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emmaofnormandy · 2 years

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~The salvation of the sinner: a queen and her knight [a world where there’s no Thomas Seymour]~ [part II]

Anakin appreciated the early hours in the morning as all the household had not awaken yet and he was found all by himself. The first thing he did was to make sure the Sudeley castle and it’s surroundings were deprived of an threats. After that, he broke his fast. By the time he was wide awake, sun began rising and he was meditating in the gardens.

Much to his dismay, Anakin found in himself sentiments that, though he always knew they were there somehow, he thought to have prevailed over them. But every now and then he dreamed about death, the sweet invitation of the dark side to prevent it. It could be anyone he dared to care for: his best friend and mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi, his Padawan Ahsoka Tano, the former queen of England...

What?

Anakin opened his eyes, his heartbeat suddenly going faster than what usually was. Why’d he care for his mistress? It’s been only a few weeks ever since he came to her service and he was always apart of the household, knowing his place, despite Katheryn’s attempts in making him feel welcome and a part of it. Sometimes, he engaged in small talks to her and the lady Elizabeth, her stepdaughter, but Anakin preferred to be distant. Eventually, she ceased her attempts in being friendly. They were now just... formal to each other.

It was for the best.

He could see an attachment on her part, aware she felt attracted to him. But then... there were the nights she was scared, frightened and haunted by her nightmares. Anakin remembered how once he thought she was under attack or something similar.

I felt a disturbance in the Force.

He quickly dressed in his dark robes and, holding his lightsaber by his right hand, entered the queen’s privychambers only to see she was having a bad dream. But Anakin noticed her eyes filled with tears, her red-ish hair all loose and a complete mess... the nightgown so tight to her body, and he thought he could see her breasts.

A sight he now tried to sweep out of his mind. How could he desire her? Yes, she possessed a beauty that no lady Senator, Duchess or Queen Anakin ever came accross in the Galaxy could’ve been blessed to. Her laughters restaured anyone’s peace, and could he deny her a smile when she glanced at him with a gentleness that very few in her station was gifted?

But that night he held her tight against his chest, feeling the desperation as she clung onto him. As if she feared for her life. Anakin could see all of her life through a blink of an eye: her birth, her education, her roles as wife, stepmother, lady and... Queen of an entire realm. He could see the fear ignating in her bones as she was told the King desired her. He could see the moment she bursted into tears, wishing she’d never come to him.

He also saw the moment Katheryn Parr was greeted by Henry VIII, the king of England, the sovereign who held absolute power and who, Anakin could swear, might as well had been a Darth Sith in his lifetime. He was cruel, egoistic and had sent two wives to death for absolutely no reason other than his paranoias.

Anakin saw the conspiracy to remove Katheryn of her place as queen and the moment desperation came to her eyes, the possibility she might face death and how could she save herself by not risking her reputation. She bent her pride and went to the king, doing what he wanted her to do: to submit to his will. She was spared. The conspiracies had not the same luck.

But the Jedi Knight could also see other shades Katheryn did not permit people to see. His eyesight went far beyond the roles the former queen tied herself to. He saw the darkness that existed beneath all her suffering: her ambitions, her ideals of Protestantism, how she enjoyed having power in her hands when she was left regent of England.

In truth, was I any more different than she is?

However fast those minutes were when he held her close in the moments where trauma came uninvinted, Anakin realized they were so much alike than he thought.

***

“I thought I’d find you there”, Katheryn finally showed up at the depth of the gardens far from her household’s sight.

She was having her hair loose again in the manner of a Tudor lady, though. She thought she deserved that. But, because of her station, Katheryn was dressed in a silk purple gown with details embroidered in red. There were pearls in it too. Because it was cold, the sleeves of the gown were very warm in the inside.

So there she was, outdoors, looking for her knight. In truth, she felt she was in need of a companionship. There were moments that being around her ladies were not enough.

Or mayhaps I’d grown used to his presence.

Thirty days after their arrival at Sudeley Castle, and a week after the nightmare event--one of the kind she’d rather forget--, Katheryn knew she might be playing with fire as she came to find him in his favorite spot. Her heart race, but she ignored it. She convinced herself it was after his friendship she came for. Nothing else.

“I do not think I’d go somewhere else, Your Majesty”, Anakin did not open his eyes. But he thought wise to keep his mind focused in the present. He’d hate to think that the fact she was on his mind sort of brought her to him.

“Majesty”, she repeated the title to which he addressed her; and a snort came out of her lips. “I am not a queen for a few months now. How many times should I tell to address me by the name I was given at birth?”

Anakin chuckled softly.

“As many as possible, my lady. I must not forget my position.” He opened his eyes at last and saw her walking around him before finding a seat beneath a pomerade.

“What position? If anything I’ll tell you whether you are being appropriated or not”, she said maliciously. “But do not fret. I assure you I’d never send you to the block. Looks like we are in peace for the moment.”

The Jedi could not help a smirk himself.

“Peace? I hear your country is at war against the Scots again.”

Katheryn waved her hand in a dismissively gesture.

“They are /always/ at war, Master Skywalker. Every now and then. I do not think there was a monarch who did not try to subdue our neighbours.” She sighed. “But peace will come eventually. Edward is not of warlike type like his father was.”

Anakin was not a judge of boy kings characters so he silenced himself.

“Well, I can tell you are not very fond of politics, are you?”

“These are not my expertise field, no, I’m afraid.” And he added: “I am a man of actions.”

“Does the quietude bore you, my lord?”

Their eyes met and this time Anakin felt weakened by how those red-ish lips twirled a smirk.

“I will reserve my right to be silent”, said he.

She laughed. Oh how long had it been since she was brought to genuine laughters?

“Why’s that?”

“Because, ma’am, I fear I’d sound too bold for your ears.” Anakin left his meditation position and moved to where she was sitting. “You are a queen, after all. I must behave accordingly.”

Katheryn rolled her eyes, but gave in to a smile. They were closer now than before, and she found out how much she was enjoying it.

“Is it my obligation to remind you constantly I am no longer a queen, Master Skywalker?” Before he had the chance to respond, she changed topics. “I would like to know about you. Where’d you come from? How did you end up being a well trained knight? Does the knighthood you are tied to oblige you to make vows? So many questions I know, but you should be aware by now I am always inquiring...”

Anakin felt the lingering of her gaze upon him as he looked away, rather unsure how to tell the story. But he decided he’d tell partially the truth. The Jedi Order was a secretive order, though it was often mistaken by an Order of Knights that came from the Templars. Barely people knew how, in fact, it was the other way around. Or so told him Obi-Wan.

So that way, Anakin told her how, as an orphan, he was found in the sands of a realm close to Spain by his master Obi-Wan Kenobi and how deeply connected he was to the Order of Knights. In this conversation, inevitable scars came out and Katheryn could tell there were dark parts of him beneath all the kindness and light-chuckles as he shared bits of his stories with his superior here and there.

She could see he saw himself as a sort of sinner who, each time he went to fight other people’s battles, thought to deserve to suffer any physical punishment. The scar he earned after fighting for the Emperor was a clear sign of that. Finally, as he finished talking, Katheryn took his hand to hers and said:

“By what you told me, I can tell that the order of knighthood you are bound to is mistaken to one thing.”

Anakin never thought to hear such a thing and the confusion in his face made it clear. But Katheryn smiled before continuing:

“We are all made of dark and light within. When darkness overcomes the light, however, is the moment our Lord is asking us to examine our conscience. That is the precise time where we should ask ourselves: is this the true path I should follow? Does this speak truth to my heart and reason to my mind? Otherwise, how else are we expected to find this balance your order praises? You cannot reach light without finding darkness in the way. It is not by defeating it that you’ll become a better master, but by embracing it and accepting it is part of who you are. So that is how you’ll master yourself and faith will speak it by itself.”

They fell quiet after a few moments and stared deeply into each other’s eyes. It was when, in a subtle and soft gesture, Anakin took her hand into his. Somehow he felt listened. Believed. Trusted. He felt seen. And as Katheryn held his hand in return, intertwining their fingers, she blushed under his gaze.

She felt loved for the very first time in her lifetime...

(to be continue)

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avenger09 · 2 years

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The Owl House: No Way Home Style Trailer

[A weakened Belos sits in a ruin without his mask, with his tattered guards sat about him, addressing Luz and co]

"You recklessly sought to create a portal home..."

[Images of the Boiling Isle shifting and the sky filled with distorted magic]

"but in doing so you called out and brought to the isles..."

[a red Lightsaber Ignites frightening the Emperor's coven]

"dangers..."

[Maleficent appears in green flame within the palace]

"from every..."

[Hexcide explodes with a Green Goblin cackle]

"reality."

Luz: "There are other realities?"

[Eda stands in front of the Owl House couch addressing the gathered team]

Eda: "If we're going to beat these yahoos..."

[A prince picks up his scabberd, a yellow lightsaber ignites, a bispecticaled duck puts on a tophead, and a superhero leaps to the ground]

"...we're going to need get some yahoos of our own."

Spider-Man: "Well as far as mutli-dimensional crisis' go this isn't the worse I've been apart of."

[BB-8 rolls up beside King and beeps]

King: "Ngh. Get your own spot. Eda, the sentiant ball is crowding me!"

Spider-Man: "Though its definitely the weirdest."

Scrooge: "Pah! Wait till your my age laddie."

[Scenes of the Boiling Isles in chaos]

Luz: "Its my fault everything got messed up..."

[Luz unleashes spell glyphs on Maleficent's minions that are pursuing her]

"...I need to be the one that puts thing right."

[Scene of Lilith struggling while locked in a magical clash with Maleficent, before being overwhelmed by the Mistress of All Evil's power and blasted back]

"Too many have already gotten hurt."

Rey: "I know you feel overwhelmed but if you take on everything alone..."

[scene of Luz angrily blasting and freezing stormtroopers as the Goblin watches and grins at the display of power]

...you risk losing yourself."

[Luz stands over a beaten Belos holding his staff]

Green Goblin: This is your chance, to become what you've always wanted to be... Don't let it slip away.

[A mortified Spidy, Rey and Amity look on as she raises it heigher poised to striks down]

Amity: Luz, no!

Green Goblin: Ah ha ha ha!

[Scene of Meleficent in her dragon form, flanked by the Goblin on his glider, Kylo Ren standing atop a ruined building, and Magica DeSpell levitating next to them]

???: Your going to need some help...

[A bearded man in a coat with a sinister aura walks out from the shadows]

Xanatos: Luckily for you, I know someone else who can help.

[Shot of the back of a stone statue which suddenly cracks revealing a living winged humanoid being underneath letting out a roar]

#Disney #the owl house #Star Wars #spiderman #Fantasy #Crossover #sleeping beauty #maleficent #Luz #Amity #Eda #Kylo #Rey #King #Gargoyles #Xanatos #green goblin #Marvel

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passable-talent · 3 years

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i am formerly requesting part 3 of sith reader because,,, i enjoy being irredeemable manipulative asshole ❤❤❤

BREAKTHROUGH! plot has once again returned to my mind. vaguely. she’s an elusive mistress

i didn’t expect to post this so soon after such amazing news !! hayden is back as anakin !! im losing my fucking mind!!! head empty!! i havent had a regular heartbeat in forty minutes!!

SITH!READER- PART 3

part 1 | part 2

Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi stood opposite the other, sabers drawn and humming blue. There was ferocity within the both of them, and when their blades met, it roared between them. Wild, dark golden eyes met warm yet determined blue, and the sabers flashed as their owners lunged for the other.

Obi-Wan, always the showman, no matter how he’d like to deny it, backflipped from their battle to a higher elevation, and calmed his breathing before speaking.

“It’s over, Anakin,” he said, lifting his arms. “I have the high ground.”

You let out a laugh, drawing both of their eyes toward where you sat on the lowest step of a small staircase in the training hall of the Emperor’s personal cruiser.

“Master Kenobi, as much as I adore your theatrics,” you said, leaning forward, your saber resting against your thigh, “I really do hope you’d never say that in a real battle.”

Obi-Wan gave you a smile, stepping down from his perch, saber snuffed, giving Anakin’s shoulder a squeeze as he passed.

“If it’s true, I might. Especially if I know my foe as well as I know Anakin.”

“It wouldn’t have been true,” Anakin said, shooting you a glare, “I could’ve won that, if we weren’t interrupted.” A smirk lit your face, holding your lover’s gaze, and you quirked an eyebrow.

“No, love, I don’t think so,” you said, and you sensed as it raised his temper, “I believe your former master had you beat.”

“Don’t gloat,” Anakin said, narrowing his eyes to you, “Like you’d do better?” You had no time to respond before the friendly teasing was caught by Obi-Wan, who raised his chin.

“Why don’t you give it a try, (Y/N)?” He asked, a professional smile on his face. “You’ve spent enough time dueling Anakin in the past, I’m sure a little variety in your training might be nice.” It caught you off guard like nothing had in the recent years- didn’t he remember your reputation as the Jedi Killer? Was he being sarcastic? Did he really trust you that much?

Or was he smarter than you expected, and knew that if you harmed him, you’d lose Anakin?

Regardless of motivation, you weren’t one to back down from a challenge.

“I don’t know,” you said teasingly as you lifted to your feet and reached for your saber, “How long has it been since you’ve fought a Sith lord? I don’t want this to be an unfair fight.”

“Oh, it’s been a while,” Obi-Wan said, and you didn’t miss the way he tracked your saber, “But you’re not a Sith anymore, remember?”

You illuminated your saber, bathing your face in the red glow, a smile on your lips that you only now allowed to grow wicked, where it would be hidden in the flickering shadows of a lightsaber.

He thought he was bringing you back from the darkness, by accompanying you to the destruction of another separatist stronghold, but it was just the opposite. You were pulling him toward the dark, just as you had Anakin. You’d waited three years for Anakin Skywalker, you’d wait just the same for Obi-Wan Kenobi.

I’m still a Sith, Master Kenobi, you thought to yourself, your force signature humming, it’s you who’s no longer a Jedi.

You launched forward with a roar reflecting only some of the chaos deep under your ribcage, and brought your saber to his with a dark smile. You hadn’t dueled someone who wielded a saber in quite a while, and the steps were so familiar. This wasn’t even your first duel with Obi-Wan; you wondered if he remembered when you’d beaten him, just two short years ago.

Likely not. That day, you’d given him quite a bit of head trauma, so you could move on to Anakin.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was a skilled master, you’d always known that. His technique was flawless and there was no break in his movements, no hesitation. But you were fast, and he wasn’t trained in dueling another lightsaber, one of the great failings of the late Jedi Order.

You didn’t even win the duel, not really- you just gave him enough of a fight to make him short of breath, and stepped away with all the suave and confidence you’d always had.

You had to. Much longer, and you would’ve begun showing your true colors. And you couldn’t have that. Besides- a little trill on your comm meant that the ship was soon to come out of hyperspace.

“Enough of that,” you said, snuffing and clipping your saber to your belt, “We’re almost there.” You collected your robes with a quick motion through the force, and tossed them around your shoulders, your eyes on Anakin as you watched him do the same. It was hard not to have your eyes on him at all times.

Little chatter passed between the three of you as you made your way to the ship bay, preparing for the mission at hand. Anakin trusted your plan implicitly, knowing the strength of your strategic mind intimately, and Obi-Wan trusted Anakin, now matter how he grumbled about the vulnerability of your entrance.

You were one for brute force, you always had been. It was the nature of your bloodlust. You were a bit disappointed that this particular Separatist stronghold was held mostly by droids, as slicing through machines wasn’t nearly as satisfying, but you’d make do.

The portion of the 501st that had accompanied Anakin to the temple were with you now, a small but deadly squadron. Well, if they were deadly before your addition, they were more than lethal now.

“I still don’t like it,” Master Kenobi said as he watched the clones load onto the LAAT transport ship, “Attacking from above leaves us vulnerable until we get within the walls. You’re sure you can get us in?”

You had been leaning against Anakin’s side, as you often were. You had each stashed your formal, outer robes in the personal quarters you were given on the ship, so now you could rest your head on his shoulder without being worried about being tangled in his robes. Yet, when Obi-Wan expressed true, reasonable doubts, you lifted your head.

“Master Kenobi,” you said, a small, genuine smile appearing at the corners of your lips, “I know you still have doubts about me. You surely remember my days as a young, rash, apprentice.” Your hand closer to Anakin, which had been gently running over a particular seam in his outfit, tightened instead into the fabric, as though grounding yourself to him. “I’ve grown, and I’ve found things to value more than anything else in my life. Things I would die to protect.” There was no dishonesty, not in your breath or your bones, as you said it. Sure, Kenobi was not nearly as important to you as Anakin was, but you had grown to care for him, in the weeks he’d been assisting you to guide the galaxy back toward peace.

“Believe me, now, when I say this-” you said, your gaze locked to his, “As long as the two of you are with me, absolutely no harm will come to you. I would never let it happen.”

You had told Anakin, once, that he would be at his strongest when he was by your side. The thought had burrowed into him, and pulled him to the dark side of the force. Master Kenobi was harder to control, harder to predict. He valued order, peace, morality- things you had and still do struggle with. Yet, for all of your setbacks in bringing him to the dark, there was one advantage.

When you’d pulled Anakin, he fought you at almost every step. Obi-Wan was, instead, your willing ally, who agreed with your judgement and trusted you.

So for every step forward he made, getting closer to you, hoping to pull you toward him, you would take a step away. Someday very soon, he’d willingly take a step too far.

And the day he fell, you knew, would be one of the brightest days in your empire. Second only to the fall of Anakin Skywalker.

