From Darkness, I Rise

by Kurenaino

The Jedi are thrust into a war that threatens to tear the galaxy apart, and prospects are bleak when the fearsome Sith Negotiator begins to win key victories against the Republic. Sequel to From Grace, I Fall. Also, more Sith!Obi keeps the sadness away. Search your feelings. You know it to be true.

41. Deliberations

Chapter 41: Deliberations

The Council was in session, and all the Masters had been recalled to be in attendance. All of them sat in quiet, contemplative silence, not a single one of them knowing exactly how or where to begin. It was usually Mace who started these meetings off, eager to tackle the problems head on, but the day found him quiet, eyes downcast and hardly moving at all. He hadn't been officially released from the infirmary, and was only permitted to leave for the Council if he kept a medical droid by his side, which was whirring softly behind his seat, monitoring the deep gouge that ran down his back, far more serious than it had looked when he was first brought back from his home world of Haruun Kal. Yoda, deep in meditation, did nothing to start the proceedings either.

The only sounds that could be heard were the faint whisperings of Aayla Secura and Kit Fisto, and Padawan Tano leaned in to see if she could hear what they were saying, and frowning when she could not. Besides herself, Secura was the only non-Council member that had been permitted inside the chamber that day, as Master Fisto had simply refused to attend without her, and given his recent injuries, Yoda quietly allowed it. The remainder of his tentacles were wrapped tightly in thick, white bandages, falling in a tight lump that just reached his shoulder blades, the two that had remained intact draped in front of his chest, and Secura knelt beside him, a blue hand gently stroking the sensitive tendril. Ahsoka could feel herself grinning, despite the severity of the situation. The Padawans had long been saying that there was...something between the Nautolan and the Twi'lek, and even her good-natured Master treated Kit with some level of suspicion that she assumed was born from a healthy, confusing mix of jealousy and protective instinct. Though not today.

Ahsoka turned her eyes to the sullen Quinlan Vos, usually so upbeat and cheerful, a good natured grin or a mischievous smile always on his face, except for now. Except for the past few days. Vos stared blankly ahead, and every now and again, Ahsoka would lean over to see if she could find what he was staring at, hoping, praying that he was looking at something instead of the vast, emptiness of nothing he seemed to see before him. Jedi were dying. Masters of high esteem were coming back from the war with injuries that were severe in the best of cases, and in the worst, things they would never recover from. Those that lived were shaken, unaccustomed to seeing the horrors that the war produced, and the compassion of the Jedi ran deep, making the atrocities all the worse when considering the innocent lives that were being lost daily. Those that stayed in the Temple watched as a constant stream of the dead and injured were returned to Coruscant, and it was shaking their faith, not just in the ability of the Jedi, but in the Force itself.

That wasn't true for all of them, certainly, but many were harboring doubts. Ahsoka wasn't one of them. She approached every problem with a thirst for learning and an ambition that was not uncommon in a Padawan, but her dedication to thinking outside the information that was given to her was unusual. When the entire Order had been recalled to the Temple, Tano attended every class she could, soaked in all the information that was presented to her, even if it conflicted. Especially if it conflicted. Combined with her Master's stories of Kenobi, and the sage advice of Master Jinn, Ahsoka was beginning to have a very, very good idea of how to deal with the Sith Lord Obi-Wan.

There were too many personal feelings, too many connections, too much attachment for the Jedi around her to remain focused and removed, and the Sith Lord had time and time again brought the fight as close to home as he could. He was a master of emotional turmoil, and while Ahsoka certainly couldn't see the big picture, she understood the framework on which the Sith was designing his fight against the Jedi that he once called family. It was, after all, not unlike something she would have done herself, had she been betrayed by the Jedi. She wouldn't have joined the Sith, of course, but she would have been angry, and she would have turned her back on the Jedi as well. She didn't know what she would do without the Jedi, but she'd find a way, would certainly be thirsting for family and connection, which seemed to her to be what Obi-Wan was doing. Kenobi seemed to thrive on connections, old and new, and the Jedi as a whole were playing right into his hands. Even her Master was falling prey to his game. Especially her Master...

