Shadow-Walker
This one is non-canon; the Shadow-Walkers are purely my invention. This is set just before Revenge Of The Sith.
I confess I have no idea how this is going to go. I have the first chapter, plus bits, plus the ending (as usual, Force take my fickle bitch of a muse!), and a determination to fit it into canon events.
Which in part is where Third Sister will come in...
Coruscant, the Jedi Temple
A month before the Chancellor is kidnapped
Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi wandered idly through the temple towards its entrance. Master Plo Koon offered a greeting whilst working on routine lightsabre maintenance. Master Ki-Adi-Mundi was giving advanced training to three older Padawans. All in all, he thought contentedly, it was a normal day in the Temple.
But not even a Jedi could see the future (except, intermittently, Anakin, the Chosen One).
Not even Obi-Wan could foresee how much his life was about to change.
"Master Kenobi," a Padawan approached him and asked eagerly, "what of the future?"
Obi-Wan chuckled indulgently. "The future, young one, can take care of itself."
"Shouldn't we be worried about it?"
"Concerned," the Jedi corrected gently, "but never worried." Now he laughed. "Master Yoda has some pointed views of those who live too much in the future. 'Never their mind,' he says irritably, 'on where they are! Or what they are doing!' And believe me," he finished ruefully, "you do not want to be on the receiving end of such a lecture. Keep your mind centred on the here and now, and your attention where it belongs. Be mindful of the future, yes," he added, wistfully remembering the sage wisdom of his own former Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, "but not at the expense of the moment. I -"
He broke off.
Something was wrong.
A - buckle - in the Force was approaching...heavily steeped in the Dark Side.
"I think," he said slowly, "the future is about to be concerned with us. Return to your dorm, Padawan."
"Good advice," a voice said mildly.
They both turned. A nondescript man, apparently human, stood at the entrance. He was wearing a robe of absolute blackness.
He carried a lightstaff.
As they watched, both blades ignited with a cool but powerful blue-green flare.
"Return to your dorm as the Master instructed, young one," he told young Corain, "I have no business with you."
"Do as he says," Obi-Wan ordered quietly, drawing his lightsabre smoothly, igniting it and assuming a Soresu attack posture. The Padawan gulped and made himself scarce. "What do you want?" Obi-Wan demanded.
The figure smiled and executed several skilled spins with the lightstaff. The weapon was not forbidden, merely known to be as dangerous to its user as to its targets and difficult to handle...ironically it was a weapon favoured by the Sith for precisely those reasons. "That I will discuss with Master Yoda."
He did not appear to be a Sith. The blades were an unusual blue-green colour, not red as was Sith-typical. A Sith would force his kyber crystal or crystals to bleed first, imbuing it or them with pain and anger. The blue aspect was of the sky, as his own weapon was, while the green aspect was the colour of life.
Yet Obi-Wan could sense the Dark Side in him.
"I don't think so," Obi-Wan denied. He wanted to attack, sensed it was necessary, but a Jedi never attacked first. That was not why they used the Force.
The stranger took the decision out of his hands, and suddenly their blades were clashing. A few inconclusive exchanges led the man to back off, nodding. "Interesting. Soresu, often called the Diplomat's Form. As simple in structure as it is deceptively difficult to learn, yet you are clearly accomplished." He bowed slightly. "You must have had a great Master, to achieve such skill so young."
Oddly, Obi-Wan sensed he was...sincere in his praise, not mocking at all. He nodded once. "My Master was Qui-Gon Jinn...and yes, he was a great Jedi Master. Wiser and more powerful than either of us will ever be."
"Wiser, perhaps," the man acknowledged, "but more powerful? That remains to be seen."
Obi-Wan brandished his sabre. "For you, or for me?" he challenged.
The stranger only smiled. "Both."
They engaged again, and Obi-Wan had the oddest insight: this one did not desire his opponent's death. He would kill if necessary, though.
Obi-Wan leapt up - and, too late, realised the stranger's trap. He would swing his staff low...and cut Obi-Wan off at the knees.
Until his strike was abruptly blocked.
The stranger backed off to study the newcomer. "A violet lightsabre? Those kyber crystals are rare indeed. And the form...Vaapad?" He smiled. "Of course - Mace Windu, Korun Master of the Jedi. By reputation, a most formidable opponent."