You’d taken a seat near the cockpit of the LAAT, beside your two former Jedi, though you were barely using it. Your torso rested against Anakin’s shoulder, so you barely used your seat. With one hand he checked over details of the invasion on a tablet, with the other, he absentmindedly ran his thumb up and down your neck. It helped with your meditation.

His Galaxy, Anakin had called you in the past. He didn’t realize how apt the comparison was.

From far away, from distant galaxies, the only facet of yourself that anyone would see was the glittering stars, all flushed into one brushstroke of lightness. This was your portrayal of the just and valiant Emperor, the young politician who had succeeded their mentor and brought peace back to the galaxy.

A bit closer, and one could see the darkness between the stars. The Jedi you’d fought and killed, and Obi-Wan now, could see the bloodlust and battle-hunger. Each would have their own interpretation- was it dark matter, invisible and malevolent, that split the stars? Or was it empty space, neutral, serving as transport between them? Were you using your power as Emperor to serve your darkness, or were you using your darkness to serve the empire?

As one drew closer to the center of the galaxy you were, they could come across planets, the living force, facets of your personality unnoticeable from the exterior. This was the level of your person you shared with Anakin, through your Dyad bond. He could feel your emotion, your pain, he could explore your memories as he wished, intrude into your dreams and meditation as you had to him in the past.

But at the center of it all, where no one could reach, where nothing returned from, holding the galaxy together- the black hole you called your soul.

It is here that you hold everything you can’t even share with Anakin, at least, not yet. It is here that you hold your greed, your pride, your attachment, your rage. It is the black hole that contains your desire to bring the galaxy to your feet, bend it to your will. The black hole deep under your ribcage cages your desire to see Obi-Wan with eyes as gold as his hair, with unquestioning loyalty to your commands. There, you hold your darkest fantasies of corrupting the Jedi order, and doing it at Anakin’s side. Oh, how you wished to see them both with just as much malice and bloodlust as you felt.

It would be a beautiful day.

You stood as the LAAT approached its drop zone, where your squadron would enter and begin cutting down droids until the stronghold was yours, and the Separatists were one step closer to being wiped from the galaxy. Such pests, they were, with their pitiful attempts to resist you. You had been the one to give them any power they now had, even if at the guidance of your former master- how could they ever stand against you?

“Gentleman,” you said, illuminating your saber, your back to the opening of the ship. Your battle hunger roared to life in your stomach, and you smiled, giving them a salute before letting yourself fall backwards.

Free fall- one of your favorite feelings. You twisted gracefully, a master of aerodynamics, until you were facing down, saber ready to stab straight through the metal ceiling of an old palace, which had been converted into a factory and stronghold. You had to admit, if it were clones attempting to cut through the same metal, it would indeed leave them vulnerable to droid fire, just as Obi-Wan suspected, but it was you doing the cutting.

Focusing the force, you stretched the metal, putting strain on it, so it was easier to slice through when it came into contact with the saber. You’d already drawn a circle in glowing metal by the time Anakin, Obi-Wan, and the clones had joined you, and then all that was left was a quick tap of your toes to send the disk cluttering down into the hallway below.

This wasn’t your first raid with Anakin and Obi-Wan behind you, and though it was growing close, it wouldn’t be your last. They’d learned your style of cutting through the droids, and found it ruthlessly efficient- so much so, that they often just walked behind you, letting you have your fun as you carved your way through them.

Leading this stronghold was the illusive former senator Rogwa Wodrata, one of the councilors of the Separatists. She had managed to escape the death of the rest of the councilors on Mustafar, but she would not escape you today.

She, as well, was a very important step in your orchestration of the fall of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

You needed to guide him into trusting his own morality, and not the words of the Empirical Senate. This, of course, was instrumental- as he was beginning to trust your morality as his own.

“Would you like the honors, General Kenobi?” You asked, standing above the cowering former senator, twirling your lightsaber without a care. She had no one left to help her- no droids, no guards, no loyalists.

Obi-Wan did not lower his saber, but he did hesitate.

“She has not yet faced a trial before the Senate,” he said, and you looked back at him with a smile.

“She has been found guilty of war crimes. Any further trial is unnecessary and, frankly, would be a waste of time.” You stepped back, toward Anakin, who waited patiently for you, who had snuffed his saber so that he could stand closer to you. “A waste, too, it would be, to house her and imprison her for the length of such a tedious trial, all for a formality. You know she’s to be executed, Obi-Wan. Trust that, and save us all some time.”

Obi-Wan Kenobi raised his saber, and brought it down upon her. His eyes were not yet gold- but you felt a swell of pride. He’d just taken another step closer to you.

Now that you had given the all clear, your mission would end with another clone squadron taking over the security of the fortress, transitioning its assets to the Empire. Until they were properly unloaded from the cruiser in the upper atmosphere, the three of you just needed to sit tight.

So, you decided to take a walk with Anakin, and leave Obi-Wan with the clones.

Though ugly metal had been run through the old palace, there were remnants of its past beauty and might- especially in the tighter, taller corridors where there was no space to run equipment. You took his hand, the motion familiar from the previous weeks as well as the dreams the two of you had shared for years.

You stepped away, giving him a truly fond smile, and he tugged you back in, lifting your arm so that you could twirl before coming to land against his chest, his arms around you. The dance was familiar, the same steps you’d shared hundreds of times, in those moments you stepped away together. You leaned your head back onto his shoulder, closing your eyes in his embrace, and he pressed a kiss to your temple.

“This is where you belong,” he said, voice low, and you opened your eyes to look at him. Past his curly, slightly sweaty hair was a skylight, long encrusted with the elements thanks to the abandonment of the palace, but the light that filtered through it illuminated his silhouette just the same. He was angelic, regal, even after a battle.

“What do you mean?” You asked softly, not daring to pull away from him. Now that the battle was over, you were more open to the force, and you felt his mind brush up against yours, just as you felt his lips brush against the side of your head.

“A palace,” he said, a smiling pulling at his lips. “You deserve a building fit for the Emperor.” He placed images in your mind, things you could accept or push away with ease, and you leaned into him further with closed eyes as you pictured them too.

Black uniforms with sharp edges and accents of gold, matching golden eyes.

Clones lining the sides of a hallway with the ceiling far overhead, your bootsteps echoing against reflective tile as you carried the galaxy into the future.

A crown - Maker, a crown - of thin gold and terrible black metals, sitting on your head, making your hair part ever more beautifully. One, just the same, for Anakin beside you.

Your voice and the hum of your saber, echoing through a throne room, and he would stand behind your throne, your strongest supporter, your husband, daring anyone to disobey your orders.

A grand bedroom of the finest bedsheets, dragging across your back. A balcony just beyond it, with the most beautiful view of Coruscant’s golden sunsets.

You wanted it all. Everything he could picture, every thought that crossed his mind, you wanted it.

At one time, you’d been happy, tearing through the galaxy alone, a single point of chaos that would consume it all. You had never wanted to share it, not even with your master, whose chest you had longed to bury your saber into.

Now, you realized, you would happily tear it down, and lay it at your feet. And you’d happily share the glory, the fun, with Anakin.

You’d wanted to destroy him. Then, you’d wanted to use him. But as you’d tugged him, had he you.

All of it, all of the things you had always dreamed of conquering and carrying alone, all of it- all of it you wanted to share with him.

-🦌 Roe

#anakin skywalker #anakin skywalker x reader #anakin skywalker imagine #anakin x reader #anakin x sith reader #anakin x reader insert #sith reader #sith!reader #sith!obi wan #grey!obi-wan #sith!anakin #suitless vader #darth vader

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fanficsforheartandsoul · 4 years

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Courtship | [Obi-Wan Kenobi x M!Reader] | Star Wars

Notes: This is inspired by @xmalereader Mandalorian x Dark Fey! Reader story. I absolutely adore his stories and the concept, therefore I wanted to write something similar, only with Obi-Wan.

Although this is based off Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, I just mainly used the character designs, while deciding the culture of the Dark Fey myself. So it could be interpreted as an AU

Fandoms: Star Wars, The Clone Wars, Maleficent AU

Warnings: Heartbreak, Slight Fluff, Slight OOC, Obi-Wan Being Oblivious

Summary: Obi-Wan knows nothing about courtship and causes a huge misunderstanding.

Word Count: 7′455

Taglist: -

If you want to be tagged in my stories send me a pm with the fandom/character name! Or comment on the fic :)

Masterlist

Reader is a Dark Fey!

Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka had been on an undercover rescue mission when the transport ship that should have taken them back to the Core Worlds malfunctioned.

That only worsened the mood because their mission target had died and Obi-Wan had gotten his lightsaber destroyed in the process.

Anakin, the great pilot he was, decided it was for the best to try and land on the nearest planet and get help.

But none of them had expected that the small multicolored ball they had landed on only housed a few inhabitants - most of which had never seen a spaceship, or even a droid.

Thankfully they found one of the more progressive tribes.

They had a person who spoke Basic, and fortunately, C-3PO was with them for the rescue mission, so they had another way to communicate. Although, the language of the natives was only partly in his database.

The alien race who lived on the small planet was a species they had never seen before. They were all winged, with feathers of different colors and lengths, and two large horns that were different for each individual.

They called themselves Dark Fey, however the name didn't seem accurate. At least not for him. Dark wasn't a word Obi-Wan would have associated with them.

Especially not with the man who had taken them in.

Y/N was the son of the tribe chief of the village, and his wings reminded the Jedi of a butterfly in one of the Jedi gardens. They were mainly orange, with a speck of white and black and some small blue dots.

His father's wings were even more colorful, but Obi-Wan preferred the ones of the son because they were less shrill.

And like the color of his wings, Y/N was kinder than his father. He wanted to help them find a way back to Coruscant.

"Father, we need to help them," argued the h/c-haired man, his eyes glistening with annoyance when his stubborn parent crossed his arms and flipped his wings.

The three Jedi were currently in one of the giant tree trunks, in the forest where the Fey resided, in a room as big as the Jedi Archives. It seemed to be the tribe's meeting hall.

Y/N's father Aster sat on a throne made out of small tree branches, his red and orange wings spread wide behind his back.

"Don't act like that, please," groaned Y/N, and Anakin and Obi-Wan only watched with furrowed brows, not understanding what kind of conversation was going on between the two men.

C-3PO informed them about the dispute between the son and the father, and they realized that the tribe chief did not want them here.

Ahsoka happily munched on the fruits that one of the younger Fey had brought, oblivious or more likely ignorant of the tense atmosphere in the hall.

Although the Fey appeared not to welcome them, they still provided them with some hospitality. The Togruta flashed a toothy grin at one of the kids, and they giggled.

"You know exactly why I don't want to help them!"

Y/N's father looked at the three Jedi with a stern expression, and the only person in the room who wanted to support them huffed in anger.

"We'll be careful!"

The tension suddenly rose, and Obi-Wan assumed it was because the younger's wings now rose too, his feathers ruffled.

"May I say something?" he asked carefully, all eyes then turned to him.

The five women next to Aster leaned forward to listen, they were probably the elders of the tribe.

Y/N turned to him, his eyes held a hint of displeasure, and Obi-Wan gulped, now asking himself if he had just made a big mistake.

"Speak, human," ordered the tribe chief, the Fey who spoke Basic translated, and he bowed slightly, then made eye contact with Y/N's father.

"We are only looking for a spaceship that can take us off-planet. We don't want to burden you with our presence and neither wish to harm you, we can also camp outside your land if you wish us to."

The pupils of Aster shrank considerably, the air turned cold, and Ahsoka stopped eating. Anakin gave him a worried glance, and the Jedi realized that he had said or done something wrong.

He lowered his gaze, and Anakin mimicked his posture, his hand gripping his lightsaber inside his sleeve tighter.

Silence reigned over them, and Obi-Wan tried to catch a glimpse of the tribe chief, but then Y/N stepped before him, obstructing his view.

"Father...", he began, but Aster interrupted him, standing up from his throne, wings now spreading even further, showing his hostility.

"You became a burden when you stepped foot on this planet!", he snarled and descended the stairway made out of the giant tree.

His son held his ground and ruffled his feathers. A single feather touched Obi-Wan's cheek, and he flinched from the softness.

He looked upwards, and the man before them looked like an unmovable stone, an unbeatable protector, who had descended from heaven to help them.

"They did not know, Father! And they had no choice either!"

Y/N's voice now sounded as agitated as his father's, and the situation was about to escalate - although the Jedi did not know into what - when a calm voice suddenly spoke:

"Believe in your son, Aster."

Everyone in the hall turned toward the gigantic entrance where a single Dark Fey had landed.

It was a woman with snow-white wings and silky hair that reached her hips. The present Fey bowed, and the Jedi knew that the newcomer was a respected figure within the tribe.

From the way Y/N smiled at her and how the woman opened her arms wide, she probably was related to him, although their features showed no real resemblances, besides maybe the eyebrows. Y/N hugged her without hesitation.

"You're back," stated Aster, and his wings slightly relaxed.

The woman smiled and then turned to Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka.

"I apologize that I could not greet you when you arrived here. I am Neela, and you're names are?" she spoke in Basic, and all three of them were surprised.

Although it probably shouldn't shock them that much, when they first met Y/N, he also spoke the language.

The translator seemed to have taught it to the ones who wanted to learn it.

Anakin introduced himself first, a brilliant smile on his lips. Obi-Wan rolled his eyes in his mind. His former padawan had probably realized that Neela seemed to be the only one who could tame the tribe chief to some extent.

Ahsoka greeted the woman with a respectful bow, and Obi-Wan did the same when he said his name.

He stole a glance towards Y/N who's lips now showed a triumphant grin. The man noticed his stare and winked at him. His expression was something along the lines of 'Don't worry, we got this'.

It seemed like the arrival of the white-haired woman turned the tides in their favor.

"I heard you are stranded. Your arrival here is of great significance for us. My husband knows that, and his caution is not unreasonable. We do not wish to get involved with the galactic conflicts that are waging right now, I hope you understand."

So, she's Aster's wife... But Y/N truly doesn't resemble her.

Obi-Wan was curious about the woman. She knew more about the galaxy than the rest of the Dark Fey, or so it seemed.

He nodded, and Anakin replied:

"We do. None of us wants to involve you in the war, we're just trying to return home. Our ship is badly damaged, therefore we wanted to find someone who can take us with them."

While Neela asked about their transmitters, Aster's face darkened, the further the conversation continued, but he did not interrupt his wife.

Ahsoka's eyes glistened with respect, and Obi-Wan could imagine what she was thinking. Aster may be the tribe chief, but Neela held the reins in their relationship, which influenced the whole tribe and important decisions.

Anakin then informed them of the last SOS-signal they had sent before they breached the atmosphere of the planet.

"Someone is probably already looking for us," added Obi-Wan, and Aster's eyes turned into slits.

"They will come and force us to leave!" he growled, more towards his wife than the Jedi.

Neela turned around to face her husband, and he visibly flinched. The woman spread her white wings, and her wingspan was even wider than her husband's and Y/N's. Her aura was way more intimidating than the tribe chief’s one.

"They won't stay, I will make sure of that."

She spoke in their native language, but C-3PO translated it, although reluctantly, and the underlying threat worried Obi-Wan.

If no one arrives will they try to kill us?

But Aster relaxed, and he stepped towards his wife, their foreheads touched, and the tribe chief sighed.

Neela's wings lowered, and she then turned around again, her hand on her husband's back.

"You are welcome to stay until your friends arrive. We will make sure that they will find you."

Their action before not only was a display of intimacy but also an opportunity for a silent conversation, where they had decided if they would help the Jedi or not.

Relief washed over Obi-Wan, and Anakin's shoulders relaxed.

As if on cue ran the Fey children from the one corner of the hall towards Ahsoka, and they laughed and fluttered their wings excitedly. They spoke a few words in broken Basic and twirled around her.

The Togruta blinked in surprise and then joined their happy laughs and followed them to their friends.

Obi-Wan and his former padawan cautiously stood up. Anakin only watched when the small bird-like kids kidnapped the Togruta, his expression showing a hint of worry.

"She will be fine," said a calm voice, and the Jedi knights’ heads turned towards Y/N, who had walked closer.

"I'm worried she'll do something offensive," confessed Anakin, and the man laughed loudly.

His head tilted back, showing a necklace with a long blue feather and his wings flapped wildly.

"Not to be mean, but you already offended us greatly, another misstep won't matter."

The Fey continued to laugh when he saw their upset expressions.

"Don't fret it. it's already a miracle that your droid knows parts of our language. How would you know about our culture."

Neela joined their talk. Her eyes focused on Anakin.

"May I talk to you?"

He shared a look with Obi-Wan and then shrugged his shoulders.

"Sure," he responded, and they distanced themselves, Obi-Wan now being left alone with the chief's son.

"Why..." he began, unsure whether he should ask or not.

"She can feel he's special."

He lifted an eyebrow.

"Feel?"

Y/N turned his in Neela's direction.

"Mother is like you. She was chosen too."

Obi-Wan could guess what Y/N meant, and it honestly didn't surprise him as much as it probably should have. The moment Neela had stepped into the hall, the force had changed around them.

"What about you?" he asked curiously.

Y/N's expression turned somewhat solemn.

"No, I- I wasn't chosen. It's not possible."

The Fey's hand grabbed his necklace, and his wings quivered.

Obi-Wan realized he had touched a sore spot and decided not to pry further.

"Come with me", said Y/N after a short while, and his smile returned to his lips.

"I'll show you where you guys can stay."

The Jedi followed him out of the hall, after glancing back one last time to see Anakin and Ahsoka standing surrounded by Fey.

Y/N lead him across the branches of the giant tree, which seemed to be the main living area of the tribe.

Twice, they used a hoist to travel higher up, the Fey explaining that they had been built for their youngest who couldn't fly yet.

