And That's What it's All About

Title: And That's What it's All About

Chapter: See No Evil, Speak No Evil

Summary: The Jedi trio head to a spare planet in the Outer Rim in order to stop the Dooku before the attack begins.

Disclaimer: I own neither genre. Joss Whedon owns Buffy the Vampire Slayer. George Lucas owns the Star Wars franchise. I'm just a poor post-college graduate.

Spoilers: There are minor spoilers from both stories, especially Star Wars.

Notes: I promise, I did not forget this story. My health has been rather poor as of late and life has sort of jumped off. I have been trying to take it easy lately, which means that I'm writing again. I will also apologize for not jumping ahead to the battle of Coruscant. I've been doing my research lately and stumbled upon a story in between Coruscant and the disaster of Cato Neimoidia. I promise the next chapter will begin the story of Coruscant!

x-o-x

See No Evil, Speak No Evil

"Obi-Wan was able to get through to Coruscant."

I glanced up, breaking from my thoughts as Anakin walked and sat on the bench next to me. His face wore the same tense expression as usual, his eyes darker.

"Did we warn them in time?"

"There has been no attack," Anakin replied. "But they know that Coruscant may be a target."

I glanced out into the vast emptiness of space and felt as though I could hear my heart beat again. "And us?"

"We're not going back."

I closed my eyes. "They must be idiots not to trust the words of you two."

"Oh, they trust us… but this isn't our battle. Not yet," Anakin said in a low voice as two Clones walked by, seemingly oblivious to our conversation. "We have a new mission."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Our intelligence has directed us to another star system. We need to find Count Dooku and our sources say he's somewhere in the Outer Rim."

"What about Coruscant?" I really didn't feel like leaving the pretty planet helpless was the way to go.

"Coruscant has a defense of its own," a different voice answered. I glanced up as Obi-Wan approached. "If the Separatists attack--"

"Don't you mean when?"

Obi-Wan and Anakin exchanged a look. "We don't know for certain if their target is even Coruscant."

"But the chair--"

"The chair could have been a set-up," Anakin replied, glancing at me. I blinked at him in confusion. "There are other reports... the attack can come anywhere at any time. Our responsibility is to attack Dooku."

"What makes you so sure he's this Sith Lord you've been looking for?"

"Because he has to be," Obi-Wan replied, sitting down on the opposite side of Anakin. "Or perhaps because there's no one else."

Something in his words unsettled me. I felt as though his words were false because there was something far deeper and much darker than these two Jedi were willing to see. I held my silence, though. I wasn't going to break out my 'I told you so' bug just yet.

"We're preparing to make the flight to Nelvaan."

"What are we going to do there?" I asked curiously.

"Dooku may be hiding there. It is said most of the warriors of that world have disappeared which is a good hint that something bad is happening and someone bad is involved."

I felt a sudden chill and looked away. "What if he's not there?"

"We don't give up simply because he's not there," Obi-Wan said, amused. "We will search the next star system and the next..."

"I'm just not too keen on fighting blindly."

"If you're fighting at all."

I glanced up at Obi-Wan sharply and he just returned my gaze. "I fight. I may not have a body, but I can pun with the best of them. If I wasn't fighting, why did I bother saving your lives?"

Anakin sighed and pressed his hands to his face. "Now is not the time for pettyness, children."

"He's quite right," Obi-Wan said.

"The point is, don't insult me unless it's actually a good insult," I grumbled. "I thought Jedi would have snappier comebacks. Isn't that the point of my being around, to keep you on your toes?"

"You're keeping us on something," Anakin murmured as Obi-Wan sent me a withering look before rolling his eyes to his former Padawan.

"It's almost like being part of a team again, except the whole noncorporeal thing," I replied, glancing up at Obi-Wan, who was staring off at the view port with the strangest look on his face.

On the whole, they did seem to make a good team. Buffy brought an imbalance to the coherence that seemed to make them question things that didn't normally need questioning. She brought with her a sense of imagination, something that opened a wide world to them in respect to fighting off their respective foes. He wasn't sure when it happened, but despite the pains she caused him, she gave back to their team.

