presence of his mother running up with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan does nothing to stop it. He quickly activates his purple lightsaber and begins approaching Vader.
"Ani, stop!" Shmi screams, stepping in front of him.
"Move aside," Anakin commands, for once not submitting to the words of his mother. "This man has been lying for us for too long, and I'm done for having to deal with deceptions. The Jedi now want me as a prisoner because I barred their very codes. The Sith wish me to be their instrument in one way or another. And Vader is worse than them all. He used me, enslaved me, force me doing his deed."
In the future now to be avoided, his daughter hated his guts rightfully, and his son is a way better person than him. Anakin would see that they would be raised in the correct environment.
"No!" Shmi shouts bravely, snapping up her blaster, something which surprises Anakin. "I won't let you do this, Ani! I would save you from yourself!"
Anakin coldly says, despite his aching heart at his mother aiming her blaster at him.
"Very well."
Shmi shoots three bullets which turn out to be shock blasts, causing Anakin to dodge the first two, but the third shun his shoulder.
Anakin grunts so loud the ground cracks around them, an empty black void slowly filling his heart. He glares at Vader, his jaw clenched and expression sharper.
"You- you turned her against me!"
Anakin simply flicks his wrist, and Shmi is forced out of the way harmlessly. No matter what any voice inside his head tells him, Anakin would never hurt his mother. She is the most important being in the galaxy to him, and he has a sibling in there that depends on him for protection. They would be raised around him without any Jedi or Sith to dictate their destiny.
"Shmi!" Qui-Gon shouts.
"I wonder, Qui-Gon, did you know?" Anakin asks, his eyes probing over the man that has found him for a decade. Qui-Gon once was like a father figure to him, and he hopes that he didn't know the truth because that meant someone else has been lying to him, yet another betrayal.
The father of his sibling.
Obi-Wan comes forward. "Anakin..."
He glares at his brother. "Shut up Obi-Wan!"
"You don't have to do this, Anakin," the only brother he ever has in his life pleads, "Please, I feel your conflict. Let go of your hate. Let us in."
He wants to help...
"I don't need your help," he spits, denying the way that it feels like his heart is crippling.
He wanted to help, not kill...
Obi-Wan had left the Jedi this time around. The man who, in another timeline, cut off his limbs and hid his children was now out of the Jedi in order to protect his moral code; he wouldn't take part in killing his friend. A tug comes to Anakin's lips and a small smile creeps up, despite the conflicting emotions that are swelling around him.
He pushes the emotions down, calling on the dark side more actively, trying to smother it. Long ago, his sick twisted mind ignited a lightsaber on a bunch of children and murdered them all to gain the power to save the love of his life, and now the same emotions from those days come out.
Qui-Gon, who has been mending his mother, stares up with sadness. "This is what I feared would happen. You would fall."
Anakin flinches. It seems like the man's feelings harden to him. "You remain out of this! As far as I know, you are not involved, so mind your own business! I would allow you to raise your child with my mother, but this man has been deceiving us all along and used us as his puppets!"
The loom of confusion confirms it. He didn't know what has been hidden for so long.
"You are like a grandson to me, Anakin, and so I won't allow you to suffer without at least trying to find out what's up!" Qui-Gon snaps for the first time since he ever met the man, his heart pouring out with love and compassion.
Anakin allows a pained hiss through his lips. He never imagined that it would hurt so much to confront Qui-Gon. He could not live with himself if he has gotten his sibling's father killed, but he would have to disarm him.
Anakin is like Qui-Gon's grandson. That confession almost makes Anakin's knees buckle.
"Please, Anakin," Vader says, now standing ready. "I care about you as if you are a son, despite the lies I told you. I would never allow anyone to harm you. Despite how I made many flaws with you, that doesn't mean I want you to be in harm's way."
Anakin shakes his head and triggers his lightsaber in anticipation, drawing on that pain, that self-loathing, and fueling himself with it. He drives into his memories of him becoming the very man that stands in front of him now, someone broke by war, someone who never had an opportunity to raise his children in his timeline. "I care little for any of your words. I see through the lies of those around me. I do not fear the dark side as you do."
He drapes onto the Veil of the Dark Side and causes it to surround them all. He watches them as his eyes become pure cold, the alarm rising through their shoulders, tension in their eyes. There would be no more lies around either of them. Vader had made the choice to lie to him, and now he would be paying for the consequences of his actions. If Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had to be stopped for it to be done, then Anakin would commit to it without hesitation!
