She should have been ashamed of herself, should have been overridden by guilt until her conscience could no longer stand it. But if she were honest with herself, and she usually was, she truly enjoyed being in his presence. Ever since their first intimate union in that hangar the tension between them had shifted from deadly to something more dangerous. She had often wondered if this was his plan all along, to use their mutual physical attraction to turn her from her path in the Light; what a victory for the Sith that would be.
But she always dismissed the notion the next time they met. He'd never pushed her to change allegiances, never threatened her or her Jedi family if she didn't join the Sith. That alone gave her hope that she could reach through to him and help him to see that the Dark Side did not hold as much sway over him as he believed.
Asajj mulled over these thoughts for what felt like the millionth time as her fingers toyed with his. Obi-Wan reclined lazily on the bed behind her, one arm thrown over her waist and his heat seeping into her. Those lethal hands that should have filled her with apprehension she found instead to be utterly fascinating. One moment they were leaving dark bruises everywhere on her body they could reach, the next they were incredibly tender and soothing. "You are a man of contradictions, my dear," she murmured against his fingers as she pressed them to her lips.
The mattress shifted beneath her before she felt herself drawn further back into his body. She sighed at the tightness with which he held her, the gentility with which he caressed her bald head with his lips. "The same could be said for you, Asajj," he whispered against her ear.
"With one very important difference, of course," she laughed, turning slightly in his embrace to touch his cheek with her fingertips. "I am most certainly a woman, in case you haven't noticed."
Obi-Wan's eyes closed briefly at her teasing before grasping her hand. "I assure you I have noticed-" she drew in a quick, sharp breath when his teeth bit into the pad of her middle finger "-and wholeheartedly approve of such a fine example of the female form."
"Flatterer," she said through a smile.
His bright blue gaze suddenly turned critical. "But for one flaw…"
Her smile dropped. "Oh?"
"These." His blunt nails dug into her side to punctuate that one word. He scratched roughly at the stripe of purple ink that followed the curve of her rib. "The only marks that should adorn your body are the ones that I put there. Through battle-" his hand moved down to her thigh to stroke the lightsaber burn he had given her weeks ago "-or passion." His tongue dragged over the discolored patch of skin on her neck that bore a near-perfect imprint of his teeth.
"So possessive," she sighed throatily, "even for a Sith." In truth, a part of her quite liked this side of him. Perhaps it was the first sign of her own insanity.
"Never forget that, my darling," he growled against her throat. "You are mine as much as I am yours."
"I think your Master might be inclined to argue that claim."
Heat flashed through him at the mention of his Master. "Sidious is a fool," he hissed. "He is too blinded by his own arrogance to see how much stronger I've become." Obi-Wan used her silence to observe his secret lover for a long moment. But for the Jedi tattoos, she was perfection given form. The clarity of her pale eyes, the languid relaxation of her lithe body even in his crushing embrace, the utter contentment without guilty or pity rippling through the Force. A feeling very close to awe descended on him the longer he watched her. "Reconsider, Asajj," he whispered gently, sincerely. "We can overthrow Sidious and make the galaxy ours. We can end this war together."
Her mouth turned down and a breath that sounded exasperated left her lungs. "Obi-Wan-"
He carefully turned her onto her back and loomed over her. The back of his hand brushed up the side of her face. "Rule at my side. Not an apprentice, but an equal. Be the queen you were always meant to be, my love. You will be magnificent." In truth, he had often imagined her at his side in resplendent Sith robes upon a throne on Coruscant. She would mete out justice and punishment as she saw fit, harsh but fair, and she would be loved and feared for it. The picture was perfect in his mind.
But Asajj didn't feel the same. Not yet, at least. Sadness washed over her as her hands framed his face and her legs wound themselves around his waist. "You know that's impossible. I am now and ever will be a Jedi." He forced down his anger at that word with impressive willpower. The touch of her fingers on his forehead didn't hurt either. "But hope is not lost. Come back to the Light, Obi-Wan. You will be magnificent. You will shine within the Order."
His anger resurfaced for a moment, his fingers digging painfully into her flesh in an effort to control it. "In case you've forgotten, I am a Sith. I don't shine. I burn." The glare he fixed her with would have sent any weaker being into tears of fright. But not her. All it did to her was remind her exactly what lay beneath his sultry words and orgasmic caresses. "I will tear your Order to the ground if only to prove to you how weak it is. And once you see that truth, you will rule at my side as my Empress."