And then he realized that he had been staring at her with a dreamy look on his face and peered at her face, which suddenly wore a frightened look. "What are you looking at me like that for?"

"He's plotting, Buffy," Anakin snickered.

"I don't want him to plot," I deadpanned. "Make him stop."

"I can't. He outranks me." Anakin was clearly enjoying watching her tremble, even though it was just watching her ghostly self twitch back and forth.

"If you don't make him stop, I will," I said, turning back to Obi-Wan and placing what I hoped was my most seductive look on my face. Anakin immediately burst out laughing and Obi-Wan shook himself out of his thoughts, his eyes darkening in annoyance at the thought of his two charges laughing.

"We must make preparations," Obi-Wan said sternly. Anakin abruptly stopped laughing, cleared his throat and moved to stand at attention. He was obviously used to Obi-Wan Nagobi's lectures. They were more boring than Professor Walsh's and she had tried to kill me. "Anakin, contact the fleet. Tell them of our preparations. We should clear this system as soon as possible."

"Yes, Master," Anakin said, bowing his head and moving off.

This left me and Obi-Wan. I glanced longingly after Anakin. Obi-Wan saw my look and frowned. "You need not concern yourself with him for the time being," he said grumpily. "You should try to concentrate on the matters at hand instead of your own hormones."

"Why?" I asked coolly. "It's not like you have any."

"Oh, I have my hormones," Obi-Wan said quietly. "I, unlike some, have learned to control mine."

"By being a Jedi?" I retorted. "Being a Jedi is not a license to be an ass, Obi-Wan. Maybe if you'd get some, you'd lose the attitude."

"If I got some of what?" he asked conversationally.

I just narrowed my eyes at him and turned my head, looking elsewhere. "You're impossible," I murmured.

"And you're acting juvenile," Obi-Wan snapped. "I would prefer if you stayed to the task at hand."

There was silence between us. Even as the Clones moved around us, I couldn't speak. I just kept my best glare fixed at him.

"Is this really about me?" I asked, hearing my tone become soft and dangerous. "Or is this about Anakin?"

At the look in Obi-Wan's eyes, I knew I'd read his coldness right. He just frowned and stared in another direction, his arms folded tightly to his chest.

"I'm sorry if my being here has somehow broken into this brotherhood between you and Anakin, but let's get one thing straight. It wasn't my choice to be here. You picked up my cross and you are now paying the price. If you want to take it back, just destroy the cross."

"Believe me, the thought has crossed my mind." He didn't want to admit that he had just been thinking about what she brought to the team. There were times when she aggravated him with a simple look. She was just so un-Jedi and he was too Jedi to see through his own facade of acting Jedi to see how human she was.

Again, I couldn't speak.

"It's not as though you truly care about this world or any other world in this universe as it were."

"Not care?" I echoed, feeling the uneasiness build in me. It felt like rage. It felt good to rise up and face him, staring at him with my darkest glare. If only I could hit him! If only I could hurt him as much as his words sometimes hurt me. "If I didn't care, why am I still here?"

"Just because you chose to stay here doesn't mean you care," Obi-Wan countered.

Oh, if only... I felt my temper raging as I faced him down. All I could do was jab at him with nonexistent hands.

"What are you doing?" he asked, bemused.

"I'm trying to hurt you back. You're more efficient with the insults, I get that. If I had my body back, you'd be in a world of hurt right now."

"Why would you want to hurt me?"

"Because you hurt me. I like to hurt back. I won't turn the other cheek just because you're you and I'm... not you. If you're worried about me liking Anakin, at least he's nice to me. He doesn't treat me like I'm something to mock at or laugh at. He treats me like a person, which is more than I can for you!"

Obi-Wan glanced away, sighing heavily as he stepped around my body. "I am sorry."

"If only you would care about stuff like that, then maybe you'd know," I said in a quiet, broken voice. Even as his back was to me and I couldn't see his face, I could feel his emotions through the Force. There was guilt there, but there was uncertainty, too. "You'd know that I'm not a Jedi, I'm not powerful in the Force and I was never meant for this life at all."