Anakin jumps forward, targeting the weaker of the three. Qui-Gon Jinn sees the attack coming before igniting his own lightsaber and bringing it up to counter the attack. He parries and attacks, thrusting his blade which causes the Maverick Jedi to be dragged across the ground, almost tripping. Vader simply is watching.
He must know that Anakin isn't going to kill Qui-Gon, and he would be right, for this man is still has been a mentor. Perhaps in one universe, Qui-Gon would have been his Master.
Now it's time for this to end.
Obi-Wan Kenobi regrettably jabs forward, his crossguard lightsaber forcing Anakin to take several feet backward.
The fact that both Jinn and Obi-Wan cannot stand against Anakin is something that is impressive. It shows how powerful Anakin Skywalker of this time is, both of them are obviously not fighting to kill, and Anakin's anger appears to not be directed at them.
Anakin pulls back and swings his lightsaber into the waiting lightsaber of Qui-Gon, forcing him to take several steps backward and nearly staggering under the might of the younger man. Obi-Wan is doing a better job, pulling up defensive maneuvers as he did on Mustafar, breaking into the familiar call of Soresu as he allows Anakin to hack away at him with his full might of Djem So.
Quickly moving between the two Jedi's blades, Anakin cuts low against the former Jedi Master's tunic, removing it from him. Kenobi helps his Master, switching from defense to offense, nearly taking Anakin aback, but he quickly uses Obi-Wan's form against him, those thousand hours of training on the same field made Anakin a lot stronger than Obi-Wan.
He let his hand release hold over his lightsaber and sends lightning at Obi-Wan which sends the surprised Force User onto the ground. Anakin's eyes immediately go wide with remorse.
Before Anakin could check on him after the brief loss of control, Anakin feels himself being grated on more, when Qui-Gon sends another attack that causes him to grimace only slightly. It is only so long, as Anakin falls into the form of Juyo, his fast aggression, and attacks beginning to become too much for Qui-Gon to take.
Jinn chooses to switch his form from Ataru to Makashi to a blend of Soresu, altering between offense and defensive, trying to take Anakin by surprise. The strikes from the Jedi Master cause Anakin to stagger up for a second, lightsaber held in an awkward position, reminding him of his fight with this man's Master in another life.
The two exchanges strike once more. Cut, parry. Stab, dodge. Slash, block. The striking of the two's blades rings throughout the room, each warrior intent on emerging victorious. Yes, it is a fight in that none of them want mortal harm to each other. Both take their dueling seriously, Anakin's face bending upon concentration, mirroring that of Qui-Gon's.
Making a false move, Anakin catches Qui-Gon off-guard, wrenching his lightsaber out of his hands. Qui-Gon falls to his knees, looking up to Anakin, who seems to be controlled.
"Something dark within you are driven by ambition and the thirst to conquer. You cannot let these feelings overwhelm you, lest you be driven to the brink of destruction," Qui-Gon replies, cautious. Out of all the men Anakin met in his life, Qui-Gon Jinn is one of the most patient, his unlikely charms as well kindness to all.
"Spare me the lectures," Anakin replies, knowing what the former Jedi Master tends to do.
"It is an intrinsic trait of yours. You must rein in this instinct. You must let go of your anger."
Qui-Gon calls back his weapon in his hand and again ignites it. Anakin sighs, wondering if the elderly man ever gives up, but he chooses to attack now with the full brunt of his might. Kicking Qui-Gon in the stomach, Anakin raises him into the air in a Force Choke, causing him to squirm desperately. For a moment, Anakin could feel himself tightening hold over him, his blood-shed eyes draining in satisfaction.
"Let him go, Anakin."
Vader walks towards him, his hands at his side, traveling near his weapon, ready to ignite it if provoked.
"Stop! Stop now! Come back! I love you!"
"Liar!"
A flash of red. A jolt of fear. He is going to make her regret this…
"No!"
"You're with him! You brought him here to kill me!"
"No!"
She couldn't breathe. Terror consumed her. Struggling, pleading, begging…
"Let her go, Anakin."
"Anakin!"
"Let. Her. Go."