"What do you want?" Mace inquired, spinning his sabre into ready position over his head.
"For the moment, merely an audience with Master Yoda."
Mace shook his head. "I am the next most senior Council member. Whatever you have to say, you may discuss it with me."
But the man shook his head, too. "A Korun Master is too close to the Dark Side for my taste. I require the services of the purest Jedi."
"For what?"
"I repeat: I will discuss that with Master Yoda. I assure you that even both of you, skilled as you are, will not stand in my way if I choose to pass you."
"You will see Yoda over our dead bodies," Obi-Wan said bravely.
The man sighed with genuine regret. "If such is the will of the Force."
"You're a Sith Lord," Mace deduced, and looked even grimmer than usual. "Perhaps the very one we seek."
"An understandable mistake," the stranger allowed, "but no, I am not a Sith. Not yet, perhaps not ever."
"But the Dark Side is strong in you," Obi-Wan doubted.
He nodded. "It would be, given my upbringing. It may surprise you to learn I am not an enemy. But I must see Master Yoda. I can let nothing stand in my way. Not even two Jedi Masters." With that, he attacked.
Obi-Wan was reminded vividly of the duel with Darth Maul on Naboo (background checks and an exhaustive search had finally yielded his name). All the while he was apparently retreating, even as a Padawan Obi-Wan had understood that Maul wasn't retreating so much as seeking greater manoeuvring room. He was not giving ground.
Nor, he realised, was this man. He was incredibly skilled, drawing on every discipline, every form - even Vaapad. Both he and Mace were stymied - neither could advance, yet neither was he letting them retreat. This combat would, he knew, end in death.
For whom, he wasn't sure.
Until a furious yell came from off to one side - and both sabres plus the staff flew into the air. Released from the grip of their owners, all three were extinguished, a safety feature incorporated into them by the Scorekeeper's Herald, the inventor of the lightsabre.
"Stop this, you will! Or answer to ME, you must! Recommend this I do not!"
Yoda stood there, holding all three weapons in the air using the Force, as he had used it to wrench them from their owners' grasp, taking advantage of their battle focus which had also served as a distraction. "With courtesy, we greet visitors to the Temple! Forgotten this you have, Masters! Padawans, are you? Hear him out, we will! If enemy he is, then destroy him I will. But...enemy he may not be. Forgot this, too, you did. So," he addressed the man, "who are you, mmm? Come to the Jedi Temple, you do...why?"
He fell to his knees. "For the same reason everyone comes here: to learn the ways of the Jedi, Master Yoda. I am K'Lan."
"You," Mace panted, "are no Padawan." That was clear from the way he'd fought both of them to a standstill. Either of them was, he knew, a formidable opponent, albeit in different ways. Yet the stranger had withstood both, and still seemed fresh.
"True," he nodded. "My apprentice days are long past. But even Master Yoda would agree that we all have much to learn of the Living Force. Even him. Am I not right, Master Yoda?"
"Mmm," Yoda concurred, "true that is. Infinite, the Force is. Much to learn, even I have. A wise observation it is, from one so young. Come closer, young one," Yoda requested. The man rose and knelt respectfully before him. "Mmm...clouded by the Dark Side, your future is. See it I cannot. A...duality, there is. Yes...both sides of the Force, you perceive. Yet no conflict there is." He nodded grimly. "Only one thing can you be."
Mace got it instantly, and shook his head, frowning. "Impossible. They're all dead."
"So you thought about the Sith," the man told him pleasantly. "The Jedi were wrong once; why not again?"
"A Shadow-Walker, this one is," Yoda pronounced, ignoring Obi-Wan's "A what?". "Come. Meet with the Council, we must."
"Master," K'Lan requested politely, "my staff?"
"Unsure of your intent I still am," Yoda told him. "If no hostility you intend, returned it will be." Using the Force, he sent the two sabres back to their owners, who plucked them out of the air and returned them to their belts.
K'Lan inclined his head. "As you wish, Master. No rush."
He seems...accommodating, Obi-Wan mused, puzzled. Strange. A Sith...yet not. What is a...Shadow-Walker?
The Jedi resolved to discuss it with Chief Librarian Jocasta Nu. If anyone would know, she would.
The Jedi Council Chamber
Shortly after
"Tell us about yourself," Ki-Adi-Mundi requested.
