Chapter 4
Her eighth (actually forty-ninth) birthday they went to the shopping district, not just for Xanatos but also because she now needed the clothes again. Arl immediately walked them to the store they had gone last time and picked up the brown jacket that Garen had found before. It was her favourite jacket, after she had grown out of it Tahl had bought her another, then it was Obi-Wan, then Garen and Mace, then Micah and then Anakin. She grew a lot but she always had the jacket. Garen once again points out the pretty dress except this time Arlie doesn't flush.
"I love it, thank you." She says as she hugs him before adding the dress to the basket she still wasn't sure how he'd gotten. They went to a few different stores so that she didn't end up with the same clothes as last time, Micah once again banned her from shades of brown so she got some coloured tunics. It occurred to her when Mic suggested lunch that she'd no idea what time they had gone to eat last time, she could miss Xan altogether! However, she walked to the alleyway to go to the bathroom and there he was.
"Hello Arlie, long time no see." He says as he did before, this time she is not afraid nor is she heartbroken, she throws herself forward to him.
"Xan, thank god I was so scared." She says telling the complete truth, "Master Windu and I spoke with the council, they took a vote and they said you can come home. That you won't be killed or cast out, you'll be welcomed back and you'll be supported." Arlie tells him, he shakes his head.
"You misunderstand the point of this visit Arleia, I simply came to say goodbye, I didn't want to leave things as they were." He tells her, she smiles softly at him.
"I'm sorry about your father. Judicial is doing what they can to catch the murderer, but this won't help catch him and it certainly won't bring your father back. Please come home, you are wanted and loved and very greatly missed. Qui-Gon is heartbroken, he blames himself." She tells him, he glowers.
"I could have stopped him then and there if my 'Master' hadn't stopped me!" He says fiercely, Arlie doesn't even flinch.
"Xan please, listen to me, I just want to help you." She tries reasoning with him, but he's clearly beyond reason.
"I know you and Dooku are friends, but I will make my former Master pay for what he has done, and if you are with him, you will pay too." He says just as he did before.
"Will it really make you feel better? Because if so, why wait? Kill me now. Prove to me you are so far gone. Give me a reason you won't come back. Because as far as I am concerned you are still my Saviour and you always will be." He slaps her.
"I am nobody's Saviour." Obviously he garnered a lot of attention when he slapped her so he runs off as strangers crowd around her to make sure she's okay, several tried to call judicial. "Don't worry about it, I'm fine. I was just about to head back to the Jedi temple anyway." She tells the strangers who see her lightsaber and back off, it made her happy that these strangers think Jedi and know that things will be taken care of.
"How'd it go?" Mic asks when she gets back to the table they're at, she smiles sarcastically at him.
"It went fantastically that's totally why I am here on my own and not with a recovered friend." She says in a chirpy voice before it's replaced with a scowl. Then she centres herself and gets her control back. "Sorry, it did not work. Basically, went the same way as last time except I didn't completely turn my back on him and he knows he's welcome back at the temple."
"Which is a lot of difference because now it's all on him, not you." Mace tells her.
"Plus, if all goes to plan you can try again in a year and for whatever reason it seems like he'll be more receptive to reasoning then." Mic adds.
"Also, you have a bruise forming on your face." Garen adds nonchalantly before realising what he'd said and seen and lurching forward in his seat. "Damn Arls, did he hit you?"
"Practically a love tap compared to things I've been through both in the future and already now. Ugh I hate time travel." She huffs, she's sent disapproving looks from her Masters making her rethink her sentence, "I mean I dislike the complications time travel creates." Arlie corrects, they smile. Garen rolls his eyes at the two of them fondly while Arlie is pleasantly surprised to find that it's true. (I guess I can evolve too.)
It's a year and a half later when Garen waltzes into Mace and Arlie's living quarters while their Masters are busy with their work. Arlie is lounging on the couch when he drops down next to her and lays down with his head on her lap and his feet over the arm rest, she automatically begins carting her fingers through his hair.
"What were we doing?" Garen asks, Arl looks at him confused, "Now, in the other…uh…timeline…sure let's go with that, what were we doing in the other timeline right now?" Arl thinks back.