Those have been the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi in another life after his son in all ways but one was drowned by the dark side so much so that he regrettably strangled his own wife. The face of Padmé buried in his vision, still visibly pregnant, her eyes screwing with tears, are things that would never leave Anakin Skywalker's brain.
What happened to Padmé of this time? Is she still okay? Does she serve in the Senate this time or Vader has ruined yet another fragment of his past? Did Vader pathetically drag all that Anakin cared about down to his level?
Anakin releases his hold over Qui-Gon, allowing the former Jedi Master to drop onto the ground, unconscious. He was laying the way Padmé is on Mustafar, looking so cold, and his breathing appearing to be labored.
Anakin's head whips back and he feels his hand going to his forehead. His vision blacks out briefly, although the darkness for one is full of nothing but pain. He is back in his other life. He is back on Mustafar, his eyes taking on a possessive nature, the flames coursing through him.
Anakin breathes sharply as his eyes fly open. His chest heaves as something dark within the back of his head tells him. "He doesn't care about you. He tried to kill his own wife. What do you think he would do to you once you fulfill your usefulness?"
"Anakin," Vader says, his voice coming out as solemn as he walks between Anakin and all of his victims. "You still have the chance to become a better person. Don't become like me. You have a sibling on the way as well as the chance to be able to raise your children. I have to live everyday knowing the things I have caused. I don't want you to have to suffer with that."
"I'm done being your pawn!" Anakin snaps, raising a hand towards Vader and applying electricity to which Vader simply deflects without so much as a thought.
Anakin swings his lightsaber up towards Vader, causing the older man to block the strike, before swinging his lightsaber to catch Skywalker's blade.
Vader however is stronger and more experienced, not even using half of his powers. Anakin can feel that Vader is fighting to disarm him, not kill him, something which is surprising but presses onto his ego, fueling it now.
When Anakin misses a thrust, Vader swings his lightsaber towards him which almost disarm him. Anakin's aggression is not even taking him backward, for all the maneuvers and execution of assaults are styles that Vader has seen many times before. He simply moves his lightsaber before Anakin even attacks, showing the two who is the better duelist, and causing Skywalker to take several stumbles.
Anakin's flank is open up, and Vader could have easily run him through, but he targets his lightsaber instead. Anakin still feels himself falling under the weight of the blade, realizing that things could have gone terribly for him if he was anyone else, and jumping backward, placing his lightsaber behind him.
Vader follows him, his lightsaber still poised upwards, as he decides to test his protege. Taking several swings and jabs, Vader presses his weight down against Anakin, who walks back with every stab and thrust, having never won a battle with this man but he wants to win just for once. Vader kicks Anakin back, causing him to expose himself as he flips into the air.
Had this been a battle where Vader was trying, he would have seized the moment to cut him down. But it only leaves the younger stunned and winded for a moment. He is nothing more than a teenager, a boy at the end of the day.
Anakin chooses not to attack, instead lowering his weapon in front of him, before speaking sharply. "You had all the tools you needed to defeat Darth Sidious, but you didn't and that is a failing of yours that you would have to sleep in. How many more were out there?! How many innocents suffered because you were weak and wanted to accomplish your own selfish goals?! How many parents and children died because of you?!"
Skywalker attacks again, his blade thrusting to meet Vader, the purple beam almost catching him. Vader chops downward, causing Skywalker to jolt back, yanking his blade away from where he is, before sending yet another series of assaults, irritated that he could not be able to defeat Vader.
Managing to get one blow at his shoulder, Anakin raises his hands to Force Push Vader backward. "You have taught me too well," he says grimly. "Shame it has to end like this."
Vader stares at him before walking forward. He wouldn't allow Anakin Skywalker of this timeline to be brought into a life of darkness more than he already is.
Anakin raises his blade and fights far more intensely. Vader seems to have enough, for he shatters his defense in a second, kicking him onto the ground which sends Skywalker's lightsaber flying out of his hand, a sudden vibration at the particular area causing him to reach for the spot. Even being disarmed, Anakin is glaring at him, pulling his lightsaber back into his hand.
"You old fool! I thought I could trust you! You practically raised me but what did you do?! Keep this as a secret from me! What else are you hiding?!"
Vader responds solemnly. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to ensure that you didn't become a monster."