The Togruta once again looked to Quinlan. The man hadn't moved, hadn't shifted his gaze. Ahsoka had been allowed to this closed meeting because Master Yoda felt that Vos needed to care for someone in his time of crisis, and the Kiffar had shown himself to be excessively fond of young Tano. If she had any impact at all, she certainly couldn't see it. Ahsoka knew that Vos blamed himself for what had happened, even if there was nothing that he could have done. But still, there wasn't a thing that could convince Quinlan that there wasn't something he could have done to save his Master Tholme.

Yoda had brought the body back from what should have been a secret meeting on Rugosa that had gone terribly, terribly wrong. The Separatists were there, in full force, and by the time the meeting had been concluded after a prolonged struggle, Tholme lay dead, shot through on his blind left side. It was senseless, random and without meaning. Tholme had been better than that. Tholme deserved better than that, and Master Yoda couldn't find his lightsaber to bring it back so Vos could grasp it and see what happened. Quinlan didn't know if he should blame the Separatists for killing him or the Jedi for failing to save him. It was...complicated, not unlike his feelings about Obi-Wan's fall from the light, which he was beginning to understand better each day.

"So, he's killing Jedi now," Adi Gallia said, breaking the silence, and all the Jedi sat up straighter.

"This isn't new," Qui-Gon said tiredly, and Adi crossed her arms.

"Yes it is, he hasn't killed Jedi before!"

"It isn't new," Jinn insisted, returning her steely gaze. "Master Yoda said he sensed murder in him. Killing Jedi is almost inconsequential at this point, since we know he is capable of murder, and we know he can beat us. The question now isn't who will he kill, but who won't he."

"He didn't kill Barriss or me on the Tranquility," Luminara said as she looked around at their broken Council, and her heart ached.

"Do you think he would have?" Qui-Gon asked, and the Mirialan shook her head.

"Killing us was of no interest to him. He sought...understanding."

"Understanding about what?" Shaak Ti asked.

"Not about anything," Luminara corrected. "He sought understanding from us. We talked briefly, he believes the Force has shifted in favor of the Sith."

"Impossible," Mace muttered from his seat, and all eyes looked to him, waiting for further elaboration, but Windu would say no more. Nobody did. Ahsoka shifted uncomfortably next to her Master's seat.

She couldn't take it any longer. Her voice tight, Padawan Tano asked, "Why?" Every eye in the chamber snapped to her, except for the eyes of her Master. She took a deep breath and held it. Quinlan Vos would not contribute, so she'd have to do it for him. "Why is it impossible?"

"Because the Force seeks balance, and the Sith and the Dark Side upsets that balance," Shhak Ti explained. "The Force is harmony and peace, and the Sith disrupt it by inviting chaos and death into the very fabric of the Force itself."

"I know, but...isn't it all just the Force?"

Yoda chuckled under his breath, looking at Ahsoka with large, kind eyes. "Correct, Padawan Tano is. Binds us all, the Force does. The Light, and the Dark, all part of the Force, it is." He pointed his stick at the young Togruta. "Live in harmony with the Force, the Jedi do. Through us, the Force flows. Listen to its will, we try. Sith..." He closed his eyes, a deep growl in the back of his throat as he thought. "Control the Force, the Sith do. Bend it to their will. Different in how they use the Force, they are. Different, their philosophy is, in the use of the Force."

Ahsoka bit her lip and looked away from the Master, carefully considering all he had said, all that was spoken, all that she knew, and, nodding, she finally said, "Is he lonely?"

Nearly the entirety of the Council began chuckling, but Qui-Gon reached out and took young Tano's hand, smiling softly at her. "I think he may be," he whispered to her, and though he was not addressing them, the room fell silent again as the Jedi leaned in to listen. "He isn't trying to kill Luminara or Quinlan, and they were his best friends here in the Order."