"Um, it will have been nearly a year since I started actually listening to Mace and letting him teach me. I believe it's in a couple of days that Obi and Qui left for their mission to Telos IV. So probably exactly what we are doing now except I imagine we were talking about something different."
"Is it boring living this all again?" Arl thinks about that for a moment.
"Day to day routines would be the same anyway. And it's not as though I remember everyday of my life, especially not those from thirty years ago. But I suppose all the big changes and things that I made happen are no longer here. All of my accomplishments are undone. I just look at it as a chance to make it even better." She tells him, "Or at least, I'm beginning to. Anyway, things are different this time and seeing as I'm not bothering to hide how advanced I am it's very different from …the other timeline."
"But you were advanced then too, I mean you were already ten years older than we thought."
"Yes, but G, I'm forty-one years older than they think this time, those years had a hell of a lot of living and learning in them. Plus, this time, I didn't just spend time in another fucking universe, I know this world now and I know all the people here. It's never boring but sometimes it is hard, treating people as strangers or acquaintances when they were close friends, being nice to people who I did not at all get along with, being friends with people I once deeply loved. I have learnt though, that the smallest things can change the way a person interacts with you."
"What do you mean?"
"Well Yoda and I didn't exactly get along last time."
"Didn't get along as in Obi and Bruck or didn't get along as in Master Dooku and everyone?" Arlie chuckles at that.
"Didn't get along as in I hit him in the head with his own gimmer stick two or three times." She tells him, he laughs at that.
"Please gods tell me those stories."
"I'm warning you, only one of them is happy and funny."
"Tell me anyway, I like hearing your stories. They're like the old legends. We apply them to our lives in order to avoid past mistakes, but we understand that times are different and don't let the fear of what has happened influence how we deal with things now." He tells her.
"Wow, I never thought I'd hear you be the logical one." She replies.
"Just tell me." He demands good-naturedly after hitting her, she obliges with a slight tug on his hair that really needed a trim. As she spoke he occasionally asked questions but for the most part just soaked up what she was saying.
"You remind me of my Padawan sometimes." Arlie tells him, he looks up at her in surprise.
"You had a Padawan?" she nods.
"Her name was Quilo Harril. She was my Padawan for the last year of the war, afterwards she lived on Tatooine with me and Mic and my family for twelve years, then I died so I don't know what happened after that." She had yet to mention to any of them of her stay in this very temple before she died, she could spare them that at least.
"Is it still happening? I mean are the people in that future still living it even though it hasn't happened?" Arl thinks through everything her mentor ever told her before nodding slowly.
"Time is more of a concept than an actual thing, we perceive things as happening linearly because that's the only way we can process it, but it's actually more like everything happening at once. I mean that isn't quite right either but it's the best way to explain it." He looks confused. "Okay so think of a map with a bunch of roads on it, if you pluck one car off of the road and put it on another moving in the same direction but from further back, do the cars from the first road stop?"
"What's a car?"
"A transportation device from Earth."
"Ahh, well, no, I suppose they wouldn't."
"It's kind of like that in a way that it's nothing at all like that and I'm just speculating at this point but that's how I think it is sort of."
"Okay, got it, I really need to learn when not to question things." Arl laughs rather suddenly at that.
"Ah but Garen, the one that asks questions does not lose his way."
"Why do I feel like you're quoting something?" He asks as his face scrunches in confusion.
"I said that exact thing to my mentor in the in-between, that's the response she gave. I thought she sounded like she was quoting something as well so who knows where it started."
"You mentioned your family, which I'm pretty sure means Kin," She nods at his questioning look so he continues, "do you mean the lover you've mentioned before?" Garen asks curiously and a tad hesitantly.
"No, he was, well…we'd already lost him by that point. But Mic had found my family, er, my Kin and gotten them back to an old farm my step-father owned. Mic, Quilo, my mother, my step-father and my step-brother all lived there, and my nephew Luke." Arl says with a smile.
"You have a nephew?"
"Well, had…but yes, and a niece. Luke and Leia."