"You may recognise my father's name," K'Lan began. "He was D'Lan."
They did indeed. "A Jedi initiate," Mace nodded, and added darkly, "A failed initiate."
"Yes. He was a bit...wild. He couldn't live with the discipline. My mother...well, her name is unpronounceable in Standard," K'Lan admitted ruefully. "But she was a Nightsister of Dathomir. A Cthrunian, a powerful one."
"Hence your connection with the Dark Side," Obi-Wan nodded. He knew the Nightsisters.
Some he knew very well indeed.
"Extensive genetic engineering was needed to make me possible at all; they were almost incompatible. But my Force abilities were apparent from the cradle. My mother, though, taught me most of what I know." K'Lan sighed. "She was obsessed with the Sith. Convinced I could bring them back. But when I was about eight, I sensed the Light, and it was then that my father started teaching me, in secret, about the Jedi.
"But I felt drawn to both sides. It was very strange. Mother found out, and was furious at first, but Dad had a way of arguing without saying anything. So in the end they both taught me. But two years later I realised I could feel, and use, both sides of the Force. I struggled to understand for years. Then I read an ancient manuscript my mother had, which briefly mentioned the Shadow-Walkers. Suddenly everything became clear.
"I knew, though, that I was learning more about the Dark than the Light, and I knew Mother was dominant. I needed more balance. So I decided to come here, to learn about the Jedi from the wisest and most powerful source of knowledge. Hence my interest in meeting Master Yoda."
"Which way do you lean?" Mace asked.
K'Lan shrugged. "I don't know yet. I follow the will of the Force, as do we all. I grant you that I may become a powerful enemy. But equally, as Yoda saw, I could be a powerful ally. I ask only that you take the risk of allowing me to learn as much as I can."
"If we refuse?" Obi-Wan wondered.
K'Lan smiled dangerously. "Then it's quite possible that Darth Sidious will seduce me to the Dark Side...and Force preserve you if that happens. Mercy is a quality lacking in Sith Lords."
"Keep your friends close...but your enemies closer," Mace observed quietly. "But...which are you?"
"I honestly don't know," K'Lan admitted. "The Force will decide, as it decides all things. I fear nothing, for all is as the Force wills it."
That was true, they all knew. There was no fear; there was the Force. But Shadow-Walkers were called that for a reason: they straddled the boundary between Light and Dark, learning from both. Too many Shadow-Walkers had chosen the Dark Side...or had the Dark Side chosen for them. A very few had adopted the way of the Jedi.
The vast majority, however, had gone insane, or had died...usually insane, their minds shattered.
In a low voice Obi-Wan said quietly, "Master, dare we take the risk?"
Yoda just looked at him. "Greater risk there is that fall to the Dark Side he will. If on our side he is, a great ally will he be. A chance, there is. Not all Shadow-Walkers turned to the Dark Side. A few, great Jedi they became."
"And...if you're wrong? If he does fall?"
"Then a danger he will be...but a danger who will be close. Deal with him we will, if turned away from the Light he is. A risk it is, agree I do...but a risk worth taking, it is, as risky but as worthwhile as training Skywalker." He nodded and turned to K'Lan. "Welcome to the Temple, you are, K'Lan. Teach you, I will. But...if to the Dark Side you fall, destroy you I will. Understood this must be." He looked grim. "Hesitate I shall not."
K'Lan bowed respectfully. "Thank you, Master. If I become a Jedi, I shall not fail you. If I become a Sith..." he grinned, "...I will likely exterminate Sidious as a threat and take an apprentice of my own."
"A trivial threat he is not," Yoda warned. "Seek him out, we do. Elusive he is."
"We'll find him," K'Lan declared confidently. "And when we do, we'll destroy him."
See we shall, Yoda thought. But...misplaced your confidence may be.
He had no idea how right he was.
"You'll teach him about the Jedi?" Anakin wondered later, having heard the news: a stranger, steeped in the Dark Side, had fought Masters Kenobi and Windu to a standstill...yet Master Yoda had allowed him entry. More, he was allowing him to train.
To his surprise, Yoda shook his head. "Teach him of the Light Side, I will. But influence his choice I cannot. His own destiny, he must decide." As Anakin frowned Yoda explained: "This way, the maximum power and knowledge he will accumulate. The way of the Shadow-Walker, this is, His eventual choice, the Force itself will show him. As long as possible will he defer the choice, to maximise his power and knowledge."