"He..." Luminara cleared her throat. "I severed my attachment to him long ago, but when I was with him, I felt our connection through the Force. It didn't come from me, it came from him, he's maintaining his attachments."

"We're still connected," Quinlan Vos said, his voice hoarse and raw and rough after days of barely saying a word, and Ahsoka smiled brightly, tightly gripping his arm.

"I felt nothing," Kit said swiftly. "He hardly spoke to me, but he did want to kill me."

"He doesn't know you as well," Luminara said.

"Yes, but he didn't know Eeth Koth either, and I think it's safe to assume that Obi-Wan is the Sith responsible for that mess," Qui-Gon said quickly. "I don't think we can assume who is safe and who is not. Openly killing Jedi doesn't change things for us, but it may change things for him. He may be different, changing. Maybe he's experimenting."

"Maybe he's just human," Ahsoka whispered, but every Master heard her, and Qui-Gon looked away, biting his lip as he considered the Padawan's words. Quinlan smiled up at her and squeezed her hand.

"I was thinking the same thing. We're over-complicating this. Speculation and fear is...clouding our vision."

"Your attachment may be clouding yours," Mace growled, and tiny Master Yoda poked the injured man in his side, Windu hissing in pain as the medical droid rolled around and immediately began tending to him.

"Attached, you are as well, Master Windu," the Grandmaster said. "Attached with anger. Betrayal. The same as Obi-Wan, hmm?"

"It's not the same," Mace growled. "It's-" Yoda poked him again, and Windu yelped in pain, the medical droid frantic as it tried to attend to his spontaneously hurting patient.

"The same. Fallen to the Dark Side, you have not. But same, the feelings are. Anger in Obi-Wan, there is. Betrayal by the Jedi, he feels. Correct, he is, if from a different view, we see."

"We did betray him," Qui-Gon said, his noble eyes resolute. "At every single turn, we betrayed him. This is...expected."

Yoda nodded. "The wrong path, he has taken. But a monster of our making, Obi-Wan is."

"We owe it to him to try and make this right," Qui-Gon said, and Mace glared at him.

"We owe him nothing. He's murdered Jedi, there is no redemption for him!"

"How can you even talk about redemption!" Quinlan shouted, jumping to his feet and towering over the seated Council. Vos was a Jedi that could conceal his emotions, if he wished, but he rarely did, and he displayed the full depth of his emotions now, all pain and rage that had been put away for the past few days as he mourned the loss of his Master, the loss of the Jedi, the loss of his friend Obi-Wan. It was too much. "We drove Obi-Wan down a path of craving power! All of us did! Qui-Gon, for taking in a younger, stronger Padawan, you of the Council, for your constant dismissal of him and making him feel like he was never good enough! Even me! I encouraged his experimenting, his new abilities, his desire to buck against the Council! He's on the path to power because he didn't know what other path there was!" Quinlan dropped into his seat, breathing deeply, his hand grabbing his forehead as he attempted to calm himself. "Why couldn't any of us see that he was just a man..."

They were silent for a long while. None of the Jedi knew what to say after that. Even Yoda shut his eyes, touching the Force and considering what the distraught Kiffar had said. It was Qui-Gon who finally broke the silence with a soft, "I agree."

"I do as well," Luminara jumped in, and they could feel the other Masters tense.

"He's killing Jedi..." Fisto said. "And he basically cut my head off."

"Yeah," Vos drawled, looking languidly at the Nautolan. "Says the man that has Aayla Secura stroking his tentacle." The Kiffar grinned widely when his former Padawan swiftly withdrew her hand, flushing furiously, and Kit's remaining tentacles wriggled, the Nautolan grasping his head with pain as the severed ones attempted movement as well. Ahsoka laughed next to him, her Master high-fiving her enthusiastically, and Tano grinned. It was good to have her Master at least acting like his old self, even if she felt through their connection that he was deeply pained.