"One of your brothers named their daughter Leia Aa?" Garen asks laughing, Arlie tugs on his hair playfully.
"No! But even if he had, quit mocking my niece's name." She replies with a laugh.
"Well if not Leia Aa then what was it?" Arl thinks for a moment.
"Well technically speaking her name was Leia Organa but, but her name was Leia Skywalker."
"How come?"
"She was hidden after my broth…after her mother died. Luke was hidden with us but Obi felt it was better if they were separated so Leia went to Alderaan. She was adopted by the Queen and Senator so became Leia Organa."
"And Skywalker is your brother's last name?"
"Yes, our mother gave us her name since both of our fathers were assholes, I mean his way more so than mine but well, that's a long story." Garen sits up to look at her.
"So then, your name isn't Arl Aa?" He asks, she looks at him incredulously for a moment before laughing so much it hurt.
"I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you I just hehehehe, I forgot that I've only ever gone by that name here hehehe. See last time I haha um, I went by my birthname until you got drugged and *Clears throat* came up with Arl Aa. It was a way to avoid having two Master Skywalkers one day." She explains, he looks dumbfounded.
"Then your name is Arl Skywalker?" He asks sounding utterly baffled.
"My name is Arleia Skywalker." Garen looks at her wide-eyed for a moment before laughing.
"Arleia, Arl-Aa I get it ahahah, I'm an idiot but I'm kind of proud of my future self, or past self or whatever, for that one." They both laugh for a while at that. "I gotta say though, I think Arleia Skywalker is just as pretty as Arl Aa." She smiles kindly at him and receives a warm smile in return.
True to what Arl said, a few days later the mission to Telos IV came about, Mace and Arlie managed to get Dooku and Arl on the mission, with a bit of help from Micah of course.
"Padawan Aa." Dooku says in the shuttle on the way to the moon.
"Yes, Master Dooku?" She asks, he had sounded rather serious, more so than usual anyway.
"Why does your Master allow you to hide many things and in some cases outright lie to both him and the entire council?" Arl was extremely surprised by the question, however she is far too disciplined to allow it to show. She may lose her shit in the comfort of her own home, but out here is vastly different.
"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean Master Dooku." She replies which would have been completely convincing if Dooku were not Dooku.
"Arl, you are a fully trained Jedi, of that there is no doubt."
"Perhaps, Master Windu is a far better Master than you give him credit for." She suggests innocently.
"You came to the order this way Aa." He deadpans, "You show very clear signs of having been trained by Master Windu but not all, there are some parts of your training that do not include his particular brand of…stoicism. There are but three conclusions one can draw, either he did not take part in all of your training, or it has been a great many years since your training concluded and so you've adapted his teachings to better suit you as an individual Jedi Knight…no, Jedi Master." He tells her, she smiles internally.
(This is why he's my research partner.) she thinks before replying, "You said three conclusions but have only described two."
"Yes, the third, is that both are true." She sputters a laugh at that.
"So, tell me Master Dooku, how could any of the above be possible when I have been here a mere two years?" His brow furrows slightly, the only sign he ever gives when he's thinking very deeply about a puzzle he is hellbent on solving.
"I suppose the obvious is that you are far, far older than you look. But then how could that be possible?"
"How indeed." She replies neutrally.
"You are enjoying my floundering far too much, it is unbecoming of a Jedi, Master Aa." He tells her, she smiles slightly at that knowing he is teasing her. Anyone else would be mortally surprised at the prospect of Dooku engaging in friendly teasing, but it is not so uncommon between the two.
"One could argue that floundering at all is unbecoming of a Jedi, however if this is your version of floundering I think an exception could be made." She replies, his eyes light up for a moment before dulling again, his version of laughing.
"You are not going to tell me even if I do give you the correct answer, are you?" He asks, she smiles kindly at him.
"I'm afraid there is no mystery my friend, I'm simply a good student who is being trained by an exceptional Master." She replies, he gives her a very unimpressed look that makes her bite back a laugh. The conversation is over for now and she won this round, but she knows he won't give up.
When they arrive on Telos IV Arlie begins to panic.