Anakin growls. He is done with Vader's lectures. "You are a fragment of me hiding from himself! You were a coward who can't even tell the truth to the child who he raised! You want to know who you are, Vader?! You are an old man who has no dignity!"
Vader stares down, his eyes close, knowing that everything his younger self says is true. As Anakin recovers to his feet, he breathes as he stands several feet away from Vader, watching as the blade of his mentor retracts into the hilt, and he plants it on his belt.
Anakin is about to attack again, but he sees the motionless body of Qui-Gon, the slowly recovering form of Obi-Wan, and his mother who is already up watching him with fear in her eyes. The moment his and his mother's eyes connected, Anakin can see the fear burning from within her... all of it targeted at him as if he is the animal here, and it fills him with guilt. He wants nothing more but to sob on her shoulder and seek comfort.
But he has been told too many deceptions. It's time for it to just stop. He would stop it all.
Gripping onto his wounded area, Anakin deactivates his weapon and places it on his belt, tears still coursing down his eyes. He still tries to be strong.
"I'm leaving! You are no longer going to hold me by my chains!" Anakin growls, storming off to the ship, not able to examine the damage he has caused anymore.
Vader gives him a fleeing stare. "Anakin, I didn't want you to suf-"
"And you succeeded," Anakin replies coldly, sparing him one last glance. "Take in the realization that your younger self broke his chains from all before it is too late."
Vader watches as Anakin begins walking up the hanger ramp. He deserves it. He knows it but that didn't make the wound hurt lesser. Now he may have lost his younger self.
Before Anakin leaves, he turns around and glares at him. One more jab. "You're a sad old man who is too busy feeling sorry for himself to be of any use. You want to keep running from your problems? You want to be a coward? Fine."
Vader turns around and walks off. It seems all that he does is cause damage with his own presence. Now he is going to end it all.
Siri Tachi has to admit that she didn't expect this to feel so much like a court trial. She knew that trials happened in the Jedi Order but they are rare. It must be something that comes with the changing times.
"Siri Tachi," Master Mundi greets tightly. While no Master of the Order, his words can sway the rest of the Council. "It has been brought to our attention that you question the ways of the Order."
"Yes," Siri admits without any hesitation, knowing that they have already cast judgment on her. There is no escape from this. "I am seeing that we may have been wrong about this. As Jedi, we are supposed to be keepers of the peace and negotiate, yet all I see us becoming is warrior monks. We are supposed to serve the Force and that alone, but we are allowing fear to motivate us."
"Vader," Tiin spits, "has already became a valiant threat that we must stop. He has corrupted two of our own and would continue to corrupt more if something doesn't change shortly. To recommend otherwise is troubling."
"Yes, but what have Vader done? Has he broken any laws within the Republic?" Siri replies defiantly, a sudden fire across her eyes. "You only want to lock him up because he disagrees with your codes."
"Siri-" Adi tries to speak.
"No! I would not be silence!" Siri snaps at her Master, causing her to fall silent, shocked, before turning back to the Master of the Order. "You are only doing this because Vader goes against our very codes, but had he broken any laws? Did he murdered a camp of innocents - and don't even try to mention what he did on Tatooine - those were slavers and thugs that weren't innocent!"
"I fear that your attachment with Kenobi is blinding you," Mundi replies tersely. "You have always disagreed with how we removed him from the Jedi Order and deemed him as a possible criminal that needed to be lock away. Given what Master Windu told us, Kenobi have been corrupted by the dark side. The man you once know is dead."
"If it is true," Siri replies silently, "you killed him."
Gasps fill the Council Chambers from all except Master Yoda and Yaddle. Many eyes become hostile, glaring over her as if she is a rat that needs to be neutered, while their eyes appear to grow remorseful.
"Siri!" Gallia snaps, surprised that her student would show blatant disrespect to the Council. "Obi-Wan Kenobi knew that there would be consequences for his actions! Because you were friends with him does not mean his crimes are not to be named! When we find Obi-Wan, he would be brought to the Republic's courts to be left for a trial, and so would his companions! Only then we could help him."
"Help him by imprisoning him for an undetermined length of time?" Siri asks in a strained but calmer voice. "That is not helping. That is making things worse."
Siri turns her attention towards Yoda who sits in the chair, feeling an acknowledgment that is passing through the Force. A quiet murmur seems to be passing between them or perhaps it is a symbol of sympathy and understanding. The Grandmaster is examining her with a lingering shadow underneath his eyes.
