AN: I borrowed Master Xavros from Ruby Silverstar. Go read some of her stories when you are done crying over this. :)

TW: SCENES OF ABUSE

Luminara sat at the small table in the quarters she shared with her Master working on a research assignment. She had to get this done quickly before Master Xavros came home from her Council meeting. Before- no, she sensed her coming now. She closed down the computer quickly and ran to get the kettle ready and prepare her Master's tea. Maybe the meeting went well, she hoped it went well.

The door opened and then swished shut just as quickly, "Where are you, you stupid, good-for-nothing bitch?!" The meeting did not go well.

"Here Master, the tea is almost ready!" Her voice mustn't tremble. It should never tremble. Jedi don't tremble.

"Hurry up!" Xavros said, her voice increasingly irritable by the second.

"Yes Master!" her voice nearly broke, as she quickly came into the room. The tea was fresh off the stove and steaming. She kneeled in front of where her Master had sat down and set out the cup; she wasn't allowed to get one until her Master was satisfied. She was never satisfied. Her hands were shaking as she poured tea into the cup and then backed away, praying that it was right.

Master Xavros snatched up the steaming cup and took a sip. She shouted "Ack! You idiot! This tea is cold!" before flinging the contents onto Luminara and chucking the kettle at her head with the Force, each strike scalding her and causing her to cry out in pain and fear.

"Stop screaming, you pathetic baby!" she grabbed a staff from beside the door and swung it at Luminara's stomach, knocking the wind out of the Padawan and sending her collapsing to the floor, coughing. "Weak!" Whack. "Worthless!" Whack. "Waste of midichlorians!" WHACK, WHACK, WHACK.

Each blow caused Luminara to scream, "Master! Master please! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Please Master! Please stop!"

"I should have abandoned you on Balmorra! I could have left you to kriffing die like you deserve! Useless whore!" Xavros kept beating Luminara while the Padawan kept screaming and begging for mercy. "Only Jedi get mercy!" Xavros declared and hit Luminara harder. The Padawan could feel her ribs breaking as she began crying, hot tears pouring down her face. "STOP CRYING! STUPID CHILD! You want to call yourself a Jedi?! JEDI DON'T CRY!"

Luminara awoke with a start, her clothes soaked with sweat. She looked around in a panic, this wasn't the quarters she shared with her Master. She was a Master. Her own Padawan was on a bunk just across the room, laying peacefully asleep, a quiet snore coming from her. Luminara took a shaky breath, her hands trembling as she brought them to her face. It was just a flashback. Master Xavros was dead, she had been dead for years. She couldn't hurt her anymore. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself before getting up to begin her routine. She checked the time: 0340. She shook her head in defeat. She would never go back to sleep during this cycle anyway. She quietly made her way to the fresher to brush her teeth before making caf for everyone, including… well, she wasn't going to tell anyone "No," to something as simple as caf. He didn't want any.

The shuttle arrived in orbit around Coruscant and was given clearance to land. Shaak had messaged her earlier about the Council's plans regarding the Sith. It made her nervous, but she released her feelings into the Force. She would not think about the nightmare. She took a deep breath as the shuttle approached the Jedi Temple. Lowering the landing gear she stood, looking over at Barriss in the copilot seat and the three troopers snapped to attention. "At ease gentlemen," she replied calmly. A quick glance into the hall at the Sith Lord, looking all the part of a man being walked to the gallows. The onramp lowered and the two Jedi exited the ship, followed by the three clones. The bodies of the fallen would be taken and cared for within the hour.

The five were greeted by a sight of overwhelming force: the entire Jedi Council (those present on Coruscant at any rate, which was still the majority), Master Vos, Knights Skywalker and Secura, and at least twenty others, with a handful she recognized as Padawans, including Barriss's best/only friend Ahsoka, in addition to at least a company of clone troopers and a contingent of the Temple Guard. For some reason the Chief Litigator of the Order was present as well. "Master Unduli," Windu greeted.

"Master Windu." Luminara returned with a bow.

"Where is the Sith?" Windu questioned, his tone that of a hunter seeking his prey.