"No," Obi-Wan surmised. "I quite imagine you weren't."

There was my opening, my chance to confess my deepest, darkest secret - that I was as close to being a Sith as I was to being a Jedi. I could tell him that I killed demons, not personal ones but the ones that grown men had nightmares about, but I held my tongue. Now was not the time to tell this Jedi that I was a vampire slayer... or that I had been in my previous life.

"If you want me to go, I will," I whispered, turning to stare at his back. I watched his shoulders sag in defeat as he turned to face me.

"No," Obi-Wan said, shaking his head. "Don't go. We have need for your… skills, however infantile they may be." At seeing me roll my eyes, he continued, "You have the ability to use our enemy's weapons against us. If, in the time of need, we need to use your skills, we should."

"Of course you should," I replied. "I'm expendable."

"No," he said, his gaze softening, "you're really not."

At that, he walked away, moving to a Clone at one of the consoles and speaking with him.

I just stood there, shaking my head in wonder. I had been so determined that they not get rid of me. Maybe what I needed was to be gotten rid of. And yet… Obi-Wan's synopsis of what we were facing just sounded so desolate that I couldn't help but feel hopeless, even with the Force surging through me bound with hope. "It's getting worse," I murmured to myself, moving along the wall and out of view, "against all the odds and its getting worse. They're so gonna die."

x-o-x

"I've been waiting for you."

"It's not like you're getting any older."

"Well, if I am not aging, neither are you."

I just rolled my eyes as we walked a path in the desert. The road was old and I was tired and yet my Watcher-wannabe decided that he wanted to become more of a Watcher wannabe. While Obi-Wan and Anakin were planning whatever they were planning on Nepal, I decided to let myself fade away. I wasn't too far, though. I could still hear Obi-Nag's voice in my head, pestering me.

"I will admit he is unfair to you, but you have been untruthful to him, as well."

"Like I want to hide from him," I scoffed. "It's not my fault I can't tell him who I really am."

"You could have been honest with him from the beginning," Qui-Gon said. "You could have—"

"Burst his bubble about Anakin being the one-and-only chosen? No thank you."

"I would have thought that your feelings for Anakin would have led you to tell him the truth."

"People who know about the Slayer tend to die," I retorted. "It's not like they could understand what I'm like. How vampires and demons exist… not just blue-skinned beings with horns, but blue-skinned beings with no souls and a thirst for human flesh." At seeing his wince, I looked away. "I'm sorry I'm so morbid."

"Why apologize for your true nature?"

"My true nature?" I asked, aghast. "I was a Slayer. I killed vampires and demons and hellgods. I didn't pay attention to my emotions. I let them fly away from me. I'm so not the Jedi you're all hoping I am."

Qui-Gon gave me an appraising sort of look as he paused on the walk and stared out toward the horizon. "Maybe you're not the Jedi we all hope you are, but you do have power. You are one with the Force and with that comes a responsibility."

"I did my responsibility," I retorted. "I got them out of that hell-place. I made the plan that got that ship ready for us."

"By doing so, you walk a very thin line between what is right and what is wrong," he replied.

"I was doing the right thing," I snapped. "I helped them out from certain death. There's nothing wrong with that."

"It was amusing too, wasn't it?" he asked in reply. "It's funny how much you enjoyed that trek."

"I didn't enjoy it… much," I added hastily. "But you do have to give the ghostly Force girl props for originality."

Qui-Gon remained silent as he eyed the sky. I became more aware of his serious attitude before I finally decided to ask what was bothering him so much.

"As members of the Living Force, we are obligated to serve those who live," Qui-Gon said in a low voice. "But there comes the time when our service becomes an intervention. At that point, we cease being any better than a Sith when our own ends justify the means."

"And in plain English for the former schoolgirl, that means what?" I asked, staring at his back.

"I know, Buffy, what you feel."

"You can't possibly—"

"Your heart burns with love."