The Jedi could stay in a room, hollowed out of the main branch. The room was sparsely decorated with wooden furniture, and instead of beds, there were three hammocks made out of thick green fabric that felt considerably softer than it looked.

Obi-Wan put his small backpack he had taken from the ship on the table and then turned towards Y/N.

"Thank you for everything."

He smiled at the Fey, and the man's expression twitched.

"It's fine", he responded curtly, and before Obi-Wan could ask if something was wrong, he had already passed through the leaf curtain that gave the room some privacy and jumped off the branch.

Obi-Wan stayed behind with a somewhat worried expression. He remembered what the man had said before. “You already offended us greatly.”

Hopefully they weren’t digging their own graves.

They stayed on the small planet, in the giant forest for about a month, and in the beginning, they held their respectable distance from the Dark Fey.

They got invited to meals and attended them, but only Y/N, Neela, and the translator, who turned out to be a teacher and one of the only Fey who had left the planet before, really talked to them.

If the children were excluded.

They had a great time with Ahsoka, and she played with them and even found some friends in her age group, who were studying under Danosh, the translator. Thanks to him, most of the children could speak a few words in Basic, allowing Ahsoka to communicate with them.

Aster had instructed the tribe members to treat them with respect and give them everything they needed, but his hospitality ended there.

He did not include them in any kind of activities the tribe performed besides the meals.

The Dark Fey were a close-knitted species, and the tribe of Y/N did almost everything together. They ate together, hunted together, played together, and even slept together.

They seemed very suspicious of strangers - at least the adults - and they mostly kept to themselves, only talking to the Jedi if necessary.

While Ahsoka got mostly occupied with the children, Anakin's attention got caught by Neela, with whom he even traveled to one of the Fey's sacred places for the Chosen.

Obi-Wan got mostly accompanied by Y/N, but he did not mind that at all.

He enjoyed the other's presence, and his open-hearted character and he talked with the man about all kinds of things.

He told him stories about the Jedi, the beauty of the Jedi gardens on Coruscant, the vast ice tundras of Ilum, and the force.

On the other hand, Y/N taught him about the Fey culture, the significance of one's first flight, the meaning of life according to the elders.

He told Obi-Wan the story of the Batellia flower, that would soon bloom at a day the tribe celebrated.

"The flower blooms for a very short time and then it dies, its roots forming a bond with another plant."

Obi-Wan had asked the Fey why they celebrated that day then.

"Batellia portrays the honest truth of our lives. We live, we die and then we join the Ancestors and the Phoenix Mother."

Y/N also told the Jedi about the worst punishment a Fey could receive - losing one's wings, and the importance of death in their culture.

But one thing he did not talk about because he thought Obi-Wan knew.

For him, it was obvious; Something even the wingless humans should know about, but well...

Maybe the Jedi were just too dumb.

"What's that?" asked Anakin, pointing at the shimmering blue stone on Obi-Wan's nightstand while drying his hair.

He looked at the stone he was pointing at.

"It's a present from Y/N. It's a "Soulstone" according to him. It glows in the dark."

He smiled faintly, remembering when Y/N gave it to him.

It's already been three weeks since they had stranded on the small planet, and the Fey had found them. And he and the chief’’s son had formed a close bond.

They had traveled twice to their spaceship, Obi-Wan showing it to him and explaining the mechanisms while Y/N watched from a safe distance, seemingly too scared to approach the metal beast.

Y/N also accompanied him to highest tree they had, trying to send another SOS signal. He caught him, when he almost slipped and Obi-Wan clung to him like dear life, because they were so high up.

The Fey had only laughed, his eyes glimmering with something Obi-Wan couldn’t quite place.

His former padawan looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"And the one next to it? Also a present?"

"All of them are presents, Anakin", said Ahsoka, who had suddenly appeared and now strut to her backpack, a new load of her favorite fruits in her arms.

"What about me? I want a present from Y/N too."

The Togruta eyed him strangely, then muttered something to herself and grinned.

"They are just things he had found on his regular trips to the river," Obi-Wan said, trying to calm Anakin.

Although he also questioned why he seemingly was the only one who regularly received gifts from Y/N.

On the other hand, he felt a tingling sensation in his chest, somewhat proud that the Fey apparently viewed him as special.

"Did Neela not give you a present?"

Anakin shook his head but then replied: "I don't really care, the things I've learned on our trips to their temples are more than enough. Did you know that the Chosen use the power of their emotions to strengthen their force abilities? They aren't unleashing them like the Sith, apparently, but I don't really understand the difference yet. Neela will tell me more tomorrow. She's busy with the preparations of today's feast."

Anakin's voice was full of excitement while he talked, and Obi-Wan got reminded of his early padawan days when the boy had commented on every little thing with amazement.

"What's different this time?" he asked, Ahsoka watching the both of them silently, her fruits now stored in her backpack for tomorrow when she would go on a trip with one of the Fey at her age.

"They will perform dances after eating. It's going to be quite a spectacle, according to Neela. She wanted us to stay and witness it."

Obi-Wan furrowed his brows, sitting up from his lying position in his hammock.

"Is that really such a good idea? Aster still doesn't seem too keen on having us around."

Anakin shook his head and pointed at him.

"No, we must come. Especially you, the chief actually requested it."

The Jedi's eyes widened.

Aster personally demanded that he attended? Why?

Obi-Wan wasn't delighted to see the dances after hearing that, and he went to the daily feast with a queasy gut feeling.

The meal went like normal.

The Fey sat in groups in the big hall, various bowls with different dishes on the ground, some of them vegetarian, some with fish, others with meat.

The ages were mixed, and Ahsoka, Obi-Wan, and Anakin got accompanied by several small Fey who had played with the Togruta before.

Normally, Y/N and Neela would be in their circle too, but this evening they were nowhere to be seen.

"Probably still preparing", said Ahsoka, and Anakin nodded with a full mouth.

They both anticipated the dances, while he was the only one who somehow couldn't.

He just worried why Aster would want him to be there.

Not having Y/N around made it worse. The man had acted as a calming presence in the last few weeks, and Obi-Wan had begun to like him a lot.

The Fey was thirsty for knowledge, kind, and also understanding. He liked to listen and Obi-Wan always felt some sort of proudness, when he could guess Y/N’s thoughts or feelings correctly from the way his wings and feathers moved.

The Fey seemed to shine like a light, he was very popular with the others of his species, especially the female ones, and it was obvious that he would be the next chief.

Although, he wasn't Neela's son.

His mother, Aster's first wife, had died a long time ago, and his father had remarried. Neela gave birth to two other sons, but they both did not want to follow in their father's footsteps.

Y/N didn't dislike his father for remarrying, he loved Neela like his own mother, and she loved him like he was her own son.

Obi-Wan admired their strong bonds and Y/N's personality.

He was comfortable around the other man, so comfortable that he had confessed the secret feelings he had harbored for Satine Kryze.

Y/N had listened silently and then patted his shoulder to comfort him. He didn't say a word of judgment, silence was the only thing they shared at that moment, but Obi-Wan felt so much better after telling him.

Everything went well, and although they had been here for three weeks and he knew that Cody and the High Council were probably dying from worry, he felt relaxed and content.

When he swayed in his hammock in the evening, the stars visible through the carved out window at the ceiling, his hand holding the “Phoenix’s heart” - another stone Y/N had brought him that was always warm - he even dared to think that he wouldn't mind staying with the tribe forever.

But now...

Now the peacefulness seemed to be in danger.

Obi-Wan barely ate anything, and when Aster finally stood up, the Jedi couldn't stop his whole body from tensing up.

"Let us go to the Ancestors Realm!" the tribe chief shouted, and the present Fey joined in a cry of joy.

"Come on!" squeaked one of the children and grabbed Anakin's arm.

Another clung to Obi-Wan, and the young Fey pulled the three Jedi towards the hall entrance with surprising strength.

The Ancestors Realm was a place at the crown of the giant tree. They had to use nine hoists so get up there and when they arrived, the air was considerably thinner.

It was a flat plateau out of red lichen, the tufts at the border of the round area were glowing, and it did look like from another realm. In the middle of the plateau burned a bright fire, illuminating the faces of the arriving people.

The Fey sat at the edges, Ahsoka went to the new friends she had made, and Obi-Wan and Anakin joined Aster and Neela, the latter had shown up out of nowhere.

The tribe chief greeted them with a smile, which surprised both of them, and he motioned for Obi-Wan to sit next to him. He hesitated for a second, but when the chief looked at him with true friendliness in his eyes he gave in.

The Jedi carefully sat next to Aster, avoiding the man's wings, which he had leisurely spread behind him, and then crossed his legs.

"Are you ready?" asked the leader, and Obi-Wan smiled weakly.

"Yes...?" his answer sounded more like a question, and the man next to him laughed.

"You'll like it, I'm sure."

He could only nod, a big lump in his throat.

He knew that Aster was watching him intently from the side, but he had no clue why.

But before he could ponder over it, one of the elder Fey began to hum, and the rest of the Fey immediately joined.

It was a tribal melody, and it resounded deep in Obi-Wan's chest. Aster started clapping in a rhythm, and the male Fey followed his lead, while Neela clapped another beat, and the women did the same.

The humming was accompanied by the beating of a drum and a sudden cry caused the female Fey to shout.

It was strange for the Jedi, but all three of them were mesmerized by the following scene.

The shouts were a signal for the dancers, and seemingly out of nowhere appeared the few missing Fey. Among them was also Y/N, who Obi-Wan could only recognize because of his wings.

The dancers were a group of males who wore masks that covered their entire faces, their bodies decorated with glowing paint.

They flew a circle above the sitting Fey, and their wings spread, causing loose feathers to descend.

Obi-Wan caught one, and it only took him a glance to know to whom it belonged.

Aster flashed a grin at him and motioned him to clap too.

He put the feather carefully in his robe, worried that he damaged it, and then joined the clapping, feeling excited from the display of the dancers.

They twisted and turned with surprising speed and elegance, and when they landed, the actual dance began, and the sound of various music instruments echoed in the tree crown.

The young men all randomly picked a person in the crowd and started to perform in front of them.

Their wings were the main attraction of the dance. They spread them and flapped, showing off their brilliant colors.

Obi-Wan watched in amazement, not realizing that a certain person was staring at him intently.

A light shove from Aster startled him, and he noticed the person who had gotten closer to him.

Y/N's eyes glistened from behind the mask, and the glowing blue body paint gave him the appearance of an ethereal being.

He twirled and then hid his lower face with his left wing. His e/c eyes pulling Obi-Wan's attention towards Y/N like magic. The Jedi felt like he was in a trance.

The Fey looked beautiful, but at the same time powerful, his sturdy muscles visible thanks to the fire.

A flame began to burn in his heart and it reminded him of something, however, he couldn’t figure out what.

The feathers shook when the music quickened, and the Fey jumped from one foot to the other, his heels never touching the ground.

The Jedi followed the man's every move, too enthralled to notice how Aster and Neela were staring at him with pleased smiles.

Anakin looked at them with a wondering expression, not knowing what they were thinking.

Obi-Wan's mind got filled with a thousand thoughts. His heartbeat had quickened, and the sudden wish of taking a holographic photo of Y/N dancing surged through his veins.

He didn't expect the man to be able to move like this, like an elegant warrior.

It was a traditional dance, the other men of the group performed the same routine, but Y/N's was somehow special.

It felt sensual and, at the same time, like a plead.

The man's wings stretched towards Obi-Wan. Had he leaned a little forward, his nose could have touched a feather.

The music turned to a crescendo, and he knew the dance would be over soon, already a little disappointed.

With a sudden move back, Y/N spread his arms, that had also reached out for the Jedi, to the side and his wings darted back and froze in a position similar to the Jedi order's symbol.

The ending was improvised by him, the wings of the other dancers had stopped in a different pose. Obi-Wan’s heart jumped and he let out a shaky breath.

The Fey for whom the other dancers had danced began to stand up and clap and howl wildly, their ardor audible in their voices, and Anakin and Obi-Wan joined in.

The dancers walked up to the audience members they had chosen and they pressed their foreheads together. Obi-Wan watched their display of affection with a big smile. He loved the kindness the Fey held for each other.

The tribe leader couple also stood up, he following their lead, when Aster suddenly pulled him closer with an arm around his neck, and the tribe chief asked him:

"Did you like it?"

And Obi-Wan could only exclaim with an excited tone:

"Yes! It was wonderful!"

Y/N's father showed a very pleased expression and then let go of him.

The Jedi wondered for a moment if that was the only thing he wanted to know, but his attention shifted when a glowing figure appeared in his peripheral vision.

"Obi-Wan" uttered Y/N, while taking his mask off, his breathing was slightly heavy.

"Y/N, you were amazing! The dance displayed so many emotions, I loved it!"

The Fey stopped short in his track, and then his lips formed a breathtaking smile, which reminded him of the sunrise in the morning.

"Thank you!"

Obi-Wan's head got suddenly grabbed by the other man, and their foreheads touched in a swift motion.

Y/N's skin felt hot from the dancing, and the Fey's breathing shook his shoulders, but Obi-Wan was solely focusing on the man's closed eyes.

Their position felt almost too intimate, his heartbeat pounded loudly in his ears, but he did not move back, ignoring the sudden flutter in his chest, telling himself this was courtesy and showing his respect for Y/N.

He expected the other to pull his head back, but the Fey did not move, until his father patted his shoulder and laughingly boomed:

"That's enough, son. You'll have plenty of time for that later."

Y/N finally pulled back, although not stepping far away, and he turned to his father, shooting him a glare. Obi-Wan stood somewhat dazed, blinking wildly, and wondering what Aster meant with later.

"I'm proud of you, Y/N!" said Neela, and she hugged the man.

The Jedi smiled at the display of their feelings, and he distanced himself to give them some space and to calm his beating heart.

Get it together. Your heart is acting as if you’re in love.

He turned to Anakin, who talked to Ahsoka, both their expressions still showing amazement.

"That was soo cool!" squealed the Togruta, and his former padawan agreed.

"I now feel the desire to have wings too," added Obi-Wan to the conversation, and they turned around to greet him.

Ahsoka's eyebrows shot up, and she grinned somewhat disbelievingly.

"So, you did it," she said, a matter of factly.

"I did what?" he asked, not understanding what she meant.

She gestured towards his face, and he tilted his head in confusion.

"You got paint on your forehead." Anakin said while watching his padawan with questioning eyes, but the Togruta didn't say what she was hinting at.

And he didn't find out until the end of the evening.

After he had talked to the two other Jedi, Y/N had shown up again and told him that he had to attend a family meeting.

He was apologetic, his expression showing clear annoyance and Obi-Wan felt bad for the Fey, although it wasn't such a big deal for him.

They could talk about his performance tomorrow.

So they said goodnight to each other, Y/N once again pressing his forehead to Obi-Wan's, who let it go without a word.

Aster and Neela also left.

They only waved at them, the tribe chief winking at Obi-Wan, leaving the Jedi once again puzzled about why the man had changed his behavior so suddenly.

Although the Fey poured out some delicious alcohol, the three Jedi decided to go back to their room. They were surprisingly tired from seeing the performance.

When Obi-Wan had already laid down in his hammock, Ahsoka addressed him:

"Congratulations, Master."

He lifted his head to peek over the hammock's edge.

"Congrats for what?"

"You and Y/N."

He didn't understand a word.

"What do you mean?" he asked, his voice sounding slightly worried.

"Don't you know?" she said, now sitting up inside her hammock.

He only blinked. Ahsoka's expression turned baffled.

"The performance today got danced by courting Fey."

Obi-Wan opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out, then his eyes widened.

"Are you saying... Y-Y/N..?", he finally squeezed through his lips, realisation slowly dawning on him.

She mirrored his shocked expression.

"You didn't know?! But you accepted!"

He was panicking now.

"Accepted what and when?!"

Anakin walked into the room, unaware of the sudden revelation.

"What's going o-"

"The forehead touch!"

Obi-Wan sank back into his hammock, his heartbeat thundering in his ear. He had gotten a confession and he didn’t even realize.

"Oh, what have I done?"

The next morning, Obi-Wan felt no motivation to stand up.

He wasn't ready to clear up the misunderstanding that had happened yesterday.

He hadn't known that the dance was about courtship, nor that the forehead was something only romantically involved Fey would do.

He just thought it was something intimate that friends, partners, and family did. The other dancers had done it too, but now he knew the real reason.

That’s why not all of them touched foreheads, they got rejected!

But apparently, he was wrong.

And now he had to take the consequences.

"Come on, old man. Get up", said Anakin with a laugh, and he made his former master's hammock sway.

"Why can't I just die right now of old age?" he sighed, feeling dreadful about what was about to come.

Anakin snorted, and he finally sat up.

He had to talk to Y/N before the whole thing escalated.

But oooh, it already had.

"How did you not realize?!" shouted Y/N.

The Fey was shaking Obi-Wan by the shoulder.

"How should’ve I known?!" he shot back, now also agitated, after the other had told him his parents practically considered them being already married.

"I brought you all these presents!"

"Friends do that from where I come from!"

"You kept my feather!"

"I thought it would be a great memento!"

"I let you touch my wings!!"

"How should I know that's considered to be something intimate?!"

Their voices got louder and louder, and their argument caught the attention of some unwanted spectators.

A group of young Fey had begun to follow their conversation behind some branches, but Obi-Wan didn’t acknowledge them, too angry and panicked at the moment.

Y/N's wings had begun to flip in obvious anger, while Obi-Wan furrowed his brows in annoyance.

"I literally danced for you at the courtship ceremony!"

Obi-Wan gnashed his teeth in frustration.

"How was I supposed to know it was about that?! Anakin only told me it was a dance performance!!"