"Until you calm down, you would have to be brought into custody, I'm afraid." Mundi replies, clicking a few buttons on his chair. "We cannot allow rogues to spread out in the Order until the threat is handled."
Two Temple Guards enter between them, and one of them places binders on her hands behind her back, while the other one collects her lightsaber, and she gives the members of the Council one final glare, before leading her away.
Her control over the Force is broken, and she wonders what is going to happen now that she is being brought to a cell. She probably isn't going to be allowed respective freedom unless she either acknowledged the code once more, due to the last thing the Jedi would need is possible rebellions.
"Master!" Ferus Olin shouts, surprised to see his Master in binders, a surge of anger flaring across his face. But since Siri could no longer feel the Force, she could not sense it, but she could see it across his expression.
"Ferus," Siri replies, playing off the role of calmness, though she knows that she might not see freedom for quite some time.
"What have you done?!" Ferus demands, presuming that this whole thing is her fault.
"I disagree with the way the Council operates these days and now I am going to apparently be forced to stand trial," Siri replies. Now that she is being dragged away to a cell, no longer does her opinion about the code dawdles in the positive. The pure ignorance the Council showed her is what many like her had to witness for decades.
Siri is dragged out and is forced inside of the cell and she stares up just when the cell activates, entrapping her inside and preventing any chance for her to escape. Once a long time ago, she never thought this would happen. Prisoners of the Jedi Order are rare, but a normal prison would never be able to hold her.
Siri sits on the bench and looks down at her cuffs. She knows that the Council would make visitations to her daily, trying to change her alliance so she could go back to being another one of their puppets-
She winces at the thought of referring to the Order like that, but it's a term that sticks with the Order. How can an Order just imprison one of their own and strip her of her weapons? Siri didn't break any law, and now she might be here permanently, her connection to the Force never to be felt again.
The thing about the Jedi prisons is that the Force is cut off at all times, and Guards line the hallways to ensure that they wouldn't be able to escape. This is torture.
Being here without calling onto the Force is just absolute hell.
The Council must be intent on boring her.
Siri lays back against the bench. How could the Council do this to her? She had done a lot of things for them, and now they want to see her in this cell for potentially a decade or more. Is this why Obi-Wan left the Jedi Order? Maybe he saw the problems with the Council far too early.
The moment the cell deactivates, Siri looks up to see a familiar figure that is Bant Eerin. The Mon Calamari has been a dear friend to Obi-Wan back in the day, but ever since he left, she had mixed feelings about him.
"Bant," she greets, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice.
"Well, I never thought I would see the day that you were imprisoned by the word of the Council no less," Bant responds with no small amount of humor in her voice. "You must have really ticked the Council off."
"Master Tiin and Mundi couldn't take that I stepped on their egos," Siri says bluntly. "The Jedi are becoming the very monsters we have promised to destroy obviously. They want to see me imprisoned, but silencing me like this is simply proving my point."
Bant frowns at that moment, reading her. Her old friend is soothing as always, summoning up the attachment she has with Obi-Wan before she pulls away only slightly.
"Siri, I knew you since you were a young Padawan," Bant says, her green eyes full of sympathy. "You and Obi-Wan. Are you sure that this is the correct move?"
Siri cannot help but be stumped for a moment. And then it hit her. All she has to do is say the word, and Bant would do something. She didn't know what yet. Sometimes, her old friend was hard to probe even with the Force.
Seconds later, Siri replies, trying to sustain the control of strong yet determined. "Positive."
Bant tenses before walking to the entrance of the cell. "Very well."
Siri watches, feeling a sudden tension rising from within her soul. What is Bant up to?
At that second, she turns around to the faceless Guards and raises a hand. Both of the Guards go flying against the wall, and she immediately probes their unsuspecting minds, before pulling tightly and causing them to pass out before they ever even knew what hit them.
All of the Guards immediately activate their lightsabers at the sudden betrayal. Bant snaps a hand forward to Siri's cuffs, and they come off, their loud thud onto the ground announcing one thing.
Freedom!
Feeling the Force flooding back into her, Siri raises her hands, centering her focus on one of the Guards and sending the poor individual into the wall.