"I am hither," answered the last one aboard the shuttle. Darth Flayseno, Empire's Wroth and Martial Lord of Loyalty descended the ramp, pure disgust in his grey eyes. His dark hair slicked back in its antique style, had his hair been longer it would have blended into his dark cape, his white clothes contrasting with both and accentuating his fair skin. His mouth curled into an unseen snarl beneath the air filter. "I see thee hast redecorated. Last time I stood hither wast the Sacking of Coruscant, and thy Temple was nought but ash and cinder." Every Jedi present bristled at the declaration, except one.

Depa Billaba's Padawan looked up to his Master and took a breath, which his Master immediately shot down with a firm, "No!"

"But Master Nu said I needed a primary source for my paper on the Great Galactic War!" he argued, pulling out the sad tooka eyes that nearly everyone in the Order knew she was susceptible to.

Except this time, "You are not interviewing a Sith Lord, for your homework Caleb! And that is final!"

Caleb Dume lowered his head in defeat, "Yes Master."

The Dark Lord scowled at the gathered Jedi and soldiers, spreading his arms wide, "Well?!" he shouted, "Dost thee wish to strike down the last Sith?!" He paused for a moment, waiting for an answer as he made his way down the ramp. "Provest thyselves the bloodthirsty monsters we knew you as! Thee who slaughtered mine people! Destroyed mine culture! Ravaged mine nation!" He stood before Mace Windu, waiting, his arms spread wide, not reaching for his assortment of weapons. "I am Roto Naberrie, Darth Flayseno, first of my name, Empire's Wroth, and Lord of the Sith! Have at thee!"

No one rose to the challenge. None dared strike first and be branded a criminal and an aggressor, especially not with public surveillance cams on the nearby light poles. Their own security footage could be doctored or erased but not the Republic's. There were those who were tempted, nonetheless. Skywalker held his unignited blade in his hand, Windu's hand twitched towards his lightsaber, even a few clones were bearing the telltale signs of an itchy trigger finger. Flayseno likewise held position. Yoda hobbled towards the Dark Lord, gimmer stick in hand, and looked up at him. "Seek to attack the Temple again, you do not?"

Flayseno looked down at the gremlin with revulsion, then pain mixed with grief. "And what, prithee, would be the point?" he asked, much to the Grand Master's surprise, as well as that to most within ear shot. "To strike at the heart of the greatest foe of the Empire with nary a hope of success? For what? A last hurrah for a dead Empire? Wouldst that bringeth any of mine family back from the grave? If thou wishest to kill me Jedi, then on with it. Grant me a warrior's death if battle is what thee seekest. Strike me down and finish thy blasted, heretical war against mine people!" None moved. Both sides silently baited the other to an attack which never came. Flayseno lowered his arms and glowered at the Jedi, shaking his head in disgust, "Dishonorable dogs. Canst thee prove thyselves useful in any way then, and point me to the nearest bar?"

A moment of deadly silence before a young knight coughed.

"Well?" Flayseno asked again, louder this time.

A Temple Guard hesitantly stepped forward, "There's uh," he looked around, no one was looking ill at him, "there's a hotel nearby with a bar in it, about half a kilometer from here." He pointed southwards, "Just keep going in a straight line that way."

Flayseno's hardened demeanor softened into one of melancholy gratitude. "I thank thee… Jedi," the last word felt more like a curse which left a bitter taste on the Sith Lord's tongue. With that, he turned on his heel and walked away. The Jedi Council looked at one another in silent worry, the Sith had not taken the bait to start swinging a lightsaber immediately, which considering Luminara's status as being very much alive such was to be expected. Now for Plan Besh, in which Ki-Adi Mundi gave a signal to Vos to start following the Dark Lord to his destination. If there were lucky, there could be a bar fight the Sith was involved in and his containment would be swift. Until then, the Council summoned Luminara to follow them to give a complete rundown of what exactly happened to cause this.

As the rest of the Jedi began to disperse, Ahsoka stayed around to come talk to Barriss, "Still up for lunch with Riyo and me?"

At Riyo's name Barriss felt her chest tighten. "Oh! Yes, yes, I am. Uhm, do you think I should change first?"

Ahsoka crossed her arms, pursed her lips, and looked her friend up and down for a moment. Finally, she asked, "Do you even own any other clothes?"

"Well, I do have some formal wear?" Barriss answered, thankfully not stuttering.

"Why would you need formal clothes?"

"Didn't you say this restaurant was in the financial district?"

"So?"

"So don't they have dress codes?"

Ahsoka gave a smug smile, "Not for Jedi!"