"Nothing is going on, Master!" Aayla insisted as the Kiffar rolled his eyes.

"Excuses."

"You accused me of having an illicit relationship with Obi-Wan as well, and that was just as false as this is!"

Quinlan's eyes widened. "I knew it! Aayla, you she-devil!"

"I said just as false!"

"And you were having sex with Obi-Wan, so..that makes it true!" The Kiffar winked at Qui-Gon, who gave Vos a long-suffering glance, but smiled in spite of himself. "There it is. Proved!"

"I give up..." Secura said, sitting on a haplessly laughing Kit Fisto's armrest.

"We are hopelessly off-topic," Mace sighed. "Can everyone who's not on the Council just leave..." Kit and Quinlan both in unison said no. Windu just sighed.

"I don't think we're as far off-topic as you think," Qui-Gon said softly. "I know my views are...controversial, but it's not like we're not allowed to have these feelings. They're natural."

"...are we still talking about Aayla?" Fisto asked, and Quinlan rolled his eyes, their momentary comradery put to the side.

"Obviously not. Force, Kit, you are so self-centered..."

Qui-Gon allowed a small smile to touch his lips. "The Jedi's strength is in how deeply we feel, but our duty to the galaxy at large must come first. We don't put our needs before what is best or necessary for the greater good, and it's in this that we failed Obi-Wan. Quinlan is right. He's just a man."

"A very dangerous one," Kit said quietly, the weight of his current loss suddenly upon him.

Qui-Gon nodded. "I agree. And we spend so much time talking about him because he's frightening to us, but I think Ahsoka was right. He's alone, and it's made him dangerous. But if we send the right Jedi at him, we may have a chance of setting things right."

"If he has changed, if he's just killing Jedi now..." Mace said softly, his voice trailing off. He didn't need to finish the thought for the implication to get through.

"If he's changing, it's because of us," Quinlan growled. "We're sending people to fight him and kill him. We're sitting around here and talking in circles about how to bring him down, and anyone backed into a corner is going to try and fight their way out of it."

"We need to be smarter about this," Qui-Gon said, clasping his hands in front of him and addressing Yoda directly, the diminutive Grandmaster listening attentively. "I say, for a time, we don't engage him. He's killing Jedi openly, he's getting bolder, so I say we keep the Jedi far, far away from him."

"Qui-Gon, we'll lose the war if we do that," Mace growled, but the elder Master didn't even look in his direction.

"We'll lose battles, yes. We'll position the Jedi to do what we were meant to do. We protect the innocent, we'll fight against the Separatists, but if we come across him, we run and leave our clones behind to defend the civilians. Mace's account of Haruun Kal has Obi-Wan luring the Jedi away from their troops and the battle at large. If he can bait us away from the fight, than so can we."

"And you just expect us to let him run rampant?!" Windu growled dangerously before he yelped, poked again by Yoda.

"A plan, you have?" he asked, and Qui-Gon nodded.

"I'm starting to, yes."

"He needs to die," Mace growled, jaw clenched tightly, and his brown eyes shot to Yoda, hands poised to block another poke from the stick, the swift motion making him wince in pain, and Yoda chuckled, his stick held stationary in his lap.

"Kill the Sith Lord Obi-Wan?" Yoda chuckled. "Do this, will you, Master Windu?" The injured Jedi Master fumed, slowly crossing his arms in front of his chest and slinking down into his chair. "Death, his game is. Win at it against him, the Jedi cannot. In the Jedi Way, we must deal with him."

"The Jedi Way failed Obi-Wan before," Kit said. "How is it supposed to work against him now?"

"He failed, not us," Luminara said. "The Jedi won before a thousand years ago. We can win now. The Force is with us," she said, smiling, but it faltered, her breath catching in her throat and her eyes growing distant for a moment before she collected herself, a small smile back on her face, but it didn't reach her eyes. Quinlan and Qui-Gon both leaned over to find those bright blue eyes lost and uncertain.