"Heart? I have a heart now? It's not beating. It's not there…"

Qui-Gon frowned despite the desperate tone in my voice. "You can't hide it from us, Buffy. Your heart is there. It burns with love."

"Not for Obi-Wan and… not for Anakin," I said, though it pained me to speak the younger Jedi's name.

"I speak of no man," Qui-Gon replied. "Your heart seeks mortality."

If I would have had breath, it would have caught in my throat. "It'd be nice to have a body again," I said quietly. "It'd be nice to feel something other than empty. I feel cold, detached… lost."

"And you ask why you are here?" Qui-Gon replied, turning back to face me.

"Am I not supposed to be lost?" I asked innocently. "Am I supposed to be happy I'm dead and a friggin' ghost? Because I'm so not happy. I'm… I'm mad. I'm about this close to writing a letter to Yoda and telling him what I think of his so-called retreat skills. Do you know what he said to me? He said that love would lead me to my gift. If a Jedi means that I can't love… what sort of Jedi can I be?"

"You're not truly a Jedi, are you?" he replied.

"Not in the real sense, no."

"Maybe there's hope for you yet."

I just stared at him as he walked away. I wasn't sure what to say. It sounded like too many unknowns for me. When that was the face, my first instinct would be to run to Giles.

Until I would then remember he was no longer there. And I felt even more alone.

x-o-x

It was dark and she could sense the danger all around her, but she kept moving forward. It seemed like the Jedi temple, but it was different somehow. Everything seemed so distant, so untouchable, as though it didn't belong to the Jedi anymore.

And then she saw the body on the floor.

"No," she moaned, moving to the body. It was only a Youngling, someone far too young to bear the mark of… of…

She sat up, clearly distressed as her hand passed over the wound. The Youngling had been killed by a lightsaber. But why would any Jedi want to kill their own kind? Who would be so sick…?

There was a scream. Getting to her feet, she moved through the corridors which blended together like a dream. When the corridors opened to a room, she found herself gazing at something far more disturbing than a dead Youngling.

A single figure with a bright lightsaber stood, fighting off two Jedi. One Jedi was being choked by the Force-grip hold the figure with his back to her held against them. The other was fighting boldly with a lightsaber. The first Jedi choked and fell to the ground, their body lolling until it at last lay still. The other figure was easily cut down.

She couldn't breathe. Even as she stood there, she couldn't breathe. She couldn't move, couldn't react, couldn't even scream…

The figure turned to her. The face of the man was a familiar one, but his once-cerulean eyes were now a demonic shade of amber. The man's eyes widened as he stood there, lifting his lightsaber. For a moment, time stood still…

Anakin Skywalker stared in disbelief at the figure standing in front of him. She was smaller than most women he knew. Her hazel eyes stared at him in shock. She was stunning, he realized as his lightsaber fell away. The glorious thrill of the kill seemed to fade as he took a step towards her. Her eyes met his and he saw the fear in them.

What are you?

His hand slowly reached up to touch her face, but she stepped away. His fingers caught her golden hair as he moved his lightsaber to her neck. Her eyes dared him to strike her down, to kill her without a word.

He felt the rage building within him. The voice inside his head spoke to kill her, to mutilate her, to take pleasure in her death… because that was what Darth Vader would do.

"You did it," the woman whispered in a voice so familiar it chilled him to the bone. "You killed me."

x-o-x

Far on the planet of Nevlaan, deep in the caverns asleep from a Force-guided rest, Anakin sat up, gasping and clutching his chest. When he grew aware of his surroundings, he closed his eyes. The figure in his mind was so familiar to him. His fist closed on his chest as he struggled to remember why he was in this cave in the first place. His first thought was that the Force was teasing him with something.

I came to my senses suddenly, finding the desert a quiet vista at night. "What was that?" I breathed.

"Did you hear something?" Qui-Gon asked. It sounded as though he were behind me.

"I saw something. I think I saw the future, but I don't know."

"What did you see?" he asked me. His voice sounded closer now.