"Oh," wonderful. She was going to present herself as a frumpy ball of wrinkles to the very cute Senator. "Great! That's uh, very convenient."

"Yup!" Ahsoka chirped, completely oblivious to Barriss's mild disappointment, "Come one, let's grab a speeder!"

"Nope."

"What?"

"If you are flying," Barriss declared pointedly, "I'm not getting in it."

Ahsoka crossed her arms, "You're no fun."

"I prefer 'breathing' and 'in one piece' to 'fun.'"

"I'm not a bad driver!"

"You nearly gave Master Yoda a heart attack when he asked you to chauffer him. A man so infamously bad at driving, it is actually illegal for him to be within thirty meters of a motor vehicle on twelve planets with the exceptions of a police cruiser and an ambulance. I'm calling a rideshare service. Are we picking her up at the Senate, her apartment, or are we all meeting at the restaurant?"

Most of the Council sat in their seats staring into Luminara's soul after she finished recounting entering the Sith temple and fighting General Grievous, up to Flayseno awakening and chasing the droid general away with only a single limb, with Obi-Wan and Shaak giving her consoling, worried looks. Mundi was the first to speak, "I'm going to make this blunt. If you were Skywalker, this colossal of a screw-up would be almost expected."

Luminara flinched and Obi-Wan looked at the Cerean master, "Okay, that's being harsh, for both her, and him, and this meeting isn't even about Anakin!"

"For once," Galie muttered, loud enough to definitely have been on purpose.

"My point still stands," Ki-Adi replied before turning back to Luminara, "And why would you give in to his demands to return to Moraband?"

Luminara took a deep breath to steady herself, "As I explained Master Mundi, Barris and I had just been worn down by General Grievous, we were injured, and most of our men were dead. Any battle fought against Flayseno would have been nothing short of suicide. It was my assessment that if we did as he asked, it would have given us time to recover as well as potentially weaken him by forcing him to see the end of Sith civilization."

"And why did you not then try to apprehend him afterwards, allowing him to walk free on the Jedi shuttle?" Windu inquired in a chiding manner.

Luminara stared him directly in the eye. She did not really have an answer for that and so went on the offensive, "I could ask you the same thing, Master Windu. He was right there, unarmed, loudly asking for someone to kill or imprison him. And yet I did not see a single person move to take him up on this offer. Why is that?"

Windu flashed a glance at his fellow Councilors, "To do so on Coruscant would bring… complications. Complications the Order can ill afford." He sighed, we explored numerous possibilities, but rest assured we will have him contained in the near future, unfortunately that requires him to act first.

"Politics as per usual, then?" Luminara quipped, to which Mace nodded.

"Politics as per usual."

Rancisis began his line of questioning, "What do you perceive to be the threat level this Sith will bring in the immediate future?"

Luminara turned her head to face him, pondering for a moment before answering. "Given what I observed over the past few days, and I struggle with this observation as well, he," she paused again, searching for the right words. "This Sith seems, lost. Confused. Dare I even say, scared. It made me think."

"About what?" Plo asked, his tone accusing nothing but rather genuine curiosity.

"About how I would react if, Force forbid, the opposite was to happen. If I were frozen in carbonite and awoke thousands of years later to find a galaxy ruled by the Sith. Where as far as I could tell the Republic had been destroyed for millennia and the Jedi were extinct." She could sense every heart in the room stop at the very thought, "I cannot honestly say I would be taking the news very differently." If she was being honest with herself, she would not be taking the news anywhere near as well, and he was not taking it well at all.

The Kel-Dor leaned back, folding his hands into a pyramid, "That is quite the conundrum to think on. One I pray none of us ever live to see."

A mirthless chuckle from Fisto, "Perhaps we would need our own Rule of Two?"

"I shudder to imagine how that would even work," replied Koon, "Jedi do not tend to kill each other."

Shaak took a sip of her tea.

"Was there anything else he had mentioned?" Obi-Wan asked, "Anything at all that could be used against him?"

"He kept mentioning his wife. I believe she was the 'Elara' I had told you and Master Ti about."

Yoda closed his eyes and hummed, "The future, always clouded it is. Answers in the far past, there may be. Dismissed you are, Master Unduli. Rest, you should."

"Yes, Master. Thank you."

