Chapter 30
30th Chapter! I didn't expect this story to be that huge, but it happened… it happened. Anyway, onto the chapter!
In the Jedi Temple, the war was at it's conclusion stages, many Jedi were dying on both sides, as both sides felt reluctance to kill their brethren, Jedi Brothers and Sisters. Mace Windu was not like that.
Mace Windu was mercilessly slaughtering Jedi, his purple blade on his hands. The lightsaber was slashing everywhere, immediately killing those whose bodies managed to somehow touch upon the blade.
Anakin Skywalker, who had just recovered from the dark side pulls earlier, didn't like it, not one bit. Had Darth Vader been controlling his body, he would have made a very reckless choice and charge and Mace Windu, which would've killed him.
But this was Anakin, not Vader.
But he needed to do something here! Anakin held his lightsaber in stance, but a voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Traitor!" The voice sounded, as Anakin turned right, to see his old Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi!
The first thing Anakin had noticed about Obi-Wan was that he had a scar on his right eye, which wasn't an eye anymore. It was robotic. Anakin felt a pang of guilt at that, Adenan had claimed that he had cut out Obi-Wan's right eye. Anakin saw now that his apprentice was correct about that.
But Anakin needed to be unfeeling about this, to not show his true emotions right now. That was the Balancer's creed, to not show weakness to the enemy.
"No, it is you who is the traitor." Anakin replied, trying to keep himself calm at the face of his turned former Master… brother.
"I? Traitor? How? You joined the Balancers and turned your back against the True Jedi! The Traditionalists who follow the Real Jedi Code!" Obi-Wan exclaimed
"The Code you follow is not the real Code, but we follow the Old Jedi Code, the real Code, which doesn't have the 'no attachments' shit." Anakin growled
"Oh yes… I know… you're married! Should I be happy for you?" Obi-Wan sarcastically spat out
"No, but you could at least think about whether this is the right side you're fighting for."
"Qui-Gon tried to convince me of a similar thing. You know what I did?" Obi-Wan asked, Anakin frowned, Qui-Gon had talked to Obi-Wan?
"What did you do?" The Chosen One asked, genuinely curious
"I used Force Lightning on him!" The Traditionalist exclaimed as he attempted to do that exact same action to Anakin, who barely had time to escape.
But it was a case of good timing that he jumped out of the way, and the rays of blue energy hit a pillar, utterly destroying it. Mace stopped his rampage to see what had happened. He saw a destroyed pillar, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.
"Anakin Skywalker. It is good to see you here. I trust Obi-Wan caught you up on the events?" Mace evilly cackled, Anakin nodded in disgust of what happened to the Jedi Master.
"He did. Did you know Qui-Gon attempted to pull him back to the right side?" Anakin taunted
"I know, I have a Force-Bond with Kenobi. But he failed, just like he failed to be a true Jedi. Failed to become one of the Council." It was Mace's turn to taunt, as Anakin felt hatred at Mace Windu, for speaking of Qui-Gon that way.
There was an ominous silence, as everyone around them was engaged in battle, the type of battle that hadn't occurred since the last Jedi Civil War, four centuries before, but that time, it had been Sean Skywalker and Chard Windu, now, it was Anakin Skywalker and Mace Windu.
"Anakin won't be taunted this time, Windu!" A familiar voice exclaimed, as a green lightsaber was activated and a figure swung it at Mace Windu, who dodged it as it passed just close to his nose.
The figure smiled, as it was shown to be Anakin's Bounty Hunter uncle, Talimer Skywalker. Anakin smiled too, as he heard another two lightsabers being activated to his right. He looked there to see Adenan and Obi-Wan's blades crossed to each others.
"Adenan! Uncle Tal!" Anakin happily exclaimed
"Hey Master!" Adenan greeted, waving at Anakin just before Obi-Wan made another strike. Anakin half-smiled, before he charged at Mace Windu, he didn't want to fight Obi-Wan until it was absolutely necessary
The two duels occurred, as the Skywalkers fought Mace Windu, and Adenan fought Obi-Wan Kenobi. Orange, Blue, Purple and Green blurs were all that was there.
Both of these blurs slowly headed to the room behind all the duelists, the docking bays, inconveniently.
The Traditionalists, who knew that the Balancers were winning, had attempted to also guide the balancers into the docking bays. The Balancers, despite low in numbers, had the real support of the Force, their connection was two sided, the Traditionalist's Force Power was also double sided, but the connection the Force had to them was weak, and weakening as the duel gone on, giving the Balancers, in a way, an advantage.
Lights streamed into the docking bay, the room gradually being filled with Jedi. Mace Windu frowned, as he duelled his old friend and Anakin Skywalker, if he continued, along with all the Jedi, his side would lose.
And Mace didn't want that.