"It was Anakin. He was…" My throat suddenly closed up. "He was… evil."

"Is that what you saw?"

"I didn't know I could see the future," I stammered. "I… he was killing… killing Jedi. He tried to kill me."

"But you have no body."

"I think it was metaphorical," I replied, coming to my senses. "It was terrifying. I've never been so afraid to face him."

"Are you all right?"

I glanced down at my fists which were suddenly clenched. "I'll be okay. I just need…" I suddenly felt something else, a great pulling. I felt my hand reaching out to touch the air in the distance. "He…"

"He's calling you to him."

"Yes," I murmured, glancing at Qui-Gon. "But I don't… I can't…"

"You can't let him know what you saw."

"But I was there in his dream. I was there. He saw me. He tried to kill me."

"Nevertheless, you must hold your silence. If this was some vision given to him, he will remember."

"But he has never seen my real face. In that… vision… I was corporeal. I had a body. I had my body."

I felt Qui-Gon's hand on my back, a comforting gesture as I was still shaken up. "You must maintain silence."

"Do I have to go?"

"You are, essentially, an instrument of the Force. If he is reaching for you, it must mean something…"

"Qui-Gon," I said, turning to the elder Jedi. "What if… what if this vision does come true and he does turn into this… this Dark Jedi… what happens then? Will he be killed?"

"You said he was killing Jedi. Were any standing?"

"No," I whispered, shaking my head. "He was alone."

"You have no physical form… he cannot hurt you."

"Oh yes," I sighed sadly, "he can hurt me all he wants."

In that moment, I felt my body travel through darkness and light before I found myself facing a single figure.

Anakin.

He glanced at me and took a step away. It was then I noticed a bunch of soda pop cans with legs standing around him, all armed to the teeth. There were droids in the area too.

"Uh, Anakin?" I asked curiously, looking around.

"When I asked for help from the Force, I didn't mean you."

"But you had my calling card," I replied sarcastically. "Would you like some help?"

"I would like you to stop distracting me," he mumbled, glancing around. "Right now, I look like I'm talking to myself."

"It's not just you," I replied sweetly. He rolled his eyes at me as he glanced around. "What are these?"

"The bad guys."

"You don't say," I replied, glancing for an exit. I thought about pushing my power through, hitching a ride in one of the mobile pop cans and taking out the rest of the pack but somehow watching Anakin sweat his way through this scenario was more comforting.

Crash.

"What the hell?" I murmured, peering over Anakin's shoulder. My eyes widened in fright as a sudden figure roared. Anakin's look turned from uneasiness to a quiet look of victory, a slight sneer curving those beautiful lips. There was another crash. And another.

"Are you with me?"

I glanced at the back of his head. Don't kill me. "I'm not against you," I whispered.

I watched in horror as groups of figures moved forward. They were glowing, fluorescent copies of King Kong with more canine features. Their arms were modified blasters, all which cocked and aimed directly at the young Jedi Knight.

"Okay, don't panic," I said, glancing around.

"Do you want to do your mojo now?" he asked weakly.

"I… I can't," I said, moving behind him. "I'm a little scared."

"You… scared? I thought you couldn't get scared."

"You don't know me well enough," I replied. "But if you need the Force, take it from me."

Anakin nodded slightly and stepped forward. His voice beckoned to the mutants who kept their weapons trained on him. His words seemed to enrage the beings further and soon he was using the Force to push them away. Mutants were flopping over themselves and the Techno droids. They crashed into the remnants of their tubes and restraints. Anakin worked desperately to fight them down while the droids were firing at them. But he never once lifted his lightsaber against the mutants.

There was a sudden crash and a roar. A figure stomped across the lab, smashing the glass tubes and sweeping droids aside as he stormed towards the other mutants, who faced the sole one, growling. The mutant reached forward, snatched one of the metal plates on the chest of the mutant, and ripped it cleanly off.

"Son of a—" I whispered.

Anakin smiled grimly, activated his lightsaber and jumped in. He used his lightsaber to hack off the metal plates as the mutants stopped their attack and paused. When I could finally move again, I crept up to Anakin. "What the hell is going on?"