Flayseno had checked in at the hotel for an indefinite period and had gone to inspect it, finding nothing wrong he descended back to bar on the ground floor. Would it be ground? Considering the levels to Coruscant, he shook his head, it didn't matter. He entered the small area with only one other patron, eating a sandwich, and the bartender. It was only 1100 so it was reasonable for the bar to be relatively devoid of life.

"Morning sir," the bartender greeted, "what can I get for you? We have a pretty good burger and-"

"Everyone I know, and love is dead," Flayseno interrupted.

The man stood there dumbfounded, before finally starting with a slow, "Yeah… yeah, it's a- it's a bit early but you probably need it. Whiskey?"

"Yes." The man behind the counter pulled out a bottle with a label the Sith did not recognize, he probably wouldn't recognize nearly any brand anymore, and poured a glass. Flayseno held up a hand as the barkeep made to put it back, "Save thyself time, givest me the bottle entire." The man gave a curt nod and set the bottle down next to the glass. The Dark Lord took a seat at the bar and poured the contents of the glass down his throat, either not noticing or not caring about the cloaked figure coming in after him as he refilled.

Quinlan Vos was something of the Council's go-to man when they needed to spy on a dangerous target, and for the risk this particular target had posed to Lumi, he was more than eager to take him down. He just needed an excuse. The bartender, who doubled as a waiter at this relatively dead hour, came over and he quietly ordered the burger the man was talking about earlier, and some caf. While the Sith was getting plastered, he was going to remain alert.

Anakin was pacing back and forth in Padmé's office, using Ahsoka and Barriss needing a ride to the Senate as a convenient excuse to go see her. "I don't like it," he declared.

"It does sound like a precarious position," Padmé agreed, "I'm sure the Jedi will think of something."

"According to Obi-Wan there's already a plan in place, but of course he won't tell me about it."

"I'm sure he has his reasons," she consoled.

"It's because they don't trust me, that's their reason," he bit back, flinching at his own tone. "I'm sorry, I just- it's frustrating. One minute they're going on and on about me being the 'Chosen One,' who 'is said to destroy the Sith,' but the instant one finally pops up my hands are tied behind my back, and I'm thrown to the side!"

"I know Ani," she replied, coming up to him and resting her head in the crook of his shoulder, wrapping him in a loving embrace that her husband returned. "But the law is the law, you couldn't have done anything without ending up in prison," a mischievous glint flashed in her eye and a smirk appeared on her lips, "and there's only so many times a Senator could make a 'visit' before people ask questions."

He chuckled and returned a half-smile, leaning down to kiss her, a gesture she happily returned.

Not for the first time, Captain Typho stood, in the middle of the room, right in front of them, wondering just how the hell Senator Amidala and Knight Skywalker were still alive when they were this oblivious to their surroundings. The former Queen of Naboo was not making his job easy. At least they were staying clothed. This time. He was not anticipating chasing after whatever rugrat they eventually made, such a child would surely be so airheaded as to make Representative Binks look like a Jedi Master. The image of Jar Jar with a lightsaber was terrifying.

Breaking the kiss, Anakin went on, "There's something else I'm worried about."

"Oh?" Padmé questioned, nuzzling into his chest.

"He shouted his name when we were baiting each other. His actual name."

"What about it? Was it familiar?"

"It was your name. Naberrie."

Now Padmé looked up in concern and mild confusion, "Naberrie? The Sith said his name was Naberrie?"

Anakin nodded.

"Well, I suppose it's possible there's probably some distant cousins from however long ago. I'll have to ask my sister if she knows anything about it, she was always more into our genealogy than I was."

"I'm worried that whatever the Council has planned it will somehow involve you too."

Padmé let out a sound that was almost a chuckle, "Ani, even the Council isn't that stupid."

"You would think, but-" Anakin was interrupted by his wife placing a finger on his lips.

"Shh, Anakin. I'm a lifelong ally of the Jedi, and a lifelong friend of you and Obi-Wan. Nothing bad is going to happen to me because of some inane Jedi plot to capture a distant relative I've never heard of before."

"I still don't like not knowing."

"I know you don't Anakin." Another smile grew across her face and her voice took on a sultry tone as she stood on her tiptoes to reach her lips to his ear, "But I think I know what you will like."

Captain Typho knew from experience to slip out of the room that second. That poor desk.

AN: Next chapter will be more lighthearted I swear it.