(What if he doesn't show? What if I can't convince him? What if Dooku kills him anyway? What if he does show but doesn't knock Dooku out?) as it happens, her worry was for nothing. The moment they step onto the catwalks, she reaches out to the force and feels his presence, she waits patiently but not for long. He appears and very quickly subdues Dooku using the element of surprise to his advantage brilliantly. Honestly, if he were conscious, Dooku would have been very impressed with his Padawan, if also extremely pissed off at him. Xanatos moved forward, lightsaber ignited, to finish Dooku off.
"XAN STOP! YOU UNGRATEFUL BASTARD HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!?" she yells, she knows vaguely what Obi said last time, but Obi isn't here right now. This is her time to lose her shit at him. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE PUTTING EVERYONE THROUGH AND FOR WHAT!? YOUR DAD IS DEAD AND THIS WON'T BRING HIM BACK. DOOKU DIDN'T KILL HIM! DO YOU REALISE WHAT THIS IS DOING TO QUI-GON? DO YOU REALISE WHAT IT'S DOING TO ME?!" She screams. He stumbles, his eyes turning blue as he drops his lightsaber and starts walking backwards muttering as Obi had once described.
"He told me to, I didn't mean to, I can't fight it, have to stop it. My god I hurt them, what have I done? I can't I can't have to stop it, have to stop it." His eyes flick to the acid tank, then back to Dooku and up to her. "Arlie…" he says sadly, "Tell Qui-Gon, just, tell him I'm sorry." He says before moving to the edge of the platform.
"COWARD! YOU THINK THIS WILL MAKE ANYTHING BETTER? ALL YOU ARE DOING IS RUNNING AWAY FROM YOUR MISTAKES."
"Arlie, I can't stop this." He tells her, looking very distressed as tears stream down his face, his eyes briefly flashing yellow before going blue again.
"Please Xanatos, I can't do this without you, I need your help. So please, be my saviour, just one more time." She begs, he walks towards her and pulls her into a hug. She sobs into his shoulder.
"You should have let me jump." He whispers, she gets hold of her lightsaber and turns just in time to stop him from stabbing her in the back with his lightsaber that he called to him with the force.
The two begin duelling, her going easy on him since she doesn't want to hurt him.
"You don't have to do this Xanatos."
"WHAT THE HELL WOULD YOU KNOW?! LITTLE MISS FUCKING PERFECT, NEVER DO ANYTHING WRONG, NEVER SCREWS UP, ALWAYS RIGHT. YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" Arlie takes a deep breath as they fight.
"I know pain, anger, hatred and I know the darkside. I have used it, I know what it is to be fallen, to want revenge and to hate those you also love. I know what it's like to be betrayed by the person you are closest to and I know what it's like to have your entire fucking world torn down around you. I KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO SEE THE ENTIRE GALAXY BURN! I KNOW DARKNESS, IT IS YOU WHO IS IGNORANT." He stops fighting and looks at her.
"It's different Arlie, he makes it different." He whispers brokenly to her, then he flinches. "NO! GET OUT OF MY HEAD! I DON'T WANT TO HURT HER!" Arlie's eyes go wide.
"Sidious." She whispers, Xan looks at her in surprise, unfortunately it distracted him and his eyes go yellow again. "Shit."
"You know of my Master? That's unfortunate, now I have to kill you." He doesn't look at all remorseful about that, she had theorised that Sidious was influencing him somehow, she was not expecting this.
"He's controlling you?" Arl asks.
"It's so very easy to warp someone's mind, to make it your own." Xan answers with a smile that would have sent shivers down her spine had she not been so well-versed in Sith. She thinks of her sweet little innocent brother and the vile creature he became, for the first time in a long time, she feels hope bloom. She thinks of Sheev, of what Quinlan said about something dark controlling him.
"So, tell me, is the thing controlling him Sidious or does he go by a different moniker and simply gave Sheev that name?" Arl asks, something in Xanatos changes, he stands up straighter and smiles at him, his eyes now glowing a sickly yellow. Though to be perfectly honest, she actually thinks it would be a pretty colour under other circumstances.
