Chapter 21 - Vengeance Rising
Author's Note: Writing from Windu's POV is terrifying, and I'm not fully happy with how it turned out, buuuut let me know what y'all think! :) I will not apologize for the cliffhanger. ;)
~ Amina Gila
Two months earlier
Lightning consumes him, whiting out his senses with pain, and Windu can't even scream as he's thrown through the shattered window.
Then, he falls, and it's only through sheer luck that he's able to use the Force to cushion himself as he slams into a building, gravity dragging him inexorably downward. When he hits the ground, he's lucky that he doesn't break half of the bones in his body. It's only due to a last-minute desperate tug on the Force that saves him from death, the residual power of his Vaapad use and the Dark energy Sidious hurled at him fueling him.
His body is aching, pain stabbing through his nerve endings – pain from the electrocution and from his right wrist being severed. His head hurts, too, and it's only now, crumpled into a heap on the duracrete that Windu realizes he cannot see out of his right eye. Dimly, he remembers feeling the pain as his kyber crystal shattered, lightsaber exploding. Something must have hit him in the eye. He's bruised and bleeding, nearly dead, but he draws on the Force, dragging himself into an alley to hide.
Sidious won, and that means the galaxy is doomed.
Windu has not managed to catch his breath and siphon away the worst of his pain before he feels the wave of death and darkness washing across the galaxy. He shuts himself off from it as much as he can, but he knows he lost. They lost. The Jedi are...
Gone.
They're gone, but that is not something on which he can focus, not right now. Survival comes first. Vengeance comes later.
He locates his mostly destroyed lightsaber and finds a stray scarf which he uses to hide his face from view as he limps through the alleys, searching for someone who can help him. Though he is not as skillful as a trained Jedi Shadow might be, Windu still knows people who are friendly to the Jedi. It is to one of them that he goes, and there, he finds shelter. He doesn't stay long, only long enough to heal from the electrocution and get a prosthetic hand to replace the one he lost.
His right eye is... damaged. When his kyber crystal exploded, a shard embedded itself in his eye socket, causing him to lose his vision. Physical vision. His Force vision is a whole other story, and he will need time and training to adjust to seeing without seeing. The crystal is a part of him, and kyber is more strongly connected to the Force than many other materials. He may be able to master a form of sight that is unheard of, but that, too, will come later.
First, he finds a small, rundown apartment where he can hide out. No one will look here – it was kept for Jedi Shadows, and he doubts the Empire will come this far down in the Underworld. Here, he can recover and plan his next moves. The Sith may have won – temporarily – but he will not allow them to remain in control of the Republic.
No, the Empire, because the first move Palpatine made was to reform the Republic into a galactic Empire. That, too, is something Windu does not know how to process. The Republic endured for a thousand years, far longer than any Jedi has been alive. He grew up knowing that it would be his duty to serve the Republic and to protect it, and when the Clone Wars broke out, that role became even more important. Being a Jedi became synonymous with fighting for the Republic and for freedom, and Windu does not know who he is without that.
He is a Jedi, and that means he must fight for the Republic, except... there is no Republic left. Fighting from the shadows is not a thing to which the Jedi are accustomed. They worked together as an organization, but there is no Order left. The knowledge rings hollowly, and Windu struggles to accept these unexpected changes. The Jedi sacrificed so many of their ideals for the war. They gave up their way of life at the behest of the Senate, the same Senate which is so publicly in support of the new-Emperor's actions against the Jedi Order.
After everything they sacrificed, they still lost. They lost, yet that is not an outcome Windu can accept. He is a Jedi. He cannot put down his lightsaber until he has finished the fight, no matter what it takes. He has lost... everything. Everyone. If he is the last of the Jedi, then he cannot stop fighting in the names of all his brothers and sisters who lost their lives due to the machinations of the Sith. Of Sidious.
The Order is gone, but he, at least, is still here, and he will not stop.
He cannot stop.
Time has no meaning down in the Underworld, so Windu does not know how many weeks it has been when he ventures to the surface and sneaks into the Temple. He obtains supplies to rebuild his lightsaber and borrows another one, a blue one. Blue is a color that many Jedi use, and should he use his purple saber in public, Sidious may learn of his survival. Better to keep it hidden.
He also enters the secret vault in which the Council stores dangerous artifacts. For a while, he considers destroying everything inside so the Sith cannot get their hands on them, but then... he hesitates. Some of them could be useful.
In the end, he takes one of them back to his apartment. It's one he's heard of vaguely, and it feels... important somehow.
Windu hides in the Underworld for weeks, recovering, learning how to adapt to a prosthetic, experimenting with how his kyber eye might work. He also studies the artifact, and he realizes how useful the knowledge contained therein will be. He will need any advantage he can get for the next time he goes after Sidious. And it is a when. Though he lost the first time, he does not intend to lose again. He cannot afford to lose again. The galaxy depends on it.
And then, a full two months after the formation of the Empire – and his own fall into the Underworld – Windu leaves. He goes back to the Temple and retrieves a special mask from the forbidden vault. He is ready to destroy Sidious.