"But you-you said I danced amazing and you loved it!”

The Jedi didn’t respond to that, only showing a guilty expression.

The Fey bit his lips when he finally realized how grave their misunderstanding was.

"I didn't know...", muttered Obi-Wan, feeling helpless because he knew he had hurt the other.

"Forget it," growled Y/N, then he turned in a swift motion and darted from the tree branch. His wings flapped with such a force that a few feathers fell.

The Jedi only watched how they slowly descended, and they seemed to represent his heart.

It sunk, and a sudden pain in his chest caused him to clench his jaw.

How should I have known?

He told himself that he had had no idea, but deep in his chest whispered a voice that he did. Y/N’s feelings were obvious.

Maybe he just didn’t want to acknowledge them, knowing that nothing could come out of their relationship.

Even if you do like me, Y/N, we can’t be together.

A few days passed, and the atmosphere had turned awkward.

Aster's sudden goodwill had as quickly disappeared as it had come.

After the chief had learned of the misunderstanding, he had almost attacked Obi-Wan. Neela held him back successfully though.

Anakin felt guilty for being partly at fault, and Ahsoka also apologized for not telling him what she had known about the courtship rules.

They spent their days waiting for any kind of sign of the Republic, and they became restless.

Obi-Wan felt genuinely guilty for misleading Y/N, and he grieved for their friendship, which seemed like it had already ended.

The Fey hadn't shown himself to any of the Jedi, and Obi-Wan couldn't help but worry because neither Neela nor Aster had seen their son after he and the Jedi had argued.

Then, one day, a Fey appeared in the great hall, informing Aster of the gigantic triangle that had appeared in the sky and the small flying objects that had landed somewhere close to the forest's border.

Anakin shouted triumphantly, and Obi-Wan felt relief wash over him.

But at the same time, he felt a pang in his chest.

He didn't want to leave, not before he cleared the bad blood between him and Y/N.

But Cody and Captain Rex found a scout of the tribe pretty soon, and they finally reunited only a week after the courtship ceremony.

"Good to see you alive and well, general," said Cody, and Obi-Wan smiled weakly at him.

"Good to see you too, commander."

The clones got accompanied by Plo Koon, and Ahsoka was delighted to see the Jedi master again.

While Anakin and his padawan were happy about their rescue, Obi-Wan couldn't stop himself from wishing they had come later. Now he wouldn’t get another chance to talk with Y/N.

He collected his belongings and hesitated when it came to Y/N's presents. The various crystals and shells on his nightstand.

He contemplated whether to take them with him or not, but the thought of leaving them behind hurt him and he decided to bring them home.

Although they had parted with sour feelings, he still appreciated the memories he had made with Y/N. And his heart honestly didn’t want to forget anything, not even the forehead, which apparently symbolized a kiss.

They Fey did not publicly kiss, one of the things they didn’t display to others, Ahsoka had told him.

When he heard about that, he couldn’t stop his brain from forming all kinds of thoughts and his ears had turned pink.

He walked up to me and kissed me, figuratively!

The misunderstanding was really a disaster.

He now also knew why the other Fey had treated him with more respect even though Aster seemed to hate him again.

It was because he was the object of the future tribe leader’s affections - although he had rejected him.

He shook his head to get rid of the thoughts and left the room, Y/N’s presents stored in his backpack.

He bid farewell to Danosh and the other Fey who had treated him nicely and then joined Anakin and Ahsoka who waited with Cody, Captain Rex and some other clones next to Aster and Neela.

The tribe leader couple accompanied them to the ground and their canon gun ships.

Obi-Wan watched the ships from the border of the gigantic forest and his chest tightened.

Y/N...

He bit his lip, his heart now clenching from the idea of leaving and never coming back.

They were half way there, when Aster and Neela stopped walking.

“We’re not going any further”, explained the white-haired woman and Anakin sighed. He said goodbye first. The chief only nodded at him, but Neela gave him a long hug and whispered something into his ear, while caressing his hair.

Obi-Wan could see that the woman somewhat appeared to be like a mother-figure for Anakin. He felt the pain of saying goodbye in Anakin’s force presence.

Ahsoka also gave Neela a hug and she bowed at Aster who surprisingly patted her shoulder and said:

“Stay sharp, little one.”

The Togruta beamed and then it was Obi-Wan’s turn. He looked at the chief and behind the animosity in his eyes, he could see genuine regret.

He didn’t know what to say and just awkwardly stood there, when Aster coughed and grumbled:

“You would’ve been a splendid son-in-law.”

The Jedi blinked and Anakin couldn’t stop a snort, laughing silently at the blush that swept across his former master’s cheeks.

“Uh- thank you.”

“Obi-Wan,” said Neela and she opened her arms wide. He willingly walked into her embrace and she also caressed his hair, while hiding his embarrassment with her wings.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. If he couldn’t tell it Y/N personally, he would tell his mother.

“It’s alright. Y/N is a little hasty sometimes, especially when it comes to his feelings. I’m not trying to say he rushed into the idea of liking you...”

Obi-Wan’s cheeks heated up again, not knowing how to react when a woman, who was the mother of the man who liked him, openly talked about her son’s and his relationship.

“He’s genuine, but stubborn. He was born here and never set foot on another planet. You swept him off his feet and he got too excited, not registering that our manners and traditions are unknown to you.”

He nodded into her shoulders and she let him go to look into his face. Her blue eyes glimmered with kindness.

“I’m glad you were his first love.”

He blinked and her sentence hit him right in the gut. Oh, wow, he really hurt the man, huh.

She traced the line his knitted eyebrows made and smiled.

“It’s not your fault, Obi-Wan.”

He wanted to reply something but he had a lump in his throat and could only nod.

She let go of him and he stepped back, his expression showing how sad he was about their departure.

“Goodbye.”

The Jedi and clones turned and began to walk away. Every step physically hurt Obi-Wan and he breathed out shakily, face looking down to not see Anakin’s and Ahsoka’s possibly judging expressions.

Suddenly, a shadow sped across the plain and before he could look up, a person landed right before his feet, causing him to make a step back.

He tilted his head, startled, his eyes meeting e/c ones. Time seemed to stop.

"Obi-Wan," breathed Y/N and the Jedi's heart started to pound faster.

"You came," he hesitantly said, his tone revealed his relief.

"Yeah... I have to tell you something."

Obi-Wan turned his head to Anakin and the others, they feigned ignorance and acted as if they weren't listening closely to their conversation, although they were.

"O-Okay, but I want to tell you something t-"

"I fancy you."

Hearing that sentence directed at him caught Obi-Wan off guard.

Not that he never had been confronted by similar words, but it had never been in such a blunt fashion. And also not from a person he secretly liked too. Satine had been a different case.

A blush crept up his neck, cheeks and ears and he swallowed hard.

He had expected Y/N to tell him an apology or a goodbye, but not a love confession.

"I'm sorry. I projected my culture onto you and didn't consider your feelings."

Obi-Wan was flustered and he checked his surroundings again, the clones and the two Jedi now blatantly listening without even trying to hide their interest.

"I-I..." he began, not knowing what to say.

He knew he had to reject the Fey but his fluttering heart absolutely didn't want him to.

"I'm a Jedi, Y/N," he eventually said, his tone sounding pained, and Obi-Wan expected the other man's face to sadden, after all, he did tell him what that meant when it came to attachments, but the Fey's smile stayed on his lips.

"I know. I just wanted to tell you properly."

The smile was the same radiating one he had flashed him after the courtship dance.

Obi-Wan clenched his jaw, contemplated for a second and then, without hesitation, he took a step forward and grabbed Y/N's face to bring their heads together.

Their foreheads touched and the man's eyes widened.

Obi-Wan locked his gaze with his and the Fey sighed, now pressing his head closer and putting his hand on both side’s of his neck..

"You're making this very hard," he muttered accusingly, while tracing Obi-Wan’s carotid artery.

The Jedi laughed weakly, the pain in his chest swelling.

"I know, I'm sorry."

He closed his eyes and breathed in, the smell of damp soil, fruits and leather filled his nose and Obi-Wan tried to engrave the scent in his mind.

"At one point we'll have to stop," whispered Y/N and he grumbled.

"I'm just soaking you in", he replied, eyes still closed.

I don’t want to let go.

He heard the Fey breath out slowly.

Then the man moved away.

Obi-Wan opened his eyes in protest, then his hand got grabbed, and Y/N kissed him.

The Jedi's eyes widened and he remembered that Anakin, Ahsoka and the clones were watching, but his reason got thrown out of the window by his heart and he returned the kiss.

It was a short and bittersweet one. Just like their relationship.

Like the Batellia flower, their love finished before it could even properly bloom.

But Obi-Wan did not look back at these four weeks with regret.

After he had returned to Coruscant and continued fighting in the war, he would often smile at random times, his hands buried in his robes, where he caressed a soft feather.

And he could be damn sure that on a small planet in the Outer Rims, a Fey would trace the faint glow of a blue kyber crystal, he always had with him around his neck.

And who knows, maybe they’ll meet again.

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capricornus-rex · 3 years

Text

A Shadow of What You Used to Be (5)

Chapter 5: Lingering Grief | Cal Kestis x Irele Skywalker

Requested by Anon

Summary: There is another! Years after young Anakin Skywalker departed Tatooine, his mother Shmi delivers a second child—this time, a daughter. Whilst the circumstance of the girl’s birth remains unexplained, Irele Skywalker has yet to choose the true path between those laid out for her.

Tags: Fem! OC, Irele Skywalker, Force-sensitive! OC, Anakin’s Younger Sister, Skywalker! OC, Darth Vader’s Secret Apprentice, Long-lost Sibling

Also in AO3

Chapters: Prelude – 1 – 2 – 3 | Previous: Part 4 | Next: Part 6 | Masterlist

6 of ?

“I love… Love…” Shmi choked before she succumbed to death, never able to complete the simplest yet most important of phrases.

Anakin’s shaky fingers closed his mother’s eyes. The pang of grief was quickly overtaken by an unquenchable vengeance.

A heavy, ominous darkness blankets the Tusken encampment. The guards outside Shmi’s tent barely had a reaction time to the ignition of Anakin’s lightsaber; when they had turned around after the flaps of the tent hit their sleeve, they were cut down without the hesitation of a moment.

Alarmed by the attack, the Tuskens untied their massiffs—their reptilian guard dogs—and unleashed those hounds on Anakin, before advancing to attack the intruding Jedi themselves. The rage and grief seething within him was weaponized, it had amplified his swordsmanship; however, it made his movements raggedy, uncalculated, and unbecoming of his practiced lightsaber form. He planted his feet on the ground while he kept his eyes straight on the enemy. Or were they at all?

One after another, the Tuskens came at him—cycler rifles and staves brandished in the air—and were instantaneously felled, not even allowed to have a swing of their own weapons. One of them alerted the snipers who were in the perimeter of the encampment, supposedly on patrol; many of them went for the encampment, attempting to give support in the skirmish, but they were quickly losing—despite outnumbering the Jedi to fifty or so.

When push comes to shove, a number of the females braved and took up arm to fight off this murderous trespasser—who’s cutting them by the numbers. In their native tongue, they urged one another to join the ranks and charge. The women joined the fray, amongst the males, while some other females—particularly mothers—scurried with their young into their tents for safety. Now, the latter caught Anakin’s attention.

Anakin cut through the Tuskens’ defenses, man and woman alike, and sliced down the mothers first then their children next, sometimes the other way around. The wounded but living mothers howled in the night, carrying their children—grown and newborn—sorrowfully wailing, praying to their deities to deliver them mercy from this agony. And that exact deliverance came in the form of a blinding blue beam of light. However, their granted prayers were not of mercy, but of an unquenchable hatred, more like a punishment—from a certain point of view.

But then again, does the way of death matter?

He proceeded to finish off the stragglers, many of them fatally injured and are just scrambling on the sand with one hand extended in a pleading gesture. In their eyes, Anakin appeared to them like an executioner—with the campfire at his back, tracing his unhooded silhouette, and a cyan beam illuminating his distorted features. That was the final thing they ever saw before their bodies met the lightsaber, a noble weapon now used for an atrocious annihilation.

That night, Anakin never discriminated. He killed not only the men, but the women, and the children, too. He left nothing in his wake but death and destruction.

–

In the middle of it all, a chill wraps around Irele over her shoulders. She thought it strange, it’s only the first few hours of nightfall—where it’s usually warm at that time of the day and the cold gradually creeps in. The cold was dramatically different from the desert breeze at dusk. It crawled along her arms, then snaked over her spine and the small of her back, forcing her to pause from her pastime of creating beaded and woven crafts—a hobby she picked up from Shmi.

“What’s wrong, Irele?” asked Beru, mending a scarf in the common room.

“Is it just me or has it gotten unusually colder?”

Beru’s eyes flicked to the side, paused to feel a draft, and then shrugged. She was wearing a short-sleeved tunic paired with her long skirt. She would have felt the same as Irele, but she didn’t. When the older girl noted the uneasiness in Irele’s expression, she stood up and patted her forehead.

“Are you alright, Irele? You don’t seem to have a fever.”

“No, but I guess it was just a funny feeling. Maybe heatstroke.”

“Irele, we’re all too used to the heat here to get a heatstroke,” Beru chuckled. “If any, we’d get one if we were in a volcanic planet!”

The girls shared a chuckle with the lighthearted joke, which may have distracted Irele for a bit until she eventually dismissed it as indeed a funny feeling, but only for a second.

She had been waiting for Anakin—along with their mother—to come home, but given that they lack the whereabouts of this Tusken band, she though perhaps he had asked the locals along the way, like Jawas and vagabonds. When the hours have passed, the night had grown darker, Irele had no choice but to sleep on it.

In her bed, the cold persisted. She pulled up her blanket—her favorite one for it was handmade by her mother—until it covered her up to her nose, exposing her only from the eyes up. She tried closing her eyes, but her lids twitched, begging to be opened. Lying flat on her back, facing the ceiling, staring at the stone ceiling, she wondered and imagined where Anakin and Shmi would be.

“Mom… I hope he brings you home safely.”

More thoughts coaxed into Irele’s mind. They’re hopeful thoughts. Behind her eyes, she’d visualize Shmi in the kitchen, whipping up a favorite meal of hers, and she’d insist on helping. Both of them would sew together, making whatever garment they choose. All that wishful thinking lulled the girl to sleep, blissfully unaware of the chaos that her own brother had wrought.

The next morning, the sound of the speeder made Irele drop everything and run to the porch.

Her hopes from last night were shattered when she saw Anakin riding the speeder alone and all he brought with him was a fully swaddled body. Her felt her heart drop her stomach, and she watched in silence as Anakin carried the corpse and glowered at the Lars family and then to Padmé. He brushed past them, and then in the corner of his eye, he caught his little sister staring. Irele standing there stopped him in his tracks, then his glower softened into a look of shame—one that says he didn’t fulfill his promise to her. Just one day of meeting her, he lets go of a promise, and fails it.

He didn’t know what to say to her. She let him know that he didn’t need to, for she turned tail and ran back inside.

Irele helped in the preparation of the grave, but for the rest of the activity, she did not speak. She did not maintain eye contact with anyone. The only interaction she’s ever had was with C3PO when she needed help on something, but not even he received a gaze from his young mistress.

She dusted her hands together, and dismissed herself.

“I’m going inside. I want a drink.” she told to no one in particular, but her father and brothers acknowledged it.

She was in the kitchen, just through the small doorway past the dining table, helping herself to a glass of juice. She sat in the seat nearest the door and just stared at the glass filled with a clear, apricot-colored liquid, tracing the rim of the glass with her finger, occasionally sipping it—for once, the sweet fruit juice tasted watery and bland, she finished the glass nonetheless, though reluctantly.

During her drinking, she had sensed Anakin walking into the workshop as she heard even the more careful of clinking of metal hitting the table. She remained silent, though he could sense her there, he just chose not to disturb her and rather make himself busy with fixing things. Next, she heard Padmé’s soft and kindly voice, a stark contrast to Anakin’s steely tone.

“Are you hungry?”

“The shifter broke,” he completely avoided her question.

Their conversation went on, with Anakin struggling to keep away from the grief that lingered in him.

“But I couldn’t…” he trailed. “Why’d she have to die? Why couldn’t I save her? I know I could have!”

Then he tasted something sour, not realizing that he had bitten the inside of his cheek and it bled. The walls listened and told everything to Irele, who’s still drawing invisible lines on her glass. Much later, she jolted when Anakin responded to Padmé’s fact with a loud frustration.

“Well, I should be!”

“I will be the most powerful Jedi ever!”

Irele continued to listen in, though Anakin’s behavior frightened her, and she had already come out of the dining room and hid behind the wall before the workshop’s archway.

“And I promise you: I will even learn to stop people from dying!”

Taken aback by the bold claim, she thought it impossible and dismissed it as wishful thinking clouded by unrealistic ambitiousness. Again, Irele heard more of Anakin’s roaring, this time blaming someone by the name of Obi-Wan of holding him back. She just continued to listen, hoping to find a way to empathize with her brother, but she found it difficult when he’s so flooded primarily of hatred and anger than sorrow and grief.

“Ani, what’s wrong?” Padmé cooed, attempting to break through his walls.

Anakin looked down on his hands, the very hands that held and swung the sword as he passed on his sentence to the Tuskens. They’re still red from the overly-tightened grip of his saber from last night. There were bruises too, little nicks that he didn’t notice during the genocide. The tears have dried, leaving glossy streaks on his defined cheekbones. His nostrils flared as he gasped for air, when the realization was slowly creeping up to him. He choked as he sighed.