"Well, this conversation deserves me personally." Xanatos says, only it isn't Xanatos anymore.
"I suppose you are far more qualified to answer my question." Arl replies not missing a beat or even being all that shocked.
"My name is Darth Wrath." The being inhabiting her friend's body says.
"Pleasure to meet you Lord Wrath." Arlie replies bowing slightly, the being looks shocked but smiles.
"And you Miss Skywalker." Wrath says to her.
"You are well informed." She replies giving him an appraising look. "What have you done to Xanatos?"
"I have taken control of his mind, currently I am possessing him." Wrath replies nonchalantly as he twirls the hilt of Xan's lightsaber in his hand.
"Like you have Sheev Palpatine?" She questions he begins giving her the same look as she gave him.
"How do you know about Sheev?"
"Why are you possessing either of them? And why make Sheev kill his wife?"
"Why don't you tell me clever girl." She frowns as she focuses on the problem.
"You've given Sheev his own Sith Moniker even though you are controlling him, so if you are regarding him as his own being, then he would need to give a sacrifice to earn his name." She tells him, he nods encouragingly. "But why do any of it? You can't possess him and have control of your own body. So, is this your way of protecting yourself?"
"Is it?" He asks as he begins circling her, she doesn't bother to track his movements with her eyes, she's tracking him with the force.
"No, it isn't. You'd have gotten rid of him when he was discovered if he were." She feels his confusion at that before he covers it. "He isn't your apprentice or you'd have his loyalty without possessing him. Perhaps you did it out of necessity. Your body couldn't hold you anymore, but why? And why Sheev?"
"You seem a little stumped there, Kitten." He tells her, she turns to face him.
"Why take Xanatos, what do you hope to gain from that?" She asks.
"You, my dear, I hoped to gain your attention. And I have, I've even been granted an audience." He says with a smile as he caresses a lock of her hair, she doesn't even flinch. "You are not afraid of me."
"I have not been afraid of the dark in a very long time." She replies looking up at him which leaves them nose to nose as a defiant expression covers her face. "What do you want from me?" he smiles.
"Your power, my dear, and your loyalty."
"Well, unless you plan on possessing me as well, you won't get it. And if you were to do that, you would not have my skill set. You want to control force-magic the way I do, don't you?"
"And if I were to warp your mind as I did your friend?" He asks with a threatening air.
"Dear sweet Sith, if you could not gain full control of Xanatos' head in a year and a half, you will not ever get control of mine." She replies, he sends out a wave of dark energy, not in an attack but as though curious of what it would do. She doesn't shy away, she allows it to pass through her, and wash away.
"Impressive, not many Jedi would allow darkness so close, but then again, not many Jedi are fallen." Arlie looks at him, but not at Xanatos, no she looks into his mind and directly into Wrath's mind's eye.
"You've made a mistake Darth Wrath." She tells him.
"And what's that?"
"You assume that being fallen makes me dark, the two do not go hand in hand. And I. am. Not. Dark." She tells him stepping closer with each word, making him retreat in kind. "You've also made the mistake of coming here in person, as it were, because I can kill you now. Free Sheev, and save us all from two Sith lords, your dear apprentice Darth Maul would be next. I'm just curious, why break the rule of two?"
"Ah Kitten, I was wondering when we would get to that. See here is the thing Child, you kill me you kill your friend. Or you kill me later and you kill Sheev who, for whatever reason, you seem intent on saving. So, you have a choice to make, kill a friend, kill someone you wish to save, or let me go." He opens his arms as though waiting for her to attack.
"What is your end game? I'm curious, I've had a vision and seen Sheev in control of an empire but still you do not reveal yourself. Why?" she asks concerned she may give away too much but she has to know.
"Well, I'll have to assume I had not yet gotten control of you, one day, Arleia Skywalker, you will be my apprentice, and I shall control all aspects of the force. I think you'll make a good apprentice, I always recruit the young. You're not a Jedi dear, why not be a Sith?"