Obi-Wan had grown tired of waiting. He had been patient, waiting for her to do the right thing for months, but enough was enough. He wanted her final decision now. A simple worldwide infection on Ithor would lure her to him. She would either join him and save the galaxy from itself, or he would kill her, her precious Jedi Order, and Ithor as well. He knew she would come. She wouldn't ignore such a threat to "peaceful" planet; her bleeding heart was a weakness he would exploit gladly if it meant drawing her to her rightful place.
He didn't have to wait long.
Her Force signature grew stronger the closer she got, but there was something else. He couldn't quite put his finger on it…until they appeared in the doorway of the lab.
"I will not share you in this fight, my dear," he growled viciously, stalking across the room to the canister filled with the deadly new virus. Skywalker pitched forward slightly, but his Master's arm across his chest kept him from moving closer to the Sith. Good boy, he thought. "I'll not share you with anyone."
Her expression remained unreadable, but her Padawan was not as gifted at hiding his emotions. "Master, what is he talking about?" he whispered.
"Tell your whelp to avert his eyes, my love. Unless you want me to give him a demonstration of how you really got those lovely bruises."
Asajj's already pale face went deathly white. Her eyes stayed locked on his even as Skywalker let out a laugh that was apparently meant to be unimpressed. "You're insane, just like all Sith." The sound of his lightsaber activating cut through the thick silence. "We'll finish him off together, Master."
Obi-Wan's patience for the brat had reached its limit. "Stay down, boy!" A powerful surge of the Force threw Skywalker against the nearest wall. Another twist of the Sith's hand brought the lightsaber to him. Now the boy had nothing but his own strength both physical and in the Force to defend himself. And in Obi-Wan's current state, he wouldn't have stood a chance. "My Empress and I have much to discuss. I have been more than patient, Asajj. I want your answer now."
"What?" Skywalker gasped through the Force-hold. "Asajj, what is going on?"
"Oh, she hasn't told you. I figured as much. How could the esteemed General Asajj Ventress, crowning jewel of the Jedi Order, tell her precious Padawan about her clandestine activities with a Lord of the Sith? What shame she must have felt." Obi-Wan kept his gaze fixed on Asajj, noting every tiny movement of her eyes as he spoke, the almost imperceptible downward tilt of her head, the way her breathing was far too controlled to pass off as calm. Darth Apophis moved in for the final strike. "Tell him, my love. Perhaps all you need to join me is not the destruction of the Jedi, but the disgust and hatred of your beloved student."
"Master?!"
She seemed not to hear his cry. All of her focus remained on the man she should have feared and hated above all others. "Is this your revenge on me, Obi-Wan?" Her voice was painfully soft, but her eyes were hard. "Please-"
"'Please' what? 'Please don't bring the truth to light'? 'Please don't embarrass me in front of the child'? Don't you dare ask me for that, Asajj. Not when I've begged you to see reason, to understand that your rightful place is at my side. So I'm going to do what I should have done long ago: force you to answer me!"
The stench of ozone and the Dark Side filled the room as a sheet of lightning erupted from his fingertips. Anakin screamed when the electricity hit him. He couldn't move, couldn't focus enough to even try to deflect the attack.
"Obi-Wan, stop!" Asajj shouted.
"Not until I have your answer, my sweet." Compared to her panic for her student, he felt strangely calm. He had the upper hand and he would have her choice one way or another. "Choose me, and I'll spare the whelp. Choose otherwise, and I will kill you both along with the two billion innocent souls on this planet."
Anakin tried calling for his Master through his pain but all he could manage were strangled gasps and gutwrenching cries. "Obi-Wan, please stop! Anakin has nothing to do with this. This is between you and me, not him!"
"Then I suggest you answer quickly…and correctly."
"Let him go and I'll give you my answer and reveal everything." She took a hesitant step towards him, one hand slightly raised as if pleading for peace. "Anakin and the Jedi will never forgive me. That would be a bonus, right? Either way, you'd finally see me out of the Order. Please let him go."
Obi-Wan paused. He considered her offer for a moment, then released Skywalker, who collapsed to his knees and fought to regain his breath. "Master," he said after a beat. "What in space is going on? What are you two talking about?"
"Tell him, my dear," Obi-Wan urged with a sweep of his arm. "Or do you need further motivation?"
Asajj stared at him. How could she have ever let things go so far? How could she have let herself stray so selfishly from the tenets of the Order? And not with just anyone, but a Sith Lord? Was this some great cosmic joke? What trick had the Force played on her to make her believe that he could ever see her point of view?