“I killed them… I killed them all…” he repeated. Then swung to face Padmé. “They’re dead. Every single one of them…”

Padmé stared at him, dead frozen on where she stood. Her fingers unfeeling. Irele heard those very words from her own brother’s mouth and she could have sworn she felt her heart pause from beating. Her stomach tightened after every following word.

“And not just the men. But the women… and the children too!”

Irele’s knees nearly failed her as they lost their strength. Her heart felt heavy like an anchor. She silenced a gasp when she brought her hand to her mouth.

“They’re like animals. And I slaughtered them like animals! I hate them!”

Horrified of the unimaginable, completely unnecessary carnage her brother had wrought, she ran away from the workshop; the sound of her boots lightly scraping against the sand and metal as her heels sprang Anakin’s ears pricked up, but he was too preoccupied with his grief that he dismissed it as nothing. Irele sprints to her bedroom. For a moment, it didn’t sound like her brother was the one talking—she heard the words of a monster in the guise of a man.

Her hands trembled uncontrollably that she cannot even hold something with two fingers. She finally allowed herself to melt to the floor, and she cannot fathom how much violence and damage that Anakin left in his wake upon retrieving their mother. That night, Irele could not sleep; she waited for everyone to have fallen asleep and attempted to sneak out of the house to visit Shmi’s headstone again. They had buried Shmi already, Irele helped too, but Cliegg was too cautious of the nightfall that he insisted on setting the funeral tomorrow morning where it’s safer; of course, his son and stepdaughter agreed to it, Anakin didn’t have much of a choice. He stole a glimpse of Irele, who kept her vision forward; when she would turn to an angle where she’d have to face Anakin she kept her eyes on the ground, and would look in front when she’s gained distance from everyone else.

She and her own biological brother lack the comfort and warmth as siblings would share—especially in such a harrowing experience like losing a parent.

She’d rather prefer the comfort of a stone.

Settling herself on the sand, her handwoven scarf—made by her mother, no less—wrapping her little body from her desert chill, she spoke to Shmi’s headstone.

“Hi, Mom…” she sadly started. Unable to find the next, proper words, she had a silent moment in front of the grave, and rocked back and forth for a bit. “He’s quite taller than I expected. Though, I should’ve seen it coming. He is my big brother, after all.” She huffed out an awkward chuckle.

She scribbled on the sand and then would start over by brushing it with a single sweep of her hand. This would repeat as she spoke openly to the gravestone. For every passing moment, the tone of her voice would grow more somber and quieter, lacking the strength to let out another word than simply letting it go and cry.

“You know, he told me that he’d bring you home—but I never expected it to be in this way.”

There was a bitter taste in her mouth, she clicked her tongue, “He promised.”

No answer, of course. Nevertheless, the girl continued. Already yearning for her mother’s embrace.

“Had I known… I already had that feeling…! I should’ve come with you. I may be little but… You never doubted me. Thanks to that, I knew—I really knew—that I could fight them off, even for just a bit. If I did, I would have protected you. Then they never would have taken you away from me. I would have bought us time to escape… I would have called Dad and Owen—or anyone—for help.”

She hiccuped, picking up what’s left of her failing confidence, “I would have saved you.”

That wishful thinking then led her to finally releasing the tears she had been holding back all day.

“I miss you so much already, Mommy…”

Not even the warmth of her woven scarf blanketing her would be enough of a stand-in for Shmi’s hugs. It will never be. Being the only memory of her mother, it’s only a fragment of what Irele will remember of her.

She went to sleep quite late, understandably so.

–

The morning of the funeral, as promised, occurred. Cliegg gave his eulogy first, Irele had her turn on her eulogy next—she had not much to say, for she had already said everything in private last night—though she cannot be moved from where she knelt, then Anakin got on his knees right next to her.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there to save you, Mom, and I hope you can forgive me too, for breaking my promise to my sister.”

Irele craned her head to her side but quickly withdrew it, facing the grave again.

The funeral was interrupted when the white and blue astromech droid R2D2 came to bear news. Padmé and Anakin prepared to retreat to the silver starship meters away from the homestead.

“Come with me,” Anakin whispered, he sounded demanding even in a low voice.

Irele attempted to harden her voice, to convey the conviction of her decision, “My place is here, Anakin. Like it or not, they’re my family. I can’t leave them.”

Anakin’s head bobbed downwards, and then the unexpected happened—in an attempt to comfort one another, both Irele and Anakin planted their hands on each other’s shoulders; he gave her small shoulder a tight squeeze, hers was gentle and somewhat faltering as if the toll of Shmi’s death has only begun to sink into her.

“May the Force be with you.” bid Anakin.

She didn’t know what to say back and simply watched her brother sprint towards the ship.

The Cliegg family watched the starship blow a plume of smoke underneath its landing gear, hovered, and then darted through the sky before vanishing like star come morning light.

For Irele, it’s back to her regular life here in Tatooine. Where she belongs.

Or so she thinks.

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reliciron · 4 years

Text

Decided to write out the important bit of my jedi consular’s backstory.

It should be noted that he doesn’t technically want to die, he’s just very scared of his master and doesn’t see any way to escape.

That said, at the end of the day he does try (and fail) to die by throwing himself at some jedi, so please don’t read if you’re uncomfortable with that.

Go to the northern reaches of Brentaal IV. There you will find a small Jedi temple: the place where Grand Master Satele Shan first trained.

It has enjoyed relative anonymity since, but this must change.

Infiltrate the temple. Slaughter everyone within. Show the Jedi that nothing is safe from the Sith.

Do this, my clever acolyte, and I will raise you from the shadows.

You will be my apprentice.

Dust kicks up as he races across the northern plateaus on his stolen speeder bike. It will take hours to track properly, with the damage he left behind. But by then he’ll have either completed his mission…

Or he’d be dead.

He clenches his teeth.

She was mad. She HAD to be.

No.

He shakes his head.

No. His master is many things, but not mad.

Just calculating. And he may be a mere acolyte, but he hadn’t survived this long without learning some of the game.

If her words were true, the Sith would send a platoon, or at least a full squad. Make a show of the massacre to demoralize the Republic and Jedi Order both.

One lone acolyte would not be enough to guarantee victory. Indeed, it was very likely that he would not survive the attempt at all, even with 6 years of careful training from his master.

He’d been her faithful servant. Her knife in the dark. She’d liberated him from Rattatak and kindly taken him under her wing as a boy. He’d learned to wear the Force like a shroud. Hide himself from sight and strike from the shadows.

She gave the word, and he carried out the sentence. A name, a picture, a place, and they’d be dead in a matter of days.

He couldn’t be her apprentice. No matter his talent, he was Rattataki. And as far as the anyone else knew, he didn’t exist.

He KNEW this. She’d said it so many times. But now she was offering it to him.

It wasn’t real.

And the impossibility of the task only affirmed his suspicions.

He was not MEANT to succeed.

He did not exist, yet as more Sith and Imperials fell before him it became harder and harder to keep his existence secret. And she would never let him go, not when he knew so much of her secrets.

He was a liability now. One she hoped would take care of itself in a pointless attack on a temple.

He should run. He SHOULD, but he CAN’T.

His throat goes tight and he slows down a bit as the temple’s coordinates loom on the navigation computer.

He’d tried to run once, before he’d truly understood how much of a PRIVILEGE it was to have been chosen by his mistress. He couldn’t recall the ‘how’s and ‘why’s anymore, but he remembered the punishment had gone on for well over a week.

Run and I’ll find you, little one. And I will not be so merciful the next time.

If he tries to abandon his duty, he’d die all the same, but she’d make sure to make it hurt. At least the Jedi would make it quick.

Yes.

If its one thing the soft-hearted fools abhorred, it was making a being suffer.

There was no way out for him, but an end by their sabers would be better than by her hand.

–

It had been laughably easy to enter the temple. The roomy interior had given him plenty of space to cloak himself and slip through without being noticed by the guardians. He’d made it all the way into the empty training room, where he’d entered a vent near the ceiling and used it to gain access to the meeting room.

Inside there were a handful of masters and their attending padawans, likely a collection of the strongest jedi in the temple. An incredibly foolish target.

But that was the point, wasn’t it.

He could have killed a great many by now. Picked off padawans one by one has he slithered through the building. Had he actually believed the lie his master had told him, he would have.

But he didn’t. And now these Jedi were his best chance for a swift end.

As he grips his lightsaber, he wonders, not for the first time, what his mother would have thought of him. He didn’t remember her, or much of Rattatak for that matter. But he hoped he’d grown to be a strong son, one who might have made her proud, had things been different.

He muffles the sound of the grate being opened, curls his toes over the edge of the vent frame, and leaps.

–

The creature had seemed to come from thin air.

A calm discussion with his fellow masters about possible changes to the curriculum one minute, and a whirl of dark robes and red light the next.

By the time he and the others managed to pull their lightsabers, 3 padawans lay crumpled on the floor with the attacker ready to strike again.

The battle had been vicious.

Master Evren nearly had a leg taken off, and Knight Balrus fell in a burst of lightning before Ixal finally got in under its guard to slice up through it’s hood.

It screamed, bringing its saber up in mindless defense as it clutched its smoking face, but it was a futile effort. He followed through, ducking its arm and spinning around behind to carve his saber deep across it’s back.

It folded like a house of cards, crashing to the floor in a heap of dark robes.

Not dead, but also not getting up any time soon.

Healers and medical droids are called, and to everyone’s relief no one was killed. But it still left them with a host of very injured jedi, and a deeply wounded assailant who should have never made it this far.

–

Once the others have been seen to, he and the few other jedi of rank gather in the assassin’s room.

The scans the droids provided them with were both enlightening… and disturbing.

A juvenile rattataki male, approximately16 years of age. Signs of extensive, long-term electrical trauma, 18 healed fractures, and general malnutrition. And that was all underneath the damage he himself had caused in the battle. Evidently he’d blinded the man - no, boy - in one eye, and his final strike had severed his spine. He was now paralyzed from the waist down.

Stars above.

It’s about an hour more before the boy comes to, numbed heavily around his injuries but not sedated.

They needed to speak with him, and it absolutely could not wait.

Even so, none of them are prepared for the tsunami of terror that all but knocks them off their feet.

He chokes and tugs desperately at his restraints, every inch a panicked child despite the destruction he’d wrought only a few hours ago.

It makes his stomach roil to know he’d not fought a man, but a boy.

“Peace, young one,” he says softly. And the single remaining eye fixes upon him.

A muscle jumps in the rattataki’s jaw before his face goes eerily blank, at odds with the fear still saturating the Force around them.

“My name is Master Ixal. I’m afraid you’ve committed some rather serious crimes here today, but I would like to talk, if you wouldn’t mind.” When all the boy does is stare at him, he smiles, “May I ask your name?”

There’s a long stretch of silence before the answer.

“Acolyte.”

His accent is Kaas-ian, but given that he’s an alien, there’s a very good chance that he was a slave.

“Is that your name, or the one you were given?”

He blinks, as if trying to parse the meaning.

“Did you ever have a different name?”

Something small and fragile flickers across the part of his face that is still visible.

“…. Faun.”

He sighs. Good. Not so far gone that he won’t answer questions entirely, “Faun then. Can you tell me why you’re here?”

“My master sent me.”

A sith then. Were they truly so desperate as to use children?

“They sent you to attack us?”

His eye closes and he seems resigned.

“Yes.”

“Who sent you? Are there more coming? Why is the temple being targ-?”

“It doesn’t matter, kill me and be done with it.”

“What-?”

“I killed your people and infiltrated your temple, is that not enough?!”

He seems desperate then, like a frightened animal, and the fear redoubles in the Force.

“Easy now,” he assures, “You killed no one, all those who were injured survived.” He frowns, “And you will not die for it. We certainly won’t be letting you go, but you will live and be treated fairly. But I can promise you, the more you help us now, the easier things will go for you in the future.”

Instead of being assured, the young man barks a harsh, bitter laugh.

“What, future?! I failed to die! Now my master will come for me to correct my failure!” He positively whimpers and shrinks in on himself, “She’ll be so angry! She’ll make it hurt! Why can’t you just kill me!”

They’re all taken aback by the outburst, but as his words start to sink in a sick feeling begins to settle in to Ixal’s stomach.

“What do you mean you ‘failed to die’?”

“You think I am a fool?!” he spits. “What else am I to believe when she gives me such an impossible task and promises rewards I knew could never be!” He sags onto the hospital bed. “I do not exist. She cannot allow me to be tied to her, and I was no longer worth the risk.”

He truly feared this master of his so much that he would willingly undertake a suicide mission? Stars above, what had this woman done to him?!

He shakes his head. They knew the why now, but not the how.

“How did you manage to make it all the way into the meeting room? You would have had to pass several guardians.”

The boy huffs, voice still raw and wavering, but evening out as they entered more neutral territory. “Your security is poor and my master trained me well. I cloaked myself in the Force, muffled my presence, and walked right passed them.”

A hint of pride threads through the fear in the air, but already a few of their number have left, unable to take such overpowering emotions.

Cloaking is a rare gift. That this young man is capable of doing so, well enough to fool full fledged jedi, is both dangerous and intriguing. Between that, his combat ability, and the hyper-projection of his emotions, they were dealing with a powerful force user, no matter his age.

It only occurs to him now that the young rattataki could have likely killed dozens of padawans and younglings before being discovered.

But he didn’t.

An idea starts to form but he’d need to consult his fellow masters first.

“Thank you, Faun, you’ve been very helpful. Please rest for now. We will speak again later.”

The boy looks wary as they leave, but more than likely the sedatives are already being administered through his drip. He won’t be conscious for much longer.

–

The discussion is heated, with several knights and masters arguing against it, but after consulting the Jedi Council, they finally come to an agreement.

They would attempt to rehabilitate Faun.

Turning a sith was notoriously difficult, but his youth would work in their favor.

The skills of an assassin, Force-cloaking especially, where nearly impossible to teach to jedi. Too close to the dark side for many to want to risk learning. But as much as they may wish otherwise, sometimes those skills were needed, and if they could earn Faun’s loyalty they’d have an invaluable ally.

It would be a long and delicate process. Mind healers would be needed to try and break the chains his master had instilled in his mind, and the physical reconstruction and recovery would be just as taxing.

There was no guarantee that it would work at all, but he genuinely believed it was worth a try.

The poor boy had been through so much. With a bit of work they might give him a second chance at a fulfilling life.

Dark-side or no, the Force practically hummed around him in a way Ixal had not seen since young Satele. He didn’t know what part this young man might play, but he had a feeling he may yet prove essential in the future.

This would not be the end the young man had sought, but a new beginning.

======

From there it takes a long time to deprogram him, and they need to install several internal cybernetic bypasses in his spine to get around the damage. At the end of it, he’s got a pretty serious scar that runs from right shoulder to left hip, a few numb patches on his lower back, and his eye is still blinded. He learns to hide his accent, too. And he’s somewhere in his late 20s-early 30s by the time the game starts.

He was sent to Tython as a fresh start for his padawan training, since no one there would know who he was, aside from the Council.

His companions don’t find out until they’re fighting the First Son and Syo tells them to try and get them to leave or turn on Faun. Zenith almost does leave afterwards, but after a long discussion they all stick with him.

#swtor #jedi consular #character backstory #sith acolyte #he was kidnapped from rattatak and enslaved i just was trying to put it through the lens of what a brainwashed person would see it as #satele shan DOES come from brentaal 4 but everything else is completely made up #so if there is actual information from her backstory that contradicts this then *shugs* whoopsies #tw: suicidal thoughts #sort of

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yjk-imagines · 3 years

Text

Preview from a future fic I'll be writing

Warning for partial nudity. Nothing seggsy, just changing clothes.

When you went through the things that Jaina had been through with her friends, the concept of privacy and personal space went out the window. And she didn't mind it one little bit. Jacen was sitting on Tenel Ka's lap, and Lowie was sitting on the bunk that the twins usually shared, playing with Jaina's wookie doll. It was a testament to her explicit trust of her friends that she didn't rip it out of his hands and hug it tightly. Jaina herself was sitting on the bench in the Rock Dragon's hold with her feet on Zekk's lap. Zekk was attempting to fix a part he'd brought from the Lightning Rod, but was struggling because Jaina's feet were tapping out the beat of the latest Bith hit.

"Masters and Mistresses," Em-Teedee interrupted their comfortable silence with a soft chime over the comms as he monitored their flight from the cockpit.

"We are coming up on Canto Bight. It would be prudent to prepare your disguises now."

"Thanks Em-Teedee!" Jaina called. Lowie growled an affirmative.

Tenel Ka gave Jacen a nudge, and despite the big, soft brown eyes he stared at her with, she kept nudging him until he fell onto the floor.

"The closet should be over here." Tenel Ka opened the double doors and the fabric nearly took off Jaina's eyebrows as it gasped for breath after being squished inside.

"Huh," Jaina grinned, "Maybe the Ta'a Chume has a few good ideas every now and then."

Tenel Ka graced Jaina with a rare smile, "This is a fact."

"Okay," Jacen slicked his hair back at the fresher unit, "Let's go over our roles one more time."

"You don't have a role," Jaina shoved a stylish Corellia-cut suit at her brother, "You, TK, and I are notable enough to have a alibi for being on Canto Bight."

"Yeah, but the holonet doesn't know anything about us. Uncle Luke said that Canto Bight is always swarming with paps, so this is our big chance to create the persona that we want the rest of the galaxy to know."

"You've been crafting a big, dramatic backstory this entire ride, haven't you?"

"I have." Jacen admitted with a huge, dorky grin.

"Hear me out;" Zekk pulled out his ponytail, "A playboy."

Jaina hummed and hawed, then looked at Tenel Ka, who already had her poker face ready to go, "It might work, if he had any girls to play."