"You are a terrible Sith. You break the rule of two, you do not even follow the Sith Code. If I were ever to be a Sith, it would not be under you, nor this version of you when you take over Sidious, not under your dreadful apprentices, and not while you possess my friends. You have made an enemy of me, Darth Wrath, and you will live only long enough to regret it before I cut you down and tear apart the very essence of your life in the force." He smiles wildly at him.
"I think, that when you do join me, I shall have the perfect name for you, you who is a raging storm. Until next time, Darth Tempest." The Xanatos' eyes go blue and he falls forward.
"Xan?" She asks as she catches him, he is unconscious but alive. "Great, now I gotta carry them both back to the ship." As Arlie lifts Xan with the force and moves to check on Dooku, she's struck by what Darth Wrath said.
I always recruit the young.
(Dooku is anything but young…So either he made an exception, or Dooku has been on his side for a very long time.) She begins floating them back to their shuttle, she'd drop them off and then report to the government. She'd tell them that the bomber turned out to be someone the Jedi has been after for a long time and make sure that they let her return him to the temple. (But Dooku warned me about him, I'm certain he wasn't on his side when we first met, even if he was cold already. Fallen doesn't mean dark. Or even if it does that doesn't mean he was working for Sidious, or Wrath.) She thinks feeling very confused. (That leaves two options, his mind was warped, or he was somehow convinced/influenced to change sides. Wrath seems to have planned this well, far too well, but why Dooku. If he wanted to mess with Arlie why choose Dooku. And when did that happen?) Soon enough she's flying them back to Coruscant, given that she does not have a licence to do this, it is very illegal, but she's perfectly capable of doing it and Obi got away with it last time. Of course, Qui-Gon was very injured at the time, not that Dooku isn't, but Obi was also distraught from watching Xan die. Or so they had thought. (The real question is, do I tell them about Wrath or not? And if so, how do I get them to believe me?) "Time to make a call." She says when she sees how close to Coruscant they are.
"Windu." Mace says as he answers the comm, if she remembers correctly, which she does, they are in a meeting currently. She hopes that hasn't changed.
"Master, we are nearly back to Coruscant but, Master Dooku needs a healer. As does Xanatos." She says in a panicked voice.
"You found Xanatos?" Master Poof asks, (Yay, meeting in progress, I love it when things go my way.).
"Kind of, I mean yes, I found him. He's unconscious as well, but, he wasn't him when I found him. The things he was saying and his eyes, I mean it was Xan at first and he hurt Master Dooku and then we were arguing and then he was attacking me and I was yelling at him and then he just stopped, and he changed and then it wasn't him talking anymore and I didn't know what to do and I panicked and well then he was unconscious too and we are coming back. I didn't know what to do." She says panicky and making herself cry so that they hear the tears in her voice.
"Okay, Arlie, calm down. You did the right thing. I need you to restrain Xanatos somehow and get back here. We'll meet you in the hanger and then you can tell us what happened while the other two get help." Mace tells her.
"O-okay, we'll be there soon." She answers before deactivating the comm. She goes to Xanatos and sits with him surprised at how calm she really is. All of the things she's hated for so long, Vader, Sidious, the entire Empire, and the Jedi. None of it was on them, it was Wrath all along. Arlie was sure he must have messed with Anakin's mind which meant she had tried to kill her brother when it wasn't his fault. Arl expected her anger to morph into rage and blinding hatred for Wrath but instead, it dissipated. Two years she'd held it close to her heart, often wishing she had succeeded when she'd jumped off of the temple, but now she felt it all draining away as she mourned those lost to her and felt deep regret about not saving them, hope that she now could, and happiness that she was surrounded by them all again. She felt lighter than she had in years and also so very, very drained, she started sobbing while holding Xan's hand as her anger morphed into grief for her brother's plight and Garen's death, something she had not yet felt. When her tears ran out she did as she was told and restrained Xanatos, she wasn't sure if it would be Xanatos that woke up or if he would still be under the control of Wrath's mind warping. Either way he was sure to need a mind healer for a long time. She would have to tell the council the truth if he was going to get the correct help, or at least a version of the truth.