"I've been saying this from the beginning," Quinlan said softly, leaning forwards and brown eyes glinting mischievously. "We find a way to get him to do what the Sith do best." He grinned. "We get them to kill each other."

"You want to turn the Sith against each other?" Shaak Ti asked, and the Kiffar shrugged, his Padawan grinning at his side.

"It's what the Sith are best at. The Jedi won all those years ago because the Sith ultimately destroyed each other, while we stood together." He took a deep breath, looking around the room. "And look at us now. Sitting in a room and arguing constantly. I know that opposing views helps us achieve wisdom, but if we aren't united where it counts, when it matters...we're all going to die."

"The Jedi are strong together," Qui-Gon said, looking at the Kiffar and smiling softly. "And Obi-Wan is a master class of picking our unity apart. Look what he's done. Mace, if you weren't alone, if you and Depa had stayed together, you may have bested him. Kit, if he hadn't divided your attention, he would have had four Jedi to fight at once instead of picking you apart one at a time. He's breaking our unity to beat us."

There was silence, and then Yoda nodded, all the other Masters inclining their heads as the Grandmaster did. "Agree with you, I do. United, we must be. But in what way, hmm?"

"We break the Sith up," Qui-Gon said swiftly. "Quinlan is right, the best people in the galaxy at killing Sith are the Sith themselves, and Obi-Wan has already killed one. If we can somehow manage to get him to turn on Dooku, or better yet, on his Master..."

"And how do you expect to do this?" Mace asked, and Vos grinned, pointing between himself and Luminara.

"We were his friends, and we've been dancing around this all day. He hasn't tried to kill us."

"No, he's just trying to make us fall with him," Luminara said softly, her voice distant.

"And that was before he started openly trying to kill Jedi," Kit said, but the Kiffar shook his head.

"He won't try to kill us. He will try to make us fall."

"That's worse," Mace growled. "The last thing we need is more Sith running around!"

"Do you have a better idea, Mace?" Quinlan purred. "Do we really want to send more Jedi against him? It turned out for you really well, you'll never fight like you used to, and I can't beat him. Right now, killing him just isn't an option."

"And isn't all life sacred to the Jedi?" Ahsoka asked, and all the Masters looked at her, the Togruta flushing furiously under the scrutinizing stares until Qui-Gon gently smiled at her.

"Our little Padawan is correct. We must try something. Our previous methods have failed. Simply attempting to do the same thing going forward is madness. We need to get creative, and the more Jedi he kills, the harder this will be. It must be now that we try this, at least until we think of something else."

Mace groaned loudly, the medical droid at his side beeping frantically and looking for the pain his tortured noises were the result of. "Suppose we manage to turn him on the other Sith. What then?"

"No matter what, the Jedi win," Qui-Gon said gravely. "Either he kills them, or..." Jinn swallowed hard. "Or they will kill him."

"And if Dooku dies, the war is over," Quinlan said.

"And if Obi-Wan kills them all, that would make him the Lord of the Sith," Master Windu said sternly. "He'd be more powerful than the current Sith Lord, and we're already at a loss on how to fight him. If we aid in Obi-Wan's elevation, than we're just helping to create our own enemy."

"We've already done that," Vos growled, sending a cold glare the way of the injured Master Windu. "Obi-Wan was once our best chance at defeating the Sith, and we turned him to them instead. And he's still our best chance. This is an opportunity we can't afford to miss."

"We would be making things worse!" Mace insisted, and the Kiffar rolled his eyes and groaned loudly.

"How. How could they be worse! If this plan fails, what's the worst that can happen? Luminara and I die, or join the Dark Side. That is a small risk to take when you look at the possible victory we could achieve. At least we'd know who the Sith Master was if it was Obi-Wan." Quinlan looked to Luminara, seeking confirmation, and found it when she softly smiled, nodding. "Besides, we've got him," Vos said, pointing to Yoda. "I don't think there's a Sith Lord alive that isn't piss scared of that little green man."