"Hey!" Jacen protested, "It could work!"

Not with his one and only girlfriend by his side all night. Jaina rolled her eyes.

Canto Bight had connections to Black Sun, and so at the request of the new owner, Master Skywalker sent five of his newly minted Jedi Knights to snuff them out. Jacen, Jaina, and Tenel Ka would play the heirs come to have a night out, spend all their money, and sniff out suspicious activity. Zekk and Lowie would play bodyguards.

Lowie wore pieces of the same suit Zekk had squeezed into, and the boy from Ennth envied him.

"It feels too tight," He said, trying to move his arms without tearing the suit.

Jaina tried to hide a chuckle, "It makes you look more intimidating." She told him.

"Friend Zekk, there is another suit here that would perhaps fit you better," Tenel Ka tossed it to him. This style of suit was mostly black, with purple accents. It hugged his hips, but comfortably, and the sleeves allowed for more movement while concealing a couple of holsters on his arms. He placed a single tiny blaster on his right arm, just in case, and tucked his lightsaber into the two on his left.

"Still intimidating?" He asked.

Jaina, who was still indecisive about what gown to wear, looked him up and down. "Let's try a fake scar," She suggested.

"Are you sure?"

"Trust me, you look like you have a babyface."

"Are you saying I'm not intimidating?"

"Zekk, I mean this in the nicest way possible, but you're about as intimidating as Nicta."

Zekk had no idea how to react to this. His mouth moved back and forth as Jaina grabbed the makeup kit. "I was the Darkest Knight!" He defended.

Lowie growled, badly stifling a fit of laughter.

"Lowbacca is correct. That is not who you are anymore." Tenel Ka decided on a slim number in neon green, with a matching sash of green, blue, and yellow taffeta.

Zekk sighed, "Well, good to know all the time spent meditating on my actions and taking responsibility really worked."

"Hold still," Jaina pushed down gently on his shoulders to get him to sit in the chair. She began to draw a long white line over his eye, reminiscent of the scar on Anakin Skywalker's face. Zekk waited patiently, but with exasperation, for the whole process of blending, shading, and contouring to be finished. By the time Jaina was done, Lowie had brought them out of hyperspace and everyone else was dressed.

"Am I beautiful yet?" He asked.

"Very," Jaina promised.

"For a mechanic, I am impressed with the attention to detail you gave my makeup," Zekk said, examining himself in the closet mirror.

"Hey Jay! check it out!" Jacen said. His hair was spiked up in the front, and face was painted with the craziest amalgamation of colors and powders he could concoct, reminding everyone else of Raynar's robes.

"You like it?" He asked his bewildered sister, framing his face with his hands, "I'm thinking rich bad boy with a heart of gold."

"Perfect! You're bad at everything!"

Tenel Ka stepped in between the twins before they could start fighting and smear the makeup on Jacen's face.

"I thought that you might find this dress fashionable, yet comfortable enough for your tastes," She held out a pile of fabric, and Jaina could hardly tell where it started and where it ended.

First of all, she noticed the red cape. Two buttons, stretchy material, and an endless amount of opportunities. She was sold immediately, but even more so when she noticed the white pants that went under the whole ensemble.

"The shirt is more of a tunic, and can be worn with or without the pants, though I assume you would prefer the pants?"

"Um, yes!" Jaina immediately began to change, trading her cargo pants for the long white pants that, while shiny and white, fit more like Zekk's bodyguard-style pants. She was in love. They came with a matching set of white heels, but who cared when she got to wear pants to a fancy, stuck-up party?

And then she had to change her shirt.

Zekk froze, staring at her collarbone. The familiar pattern of spindly white lines trickled into existence, blossoming with the faded black and blue of bruises from lightning and gathering together beneath Jaina's bra.

"Jaina, what is that?" He asked, his voice shaking.

Jaina looked down at her chest. It hardly pained her nowadays, but yeah, it was there.

"Uh, lightning scar?" She quickly pulled the white shirt on, not nearly as excited about her disguise now.

"No, Jaina," Zekk's voice was low, and bristling with sharp, pointed syllables. "That is not a natural lightning scar and those kinds of bruises only come from Sith lightning."

He stepped closer to Jaina, who didn't move. The whole ship was deathly silent as Zekk's anger rippled outward into the force.

"Jaina," His voice held a hint of softness as his fingertips brushed against her hand, "Who did this to you?"

#jaina solo #zekk #star wars #star wars eu #star wars legends #young jedi knights #jacen solo #lizart writes #tenel ka djo

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jedimasterbailey · 3 years

Text

Sneak Preview of Chapter 8 of “The Padawans”

Ahsoka overhears what Sidious intends to do with Barriss and needless to say, it doesn’t sit well with her.

Link to full fic below!

Darth Sidious disembarks his personal shuttle with his most trusted Imperial guards leading the way to Riyo Chuchi’s palace. The Fifth Brother and the Seventh Sister walk silently beside their Emperor, both perplexed as to why they were accompanying the Sith Lord. For they had both failed miserably at keeping Barriss Offee in their custody by allowing the Mirialan escape with Ahsoka Tano, another wanted Jedi. Their punishment was one neither would ever forget. They had been electrocuted by Sidious’s lightning repeatedly until their flesh began to burn. As a result, the Seventh Sister now relied on a vocabulator to speak, her vocal cords having been damaged beyond repair and the Fifth Brother wore more armor to cover the raw skin that has yet to heal. Failure was no longer an option for the duo if they valued their lives.

Just before they were greeted by the Pantoran Senatorial guard, Sidious addresses the Inquisitors with their next assignment in a low voice.

“There is a Jedi here. It appears Senator Chuchi has set a trap for me to spring. Find this Jedi and hold him or her for questioning while I deal with our host. There is a chance it could be the very one you fools have lost. Do not fail me again!”

“Yes, my Lord.” The Inquisitors simultaneously say before stepping aside.

The Seventh Sister then calls for one of her probe droids using a remote on her wrist. Within seconds, the requested droid flew out of the Emperor’s ship and perched itself on it’s mistress’s shoulders ready for orders.

“Search the area and see if you can pick up another lifeform that isn’t the Senator or her staff. Apparently she thinks she can hide a Jedi from us.” The Seventh Sister orders in her new distorted voice.

The probe droid immediately begins to work as it flew from the Inquisitor's shoulder the minute she uttered the word “Jedi”.

______________________________________________________________________

Sensing Palaptine’s presence getting closer to the palace, Ahsoka conceals her own Force signature and takes shelter in the palace’s ventilation system following Riyo’s footsteps underneath. Ahsoka could feel Riyo’s fear and anxiety building which worried her deeply. From what the Togruta has seen based on Imperial propaganda in the worlds she’s traveled to, Palpatine was certainly frightening and intimidating, but he was also portrayed to be the same noble leader as he was before the Empire. Was Riyo fearful for her life? Or was she just unsettled by the change of plans?

Ahsoka leaned on the latter knowing they had yet to discuss their plan on how to deal with the Emperor with the subject of Barriss having been a distraction. Despite knowing Riyo’s intention and motivation, Ahsoka was still set on persuading her friend to think of another solution. If there’s one thing Ahsoka was sure of, it was that taking a life, no matter what the reason was, was an act that could never be erased from one’s consciousness. Barriss’s words and facial expressions on the matter has proven that. She did not want that same fate for Riyo. There had to be another way.

Ahsoka’s breath hitched in her throat seeing Palpatine approach Riyo. The man was obviously a Sith Lord in the eyes of a Jedi, but to someone like Riyo, he was deformed old man with an unnatural eye color. Ahsoka concentrates hard on suppressing her hatred for the man for the sake of staying hidden. If Palpatine was able to orchestrate an entire galactic war without consequence, then Ahsoka knew better to underestimate his abilities on detecting the slightest change in the atmosphere.

Riyo, now properly dressed in formal attire, bows to Palpatine.

“Emperor Palpatine, it is an honor to have you in my home. Though you are here earlier than expected.”

Palpatine gives a false smile, “Yes, Senator. Your invitation admittedly piqued my interest and I could not wait to meet. It isn’t everyday I have an excuse to leave Coruscant.”

Riyo reciprocates the gesture.

“Then we should waste no time then. Allow me to show you to my office.”

Ahsoka quietly follows the crowd above, going as far as to hold one lightsaber in with one hand and the other with her teeth to prevent any noise. The situation was too delicate for there to be any mistakes. To her surprise, Ahsoka hears Palpatine dismiss his red cloaked guards outside the office, leaving him alone with Riyo.

“Please, make yourself comfortable.” Riyo says calmly, taking her usual seat, “I could have someone fetch us some refreshments if you’d like?”

“That would be lovely, my dear.” Palpatine accepts, sitting down.

After Riyo informs someone of her staff of the Emperor’s request, the secret Sith Lord immediately brings up the very subject he knew disturbed Pantoran.

“I take it that you are displeased with what has become of the Talz?”

“Forgive me your grace, but I must admit that their extermination was unnecessary. They were no harm to anyone and it’s because of their extinction that my people have become more fearful of the Empire. The increased number of Stromtroopers in our cities and towns enforcing curfews and inciting violence deeply concerns me as someone who is supposed to be protecting them. That’s why I wanted to negotiate as to how the Empire can improve its relations with Pantora.” Riyo says with the same amount of sophistication and grace as Padme once did in the Senate.

Feigning a look of confusion, Palpatine folds his hands, “I’m sorry my dear, but I must disagree with the notion that the presence of my Stormtroopers or the extinction of the Talz are of any harm to your people. The troopers are there to maintain the peace and order the Republic failed to accomplish.These men are instructed to detain any rebels who dare to disturb the peace. You know as well as I do that we as a galaxy are still recovering the Clone wars; we cannot run the risk of having individuals rise against the stability we have created. Don’t forget that it was Count Dooku, a political anarchist, who started all the fighting that the Jedi enabled. Surely you and your people have not forgotten what a dark time that was!”

Riyo shakes her head, “Of course not, your Excellency. I, like the late Senator Amidala, were one of the few who voted against the fighting.”

“Yes, I remember.” Palpatine sighs, now appearing to look mournful, “May she rest in peace, Amidala. I miss her immensely. I’d like to think that she would have been proud of the new order.”

From above, Ahsoka grimaces at Palpatine’s words as they couldn’t be further from the truth. Padme would undoubtedly be leading the Rebel alliance if she were still alive.

“That still does not explain why the Talz needed to be killed.” Riyo argues coolly.

A servant then entered the room with a tray of tea and assortment of Pantoran delicacies, temporarily stopping Palpatine from answering. It was only after the two gave their thanks and had the room back to themselves that the Emperor was able to give the answer both Ahsoka and Riyo knew to be a lie.

“I never ordered for the Talz to be terminated.” Palpatine says steadily maintaining direct eye contact with Riyo, “I only deployed a squadron of my people to set up a base on the moon given how suitable the environment would be for training purposes. My best guess is that the Talz attacked my troops and thus they were left with no other choice. I can understand how hard this all must be to hear knowing you were the one to establish peaceful relations. But you and I have no control as to how they respond to their new superiors. As I’ve said before, there is no room for hostility against the Empire.”

There was a moment of silence between the politicians allowing Ahsoka to digest Palpatine’s words. The answers to all of Riyo’s questions have been contradictory and infuriating. Anakin and Obi-wan had once told her that the Talz were welcoming and receptive to negotiation. A small part of Ahsoka wanted to hop back into her ship and destroy the “training camp” that was surely constructed over the bodies of the dead tribe. But Ahsoka knew better; Riyo was depending on her to not draw attention.

“That is...very unfortunate to hear.” Riyo professes sadly, bowing her head.

“Indeed.” Palpatine sighs before continuing, “Unfortunately, I’m afraid that is not all of the bad news I have to share.”

Raising her head back up Riyo asks, “What is it?”

“There is a Jedi here.” Palpatine confesses, causing Ahsoka’s heart to leap into her throat.

Riyo’s eyes widen, “A Jedi? But how? I thought they were all dead?”

“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!” Ahsoka screams internally to herself, taking her lightsaber hilt out of her mouth in order to suppress the sound of her now heavy breathing. She was at a loss as to how Palpatine could know this despite having hid her ship and temporarily cutting her connection off from the Force. Ahsoka then reminded herself of something she knew to be true about the ways of the Sith; their order was rooted in deception.

“Maybe this is just an excuse for him to watch Riyo.”

The possibility brought some comfort for Ahsoka, but now any future communication with Riyo would be next to impossible between Palpatine and the Inquisitors he most likely brought with him.

“If only that were true, but alas there are still many survivors out there not to mention all the younglings that are born with such powers. But not to worry, I have two of my Jedi hunters here looking for him or her. Rest assured, I will not be leaving until the Jedi has been brought to justice. I wouldn’t feel comfortable returning to Coruscant knowing a dangerous traitor roams free on your planet. Despite what you may think of me Senator Chuchi, I really do keep your best interest at heart.” Palpatine affirms with another smile.

Even from a distance, Ahsoka could clearly see how uncomfortable Riyo looked, “Do you have an idea on who it may be?”

“To be perfectly honest with you Senator, I am not sure. However, there is an individual I am hoping to find here.” Palpatine admits causing Riyo to lean forward on her desk.

“And who would that be?”

“Barriss Offee.” Palpatine answers ensuing a fresh wave of panic to arise inside Ahsoka.

With a pained expression on her face, Riyo asks, “You mean the girl who bombed the Jedi Temple and escaped prison?”

“Precisely.”

“Why her specifically?”

To Ahsoka’s horror, Palpatine laughs, “Well aren't you a curious girl! Unless you’re aware of Ms. Offee’s whereabouts and are hiding her from me?”

Riyo rapidly shakes her head, “Of course not! Barriss is just an interesting choice given what she has done. It would make more sense for someone like her to hide in some remote world far from the Core worlds. A Mirialan would be very easy to spot on Pantora!”

Palaptine raises a hand, “Ms. Offee is not to be underestimated Senator Chuchi. I know Barriss to be an incredibly powerful and intelligent warrior. We both may not agree with her crimes, but her speech on the Republic and the Jedi’s involvement in the war rung with truth. She saw the future we were all blind to and for that, I’m hoping I could extend a peace offering to her. Her skills would actually become a great asset to the Empire.”

“The Jedi failed her and pushed her to do what she did, but I know I could help her. I could give her the love and attention she was denied. Perhaps she could succeed me in becoming Empress one day.”

Ahsoka bared her fangs as her blood began to boil at what Palpatine’s intentions were for Barriss. Everything Bail had told her after the events of the trail now made sense. Palpatine was hoping Barriss’s anger would fester into a hatred he could manipulate between denying Master Luminara’s visitation rights and removing the death penalty. The idea of Barriss becoming a Sith apprentice nauseated Ahsoka to the point where she was afraid she would vomit in the vent.

Not wanting to hear another word, Ahsoka knew she needed to get out and run far away from the palace. She needed to unleash her anger and her sadness before it got the better of her and made itself known to the Sith Lord. Ahsoka quickly grabs her lightsabers and navigates her way to Riyo’s bedroom where she knew she could escape without being seen.

The journey proved itself to be a challenge for Ahsoka as her emotions were quickly turning into hysteria. Her heart was hammering against her chest so hard that she felt she couldn’t breathe. Tears also began to stream down her cheeks, blurring her vision. Ahsoka had not felt this kind of visceral reaction since her days of hiding on Thabeska after the events of Order 66.

Back then, Ahsoka understood fully why the phenomena would happen; she knew she was stressed about Anakin's whereabouts and she knew she was grieving the fact that she had to fight and bury the 501st alone, with Rex being the only survivor. Now, Ahsoka wasn’t entirely sure why she was reacting this way.

Knowing about Palpatine’s insidious plan for Barriss was upsetting, but was there something more to it, and the only way to find that out was to be as far away from Palpatine as possible.

Ahsoka was beginning to see stars when at last she saw her way out. She quickly punches the vent open and hops out of the opening, gasping for air. Taking a few steps back, Ahsoka then sprints out of the room and leaps over the balcony, dropping several meters down to the ground below. Upon landing, Ahsoka proceeds to run away from the palace and out into the open marshes, completely unaware of the probe droid that had spotted her and was now alerting its master.

#ahsoka tano #barriss offee #barrisoka #barrissoka #star wars fanfiction

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miss-lumiere · 4 years

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Redemption | Part I

Pairing: Obi-Wan Kenobi x reader

Summary: A young sith apprentice on their first mission. Although a chance to prove yourself to your dark masters presents itself, you do the exact opposite of what is expected of you. Putting yourself at the jedi master Kenobi’s merci, you plead him to lead you from the dark side and show you the way of the light. But will your attempt to redeem yourself be futile and the pull to the dark side be too strong?

Wordcount: ~2400

Warnings: angst, canon-violence

A/N: Hey guys, I hope you and your families are healthy. This is somewhat the prequel to a longer series I have planned, it will be a slow burn but Obi-Wan will appear in the next chapter. Sorry I haven’t posted in some time, uni was very stressful and I was lacking the motivation, but now in times of quarantine I found some time again to write. I hope you enjoy this, I am always happy to receive messages and feedback :) Masterlist Part II

Alongside your sister in training, Asajj Ventriss you had been send to a planet on the outer rim that was currently under the protection of the Republic. The goal of the attack was to weaken the hold of the Republic on the planet, since it was rich in resources, which the seperatists wished to aquire. Yet Ventriss was the only one allowed to get her hands dirty. For now you would have to be satisfied with observing the fighting, since you were not cleared for missions yet. Although your master had assured you would join the fighting soon.