Soon after they landed in the hanger, healers took Dooku away but hesitated with Xanatos, eventually they took him once a Knight had come to act as a guard. Then Arlie spotted Mace and ran to him wrapping her arms around him, he lifted her up and held her close.
"You did it Arl, you saved his life." Mace whispers into her hair as she buried her face into his shoulder.
"I am just so glad to be home." She tells him, he hears it in her voice, what she truly means and he nearly weeps with her as she starts crying again.
"I'm glad you are too." He says as he begins carrying her up to the council room, it's through sheer force of will that she doesn't fall asleep on the way there.
"You know, I've just realised that my brain chemistry is that of a eight-year-old." She says into his shoulder, he chuckles.
"Yeah, Mic mentioned that a while ago stating that the lack of emotional control young children have was doing you no favours." Arlie chuckles at that before she snuggled in closer despite knowing that they were almost there. "You ready?" She nods as he puts her down, he grabs her hand and opens to doors to the chamber, she sees the entire council and Garen who she smiles tiredly at.
"Padawan Aa, would you please tell us what happened on your mission." Master Mundi requests, he looks concerned at her obvious emotional distress given she is usually as stoic as any seasoned Jedi Master.
"Yes, Master Mundi. Master Dooku and I arrived on Telos IV, we investigated the bombings which lead us to a factory that housed the acid used in them. We went into a room with many catwalks," She says and sees several councillors cringe, no one liked catwalks. "Xanatos attacked, I believe he was behind the bombings and that he was attempting to gain the attention of the Jedi. He knocked Master Dooku out very quickly, he had no time to react. He went to kill him when I yelled at him to stop. I yelled at him for being ungrateful and everything he was putting Master Qui-Gon through, he stumbled, his eyes changed from the creepy yellow they had been to the normal blue an-and he started muttering. Saying what have I done, oh god I hurt them, I have to stop this, he told me to, I can't stop this."
"Who told him to?" Adi asks, Arl looks at her blankly, "Sorry, continue."
"He dropped his lightsaber and told me to tell Master Qui-Gon that he's sorry. Then he went to jump into the acid tank below." Arlie says taking a moment to centre herself again before continuing, a much easier feat without the constant anger and hatred. "I called him a coward. Actually, I think I screamed it at him, and a few other things along the same line." She tells them cringing slightly, "He came over and hugged me, I thought maybe I had gotten through to him. Then he told me I should have let him jump and attempted to stab me in the back with his lightsaber." She hears several gasps from councillors and Mace tightens his grip on her hand, she smiles at him, "It's okay. It wasn't his fault." She tells him.
"How so?" Yoda asks curiously.
"Well, the two of us were duelling for a while, I yelled something else, asking why he was doing this when he stopped and suddenly straightened up and his eyes started properly glowing yellow. I didn't know what was happening but then he said that this conversation deserves him personally or something. It didn't sound like Xan anymore, not even the crazy Xan I had just been fighting. He sounded far more dangerous." She says the last part in a whisper, "He felt far colder in the force. I mean Xan started feeling cold shortly before Garen became a Padawan, but that's like comparing swimming in the ocean on a cold day to swimming in the nude on Hoth." She tells them.
"Sorry to interrupt I am, this cold, feel it from anyone else, do you?" Yoda asks, Arlie looks to her Master who nods.
"Yes Master, from Master Dooku. I don't know what it means though because Master Dooku is not fallen." Arlie tells them hoping beyond hope that it's true but knowing it isn't. "Sh-should I continue?" Arl asks when no one says anything for a moment, Yoda nods. "Okay so, then not-Xan starts talking about the darkside and possession and warping people's minds. I asked him who he was and he, I mean it's not like any kind of name I've heard before." Arlie says, everyone seems to be paying more attention to her now.
"What was it?" Master Tiin demands.
"He said his name is Darth Wrath, it doesn't sound like a name so I figured it must be a title of some kind." Arlie says feigning ignorance, everyone seems to pale as the room grows still. "Masters?" She asks genuinely concerned.
"Go on Child. What happened next?" Master Mundi asks, Arlie flinches.