"Do you remember me telling you the warriors from Nelvaan were missing? They're… these."

"They turned them into their own private Adams?" I gasped in horror. "Oh, they so deserve what's coming to them."

"I have a feeling we have nothing to worry about," Anakin said, smirking as the mutants all roared as one – a sound that made the hair on the back of my neck lift – and charged forward. It was a beautiful sight, watching the mutants charge through the lab, tearing droids apart with their hands. It was far more beautiful than I could describe, even as I was telling Obi-Wan later.

"I guess I had to be there," Obi-Wan said sardonically, watching as Anakin tended to his mechanical arm. "Will you be all right?"

"I will be," Anakin said, gritting his teeth as he played with the deadened limb. "But the control crystal had to go to free the Nelvaan warriors."

"You were really brave," I said to him. He noticed my look and smiled at me. Despite the dark thoughts I had surrounding Anakin, I smiled back.

"General Obi-Wan… Commander Skywalker, we have news from Coruscant," Commander Cody said, appearing suddenly cradling his helmet at his side. Obi-Wan rose up as Anakin glanced up, a short flickering in his wrist.

"It seems like when you were gone, Count Dooku made his presence known in the fleet," Obi-Wan said to Anakin.

"I almost had him, too," Anakin ground out, flinging his useless wrist away in frustration.

I just sat there, listening to them talk.

"Skywalker… there's a message for you. It's from Coruscant."

Anakin glanced at me before rising and moving to take the call. I could see by the light reflecting his face and his emotions that the call was anything but good news.

"I couldn't sense you before."

"I was here," I told Obi-Wan, glancing up at him. "I was just…"

"It's just when you're around, I feel you," Obi-Wan replied, folding his arms and staring out the view port as to better shield the conversation with me. "I can sense your presence as well as I can sense my own."

I glanced at Anakin, who hadn't yet revealed his dream. Perhaps he was keeping it quiet for a reason. Whatever the reason, it reminded me of Faith's cry for help and the fact was, I had let her down. I hadn't done everything I could. I let her be a coward and it destroyed her.

"I was here," I whispered.

Anakin suddenly appeared again, his face grave. His eyes were on Obi-Wan, who stroked his goatee in concern. "What is it?"

"I just received a message from Palpatine himself," Anakin said in a low, urgent voice. "Coruscant is under attack. He had the Senators from all of the outlying worlds in for his address and—"

"Oh, my God," I whispered, realizing where he was going with this.

When Anakin suddenly looked at me, he saw a shadow from his dream. I felt the flutter in the force and met his gaze.

"Is it bad?"

"Most of the Coruscant-bound Jedi are doing what they can, but the damage is bad. They destroyed most of Home Fleet before they had a chance to get their shields up. Every ship is being sent to aid the capital."

"Should we not also go?" I asked.

"We will," Obi-Wan replied. "Have them refuel our starfighters. Add the ordinances." He turned to look at Anakin. "We're going hunting." His eyes drifted to me. "Care to join us?"

"You know I love a good battle," I replied.

"Excellent. Meet us in the flight deck when the ships are prepared. Cody?" Obi-Wan said, disappearing to where Commander Cody was speaking with his clones.

Realizing I was left alone with Anakin, I was well aware that he was staring at me. "Stop that," I said, looking away.

"I…" Words seemed to fail him, but I could suddenly feel what he was about to say. Before he could speak, I held out my hand.

"Look, if you survive, we'll deal then, okay? Let's get you to Coruscant so that you and Obi-Wan can have another rousing victory against the independent systems."

Anakin's smile was weary as he looked at his feet. "But—"

"No buts," I said, shaking my head. "It's time to fight, you know? Strong is fighting. I need you to be strong."

"I may need you…" he said, and then corrected himself, "the Force. I may need the Force."

"Well you have the Force," I said as he disappeared. As an afterthought, I added, "and me…"

x-o-x

In the next chapter, the battle of Coruscant begins.