Mace jumped away from the blue and green blades, as he began raving, "Jedi Traditionalists, we have lost this battle, but do not worry, come with me, and you will be alive! There is another time to defeat the Balancers!"
"Listen to him, my friends!" Obi-Wan urged, after he had run from Adenan
"Are they seriously believing in the lies?" Adenan groaned to himself, putting his hand on his face.
Traditionalists began retreating from the Balancers, the group would have chased their escaping their counterparts, had it not been for Anakin raising his arm, as they all realised, some Traditionalists would have escaped anyway if they continued the battle in the docking bays, they needed to finish off the Traditionalists in a place where no-one would be able to escape.
"Goodbye Anakin." Obi-Wan quickly greeted, as a feeling of dread approached the one it was addressed to.
"Obi-Wan…" Anakin whispered, as he ran forward and shouted, "WAIT!"
But it was too late, as the Traditionalist's ships lifted, Obi-Wan glanced at Anakin for one last time, once, they had been brothers, but it all had been gone, ever since Anakin turned into Darth Vader.
A Sith-Jedi Balancer.
Meanwhile, a similar conversation occurred with Depa Bilaba and Caleb Dume, they had duelled for a while, ever since the attack had started. They had been interrupted by a few Jedi every now and then, but now, it had been them two only, as there was one Balancer per Traditionalist, not counting Talimer, who was an unofficial member of the Balancers, he intended to join after the war finished.
"So, Dume, I shall see you again! This is not the last time we'll fight! You will be disciplined" Depa jumped on a ship, that was being controlled by a droid.
"No. You are not my Master, not anymore!" Caleb exclaimed, with righteous anger.
Right then, their bond broke, Depa gasped, as Caleb, who couldn't handle the strength of it, sat down where he was, Adenan Kornen noticed it, and ran over to Caleb, and sat down with him.
"Fine then. From now, Caleb Dume, we are not Master and Apprentice, but enemies." Depa seethed, she failed… failed to make her Padawan see her way.
Depa Bilaba's ship flew away at that moment, as Caleb brought his head down, thinking about the feeling he just had.
Uncharacteristically, Adenan put his hand on Caleb's shoulder and asked softly, "You okay?"
"No. I always thought my Master was right and good, now… I don't know" Caleb sadly responded
Adenan wondered if he should get away that instant, in his mind, it wasn't right to ask Caleb about it, and talk to the Padawan about it. But that was only inspired from his fear of talking to people he didn't know, the only people Adenan found it easy to talk to were Faro, Bethrona, and himself.
Prodded by the Force, he decided to face the fear, "I honestly don't know how you feel, but I know how it's like to lose someone, but I lost one by death, not by betrayal. But I'm sorry that happened. You may be 14 years old, but I know that one should not be betrayed or shunned by their elders. That leads to bad effects."
"Yeah. It does." Caleb answered, looking at Adenan, his brown eyes seemed to be looking into the Padawan's soul, searching for something, "What is it that you want?", he asked.
"Nothing." Adenan chuckled a bit after he had said that, "I only wanted to see if I could help, nothing more, nothing less. If you need assistance, you can talk to me. I might be able to guide you. You are now a Masterless Padawan Caleb, like I was before Anakin."
Caleb smiled, this guy was nice, and he honestly wanted to help, and didn't say to 'let go' of his feelings, as many Jedi Masters and older Padawans had told him to do. But then, this guy was a Balancer, but Caleb somehow knew that he could trust the guy beside him.
"Name's Adenan Kornen, by the way." Adenan introduced himself, Caleb got the feeling that Adenan wanted his name too.
"Caleb… Caleb Dume.", Adenan smiled after he heard the name.
"Remember, I'll always be available to talk to, it's the least I can do." Adenan patted Caleb's shoulder, as the boy smiled.
Adenan stood up and walked away, he felt something about Caleb Dume… he didn't know what it was. But what he did know is that Caleb would need someone during these troubling times, he needed a friend, better, a Master. The Jedi Padawan quickly realised what he was thinking, and shook his head, as his Master, Anakin Skywalker approached him.
"I saw you comforting Padawan Dume, what was that about?" Anakin asked, a bit curious
"I dunno, honestly, I don't even know why I approached him in the first place." Adenan answered in all honesty.
Anakin put his hand on his chin, he wondered why two people would interact with each other if they didn't know why.
The Jedi Knight then remembered about the story Obi-Wan told him of his first meeting with Qui-Gon, at first, they didn't know why they were introduced to each other, and then they became Master and Apprentice.
Was this the case with Caleb and Adenan, Anakin thought, as he continued to talk to Adenan. Guess time will tell.
So, the battle's over and the Balancers have hold on the Temple, but the story hasn't ended yet, there's another short arc to this story in which the final battle with the Balancers and Traditionalists occur. But you'll see what happens there soon, I'll give you one hint: Ahsoka Tano. Anyway, see ya.