But when he sees Jocasta Nu, he helps her, and as he does, he formulates a new plan.
He will not fight like Sidious would expect a Jedi to. It would be too predictable. No, he will fight from the shadows. He will fight like a shadow, like the predator that the Fallen Jedi accused him of being.
For Sidious does not just have one Fallen Jedi on his side. He has many, and he has the most powerful Jedi of all.
Anakin Skywalker.
Windu felt his presence soaking the walls of the Temple, saturated with darkness that only a Fallen Jedi turned Sith could achieve. Anakin Skywalker turned to the Dark Side and helped in the destruction of the Jedi Order.
Perhaps the prophecy was wrong.
**w**
One month later
Jocasta doesn't stay. Windu had not expected her to. She isn't a fighter, and she has chosen her own path, which is different from his, though it's no less important. He continues to train, practice, and prepare for the coming fight. He also searches for other survivors, though he finds none. If there are any here on Coruscant, they are well hidden. Undoubtedly, there are Jedi on other worlds, but they are of no use to him now.
The Coruscant Underworld is the last place Sidious would expect to find him, and after the message he sent back to the Empire by letting the Fallen Jedi escape, he knows he is safe down here. Imperial forces will not return. At first, he had not been so certain, but as time passed, and when he saw that the bodies were left down here to rot, he knew.
Sidious is no fool, and he will not waste resources to track down and destroy a Jedi he does not even know. The Empire will come for him, eventually, but for now, Windu knows he is safe.
He works to expand his network, searching for those who are still favorable to the Jedi. Cantinas are a good source of information, but the more he goes to them, the more he finds himself giving in to the very un-Jedi-like desire to drink. Drinking for show turns into something else. It's not the Jedi way, and Windu feels so small amount of shame at it, but he – it is hard to be the only surviving Jedi. Once, he could have gone to Master Yoda with his troubles or turned to any number of other colleagues. They struggled together and supported each other, but down here, he is alone, and the Underworld is a dark place.
Meditation, which was always his normal answer to conflicted feelings, is all but impossible. When he reaches into the Force, all he feels is the death that soaks it. The galaxy is filled with thar Darkness, and with the Jedi gone, the Light has dimmed. There is no peace to be found in the Force.
Alcohol numbs the pain. He cannot feel quite so keenly the weight of death and despair that soaks the air if he drinks.
It isn't the answer, and Windu knows it, but it is also not preventing him from reaching his goal, so he doesn't try to stop. There will be time for that later when there is actually hope.
So, what if he ends up being involved in a few barfights when he hears someone slandering the Jedi – his deceased brothers and sisters? They're too far down in the Underworld for someone to suspect him as being anything other than a Jedi sympathizer, and there are thousands down here already. There is no reason for anyone to think he could be a Jedi. Still, he's careful, just in case. No need to take unnecessary risks.
He kills sometimes, criminals and other potential threats to his existence. He doesn't like to kill, of course, but he grows used to it. Numb to it. After he killed everyone the Empire sent down except one Fallen Jedi, Windu has forced himself to adjust to this new life. He isn't a Jedi Master anymore. He's...
In the eyes of the Repub– Empire, he's a traitor. These are difficult times, and what matters most is finding a way to bring down Sidious and his allies, so the Republic can return. There is a price to be paid, and that price is blood. The people he kills are not innocents.
Time blurs together, so he doesn't know how many weeks it is before he stumbles on an ally. An agent of Saw Gerrera contacts him, and Windu realizes that this is his answer. Here is someone who can help him. This is someone with whom he can begin to build a network to fight back. It's the first time he leaves Coruscant, stealing aboard a transport and making his way to Onderon. Gerrera and his rebels are more than open to working with him, and Windu helps them there, attacking an Imperial garrison.
He is not merely making a point and striking another blow to the Empire. It is also his declaration of war. He will fight, and he will kill. He will do whatever he has to do to take down the Empire and restore the Republic. Without the Republic, the galaxy will descend into chaos, and they have come too far and done too much to stop now.
Killing the clones is... It is.
Windu has never been as close with the clones as some other Jedi, but he still valued their lives deeply. He was responsible for them, and they were living beings. He thought he could trust them, but... he was wrong. The clones turned on the Jedi without a second thought. Whatever protection he thought he owed him was baseless. He does not want to hurt them, per se, but they sided with the Empire, and by doing so, they made themselves enemies of the Jedi.
They helped destroy the Order. Windu doesn't owe them anything, not anymore.
Palpatine thinks he's won. He thinks that now that he's the Emperor, he's safe. He thinks that the war is over.
Palpatine is wrong.
The war is just beginning.
**w**
Obi-Wan studies the information that Bail collected about the unknown individual, trying to pinpoint a pattern of attack so he can figure out where Anakin might be hiding. It must be Anakin. Who else could be going around the galaxy, causing so much chaos while never being caught?
He should have known that Anakin would never be able to give up the fight. He is too passionate. Too good. He cares so deeply, but it is that passion which might yet save the galaxy. If anyone can bring down Sidious, it is Anakin. Anakin will find a way through sheer stubborn determination because that is what he has always done, and Obi-Wan needs to be there to make sure his former padawan doesn't die before the end.