It would be your first mission and to say you were nervous was an understatement. No, you were terrified. Terrified you would fail and disappoint your master, for failure would often result in punishment. On the other hand, you were curious to get the chance to fight a jedi yourself, or even better, defeat one. The prospect of impressing Count Dooku, as unlikely as that might have been, nevertheless overshadowed your fear. You had been trained by the Count for a few years now and your fingers were itching to finally aide in destroying the jedi.

You were currently hidden atop a higher building amidst the lush vegetation of the planet, your dark cloak flowing in the wind. The droid squadron marched further into the city engaging the first clones breaking out of the treeline. The clones managed to hold their ground neither fronts having the upper hand. Thats what you were here for.

Ventriss was beside you, a sadistic smirk forming on her face as the first jedi revealed himself. It was Skywalker, as calculated by your Master, followed by his togrutan padawan. Not having noticed you yet, the two jedi reinforced the clones, sprinting to the front, slashing droids in their way. As the two were seperated, Ventriss let out a malicous laugh, jumping of the building to engange the younger one. As the jedi master noticed the two fight, you understood why Ventriss had enganged her first. It seemed her master was fiercely protective of her. Skywalker slashed his way through the oncoming droids trying to reach the girl yet was held back as they seemed to swarm him. No doubt your master’s plan. Storming towards the young female with a battle cry, the red and green of the two lightsabers clashed together.

Asajj Ventriss was relentless, hitting her opponent with fast and strong strikes, but the apprentice seemed to be able to stand her ground, parrying her attacks elegantly. The jedi apprentice was strong with the force and skilled, you had to give her that, but you knew that Ventress’ had a few tricks up her sleeves herself. She wouldn’t hesitate to fight dirty, while trickery wasn’t the jedi way.

Skywalker’s padawan had just gotten the upper hand through a mistake Ventriss had made, as the latter shifted her weight to one of her legs while the other kicked dirt up in the togrutans direction, hitting her in the face. The girl was stunned, lowering her guard just for a second, but that was enough to make her trip, landing on her back. The mistress pushed forward ready to deal the final blow, as an invisible force pushed her backwards flying through the air. Skywalker had finally managed to reach the fight between the jedi and the sith, reaching for his Padawan, helping her up, making sure she was fine. Hastily looking around herself, Ventriss noticed the absence of her lightsaber, instictively grabbing a blaster off the ground before pulling the trigger. Everything after that seemed to happen in slow motion: The jedi master leaps infront of the shocked girl taking the hit for her before going to the ground.

In that moment your smirk vanishes, and your mouth opens in surprise. Nevertheless, the jedi being hit, as impossible as that feat itself seemed, wasn’t what surprised you. You knew that the Mistress was a force to be reckoned with. No, what surprised you was the master taking a hit for his apprentice. You had never expected him to protect her, while threatening his own life.

Meanwhile the scene before you unfolded further, Clones forming a protective circle around the pair as the apprentice helped her master up, who was apparently not fatally wounded, before retreating hastily into the woods. Yet you were frozen. You couldn‘t fathom what you had seen before you. You had known that the jedi were sentimental but you had never expected the extend of the bond Skywalker seemed to share with the young jedi. What irked you more, was that you were aware that your „sister“, let alone master, would not once hesitate to sacrifice you for the „greater good“.

Following the jedis’ retreat, the sound of a landing craft approaching your position filled your ears, informing you to leave. You turned towards the commotion, pushing your black shawl over one shoulder before approaching the edge of the roof you had been observing from. Landing elegantly on the dark grass afoot the building, you rushed towards your fellow apprentice, who was already waiting for you at the boarding ramp, meeting your eyes with a triumphant smirk.

“About time we showed those jedi where they belong.”, she announced as she turned away, you following her up the ramp. “I bet you can’t wait to report back to our Master.”, you retorted with a scoff, although a humorous undertone hinting at your amusement. You wouldn’t exactly call her a friend, since there was already a growing rivalry for Count Dooku’s favour even if you hadn’t been allowed on any missions yet. Nevertheless, she was the closest thing to a companion that you had. It wasn’t that you spent a lot of time together outside of training sessions, but at least she had never chosen you to be become the target of her anger. Yet, you thought. Your relationship was about to drastically change as you would gain more power, a thing you already sectretly dreaded.

“Get out of my way.”, she snapped at a droid before pushing it angrily away. You followed her further into the inside of the ship before daring to speak again. “Sorry, Mistress.”, the droid responded shakily, before backing up slowly.

“How did you know attacking the young one would have the effect it did?”, you asked hesitantly. “The Jedi are predictable. Their compassion is their biggest weakness.”, she spoke with her back still facing you before turning around completely. “You can use it to your advantage.”

“How foolish of them to form attachments to their apprentices.”, you added absentmindedly. “Oh, it will cost them greatly, especially after I am finished with them.”, she laughed coldly. “Oh and you will surely get a chance at that yourself.”

Somehow the prospect of killing jedi didn’t bring you as much joy as you would have liked. Yes, you were angry when you had to be, but that passion that fueled your power didn’t come from your hatred for jedi, no matter how hard your master had tried to indoctrinate you. This anger was often accompanied by fear, the fear to not rise up to expectations, since your failure would not be without consequences.

“I will let the Master know of my success.”, she announced in her usually cold tone before retreating further into the ship, leaving you alone.

Smoke filled your lungs as you crawled your way out of the burning shack, screams filling the air as tears fell freely from your eyes. You turned around to search for someone. Someone important to you, more important than anything else. You started rushing forward, pushing past anyone stumbling in your way, panicked voices reaching your ears. A deep fear reached your mind almost paralyzing you as you reached the burning hut, about to collapse. A shrill scream reached your ears as you fell to your knees, attempting to reach the remains of the building. Suddenly, a cold, strong grip held you back by your arm, pulling you away. You turned around to see a man with a sadistic grin on his face, making you respond by kicking and screaming. The man tightened his grip, the last thing you saw a glowing red light near your face before you were engulfed in darkness.

You jolted awake, sweat soaking your sheets. The cry that left your mouth shook you out of your paralysis, making you draw in a deep shaky breath. As you clutched your thin blanket to your chest, your knuckles turning white, you closed your eyes. It had only been a dream, you told yourself over and over to calm yourself. But it wasn’t just a dream.

You remember it as clearly as if it had been yesterday, it just felt as real. You had laughed and played together before it had happened. Before the beginning of the end. Before you were made into this shell, a ghost of the person you were, you could have been.

You had tripped and your mother craddled you in her arms to comfort you as the first blasters went off. She had immediately clutched you to her chest tightly, whispering how everything would be alright, as tears escaping her eyes. Now you knew that she had just tried to protect you, but back then you believed her. You didn’t know that from then on nothing would be the same anymore, your life in shatters. Your mother had picked you up before making you hide underneath the bed, assuring you she would return for you. That was about 17 years ago, but you couldn’t be sure.

A tear made its way down your face, before you angrily rubbed it away with the back of your hand. You couldn’t be weak right now, you had to be strong to get through this, to become powerful, powerful enough so no one could hurt you any longer. And still you couldn’t help but feel trapped. A different life was after all just that: a dream.

Worse yet, you were sure you would never have such a meaningful relationship with anyone as you had with your mother, someone that really cared. You yearned to feel the warmth of someone’s embrace again, remembering your mothers touch only vaguely. Someone to remind you of why you were still fighting.

You thought back to the fight against the jedi earlier, how the master and padawan seemed to care for each other so deeply. They would’ve died for each other, something that none of your acquaintances would even consider, not your master nor Ventress.

With a sigh you turned back around, making yourself comfortable again. You would have to get at least a few hours of good nights sleep to not get your ass handed to you in tomorrow’s training session.

To be continued...

If you would like to be tagged, please let me know!

#obi-wan kenobi x reader #star wars #obi-wan x reader #obi-wan x you #anikin skywalker #obi-wan series #obi-wan kenobi #ewan mcgregor #ahsoka tano #jedi #imagine #x reader #star wars the clone wars #the clone wars #obi-wan #series #angst

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littleredwritingrob · 3 years

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Ambuscade

noun: an ambush. verb: to attack from a concealed position.

For the New SW Canon Discord prompts: Senator Skywalker Warning: this is evil and gets a bit dark

“No one knows the truth about Senator Skywalker”

It was those eight words, spoken by a young togruta girl in the back of a dimly lit lower level Coruscanti diner that set Duja on her path. As Senator Amidala’s aide and trusted confidant, it was her responsibility to not only protect her mistress from threats but also actively seek out weaknesses in the political landscape. The recent addition to the Galactic Senate, rising political star from Tatooine and new protege of the Chancellor, Senator Anakin Skywalker, appeared to be a man without weakness. So naturally Duja jumped at the chance for any dirt on the freshman politician.

When he had first sauntered onto Coruscant’s politician scene with his immaculate features and honeyed voice, most had dismissed him, Duja included; an inexperienced speaker from a backwater desert planet. Since, he proved himself to be an recurring obstacle for Padmé and her allies on the senate floor, rallying support for Palpatine from across a bloc of long written off outer rim seats. But the charming senator kepting gaining influence, neither criticism nor scandals sticking to his teflon smile and the HoloNet was lapping it up. Before long, Skywalker was somehow both the champion of the outer rim and darling of the public.

That made him more than an obstacle, that made him a threat.

Especially since Duja was sure Palpatine was pulling the strings. She just didn’t know how. So when an anonymous source had offered to meet, Duja jumped on the chance. Her contact was secretive, but that was hardly unusual, offering only those few words of warning and an address to an industrial complex in The Works, not far away. Even with a veil on, the togruta seemed at least vaguely familiar, a staffer in Skywalker’s offer perhaps. She would have to check the office’s records later, for the moment, Duja had a lead. The responsible thing to do would be to investigate in the morning, or at least let Padmé know where she was going, but if this was some kind of trap then Duja needed to keep her senator as insulated from it as possible. Besides the address was only half an hour away by airspeeder.

Coruscant was never dark, not completely. It was impossible, layers upon layers of homes, shops and streets created a neon ambiance that permeated every nook and cranny of the city planet. But among the looming smoke stacks and disused warehouses, it was as dark as any place could be. The moment Duja set foot in the complex, every fibre of her being would tell her to leave, to run. But she didn’t.

Just as he expected.

She was brave, dedicated too. Some part of him admired that, not that it mattered. He watched from the shadows as Duja crept forward slowly, peering into the darkness, only a small light in her outstretched hand illuminating the way.

He could smell the fear.

Yet she crept forward still. Senator Amidala had good taste in aides obviously, most snivelling sycophants that worked for senators in hopes of a taste of power would have turned tail and ran by now. Duja was diligent, verging on fanatical and that’s why she was here. She would have found something eventually, some small thread to tug on until the whole tapestry he had spent the last two years weaving frayed and came apart. She represented a problem, one that would have to be dealt eventually.

Taking once last moment to revel in the fear, he pounced.

“What have you done?” A deep, snarling voice cut through the darkness of her groggy mind. Duja blinked a few times, trying to focus her blurring vision. She could make out a dark figure, back turned towards her, their silhouette illuminated by the faint blue light of a hologram.

“Nothing to worry about.” The figure said, a certain smugness evident in their voice, “Just dealing with a minor inconvenience.”

“Again?” The hologram’s voice snarled with irritance. “Make it quick, we have work to do, my apprentice.”

The figure chuckled and gave a shallow bow to the hologram, “Yes, master.”

The blue light evaporated, leaving only a few dim bulbs to cloak the room in a dark orange hue. Duja groaned slightly as feeling started to return to her limbs, only for her to find them bound. A panic rose in her chest as the figure turned towards her and into the light. In the orange glow Anakin Skywalker’s signature smile suddenly morphed into the menacing grin of a barghest on a hunt. Something about his movement seemed off, his usual carefree posture was suddenly tensed, coiled like a tight spring. But that wasn’t the worst thing.

His eyes.

Yellow eyes, gleaming with malice through the darkness and boring into Duja’s very own. The closer he moved to her, the harder her heart tried to escape her chest.

“Ahsoka.” He said calmly, eyes still focused on Duja, “We’ll need a vehicle, untraceable”

She tried to close her eyes but they remained transfixed. She tried to scream but the noise died in her throat. She felt like a prisoner in her own mind.

The sound of a lightsaber echoed against the dirty metal walls, not the subtle, familiar sound of a Jedi’s weapon, it was almost closer to a screech of protest. Even as she was bathed in red light, Duja couldn’t break eye contact. With a sick smile, he twirled the blade in his hand, making a final proclamation to her.

“No one knows the truth about Senator Skywalker, and no one ever shall.”

#star wars #fanfic #anakin skywalker #duja #ahsoka tano #sheev palpatine #evil #nswc prompts #little red writing rob #nycis

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startrekandwars · 4 years

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Trusting Fate

Word Count: 2200

Summary: Obi-Wan Kenobi finds himself at odds with a young Sith Apprentice as they both share a single goal- Get off the planet alive.

Tags: N/A

AN: Written for @celebrate-the-clone-wars prompt an Unlikely Team

Today could not get any stranger for Obi-Wan Kenobi. So far today he has been labeled as a criminal (which is fair seeing as how he managed to crash into a separatist planet and was now on the run), almost blown up twice (again, completely reasonable considering where he is), and now he is being rescued by a sith apprentice. "Come on, old man, unless you'd rather die here. To which case, stay in that alleyway. I don't care." Oh, and that apprentice? She only saved him after attempting to assassinate a Separatist Senator. For reasons that escape him.

"Because you know your way around better than I do?" He didn't appreciate her tone of voice. This girl was maybe 16 years old, deep red hair, amber eyes, and a tattoo that was on her forehead down the left side of her face and her chin, not to mention on both of her shoulders. The scar on the right side of her face likely ruined the matching side of the tattoo. "Why are you even helping me, young one?"

"Because you watched me almost assassinate someone. I need to keep an eye on my only living witness." She countered, glancing back on him before using the force to pull him into the different alley. "Force you move too slowly. And talk a lot."

Obi-Wan stumbled, looking down at the girl, "And you're in a hurry. And afraid." He didn't even need the force to recognize she's scared. She's moving more like she's running from something. "You aren't being trained by the Count, so who is your master?"

The girl stopped, "None of your business, Jedi. Look do you want to get off this force forsaken rock or do you want to die here? I know I would rather get off this rock."

"Fine. But we're going to get off of this 'Force forsaken rock' my way." Obi-Wan countered, now standing next to her. "How well do you know Separatist protocol?"

"Better than you, clearly. I could get off just by showing my lightsaber to the right people. Or taking down the droids if I wanted to." She countered, looking at him. "Why should we do this your way?"

The older Jedi put his hand on her shoulder, "Because something tells me you would rather go anywhere else other than home, and you didn't kill two people today, which tells me that you doubt your master's teachings. So if you want a chance to leave him, you also have to play by a different rule book."

She frowned before sighing, releasing her hair from the ponytail to hide most of the tattoos on her face. "Fine. We'll try things your way. But if you get us captured, we're breaking out my way. What do you want to know about Separatist protocol?"

"How do officers bring in prisoners of war? Outside of dead." Obi-Wan watched as a guard walked past them, completely ignoring their existence, "How are you currently hiding us?"

"With the force. I'm making them think they've already looked over here and saw nothing. Their minds are easy to manipulate like that since they don't really care." She answered, looking at him and then following his gaze. "You aren't serious."

He offered her a smile, "It will be fine, young one. Besides, I'm sure you're cold not wearing any sleeves." He answered, walking out of the alleyway. "Oh excuse me officer! It's my daughter, she's been attacked!" The moment the guard turned, Obi-Wan knocked him out and dragged her into their alley.

"I Am Not Your Daughter!" Sari hissed, looking at him. "My name is Sari." She started to take the parts of the guard's uniform that she would need to pass herself off as an officer. "And you're Obi-Wan Kenobi so you should really be careful. A lot of people want you very very dead. I still haven't made up my mind on whether or not I want to kill you."

"Would you rather I call you my niece or ward then?" He asked, watching her put on the jacket over her current tank top. In fact, most of her outfit easily turned into guard clothes. "Did you sneak onto this world as a guard? Why would a sith apprentice have to sneak onto the planet? Can't you just fly there?"

She looked at him, now disguised, "You're a jedi, can't you just mind trick yourself out of trouble instead of getting labeled a criminal and blown up? Twice- might I add. You got blown up twice." She looked at him and frowned more. "So what's the move, Jedi? Are you now going to become my commanding officer?"

"No, I'm going to be your prisoner, and we're going to steal a ship. Don't worry, I have a good feeling about this plan." He offered her what should have been a reassuring smile.

"Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling about this plan?" She only half muttered that, but she found some handcuffs and put them on Obi-Wan. "Why do you trust me not to kill you or turn you over?"

"The same reason your trusted me enough to try to save me. To use your words, we both want to get off this 'Force forsaken rock.' And you likely have a bad feeling because you're not used to doing good things. It will be fine, Sari." Obi-Wan countered, leaving the alleyway with Sari right behind him.

He was fairly certain she just rolled her eyes again, "Bad feelings are normally bad because something is going to go wrong. Move it prisoner." She kept her eyes looking forward, just over his shoulder.

"You're on alert- why?"

Instead of an answer, she just shoved his shoulder, "Don't ask questions about things that don't concern you, prisoner. The mistress wants you transferred to a different prison district today and that's all you need to know." By shoving him, his head ended up looking down at the ground, avoiding it being seen well by a guard they were walking past. "Don't pretend you know me- we're not friends."

"No, we're not," Obi-Wan answered slowly. He was trusting her to lead them to a shipyard. Which he could see she was. "I take it you have a plan?"

At that, she walked in front of him, waving her hand in front of a guard "You're going to let me take a ship with weapons and a hyperdrive to transport the prisoner."