"But it must be made?"
"Mmm. The nature of the Force, it is. One must choose: Light or Dark. Jedi or Sith. But if too long he leaves it, torn in two his mind will be. Insane, he will go. Die, he likely will. Many Shadow-Walkers, die they did, in pain and insanity. A risky path it is."
"What will K'Lan be?"
Yoda shook his head again. "Only the Force knows, young one. Decide it we cannot. Even he cannot. The right choice - the right one for him - must he make. And make it, I think, he will. Well aware of the risk, K'Lan is."
"Master, I'm not sure I trust him," Anakin admitted.
Yoda merely nodded, but thought: Not sure I am that I trust you, young one.
The Jedi Library
Shortly after
"Master Kenobi," Jocasta inclined her head, "you wish to know more of our newest arrival?"
"So the tales are true," Obi-Wan joked, "gossip truly is faster than any starship." He sobered. "Master Yoda used a term I've never heard before - he called K'Lan a Shadow-Walker. I'd like to know more."
"Ah," Jocasta nodded gravely, "that explains why he wields a Sith-style weapon with non-Sith blades. Yes. Shadow-Walkers are normally so rare we seldom think of them. As you know, a new Force user may learn of the Sith and, if he accepts the Rule of Two, destroy the apprentice and take his place. A Padawan learns of the Light Side and chooses: Jedi or Sith. Normally one perceives one side of the Force or the other...normally.
"But a few individuals," she continued in a lower voice, "can sense and use both sides. A long time ago, not long, in fact, after the birth of the Je'daii," she used the ancient archaic term, "a Master realised he could make use of this. He could and did learn from both sides of the Force, and became truly powerful. He walked along that narrow line between Light and Dark."
"In the shadows," Obi-Wan comprehended, "hence the name."
"Precisely. It is a balancing act. But in the end, the dual nature of the Force demands a choice: Light or Dark. That first Shadow-Walker, alas, left his choice too late."
"What happened to him?"
She looked grave, bleak. "The unrelieved mental stress tore his mind asunder. He ended insane, in pain and anguish. Death by his own Padawan's blade came as a mercy. He was the first, but not the last. Over the millennia some Force users have followed. A very few became Jedi Masters of great power and wisdom. Some became Sith Lords, until the purge by Darth Bane. Most, however...went mad. They erred in deferring the choice a little too long. One must feel one's own destiny, and choose it. But they did not, and so they fell to insanity. This is the risk K'Lan faces."
"The risk we all face," Obi-Wan understood now, "an insane Force user could wreak havoc."
Again Jocasta nodded. "Exactly. He is the first Shadow-Walker in over three centuries. Having learned much of the Dark Side from his mother, now he seeks balance by learning also of the Light. I am sure Master Yoda knows what he is doing. But...he takes a great risk. I cannot downplay the danger K'Lan may pose."
"Whether as a madman or as a Sith," Obi-Wan nodded. "Thank you, Jocasta."
Senator Amidala's chamber, 500 Republica
That night
"A what?" Padmé asked curiously.
Anakin replied, "A Shadow-Walker. It's no surprise you haven't heard of them, few people have. Master Yoda told me there hasn't been one in over three centuries. He feels both sides of the Force, but...he must choose one, sooner or later."
"And...if he doesn't?" she asked, intuiting the answer with dread.
"He'll be driven mad." He scowled. "It's an insane risk! He should just choose now! But...he wants to maximise his power and knowledge."
"You'd know all about that, Anakin," his wife said carefully, "because you do, too. Don't deny it."
Anakin winced. "I can't deny it. I confessed it. I...I worry about the future." About you dying in childbirth.
She glided to his side and kissed him. "The future, my love, can take care of itself."
"It'd better," Anakin groused, but kissed her in return.
Normally his wife's wise words would soothe him.
But not this time.
That night he was visited again by a nightmare vision. He woke, crying out.
And not too far away, Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith, the true source of his visions, gloated, Soon. He will be ripe for exploitation soon. But I have waited so long...a little more. Ironic - patience is a tool much favoured and used by the Jedi, too.
But they have no concept of its true meaning!
Soon, now, they will learn!