She has to admit it does feel uncomfortable fighting her former brothers and sisters, but Siri knows that she has to get out of here. She needs to find Obi-Wan.
Yes, she hasn't seen him for years, but she needs to talk to him and understand his side of the story instead of just wondering for the rest of her life what the kark happened to Obi-Wan on Naboo. Now that she has Bant working side by side with her, the Temple Guards are easy to disarm, despite how they are extremely powerful.
The moment they reach down the hallways where all the Temple Guards are disabled one way or another, Siri can feel the Force screaming warnings at her. She whips around and sees a Jedi Guardian coming down on her, blue lightsaber activated, swinging into the air.
Bant brings up her lightsaber to block the attack, looking over their blade lock to see a boy who couldn't be that much younger than Siri. She spins around him, rotating the hilt in her hand, and causing the boy to hesitate for a brief moment before following.
Siri knows it won't be long before the Council comes down around her, and that would raise... problems. The thought of fighting her Master is definitely not an appeasing feeling, but Siri hopes that it wouldn't come to that.
Siri brings up her hands to use the Force to fend off a few other Jedi, looking forward to seeing Bant finally disarm the boy, allowing Siri to catch the lightsaber flying into the air, making short work of the Jedi that comes across her, but thankfully she isn't killing them. Bant had experience as a healer so she knows not to press too far, her blade catching every single blow, while she targets the Force at her former friends.
Siri didn't want to have to live with the blood of her fellow Jedi on her hands, and clearly nearly Bant. Despite how they betrayed her and lock her away like an animal, she is still holding back from any mortal wounds. After all, they are all just like her, confused about everything but knowing that she has been imprisoned.
Bant helps her go down the hallways.
Keeping up with the strides of a Bant Eerin is no simple feat, that is for certain. Confirmed when the woman in question is running at max speed.
Siri is quicker, but her shorter legs left her at a severe disadvantage when it came to matching the Mon Calamari pace as they ran towards the closest Temple hangar, being slowed down by threats which luckily mainly consist of Padawans and Knights as the Masters are stronger and could disarm them. In any other circumstance, she'd have relished the challenge of keeping up with Eerin. Right now, however, she has other things on her mind.
Like how the hell could this just happen when days prior she was just serving the Jedi, keeping her personal codes quiet?
Yet despite that, she manages to keep up with her friend, though her legs would no doubt ache after this… if she lived to see the morning that is. The Jedi are fighting to kill, though she could sense that disabled is something they aren't pushing past possibility.
The two dash forward, running another corner and leaping over a piece of debris that has obviously fallen from the roof in the process before they are forced to come to a sudden halt.
Two Jedi Temple Guards stand at the end of a long hallway, lightsabers ignited. Their faces are covered by their masks, but Siri can feel their glares over both of them. They evidently crave revenge, something that goes against the Jedi way.
"You both need not get involved," Bant says, preparing to fall into a welcoming stance with her weapon. "Stand down."
Bant gets repaid with one of the Temple Guard's placing his arm behind his back, before bringing it forward with great speed, sending his saber staff careening towards the Mon Calamari in an insidious arc.
She activates her lightsaber and staggers back just as the blade lands on her.
"Does that answer your question!" Siri shouts out to her friend as she ignites the blue blade, falling into a defensive position in front of her.
The guard, who has thrown his saber reaches out with the Force to pull the hilt into his hand once more, catching it with stunning ease as he starts to twirl it before him as he attacks. The second guard begin to move forward too, his own saber staff ignited and ready.
Neither of the guards speaks as they approach, and Siri already knows that there is no putting an end to this.
Just when they reach the hanger, Bant enters the code and is about to enter had it not been for two more Temple Guards, their lightsabers ignited, Jedi following behind. She could sense her Master walking down the hallways, her weapon in hand, but not ignited. Alongside her is Siri's Apprentice, shocked and disbelieving, but also determined to bring her into custody.
Good old Ferus. Always trusting in the code.
A pale yellow blade collides with Siri's blue one as the Temple Guard launches their assault. One had gone for her, whilst the other had gone for Bant.
That is perhaps the only advantage she has at this moment. Being allowed to deal with one foe at a time is easier than multiple enemies.
Despite that, she knows that she is no match for a Jedi Temple Guard. They had earned their place as the defenders of the Jedi Order for a reason. Describing them as formidable duelists would be an understatement.