"This is all an awful idea," Windu said, shaking his head when he saw the Masters actually agreeing with Vos. "We'll be creating a Sith Lord more powerful than we can handle! Obi-Wan Kenobi, Sith Master? Do we really want that?"

"Must it go that way?" Qui-Gon asked, his blue eyes dark and sad. "Why is it that we feel he cannot find redemption?"

"You can't just turn your back on the Dark Side, Qui-Gon."

"And why not?" the Master asked. "It's happened before. Some Sith have found the strength to turn back to the Light. Look at Darth Revan, he was one of the most powerful of all Sith Lords, and he returned to the Jedi Order, partially because of his strong emotional ties to those he loved and cared about."

Mace groaned. "Where did you hear about this, Master Jinn..."

Qui-Gon shrugged. "As it so happens, the Forbidden Archive is open to the members of the Jedi Council. I've been doing some research."

"Is that where Obi-Wan got it from..."

"Could be. But the point is that Obi-Wan has strong ties to us, and to others."

"Right, he wants to kill us," Mace insisted, and Quinlan smiled lazily.

"He wants to kill you," he corrected. "And probably Qui-Gon."

"I wouldn't mind if it meant bringing him back to us," Jinn said. "And we aren't his only ties. He's...particularly attached to Duchess Satine of Mandalore." Jinn smirked as Mace Windu rolled his eyes and Kit Fisto laughed softly, muttering something under his breath that earned him a sharp jab in the ribs from Secura. "I spoke to her when we were at Sundari to arrange the cease fire, and she said that they have been lovers since he left the Jedi." Yoda's ears perked up, though the Master's eyes stayed closed, and Qui-Gon could feel the tiny Grandmaster reach deep into the Force. He reached himself to see if he could find what Yoda was looking for, but couldn't sense the Grandmaster's intentions.

"This could have serious implications in the war, Qui-Gon," Mace said slowly, carefully. "If Obi-Wan has corrupted Mandalore and the neutral systems-"

"He hasn't. He wouldn't. He may be of the Dark Side, Mace, but he loves Satine. Why else would a Sith Lord allow Mandalore to remain pacifists? Why wouldn't he revitalize their warrior culture and move them against us like they did during the Mandalorian Wars?"

"He could be biding his time, he-"

"Kriffing hell, Mace!" Quinlan cried, jumping from his seat and taking his Padawan by the arm. "Obi-Wan has always loved that girl! This isn't some Sith evil, this is a man that loves a woman and wants her to be happy! That's the simplest, oldest story in the entire galaxy! Keeping Mandalore neutral benefits nobody. To me, this looks like Obi-Wan's made himself a safe haven from the war, the Jedi, and the Sith. It may not be enough for you, but it is for me. There's good in him, and Ahsoka and I are going to find it."

"...we are?" the Padawan asked, and Quinlan nodded.

"I'm wasting my time here. We know what to do, and we know where to find Obi-Wan. I'm going to Mandalore to see if I can't track him down."

"Be careful, Quinlan," Qui-Gon said softly. He felt something...off. He couldn't place exactly what it was, but something wasn't right. But the Kiffar just grinned, looking at the Masters with a cocky expression.

"Please, I'm always careful. I know better than to touch Kenobi's things, I learned that the hard way when we traveled together." He stopped, eyes turned to the ceiling for a moment. "I learned that lesson more than once. If he's really keeping Mandalore safe...I don't know, it's hard to be neutral in this war. Hundreds of other neutral systems have been invaded, but Mandalore and the Alliance of Neutral Systems hasn't been touched. We respect their neutrality, but the Separatists don't respect anything, and they haven't touched it."

"You're right," Luminara said, standing as well and going to Quinlan's side. "It's possible that Obi-Wan has made it clear that its not to be touched. That...speaks well of him. That sounds like him."

"Well," Quinlan drawled, "I always told him that he should go wild with this girl of his. I'm totally taking all the credit for his turn on the Sith."