She took a deep breath, not daring to look back at her Padawan when she spoke. "Anakin, all those times I didn't answer my comm, or when I left the Temple or our FOB without explanation? I was meeting Obi-" She caught herself. "Darth Apophis. Several months ago, our relationship…changed. He awakened something in me I'd never felt before, something I tried to control but couldn't. Every bruise, every scratch he left on me…I loved them. It was selfish, but I…I wanted more." Tears fell from her eyes to streak down her face. Obi-Wan hated to see them. "I thought…I'd hoped that if our relationship grew, I could help bring him back from the Darkness. I wanted to save him. I see now that that was a fool's hope. He would no sooner turn from the Dark Side than I would from the Light."
Skywalker had now regained his footing. He stood as still as stone, gazing at his Master's back as if in some kind of nightmare. "Y-You're lying. You're a Jedi. You would never get involved with anyone, especially not an enemy. Why are you lying, Master? To make him happy? He's a monster!"
Asajj lowered her head. "Yes, he is." The words were so soft the almost went unheard. But Anakin heard them.
"Then why?! Why in kriffing space are you telling me this? You would never turn your back on the Order like this!"
Asajj turned abruptly to face her student, tears still falling. "Don't you dare judge me, Anakin," she snapped vehemently. "Especially when you've been keeping secrets yourself." For the first time since her confession began Obi-Wan turned his attention to Skywalker, who paled at the accusation. What was this? "I know about Padme. I've known for a long time. I never said anything because I knew you loved her and you never let it compromise your responsibility to the Order. Anyone who knows you knows that you and her are the worst kept secret on Coruscant and Naboo."
So the brat had had a girlfriend for years, a grievous affront to the Jedi Code, and he had the gall to think himself above his Master? The hypocrisy made Obi-Wan want to spit. How many other Jedi engaged in secret relationships and still spouted their rhetoric about non-attachment?
Asajj wasn't quite done despite the sudden silence of her Padawan. "You were able to maintain both lives separately, Anakin. My life has always been devoted to the Order. Even now I would die for it. I have never indulged myself in anything out of fear of compromising my oath. But one event changed my life." She turned back to Obi-Wan. The look in her pale eyes rooted him to the spot. "And as you once said yourself, Anakin: one cannot help whom they love." Obi-Wan inhaled sharply and grasped her waist when she stepped towards him. Did he dare to hope? "And of course, with my good fortune, I found myself in love with a Dark Lord of the Sith."
Both men froze when she pressed her lips to his. The kiss was tender and loving, almost shy. Obi-Wan let out a shaky breath when she pulled away much too soon. Skywalker had a less composed reaction.
"Master!" he screamed, horrified. "Please tell me it's a lie!"
"It's no lie, Anakin," she replied softly. "I do love you, Obi-Wan. I realize that now." She paused when his palms cupped her cheeks, excitement swirling around him. She closed her eyes so as not to see the hope shining in his. "But I cannot join you." He went still. "My life will always belong to the Jedi and the Republic, but you will always have my heart."
Anakin was speechless, his eyes darting around the floor as if he could find some way to convince himself that everything he had just seen and heard was nothing but a bad dream. Asajj struggled to maintain her composure; everything had changed in an instant. Her future was now clouded with uncertainty and heartbreak. Obi-Wan still had not moved.
Many long moments passed before he lifted one of her hands to his lips to press a kiss into her knuckles. He took a deep breath, then another. He lifted his head and opened his eyes. Yellow eyes. "Leave."
"Obi-Wan, please-"
He flung her from him before she could finish the sentence. Now it was his turn to avoid looking at her. "You've made your choice, Jedi." His mask of calm and control was quickly slipping. "Take your pet and leave before I regain my senses and slaughter you both."
She chanced a step towards him. "Obi-Wan-"
A sudden wave of power sent her crashing back into Anakin. "I'll not tell you again. Leave. NOW!"
Asajj pulled Anakin, who wrenched his arm away as quickly as possible, to his feet. He sprinted from the room first. She hesitated. "I'm sorry, my love."
Silence fell. It seemed as if the Force and the universe themselves also went quiet. The virus forgotten in the wake of his heartbreak and rage, Darth Apophis loosed a scream of pain so powerful the laboratory crumbled around him. When his throat had gone raw and his spirit drained, he was left on his knees sobbing in the ruins.
Btw, FOB stands for forward operating base, a military term used to describe operations bases. They're usually temporary depending on the mission at hand, but they can be used for extended periods of time as well.