Bringing her blade around her, Siri parries a series of strikes from the Temple Guard as she starts to move back, surrendering ground to the Guard as the being gives chase. Beneath the armor and behind the mask it is impossible to tell what species or gender the Guard is. For all she knows she could be fighting a Human, or a Twi'lek, or a Rodian!
Whoever or whatever this Guard is, they are powerful, and fast too. Their saber staff rotates in swift arcs, attempting to chop her in half.
Blue blocks yellow again, and again, and again, and kark it again. Defense is her only option. Siri has left no room to offer any counter-offense!
Evading another series of strikes, Siri starts to consider her choices. She was already tiring quickly due to the countless Jedi she has faced.
That leaves her two options. She could run and hope she could lose the Guard in the hallways, but that would involve leaving Bant - a woman who saved her life - behind to fend for herself, which she didn't want to do. She had already lost enough friends, and Bant might be the only friend she has left.
Obi-Wan, she didn't even know how to feel to him.
The Force however is her other choice. This Temple Guard is powerful with their saber, but they appear to be lacking the use of the Force in the duel. Perhaps she could use that against this one!
Combating against the blade of the Guard once again, Siri allows them to bring her into another saber duel before she lunges her first counteroffensive, failing to reach the blade as wanted, but also compromising for spinning around and kicking the individual's chin. Reaching into the Force as deeply as possible, she pushes her free hand forward, directing the Force towards the Guard in the process who is charging toward her.
The impact of the push causes the Guard to stagger back briefly, granting Siri some room between them to catch her breath, if only for a few moments. The Guard stumbles on their feet for a moment before they regain their footing.
"Well done, traitor." The Guard finally speaks, their voice muffled, but clearly a woman.
"I use to train with my friend all the time." Siri snarks in response as she brings her own blade into a prepared position.
"You are a traitor just like your friend!" The Guard spat as she advances once again, her blade prepared to strike.
That is until a sudden Force Attack comes from the side, sending her flying into a bunch of tools and other things, a flicker of surprise filling the air.
Out of the corner of her eye, Siri spots Bant coming towards her target, calling onto the Force as she always did. Being a healer did grant her access to Jedi powers, some considered rare by the rest of the Order.
The Mon Calamari sends another volley of strikes towards the female, sending her staggering from each strike, trying to probe her shields with every blow but failing to do so, because the Guard's protection over them is heavy.
Siri decides to offer any assistance she can as the two lock blades without causing any fatal attack, a ship part comes to fly at the Guard, crashing it against the helmet of the female.
As the Temple Guard collapses to the ground, Siri can hear a large grunt behind the mask, and she can spot a large crack. The Force tells her that the Guard is still alive, just out unconscious.
Turning her attention to where Bant had come from, Siri sees the second Temple Guard on the floor too, his double-bladed lightsaber destroyed onto the ground, and his leg bent in an unnatural direction. A quick pulse in the Force tells that he too is alive, just out cold from the battle that came with Bant.
"Bant, keep guard!" Siri shouts over her shoulder, searching the hanger for the ship.
Bant did as ordered, sensing the presence of so many Jedi from outside, obviously prepared for a battle. This is not something they could win, especially now that Master Mundi and Tiin are among them all. She uses the Force to keep the door as shut as she can, but she knows that it would only be so long before the door would give way.
Siri knows that too, and she works more quickly, before finding a perfect two-seated starfighter. A red and silver Delta 7 starfighter that should fit them both but barely so.
Siri runs over to the pilot seat and begins starting up the ship while her friend obviously is growing worried.
"Siri, can you be a little quicker?"
Siri starts banging onto the ship to start up, knowing that she is not exactly the best pilot there is, despite being a decent one. The ship triggers to life just as the door opens, revealing Adi Gallia alongside Ferus Olin and several other Jedi.
Bant jumps up on top of the ship, before settling herself in the copilot area.
"Siri! Stop this! This is madness!" Adi shouts to her.
Siri doesn't respond with anything but a glare. She loved this woman like a mother, yet she betrayed her just because she was asking questions. The Jedi as a whole had stripped her of her weapon, had abandoned her in a cell, and would undoubtedly have barred her title as a whole.
Siri pulls the lever, and the starfighter disappears into the black abyss of space.