"I'm... going to let you take a ship with weapons and a hyperdrive." The guard said slowly.

"You're going to call in that I have clearance to use this ship and that everything checks out." She waved her hand again. Obi-Wan had to admit it was fairly impressive. Mind tricks are not an easy thing to master.

"I'm going to call in that you have clearance to use this ship and that everything checks out." The guard repeated. Then the guard used the communicator, "This is Vizila- there's going to be a ship leaving with a prisoner. Everything checks out."

Sari just nudged Obi-Wan forward towards the ship, and he had to admit. This worked better with her than it ever would have with Anakin. She's focused, but he can still sense her fear. Something scares her more than being trapped here. Once she closed the hatch, she took off the handcuffs. "Okay, Jedi. My way would have ended in bodies and so far no one has died today. Your move."

"Of course. Now, we follow protocol and leave the system. Once we're far enough away, I'll contact the fleet so they don't shoot us down and get us stuck on another planet. You... do know how to fly one of these right?"

She groaned and walked towards the cockpit. "Yeah, I do. what- you don't?"

"Oh I could learn, but I don't like flying. I have a feeling you won't be comforted by me flying anyways." Obi-Wan countered gently, sitting down in the seat next to her. "Lead the way, Sari."

She looked over at him and then nodded a little bit, getting the ship out of the hangar easily. Once they were in orbit, she finally started to relax some. The tension that she kept in her shoulders left some. "You have a direction to head towards, Master Kenobi?"

"I do, set coordinates to the outer rim. That's where my fleet is." Obi-Wan answered, removing his lightsaber from his belt and putting it in the chair. "I'm going to contact my fleet now. "Thank you, Apprentice Sari."

She didn't look away from the controls. "Sari Nebi. My full name is Sari Nebi. And this wouldn't be happening without you, Master Kenobi... or my ability to mind trick guards."

"Of course," he smiled a little bit and walked towards the holoprojector, setting the frequency to the channel he normally uses. "Admiral Yularen, this is General Obi-Wan Kenobi, I'm on my way to rendezvous with the fleet now, I got a little... delayed."

"Well it's a good thing you're on your way master, I was starting to get worried," Anakin spoke up, walking into frame. "You're not in your fighter though.'

"No I had a bit of a situation, but I can assure you, it's being handled quite expertly. When I arrive, I'll have to contact the council immediately."

"What do you mean it's being handled expertly?" Apparently, Ahsoka was also in the room and had also walked into frame.

"It means Obi-Wan picked up a stray," Anakin answered. "Are you sure that's wise, master?"

The older Jedi sighed, "I did not pick up a stray, she actually picked me up. And yes, I'm sure." Obi-Wan glanced back towards the cockpit where Sari was now... meditating. That's the first time he's realized that she was calm in the force. Not angry, not afraid, but at peace. "I never understood my master's reasons for bringing you to the temple until now, Anakin. I am just as certain about her as he was about you. Her place is among the Jedi, if that's her wish."

Anakin opened his mouth and closed it again, "You're serious about this. You actually are seriously thinking about doing this. You know if they agree, and that's a big if, they'll make you train her."

"She already has some training in the force, and I have a suspicion about that. It's not like she doesn't know how to use the force at all. She's very skilled and reminds me a lot of you, Anakin. You'll see when you meet her." With that, Obi-Wan hung up and walked back to the cockpit, carefully sitting back down in his chair.

"So are we not going to get shot at?" She didn't open her eyes, she didn't have to.

"We won't. There will be a specific landing zone for us when we get there, Sari." He looked at his lightsaber and then took a closer look at her's. The style was influenced by the sith, there was no doubt about that, but it was also reminiscent of Qui-Gon Jinn's. He would know, considering he used his master's lightsaber for a while and considering that Matahd actively uses a copy of the hilt. While her version was warped, and definitively unique to her, the fundamentals were there. "Sari, I don't know what or who you want to run from, but I can offer you a place to run to. If you would be agreeable, I could teach you how to be a Jedi- like your master's master.

That got her to open her eyes. The amber seemed to be duller like it wasn't always her eye color. "How did you figure that out?"

"Your lightsaber is reminiscent of my master's... Xanatos is your master, isn't he? I've encountered him before." Obi-Wan was picking his words carefully. He had a feeling just because she was young doesn't mean he would beat her in a fight.

She sighed a little bit, "Yeah okay. He was my Master... but I don't want to stay with him." She looked out of the cockpit, at the stars streaming past. "Maybe you're rubbing off on my but I think... I think I'm meant for something more... Would your council let you train me."

"It would not be unprecedented, but it would be difficult for you. You would have to constantly prove that you were not falling back to the Darkside," Obi-Wan gently put his hand on her shoulder, "But, I have a feeling one day, if you're willing, you'll be an excellent Jedi."

She was quiet for a moment before turning to look at him, "Alright. I'm in. But that also means you're stuck with me, Master Kenobi."

"I would not have it any other way, my young padawan." He smiled as they dropped out of hyperspace.

"General Kenobi, landing bay six has been cleared for you." Admiral Yularen's voice rang over his comms. "Welcome home, Sir."

"It is good to be home," Obi-Wan answered, not removing his hand. "It is very good to be home."

#oc: Sari Nebi #Obi-Wan Kenobi #Anakin Skywalker #Ahsoka Tano mention #star wars #star wars the clone wars #writing wednesday drabbles

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druidx · 4 years

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A Bad Start

Context: I’ve finally got around to watching Star Wars: Rebels, about a year and a half after it was recommended viewing for the SW RPG I was playing at the time. And it got me thinking about the character I played, Cookie, and how I’d never really committed anything about her to “paper”. So, as an attempt to cure my writing blockage, I thought I’d write a short fic about the incident that forced her and her definitely-not-a-Jedi Master Darruhl Kain (played by a friend) joined the crew of the Soaring Saladin. If there’s interest, I might write more about her. She was fun to play. Warnings: Threat of fantasy violence, allusions to drug-taking and alcohol imbibing, wanted persons

It started like any other day. Pela slunk through the streets of Eedu, between grand buildings dilapidated by the constant mists, besides those who used the Force to hide their true selves. She took twisting turns through the close-knit streets, sweeping around puddles in the broken road and over rampant vines, her head down and face covered over by the dun headscarf. Tiny, unremarkable Pela, in her scrappy, piecemeal clothes. A pale, pathetic human on a planet of strong and fine-boned Dathomirir.

Finally out of that ever-present mist, turning to fire in the setting sun, rose her target – a rusting metal dome from which spilt laughter and music. Folk left the place, swaying under the influence of drink or drugs. Some made their way back to the spaceport, hidden behind warnings and fences. Others, often in the company of others, drifted into the main streets of Eedu. Pela watched them all from the shade of a tree, dark eyes flicking over each person, feeling the whorls and eddies of Force that flowed through the area, as her Master had taught. The biggest pull was from inside the rusted cantina, so on she went, moving like a wraith – pale and sickly on light feet. Inside, the cantina was dim. Pela pulled off her gloves, stuffing them into her bag. The pulse of the music was strong, a heavy beat that pushed at her skin. She stilled and centred herself, letting the beat slide past her, like a heartbeat, smelling the incense and the unwashed bodies of a dozen different species and cultures. She walked forward, gliding through the crowds. A touch on an elbow. Ghosting over a neck. The caress of a lekku. Each opened a new world to her, seen through the eyes of those she graced. This one was shipping power cells. She tucked the information away – it might be handy later. That one was meeting a mistress. Less useful, but maybe someone would pay for the information. Still, there was that pull of the Force... Tricky to nail down, it wafted like an exotic spice – muted burgundy against the wash of muddy blue, moss-green and umber – calling, whispering to her. Pela wound her way through the crowds, eager to follow the pull. It led her towards a booth at the centre of the cantina, wherein sat a tall figure, enveloped in coarse black robes. They must have something of great worth, she thought, padding up. The wraith let her hand drop, intending only to trail her fingers over the back of a wrist. The moment she did so, there was the snap of a static discharge. Pela's eyes widened. That wasn't supposed to happen... The figure pulled away, looking up at the terrified girl. Red eyes met hazel. Pela's mind rang with unknown words; a sensation of something new and fully formed existing where it shouldn't, crowding her mind. Before he could shout, Pela was off, barging through the crowd to the cantina's exit. Her breath came in spurts, her heart hammering louder, faster than the music. Her head whirled, trying to make sense of what happened, of the fact she'd stolen a full memory, that she'd stolen from someone important. A call rang out behind her. The wraith whimpered. He was coming for her.

"Master!" Pela cried, slamming the door closed behind her. "Ah, there you are," said a tall Zabrack, walking into the living area from the kitchen, "Ishtar called by to ask how you were getting on with their shield oscillator-" "Master, we have a problem. We have to leave. Now!" She raced past the confused Zabrack, into the kitchen, pulling out packets of dry food and cramming them into her pack. "Pela?" he said. When she didn't respond, he marched over, gripping her shoulders and twisting her around. "Pela! What happened?" "Oh! Master! There's a man. He's coming for me. I stole something, with the Force, I didn't mean to! It just happened, it jumped from his mind, and now he's following me, I know he is and he's going-" "Slow down! Slowly now, what happened?" "Master Darruhl, please. We don't have time-" Pela paled further as a heavy banging sounded on the door to their tiny apartment. Darruhl glanced at the door and back to his student. "Yes, I sense it too," he said to the unspoken question in her eyes. The banging came again. "Quickly now, girl." The Zabrack pushed Pela towards the kitchen's large window. "Get to the roof, and be calm, as I have taught you. Once I've rid us of this person, we'll leave. Now, go! Go!" Pela slipped through the window and out onto the ledge. She crouched a little, then pushed up, using the Force to propel herself to the next ledge and the next, landing with little grace on the roof of the building.

Satisfied his student was safe, Darruhl pulled off his trousers, wrapping the outer robes of grey around himself as though hurriedly pulled on, before answering the door. "Yes, yes," he snapped, looking up at the large black droid on his doorstep. "What is it? I was sleeping, you know." "Apologies for disturbing you sir," said the guard droid. "Are you Darruhl Kain?" "And if I am?" the Master asked. "Do you associate with one 'Cookie' Crom? First name unknown." Darruhl shook his head, wishing the guard hadn't been a droid. People were so much easier to manipulate. "No, I don't know anyone of that name," he told the droid, trying to keep his heart-rate under control. "Then perhaps you have seen this person? She was observed entering this housing block." The droid brought up a holovid of a waif, all narrow gangly limbs, with her head and part of her face obscured by a dark scarf. Again, Darruhl shook his head. "Can't say that I have. Though that picture isn't much to go by. What've they done, anyway?" "This person is accused of stealing something very valuable from one of Dathomir's guests in the spaceport." "Well, I can't help you," Darruhl said. "I suggest you cease lying," came a new voice from behind the droid. The security droid looked over his shoulder. "Sir, I agreed to your accompaniment as a gesture of goodwill," the droid said. "I detect no irregularities with this gentleman's answers. I request you leave the police-work to me." "I have elected to ignore your request," said the new voice. The droid was forced to the side by some unseen hand, it's metal feet squealing on the concrete passageway. It voiced some complaint, but Darruhl had stopped paying it any attention. A figure, swathed in black robes stepped into the doorway, forcing the Zabrack back a few steps. Darruhl sniffed the air. A Sith. Of all the people his student could have tanged with, it had to be a Sith... "I know she's here," said the sith, his voice cold and smooth as ice. "Hand her over. I want back what she stole." "I don't know what you're talking about," Darruhl said, his hand going to the lightsaber at his belt. "It's just me here. I suggest you leave on your own or I will throw you out." The sith had been reaching for his weapon, but now paused, his eyes flicking around the apartment. He looked back at the Zabrack. "Perhaps she has indeed departed, but she was here. Make no mistake, Darruhl Kain: I will find my thief, and will take back what she has stolen, with all the Force at my disposal." With that the sith turned in a dramatic billow of robes, stalking out of the apartment. Darruhl watched him retreat down the corridor before closing the door. A sith. He closed his eyes and heaved a sigh. Why, by the Force, did it have to be a Sith? He walked back to the kitchen, activating his comlink. This was no longer a simple case of moving a few cities over... "Pela?" he called through the 'link. "Yes, Master?" came her timid reply. "Get back in here. We need to pack."

~*~*~ "Do you really think this will work, Master?" Pela asked as the two stood near a star freighter, waiting for the ship's captain to appear. Night had truly fallen now, the warm mist leaving dew on Pela's shoulders. It muffled and obscured everything around them, the lights of the spaceport creating pearly spears of light that illuminated nothing and everything. "Yes, my student, I do." The older man stood tall, confidence radiating from him, as Pela tried not to huddle at his side. She cast furtive glances into the night, seeing with more than her eyes, as her Force Master continued, trying to allay her fears. "Once spaceborne, we will be constantly on the move, never spending more than a few days on each planet or station. It is a big galaxy out there, my dear. Only the best bounty hunters would ever hope to catch up with us. I doubt very much that this Sith has skill nor patience to track us down." "Track me, Master," the human said, her tone unhappy. "Perhaps it would be best-" Darruhl turned, gripping his student by her frail shoulders. "Pela, I may be many things, but an apostate is not one of them. I will not abandon you. Not now, not ever. Do not suggest such a thing again!" Pela sunk into herself, averting her gaze. "No, Master. Of course not. I apologise." Darruhl let out a pained sigh. He'd long since given up on trying to convince his student she need not cower or apologise to him. Instead, the Zabrack chucked her chin, then rested his forehead carefully against hers, mindful on his horns. "Trust in the force, my student," he said. "Let it guide you, let it be your strength. Remember who we are." He began chanting, his voice lilting in the cadence of one who has spoken the words many times before. Pela joined in, her voice tremulous at first but swelling with quiet confidence, "I am the dividing line. I am the place where two halves meet. In my left hand, I wield the darkness; in my right hand, I wield the light. The Force is my center, and I am the center of the Force. The sword I wield is grey, the line between the light side and the dark. On its edge, I hang the needs of the Force. For I am the balance, the symmetry, and the harmony. I am the Grey." They drew away from each other then and Pela felt her Master's Force presence surround her, as warm as any hug. "Thank you, Master," she murmured, sending her own back. Beside them came the clanks and hisses of the freighter's ramp lowering. Darruhl flicked his robes free of his sabre handle, as Pela moved behind him, facing into the shimmering spaceport. "Greetings, sir," Darruhl said as a Bothan descended the ramp. "I presume you are Captain Manosh Fay-Laoy?" "Good evening to you," said the Bothan, as a blue Mon Calamari waddled down the ramp behind him and crossed her arms. "Please, call me Manny. I assume you are Darruhl Kain, the one who contacted me about leaving this delightful planet?" he added, derision heavy on the word 'delightful'. "I am, indeed. Have you considered my proposal then?" Darruhl asked. Behind the Mon Calamari appeared a T8 unit and a Trandoshan. Darruhl squinted at the Trandoshan. There was something off about the man, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it... "I have," said Manny, twisting the hair on his chin in thought. "I believe it will be an equitable exchange." He gestured to the Trandoshan, "Visq here could use some back-up, and I know I'd feel safer having another fighter aboard. I'm sure Nindan and T8 wouldn't mind help to keep the Soaring Saladin flying, either." The T8 unit trundled down next to the Mon Calamari and gave a couple of sharp, descending blips. The Mon Calamari, Nindan, nictitated her eyes. "He says he hopes your mechanic is as good as you claim because the Saladin needs a great deal of help staying in the sky." She glanced around. "Where are they?" "There is not a machine out there that she cannot coax into behaving," Darruhl said. "Isn't that right my dear?" The Zabrack stepped aside, and Pela turned. "I, ah," she stammered, flicking worried eyes at her master. He raised an eyebrow. "Now is not the time to be modest." The human ducked her head. "Yes Master," she said, her voice chary. Pela turned to Nindan, the human keeping her eyes downcast, twisting her fingers. "If... if it please you, Mem, my Master is correct. I have not yet met a mechanism that didn't respond to my assistance." Nindan narrowed her eyes and glanced down at the astromech. It gave a short ascending beep, followed by a longer descending one. It chattered a moment longer before Nindan nodded to it. The astromech trundled down the ramp and over to Pela, blooping at her demandingly. Pela took a step backwards, her eyes wide and wild. Darruhl put a hand on her shoulder. "I think our little friend here would like a demonstration," he said. "Oh." Pela crouched down. "My apologies Messer T8. Let me run a diagnostic." From her pack, the girl pulled a tool roll. She took a few deep breaths, her eyes closed, and ran a hand over the droid. T8 blipped and turned, trying to follow her hand, but she clamped her other on his top. "Please don't move." After a long moment, she opened her eyes. "Poor baby," she said, voice filled with pity. "You really need an oil bath. But here," she flipped open his front casing, fiddling with the droid's innards for a moment. "That should help stabilize your AGP array until I can look at it properly, and I think I've mended that loose through-flow – your thrusters should be a little more even in power-output now." Pela closed up the front panel and patted T8. "Feel a bit better now, sweetie?" she asked. The astromech buzzed and whirred a moment, then let out a bleep that sounded a lot like 'Yippee!'. T8 dashed over to Nindan, jabbering at her. The Mon Calamari cocked her head as she listened, then turned to her Captain. Nindan gave a burbling chuckle. "He's asking if we can keep her," she translated to the Bothan. Manny nodded, turning back to Darruhl. The Bothan grinned. "If your mechanic has T8's approval, then she has mine. Welcome aboard, Mr Kaine," Manny said, ushering the Zabrack and his human companion aboard the freighter.

#star wars #original characters #grey jedi #wandering words

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