But no matter how much investigating he does, the attacks seem fully random. The dates and times are... well, they're random. Anakin would not strike without purpose, so whatever the reasoning is, Obi-Wan is unable to see it. Maybe he's overlooking something, or perhaps he is missing a key piece of information which is making it impossible for him to understand what he is seeing.
Either way, the intel is unlikely to make more sense, even if he meditates on it. It's time to leave Alderaan. He needs to go out and start searching on his own. Anakin is out there, and he will find him. It's been over half a year – almost six months – since the Empire formed.
He lives in the Alderaanian palace, in a mostly unused guest wing. The only people who know he is here are those Bail trusts implicitly, and the cover story is that he's a distant relative who lost his family. He keeps to himself, preferring solitude to the company of others, but Bail was gracious enough to give him a place to stay after he lost everything. It's close enough to the truth that no one asks questions.
It's nearly evening, late enough that Bail and Breha have undoubtedly retired to their private chambers, which means Obi-Wan can go to them and tell them he's leaving. He takes the servant's corridors, going through back halls and secret passageways to avoid being seen.
He's halfway there when he feels the Force ripple and hears the scream. It's instinct that makes him turn toward it and go to investigate. The scream came from one of the guest rooms, and Obi-Wan glances in cautiously to see an Imperial officer – Bail had mentioned that the Empire sent someone here to presumably spy on him under the guise of finalizing some agreements – hanging in the air. He's clawing at his throat, trying to break away from an unseen attacker. Someone is using the Force on him.
Obi-Wan's heart skips a beat, and he hesitates for only a moment before bolting into the room. "Stop!" he yells when he sees a dark-robed figure standing there, hand outstretched.
The Force shifts as the officer – Barokki or something like that – is yanked forward. There's a snap-hiss as a blue lightsaber ignites, stabbing the man in the abdomen and sliding upward to nearly bisect him. The body falls to the floor with a dull thump.
"Who are you?" Obi-Wan demands. The description matches that of the individual that Bail gave him the intel on, but that means nothing. It could be someone else entirely. He can feel a sense of familiarity from the Jedi, though there is something... elusive about him.
For a long moment, there is no answer, and then, "... Kenobi," says a mechanicalized voice, distorted by the vocoder of a helmet.
Obi-Wan steps closer, hand falling to the hilt of his lightsaber. "Stand down," he orders.
"Tell me where he is," the stranger demands.
"... Who?"
But he can feel the Force pressing on his mind as this Jedi tries to rip through his shields and find something. He doesn't hesitate to ignite his lightsaber, and the stranger lunges at him, their blades crashing together. Obi-Wan can't make out who it is, and he feels a stab of shock when he catches sight of the helmet concealing the man's face. He knows that helmet. He's seen it before, in the secret vault located deep within the Temple.
Who is this Jedi? Is he even a real Jedi?
It takes all of Obi-Wan's focus to avoid being injured or killed as he fights off his mysterious attacker. The stranger stops suddenly, pulling back. "He is not here," he intones, stepping back. He turns, leaping through the window and disappearing into the night before Obi-Wan can follow. He takes a moment to catch his breath, knowing how fortunate he is. That could have gone so much worse. The rogue Jedi, whoever he is, is powerful. Obi-Wan is lucky to have avoided injury.
Bail is concerned when Obi-Wan tells him the news. By the morning, no traces of the man have been found. All they were able to ascertain is that he is heading to Coruscant, though for what purpose remains to be seen. With no signs of Anakin and a greater mystery in front of him, Obi-Wan decides to follow. He wants to know who this mysterious Jedi is... and who he was trying to find.
He is going to Coruscant, no matter how foolish or risky that may be.
**w**
The Seventh Sister stares at the readouts on her datapad, watching the live feed as her droids comb through the Underworld, searching for traces of the Predator. He has not been seen again since the Empire sent forces after him who never returned. The only survivor was Lord Inquiere, but they haven't stopped looking. The Predator is good at hiding, she'll grant him that. Sending small droids to locate him covertly seems to be working best. They sent probes once, but they were all neutralized in short order, either by him or by other criminals.
Her datapad pings, and she pulls up the screen, looking at what the droid is telling her. Her heart skips a beat, but it doesn't change.
There has been a match, not for the Predator, but for someone else.
Another highly sought after Jedi.
Obi-Wan Kenobi.
A grin spreads across her face. The Emperor will love this.
Final Notes: Reviews are always appreciated! ^-^
Come hang out on Discord (delete spaces), discord . gg / nqSxuz2 or find us on tumblr at fanfictasia (our more serious blog which does have controversial posts on it; I won't be offended if you choose to block it, promise), and disastertriowriting (which is our fun blog with crack posts or incorrect SW quotes)
We've got a YT channel for tributes! (delete the spaces) youtube channel / UC_g1M5rSCxJUzQCRS29B6pA
ALSO: We have SW gift request forms for General, Anakin-Clones-centric, and Bad Batch fics. :D (delete spaces) bit . ly / CourtesyTrefflinFicRequests