"Please don't call me that, that's what he called me when he told me that if I killed him Xanatos would die too." Arlie says moving closer to her Master, she figures at least for now she can allow herself to feel the fear she so long ago learnt to control. It would only help her convince them after all, Mace pulled her into his side putting his arm over her shoulders. "I um, I asked him what he wanted, why he was doing this and he…" Arlie says trailing off as she feels icy fingers of terror crawling along her spine, maybe allowing the fear in had been a bad idea but, in for a penny, in for a pound. She wonders what it is she's so afraid of.
"What did he say?" Micah asks patiently as he smiles encouragingly through his own fear, Garen looks terrified though Micah has moved him so that he could hold his hand.
"He said he wanted my attention, that he wanted my power." She whispers, everyone looks shocked.
"Why would he want you?" Master Poof asks suspiciously, Arlie shrinks in on herself.
"That's what I asked, he said he wanted my power. That I would be his apprentice or something and then he would control all aspects of the force." Arlie says as she starts crying again, she decides enough is enough and fights back on the terror but does it in a way that everyone in the room can tell what she is doing. After a few moments, her fear is back to just outside of acceptable ranges and she opens her eyes again, everyone looks white-faced and terrified, at least they believed her though, even Master Poof seemed to think Force-magic was a worthy reason. "Darth Wrath said he wanted my loyalty, I told him he'd never get it unless he possessed me as well but then he wouldn't get the control he wanted anyway."
"Do you make a habit of antagonizing the people threatening you?" Master Piell asks incredulously.
"It's an old coping mechanism." Arlie admits quietly.
"Somehow, I don't think any of your previous owners would have appreciated that." Micah says with a wry grin, everyone looks to her.
"Owners?" Master Gallia asks, Arl had honestly forgotten it wasn't common knowledge.
"Perhaps we should talk about that later and go on with the briefing?" Mace requests knowing it was the least of their problems.
"Right, well he then said he could warp my mind like he did Xan's." Arl says, everyone seems on edge then. "I told him that if he couldn't gain control of Xan's mind in a year and a half, he couldn't gain control of mine. After all, Xanatos had already fallen and his shielding leaves much to be desired." Everyone seemed to agree with the assessment. "I asked who else he controlled like this. Figured so long as he was talking he wasn't killing me. He gave me a name. I don't know why." Arl says, everyone seems worried about that but more interested in the name. "Sheev Palpatine of Naboo, I don't know who that is though."
"I do, he's a nobleman, went into politics a few years ago. They're saying he'll be the next Senator for Naboo." Master Billaba tells them, "What does he want with him?"
"I don't know, but he referred to him as Darth Sidious, was boasting that he'd made him kill his wife." Arlie tells them all trying to give them more information. "He also said something about another apprentice, Darth Main, no Maul, Darth Maul." No one seems happy, in fact they've gone from scared to pants shitting terrified.
"He's broken the rule of two." Adi says breathlessly.
"He's a Sith?" Arlie whispers, everyone looks at her surprised, "Master Dooku talked about his research with me sometimes." She says as she looks to her shoes as though chastised.
"What happened after that?" Master Koon asks hesitantly, he didn't sound like he really wanted to know.
"He-he, oh gods." Arlie says as her eyes widen and she starts crying again, "I didn't know what he meant by apprentice before but oh gods, he said I'd join him and when I did he had the perfect name for me." Arlie says as she cries, she thought it was a rather convincing façade since she had known the Sith's plans for her since she tried to kill Vader, it was the rest of the information that she didn't have.
"What name?" Master Koth and Master Billaba ask at the same time, the councillors sitting on the edge of their seats, while Mace starts rubbing circles onto her back soothingly.
"Darth Tempest, said I'd be his raging storm." Arlie says her voice full of fear as she sobs.
"Masters, can we finish this later?" Mace asks picking up his Padawan and holding her close uncaring if they thought it un-Jedi-like, it may be put on for the benefit of the council, but he could tell she was drained and tired for real.
"Have all we need, we do, for now. Ask more later we shall." Master Yoda tells him.
"Then this meeting is adjourned." Mace tells them before carrying his Padawan out of there.