Two - The Defeated

He was aware of falling and then, nothing. He thought he may have passed over into death, but for the grip he felt on his mind and soul. He survived, somehow; dragged himself into shelter in the lower levels; curled in on himself waiting for it to end. Or so he thought. But it was something else he was waiting for. Life did not end. In the darkest recess on Coruscant, he huddled, until he was picked up and carried away. He did not remember much of that time: pain, confusion and surprise at the face that gazed down at him. It did not make sense. How could that boy be here?

Time passed; how much he had no way to tell, until he awoke, finally fully aware of the world around him. Much had changed. He was still on the city planet, that he could tell, the Force signature of such a place clogged with both life and death unique in the whole of the galaxy. But he was not at the Temple; in fact, the bare room he lay in was completely unknown to him. He sat up slowly, taking in his physical condition. Someone had tended his wounds, someone gifted with healer's hands and the Force. His hand ached, a phantom pain in the limb he had lost. But it was not the only ache. Everything hurt to some degree, but he was alive.

He realised he was not alone in the room, there was a man sitting at a table looking back at him, waiting for him to notice his presence. He remembered the shock he had felt in his delirium to see this man and had thought him a mirage, but there he sat, dressed as a Jedi, calmly waiting for him to speak. But he could not speak, no words came to the Jedi master. So much had happened, more he knew that he was aware of. He glanced again at the stump of his arm, remembering a duel and a fall, but not his fall.

'What happened?' he finally asked.

'I felt the end and came for you.'

'End? What do you mean? Now is not the time to speak in riddles, boy, the Republic is falling.'

'Not falling, but fallen and with it the Jedi order. You have been unconscious for some time, but now you are awake, we must act.'

The Jedi master looked at his companion, knowing he spoke the truth, but unable to comprehend his words. Seeing his confusion, the other Jedi spoke again.

'The Jedi Order is dead, betrayed by the man who now calls himself Emperor, but some still remain and I will find them and we shall fight again.'

Mace Windu was exhausted and injured, but all the same his Force senses stirred and for the first time he realised he was looking upon more than a man. The boy who had left the order had become something else in his absence, or perhaps it was the horror of slaughter that had altered him so. He listened as the young knight spoke, seeing and hearing more than words could say. He listened as the events of the last months were told him in clear tones, what had happened in the wider galaxy while he had been tended to and recovered. He was the first, he realised, the first to be found because his need was great. But there were others to be found and saved, as well.

He watched the man stand, give his farewell and leave. The Jedi master did not gaze after him, his vision instead turned inwards, looking at the strands of the Force that flowed around him and into the future. He had been unaware for too long, but now he was awake he had a purpose, given to him by an old friend. He would stay on Coruscant and watch the Empire from below its feet, while the forgotten man walked the galaxy gathering the servants of Light together. Windu knew his rescuer would go to Yoda first, where ever the venerable master had hidden himself away and he knew that all the others would also be found.

His thoughts turned then to another old friend and wondered what the other master would do when he heard the whispering of a name cast aside into obscurity. He marvelled at the parallel of two apprentices: one fallen to darkness while the other held up by the Light. He wondered what would happen when their master heard once more the name, Obi-Wan Kenobi.